308 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



The party of scientists who visited the lake were 

 guided by two frontiersmen, half-breeds, and for 

 many miles they were obliged to chop their way 

 through dense forests and tangled undergrowth, 

 where nothing but the trails of deer and footprints 

 of bear could be detected. 



After two days they came upon a basin in the 

 shape of a horseshoe, about 2 miles long and a mile 

 or more wide, surrounded by walls of rock, rising 

 almost perpendicularly 3,000 or 4,000 feet. In the 

 door of this basin is a beautiful deep lake a mile 

 and a half in length by half a mile in width. The 

 surrounding ledges are surmounted by numerous 

 peaks, rising to dizzy heights, their summits white 

 with snow. At the liead of the basin are 2 streams 

 of icy water pouring in beautiful cascades over the 

 cliffs. The total height of these streams was esti- 

 mated to be at least 2,500 feet. Along a portion of 

 the southern wall a slope extends from a height 

 of 2,000 feet down nearly to the border of the lake. 



The sinking of the bed of Lake Chapala, in the 

 State of Jalisco, Mexico, was reported by E. H. Cof- 

 fey, of San Diego, in January. This lake, which is 

 south of Guadalajara and northwest of the city of 

 Mexico, is 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. "On 

 the forenoon of Jan. 8 the residents of one of the 

 small settlements near the western end of the lake 

 were terrified to see a gigantic whirlpool far out 

 on the water, the cause of which was a mystery, and 

 a rumbling noise was heard. The whirlpool result- 

 ing, apparently, from this sinking of the lake's 

 bottom, was of wide extent, and many pleasure 

 boats and fishing craft were sucked into the abyss. 

 The natives on shore could plainly see the boats, 

 none of which were near the center of the whirlpool 

 at first. But as the rush of waters continued the 

 irresistible force could not be overcome by the men 

 in the boats, and their efforts to escape the death 

 that reached out for them were awful to witness. 

 The whirlpool continued for nearly twenty minutes, 

 and the lake receded several feet from its former 

 shore line. Prof. Coffey explored much of this 

 lake's coast line in 1888. At that time he found 

 petroleum and coal in quantities that proved the 

 existence of vast wealth in that region. Since the 

 strange occurrence just described petroleum has 

 been found running in small streams above the 

 surface on the southern shore. Lake Chapala is in 

 the center of a distinctly volcanic district, and it 

 is not far from the active volcano of Colima. It is 

 also very near Jorullo volcano, which rose in a night 

 from the level plain in 1789. After the sinking of 

 the lake no unusual activity was noticed in the vol- 

 canos or in that region." 



A journey of exploration in the western part of 

 the Argentine Republic, under the lead of Dr. F. 

 P. Moreno, director of the Museo de la Plata, seems 

 to have had important results. Joining a company 

 of 26 engineers, cartographers, geologists, and bot- 

 anists who had been at work for some time, Dr. 

 Moreno traveled from Mendoza to the neighbor- 

 hood of St. George's Gulf, in latitude 47 south, ex- 

 amining closely the coasts and the higher lands, 

 and gathering data for correcting and filling out 

 the map. The La Plata lake, discovered about 

 three years ago to the west of Fontana lake, was 

 visited. At Fontana lake coal was found, and 

 near Senguerr river a great aerolite, 130 kilo- 

 grammes in weight, was discovered and taken away. 

 This expedition was the last of a series begun in 

 1894, in the course of which 25,000 miles have been 

 traveled over ; the collections made are very exten- 

 sive, and 2,000 photographs were taken. The most 

 minute studies made were in the territories of 

 Ncuquen. Rio Negro, and Chnbut. The native 

 races were studied, and two hitherto unknown 

 tongues were discovered those of the Guenna- 



quenes and of the northern Tehuelchen. Eight 

 new lakes were found north of Lake Nahuel Huapi. 

 and 15 south of it, some of them as much as 34 

 kilometres in length. The mysterious river Tete- 

 leufu was explored to its source, and in some 

 places it was found to be 8 metres deep. The 

 beauty and fertility of the region about Nahuel 

 Huapi were greatly praised. Dr. Moreno thinks 

 the Bariloche pass, heretofore unidentified, lies on 

 the Lago de Gutierrez. 



An examination of the islands on the western 

 coast of Patagonia by the Chilian navy seems to 

 have proved that the supposed large islands there 

 are really groups of numberless small islands, sepa- 

 rated by narrow, fiordlike channels. As the Chonos 

 and Wellington islands were found to be archipela- 

 goes, so now it appears that Queen Adelaide's island 

 is also an archipelago. 



Dr. Otto Nordenskjold led a small party from 

 Sweden in an examination of Tierra del Fuego, be- 

 ginning in the autumn of 1895, intending also to 

 visit the eastern slopes of the Cordilleras in south- 

 ern Patagonia if weather should permit. The party 

 penetrated far into the interior from Sebastian Bay 

 on the east and Admiralty Sound on the west, and 

 visited Last Hope inlet on the western coast. 



Europe. A number of members of the Man- 

 chester Geographical Society, called the "Victori- 

 ans," have established a system of free lectures on 

 geographical subjects illustrated with lantern pic- 

 tures. During the past five years they have given 

 over 300 lectures in Manchester and its vicinity, to 

 more than 90,000 hearers. The audiences consist 

 principally of working people, but include also 

 students and members of literary and scientific 

 clubs. Among the subjects of lectures that have 

 been given are the following : " Polar Explora- 

 tions," " Uganda," " Across the Rocky Mountains," 

 "China, Korea, and Japan," "Shaping of the 

 Earth's Surface by Water Action," " Canada," 

 "India,"' and " Map Projection." 



Asia. Much has been done in surveying and 

 mapping the northern coast of western Siberia dur- 

 ing the past three summers. The mouths of the 

 Obi and Yenisei rivers, being of first commercial 

 importance, were examined first, together with the 

 coast between them. A new island was discovered 

 opposite the peninsula Matte-Sale. In the Gulf of 

 Obi it was found that the eastern side is wrongly 

 represented on the maps, not running in a straight 

 line, but curving often toward the south. The 

 difference between the real and supposed coastlines 

 is about 45 leagues. The Kara Sea was examined in 

 the summer of 1896. Capt. Wiggins, who began 

 his voyages to the Obi and Yenisei rivers twenty- 

 two years ago, has maintained that the route 

 through the Kara Sea was perfectly practicable. In 

 a paper read in London he gave a general survey 

 of the various expeditions (25 in number, beginning 

 from 1874, in which not fewer than 37 vessels have 

 taken part) accomplishing voyages to the mouths 

 of the Obi and the Yenisei, anil also up these rivers. 

 He enumerated the voyages made under his com- 

 mand, and was firmly" convinced that no wrecks 

 were caused by the influence of the ice, but those 

 that had occurred should be ascribed to fogs and 

 other causes, which might be met during naviga- 

 tion in any other quarter of the globe. 



The total number of trading vessels sailing on 

 the Kara Sea during the past twenty years was 230. 

 An immense timber trade, he said, was in store for 

 enterprising exporters. With regard to gold min- 

 ing, the greater part is conducted in a very primi- 

 tive manner. 



A book on the advisability of turning the waters 

 of the Amu-daria into their old channel leading '" 

 the Caspian Sea, and thus acquiring a water way 



