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A D D R E S S
TO THE
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
OF LONDON;
DELIVERED
AT THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING
ON THE
22ND MAY, 1871.
BY
| 7 / 2. — I & 7 / .
SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, BART., K.C.B.,
G.C.S.T.A. AND ST.S., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.,
DIRECTOR-GENERAL GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
PRESIDENT.
L O N ID ON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS,
1871.

3º
A D D R E S S
THE ROYAL GEO GRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting on the 22nd May, 1871.
BY SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, BART., K.C.B.,
PRESIDENT.
G ENTLEMEN,
When I last addressed you, at the commencement of the
present Session, I was then the medium of the expression of your
thanks to the Managers of the Royal Institution, for their kind con-
sideration, by which we had been enabled to hold our meetings
in their Theatre.
Now, when, through a heavy stroke of illness, I have since
been unable to be among you, I beg to congratulate you on the
success which has attended the appeal which I made in your
name to the Chancellor and Senate of the University of London, to
permit us to hold our meetings in the Grand Hall of their magni-
ficent new edifice ; and I did so because our Council had already
determined, to my entile satisfaction, that the offices and map-
rooms of our Society should be established in Savile-Row, in the
immediate neighbourhood of the London University.
Although I have been prevented from attending any meeting
in the Great Hall in which you have been assembled during the
present Session, I rejoice to learn that you are admirably located
therein : whilst it is most Satisfactory to know that, when our
adjacent new edifice is completed, there will be in it a room not
only large enough to receive all our maps and illustrations, but
also to contain as many members as usually frequent our ordinary
evening meetings, should we in future find it necessary to avail
ourselves of it.
The total number of our Fellows is still on the increase, and now
B 2
4 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
amounts to nearly 2400; and the volume of our “Journal’ for the
year, thanks to the energy and assiduity of our unrivalled Editor,
Mr. Bates, is already in your hands.
OBITUARY.
In such a very numerous body as our own, the usual percentage
of mortality must necessarily amount to a large number; in the
past year no fewer than 57 of our Associates were lost to us by
death. Out of the sad list I will, in the first instance, allude to
some leading men whose deaths we have to deplore. *
The EARL OF CLARENDON, K.G.-By the decease of Lord Clarendon,
on the 27th June, 1870, our country has been deprived of one of
her ablest and most enlightened statesmen, who, in addition to his
arduous public duties, was always a zealous promoter of geo-
graphical science and a warm friend of our Society. Born in 1800,
he entered the Diplomatic Service in 1820. In 1823 he was ap-
pointed a Commissioner of Excise, and in that capacity arranged
the union of the English and Irish Excise Boards (in 1826-27).
In 1831 he negotiated a commercial treaty with France; and in
1832, when he was Her Majesty's Representative in Spain, he mainly
assisted in bringing about the Treaty of the Quadruple Alliance.
In the above-mentioned capacities he was well known as the Hon-
ourable George Williers; and by the death of his uncle, the Earl of
Clarendon, he succeeded to the title in December, 1838. As such,
he was appointed Lord Privy Seal in 1840, and later in the same
year he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1846 he
was appointed President of the Board of Trade, and in the same
year became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which country he governed
during a very arduous period till 1853, when he became Secretary
for Foreign Affairs, an office in which he greatly distinguished
himself, and in which he signed the Treaty of Paris in 1856.
Lord Clarendon was, throughout his career, a strong advocate
for FreeTrade; and it is well known that it was very much through
his influence the Emperor Louis Napoleon was induced to apply
that doctrine, for the first time, in the government of France.
In society and private life, Lord Clarendon was generally beloved,
whilst his very engaging manners rendered him justly a great
favourite among foreign diplomatists. On my own part, I am
proud to say that he honoured me with his personal friendship;
and it was at his country seat, “The Grove,” that I had oppor-
tunities of admiring the fine qualities of his heart, as shown when
Obituary.—Earl of Clarendon—Haidinger. 5
in intercourse with his affectionate and devoted children, admirably
brought up, as they had been, by a most accomplished mother.
WILHELM von HAIDINGER.—Of our late Foreign associate, Wilhelm
Ritter von Haidinger, it may be truly said that no single person
had in his own country done more to arouse a spirit of interest and
study in the various provinces of Natural Science. g
Born at Vienna in 1795, Haidinger, at an early age, devoted
himself to scientific labours; and for a number of years succeeding
1812 gave a special direction to his inquiries by becoming the pupil
and friend of Friedrich Mohs, the distinguished mineralogist, at
Gratz and Freiberg. From the year 1822 to 1827, as a worker
in mineralogy, he travelled over a great part of Europe; and
resided for some time at Edinburgh, where he published, in the
English language, a translation of the Treatise by Mohs, in three
volumes, 8vo., besides communicating to various scientific Societies
and periodicals a large number of papers on special subjects.
For some years after this, he lived at Elbogen in North Bohemia,
where his two brothers were conducting a porcelain manufactory,
and at which place his kind and instructive hospitality to travellers
will not readily be forgotten, by those who had the good fortune
to stray thither from Carlsbad or the Erzgebirge. Jnvited by the
accomplished Bohemian nobleman Fürst von Lobkovitz, who was
then Minister in the Department of Mint and Mines, Haidinger, in
1840, accepted the direction of a new Museum, initiated, under
Mohs, at the Imperial Mint of Vienna, with the particular object of
promoting a knowledge of the mineral resources of the country.
Only a few years elapsed before he was able to place so conclusively
before the Austrian Government the advantages of a geological
survey, that he was commissioned to organise that important na-
tional work, which, in conjunction with its museum, he continued
to superintend till October, 1866. The mental activity of this
amiable man—unwearied, in spite of delicate health—led him to
constant exertion in the spreading of associations for the cultiva-
tion of science ; and to him is, in a great measure, due the founda-
tion of the Imperial and Royal Geographical Society of Vienna, as
well as other institutions in Hungary, in Moravia, and at Milan.
He deserves, too, the credit of having been mainly instrumental in
paving the way for the publication of a most interesting chapter
in modern geography, viz., the results of the voyage of the Austrian
frigate the Novara. Our Society enrolled him as one of its Honorary
Members in the year 1856.
6 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
Haidinger enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing a new scientific life
spring up around him, and of committing the direction of his esta-
blishments to the able hands of Franz von Hauer and others of his
former pupils.
Occupied to the last in scientific research, especially in all that
related to meteorites, Haidinger passed the last few years of his life
in comparative retirement, in his country-house at Dornbach, near
Vienna, where he died on the 19th of March last.
BARON CHARLES ALEXANDER VON HüGEL, a distinguished Austrian
nobleman, and one of our Honorary Corresponding Members, died
at Brussels on the 2nd of June, 1870, in the seventy-sixth year of
his age. He was an eminent traveller and geographer, and had
earned solid reputation for his travels in North-western India,
Kashmere, China, and Australia, in the years 1835-40, concerning
which he published his ‘Kaschmir und das Reich der Siek;’ ‘Das
Rabul-Becken und die Gebirge zwischen dem Hindu Kosch und
dem Sutlej;’ and other works. A thoughtful observer, and well-
grounded in various branches of science, these records of his long
journeys were an important contribution to the stock of human
knowledge, and will ever be consulted by all who are occupied in
scientific investigations, and particularly in the various branches of
Natural History. For this distinguished service we rewarded him
with our Patron's Medal at our Anniversary Meeting in 1849. His
principal work, under the title of ‘Travels in Kashmir and the
Punjab,” was translated into English by Major Jarvis, and published
in 1845. After his travels he filled successively many important
diplomatic posts, and at the time of his death was Austrian Minister
at the Belgian Court. Personally, I was intimately acquainted with
this most intelligent and agreeable man, whose reputation stood
very high among Austrian politicians, Prince Metternich having
been his constant friend and supporter.
LORD DE BLAQUIERE.-By the death of Lord de Blaquiere I have
lost an old friend, who zealously joined the Society under my
Presidency, and I am happy to record of him that he became one of
my most active supporters in the defence of ex-Governor Eyre.
Among other private friends who also joined the Society under
my Presidency, I may enumerate Colonel SOTHEBY, son of the
eminent poet, who had been for many years a constant attendant at
our meetings; and SIR GEORGE PHILIP LEE, a most accomplished
gentleman and a distinguished musician.
SIR ROBERT G. COLQUHOUN, K.C.B.-This excellent man was long
Obituary.— Hügel—Colquhoun—Clark—Denison. 7
known as Consul-General in Egypt, in which capacity he was of
signal service in promoting the cause of geography. He actively
assisted in the succour of our distinguished countrymen, Speke
and Grant, on their emerging from the heart of South Africa. He
Was also a warm friend of Sir Samuel and Lady Baker. On his
return from his consular services he was created a K.C.B., and
shortly afterwards married, as his second wife, Anne, only daughter
of W. Cattrow, Esq. He died, at his paternal seat of Carnstraden,
Dumbartonshire, on the 10th of December of last year. Sir Robert
G. Colquhoun was very highly esteemed by all the chiefs of the
Foreign Office under whom he served, and also by a very numerous
circle of friends.
SIR JAMES CLARK, Bart., K.C.B., M.D., F.R.S., &c.—Few men of this
age have been more beloved and respected than this eminent phy-
sician, who, through his intimacy with the Queen and Royal Family,
lost no opportunity by which he could advance science. He was a
distinguished chemist, and had the great merit of establishing the
Royal College of Chemistry, under the auspices of His Royal High-
ness Prince Albert. It was through his advice that the Queen fixed
upon Balmoral as her Scottish summer residence ; and so esteemed
was he by Her Majesty that she assigned to him during his life the
Royal demesne of Bagshot Park, where he died on the 29th June,
1870, in his eighty-fourth year.
SIR WILLIAM THOMAS DENISON, K.C.B., one of the oldest members
of our Society, was a man of remarkable energy, who, in addition
to his scientific acquirements as an officer in the Royal Engineers,
possessed great administrative abilities. He was the third Son of
the late Mr. John Denison, M.P., of Ossington Hall, Notts, and
brother of the present Speaker of the House of Commons, and of
the late Bishop of Salisbury. He was born on the 3rd of May, 1804,
and entered the army in 1826, becoming a Colonel of his corps in
1860. He was best known, however, as Governor of one or other
of our colonial possessions. His first appointment was to the Lieu-
tenant-Governorship of Van Dieman's Land, in June, 1846, when
he received the honour of knighthood. Subsequently he became
Governor of New South Wales, and in 1860 received the important
appointment of Governor of Madras, which post he occupied until
1866. During this time he was temporarily Governor-General of
India in the interval between the death of the Earl of Elgin and the
arrival of Sir John Lawrence in January, 1864. He died on the 19th
of January last. On my own part, I deeply regret the death of
8 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
this most active and intelligent public servant, who was a geologist
as well as a geographer. For, whether as Governor in Australia or
at Madras, he never failed to make me acquainted with the Natural
History features of those countries.
Major-General SIR JUSTIN SHEIL, whose death occurred, after a
short illness, on the 13th of April last, had distinguished himself in
the military and diplomatic services of our Indian Empire. He
entered the Bengal Native Jnfantry in 1820, and received the medal
and clasp for the siege of Bhurtpoor. In 1833 he was sent to Persia
as second in command of a detachment of officers and Sergeants
employed to discipline the Shah's army. His service in Persia on
this occasion had important results on his subsequent successful
career. In 1844 he was appointed Envoy and Minister at the Court
of the Shah, which post he held till October, 1854; and in 1848 he
received permission to accept and wear the 1st class Order of the
Lion and Sun, conferred upon him by the Shah. He was made
K.G.B. in 1855, after representing British interests at the Persian
Court to the great satisfaction both of his own Government and
that of the Shah. Sir Justin was brother of the well-known Right
Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil, Member for Dungarvan. In 1856, his
accomplished and amiable wife published an account of her Persian
experiences, under the title of ‘Glimpses of Life and Manners in
Persia.’ Sir Justin became a Fellow of our Society in 1857, and
served as a Member of our Council in 1861. He was a frequent
attendant at our evening meetings, and was often to be seen in the
Library of the Society, making use of the treasures of Geographical
literature there stored for the use of the Fellows. He was one of
those supporters whose loss I much deplore.
Captain BURGOYNE, R.N.—The Society, as well as the Royal Navy,
have to mourn the loss of a gallant member in Captain Hugh
Burgoyne, who perished with a number of officers, the élite of their
profession, and five hundred brave seamen, in H.M.S. Captain, on the
night of the 6th September, 1870, in the Bay of Biscay.
Captain Burgoyne was the only son of that eminent soldier,
Field-Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, G.C.B. Although only thirty-
seven years of age, he had served since 1847 in the Navy, and in
those twenty-three years had earned a repute which gave high
promise of a brilliant career. Brought up in his profession by
Some of its best officers, he was second to none of our captains as
a thorough practical seaman, with a varied experience in every
quarter of the globe. He was one of the few officers in the Royal
Obituary.—Sheil–Burgoyne—Morrison. 9
Navy, during the Crimean War, who had an opportunity of winning
the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Sea of Azov. His marked
intelligence and freedom from professional prejudice induced the
late Captain Cowper Coles, the inventor of the turret principle, to
select him as the officer best qualified to test the great, but fatal,
experiment put to the proof by H.M.S. Captain.
His untimely fate, and that of his noble shipmates, was a sacrifice
to the good of their profession and country, by calling the attention
of the Admiralty to the lamentable want of stability in many ships
of our ironclad fleet. Although our Society may mourn his loss, yet
we and his profession may justly be proud of an officer who nobly
perished in the execution of his duty.
I owe this brief sketch of the lamented Hugh Burgoyne to his dear
and attached comrade Capt. Sherard Osborn. Much more detailed
knowledge of the deceased will eventually appear when his illus-
trious father can be appealed to, to speak of the qualifications of his
dearly beloved only som—for as yet the venerable Field-Marshal
is scarcely able to realize the irreparable loss he has sustained.
Mr. MARTIN CROFTON MoRRISON, one of the best Chinese scholars
of the day, and who had availed himself of his knowledge of the
language and manners of the people to collect, with great toil and
at much cost and risk, a mass of information relating to the
north-eastern provinces of China, was the third son of the Rev.
Dr. Morrison, author of the first Chinese and English Dictionary,
and translator into Chinese of the Bible, Prayer-Book, and many
other works. His mother was the eldest daughter of an Irish
gentleman, Martin Crofton Armstrong, of Mohil House, county
Leitrim.
Mr. Morrison was born on the 4th July, 1827, and received his
general education under private tutors. For a couple of years
he studied Chinese with Professor Kidd at University College,
Ilondon. In 1843, having been appointed to the Chinese esta-
blishment by the Government of Lord Aberdeen, he left England
to join his elder brother, who, with Sir Henry Pottinger, nego-
tiated the Treaty of Nankin, and who was, at that time, Member
of Council and Chinese Secretary to the Government at Hong-
Kong. Very soon after his arrival his brother died; and he was
thus left, at the age of sixteen, without guide or protector. But,
even as a boy, Mr. Morrison was remarkable for thorough con-
scientiousness and for tenacity of purpose ; and he earned the
entire approval of his chiefs by diligent study and exemplary
J
10 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
conduct. He served in the capacities of Assistant Chinese Secre-
tary, Vice-Consul, and Consul at various ports, till ill-health
compelled him to retire from the service in 1866. During that
long period his explorations were mostly confined to the provinces
northward of the River Yang-tsze-kiang. The chief subject of
geographical interest which he witnessed and examined, long
before the visit of Mr. Elias, recorded in our ‘Journal,’ was the
extraordinary alteration in the course of the Hoang-ho, or Yellow
River, which, at about 2000 miles from its mouth, was abruptly
changed from the general direction of E.S.E. to N.E.—an angle of
over 60°–and now runs through the province of Shan-tung and
empties itself into the Gulf of Pechili, about 430 miles from its
former mouth, reckoning along the coast. Another topic was the
Chinese rebellion, which greatly impeded his progress and ren-
dered travelling at times very dangerous. Although these two
Subjects have each their distinctive characters, yet it was Mr.
Morrison's opinion that it was possible to trace where the rebel-
lion helped to effect or accelerate the great physical change in the
river.
By his premature death, in November last, Mr. Morrison was
stopped in the work on which he had been engaged ever since
his return home, namely, a map showing the different trade-
routes between India and China, and in putting into available
form the knowledge he had acquired of the geographical, geological,
political, and commercial conditions of these districts; and it is to
be feared that no one else is qualified fully to utilise the materials
he has left behind him. According to the testimony of all who
knew him, Crofton Morrison well succeeded in following the ex-
amples of the father and brother he revered; and as his modesty,
perfect unselfishness, and genuine kindness of disposition gained
him the affection, so did his abilities, love of justice, and blame-
lessness of life secure him the respect alike of Europeans and
Chinese. -
Captain C. D. CAMERON.—Captain Cameron, under the name of
Consul Cameron, was well known to the public as the unlucky
prisoner of King Theodore, and one of the causes of the costly but
brilliant Abyssinian war. Previous to his appointment as British
Consul at Massowah he was known chiefly as having served with
distinction in the Kaffir War, and as having been a member of the
staff of Sir W. Fenwick Williams, when that gallant officer was
engaged in organising the defences of the Turks in Kurdistan and
Obituary.—Cameron—Brassey. 11
Armenia, during the Crimean War. He was then given the local
rank of captain in Turkey, and was placed by his chief in super-
intendence of the fortifications which were being erected in
Erzerum. After the war he served as Vice-Consul at Redout Kalé
and at Poti, and was appointed Consul at Massowah in 1860,
commencing his duties at that place in January, 1862. He became
a member of our Society in 1858, but did not contribute to our
Geographical publications in any way. He died on the 30th of
May last.
