342 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND PROGRESS FOR 1874. 



ligence the black tribes of other parts of the 

 island. An Italian naturalist, L. M. d 'Albertis, 

 recently ascended the Arfak Mountains in New- 

 Guinea, and has departed a second time for 

 that region, with the intention of penetrating 

 the southern portion of the country, the parts 

 adjacent to Torres Straits, where there are 

 mountain-ranges of considerable altitude. The 

 natural history of this part of New Guinea is 

 entirely unknown. 



The uninhabited and hitherto little-known 

 Kerguelen Island, named after the French 

 captain, Kerguelen, who visited it, as did also 

 Cook on his first voyage, and Ross in 1841, 

 was chosen as a station for German and Eng- 

 lish observatories of the transit of Venus, and 

 has consequently been very thoroughly ex- 

 plored. It is volcanic in its character, and 

 has a harsh and stormy climate. Remarkable 

 basaltic columns, which had been noticed by 

 Captain Cook, were examined. The number 

 of vegetable species found was 150; among 

 them 18 were phsenogamous plants. "Woody 

 vegetation was totally wanting. The cele- 

 brated Kerguelen cabbage abounds in the low- 

 lands. A range of snow-capped mountains, the 

 highest of which is Mount Ross, with 6,000 

 feet altitude, traverses the island from north- 

 west to southeast. Sea-elephants are numer- 

 ous ; a small variety of duck is abundant ; 

 but no land animals were found. The island 

 is visited by American captains, who cruise 

 for whales (which abound in its immediate 

 vicinity), and who kill sea-elephants upon the 

 beach. 



The enterprising Italian traveler, Dr. Becca- 

 ria, has been engaged in exploring Kandari, a 

 strange region of southeast Celebes. He was 

 subject to constant dangers from hostile inhab- 

 itants and treacherous servants. The results 

 of his physical and ethnologic observations 

 are interesting ; and several of the plants and 

 animals which he met with are new to science. 



The Dutch Geographical Society have con*- 

 eluded to send out an expedition for the ex- 

 ploration of the eastern coast of Sumatra. 

 The river Jambi flows through an unknown 

 country, which is believed to be very fruitful. 

 Parts of Palembang, also, and the district of 

 Korintji, remain still to be explored. 



In NORTH AMEEIOA, in an exploration of the 

 northern coast of Alaska, Mr. Dall discovered 

 a glacier, three or four miles wide and twenty 

 to thirty in length. He computed the altitude 

 of Mount Elias, which .he estimates at over 

 19,000 feet. 



A committee of Icelanders were sent out 

 from the Wisconsin colony to examine the 

 Territory of Alaska, with a view to the estab- 

 lishment of a colony of their countrymen 

 there. Jon Olafsson, the leader of the com- 

 pany, reported that Kodiak and Cook's Inlet 

 are exceedingly well adapted for settlement. 

 The waters they found swarming with salmon, 

 and the temperature and productions such as 

 would render Icelanders happy and contented. 



The one-thousandth anniversary of the na- 

 tional existence of Iceland was celebrated in 

 August, 1874, with great rejoicing. The King 

 of Denmark, who is also sovereign of Iceland, 

 was present, and with him a large number of 

 scientific men, explorers, etc., from Europe and 

 America. The occasion offered the opportunity, 

 which was zealously improved, of acquiring a 

 more accurate and exact knowledge of the 

 geography and topography of the island. 



A survey of the Canadian Dominion has 

 been in progress since 1871, with the object of 

 selecting a route for the projected Canadian 

 Pacific Railway. Considerable information has 

 been derived from the surveys respecting the 

 character of the country, the distribution of 

 forests, the mineral deposits, and the limits of 

 the great river-basins. 



The survey of the Adirondack region, which 

 was ordered by the State government of New 

 York, has been reported to the Legislature by 

 Mr. Colvin Verplanck. The surveyors have 

 made a much more exact triangulation of that 

 tract than had previously been attempted. One 

 important conclusion of the report is, that most 

 of this region is not adapted to cultivation, and 

 that the best uses to which the State can put 

 it are its reservation for a State park, and such 

 an aggregation of its abundant water-courses 

 as to form a reservoir sufficient to supply the 

 Hudson River and its upper affluents with a 

 plenty of water even in the seasons of greatest 

 drought. 



From the labors of the United States Coast 

 Survey it appears that the Jersey Flats are in- 

 creasing in area, and that the tidal deposits are 

 made upon the shores, and not, as formerly, on 

 the extended surface. 



The geological survey of Ohio, by Dr. New- 

 berry and others, begun in 1869, and to which 

 reference has been made in preceding volumes 

 of the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, has been carried 

 out with great thoroughness. One of the re- 

 sults of their labor was first to make known 

 the valuable Hocking Valley or Straitsville coal, 

 which now enters largely into commerce. The 

 able papers of Mr. Edward King, in Berliner's 

 Monthly Magazine, on the " Great South," 

 combine with very vivid descriptions of life in 

 the South a large amount of important geo- 

 graphical knowledge of the Southern States. 

 Very interesting papers on the descriptive, 

 geography of the States of the Union have also 

 appeared during the year in Harper's Monthly 

 and in Appletons" 1 Journal. Some of the arti- 

 cles in the last-named periodical on these sub- 

 jects have been unsurpassed in interest. 



"Western Kansas, "Western Nebraska, and 

 portions of Iowa and Minnesota, have been 

 subjected to a devastating visitation. Swarms 

 of locusts overspread many counties, sweeping 

 off" the vegetation, aTid leaving a large part of 

 the population without food. 



Prof. Buckley, State geologist of Texas, re- 

 ports that the State contains deposits of iron 

 and coal vastly greater than had been supposed. 



