The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-19 00:00:00

Sir R. Murchison on Recent Explorations.

At the British Association, on Friday, there was a large
company in Section E to hear Sir R. Murchison's opening
address. This was a very interesting review of the labours
of explorers. He said :—" To begin with one of the great
glories of this century, let us call to mind how little was
known of the Arctic regions when Parry made his first ex-
plorations, and hew, after being followed by many a gallant
voyager, the culminating Arctic honour devolved upon a
sir gle English woman, who, devoting her fortunes to the
search after her noble-minded husband, engaged the ser-
vices of that successful navigator M'Clintock, and deter-
mined the cheering fact that, in perishing, Franklin was
the first to make the long sought north-west passage. The
delineation of all the arctic discoveries upon the map of
the world, ex ;th the memorable exception of the
American voyages of Kane, as sent forth by Grinnell, of
New York, is indeed exclusively due to Bri i-h energy,
and is a trophy well worthy of the country which accom-
plished so much in its earlier career of enterprise in
the little' vessels of a Make, a Frobisher, and a Hud-
son. Having referred to the geographical discoveries in
Australia and South America, Sir Roderick proceeded to
refer to British India, observing :—" In preceding years the
interest of the public had been attrrcted to the surveyors of
the Himalaya Mountains, and their extreme height having
been estimated to be upwards of 30,000 feet, we thus learnt
that the northern frontier of British rule in India exceed, d
in altitude the loftiest peak of the Andes by about the whole
height of the highest mountain in Britain. It had been sup-
posed that some depression in the ocean would be found to
balance in depth the extremest heights of land, and this an-
ticipation has been exceeded; fur soundings in the South
Atlantic, between America and Africa, have shown depths
of more than 43,000 feet. If these measurements be reliable
—for there is some reason to doubt them—the depth beneath
the surface of the sea at certain points far exceeds the heights
of the loftiest mountains above D. Another, and still more
startling result of modern research is the fact that in dredg-
ing the bottom of the North A tlautic Sea, living star fish
were brought up from a depth of a mile and a half, and
were alive, even preserving their colour, when examined
on the spot by Dr Wallich," The speaker then remerked
—" If we turn for a moment from the advances in geo-
graphical research made by our own countrymen, we must
admit that of all foreign countries Russia has of late years
been most eminent in this respect, The Geographical Society
of St Petersburg wields not only the power and influence
of the Imperial Government of Russia, but receives also
large grants of public money, which have enabled it to carry
on simultaneous researches in the steppes near the Caspian
and in the Caucasus, and also to describe the grand natural
features of Central Asia, the boundaries of the Chinese Em-
pire, and the whole river system of the mighty Amcor with
numerous affluents. In this way serious geographical errors
have been corrected, and new features laid down, by posi-
tive observation on maps ; while the natural history of the
animals and plants, as well as of the human inhabitants of
large regions, of which little was previously known, has
been fully developed. These data are accompanied by ethno-
logical and statistical descriptions of the inhabitants of East-
ern Siberia, of the island of Sakhalin, of Mongolia, and the
new territory of the Russians on the right bank of the Ussuri
River, with its coast line extending southwards almost to
Japan. Of the latter region we had until very recently, the
most imperfect knowledge only." After referring to what
has been done in opening up China to the Western World,
Sir Roderick spoke of the researches of modern explorers
in Africa. He said :—" True it is that large tracts north
of the equator have been described by Germans and French,
as well as by English expeditions, particularly that in which
Barth was so distinguished. With the exception, however,
of Abyssinia and the snowy mountain Kilmandjaro, ex-
plored by Von Der Decken and the late Richard Thot nton,
few of these tracts have been laid down on detailed maps.
In the central equatorial region, but for the example set by
the three gallant officers of our Indian armies, Beaton,
Speke, and Grant, and encouraged and supported, I rejoice
to say, by the Royal Geographical Society, those countries
would have remained as unkown as they have been through-
out all history, from the days of Ptolemy to our own. But if
thus the chief water-basin of the White Nile has been boldly
outlined,how much does there remain to be done to test the
value of the anticipations of Dr. Beke ; still more, to com-
plete a general sketch even of the geography of equatorial
Africa. Is it not essential that the Victoria Nyanza of Speke,
a body of water as large as Scotland, which has only been
touched at a few points on its sou. here, western, and northern
shores, should have all its shores and effluents examined ?
