330 



GEOGEAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1870. 



greater measure of intelligence, refinement, and 

 substantial: wealth, than any other nation of 

 Central Asia. 



There have been several surveys and explo- 

 rations of the great river-systems of China 

 within the year 1870, especially of the Yang- 

 tse-Kiang and the Yellow River but not many 

 new or interesting facts have been elicited. 



VII. AFRICA. The year has not been prolific 

 in the results of geographical exploration on 

 this great continent. In the Upper Nile region, 

 Sir Samuel Baker, at the head of the grandest 

 expedition ever undertaken for discovery, had 

 been delayed by various hinderances, and, on 

 attempting to ascend the White Nile, found 

 that it was not navigable in consequence of the 

 dense mass of cane and reeds which, in the 

 form of floating islands, completely choked xip 

 the passage. He cut his way through for 32 

 miles, but was then obliged to return to lati- 

 tude 9 26' N., where he would remain till 

 November, 1870, when, at the high-water stage 

 of the river, he hoped with great labor to be 

 able to force a passage through, and with a 

 portage of moderate extent to succeed some 

 time in 1871 in floating his fleet of steamers on 

 the Albert Nyanza, and settle the questions 

 hitherto in doubt. 



Dr. Livingstone has been heard from, but 

 -only indirectly, but is supposed to have received 

 his supplies sent to Ujiji for him, and to be 

 prosecuting his discoveries relative to the con- 

 nection of Lake Tanganyika with the ultimate 

 sources of the Nile, and perhaps also with 

 those of the Congo River. 



In the region of the Limpopo and in terri- 

 tory claimed by the Transvaal Republic there 

 have been great excitement and large emigra- 

 tion in consequence of the discovery of dia- 

 monds there. Very many supposed gems have 

 been discovered, but there is still a grave 

 doubt in regard to the real character of most 

 of them, some eminent lapidaries pronouncing 

 them quartz crystals of unusual purity and 

 brilliancy, while others have been equally con- 

 fident that some of them were genuine gems 

 of great value. The region in which they are 

 found, hitherto almost unexplored, is likely to 

 be very thoroughly traversed, and to a con- 

 siderable extent by men who are capable of 

 making proper scientific investigations. 



Mr. Winwood Reade has explored the upper 

 waters of the Niger or Quorra, a region hither- 

 to not visited by Europeans, but presents very 

 few new facts, the country being similar, in 

 most particulars, to that so vividly described 

 by Lieutenant Mage. 



Some new contributions have been made to 

 the geography and natural history of the Island 

 of Madagascar, which is now becoming a fa- 

 miliar ground for explorers. 



VIII. AUSTKALASIA. 1. West Australia. 

 The loss of the exploring party under the com- 

 mand of Dr. Leichhardt, in 1849-'50, has been 

 to the Australian colonists, and especially to 

 those of West Australia (from which colony he 



set out), one of those disasters like the loss of 

 Sir John Franklin in the Arctic regions, in 

 which they were slow to believe ; and, though 

 twenty-one years have elapsed since the ex- 

 pedition set out, the colonists have not yet en- 

 tirely given up the hope of finding some of its 

 members, or more definite traces of them. The 

 last searching expedition for the missing ex- 

 plorer was sent out in 1869. Mr. F. Roe, a 

 government officer, had been informed by 

 some of the native bushmen that, at a point 

 thirteen days' journey north of Koblyanob- 

 bing, there were still the bones and guns of 

 some white men who had been- killed there 

 twenty years before. They gave the details 

 of the place and circumstances connected 

 with the finding so minutely, that he was con- 

 vinced of their truthfulness, and, at his instance 

 and that of Dr. Muller, the Colonial Govern- 

 ment sent out a small expedition to visit the 

 point designated. Mr. John Forrest, Surveyor- 

 General of the colony, commanded the party, 

 to which two of the natives who had told the 

 story were attached. As they drew near the 

 point indicated, the natives began to waver in 

 their statements, and it finally appeared that it 

 was the bones of some horses, lost by Captain 

 Austin in 1854, which they had seen or heard 

 of. The Australian natives are universally 

 notoriously untruthful. Mr. Forrest, however, 

 pushed on as far as his provisions would allow, 

 in the hope of making some further discover- 

 ies, and found another of those great salt-lakes 

 which abound in the interior of Australia, and 

 which, partly dry during the dry season, ex- 

 tend over vast areas during the rains. He 

 reached a point in latitude 28 45' S., longi- 

 tude 122 50' E., from Greenwich, but found 

 the country barren and worthless. 



2. South Australia. This colony has been 

 granted by the British Government a tract 

 running through to the north coast, on tho 

 Gulf of Carpentaria and the Timor Sea, so 

 that North Australia is, in fact, a part of South 

 Australia, though separated from it by a terri- 

 ble and almost impassable desert. The South 

 Astralian Government has attempted to plant 

 colonies on this north coast. The climate is 

 very hot from October to April, and is thought 

 to be insalubrious. Recently Mr. Goyder, the 

 Surveyor-General of South Australia, has been 

 carefully exploring the country, and recom- 

 mends the location of a colony at Port Dar- 

 win. 



3. Papua, or New Guinea. This great 

 island, 1,030 miles in length, and with a mean 

 breadth of 300 miles, is inhabited by a robust, 

 powerful race, distinct in their characteristics 

 from the Australians or the Malays. Captain 

 Delargy, of the schooner Active, an English 

 vessel engaged in the leche-de-mer fishery, did, 

 however, succeed, in November, 1869, in open- 

 ing friendly intercourse with the Papuans at 

 Sybee, a village in Torres Straits, and found 

 them kind and friendly when they were con- 

 vinced that his intentions were peaceful. 



