THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/discoveriesexploOOroberich THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SERIES EDITOR : JUSTIN McCarthy. ASSOCIATE EDITORS : W. P. TRENT, LL.D. T. G. MARQUIS. CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS. Rev. W. H. with row. D.D. DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE CENTURY BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, M.A. Author of "Songs oj the Common Day," "The Book of the Native" "Earth's Enigmas" " i4 History of Canada" " The Forge in the Forest,' "A Sister to Evangeline," Etc, THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY TORONTO AND PHILADELPHIA LONDON : 47 Paternoster Row, E.G. W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited EDINBURGH : 339 High Street 1906 Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Four, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Four, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, In the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. All nights Reserved, PKEFACE. The Nineteenth Century has been one of strenu- ous expansion and of restless activity in the search for geographical knowledge. The records of this ex- pansion and of this activity are unusually full, but at the same time scattered and chaotic. In writ- ing this volume, the object which I have chiefly kept in view has been to afford a clear and comprehensive, yet sufficiently compact, presentation of the progress and results of these activities. I have endeavoured to treat my somewhat cumbrous subject in a man- ner popular and entertaining; but I have not been willing to sacrifice accuracy in the effort to be pic- turesque. The labour of sifting, systematising, and digesting the vast and confused masses of detail bearing upon this subject has been very great, and I dare to hope that the result may be a convenience to many readers. If so, their thanks will be due, with mine, to all those who have generously favoured me with advice and facilitated my acquisition of material, — among whom I must do myself the honour of nam- ing particularly the distinguished scholar. Dr. J. Scott Keltic, Secretary of the Royal Geographical Vi PREFACE. Society, without whose wise suggestions I should have found myself seriously hampered, I must gratefully acknowledge, also, the courtesy of Mr, James R. Boose, Librarian of the Royal Colonial Institute, and of the authorities of the British Mu- seum Rcading-Room. C, G. D. R. CONTENTS. PART ONE. INTRODUCTORY. CHAPTER I. BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY PRIOR TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. PAGE 1. Concerning Explorers and Explorations in General.— 2. Relation of Mathematics to Geographical Discovery. 3. Earliest Records.— 4. The Northmen.— 5. Explorers of the East During the Middle Ages.-6. Prince Henry the Navigator.— 7. Christopher Columbus.— 8. Portugal and the Commerce of the Orient.— 9. Spain in the New- World.— 10. Magellan.— 11. The Cabots.— 12. North- west and North-east Passages Attempted.— 13. France in America, and English Circumnavigators.- U. Dis- covery of Australia.— 15. Explorations of the Eigh- teenth Century.— 16. Motives and Aspects of Modern Explorations PART TWO. ARCTIC EXPLORATION. CHAPTER n. DISCOVERIES DURING THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS OF THE CEN- TURY. 1. The Glamour and the Importance of Arctic Explora- tion.— 3. Arctic Regions in General.— 3. Voyages of Viii CONTENTS. PAQB Buchan and Ross in 1818. — i. Parry's Voyage of 1819. —5. Parry's Voyage of 1831-23.— G. Other British Ex- peditions, 1823-1826.— 7. Russian Work during the First Quarter of the Century. — 8. Parry's Attempts to Reach the North Pole. — 9. Graah's Search for the Lost Colo- nies of the Eastern Bygd 24 CHAPTER III. FROM 1829 TO 1848. 1. The Rosses Discover the North Magnetic Pole, 1829-33. 2. Pachtussow in Nova Zembla, 1832-35.— 3. La Re- cherche in Spitzbergen Waters, 1838-39. — 4. Voyage of Sir George Back in 1836. — 5. Sir John Franklin's Last Voyage 43 CHAPTER IV. THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. L General Aspects of the Franklin Search. — 2. Expedi- tions of 1848.— 3. Expeditions of 1850.— M'Clure, Collin- son, Austin, Penny, Ross and De Haven. — 4. Search Parties of 1851. — 5. Sir Edward Belcher's Squadron, 1852. — 6. Overland Search by Rae and Anderson, 1853- 55.-7. McClintock Solves the Mystery of the Lost Ex- pedition, 1859.-8. Later Expeditions in Search of the Franklin Records 53 CHAPTER V. FROM 1848 TO 1875. 1. Spitzbergen.— 2. Inglefield (1853) and Kane (1853) Ex- plore Smith Sound. — 3. The "Open Polar Sea" of Hayes. — 4. German Polar Expeditions. — 5. Discoveries of Hall by the " American Route." — 6. Weyprecht and Payer Discover Franz Josef Land. — 7. Voyage of Cap- tain Nares 70 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER VI. FUOM 1875 TO 1900. PAGE 1. Nordenskjold Accomplishes the North-East Passage.— 2. The Jeaunette.— 3. Leigh Smith in Franz Josef Land. — 4. International Circumpolar Stations.— 5. Discoveries of the Greely Expedition.— 6. Explorations of the Green- land Ice Cap.— 7. Peary in Northern Greenland.— 8. Nansen Achieves the Farthest North.— 9. Wellman At- tempts the Pole.— 10. The Jackson-Harmsworth Expedi- tion. — 11. Andree, and Later Expeditions 85 PART THREE. EXPLORATION IN CANADA. CHAPTER VII. DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 1. British North America at the Beginning of the Cen- tury. — 2. Exploratory Work of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany.— 3. Geological Survey of Canada. — 4. Motives of Exploration in Northern Canada. — 5. Sir John Frank- lin's First Expedition.— 6. Franklin's Second Expedi- tion.— 7. Sir George Back Discovers Great Fish River. —8. Discoveries of Dease and Simpson. — 9. Dr. John Rae Unites the Surveys of Ross and Parry.— 10. The Franklin Search in Canada.— 11. Missionary Explorers. 104 CHAPTER VIII. EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 1. Journeys of Simon Frasor and Sir George Simpson. — 2. Captain Palliser's Expedition.— 3. Milton and Cheadle's "North-West Passage by Land," and Explorations in British Columbia.— 4. The Yukon River 121 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. THE BARREN GROUNDS, L^VBRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. PAGQ 1. Tyrrell in the Barren Lands. — 2. Labrador Explored by the Hudson's Bay Company. — 3. Hind on the Moisie River.— 4. Pere Babel, 1866-70 ; Hudson Bay Expedition of 1884 and 1886.— 5. Work of A. P. Low in the La- brador Peninsula. — 6. Newfoundland ; First Crossed in 1822 ; the Bethuks. — 7. Geographical Survey of New- foundland 133 PART FOUR. EXPLORATION IN THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER X. LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. 1, 2, 3. Lewis and Clarke on the Missouri. — 4. Pike on the Mississippi.— 5. Pike on the Missouri and in the Rocky Mountains 1 45 CHAPTER XL OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 1. Hunt's Expedition to Astoria. — 2. Cass and the Mis- sissii)pi Sources. — 3. Long in the Rocky Mountains and on the Minnesota River. — 4. The Mound Builders 160 CHAPTER Xn. MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 1. Ker in New Spain and in the West. — 2. The Patties in Mexico and New Spain. — 3. Wyeth in the Oregon Country. — 4. Fremont in the Rocky Mountains, etc.; Norman in Mexico ; Emory from Missouri to California. 178 CONTENTS. Xi PART FIVE. EXPLORATION IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. CHAPTER XIII. CENTUAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. PAGE 1. Central America, General Description.— 2. Remains of an Ancient Civilization.— 3. Survey in Connection with Panama Canal. — 4. South America.— 5. Baron von Humboldt.— 6. Expedition of Spix and Martius.— 7. Pentland ; Poeppig.— 8. Lieutenant RIavv's Journey.— 9. Expedition of Smyth and Lowe 191 CHAPTER XIV. SOUTH AMERICA. 1. King andFitzroy ; Fitzroy and Darwin.— 2. D'Orbigny. 3. Scliomburgk in Guiana.— 4. Count Castelnau's Ex- plorations. — 5. Herndon and Gibbon. — 6. Wallace and Bates on the Amazon. —7. Raimondi in Peru.— 8. Other Explorers in Peru 207 CHAPTER XV. LATER EXPLORATIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 1. "Work of Chandless on Southern Affluents of the Ama- zon.— 2. Cox in Chili and Patagonia.— 3. Commander Musters' Great Journey.— 4. Barrington Brown's Ex- plorations. —5. Bigg-AVither in Southern Brazil.— 6. Whymper among the Great Andes of the Equator. — 7. Im Thurn Ascends Roraima.— 8. Explorations during the Last Two Decades of Nineteenth Century 230 Xii CONTENTS. PART SIX. EXPLORATION IN AFRICA. CHAPTER XVI. AFRICA AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY. PAGE 1. African Exploration rewarded; Mungo Park ; The Portuguese Traders ; Tuckey on the Congo,— 2, 3. Ped- die and Campbell ; Ritchie and Lyon. — 4. Clapperton, Ouduey and Deuhani. — 5. Clapperton's Second Jour- ney ; Major Loring 244 CHAPTER XVII. AFRICA AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY {continued). 1. James' Mission ; Bowdich. — 2. MoUieu on the Senegal and Gambia ; Gray and Dochard. — 3. Caillie at Tim- buktu. — 4. Laing. — 5. The Lander Brothers ; Trotter... 256 CHAPTER XVIII. MID-CENTURY EXPLORATION IN AFRICA. 1. Monteiro and Garnitto ; Magyar ; Dr. Beke and Dr. Krapf. — 2. Harris. — Ferret and Galinier. — 3. Richard- son, Barth and Overweg ; Dr. Vogel ; Dr. Baikie 276 CHAPTER XIX. SEEKING THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 1. Burton and Speke ; Speke and Grant. — 2. Sir Samuel Baker. — 3. Rebmann and Krapf ; Baron Von der Decken; Petherick ; Moffat ; Hahn and Reth ; Rolilfs ; Schwein- f urth ; Otlier Explorers 301 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER XX. LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. PACE 1. Livingstone.— 2. Stanley's Livingstone Relief Expedi- tion.— 3. Cameron's Livingstone Relief Expedition 319 CHAPTER XXL IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 1. Discovery of Gold and Diamonds ; Nachtigal. — 2. Stan- ley on the Congo. — 3. Stanley's Rescue of Emin Pasha. — 4. Thomson ; Donaldson Smith. — 5. Cavendish ; Spils- bury ; other Explorers 3.3.S PART SEVEN. ASIATIC EXPLORATIONS. CHAPTER XXII. ASIATIC EXPLORATION — 1800 TO 1825. 1. General. — 2. Seetzen in Syria, Palestine and Arabia. — 3. Burckhardt in Same Regions ; Other Workers in Arabia. — 4. Journeys in Persia. — 5. Explorations in India. — 6. Elphinstone's Mission to Afghanistan. — 7. Christie and Pottinger in Baluchistan. — 8. Thomas Manning Visits Lhasa. — 9. Moorcroft in Regions North of India.— 10. Klaproth (1805-1807), and Cochrane (1820- 21) in Siberia 359 CHAPTER XXIII. ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1825 TO 1850. 1. Eichwald ; Humboldt.— 2. Wellsted ; Schubert ; Robin- son and Smith. — 3. The Euphrates Expedition ; Its Work in Mesopotamia, Syria, etc.— 4. Some Explorations in xiv CONTENTS. PAQIt Baluchistan, Afghanistan and Turkestan.— 5. Expedi- tion of Sir Alexander Burnes to Bokhara.— 6. Wood Discovers Source of the Oxus.— 7. Hooker and Thom- son in the Higher Himalayas ; Hue in Tibet.— 8. Mid- dendorf and Butakoff in Siberia 377 CHAPTER XXIV. ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1850 TO 1875. 1. Explorations in Arabia, Syria and Palestine.— Richard Burton, Gifford Palgrave and others.— 2. Officers of Indian Survey in Himalayan Regions.— 3. Colonel Mont- gomerie's Native Explorers.— 4. British Explorations in Eastern Turkestan.— 5. Russian Explorers in Central Asia.— 6. Blakiston on the Yang-tse-Kiang.— 7. Sladen in Indo-China.— 8. Ney Elias on the Yellow River and in Mongolia.— 9. Baron Richthofen in China. 397 CHAPTER XXV. ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1875 TO 1901. 1. Introductory.— 3. Prejevalsky's Expeditions from 1875 to 1885.-3. Journeys in Indo-China and Adjacent Re- gions.— 4. Explorations of the Pamir.— 5. Explorations in Tibet.— 6. Sven Hedin in Central Asia 416 PART EIGHT. EXPLORATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. CHAPTER XXVI. EARLY EXPLORATIONS IN AUSTRALIA. 1. Coast Surveys of Flinders, Bass and King.— 2. The Beagle with Capts. Wickham and Stokes (1837- 1843).— 3. Grey and Lushington in the West, 1837 437 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XXVII. AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. PAOK 1. Explorations in the Interior of Australia.— 2. The Con- tinent Crossed from North to South by IMacDouall Stu- art, and by Burke and Wills (18G0-G2).— 3. Explorations in New Zealand 448 CHAPTER XXVni. IN THE HEART OF AUSTRALIA. 1. Explorations in the Great Australian Desert from Basis on the Overland Telegraph Lines.— 2. Explorations at the End of the Century.— 3. Unexplored Territory 464 PART NINE. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. CHAPTER XXIX. EARLY ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. 1. Ancient and Mediasval Theories Regarding the South- ern Hemisphere and the Terra Australis Incognita.— 2. First Discoveries in High Southern Latitudes.— 3. Ex- pedition of Lozier Bouvet and Discovery of Bouvet's Islands. — 4. First Scientific Expeditions ; Marion du Frezne ; Kerguelen-Tremarec— 5. Voyages and Dis- coveries of Captain Cook.— 6. Period of Inaction ; First Enderby Expedition ; Snoio Swan and Otter. — 7. Re- Discovery of the Dirk Gerritz Archipelago ; Expedi- tions and Discoveries of the Seal-Hunters.— 8. Voyage of Von Bellingshausen.— 9. Discovery of the Open Polar Sea by James Weddell.— 10. Expedition of the Chanti- cleer; Voyages of Biscoe and Discovery of Enderby Land.— 11. Discovery of Kemp Land and the Balleny Islands 471 XVi CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. MID-CENTURY ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. PAGE 1. Great Era of Antarctic Exploration ; Scientific Ex- plorations and Terrestro-Magnetic Observations in High Southern Latitudes. — 2. Expedition of Dumont D'Ur- ville — Discovery of Louis-Philii^pe Land, Terre Adelie and La Cote Clavie. — 3. Voyages of Wilkes with the American Expedition ; Discovery and Exploration of Wilkes Land. — 4. First Voyage of James Clark Ross ; Establishment of Fixed Magnetic Observatories ; Ef- forts to Approach the Magnetic South Pole by Sea ; Discovery of Victoria Land ; Admiralty Range ; Vol- canoes Erebus and Terror ; Great Ice Barrier ; Prince Albert Mountains. — 5. Ross's Second Voyage ; Two Months of Toil and Hardship among the Pack-ice.— 6. Ross's Third Voyage ; Following Weddell's Course to tlie Open Sea ; Explorations around the Dirk Gerritz Archipelago 490 CHAPTER XXXI. ANTARCTIC EXPLORATIONS OP RECENT YEARS. 1. Lull in Antarctic Explorations ; Scientific Expedition of Moore in the Pagoda ; Voyage of Dallmann. — 2. Cele- brated Cruise of the Challenger.— d. Whaling Voyages ; Explorations and Discoveries of Larsen. — 4. Voyage of Borchgrevingk ; Adrien de Gerlache. — 5. Past and Future of Antarctic Explorations 510 DISCOVEEIES AND EXPLOEATIONS IN THE CENTUEY. PART ONE. Il^'TEODUCTORY. CHAPTER I. BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVER? PRIOR TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Section 1. When the world was young the mys- terious lay just beyond the horizon. Now it is en- trenched behind sinister ice-floes in the ghostly deso- lation of the polar seas, or eludes the adventurer among the swamps and mountain fastnesses of cer- tain tropical and sub-tropical regions. Here and there it still finds sanctuary in the midst of human fanaticism. But everywhere the boundaries of its material domain are narrowing before that little band of bronzed and resolute men, of the breed that has always " yearned beyond the sky-line, where the strange roads go down." From generation to gen- 2 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. eration their ranks have been recruited from many lands and peoples, but predominantly, it would seem, from the Aryan stock. Whether their underlying motive has been born, as among the Phoenicians, of the needs of commerce, of such military ambition as led the Greeks into Persia, or of the fierce love of freedom which urged the Northmen westward over strange seas to Iceland and Greenland, the men who have led their followers into unknown lands have been men of imagination, potential poets, whose epics are writ large in the characters of cities and of civilisations. They have been dreamers of strenuous temperament, with faith and restless power behind their dreams. And the same is true of those later travellers in uncharted ways, who, with scantier fol- lowing, have faced all dangers and difiiculties at the bidding of science or in the cause of their religion. The siren voices of unknown lands have found eager hearkeners through all the ages. But back in the vague dawn-light of history the form of the explorer becomes one witH that of demi-god and hero. In fact, there is no figure about which the glamour of myth gathers more readily, as instanced in the case of Sindbad the Sailor. Him we picture to ourselves only through the magic atmosphere of the Thousand-and-One Mghts. Yet the original Sindbad, the roc's egg and the valley of diamonds notwithstanding, was an actual Arabian traveller, whose voyagings took place as late as the ninth century of the Christian era. By degrees, however, BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 3 tlie need of some systematic record of accurate obser- vations made itself felt. In answer to this need, the science of geography gradually gained in efficiency, until the cool brain of the closet philosopher became a check to the too marvellous narratives of the discoverer. Section 2. The relation of mathematics to geo- graphical discovery has long been a most intimate and important one. The work of the explorer would be to a great extent futile and inconclusive were it not for certain mathematical principles as applied to navigation and to cartography. The difficulty of the problems before the cartographer was increased by the acceptance, as early as the middle of the third century e.g., of the theory of the earth's sphericity. About this time Eratosthenes was able, by observa- tions with the gnomon, to establish certain lines parallel with the equator. But of all the physical inventions that have affected the history of explora- tion, the most important is the mariner's compass, which came into use among western nations some time during the fourteenth century. With the ad- vent of the compass the day of the navigator dawned ; and in 1480 his needs were further served by the application of the astrolabe to the finding of latitude. In map-making, Mercator's projection dates from the seventeenth century; and in navigation the same century saw the gradual displacement of the astro- labe by the cross-staff, which in turn gave place to the sextant. The task of the cartographer wall not 4 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. be