GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AKD DISCOVERIES IN 1869. 



294 



nishes with great accuracy and minuteness in- 

 formation in regard to the exact location of our 

 principal towns throughout the United States, 

 which has not heretofore been accessible. The 

 column of Time from Greenwich will be found 

 of great value in any calculations in regard to 

 the latitude and longitude of any intermediate 

 places : 



Latitude and Longitude of some of the Principal 

 CUU* of the United States, showing the Difference 

 in Time calculated from Greenicich. 



4. IN MEXICO. The volcano of Colima, 

 near the southwest coast, 12,000 feet in height, 

 which had been quiet since 1818, gave indica- 

 . tions, on the 13th of June, 1869, of renewed 

 activity. There were -rumblings, mutterings, 

 quick detonations, and a cloud of light-colored 

 smoke, rising from the top of the mountain. 

 These premonitory symptoms were followed, 

 on the 15th of June, by an eruption of flame, 

 ashes, molten stone and metal, estimated at 

 275 feet in height, and the crater was about 



three miles in circumference. The eruption 

 continued throughout June, and the column of 

 flame and scoria) maintained an altitude of 80 

 or 90 feet, and by the last of that month had 

 made a river of lava down the slope of the 

 mountain about nine miles in length. 



5. IN CENTEAL AMEEICA. M. Paul Levy, an 

 enterprising French naturalist, explored, in the 

 summer of 1869, the west coast, from Panama 

 to Managua, the present capital of the republic 

 of Nicaragua, and in a journey of thirty-two 

 days on horseback passed over much territory 

 which is new to Europeans, or to citizens of 

 the United States. He traversed Chiriqui, and, 

 though the Indians were not very friendly, he 

 was not annoyed by them. He speaks of the 

 country as remarkably beautiful in its scenery, 

 and as capable of sustaining a large population. 



6. THE WEST INDIES. There have been no 

 changes in the physical geography of these 

 islands during 1869, and no earthquakes of 

 importance. An ocean-cable has been ordered 

 to connect Havana with Honduras, but in the 

 present state of anarchy in Cuba it is doubtful 

 whether it will be laid at present. The polit- 

 ical changes and revolutions, not all as yet 

 complete, will greatly influence the future of 

 these islands. Cuba is yet in a state of revolu- 

 tion, and the end of the domination of Spain 

 over the island cannot be far off. Hayti has 

 passed through another revolution, has de- 

 throned and executed its late President, Sal- 

 nave, and installed the successful leader of the 

 revolution, Nissage Saget, in his stead. The 

 President of San Domingo the other, and 

 formerly Spanish, moiety of the island has 

 been endeavoring to negotiate a treaty of an- 

 nexation to the United States, but the ratifica- 

 tion of the treaty by the United States Senate 

 is hardly probable. Our Government has leased 

 the Bay of Samana for fifty years at $150,000 a 

 year, and this lease may be confirmed. The 

 treaty for the purchase of St. Thomas has been 

 rejected by the United States. 



7. IN SOUTH AMEEIOA. Passing across the 

 Caribbean Sea, we find several items of inter- 

 est. The Orinoco gold-fields, or rather those 

 of Caratal, on the Yuruari, an affluent of the 

 Orinoco, were visited in the autumn and winter 

 of 1868-'69 by Mr. C. Le Neve Foster, an Eng- 

 lish geologist and mining engineer, and very 

 thoroughly explored. The region is Kaleigh's 

 "El Dorado," and there is unquestionably an 

 abundance of gold there in quartz lodes, and 

 considerable yet remaining in placers. The 

 processes used in extracting ifc are, except in^ 

 the case of an American company which had 

 recently established itself there, the rudest and 

 least effective possible. Almost the whole ex- 

 traction was done by hand, pounding the gold- 

 bearing quartz in a wooden mortar with an 

 iron pestle, washing it in a bowl, amalgamat- 

 ing it by stirring up the powdered stone with 

 water and quicksilver with a stick, squeezing 

 it out, and then volatilizing the quicksilver 

 by the heat of a fire of sticks. In this rude 



