386 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



and explored by Captain Spratt, an officer of 

 the English navy, in 1852 ; and the German 

 geographer, Petermann, taking the results of 

 his survey and subsequent reports of other ex- 

 plorers, in 1865 constructed a physical map of 

 the island of great interest. The area of the 

 island is about 3,170 square miles. The surface 

 is for the most part elevated, rising in the cen- 

 tral portions of the island into a ridge or back- 

 bone, varying from 2,000 to more than 8,000 

 feet in height, in the western part one or two 

 summits attaining the height of about 8,700 

 feet. The shores are almost without exception 

 bold, the water being seldom less than from 

 10 to 40 fathoms in depth, and increasing at a 

 short distance to 100 or 200 fathoms. 



The late Dr. Barth, who, in the autumn of 

 1864, explored the ^Egean Sea and its shores, 

 as well as the mountains which overlook that 

 sea, in a report to the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety of Berlin, states, as the result of his ex- 

 plorations, that the Thessalian Olympus range 

 has the highest summits to be found in the re- 

 gion of the JSgean and Cretan Seas, the loftiest 

 peak rising to the height of 9,754 feet, and that 

 the mountains of the Turko-Grecian peninsula 

 culminate in the summits of Rilo and Perim Dagh, 

 which have no equals in height on that coast. 



Dr. Blau, the Prussian consul in the province 

 of Bosnia (the western portion of European 

 Turkey), sent to his Government in 1865 some 

 statistics of that province. The population he 

 states at 882,722, of whom 449,479 are Greeks, 

 286,708 are Turks, 132,743 are Catholics, 10,- 

 026 are Gypsies, 2,438 Jews, and 1,228 belong 

 to other sects and nationalities. 



Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, gave permis- 

 sion in 1865 for the resumption of excavations 

 en the site of Pompeii, and a number of inter- 

 esting statues and buildings have been ex- 

 humed. In the house of Pansa, in the street of 

 Fortune, a sculptured cross not yet finished 

 has been found, covered with insulting inscrip- 

 tions and caricatures ridiculing the notion of a 

 crucified God. 



M. Emil Sydow, gives in Petermann's Mit- 

 theilungen for December, 1865, a general review 

 of European chartography, i. e. that connected 

 with government surveys during the year 1865. 

 From this it appears that nearly all the Govern- 

 ments of Europe are actively engaged in the 

 prosecution of topographical and geodetic sur- 

 veys, and that the greater part of them have 

 published maps of portions, at least, of their 

 surveys, executed in the best style, and so en- 

 graved as to indicate the height of the surface, 

 while some of them give other and interesting 

 details relative to the physical geography, zoolo- 

 gy, industry, education, and religion of the coun- 

 tries represented. Russia has organized the most 

 extensive surveys of this kind, occupying with 

 her explorers and geographers large tracts in 

 various portions of her vast empire ; but several 

 of the other States are not far behind her in 

 the extent of their surveys, and are conducting 

 them with great care and labor. 



In ASIA the greatest interest of the year cen- 

 tred in the prosecution of further discoveries 

 in Arabia. Prompted by the interesting dis- 

 coveries made by Mr. Palgrave, of which an ac- 

 count was given in the ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 

 1864, Lieut.-Col. Lewis Pelly, of the British 

 army, proposed to penetrate to Riadh, the capi- 

 tal of the Wahabite kingdom, and endeavor to 

 effect a commercial treaty with the Sultan of 

 that kingdom. He accordingly set out on the 

 18th of January, 1865, from Bushire, on the 

 Persian Gulf, accompanied by Dr. Colville and 

 Lieut. Hawes, and landing at Kuait, or Korem, 

 in about lat. 29 10' K, near the head of the 

 Persian Gulf, proceeded directly southwest 

 toward Riadh. Soon after leaving Kuait, the 

 travellers found themselves without any roads, 

 but entered on immense plains or prairies, slight- 

 ly undulating, and at this time of the year 

 covered with a light crop of grass. Serpents, 

 lizards, and venomous insects abounded, and 

 they found but a single tree and a group of 

 wells. As they proceeded further to the south- 

 west, they found long, low hills of sand at con- 

 siderable distances from each other, but running 

 in a parallel direction. There were seven of 

 these chains of sand-hills, separated by narrow 

 but somewhat fruitful valleys. Crossing the 

 last of these on the tenth day of their journey, 

 they came upon an immense plain, covered here 

 and there with shrubs and brushwood, but with- 

 out any trees of considerable size. This was 

 the province of Ormah, one of the dependen- 

 cies of the Wahabite kingdom. Here were 

 frequent wells, and small streams which lost 

 themselves after a time in the arid sands. 

 West of Ormah they again encountered sand- 

 hills, which extended to the highlands, and an 

 opening or pass through both the hills and the 

 mountain barrier of Aredh, along which a road 

 is built which conducted them to the elevated 

 plateau of Shaab, a number of miles in breadth. 

 The mountain chain of Aredh is succeeded at 

 the north by that of Towais, from which it is 

 separated by the populous plain of Mahmed. 

 Immediately at the foot of the Towais chain 

 lies the territory or province of Sidayr, a 

 narrow band of rich and populous country. 

 Among the finest cities of this region visited 

 by the travellers was Lidus or Sedus, a thriv- 

 ing, prosperous town, hidden in the midst of 

 plantations of palms and roses. After examin- 

 ing an ancient column erected before the Ma- 

 hometan era, the travellers turned southeast 

 and entered Riadh, the Wahabite capital, after 

 a journey of fifteen days on the back of cam- 

 els from Kuait. By a series of observations 

 they determined the position of Riadh to bo 

 24 38' 34" N. lat, and 40 41' 48" E. long., from 

 Greenwich. Lieut.-Col. Pelly had three inter- 

 views with the Sultan, whom he regards as 

 one of the most remarkable of Oriental mon- 

 archs. At the first interview the conversation 

 was confined mostly to phrases of etiquette, 

 but the sovereign remarked that the configura- 

 tion of his country was such as to interdict 