finished until all the earth's surface has been mapped from exact trigonometrical surveys. Section 3. In glancing back over the story of exploration and discovery before the beginning of the nineteenth century, it is necessary to touch upon only the greatest figures, and to emphasise only those discoveries which have proved most vitally signifi- cant. Among the earliest to add to the recorded knowledge of strange lands were the Phoenicians of Tyre and Carthage, who sent forth their galleys east and west and south, eager for barter and adven- ture. Their keels were active in the gorgeous trade of the Indian ports, and had pushed far south along the African coast for ladings of gold and ivory and palm oil. These intrepid traders had even found their way westward and north as far as the rich tin mines of the little island destined later to be known to history by the name of England. Important also were the various exjoeditions of discovery in Persia, in India, and along the African coasts, sent out by Alexander the Great, and later, under the dynasties founded by his generals. The Roman Empire, dur- ing its ascendency, must be credited with the ac- complishment of rough but comprehensive surveys of much of Europe and of large districts in Asia and in Africa. Section 4. But the imagination stirs more strongly to the saga-records of the westward voyagings of the ITorthmen into the mystery and menace of un- known seas. To these fierce rovers belongs the dis- BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 5 covery of North America. Colonists and traders as well as vikings, their restless activity found expres- sion along many lines. During the darkest period of the Middle Ages, while their dragon-ships were a terror to Europe, their enterprise in another direction was holding open a commercial route be- tween India and the Baltic. Though their heroic achievements in the vague western world were to prove at last practically barren of results, they yet have interest in imaginative appeal as the first con- tact of our race with the great continent which it was afterwards to control. The westward move- ment of the ISTorthmen began with the colonisa- tion of Iceland in the ninth century, and soon spread to the Greenland coast. In 986 a. d. a young viking named Bjorni, sailing to join the Greenland colony, was carried southward out of his course, and sighted unknown shores. One Leif Erikson, aroused by Bjorni's report, presently sailed for these mysterious new lands, whose coasts he skirted southward to a hospitable region which he named Vineland. This was probably either ]^ova Scotia or the shores of Massachusetts Bay. In Vine- land Leif established a village, and his example was followed by a viking named Thorfinn. But this brave beginning of colonisation was destined to flicker soon into extinction. The tall yellow-haired settlers turned eastward again, or fell in battle with the savages, until all traces of their invasion disap- peared. In 141S the parent colony in Greenland 6 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. was destroyed by the Esquimaux, and nothing re- mained to show for the achievements of Bjorni, Leif and Thorfinn save the poetical narrative of their ad- ventures embodied in two Icelandic sagas. Section 5. For a long time the East held the at- tention of the explorer, while the West awaited Columbus. The name of ]\Iarco Polo is illustrious on the list of travellers of the Middle Ages. Visit- ing the Orient in 1265, he served for many years as an attendant of honour at the court of Kubla Elhan, whose name, for English readers, is chiefly associ- ated with Coleridge's magical and tantalising frag- ment of verse.* The valuable narrative of Polo's travels was dictated while its author, having returned to Europe lay a prisoner in the hands of the Genoese. Much knowledge of the East was gained, also, dur- ing the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, through the missionary enterprise of the Franciscan monks. These zealous priests found their way into Tartary, Western India, China, Persia, Malabar, Sumatra and Java, and were the first to clear up some doubt- ful points about the Caspian Sea. One of these mis- sionary explorers, Friar Odoric of Pordenone, was the first European to visit Lhasa, the sacred city of Tibet. While Odoric was in the midst of his * '* In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree, Where Alph the sacred river ran Tlirough caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. ..." BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 7 wanderings, Ibn Batuta, the greatest of Arabian travellers, was beginning his career. Between 1325 and 1353 Batuta carried on extensive explorations in Persia, Asia Minor, China and Africa.* After the death of this illustrious Arab Spain began to send explorers and diplomatists into the East; and later still our knowledge of the Orient was increased bj the reports and narratives of several Italian travellers of the fifteenth century. Section 6. But before this the focus of interest had shifted from the achievements of the land-trav- eller to those of the navigator. Portugal was easily foremost in the new path opened by the application of the magnetic needle to purposes of navigation. Portugal's most significant figure at this time was Prince Henry the Xavigator, who gave up the pleas- ures of his court to devote himself to the promotion of geographical discovery. His ambition was to find a sea-route to the treasure-houses of Arabia and India. He established himself upon the rugged promontory of Sagres, where he founded his famous school of navigation and devoted all his energies to the advancement of knowledge along his chosen lines. At this time Cape ISTun marked the limit of southward exploration upon the west coast of Africa. Having determined upon the conquest of Guinea, Ho sent a number of small annual expeditions to ex- * A French translation of Ibn Batuta's works was published in 1857 under the auspices of the Asiatic Society of Paris. 8 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. amine beyond this point. Not until 1445, however, did one of his captains push his way as far as the mouth of the Senegal. Ten years later a young Venetian adventurer in the Prince's service led his ships as far south as the Gambia. The death of Prince Henry in 1460 was a great loss to Portugal, but the taste for daring exploration which he had fostered did not fail. After a short period of hesi- tation the Portuguese court continued to despatch expedition after expedition in search of a sea pas- sage to the Indies and far Cathay. Every attempt opened up new reaches of the African coast, until in 1486 Bartholomew Dias succeeded in reaching the southernmost extremity of that mysterious continent. Thus was brought into sight the accomplishment of Portugal's dream, in token of which fact her king named that point the Cape of Good Hope. Section 7. Even the magnificent achievement of Christopher Columbus must render its tribute to the imagination and impulse awakened by Prince Henry the l^avigator. Prom all the world that was sus- ceptible to the glamour of brave doings and splen- did opportunities Portugal had already commanded a wondering admiration by her unprecedented rec- ord of daring exploration. Among the many en- thusiastic pilgrims who sought Lisbon as a Mecca of science and enterprise came one Christopher Colum- bus, a native of Genoa, nursing a project of his own. His dream and his faith were that by sailing into the West he could reach by a new route the treasures BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 9 of the East. Failing at last to impart his belief to the king of Portugal, Columbus left Lisbon and de- voted the next eight years of his life to arousing Spain's interest in his stupendous enterprise. In 1492, under the auspices of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, his three cockle-shell craft set their prows toward the shadowy West. For nearly two and a half months this dauntless dreamer held in check the superstitious fears of his crew, holding to his course upon the lonely seas in spite of doubts and dismays. At last his faith was crowned by the sight of land, now known as Watling Island in the Bahamas. After discovering Cuba and a number of other islands, he turned back without having sighted the mainland of America. His welcome in Spain was one of intensest enthusiasm, and he was speed- ily despatched upon a second voyage with a larger and better equipped fleet. This time he discovered Jamaica and the island of Dominica. iSTot until his third voyage, in 1496, did Columbus touch upon the great new continent to which his daring had opened the way, and then it was South, not Xorth America that he visited. Meantime envy and enmity had prevailed against him at home, and a judge was sent out to the new lands in the West, where a Spanish colony had been founded, to investigate certain charges against the great discoverer. The remain- der of his story is an infamous record of neglect and ingratitude. Although upon his return in irons to Spain he was immediately restored to liberty, 10 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. and even, after a time, sent upon a fourth expedi- tion of discoverj, this great man died in 1506 broken with poverty and disappointment, and forgotten by the country to whose glory he had so greatly contributed. Section 8. In the meantime the Portuguese had not relinquished their dream of a sea-path around Africa to the jewels and spices of the East, a dream whose realisation was to fall to the lot of Vasco da Gama. This intrepid captain, with a fleet of four ships, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, and early in the ensuing year dropped anchor before Calicut. Close upon the heels of this achievement was despatched a fleet of thirteen armed vessels un- der a Portuguese commander named Cabral. This expedition, en route for Calicut, discovered the coast of Brazil. In 152-i Da Gama died viceroy of India. He had wrought a revolution in the commerce of the East, his ships drawing heavily upon that glit- tering stream of jewels, silks and spices which had previously poured by caravan routes into Alexan- dria and Beyrout, whence its distribution had been controlled by the Italian merchant-republics. Hav- ing achieved this, their primary object, the Portu- guese did not rest content, but continued to pusK their way southward into Africa and northward into Central Asia. Their Jesuit mission in Abyssinia extended its influence to the kingdom of Congo, and by the seventeenth century Portugal was the dom- inant power in eastern waters, having established her trade from the Red Sea to China. BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. H Section 9. Although Spain had forgotten Colum- bus in his dark days, she did not forget the possibil- ities he had opened up before her. The adventur- ous zeal which Prince Henry the Navigator had awakened, and to which Columbus had given a new direction, continued at flood in all western countries during the sixteenth century. The work of discov- ery in the New World was carried on with eager zest by adventurers too many to call for enumeration here. One of these, however, a Florentine named Amerigo Vespucci, demands special mention because of the unique distinction awarded him by a whim of chance as the author of a successful book. The nar- rative of his four voyages to the new shores beyond the western sea achieved a wide popularity, and what is now Brazil was named America in his honour. This name was gradually extended in its applica- tion, until it finally came about that two vast con- tinents served to perpetuate the memory of an ob- scure writer and adventurer.* The story of Spanish conquest in America abounds in stirring romance, but lies outside the purpose of this hasty survey. Only a few significant points demand notice here. In 1513 Vasco ISFufiez de Bal- boa, leading an expedition of conquest in Darien, discovered and named the Pacific Ocean, whose waters, when first seen from a western height of * The earliest existing map on which this name appears is the Mappe Monde of Leonardo da Vinci (about 1514), where " America " is inscribed across the southern continent. 12 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. land, stretched away in an expanse of smiling calm. The power of Spain in the West spread rapidly dur- ing the early part of the sixteenth century, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Florida being added in s\vift succession to the list of her discoveries and acquisitions. Section 10. But Spain's absorbing interest in these new lands and seas was not all due to the zeal of colonisation and of winning new worlds to the faith of Christ. As in the case of Portugal, she, too, was possessed of a dream which had its roots in the needs of commerce. She desired a westward route to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of the East. The first attempt made by the government in this direction closed disastrously. The second, led by the great Magellan, accomplished, for the first time in the world's history, the circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan was a Portuguese, and was already known as a skilled and fearless navigator when he offered his services to Spain. In 1519, with five ships, he started on the voyage which was destined to set him second only to Columbus in the annals of magnificent and daring navigation. A little more than a year from the time of leaving San Lucar, Magellan, with only three remaining of his five ships, sailed into the strait which bears his name. The land on the southern horizon was lurid with volcanic fires, a fact which won it the splendid and desolate title of Tierra del Puego. After entering the Pacific Ocean this unsated adventurer sailed BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 13 Steadily north-west, and in a little more than three months' time reached the Ladrone Islands. Steer- ing thence to the Philippines, he was killed in a skirmish with the natives of Matan. A year and five months later one of his ships, with the few sur- vivors of the expedition on board, re-entered the port of San Lucar under the command of Sebastian del Cano. To Del Cano, who had brought his remnant back by way of the Cape of Good Hope, and was thus the first to actually circumnavigate the globe, fell honour, fortune and acclaim. Section 11. The flame so carefully nourished by Prince Henry the Navigator had spread and in- creased until the love of daring adventure had be- come the dominant spirit of the age. The western nations of Europe were alive with it, England, France and Holland pressing enthusiastically in the footsteps of Portugal and Spain. The men who first stimulated English enterprise in this direction, and who may be said to have laid the foundations on which England was afterward to build her com- mercial and colonial greatness, were John and Sebas- tian Cabot, father and son, Venetians who had settled at Bristol. These two sailed under royal commission in 1496 to seek unknown lands in Eng- land's name. To them we owe the rediscovery of Newfoundland and part of the coast of North America. On a second voyage they sought a way to India by the north-west, but were early forced back by the Arctic ice. Later it was Sebastian Cabot, 14 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. then at the head of the Society of Merchant Adven- turers, who suggested an English expedition in search of a north-east passage to Cipango and Cathay. With this end in view a fleet was des- patched in 1553 under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. Willoughby and his crew perished on the Lapland coast, but one of his vessels, captained by Richard Chancellor, reached Archangel. After an overland journey. Chancellor entered Moscow, and out of the relations thus established sprang England's trade with Russia. Section 12. Their interest once aroused, the Eng- lish were not sluggish in the matter of maritime enterprise. In this connection the name of Richard Hakluyt cannot be ignored, being illustrious for the promotion and recording of the achievements of the Elizabethan navigators. The main object before the imagination of the English adventurer at this time was the discovery of a north-west passage to the ever-desired treasures of the East. Virginia proved a lode-star to other restless spirits, while still others turned their energies to stirring up the Span- ish settlements in the Indies. Martin Frobisher, aiming at a north-west passage in 1576, discovered part of the coast of Labrador and the so-called Frobisher Strait, which is really a deep bay. Some years later John Davis, sailing on the same quest in the employ of certain British merchants, discov- ered the strait which now bears the name of Hud- son. Other expeditions followed. Between 1606 BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 15 and 1611 Henry Hudson made four voyages into the north-west, in the course of which he discovered the Hudson River and Hudson's Bay. The story of his tragic death amid the wide and desolate waters that bear his name is well kno^^^l. But the most successful Arctic voyage of the seventeenth century was that piloted by William Baffin, who sailed a course which no ship succeeded in following during the next two hundred years. In a little vessel of only 35 tons, called the Discovery, he forced his way to the north water of Baffin's Bay, and returned by skirting the western shore. To the Dutch also belongs credit for important work in the Arctic. Having a valuable trade with Kola and Archangel, they greatly desired to find a north-east passage around Xova Zembla. It was while striving toward this end that William Barents in 1596 discovered Spitzbergen. Barents succeeded in rounding the north of Nova Zembla, but beneath the bitter hardships of the Arctic winter he paid for his daring with his life. Section 13. Meanwhile, in the early half of the sixteenth century, the French had inaugurated a policy of discovery and colonisation in ISTorth America. In 1534 Jacques Cartier, sailing for the king of France, discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, through which he imagined lay a new route to the far East. During a second voyage he ascended the St. Lawrence River to an Indian town on the site where Montreal now stands. To a date nearly two- 16 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. thirds of a century later than Cartier's time belong the explorations of Samuel Champlain, who carried on the work of the St. Malo mariner. In 1609 Champlain ascended the Iroquois to the lake which bears his name. He died in 1035, having added greatly to the knowledge of Canada and Acadia. While France was thus directing much of her enter- prise toward North America, English navigators were spreading their