252 THE UNMAPPED AREAS ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE 



the past. We have all of us been celebrating the sixtieth 3'ear 

 of the glorious reign of the Sovereign of whose vast dominions 

 Canada and the United Kingdom form integral parts. The pro- 

 gress made during that period in our own department of science 

 has been immense ; it would take volumes to tell what has been 

 done for the exploration of the globe. 



The great continent of Africa has practically been discovered, 

 for sixty years ago almost all but its rim was a blank. In 1837 

 enormous areas in North America were unexplored and much of 

 the interior of South America was unknown. In all parts of Asia 

 vast additions have been made to our knowledge; the maps of 

 the interior of that continent were sixty years ago of the most 

 diagrammatic character. The Australian interior was nearly as 

 great a blank as that of Africa ; New Zealand had not even been 

 annexed. Need I remind you of the great progress which has 

 been made during the period both in the North and South Polar 

 areas, culminating in the magni ficent achievem ent of Dr Nansen ? 

 It was just sixty years ago that the great Antarctic expedition 

 under Sir James Ross was being organized ; since that, alas ! little 

 or nothing has been done to follow up his work. Sixty years ago 

 the science of oceanography, even the term, did not exist. It is 

 the creation of the Victorian era, and may be said almost to have 

 had its origin in the voyage of the Challenger, which added a 

 new domain to our science and opened up inexhaustible fields of 

 research. 



•X- ***** * 



I have thought, then, that the most useful and most manage- 

 able thing to do on the present occasion will be to indicate briefly 

 what, in my estimation, are some of the problems which geogra- 

 phy has to attack in the future, only taking such glances at the 

 past as will enable us to do this intelligibly. 



ASIA 



Turning to the continent of Asia, we find that immense progress 

 has been made during the past six;ty years. In the presidential 

 address given sixty years ago Mr Hamilton says of Asia : " We 

 have only a general knowledge of the geographical character of the 

 Burman, Chinese, and Japan empires ; the innumerable islands 

 of the latter are still, except occasionally, inaccessible to European 

 navigators. Geographers hardly venture on the most loose de- 

 scription of Tibet, Mongolia, or Chinese Tartary, Siam, and Cochin 

 China." Since then the survey of India, one of the greatest 



