MINERALWEALTH OFAFRICA.
MINERALWEALTH OFAFRICA.
We are told in Phillips's "Ore Deposits" that the precious metals do not appear to be very generally distributed in Africa. More thorough research may show that this view is incorrect, and that there are large deposits of iron, copper, gold, and other metals in many parts of the continent. Gold is found on the Gold Coast, in the Transvaal, in the Sudan, and in Central Africa, but is only worked in surface diggings, excepting in the Transvaal; but near all these washings, gold nuggets of large size, and the quartz rock, have been discovered. In Transvaal the mines were worked a long time ago, probably by the Portuguese, then abandoned and forgotten. Recently they have been rediscovered, and worked by the English. In the Kaap gold-field in the Transvaal, three years ago, the lion and zebra, elephant and tiger, roamed undisturbed in the mountain solitudes, where there is now a population of 8,000, with 80 gold-mining companies, having a capital of $18,500,000, one-third of which is paid up. Barberstown, the chief mining-town, has two exchanges, a theatre, two music-halls, canteens innumerable, several churches and hotels, four banks, and a hospital. A railroad was opened in December, 1887, from the Indian Ocean towards these mines, 52 miles, and is being rapidly constructed 100 miles farther to Barberstown.
There is reason to believe that gold deposits equal to those of Mexico or California will yet be found in several parts of Africa. Copper is known to exist in the Orange Free State, in parts of Central and South Africa, and in the district of Katongo, south-west of Lake Tanganyika, which Dr. Livingstone was about to explore in his last journey. Rich copper ores are also found in the Cape of Good Hope, Abyssinia, and equatorial Africa. Large and excellent deposits of iron ore have been found in the Transvaal and in Algiers, and a railroad 20 miles long has been built to carry it from the Algerian mines to the sea. Very many tribes in equatorial and Central Africa work both iron and copper ores into different shapes and uses, showing that the ore-beds must be widely distributed.
One of the few large diamond-fields of the world is found in Griqua and Cape Colony, at the plateau of Kimberly, 3,000 feet above the sea. The dry diggings have been very productive; this tract, when first discovered, being almost literally sown with diamonds.
Coal has been found in Zulu-Land, on Lake Nyassa, and in Abyssinia. The latter coal-field is believed to be secondary. Iron, lead, zinc, and other minerals, have been found in the Orange Free State. Salt-beds, salt-fields, salt-lakes, and salt-mines are found in different parts of Africa.
RAILROADS.
RAILROADS.
The peculiar formation of Africa, its long inland navigation, interrupted by the falls near the mouths of its large rivers, from connection with the ocean, render it necessary to connect the ocean with the navigable parts of the rivers by railroads.
The Belgians will soon construct a railroad on the southerly side of the Kongo, to the inland navigable waters of the Kongo at Leopoldville, following the preliminary surveys lately completed; the French may also construct a road from the coast to Stanley Pool; and by one or the other of these routes the interior of Africa will be opened.
South of the Kongo, the Portuguese are constructing a railroad from Benguela into the interior. In Cape Colony railroads connect the greater part of the British possessions with the Cape of Good Hope. A railroad is also being constructed from Delagoa Bay to the mines in Transvaal.
Sudan and the upper waters of the Nile can only be opened to a large commerce by a railroad from Suakin to Berber, about 280 miles. Surveys were made for this road, and some work was done upon it, just before Gen. Gordon's death. The navigation of the Nile above Berber is uninterrupted for many hundred miles. Below Berber the falls interrupt the navigation. The route from Gondokoro down the Nile is by boat to Berber, camel to Assuan, boat to Siut, and railroad to Cairo and Alexandria, making a route so circuitous that it prevents the opening of the Sudan to any extensive commerce.
In Algiers there are 1,200 miles of railroad, and more are being constructed. The French are constructing a railroad from the upper part of the Senegal River to the head waters of the Niger. The English have organized a company to construct a road from the Gold Coast to the mines in the interior.
It will thus be seen that the railroad has already opened a way into Africa that is sure to be carried on more extensively.
STANLEYEXPEDITION.
STANLEYEXPEDITION.
There are two methods of exploring Africa. One is where an individual, like a Livingstone, or a Schweinfurth, or a Dr. Junker, departs on his journey alone. He joins some tribe as far in the interior, on the line of exploration, as possible; lives with the tribe, adopting its habits and manner of life, learning its language, making whatever explorations he can; and, when the region occupied by such tribe has been fully explored, leaves it for the next farther on. This plan requires time and never-failing patience; but in this way large portions of Africa have been explored. The other way, adopted by Cameron, Stanley, Wissmann, and the Portuguese explorers, has been to collect a party of natives, and at their head march across the continent.
"An immense outfit is required to penetrate this shopless land, and the traveler can only make up his caravan from the bazaar at Zanzibar. The ivory and slave-traders have made caravanning a profession, and every thing the explorer wants is to be found in these bazaars, from a tin of sardines to a repeating-rifle. Here these black villains the porters—the necessity and despair of travelers, the scum of slave-gangs, and the fugitives from justice from every tribe—congregate for hire. And if there is any thing in which African travelers are for once agreed, it is, that for laziness, ugliness, stupidity, and wickedness, these men are not to be matched on any continent in the world." Upon such men as these Stanley was obliged to depend.
