Geography 781 



nected with the American Embassy in China, acquired suffi- 

 cient knowledge of the Chinese language to converse in it, 

 and also became acquainted with the habits and customs of 

 the people, and thus was fitted to travel in that country. He 

 traversed China, Mongolia, and Tibet, though he was not 

 successful in reaching Lassa. A year or two later he visited 

 these countries a second time; and an account of the countries 

 and peoples visited by him in both of these explorations is 

 given in the reports published by the Smithsonian. South- 

 east of Tibet is the beautiful Vale of Kashmir and the deep 

 valleys of the Himalayas, with canons through which the In- 

 dus runs, as much deeper than our canons as the mountains 

 are higher than those of our own country. These were 

 visited by Doctor William L. Abbott in 1893 an d 1894. 



AFRICA 



FIFTY years ago the interior of Africa was unknown ; the 

 maps of Africa delineated the coast-line, the course of the 

 Niger, the lower Nile, a small tract south of the Desert 

 of Sahara in the region of Timbuctoo, and Lake Tchad and 

 Cape Colony, while all the rest was unknown. It was re- 

 served for our times for Livingstone and Stanley and Speke 

 and Baker, and a host of other eminent travelers, to explore 

 the different parts of Africa, until now the Dark Continent 

 has become better known than the interior of Asia. Negroes 

 from our country were sent to Liberia, under the auspices of 

 the American Colonization Society, and founded the first 

 republic of Africa. This republic was visited by Reverend 

 R. R. Gurley in 1824, 1858, and 1867, who in his earlier 

 trips collected many specimens for the Smithsonian museum. 

 Near Liberia, and east of Dahomey, is Yoruba, the most 

 densely populated portion of Africa, a country inhabited by 

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