Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-01
UNEMPLOYED LANDS.
PARTS OF THE WORLD VET UN-
VISITED BY TRAVELLERS.

AsIatie Tribes whose Land Is Almost n
Sealed Book to the White nIan-sahara
Lands - South America - The Polar
Regions.
Ii is likely that within the next twenty or
thirty years all the areas that are still wholly
unknown, except perhaps within the polar
circles, will have Welded their secrets &c
daring explorers, Inhospitable tribes now
rear more barriers than nature does to retard
the progress oil discovery. While geographers
have for years disputed over the conundrum
whether the great Sanoo river of Thibet is
the headquarters Of the Brahmaputra or Of
the Irrawadi rivers the fierce little Mishmi
tribe has guarded the secret, killed the adj
venturers who dared to intrude among their
mountains and left the geographers TO
wrangle 1t was only last year that their
country was crossed at last, and it is now
evident that the Brahmaputra is thousand
miles longer than some authorities admitted.
A little northeast Of India is Kaiiristan,
whose lovely valleys are densely peopled by
tribes that are physically among the hand
soonest of Asiatcs. Their country is almost
IA sealed book to us, for only one white man,
Mr.. McNair, has succeeded in crossing their
threshold. About four years ago, staining
his skin with walnut juice and in the guise of
an Indian doctor, he pushed some way into
the country until the suspicious natives be
came so inqusitive that he thought it pru-
dent TO retreat. No scientific traveller has
ever reached Lhasa, the capital of Thibet
and the Rome of the Buddhists, OF pene-
tratcd far into southern Thihet, though many
notable attempts have been made. Recently
Prejevalsky has tried twice in vain to reach
hasa and last MIR Met 'nulpV. nftpr
elaborate preparations and after he had
spent year in getting the permission of the
Chinese and 1hibetan authorities to visit
Lhasa, was finally turned back before he had
crossed the frontier. The only reason that
the southern half of Thibet and "A large part
of Napaul and the Himalayas are not n white
space or n mere tumble ON our maps, is that
native Indians have been trained TO the
work Of exploration by the Indian survey
and sent north TO travel as mendicants or
merchants They can rarely carry with
them scientific instruments larger than
compass, and their work, though very valu-
able, is far from being thorough and salts
factory. So fearful is the Indian survey
that the real business of its native explorers
will be discovered that their own friends do
not know where they are sent, and their
names are not connected with their eXplora-
tions until after they have retired from ac
tive service.
Similar impediments embarraSS the tray
eler in all parts of Mohammedan Africa
Grandly as Barth, Rohlfs, Nachtigal, LEM
and half dozen others have served the
cause of geography in the Sahara desert, our
knowledge of that mountainous and elevated
region is anything but thorough and ade-
quate. He truly takes his life i'll his hand
who ventures among the Tuaregs and other
fierce nomads of the Sahara. Unless he can
talk Arabic like native, and can slillfully
assume tho guse of Mohammcdan, he is al
most certain to meet the fate Of Mile Time
and Lieut.. Palat DR.. Krause, wishing to
enroll his name among the half dozen white
men who have reached Timbuctoo, attempted
to attain the town from the south. When
within 100 miles Of bis goal he was stopped
and bluntly informed that he might go on
to the holy city if he would become Mo
hammedan More scrupulous than some
other explorers he declined to become a dis
ciple of the Prophet, and was therefore COM
PEELED to turn back.
The great basin of the Congo has been
more prolific of geographical surprises with
in the past five years than any other part of
the world in this century. And yet the work
there has only begun In this vast area
there has been very little exploration except
along the water courses, and even the river
n cursory and preliminary survey, Wiss-
mann is now crossing the continent from
sea to sea- across the southern part of the
Congo basin; Kund and Tappcubeck have
made a short journey overland from river
to river, but generally speaking the vast
regions between the rivers are still almost
wholly unknown.
1t is not difficult TO one good reason
why South America has been comparatively
neglected by travellers, while, on the other
hand, Africa has been running over with
them. Neither commerce, science nor mis-
sionary ardor have seen in South America
the same promise Of rich rewards that have
allured them to the uplands of inner Africa.
Still such journeys as DR.. Won Steinen and
his comrades recently made on the great
Xingu tributary Of the Amazon, when they
discovered curious and wholly unknown
tribes and other things of much interest,
show that these regions are tine field for the
explorer.
The Brazilans know less Of large part of
their empire than they might easily learn of
Nova Zembla, and in Ecuador and some
other states Whymper and other travellers
say that the government maps are hopeessly
inaccurate. The best and most interesting
explorations in South America are now car
ried on by the Argentine Republic. Among
their pampas and cordilleras, in the valleys
of Patagonia and on the grassy plains of
Terra del Fuego these researches, now in
full progress, have been prolific of geographi-
cal sensation. Good, honest exploration up
sets hundreds of theories and fanciful stories
that have come to be accepted facts.
1t is in the lofty regions Of inner Asia that
the greatest works of discovery still remain
to be achieved. The Russian explorers are
among the best trained and most competent
travellers In the world, and their government
is today doing far more than any other ma
q. ton to promote geographical discoveries.
The Antarctic regions will probably be the
next field of polar inquiry, and some steps
to this end have been taken both in Great
Britain and Australia. As the south polar
region is not, like the Arctic zone, crowded
with islands and archipelagoes. it is of much
more Importance in the study of ocean cur
rents.
Strange as it may seem, the Pacific ocean
is still far from well known. When Wilfred |
Powell expressed the belief that many Pacific |
islands had never yet been seen by white |
men some incredulity manifested. Since |
that time Capt. Bruce has discovered little |
group of islands off the northeast coast of |
New Guinea, Mr.. Romilly found new island |
in 1881, and the Germans have recently added |
two islands to the Bismarck archipelago
G. c. Adams in New York Mail and Express |
Loyal to the Core.
Miss Stuyvesant tof New Yorkl-What do |
you think of Donnelly's claim that Bacon |
wrote Shakespearel