GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. (NORTH AMEEIOA.) 899 



After describing the magnificent panorama 

 they enjoyed on reaching the crater, one of 

 them writes : 



"We plowed through the ashes that were almost up to 

 the horses' knees toward the crater of the volcano which 

 yawned on the opposite side of the peak. Following 

 the crest of a ridge of pumice-stone and ashes, which 

 had been thrown out in ages past, and were as regu- 

 larly piled as if the hands of men had dumped them 

 there, we looked down on one side into a gorge 3^000 

 feet deep, to the foot of which a stone would roll with- 

 out meeting an impediment, and on the other into 

 a basin formed by the mountain-side, and the heaps 

 of ashes that lay in a regular windrow around it ? a 

 basin about 500 feet deep and a quarter of a mile 

 across from the top of one bank to the top of the 

 other. The bottom was honey-combed with craters, 

 where it looked as if the earth had broken through 

 in irregular circles. There were seven or eight of 

 these craters, some of them centuries old, the last and 

 largest having opened within the memory of living 

 men. The older ones were black and half filled with 

 ashes cast from those of later origin, while the " new 

 one," as the guide called it, perhaps a quarter of a 

 century old, was bottomless as far as we could see, 

 and its walls were yellow with sulphur and ' white 

 with half-burned limestone ; the ashes were fresh and 

 crisp, and there were no signs of vegetation for a dis- 

 tance of a thousand feet or more down the outside bank, 

 against which the wind was constantly blowing, and 

 where one would think it would lodge dust and seeds 

 from the forests so near and numerous. The wall of 

 ashes arose at least 500 and in some places 600 feet 

 around the crater, and the guide, who said he had 

 visited the place at intervals during the last, thirteen 

 years, said that most of them had accumulated since 

 the last eruption, six years ago. 



North America* The surveying party sent out 

 to explore Lake Mistassini in Labrador have 

 completed their work successfully. The lake 

 proves to be considerably smaller than has been 

 supposed, having a length of 120 miles and an 

 average breadth of 20 miles. It contains sev- 

 eral islands nearly as large as Orleans Island at 

 Quebec, on some of which are large lakes. The 

 Indians are supplied with prayer and hymn 

 books and Testaments, printed in the Cree 

 language, with characters resembling stenog- 

 raphy, prepared by Bishop Horden, of Mooso- 

 nee, whose headquarters are at Moose Fort on 

 James Bay. 



The Arctic steamer " Alert" arrived at Hali- 

 fax Oct. 18, bringing back the party of observ- 

 ers sent out by the Dominion Government last 

 year to make observations in Hudson Bay and 

 Strait. The object of the expedition was to 

 ascertain whether that route to the ocean could 

 be profitably taken by the commerce of the 

 Northwest. The temperature was found to be 

 higher than was expected ; the lowest monthly 

 average was 30 below zero. As regards the 

 movements of the ice, the season was later than 

 usual. The steamer stuck for three weeks in a 

 field of ice that came down from Davis Strait, 

 and had to be sent to St. John's for repairs. It 

 afterward passed through the floating ice com- 

 ing down from Hudson Bay without unusual 

 difficulty. Three sailing-vessels during the time 

 passed directly on through the center of the 

 strait, but the " Alert," having to relieve men at 

 various points along the shores, met with more 



difficulty from the ice. Although the move- 

 ments of the ice vary greatly from year to year, 

 it ia believed that the bay and strait can be nav- 

 igated without danger from July to October 

 by vessels properly built. The mineral wealth 

 of the region is said to be very great, compris- 

 ing gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, asbestus, 

 manganese, mica, graphite, lazulite, and an- 

 thracite coal. The fisheries also and the fur- 

 trade, hitherto monopolized by the Hudson Bay 

 Company, offer great possibilities for the future. 



A new map of the Northwestern Territories 

 of Canada and the province of Manitoba, pub- 

 lished at Ottawa, shows some considerable 

 changes from former maps in the hydrography 

 of the provinces of Athabasca, Alberta, Sas- 

 katchewan, and Assiniboia, as well as in the re- 

 gion between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. 



Lake Itasca, which has been distinguished 

 as the head of the Mississippi river for fifty 

 years, must, it seems, yield that distinction 

 to a small lake about a mile and a half in 

 length by a mile in width, lying farther south, 

 discovered by Capt. Glazier and named for 

 him. Lake Itasca is composed of three arms, 

 extending in the form of a trefoil, having a 

 length of five miles and an average width of a 

 mile and a half. The upper or southern end 

 of its middle arm apparently terminated in a 

 swamp, which might easily have deceived any 

 one not familiar with the country. But Che- 

 no- wa-gesic, Capt. Glazier's Indian guide, who 

 had for years used the region of these lakes for 

 his hunting-grounds, readily made his way 

 through the reeds and rushes at the mouth of 

 the connecting stream. Lake Glazier at its out- 

 let presents another barricade of reeds, through 

 which the party made their way in their ca- 

 noes. The connecting stream is small and swift, 

 and Lake Glazier, which has an elevation of 

 perhaps three feet above Lake Itasca, is not 

 swampy, like other small lakes in the vicini- 

 ty. The shores are rocky and wooded, and 

 the waters, fed from springs, are clear and 

 pure. It would be nearly a perfect oval, but 

 a rocky promontory that projects into the 

 southern end gives it the form of a heart. A 

 small stream flows into the lake on either side 

 the promontory ; the western and longer one 

 has been named Excelsior creek, because it 

 brings down the highest waters of the river ; 

 the other, Eagle creek, partly from patriotic 

 considerations, partly because large numbers 

 of eagles were seen about it. A third stream, 

 Union creek, enters the lake near its outlet. 



Several parties of explorers have been at 

 work in Alaska this year, following up the prin- 

 cipal rivers and examining the resources of the 

 country. The most important is that undertak- 

 en for the exploration of the Copper river, un- 

 der the direction of Lieut. H. J. Allen. He was 

 accompanied by Sergeants Robinson and T. W. 

 Fickett, of the United States Signal Corps. The 

 party ascended the river to its source, 500 miles, 

 and examined some of its tributaries. Along 

 its upper course are several active volcanoes, 