THOMAS BRASSEY, M.P., the successful Railway Contractor, had been
a Fellow of our Society since the year 1860. By the surveys per-
formed under his orders for the many railways he undertook to
construct in the Colonies and in foreign countries, he may be said
to have been a contributor to the common stock of Geographical
knowledge. He was born in 1805 at Boughton, in Cheshire, and
died on the 8th of December last, at St. Leonard's, whither he had
resorted for the benefit of his health. As a writer in the ‘Times,’
to whom I am indebted for these details, observes, a fair idea of the
magnitude of Mr. Brassey's operations may be gathered from the
fact that in the thirteen years, from 1848 to 1861 inclusive, he made,
either directly or in association with others, 2374 miles of railway,
at a contract price of nearly twenty-eight millions of pounds sterling.
While his activity, intelligence, and probity in carrying out these
great enterprises secured for him, towards the end of his career, a
colossal fortune, he was throughout life esteemed for his benevolence
and generosity. Many of his foreign undertakings, especially the
flying railway over Mont Cenis, proved, in a pecuniary point of
view, disastrous speculations to him ; but such was the large view
he took of everything upon which he was engaged, and such his
steadiness of purpose and integrity, that although ample cause was
given him to get rid of such bargains through failure of periodical
payments, he always insisted upon carrying out his engagements to
the letter.
Among other deceased members, though not men of science, many
have been noted in other walks of life. These are:—Sir Edmund
Antrobus, the respected partner in the house of Coutts and Co.,
General Akrell, Rev. C. D. Brereton, Mr. James Barrett, Captain
Thomas Birch, Mr. J. O. Balfour, Mr. H. Blackett, Mr. J. C.
C. Bell, Mr. H. Blanchard, Mr. D. Chambers, Mr. C. H. Dickson,
Mr. W. F. de Gex, Mr. J. W. Dover, Mr. F. A. Goodenough,
12 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
Admiral Robert Gordon, Mr. J. Gibson, Mr. J. A. Hessey, Mr. J.
Henderson, Rev. Sir H. J. Ingilby, Mr. F. F. Jeyes, Mr. R. W.
Kennard, Sir J. Kirkland, Mr. R. Low, Dr. J. L. Learmouth, Mr.
J. Mackillop, Mr. J. McEwan, Mr. J. Phillips, Admiral M. Quin,
Colonel G. W. Raikes, Mr. G. R. Smith, Mr. G. Smith, Mr. J. S.
Smith, Mr. O. H. Smith, Colonel Sir A. C. Sterling, K.C.B., distin-
guished on the staff of Field-Marshal Lord Clyde, Mr. H. Thorold,
Rev. W. H. Walker, Mr. A. E. Way, Mr. A. Walker, Sir H. E.
Young, Lieut.-Colonel M. W. Gladdish, Mr. W. H. Blaaw, and
Major-General F. H. Robe, C.B.
ADMIRALTY SURVEYs.”
The following is a brief outline of the Hydrographical operations
which have been carried out, under the Admiralty, on home and
foreign coasts during the past year.
Upon the east coast of England, Staff-Captain Calver and his
three assistants, in H.M.S. Porcupine, were engaged, during the
early part of the season, at the head of the Lynn Deeps, in further-
ance of a complete re-survey of that extensive estuary known as
the Wash, wherein many important changes had occurred since it
was examined by the late Captain Hewitt, R.N., upwards of forty
years since.
During the middle and latter part of the summer the Porcupine
resumed her interesting occupation of the previous year in the
scientific investigation of the deep sea. The objects proposed on
this occasion were a minute survey, physical and zoological, of the
Atlantic slope along the coasts of Spain and Portugal, of the Strait
of Gibraltar, and along the shores of the Mediterranean as far as
Malta. The results, so far as the examinations extended, were
eminently satisfactory; many interesting observations were made
on the temperatures at various depths, and much new light thrown
on the systems of ocean circulation and the connexion between the
currents of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.
Some very valuable observations were especially made both of
the surface and under-currents in the Strait of Gibraltar by Dr.
Carpenter, aided by the practical skill and ready resource of
Captain Calver, with the view of settling this important problem;
but, over so wide a field of research, it is obvious that much
* Communicated by Rear-Admiral G. H. Richards, F.R.S., Hydrographer.
Admiralty Surveys.—Home Coasts. 13
must still remain to be done before any fixed and satisfactory laws
can be laid down and finally recognised; and for this we must
hope for future investigations. It may be mentioned, in connexion
with submarine currents in this region, that the Falmouth and
Gibraltar cable, which was laid in June, 1870, and which failed
to work a few months since, was found, when recovered, to have
been chafed, in several places, as fine as a knife-edge, which, by
those engaged in its recovery, is attributed to the action of a con-
siderable current over a rocky, uneven bottom ; this opinion, how-
ever, is as yet by no means clearly demonstrated. The fracture in
the cable occurred in a depth of 500 fathoms of water, 100 miles
westward of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 60 miles south of
the River Guadiana, where the surface current is not considerable.
Eor a full and scientific account of these researches, the reader
is referred to the narrative drawn up by Dr. Carpenter and Mr.
Gwyn Jeffreys, published in the ‘ Proceedings of the Royal Society,’
No. 125, Vol. xix.
H.M. S. Lightning, under Staff-Commander John Richards, whose
services are devoted to the western shores of England and the
coasts of Ireland, was specially diverted from this service, during
the early part of 1870, for the purpose of minutely surveying a
section of the Strait of Dover, between the South Foreland and
Cape Grisnez, with a view to possible engineering operations. The
survey was carried out by running continuous lines of soundings
from the neighbourhood of the Foreland to within 3 miles of the
French coast.
Along the three central lines of this section soundings were
obtained about 400 feet apart, the bottom being probed at each
cast (by a machine, constructed for the purpose, weighing 7 cwts.)
to an average depth of 8 inches, and specimens of the soil brought
up. It may be interesting to state further that, on the oozy bank
off Dover, the probing machine penetrated to a depth of nearly
5 feet, while in the offing 14 inches was the greatest depth reached,
of which 6 inches consisted of drifting substances, such as gravel,
sand, stones, &c., overlying 8 inches of chalk, the upper part of the
latter, generally soft, hardening with the descent. Numerous fine
specimens of chalk, of various colours, were obtained. But fre-
quently the machine would not penetrate at all, and in some cases,
where the attempts were repeated, the lower part of the probe was
repeatedly broken and destroyed by contact with the hard bottom.
The substrata of bottom of the Channel from the Foreland across
14 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
to near Cape Grisnez was found to consist entirely of chalk, but
varying much in density as well as in colour; white and grey
prevailing near the Foreland and in mid-channel, and brown as Cape
Grisnez was approached. Weins of soft chalk, resembling pipeclay
and varying in colour according to situation, were occasionally met
with ; but the general character of the ground was hard and very
uneven, especially from mid-channel towards the French coast,
where the great strength of the tidal stream appeared to have swept
away drifting substances, and even to have hollowed out the soft
veins of chalk, leaving only the hard ridges between.
The result of this survey seems to prove, from the unevenness of
the ground and the strength of the current, unfavourable to a
scheme which has been proposed of connecting this country with
France by an iron tubular subway, though not unfavourable to a
tunnel.
During the latter part of the season the Lightning, under Staff.
Commanders Richards and W. B. Calver, was occupied in making
a new survey of the estuary of the River Dee and its approaches,
which were found to have much changed since the survey of 1859.
The Survey of Portsmouth and its neighbourhood has been conducted
by Staff-Commander D. Hall, with a steam launch and a small party.
During the past season a minute measurement has been made of the
depths on the Bar of Portsmouth Harbour, an operation which it is
highly necessary to make periodically, in order that timely measures
may be taken to maintain the channel at a depth of 20 feet, or
nearly so, at low water.
These successive examinations have shown that the deepening of
the entrance to our greatest Naval depôt, which was effected by
dredging between the years 1858 and 1863, has proved a great
success: nevertheless, some further dredging operations are required,
principally to carry out conditions not strictly fulfilled on the occa-
sions referred to.
Now that the bed of the Channel has assumed a position of perfect
rest, it is most desirable that these operations should not be delayed.
Commander Hall has also resurveyed the Medina River on a large
scale, with the view to deepening certain parts of the channel by
dredging; and plans on 30 inches to a mile have been constructed
of the upper portions of Portsmouth and Langston harbours, showing
the connecting channel facing Hilsea lines which has been excavated
for the passage of gunboats.
Tidal diagrams have also been constructed, with the view of
Admiralty Surveys.-Foreign Coasts. 15
showing the probable effect which would be produced on the bar
of Portsmouth by connecting the tidal waters of the two harbours.
Mediterranean and Red Sea.—Captain Nares and the officers of
H.M.S. Newport have been employed during the last summer in
prosecuting the survey of the coasts of Sicily and the coral-banks
between it and the coast of Tunis; a suitable channel was descried
south of the Skerki reef, through which the telegraph-cables con-
necting Gibraltar and Malta, and the latter with Bona, have been
successfully laid.
In consequence of the increased traffic through the Red Sea since
the construction of the Suez Canal, a resurvey of the Gulf of Suez
became necessary, and the Newport was detached from the Medi-
terranean on this service in September, since which time the survey
has been vigorously prosecuted in the face of many difficulties:
very considerable progress has already been made, and the ship
is about to return, until the cool season again sets in, when she will
be replaced by a vessel more suited to cope with the weather and the
climate of the Red Sea.
In compliance with a request from the Indian Government that
a resurvey should be made of the port of Aden, previous to the
dredging operations about to be undertaken for increasing its capa-
bilities, Navigating-Lieutenant Ellis was sent from England in
October to carry out this service, which has been satisfactorily
completed.
West Indies.—Navigating-Lieutenant George Stanley has succeeded
Staff-Commander Parsons in the conduct of this survey, and has been
employed during the past season, with one assistant, in extending
the survey of Demerara, which was commenced in September,
1869.
The approaches to the Rivers Demerara and Essequibo, with the
adjacent coast, having been completed, the surveyors have lately
been employed in obtaining off-shore soundings on the extensive
bank which fronts British Guyana, an operation of a very arduous
and tedious character, in the small sailing-vessel at their disposal.
Newfoundland.—This survey is conducted by Staff-Commander
J. H. Kerr, aided by two assistants, and is carried on during the
summer season in a small hired steam vessel. A portion of the last
season was devoted to sounding the eastern approach to Belle Isle
Strait, when the limit of the 100-fathom edge of the bank was well
defined, in the interest of the line of passenger-vessels which run
between Liverpool and Quebec, and adopt this route during a part
16 Sir RODERICR I. MURCHISON's Address.
of the year. The fogs which are so prevalent on this dangerous
coast, and which, in addition to the presence of ice, enhance the
difficulties of navigation, give an increased value to these soundings
as a guide to the mariner: with the same view, depths have been
obtained on the hitherto blank spaces in the charts of the Gulf
of St. Lawrence. During the latter part of the season, the sur-
veyor were engaged in defining and charting the numerous dangers
in the neighbourhood of Bonavista Bay, on the eastern coast of
Newfoundland.
In the depth of winter, Commander Kerr and his assistant aided
in several attempts to recover the broken Atlantic cable, but, owing
to a constant succession of storms, intense cold, and the prevalence
of ice, their efforts were unsuccessful.
Dritish Columbia.-Staff-Commander T'ender and his two assistants
have been employed during the past season in examining the rugged
western seaboard of the islands which front the coast of British
Columbia, northward of Vancouver Island; which have been com-
pleted, as well as the inner and sheltered ship-channels of communi-
cation, as far as the northern boundary of the colony, in 54° 40'
N. lat. Additional Soundings have also been obtained on the bar at
the entrance of the Goletas Channel, at the north end of Vancouver
Island, and resurveys, on a large scale, of Beecher and Pedder bays,
at the eastern end of St. Juan de Fuca Strait. This survey may now
be considered complete, and sufficient to meet all the requirements
of the navigator and the settler for many years to come, and the
party have been consequently withdrawn.
Cape of Good Hope.—During the past year this survey, under the
conduct of Navigating-Lieutenant Archdeacon, has made excellent
progress: the coast has been completed from Lambert Bay, north-
ward, to a few miles beyond the Orange River, a distance of about
250 miles, although, from the want of a vessel, it has not yet been
possible to complete the soundings off it.
Great hopes were entertained that the entrance to the Orange
River would have proved navigable, thus opening up a new and
shorter route to the lately-discovered diamond fields: such hopes,
however, were not realised, the entrance having been found
obstructed by an extensive sandbar, and the river within, for
Several miles, a mass of sandbanks.
A Survey, however, of Port Nolloth, about 50 miles to the south-
ward, has been executed. It is a small, but very safe harbour for
vessels of light draught, and is becoming of considerable importance
Admiralty Surveys.-Colonial Coasts. 17
to the colony as a port of shipment for the copper-ore obtained from
the mines which are situated about 90 miles from the coast. “Great
credit,” Mr. Archdeacon remarks, “is due to the Copper-mining
Company for the energetic manner in which they are carrying out
works for developing the mineral wealth of this otherwise unpro-
ductive tract of country: a steam tramway is in course of construc-
tion from the port to the mines, 40 miles of which were completed
and in working order at the end of December.”
This surveying party has undergone considerable hardships and
privations, consequent on the scarcity and extreme Saltness of the
water, and the almost entire absence of inhabitants in the vicinity
of the coast, where the country is little better than a barren sandy
Waste. -
South Australia.--During the early months of 1870, Navigating-
Lieutenant Howard and his assistant were employed in a small
colonial schooner in sounding the neighbourhood of Tipara Reef in
Spencer Gulf, and examining the Northern Coast of Kangaroo
Island, between Point Marsden to Cape Borda, a distance of over 50
miles.
Subsequently the coast was surveyed from the mouth of the
Murray River to Cape Jaffa, 40 miles south of Lacopede Bay. Mr.
Howard remarks of this bay that, although quite open to the west-
ward, it is remarkable as a perfectly smooth anchorage; the swell
from the Southern Ocean being entirely broken up and dissipated by
the time it reaches within a mile of the beach, in four fathoms of
water, even in the most violent gales. This circumstance he attri-
butes to the very gentle undulation of the bottom, and the consequent
very gradual shoaling of the water from about 10 miles off-shore up
to the beach.
Later in the season the coast line was completed from Cape Jaffa
to Glenelg River, making altogether a distance of about 230 miles
of coast examined during the year: the greater part of this, owing
to the impossibility of effecting a landing from boats, was carried
out by shore parties, and the off-shore soundings still remain to be
completed : on this work the surveyors are at present employed.
|Wictoria, Australia.--Navigating-Lieutenant H. I. Stanley, aided by
two assistants, has completed the line of coast known as the Ninety
Mile beach or Gipps' Land, and carried the survey eastward to Cape
Everard, a point about 40 miles from Cape Howe, the eastern limit
of the colony. The greater part of this stretch of coast is unin-
habited; and, as a landing could not be effected with Safety, it
C
18 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
became necessary to carry on the survey by walking parties,
crossing the rivers on rafts constructed of drift timber. In this
manner, and in the face of many difficulties and privations, among
them the absence of fresh provisions, 120 miles of coast were sur-
veyed in less than three months, and conspicuous beacons erected
for fixing the positions of the soundings still to be obtained. In
addition to the above, large-scale plans have been made of Port
Fairy and Warrnambool Harbour.
The coast has been closely sounded, from Wilson Promontory to
near Merriman Creek, on the Ninety Mile beach, amounting in
measurement to about 400 square miles. The total amount of
coast surveyed by this party during the year has been 180 miles,
the greater part of which was open and exposed.
New South Wales.—It was noticed in the last annual report that
the seaboard of this colony, together with the off-shore soundings,
had been completed; the charts of the whole coast have since been
published, and reflect the highest credit on all the officers who have
been engaged in this excellent survey. Navigating-Lieutenant
Gowlland, who, in succession to Captain Sidney (the officer who
commenced and conducted the survey for several years), has brought
it to a close, has been retained for a time in the colony by permis-
sion of the Admiralty, for the purpose of completing the inner
waters, and has lately finished the survey of Clarence River.
Queensland.—Staff-Commander Bedwell, who is in charge of this
survey, has, with one assistant, in a small colonial vessel, carefully
examined and surveyed the shores of the colony from the northern
part of Hervey Bay almost to Port Curtis, a distance of about 140
miles; and this stretch of coast has been closely sounded to a
distance of twenty-five miles off-shore.
Eastern Archipelago.—Under this designation are included the Sulu
Sea and the channels among the Philippine Islands leading east-
ward into the Pacific Ocean—the passages southward into the Sea
of Celebes, the Moluccas—and Banda and Arafura seas towards
Australia. It must be acknowledged that the term is sufficiently
comprehensive, and the information which we possess regarding it
as a navigable region is at present extremely imperfect. Looking
to the prospect of an extensive commercial intercourse springing up
between China, Japan, and the Australian colonies by these routes,
the work has scarcely been commenced too soon.