Though traveling in this way is more rapid than the other, it is very expensive, and has many difficulties not encountered by the solitary traveler. The explorer always goes on foot, following as far as possible the beaten paths. A late traveler says: "The roads over which the land-trade of equatorial Africa now passes from the coast to the interior are mere footpaths, never over a foot in breadth, beaten as hard as adamant, and rutted beneath the level of the forest-bed by centuries of native traffic. As a rule, these foot-paths are marvellously direct. Like the roads of the old Roman, they move straight on through every thing,—ridge and mountain and valley,—never shying at obstacles, nor anywhere turning aside to breathe. No country in the world is better supplied with paths. Every village is connected with some other village, every tribe with the next tribe, and it is possible for a traveler to cross Africa without being once out of a beaten track."
But if the tribes using these roads are destroyed, the roads are discontinued, and soon become obstructed by the rapid growth of the underbrush; or, if the route lies through unknown regions outside the great caravan-tracks, the paths are very different from those described by Mr. Drummond, for the way often lies through swamps and morass, or thick woods, or over high mountain-passes, or is lost in a wilderness of waters.
The great difficulty in these expeditions is to obtain food. As supplies cannot be carried, they must be procured from the natives. Very few tribes can furnish food for a force of six hundred men (the number with Stanley); and when they have the food, they demand exorbitant prices. Often the natives not only refuse food to the famished travelers, but oppose them with such arms as they have; and then it is necessary, in self-defence, to fire upon them.
The greatest difficulty the explorer meets comes either directly or indirectly from the opposition of the slave-trader. Formerly the slave-trader was not found in equatorial Africa; but, since the explorer has opened the way, the slave-trader has penetrated far into the interior, and is throwing obstacles in the way of the entry of Europeans into Africa. When it was decided that Stanley should relieve Emin Pacha, he was left to choose his route. He met Schweinfurth, Junker, and other African travelers, in Cairo. They advised him to go by his former route directly from Zanzibar to the Victoria Nyanza. The dangers and difficulties of this route, and the warlike character of the natives, he well knew. The route by the Kongo to Wadelai had never been traveled, and he thought the difficulties could not be greater than by the old route; and, beside, he proceeded much farther into the interior by steamer on the Kongo, which left a much shorter distance through the wilderness than by the Zanzibar route. On arriving at Zanzibar, he made an arrangement with Tippo-Tip, the great Arab trader and slave-dealer, for a large number of porters. They sailed from Zanzibar to the Kongo, where Stanley arrived in February, 1887. He then sailed up the Kongo, and arrived in June at the junction of the Aruvimi with the Kongo, a short distance below Stanley Falls. Stanley believed that the Aruvimi and the Welle were the same stream, and that by following up this river he would be on the direct route to Wadelai. Subsequent investigations have shown that he was mistaken. About the 1st of July he left the Kongo, expecting to reach Emin Pacha in October, 1887. No definite information has been received from him from that time to the present. He left Tippo-Tip in command at Stanley Falls, and expected that a relief expedition would follow. There were great delays in organizing this expedition, from the difficulty of obtaining men, and it was thought that Tippo-Tip was unfaithful. The men were finally procured, and the expedition left Aruvimi in June, 1888, under command of Major Barttelot. A day or two after they started, Major Barttelot was murdered by one of his private servants. The expedition returned to the Kongo, and was re-organized under Lieut. Jamieson. He was taken ill, and died just as he was ready to start, and no one has been found to take his place; and that relief expedition was abandoned. Reports say that Stanley found the route more difficult than he anticipated; heavy rainfall, rivers, swamps, and marshes obstructed the way; that the season was sickly, and a large part of his followers died long before he could have reached Emin Pacha.
The reports of his capture, and of his safe return to the Aruvimi River, are known to all. These may or may not be true. Although we have not heard from Stanley for a year and a half, yet it by no means follows that he is dead; for Livingstone, Stanley, and other explorers have been lost for a longer time, and have afterward found their way back to the coast. No man has greater knowledge of the country through which his route lay, or of the character of the natives, or the best manner of dealing with them. Emin Pacha was encamped quietly for nearly two years at Wadelai; and Stanley, in like manner, may have been compelled to remain at some inland point and raise his own provisions.
THEFUTURE OFAFRICA.
THEFUTURE OFAFRICA.
It is impossible to prophesy the future of any country, much less that of Africa, where the physical features have left so marked an impression upon its inhabitants, and where the animal life is so different from that of the other continents. It is rather by differentiating Africa from other countries that we obtain any data from which to form an opinion of its future.
Africa, as we have seen, is surrounded by a fringe of European settlements. What effect will these settlements have upon Africa? Will the European population penetrate the interior, and colonize Africa? Will it subjugate or expel the Africans, or will they fade away like the Indians of our country? If colonization by Europeans fail, will the African remain the sole inhabitant of the country as barbarian or civilized?
Egypt is now controlled by the English, but its climate is too unhealthy, and its surrounding too unfavorable, for Englishmen; and we may safely assume that their occupation will be temporary, or, if permanent, not as colonists. They will remain, as in India, foreigners and rulers, until the subjugated people rise in their power and expel them, and return to their old life. The English rule, though possibly beneficial to Egypt, is hated by the natives, who demand Egypt for the Egyptians.
