352 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1867. 



and the borders of Arizona, and which he has 

 graphically detailed in his " Two Thousand 

 Miles on Horseback," published in the autumn 

 of 1867. The most important facts developed 

 by the gallant captain related to the Pueblo or 

 village Indians of New Mexico, a race differing 

 materially from the Indian tribes of the rest 

 of the United States, and who had attained 

 to a very considerable degree of civilization, 

 and had abandoned, if indeed they had ever 

 adopted, the nomadic life, centuries before the 

 white men entered New Mexico. Many of the 

 facts stated by Captain Meliue are very inter- 

 esting, and they are fully corroborated by the 

 missionaries in New Mexico. The greater part 

 of the Pueblos profess the Catholic faith, but 

 it is believed that many and perhaps most of 

 them are really idolaters, and practise their 

 idolatrous rites in secret whenever they can find 

 an opportunity of doing so. 



The report of Messrs. J. Ross Browne and 

 James W. Taylor on the mineral resources of 

 the "Western States and Territories, in connec- 

 tion with much other interesting matter, gives 

 the elevation above the sea level of many of 

 the most important mining towns. The fol- 

 lowing are the most important : 



Height aboY 



Placerville 1,800 ft. 



Auburn 1,200 " 



Dutch Flat 2,943 " 



Nevada, Cal 2,573 " 



Brandy City 3,592 " 



Eureka 5,223." 



Sierra Buttes Mine.. 7,000 " 



Nelson's Point 3,858 " 



Quincy 3,500 " 



Height above 

 sea level. 



Shasta City 1,159 ft. 



Murphy's 2,201 " 



Silver Mountain 6,516 " 



Markleville 6,306 " 



Mogul 8,650 " 



Silver City 4,911 " 



Virginia City, Nov.. 6,205 " 



Como,Nev 6,600 " 



Great Salt Lake City. 4,351 " 



A scientific expedition ordered by Congress, 

 and organized by Major-Genera] Humphrey, 

 commander of the Corps of Engineers, started 

 from San Francisco in May, 1867, having for 

 its object the exploration of a strip of land on 

 both sides of the fortieth parallel of latitude, 

 from the eastern boundary of California to the 

 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains in Colo- 

 rado. The corps had for its chief Mr. Clarence 

 King, and associated with him were James T. 

 Gardner, II. Ouster, and F. A. Clarke, as to- 

 pographers ; Professor J. D. Hague, Arnold 

 Hague, and Samuel F. Emmons, as geologists ; 

 "W. W. Bailey, botanist ; Robert Ridgeway, 

 zoologist, and T. H. O'Sullivan, photographer. 

 They were allowed a military escort where it 

 was necessary. It is expected that the explo- 

 rations will occupy about three years. . 



We have nothing of interest to note in Mexico. 



In Central .America the most noteworthy 

 geographical fact is the formation and eleva- 

 tion, between the 14th of November and the 

 1st of December, 1867, of a new volcanic cone 

 in Nicaragua, about eight leagues east of the 

 city of Leon, on a line of about twenty volca- 

 noes. The exact location of this new volcano 

 was midway between the two extinct volcanoes 

 of Las Pilas and Orota. It commenced with 

 two craters, one vertical, and the other at an 

 angle of 45 degrees, about 1,000 feet apart, but 

 connecting at some distance below the surface. 



It was estimated that during a part of their 

 eruption they threw up red-hot sand and frag- 

 ments of basaltic rock to a height of 3,000 feet. 

 The volcano is about 200 feet in height. This 

 volcanic eruption was preceded and accompa- 

 nied by remarkable phenomena in the West 

 Indies. Tortola was visited with a most de- 

 structive hurricane on the 30th of October, and, 

 during the month of November, St. Thomas 

 and St. John were desolated by repeated shocks 

 of earthquakes, in some of which the water in 

 the harbors swept in a vast wave over the sea- 

 port and then receded, leaving the anchorage- 

 grounds nearly bare. Large ships, one of the 

 steamships of the United States Navy among 

 them, were carried high up upon the shore, 

 and great destruction of life and property re- 

 sulted. It was stated by observers that there 

 were 282 distinct earthquake shocks. 



South America. The South American Con- 

 tinent is always a favorite field for geographic 

 exploration, but the discoveries of the past 

 year have not been as important as those of 

 former years. The northern portion of the 

 continent offers nothing new or specially im- 

 portant. Mr. F. Hassaurek, for four years Uni- 

 ted States minister to Ecuador, and recently 

 returned from that country, gave, in his " Four 

 Years in Spanish America," much important 

 geographical information relative to the soil, 

 minerals, resources, navigation, roads, and pro- 

 ductions of that republic, and some account 

 of its mountains, which is new and interesting. 

 There seems little reason to hope for an ad- 

 vance in civilization, intellectual culture, or 

 moral and physical progress in those smaller 

 Spanish-American republics without the infu- 

 sion, in larger measure, of an enterprising and 

 energetic population. A country without good 

 roads, or means of transit by land or water, 

 must always remain in a low condition of civil- 

 ization, enterprise, co*mmerce, and wealth, and 

 when the inhabitants of such a country desire 

 no change or improvement, their condition is 

 very nearly hopeless. 



In Peru there was, during the year, some 

 river exploration and a considerable amount of 

 archaeological research, but little of it, how- 

 ever, performed by citizens of Peru. Two 

 English engineers, Messrs. "Wallace and Main,', 

 employed on vessels of the Peruvian Navy 

 which were plying on the Marafion and its 

 tributaries, sent, in the summer of 1867, to the 

 Royal Geographical Society an account, of an 

 expedition sent by the Peruvian Government 

 up the Ucayali and Pachitea Rivers, to punish 

 the Cashibo Indians for their unprovoked and 

 cruel murder of two of the officers of the war- 

 steamer Putamayo, Messrs. Tavira and West, who 

 had landed on the banks of the Pachitea and 

 attempted to open a trade with the natives, but 

 had been murdered and eaten by these Indians. 

 The Ucayali is one of the most considerable of 

 the tributaries of the Marafion, or Upper Ama- 

 zonas, and the Pachitea is one of its affluents, 

 which enters the. Ucayali about lat. 8 20' S. 



