TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 707 



as in the past, tlie able men who are employed on this survey work will have oppor- 

 tunities of working out the physiography of particular districts, the past and present 

 geography of which is of advancing scientitic interest. Of the complete exploration 

 and mapping of the North American continent we need have no apprehension ; it 

 is only a question of time, and it is to be hoped that neither of the Governments 

 responsible will allow political exigencies to interfere with what is really a work 

 of national importance. 



It is when we come to Central and South America that we find ample room 

 for the unofficial explorer.' In Mexico and the Central American States 

 there are considerable areas of which we have little or only the vaguest knowledge. 

 Jn South America there is really more room now for the pioneer explorer than 

 there is in Central Africa. In recent years the Argentine Republic has shown a 

 laudable zeal in exploring and mapping its immense territories, while a certain 

 amount of good work has also been done by Brazil and Chili. Most of our 

 knowledge of South America is due to the enterprise of European and North 

 American explorers. Along the great river courses our knowledge is fairly satis- 

 factory, but the immense areas, often densely clad with forests, lying between the 

 rivers are almost entirely unknown. In Patagonia, though a good deal has re- 

 cently been done by the Argentine Government, still in the country between Punta 

 Arenas and the Rio Negro, we have much to learn ; while on the west coast range , 

 with its innumerable ijord-like inlets, its islands and peninsulas, there is a fine 

 field for the geologist and physical geographer. Indeed, throughout the whole 

 range of the Andes systematic exploration is wanted, exploration of the character 

 of the excellent work accomplished by AYhymper in the region around Chimborazo 

 There is an enormous area lying to the east of the Northern Andes, and including 

 tlieir eastern slopes, embracing the eastern half of Ecuador and Colombia, Southern 

 "\'enezuela, and much of the country lying between that and Northern Bolivia, 

 including many of the upper tributaries of the Amazon and Orinoko, of which our 

 knowledge is of the scantiest. Even the country lying between the Rio Negro 

 and the Atlantic is but little known. There are other great areas, in Brazil and 

 in the Northern Chaco, which have only been partially described, such as the 

 region whence the streams forming the Tapajos and the Paraguay take their rise, 

 in Mato Grosso. A survey and detailed geographical and topographical descrip- 

 tion of the whole basin of Lake Titicaca is a desideratum. In short, in South 

 America there is a wider and richer field for exploration than in any other con- 

 tinent. But no mere rush through these little-known regions will suffice. The 

 explorer must be able not only to use his sextant and his theodolite, his compass, 

 and his chronometer. Any expeditions entering these regions ought to be able to 

 bring back satisfactory information on the geology of the country traversed, and 

 of its fainia and flora, past and present ; already the revelations which have been 

 made of the past geography of South America, and of the life that flourished there 

 in former epochs, are of the highest interest. Moreover, we have here the remains 

 of extinct civilisations to deal with, and although much has been done in this 

 direction, much remains to be done, and in the extensive region already referred 

 to, the physique, the traditions, and the customs of the natives will repay careful 

 investigation. 



The southern continent of Australia is in the hands of men of the same origin as 

 those who have developed to such a wonderful extent the resources of Canada and 

 the United States, and therefore we look for equally satisfactory results so far as 

 the characteristics of that contiuent permit. The five colonies which divide among 

 them the three million square miles of the continent have each of them efficient 

 Government surveys, which are rapidly mapping their features and investigating 

 their geology. But Australia has a trying economic problem to solve. In none 

 of the Colonies is the water-supply quite adequate ; in all are stretches of desert 

 country of greater or less extent. The centre and western half of the continent is 

 covered by a desert more waterless and more repellent than even the Sahara ; so 



' I am indebted for much of the information relative to South America to a 

 valuable Memorandum by Sir Clements R. Markham and Colonel G. E. Church. 



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