Leaving Egypt, we pass an uninhabitable coast, until we come to the French colonies of Algiers. It is nearly sixty years since the French took possession of Algiers. There has been a large emigration from France; but the climate, while excellent as a winter climate for invalids and others, is unfavorable for a permanent habitation, especially for infants. The births in one year have never equalled the deaths. When Algeria was first conquered by the French, it was a wilderness, but is now a garden. The cultivation of the grape has been most successful, and extensive iron-mines have been opened. The French are gradually pushing their way from Algiers across the desert to Timbuctu, and also from Senegambia to Timbuctu. The expense of maintaining Algeria has greatly exceeded any revenue derived from it. Though many doubt the political wisdom of retaining it, yet the French have too much pride to acknowledge that the enterprise has been in any way a failure; and they will undoubtedly hold it, and perhaps found an empire. Senegambia and the coast of Guinea, claimed by the French and English, are low and moist, filled with swamps and lagoons, which will prevent any European colonization.
South of the Kongo, the Portuguese claim a wide section of country running across Africa. They have occupied this country over two hundred years. They have done little towards colonizing, and only hold a few trading-posts on the coast and in the interior, dealing principally in slaves, ivory, and gold; and it may well be doubted whether they have the stamina or ability to colonize this country, or to produce any permanent impression upon it.
The south portion of Africa, from the 18th parallel on the Atlantic to the 26th parallel on the Indian Ocean, is generally fertile; and the climate is favorable to Europeans, and is capable of sustaining a large population. The growth of Cape Colony has been very slow, but a more rapid growth is anticipated. We believe it will be permanently occupied by the English, who will dispossess the aborigines, and form a great and permanent English State. The coast of Zanzibar, occupied by the Germans and English, is rich and fertile, the climate unhealthy; but when the mountain-ranges are crossed, and the elevated plateaus and lake regions are reached, the interior resembles the Kongo region. Massaua and Suakin, on the Red Sea, are unhealthy and worthless, unless connected by railroad with the upper Nile.
There remains equatorial Africa, including the French settlements on the Ogowe, the region about Lake Chad, the Kongo and its tributaries, and the lake region. The more we learn of equatorial Africa, the greater its natural advantages appear to be. The rivers open up the country in a favorable manner for trade and settlement. Its elevation from 2,000 to 3,000 feet will render it healthy, though this elevation is only equal to from ten degrees to fourteen degrees of north latitude. Here all the fruits of the torrid zone, the fruits and most of the grains of the temperate zone, cotton, India-rubber, and sugar-cane, are found.
The country has been unhealthy, a great many Europeans have died, and few have been able to remain more than two or three years without returning to Europe to recuperate. These facts seem to show that the climate is not healthy for Europeans. But the mortality has been much greater than it will be when the country is settled and the unhealthy stations have been exchanged for healthier localities. Every new country has its peculiar dangers, which must be discovered. When these obstacles are understood and overcome, Europeans will probably occupy all this region, and it will become a European colony.
If European colonization is successful, European civilization will come into contact with African barbarism. Where such a contest is carried on in a country where the climate is equally favorable to the two races, it can only result in the subjugation or destruction of the inferior race. If the climate is unfavorable to the white population, then, unless the inferior is subjected to the superior, the white population will fail in colonizing the country, and the Negro will either slowly emerge from barbarism, or return to his original condition.
The Negro has never developed any high degree of civilization; and even if, when brought into contact with civilization, he has made considerable progress, when that contact ceased he has deteriorated into barbarism. But, on the other hand, he has never faded away and disappeared, like the Indian of America and the natives of the Southern Archipelago.
Nature has spread a bountiful and never-ending harvest before the Negro, and given to him a climate where neither labor of body or mind, neither clothing nor a house, is essential to his comfort. All nature invites to an idle life; and it is only through compulsion, and contact with a life from without, that his condition can be improved.
In Africa a contest is going on between civilization and barbarism, Christianity and Mohammedanism, freedom and slavery, such as the world has never seen. Who can fail to be interested in the results of this conflict? We know that Africa is capable of the very highest civilization, for it was the birthplace of all civilization. To it we are indebted for the origin of all our arts and sciences, and it possesses to-day the most wonderful works of man. Let us hope that Africa, whose morning was so bright, and whose night has been so dark, will yet live to see the light of another and higher civilization.
BYHERBERTG. OGDEN.
BYHERBERTG. OGDEN.
In preparing this first report as one of the vice-presidents of the Society, I have been obliged to interpret the intent of our by-laws in the requirement that the vice-presidents shall present at the end of the year summaries of the work done throughout the world in their several departments. The amount of information that can be accumulated during twelve months, if referred to in detail, is simply appalling; to compile it for the Society would be a great labor, and when completed it would be largely the duplication of the work of others, already accessible in the journals of other societies, and in special publications devoted to this and kindred subjects. That such a detailed historical journal should be maintained by the Society hardly admits of a question. I had hoped to see one inaugurated during the first year of our work that would have embraced all the departments of the Society: but must confess with some disappointment, to having been too sanguine and to have over-estimated the interest that might be excited in the members of a new organization. We need a journal of the kind for reference; for our associates, ourselves, and our many friends we hope to attract by the information we may supply them. But it cannot well be compiled by one man engaged upon the every-day affairs of life, and I have not made any attempt in that direction, even in those matters circumscribed by the section of the Society under my charge.