H.M.S. Nassau, under the command of Commander W. Chimmo,
was fitted out last year, and left England in May to commence this
Admiralty Surveys.—Foreign Coasts. 19
great work. The ship passed through the Suez Canal and Red Sea,
making an examination there, of various sites proposed for light-
houses; she then carried a line of deep-sea soundings, in depths
varying from 2000 to 3000 fathoms, between Galle Harbour in
Ceylon and Java Head at the entrance of Sunda Strait, and thence
up the China Sea to Hong-Kong, for submarine-cable purposes,
finally leaving Hong-Kong for the scene of her work early in
December; by the last accounts she had commenced her labours in
the Sulu Sea.
Japan.—Commander St. John and the officers of H.M.S. Sylvia
have been principally employed during the past year in making
surveys of the intricate portions of the Inland Sea of Japan, which
were most urgently required. They have completed the passages
on either side of the “Conqueror.” Bank, from Cone Island on the
east to Mutsu Sima on the west, a distance of about 20 miles; and
when this very important part of the navigation of what is now
rapidly becoming a great thoroughfare, is published, it cannot fail to
be a great boon to the seamen of all nations, and the navigation of
the Inland Sea, throughout its whole length, about 250 miles, will
then be an operation of comparative ease and safety.
The ports of Matoya and Owasi, on the south coast of Nipon, have
also been surveyed, and will prove valuable as harbours of refuge,
for vessels caught in bad weather between the eastern entrance of
the Inland Sea and the Gulf of Yedo.
Commander St. John has furnished some very valuable observations
on the great Japan Current, and on the Typhoons, which prevail
in this region, and acknowledges the valuable assistance which has
been rendered to him in these researches by the intelligent Com-
manders of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s ships, running
between China and Yokohama. It is gratifying to relate, in con-
nexion with this survey, the very great interest which has been
manifested in the work by the Government of Japan: everywhere
the greatest possible attention and civility have been extended to
the surveying parties, and assistance in the way of guides, inter-
preters, &c., freely afforded.
At the request of their Government, some young Japanese officers
were received on board the Sylvia, and instructed in the art of
nautical surveying and the use of instruments; acquitting them-
selves very creditably. A small steam vessel has also been placed
at the disposal of Commander St. John, for the purpose of co-ope-
rating in the survey; and it seems not improbable that at no distant
C 2
*
20 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON’s Address.
time the Japanese may take up the Nautical Survey of their own
coasts, or at any rate materially contribute towards its completion.
In closing these brief notices of the progress of the Surveys of
the Eastern Seas, which it has been the policy of this country to
pursue ever since our commercial relations with China were seri-
ously established subsequent to the war of 1841, it is impossible
not to reflect on the vast benefits which accrue, in consequence,
to the commercial interests of all nations, but especially to our own,
and at an expense to the country of very little more than the
ordinary annual cost of two of the smallest class of vessels of war.
Summary.—The usual Tide Tables, lists of Lights, Hydrographic
Notices, and Warnings to Mariners, have been issued during the
past year. Of Sailing Directions there have been published a
volume for the West Coast of England, from Milford Haven to the
Mull of Galloway; revisions of the Channel Pilot, relating to the
North Coast of France and the Channel Islands, and also of the
Persian Gulf Directory. New directions have likewise been pre-
pared for the navigation of Magellan Strait and the northern
channels; the result of the late survey.
Forty new charts have been engraved and published, and over
one thousand added to or corrected. Among the former may be
noticed, as of especial importance to navigators, a new series of the
North and South Atlantic Oceans in four sheets, and of the Indian
Ocean in two sheets, on scales coinciding with the Pacific series
previously in circulation; an entirely new series for the Strait of
Magellan, embracing from Cape Virgin, on the east, to Cape Pillar
and the Gulf of Penas on the west and north : these latter charts,
on good navigable scales, are principally the results of the labours
of the late Admiralty Survey under Capt. Mayne, C.B.; they amount
to seven sheets, exclusive of numerous separate plans of anchorages;
and there is no reason now why the largest steamers, with the
assistance of these charts and directions, should not avail them-
selves of the smooth-water route, and enter the Pacific from the
Gulf of Penas in the latitude of 47°S. Lastly, it must not be omitted
to notice a new Magnetic Chart of the World, just published from
materials collected at the Admiralty since 1858, the date of the
last chart of the kind, prepared by Captain Evans, R.N. Owing to
extended magnetic observations in various parts of the world, and
to the changing character of the elements of which this chart is
composed, it is important that it should be renewed at certain
intervals of years.
New Publications. 21
The present publication has been compiled by Navigating-Lieut.
Creak, of the Hydrographic Department.
The number of Admiralty Charts printed for the use of Her
Majesty's ships and the public generally, during the last year, has
been one hundred and fifty-three thousand.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.—Colonel H. Yule's edition of ‘Marco Polo.’—
Whilst these pages are passing through the press, I have received
an early copy of a work—a new edition of ‘Marco Polo’—which,
by the profound erudition it displays on all topics relating to the
mediaeval geography of Central and Eastern Asia, merits prominent
notice in an Address like the present. Colonel Yule, indeed, by his
previous work, ‘Qāſhāy. and the Way Thither,’ noticed in my
Address of 1867,” had shown himsèff thoroughly competent for the
great work which he has now, after many years' labour, brought
to a conclusion.
The maps, 17 in number, with which the two handsome volumes
—in addition to 90 pictorial engravings—are illustrated, give a
geographical character to the book at the first glance. Six of
these maps are devoted to the elucidation of the itineraries of
Marco Polo, and one is intended to embody his own conception
of the geography of his route, being constructed, as far as possible,
on his own corrected data and expressions. Among the others is
a Plan of modern l’eking and its environs, overlaid by another
showing the city as it stood about the year 1290, when described
by Marco Polo under the name of Cambeluc; besides plans of
Hangchow, the Traveller’s “Great City of Kinsay,” with its lake;
the remains of the Great Mongol City of Sarai, on the Volga;
and so forth. The pictorial illustrations, also, are well selected,
and often convey vivid ideas of the places and subjects described
by the mediaeval Traveller. Such is the one representing the
Paizah, or Honorary Golden Tablets of the Mongols, to which
Marco Polo so often alludes; and such also is the restoration of the
ancient city of Pagán, in Burma, the Mien of the quaint Venetian
Traveller, as compiled from Colonel Yule's own sketches on the
spot. The carefully-studied illustrations of the Mongol camps
of the Middle Ages, of the Chinese fleets, and of the Mediterranean
galleys of the same period, as well as the representations of the
aborigines of Western China, after Chinese drawings, are all of
* “Journal,’ vol. 37, p. cxxxi.
22 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON’s Address.
the same instructive character. In short, the reader will derive
no little aid, in enabling him to realise the full meaning of the
mediaeval Traveller's descriptions and narrative, from the copious
illustrations which enrich this remarkable book.
With regard to the Editor's part in the work itself, it may be
observed that the Preliminary Discourse on the Life and Book of
Marco Polo introduces a variety of documents from the Venetian
Archives, of which some, such as the great Traveller's will, have not
been before published in England, and others are entirely new.
Among the latter may be noted the record of a case before the
Venetian Court of Requests, in which Marco Polo prosecutes an
unfaithful agent, who had been entrusted by him with the sale of
a parcel of musk, the first document known in which Marco appears
as an actual trader. The different texts of the Traveller's book,
their sources, mutual relations, and comparative value, are made
the subject of a discussion, which is illustrated by Tables, showing
the filiation of the different manuscripts, as deduced by Colonel
Yule ; and a list of the known MSS., amounting in number to
75. It may be added, as a striking proof of the amount of original
research made by Colonel Yule, that this number exceeds by nearly
30 the fullest list hitherto compiled; and that 27 of the whole
number have been actually examined by him.
A task such as the elucidation of the many obscure points
in the narrative of Marco Polo could not, as the Editor modestly
observes in his Preface, have been satisfactorily accomplished by
the resources of any one person. The force of this remark will be
evident, when it is considered that not only a knowledge of the
written language, history, and archaeology of China and other
countries of Asia is absolutely necessary, but an acquaintance
with various recondite branches of science, and personal acquaint-
ance with the topography of portions of the vast countries over
which Marco Polo’s travels extended. The sagacity and industry
of Colonel Yule have, however, served him well in seeking and
obtaining valuable aid from many authorities on special subjects.
Among many others to whom he acknowledges his indebtedness,
may be named the Cavaliere Gulielmo Berchet, of Venice; Dr.
William Lockhart, formerly Resident in Peking; one of our medallists
of last year, Lieutenant Francis Garner; Major Montgomerie, of the
Indian Trigonometrical Survey; the Rev. Dr. Caldwell, author of
the ‘Dravidian Comparative Grammar;’ Mr. A. Wylie, of Shanghai,
the eminent Sinologist; the Rev. II. A. Jacschke, of the Moravian
New Publications—Italy. 23
Mission in British Tibet; Pundit Manphul, C.C.I., lately British
Agent in Badakhshan ; Colonel Lewis Pelly, H.M. Resident on the
Persian Gulf; Professor Schiefner, of the Imperial Academy of St.
Petersburg; Sir Arthur Phayre; Sir Bartle Frere; and Professor
Vámbéry.
Among the new geographical elucidations contained in the
work, some of which are, to the great convenience of the reader,
pointed out in the Preface, are the following:—The explanation of
the name Gheluchelan, applied by Polo to the Caspian (I. p. 55); a
detailed discussion, with a map, of the route between Kerman and
Hormuz ; and the identification, for the first time (by the aid of
Colonel Pelly), of the site of the older Hormuz, on the mainland
(I. p. 104–108); the identification of Polo's Cobinan with the still-
subsisting district of Koh-Benán, in northern Kerman (I. p. 117);
the establishment, by the aid of Pundit Manphul, of the position
and continued existence of Keshm, in Badakhshan, the Casem of
Polo, a place which had disappeared from modern geography (I.
p. 147); the identification, by the aid of Dr. Caldwell, of the site
and ruins of the great port of Cail, in Tinnevelly (II. p. 307); and
many others of similar interest and importance.
Italy.—A remarkable revival of interest in Geographical enter-
prise has of late been displayed in Italy, the birth-place of so many
renowned travellers and discoverers. The Italian Geographical
Society, to which I have alluded in former Addresses, as presided
over by the energetic Chevalier Cristoforo Negri, now comprises
no fewer than 1254 members, as I learn from the Anniversary
Address of the President, delivered at Florence on the 30th of April
last. This Address, occupying fifty-five pages of large octavo size,
is a comprehensive review of the progress of Geographical science
and discovery during the year, and shows how closely its learned
author has followed the achievements of travellers and the records
of Geographical research in all countries. It is apparent from Signor
Negri’s observations that he is anxious to secure the co-operation of
all those distinguished Italians who are engaged in exploration,
under foreign Governments, and the results of whose labours have
hitherto been published in other languages than their own. By
gathering these within the fold of the Society of their mother
country, great results may in future be anticipated. Even at present,
the Bollettino of the Society, issued in annual volumes, contains many
valuable original memoirs and maps, which all geographers will do
24 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
well to consult. During the past year the Society has received the
Reports of Nachtigal's Expedition to the Sultan of Bornou, to which
an Italian gentleman, Signor Walperga, is attached. The expedition
intended to return by the dangerous route of Waday, where the
unfortunate Vogel was murdered.
Switzerland. — From our indefatigable Corresponding Member,
M. J. M. Ziegler, of Winterthur, we have received the usual annual
Report of the progress made in perfecting the topography, geology,
and climatology of Switzerland. By this we learn that the Geo.
detical Board have continued their operations since the last Report,
and that Professor Hirsch has announced that the determinations of
longitude will be concluded during the present year. We also learn
that the Federal Government, in addition to the superb maps of
Switzerland they had previously given to the world—the work of .
the Federal Ordnance Survey—have issued a new set of contoured
maps of portions of the country, namely, the environs of Berne and
of Interlachen, on scales of 1 : 25,000 and 1 : 50,000. The Surveys
of Switzerland, supported by the Federal Government, tend gradu-
ally to render the knowledge of the topography and physical geo-
graphy of this diversified portion of Europe as complete as possible.
Thus, a cadastral Survey of all the 132 municipalities of the Canton
of Soleure is now in course of execution, under the direction of M. H.
Denzler, on a scale of 1 : 500 and 1 : 1000.
UNITED STATES. — The American Geographical and Statistical
Society of New York, which is destined, no doubt, to play an
important part in the promotion of Geographical science, num-
bered, in the early part of the present year, 540 members. At
the annual meeting, on the 20th of February last, an interesting
general report on the geographical work of the United States for
the past ten years was read by Professor Gilman, under the form
of the annual Address to the Society. In this comprehensive dis-
course the numerous Expeditions which have been organized to
survey the vast Western Territories of the States were briefly
passed in review. The scientific results of some of these, pub-
lished with rare completeness and at liberal outlay by the United
States Government, are well known in England; others, such as the
publications of the Geological Survey of California, are much less
known, although of the highest general and scientific interest. This
Survey, chiefly under the direction of Whitney, has examined the
range of the Sierra Nevada of California, measuring its lofty peaks
Switzerland—United States. 25
and mapping out on a large scale the many picturesque valleys
lying along their flanks. We now learn that a map is nearly ready
for publication, giving the results of these surveys, as far as regards
the central part of the State, in which the highest peaks of the
country are situated. But more than this, a series of elaborate
volumes is in course of preparation (three of which are already
issued), devoted to the Geology, Physical Geography, Botany, and
Zoology of California. When we consider that the cost of all this
is defrayed by the State Government, and voted by the State Con-
gress, we cannot but admire the enlightened public spirit thus
displayed by the citizens of the “Golden State;” and our admiration
is increased on learning that some portions of the country, especially
those picturesque tracts where groves of the gigantic cedars are
still growing, have been reserved by the State, in perpetuity, as
vast parks for the enjoyment of the people.
Besides the noble work just mentioned, there are enumerated in
Professor Gilman's discourse, among recent operations, the official
survey of the country adjacent to the 40th parallel, under Mr.
Clarence King, which includes an accurate topographical examina-
tion of a belt adjacent to the Central Pacific Railroad, with researches
in its geology, botany, and so forth ; and the surveys, by different
parties, viz., Parry and Englemann, Gilpin, and Whitney and Brewer,
of the peaks and so-called parks of Colorado Territory, comprising
the central part of the Rocky Mountain system. An account is
given also of a party sent by the Harvard Mining School, by whom
a survey has been made of the loftiest portion of Colorado, the
results of which have not yet been published. It has now been
established that the three highest peaks in United States territory
are Mount Whitney in California, and Mounts Harvard and Yale
in Colorado, none much exceeding 15,000 feet above the sea-level.
Other surveys have been—that of Arizona, by Mr. J. T. Gardner,
the Utah Boundary Survey, Major Williamson's measurement of
the depression below the sea-surface of Death's Valley, in the
southern part of the Great Basin, and particularly the remarkable
examination of the Great Cañon of the Colorado River, made by
Major Powell during a courageous journey through this stupendous
chasm. The interest excited by these surveys is creating in the
States a demand for a national topographical and trigonometrical
survey, similar to those of many European countries, which assuredly
will not be much longer delayed.
It is scarcely necessary in this place to point out the great im-
26 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
portance of these works to all engaged in geographical pursuits.
The Cartographer, indeed, both in the United States and in Europe,
will readily adopt the great mass of new information supplied by
these surveys, and register them on new maps for public use; but
the Physical Geographer should not be unmindful of the great addi-
tion to the illustrations of his science which these explorations in
the western parts of North America are calculated to furnish, under-
taken, as they have been, over a portion of the world in a high
degree remarkable for the variety and singularity of its physical
configuration.
INDIA.—A Memoir on the Indian Surveys, by Mr. Clements
Markham, has been printed by order of the Secretary of State for
India, which is intended to furnish a history of the scientific surveys
from their first commencement. The narrative is supplied with
numerous references, in order to enable an inquirer to follow up
his researches on any special point, or on any particular branch
of the subject. It is thus a work the perusal of which will give
a comprehensive idea of the measures that have been taken in India
for the advancement of geography and kindred sciences, while it is
also intended to be permanently useful as a book of reference. The
|Memoir is divided into seventeen sections. The first gives a history
of the marine surveys conducted by officers of the Indian Navy,
and is an interesting record of operations which have added very
largely to our geographical knowledge. I need only refer, in
proof of this, to the numerous important papers in our ‘Journals,”
and in those of the Bombay Geographical Society, by officers of
the Indian Navy; all of which are noticed in this section of Mr.
