Early Geographers of the United States 393 



done by our forbears in the way of col- 

 lecting geographical data in order that 

 we may plan for its future development, 

 for it is history that must form a basis 

 for all advancement. 



In these strenuous days, when by the 

 means of modern appliances so much is 

 accomplished in a short time, we are 

 apt to forget to what extent we are in- 

 debted to the pioneers in new fields of 

 discovery , who by their labors have given 

 to mankind such indescribable benefits, 

 including untold millions of money. 

 Such a matter-of-course has it become 

 that geographical expeditions are now 

 fitted out, even for the antipodes, with 

 only a brief notice in our daily papers, 

 while any story, however unimportant, 

 provided its effect is to startle the mind, 

 is given space ad libitum, and in many 

 cases ad nauseam. 



It is therefore through societies, such 

 as we greet today in the city which is 

 celebrating one of the principal events 

 in geograpical history, to which must 

 be delegated the duty of stimulating our 

 people to further efforts at research in 

 the special field of science which we 

 have met to consider, assuring them 

 that as long as " knowledge is power " 

 no region that is unknown can be too 

 unimportant for investigation. 



This must be my excuse for taking 

 up your time for a brief moment in a 

 resume of a portion of the work done 

 in this cause b} r the service to which I 

 have the honor to belong, the Navy of 

 the United States. To cover the whole 

 field of geographic exploration in a lec- 

 ture of a few brief minutes is not within 

 the power of any man, and hence I have 

 restricted myself to the early achieve- 

 ments of this small corps of men with 

 whose accomplishment I am best ac- 

 quainted, and even as thus circum- 

 scribed must confine myself to a bare 

 outline of the reports made, leaving to 

 better hands much to be mentioned. 



I think I may say that the United 

 States Navy is one of the oldest, if not 



the oldest, of all the National Geographic 

 Societies of this country, for scarcely 

 had we become a nation before its offi- 

 cers began a study of our coast, near 

 which in the early days of the Republic 

 the most of its population resided, and 

 of which very little was known. The 

 summation of the information then ex- 

 tant was given in a few incomplete 

 charts handed down from the early sur- 

 veys, or rather reconnoissances, of our 

 English ancestors that were so unrelia- 

 ble as to be practically useless. As our 

 own coast became more familiar to the 

 people, naval officers began to glean in 

 other fields, and no part of the earth's 

 surface was too distant to claim their 

 attention. 



This resulted in establishing a depart- 

 ment within our naval administration 

 which was known at first as the U. S. 

 Naval Observatory and Hydrographical 

 Department, and it has given to the 

 world a vast amount of data gained from 

 surveys or investigations in almost every 

 country in the universe. And we must 

 remember that to the U. S. Navy, as 

 Humboldt has placed on record, the 

 world is indebted for founding a new de- 

 partment of science, that of the Physical 

 Geography of the Sea. 



But few names stand higher on the 

 roll of honor and but few men have lived 

 whose work has been of more lasting 

 benefit to mankind than that of the dis- 

 tinguished scientist, Commander Mat- 

 thew F. Maury, late U. S. Navy, who 

 was the originator and most valuable 

 contributor to this branch of science. 



SLACUM'S VOYAGE 



In November, 1835, President Van 

 Buren directed William A. Slacum, an 

 officer of the U. S. Navy, to proceed to 

 the western coast of the United States 

 and endeavor ' ' to obtain there all such 

 information, political, physical, statis- 

 tical, and geographical, as might prove 

 useful or interesting to the govern- 

 ment." 