energies along more scattering and irresponsible lines, trading and buccaneering in the South Seas, or winning individual glory by feats of intrepid seamanship. Such men as Drake, Hawkins and Cavendish, though adding little in the way of actual discoveries, were doing much for the renown of English navigation. Drake, in the Golden Hind, was the first Englishman to follow in the track of Magellan. In the course of his famous voyage (1577-1580) he discovered, but did not round, the southernmost point of Tierra del Euego. Thomas Cavendish was another successful circumnavigator of about this time. Sir Richard Hawkins made a similar attempt, but fell into the hands of the Spaniards. Spain, meanwhile, had been exploring the Amazon, and extending her col- onising efforts into Australasia. Section 14. Located antipodally to Europe, Aus- tralia entered late into the story of the world's ex- ploration. It is not quite clear to whom the credit of its first discovery is due, but the Dutch were early and energetic in the field and the continent BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. I7 for some time bore the name of New Holland. Yet as late as 1642 only the northern and western coasts had been visited. In that year Governor Van Diemen of Batavia sent out two ships under the command of a Captain Tasman, and great gains to geography accrued therefrom. Tasman discovered Van Diemen's Land, jSTew Zealand, one of the group afterwards named the Friendly Islands, and the north coast of N'ew Guinea. Swan River was discovered in 1697, and named from the black Australian swans floating upon its current. About this time the picturesque figure of Dampier, buc- caneer and author, appears upon the scene. To him we owe the discovery of Dampier's Strait, and the exploration of parts of the Australian and New Guinea coasts. Section 15. "With the eighteenth century we find the motives behind the explorer changing in the direction which was still more markedly to characterise the nineteenth. Expeditions began to be fitted out for the acquirement of geographical knowledge, independently of motives of trade or conquest. To the early part of the eighteenth century belongs the Jesuit survey of China, not least remarkable among the many achievements of the indefatigable " Brothers of Jesus." In Arabia valuable work was done by the Danish scientific mission whose results are recorded in Niebuhr's Descriptions of Arabia (1772). Prominent in the annals of African exploration at this period is the 18 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. name of Janies Bruce of Kinnaird. After some years of varied adventure in the cause of science, Bruce landed in Abyssinia in 17 G 9, determined upon solving the hoary geographical problem of tlie Nile's source. Reaching the head of the Abai, which was then regarded as the main stream of the Nile, he rested content in the supposed accomplishment of his purpose. In 1788 an association was foi-med in England with the purj)ose of collecting information concerning the interior of Africa. Under the aus- pices of this African Association a young man named Mungo Park made a most interesting attempt to trace the course of the Niger, whose identity some geographers confused with that of the Congo. A second expedition under Park tried to descend the Niger to the sea, but the entire party perished in the attempt. Steady advance was made in Polynesian explora- tion during the eighteenth century, islands and island groups being rapidly added to the charts. The Dutch discovered Easter Island in 1722, and an English expedition of 1767-69 made knoAvn Tahiti, Sir Charles Saunders's Island, the Charlotte and Gloucester Island, and Pitcairn Island. But in m'any respects the most valuable work of the cen- tury was that of Captain Cook. In 1767 James Cook, who had begun life in the unpromising em- ployment of a haberdasher's apprentice, led a scien- tific expedition to Tahiti for the purpose of making certain astronomical observations. During a stay BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. IQ of more tlian three years in that region, Cook ex- plored the Society Islands and surveyed much of the coast of New Zealand and of jSTew South Wales. On a se-cond voyage he turned his attention to Ant- arctic exploration, reaching a latitude of 57° 15' S. After returning to the Society Islands he again sailed toward the Pole until he was stopped by ice at a south latitude of 71° 10". The next enterprise of this tireless mariner was at the other end of the earth, his object being to make a north-east passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. In 1778 he deter- mined the westernmost point of America. Then, after passing through Behring Strait he reached a north latitude of 70° 41', but was turned back by the ice. Having discovered Cape ISTorth on the Asiatic shore, Cook revisited the Sandmch Islands, where he was murdered by the natives. About the time of Cook's voyages there was a distinct revival of the spirit of geographical discovery, which had suffered a gradual decline since the beginning of the seven- teenth century. This new interest looked mainly in the direction of the southern Polar seas. In 1771 Kerguelen Island was discovered by a French ship under M. Kerguelen, and in 1785 Prance sent out a carefully planned expedition commanded by La Perouse. After a daring and extended voyage in the mysterious Antarctic waters, men and ships per- ished in a hurricane near the island of Vanikoro, their fate remaining a mystery for forty years. Although interest during the 18th century centered 20 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. chiefly in the southern and Antarctic seas, and in the quest for " the great southern continent," the Arctic was not entirely neglected. The Russians had surveyed the whole of the northern coast of Siberia, and Vitus Behring, a Dane in the Russian service, had discovered, in 1728, the strait which separates Asia and America. In 17T0 a sledge ex- pedition, led by a Russian merchant, discovered the New Siberian Islands, famous for their treasure of fossil ivory, English enterprise in the Arctic had been kept alive by the Royal Society and the Hud- son's Bay Company. At the instigation of the lat- ter body, attempts were made to discover a passage westward from Hudson's Bay, and also to reach the unknown sea to the north of America. This last was accomplished at two points, an expedition descend- ing the Coppermine River to its outlet in the Arctic Ocean in 1771, and another, in 1789, reaching the mouth of the Mackenzie River. In 1773, at the sug- gestion of the Royal Society, a scientific attempt was made to reach the North Pole. This expedition, commanded by Captains Phipps and Lutwidge, was stopped by ice at latitude 80° 48' N. Prom 1793 to 1815 practically all European enterprise in this direction of exploration was checked by the shadow of the Napoleonic wars. Section 16. The nineteenth century, with which this book is to deal, is characterised by the fact that the motives behind its expeditions of discovery have been predominantly scientific. The splendid dreams BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 21 of new empires and golden sources of trade have faded into the past, and their place is usurped by the thirst for knowledge for its own sake. The explorer himself may be now, as of old, a dreamer actuated by love of fame and adventure, but the avowed aim of the government behind him is the advancement of science, and it is in proportion as he accomplishes this end that the enthusiasm of the world greets his achievemeut. In Africa, it is true, we still see the empire-builder at the heels of the explorer. But the most expensive as well as the most heroic explora- tions of the century have been directed toward the spectral Arctic regions, where colonisation is impos- sible, but where science looks for rich reward. An accurate map of the world at the beginning of the century would show vast unexplored regions in the Arctic and Antarctic, in Africa, in x\ustralia and in South America ; while the interior of Asia, and great tracts in l^orth America, held many problems for the geographer. Since then the advance of the explorer has been steady and systematic. Yet in the enormous unexplored tracts of the Antarctic seas it is safe to say that an unknown continent waits with all its secrets behind the southern ice-packs; and in the unmapped area around the ^STorth Pole, which has only one-third the extent of that in the Antarctic, room might yet be found for more than a dozen countries the size of England. In Africa, a con- siderable section of the Sahara lying to the south of Algeria is still a blank upon tho map. Another un- 22 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. known district of even greater extent lies in the very centre of the continent; and farther to the eastward again the valley of the Sobat awaits an explorer. In Asia a considerable portion of Arabia remains dark, and Tibet still guards her mysteries. A vast district lying to the north-west in South America, the forest- clad region in which the dreams of the sixteenth century adventurers located El Dorado, is still un- explored ; and southward again in the same continent lie a number of other sections yet unknown. Almost every civilised country has now its Geo- graphical Society. Yet much remains to be done; and the field still calls for men of heroic fibre and incisive judgment. Undoubtedly the most difficult stronghold of the geographical Sphinx is now be- neath the vast and desolate skies of the Antarctic; while South America offers kindlier but scarcely less important opportunities for the explorer of the twentieth century. To-day the known world means those lands which are known to the map-makers of all civilised nations. But our knowledge of any portion of the earth is a matter of degree, and the light of science is con- stantly revealing new worlds long after the foot- steps of the explorer have passed on. Dr. Mill has well said : " Despite recent advances, there is no place even yet fully known, but, notwithstanding our ignorance, none concerning which there is not Bome twilight glimmering of information. ... As the wave of exact topographical exploration ad- BRIEF SURVEY OF EXPLORATION. 23 vanccs, it is being followed by a wave of geological exploration, the outcome of which is the geological map. That again should be followed — though of this there is as yet no sign anywhere — by the special surveys necessary for good maps of the distribution of climate, vegetation, economic products, population and industries. In a sense, any region is unknown until all these surveys have been, completed." This book, however, wall concern itself little with the secondary and more minute explorations, the results of which appeal rather to the specialist in various branches of science than to the general reader. PART IT. AECTIC EXPLORATION. CHAPTER II. DISCOVERIES DURING THE FIRST THIRTY YEARS OF THE CENTURY. Section 1. The glamour of the white north has cast its spell upon this most imaginative century. Under its influence men have forced the North-West and North-East Passages ; traced the perilous north- ern coast of America, discovered the North Magnetic Pole, and added to the maps vast unknown lands and frozen archipelagoes. We have pushed nearer, too, than ever before, to the North Pole, that strange lodestone of the adventurous heart. At varying in- tervals during the last hundred years the exploring nations of the world — and to-day these are mainlj of our own stock-race — have been possessed with the fever of Arctic enterprise. In the words of Dr. Hugh Robert Mill : " Polar research is a survival, or rather an evolution, of knight-errantry, and our Childe Rolands challenge the 'Dark Tower of the North/ as dauntlessly as ever their forebears wound DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 05 slug-horn at the gate of enchanted castle. The ' woe of years ' invests the quest witH elements which redeem failure from disgrace ; but whoever succeeds in overcoming the difficulties that have baffled all the ' lost adventurers ' wiJI make the world ring with his fame as it never rang before." In the past men thrust their ships into Arctic waters lured by the golden dream that so long pos- sessed the western nations of Europe, guessing that here was a gate of ice opening a shorter way to the fragrant treasure-house of the East. x\t this day, except for the waning industry of the whale fisheries, commerce has little at stake in these iron seas. The IsTorth-West Passage by ship has been accomplished, and proved impracticable. But where even the vis- ionary eyes of trade could see only groaning ice- packs and limitless desolation, science discovered vast and stimulating possibilities. To the hunger for knowledge, that last and highest motive of geo- graphical discovery, must be credited the Arctic work of the century. An idea of the importance of this work, from a scientific point of view, may be gathered from the following words of General A. W. Greely, an authority upon Arctic achievements and himself illustrious in that heroic field : " Within the Arctic Circle have been located and determined the poles of the triple magnetic forces. In its bar- ometric pressures, with their regular phases, have been found the dominating causes that affect the cli- mates of the northern parts of America, Asia, and 26 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Europe. From its sea-soundings, serial tempera- tures, and hjdrographic surveys have been evolved that most satisfactory theory of a vertical inter- oceanic circulation. A handful of its dried plants enabled a botanist to prophetically forecast the gen- eral character of unknown lands, and in its fossil plants another scientist has read unerringly the story of tremendous climatic changes that have metamor- phosed the face of the earth. Its peculiar tides have indicated clearly the influences exerted by the stellar worlds upon our own, and to its ice-clad lands science inquiringly turns for data to solve the glacial riddles of lower latitudes." A curious feature of these sinister regions, where frost and berg and grinding floe menace the adven- turer, and peril becomes as his shadow in the white solitudes, is their salubrity. ISTo noxious germs can exist in this tonic and antiseptic air. Dr. Conan Doyle, who draws his impressions from a smnmer on an Arctic whaler, speaks with enthusiasm of the peculiar fascination of these chilly seas. He says: " It is a region of purity, of white ice and of blue water, with no human dwelling within a thousand miles to sully the freshness of the breeze which blows across the ice-fields. And then it is a region of ro- mance also. You stand on the very brink of the unknown, and every duck that you shoot bears peb- bles in its gizzard which come from a land which the maps know not." Section 2. The Arctic Sea occupies a huge basiu DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 27 fringed by the frozen northern shores of Europe, Asia and America. Through three channels ships from the outer ocean may enter these ice-bounded waters. The widest of these channels, measuring 660 miles at its narrowest part, gives upon the North Atlantic between Greenland and Europe. Another lies to the west of Greenland, by way of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, with a width of about 165 miles at the Arctic Circle. The third, and narrowest, is Bering Strait, the only communication between the smiling Pacific and the spectral polar seas. Through the long sunless winter this sea is frozen in every direction, the ice-pack groaning aiid rending in the grip of black tide-races and great icy winds. Then cold and desolation are supreme. In the pro- longed absence of the sun, life takes on a sense of weirdness and unreality. When the rustling fingers of the Aurora shake luminously across the sky, the Eskimo dogs crouch upon the snow, howling witH strange superstitious fear. In the brief but brilliant Arctic summer, when the sun at midnight wraps the snow of the hills in all the tints of the rainbow, the sea-ice breaks up into floes which drift away southward to cool the ISTorth At- lantic, or become embayed along the coasts of islands and continents. These great fields of ice are traversed by " leads " or lanes of open water, which, with a shift of wind, may close or open in an hour. The whaling captains say that sometimes, in rare years, the pack opens to the Polej but if this be so, 28 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. no ship has yet seized the opportunity offered. In summer, too, the icebergs, in silver procession, file out from their imprisoning fiords and bays where the great glaciers creep down to the sea. By July, the sombre cliffs are noisy with sea-birds, and the blue waters alive with furred and finny monsters. Then the saxifrage and the buttercup and the yellow 'Arctic poppy make bright the meagre patches of sun- steeped soil. There is a stir, too, of insect life, and butterflies, no less daring than the flowers, blossom upon the air. Dr. Eobert Brown, in one of his visits to the Arctic region, found it convenient to sleep by day and travel by night — the sun being then still above the horizon — to escape the intense heat of noon upon a treeless land. Mirages, too, during the long months of daylight, appear in the sky, rivalling those of tropical deserts. WTiile more than a third of the 8,201,883 square miles surrounded by the Arctic Circle remains un- known, it is not possible to speak definitely of the region as a whole. The area is too vast. It can be safely said, however, that the wooded country does not find its way across the Arctic Circle except in some few parts of Siberia and Russia, in Lapland, and along the American shore of Bering Strait. At best these dreary forests are desolate and depressing, their spruce and firs, bearded with long gray lichens, giving a funereal aspect that is not lessened by the forlorn and stunted specimens of white bircH. Yet within this ice-chilled region more than 700 species DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 29 of flowering plants and nearly 1,000 varieties of cryptogams have been discovered. For the human races which inhabit the margin of the Arctic, life is strenuous and uncertain. In Arc- tic Europe and Asia the Laps and Samoyeds migrate with their herds of reindeer in patriarchal fashion between the coast in summer and the inland plains in winter. When we come to the warlike and inde- pendent Tchuktches, living along the Asiatic shores of Bering Strait, we find them about equally divided into two classes; one of these, owning no herds, is confined to the coast, while the other, living by trade and reindeer-raising, leads an untrammelled nomadic life. Along the Arctic fringe of America, and up the Greenland coasts, are spread the mild and