Markham's Memoir. The first surveys on land were not com-
menced until Lord Clive had won the battle of Plassy; when that
great geographer Major Rennell commenced his honourable career
by mapping the districts of Bengal and Behar. The second Sec-
tion of the Memoir contains an account of the route-surveys of
Rennell and his coadjutors in various parts of India. In the com-
mencement of the present century, the system of route-surveying
was superseded by the more scientific trigonometrical method in-
troduced by Colonel Lambton. The eight following Sections of the
Memoir contain a narrative of the labours of Lambton, Everest,
Waugh, Thuillier and Walker, and of the distinguished officers
who have served under them. This ground is covered by the
measurement of the great Indian arc of a meridian, commenced by
India. 27
Lambton, and successfully completed by Everest; by the operations
of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, and by the work of the Topo-
graphical and Revenue Surveys. Here we have a record of work
conducted with great scientific knowledge, with marvellous skill
and judgment, and with untiring zeal; through which results have
been obtained that are unsurpassed, for magnitude and importance,
in any other part of the world. Hitherto the history of these most
interesting operations has been buried in official reports, which
are not easily accessible ; and a complete general view of them, in
a convenient form, such as is supplied by these sections of Mr.
Markham's Memoir, cannot fail to be welcome to all geographers.
In his 12th Section, Mr. Markham gives some account of the
method of supplying instruments for the use of the scientific Surveys
in India, and of the observatory established at Lambeth, under
the direction of Colonel Strange, for testing and examining them.
The subsequent Sections of the Memoir review the operations
of the scientific labourers in those other branches of inquiry,
which are included under the head of Geography in its most
comprehensive sense. The 13th Section gives a history of the
Geological Survey of India, as well as some account of the earlier
labours of zealous independent inquirers before a systematic survey
was established. Then follows a section on Archaeological Re-
searches in India, containing a general view of the work of James
Prinsep, Wilson, Cunningham, Fergusson, Meadows Taylor, Walter
Elliot, and other eminent men who have laboured in this important
field of inquiry. A perusal of the Archaeological Section of the
Memoir will furnish very striking evidence of the close connexion
between geography and the investigations of the archaeologist. The
identification of sites of ancient cities, and a comparison of their
present position with the positions described in ancient writings,
supplies proofs of physical changes, especially as regards the courses
of rivers. Indeed comparative geography, which is not the least
important branch of our science, is wholly dependent on the labours
of archaeologists. The next Section gives a detailed account of the
meteorological and tidal observations that have been undertaken,
from time to time, in various parts of India; of the valuable
contributions to our knowledge of Indian meteorology by Colonel
Sykes, General Boileau, Dr. Buist, Mr. Allan Broun, and others,
and of the systematic arrangements for meteorological registration
which have recently been adopted by the Indian Government.
In his 16th Section, Mr. Markham records the labours of astro-
28 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
nomers in India. First touching upon the ancient studies of Ulugh
Beg, and the later observations of the renowned Jye Sing, a sketch
is then given of the work accomplished by the English successors
of those Oriental astronomers, at the Madras Observatory, under
Goldingham, Taylor, Jacob, and Pogson; and at Trivanderum
under Caldecott and Allan Broun.
The 17th Section is devoted to physical geography, and to an
attempt to supply information respecting the efforts that have
been made to form generalizations from the observations collected
by surveyors and other inquirers. Mr. Markham here enumerates
the opinions which have been formed by geographers respecting the
physical structure of the great Himalayan mass, the views enter-
tained with reference to the river-systems, and the accounts that
have been published of the physical features of other parts of
India. He also gives an account of the labours of botanists, and
supplies references to works on forest conservancy, and other
results of human action, which have so important a bearing on the
physical changes of the earth's surface.
Mr. Markham devotes a final Section to a history of the utiliz-
ation of the work of the surveyors, and of the preparation and
publication of maps, from the time of Richard Hakluyt, the first
cosmographer to the East India Company. He reviews the labours
of Rennell, Dalrymple, Horsburgh, Aaron Arrowsmith, and John
Walker; and gives information respecting the preparation of the
Indian Atlas, of the charts of Indian seas, and of other maps and
memoirs. Mr. Markham is now himself in charge of the Geo-
graphical Department of the India Office ; and it is a source of
great satisfacſion to find that care is at last being bestowed on the
priceless collection of geographical documents which have been
inherited from the old East India Company. The importance of
having a Department in England, in communication with the
surveyors and other scientific inquirers in India, has long been
felt ; and it is certainly a cause for congratulation among geo-
graphers that an arrangement should have been made which, while
ensuring the efficient transaction of business connected with the
Indian Surveys, will also have the effect of securing a more general
diffusion of knowledge in England respecting the noble and
zealous labours of our brother geographers in the East.
The operations of the Surveys in India, during the last season,
1869-70, show steady progress, and have resulted in the production
of a large number of useful maps, and of considerable additions to
Indian Marine Surveys— Great Trigonometrical Survey. 29
geographical knowledge. Mr. Markham's memoir will enable geo-
graphers to refer to the previous history of operations now in
progress; and, in reviewing the work of the Indian Surveys
during the last season, I will therefore take them in the same order
as has been adopted in the sections of his memoir.
Indian Marine Surveys.-Since the abolition of the Indian Navy,
in 1862, no fresh marine surveys have been undertaken. This is
the more to be deplored, as a great deal of very important work
remained unfinished, while the surveys of many parts of the Indian
coasts urgently require periodical revision. Mr. Markham has
recently brought this subject to the notice of the Secretary of State
for India; and I am glad to learn, from a statement made by Mr.
Grant Duff, in the IHouse of Commons, that its consideration has
been referred to our Associate, Governor-General the Earl of Mayo.
The Great Trigonometrical Survey.—This great work, under the
superintendence of Colonel Walker, is now approaching comple-
tion. Five trigonometrical Series are still in hand. The Brahma-
putra Series, on the 90th meridian, under Captain Thuillier, has
been pushed forward 56 miles during the last season. It follows
the course of the Jamoona branch of the Brahmaputra, passing
through a flat country, much cut up by watercourses. The opera-
tions of the Burmah Series, under Mr. Rossenrode, were, unfor-
tunately, brought to a sudden stop, owing to the financial panic of
last year. The Beder Longitudinal Series is to connect the Great
Arc with the Coast Series. It passes through a most difficult and
pestiferous region, chiefly in the basin of the Godavery. The work
was undertaken by Sir George Everest, when quite a young man,
nearly fifty years ago; but he and his whole party were struck
down by malignant fever, and they were obliged to abandon the
attempt. The country has scarcely been visited since, and has
never been mapped. It is densely wooded, and thirty-two hill-
tops had to be cleared of forest for observing-stations. Mr. Shelver-
ton, who was in charge of this Series, during the season of 1869-70,
carried the triangulation over 70 miles, and extended the pre-
liminary work for 170 miles further. But he, like Everest, was
struck down by fever, with most of his party, and five of his men
died. Having partially recovered, Mr. Shelverton nobly stuck to
his work, with that devoted zeal which has ever distinguished the
members of the Indian Surveys; and the melancholy news has now
arrived that he has died at his post, a true martyr to science. He
had been many years in the Survey, and had done much valuable
30 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
service, which has been fully acknowledged in the reports of his
chiefs. He was an admirable surveyor, and a man of undaunted
courage and zeal. His loss will be much felt. The Belaspur Series,
on the meridian of 82°, has been commenced by Mr. Keelan, and
was extended for 95 miles during the last season. The Banga-
lore Meridian Series is intended to cover the ground of Colonel
Lambton’s original work, from Cape Comorim to the Beder base,
which, in consequence of improved instruments and the more
accurate methods of modern times, now requires revision. The
Series is divided into two Sections, under Lieut. Rogers and Major
Branfill.
The topographical surveys, under the superintendence of Colonel
Walker, include those of Kumaon and British Gurhwal, Kattiwar,
and Guzerat. The first, directed by Major Montgomerie, shows a
very large out-turn of work; while that officer's highly interesting
report on the journey of the Mirza—the native whom he instructed
and selected for the extensive journey over Countries unvisited by
Europeans since the days of Marco Polo and Benedict Goes—is fully
noticed in my narrative of the progress of discovery in Central
Asia. I must not omit, however, to mention here the work of Cap-
tain Carter, in fixing the positions of many peaks in the moun-
tainous country north of Peshawur. The Kattiwar Survey, under
the thoughtful and judicious supervision of Lieut. Trotter, has made
good progress, and a large area on the western shore of the Gulf
of Cambay is completed. The Survey of Guzerat, under Major
Nasmyth, was commenced during the season of 1869-70.
Two astronomical parties, on the meridians of 75° and 78°,
have been at work, under Captains Heaviside and Herschel. The
former took sets of observations at five stations between the
parallels of Indore and Poona; while the latter took sets of ob-
servations at two groups, consisting of three stations each,-one
near Bangalore, and the other at Coimbatore. The results, at
several stations of a group, serve to show whether there is any
essential local deflection. Such was found in both groups. Lieut.
Herschel used the zenith-sector, recently completed by Messrs.
Troughton and Simms, from designs by Colonel Strange, on which
he reports very favourably.
JThe levelling operations of the Survey, conducted by Mr. Lane,
covered a circuit of 570 miles in Oude and the North-West Pro-
vinces, during the past season, and the discrepancy at closing only
amounted to 0-14 of a foot.
The Revenue Surveys of India. 31
In the season of 1868-69 Major Basevi completed his series of
pendulum observations on the great meridional arc of India. In
1869-70 he took observations on points on the coast, in nearly the
same latitudes as the pendulum stations inland. He selected posi-
tions far from mountain ranges, that the results might not be
affected by such variations of gravity as are met with in the vicinity
of high land. A series of observations was also taken on the Island
of Minicoy ; and Major Basevi intends to observe on the elevated
plateaux of Ladak and Tibet, at Aden and in Egypt on his way
home, and to bring the work to a close by a series taken at Green-
wich. His observations of last season were calculated to throw
some light on the relative variations of gravity at continental, coast,
and Ocean stations. The results show that gravity on the coast is
greater than inland, and at Ocean stations greater than on the coast.
At the computing office of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, Mr.
Hennessey and Mr. Cole have re-determined the thermal expansion
of the standard bar, by very careful and exact investigations, which
entailed much labour. An accurate knowledge of the factor of
expansion of the standard bar was the one thing wanting to permit
the final reductions of the base lines, and these reductions have
now been completed. Colonel Walker has thus been enabled to
commence the publication of the final results of the Survey; and
his first volume has just appeared. It contains a very interesting
introductory account of the early operations of the Survey from
1800 to 1830, and the details of operations connected with the base
lines and the standard of measurement. The whole work, consisting
of some twenty volumes, will form a complete history of the Great
Trigonometrical Survey of India.
The Revenue Surveys of India, divided into the Upper and Lower
Circles, have been actively prosecuted; and 21,054 square miles
have been surveyed during the season of 1869-70. The Upper
Circle comprises two parties in the North-West Provinces, one in
Oude, two in the Punjab, one in Sind, and four in the Central
Provinces. The Peshawur Survey, embracing 2467 square miles,
under Colonel Johnstone, was commenced in 1863. Much valuable
work has been done beyond the frontier, and several errors have
been discovered in the old maps, especially one in the course of the
Cabul River. Colonel Johnstone made friends with the wild hill-
tribes, a race of plunderers, like our own Borderers three centuries
ago. One of the Afreedees chanced to see the Colonel's crest—
the winged spur—and, on asking its meaning, he was told the well-
f
32 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
known Border story, which rejoiced his heart. Henceforth there
was a fellow feeling for the Sahib whose Border ancestors had the
same pursuits as the Afreedees. In Nemar, the maps of the surveyors
were of great use to the railway engineers in their preliminary ope-
rations. They were saved the necessity of making surveys of their
own, which expedited their work materially. The Lower Circle
comprises surveying parties in Nowgong, Luckimpore, Hooghley,
Cooch Behar, Hazareebagh, and SeebSaugor. The work of the
Madras Revenue Survey is also progressing, and the village and
district maps form the basis for the future construction of useful
maps on Smaller Scales.
The Topographical Surveys of India are undertaken to furnish all the
details required for good military maps, and for engineering and other
administrative purposes, in Native States, or in the hilly and thinly-
populated regions where elaborate field-surveys are unnecessary.
India is too large and diversified to be dealt with by one system of
survey only; and Colonel Thuillier, who has now been in charge of
the Revenue and Topographical Surveys for upwards of a quarter
of a century, has pushed forward two systems side by side, each
admirably adapted for the special requirements of the region to
which it is applied. During the season of 1869-70 seven topo-
graphical surveying parties have been at work in Gwalior and
Central India, the Central Provinces, Chota Nagpore, Ganjam,
Bundelcund, Rajpootana, and the Khasia and Garrow hills. All
these regions were previously either unmapped or represented only
by very old imperfect sketches. They are for the most part wild
and extremely unhealthy, and labour is procured with much diffi-
culty. The total work includes 16,315 Square miles surveyed, and
13,218 of advanced skeleton triangulation ; and much material has
thus been furnished for several of the unfinished atlas sheets. In
the Central Provinces, the party commanded by Mr. Girdlestone was
at work in the loftiest and wildest parts of the Satpoora range, and
in the malarious forests near the Wyngunga valley. The party had
been employed for sixteen years in this wild region, and had mapped
26,580 square miles. Colonel Saxton's party was employed in
finishing the Saora hills, within the Ganjam Agency, which are
inhabited by tribes who had never before allowed strangers to enter
their country. The party under Lieutenant Sale, in Chota Nagpore,
explored the extremely interesting region which forms the water-
parting between the valleys of the Some and Nerbudda. Lieutenant
Sale himself suffered from an attack of malarious fever. The survey
Topographical and Geological Surveys of India. 33
of the Khasia and Garrow hills, which had hitherto been conducted
by our associate Major Godwin Austen, was, after his departure
on leave, entrusted to Captain A. B. Melville, the news of whose
melancholy death has just been received.
Colonel Thuillier is year by year increasing the usefulness of his
office, by the issue of excellent compiled maps, and by the rapid
preparation of maps of the recently surveyed districts. In the last
year no less than 24,558 maps were issued to government officials
and local agents from the Surveyor-General’s Office at Calcutta. In
the photographic branch Colonel Thuillier is ably and zealously
assisted by Lieutenant Waterhouse, and 60,116 copies of photo-
zincographed maps were struck off during the year. But the great
achievement of the season has been the publication of two quarter
sheets of the Indian Atlas. In 1868 it was resolved that this work
should be completed in India; and Colonel Thuillier made the
necessary arrangements, and took skilled engravers out to Calcutta.
with him, on his return early in 1869. Mr. Coard is the superin-
tendent of the engravers. The sheets now published at Calcutta
are No. 87 S.W., which includes Lucknow, and No. 125 S.E., being a
part of Sylhet. They will lose nothing by comparison with the
engraved sheets produced in England. Mr. Coard has also devoted
much of his time to training native engravers; and the young
apprentices have made rapid progress in writing, and even in the
more difficult process of hill etching. The advantages of engraving
the sheets on the spot, where there can be immediate reference to
the surveyors themselves and to the original documents, are suffi-
ciently evident; and we may look forward to very excellent results
from the remaining sheets of the atlas being prepared and engraved
under the able supervision of Colonel Thuillier himself.
The Geological Survey of India.-The intrepid geologists, who are
doing such excellent service under the leadership of Dr. Oldham,
have visited many wild unexplored regions in India, and their
valuable memoirs and reports have added very largely to our geo-
graphical knowledge. During the season of 1869-70, Mr. H. B.
Medlicott has revised the geological maps of the Jhansi and Sangor
districts, Mr. Ball revised the maps of the Rajmehal hills, Mr.
Hacket explored the Jubbulpore country, and Mr. Ormsby, after
completing a revision of a large portion of the Bhaugalpore district,
added one more to the long list of men of Science who have fallen
victims to the Indian climate. Mr. Mallet reported on the geo-
logical structure of Aden, with a view to determining whether the
I)
34 Sir RODERICR. I. MURCHISON's Address.
principle of Artesian wells could be applied there with any prospect
of success. In Madras, Mr. Foote has been engaged in geologically
mapping the valley of the Upper Kistna, to determine, on the one
side, the outline of the great Deccan trap-rocks, which have over-
flowed all the other formations, and, on the other, to fix the boundary
of the immense area of fundamental gneissic rocks. Mr. Blanford,
who did such good service in Abyssinia, has been engaged in
examining the coal-fields of Bilashur and the Nerbudda valley, and
a valuable lead-vein at Chicholi, near Raipur. Mr. Hughes has
explored the great coal-field of the Wurda valley, and has shown
much judgment and skill in selecting localities for boring, while
Mr. Fedden was mapping the area covered by trap-rocks, to fix
their boundaries in the vicinity of the coal-measures. The opera-
tions of these zealous geologists have been recorded in memoirs,
which also contain so much important geographical information
that they call for special notice here. I am glad to find, from Dr.
Oldham's last Report, that materials are now complete for the pub-
lication of several final geological maps.
The Archaeological Survey of India. —Systematic archaeological
investigations, under the supervision of General Cunningham, who
only left England last December, will commence in the ensuing
season; and all previous work of this kind is noticed in the section
of Mr. Markham's memoir which is devoted to this subject. But I
cannot omit a notice of General Cunningham's first volume of his
‘Ancient Geography of India,’—a very important work, which em-
bodies some of the results of his previous antiquarian researches.
In this volume, General Cunningham follows the routes of Alexander
the Great, and of the Chinese pilgrim Huen Thsang; identifying
the sites of several important cities and sacred spots. These identi-
fications illustrate the changes that have taken place in the courses
of the Punjab rivers, and of the Indus, and the extraordinary
alteration of the whole region between the Sutlej and the Jumna.
