The Portland daily press., 1897-02-12
EXPLORATIONS DRING THE YEAR
Daring Feats BLAND and Sea.

Daring Feats BLAND and Sea.
What stillRemains.
(From the Washington Starr
In briefly survsyinsthe work that has
been accomplished b. travellers during
the past 10 or IS moths, and the field
Of exploration thatl is left unfinished by
these 10 borers. 1t is iade manifest that
the planet which wslnhabit is not yet
fully conquered. 1t Is true that the
sources OF the Nile hae no longer to be
searched after, and tht the northwest
and northeast passage. even if their dis
covsry has not led to that commercial
success which the ventures Of hundred
years.aao possibly anticipated, find their
records of achievement in past history;
but enough remains { ado. luster to the
title of an explorer wich need not be
dimmed by the roollsction Of the
triumph Of Ross, Kane, D'Urville.
Livingstone, Burton Barth, Speske,
Baker or Stanley. AFRICA still has It's
terra inoognita, and have Asia, Aus
tralia and South Ameioa theirs, and If
these unknown 1nnd'' are rapidly re-
ceding from the gaze the pure geog-
rapher. they Jet hold lp service to the
scientist who follows the path of the
geoqrapher, and to wiom the world is
today looking for theaighest GLASS Of in
formation that Is to b obtained.
The most brilliant ,ieoe Of recent ex-
ploration is unquetionabiy Nansen's
heroic effort to rach the "farthest
north" ii he has allied to reach the
ultima thule of the sporer, to plant his
flag upon the much ovetsd north pole,
he has at least succeeded In arriving
nearer. to 1t by some 30 miles than any
previous voysger of tie ARCTIC seas. How
long the record of Sc egrees, IA minutes,
will stand cannot be oretol d, but there
is reason to hope andto believe, with the
advances that have lEterly been made In
polar work and knowledge and the &C.
tivity which is beingmanifested fin this
feld.o inquiry, that it will DO chal-
lepged and passed efoTe many years.
Nansen's greatest contribution to geo
graphical knowledgeis not the attaining
of his high northern position, but the
deterin ination of theexistence of pro-
foundly deep sea (of some 10, 900 to 10, 900
feet) in the far north for it had been al
most universally assumed by geographers
that the Arctic basin WAS comparative
ly shallow one.
T., 81 fuin he of
the explorer has not been idle; another
of it's main features ,as been sketched
out aud the problemof the Niger solved.
1t is just 100 years ago that Mungo
Park, one of the mos intrepid Of modern
travellers. then in his25th year, set Quito
explore the course Of what at that time
was assumed to be tie second river of
Africa. Little or nothing was then
known of the Congo, and scarcely more,
except in the immediate region of its
multitudin mouth, of the Niger
itself. Whether tbisriver had main
course from the east, or zone from the
west, was still to be determined. After
traversing various Kingdoms, and under
going numerous nareships and torments,
not the least OF which was enforced cap
tivity with the native tribes, Park sue
ceeded In reaching portion of tho upper
course of this great African river to
whiohshe was directing his explorations.
Nine years later, in command ofsa5second
expedition, he penetrated to the impor-
tant commercial town Of Bammako, but
the full measure or his researches was
cutfshort by an untimely death by
drowning, which took place In 1.-THE king
dom of Sokoto, In an effort to escape hos
tilespulsu
From that time to this Niger geography
has been one Of The problems of African
exploration, and if 1t has not, perhaps,
attracted ns much attention on the part
Of travellers as did the main question Of
the Nile-the discovery of its ultimate
source-it is because the region of ex-
ploration in Vest All ioa IL much more
difficult one. Yet it Is in connection
with this work that the MINES OF Lam
der, Clappertoa. Laird, Overweg and
Barth have been rendered famous
Every successive quarter of century has
addei,something to our knowledge of the
general conrfe of this river, but, singu-
larly enough, up to the present year, the
work of explomtion has not been such as
to make continuous study, and sections
OF the intermediate" course Of the river
have remained as unknown as though no
work had besr conducted in the region
before.
The announcement il now made that
brought TO asuccsssful completion by
the Frsnoh traveller, Capt. Hourst, who
in.boats descended the stream from Bam-
mako and Timb to the actual mouth
The journey WIS begun in January, 1885,
and Terminated In the early days Of Oc-
tober with the arrival at Oknssa. OF
the long section between fimbuotoo and
Say hardly any trustworthy Information
las heretofore existed, and BaTth him.
self knew bnt scattered parts Of both
banks. The journey of Capt. Hourst
thus makes memorable addition to
African knowledge and 1t closes nearly
the last important problem connected
with the geography of the OZARK oonti-
nent." 1t has moreover. a great CONNER
DIAL Significance since it establishes the
fact that despite the presence here and
there of impending rapids, the river is
practically navigable throughout it's en-
tire conrse.
The heart Of Asia 10 the remarkable
explorations Of St. George Little5ale-
his traverse of the Kuenlun range and of
the great eastern plateau of Tibet. the
so-oalled Chang-adds o chapter to the
traveller s5reoord which will stand side ny