GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1872. 341 



able number of new maps, some of them of 

 great beauty, issued ; further efforts made to 

 establish, definitely and conclusively, the actual 

 meridian of Paris ; an extension of the arc of 

 meridian into Algeria and to Iceland proposed ; 

 further discoveries made as to the elevation of 

 some of the sea-shores, and the depression of 

 others, and the census of several of the Euro- 

 pean states completed and published. It has 

 been ascertained that the Swiss glaciers cover 

 209,609 hectares (in round numbers 500,000 

 acres), or more than half the whole area of 

 the Swiss cantons. About half of these gla- 

 ciers belong to the basin of the Rhone ; 75,050 

 hectares feed the waters of the Rhine, 18,251 

 hectares the Danube or one of its affluents, and 

 12,581 the Po. The German census of Decem- 

 ber 1, 1871, is just published. The population 

 of Prussia is 24,642,386, of whom 12,051,232 

 are males, and 12,490,776 females; an increase 

 of about 2.8 per cent, since 1867. The increase 

 of population in Baden had been only 1.84 per 

 cent. Bavaria had increased only .53 per cent. 

 Mannheim, in Baden, had 39,614 inhabitants, 

 Carlsruhe, 36,622. A new tunnel through the 

 St. Gothard Mountain, in the Alps, has been 

 commenced the .St. Gothard Railway Com- 

 pany being rivals of the proprietors of the 

 Mont Cenis line. It is to be nine miles and a 

 little more in length, to be finished in eight 

 years or less, and to cost $10,000,000. Ex- 

 tensive excavations have been made in Rome, 

 under the direction of the Italian Govern- 

 ment, and an English Archaaological Society, 

 and have resulted in interesting archaeologi- 

 cal discoveries, and in throwing doubt and 

 distrust on legends heretofore confidently 

 believed ; especially that of the Mamertine 

 prisons having been the last place of impris- 

 onment of the apostles Peter and Paul prior 

 to their martyrdom. Excavations have also 

 been made in Athens, with very interesting 

 results. It is found that ancient Athens was 

 not less than fifty feet below the modern city. 

 V. ASIA.. The geographical discoveries and 

 explorations in Asia, in 1872, are of three 

 classes : the results of travel not undertaken 

 for distinctly geographical purposes, but of 

 great interest from their incidental relations 

 to geography ; the results of military or engi- 

 neering expeditions, some of them preceded by 

 explorers who collected geographical informa- 

 tion either for present or future military and 

 commercial purposes ; and explorations in the 

 interests of biblical, historical, or other archgeo- 

 logical investigations. To the first class be- 

 long the late W. H. Seward's " Travels 

 Around the World," which, though undertak- 

 en as a pleasure-trip, were full of geographi- 

 cal as well as political and national interest. 

 His long career as a Senator, and his eight 

 years' service as Secretary of State, and pre- 

 mier of the national Cabinet, had given him a 

 wider reputation among Oriental nations than 

 that possessed by any American citizen then 

 living -, and, though holding no diplomatic ap- 



pointment, and affecting to be nothing more than 

 a private citizen, he was everywhere received 

 with honors such as had never fallen to the 

 lot of any foreigner, and such as had in 

 many instances been previously withheld from 

 the highest potentates. His reception in pub- 

 lic by the Mikado or Tenno, of Japan, was the 

 first instance, in many centuries, in which the 

 profound mystery of the imperial court had 

 been penetrated, and it paved the way for a 

 change which seems to be as beneficent as it 

 is extraordinary. In China, also, his dignified 

 and statesmanlike intercourse with the highest 

 official personages of the Imperial Government 

 was alike honorable to himself and beneficial 

 to the country of which he was an unofficial 

 representative. Gifted with remarkable powers 

 of observation, and the ability to utilize them, 

 Mr. Seward's notes of the countries through 

 which he passed, in his extended tour, are re- 

 plete with interest in regard to the ethnology, 

 habits, customs, manners, agriculture, com- 

 merce, and artistic advancement of these va- 

 rious peoples. The vast wealth and gorgeous 

 display of some of the Indian princes and ma- 

 harajas who entertained Mr. Seward and his 

 party make the stories of the u Arabian Nights' 

 Entertainments" seem simple verities. To 

 the second class belong the numerous expedi- 

 tions sent by the Russian Government into 

 the khanate of Khiva, various portions of 

 Soongaria, the Pamir Steppe, Mantchooria, 

 Saghalien, Corea, and elsewhere, with a view 

 to extend its commerce and its conquests 

 over the wild nomadic tribes of Central Asia; 

 the exploring parties sent out mainly for com- 

 mercial purposes by the British Government, 

 from India, to penetrate the regions on both 

 sides of the Himalayas, and to traverse, as 

 far as possible, Thibet and Western China ; and 

 the expeditions of other powers, or of mis- 

 sionary explorers, through Siam, Cochin China, 

 Sumatra, Java, and Borneo. Our space does 

 not permit us to go into detail in regard to 

 any of these expeditions, and perhaps not to 

 mention the names of all ; but a few words 

 concerning the more prominent must suffice. 

 M. Matusoffsky, in 1870-71, made a journey 

 from the frontiers of Western Siberia to Khobdo 

 and Uliasutai, and thence to the north, to the 

 sources of the Yenissei and to Minusinsk, con- 

 tributing largely to our knowledge of a region 

 hitherto almost unexplored. He ascertained 

 that the position of Khobdo, on Klaproth's 

 map, was seventy-four miles west of its true 

 position, and that Lake Ike-Aral and some 

 of the mountains were in wrong positions. 

 M. Schepeleff explored the district of Kuldja, 

 in Toorkistan, or Soongaria, in 1871-'72, giving 

 valuable details concerning its geographical 

 position, tribes, population, etc., and crossed 

 the Moodjart Pass in the Thian-Shan, within 

 the limits of Kashgar. M. Fedchenko, another 

 Russian officer, in the summer of 187l, pene- 

 trated to the northern part of the Pamir Steppe, 

 crossing the Cheptyk Pass, 12,000 feet above 