The work is a most valuable contribution to our knowledge of the
ancient geography of India, and shows the great importance of
archaeological investigations, in the study of the physical changes
that have taken place on the earth's surface.
Meteorological and Tidal Observations in India.--Within the last
three years, the Indian governments have established a more
systematic method of meteorological registration, under the superin-
tendence of special reporters. A regular series of careful observa-
tions has been taken at the Surveyor-General’s Office at Calcutta,
Meteorological and Tidal Observations in India. 35
and others at the Madras Observatory, and at Bombay, for a long
course of years; and an order has existed for many years enjoining
the registration of the thermometer and rain-gauge at civil stations
and hospitals. But since 1867 all work of this kind has been
placed under special reporters, whose duty it is to inspect the
various stations, reduce the observations, and submit annual reports
on the climatology of their provinces. Mr. Blanford is the meteoro-
logical reporter to the Bengal Government; and he has worked very
zealously to establish numerous efficient stations, and to utilise the
observations that are thus accumulated. Dr. Murray Thompson
and Dr. Neil occupy the same positions in the North-West Provinces
and the Punjab; and the observations in Madras are superintended
by Mr. Pogson, the astronomer. In future years, we may fairly
anticipate valuable results from the systematic labours of the
meteorological reporters, which will throw light on questions con-
nected with the monsoons, and other special features of Indian
meteorology. Tidal observations have, notwithstanding the urgent
representations of Dr. Whewell, been hitherto much neglected in
India. But Mr. Parkes, the consulting engineer of the Kurrachee
Harbour Works, has recently investigated the phenomena of Indian
tides with ability and success, and has published useful tide-tables,
based on good series of observations, both for Kurrachee and
Bombay. It is to be hoped that similar observations will be made
at other points on the coast of India.
I cannot conclude this brief review of the work of surveyors and
other scientific observers in India, without noticing the greatly
increased facilities for obtaining maps and other official publications
connected with geography, which have resulted from the establish-
ment of a Geographical Department at the India Office, so ably
directed, as it is, by our senior Secretary, Mr. Clements Markham,
who has brought together all the knowledge above mentioned.
Formerly the sheets of the atlas were the only official maps that
were accessible to the general public. Now all maps published by
the Surveyor-General at Calcutta are supplied at once by the agents
appointed by the India Office; while a very complete catalogue
prepared by Mr. Trelawney Saunders, the Assistant Geographer,
enables the engineer to see at a glance the extent of the country
of which the maps are already on sale, with their size and scales.
Mr. Saunders has also prepared, by order of the Under Secretary
of State for India, two small but elaborate maps of the moun-
tains and river-basins of India. In these maps the Himalaya
J) 2
36 Sir ROI).ERICK 1. MURCHISON's Address.
mountains, especially, are distinctly delineated in a new form, the
great chain of peaks being represented as a culminating outer
range, separated by a series of elevated valleys from an inner range,
which form the water-parting between the basins of the Ganges
and Sampu. The relation of the Himalaya to the Karakorum moun-
tains, the Gang-dis-ri, and the lofty plateau of Tibet, is also defined;
and the Kuenlun is represented as the northern escarpment of the
Tibetan plateau descending to the depressed plains of Gobi. In
general, the orography of this little-known region of highlands has
been so distinctly defined by Mr. Saunders, as to invite further
critical attention to the subject.
ASIA.—Central Asia. —I announced to you at the opening of the
Session the irreparable loss which the Society had sustained in the
death of that enterprising and accomplished explorer, Mr. Hayward,
who it was once hoped would have solved the great problem of
Central Asian Geography by traversing the Pamir Plateau from
the frontier of India to the Russian possessions on the Jaxartes. A
very full and interesting account of all the circumstances connected
with the foul murder of this promising traveller was contained in a
letter, which was written to myself by the agent, Mr. Frederick
Drew, who was sent to investigate the matter on the spot, and which
has since been read at one of our evening meetings and published
in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Society; and I am now enabled to state
that further intelligence has been received by the Government
of India, from an independent source, which confirms the main
points of Mr. Drew's Report, and shows that in the country itself,
and among the hillsmen acquainted with the details of the actual
Outrage, no suspicion is entertained of the complicity of the Cashmire
Maharaja or his officers. There are some grounds, however, for
believing that the murderer, Mir Wulee, of Yassin, did act at the insti-
gation—or at any rate with the full consent—of the powerful Chitrál
Chief, Aman-el-Moolk, whose jealousy was aroused by the intrusion
of a European traveller into the mountains; and if any measures,
therefore, of retribution are ultimately decided on, it is probable
that Chitrál will be held equally responsible with Yassin. In the
meantime the Maharaja of Cashmire has undertaken to erect a
monument to Mr. Hayward's memory in the Gilghit Valley, and a
suitable inscription has been sent out from England to be engraved
upon the tomb. A few books and papers were recovered from Mr.
Hayward's effects, and are expected shortly to arrive in England;
Central Asia. 37
but it is not likely that they will contain any geographical informa-
tion beyond that already presented to the Society, as Mr. Hayward
had only proceeded two stages in advance of his former station at
the head of the Yassin Valley when overtaken by the assassins
whom Mir Wulee had sent upon his track. The present whereabouts
of the murderer are not positively known, but it is believed that he
has taken refuge with the famous Akhoond of Swāt, at a short
distance from our Peshawur frontier; and his identification, at any
rate, is rendered easy by a limping gait, which is likely to be per-
manent, as he sustained a compound fracture of the leg from the
kick of a horse during his recent wanderings, and the bone has
never properly united.
But although our hopes of obtaining through Mr. Hayward's
energy and skill a complete map of the hydrography of the Pamir
lands have been thus disappointed, considerable progress has been
made through other means in clearing up doubts regarding the
physical features of that interesting region. One of Major Mont-
gomerie's native explorers, who rejoices in the pseudonym of “the
Mirza,” and who has proved himself to be a worthy companion-
traveller to the celebrated Pundits, has lately executed a very re-
markable survey of the southern portion of the Pamir Plateau.
Following in the footsteps of our early medallist, Lieutenant Wood,
from the Afghan frontier to the junction of the two arms of the
Upper Oxus at Kileh Penj—with some unimportant variations in
the route along the river of Badakhshān-the Mirza succeeded,
under the most trying circumstances, owing to the Severity of the
winter season, in tracing up the Southern arm of the river to one of
its sources in an alpine lake, named Pamir Kül or Berket-i-
Yassin ; and having thence crossed the watershed into the river-
system of Yarkand, he visited the little-known city of Tash-kurghān,
and subsequently proceeded by an entirely new route to Yangi-
Hissar and Kashgar. The Mirza cannot claim a complete priority of
discovery in his delineation of the route from Kileh Penj to Tash-
kurghān, for another native traveller, Mohammed Amin, had already
followed the same track and published his itinerary in Mr. Davies's
Report on the North-western boundary of India; and a similar route,
indeed, had been supplied to Macartney when he attempted, sixty
years ago, to map this region about the sources of the Oxus; but
Major Montgomerie's employd has, at any rate, the credit of being
the first explorer who has taken an astronomical observation at
Tash-kurghān since the time of the Jesuits, or who has furnished
38 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
any trustworthy data of the geography of South-Eastern Pamir
suited to the scientific requirements of the present day. The re-
marks, indeed, of Major Montgomerie on the line of watershed from
Ladak to Kokan,—as well as on the physical features of those great
mountain-chains which invariably exhibit their culminating peaks
on transverse spurs in advance of the watershed, and on the correct
determination of the longitudes of Kashgar and Yarkand, all of
which are based upon materials supplied by the Mirza, must be of
the highest interest to Geographers, and merit the warmest acknow-
ledgments of this Society. The Mirza's achievements are summa-
rised by Major Montgomerie in the following pregnant sentences: —
“This total route-survey extends to 2179 miles, about 350 miles of
this ground being entirely new. The heights of 28 different points
have been determined by boiling-point observations, and 48 ob-
servations for latitude have been taken at 14 of the principal stations
on the route.”
In my last Anniversary Address I informed you that Mr. Douglas
Forsyth, accompanied by that observant and accomplished traveller
Mr. Shaw, had proceeded on a mission from the Viceroy of India to
the Court of the Atalik Ghazi at Kashgar. This mission, owing to
accidental circumstances, has not perhaps achieved the full geo-
graphical results that might have been expected from it, but
neither has it been infructuous. Although, indeed, owing to
the Atalik Ghazi's absence on a warlike expedition against the
Tunganis on his eastern frontier, Mr. Forsyth was unable to proceed
beyond the city of Yarkand, yet, in that limited field of operations,
he obtained valuable results from the labours of his subordinates.
In the first place, by detaching a confidential agent from Cashmire
to rejoin him, by a circuitous route, in the plains of Turkistan, he
succeeded in obtaining a report of the road across the mountains,
by the Darkote Pass, where Mr. Hayward was murdered, and from
that point, through Tash-kurghān to Yarkand; while, on his return
journey, he further utilized the services of Mr. Shaw, as I shall
presently explain, in the exploration of a considerable portion of
unsurveyed ground between the Karakorum and Kuenlun. Mr.
Shaw is stated in Mr. Forsyth's Report to have used “his instru-
ments carefully and continuously throughout the route, and his
register of observations, which has recently reached us, has proved
of the greatest value in setting at rest the long contested question
of the longitude of Yarkand. Major Montgomeric, from a careful
comparison of the Mirza's route with all previously existing
Central Asia. 39
materials, had been led to assign to the city in question a longitude
of 77° 30'; and this would have been accepted by geographers as a
certain position had not Mr. Forsyth stated, apparently on Mr.
Shaw's authority, that the true longitude was 76°. This alarming
discrepancy of a degree and a half of longitude, which threatened
to throw the whole map of Turkistan out of gear, has been now
removed, by the calculation of Mr. Shaw's lunar observations by
a computor at Greenwich, a mean result of 77° being obtained for
the position of the city of Yarkand.
The Only extension of geographical discovery which has been
announced to us, on the part of the Russians in Central Asia, since
our last Anniversary Meeting, has resulted from Col. Abramoff's
expedition of last summer to the sources of the Zarafshan. In
this expedition, the Russian troops crossed, on four different occa-
Sions, the snowy mountains, a prolongation of the Thiin-shan,
which intervene between the valleys of the Jaxartes and the
river of Samarcand; and found the passes to be from 15,000 to
16,000 feet above the level of the sea. Colonel Abramoff also care-
fully examined the two parallel valleys of the Macha and Yagnän,
which run down from the western face of Pamír, and supply the
head-waters of the Zarafshan. He found the Macha River to issue
from a glacier which entirely blocked up the defile, and was reported
to be 35 miles in length—the head of the glacier extending indeed
to the eastward of the longitude of Kokan ; while the sources of
the Yagnän (to which, however, he did not penetrate) were
reported to reach almost to an equal distance.
From these discoveries, it follows that the sources of the Zar-
afshan will have to be transferred about 100 miles to the eastward
of the Fàn Lake, where, in the maps recently published, the river
has been held to take its rise. Colonel Abramoff further ascended
the pass to the south of the Fâm Lake, and stood upon the water-
shed between the the Zarafshan and the Oxus, looking over the
rugged country which is drained by the Hissar and Kafir-nihan
streams flowing to the Southward. On his return to Samarcand,
operations in the Keshtub and Maghian valleys, which furnish
tributaries running north to the Zarafshan, likewise enabled the
Russian commander to gain a tolerable knowledge of these hitherto
unvisited localities; and the exploration of the Samarcand district,
together with the adjoining territory of Shahar-i-Sabz, may thus be
considered to be now pretty well accomplished.
I am informed by Sir Henry Rawlinson that the geography
40 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
of the upper valley of the Zarafshan, and particularly of the
Fàn Lake and the Macha defile, admits of ample illustration from
the Memoirs of the Emperor Baber, who frequently traversed
these regions during the troubles through which he struggled to
power. Most of the names, indeed, which have been recently
brought to light by the Russian surveys are to be found in Baber,
though hitherto not recognisable, owing to the faulty readings of the
Turki manuscripts. Sir Henry will give ample explanations on this
subject in his ‘Monograph on the Oxus,” which will be printed in
the next volume of the Society's ‘Journal.’
Finally, it will interest geographers to learn that the Topo-
graphical Department of the Russian Government have quite
recently completed a new map of their province of Turkistan, which
will naturally contain all the new data gathered by the expeditions
I have mentioned. It is to include also Western Siberia, and I trust
we may be furnished with a copy, by the courtesy of the Russian
authorities, to whom we are indebted for similar donations on
former Occasions.
In continuation of the observations I have already made re-
garding the Expedition of Mr. Forsyth, it gives me the highest
Satisfaction to mention that I have very recently received a long
and instructive letter from our distinguished associate Mr. R. B.
Shaw, the companion of Mr. Forsyth, descriptive of his journey
across the mountainous region Southwards and eastwards of the
Karakorum Pass, to explore which he was detached from the
rest of the party on returning from Yarkand. The letter is accom-
panied by a sketch-map of the Upper Valley of the Shayok, showing
the line of watershed of this part of Central Asia. Besides de-
termining correctly, by astronomical observations, the position and
altitude of many spots hitherto unvisited, Mr. Shaw has delighted
me, as a geologist, above all, by stating that he has determined the
dip and direction of all the strata in this hitherto unexplored
region; and has even collected many fossil shells, which, when
sent home, will enable us to affix a precise age to the different
rocks he has examined. His description of the difficulties which he
and his followers experienced in traversing the deep defiles which
lead from the western limit of the Tibetan plateau, and the rugged
country of snow-clad peaks, vertical precipices and chasms, which
extends from that point to the Westward, is, indeed, most striking;
S-5 x
and I have no doubt that, when this communication and map are
Central Asia—Manchuria. 41
printed, they will form one of the most interesting and important
parts of the volumes of our Society. The western edge of the
great plateau is here edged by a huge wall of limestone mountains,
placed like the revétement of some gigantic embankment; and to
this, in the opinion of Mr. Shaw, is due the preservation of the
level uplands from the excavating action of rain and snow. For
the clouds which drift up the Shayok Valley towards this lofty
limestone chain are arrested by that phalanx of mighty peaks, and
expend all their powers on its gradual destruction. The difficulties
experienced by Mr. Shaw, in endeavouring to descend towards the
old Karakorum road, are a sufficient commentary on this view of
the physical structure of the region; his party being baffled in
their attempts to penetrate the narrow water-worn gorges, where
the naked limbs of his coolies were lacerated by the broken ice of
the torrents, over whose beds they were compelled to march. This
portion of the journey has furnished a real addition to the geo-
graphy of Central Asia, of which the interest is enhanced by the
varied powers of observation of this accomplished traveller.
Manchuria.-I learn through our Associate, Mr. Delmar Morgan,
that an Expedition last summer, through Manchuria, under the
auspices of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, has accom-
plished results considered highly satisfactory to the executive of that
important Body. The Expedition was entrusted to the command
of the Archimandrite Palladius, and started from Pekin on the
13th of April, 1870, traversing the whole of Manchuria from south
to north, via Moukden, Kirin, Petuna, Tsitsihar, Mergen and
Aigun; a remarkable journey of nearly a thousand miles through
One of the least known parts of Asia. Steaming down the Amur,
Palladius next ascended the Ussuri to Lake Khinka, and, crossing
the portage, arrived at the Russian port of Vladivostok on the
shores of the Pacific. Being an Archaeologist and Ethnologist, as
well as a Geographer, and well acquainted with the Chinese
language, Palladius devoted much of his attention to the study of
the native tribes of Manchuria, their language, and the archi-
tectural traces of ancient civilisation. He has opened up, there-
fore, a new line of investigation, relating to the original seats and
migrations of the old tribes which have had so powerful an influence
on Chinese development. Ethnologists, as well as Geographers, will
do well to consult the detailed account of that Expedition, which
will, doubtless, be published in the 13ulletin of the Russian
Geographical Society.
42 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
In the western part of Mongolia, also, I learn, through a letter of
Baron Osten-Sacken to Mr. Bates, a remarkable journey has recently
been performed by Dr. Radlof, who visited the town of Khobdo in
that little-known region. The narrative of this journey is to form
part of one of the volumes published by the Russian Geographical
Society. Another journey in the same country is that of M. Pavlinof,
who travelled over the previously unvisited route from Khobdo to
Uliassutai, and passed from this latter town across the Tangmu Oola
range towards Minussinsk, in Eastern Siberia. The result of this
latter journey is the accurate measurement of altitudes in the
Tangmu Oola Mountains, and the rectification of Our maps regarding
the hydrology of the Upper Irtish.
