128 National Geographic Magazine. 



only such remnants that our most cultivated imaginations can 

 scarce build a superstructure worthy to raise upon the ruins. 



But a new era is opening, the intelligence of later years is 

 spreading over these once fruitful fields, and slowly but surely 

 modern ideas are advancing into the midst of the unknown chaos, 

 and in time will restore the great advantages that have lapsed in 

 the ignorance of ages. The nations of Europe vie with one an- 

 other to extend their possessions, and in the mad race for prece- 

 dence are reclaiming even the waste places as footholds by which 

 they hope to reach the pov/er and wealth they see may be devel- 

 oped in the future. Explorers have brought back wondrous tales 

 that have excited the cupidity of those who profit in the barter of 

 nature's products, until vast schemes have been projected to seize 

 the wealth believed to be within easy grasp. 



Daring spirits discover new countries, and through the reports 

 of the marvels they have seen, inspire their more cautious coun- 

 trymen to venture into unknown fields in the hope of gain. The 

 discontented, too, seek isolation and fancied independence in new 

 regions, and thus is formed the nucleus that parent countries seize 

 upon, encourage, and develop into colonies, that in time may 

 revolutionize a continent, and seek a place among the nations of 

 the world. This sequence of events has been gradually progress- 

 ing in Africa, and has been greatly accelerated by the discoveries 

 of recent years. A large section of the interior has now been 

 opened to trade and colonization in the formation of the " Congo 

 free State." It marks an era in the development of the continent 

 that promises to be fruitful of rapid advance. The Geographic 

 journals have contained many pages of notes during the year, 

 showing the activity of explorers in supplying the Geographical 

 details of the more accessible regions. But there is an area nearly 

 half as large as that of the United States through which the ex- 

 plorer has not yet penetrated ; a field of great interest to Geog- 

 raphers, but they may have years yet to wait, before they may 

 read the story. 



In the East Indies and among the islands of the Pacific there is 

 still work for the Geographer of the most interesting character, 

 and, indeed, for the explorer too. Those who depend upon charts 

 of the great ocean realize too frequently the imperfect determi- 

 nation of the positions of many of these isolated landmarks, and 

 the dangers surrounding them. This is more properly work for 

 governments than for individuals, and we may hope the day is 