I have found little in the affairs of Europe that it seems necessary to bring to your attention; indeed, the past twelve months seem quite barren of any great events in the progress of Geographic knowledge. This, perhaps, is to be expected at intervals of longer or shorter periods, as it is governed by peoples of the most advanced civilization, who have availed themselves of all the progress of science to explore and develop the land on which they live, until there is little left of nature to be learned, unless science shall determine new truths to bind by stronger links the truths already found. We may look for the greatest changes here, both now and in the future, in the work of man pressing on in the eager strife to improve his condition above others less fortunately situated; seeking advantage in the peculiarities of his environment to open new channels of trade that will divert the profits from the older routes.
Of many schemes suggested in furtherance of such ends, there are few that develop into realities within a generation. Nature may be against them when the facts are fully learned, the profit may not warrant the outlay, and political considerations may keep in abeyance that which otherwise may be admitted to be good. Thus the grand scheme to make an inland sea of the Desert of Sahara is impossible of execution from the fact that the desert is many hundreds of feet higher than the ocean. The long talked of project to cut the Isthmus of Corinth, now accomplished, was a theme of discussion for twenty centuries or more. And the later project to tunnel the English Channel we have seen defeated through the fears of a few timid men. Perchance the grander one, now introduced with some seriousness, to bridge the channel, may meet with a better fate.
The route for the ship canal to connect the Baltic and the North Seas, is reported to have been determined upon and the preliminary work of construction to have been commenced. And we learn that a proposition is being discussed to connect the Danube with the Baltic Sea by way of the Vistula. However chimerical such a project may seem to us, we cannot at this time discredit those who believe in it. It shows that restless spirit that predominates the age, striving for the mastery of the commercial world. Politically, Europe has seen no geographical change, but those conversant with affairs apprehend a military catastrophe at no distant date, that will probably embroil the stronger nations and endanger the existence of the weaker ones.
Having practically acquired a knowledge of their territories, the people of these nations are diligently seeking to develop greater things in the study of all the earth, and we have thus seen formed as a means to this end, what is now known as the International Geodetic Association. The primary object of this Association is to determine the form of the earth. It is an inquiry of absorbing interest, and the geodetic work in America must eventually contribute an important factor in its solution. We may therefore hope that the bill now before the Congress authorizing the United States to have representation in the Association, will become a law. The free interchange between the continents that would thus be established, would be of incalculable benefit to both in the prosecution of this important scientific labor.
If we turn to the adjoining continent of Asia, there is still open a large field for Geographic research. Peopled as it has been, largely by semi-civilized races for many centuries, we might have expected that the book of nature that might be opened would long since have been spread before us; but the exclusiveness of this semi-civilization has been a stumbling-block, until it may be said that the wise men of her nations have lived only that the masses should not learn. Of the Political Geography of this great region we have a fair conception, and of the Physical conditions it may be said we know them generally. Enlightened men have been hammering at the borders with the powerful support of progressive nations, and a few have even passed the confines of exclusiveness and brought back to us marvellous tales of ancient grandeur. Men have sought disguise that they might tread on the forbidden ground, and many have lost their lives in efforts to gain the secrets that have been so persistently guarded. But the march of civilization is not to be thwarted by the semi-barbarous; they may yet impede it, as they have in the past, but it can be only for a time; the impulse is sure to come, when the thirst for knowledge and power by the antagonistic races will sweep all barriers before it, however strong. The contemplated railway across the continent to Vladivostock may be the culminating step in overcoming these refractory peoples and opening their territories to the march of progress. We have seen on our own continent the potent influence of these iron ways, and it is not too much to believe that even in the strange surroundings of the Orient they will exercise a power against which exclusiveness and superstition will be forced to give way.
In Africa we find still different conditions. A great continent believed to contain immense resources, but peopled with dark-hued native races, barbarous in their tendencies, and frequently deficient in intellect, and yet withal showing at times a savage grandeur that excites the admiration of the man, while it attracts the interest of the student. We may recall Carthage and Alexandria, and all the wonders of ancient Egypt that live to the confusion of our own day, while those who patterned them have been lost beyond the bounds of even the most ancient history: and look with trembling awe upon the degradation that has followed, the boundless dissipation of the learning of ages, until we are left only such remnants that our most cultivated imaginations can scarce build a superstructure worthy to raise upon the ruins.
But a new era is opening, the intelligence of later years is spreading over these once fruitful fields, and slowly but surely modern ideas are advancing into the midst of the unknown chaos, and in time will restore the great advantages that have lapsed in the ignorance of ages. The nations of Europe vie with one another to extend their possessions, and in the mad race for precedence are reclaiming even the waste places as footholds by which they hope to reach the power and wealth they see may be developed in the future. Explorers have brought back wondrous tales that have excited the cupidity of those who profit in the barter of nature's products, until vast schemes have been projected to seize the wealth believed to be within easy grasp.
Daring spirits discover new countries, and through the reports of the marvels they have seen, inspire their more cautious countrymen to venture into unknown fields in the hope of gain. The discontented, too, seek isolation and fancied independence in new regions, and thus is formed the nucleus that parent countries seize upon, encourage, and develop into colonies, that in time may revolutionize a continent, and seek a place among the nations of the world. This sequence of events has been gradually progressing in Africa, and has been greatly accelerated by the discoveries of recent years. A large section of the interior has now been opened to trade and colonization in the formation of the "Congo free State." It marks an era in the development of the continent that promises to be fruitful of rapid advance. The Geographic journals have contained many pages of notes during the year, showing the activity of explorers in supplying the Geographical details of the more accessible regions. But there is an area nearly half as large as that of the United States through which the explorer has not yet penetrated; a field of great interest to Geographers, but they may have years yet to wait, before they may read the story.
