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GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS. (AMERICA.) 



island was named Cape Valdivia. The whole 

 island is covered with one vast glacier, which 

 reaches sea level on the gently sloping southern 

 and eastern sides, where it forms an ice wall 400 

 feet high. Both Bouvet and Lindsay had re- 

 ported trees on the island, but no trace of vegeta- 

 tion could be seen from the Valdivia. Animal life 

 also seemed to be extremely sparse. Cape pigeons 

 were the most abundant birds; other antarctic 

 forms were not common. It is noteworthy that 

 the white petrel, deemed by Ross the surest sign 

 of the proximity of ice, was first seen by us 

 while cruising off Bouvet island." Fragments of 

 granite, gneiss, and schist were found, which had 

 been broken off and brought away by icebergs. 



Two important expeditions are to undertake 

 the exploration of antarctic regions. They are 

 to be sent out simultaneously by England and 

 Germany. In an address at the International 

 Geographical Congress at Berlin, in September, 

 Sir Clements Markham, President of the Royal 

 Geographical Society of London, outlined the 

 geographical work that will be before the expedi- 

 tions. He considered the region as divided into 

 four quadrants two on the Australasian side 

 and two on the Cape Horn and Cape of Good 

 Hope side. The first quadrant, from 90 east to 

 180, includes Victoria Land, and he gave it the 

 name Victoria. It presents for examination, he 

 says, Adelie and Sabrina Lands, supposed to form 

 the coast of a continuous continent. Besides this 

 question is the one whether the land from Cape 

 Adare, in 71 18' south, to Cape Washington, in 

 74 37' south, is continuous with the Victoria 

 Land of Mounts Erebus and Terror, or whether it 

 is an island. The second quadrant, 180 to 90 

 west, he calls the Ross quadrant, since Cook and 

 Ross alone have penetrated it beyond the seven- 

 tieth parallel. It contains the continuation of 

 the ice barrier, and a principal aim of the ex- 

 pedition would be to ascertain its extent and the 

 outline of the continental land on the Pacific side. 

 The third quadrant, from 90 west to the meridian 

 of Greenwich, includes the winter quarters of 

 Gerlache, islands seen by Bellingshausen, Biscoe, 

 and Larsen, and the part of the southern ocean 

 in which Weddell penetrated to 74 15' south. 

 This Weddell quadrant " invites discoveries of 

 peculiar interest, including the southern side of 

 Graham Land if it proves to be an island, and 

 still more valuable discoveries if it is found to 

 be a promontory extending from continental 

 land." The fourth quadrant, from the meridian 

 of Greenwich to 90 east, is the least known. In 

 it the seventieth parallel never has been crossed, 

 and distant land on the antarctic circle has only 

 been sighted namely, Enderby Land and Kemp 

 Land. This he calls the Enderby quadrant, 

 though he suggests that it might receive the 

 name Valdivia, after the German ship mentioned 

 above, which sailed along near Enderby Land 

 in 1899. This quadrant was entered by Biscoe 

 in 1831, when he discovered Enderby Land. Capt. 

 Cook just crossed the antarctic circle in 1773, 

 as did Moore in 1845 at nearly the same place, 

 and the Challenger in 1874. All to the south of 

 the antarctic circle in this quadrant is absolutely 

 unknown. It is suggested that two of these four 

 divisions the Weddell and Enderby might be 

 taken for the work of the German expedition, 

 and the other two for the English. 



The English Government declined to undertake 

 the enterprise, and funds amounting at that time 

 to 40,000 had been raised by subscription; of 

 this, 25,000 was given by Llewellyn W. Long- 

 staff, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 and the Government afterward decided to grant 



sums equal to those raised by private subscription 

 up to 45,000. 



America. Several expeditions for exploring 

 Alaska have been sent out by United States au- 

 thorities four by the geological survey and two 

 by the army authorities. The Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey examined the Yukon delta, finding a depth 

 of water in one of the southern channels, here- 

 tofore little known, sufficient to allow the passage 

 of ocean vessels. 



Near the close of 1898 the discovery was re- 

 ported of a mountain more than 20,000 feet high 

 therefore higher than St. Elias on the right 

 bank of the Suchitna river, in Alaska. The leader 

 of the party from the Geological Survey making 

 the discovery, G. H. Eldredge, proposed to call it. 

 Bulshae, a word spoken in exclamation by the 

 Indian guide when he first saw the peak. 



'The volcanoes of the eastern Aleutian Islands 

 are spoken of by Mr. J. Stanley-Brown as pre- 

 senting an interesting field for exploration. 

 Mount Shishaldin, on Umniak island, is a splen- 

 did snowy peak, nearly 9,000 feet high, now in a 

 state of gentle eruption. Another mountain on 

 the same island has about the same size and has 

 a crater. On Akutan island is also an active vol- 

 cano, and other partially active ones are in the 

 vicinity. 



Dr. Francisco P. Moreno, who began exploring 

 the Andean regions of the Argentine Republic 

 in 1882, has continued his work almost without 

 intermission since that time. From 1882 to 1895 

 he explored the region from parallel 23 to 34; 

 in 1896 he returned to Patagonia by the slopes 

 of the Cordillera and the interior to Lake Buenos 

 Ayres, in 46 30'. In 1897 his work was in the 

 Patagonian region between the Straits of Ma- 

 gellan and parallel 51, and in examination of 

 several of the western fiords as far as Puerto 

 Montt, in latitude 42. In 1898 he ascended the 

 Santa Cruz river for the second time, and trav- 

 ersed the territory along the eastern slopes as 

 far as Lake Nahuel-Huapi and Puerto Montt. 

 In a paper read before the Royal Geographical 

 Society in May, 1899, he gave results of his ob- 

 servations, illustrated by very beautiful photo- 

 graphs. He says that Patagonia does not merit 

 its bad reputation ; that it has a vast field worthy 

 of active effort, and a healthy soil capable of 

 supporting a large population. Noting the cor- 

 respondences between, the configuration of North 

 America and that of South America, he says that 

 the broken plains and the plateaus of New Mexica 

 and Arizona find their analogy in the Argentine 

 northern plateaus and in the table-lands of Pata- 

 gonia ; that " the ice-bound plains of Canada find 

 modest companions in the extreme south, and 

 the picturesque fiords and white mountains of 

 Alaska " are copied in those of Patagonia. He 

 describes the lakes along the eastern side of the 

 great mountain axis in a depression parallel to 

 the Cordillera. Some of these lakes discharge 

 their waters into " the monotonous Atlantic 

 rivers; others reach the Pacific in impetuous tor- 

 rents, which cut through the whole mass of the 

 Cordillera." He says : " This phenomenon of a 

 dividing line of waters flowing into opposite 

 oceans, which partly rise in plains and glens 

 hardly higher than the level of the sea, and which 

 overcome such formidable obstacles as the An- 

 dean Cordillera, piercing its crystalline axis and 

 the enormous mass of rocks that have accumu- 

 lated upon this axis, constitutes, in my opinion,, 

 a fact which is unique in the world." This longi- 

 tudinal depression contains the most fertile lands, 

 of Patagonia. The Government is constructing 

 a railway, starting from the port of San An- 