semi- communistic Eskimo people. This race, owing to its immemorial feud with the Indian tribes of the in- terior, is practically confined to the bleak shores of the Polar Sea. With the exception of the musk ox and the caribou, the Eskimos have no means of sup- port away from the coast. The sea and the ice-floe are their larder, and God's bounty is upon them when the soft-eyed seals herd plentifully. The roaring of the fierce bull walrus and the noiseless prowling of the sinister white bear are their assur- ances against starvation. Section 3. In 1818, through the influence of Sir John Barrow, then Secretary of the Admiralty, a law was passed in Great Britain for the promotion of polar discovery. Under this law a reward of 30 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. £20,000 was offered for making the North- West Pas- sage, and the sum of £5,000 for the first who should achieve the 89th parallel of north latitude. In the same year two expeditions were despatched, one to seek a passage westward, by way of Davis Strait, to the Pacific, the other with instructions to reach the same goal by crossing the North Pole. The two vessels of the latter expedition, commanded by Cap- tain D. Buchan, seconded by Lieutenant John Frank- lin, sailing by the Spitzbergen route, were beset by ice at 80° 38' N. Freed by a storm, they returned to England in an almost sinking condition, having failed utterly of their vast undertaking. The expedition under Captain John Ross, al- though it also fell completely short of its purpose, was not so barren of results. Advised by the ice- bound whaling fleet at Hare Island, Ross's two vesr sals hugged the western coast of Greenland as they worked north through the ice-floes. At 76° 54' N., his farthest northing, Ross formed the mistaken opinion that there was no opening northward from Baffin Bay. Similar hasty conclusions marred the remainder of the voyage, robbing the expedition of discoveries which were actually within its grasp. Turning south-westward, he passed Jones Sound, which was ice-blocked, and sailed some 50 miles westward into Lancaster Sound. Deceived by a mirage, " he made the astonishing error of thinking this waterway, 30 miles wide, was only a bay sur- rounded by mountains." Ross then returned to England, DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 31 Baffin Bay, discovered by William Baffin in 1616, had come to be regarded as mythical by the map- makers. Its re-discovery by Eoss not only rehabili- tated the fame of its discoverer, but opened a rich field for adventurous whaling fleets in the " North Water " of the Bay. The most picturesque addi- tions to our knowledge of the Arctic contributed by Eo9s's voyage were gathered along the wild west coast of Greenland. JSTear Cape York, Eoss found the Etah Eskimos, hitherto unknown, to whom he gave the name of Arctic Highlanders. This tribe is of unique interest even among the strange peoples of their icy lands. Their habitat forms the most northerly outpost of the human race. Possessing no boats, and cut off from their southerly kin by the huge glaciers of Melville Bay, they are a completely isolated people. Along the gigantic cliffs, deep in- lets, and rocky island fringe of the sombre coast they range as far as 79° north. Among their goods and chattels are dogs, sledges, and curious knives of meteoric iron. At Cape Dudley Digges, beyond Cape York, Eoss observed the interesting phe- nomenon of red snow {Protococcus nivalis). Section 4. Within a month of the return of this expedition another attempt to discover a JSTorth-West Passage was determined upon. William Edward Parry, who had accompanied Eoss, was put in com- mand. After skirting the Greenland coast to 73° IsT., he fearlessly thrust his ships, the Heda and the Griper, into the " Middle Ice " of Baffin Bay, fore- Sf? DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ing tHem through to Lancaster Sound, which he was thus able to reach bj the 1st of August, 1819. This water being clear of ice, he pushed eagerly westward into the unknown. The surrounding mountains of the previous year had disappeared. Through a magnificent waterway, with unknown lands opening out on either hand, and blue channels that had never known a keel luring him on the north and south, he held steadily west. On this course the variation of the compass increased rapidly until at one point the needle indicated due south instead of north. At Byan Martin Island, to the north of Parry Sound, the dip of the suspended needle was within little more than one and a half degrees of vertical. Cap- tain Sabine, the scientist of the expedition, took magnetic observations on this voyage which supplied a completely new set of facts. Heavy ice forced Parry into winter quarters on Melville Island, which he partially surveyed. In spite of his impatience, it was the 8tli of August, 1820, before he could again make sail westward, and then his high hopes were swiftly shattered. A channel which He named Banks Strait was all that separated him from the Polar Sea; but every effort to work his ships among the great floe-bergs and an- cient ice that blocked this channel ended in failure. On the way home. Parry discovered an Eskimo set- tlement at the mouth of Lancaster Sound. The ex- pedition reached England in ISTovember, after a voyage which, though failing of its main purpose, DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 33 had accomplished more for Arctic exploration than any since the days of Baffin. Parry's ships were the first to pass hetween the North and the North Mag- netic Poles, and his discoveries include the great archipelago which bears his name. His farthest west was 114° W. longitude, which is more than half way from Greenland to Bering Strait. Secfion 5. Meanwhile, Parry's friend, Franklin, was leading an overland expedition through Arctic America, to survey its frozen coasts, which had hitherto been touched at only two points, by Ilearne and Mackenzie. His terrible sufferings and splen- did achievement under strange conditions and in the face of unfamiliar emergencies are described in this book under the head of exploration in Canada. So enthusiastic was England over Parry's work that the Admiralty immediately gave him command of another venture. No word had returned as yet to tell of Franklin's discoveries, but Parry felt con- vinced that the ice conditions along the unknown Arctic coast of America would prove even more favourable to navigation than the course he had pre- viously opened through Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait and Melville Sound. Leaving England in May, 1821, he sailed through the fierce tide races of Hudson Strait, crossed the mouth of Fox Channel which perpetuates the name of that quaint old ad- venturer, " North- West Foxe," and entered Repulse Bay. For nearly a hundred years this bay had been a subject of controversy, many believing it to be a u 34 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. strait, and one of the links in the long-sought North-West Passage. Parry's survey settled this dispute forever. Returning to Fox Channel, the Fury and Hecla turned northward. Ice delayed them, and further time was lost in the blind alley of Lyons Inlet, which seemed at first to offer a passage westward. Driven south again by a storm, Parry went into winter quarters at Winter Island, just north of Lyons Inlet. During the long dark season of biting winds the monotony of waiting was broken by seal and walrus hunts, and by intercourse with the neighbouring Eskimo. These people have a remarkable faculty for roughly charting lands and waters through which they have hunted or migrated. From the maps which they drew for him. Parry learned of an un- known strait to the north of Melville Peninsula. This he afterwards named Fury and Hecla in Honour of his ships. By July 12, 1822, the ice had so far broken up as to permit his advance northward to Ilecla and Fury Strait, which he entered, only to be stopped by an impassable floe. This remained solid all summer, but as Parry firmly believed that once through this strait his keels would cut the western polar sea, he waited determinedly, preparing winter quarters at Igloolik, at the eastern entrance. But the following spring found the men of the expedition in such a state of lowered vitality that their leader was com- pelled to turn his reluctant prows toward England. DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 35 Section 6. In spite of the comparative lack of results from this voyage, the enthusiasm of Arctic enterprise remained unabated in England. In 1824, the Government planned four expeditions, all of which aimed, either directly or indirectly, at the solution of the ancient problem of a North- West Pas- sage for ships. One of these was commanded by the daring and experienced Parry, whose confidence in the feasibility of the undertaking remained un- shaken. Sailing again in the Hecla and Fury, he did not reach Lancaster Sound until September 10, 1824, having met with disheartening delays among the ice of Baffin Bay. His plan this time was to push through Prince Kegent Inlet, which he had dis- covered in 1819 opening from the south of Barrow Strait. From this waterway he trusted to finding another channel leading westward. But again the chances of the Arctic doomed this great navigator to disappointment. N'ew ice formed rapidly, and he was forced into winter quarters on the desolate shore of Port Bowen, Prince Regent Inlet. On the 12th of July, 1825, his ships again set sail southward. In opposition to Parry's own canons of ice-naviga- tion, they followed the west instead of the east coast of the inlet. Meeting with fierce storms and heavy ice, the Fury was driven ashore four times, and at last had to be abandoned with all her stores. Dis- couraged and baffled, the expedition returned to England in the Hecla. Captain Lyon, in the Griper, left England the 36 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. same summer as Parry, with orders to winter at Re- pulse Bay, and explore by sledge in the spring the unknown coast of America as far as Point Turn- again of Franklin's first journey. After some ter- rible experiences among the ice, the Griper returned in a battered condition, without having even reached Kepulse Bay. The second journey of Franklin through Arctic Canada, and his exploration of hundreds of miles of unknown coast, are described elsewhere. A co- operating expedition under Beechey in the Blossom entered Bering Strait from the Pacific, August, 1826, and sailed eastward as far as 163° 40' W. From this point a barge was sent forward under the command of Elson, Beechey's mate. Elson passed Icy Cape, never before doubled, and followed the unknown coast for 126 miles to Point Barrow, 10° 24' K, 156° 22' W. Next to Boothia Felix, this is the most northerly point of the American con- tinent. Franklin and Elson failed to connect their discoveries by some 160 miles. Meanwhile, Captain Edward Sabine had been en- larging our scientific knowledge of polar regions by his important pendulum observations, carried out mainly at Pendulum Island, on the east coast of Greenland. This Avas in 1823. Associated with Sabine was Captain Clavcring, who skirted in his ship the looming and inhospitable coast from 72° 5' K to 75° 12' K, and explored by boat Gale Hamke Bay. In this forbidding region of towering DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 37 cliffs and immense glaciers he was astonished to find a settlement of Eskimo. Their houses were seal-skin tents pitched upon the dreary beach, where a number of rough graves gave evidence that they were not a mere migratory band. Section 7. From 1821 to 1824, Russian enter- prise had been directed toward that rugged scimitar of land which thrusts northward through the frozen seas, looking on the map as if the Ural Mountains had far overstepped the northern limits of the con- tinent. Centuries ago a Russian fisherman named this strait-divided island Nova Zembla, " New Land." Still earlier, its southern shores were fa- miliar to the Novgorod hunters. But its most ro- mantic association is with the heroic name of William Barents, who came to his death upon its desolate northern coasts more than three hundred years ago. During the period mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph Captain Llltke explored and surveyed the west coast as far north as Cape Anjou, at the same time gathering important hydrographical ob- servations. The New Siberia Islands, known during the previous century for their wealth of fossil ivory, were surveyed by a Russian officer named Iledcn- strom, from 1809 to 1812. In 1821 Lieutenant Anjou made a more exhaustive survey of these is- lands, and examined the ice conditions to the north. He found advance in that direction impossible after some twenty or thirty miles, owing to thin ice and 38 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. " open water. Baron Wrangcl, carrying on investi- gations from the mouth of the Kolyma between 1820 and 1823, was also stopped by thin ice in his attempts to push northward. But daring and valuable as was the Arctic work done by Russians during the first quarter of this century, its results as shown upon the maps of ordinary scale are represented by a few new islands and island groups in the shallow Siberian Ocean. Section 8. In 1827 Parry made a determined push for the Pole. Sailing in the Hecla, he fol- lowed the Spitzbergen route from the North At- lantic, which Greely considers " unquestionably the most promising of navigable routes." On the 21st of June Parry left the Hecla in Trurenburg Bay, and continued northward with two sledge boats. These w^ere boats fitted with steel-shod runners for crossing ice. His party numbered 28, and was pro- visioned for 71 days. Land once left behind, their progress was slow and arduous. Day was given up to rest, the journey being resumed at 6 p.m. and continued until morning. Pog, rain, the roughness of the ice and the smallness of the floes impeded their march, and the same road had often to be travelled as many as five times, the way being so diffi- cult that the whole load could not be taken forward at once. At first they succeeded in lessening their distance from the Pole at the rate of five miles a day, but at last they found that the ice was drifting them south faster than they could struggle north. On DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 39 July 24tli Pariy achieved his extreme northerly point, 82° 45' K, 20° E. Two days later he had lost ground. He had, however, secured the record for " farthest north," which was not broken for 48 years. This voyage crowned the career of one of the greatest of Arctic navigators. Parry, together with his friend Franklin, who had just returned from his great overland journey, received the honour of knighthood for his achievements. The ice over which Parry had dragged his sledge boats was part of what is knov^Ti to explorers as " the palseocrystic sea," and called by the whalers, in more vigorous phrase, " the barrier." A ship sailing north between Greenland and Spitzbergen, after bat- tling its way among treacherous lloes, is stopped somewhere about the eighty-first degree by a vast reef or wall of ancient and rugged ice. This im- penetrable ice-pack, w'hich grinds and groans at the mercy of wdnd and tide, appears to be the final bar- rier between man and the Pole. The huge floe-bergs whose birthplace lies somewhere within this palseo- crystic sea have been known to attain a thickness of 600 to 900 feet. It is estimated, from their average yearly accretion, that such a berg must have been in the earlier stages of its formation while Solomon was building the temple. Gen. A. W. Greely argues from these floe-bergs, which differ in shape and character from the ordinary icebergs, the existence of low-lying lands supporting a vast polar ice-cap, by which the sea is constantly fed with these tremen- 40 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. dous floating table-lands of ice. Others believe that the floe-bergs are born of the sea itself. Accord- ing to this theory they are masses of floe ice which have been imprisoned for hundreds or even thou- sands of years in these most northern waters, growing slowly to their gigantic proportions by yearly ac- cumulations of frozen and compacted snow. Under the impulsion of tides, winds and currents this ter- rible circumpolar ice-pack undergoes changes, vast in themselves, but slight in comparison with the whole area concerned. Thus at times, for some thousand square miles, its surface may present the appearance of a frozen ocean ; at others it reveals open spaces of varying size, but sometimes so large as to have given rise to the idea of an open polar sea. Over these solitudes of ancient ice broods the deepest mystery of the Arctic. Section 9. Greenland, the great mother of gla- ciers, is a continental mass of land stretching from within six degrees of the Pole to seven below the Arctic Circle. Its lofty ice-capped plateau is lifted on precipitous cliffs above the sea, but this dark margin is fringed and bitten by many deep fiords and sheer clefts through which the inland ice grinds its way to the sea. The population of Greenland consists mainly of Danish Eskimos, who number more than ten thousand and occupy the western coast from Cape Farewell to Tasiusak. ISTorth of these, and isolated from them, is the small tribe of Cape York Eskimos already mentioned. Along the little-known DISCOVERIES DURING FIRST THIRTY YEARS. 41 western coast, whose looming cliffs are shrouded in perpetual fog, are scattered other tribes amount- ing to some six hundred souls. These natives regard the unknown interior with superstitious dread. To them the permanent ice-sheet, which covers nine- tenths of the continent to a possible depth of 3,000 feet, is peopled with evil and terrible spirits, in- habiting monstrous forms. Of all the problems presented by this strange land, none so grips the imagination as that of the lost colonies of the Eastern Bygd, supposed to have been located somewhere near the south-east corner of Greenland. The story of the Eastern Bygd may be concisely stated in the words of Doctor Conan Doyle : " It is a commonplace of history that when Iceland was one of the centres of civilisation in Europe, the Icelanders budded off a colony upon Greenland, which throve and flourished, and produced sagas of its o^vTi, and waged war with the Skraeglings or Eskimos, and generally sang and fought and drank in the bad, old, full-blooded fashion. So prosperous did they become that they built them a cathedral and sent to Denmark for a bishop. The bishop, how- ever, was prevented from reaching his see by some sudden climatic change which brought the ice down between Iceland and Greenland, and from that day (it was in the fourteenth century) to this no one has penetrated that ice, nor has it ever been ascer- tained what became of that ancient city, or of its in- habitants." 