In the East Indies and among the islands of the Pacific there is still work for the Geographer of the most interesting character, and, indeed, for the explorer too. Those who depend upon charts of the great ocean realize too frequently the imperfect determination of the positions of many of these isolated landmarks, and the dangers surrounding them. This is more properly work for governments than for individuals, and we may hope the day is not far distant when American officers may again roam the seas in Geographic research, and bring fresh laurels to crown the enterprise of our people.
The great American continent, the New World as it is called, presents an example of progress of which history affords us none similar—a marked instance of the power of intelligent perseverance to conquer in new fields and bring under man's dominion for his use and welfare even some of the elements themselves. The last century has shown a branch of one of the old parent stocks, divorced from many of their traditions and left to themselves, imbued with a spirit of progress that has advanced with such giant strides, that in a generation we have seen more strange things than had come upon the world before in centuries. At the birth of our nation the now populous district on the Ohio and the Great Lakes was the "far west," roamed over by native tribes. The great northwest of to-day was marked upon the maps as "unexplored," and the confines of the continent on the Pacific were known more on the faith of good reports than the knowledge of observation; while that vast territory west of the Mississippi was not known at all, or only through the legends transmitted from the "Fathers" who had partly occupied it in following their holy calling. And yet within half a century explorers have traversed nearly every square mile, science has discovered in it treasures of knowledge that have taught the world: and instead of a vast region of wandering tribes, we find a civilization, energetic, progressive, and still pressing on to reclaim even that which has been considered waste. Indeed, so rapidly have the choice areas been occupied, that it may be but a few years when none will be left, and the question of over-population may press upon us as to-day it presses upon older nations. While this state of affairs may not excite present alarm, it is a matter of congratulation that the Congress at its last session provided the initial step for an exhaustive examination of the great arid region, to determine what portion of it may be reclaimed by irrigation.
And in Alaska the desirability of a better knowledge of our possessions has been emphasized by the fear of international complications on the boundary, which has resulted in a small appropriation by the Congress for surveys, with a view to obtaining a better knowledge of the country, whereby a more reasonable delimitation of the boundary can be made.
It is gratifying to note that the Bureaus of the Government service devoted to the practical development of the economic resources of our great territory, have been conducted during the year with the energy that has marked their progress heretofore. But it is yet too early to place a value upon the special results of the year's work, and I will leave their consideration, therefore, to my successor.
I look upon the publications of the Topographical Surveys of the States of New Jersey and Massachusetts as the most noteworthy Geographic productions in this country of recent years. Massachusetts has been the first State to avail herself of the full facilities offered by the General Government in preparing maps of their territories on working scales, although New Jersey was earlier in the field and obtained all the assistance that could be rendered by the laws in force at the time. The expense of the Survey in Massachusetts has been borne about equally between the State and United States, exclusive of the trigonometrical work; and the total cost to the State being so light, we may hope eventually to see similar, or even more detailed work, undertaken by all the States of the Union. The atlas sheets thus far produced are most pleasing specimens of the cartographer's art, each feature or class of detail having been given a weight that permits easy reading without producing undue prominence in any. In the atlas sheets of New Jersey, published by the State, the same admirable effects have been produced, but in a different style of treatment, the questions involved being more complicated through the introduction of greater detail. Massachusetts is also in the lead in prosecuting a precise determination of town boundaries by a systematic reference of all corner marks to the stations of the triangulation that now covers the State territory. The expense of this work is borne by the State, with the exception of a small amount in salaries to United States officers detailed to execute portions of the work under existing laws. The total cost will probably approximate the total cost of the Topographical Survey, but it is claimed that when completed the great advantages to be derived from it will result in large savings to the people of the State.
Our neighbors in the Dominion of Canada have been active of late years in developing their resources. The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway has opened a large fertile territory for settlement, and the railway itself promises to become a route for international traffic in serious rivalry with the transcontinental roads in the United States. Projects have also been formed for a short rail connection to Hudson's Bay, with a view to shipments during the summer direct to Europe—but there seems to be reasonable question of the practicability of such a route. During the past two seasons Canada has also been engaged upon extensive explorations in the Northwest territory, along the boundary line of Alaska. The parties, I learn, are only just returning from their last summer's labors, and it will probably be some time in the winter before we can supplement the chapter of a year ago from this interesting region.
But little advance has been made during late years in solving the mysteries of the Arctic. In the past summer a party has crossed the southern part of Greenland, but advices have not yet come to hand that would indicate the value of the exploration. A second party was organized to follow the east coast of Greenland to the northward, that we may hear from at a later date, although reports already received, if true, would indicate the effort had been baffled by adverse weather. A few months ago an expedition was seriously contemplated by Europeans to the frozen seas of the Antarctic. As it was to have been backed by energetic business men it doubtless would have been amply fitted for its purpose, and we may, therefore, sincerely regret the rumor that the project has been postponed—if not abandoned.
In the Central American States a Congress has been assembled to consider the unification of the States under one general government—a union, the possibility of which has long been discussed, but from the jealousy of rival factions has heretofore seemed impossible of accomplishment; but there is some hope that the labors of the Congress now in session will prove more successful.