And do not the Mountains of the Moon of the same explorer
invite a survey? Have we not yet to find out the source
of the great Zaire or Congo, and trace that river to its
mouth? And who has yet reached the sources of the
mighty Niger ? Again, when we cast an eye down the map
southwards, are we not still in ignorance of the drainage
and form of a prodigious extent of country between the
Tanganyike Lake of Burton and Speke, and the Zambesi
and Sair6 of Livingston? Are we not at this moment
most anxious to determine, by positive observation, whe-
ther there exists a great series of lakes and rivers proceed -
ing, as
.Co has suggested, from Tanganyika on the
north, to Lake Nyassa on the south ? And has not Living •
stou's very lest effort been directed to this point ? If C. n-
iral Africa is ever to adva, coin civilisation, and its inha-
bitants are to be brought into commercial relations with
Europe, one of the boat chances of our accomplishing it
will, in my opinion, consist in rendering the great White
Nilo a highway of Intercourse and traffic. And if the
present ruler of Egypt shall bring about this most de-
sirable end by putting a stop to the lawless slave trees
carried on beyond his frontiers under the guise of dealing in
ivory, and by establishing marts of commerce on the banks
of the great river, Africa will owe more to him than to any
rulers since the days of the Roman emperors, who, though
they tried, never succeeded in opening out the regions
around the head waters of the Nile. In touching upon this
subject, I have to congratulate you on the news, which has
arrived, that that chivalrous explorer, Mr Samuel Baker,
is successfully examining the central equatorial regions,
from which, I trust, he will bring us the solution of some
of the problems already adverted to, and will determine the
real source of the waters which supply the Luta N'zige of
Speke and Grant. I have also to announce that Baron von
der Decken has proceeded on his bold adventure to explore
the interior of Africa from the east coast, by ascending the
Juba or one of the adjacent rivers, with two river steamers
constructed at his own cost. In making these allusions to
African discovery, most heartily do I congratulate geogra •
phers on the safe return of my excellent and disinterested
friend Livingston. Already after his first two great traverses
from east to west and from west to east, across South
Africa, this undaunted missionary had won for himself im-
perishable renown. And now, after a second expatriation
which has lasted upwards of six years (his previous jour-
neys occupying 16 years), during which he has been labour•
ing conjointly to improve the condition of the natives and
to extend geographical knowledge, he comes hume with a
firm resolution to adhere to his noble calling for the benefit
of the natives, and to return to that country in which every
black man must bless his name I The return also of Capt.
Burton ensures for us some fresh and pregnant communi-
cations respecting Western Africa ; and when we know
that Francis Galton, though much occupied with the duties
of general secretary, will always take part in our discussions
and that Earth is likely to be present, it is probable that we
shall have a concourse of travellers capable of illustrating
the geography and ethnoli gy of Africa, such as was never
assembled at any former meeting." Continuing his review,
Sir Roderick said—" It is but yesterday that an advene
turous gentleman of Chili, Senhor Don Guillermo Cox
described a new route across the Andes, which, by al-
most bringing together the waters flowing into the At-
lantic and the Pacific, is likely to open our c mmerco be-
tween very fertile regions on the west and Buenos Ayres
on the Atlantic. Aware of our almost entire ignorance of the
interior of Patagonia, the same bold traveller purposes to
make a journey throughout this enormous region down to
the Straits of Magellan. In mentioning these straits lam
bound to remind you how in former years that eminent nau-
tical surveyor, Admiral Fitzroy, when aceompenied by the
great naturalist Charles Darwin,thtew a flood of light upon
the configuration and structure of the coasts of South Ame-
rica and the Falkland Islands. Now, although in this short
and popular address, I cannot do justice to all the advances
which have been made in meteorology, lit gratifies MO to
direct your attention to the recent important labours in that
science of the same gallant officer. For, by Well-digested
comparison between the state of the barometer and the
rection and force of the winds, Admiral Fitzroy has proved
to the nation what useful interpreters in his hands are these
vseful phenomena. By his forecast of approaching storms
and the prompt use of the electric telegraph, he has saved
many a ship and the lives of numbers of our seamen.