Burmah. —The Expedition conducted by Major Sladen, our Poli-
tical Agent at the Court of Mandalay, overland towards the
Chinese frontiers, although it has not yet produced those com-
mercial results which were expected, added considerably to our
geographical knowledge of that part of Asia. The Expedition, as
is well known, was intended to ascertain the possibility of opening
up a route for commerce between the well-peopled and wealthy
South-western provinces of China and the British Port of Rangoon,
thus saving the extremely circuitous route by sea and along the
Yang-tsze-Kiang. Major Sladen ascended the Irrawady to Bhamo,
and then marched north-eastward towards Yumam, succeeding in
reaching as far as the town of Momein in that province. Political,
rather than physical obstacles, seem to lie in the way of a large
traffic being established in this region, the whole of this part of
Yunan being dominated by Mahomedan insurgents against the
Chinese authority. The information gleaned by this important
Expedition is, at present, limited to an official Report scarcely
accessible to the public. It is desirable, therefore, that the able
leader may be induced to communicate it in some more accessible
form, either as a contribution to our Society or as an independent
work. Dr. J. Anderson, the Naturalist attached to the Expedition,
a memoir from whose pen on the Irrawady appears in the new
volume of our ‘Journal,” brought home valuablo collections of
Natural History, besides an extensive series of drawings and photo-
graphs of the little-known wild tribes, and the magnificent scenery,
of the Upper Irrawady and the mountainous region beyond, and I
believe I express the wishes of all men of science in this country in
hoping that the Indian Government will grant some aid towards
this publication.
Burmah—China. 43
CHINA.— The Upper Yang-tsze Eapedition of 1869. — Since the
opening of the Yang-tsze Kiang to steam-navigation as far as
Hankow in 1861, and the venturesome expedition of Captain
Blakiston's party in the same year, the Upper Yang-tsze has at-
tracted much attention from explorers as well as merchants, &c.
In 1869, Sir R. Alcock, her Majesty's Minister in China, despatched
Mr. Consul Swinhoe to examine and report on the commercial capa-
bilities of that part of the Great River, with a view to the impending
revision of the Treaty of Tientsin. Mr. Swinhoe was wise enough to
invite the Chamber of Commerce at Shanghai to send representatives
to accompany him on his journey; and from the joint reports of the
party we have obtained much valuable information, both as regards
the geography and hydrography of the Upper Yang-tsze and the
nature of the products and trade of the region. One of the dele-
gates of the Shanghai Chamber was Mr. A. Michie, one of our asso-
ciates, and well known as the contributor to our Journal (vol. xxxiii.)
of a memoir on his former journey from Tientsin to Moukden in
Manchuria. These gentlemen fully confirmed the reports of pre-
vious explorers as to the great wealth and population of the province
of Szechuen. Mr. Swinhoe's party did not go further than the
Chief commercial city, Chungking, and consequently did not reach
the fertile plains of Szechuen. Yet even the rugged country
through which they passed is described as being remarkably rich,
the soil being particularly adapted to the growth of opium, tobacco,
wood-oil, &c., besides furnishing a fair proportion of ordinary
Cereal crops.
The party ascended in one of her Majesty's gunboats, under the
Orders of Admiral Sir Henry Keppel, K.C.B., to the town of Ichang,
360 miles higher up the Great Tiver than Hankow, thus practi-
cally demonstrating the navigability of the river to that point. At
Ichang, however, commences the long series of rapids, which ex-
tend for 100 miles to the town of Kwei-foo, and even beyond that
point continue to be met with at intervals. Navigation of these
rapids by foreign-built steamers is considered impossible for the
present, though the native boats carry on a regular traffic On the
river by means of towing and an enormous expenditure of manual
force.
The examination of these rapids and obstructions by our naval
surveyors of this Expedition may, indeed, be considered one of the
most important geographical results of the mission. According to
Mr. L. S. Dawson, the senior surveyor, there appears to be no hope
44 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
of steam-navigation being carried on through what is called the
“Gorges of Ichang,” that is, the series of reaches between Ichang
amd Kwei-foo, where the bed of the Great Yang-tsze is contracted
between lofty precipices of rocks, and the channel beneath encum-
bered with huge boulders. The depth of the water in the gorges
was found to be generally more than twenty fathoms, but in one
gorge forty-four fathoms were obtained. So violent and uncertain
are the currents which sweep from side to side among the rocks,
that it was found almost impossible to follow out the survey in a
boat, with ten rowers. Commander Stokes, of the gun-boat Opossum,
states that the rise of water in the summer in these narrow straits
was from sixty to eighty feet; and believes that it is due to the
melting of the snow on the mountains between China and Thibet.
In the rapids the velocity of the current was from eight to ten
knots an hour.
How to bring the large and wealthy province of Szechuen into
closer commercial relationship with this country is the interesting
problem which the delegates of the Shanghai Chamber of Com-
merce set themselves to solve. Swift, safe, and easy communication
is the obvious desideratum ; but the mountainous nature of the
country seems to preclude the means which would solve the matter
in any other country, viz., railways, at least until the introduction
of that admirable conveyance has been assented to by the Chinese
Government, and has been tried in some more accessible part of the
country, where fewer difficulties would have to be encountered.
In the meantime the delegates recommend the extension of steam
navigation as far as it can be rendered practicable, viz., to Ichang,
a measure which would, it is anticipated, result in a considerable
increase in the sale of British manufactured goods in that part of
China.
An enterprising Prussian, the Baron von Richthofen, after doing
good service to geological science in the United States of America,
has, during the last two years, been actively engaged in China in
investigating its geology and mineral productions. In 1870, under
the auspices of the merchants of Shanghai, the Baron made the
journey from Canton to Peking overland, viá Hankow ; and, though
the matured results of this important survey will not see the light
until the explorer has returned to Europe, and had time to prepare
his materials, yet the preliminary Reports he has already published,
from time to time, warrant the conclusion that his information will
be of the most valuable practical kind. Tor a perusal of these
Coal-fields of China. 45
Reports, copies of which were forwarded to the Foreign Office, I am
indebted to the courtesy of Lord Granville.
The various coal-fields in the province of Hoo-man have been
described by the Baron, and new light has been shed on the
mineral wealth of that province generally. As Hoo-man was
known to be a large consumer of foreign goods, it was an object of
interest to ascertain how far the principal river which drains the
province through the Tungting Lake was navigable by steamers;
this point Baron Richthofen settles unfavourably, with regard to
the prospect of steam-navigation. Except in the brief and capri-
cious season of floods, the Siang is only capable of floating boats of
very light draught carrying a few tons of cargo. On the other
hand, however, certain lines of traffic are shown to be well adapted
for railways.
After traversing Hoo-peh, and describing minutely the resources
of that province, and the capabilities of the River Ham, which falls
into the Yang-tsze at Hankow, the Baron explored Honan and
Shansi; and in the latter province he met with the richest reward
of his labours, “one of the most remarkable coal and iron regions
in the world.” The Baron estimates the coal-field of Shansi to be
considerably greater than that of Pennsylvania, and to be capable
of supplying the whole world, at the present rate of consumption,
for thousands of years to come. As an illustration of the thickness
and extent of these carboniferous beds, he says that were a railway
ever to be constructed in that region it would be tunnelled for
miles through the coal-beds. These vast resources are not utilised
owing to the unskilfulness of the natives in mining, and chiefly to
the absence of roads. There being no available water communi-
cation, and the bridle-roads being indescribably bad, the coal and
iron of Shansi cannot be profitably transported for more than a few
miles. The Baron predicts a wonderful improvement in the condition
of the people, and the stability of the government, when railways
are permitted to connect these great mineral regions with the coast.
Herr von Richthofen has, in one of his Reports, remarked on the
deterioration of the climate in Central and Northern China, the
present condition of agriculture comparing unfavourably with that
of former times, as described in the historical records. This
deterioration he attributes to the destruction of the forests for fuel
—and this on the very area of some of the richest and most easily
worked coal-fields in the world !
This distinguished geological Surveyor had in contemplation a
46 Sir Rod BRICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
still more important journey, namely, from Peking, through Shensi
Szechuen, Yunnan, and thence eastwards to Cantom ; but, when on
the point of starting, the atrocious massacre of foreigners at Tien-
tsin occurred, which revealing a powerful conspiracy against
foreigners, the Baron wisely declined to trust himself in the inte-
rior so long as the people were exposed to such bad influences.
It is to be remarked, however, that the Baron speaks in the highest
terms of the friendly disposition of the Chinese people when left to
themselves.
Whilst the geography and topography of China, as well as its
present commercial condition, archaeology, and so forth, are con-
tinually receiving new light by the researches of many of our
talented countrymen and other Europeans in China, whose con-
tributions are published in the ‘Journal of the North China Branch
of the Asiatic Society, papers of value are occasionally com-
municated to our Society and attract much attention. Such, last
Session, was the Memoir by Mr. Ney Elias on the ‘New Course of
the Yellow River,’ which gave us for the first time accurate
information regarding that remarkable phenomenon, the diversion,
by spontaneous movement, of the waters of the great Hoang-Ho, or
Yellow River of China, which occurred in 1851, but was not
completed until 1853. The investigation of this subject was under-
taken by Mr. Elias, one of our younger associates, through a pure
love of geographical exploration, during the summer holidays
taken from active commercial pursuits at Shanghai, and the manner
in which he carried out his examination did him the highest credit.
Iſe traced the new course of the river down to its new embouchure
in the Gulf of Pechili, and visited the spot where the river had
hroken away from its old bed by the rupture of its northern banks,
fixing positions by astronomical observations, and making a survey
of his route, which enabled him to complete an exceedingly good
map of the country he traversed. As Mr. Elias's Memoir and map
are published in the recent volume of our “Journal,” and are
consequently in the hands of Fellows, I need not further dilate
upon the subject here. Another memoir, in the same volume of
the ‘Journal,’ entitled ‘A Journey through Shantung,” by Mr.
John Markham, our Consul at Chefoo, gives us a mass of ex-
ceedingly curious and novel information regarding this picturesque
and wealthy province of China, and especially regarding the city
of the great Chinese sage Confucius, which place was visited and
China—Australia. 47
studied under unusually favourable circumstances by Mr. Markham.
A third paper, published in our “Proceedings,’” by Mr. Alexander
Wylie, gives an account of a journey made by the author over a
part of the interior of China, of which exceedingly little was
known, namely, from Ching-tu in Szechuen, overland, and by
tributaries of the Yang-tsze, to Hankow.
AUSTRALIA.—In my last Address I had occasion to notice the
expedition of Mr. Forrest into the interior of Western Australia,
in search of the reported remains of Dr. Leichhardt's party.
Since then, this very able Australian explorer has been wisely
engaged by the Governor of the Colony of Western Australia,
Governor Weld, on a new expedition, having a more direct
practical bearing on local interests than the former one. This
was to discover a route by land, suitable for general use, between
Swan River and Adelaide. The route would be along the same
tract of coast-country, round the great Australian Bight, which
was the scene of the great efforts and sufferings of Governor Eyre
in 1840-1. Governor Weld's expedition, which has attracted con-
siderable attention in our Australian colonies, I rejoice to add, has
been successful, and a narrative of it, illustrated by a sketch-map,
will appear in the next volume of the Society’s “Journal.’
Mr. Forrest's party left Perth, Swan River, on the 6th of April,
1870; reached Fowler's Bay, in the settled districts of South
Australia, on the 27th of July, and Adelaide on the 28th of
August. The line of march was generally near the coast; but at
intervals short trips were made inland, for a few miles, to ascertain
the nature of the country. By an excellent arrangement, a schooner
with provisions and stores was sent along the coast, touching at
three distant points, and carrying that succour to the Expedition
which was so indispensable in the arid, desolate region over which
it travelled. The country, to long. 124° 25' E., was found destitute
of permanent water. A little further east, an effort was made to
push for the water mentioned by Eyre, in long. 126° 24', and
lat. 32° 14' 50"; and, after eight days of toilsome march, it was
re-discovered. Some part of this district was found to be a fine,
grassy, level country, about 300 feet above the sea-level, and
moderately wooded; further towards the interior, as far as the eye
could reach, the land was equally level, but less wooded. Further
east, a fine grazing-country was traversed, superior to the settled
* Vol. xiv., p. 168.
48 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
portions of Western Australia. The granite region ends in about
longitude 124°; and thence eastward, to the head of the Bight, a
distance of more than 400 miles, a limestone table-land constitutes
the whole of the coast-country. In short, the general impression
derived from the Report of this able pioneer is, that nothing but
the absence of permanent water, arising chiefly from the level
nature of the land and its altitude above the sea (generally 300 feet),
prevents the whole of this extensive coast-region from being a pro-
mising country for pastoral settlement.
In other parts of Australia the opening up of the vast unknown
interior has been gradually progressing since the remarkable
journeys of Macdouall Stuart and Burke and Wills (with those
of the parties sent in search of the latter), rather by the con-
tinued advance of sheep-farmers, in search of new pastures, than
by geographical expeditions. The accounts of these enterprising
squatters are seldom brought before our Society; but, lately, we
were favoured by Mr. T. Elder with a copy of a letter from one
of his employes in South Australia, which contained an interesting
account of discoveries made to the north of Lake Eyre by Mr. John
Ross, who had penetrated, in search of pastoral country, as far as
24° 30' on the meridian of 137°, and found a well-watered region,
with the streams flowing southward into Lake Eyre. The account
given by this explorer seems to indicate a fertile region in the very
centre of the Australian continent. “The country,” according to
Mr. Ross, “is one continued scene of mountain, hill, and plain, with
permanent watercourses in all directions and of various magnitude.”
What is still more remarkable is the statement that, by river and
lake, there are 300 miles of water in this central region available for
steam-mavigation. This fine country, it will be found on reference
to a map, is situated midway between Macdouall Stuart's track
across the continent, and Captain Sturt's “Stony Desert,” where the
Expedition under the command of this courageous explorer suffered
so fearfully from the heat and dryness in 1845. It lies also some
distance to the north of Warburton's track in 1866, and seems a
northerly continuation of the tract of well-watered and, to some
extent, swampy, country traversed by this last-mentioned traveller.
If the favourable account given by Mr. Ross be confirmed by
subsequent exploration, and the promising appearance described
by him be not the effect of an unusually propitious season, the
ideas generally entertained of the barrenness of the Australian
interior will have to be greatly modified, and the colonists are to
Australia. 49
be congratulated on the promising future they have before them.
At any rate, these and other accounts go far to confirm the opinion
of those, who believe that the fertile and barren districts of Aus-
tralia lie in meridional bands, or in long belts from north to south.
To geographers it is peculiarly gratifying to learn, that the progress
of settlement and civilisation follows in Australia the lines of route
of the great geographical expeditions. It is thus that the telegraph,
now in course of construction from Adelaide to the northern shore
of the continent, will be laid along the line of march of our medallist
Macdouall Stuart.
The Trans-Australian Telegraph, just alluded to, has, indeed,
followed rapidly in the wake of geographical discovery. It will
have a very important bearing on many topics which have inte-
rested the Royal Geographical Society in former years, and is
remarkable as demonstrating how quickly Macdouall Stuart's
arduous and apparently unprofitable journeys have been made the
basis of commercial advancement.
In my Address for 1865,” I gave a rapid summary of the pro-
gress of discoveries in this vast country. Commencing with the
small area around Sydney—all that was known to the world in
1830—they have extended over two-thirds of its area; now, for the
most part, occupied, in a wonderfully rapid way, by enterprising
settlers. So rapid has been the progress, that we are apt to forget
that it was only in 1862 that the continent was first crossed from
south to north by our brave medallist Macdouall Stuart. On
July 25th, in that year, he reached the sea south of Melville
Island. For his previous and tentative journeys the Royal Geo-
graphical Society awarded him a gold watch in 1858, and its
Patron's Medal in 1860. In presenting the medal to the Duke of
Newcastle on his behalf, I remarked that this journey would not
only cause the occupation of the intermediate country, but would
soon lead to the formation of regular settlements on the north coast
of the continent : f a prediction fully verified in the establishment
of the colony at l'ort Darwin, and the rapid progress of settlement
from the southward. And, further, referring to the prospect of
future telegraphic communication, l expressed a hope that the first
message should be coupled with the name of our late medallist
* “Journal, vol. 35, pp. cxxxiv.-cxliv,
# Ibid., vol. 31, 1861, pp. cviii.-cix.
† I have repeatedly advocated the establishment of a Northern Colony. See
Addresses, 1859, pp. ccxx.-i.; 1861, p. cviii.; 1862, p. clv.; 1863, pp. clxii.-clxx. ;
1865, p. cxlvii.
Tº
50 Sir RODERICR I. MURCHISON's Address.
“Macdouall Stuart.” It would have been a bold prophecy that
should have predicted so early an extension of this very line of
communication. Considering the rival interests between Queens-
land and the eastern colonies, it is remarkable, that this most
western route across the continent should be the basis of the
first telegraphic enterprise to connect Australia and New Zealand
with the rest of the world.
The legislative sanction of the South Australian Government to
the telegraph scheme of Mr. Charles Todd was given in September,
1870, and the surveying parties immediately commenced their
operations. The line passes in a northerly direction from Port
Augusta, at the head of Spencer Gulf; then along the routes of
Stuart, passing Mount Margaret, his final starting-point. At the
end of February last, the line was completed and in operation
beyond this, and by this time has probably reached the tropic. At
the northern end it proceeds to the south-east on leaving Port
Darwin, threading a most fertile country, equal, for pasturage and
settlement, to the best parts of South Australia, and striking Stuart's
track in about lat. 13° 14' s., within 50 or 60 miles of the north
coast. Any doubts regarding the accuracy of Stuart's narrative
have been entirely dispelled by the telegraphic parties, who found
his camp-trees marked with his initials, and also the recent tracks
of a horse, which must have strayed from him, as he relates,
seven and a half years previously. Throughout the survey, both
in the north and the south, our traveller's reports of the country
are entirely confirmed. g
The length of this line of telegraph will be about 1800 miles.
