464 



Progress of Geography in 1836-7. 



[Al»Rlt 



miles of the Bio Negro, and two hundred of the Santa Cruz, up to the 

 foot of the Andes, were examined and laid down, and a chart was made 

 of the Falkland Islands. To the westward of Cape Horn, from the 

 parallel of 47** south to the river of Guayaquil, only 3" south of the 

 Equator, the whole coasts of Chile and Peru have been surveyed ; nor 

 has any port or roadstead been omitted. Of the Chonos Archipelago no 

 chart existed. Of Chiloe the best Spanish charts were twenty* 

 five miles in error in latitude. Among numerous other heights 

 measured, the Volcano of Aconcagua was proved to be 23,300 feet 

 above the sea ; thus taking rank as third in height in the Cor- 

 dilleras of the Andes. A detailed description of the great earth- 

 quake at Concepcion in 1835 j a valuable collection in all depart- 

 ments of natural history, by Mr. Darwin i together with sixty 

 charts, on the scale of twelve inches to a degree, and one-hundred 

 plans, and innumerable views, besides meteorologic journals and tide 

 registers, which are now lodged in the Hydrographic Office, attest the 

 indefatigable zeal with which this service was conducted.* Quitting the 

 coasts of south America, the Galapagos Islands, the dangerous Archipe- 

 lago, and the Keeling Islands were examined, and a chronometric 

 chain of measurement by twenty-two time-keepers, for the first time, 

 has been carried, from east to west, round the globe. 



A summary of this voyage, giving all the most important positions 

 obtained, and the chief practical results, has been published in the 

 Journal of the Geographical Society, while the more detailed narrative 

 of its various incidents is preparing to meet the eagerness which the 

 public always feel in a series of operations so wisely planned and so 

 ably conducted. 



It were hardly necessary to add, that the Royal Premium " for the 

 encouragement of geographical science and discovery," has been 

 awarded to Captain Fitz-Roy, R. N., as commander of this expedition. 



AUSTRALIA. 



New South JVales.—The exploring party under Major Mitchell, 

 Surveyor-General of this Colony, returned to Sydney at the commence- 

 ment of the past year, having traced the river Darling (discovered by 

 Sturt in 1S2S) to latitude 32o 30' S., longitude 142o 30' east of Green- 

 wich. In March, 1836, Major Mitchell again started on discovery, 



* It is right to mention that this service was most materially assisted by the influential 

 exertions of Mr. Wilson, British Consul-Seneral at Lima, and by the UbersU aud active 

 co-operation of Don Eduardo Carrasco, hydrographer in Peru. 



