WHERE EXPLORATION IS NEEDED 163 



many respects the organization is similar to that of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey. The ships emjiloyed are not men-of-war, but regnlarl}' appointed 

 surveying vessels. In 1899 four of these were employed at home and seven in 

 foreign waters. Hydrographic work has been in progress in England for 110 

 years, and will, of course, be continued as long as Euglisii commerce exists. 



RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENTS 



While the construction of new lines of railway in 1899 was the largest since 

 1890, there are many evidences that it is to the improvement of existing lines 

 rather than to the building of new ones that the railway managers of the country 

 are giving their attention. The doubling of existing tracks, the straightening 

 out of curves, the substitution of iron or steel bridges for wooden structures, an 

 increase in rolling stock, in the capacity of cars, and in the hauling power of 

 locomotives, together with the adoption. of improved signaling apparatus, are 

 reported from many different quarters. 



Perhaps the most notable recent occurrence in the railway Avorld is the com- 

 pletion of the Pennsylvania Company's four-track road over the Alleghanies. 

 For several years past the construction of the tliird and fourth tracks has been 

 gradually approaching the summit of the range on both the eastern and western 

 slopes, and recently the very costly undertaking was completed, the final stage 

 of the work including the famous Horseshoe Curve. 



Another interesting occurrence is the filling in of Sheep's Canyon on the Bur- 

 lington and Missouri River Railroad, eight miles north of Edgemont, S. Dak. The 

 railway formerly crossed this canyon by a wooden trestle 700 feet long and 126 

 feet liigh. This bridge has now been done away with, an immense embank- 

 ment having taken its place. The work of construction involved the employ- 

 inent of 1,486 trains of 15 cars each, 22,290 carloads of earth, or about 320,000 

 cubic yards,. being rcMpiired for the fill. 



WHERE EXPLORATION IS NEEDED 



A number of startling geograpliic statements which were circulated in the 

 dailv papers during March may be cited witliout comment: 



E. S. Grogran, returning to London after a two years' journey overland from 

 the Cape to Cairo, reports entering near Lake Tanganyika a region of active 

 volcanoes, where he encountered "enormous lava streams forming a veritable 

 Fea 40 by 60 miles and 100 feet deep, forests and herds of elephants being 

 buried in licjuid fire." 



"The neighboring country," he says, "is occupied by some 5,000 Balekas, 

 ferocious cannibals from tlie Kongo, who live by mandumting." His guides 

 told him that tlie country, covering 3.500 square miles, had been until recently 

 densely populated, but that the people had virtually been killed and ejvten by 



