

:t far a* itn 



t' on energetic un-l imlu-itrioua race, 



t thieves and cut-throat* wo coma to 



MM, whii-h deserves a patting mention hero for th< 



IIIK to turn tho stream of emigration Betting steadily 

 out I rum i!:- M.uth.Tii part* of tlio United States into British 



pcoially u 



Hiigar, oiul iii'li',"> ; "'> 1 tin- iitt.-iiiiiU that hare been 

 :tting of si *hi|- 



parate* La! -ua from the 



:i with tho lak.- it-rlf uinl tho river 



-way through tho isthmus for hliiji.H trading 



coast* of America to India, China, 



liii'l tin- slum's uinl thousand islands of th-- 



Southward yet a littU- further, and wo come to South America, 



the Tapajo* Hirer, anothor vast tributary of that river 

 drains the central and northera part of tho prorinoe of Matto 



Of the semi-organised republics of Sooth America, which haro 

 MMMfarf ,.,r,-l t<." .-!f.-r-..: fcMfdtaiM vMst HP*** : 



lAPlata.ortheBUtes of the Argentine Con- 

 federation) hare mnch to do in eradicating the onrees of fates- 



fcteedfeoord l.-f-r-. th-y .-an .ttM<!. t.'.- * M >< 



,,.. ; i,-. -!.,*!!./ .-,M.tr:.-, th-r-i- ttMfc 01 i.^. ..:.-' ^ * ; 



taming eastward across the Atlantic we reach the* last of the six 

 great divisions of the world, the continent of Africa, fa which, 

 it is necessary to trace the history of geographical 

 since 1 



After tho travels of Spomnan, Shaw, Norder. f 



t, Mungo Park, and Uorncman, which threw a fl 

 light upon tho geography of Afrfta fa the last century, we 

 owe much to Adams, Tuckey, Bowditoh, Mollien, M*jor Laing 



THE UPPEB LAKE OF THE ATHABASCA RIVER AND THE PRIEST'S ROCK. 



a continent of whoso central regions little more is known with 

 any degree of certainty than has been yet learnt of tho unex- 

 plored heart of Africa. But oven here travellers have been busy 

 in collecting facts to add to our limited knowledge of these parts 

 of the world's surface, for Mr. Henry W. Bates, the present 

 assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, explored 

 the countries on either bank of tho mighty river Amazons between 

 the years 1848 and 1859, giving us a series of vivid and animated 

 descriptions of the habits of animate, sketches of Brazilian and 

 Indian b'fe, and aspects of nature under tho equator, during 

 eleven years of travel, in his work entitled "The Naturalist on 

 the Eivor Amazons." Mr. Bates's researches have been ably 

 supplemented by Mr. W. Chandless, who received the Patron's 

 Gold Medal in 18G6 for his exploration of tho river PUTUB, one 

 of the southern affluents of tho Amazons, which ho ascended 

 for a distance of 1,800 miles, making, by ol^-rvations as ho 

 proceeded, an accurate map of the windings of the river. Pre- 

 vious to this journey of discovery Mr. Chandloss hud travelled 

 through South America from tho head-streams of tho Paraguay 

 a river \vhirh rises in tho Brazilian province of Matto Grosso, 

 and joins tho Parana near tho town of Corriontc*. in tho Argen- 

 tine State of that nomo to tho mouth of tho Amazons, down 



and Messrs. Ritchie and Lyon in tho present centurr. 

 labours of Messrs. Donham and Clapperton, and Dr. Oodney, 

 in exploring tho interior of this continent in 1828, added oo 

 Biderably to our knowledge of North-Central Africa. Whn 

 look npon a modern map of Africa, all the geographical pon 

 tions which are laid down in Bornou, round Lake Tchad, 



, If, the direction of the course of rivers in ti- 

 the rectification of tho conrso of the Niger, and other tope 

 graphical details, such as the position of mountain*, etc 

 due to the last-mentioned travellers. Clapperton eta 

 successful career by reaching Sookatoo from the QtUf^of 

 anc* died in 1826, leaving his labours nnflniahed, aft* 

 aojomplishod tho remarkable journey from Tripoli to Benin, and 

 enriched geogmphy with a rast collection of new and acci 

 discoveries. Timbnctoo, that singular object of African fa 

 lore, was reached by Major Laing in the aame year, but at 

 later period, when he also paid the debt of nature. 

 Richard and John Lander undertook to resolve the problem of 

 tho direction of tho Niger from the point to which it had been 

 traced by Park and Clapperton. They proposed to descend 1 



urso from Bonssa, where it had so far been 



rad to follow its coarse to tho Atlantic Ocean, in order to 