42 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Lieutenant W. A. Graab, of the Danish Navy, was the first modern explorer to visit south-east Greenland. At Julianehaab, in the extreme south of the continent, he wintered, preparatory to his search for these " lost colonies." He spent the time waiting in the examination of curious ruins along the Julianehaab coast. Holm, who studied these more carefully half a century later, reports that there are 100 known groups, each group consisting of from one to thirty ruined buildings. Among these are several well-built stone churches, and some archae- ologists believe that here, at the outset, Graah stood among the only remaining traces of the lost civilisa- tion which he sought. However this may be, in the spring of 1829 he pushed forward his search, ex- ploring the east coast from Cape Farewell to the neighborhood of Cape Dan, 65° 18' K Here he was stopped by an insurmountable barrier of ice. The Eskimos, among whom he spent the following winter, had never seen white men, but he found no difficulty in establishing friendly relations. His quest, however, was unsuccessful. CHAPTER III. FKOM 1829 TO 1848. Section 1. After Parry's third failure to make the iSTorth-West Passage, the discouraged Admiralty relaxed its efforts in that direction for the space of some ten years. But England still held to the quest through the zeal of private enterprise. Eelix Booth, a wealthy London merchant, fitted up the paddle- steamer Victory and despatched it in 1829 under the command of Captain John Ross, who had so in- credibly missed great discoveries in his voyage of 1818. With him on the Victory (the first steamer used in Arctic work) was his nephew, James Clark Ross. Following the route already described, across Baffin Bay and through Lancaster Sound, Ross entered Prince Regent Inlet, as had Parry in 1824. A portion of the canned foods, powder, and various supplies which Parry had landed from the wrecked Fury were taken on board, but no trace of the vessel itself could be found. Skirting ITorth Somerset, which forms the west coast of the inlet, Ross reached its southern extremity without recognising the fact, mistaking for a bay the strait which separates this land from the most northerly point of ISTorth Amer- ica. This strait, the real object of his search, re- 44 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. mained unknown for another quarter of a century. The strange land which he now followed southward he named Boothia Felix, in honour of his patron; and in one of its desolate harbours the Victory was forced to winter. The darkening autumn was made weirdly beautiful by the illuminations of the Aurora Borealis; and during the long winter the solitude was relieved by friendly intercourse with the Eskimos. The following summer, the ice which had barri- caded the little Victory in her winter quarters would not give up its prey. Nor did another year bring release. For three winters the Rosses stayed by their imprisoned ship. Late in May, 1832, they abandoned her, owing to failure of the food supply, and forced their desperate way by boat to Fury Beach, where Parry's cache offered their only hope of life. From there, after rest and recuperation, they struggled to reach Lancaster Sound, already a resort of whalers, but were forced back by impene- trable ice to Fury Beach. Here they built a house, and wintered. In August, 1833, they reached Navy Board Inlet, near the mouth of Lancaster Sound, where they were rescued by the whaler Isabella. But the time of their enforced sojourn in Boothia Felix Land had not been barren. A series of sum- mer explorations under the younger Ross proved this land to be a curious club-shaped extension of the American continent, joining the mainland by an isthmus about 15 miles wide. James Ross also dis- FROM 1829 TO 1843. 45 covered and explored part of the western coast of King William Land. His eyes were the first to look upon the waters of Franklin Passage and Victoria Strait. And to his lot fell the discovery which, had none other been made, would have abundantly re- deemed the voyage from failure. In the west of Boothia, on a low flat coast inlaid with ridges, he located the North Hag-netic Pole, over which, on the 1st of June, 1831, he planted the Union Jack. This spot, chosen by Nature as " the centre of one of her great and dark powers," his observations placed in latitude 70° 05' N., longitude 96° 44' W. Here the needle marked 89° 50' of verticity, showing that it was within 1| to 2 miles of the absolute point sought. General A. W. Greely, in his Handbook of ^Arctic Discoveries, says of this remarkable expedi- tion, which spent five years^ in the Arctic regions, cut off from all communication with the world: " Its observations are probably the most valuable single set ever made within the Arctic Circle, in- volving not only the climatic conditions of Arctic America, a local matter, but also the determination of the magnetic elements at their very poles, a sub- ject of world-wide importance." Section 2. Captain Liitke's explorations on the west coast of Nova Zembla have been mentioned in the preceding chapter. To the exertions of Pach- tussow, another Eussian, between 1832 and 1835, we are indebted for our widest knowledge of the 46 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. eastern shore. He conducted explorations both by sledge and ship, and his survey extended as far north as Pachtussow Island, 74° 24' IST. His zeal led him to a fatal overtaxing of his strength, and he only lived to reach Archangel. Among the most in- teresting of the many explorations which in more recent times have enlarged our knowledge of this land may be mentioned those of Johannesen, a Norwegian hunter, who in 1878 discovered a north- ern outlying island (Lonely Island), free of snow and abounding in game; and of Captain Carlsen, who circumnavigated N"ova Zembla in 1871 in the sloop Solid, the first keel after 275 years to follow the track of Barents into Ice Haven. Here were found many relics of the great sailor, even books and engravings being marvellously preserved beneath their coatings of ice. Although classed among uninhabited lands, Nova Zembla has been the scene of an interesting experi- ment in colonisation during the latter part of this century, when the Russians planted a permanent Samoyed settlement on Moller Bay. The interior of the country is almost unknown, but discoveries of coal, iron, copper and gold suggest a frozen treas- ure-house of mineral wealth. Section 3. During the summers of 1838 and 1839, France commissioned La Recherche to carry a party of scientists to Spitzbergen. The first year they made Bell Sound their centre, but in 1839 occupied Magdalena Bay, 79° 35' 'N. Madame d'Aunet ac- FROM 1829 TO 18-18. 47 companied the second expedition, thus achieving the distinction of being the only white woman on record to reach such a high latitude. At Magdalen Bay there is a curious graveyard, where rest, in all proba- bility, the bodies of adventurous sailors who flocked to these shores nearly three hundred years ago, when the Spitzbergen whale fishery was the greatest in the world. Madame d'Aunet says : " I counted fifty-two graves in this cemetery, which is the most forbidding in the wide world; a cemetery without epitaphs, without monuments, without flowers, without re- membrances, without tears, without regrets, with- out prayers, a cemetery of desolation, where oblivion doubly environs the dead, where is heard no sigh, no voice, no human step ; a terrifying soli- tude, a profound and frigid silence, broken only by the fierce growl of the polar bear or the moaning of the storm." La Recherche was under the command of Captain Fabvre, and among the scientists was Charles Mar- tins. Science in nearly all its branches was the richer for this expedition. Martins, whose name is famous for his generalisations concerning extinct floras, devoted himself specially to the study of glaciers. The results of his work " formed an epoch in the study of these phenomena." Section 4. Meantime, the British Government had been stirred to new activity in the direction of the North-West Passage by a petition of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1836 Sir George Back was placed in command of the Terror, with orders 48 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. '' to proceed to Wager River or Repulse Bay, and having crossed Regent Inlet, examine the coast-line east to Cape Kater and west to Back River." This voyage also was doomed to failure, due to adverse and overwhelming circumstance. Beset near Cape Bylot, Hudson Bay, in the middle of September, the Terror was for ten months at the mercy of the pack. During this period the expedition again and again escaped utter disaster as by a miracle. Some- times fearful staggering towers of ice overhung the ship on every side, moving in the grip of forces be- fore which the stout timbers of the Terror would have been as the dry shell of an egg. Day after day new horrors loomed around them, yet day by day de- struction hesitated, and passed by, until the hideous grindings and disruptions of the pack became almost as the commonplaces of life. At last, hurled upon her beam ends and lifted upon the main floe, the Terror was drifted to the western end of Hudson Strait, which it reached in May. Not till July did the floe break, and then, in spite of precautionary preparations which had occupied a month, the vessel was nearly capsized. Released from her terrible ice-dock, she crowded sail for Eng- land, which she reached in a foundering condition. Back tells how, during the long and awful winter, all experienced " the weariness of the heart, the blank of feeling, which gets the better of the whole man," and from which no occupation or amusement has the power to rouse. Although no geographical dis- FROM 1829 TO 1848. 49 coverles resulted from this voya^^o, it deserves men- tion for its exceptional perils and escapes. The Arctic work which made Back's name immortal is described elsewhere under the head of exploration in Canada. Section 5. There was another lull of nearly ten years in British Arctic enterprise before the repre- sentations of the Royal Geographical Society resulted in Sir John Franklin's last and fateful voyage. Then tlie Erebus and Terror, just returned from ex- plorations in the far south, were equipped for Arctic service and given to the command of the veteran Sir John Franklin, now on the verge of sixty, but as enthusiastic as ever for the work in which he had already so greatly suffered and achieved. Second in command was Crozier, who had accompanied Parry on three voyages, and served with Ross in Antarctic waters. Franklin's official instructions directed him to fol- low Lancaster Sound and its continuation, pushing westward with all haste to about 98° west longitude. From that point he was to use every effort " to pene- trate to the southward and westward, in a course as direct towards Bering's Strait as the position and extent of the ice, or the position of land at present unknown, may admit." If, however, this course proved unfeasible, and if the mouth of the strait between Devon and Cornwallis Islands (Wellington Channel) had been observed in passing to be free of ice, he was to carefully consider " whether that E 50 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. channel might not offer a more practicable outlet " to the open sea. i The Erebus and Terror sailed on the 26th of May, 1845. Franklin's entire party consisted of 129 men, and was provisioned for three years. Late in July of the same year a whaler in Baffin Bay saw the two ships moored to an iceberg, waiting for a chance to push through the middle ice to Lancaster Sound. Then the expedition disappeared into those mysterious solitudes from which it was destined never to return. There can be no doubt that before these brave lives were blotted out amidst the cruel white desolation, their discoveries had been wide and important. But so meagre are the only definite records which long years of heroic search have been able to recover that the story of the expedition has to be filled in mainly by the imagination upon a back- ground of darkness and mystery. The bare-known facts are as follows: rinding ice-conditions unfavourable on the first of the two routes suggested by the Admiralty, Franklin attempted the second course, navigating the unknown waters of Wellington Channel as far as 11° N. lati- tude. Whatever explorations were carried on from this point are unrecorded, but we know that he re- turned southward by the west coast of Cornwallis Land, and wintered at Beechey Island, 74° 42' N., 91° 32' W. Here three men died. In the follow- ing summer, by a route not clearly ascertained, the Erebus and Terror reached Victoria Strait, where they were beset on the 12th of September, 1846, in FROM 1829 TO 1848. 51 latitude 70° 05' I^., longitude 98° 23' W., in the sea ice ten miles north of King William Land. A record deposited at Point Victory by one of Franklin's sledge parties in May of the following year reported " all well." ISTot many days later (11th June, 1847) Sir John Franklin died on board the Erehus, and the command devolved upon Crozier. The summer came and passed, and the ships found no release. Another dark winter closed over them, bringing disease and death. Twenty-four men died, among whom were nine officers. Then, on the 25th of April, 1848, the survivors abandoned their ships, which had drifted with the ice 19 miles to the south- west, and started across King William Land in the direction of Back's (Great Fish) Kiver, at least 250 miles distant. Their only hope was to reach by this route some settlement of the Hudson Bay Company. These brave men, weakened by disease and privation, struggled forward on what was probably the most forlorn and awful march in all the annals of explor- ation. jSTot one of the 105 ever reached the living world. The story of this terrible retreat has been de- ciphered in part from desolate graves and lonely skeletons. Some returned to the ships to die, others struggled desperately to Todd Island ; a few may have reached Point Ogle, and even Montreal Island, at the mouth of the river which they sought; but upon all, whether from starvation or disease, fell the vhite oblivion of death. An old Eskimo woman who . 52 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. witnessed part of this doomed march said, " They fell down and died as they walked." No trace of either the Erebus or Terror has ever been found. From the evidence of Eskimos it ap- pears that one of the ships was crushed, and sani, while the other lay stranded for years on the coast of King William Island, where it proved a mine of wealth to the neighboring savages. McClintock, however, after a thorough examination of all the shores, found no signs of the wreck. In the death of Sir John Franklin, England lost not only one of her most daring explorers, but a hero conspicuous in her naval annals. His work had found widely separated and varied settings. In the battles of Trafalgar and Copenhagen, in Aus- tralian waters with Flinders in the Investigator, off the Portuguese coast, in South America, and in his governorship of Van Diemen's Land — throughout all the circumstances of his life he displayed those quali- ties of coolness in danger and readiness of resource which won him the love and confidence alike of his crews and his associates. His final and disastrous expedition forged the last link in the JSTorth-West Passage, as the point reached by the lost ships was within a few miles of the known waters to the west- ward. On a memorial tablet in Westminster Abbey may be read Tennyson's words : " Not here : the white North has thy bones ; and thou, Heroic sailor soul. Art passing on thine liappier voyage now Toward no earthly pole." CHAPTER IV. THE FRAXKLIX SEARCH. Section 1. To the mystery that so long enveloped the fate of Franklin and his men the cause of Arctic enterprise is indebted for a new impulse. Public anxiety and private devotion were alike aroused when three years went by with no tidings out of the white silence of the l^orth. The vanished expedition had been provisioned for only three years, and it was clear that neither the erratic game resources of those inconstant regions nor the chance hospitality of the Eskimos could prove equal to the support of 129 men unskilled in the subtleties of the Arctic chase. In 1848 three expeditions were sent to the relief, and in the course of the next ten years, as anxiety grew and the darkness of uncertainty deepened, these were followed by some dozen other carefully organised parties. English, Americans, and even a volunteer from the French navy, joined in the splendid search. When at last the dark and broken story told in the preceding chapter had been pieced together it ap- peared that the long quest had borne secondary fruit more significant even than the humanitarian purpose which prompted it. During these ten years of heroic activity new lands and waterways had been dis- . 