v450 



Progress of Geographij in 1836-7. 



[April 



the work of Marshal Biobertein on the flora of that country : and the 

 Academy of St. Petersburg has intitructed M. Sjsegren to proceed to 

 Caucasia, in order to make himself acquainted with the language and 

 customs of the Ossetes, one of the six classes of the nations now inha- 

 biting the Caucasian provinces. 



From Berlin we learn that M. Dubois has submitted to the Geogra- 

 phical Society there the maps and drawings made by him during some 

 years' residence in the Caucasus ; and Herr E. Eichwald, at Stuttgard, 

 has also lately published the account of his journeys to Caucasia and 

 to the Caspian sea. 



ASIA. 



A glance at the map of this va'^t country will show at once that here 

 is ample field for geographical discovery. From the icy ocean to the 

 equator—from Syria to Japan, every journey of any extent must be 

 over ground with which we are but imperfectly acquainted, — and this 

 very ignorance should be an additional stimulus to prosecute research 

 to every European whose lot may be cast in this portion of the globe. 



In briefly recapitulating the principal works which have contributed 

 to the improvement of the geography of Asia, we would first point at- 

 tention to the admirable work " Erdkunde von Asien," by Professor 

 Ritter at Berlin, which has now reached the second part of the third 

 volume, and thus completes the description of Hindustan and of east- 

 ern Asia ; and, secondly, to the Atlas von Asien, by Dr. H. Berghaus, 

 in which, besides the maps of the countries, he has discussed all the 

 elements employed in their construction. The past year has produc- 

 ed six new maps, namely, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, Assam, and the 

 Chinese coast. 



Siberia. — Commencing to the north, we must again take up the 

 route of Herr Adolph Erman from the Ural, thence by Tobolsk, along 

 the river Obi, to Obdorsk, near the Arctic Circle : returning to Tobolsk, 

 he proceeded to Irkutzk, and visited Kiakhta and the country south of 

 the Baikal Lake, then to Yakuzk, and across the Ald^n Mountains to 

 Okotzk, thence by sea toKamskatka, and to the island of Sitka. The 

 results of this journey, parts of which only are yet published, are 

 highly important to physical geography. During the same period, 

 Captain Lutke, commanding the Seniavine, had examined the coasts 

 of Kamskatka to the north of Avatchka Bay, and several islands in 

 Behring's Sea. Baron Wrangel, too, lately returned to Europe from his 