It is much aided by the circumstance that the River Roper, passed
by Stuart, has been found navigable for a considerable distance
from the Indian Ocean, affording a ready means of transport for the
matériel. By means of this telegraph, the northern colony at Port
Darwin will be placed in immediate connexion with Java, Singa-
pore, and India, on the one hand, and with the rest of Australia on
the other : from both of which directions its prosperity must come.
In the interior of the continent, destitute of navigable rivers, and
with wide areas suffering periodically from drought, the line will
afford a perfect safeguard to settlers or travellers who may be within
its range; as, should any adverse circumstances arise, they can
at once make their wants known where aid can be obtained. This
completion of the telegraphic system from one extremity of the
globe to the other will finally solve another problem important
Australia — New Zealand. 51
to us, namely, the exact and final determination of geographical
positions. I may remind you that this was one of the original
objects of the Society, the attainment of which at that period could
only be arrived at by long and laborious astronomical and trigono-
metrical operations, with results known to be open to considerable
doubt.
Thus, in our early days, our medal was awarded, in 1836, to
Captain Robert FitzRoy, for his surveys, one portion of which was
the first complete chain of meridional distances carried around the
globe. Yet, with the most refined precautions, the entire series
was 33' of time, or above 8' of arc, in excess; a portion of which
was made at Rio Janeiro at the commencement of the chain. Again,
in 1840, Lieut. Raper, R.N., received our Founder's Medal, chiefly for
his elaborate discussion of the longitudes of the principal maritime
places of the world, which showed how large were the discrepancies,
and how much doubt was cast on the best-ascertained meridians.
The electric telegraph determines instantly and with perfect accu-
racy, which is unattainable by ordinary geodetical operations, the
differences of longitude between the observing-stations,—a process
which has been carried out for all the chief parts of Europe and
America. A notable example of this was given in the electrical
determination of the difference of longitude between Greenwich
and Paris, believed to be the most accurately known of all. After
nearly a century of continuous and indefatigable measurements, it
was believed to be somewhere between 2° 20' 15" and 2° 20' 24" of
arc ; but in 1854 M. Le Verrier determined, from a mean of nearly
2000 electric signals, any single one of which was more accurate
than all the previous measurements, that the true difference is
2° 20' 9'45" of arc, or more than a second of time (a large quantity
in astronomy) less than previous results.
New Zealand.—Dr. Haast, the very able geological surveyor of
Canterbury Province, New Zealand, has sent us a valuable con-
tribution on the physical geography and topography of the New
Zealand Alps, in continuation of his important memoirs published
in volumes xxxiv. and xxxvii. of our ‘Journal.’ The recent paper,
which he modestly puts forth as Notes to accompany his Topo-
graphical Map, which itself is a magnificent addition to New
Zealand geography, contains some observations of striking interest
on the changes which have preceded the present physical condition
of this central part of the Southern Island. It is by such observa-
tions that the science of geology is brought into close connexion
E 2
52 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
with that of geography, and the conclusions are of equal interest to
the students of both these great branches of human knowledge.
Dr. Haast compares the snow-clad mountains of the Canterbury
Province, which, as you are aware, lie parallel and near to the
western coast of the island, to the Alps of Europe; and shows the
similarity between the two in their glaciers, and especially in the
action of the warm winds, which, blowing from hotter regions,
cause a rapid melting of the Snow on the side of the mountains
facing the direction of the wind. In fact, all the principal meteoro-
logical phenomena encountered in the European Alps occur also in
New Zealand, the “nor-wester’ of the latter country being the
representative of the “fühn ” of Switzerland. The nor-wester
having blown over a wide extent of ocean, and become charged
with moisture, is the chief source of the copious precipitation
which, in the form of snow, caps the New Zealand peaks, and forms
those large fields of névé which supply the great glaciers of the
country. The glaciers and snow-fields are stated by Dr. Haast
to exceed in dimensions those of Switzerland; and he adduces
further proof of the curious fact, which had already excited much
interest among physical geographers, that glaciers descend much
lower on the western than on the eastern slopes of the mountains,
and on the West Coast are in close contiguity to a luxuriant forest
vegetation, consisting of pines, arborescent ferns, and flowering
shrubs; such, for example, are the Francis Joseph and Prince
Alfred glaciers. On the eastern side, although of larger dimensions,
they descend in the Canterbury Province no lower than 2500 feet
above the sea-level. The cause of the difference is owing partly to
the smaller amount of moisture on the eastern, or leeward side,
and partly to the less abrupt slope. Large as the New Zealand
glaciers and snow-fields are at present, they were formerly, in post-
pliocene times, much more extensive: proofs of this are seen in all
directions, in vast moraines heaped around the lakes lying at the
foot of the mountains, and in marks of glacier action at levels far
below their present limit. Dr. Haast believes that the elevated
plateau districts, which support the névé fields, were at that time
much more extensive, and that glaciers, reaching the sea, gave
off from their extremities detached portions, which floated away
to the North as icebergs, as they do in Greenland at the present
day.
With regard to other parts of these important islands, I may
mention that a lively picture of the volcanic districts of the Northern
New Zealand— New Guinea — South America. 53
Island of New Zealand was given in Lieut. Meade's journals, pub-
lished last year; and that a valuable Paper on the Province of
Southland, by Mr. Marten, has recently appeared in Mr. S. W.
Silver’s “Circular and Colonial News.’ This Paper is one of the
results of a printed series of suggestions and queries regarding
physical geography and statistics which Mr. Silver issues to his
numerous correspondents in all parts of the world where com-
mercial relations have been established.
New Guinea.—The proximity of our new settlement at Cape York,
and the number of vessels engaged in the pearl and Béche de Mer
fisheries in Torres Straits, have led to more frequent communication
with the natives of that great and still almost unknown land, New
Guinea. In my last Address, I had occasion to notice a visit
made by Captain Delargy to a village on the southern coast of the
island, concerning which the most remarkable circumstance was
the friendly welcome accorded to the strangers by the distrustful
and warlike natives. Since then we learn from an official report of
Lieutenant Chester, the Government Resident at Somerset, Cape
York, that he himself visited a native settlement on the south
coast, in company with Captain Banner. It appears that a display
of armed force and great precaution are necessary in these under-
takings; and the native interpreter brought from Warrior Island,
in the Straits, was careful to recommend to Lieutenant Chester to
say to the Papuan chief of the village that, although desirous
of being on friendly terms with him, he was prepared to fight if
the natives preferred it. No progress, in fact, has been made
towards winning over these formidable people to peaceful com-
mercial relations with the traders of the Australian seas; and not a
little of the difficulty, according to Lieutenant Chester, arises from
the criminal plundering of the native plantations by boats' crews
landing on the coast. Unprovoked aggression on the part of the
Papuans, he believes, is not likely to occur, as their well-con-
structed villages and large well-fenced plantations are too valuable
to be lightly risked. An interesting item of ethnological informa-
tion contained in his narrative, is the existence of wild tribes of
aborigines in the interior, with whom the agricultural coast
villagers are in frequent hostility.
SouTH AMERICA.—In the continent of South America the work of
exploration and survey is making steady, if somewhat slow, progress.
Several of the independent Governments are now, or have lately
54 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON’s Address.
been, engaged in the systematic survey of their vast and thinly-
populated territories, publishing the results in maps of greater or
less completeness. Thus, the Republic of New Granada, now
called the United States of Columbia, lately brought out an Atlas
founded on the incomplete surveys of Codazzi; and the prosperous
State of Chili, as I had occasion to record in my last Address, is
following the example, by issuing well-prepared maps of its central
provinces. In the great Empire of Brazil no accurate official survey
has yet been instituted of any large portion of the country, but
partial surveys, particularly of the Southern Provinces, the River
St. Francisco, and large portions of the Amazons have been exe-
cuted; and we have lately learned that an Imperial Commission
has been appointed for the preparation of a general map of Brazil,
in which the material furnished by all these local surveys will be for
the first time made available to geographers and the public in carto-
graphical form. The Commissioners have been in correspondence
with our Council, through our Medallist Mr. Chandless, with a view
to the amicable interchange of geographical information.
The Government of Peru has continued the laudable work of
exploration of the little-known interior of their country, to which I
alluded in the Anniversary Address of 1869. For my information
regarding the progress since made, I am indebted to our able corre-
sponding member at Lima, Don M. Felipe Paz Soldan. According
to his Report to our Council, the general survey of the more im-
portant rivers of the trans-Andine territories of Peru has continued
without interruption; the Government of Peru attaching much im-
portance to this work, as being indispensable to the peopling of
these fertile regions, and the opening-up of communications with
Europe by way of the Amazons and the Atlantic. River steamers
have been built and costly establishments maintained, directed by
European and North American engineers and surveyors, in pursu-
ance of this great object. The exploration of the Rio Utcubamba
and others has been entrusted to Mr. Arthur Wetherman, who has
made an accurate survey, fixing numerous points by astronomical
observation. The Pachitea River has also been more carefully
examined, and found to be easily navigable, a result of much
importance, as it confirms the hopes that a great commercial route
will be soon established, leading from the peopled districts of Peru
to Europe by means of the Amazons (with which the Pachitea
communicates) and the Atlantic Ocean. A little further south, the
survey of the large rivers flowing towards the Amazons from
South America. 55
the neighbourhood of Cerro de Pasco and its silver-mines has been
undertaken. Three rivers—the Paucartambo, the Occobamba, and
the Chanchamayo—here unite to form the Perene, a stream 350 feet
broad and 3 fathoms deep. The interesting problem still remains
to be solved, whether the Perene is navigable to its junction with
the Tambo and the Ucayali; in which case a river-navigation of
enormous length, by steamers, will be possible from the Atlantic to
within a moderate railway-ride of Lima. t
An important contribution to our knowledge of the river-systems
of South America is the result of the Surveys of the Rapids of
the Madeira River, by Messrs. Joseph and Francis Keller, engineers
in the service of the Brazilian Government. The object of these
surveys was to ascertain what engineering works will be necessary,
in order to overcome the obstacles which these Rapids offer to rapid
communication, between the Atlantic and the interior provinces of
Brazil: a question in which the Republic of Bolivia is also greatly
interested, for the River Madeira appears to offer to the rich in-
terior provinces of that country by far the readiest means of com-
munication with Europe. According to the survey of the Messrs.
Keller, there are no fewer than 18 cataracts and rapids, in succes-
Sion, on the Madeira, obstructing navigation between the Mamore
and the River Amazon, having a total fall of water of 228% feet in
an extent of nearly 230 miles. A railway has been proposed as
the best means of avoiding these great obstacles.
From British Guiana we have had, during the past year, the
details of the discovery of a waterfall, of great height and remark-
able beauty, called the Great Kaieteur. This fall is situated on
the River Potaro, a tributary of the Essequibo, on the left bank.
It was first discovered by Mr. Charles B. Brown, of the Geological
Survey of the Colony, in April, 1870, and described by him as
formed by the River Potaro precipitating itself over the edge of the
sandstone table-land of the interior, into the lower country of the
Essequibo Valley. The total height was found to be 822 feet, and
the width of water, at the edge of the fall, 123 yards. So interesting
a discovery excited much attention on becoming known at Demerara,
and Governor Scott commissioned Mr. Brown to make a second visit
in June to make a more complete survey; the official Report resulting
thereupon giving us most satisfactory details as regards the falls, as
well as the geological and botanical features of the district. Thanks
to the Geological Survey of this important tropical Colony, we are
now tolerably well acquainted with its lithological structure and
56 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
mineral productions, and it is to be hoped the result will be published
in a form accessible to the public. In the discussion which followed
the reading of Mr. Brown's Report at our evening meeting, Mr. J. G.
Sawkins, the Director of the Survey, alluding to the flat-topped
mountains and table-lands which form so peculiar a feature in
the scenery in the interior of British Guiana, gave a vivid descrip-
tion of Mount Roraima, first visited by Schomburgk, the most
remarkable of these elevations. It is a huge mass of light-red
sandstone rock, 18 miles in length, with perpendicular sides and
perfectly level summit, rising 7500 feet above the level of the sea.
The flanks, forming bare, vertical walls 1500 feet high, are insur-
mountable; but the summit is known to be the source of several
streams, which leap from the edge of the plateau in magnificent
cascades, and flow in different ways to feed the Essequibo, the
Orinoco, and the Amazons.
At the southern extremity of the continent a remarkable journey
was performed in 1869-70, by Lieutenant G. C. Musters, throughout
the whole length and breadth of Patagonia, a country hitherto
deemed one of the most inhospitable in the world, and inaccessible
to travellers on account of the hostility of the Savage tribes who
wander over its desolate plains. The account of his journey, given
by Mr. Musters at our evening meeting of the 13th December last,
excited the liveliest interest. Scarcely anything was previously
known of the interior of this country, as will be seen on reference
to the excellent summary of Spanish and other expeditions, given
by our secretary, Mr. Markham, on the same evening.” In fact,
little more than short excursions inland from the coast had been
made, throughout the vast extent of land between the Straits of
Magellan and the Rio Negro. Mr. Musters traversed the whole of
this unexplored region, first crossing from Punta Arenas, in the
Straits, to Port Santa Cruz, then in company with a tribe of Patago-
nians, whose goodwill he had succeeded in gaining, skirting the
eastern flanks of the Andes for 700 miles to the Rio Negro, and
finally recrossing to Patagones, near the mouth of this river. Mr.
Musters's paper, which will be published entire in our ‘Journal,’
gives us much new information concerning the rivers, lakes, soil,
and climate of the country, and especially of the peculiar character
and habits of the aborigines. His journey may, indeed, claim to
be ranked among the most adventurous and successful of those
* “Proceedings,’ vol. xv. p. 49.
South America — Arctic Exploration. 57
which have recently been undertaken by our enterprising fellow-
countrymen. -
Arctic Eaploration.—Of the numerous Expeditions which have
been sent by Sweden, Germany, and the United States of America
to explore the North Polar Regions, since the days when England
took the lead in that field of hardy enterprise, the voyage of Count
von Zeil and Herr von Heuglin last summer, in East Spitzbergen,
has probably offered most novelty to geographers. This undertaking
was carried out in the months of July, August, and September,
and its object was to penetrate to the eastern channels and islands
of the Spitzbergen group, which had not been visited by the
previous Swedish expeditions under Nordenskiöld, Won Otter, and
others, and, in fact, had hitherto remained little better than a
blank on our maps. That blank, thanks to the enterprise of these
gentlemen, is now filled up, and the information imparted, owing
to the well-known scientific qualifications of Herr von Heuglin, is
exact and comprehensive. The small vessel in which the party
sailed proceeded, first towards Edge Island or Stans Foreland, and,
on finding the ice not yet cleared from the south-west coast, struck
westward and then northward, navigating the whole length of Stor
Fjord as far as Helis Sound. Landings were effected at many
places on the east coast of the main island of Spitzbergen, as well
as on the two large islands to the eastward; excursions were made
in the interior, and astronomical observations and bearings taken to
fix positions, besides large collections obtained in illustration of the
natural history of the group. At length, in the middle of August,
they succeeded in passing by boat through Freeman, or Thymen
Strait, to the eastern side of Stans Foreland, and from Mount
Middendorf, a hill on the shore of the strait 1500 feet high, were
gratified at beholding in the far distance to the east a large tract of
land, with a range of lofty serrated peaks extending north and
south for nearly 60 miles. Whether this land is the enigmatical
Gillis-land, of which we have so often heard, appears not fully
decided, but unquestionably these enterprising German voyagers
have brought us for the first time definite information regarding
this unvisited region. In returning, they skirted the western coast
of Stans Foreland and visited Deicrow Sound, at its south-west
extremity, early in September, before turning their faces homeward.
According to Von Heuglin the passability of these seas and
channels entirely depends on the direction of the various branches
58 Sir RODERICK I. MURCIIISON's Address.
of the Gulf-stream and of the Polar current. The latter divides, in
the high north, into two branches, one of which flows down the
eastern side of Greenland, and the other down the eastern side of
Spitzbergen ; the Gulf stream presses north-eastward, washing,
therefore, the south-westerly sides of the Spitzbergen Archipelago.
These currents have a decisive influence on the climate of the
coasts; where the Gulf-stream flows the ice becomes more quickly
broken up, and a milder temperature is communicated to the air;
but the Polar current, scarcely higher than freezing point, even in
the height of summer, keeps the ice in its neighbourhood from
Separating until the beginning of September, when a little is
broken up and drifted south. It is, therefore, only in the latter
part of the summer that the North Polar Sea is at all accessible.
This Expedition appears already to have stimulated other German
efforts to follow up the same promising line of Arctic investigation;
for I learn by a recent German publication that a small Norwegian
vessel is to be equipped this summer, and a reconnaissance survey
of the sea between Spitzbergen and Gillis-land to be made by
Lieutenants Payer and Weyprecht, at the cost of the Austrian
Government. The Swedes on their side are proposing to establish
a permanent astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological station at
Spitzbergen, with a view of preparing the way for renewed Arctic
exploration ; Professor Nordenskiöld, who already enjoys a high
reputation as an Arctic explorer, having the intention next year of
making a vigorous attempt to reach the North Pole, making the
proposed Spitzbergen establishment his base of operations.
