GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



365 



remaining men were all the time sick; and 

 they were constantly harassed and sometimes 

 fiercely attacked by the inhabitants. He as- 

 cended no higher than in the previous voyage. 

 He made searches for minerals without satis- 

 factory results. Gold was not found. The soil 

 seemed adapted to the culture of tobacco, sugar, 

 cotton, etc. The land was low and marshy 

 as far as the mouth of the Alice, but above 

 there more hilly. The depth of the. river aver- 

 ages 5 to 6 fathoms below the mouth of Alice 

 River, and 2 to 3 fathoms above that point. 

 From an eminence D'Albertis descried high 

 mountains at a distance of 50 to 60 miles in a 

 northwesterly direction, which are probably an 

 extension of the Charles Louis Mountains and 

 contain the source of the Fly River. The rnouth 

 of the Fly River was 5 miles broad; above the 

 river widens, and at the distance of 30 miles 

 from the sea branches off in a large arm which 

 appears to flow into the ocean. The popula- 

 tion is very thick at the mouth of the river ; 

 sparse above in the low-lying district, and more 

 numerous again in the higher lands of the up- 

 per course. Dense woods were noticed every- 

 where at a short distance from the banks of 

 the river. The inhabitants of the interior are 

 a cleanly race, who subsist by fishing and 

 the chase. They were light-complexioned, like 

 the peoples of the east side of the island. The 

 aspect of the country is more like that of Aus- 

 tralia than that of the Papuan end of the island. 

 The birds and insects are all of Australian 

 types. D'Albertis started on his last voyage 

 up the river on the 21st of May, 1877. The 

 Neva was manned by an engineer, five China- 

 men, and three South Sea Islanders. After 

 seeing no inhabitants for a whole week, on the 

 1st of June he was attacked by a great number 

 of natives from the shore and from canoes; he 

 defended himself and the crew against their 

 arrows with his gun until the assailants dis- 

 persed. On the 6th he reached the island of 

 Ellengowan. On the 19th a seemingly impor- 

 tant affluent of the Fly River not before ob- 

 served was passed ; it flows in a northwesterly 

 direction. Above he sailed by some hills cov- 

 ered with a magnificent forest. On the 1st of 

 July they were again attacked by natives in 

 canoes, who, however, beat a retreat after a few 

 gunshots. Drum-calls were afterward heard 

 at night, but no enemy was seen until the 9th, 

 when they were pursued by four canoes, which 

 pressed them so closely that he deemed it ne- 

 cessary to shoot the leader. Passing through 

 a district rich in birds, he obtained some birds- 

 of-paradise, a cassowary, and a small marsupial 

 of an apparently new species. Above the 

 banks were covered with large trees full of 

 flowers, perhaps species of the Eugenia. The 

 natives met his proffers of trade with flights of 

 arrows. The Alice River was reduced to a 

 creek by the drought. The banks were full of 

 plants and animals, the numerous flower-bear- 

 ing trees attracting an incredible number of 

 birds, particularly small paroquets. The 26th 



they came to a bar which could not be crossed. 

 He waited week after week for rain, obliged 

 to drop farther and farther down stream on ac- 

 count of the falling waters. 



Raffray, during an expedition to New Guinea 

 in 1877, accompanied by Maurice Maindron, 

 visited the island of Gilolo and the Salwatty 

 Islands. His account of the Alfuros of Gilolo 

 led Dr. Hamy to conclude that, besides the pure 

 Malays, there exist two distinct races on the isl- 

 and, one a mixture of Malay and Papuan blood, 

 with a preponderance of the latter, and the 

 other descended from the Polynesian or Indo- 

 nesian race. In a visit to Dorey he observed 

 the customs of the Papuan inhabitants and of 

 the Mafer fishermen of the coast. The explo- 

 ration of the interior is difficult on account of 

 the want of navigable watercourses, the densi- 

 ty of the forests, and the want of communica- 

 tion between the inhabitants, who never leave 

 their villages. The country is exceedingly un- 

 productive. He made excursions to Aiimbori, 

 Andai,and Amberbaki. The last contains rare 

 species of thebird-of-paradise, and he obtained 

 photographs of members of the cannibal tribe 

 called Karons. He examined also the Misore 

 Islands, which lie farther to the east. 



A survey cf the Amazon has been made 

 from on board the American steam-sloop En- 

 terprise, which returned to Brooklyn Navy- 

 Yard in October, 1878, after an absence of five 

 months. The commander of the expedition 

 was Thomas O. Self ridge, who conducted the 

 Darien Surveying Expedition in 1871-'72. A 

 complete range of soundings were taken at in- 

 tervals of five minutes. The survey extended 

 from the mouth of the Amazon to the falls of 

 the Madeira. The Madeira was found to be 

 navigable for vessels drawing 20 feet of water 

 for a distance of 500 miles. 



An active volcano in Patagonia was sighted 

 from the United States flagship Omaha on the 

 18th of January, 1878. She was in Magellan 

 Strait, in the channel between Wellington Isl- 

 and and the main shore. A huge column of 

 vapor was seen to rise to a height of several 

 thousand feet with extraordinary velocity. 

 The phenomenon took place twice, with an in- 

 terval of five hours between; and when the 

 ship came opposite Libertad Bay, inlat. 48 

 55' 30" S., a snow-capped peak was seen to 

 pour out vapor 30 or 40 miles distant in a di- 

 rection a little north of east. It was undoubt- 

 edly the volcano of Chalten, discovered nine 

 months previously by Moreno. This volcano 

 is reported by the Tehuelches to be constantly 

 emitting smoke and cinders. It is a majestic 

 peak rising above the surrounding mountains, 

 and is placed by Moreno in lat. 49 8' S., Ion. 

 73 10' W. 



Dr. Crevaux, accompanied by Fathers Emo- 

 net and Kroenner, has made his way across 

 the Tumuc Humac Mountains, in spite of 

 the Bonis, who refused to furnish them with 

 food, and attained the Amazon by way of the 

 Yary, traversing over 600 miles of unexplored 



