TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 127 



be there put together and manned by natives under the command of Mr. Young, of 

 the Royal Navy, the zealous wan-ant officer who had during upwards of two years 

 commanded the ' Pioneer ' under Dr. Livingstone himself. With two other accli- 

 matized British seamen, and accompanied by a volunteer, Mr. Falkner, Mr. Young 

 was directed to ascend the Zambesi to the mouth of its great affluent the Shire. 

 There the boat woidd be taken to pieces and canied up on the sides of those great 

 and long rapids to which Li-\dngstone had attached the name of the Mm-chison Falls, 

 at the head of which it would be reconsti-ucted in order to ascend the Shire, to the 

 most western end of the Great Lake Nyassa, near to which is the spot where, as 

 reported, the great traveller was killed. Having ascertained the true facts, it was 

 estimated that the expedition woidd on its return reach the mouth of the Zambesi 

 at the end of November, and hence it is hoped that in January of 1868 the painful 

 suspense of the public will be set at rest*. 



" If," Sir Roderick added, " we can only ascertain that my valued friend was 

 not killed at that spot, but passed on towards the interior accompanied by a few- 

 negroes only, why then I shall have every hope that Li\-ingstone, who can overcome 

 obstacles that not a man in a million can face, and who traversed and retraversed 

 South Afiica with black men only, having been also reported to be dead, may emerge 

 from all his difficulties, and settle the great problem now in agitation — whether 

 the vast lake Tanganyika is or is not a gi-eat southern water-basin of the Nile." 



Description of Tivo Routes through Nicararjiia. By Lietit. S. P. Olivek, R.A. 

 The author described a journey he had made, between the months of February 

 and July of the present year, up the river San Juan in Nicaragua, and across the 

 new line overland, between the Lake and the Gulf of Mexico, which has just been 

 cleared through ihe forest in prepai-ation for a railroad projected by Capt. Bedford 

 Pirn. The tract of coimtiy traversed was, until the present expedition, a terra 

 incognita, occupied by vast impenetrable forests of gigantic trees, dense under- 

 wood, and entangled woody creepers. The line commences on the Lake of Nica- 

 ragua, at San Miguelito, and ends at the Rama river, in the Gulf of Mexico. At 

 San Miguelito, the variation of the compass was ascertained to be 4° 30' east. 



Exploration of the Grand Chaco in La Plata, with an Account of the Indians. 



By W. PEKKDfS. 



On the Mining District of Chontales, Nicaragua. By Capt. Bedford Pim, B.N, 

 In its phyiscal aspect, Nicaragua may be divided into three longitudinal sec- 

 tions : — 1. T^he Atlantic side, which is, for the most part, low and alluvial, inter- 

 sected by numerous rivei-s, having bars at their mouths, with lagoons inside afford- 

 ing an almost uninten-upted water navigation. The land is everywhere rich, and 

 well adapted to the production of Sea-Island cotton. 2. The Pacific side, having 

 precipitous shores, and no river worthy of the name. The region is eminently 

 volcanic, and destitute of minerals. A curious feature is the number and extent 

 of the lakes spread over its surface, including Lake Nicaragua, ninety miles wide 

 by forty broad. The small lake Nijapa presents some marked pecidiarities ; the 

 specific gravity of its water is 1-8, and it is hot to the taste, acrid, and smelling of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen. It is of a light greenish -yellow colour, very thick and 

 turbid, and on being kept some time deposits a black precipitate, consisting chiefly 

 of iron. Some of the lalces are fathomless, and pure as ciystal. 3. The last sec- 

 tion consists of the dividing ridge between the other two, attaining a maximum 

 elevation of 5C(X) feet. In this district gold and silver are foimd, and in its 

 southern part lie the mines of Chontales. A dense, imbroken primajval forest 

 covers the greater part of this region, containing a profusion of valuable timber 

 trees, such as cedar, mahogany, sapota, leopard wood for cabinet work, canilla (an 



* It is now happily known tliat the expedition was not only eminently successful in ne- 

 gativing' the accounts of the death of Livingstone, but that everything was accomplished 

 within the estimated period, thanks to the skill and energy of Mr. Young.— February 4, 

 1868. 