Our greatest Geographic interest in these States is centered in the projects for interoceanic canals. The scheme to cut the Isthmus of Panama, undertaken by the eminent French engineer, De Lesseps, has been beset with many difficulties, not the least of them arising from the improvident management of those having immediate charge of the works. It is impossible to foresee the eventual outcome of this great work, as all reports expressing decided views on the subject are suspected of a coloring from the personal opinions of the authors of them. The original plans have been modified to include locks for crossing "a summit level." This is stated to be only a temporary expedient to secure the opening of the canal at an early date, and that eventually the work will be completed on the original plan of a "through cut." It seems evident from the latest reports that work will be continued as long as money is forthcoming to meet the expenses, and as the modified scheme to overcome the high land by locks instead of a through cut, greatly simplifies the engineering problems, there is a probability of the canal becoming an accomplished fact. A second route by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, that has also been under discussion for many years, has recently been energetically advocated by American engineers, with the result of the actual location of a line and careful cross-sectioning during the past year. A company has been formed and obtained a charter from the State of Vermont, and as it is represented to be backed by abundant capital, we may, ere many years, have the gratification of seeing an interoceanic canal opened under American auspices.
Many speculations have been indulged in as to the probable effect of a canal through this Isthmus on the carrying trade of the world, the impetus it might give to the opening up of new commercial relations, and even the effect it may have in advancing our civilization to distant nations. Such speculations are hardly pertinent to this report, but we may well reflect upon the changes that have been wrought since the opening of the canal through the Isthmus of Suez, and conceive, if we can, the leveling up that may accrue to the political divisions of the western world from the same influences that will cut the channel through her Isthmus.
South America has been free from serious agitation until a recent date; although some of the States have not failed to show the usual internal dissensions in political affairs. Late advices intimate a possible difficulty between Venezuela and England relative to the control of a large territory embracing the mouth of the Orinoco River, which, should it result in the permanent occupation of the disputed territory by the European power, may wield a marked influence in the development of this section of the continent.
A project that has long been agitated, to construct a continental railway that would give direct rail communication with the northern continent, has recently been resumed, and we can but hope with an earnestness that will lead to its accomplishment. Large areas of this interesting country have not yet been revealed to us, nor can we expect to acquire a full knowledge of its Geographic wonders until the means of internal communication have become more assured.
The recent inauguration of a Geographical Society in Peru is also an important step towards our acquirement of more detailed information, and doubtless will redound to the credit of its founders in the interest it will stimulate in kindred societies over the world.
Geology is a science so intimately connected with Geography that I should feel delinquent did I not include a reference to it in this report, however inadequate my remarks may be to do justice to the subject.
To Geographers the origin of the varied distribution of the land and water, the cause and growth of mountains, plains, oceans, lakes and rivers, the great changes that have taken place on the face of the earth in times past, is of absorbing interest, rivaled only by their desire for perfect knowledge of that which may be seen to-day. Had the prehistoric man been gifted with the intelligence of his descendants in the present epoch, he would have left for us a record that would have been valuable indeed and cleared our way of much that now is speculation, and but too often food for words. True it is, however, that if the mysteries of the past were revealed to us we should lose the pleasures their study affords and perhaps there would follow a degeneration of species through the loss of stimulus they now provide. How long ago man lived and might have made a record is still a disputed question, but one that involves too, the record of the earth herself. The association of human remains in the Glacial drift brings that epoch in the earth's history nearer to us by several hundred thousand years, and instead of speculating upon it as having occurred nearly a million years ago, geologists must consider whether it was not probably coincident with the most recent eccentricity of the earth which astronomers teach us happened about ten or fifteen thousand years ago. Geology must also fit her facts to mathematical science if we give credence to latest computations. A mathematician has now advanced the theory that at the average depth of about five miles below the surface there is a belt of "no strain," the result of opposing forces above and below it, a belt that from the nature of the case is impenetrable, through which, what is above cannot pass to what is below, and what is below cannot pass to what is above, a condition that would confine the origin of all seismical and volcanic disturbances and their consequent Geographical changes, to a mere shell of the crust.1The result of the computation is certainly interesting and we may hope will not be lost sight of in future discussions, however it may share in gaining support or opposition. It is based upon an assumption of the temperature when the earth began to cool, to assume a lower temperature draws the belt nearer to the surface and a higher temperature is believed to be inconsistent with our knowledge of what heat may effect. This belt is stated to be gradually sinking, however, and the computation, therefore, involves a term representing time, and I venture to suggest as estimates of Geologic time are generally indefinite and seem to be inexhaustible, an abundance can probably be supplied to sink the belt deep enough for all theoretical purposes.
1In the American Geologist for February, 1888, Prof. Reade protests against the construction of the theory of a "belt or level of no strain" placing the foci of earthquakes and other disturbances in the strata above the belt.
More interesting to Geographers are the conceptions of ancient forms suggested by the views recently advanced by Prof. Shaler in a late number of Science (June 15, 1888), on "The Crenitic Hypothesis and Mountain Building." To let the imagination have full play, we may conceive that where we now have extensive mountain ranges, there were formerly great plains of sedimentation, and where we see the process of sedimentation active to-day there may be great mountains in the future. And also in his inquiry into the "Origin of the divisions between the layers of stratified rocks" (Proced. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xxiii), we may be carried away with the immensity of the changes suggested. The recurring destruction of submarine life to contribute in the building of the rocks of the Continents: the apparently endless cycles of emergence of the land and subsidence of the waters, to leave the Geographical conditions we see to-day, furnish additional evidence of the wonders of the past and force upon us anew the realization of how little in the great evolution is the epoch in which we live.
