GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



437 



eminent geographers have taken part in the 

 surveys and have published accounts of their 

 discoveries. The War Department of the 

 French Government published, early in 1868, 

 a very fine map of the Libanus range and its 

 spurs and offshoots, the result of the topograph- 

 ical surveys of the French engineers. M. R. 

 Edwards issued a semi-historical treatise on 

 Syria from 1840 to 1862 ; M. Desmoulins pub- 

 lished under the sanction of the War Depart- 

 ment " Hydrographic and Statistical Informa- 

 tion concerning the coast of Syria." MM. 

 H. Guys, Louet, Stepp, Bevet, and Isaacs, have 

 written works on Syria, and an English writer, 

 Mr. Mansel, has published a " Coast Survey of 

 Palestine." Dr. Beke, the African traveller, 

 has during the past year penetrated into the 

 country lying east of Palestine, known as the 

 Hauran, as far as the mountains of Galaad (the 

 ancient Gilead), but his narrative of his travels 

 is not yet published. Two French savans, MM. 

 Mas Latrie and Kotschy, have been exploring 

 the isle of Cyprus, and the former has published 

 a map of it. Other eminent scholars, and among 

 the number Messrs. Vogue and Waddington, 

 have been engaged in archaeological explor- 

 ations of the island, and their labors have been 

 rewarded by interesting and important discov- 

 eries. M. Kotschy, after his return from Cyprus, 

 penetrated into the interior of Asia Minor, and 

 visited the pashalic of Adana, in the ancient 

 province of Cilicia. In the district of Zeitun, 

 in that pashalic, he found a little Armenian 

 confederation of about 15,000 souls, who had 

 maintained an ecclesiastical and civil independ- 

 ence, recognizing no other authority than that 

 of their patriarch, whose see was at the Monas- 

 tery of Sis, to the west of Marach. They had 

 been attacked by the Mohammedans in 1862, and 

 some of their people slain. The clergy of the 

 confederation had sent a delegation to ask the 

 assistance and protection of the Western powers. 

 Turning to Persia, we find evidences of 

 abundant activity in geographical exploration. 

 Northern Persia has been visited and explor- 

 ed with great thoroughness by the Cheva- 

 lier Gasteiger-Ravenstein and his party. The 

 narrative of the scientific journey of M. Dorn 

 in Mazenduan, Ghilan, etc., in 1861 and 1862, 

 has been translated into Russ, by the Russian 

 geographer Khanikoff, who has himself travel- 

 led through the greater part of Persia and 

 Khorassan. Messrs. Watson, Brugsch, and 

 others, who ascended the peak of Demavend, 

 in 1861, read a paper before the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society of London, which was pub- 

 lished in the proceedings of 1862, giving an ac- 

 count of their ascent. They state the height 

 of the mountain as 20,800 feet. Dr. Brugsch 

 has since published, at Leipsic, an extended 

 narrative of these explorations in this part of 

 Persia, under the title of " Voyage de VAm- 

 bassade Prussienne en Perse, en 1860, et 1861," 

 with a map by M. Kiepert. The " Journal of 

 the Royal Geographical Society at London" 

 contains a narrative of discoveries in Per- 



sia, Khorassan, and Afghanistan, by Captain 

 Claude Clark. The British Admiralty have 

 published, in 1863, a survey of the Persian 

 Gulf in two charts, the result of the labors of 

 Commander Constable and Lieutenant Stiffe. 

 The telegraph has made its way into Persia, 

 Teheran, its capital, being in communication 

 with Recht, Tauris, and Bagdad, and through 

 the latter city with Constantinople and Europe. 

 The Persians, less apathetic and indolent than 

 Turk or Tartar, have fairly started on the 

 highway of progress ; a fondness for scientific 

 research is manifested ; the young men of the 

 higher classes are sent to England and France 

 to be educated, and return imbued with a 

 fondness for science. The French language 

 is taught in the schools of Teheran, and spoken 

 especially by the youth in the streets of that 

 city. 



The Caucasus has been explored within the 

 past two years by several Russian savans, and 

 General Chodzko, M. Lapinsky, and M. O. 

 Blau, have published maps and narratives of 

 their travels. Captain Ivanchinzoff has made 

 a survey of the Caspian Sea, and published a 

 map of it. 



Afghanistan has been the scene of some rev- 

 olutionary movements during the year 1863, 

 having for their object the obtaining possession 

 of the city of Herat (see DOST MOHAMMED KHAN), 

 but there have been no new geographical ex- 

 plorations. Dr. Bellew, who was at the head 

 of an exploring party in that country, in 1857, 

 has published, during the year, a journal of his 

 observations at that time. 



Central Asia has been explored more fully 

 during the past two years than at any previous 

 period. The Kirghis Prince, Sultan Valitchan- 

 off, mentioned in the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 

 1862, as having traversed the slopes of the 

 Thian-Shan mountains, has continued his ex- 

 plorations in Chinese Turkestan, and has pub- 

 lished interesting narratives of his discov- 

 eries in the provinces of Kashgar, Yarkand, 

 Khotan, Aksou, &c. M. de SemenofF, a Rus- 

 sian geographer, has also continued his la- 

 bors in this region, and has thrown much light 

 upon its orography. The Asiatic Bureau of 

 the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Rus- 

 sian Government, has published a special map 

 of the lower portion of the Amou-daria, the 

 river Oxus of the ancient geographers. 



Siberia has been traversed, and its moun- 

 tains and rivers, its coasts and valleys, very 

 thoroughly explored within the past three or 

 four years, by Russian, German, and French 

 geographers. In 1862 and 1863, Messrs. Maack, 

 Maximowicz, Radde, Fr. Schmidt, Schwartz, 

 Glenn, and others, have traversed this dreary 

 country, and have thrown much light on the 

 eastern portion of it by their interesting nar- 

 ratives of travel, and their maps, which have 

 been remarkable for their minute accuracy of 

 detail. A summary of their discoveries has 

 been published in London the past year, by Mr. 

 Ravenstein, under the title of " The Russians 



