GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS OF 1861. 



335 



elephants, for Maulmain, which he reached 

 after a journey of twenty-four days, traversing 

 on his route vast forests along the Tenasserim 

 River. 



The French, who have had for many years 

 some small possessions on the coast of Anam, 

 have recently extended their conquests there, 

 by capturing, after a somewhat severe action, 

 Saigon, a fortified town on a delta of the Cam- 

 bodia River, which they have now made their 

 principal station in Southeast Asia ; and in con- 

 nection with it have made a careful topographi- 

 cal survey of the whole delta. 



Returning to Western Asia, we find that 

 Russian officers, attached to the scientific mis- 

 sion of the Caspian Sea, have made surveys of 

 considerable extent in Persia, and have ascer- 

 tained by astronomical measurement, the height 

 of the volcanic peak of Demavend. Their 

 measurement, made from two points, gives a 

 height of 20,085 feet above the Caspian Sea, or 

 an absolute height of about 20,000 above the 

 sea level ; but Capt. Nicolas, who ascended it in 

 1860, found an altitude of 21,567 feet. 



Capt. Claude Clarke has visited Eastern Per- 

 sia, passing from Meshed to Herat, a route sel- 

 dom traversed by Europeans, and which led 

 through the desert of Khorassan, of which he 

 has published an interesting account. 



The occupation of Syria by French troops, for 

 the suppression of the insurrection there, led to 

 several tours of exploration, in the regions of 

 the Libanus and anti-Libanus chains, which, 

 however, proved more archaeological than geo- 

 graphical. Baron Henri Aucapitaine, a member 

 of the staff of General de Beaufort, visited and 

 explored the elevated plain of the Hauran ; and 

 M. Et-nest Renan, the ancient city of By bias, 

 and others of the ruined towns of Phoenicia. 



The most remarkable discovery in this region 

 is unquestionably that of Cyril 0. Graham, Esq., 

 an English archaeologist, who visited Damascus 

 in the early part of 1861, and obtaining an Arab 

 escort, penetrated into the hitherto unknown 

 region east of the Hauran, and found it a tree- 

 less volcanic district, covered to a considerable 

 extent with lava, and traversed from north to 

 south by a chain of hills forty miles in length. 

 Passing around these to the south he found a 

 continuation of the same lava- covered plain, but 

 with stones, at first of basalt, containing inscrip- 

 tions, which he believed to be set up to mark 

 the distance. Proceeding farther, he found, the 

 ruins of four towns, built of a white stone, ap- 

 parently brought from a distance, as nothing 

 like it was found in the plain. These stones 

 were of great size, and contained no inscrip- 

 tions ; but many curious and rude sculptures 

 were lying about. Still farther east, he found 

 numerous small areas of 300 or 400 yards in 

 circumference, enclosed with stone, and every 

 stone having upon it rude representations of 

 camels, gazelles, apes, horses, and horsemen, 

 and each accompanied by inscriptions which 

 seemed to be in the most ancient Phoenician 

 character. There were also many small batons 



of red stone or compact pottery, inscribed with 

 similar characters. 



Africa, always the unsolved problem of geog- 

 raphers, has not yet yielded up its secrets, 

 though some progress has been made. M. 

 Henri Duveyrier, a French explorer, set out at 

 the close of 1860, to explore the central portion 

 of the Great Sahara Desert, from Rhadames to 

 Rhaat, and thence to Insalah, accompanied by 

 Ikhenonkhen, one of the chiefs of the Azjer 

 Tuaricks ; he penetrated as far as Rhaat, but 

 owing to the fanaticism of the inhabitants, was 

 not allowed to enter the town, and was com- 

 pelled to return to Tripoli by way of Fezzan, 

 the Tuarick chief accompanying him to Moor- 

 zook. Thus repulsed, he has determined to 

 take a route further west, in the hope of pene- 

 trating to Soudan. 



M. le Colonieu, who attempted to reach the 

 oasis of Touat from Algeria, was not more suc- 

 cessful. The Tnaricks, fearful that the success 

 of such an expedition would diminish their 

 trade with Touat, impressed the inhabitants of 

 that oasis with the belief that the French were 

 coming to conquer them as they had done Al- 

 geria, and the gates of their principal town 

 were shut against the caravan. Thus repulsed, 

 he turned aside to the oasis of Onguerout, situ- 

 ated west of Touat, but poorer and of less im- 

 portance, and thence returned to Algeria. 



Colonel Faidherbe, the former governor of 

 the French colony at the month of the Senegal 

 River, having been recalled from thence, sent 

 before his departure a highly educated negro 

 of St. Louis, (the capital of the French colony,) 

 named Si-bou Moghdad, who was familiar with 

 Arabic and the Koran, on a pilgrimage to 

 Mecca ; intending at first that he should follow 

 the route by Insalah and Rhaat, but finding 

 that impossible, he passed through the western 

 frontier of the desert, visiting the Trarzas and 

 the wady Noun on the southern borders of 

 Morocco, and after spending a little time there 

 returned to St. Louis, from whence he will 

 again attempt to cross the continent by a more 

 southern route. 



Lieut. A. Lambert, of the French marines, 

 has ascended the Senegal to its sources, ex- 

 plored Teemboo and the head-waters of the Fa- 

 lema, Gambia, and Rio Grande, ascertained that 

 the Foota Jallon range of mountains rises above 

 the snow line, and has given more full informa- 

 tion in regard to the manners and customs of 

 the Foulahs than has previously been obtained. 



A French expedition has been occupied dur- 

 ing the past year, with the survey of the great 

 estuary of the Gaboon and the rivers Como, 

 Boghoe and Rhamboe, and the creeks Assango, 

 Bongia, and Shimbia, which discharge their 

 waters into it. The discoveries they have 

 made in this region are important. 



The publication of the narrative of M. Paul 

 B. Du Chaillu, of his explorations from 1856 

 to 1859, in the region about the head-waters of 

 the Gaboon, has excited much attention and 

 provoked some unfavorable criticism. It is, 



