314 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1878. 



for the eight rears was 12^ inches, to which 

 were to be added 4 inches which fell as snow. 

 The variation in the amount of rainfall was 

 very great in different years, bein_- 1.4" inch, in 

 1866; 6.58 in. in 1807; 11.50 in. in 1868; 9.74 

 in I860; 9.19 in 1870; 10.42 in 1871 ; 19.911 in 

 1872; and 21.11 in 1873. This is obviously 

 insufficient for agricultural purposes without 

 irrigation. Juno, July, ami August, were the 

 only months in which there was not a frost 

 nearly every year. 



But wo must not lose sight of the geo- 

 graphical discoveries and progress of our better 

 known Eastern, Central, and Southern States. 

 During 1873 the commissioners appointed by 

 the New York Legislature to report on the 

 propriety of reserving the Adirondack Wilder- 

 new as a public park, after a general survey 

 and triangnlation of the region, reported in 

 favor of its being retained as a timber preserve 

 and as the source of water-supply for the 

 Hudson River, and the middle and southern 

 counties of the State. They indicated the 

 eventual need of a reservoir near the junction 

 of the Hudson River and the Schroon, to fur- 

 nish a sufficient water-supply for an aqueduct 

 extending to Now York City; but this project 

 is hardly to be thought of in the present cen- 

 tury. Incidentally, the commissioners meas- 

 ured, both by theodolite and barometer, the 

 heights of the principal summits of the Adiron- 

 dack Mountains; of these the following are 

 the most important: Mount Tahawns. or Marcy, 

 5,833 feet; Gray Peak, 4, 947 feet; White Face, 

 4,918 feet; Mount Santanoni, 4,007 feet ; Mount 

 Seward, 4,348 feet; a little lake lying in a 

 chasm between Skylight Mountain and Gray 

 Peak, 4.293 feet, being the summit water of 

 the State; North River Mountain, M.722 feet; 

 Rigged Mountain, 4,1 L>>; feet: Hnld Face, 8,859 

 feet; Monnt Colvin, about the same; Grain's 

 Mountain, 8,252 feet; Andrew Mountain, 8,180 

 Speculation Mountain, 8,004 feet None 

 of the others rise to the altitude of 3,00o 



There has been considerable discussion dur- 

 ing the year in regard to the height of the 

 mountains of North Carolina, which are ac- 

 knowledged to be the highest east of the Mi-- 

 siasippi. A note from the eminent geologist, 

 T. Sterry Hunt, puts the matter in its true 

 light. lie says : " Wo owe the accurate meas- 

 urement of these heights to Prof. Arnold 

 Guyot, of Princeton, whose results, obtained 

 in July, 1856, were made known the following 

 year in the American Journal . .in I 



more fully in the fame journal ibr May, 1861, 

 in an admirable paper on the Appalachian 

 mountain-system. The height of Mount Wash- 

 ington, in New Hampshire, is, according to the 

 determination of Hache, 6,285 feet; but (iuyot 

 found in North Carolina not less than tiv.h.- 

 higher summits, the moot cleva;.- 1 of which, 

 inn's Peak (rightfully called Mount 

 el, after the distinguished astronomer, 

 is 0.701 feet. 



There is nothing of special interest to report 



concerning J/i-rieo. The only topics of geo- 

 graphical inti rest in connection with the 

 tr.il American Statet are the explore 

 undertaken by our Government to ascertain 

 tin- practicability of interoceanic canals. There 

 were two of these expeditions, and lioth have 

 been noticed elsewhere. (See NAVY. I 



II. SOUTH AMERICA. One of our ablest ge- 

 ographers, Prof. James Orton. of Va-ar ('..]- 

 lege, author of a work on "The Andes," pub- 

 lished five or six years ago, returned just at tho 

 close of 1873 from a long tour of exploration in 

 the Peruvian Andes, and along the course of the 

 Upper Amazons. The general >1 jcct of this 

 exploring tour was to supplement his expedi- 

 tion of 1867, when he crossed the continent 

 from west to east, via Quito and the Nupo wil- 

 derness. His route in 1873 was up the Ama- 

 zons from Para to Yiirimognas, on the llna- 

 llaga River; thence ip the Paravapura and its 

 tributary, the Cachiyaco. to Kalsa I'lierto ; 

 thence traversing the plains on foot to Moyo- 

 bamba; thence across and among the Amies 

 to Chachapoyas and Cajamarca, crossing the 

 Upper Maranon, at Balsas, and striking the 

 coast atPacasmayo: thence to Lima an<l itsim-* 

 mediate region; thence toMollendo, Aroquipa, 

 and Puno, on the shore of the Lake Titicaca. 

 He was the first traveler to pass from the Pa- 

 cific to the lake by the railway just tinisbcd by 

 Mr. Meig-r?. The prime object of his explora- 

 tions was to study the physical geography, 

 geology, and topography, of the Amazons, fl.- 

 found that the Upper Amazon (Maraflon) has 

 been greatly misrepresented in the more recent, 

 imps of Pern. He made everywhere, lin 

 peciallv in Northern Pern, large collect ions in 

 natural history, to throw light upon the distri- 

 bution of animal life. He was sun-.'s-fnl in 

 unearthing a valuable collection of Inca art. 

 He also studied the commercial resources of 

 the rezion bordering the Amazons and its vari- 

 ous tributaries. The locomotive, on the trial 

 trip from Arequipa to Puno, reached Inlien, 

 .":; mil.-s from 1'nno, and near the western 

 shore of Lake Titicaca. on the 7th of Septem- 

 ber last, to that tin- ditlicultics of crossing the 

 Andes by rail are now overcome. 



( in .luiy t. ls7:t. : , p..,rty of American gentle- 

 men ascended Mount Meiggs, the hi^hc'st peak 

 c.f the Peruvian Andes. Mr. Henry Moig-rs. tho 

 well-known railroad-builder of South Amer- 

 ica, formerly a citizen of California, has, ainoiiir 

 his numerous railroad enterprises, ronstrurted 

 one called the Oroya Hallway, which has its 

 summit in the Galen Tunnel, so called from 

 its passing under the village of Galora, !I4 miles 

 from Lima, and 15,581 feet ahove the sea. This 

 town is now believed to be the highest inhab- 

 t lenient in the world. Near it rises tho 

 lofty summit of Monnt Mciggs. The party mak- 

 ing tho ascent were provided with iron flag- 

 staff's, and planted the flags of Peru and the 

 I'mt'-d States on the highest point. Tlu-v 

 pertained the altitude of tho peak by throe 

 processes: boiling water, corrected by the bar- 



