Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-04-02
Recent Geographical Notes.

Two more martyrs have fallen victims
to the exploration of Australia; and the
fate of Messrs. Burke and Mills has much
about if peculiarly distressing. Starting
from Melbourne, the capital of Victoria,
on the south side of the continent, they
traversed for the first time its whole ex-
tent in northern direction, reaching the
sea at the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their
beautiful, well-watered country being
found by Burke, chiefly along the l4lst
meridian of east longitude, in the interior
of the route to the northern shores, where
only an inhospitable desert had been sup
posed to exist. Retracing their steps,
they found on reaching the frontier of
the colony that the depot at Cooper Creek
where they expected to find ample stores
of provisions and clothing, was broken up
and deserted; and they perished misera-
bly, for default of assistance at the very
threshold of the successful termination of
their journey. Great blame is thrown on
the officials, who believed the expedition
was so hopeless that the explorers would
never come back, and actually omitted
any preparations for their return. An
other expedition under Mr.. Stuart, and
Mr.. Waterhouse, the naturalist, consist
ing of eleven men and seventy horses,
has just started, to complete the eighty
miles, which is the whole distance yet to
be accomplished; and profting by the
warning afforded by the fate of its prede-
.cessors, viii omit no needful requisites for
success.
At the conclusion of the late Chinese
war three British officers, Can't. Blakis-
ton, Lieut.. Col. Sorel, and Dr. Barton, de-
termined to form an expedition TO reach
India overland from China, for the pur-
poses both of scientific research and with
the hope of establishing relations with
the northern part of China and the little
known regions of Tartary and Thibet,
where Russian influence is all predomi-
nant. Their first attempt to reach Thib-
ct by the Upper Yangtsze River proved
unsuccessful, and the travellers were about
making fresh start in another direction
from Pekin, but the British Minister at
the capital, Mr.. Bruce, came to the con-
clusion-in which he is supported by Mr..
Fortune, the Chinese traveller, and other
competent authorities that the unsettled
state of the country along the proposed
route was such, from the ravages of the
rebels and robbers, that success at this
time was simply impossible. He conse-
quently refused his official sanction, which
has led to the abandonment of the expe-
dition.
The Andaman Islands, a mountainous
and volcanic group in the Bay of Bengal
were chosen by the Indian Government
as the place of exile for the ex-King of
Delhi, and penal settlement has recent
ly been established on them. Besides a
reputation for ferocity, which made them.
Stunned by Europeans, little was known
of the group. Further acquaintance has
led to some interesting results as regards
their population, which were lately COM
municated by DR.. Mount of the Bengal
army to the Royal Geographical Society.
The aborigines were always reputed to be
cannibals of the most ferocious and saw
age type; but though apparently impla-
cably hostile to strangers, they prove to be
humane, social, and kindly disposed in
their intercourse with each other, and a
bold, witty, and active people. Their av-
erage height is about four feet nine or ten
inches, and Prof. Owen states that he nev-
er saw the characteristics indicating the
healthy exercise of the human frame so
strongly marked as in the bones of these
little men. There are no indications OF
their being allied to the African negro, or
the Papuans, or to any other Asiatic ma
ton, but Prof. Owen is inclined TO think
they may be the representatives of an old
race inhabiting some large continent in
those regions which had disappeared, ow-
ing to the geographical changes arising
from great volcanic disturbances. Three
or four of them are now in Rurnnah where
they were being educated with view to
become the medium of future communi.
cation with their long secluded brothers,
and perhaps the means Of rescuing them
from their present barbarism.
A society has just been established in
Paris under the patronage of the French
Institute, for the advancement of COM
merce in French Africa and the Soudan