The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1876-01-24
IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL WORLD.
The Important Discoveries of iS11-.-NfrlcH
uniI the Open Polar Sen.

The Important Discoveries of iS1j-.-.Ifrlct
unL the Open Polar Sen.
Tho year 1875 will ever be memor
able date in the history Of geograph 4
discovery. Within the twelvemonth two
of tho most important questions Of Afri
can geography have been settled Nn(
in the far north the demonstration OF NJ
open water way between Europe and thu
countries drained by tho great Siberian
rivers is perhaps the most important nd
dition to geographical science that coult
be made in polar regions. Certainly
there remains for no future year 80 many
flrstrate problems to solve.
The source OF the Nile For twenty
centuries it has been the goal of tho ex
plorer's ambition. The boldest spirit
have essayed its discovery, only to bt
turned back by insuperable obstacles,
It's conquest waited for the plucky on
ergy and rcsistless push OF Stanley.
Starting from Zanzibar i'll November,
1874, with three hundred soldiers and
carriers, m important part OF whose lug
gage was the open boat Lady Alice, III
sections, Stanley had before him seven
hundred miles OF unknown country
part forest and part desert-much of il
swarming with hostile savages. By diut
Of rcsolnte marching and fighting, he
ccomplished in hundred days what in
he usual course of African travel would
have taken 0s many weeks, though at
the cost OF half his command; and on
February twenty tYseventh he caught his
first glimpse OF the great lake with which
his name must hereafter be inseparably
associated.
Speke and Baker had traced the Nile
to the Victoria Niyanza. What was the
compass Of that great freshwater sea,
and whence came its supplies Thanks
to the Lady Alice, which was soon set up
and ahoat, these questions had not long
to wait for solution. Within the next
sixty days, its shores and numerous
islands had been mapped, and its tribu-
taries noted. OF the ten considerable
streams which feed the Niyanza, the
largest and most important proved to be
the Shimccyu, in all probability the ulti-
mate source OF tho Nile. The details Of
the discoveries thus auspiciously begun
We shall not consider hero, nor the i'm
portance of the region now for the first
timc opened up to geography. 1t is
enough to note that, through Stanley's
dnring energy md genius for command,
tic question which, more than any other,
has vexed geographers and challenged
explorers for two thousand years has
been substantially settled.
In the meantime Cameron has taken
up the unfinished work Of Livingstone,
nud-spurred on no doubt by n deter
mination not to he forestallcd by his
Yankee rival, rs he was in tho search for
LivingBton-he has overcome the obsta-
cles that baflled the veteran explorer,
and accomplished perhaps the longest
journey ever made by any adventurGr in
that benighted continent. And its re-
suits are as brilliant as the passage was
heroic. No other explorer ever crossed
the continent SO near the equator; md
none save Stanley ever achieved so much
in so little time. His path lay through
the most difficult and dangerous part Of
Africa, from Tanganyika to the mouth
OF the Congo; and when the story of the
passage is mude known, it will, nay, it
must, present some Of the most stirring
chapters of dashing adventure in tho
history of African exploration.
One thing is certain: Tho theory OF
Liyingstopehas been disproved; and not
the Nile, but tho Congo, receives the
drainage Of the great interior basin Of
the continent. And Africa hides no
other secrets to compare with the two
which Stanley and Cameron have, with.
in the same few months, manfully wrcst.
ed from her jealous keeping.
Less significant geographically, but
OF far greater promise commercially, is
Professor N0rdenskiold's discovery Of
au open passage by sea between Europe
and northern Asia. The tract Of country
thus brought into commercial commnni.
cation with the rest Of tho world is
vast and largely'iertile region, much Of
it splenlidly timbered, traverscd by
navigable rivers, and only Whiting for
suitable outlet for its productions, TO
become densely peopled. According to
Professor Bacrs the valleys OF the Obi
Irtsch aud the Yenisei exceed in extent
the combined areas watered by the Don,
Dnieper, Dniester, Nile, Pc, Rhone,
Ebro, md all the other rivers flowing
into the Black sea, the Mediterranean,
and the sea OF NIarmora. The entire
region made directly accessible to com
merce is estimated by DR.. Petermann to
ombnco M area one-fourth greater than
all non-Russian Europe.
The attainment Of the pole would give
greater renown to the explorer who
should succeed in reaching it; but the
consequences to humanity would be in
significant compared with those quite
certain to flow from this much needed
waterway to the heart Of Asia.-Scica-
ifc AmCrican..
"LOyey.'