New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-14
UNEMPLOYED COUNTRIES.
VAST TRACTS OF LAND AWAITING THE
HARDY AND COURAGEOUS PIONEER

INCOGNTTA IN AFRICA-CURIOUS RACES OF
NEGROES IN PARTS OF SOUTH AMERICA
A MYSTERY OPPOSITE GIBRALTAR.
The story Of Dr. Sven Hedins travels in I'M
known lands. says writer in THE Pitts
burg Dispatch" doubtless astonished a great
many people who imagined that practically
all Of the earths surface is known to
civilization. There something strange
about the narrative. To speak Of four years
travelling in unknown lands in the heart of Asia
seemed like fairy story. But it is nothing of
the kind. DR.. Hedin's story is altogether prob
able, and the field is still large in Asia, and will
be for many years 10 come.
Few people realize how much undiscovered
country there is still on the globe In spite of
the efforts of Livingstone, Stanley, Baker, YAM
berry Andree and all the others the opportunity
for exploration is still extensive. 1t would not
be extravagant to say that at least twenty mill
Ion square miles of unclaimed lands yet remain
to he mapped and described by the inquisitlVe
traveller Though exploration is steadily In
progress in all quarters OF the globe there is stu
9 big field left. and many dreaming schoolpoy
OF the present dag will yet achieve fame among
the worlds mapmakers.
The traveller in Asia has yet to map nearly
two hundred thousand square miles Of that con-
tlHont. IN central pdltS w hi''" "ON"'''S N'
cities. towns and races beyond the extravagant
yarns of native pilgrims. There may be peoples
I'm these interior countries unheard OF by civil
cation as there are certainly geographical
peculiarities of which We know nothing
The same may be said, and with considerable
more emphasis Of Africa, North and South
America Australia and the Pacific Islands
Millions of square miles remain to he uncovered
in Africa America and Australia, and not year
goes by but that some hitherto unknown island
OF the Pacific is added TO the list. and many
more remain.
MANY a tourist in Europe this last season has
heard for the first time, as he sailed past Ill
braltar that beyond the range of mountains tha'
extend along the coast Of Morocco there Is
land that has never been trodden by the explorer.
The information seems all the more strange
when it is realized that the most civilized peo-
ples the world has had have been sailing along
this same rock bound coast ever since the Gays
NJ the Phonicians Just think of it. Less than
a score OF miles from the pathway OF civlZa-
ton several thousand years old. and yet I'M
known 1t may be all the more surprising 10
know that it Is not ten years since DIG Iahc
was discovered in the heart OF the Pyrenees' the
maintain chain dividing Spain from France and
in the heart Of Europe. one might say
KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA.
What do we know Of Africa Nothing but In
general way The explorers have not gone FAR
away from the river courses. We follow fairly
well on the map the courses or the congo
and the Zambesi. and locate approximately
the long mysterious course Of the Nile But the
geographers have little or nothing with when 20
fill up the white spaces in Central Africa. Some
travellers are gradually breaking their way INTO
the interior country, and the next few years VIII
yield many valuable and interesting discoveries
INT the field IL still large for those with the am
bition to travel in unknown countries
The most important work Of the future Al
rican explorer will be to study the various races
and map out the photographic features. There
are dozens OF native tribes presenting charac-
tarstics interesting 10 the ethnologists. we heec
moro Information than We have OF the tree
a1yollar, az Shari the dwarf tribes Of the Congo.
tho Palma and the remarkable Bachange, who
are already on the high road to civilization.
Examine the latest maps OF western anu '''-
tral Africa and you will see great districts WIN
out mark or sign or the seosiap NV
Got rivers seem without tributary streams
Tb. is in no sense a peculiarly Ihe trloutarieS
.rc there. Their absence from the maps Is the
most effective presentation Of the fact tha1 they
orc NOT vet mapped out explored. There Is
u,hole world of unexplored country to the north
south east and west OF the wonderful Congo
=, T., ,,oro,y a theory that these districts are
the richest in the world for the farmer ana
aoior,iet II is certain that gold. silver and
o;o,,. qerns are plentiful That the climate Is
c.,.d IA the production of temperate zone fruits
-, ,,i,nts is vet to be decided. There is work
Co. tho husbandman. the minera0gist, the
,,bronologist and the Archaeological as well as
.ho ,onopra, her At least five million square