318 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1870. 



autumn of 1870 were remarkably favorable, 

 the war prevented any expeditions from at- 

 tempting further discoveries. The American 

 expedition was deferred to the summer of 1871, 

 and Captain Hall, instead of Dr. Hayes, is to 

 be its leader. Congress has made an appro- 

 priation for the purpose sufficient to secure 

 fair probabilities of success. Still, so stub- 

 bornly has the icy North refused for these four 

 hundred years past to reveal its secrets, that we 

 need not be surprised if this expedition should 

 be added to the already long list of failures. 



Explorations in Northern Central Africa 

 have not been prosecuted with much zeal dur- 

 ing the year, or, if they have, the results are 

 as yet unknown. Sir Samuel Baker's geo- 

 graphico-military expedition toward the 

 sources of the "White Nile was delayed a 

 twelvemonth, in consequence of the condition 

 of the stream, and the obstruction by a trop- 

 ical growth of reeds and cane, which had 

 completely blockaded all progress, but at the 

 latest accounts was again making slow and 

 painful progress. Dr. Livingstone has been 

 heard from, but not directly. There is reason 

 to believe he is living, but he has undoubtedly 

 suffered much, and is strangely silent in re- 

 gard to his plans, if he has formed any. The 

 diamond-fields in South Central Africa have 

 attracted much attention, and a large emi- 

 gration to the region Avhere they are found. 

 Opinion is greatly divided as to their value, 

 some regarding them as merely superior quartz 

 crystals, while others contend that they are 

 genuine gems of remarkable purity and lustre. 

 The truth probably is that some diamonds 

 have been found there, but that generally they 

 are not of the finest quality, and in some, per- 

 haps many cases, quartz crystals have been 

 mistaken for diamonds. 



In Asia the principal interest has centred 

 around the Pamir Steppe, and the efforts of 

 Mr. Hayward, a retired English officer, to 

 penetrate to it. Under the appropriate head 

 we shall give a summary of what he has ac- 

 complished. Australian explorations have not 

 been active during the year, and the accessions 

 to our knowledge of that great continent have 

 been unusually meagre. On our own continent, 

 there have been explorations in some of the 

 new territories, in Manitoba, the old Red River 

 country of British America, and especially 

 in the various isthmuses of Central Amer- 

 ica, where at any time a ship-canal has been 

 .deemed possible. The United States Govern- 

 ment has had parties of zealous explorers at 

 work at two points, the Isthmus of Darien and 

 the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Thus far their 

 explorations indicate that locks will be neces- 

 sary to overcome the elevation, which, though 

 not in itself very great, is sufficiently so to 

 make the construction of a canal on a dead 

 level, either by deep cuttings or a tunnel, im- 

 practicable, except at an expense too great to 

 be warranted by the benefits which would ac- 

 crue from it. 



Remarkable as the year 1870 was for the 

 number of its illustrious dead, there were very 

 few of them identified with geographical sci- 

 ence. The most eminent of these few was Baron 

 Charles Alexander Anselme Hugel, an Aus- 

 trian nobleman, who, nearly forty years ago, 

 at his own cost, undertook a tour of explora- 

 tion in Asia and Africa, which lasted six years, 

 and was conducted on a scale of liberality at 

 that time unprecedented. His narratives of 

 his travels are yet some of the most valuable 

 of our geographical authorities. (See HUGEL, 

 in this volume.) He died on the 2d of Octo- 

 ber, at the age of seventy -five years. 



Mr. James Macqueen, F. R. G. S., an Eng- 

 lish geographer, specially devoted to African 

 geography, and identified with the exploration 

 of the Niger or Quorra River, died in Glas- 

 gow, May 14th, at the advanced age of ninety- 

 two. 



Mr. Marcus Williams, a citizen of Newark, 

 N. J., but for many years past engaged in 

 travel and exploration in South America, and 

 who had contribxited much to geographical 

 science, died in Maranham, Brazil, on the 15th 

 of February. 



But if the deaths of eminent geographers have 

 been few, their books, recording their past ex- 

 plorations, have been many. One of the most re- 

 markable and elaborate of these is the " History 

 of the Discovery of Maine," prepared for the 

 Maine Historical Society by the distinguished 

 German traveller, J. G. Kohl, of Bremen. It is 

 an exhaustive work on the discoveries on the 

 east coast of America from the time of the North- 

 men in 990 to the Charter of Gilbert in 1578. It 

 is illustrated with twenty-three maps, the latest 

 of which is that of Mercator in 1569. The 

 "Voyage across South America" of M. Paul 

 Marcoy, profusely illustrated with landscape 

 views, and pictures exhibiting the appearance, 

 dress, habits, manners, and dwellings, of the 

 various races with whom he came in contact, 

 is more than a mere illustrated book of 

 travels, and deserves to be considered as a 

 valuable contribution to South American 

 geography. It has not been republished 

 in this country, but some portions of it have 

 been translated for literary periodicals. The 

 " Japon Illustre " of M. Humbert, the Swiss 

 minister to Japan, is another valuable addition 

 to our knowledge of that extraordinary peo- 

 ple. Three American gentlemen, connected 

 with the Russian-American Telegraph Com- 

 pany's staff, in 1866-'67, have given interest- 

 ing descriptions of the regions they visited, 

 viz. : Mr. W. H. Dall, who confined his obser- 

 vations mainly to Alaska and our new posses- 

 sions there; Mr. George Kennan, in his "Tent- 

 Life in Siberia," who gave a very interesting de- 

 scription of the people and country of East- 

 ern Siberia, of which so little is known ; and 

 Colonel Thomas W. Knox, who described the 

 circumstances and perils of a journey across 

 the two continents. 



Major F. Millingen, of the British Army, has 



