GEOGKAPIIICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVEPJES IN 1865. 



869 



of mountains, between the Syr-Daria and the 

 Tchoui Rivers, and has made many interesting 

 discoveries, soon to be published, relative to 

 the geography and geological condition of this 

 lofty but hitherto little known region. M. 

 Simonov, quartermaster on the staff of the Si- 

 berian military commander, has executed a 

 map of the Soungari River, which he has ex- 

 plored. The Prince Crapotkin, of the same staff, 

 has sent to the Imperial Geographical Society 

 of St. Petersburg a map of a portion of the 

 country lying on the river Argun. In tho 

 third volume of Dr. Radde's survey of East- 

 ern Siberia, just published in Paris, he devotes 

 much attention to the country of Sagan, lying 

 between East Siberia and China. The culmi- 

 nating point of the mountain chain of Sagan, 

 he says, is Munko-Sardik, in the extreme east- 

 ern portion of Sagan. It is about 12,600 feet 

 in height, and from this central point mountain 

 chains push out in three directions, N. E., E. S. 

 E., and S. E. The narrative and observations 

 of the brothers Schlagintweit, in their explora- 

 tion of the Himalayas, is in course of publica- 

 tion. 



India, has been developing its agricultural 

 and commercial resources rapidly, under the 

 extraordinary demand for cotton. At a ses- 

 sion of the Royal Geographical Society of Lon- 

 don, Mr. Temple gave an interesting account 

 of the basin of the Mahanuddy, a river dis- 

 charging its waters into the Bay of Bengal 

 below Cuttack. Its delta is so obstructed by 

 sand-bars as to render the entrance of ships 

 into the mouth of the river impracticable, but 

 the river itself and its affluents have 710 miles of 

 navigable waters. The population of the basin 

 exceeds 1,500,000, and the country is admira- 

 bly adapted to the culture of cotton, only 

 requiring a removal of the obstructions at the 

 mouth of the river, or a short railroad, to bring 

 it into the market. Ship-timber of great excel- 

 lence is found in abundance near the banks 

 of the river. 



Dr. Friedmann, of Munich, has given, in the 

 Zeitachrift far Allgemeine JSrdkunde, a very full 

 account of the geographical and commercial con- 

 dition of the Dutch East Indies (now generally 

 called Netherlands India) in 1861. By the cen- 

 sus of that year, the population of the islands 

 belonging to Holland was 17,589,039 persons, 

 of whom 120,934 were stated to be Christians, 

 and the remainder either Mohammedans or 

 pagans. The military force consisted of 30,063 

 men, of whom only 11,466 were Europeans. 

 The receipts of the Government for that year 

 were in round numbers 58,900,000 florins, and 

 the expenditures (some of them extraordi- 

 nary) were 76,279,000 florins, making a heavy 

 deficit, which was unusual. The agricultural 

 productions of the islands were coffee, 901,347 

 piculs; sugar, 1,696,199 piculs; indigo, 441,721 

 Amsterdam pounds; tea, 1,956,469 Amster- 

 dam pounds; cinnamon, 192,830 Amsterdam 

 pounds ; cochineal, 4,500 pounds ; pepper, 394 

 piculs. The number of ships visiting the islands 



during the year was 2,762, with an aggregate 

 tonnage of 175,096 tons. 



An expedition, under the direction of Dr. H. 

 A. Bernstein, a Dutch geographer, spent the 

 years 1860-'63 in exploring the eastern Moluc- 

 cas, and made, in 1865, a very full report of the 

 geography, geology, and zoology of these isl- 

 ands. They contributed to the Museum of 

 Natural History at Leyden, from the islands, 181 

 mammal?, 1,917 birds, 212 reptiles, 211 fishes, 

 588 mollusks, 10,215 insects, and 42 zoophytes. 



A new volcanic island was discovered, nearly 

 due east from the southern point of Formosa, in 

 latitude 20 35' 30' N. longitude, 145 16' 30" 

 east from Greenwich, on the 19th of March, 

 1865, by the ship Veritas from San Francisco. 

 The island was of considerable size, and ap- 

 peared to be of conical form, and at intervals 

 emitted a thick smoke from its highest point. 



AFRICA. In Egypt, M. Lesseps is still at- 

 tempting to push forward the Suez Canal ; but 

 though he has completed a small fresh-water 

 canal, he has made very little progress in the 

 Grand Ship Canal, so long and boastfully prom- 

 ised. Of this, which was to be one hundred 

 and twenty miles in length, one hundred and 

 eighty feet in width, and thirty in depth, not a 

 yard is yet completed. A half mile is in progress, 

 and may be finished this year, though the diffi- 

 culties to be overcome from the hardness of the 

 rock, the irruption of salt water, and the want 

 of laborers, render this uncertain ; but, under 

 the most favorable circumstances, from twenty 

 to forty years must elapse before its completion ; 

 a long time to wait too long for the company 

 who have undertaken it, and expended such vast 

 sums of money on it. 



The Nile explorations, under Mr. S. W. Ba- 

 ker, have established the fact that a large lake 

 exists west of the Victoria Nyanza, which he 

 has named the Albert Nyanza (Speke's Luta 

 Nzige) ; that the Victoria Nyanza discharges 

 its waters into this by the stream which Speke 

 believed to be the headwaters of the Nile, with 

 a fall of 1,238 feet in a distance of probably 

 three hundred miles. The northern outlet of 

 the Albert Nyanza is probably one of the 

 branches of the Nile, but this is not yet quite 

 certain ; and the Asua, another of its affluents, 

 has probably its origin in Lake Bahringo, far to 

 the east, and crossing the equator. Baron von 

 der Decken, the indefatigable German traveller, 

 has failed in his attempt to reach the region of 

 these lakes from Zanzibar, and at last reports 

 was probably a prisoner and in great danger. 

 He attempted to ascend the Juba, a large river 

 of Eastern Africa, whose source was reported 

 to be near the equator, far in the interior, hav- 

 ing two steamers of his own. One of these 

 was wrecked at the mouth of the river, but with 

 the other he ascended three hundred and eighty 

 miles into the country of the Sultan of Bendera, 

 where, on the 25th of September, 1865, she 

 struck upon a rock, and it was necessary to dis- 

 charge her cargo. The baron went to the cap- 

 ital of the Sultan for assistance, and during his 