/Regarding the German North Polar Expedition of 1869-70,
under Captain Koldewey, in the Germania and Hansa, our Society
has had the advantage of hearing an excellent account of this
adventurous voyage and its results from the pen of Sir Leo-
pold McClintock, who is so well qualified by his great Arctic
experience to do justice to such a subject. Naturally basing
his narrative on German accounts of the Expedition, especially
that given in Petermann’s ‘Mittheilungen, Sir Leopold limited
his own remarks to well-deserved praise of the ability with which
the details of the enterprise were carried out, and especially the
endurance of the heroic crew of the Hansa, who, having to take
refuge on an ice-floe in the open sea, on the destruction of their
vessel in a fearful storm, were drifted southward several hundred
miles, to within reach of a Danish settlement near the southern
extremity of Greenland. As far as geographica discovery is
Arctic Exploration. 59
concerned the Expedition did not accomplish much, but the staff
of scientific men belonging to it succeeded in amassing a large
amount of material in all branches of science, which we are assured
will prove, when published, of great value. The Germania wintered
near the southern end of Pendulum Island, near the locality of Sir
Edward Sabine's magnetic observatory, when he visited the locality
with Captain Clavering in 1823. From this point sledging expe-
ditions in the spring of 1870 were undertaken, which reached as
far as 77° north latitude. In returning down the coast a fiord,
penetrating far into the interior of East Greenland, was discovered
and partly explored. It is situated between Capes Franklin and
EIumboldt, and was found to be surrounded by a highly pic-
turesque mountainous country, with sheltered and verdant pastures
near the water, inhabited by herds of musk-Oxen and reindeer.
Some of the peaks in the neighbourhood were found to reach the
height of upwards of 7000 feet. These inlets of deep navigable
water, possessing a mild climate and abounding in animals, but
unpeopled by Esquimaux tribes, seem to be most promising avenues
to the exploration of the interior of Greenland, and it is to be
hoped that some of our young English geographers, desirous of
earning fame as discoverers—of whom I am proud to say we still
number a few amongst us—will devote their emergies and means in
following up the opening thus indicated. From our Government,
I deeply regret to add, no aid is to be expected.
I ought to mention, in connexion with this important voyage of
Koldewey, which is designated the “Second German North Polar
Expedition,” that a Society was founded, last autumn, in Bremen,
called the German North Polar Society, having for its object the
promotion and management of all German efforts in the direction of
Arctic enterprise. This Society has already held fourteen meetings,
and publishes its proceedings. An important part of its present
labours is the publication of the results of the voyage of the
Germania and Hansa, of which the first volume is said to be ready
for the press.
Before I quit the subject of Arctic enterprise I must not omit to
mention that our relatives and rivals on the opposite side of the
Atlantic have furnished the means to equip the well-known Arctic
traveller, Mr. Hall, for another journey, during the present summer
to the Polar regions, from the American side. Dr. Bessels, a
German savant, who has acquired Arctic experience in a former
voyage to Spitzbergen, is engaged as Zoologist to this expedition,
60 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
and Dr. D. Walker, one of our associates, formerly surgeon to
McClintock's exploring party, as I learn from a letter he has
written to the Council of our Society, has also been engaged to
accompany it. Having been furnished with a set of instruments
on a former occasion for observations in Arctic America, our ASSO-
ciate has obtained permission to employ them in the American
Expedition, and, I trust, we may receive from his pen, at a future
day, some account of the exploration on which he is now engaged.
Whilst on the topic of Arctic discoveries, I am happy to be able
to announce that our distinguished Associate, Captain Allen Young,
intends to explore, as far as possible, and at his own cost, the
interior of the fiords of East Greenland, and to devote future years
in making geographical discoveries in his own yacht.
Again, I have just learnt from Mr. William Bradford, of New
York, that in a vessel of 400 tons, manned by a crew of Nova
Scotians, he has taken photographic sketches of all the principal
features on the west coast of Greenland, up to latitude 76°.
In this survey he was accompanied by our Medallist, Dr. Hayes,
and he speaks in high commendation of the bravery and ability
displayed by the young British colonist who commanded his vessel.
AFRICA.—Concerning Africa, which usually offers so much geo-
graphical interest and novelty, I have this year but little to report,
as regards discoveries by English travellers. The great Expedition
of Sir Samuel Baker was, by the last accounts, slowly working its
way, by the Giraffe arm of the White Nile, towards Gondokoro
and the Albert Nyanza, and had, therefore, not yet entered upon
the field where so much yet remains to be accomplished in the way
of new exploration. In the south, we have received an account of
the explorations of Mr. Thomas Baines, in the region between the
Limpopo and the middle course of the Zambesi; in which direction
this persevering traveller has been employed in examining the
locality of the gold-fields and negotiating the privilege of working
them with the Matabele chiefs. Mr. Baines' narrative (compiled
from his itineraries by Dr. Mann) will appear in our ‘Journal,’
and his map will be seen to offer, for the first time, an accurate
delineation of the watershed which limits, in that region, the
Limpopo and Zambesi basins.
Dr. Livingstone.—The recent advices from Dr. Kirk, which were
kindly communicated to me by Earl Granville, must have been
Africa—Dr. Livingstone— Dr. Schweinfurth. 61
truly gratifying to all my Associates to whom I communicated
them, as well as to the public at large. I have now a confident
belief that the illustrious traveller was safe and well a few
months ago.,
Knowing that he was about to be fully supplied with provisions
and medicine when he reached Ujiji from the west, we may antici-
pate that he might return to his native country in the course of
this year.
But I now repeat the expression of the opinion which I pub-
lished in my Address at the opening of the present Session, that if
he had not, in his explorations, satisfied himself that the waters
which he had followed from the south flowed into the Nile basin by
the great lake Albert Nyanza, he would renew his arduous endeavours
to solve the great problem of the true watershed of Southern Africa.
The indomitable spirit of Livingstone would, in this case, prompt
him to struggle until that great point was settled.
Even, however, as matters now stand, the last intelligence was a
very cordial to myself, who have so long and so persistently looked
to the eventual success of my absent friend.
Schweinfurth's Journey.—Whilst waiting for the account of the
discoveries which Dr. Livingstone cannot fail to have made in
the region west of Lake Tanganyika, geographers have been gratified
to read, in Petermann’s ‘Geographische Mittheilungen, the narra-
tive of the explorations of the indefatigable German botanist Dr.
Schweinfurth, in the region west of the White Nile and far to the
north of the scene of Livingstone's explorations. As you are all
aware, the accounts we had previously received of this portion of
the African interior were limited to the narratives of Petherick's
two journeys of 1858 and 1862, and to the accounts of the Expe-
dition of the late Miss Tinné from the mouth of the Ghazal River
to beyond the Djour. Since those remarkable journeys, we had
heard only in a vague way of discoveries by the agents of the
Messrs. Poncet, ivory-traders in those districts; and also of the
journey, far to the South, of Signor Piaggia, who, having been
received in a friendly manner by the chiefs of the Niam-Niam
tribes, was able to travel further to the south-west than any of his
predecessors, and brought back a report of the existence of another
great lake in that direction. The accounts of these last-named
travellers, however, did not admit of being delineated with any
approach to accuracy on our maps; whilst from Dr. Schweinfurth,
62 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON’s Address.
who is still engaged following up his investigations, we have a
large body of accurate information, founded, in the absence of
astronomical observations—for which he had not the necessary
instruments—on a carefully-made route-Survey. He has succeeded
in reaching a point about 50 miles beyond Piaggia's furthest, and
210 miles to the west of the White Nile, nearly on the same parallel
as the northern end of Albert Nyanza ; but he does not confirm the
Italian traveller's rumour of a great lake so far to the west. His
most important discovery appears to be that of a river, the Uelle,
flowing westward, probably into Lake Chad, proving that he had
crossed the watershed of the White Nile on the western side of
its basin.
CoNNEXION OF GEOGRAPHICAL WITH GEOLOGICAL SCIENCE.
In the Anniversary Addresses delivered by me to the Society
during the last three years, I have dwelt upon the connexion
between geography and geology, more particularly in the direction
of Physical Geography. From the evidence furnished to us by the
rocks around us, whether of a physical or a palaeontological kind,
we are able to re-construct, in part at least, former conditions of
the earth's surface, and to learn how the present outlines of land
and sea, and the present distribution of plants and animals, are not
original, but only the latest phases of a long-preceding succession.
Geology thus becomes to us what I termed “the oldest comparative
geography.”
It is unnecessary for me to point out that just as in descriptive,
and still more in physical geography, it is of primary importance to
have regard, not merely to the external contour and climate of a
country, but to the grouping of its plants and animals, so in
geological research it is absolutely necessary to make constant
appeals to the evidence furnished by the remains of the flora and
fauna of ancient periods. Hence, though at first sight there might
seem to be no very close or necessary connexion between geology,
or, at least, that aspect of geology which I have called the oldest
comparative geography, and the more purely biological sciences,
there is in reality an intimate relation of the one to the other.
And thus, in these my final and parting words to the Geographical
Society, while I again bring under your notice the claims which
the progress of Geology makes upon you, I wish to refer to this
Connexion of Geographical with Geological Science. 63
relationship, not alone for its own interest and importance, but
because it gives me an opportunity of expressing a growing
conviction of my later years that, alike in geographical and in
geological research, we run some risk of being overshadowed and
even elbowed out of an essential portion of our proper course as
geologists by the paramount demands of some eminent biologists.
No one who knows what my connexion with geºlogical study has
been will allow himself to suppose that in what I now say I would
in any way depreciate the due importance of the biological branches
of that science. I have indeed been accustomed, throughout my
career, to bow to the weight of palaeontological evidence, and to
this, my earliest and latest faith, I still remain true. But I cannot
shrink from thus publicly expressing a feeling which has recently
grown strong within me, that the biological side of geology has by
some of my cotemporaries been too exclusively cultivated; that palae-
ontology has acquired a Somewhat undue preponderance amongst
us; and that the value of physical or inorganic geology is not
now being sufficiently appreciated. If, indeed, men were in any
measure agreed as to the origin and progress of the various forms
under which life has been manifested in the history of the world,
if they had arrived at a common understanding as to the value
of species, if they knew with any approach to completeness how
far life is dependent on, and modified by, external physical con-
ditions now, and how far similar relations have obtained in the past,
there might be some show of reason for the paramount authority of
palaeontological decisions when they are set against physical data.
But when we reflect on our slight acquaintance with the laws which
regulate the interaction of organic and inorganic nature at the present
time, on our ignorance of that interaction in former geological periods,
on the little that we know regarding the true value of our fossil
species, on the difficulty of ascertaining the true contemporaneous-
ness of distant formations, and on the vast mass of fossiliferous
rocks still unexplored, it does seem to me that greater modesty
and caution in the application of palaeontological dicta are to be
recommended. Whatever may be the doctrine we espouse as to
the origin of species, we see on every side of us in the living
world of to-day how constantly, and how momentously, the condi-
tions of life are defined and modified by inorganic forces. Apart
from, and imperiously governing the progress of life around us,
there is the world of physical or inorganic mature—a system of
64 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON's Address.
ceaseless law-directed change, of endlessly complicated agencies
working harmoniously together and involving all things, organised
and unorganised, in one common mutability. If such is the order
of nature now, and if our view of nature would be but partial and
distorted, in contemplating merely the biological domain, surely
we err when we, in like manner, allow ourselves to see things
in the past too exclusively through that medium, and neglect to
take due cognisance of the evidence of former physical changes.
By neglecting the study of physical geography, geology has become,
among certain influential writers, too much the study of palaeontology
only. Those writers must not forget that there has been a history of
dead matter as well as a history of life; that mineralogy, petrography,
structural and stratigraphical geology, and physical geography, deal
with essential and integral parts of the past history of our planet.
Things, indeed, have gone so far, that when there is a confliction of
evidence between the testimony of the fossils and that of the
rocks in which they lie, such authors, almost invariably, and as
a matter of course, bow to the palaeontological argument. I have
myself done so, even against what I may perhaps have thought, or,
at least, think now to have been my better judgment. I cannot
but believe that, ere long, a reaction will set in against this
tendency. And, in the meantime, some geologists will do well to
pause in their too exclusive worship of the biological side of their
Science. I wish to put this note of warning on record, and to urge my
brethren of the hammer to believe that, in the study of fossils, they
do not exhaust the possibilities of geology; that there is still a
wide non-biological world for them to conquer; that in proportion
as they master it they will advance to truer and more com-
prehensive views of the history of life, and thus aid us in the
investigation of that planet with which we, as geographers, are
specially concerned.
Conclusion.—In concluding this Address, I now come to the only
painful duty I have ever had to perform, since I have had the
honour of presiding over the Royal Geographical Society.
I have to bid you farewell, and I do so solely on account of
the malady with which I have been visited ; for I well know,
that if I had not felt it incumbent on me to resign the Chair, your
never-failing kindness would have urged me to continue to serve
you until the next Anniversary.
Conclusion. (55
In retiring, I have the satisfaction of knowing, that I leave the
Society in the most highly flourishing condition, and that I can reflect
with just pride upon the progress it has made since the year
1843, when, succeeding to your excellent President Admiral Smyth,
I was, by his advice, first placed in the Chair. In the period which
has elapsed since that date, I have been for fifteen years your Pre-
sident; and when other persons have been in that post, I have
zealously aided them to sustain your interests, and have prepared
and read to you sixteen Anniversary Addresses.
In my endeavours to serve you, it was with the heartiest satis-
faction that I supported the endeavours to extend Arctic Discovery :
and either when I wished God speed to my lamented friend Sir
John Franklin, or when that great navigator was missing, I
can reflect with honest satisfaction on the fervent—though, alas !
vain—appeal I made in your name to her Majesty's Government, to
endeavour to rescue him and his brave companions. Then, again,
when his devoted wife made that final effort which, through the
researches of Sir Leopold McClintock, terminated in establishing
the truth as to the fate of those brave explorers, so I never relented
in my support of that magnanimous woman, Lady Franklin, until
I had the true gratification of presenting to her, in your name,
One of our Gold Medals for her heroic efforts.
It would be very bad taste on my part were I to advert to the
many instances in which I have been intimately concerned in
acts which I know that the Fellows of the Royal Geographical
Society have duly appreciated as being of importance. Of these I
need not remind you that the attainment of the support of Parlia-
ment, and thereby our recognition as an important and highly-
useful scientific body, was duly obtained.
Amidst the many duties which it has been my good fortune to
perform, I can dwell upon none with more satisfaction than those
by which I sustained the daring efforts of the explorers of Africa,-
Livingstone, Speke, Grant, and Baker; whilst I have rejoiced in
the steadfast pertinacity with which I have upheld my confidence
in the ultimate success of the first-named of these brave men. In
fact, it was the confidence I placed in the undying vigour of my
dear friend Livingstone which has sustained me in the hope that I
might live to enjoy the supreme delight of welcoming him back to
his country.
I have now only, gentlemen, to offer you my heartfelt thanks
- E’
66 Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON’s Address.
for the unvarying heartiness with which you have supported your
old President, whose name having been, by your kindness, the only
one inserted in the Royal Charter by which you are embodied,
leaves you with feelings of just pride when he reflects that he has
been thus identified with your past and future successes, and that
your numbers, which amounted to 600 only when he first was
placed in the Chair, have now risen to the large total of 2400.
If, as I hope, you elect Sir Henry Rawlinson as my successor, I
anticipate the most gratifying results in your future career; for
you will be led forward by an eminent scholar and great explorer,
who, as far back as the year 1839, won one of your Gold Medals
for his most remarkable researches in Susiana and Persian Kurdistan,
and who also determined the former existence of the ancient cities
of Ecbatana, and threw quite a new light on the comparative and
physical geography of Western Asia.
Since the days of his early researches, which we geographers
were the first to recognise and reward, he has rendered his name
famous by his able and elaborate works on ancient Babylonia; and
whilst on every subject relating to Central Asia he has evinced
much knowledge, we have had to thank him for the perspicuity
with which he brought our late lamented envoy Mr. Hayward to
our notice.
Under his auspices you are destined not only to direct the
exploration of vast unknown lands, but also to bring to the mind's
eye of moderms many of the past glories of the great eastern empires
of antiquity.
PostScript.—Whilst on the point of concluding my Address, I
received the melancholy announcement of the death of my old and
valued friend Sir John Herschel. This truly eminent man, whose
acquirements in every branch of Science were almost unrivalled,
although not a Fellow of our Society, was an admirable geographer
in the largest sense of the word. He had worthily received the
highest honours which could be conferred upon him by every
scientific Academy of the world; and in 1845 he presided over
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at
Cambridge.
The mention of this fact leads me naturally to take this last
opportunity in my power of leaving behind me a record, however
brief, of the high merits of another most distinguished leader—
Conclusion. 67
indeed, he was the Law-giver—of the British Association, though
he also was not a Fellow of our Society. I mean the Rev. William
Vernon Harcourt, to whom I was most truly attached, and who
succeeded in giving so great an impulse to the spread of true
scientific knowledge. I have no doubt that the President of the
Royal Society, Sir Edward Sabine, will do ample justice to the
scientific characters of these two remarkable men, who, as well as
myself, were long associated with them in conducting the business
of that great national body.
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