1865.] Geography. 289 



The district of Bhotan, or Bootan, to which we referred above, 

 lies on the southern slope of the Himalayas, and includes some of the 

 highest of these mountains, as, for instance, Chuniulari, which is 

 nearly 24,000 feet high. This district is 230 miles long, and 130 

 broad, and contains 19,000 square miles. Between the years 1772 

 and 1774 a slight collision took place between the Bhoteahs and the 

 British ; since that period little notice has been taken of the doings 

 of these mountaineers, until their invasion of Assam and the subse- 

 quent maltreatment of Mr. Eden and his party. The military pro- 

 ceedings of the invading force at present have been confined to the 

 taking of hill forts of some strength, defended with much courage by 

 these mountaineers. The boundary towards the British possessions 

 is not of a mountainous character, but rather marshy forest, such as 

 would be called swamp* in America. 



There is but little geographical news from Australia. The electric 

 telegraph now connects all the principal colonies, running from 

 Adelaide to Melbourne, thence through Sydney to Brisbane ; and it is 

 expected soon to reach Eockhampton, a town destined ere long to 

 eclipse Brisbane, unless the latter makes great efforts to keep up the 

 start it already possesses. We suppose Point Somerset and Cape 

 York will be the next post ; and when we have arrived thus far, we 

 may hope for a fortnightly communication with the China mail before 

 the latter reaches Calcutta. ' A History of the Discovery and Explo- 

 ration of Australia ' has been written by the Bev. Julian E. Tenison 

 Woods, of the colony of Victory, a gentleman who adds innumerable 

 letters to his name, and who has had great assistance in his work from 

 governors of provinces, and others possessed of information on the 

 subject on which he writes. The result is a dry but valuable account 

 of the early history of the Continent, and of the latest discoveries in 

 the interior. Amongst many valuable facts he mentions that Captain 

 Flinders, in whose honour, as we mentioned in our last paper, the 

 Australians have been so liberal in giving names of unconnected 

 localities, received so little pecuniary liberality, and his surviving 

 relatives have profited so little by his discoveries, that one of his nieces 

 a short time since had to apply for an assisted passage to New South 

 Wales. After the death of Flinders, there were no great discoverers 

 in Australia until Sir Thomas Michell, in 1831. He was succeeded 

 by Pyne, the present Sir George Grey of New Zealand, Leichhardt, 

 Kennedy, the Gregorys, Austin, Babbage, Warburton, Macdouall 

 Stuart, Burke, Wills, Walker, Landborough, McKinlay, and Howitt. 



The work of one of the above travellers, Mr. Macdouall Stuart, 

 called c Explorations in Australia,' has been accepted by her Majesty 

 and by the Prince of Wales, who thus ratify the name of " Alexandra 

 Land " given by the discoverer to a portion of Northern Australia. 



Several questions of topography, if not of Geography, will receive 

 elucidation from the survey of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, by the 

 sappers under the command of Captain Wilson. Much has been done 



* In the Western Continent the word " swamp" refers to the timber on the land, 

 rather than the moisture of the soil itself. 