American Geologists have advanced the knowledge of the world; only recently the American methods of Glacial study have enabled Salisbury to interpret the terminal moraines of Northern Germany (Am. Jour. Science, May, 1888), and that the Science is active among our countrymen is evidenced by the formation of a Geological Society and the establishment of a magazine devoted exclusively to its interests. America, too, contributed largely to the Geologic Congress recently held in London, and it is pleasing to note that the next session of the Congress is promised for Philadelphia.
At the suggestion of one of our associates I call the attention of the students of the science, and indeed all interested in it, and also of Geographers, to a recent publication entitled, "The Building of the British Isles," by Jukes-Browne (Scribner & Welford, N. Y.). It has been characterized as the best treatise on the evolution of the land areas which has yet appeared; from the Geologist point of view it is the book of the year. Another associate recommends to most attentive consideration the recent articles on "Three formations of the Middle Atlantic slope," by W. J. McGee (Am. Journal Science, Feb.–June, 1888), as one of the most original essays of recent years.
It also gives me great pleasure to bring to your attention an article on the "Physical Geography of New England," by Wm. M. Davis, in a book on the "Butterflies of New England," by S. H. Scudder. It is hardly necessary to recommend this publication to your perusal, as I doubt not being from the pens of our Associates, it will excite a lively interest in those devoted to these sciences.
In conclusion permit me to refer briefly to the "National Geographic Magazine," published by the Society, the first number of which has recently been placed before you. It is the desire of the Committee having charge of this publication to make it a journal of influence and usefulness. There is abundant material in the Society to furnish the substance, if those who have it at command will make legitimate use of their opportunities. It would be unfortunate if the text should be confined to the papers presented to the Society. It was not the intention of the Board of Managers that such should be the case, when the publication was determined upon. On the contrary, it was the expectation that there would be original communications from many sources: essays, reviews and notes on the various subjects of the five Departments in which the Society is organized, not necessarily from the members, but also from their friends interested in these divisions of the general subject. While this expectation has been realized in a measure, there is room for improvement and it is hoped the future will show an increasing interest and more generous contributions.
December, 1888.
BYGEORGEL. DYER.
BYGEORGEL. DYER.
In presenting to the National Geographic Society this first annual summary of work accomplished in the domain of the Geography of the Sea, I find it impossible satisfactorily to limit the range of subjects that may be assigned to it. The great ocean is so large a factor in the operations of Nature, that the attempt to describe one of its features speedily involves the consideration of others lying more or less in that shadowy region which may be claimed with equal force by other sections of the Society. It is to be understood, therefore, that the following account merely touches upon several of the characteristics of the oceanic waters, and is not in any sense an attempt to treat them all.
This being the first report to the Society it has been thought advisable to give a brief outline of the progress made in our knowledge of the sea since 1749, when Ellis reported depths of 650 and 891 fathoms off the north-west coast of Africa. Even at that time an apparatus was employed to lift water from different depths in order to ascertain its temperature. It does not appear that this achievement gave impetus to further efforts in this direction, for, except some comparatively small depths and a few temperatures recorded by Cook and Forster in their voyage around the world in 1772–75, and in 1773 by Phipps in the Arctic, at the close of the last century there was but little known of the physical conditions of the sea.
At the beginning of the present century, however, more activity was shown by several governments, and expeditions sent out by France, England and Russia, in various directions, began to lay the foundation of the science of Oceanography.
Exploration of little known regions was the main purpose of most of these expeditions, but attention was paid also to the observation and investigation of oceanic conditions, so that accounts of soundings, temperatures of sea water at various depths, its salinity and specific gravity, the drift of currents, etc., form part of their records.
The first to give us a glimpse of the character of the bottom at great depths was Sir John Ross, the famous Arctic explorer. While sounding in Ponds Inlet, Baffin Bay, in 1819, by means of an ingeniously constructed contrivance called a deep sea clam, he succeeded in detaching and bringing up portions of the bottom from depths as great as 1,000 fathoms. The fact that this mud contained living organisms was the first proof of life at depths where it was thought impossible for it to exist. The truth of this discovery, however, was not generally accepted, many eminent men of science on both sides of the Atlantic contending for and against it, and the question was not finally settled until long afterward, in 1860, when, by the raising of a broken telegraph cable in the Mediterranean, unimpeachable evidence of the existence of life at the greatest depths in that sea was obtained. The science, however, remained in its infancy until about 1850, when Maury originated his system of collecting observations from all parts of the globe, and by his indomitable energy aroused the interest of the whole civilized world in the investigation of the physical phenomena of the sea.
Through Maury's efforts the United States Government issued an invitation for a maritime conference, which was held in Brussels in 1853 and attended by representatives of the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and the United States. The main object of the conference, to devise a uniform system of meteorological observations and records, was accomplished. According to the agreement, ships' logs were to have columns for recording observations of the following subjects: latitude, longitude, magnetic variation, direction and velocity of currents, direction and force of wind, serenity of the sky, fog, rain, snow and hail, state of the sea, specific gravity and temperature of the water at the surface and at different depths. It was also proposed that deep-sea soundings should be taken on all favorable occasions, and that all other phenomena, such as hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, waterspouts, whirlwinds, tide-rips, red fog, showers of dust, shooting stars, halos, rainbows, aurora borealis, meteors, etc., should be carefully described, and tidal observations made when practicable.
