GEOGEAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



385 



people, and live in great poverty and discom- 

 fort. They are mostly engaged in the rearing 

 of cattle, and it is among them that the rinder- 

 pest or cattle-plague is said to have originated, 

 and from them it has been propagated all over 

 Europe. This disease, however, has existed 

 from time immemorial in Siberia, and it is by 

 no means impossible that it has been intro- 

 duced thence into the districts of Olonetz and 

 Petrosavodsk. M. Andreew believes that the 

 disease is caused by the cattle drinking the red 

 and stagnant water of the marshes. In Fin- 

 land, the adjoining country, the inhabitants dig 

 wells for the supply of their households and 

 their cattle, and do not suffer them to drink 

 the marsh water, and the rinderpest is unknown 

 there. 



In the exploration of Northern Russia, now 

 in progress under the direction of M. Barbot 

 de Marnd, the question long since raised by 

 Russian geographers in relation to the compara- 

 tive claims of the Vytchegda and Dwina to be 

 considered the principal stream, has again come 

 up for decision, and the eminent geographer 

 has given it careful consideration. The Vytch- 

 egda is longer and deeper than the upper Dwi- 

 na, and at their point of union seems the more 

 important stream, but the basin of the Jug or 

 Youg and the Dwina is the largest in Northern 

 Russia, and drains a greater surface than the 

 Vytchegda. M. Barbot de Harne concludes 

 that the Jug or Youg is the primitive stream, 

 and that the whole river, after the junction of 

 the Dwina and Vytchegda, should bear the 



(name of Jug or Youg. 



$ The various explorations and surveys of the 

 Alps which have been conducted during the 

 last hundred years, the Lombardic Alps and 

 especially the clusters of elevated peaks known 

 as the Adamillo and Ortles groups, have been 

 overlooked until within the past three or four 

 years. They have now been the object of a 

 very thorough exploration, and though there 

 is no one summit which attains to quite the 

 height of Mont Blanc, there is nowhere else in 

 Europe so large a number of peaks of two 

 miles or a little more in height clustered in so 

 small a territory. Among the explorers who 

 have made these groups a special study, are 

 Lieutenant Payer, Dr. Von Ruthner, E. Von 

 Mojsisovics, Secretary of the Vienna Alpine 

 Club, Messrs. Freshfield, Walker, and Beech- 

 croft, and Mr. Ball, President of the London 

 Alpine Club, Mr. F. F. Tuckett, Messrs. E. N. 

 and H. E. Buxton, and Dr. P. G. Lorentz. Mr. 

 Tuckett, in a very able paper on these groups in 

 Petermann's MittJieilungen for January, 1865, 

 gives tables of the height of the principal passes, 

 and of the highest summits in this region. It 

 should be remarked that nearly all these peaks 

 and passes are included in the district lying be- 

 tween 46 and 46 45' north latitude, and be- 

 tween 7 52' and 8 30' east longitude from 

 Paris, or in other words a tract 40 by 50 miles 

 in extent. There are sixteen known passes 

 over these mountains, ranging in height from 

 VOL. T. 25 A 



about 6,000 feet to over 11,000 feet. There are 

 ninety-eight summits above 7,000 feet in height. 

 Of these, four are above 12,000 feet, viz. : Or- 

 tles Peak, 12,814; King's Peak, 12,348; Zufall 

 (Accident) Peak, No. 1, 12,348; and Zebra 

 Peak, 12,255. Twenty-eight other peaks are 

 between 11,000 and 12,000 feet; thirty-three 

 between 10,000 and 11,000; twenty-five be- 

 tween 9,000 and 10,000; seven between 8,000 

 and 9,000; and one between 7,000 and 8,000 

 feet. The upper glaciers of the Ortles Peat 

 are 11,445 feet above the sea level. 



M. Hecquard, French consul at Scutari, ex- 

 plored in 1864 the principality of Montenegro, 

 and in a communication to his Government 

 gives a very full and interesting account of that 

 small but free State. The people are not highly 

 educated, but they have a considerable measure 

 of intelligence and self-reliance, such as results 

 from many years of free government. Their 

 government was a theocracy until recently ; 

 the Vladika being high-priest or bishop as well 

 as ruler ; but on the accession of the Prince Danilo 

 I., he refused the episcopate, and was only their 

 civil and military governor. The country is 

 54 geographical miles in its greatest length, and 

 about 50 in its greatest breadth, and contains 

 about 1,325 square miles. The population num- 

 bers about 130,000, and from the character of 

 their country, little of the land being arable, 

 they are compelled to make the raising of cat- 

 tle, sheep, and goats, their principal business. 

 Butter, cheese, wool, and the hides of their 

 cattle are their chief exports, though of late the 

 production of silk, and of honey and beeswax, 

 have increased their wealth and added to their 

 salable commodities. They raise wheat, maize, 

 and some barley and oats, and cut what hay 

 they can, but are obliged to supplement this 

 crop with the stalks of the maize, and with 

 the small branches and leaves of trees, for the 

 forage of their cattle during the winter. Their 

 supply of maize and other grains is not suffi- 

 cient for their wants, and they are obliged to 

 import some grain from Russia. The code of 

 laws instituted by Prince Danilo was some- 

 what severe, though well adapted to the char- 

 acter of the people. He suppressed the ven- 

 detta, or law of retaliation, though with great 

 difficulty ; put an end to theft, which had been 

 one of their crying sins ; abolished the facility 

 of divorce, and established a system of imposts. 

 Under his administration, which terminated 

 with his death in 1863, the country prospered, in 

 spite of wars and famines. The mountains 

 which cover the greater part of the surface are 

 of a secondary formation, consisting of lime- 

 stone, dolomite, etc., and at soms points there 

 is anthracite coal, petroleum, and hematitio 

 iron ores. The mountains abound in wild ani- 

 mals, bears, wolves, wild boars, chamois, hare?, 

 foxes, maYtens, etc., and the rivers and lakes 

 contain great numbers of fish, the salmon of the 

 Maratchka being particularly celebrated for its 

 size and flavor. 



The island of Crete or Candia was surveyed 



