Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 4.djvu/758

738 along the White Nile to the Monbutta country, where he lost his life. A difficult journey was made by Prof. Blyden to Falaba, a little-known country to the northeast of Sierra Leone. Marche and Compeigne are now penetrating Equatorial Africa in the vicinity of the Gaboon. Besides these, it should be remembered that hundreds of residents, living on the coast or having trading outposts in the interior, annually contribute a rich fund to geographical knowledge by correspondence or publications. Among these are Bushnell of the Gaboon, who supplies valuable letters, Hansell of Khartoum, and Munzinger Bey, one of the ablest geographers and most experienced travelers, and corresponding member at Masswah of the American Geographical Society. The effect of the Anglo-Ashantee War on our geographical knowledge cannot yet be fairly estimated.

In Australasia the eastern shore of New Guinea has been explored by Captain Moresby, of the British Navy, in H. M. S. Basilisk, who dispels many false impressions prevalent regarding that hitherto little-known but highly-interesting island and its inhabitants. The island has been crossed from Geelvinks Bay to McClure Gulf by Dr. Meyer, who, like Moresby, but unlike Beccari, who has been exploring there, gives a favorable account of the island and its people. Formosa has been traversed from north to south by Thompson and Maxwell, who found coal. It would be premature to speak of the geographical results of the Dutch Acheen expedition.

Mr. Ernest Giles and Baron von Müller have been exploring Central Australia, and gathering much accurate geographical information. The telegraphic event of the year has been the construction of a line across Australia, from Adelaide in the south to Port Darwin on the north coast, a distance of 2,012 miles, which gives a continuous line from Adelaide to Gibraltar, a distance of 12,462 miles, of which 9,146 are submarine, by which Australia has three weeks' earlier news than by the mail-steamers. The last geographical intelligence from Australia is the discovery of thousands of acres of the richest sugar-growing land near Cardwell, in Northern Queensland, by a government exploring expedition. Judge Daly's instructive address, of which we have only given an outline, is well worth careful perusal, nor can its fresh and valuable details fail to awaken a fresh and wider interest in geographical science, or to give a renewed impetus to geographical discovery, while showing that America and Americans are not behind the age in geographical zeal and enterprise.

In an appendix we also find some valuable information regarding the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah), in 1872, extracted from the report of the Government geologist, J. V. Hayden.