The practical results of this conference were great. The systematic and uniform collection of data by men of all nations is going on uninterruptedly to-day, and is furnishing the means for the solution of many of the problems relating to the Geography of the Sea.
An epoch in the progress of this science is marked by the appearance of Maury's Wind and Current Charts, his Physical Geography of the Sea, and his Sailing Directions, which contain the record of the first deep soundings taken by United States vessels; and to the United States, through Maury's efforts, belongs the honor of having inaugurated the first regular cruise for the purpose of sounding in great depths.
Under the instructions of Maury the U. S. brig Dolphin, commanded by Lieutenant Lee, and subsequently by Lieutenant Berryman, was detailed in 1851–3 to search for reported dangers in the Atlantic, and to sound regularly at intervals of 200 miles going and returning. The Dolphin was provided with Midshipman Brooke's sounding apparatus and with it succeeded in obtaining specimens of the bottom from depths of 2,000 fathoms. About the same period the U. S. ships Albany, Plymouth, Congress, John Adams, Susquehanna, St. Louis and Saranac also made soundings in various localities, and to the U. S. S. Portsmouth, in 1853, belongs the honor of having reported the first really deep-sea sounding obtained in the Pacific, 2,850 fathoms, in about 39° 40' N., and 139° 26' W.
The practicability of this work was thus fully demonstrated, and, although some of the earlier results, through defective appliances and lack of experience, were not entirely trustworthy, its character and success will always be a tribute to American enterprise and ingenuity.
With the advent of the submarine telegraph the investigation of the depth and configuration of the ocean bed became of vital importance, and the work of sounding for that purpose was taken up with activity; one of the first voyages in the interest of these projects was that of the U. S. S. Arctic, under the command of Lieut. O. H. Berryman, in 1856, between St. Johns, Newfoundland, and Valentia, Ireland.
The civil war naturally put a stop to these operations by United States ships. The U. S. schooner Fenimore Cooper was about the last engaged in this work, sounding in 1858–59 in the Pacific to 3,400 fathoms, and also reporting a sounding of 900 fathoms only ¾ of a mile west of Gaspar Rico Reef, in about 14° 41' N. and 168° 56' E.
The work so well begun by the Americans was quickly taken up by other governments, and we find from that time to the present, the records of a large number of expeditions for diverse scientific observations in all parts of the world. Continued improvements in the appliances and instruments have made the results more precise than was possible in the earlier times, and, as the data accumulate, the bathymetric charts of the oceans are becoming more accurate. Not until this work is much further advanced, however, shall we be able to arrive at an estimate of the depths and weights of the oceans at all comparable to our knowledge of the heights and weights of the various great land masses above sea level.
Other important results of these expeditions have been the verification of many reported elevations of the ocean bed formerly considered doubtful, the discovery of new ones, and proof of the non-existence of others, which had been reported as dangers to navigation.
The Geography of the Sea reached a decidedly more advanced stage by the inception of several great scientific expeditions, of which that of the Lightning, in 1868, to the Hebrides and Faroe Islands, under the superintendence of Professors Carpenter and Wyville Thompson, was the forerunner. This was followed by the three years' cruise of the Challenger (Br.) in 1873–75, the Tuscarora (Am.) in 1874, and the Gazelle (Ger.) in 1875, by those despatched under the authority of the U. S. Coast Survey and of the U. S. Fish Commission, and others of lesser importance, sent out under the auspices of European governments, and by private individuals. All of these have contributed in an eminent degree to the progress of the science by giving us a better understanding of the physical and biological conditions of the sea at all depths. Special mention must be made of the splendid work that is being done continually by the expeditions sent out by the U. S. Fish Commission. This branch of the United States service, originally established for the investigation of the causes of the decrease in the supply of useful food fishes and of the various factors entering into that problem, in pursuance of these objects has been prosecuting a detailed inquiry, embracing deep-sea soundings and dredging, observation of temperatures at different depths, transparency, density and chemical composition of sea-water, investigation of surface and under currents, etc.; in other words, making a complete exploration of the physical, natural and economic features of the sea, besides collecting a large number of specimens of natural history. The expeditions sent out by this Commission have brought to light from the deep beds of the ocean an extraordinary variety of animal life, previously unknown to science. Few vessels have furnished a greater number of deep-sea soundings than the F. C. S. Albatross. This steamer has explored fishing grounds on the east and west coasts of the continent; and since the beginning of last year has made a cruise from the North to the South Atlantic along the east coast of South America, through Magellan Strait, and northward along the west coast to Panama and the Galapagos Islands, and thence to San Francisco and Alaska; the scenes of her latest operations have been the plateau between the Alaskan coast and Unalaska and the banks off San Diego, California.
A large share in the progressive state of the science of the Geography of the Sea must also be credited to the systematic collection of marine observations by the Hydrographic Offices and other institutions all over the world. This forms the stock from which, as I have already indicated, must be drawn, through intelligent reduction and deduction, a better knowledge of the intricate laws governing the various phenomena of the sea and air.