64 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. covered, and hundreds of miles of Arctic coasts sur- veyed, some gaps in the known northern shores of America filled in, and, above all, the long-desired North-West Passage had been actually traversed, and at the same time proved impracticable. And far beyond this period, when no lingering doubt existed as to the fate of the expedition, American explorers kept the field in the hope of recovering the ships' records, which might possibly be in the hands of the Eskimos, and which, apart from the popular interest which would attach to them, would doubtless prove most important from a scientific point of view. These latter efforts, however, though determinedly and efficiently carried out, were without success. The expeditions of the Franklin search fall natur- ally into three divisions, namely, overland parties through northern Canada, voyages from the Pacific through Bering Strait, and voyages from the Atlan- tic. Here it will be convenient, however, to disre- gard this classification, following rather a chrono- logical sequence. The overland expeditions will be described only inasmuch as their work lay in lands north of the American continent, or their discoveries gave any clue as to the fate of Franklin. For the rest they will receive mention later under the head of exploration in Canada. Section 2. Of the three expeditions despatched in 1848, that under Sir James C. Ross followed the Atlantic route by Davis Strait and Baffin Bay into Lancaster Sound, wintering in Port Leopold, at the THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 55 northern end of Prince Regent's Inlet. In the spring- Ross's sledge parties explored the shores of this inlet, and much of the eastern coast of Boothia. Not till late in the summer of 1849 did Ross succeed in cut- ting his ships out of Port Leopold. Then, after building a house and filling it with supplies, he sailed back to England, missing the North Star, which had been sent out ^\'ith provisions to refit his expedition. A co-operating overland party under Dr. Richardson, assisted by Dr. John Rae, was equally unsuccessful. In the same year a Pacific squadron joined the search under the command of Captain Moore. One of these ships, the Herald, under Captain Kellett, touched at an unknown island in the Siberian Sea north of Bering Strait. This sheer and isolated mass of granite received the name of Herald Island, after Kellett's ship. As far as its original purpose was concerned, this voyage was a failure, but it resulted in most important ethnographic studies among the western Eskimos. Section 3. By 1850 anxiety about the Franklin expedition was at its height. The Admiralty, now thoroughly roused, sent three independent squadrons ; a spirit of sympathy on the part of the United States equipped another; while single ships were fitted out in the search by private generosity in Britain and by Lady Franklin herself. Of all these twelve vessels, only two followed the route from the Pacific. Although these two, the 56 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Investigator and the Enterprise, formed one squad- ron under the command of Captain Richard Collin- son, with orders not to separate, their story becomes in reality that of two independent expeditions. M'Clure, in the Investigator, ignoring the fleet in- structions, declined to wait for his chief at Bering Strait, or to arrange any plan of co-operation. Sailing east to Cape Bathurst and then north, he discovered Banks Land, to the east of which, in an unknown (Prince of Wales) strait, the Investigator was beset. In October a sledge party from the ship followed this strait to its northern end, where it gave upon waters navigated by Parry in 1819. Greely says: "This journey established the th^n earliest known existence of continuous water com- munication north of America, though we now know that an earlier and shorter route was discovered by Franklin, 1846-47, in attaining Simpson's farthest." After nine terrible months of imprisonment in the shifting pack, during which time the destruction of the ship was often so imminent that M'Clure took the precaution of landing supplies on Princess Royal Islands, release came. Then the Investigator fear- lessly renewed its efforts to push through into the known waters to the north. Failing in this, M'Clure turned back, rounded the south of Banks Land, and with splendid daring forced his way north again along the western coast. On his right, sheer and black and precipitous, menaced the land; while on THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 57 his left moved floating cliflts of white and ancient ice, the spectral guardians of the Pala^ocrystic Sea, Be- tween these threatening jaws of doom the Investiga- tor held her course. Osborn says: " Nothing in the loner tale of Arctic research is finer than the cool and resolute way in which this gallant band fought their way around this frightful coast." At the extreme north-west point of Banks Land the Investigator was beset for some twenty days, but escaping she made her way into the channel variously mapped as Banks or jM'Clure's Strait. On the 23d of September the ship went aground at the entrance of a bay on the northern coast of Banks Land. Here M'Clure wintered, and finding an abundance of game, named his haven " The Bay of God's Mercy.'' From this place, during the spring of 1852, sledging parties visited Melville Island, explored the north and north-west coast of Banks Land, and following Wollaston Land southward learned from natives that it belonged to the same mass as Victoria Land. With the brightening summer the outlook for those on board the Investigator took on an ever deepening gloom. All summer the ice held relent- lessly, and wath the returning winter came scarcity of game. The consequent reduction of rations undermined the health of the men, and by the time the long months of darkness lifted the situation had become critical in the extreme. To stay by the ship was to starve. On the third of March, 1853, M'Clure 58 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS, told off his crew into two parties, and began serving them full rations to restore their strength for the forced retreat which was to begin some forty days later. One party was to push eastward on the chance of meeting whalers from Baffin Bay, the other was to struggle southward towards the mainland and the forts of the Hudson Bay Company. Although under the circumstances this plan offered the only glimmering hope of life, it would in all probability have ended in a second Franklin tragedy. But salvation appeared from an unforeseen quar- ter. A squadron under Sir Edward Belcher had the year before been frozen in at Dealy Island, whence an autumnal sledge journey had discovered a record left by M'Clure at Winter Harbour, Melville Island. In the spring of 1853, guessing that the Investigator might be still beset in Mercy Bay, Captain Kellett of the Resolute sent Lieutenant Bedford Pim to the rescue. On the 6th of April, while M'Clure's men were making a grave, three men and a dog sledge suddenly appeared from the east, and the nearly hopeless crew learned that help awaited them only 160 miles away. Deserting the Investigator, they joined Belcher at Derby Island by sledging over the ice of Banks Strait, and were carried to England in the North Star. They were thus " the first and last party that ever made the North-West Passage." Collinson meanwhile, in the flagship Enterprise, had followed the edge of the solid pack north of Ber- ing Strait until August 28, 1850, when he turned THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 59 south again to winter. The following summer he sailed through Prince of Wales Strait, examining on the way M'Clure's cache at Princess Koyal Islands, and reached, August 31st, a point in Parry (or Melville) Sound within 57 miles of the farthest west of Parry in the Hecla, 1819, thus nearly con- necting the portions of the ISTorth-West Passage actually traversed by ships. Retracing his course, Collinson wintered in Walker Bay, on the west coast of Prince Albert Land. Sledge parties explored the north-west coastline of this land, and visited Melville Island, but failed to find traces of the In- vestigalor. During the following summer (1852) Collinson's ship got free of the bay and pushed eastward along the northern coast of America as far as Cambridge Bay at the eastern end of Dease Strait, 69° K, 185' W. Here the Enterprise wintered. In the spring a sledge party under Collinson searched the south- east coast of Victoria Land, and from the farthest point made looked east across Victoria Strait (where one of Franklin's ships had sunk) to King William Land, " unconscious that here lay the un- buried skeletons of the men they sought." The state of the ice would not permit of the strait being crossed, so Collinson was forced to turn back, little dreaming he had been so near the solution of the mystery. Although the Enterprise did not reach England until 1855, no farther discoveries were made beyond those at Cambridge Bay, where an CO DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. engine rod and an article marked with the broad arrow were found in the possession af the Eskimos. As the interpreter was with M'CIure, it was im- possible to learn whence these came. General Greely says : " The voyage of Collinson is one of the most remarkable and successful on record. With a sailing ship he navigated not only the Arctic Sea forward and back through 120 (64 one way) degrees of longitude, a feat only excelled by the steamer Vega, but he also sailed the Enter- prise more than ten degrees of longitude through the narrow straits along the northern shores of con- tinental America, which never before nor since have been navigated, save by small boats and with ex- cessive difficulty. Of all government naval expedi- tions searching for Franklin he came nearest the goal. Collinson's modest journal is characterised by Admiral Richards, one of the few living men fully competent to speak on the merits of Arctic work, as ' a record of patience, endurance, and unflagging per- severance, under difficulties which have perhaps never been surpassed.' " The other expeditions which left England in 1850 all took the Atlantic route, following Franklin through Lancaster Sound, from w^hich waterway they made the mistake of carrying the search north- ward into Wellington Channel hundreds of miles from the real scene of the disaster. Among these were two government squadrons commanded by Captain Horatio iVustiu, of the Eoyal Navy, and a THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 61 whaling captain named William Penny. On the 27th of August Penny discovered Franklin's first winter quarters on Beechey Island, marked by throe lonely graves. Word of this discovery was carried back to England by the Prince Albert, which Lady Franklin's devotion had added to the search. Penny's squadron, with the Felix, which private liberality had put in the field under command of Sir John Eoss, wintered on the coast of Cornwallis Land, at the entrance of Wellington Channel. Sledging par- ties in the spring partially explored Cornwallis Land, and examined a portion of the west coast of ISTorth Devon, across the channel. In the autumn the ships returned to England witliout having discovered any farther traces of the lost expedition. Meanwhile the chances of the Arctic had dealt strangely with the American squadron. The Ad- vance and the Rescue, under Lieutenant E. J. de Haven, accompanied by the famous Dr. Kane, were held up by storms in the middle of Wellington Channel, where they were speedily beset. At the mercy of the pack, they were carried north, discover- ing Murdaugh Island and a wide land beyond North Devon, which de Haven called Grinnell. Then the whim of the floe shifted, and bore them slowly south- ward. Later, with awful deliberation, the great ice-current set toward the east, pushing them back through Lancaster Sound. During eight months of horrible helplessness they were drifted more than a thousand miles, and when release came in July, 62 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. 1851, the shattered squadron returned to the United States. Most noteworthy was the sledging work of the larger government force under Austin. In the early autumn of 1850 Austin's ships were frozen in at Griffith Island, south of Cornwallis Land, and in the spring six sledging jDarties, of six or seven men each, carried the search far to the south and west. The distances thus traversed amounted to 3,320 miles, of which 670 miles consisted of coasts never before discovered. Among the latter may be men- tioned the north half of Prince of Wales Land, whose eastern coast, however, was probably skirted by Franklin. The following autumn, Austin returned to England, having reached the mistaken conclusion that farther seeking to the south must prove futile. Section 4. In 1851 the Hudson Bay Company organised an overland expedition under Dr. John Rae. Descending to the Arctic Ocean by the Cop- permine River, Rae crossed Dolphin and Union Strait, and was the first white man to set foot on Wollaston Land. Later in the same year he ex- amined the east coast of Victoria Land as far north as the 70th parallel. But failing to cross the strait to King William Land, Rae lost his chance of find- ing the stranded ship, which had not then disap- peared. Had he accomplished this crossing it is also possible that he might have been in time to recover the Franklin records. As it was, he found nothing to indicate that he had been near the solution of THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 63 the mystery save part of a flagstaff marked with the broad arrow. This same year the Prince Albert was again in the field, but now under Captain William Kennedy, with Lieutenant J. R. Bellot, a volunteer from the French navy. By a long and important sledge journey these men learned that the so-called Brent- ford Bay, discovered by Ross nearly a quarter of a century before, was in reality a strait. It is now known on the maps as Bellot Strait. This discovery proved Iv'orth Somerset to be an island, and not an extension of Boothia. Section 5. In the spring of 1852 the Admiralty despatched five ships of the Royal ISTavy, under Sir Edward Belcher, with instructions to direct all the energy of the expedition toward the examination of the upper portion of Wellington Strait. Sending two ships under Captain Kellett and Commander McClintock westward through Barrow Strait, with the other three he pushed north. After discovering Exmouth and Cornwall Islands, he wintered in Northumberland Sound, 76° 52' K, 79° W. Travelling north-east by sledge in the spring he dis- covered Belcher Channel, proved Grinnell Land an island, and later discovered Buckingham Island. Commander Richards and Lieutenant Osborn, of Belcher's squadron, made important geographical discoveries in Cornwallis, Bathurst and Melville Islands. Meanwhile, the two ships under Kellett and Mc- 64 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Clintock had wintered at Dealy Island, and in tte spring had been the means of rescuing M'Clure's crevr, as already told in this chapter (Section 3). Other travelling parties from the ships covered many thousands of miles, completing our knowledge of the coasts of Melville Island, and discovering, still farther to the west, the large island of Prince Patrick. Although the sledging feats of this expe- dition are without a parallel in Arctic records, all efforts were directed toward regions hundreds of miles from the actual scene of Franklin's disaster. Consequently, splendid as these efforts were, their results were purely geographical, and lifted no gloom from the mystery of the lost ships. By the 5th of August, 1853, only one of Belcher's five ships had got free of the ice. His resources strained by the rescued crew of the Investigator, he feared to face another winter in the pack. Ordering the abandonment of the other ships, he crowded their crews into the North Star and returned to England. The most significant outcome of this step was the remarkable drift of the Resolute, one of the deserted ships. Abandoned in Y4° 41' K, 101° W., she was borne uninjured for nearly a thousand miles, through Barrow Strait, Lancaster Sound and Baffin Bay, to be found in 1855 by an American whaler in Davis Strait. She was bought by Congress, refitted, and presented to Great Britain as a token of good-will on the part of the American people. This wonderful voyage of an unmanned ship proved clearly the di- rection of the current through Barrow Strait. THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 65 Section 6. The first tangible information about the fate of the Franklin party was gathered by Dr. John Eae, whose overland expedition of 1853 will be mentioned in its geographical aspects under the head of exploration in Canada. In April, 1854, he met a young Eskimo on the Boothian Isthmus, who had tidings of the lost crews. The gist of this in- formation is stated concisely in Greely's Handbooh of Arctic Discoveries: "In the spring of 1850 about 40 white men were seen dragging a boat southward along the west shore of King William Land. They bought a seal from Eskimo hunters, whom they told that their ship had been crushed by ice, and that they were going to a land where they could shoot reindeer. Later that spring, before the ice broke up, the bodies of some 30 men were found on the continent, and five on an island a day's march to the northward. This pointed to the Eskimo encampment of Back River and Montreal Island as the places, though possibly they referred to Starvation Cove, of Schwat- ka, or Todd Island, of Hall, both near the mouth of Back River. The natives reinforced their state- ments by producing silver with the Eranklin crest, which, with other articles, left no doubt that their story was substantially correct, and that the Franklin expedition had perished." Other relics were recovered from the natives by James Anderson, of the Hudson Bay Company, who descended Back River in 1855. Lacking an inter- preter, and unable to cross to King William Land, F 6G DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Anderson added no definite information to that brouglit bj Rae. To the latter was given the reward of £10,000 offered to any one solving the Franklin mystery. By this award the British Government acknowledged that its connection with this sad search was at an end. Section 7. Rae's discoveries led to the famous expedition of the Fox. Although the Admiralty had ceased from its exertions, Lady Franklin would not rest until the whole truth was known. With the last of her private fortune she equipped the steam yacht Fox and intrusted the expedition to the command of Captain Leopold McClintock, who had already won distinction as the greatest of Arctic sledgemen. Sailing in the summer of 1857, the Fox reached the north water of Baffin Bay only to be there beset and carried helplessly south again during eight dis- heartening months, thus retracing 1,200 miles of her ccTurse. But when release came McClintock refitted in a Greenland port, and with unshaken spirit re- sumed the search. At Beechey Island, near the three graves, he erected a monument to the Franklin expedition. After a baffled attempt to force Peel Sound, he turned back to Port Leopold, on the north- east corner of Xorth Somerset, where he found stores left by Eoss in 18-19. Thence he sailed south through Prince Regent Inlet, made five strenuous but un- successful attempts to push west through Bellot Strait, and went into winter quarters at its eastern entrance. THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 67 As early as the middle of February, 1859, Mc- Cliutock began his spring journeys. With the tem- perature between 30° and 40° below zero he visited the north magnetic pole, where he fell in with a band of 45 native Boothians. From there he obtained relics of a party of " white people starved upon an island w^here there is a river." This indicated Mon- treal Island, at tlie mouth of Back River. On his return to the Fox McClintock had " added 110 miles of new land to the charts," thus completing the coast line of Boothia. McClintock and Hobson, with sledges, started south again in April, meeting on the way other natives with relics and fuller information. Accord- ing to these, " two ships had been seen near King William Land ; one sank, and the other was forced on the shore by ice and broken up; the ships were destroyed in the autumn, and all the white people, taking boats, M-ent away to the large river, and the following winter their bones were found there." At Cape Victoria, McClintock and Hobson sepa- rated, striking south and west respectively. On the Vth of May McClintock met Eskimos, and bought from them silver plate marked with the Franklin crest. They said that the ship Had disappeared, that many books had been destroyed, and that men had died at Back Kiver. Following the east coast of King William Land, McClintock crossed to Point Ogle, and made a care- ful examination of Montreal Island which brought to 68 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. light only a few boat-fittings. Crossing again to King William Land, he found a human skeleton lying face do^vnward as it had fallen. But the most important finds were made by Hobson. Near Cape Crozier (King William Land) he discovered a boat and sledge, two human skeletons, a quantity of clothing, and many other articles of less significance. West of Cape Felix he found three tents and an En- glish ensign, near a large cairn. Most important of all, at Point Victoria on the north-west coast, he re- covered the first and only direct record of the Frank- lin party that has ever reached the world. The facts revealed by this record are stated in the preceding chapter. A third sledging party under Young added noth- ing to our information concerning Franklin, but ex- tended our knowledge of Prince of Wales Land and neighbouring shores. " In all, Young explored 380 miles of new coast, which, with 420 miles discovered by McClintock and Hobson, made a magnificent con- tribution of 800 geographical miles of new shore- line." On the return of the Fox to England in the autumn of 1859, with the first definite news of Franklin's death and the loss of his men, the tidings instantly flashed over an expectant world, and the long search was at an end. Section 8. There still remained a possibility that the complete records of the Franklin expedition might be in existence among the Eskimos, and in the THE FRANKLIN SEARCH. 