334 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF 1861. 



region, embracing the results of his own and 

 of other travellers' investigations, and of the 

 Chinese itineraries. This map covers a region 

 extending over 5 of latitude and 6 of longi- 

 tude, and, with the map of M. Veniukoff, gives 

 a far better idea of Central Asia than has here- 

 tofore been attainable. The barbarous noma- 

 dic tribes which inhabit this region murder al- 

 most every European who comes among them, 

 and seem incapable of civilization. It was in 

 the attempt to penetrate into their country 

 that the intrepid Schlagentweit lost his life. 



But it is not in Turkistan alone that Russia 

 has been extending her power and making her 

 explorations. Officers of the staff of the com- 

 mander-in-chief of the Russian army, accom- 

 panied by a mixed scientific commission of 

 French and Russians, have been exploring the 

 entire route of the Amoor, the largest river of 

 the eastern continent, and have commenced a 

 survey of the island of Saghalien, where they 

 have found a tribe called the Ainos, whose ori- 

 gin seems to be involved in great obscurity. 

 The Russian admiralty, meanwhile, have been 

 making hydrographic surveys of the mouths 

 of the Amoor, the strait of Nevelsky, and the 

 shores of the newly-acquired Russian posses- 

 sions bordering on the sea of Japan, from the 

 gulf of Peter the Great to the bays of Saint 

 Vladimir and Saint Olga. Unfortunately, they 

 have bestowed Russian names on the principal 

 points, not being aware that the French and 

 English fleets had previously visited and named 

 them, thus embarrassing the geographical de- 

 scriptions of the region, by duplicate names of 

 the same places. 



During the year, the British Minister to Ja- 

 pan, Sir Rutherford Alcock, visited the isle of 

 Napoleon and ascended Fusi-Yama, the sacred 

 mountain of the Japanese. Count Escayrac de 

 Lauture, a French geographer, at the peril of 

 his life, visited and explored most of the prov- 

 inces of China, and in 1861 published an atlas 

 of them, far more full and complete than any 

 previously published. The officers of the Eng- 

 lish navy in the Chinese waters, during the 

 year, have made exact and careful surveys of 

 the dangerous coasts of the China sea, and, 

 under the direction of the admiralty, have com- 

 menced the exploration of the gulf of Pe-chee- 

 lee and of the rivers Pei-ho, Si-kiang, and 

 Yang-tse-kiang. On the last-named river they 

 have penetrated as far as Han-kow, one of the 

 two interior ports opened to trade by the trea- 

 ty of Tien-tsin, about 1,000 miles from the sea. 

 A scientific expedition, under the charge of 

 Captain Blakiston, started from this point to 

 ascend the river, and by this route to explore 

 western China, and penetrate through Thibet 

 to India. The expedition reached Pings-han, 

 a small city of Se-chuen province, near the 

 Thibetan frontier ; but owing to the ferocity of 

 the rebels, who were in full force in that vicin- 

 ity, were compelled to retrace their steps, and 

 returned to the coast within five months from 

 the time of their departure. The expedition 



was not, however, entirely fruitless. They as- 

 certained that above I-chang, 1,100 miles from 

 Shanghae, the navigation of the river was ob- 

 structed by numerous rapids and cataracts, and 

 traversed for a considerable distance a narrow 

 gorge, where immense rocky walls rose on each 

 side. At Hu-nan and around the lake Tong-Ting 

 they found a grain district of great fertility, 

 which supplied Han-kow with cereals. At 

 Pings-han, the river took the name of Kincha- 

 kiang, or river of gold, but the boatmen call it 

 the river of Yunnan. West of Pings-han were 

 an independent tribe called Maouttes, a race 

 bearing no resemblance to the Chinese, but 

 having an open, honest demeanor. 



Another English explorer, Major Thuillier, 

 has during the year continued his survey of 

 the Karakorum or Kuen-Lun chain of mountains 

 to the northeast of the valley of Cashmere, and 

 has discovered a mountain summit, to which he 

 gives the name of the chain Karakorum Peak, 

 which, according to his measurement, is 28,278 

 feet high, being surpassed in altitude only by 

 Mt. Everest in the Himalaya. This survey of 

 the Kuen-Lun Mountains forms a portion of the 

 triangulation of Upper India, now in its seven- 

 teenth year of successful prosecution, under the 

 orders of the British Government. Under the 

 directions of Colonels Waugh, Lambton, and 

 Everest, aided by the enthusiastic labors of 

 Major Thuillier, Capt. Montgomerie, and others, 

 316,000 square miles have been triangulated, 

 and the survey of 94,000 miles completed. 



The English resident in the kingdom of Cash- 

 mere, Lord "William Hay, has after repeated 

 efforts succeeded in obtaining the journal and 

 papers of the lamented Adolphe Schlagentweit, 

 and has forwarded them, through the foreign 

 office, to his brothers in Germany. They bring 

 down the narrative of his discoveries to a pe- 

 riod within a few days of his death, and will be 

 published in the magnificent history of discov- 

 eries in Higher Asia, now in course of publica- 

 tion by his brothers, of which two volumes 

 have already appeared. 



In Farther India, Sir Robert Schomburgk, the 

 botanist, has, in company with two nephews of 

 the king of Siam, explored the greater part of 

 the peninsula of Siam, ascending the Meinam 

 River from Bangkok to Rahaing, the most 

 southern city of Laos, a voyage occupying three 

 weeks ; thence transported by elephants to 

 Lahing, a fortified city of Laos, eleven days dis- 

 tant ; thence through a terribly wild and moun- 

 tainous region, where it was necessary for much 

 of the distance to make the road over which 

 they travelled to Lampon, three days farther ; 

 on the fourth day they entered a very fertile 

 and beautiful country, in which they found the 

 large city of Xieng-Mai, three miles in extent, 

 the most important city of Laos, and having a 

 large trade with Maulmain in teak wood, sending 

 annually by raft down the Salwen more than 

 two millions of dollars' worth of this valuable 

 timber. After resting here some days he 

 started with an escort of 150 men and 33 



