

798 



REPORT — 1884. 



Tncific Railway, of wliich many of my hoarci's will soon luivc por<ional Iniowletlire 

 or of tlu! proposed railway from Winnipcfr \i, Hudson's May ; tlicro aio numerous 

 other undertakinnfs which serve in an ei^nal defjrieu (o mark tliis nineteenth ceiitiirv 

 as the molher of new forces and new jiossibilities. Tlie .Alexiciin Central iJiiilwav 

 open some time since from Kl I'aso on the J{iver G ramie, lo Jimenez, Ims bem 

 opened lo Mexico itself, and will soon reach Tehuanti'pec, which will thus be jilacd 

 in direct railway comnninication with New Orleans, while the Sonoran hraucli will 

 connect the I'uited States with (Juaynias on th(! (iulf of Caliiornia. It requires a 

 moment's recollection of the events we have seen in our own day to appreciate 

 the vastness of these chaiijjrcs. 



In South Anu'rica we have llie railway of Dom Pedro 11. creepiu','- nu towanls 

 Paraguay and tlie Ar<rentiue llepuhlie. It has reache<l Sorocaha, while Ijiiiiiches 

 from S. I'aolo to the ".;jvth-west att]iroach <.'reat tracts on the Parana and I'a/aiiiii- 

 panania, which are marked on the latest JJrazilian maps as 'unknown [ndinn 

 territories,' jjcrhaps 1()U,()(H) scjnare miles in extent, cut by the tropic, hut nm- 

 tributinfr almost uothiufj: as yet to eonnnerce. 



Turnini,' to Africa, the l''rencli have a short railway in njicralion ou the 

 Hene<ral, from Dak'ar to S. Louis, and a section of a line to .Medina o]ieMe(l. French 

 en^rineei's also are enjjfajred on a raihvay from iMizeti to Telu'ran, so that btlure 

 lonijcthe capital of Persia will be reajhed from Jiondon in little more than a week. 



Lookinjr to the fur l\ast, Pussia has lonn- since made tlie shores of the Ciu-ipiaii 

 nearly as accessible as Ijake Superior, by her railway from ]>atoum, by way ul 

 TiHis to liaku, which will also be reached by the lines from .Moscow lieloip Idurr. 

 Thi.s is but the first section of a line of far more anibitious aims. Starl'M;^- a<jain 

 irom Mikhailovsk, the erabouclinre of the ancient O.xns, the Tr{ins-Cas]iian hraiicli 

 Inisbeen extended to Pami, and the line has been surveyed to Herat. The ]i(.liti(al 

 forces in the tiehl may be safely trusted to briuf^' the British Indian lines, at present 

 laidfiutto (^uetta ((iOO miles from Herat) into a more or less diiect conninuiicatidn 

 with the .same termiims. Tlu'se are forces which we cainiot ignore, but all we have 

 to do with lliem here is to recogni.se, behind their smoke and din, the steady 

 advance of our race in its primeval mission to re])leni,sh the earth and sulidne it. 

 The next step on the ]>ritish side is an extension of the railway from (^uetta to 

 Candahar, a work wliicli was commenced hy a former administration but discon- 

 tiiuied. Its completion can brinp- nothing but })eneiit to the .Vmeer and his people 



18. The science of geography reaches perhaps its highest ])oint of pidjlic utility 

 Avhen it determines on a sure basis the international disputes ever ari.?infi' on ques- 

 tions of boun.dary. Sacred as our indghbonr's landnnrks are, or ought to le, l': 

 ns, they are in many cases so ill or incorrectly detined as to give free scope (o the 

 passion o( aggrandisement. In such a state is the frontier of Afghanistan. 

 between the rivers Tejend ami Amu Darya. In such a .state, from the Treaty of 

 Ghent to tlie Treaty of "Washington, wen^ the frontiers of this Dominion and an- 

 still those of Ontario and Manitolia. In .such a stat>' are the frontiers of Jiritish 

 (luiana. which have been in dispute for many years with the I{e]iublic of Venezuela 

 on the one side, and the Mmjiire of Pra/.il on tiie otiier, liotii basing their claims ou 

 vague rights of the old Spani.sh crown. To some extent the que.^^ticm as to the 

 origimil boundaries of the po.ssessions claimed by Portugal in West Africfi, includ- 

 ing the mouth of tin? ( 'ongo, belong.? (o the same category. The andjiguily arise- 

 more fre([uently from defectiv' ui:!])-^ and tJK! consiMjuent ini])erfect geograpliiral 

 knowledge of the statesmen negotiating treaties, tlian from any other cause,and 

 all that 1 ilwell upiui here is the proof so often allorded that liberal, even huv 

 expenditure, in the encom'agement of scientific exploration, especially of frontier 

 lands, would often prove to be true public economy in the end. 



ll». I have now touched lightly upon all the points whi(di ap^iear to nie to !)>' 

 most noticeable in the recent ])rogressof geogra])]iical science; but Ixd'ore I resuim 

 my .seat I cannot deny myself the ]deasuri' of alluding to that important measure of 

 social ref(n-m, so simple in its application, .so scientific in its basis, for wliidi you 

 are indebted to the perseverance and enthusiasm of my friend Mr. Sandfovd 

 Fleming, CI']. I m(>nn, of course, the agreement to refer locnl time on thi- 

 continent to a succession of first meridians, on(> hour apart. There nrf> mmy 

 red-letter day.<' in the almannc of less importance than that memorable November 