69 hope of recovering these two other parties entered the field, one in 1864, and one as late as 1878. Both these expeditions were American, and both conducted the search by land. The first was undertaken by an American named C. F. Hall in 1864. Five years were spent on tho Arctic coast of America waiting for the necessary Eskimo aid. During this time Hall gathered from natives much silver that had belonged to the lost ships, and he also filled in a short gap in the known shore-line of Melville Peninsula. At last he secured the help of ten Eskimos with dog sledges, and started for King William Land. He found there a human skeleton, and met natives who had seen Franklin, and who confirmed what had already been made known. On Todd Island, a little to the south, he discovered a thigh bone. Nearly ten years later Lieutenant F. Schwatka, U. S. army, with "W. H. Gilder, led the last expedi- tion in search of the records. Although this expedi- tion is most notable for the daring of its methods and for the amount of travelling accomplished, it had little bearing upon geographical discovery. No part of the records was found, although many natives were met with who had knowledge of the Franklin disaster. Schwatka's journey closes the long tale of Arctic enterprise which was the direct outcome of Franklin's ill starred voyage. CHAPTER y. FROM 1848 TO 1875. Section 1. Although discovered by the great navigator Barents as long ago as 150G, and by him mistaken for a part of Greenland, the Spitzbergen archipelago claims an important place in the Arctic records of the nineteenth century. A. "W. Greely describes it as the most interesting of Arctic lands. He says : " It is the largest known region of the uninhabited earth ; it lies intermediate between the Old and New Worlds, its seas have been the richest in exploitable values, its shores enjoy a climate un- equalled for its mildness in such latitudes, and it has served as a base for a larger number of Arctic expe- ditions than an}" other countrj'-." Geological evidence shows that Greenland, Franz Josef Land, Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen once formed a single continent, and the fossiliferous de- posits of the latter land prove that it at least was then clothed with a luxuriant vegetation. The more recent fortunes of Spitzbergen have known still other changes in their way scarcely less picturesque. In the early part of the seventeenth century, when the shore fisheries of these islands were the richest in the world, there flourished upon one of them, within ten FROM 1848 TO 1875. Yl degrees of the Pole, the astounding Arctic village of Smeerenburg, with a floating population of more than ten thousand. Here were shops, bars, and houses of brick and tile. We are told that " even bakeries were constructed, and, as in Holland, the sound of the baker's horn, announcing hot, fresh bread, drew crowds of eager purchasers." The crowd which flowed through these strange streets was chiefly Dutch, but with it were mingled adven- turers from many climes, drawn thither by a whaling industry of almost fabulous richness. For some twenty years the ships of prey hovered by hun- dreds around these bleak and perilous shores, until the huge creature which they pursued took refuge in the outer seas, and Smeerenburg was no more. Its site is marked by a thousand desolate graves. Our knowledge of Spitzbergen and its adjacent waters was greatly enlarged by the famous Captain Scoresby in the first quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury. But most important of all, from a scientific point of view, has been the work done by Swedish scientists and explorers. Northeast Land, hitherto unexplored, was visited in 1861 by Otto Torell, chief geologist of Sweden, who had previously made most valuable studies of the marine life and geolog- ical phenomena of other islands in the archipelago. The expedition of 1804 under Professor Norden- skjold, the most illustrious Arctic explorer of the century, discovered a new land from the top of a hio-h mountain, but failed to visit it. This expedi- 72 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. tion resulted in a map " which delineates Spitzber- gen with an accuracy unattained as regards any other Arctic land." Nordcnskjold had already served with Torell on his various expeditions. In 1868 Sweden dispatched the Sojia, Captain F. W. Von Otter, on an attempt to reach the North Pole by the Spitzbergen route, l^ordenskjold was the organiser and scientific head of this expedition. From Sraeerenburg Bay the Sofia pushed its way among the ice-floes to 81° 42' N., achieving the high- est latitude by ship in the Eastern hemisphere. The scientific observations and collections made during this voyage w^ere invaluable. ISTordenskjold made another attempt to reach the Pole in 1872, this time by sledging from the north of Spitzbergen. The reindeer which were to be used in this attempt made their escape during a violent snow-storm, and the provisions of the party were depleted by the rescued crews of six walrus vessels beset near Wilde Bay. But in spite of these drawbacks three sledges started northward in the spring of 1873, and after more than three weeks of arduous journeying, in the course of which tw^o of the sledges came to grief, Nordcnskjold reached Phipps Island, on the extreme northern fringe of the archipelago. The ice beyond this point was so rough that it was impassable, and all hope of reach- ino; the Pole had to be abandoned. In his return journey to the ship which he had made his base the explorer crossed the inland ice of JSTorth-East Land, FROM 1848 TO 1875. 73 which differs in many peculiar respects from the ice-cap of Greenland. The way was made difficult by dense ice-fogs, which at times filled every hollow with a blind, white obscurity, so that it was impos- sible, by the eye alone, to distinguish between a slight depression and a yawning crevasse in the ice. At other times : " Along the level ice-surface every puff of wind drove a stream of fine snow-dust, which, from the ease with which it penetrated everywhere, was as troublesome to us as the fine sand of the desert to the travellers in Sahara. By means of this fine snow-dust steadily driven for- ward by the wind, the upper part of the glacier — which did not consist of ice, as in Greenland, but of hard-packed, blinding white snow — was glazed and polished so that we might have thought ourselves to be advancing over an unsurpassably faultless and spotless floor of white marble." Leaving behind them this beautiful desolation the adventurers reached Wahlenberg Bay by the middle of June, and were greeted by the red Arctic saxifrage in flower at the very edges of the retreating snow. Section 2. Perhaps the most interesting of all approaches to the Pole is that waterway which tapers from the head of Baffin Bay into Smith Sound, and gives at the northern end upon the un- known waters of Lincoln Sea. To the right of this channel lies the extreme north-western coast of Greenland, to the left that uncharted land which 74 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. bears the names of Grinnell, Ellesmere and Grant. For reasons which will appear the whole passage is often referred to as the " American route," but the various sections of it are marked on the maps as Smith Sound, Kane Sea, Kennedy Channel and Robeson Channel. The most southerly part of this vast sea lane was discovered during Baffin's aston- ishing voyage of 1616, when his audacious little craft pushed its way between Capes Alexander and Isabella, " the Northern Pillars of Hercules," to 78° N. This point was not reached again by any ship until 1852, when the steamer Isabel, under Captain A. E. Inglefield, crept forty miles beyond it, but turned back at the inexorable bidding of the ice. By this voyage Inglefield added six hundred miles of coast-line to the charts. In the following year an American sailing vessel, the Advance, under Elisha Kent Kane, succeeded in pushing a few miles beyond the IsdbeVs farthest, just entering that curious expansion of the channel named after its discoverer, Kane Sea. Here the Advance narrowly escaped wreck, only to be beset in a little bay on the east coast. By autumnal journeys from the imprisoned ship the party cached supplies, with a view to explorations by sledging in the spring. The winter proved a season of scurvy and privation, and the first spring expedition ended disastrously, with the loss of some of the men. Later the surgeon of the Advance, Isaac I, Hayes, crossed Kane Sea on the ice, and was the first white FROM 1848 TO 1875. 75 man who ever set foot on Grinnell Land. An ex- ploring party also followed the Greenland coast along the giant front of Humboldt glacier to 80° 35' N. From here they could see the channel stretching northward free of ice. Unable to extricate his ship, Kane turned for as- sistance to Belcher's squadron, which had been sent out in search of Franklin, as already described. Failing in the attempt to reach Belcher, who was four hundred miles away, a party under Hayes started southward for Upernavik on the Greenland coast. After terrible hardships this plan also had to be abandoned, and the men returned to face an- other hopeless winter. In the spring of 1855 the Advance was left in the clutches of the ice, and with Eskimo aid the crew toiled painfully to Uper- navik, where they were met by a rescue squadron from the United States. The expedition had car- ried northward the known shores of Greenland and Grinnell Land, and had brought back a series of observations most important to science. Section 3. The next expedition by this route left America in 1860, and resulted in much excitement over the supposed discovery of an open polar sea. Dr. Hayes, mentioned in the last section, was in command. Putting his schooner, the United States^ into winter quarters in a northerly harbour of Smith Sound, Hayes made autumn journeys to explore the mysterious Greenland ice-cap, which he succeeded in traversing for some forty miles from the coast. 76 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. During the winter Sontag, the astronomer of the expedition, was frozen to death during a sledge journey. The dogs, upon which the spring work depended, were carried off by disease, and their native driver fled to a death of cold and starvation in the demon-haunted interior. In the spring, after visiting the moorings of the deserted Advance, where he found only a wilderness of piled-up ice, Hayes started northward. After forty-seven days of slow and exhausting ice-travelling he was stopped by water-holes. Seeking a lofty headland, he looked northward over the open waters of Kennedy Channel, whose violent tides keep it comparatively free of ice; but to Hayes, possessed by the theory of an open polar sea, it appeared as the realisation of his faith and search. He wrote : " All the evidences showed that I stood upon the shores of the polar basin, and that the broad ocean lay at my feet." Later explorations have revealed the fact that Hayes' latitudes and longitudes are not to be relied upon, and his open polar sea has dwindled to a waterway some thirty miles wide. Section 4. Two attempts on the part of Germany to reach the Pole by way of the forbidding East Green- land coast are of interest. In 1868 the Germania, Captain Karl Koldewey, first attempting this route, was unable to get through the guarding ice-stream. Turning to Spitzbergen waters, the Germania reached 81° 05' N. It then sailed southward through Hinlopen Strait, sighting but neglecting to explore FROM 1848 TO 1875. 77 Wiche Land, an island over whose existence geog- raphers had much disputed. The second expedition, under Koldewey in the Germania and Hegeman in the Ilansa, proved more conspicuous both for its disasters and its successes. Misfortune befell it in the separation of the ships. In the early autumn of 1870 the Hansa was cap- tured by the drifting pack, which, after a few weeks of seeming hesitation, crushed her. Hegeman and his crew built themselves a house, but the shifting floe proved a treacherous foundation, and life became for them a succession of breathless escapes from the blind resistless forces around and beneath them. For nearly seven months they drifted southward along the sinister eastern coast of Greenland, but after covering six hundred miles by this helpless and perilous method of travel, open water and tne ship's boats which they had rescued gave them deliver- ance. The Germania^ meanwhile, had wormed her way through the ice-stream to Pendulum Island on the Greenland coast, where she wintered. "With Kol- dewey was Lieutenant Julius Payer, destined in a subsequent expedition to share in the glory of add- ing a new and important Arctic land to the maps. These two, by a sledge journey in the following spring, reached a point 77° 01' N., the highest lati- tude ever reached in Greenland by way of the east coast. Later, when the Germania had broken out of her winter quarters, she discovered Franz Josef YS DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Fiord, through which she sailed far inland between towering walls, cleft in places by huge glaciers and plunging torrents. Over the wild desolation of this scene rose giant peaks, like sentinels of the hosts of Death. One of these, some 12,000 feet high, was named Mount Petermann, after the promoter of the expedition. Although neither of these German ISTorth-Polar expeditions succeeded in carrying the farthest point of human achievement any nearer to the Pole, they made important contributions to our knowledge of the Arctic. Section 5. First to enter the polar ocean by the " American route " was Charles Francis Hall, an American whose name has already occurred in con- nection with the Franklin search. Hall made, in this hazardous field, discoveries of wide extent and unusual interest, paying for his achievement with his life. The Polaris left the United States in 1871, and by the late summer of that year had discovered and steamed through Hall Basin and Eobeson Channel, but at the mouth of the latter she was stopped by an impenetrable ice-pack. The point reached was in 82° 11' iST., just within the unknown waters of Lincoln Sea, and two hundred miles beyond the farthest made by Kane in the Advance. Seeking winter quarters in Repulse Harbour on the Green- land coast, the Polaris was caught in the ice-drift and carried fifty miles to the south. At last she FROM 1848 TO 1875. Y9 found anchorage under the shelter of a huge stranded floe-berg. With such strange guardianship the little steamer -vrintered in safety. But the loss of their leader, who had died in Xovember, cast a gloom of discouragement over the expedition. Hall's death was the result of exposure and over- exertion. In an autumn journey by sledge he had explored a hitherto unknown portion of the Green- land coast, making the remarkable discovery that the great ice-cap terminated on the western coast at Petermann Fiord, leaving several thousand square miles of ground in the extreme north of the conti- nent entirely free of ice. Immediately on Hall's return to the ship from these explorations a fatal illness seized him. Lacking its leader, little was ac- complished by the expedition during the succeeding year. In the autumn the Polaris turned homeward, but finding her way obstructed by a southward-mov- ing ice-pack, she anchored to this obstacle and drifted with it for two months. One night a storm brought to this strange caravan hideous confusion and imminent peril. Part of the crew, in panic, fled to the ice, and were separated from the ship. The Polaris^ with the remainder of the men, was stranded on the shore of Smith Sound. Here a house was put up for the winter, and in the spring boats were built, and the homeward track resumed. Before further misfortune had time to overtake these frail craft rescue came in the form of a whaler. But unicj^ue and almost incredible is the story of 80 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. those who had fled in the night to the rending pack. It was theirs to experience " the horrors of a mid- winter ice-drift, whose appalling dangers and bitter privations can scarcely bo appreciated. Five months later, after a drift of 1,300 miles, the despairing party were picked up by the Tigress, off Labrador, 30th April, 1873, not only unreduced in numbers, but with a girl baby born to the Eskimo, Hannah." To Hall's expedition belongs the credit of com- pleting the exploration of the " American route " into the polar ocean, thereby greatly extending our knowledge of Greenland and Grinnell Land. Section 6. It fell to the lot of Austria, almost in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, to add a most interesting Arctic archipelago to the known lands of the earth. In 1872 Count Wilczek sent an expedition to ex- plore the ^Nova Zembla Sea. In command of the TegeWiof was Lieutenant Carl Weyprecht, and with him was Lieutenant Julius Payer, who