TELEGRAPH, ELECTRIC. 



725 



route, :i:nl urrnvd nt Petropaulovsky, July 2">tli. 



. ;nic.itions from him, nml from 



wli rii many statements of this article aro 



:i. a|>poan.-'l in tho N"ew York II- r 



.if Nuvt inbcr 10, 18C6 (from Petropaulov- 



, an 1 K'c.embcr 15, I860; tlio 



jjiung a view of tho organization and of 



;ati"ii9 up to the early part of I860, and 



tho former an account, up to tho date of send- 



>f the explorations on the Asiatic .v 



tiel Bulkley found that tho narrowest 

 portion of Behrin-j's Strait afforded no suitable 

 landing-places for the cable; but that, farther 

 south, safe harbors, and with mud bottom, 

 ritod themselves. on tho American coast, 

 in (Jrantly Harbor, opening iuto tho eastern 

 bido of Port Clarence, and on tho Asiatic, in 

 cither Penkegu Gulf or Abolesher Bay, opening 

 into Seniavine Strait; while the intervening 

 waters have a bottom of mud, sand and gravel, 

 their depth being about thirty fathoms. Owing 

 to tho steady northward current, which con- 

 tin aes below even when tho surface movement 

 is changed by strong winds, and to the shallow- 

 ness of water, icebergs are here unknown, and 

 shore-ice alone is to bo dealt with. The coun- 

 try east of Behring's Strait, as on Norton 

 Sound, is without timber, but covered with a 

 heavy growth of moss, and, in some places, 

 with small, stunted bushes. Tho Siberian side 

 is more mountainous, without timber, and with 

 hut little moss, except in tho valleys. Tho 

 poles for this part of tho routo, of sawed cedar 

 or red- wood, have been provided at Pugct 

 Sound. 



Tho length of cable required for crossing 

 Behring's Strait, between tho points named, 

 is 178 nautical miles. That required to cross 

 Anadyr Bay, and for which also fit landings 

 were found, is 209 nautical miles. The cable 

 for these lines is of about tho size of the 

 present Atlantic cables. It was made by 

 Henley & Co.. England, and in February, 1806, 

 shipped for Behring's Strait, via Victoria. 



Space will here allow only of tho general 

 results of tho explorations on tho Asiatic coast, 

 full information in respect to which may bo 

 found in the articles already referred to, and in 

 the published "Statement" of tho Company. 

 Major Abasa, leaving San Francisco, July 3, 

 . in the Russian brig Olga, reached Petro- 

 paulovsky on the 8th of August, and, with 

 Lieutenant Kennon, left for the interior, travel- 

 ling up the peninsula of Kaintschatka to Ghijiga, 

 or Ghijinsk, at the head of tho gulf of that 

 name (one of the northeasterly extensions of 

 tho Okhotsk Sea), and to Okhotslt, at tho ex- 

 treme northwestern part of tho same sea. and 

 thence, it appears, west and south to Port Ayan. 

 Captain Mahood and party reached Nicolaiev- 

 ky, August 17th, and explored tho route thenco 

 to Ayan, and to Okhotsk this following tho 

 coast through much of tho distance, but with a 

 marked exception in the country of tho Tun- 

 gusi, where, to avoid the coast mountains, it 

 proceeds inland by a valley heretofore little 



known, and which tho ti ibo named, having prc- 

 vidtiv-ly kept it secret for their own use, revealed 

 to the explorers. The coast mountains rof.-rr.-d 

 to lie between Okhotsk and Ayan, and - 

 far inland ; but tho asserted impassibility of 

 1 their bases next tho sea, has later been rendered 

 doubtful by tho proposition of the Government 

 to build a postal road along this coast. From 

 Ghyiga to Anadyrsk, situated some 860 miK-j 

 up the Anadyr River, tho routo was explored 

 by Lieutenant Kennon, who thence passed 

 down the Anadyr to its opening into Anadyr 

 Bay ; while Captain Macrae, sotting out in 

 November from the latter point, travelled by a 

 circuitous route thence to Anadyrsk; and both 

 these explorers proceeded from that place again 

 to Ghijiga, to report to -Major Abasa. Lieuten- 

 ant Kennon made the important discovery of a 

 branch of the Anadyr, the Myan, the head- 

 waters of which aro near to those of the Pen- 

 jinsk River; so that, both streams being 

 navigable for small boats, there exists an almost 

 continuous water communication from the Ok- 

 hotsk Sea, not far east from Ghijiga, to the point 

 at which the Anadyr Bay cable will be landed. 

 Thus, it appears, that the entire extent over 

 which land lines will bo required in Eastern 

 Asia, has been found feasible for their construc- 

 tion. Along most of the route south of Ana- 

 dyr Bay, also, sufficient timber exists; though 

 the required poles must be transported in somo 

 places, where the line crosses mountain ranges, 

 or extends over the moss swamps upon which 

 the reindeer feed. Besides, the somewhat ex- 

 tensive travels of Messrs. Abasa, Mahood, Ken- 

 non, Macrae, and their companions, appear to 

 have demonstrated that the various fixed and 

 nomadic tribes along or near tho route, tho 

 Kamtschadales, Koriaks, Tungusi, and even the 

 Tchuktchis, of more northern Siberia, hitherto 

 considered savage, will prove entirely friendly; 

 while Mr. Bulkley gives a like character to the 

 Indians of the northwestern American coast 



It may now, indeed, be said with probability 

 that tho entire route of the proposed line, npon 

 both continents, has been explored and deter- 

 mined. In the Asiatic division, workmen have 

 been secured, and the work begun at several 

 points, as at Anadyrsk, Ghijinsk, Yamsk, Ta- 

 ousk, and Okhotsk, poles being cut and build- 

 ings for stations and supply depots constructed. 

 Mr. Paul Anossoff had been appointed superin- 

 tendent of the line in Eastern Siberia. It is 

 anticipated that the whole line may be com- 

 pleted and in operation in course of the year 

 1868. The transmission of messages along 

 land lines of such length is rendered compara- 

 tively easy by use of the so-called "mechanical 

 repeaters," now for some time familiar to prac- 

 tical telegraphists, and which, being interposed 

 at tho requisite intervals in the course of a 

 wire, may be said to revive and reproduce the 

 original strength of tho current, otherwise ex- 

 hausted, thus renewing the signals sent, with- 

 out the necessity of introducing new batteries 

 and operators to repeat the dispatches. 