If we range from the south to the north of America, nume-
rous, indeed, are the tracts which call for examination;
and even at this meeting I hope to see new features
pointed out to us in that northern prolongation of the
Rocky Mountains which separates the sources of the Sas-
katchewan on the east from those of the Thomson and
Fraser Rivers of British Columbia on the west, This
knowledge, acquired under great privations, by young Vis-
count Milton end his friend Dr Cheadle, comes to us here
in addition to what had been gathered together by Palliser,
Hector, and Blakiston, as published in a Parliamentary
blue book, and has fortunately arrived in time to improve a
highly valuable map of British North America, which, de-
rived from original documents, is now about to be issued to
the public. Let me next remind you th et we are yet en-
tirely in the dark as to the tr. geography of the interior
of Arabia. It is, indeed, only within the last few months
that; travelling in the guise of a physician, the spirited
and eloquent Palgrave has been the first intelligent person
to traverse that country to the Persian Gulf. Can anyone
who recently heard this traveller narrate his adventures
before the Geographical Society ever forget the deep im-
pression he made upon the crowded audience when he told
us his wondrous Arabian Night's tale In a word,
lwe
must confess that modern geographers are infinitely ess
acquainted with Arabia than the ancients and their great
geographer Ptolemy. Again, in Asia—though Russia
has very recently, as I have said, done much in the north,
and the English in the far south-east of that quarter of
the globe--the very last communication to the Royal
Geographical Society, proceeding from the zealous
Hungarian M. Vararbery, who travelled disguised as a
Dervish, or holy Mahometan beggar, has brought vividly
to our minds a consciousness of the little we know of
the vast countries once ruled over by Genghis Khan

and Timur. In truth, the passage to the ancient capital
Samarkand across those regions has of late years become
infinitely more difficult than in the days of Marco Polo.
Then (1390), and even in 1405, when an embassy from Henry

111. of Spain to the great Emir Timur reached Samarkand,
the wide-spread influence of Genghis Khan still subsisted.
From that distant day there is no record of any European
having visited Samarkand until the year 1841, when the
Khan of Bokhara requested the Emperor Nicholas to send
scientific men from Ru-sia to search for gold. This impe-
rial expedition, which visited Samarkand as well as Bokhara,
was purely scientific, and consisted of two officers of the
School of Mines, Buteneff end Bagoslowski ; a very able
young naturalist, Lehmann, since dead ; an interpreter ;
and that eminent geographer, Khanikoff, who, at the meet-
ing of this association held at Oxford in 1850, gave us such
an interesting account of other parts of Central Asia. Oa
the whole,
are
so however,as M. Vambery will tell us, those re-
gions savage warring Turcomaus and
occupied
other Tartars, that the solitary traveller is more decidedly
shut out from them than he is from Arabia, China, Africa,
and other countries in which so many great problems also
remain to be solved. No region certainly calls more for the
examination of geographers than Asia, the cradle of ihe
human race ; and albeit the Rus ians,iudependently of their
researches in Bukhara and Samarkand, have made notable
explorations from Siberia into Mongolia, and southward to
the borders of China and Japan, Sir Henry Rawlinson will,
1 hope, explain to you what extensive regions there are
which require to be explored and defined between Nineveh
and Babylon, the countries of his memorable exploits, and
the British empire of the East. There, even at this day, no
one has followed the grand river Burhampooter from Hin-
dostan into China, though the project has often been agitated
and is, I trust, now in a fair way of being accomplished by
British energy. Again, are there not other vast tracts in the
New World, which no scientific traveller or explorer has yet
visited. Cannot our secretaries. to whom I have alluded, point
to many a district—nay, to whole regions—which call for
examination ? Ask Mr Clements Markham how much there
rrmning for the anngrophar in an .In,,cr Zhu
of the west? Then let Mr Bates speak to you of the enor-
mous countries watered by the effluents of the mighty
Amazons, which still call for fresh researches. Without
further dwelling, as I might, upon numberless new fields
for exploration, I hope that I have now satisfied you that
the apprehension of geographers having already done so
much that they will soon have little or no work to perform,
is quite imaginary; for you may rely upon it that the most
ardent and adventurous men, whether geographers, ethno-
logists, or naturalists, will find stout employment fur many
a long year."