GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AXD DISCOVERIES. 



403 



of Oct. 6, 186-i, a paper was road, communi- 

 cated by AV. P. Jones Esq., U. S. Consul at 

 Macao, irivin:: a narrative of a voyage which he 

 had made in August, 1863, up the Pearl or North 

 Canton River to Shan Chan Foo, a large city 

 three hundred and thirty miles above Canton. 

 He noted the great density of the population, 

 large cities occurring at every few miles, one 

 of them, Fat-Shan, having a population of 

 600,000 inhabitants, and another, Tsing-Une, 

 300,000. and the whole shores being lined with 

 populous villages. The country was very fertile, 

 and bore evidence of high cultivation. The 

 scenery was beautiful, often grand, from the 

 lofty mountains which approached the banks, 

 and the narrow and abrupt passes through 

 which the river forced its way. A little more 

 than a hundred miles above Canton they came 

 upon a remarkable natural bridge of blue lime- 

 stone, called Pik Lank Xgam, of one hundred 

 and twenty-five feet span, from fifty to seventy- 

 five feet in height, and at least two hundred and 

 fifty in length. Beneath this natural arch flow- 

 ed a stream sixty feet broad and of great depth. 

 Above this bridge the rocks rise in perpendicu- 

 lar walls on each side more than three hundred 

 feet above the water. At one hundred and 

 sixty miles above Canton, they found a cave of 

 vast extent, opening at the base of a precipice 

 eight hundred feet in height. This cave the 

 Buddhists had converted into a temple to the 

 Goddess of Mercy (Koon Yam). At several 

 points the Chinese were burning marble, of ex- 

 cellent quality for lime. 



Mr. Robert Swinhoe, H. M. Yice-Consnl at 

 Taiwan Foo, the principal city of the island of 

 Formosa, communicated to the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society a paper on that island in Dec., 

 18G3. It is a district of a province of China, and 

 its government is administered by a special gov- 

 ernor, who is responsible only to the Emperor. 

 The coast is considered dangerous, and ship- 

 wrecks are frequent, but there are good harbors 

 on the southern end of the island, and the Tarn 

 Suy River on the northwest has excellent an- 

 chorage and a good depth of water. The cap- 

 ital, Foo Chow, is not far distant from the 

 river. The western coasts of the island are 

 peopled by Chinese, who have driven the abor- 

 igines back into the mountains and toward the 

 eastern shore. The Malays and Japanese have 

 also emigrated to the island to some extent. 

 The aborigines are of doubtful origin, but are 

 some of them ferocious and bear the reputation 

 of being cannibals; while others, according to 

 Mr. Swinhoe,' understand most of the arts of 

 civilization, and seemed to be a quiet and peace- 

 ful people. The principal productions of the 

 island were tea, rice, sugar, barley, jute, grass 

 cloth fibre, rice paper, rattans, wheat of good 

 quality, camphor, petroleum, and dyewoods. In 

 the northeast, at Coal Harbor, is an abundance 

 of excellent lignite coal. 



The progress of geographical discovery in Oc- 

 ceanicahasnot been remarkable during the year. 

 Two companies have been formed to effect 



settlements of colonists in North Australia ; one 

 from South Australia to settle on the banks of 

 the Adelaide in Arnhem's Land, the other from 

 Queen's Land to occupy Point Somerset near 

 Cape York. The British Government have also 

 ordered the establishment of a naval station on 

 Albany Island near Cape York. The inside of 

 the Great Barrier reef has been thoroughly 

 surveyed, and the navigation along the East 

 coast rendered safe. It has been demonstrated 

 that sheep will thrive in Australia up to 19 = S. 

 lat. The attempt to acclimatize the Alpaca 

 there has proved a failure. Mr. H. M. Lefroy 

 has penetrated into the interior of Western Aus- 

 tralia, in search of new districts adapted to 

 sheep farming, and found an immense tract 

 with abundant and nutritious grasses, never 

 before visited by Europeans. An interior chain 

 of lakes was discovered, and fertile plains 

 bordering on them. 



Careful surveys have been continued of con- 

 siderable portions of the Middle Island of Xew 

 Zealand, by Drs. Hector and Haast, mentioned 

 in the geological article in the ANNUAL CYCLO- 

 PEDIA of last year, and the Lake districts of 

 the Otago province have been explored by Mr. 

 McKerrow . Several of the mountains, as Mount 

 Aspiring and Mount Richard, attain an eleva- 

 tion of over 10,000 feet; and the line of perpet- 

 ual snow in that latitude is 8,000 feet. Several 

 extensive glaciers in connection with these 

 mountains have been surveyed. Both Dr. Haast 

 and Mr. t McKerrow have ascertained that an 

 elevated mountain chain of an altitude of from 

 9,000 to 10,000 feet extends from northeast to 

 southwest, through the whole length of the 

 island, forming its watershed. The continuity 

 of this chain is broken through only in a very 

 few places, and elsewhere it presents high and 

 abrupt walls of great altitude throughout its 

 whole length in the Canterbury province. Of 

 the few passes through this chain, one explored 

 by Dr. Haast was unique in character, and only 

 1,062 feet in height. Gold is found in increas- 

 ing quantities in the province of Otago. 



We turn lastly to AFBICA, which during the 

 past year has been more than ordinarily unfor- 

 tunate in the loss of eminent explorers. Capt. 

 Speke came to his death accidentally in Eng- 

 land, Dr. Steudner, Mrs. Tinne and her sister, 

 all belonging to the Tinne party, were victims 

 to the fevers of the Upper Nile, and M. de 

 Hengh'n, M. D'Ablaing, and Miss Tinne, of the 

 same party, narrowly escaped with their lives. 

 The botanist Schubert also succumbed to this 

 terrible paludal fever. M. Jules Gerard the 

 lion-killer, who had undertaken to explore the 

 region east of Sierra Leone, was drowned in 

 the river Jong, or, according to other accounts, 

 murdered by the natives ; and Dr. Baikie, after 

 completing his long and toilsome explorations hi 

 Soudan, and arriving in safety at Sierra Leone, 

 fell a victim to fever there. It was reported 

 that Dr. Livingstone was killed by the natives, 

 but fortunately for geographical science, though 

 wounded, he recovered, and is new in England. 



