Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-11-07
Alexs,,sIrsa 2azettf.
saTrRpAy EVENING. NOV. 1856
OUR UNEMPLOYED GLOBE.


of the Earth Yet to lie Explored.
We are apt to think that we mod
ems have very little to do in the
way of exploring the globe and that
the recent explorations in Africa
have quite put the finishing touch
TO geographical knowledge so that
he who wishes to set foot on virgin
soil must sigh, like Alexander, for
another world Those who entertain
such opinions may calm themselves
with the thought that no less a por-
ton of the earth:s surface than 20,
600, 900 square miles is yet fit sub
jeot for investigation, and on large
part of this the foot of civilized man
has not yet trod We translate from
the Paris Cosmos an article that
brings.this fact out very clearly. 1t
runs as follows:
AT the London geographical con-
gress Mr.. Logan Lobby gave very
interesting study of the present state
of exploration of the globe 1t APP
pears that modern geographers have
an infmense amount of labor before
them to make US acquainted with
all parts of the earth This conclu-
sion will astonisA some people, for
there is a general impression that
almost all regions of the earth are
we'll explored.
"Mr. Lobby reminds US that in
the first place, toward the middle of
the sixteenth century, all seas had
been traversed by navigators, and
that if the maps of the continents
were not yet very exact, at least
their relative positions and their
general CONFORMATION were known.
Australia itself appears on French
map Of 1912 under the name Of
Great Java. In the course of the 90
years included in the last decade of
the fifteenth century and the first
half of,the sixteenth a pleiad of nav
igators had advanced geographic
Knowledge in degree that has never
been reached in any other period so
short. Sebastian d 'Elano had made
his first voyage around the world;
Vasco da Cana had doubled the
Cape of Good Hope; Christopher Co.
lumbus had added the two Americas
to the map; the voyages of Cabot and
of Magellan had completed this Won
derful list of new discoveries.
To-day, outside of the polar re-
gions, we must confess that all the
seas have been explored, but this is
far from being the case with the
land An immense extent is entirely
unknown to US. Another, still more
considerable, has been only imper-
fectly explored; travellers have trav-
ersed it, commerce has exploited
some of its products, but good maps
of it do not exist. Finally, only the
least part is we'll known; geodesy
has covered it with a network of
triangles, and the maps of it are COM
piete, even from Typographical
standpoint.
AFTER the arctic and antarctic
regions, which have remained mac
oessible up to the present time, AT
RIGA is the part of the world that is
least known to Us, Notwithstanding
the admirable explorations made in
this century, which are daily clear
ing up the map. The earliest explor-
ers, however, could not dream of
serious efforts, and many years will
pass before the country will be thor
oughly explored.
AFTER Africa, Australia offers the
vastest field to the investigation of
explorers. We must remember that
even its seacoast was not fully ex-
plored till 1913. Since that time, at
the price of great suffering, it has
been crossed from south to north,
but no traveller has yet traversed it
from east to west.
''In the two Americas, except the
extreme northern and southern
parts, the continent is known. Never
theless, the whole central region of
South America, though in great part
explored for commercial purposes
for mines. woods, caoutchouc, etc.,
is not exactly mapped.
ITO sum up, the yet unexplored
parts of the globe cover an area of
about $4,000, 600 square kilometcrs
(about 20, 1000, 600 square miles), ap-
proximately divided thus
Square miles.
"Afriea OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 5VO,oVO
AuStralla. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES zVVO,Un
America %,uNU,UVU
Asia .......-.........-....s... <VO,Un
Islands Observation-Disclosures. aUu.VU
Arctic regions. Observation-Disclosures. 9,ooV,gO
Antarctic regions. Observation-Disclosures. 5,3O0,OO
Total ."V'VVV,VVV
Opportunity will not be wanting
here for long time to the explor-