GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY IN 1875. 



333 



being well cultivated ; the bright-green sugar- 

 cane was seen growing in every direction, 

 relieved by the dark-leaved Manila heuip- 

 patches, and the unbroken groves of the co- 

 coa-palm stretching out in every direction; 

 while here and there the curious, basket-like 

 dwellings of the natives perched upon piles were 

 visible. The town of Zebu is a thriving trad- 

 ing-place. The island is enormously productive, 

 but the inhabitants will not work. Coal is 

 found on the island in quantities sufficient to 

 supply all the Philippines, but the beds are not 

 worked. The natives are a handsome race ; 

 the women wear their jet-black hair loose, and 

 bedeck themselves with bright-colored dresses 

 and handkerchiefs. The Eupleetilla, or Venus's 

 flower-basket, the beautiful sponge often used 

 as a drawing-room ornament, is fished up 

 with curiously-contrived instruments. The vol- 

 cano on the island of Camiguin, it was found, 

 does not affect the temperature of the neigh- 

 boring waters ; this volcano has in four years 

 attained the height of 1,950 feet. The popu- 

 lation of the island, once 25,000, has been re- 

 duced to a few hundred. Sailing thence to 

 Samboanga, they obtained a sounding of 2,225 

 fathoms, and arrived at the latter port on the 

 29th of January. They sounded between the 

 Tulao groups and Meangis in 2,050 fathoms. 

 The ship called at Point Caille, in Humboldt 

 Bay, on the 23d of February. In this bay the 

 savages put out in their canoes, surrounding 

 the vessel, and disturbing them all the night 

 with a monotonous chant, .eagerly conducting 

 a barter of their native productions for knives, 

 handkerchiefs, etc., in the morning. The ship's 

 boats attempted to land, but only one party 

 succeeded; the women on the shore threat- 

 ened them With bows and arrows ; and the at- 

 titude of the natives was altogether so mena- 

 cing that Captain Thomson determined to sail 

 away to prevent a rupture. They reached the 

 Admiralty Islands on the 3d of March. The 

 natives here were less wild, and seemed more 

 accustomed to foreigners' visits. Their hue 

 was dark brown ; but they had nothing of the 

 negro type, having well-shaped noses, the men 

 being sturdy and well built ; the women were 

 much inferior, and had acquired a repulsive 

 appearance from the use of the betel -nut. 

 They were all tattooed and branded with 

 round marks. Their canoes were large, and 

 capable of holding ten to sixteen men. Instead 

 of bows and arrows, they were armed with 

 light spears, six or seven feet in length, with 

 long heads ; which in casting they grasped 

 close to the head, propelling them with great 

 power and accuracy. They were at first un- 

 willing that the English should approach their 

 villages, but- afterward suffered them to do so 

 without restraint. They have the custom, it 

 would seem, of cooking and devouring the 

 bodies of those who die from among them. 

 On the 10th of March the Challenger left her 

 anchorage on the northwest side of the largest 

 island, to which they gave the name of Nare's 



Harbor, for Japan, reaching Yokohama on the 

 llth of April. The deepest sounding taken, 

 and the deepest ever found except one from 

 the Tuscarora, was in latitude 10 24' north, 

 longitude 143 16' east; the depth was 4,575 

 fathoms ; to prevent a mistake it was repeated, 

 with the result, 4,475 fathoms. The pressure 

 was so exceedingly strong that three of the 

 protected thermometers broke, the remaining 

 one registering 34.5 Fahr. Deep water of 

 from 2,300 to 2,500 fathoms continued to with- 

 in a short distance from the Japan shore. 



Among other strange fauna brought to the 

 surface during the dredging was a gigantic 

 invertebrate of the order of Hydroids belonging 

 to the Corymorphoid group. It was found at 

 the enormous depth of 2,900 fathoms. It is 

 of a pale pink-color, transparent, and when 

 distended measures four feet or more. 



The Challenger left Honolulu August 19th. 

 Between Hawaii and Tahiti dredging showed 

 a bottom of red clay, and an average depth of 

 2,800 fathoms. In the section between the 

 last-named island and Juan Fernandez, which 

 they attained November 13th, the average 

 depth was 2,160 fathoms. They reached Val- 

 paraiso November 19th. Numerous excursions 

 were made upon all the islands, and specimens 

 collected. 



The German corvette Gazelle, which was sent 

 out for the observation of the transit of Venus 

 in the summer of 1874, to Kerguelen Island, 

 was then commissioned to sail on a cruise of dis- 

 covery from the isle of Mauritius through the 

 Indian Ocean to the west coast of Australia, 

 and then to pursue an extended series of sci- 

 entific explorations in the seas and islands of 

 the archipelago. .During the past year this 

 mission has been faithfully discharged, and 

 with valuable scientific results. Upon the first 

 difficult course from Mauritius, they made care- 

 ful experiments on the depth of the ocean, 

 the course of the surface-streams, and the 

 specific gravity, temperature, and degree of 

 transparency of the water; and from the re- 

 sults of these observations the following prin- 

 ciples were deduced : The ocean-currents are 

 occasioned and explained by the differences 

 in the specific gravity of the water in differ- 

 ent parts of the ocean ; so that a very slight 

 variation of specific gravity will produce a 

 powerful current. The strength of the cur- 

 rents is greatly modified by the difference in the 

 salt contents of the ocean in high and in tropi- 

 cal latitudes, which counteracts the variations 

 of temperature, thus only rendering navigation 

 possible. There exists, as can be proved by 

 the laws of physics, a certain zone in the ocean 

 where differences of the saline contents and 

 differences of temperature offset each other so 

 that waters of varying temperature and vary- 

 ing saltness can be next each other in equi- 

 poise ; this zone is found in the Indian Ocean 

 between parallel 40 and parallel 45 south ; it 

 may be deflected in other regions, or inter- 

 rupted, but it exists and can be determined in 



