178 REPORT — 1860. 



and general proportions, but their character is better than that of the preceding 

 races. They are very active both in trade and agriculture, and evince great dexterity 

 in the manufacture and use of arms. Their dependence upon the Emperor is of the 

 same nature as that of the Riffers. 



Geography of the North Atlantic Telegraph. 

 By Colonel Tal. P. Shaffner, of the United States. 



The Route — Lands and Seas. — The route of the telegraph is from Scotland via 

 Faroe Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador, to Quebec, there connecting with, 

 other lines to different parts of America. 



The sea sections of the proposed telegraphic route are as well known to nautical 

 geographers, excepting, perhaps, the places sounded by the Telegraphic Expedition 

 last autumn (1859) between Labrador and Greenland, and between Greenland and 

 Iceland. The bottoms of those seas were found to be deep mud, and a cable once laid 

 thereon will lie undisturbed for all time. Icebergs float, and there is no part of the 

 sea in which the cables will be laid where the bergs will reach the bottom. Arctic 

 navigators, with whom the author has had the pleasure of conversing since his arrival 

 from the voyage of last autumn, agree that if the cable can be carried into deep 

 fiords on the respective coasts, there will be no danger of interruptions from icebergs. 

 The author has seen such fiords on the coasts of Labrador and Greenland, and 

 therefore regards the problem as solved. 



The land sections are not of serious importance. A telegraph line can be con- 

 structed on land wherever the foot of man can be placed. Lines have been built 

 over hills and valleys where neither waggon nor beast could go, and these regions 

 were in the great Mississippi valley, a country having great variety of soil, surface, 

 and climate. 



Faroe Isles. — The cable will be landed at Thorshaven, the capital of the Faroe 

 group, and from thence a few miles by land to Westerman's haven. The island is 

 hilly, the roads inferior; there is but little cultivation ; pasturage good ; the people 

 intellectual; religion Lutheran ; it sends one member to the Danish Parliament; it 

 has a governor, sheriffs, and other officers of state : the climate is about the same as 

 Copenhagen, more mild than Stockholm, Quebec, Montreal, or Boston. 



Icelund will be traversed by the line from Berufiord or Portland to Reikiavik. 

 The people are highly educated, and a considerable trade is carried on between them 

 and the Europeans. The French have some 120 vessels fishing on the south coast. 

 They have free trade with foreign countries, and all the fisheries are free. The in- 

 habitants are industrious and religious, and have their own local Parliament. The 

 country is partially cultivated, but much of the island is covered with lava. The 

 climate is moderate ; the ice never interrupting navigation on the south and west 

 coasts. There will be no difficulty whatever in running the telegraph across Iceland. 



Labrador. — The cable will be landed in Hamilton Inlet, lat. 54° 30' N. The 

 line will then be run either to the Gulf or to the River St. Lawrence. This country 

 is rolling or hilly, and covered with timber, principally pine, spruce, and juniper. 

 The trees are large, many being 15 or 20 inches in diameter at the base. There is 

 much grass where the country is open. Turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables are 

 cultivated to a limited extent. The inhabitants are mostly Esquimaux. They are 

 civilized, under the teachings of the Moravian missionaries. There is a station of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company on Hamilton Inlet, about 50 miles from the sea. The 

 coast is hilly and barren. Fishermen from Newfoundland are scattered along the 

 coast, and many are employed in Hamilton Inlet. The cod and herring fisheries 

 are the most profitable. The country is not much settled. There will be difficulties 

 to be met in the construction of the line, and maintaining it across Labrador ; but 

 these difficulties will not be so great as those which have been overcome in other 

 countries ; for example, in Newfoundland, and the Southern and Western States of 

 America. The line across Newfoundland traverses marshy and uninhabited regions, 

 wholly unknown to the world until a few years ago, when it was explored for the 

 telegraph. 



Greenland. — The section of the route the least known is Greenland ; and 

 although that part of the country proposed to be traversed is not so cold as the 

 climate of St. Petersburgh, a city of some 700,000 inhabitants, yet there prevails 



