GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



379 



on geographical subjects were issued through- 

 out Christendom. Of these two hundred and 

 thirty-five were atlases, maps, or charts. The 

 Germans are most active and zealous in their 

 explorations, hut the English and French are 

 not far behind them. In the United States the 

 prevalence of war has diminished the zeal for 

 geographical research, yet something has been 

 done, mostly by individuals or single States, to 

 promote discovery and exploration. Beginning, 

 as usual, with the AMERICAN CONTINENT, we 

 find that the researches into the geography of 

 the Arctic regions have been vigorously prose- 

 cuted. Captain Charles F. Hall, whose narra- 

 tive of his first voyage of discovery was pub- 

 lished in 1864, set out in June of that year, far 

 more fully equipped than before, for a second 

 expedition into the regions of " frost and per- 

 petual snow." He was successful in some of 

 the objects of his expedition. Taking with him 

 his faithful interpreters and friends, Ebierbing 

 and Too-koo-li-too (the Esquimaux man and 

 woman who accompanied him to the United 

 States after his first voyage), he reached, before 

 the close of the autumn, the vicinity of the Es- 

 quimaux or Innuits, with whom he had before 

 become acquainted. Here, soon after, he gained, 

 to his great satisfaction, information respecting 

 four of Franklin's men, Captain Crozier, Parry, 

 and Lyon, and another, who had survived when 

 the others perished from cold and starvation, 

 the three latter having subsisted on the flesh of 

 their dead comrades, and had been sheltered 

 and fed by the Innuits. One of them had sub- 

 sequently died of illness, but there was some 

 reason for believing that Crozier and the others 

 might still be alive. He also learned that they 

 had had a battle with the Indians (not Esqui- 

 maux) near the Estuary of Great Fish or Back's 

 River, before they were reduced to starvation, 

 and that Crozier and some of the others were 

 wounded but none of them killed, while large 

 numbers of the Indians were slain. After their 

 recovery from starvation, Captain Crozier and 

 his two surviving comrades had gone to the 

 southwest by land, probably with the intention 

 of reaching Fort Churchill or York Factory. 

 They were well supplied with food, and had 

 skin or rubber boats to cross the streams. They 

 did not reach either of those points, or some- 

 thing would have been heard of them long 

 since ; but Capt. Hall is very sanguine that they 

 might yet be living, having become familiar 

 with the Innuit mode of life and conforming to 

 it. Captain Hall made other interesting geo- 

 graphical discoveries respecting the Northwest 

 passage, the coasts of the Northern Ocean, etc., 

 full particulars of which have not yet been 

 published. 



Another expedition to the Polar region has 

 been projected in England by Captain Sherrard 

 Osborne, to be undertaken under the auspices 

 of the Royal Geographical Society ; but after a 

 long and animated discussion at several meet- 

 ings of the Society, and several communications 

 from Dr. A. Petermann, and other eminent 



foreign geographers, as to the best route, 

 whether by Spitzbergen or by the coast of 

 Greenland, the expedition was postponed to the 

 coming summer. 



British America, at least east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, has not been the field of any geo- 

 graphical explorations during the year, though its 

 active geologists have been investigating with 

 great zeal its abundant sources of mineral 

 wealth. The mines of gold, copper, silver, and 

 lead, projected in the eastern provinces with a 

 fair showing of success, have attracted consid- 

 erable attention, while other and rarer minerals 

 are found in different portions of its territory. 

 The western provinces, British Columbia and 

 Vancouver's Island, have been explored with 

 considerable care during the year, an expedi- 

 tion under command of Mr. Frederic Whymper 

 having traversed the latter through its entire 

 diameter, and made a glowing report of its pro- 

 ductions and capacities, mineral, vegetable, and 

 animal. They found a chain of seven lakes, 

 connected with each other and extending nearly 

 across the island, their united length being 

 twenty-two miles. Gold was found in great 

 ' abundance, iron of a superior quality, nickel, 

 plumbago, and petroleum, the latter in immense 

 quantities. Dr. Brown, the botanist of the ex- 

 pedition, discovered a new genus of pines, of 

 colossal size. Another party "explored the Fra- 

 zer River region, with gratifying results. 



In the United States, the close of the war has 

 brought ont numerous reports of commanding 

 officers, of military surveys made in connection 

 with their campaigns, which throw much light 

 on the topography of the sections traversed. 

 The geographical and geological survey of Cal- 

 ifornia has been prosecuted with zeal, and two 

 volumes of the report of the commission have 

 been published. The mountains of the State 

 have been explored, and their altitude approxi- 

 mately ascertained. The loftier peaks of the 

 State (the highest in the United States) are 

 found in the Sierra Nevada. Several of these 

 exceed 15,000 feet in height. The Coast 

 range is much lower, but its culminating points 

 are from three-fourths of a mile to a mile in ele- 

 vation, San Carlos, the highest, being 4, 977 feet; 

 Mount Hamilton, 4,440 ; Mount Diablo, 3,856 ; 

 and Mariposa Peak, 3,700. 



The organization of an Imperial Government 

 in Mexico has led to the active exploration of 

 portions of the territory of that interesting 

 country, and the appearance of a new map of 

 Mexico on the scale of 1 : 3,000,000, with plans 

 of Matamoras, Tampico, and Vera Cruz, and a 

 plan of the route between Vera Cruz and Mex- 

 ico. The Secretary of the Mexican Geographi- 

 cal Society, under date of June 28, 1865, com- 

 municated to the Secretary of the Imperial 

 Geographical Society of Paris some facts of 

 interest. On Mount Santa Maria, near the 

 Mexican capital, a mass of ruins has been un- 

 earthed and explored, and many objects of 

 antiquarian interest discovered. Among these 

 were idols, masks, ear-rings, collars, rings, pen- 



