THE FUNCTION AND FIELD OF GEOGRAPHY. 89 1 



SO many euergetic aud iiitelligeut white men all over Africa, it should 

 not be difficult to obtain the data which might help toward its 

 solution. 



I have dwelt thus long on Africa because it will really be one of the 

 great geographical i^roblems of the coming century. Had it been as 

 suitable as America or Australia, we may be sure it would not have 

 remained so long neglected aud despised by the European peoples as 

 it has done. Unfortunately for Africa, just as it had been circumnavi- 

 gated, and just as Europeans were beginning to settle upon its central 

 portion and trying to make their way into the interior, Columbus and 

 Cabot discovered a new world, a world as well adapted as Europe for 

 the energies of the white races. That discovery postponed the legiti- 

 mate developmeiit of Africa for four centuries. Nothing could be 

 more marked than the progress which America has made since its 

 rediscovery four hundred years ago and the stagnation of Africa, which 

 has been known to Europe since long before the beginning of history. 

 During these four hundred years North America at least has been 

 very thoroughly explored. The two great nations which divide North 

 America between them have their Government surveys, which are 

 rapidly mapping the whole continent aud investigating its geology, 

 13hysical geography, and its natural resources. I need hardly tell an 

 audience like this of the admirable work done by the survey of Canada 

 under Sir William Logan, Dr. Selwyn, and his successor, Dr. George 

 Dawson; nor should it be forgotten that under the lauds department 

 much excellent topographical work has been carried out by Captain 

 Deville and his predecessors. Still, though much has been done, 

 much remains to be done. There are large areas which have not as 

 yet even been roughly mapped. Within quite recent years we have 

 had new regions opened up to us by the work of Dawson and Ogilvie 

 on the Yukon, by Dr. Bell in the region to the south of Hudson Bay, 

 by the brothers Tyrrell in the Barren Lands on the west of the same 

 bay, by O'Sullivan beyond the sources of the Ottawa, and by Low 

 in Labrador. But it is not so long since that Dr. Dawson, in reviewing 

 what remains to be done in the Dominion in the way of even pioneer 

 exploration, pointed out that something like a million square miles 

 still remained to be mapped. Apart from the uninhabitable regions 

 in the north, there are, as Dr. Dawson pointed out, considerable areas 

 which might be turned to i)rofitable agricultural and mining account 

 of which we know little, such areas as these which have been recently 

 mapped on the south of Hudson Bay by Dr. Bell, and beyond the 

 Ottawa by Mr. O'Sullivan. Although the eastern «and the western 

 provinces have been very fully surveyed, there is a considerable area 

 between the two, lying between Lake Sujjerior and Hudson Bay, which 

 seems to have been so far almost untouched. A very great deal has 

 been done for the survey of the rivers and lakes of Canada. I need 

 hardly say that in Canada, as elsewhere in America, there is ample 