was to carry out all land explorations. The ship was beset on the 20th of August, 1872, within sight of Nova Zem- bla. The ice which had gripped her seemed domi- nated by no particular current, but shaped its course at the bidding of the prevailing winds. Gradually all land sank below the horizon, and the Tegetthof was alone upon a desolate sea of ice. Kor was her condition less terrible than desolate. Horrible con- vulsions at times took hold upon the ice, tossing and crushing the ship, while huge piled-up blocks tot- FR03I 1818 TO 1875. SI tered and menaced above her. And in addition to this the stealthy darkness of winter was closing in. To insure some measure of safety the crew carried materials, fuel and provisions to the main floe, where they built a house. With the longed-for return of spring came fierce white bears in great numbers to the ship, affording a welcome source of fresh meat. All summer the ship drifted with the ice-field, between horizons barren of any promise of land. Only the comforting sunlight, and the reappearance of the seals and water-fowl, lessened the bleakness of her surroundings. But a day came to shatter the waste monotony of life into eager enthusiasm for the wearied adventurers. On the SOth of August, 1873, a veil of mist was lifted at noon, and far in the north-west the sky-line was broken by the rugged headlands of an unknown country. The next month was one of impatient waiting until the state of the ice should make possible a sledge journey to the new land. i^Tot until November did they succeed in reaching land, and then only a small outlying island. Then began a longer and more trying period of waiting, until the passing of the second winter should enable Payer to continue his explorations. There was now the haunting possi- bility that the ice which had brought them to these strange shores might carry them helplessly away again before spring. Payer says : " The reappear- ance of the sun last year was tantamount to a deliv- G 82 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. erancc from hell itself; but now the sun was noth- ing to us save as a means to an end. Would it enable us to begin our sledge- journeys ? " The first land exploration was attempted early in March, 1874, with the temperature at 59° below zero. After visiting the lofty table-land of Hall Island the party was forced by the cold to return. Before the end of the same month Payer started again with ten men, and by the beginning of April had discovered and entered Austria Sound. The cold was still intense, and edged with cutting winds. Some of the men, thoroughly played out, were left in camp at Hohenloe Island, far up the sound, while Payer pushed relentlessly northward until stopped by rotten ice at Cape Fligely, 82° 05' N. Looking north from a height of land, he could see the blue masses of distant mountain ranges lying along the horizon. Upon thfe return of this land expedition the Tegetthof was still fast in her ice prison, with no apparent prospect of release, and it was decided to desert her. Dragging their boats over the confused and distorted ice was a matter of such indescribable difficulty that it was months before they covered the short distance to the open sea. Then their sufferings and hardships speedily fell behind them. The first hint of returning civilisation was afforded by a party of Tlussian fishermen on the barren iSTova Zembla coast. Section 7. In 1875 a most important expedition FROM 1848 TO 1875. 83 left England under Captain George ISTares, having for its object the extension of Hall's discoveries in Greenland and Grinnell Land, and in the new-found polar ocean beyond. The Alert and the Discovery sailed unimpeded as far as the head of Smith Sound. There, however, they found no resemblance to the ice-free channel which had led Hall so easily to the verge of the polar sea, but instead an ugly and shifting pack. aSTevertheless, by judiciously and persistently seizing his opportunities, ISTares worked both ships safely through Kennedy Channel. Leav- ing the Discovery in winter quarters on the Grinnell Land coast, he pushed forward with the Alert through Robeson Channel into Lincoln Sea, reach- ing Floeberg Beach on the northern shore of Grin- nell Land. Here he wintered, in 82° 25' K., 62° W., the most northerly point up to that time ever reached by a ship, and only surpassed at all by the famous drift of the Fram in 1895. After 145 days of darkness and cold the sun climbed again above the horizon, and the spring sledging work was speedily begun. One party un- der Commander A. H. jMarkham, with two sledges and two boats, started due north over the frozen ocean, with the intention of reaching, if possible, the Xorth Pole. After more than a month of the most extreme and painful exertion they had gone a distance of only seventy-three miles from the ship. This brought them, however, to 83° 20' N., 64° W., giving Markham at the time the record for the high- 84: DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. est northing ever made by man. Scurvy had al- ready broken out among the men, and the return journey became a struggle even more terrible than the advance. By the time the ship was reached one man was dead and two-thirds of the whole number prostrate with disease. Another sledging expedition under Lieutenant Aldrich, also from the Alert, explored 220 miles of the unknown north coast of Grinnell Land. Here, too, scurvy put in an appearance, and the party would have perished but for a timely rescue. Other work by land was accomplished, that of Lieutenant Beaumont in Greenland being of special interest, as it extended northward to the curious ice-free area observed by Hall. Cases of scurvy becoming alarmingly numerous, Captain J^ares extricated his ships and returned to England, having made, both by ship and by sledge, higher northings than had ever before been achieved. CIIAPTEE VI. FROM 1875 TO 1900. Section 1. It fell to the nineteenth century, and to the man in that century who has perhaps done more than any other for the cause of Arctic explo- ration, to settle the ancient question of the possibility of a i^orth-East Passage by ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Since Willoughby's disastrous but re- sultful expedition of 1553, efforts had been made by English, Dutch and Russians towards the accom- plishment of such a voyage, until by the middle of the eighteenth century the thing was accepted as an impossibility. But when Professor (afterwards Baron) Adolf Erik Xordcnskjold turned his attention to it the question again became a live one. In 1875 N'ordenskjold, who had already taken part in six or seven Arctic enterprises, took a ship manned with walrus-hunters as far east as the mouth of the Yenisei. This voyage he repeated during the following summer in the face of the most unfavour- able ice conditions, and returned by the same course in the early autumn, thus proving the feasibility of a route which, as Siberia develops, promises to be of increasing commercial importance. On the scientific 86 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. side, also, these achievements were of great value, as "\ve are told that " the Kara Sea proved rich in individuals and in types, yielding nearly 500 species; from ISTova Zembla the species of known insects were raised from 7 to 100, and the knowledge of the vertebrate world of this region was similarly ex- tended." ISTordenskjold now turned his energies to convinc- ing the Swedish Government that the completion of the North-East Passage had been made a possibility by the use of steam in navigation, with such success that in 1S7S he was enabled to start upon the crown- ing voyage of his life. In the steamer Vega_, accom- panied by a collier and two ships bearing commer- cial cargoes, the explorer left Tromso, Norway, on the 21st of July, and by the 19th of August had rounded Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost point of the Old ^Yorld. Dropping her escorts at different ports on the way, the Vega threaded her course through difficult and ice-clogged seas until stopped by the pack about the middle of September, when only 120 miles west of Bering Strait. Thus, almost in sight of his goal, and in waters which he had hoped to find open even in October, Nordenskjold was forced into winter quarters. For ten months the unrelenting ice held him in this tantalising posi- tion, but when, late in the summer, release came, he lost no time in rounding East Cape, thus accom- plishing in a single voyage the long-sought North- East Passage. The stirring news first reached the FROM 1875 TO 1900. 87 world when, thirteen days later, the Vega dropped anchor at Oklahoma. Section 2. The voyage of Commander G. W. De Long, U.S. navy, in the Jeannette, 1879-81, is of peculiar interest aside from its tragic ending and its direct geographical results. Crushed and aban- doned in the Siberian Ocean, 155° E. longitude, in 1881, fragments of the Jeannette reached the east coast of Greenland three years later, carried by the drift of the ice ; and this fact had much to do with the inspiration of Hansen's daring experiment in the Fra7n, with which all the world rang but yes- terday. De Long entered the Arctic Ocean by way of Bering Strait, and his first and most startling dis- covery was of a negative kind. For more than a century there existed a geographical myth of conti- nental proportions, under the name of Wrangell Land, variously believed by some of the highest authori- ties to extend from somewhere north of eastern Siberia across the Pole to Greenland, or in a more easterly direction toward the American archipelago. The coasts of this supposed continent had been sighted by several whalers in the neighbourhood of 70° iN". latitude, but the idea of its vast extent had origin in Tchukchoe reports. Intending to winter on this great unexplored land, De Long pushed his ship w^estward into the pack. The march of the ice-floes carried him helplessly past the north of Wrangel Land, the long-sought continent thus proving to bo 88 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. only a small island, some seventy miles long by half that breadth. xVfter two perilous and disheartening winters in the drifting pack, the crushing of the Jeannette left her crew, many of them ill and disabled, without shelter on the barren floes. By a terrible journey they reached the New Siberia Islands, whence they attempted to push by boat to the mouth of the Lena. One boat foundered in a storm, and the others got separated, one party under Melville, chief engineer, coming to haven in a Russian village. De Long reached the Lena, but only after having abandoned his boat. Delayed by snow, and by young ice in the streams, and hampered by his sick and helpless, De Long sent two seamen forward in search of aid, while he and Dr. Ambler stayed behind with the disabled men. In spite of the utmost exertions on the part of Melville, who came back to the rescue, De Long and his party perished, and their bodies were not recovered until the following spring. This disastrous expedition had other geographical results besides the reduction of a mythical continent. Among these were the discovery of several new islands, and the traversing of hitherto unknown areas of the Siberian Ocean. Section 3. After its discoverer. Payer, no one visited Franz Josef Land until 1880, when Leigh Smith, an English yachtsman, explored its southern island fringe in the Eira. Where Payer had aban- doned the TegeWiof as hopelessly beset, Smith found FROM 1875 TO 1900. 89 an ice-free sea. Continuing his explorations in 1881, he was handicapped by the loss of the Eira, which sank near Cape Flora, JSTorthbrook Island. Enough was saved from the yacht to enable her crew to win- ter without serious hardships, and the following summer they retreated south by boat to Nova Zembla, whence they were rescvied by a Dutch scientific expedition in the Willem Barents. Although of some geographical importance. Smith's voyages failed to discover certain con- spicuous errors in Payer's chart, and tended to con- firm the impression that through Franz Josef Land lay the most promising overland route to the Pole. He discovered new coasts to the west, however, and his observations revealed an unexpected richness in the fauna and flora of this most northerly group of the Old World. Section 4. Expeditions having scientific research as their primary motive form a phase of Arctic (ex- ploration peculiar to and characteristic of the latter part of the nineteenth century. The most striking manifestation of this spirit in Arctic work was the establishment of international circumpolar stations, between the years 1881 and 18S3. The origination of this most valuable scheme of concerted action belongs to Lieutenant Weyprecht, of the Austrian navy; and the idea was received with such approval that during the years above mentioned fifteen polar expeditions were sent out to establish bases for the record of scientific observations. Thirteen of these 90 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATlONa formed a cordon around the ISTorth Pole, for the greater part lying far within the Arctic Circle, while two occupied stations on the Antarctic. The coun- tries which joined in this great work were Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Austria-Hungary, France, Holland, Nor- way and Sweden. The many series of observations thus compared and related were of the utmost im- portance especially those connected with meteor- ology and terrestrial magnetism. But the only ex- pedition to add striking geographical discoveries to the scientific work which was the main object of the circumpolar stations was that sent by the United States under Lieutenant (now General) A. W. Greely, and this calls for a section to itself. Section 5. When this expedition took the field in 1881 it consisted of twenty-three men and officers of the American army and two Eskimo. In the sealer Proteus this party proceeded through Smith Sound and Kennedy Channel to Discovery Harbour, where a station was established and named Fort Conger. The Proteus was sent back, and scientific work and preparations for spring sledging were be- gun. When the long night of winter broke, disease had carried off two-thirds of the dogs, but the men were all in perfect health. On the 3d of April, 1882, Lieutenant J. B. Lock- wood left Fort Conger on his now famous journey of discovery along the Greenland coast of Lincoln Sea. The diffi.culties of the march were increased FROM 1875 TO 1900. 91 at first by rough ice and a temperature sometimes as low as 81° below freezing. Later came deep soft snow and blinding storms. Yet in spite of ob- stacles Lockwood's daily average of travel for the first twenty-four days was nine miles, " the greatest ever made by man-power in a very high latitude on any extended journey." Sending back all his men save Brainard and one of the Eskimo, Lockwood pushed on toward the north-east, crossing in his ad- vance a number of immense fiords which "' showed no sign of heading, and clearly indicated a new archipelago intersected by these waterways." Forty days after leaving Fort Conger he reached his far- thest point, Lockwood Island, 83° 24' X., which re- mained the highest latitude attained by man until surpassed by Xansen. The land upon which he stood was free of ice-cap, while to the north, as far as eye could reach, stretched the frozen ocean, and to the south lay a fiord-pierced region, a confused mass of snow-clad peaks. Yet even here, in this ex- treme latitude, " foxes, hares, lemmings, ptarmigans, and plants showed a country by no means devoid of vegetation or game." Meanwhile Greely, by two important sledge jour- neys, was opening up a most interesting lake region in the unknown interior of Grinnell Land, between the 81st and 82d degrees of north latitude. From the chilly summit of Mount C. A. Arthur, the highest peak in Grinnell Land, he saw a mountain- ous and ice-capped district stretching to the north, 92 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. while to the south-west the country seemed cut by a huge arm of water (Greely Fiord). In 1883 Lockwood, supplementing these explora- tions in Grinnell Land, found that the country to the south of Greely's lake region was also ice-capped, the northern edge of this cap being a veritable Chinese w^all of ice, whose clean-cut, perpendicular face formed a barrier some two hundred feet in height running with little variation across valleys and mountains. Lockwood succeeded in pushing west along this vast unscalable glacier-edge to the head of Greely Fiord, which proved to be a great inlet of the western sea. General Greely himself sums up the most interest- ing features of these discoveries as follows : " The inland journeys of Greely and Lockwood resulted in the examination of about 6,000 square miles of newly-discovered land, which determines satisfac- torily the extent and the remarkable physical con- ditions of Xorth Grinnell Land. It brought to light fertile valleys, supporting herds of musk-oxen, an extensive ice-cap, rivers of considerable size, and a glacial lake (Hazen) of extensive area. . . . More remarkable, perhaps, was the discovery that Es- kimo had wintered, as shown by permanent huts, at Lake Hazen, — doubtless a phase of that migration, remarkable for its route and distance over so barren a country, by which the children of the ice passed from the islands of the Parry archipelago to the west coast of Greenland." FROM 1875 TO 1900. 93 The visiting ship failing to put in an appearance at the appointed time, Greely was forced by August, 1883, to start south with a little steam launch, two boats and a dingy. After sixteen days of most diffi- cult navigation, which gave a southing of two hun- dred miles, the launch was frozen in, and it became necessary to abandon her. Although the shore was only thirteen miles distant, the party struggled for nineteen days with desperate eifort before they could make a landing, the drift meanwhile carrying them south to a point half-way between Capes Sa- bine and Isabella. J^ear here they found a record from the relief expedition stating that a large cache of provisions had been laid down for them at Cape Sabine. Greely therefore pushed north to Sabine, only to find that the rations upon which his safety depended had been removed. Here, on the west coast of Smith Sound, they built a hut of rocks and slabs of snow. Famishing and ill-clad, they worried through another black winter. With spring game returned, but so sparsely that one by one men died of starvation. Yet even in their utmost extremity neither panic nor loss of discipline prevailed. The one man who menaced this solidarity by persistently stealing the seal-skin thongs which were the only re- maining food, was shot at Greely's order. On the 22nd of June, 1884, the long-expected as- sistance came, in the form of a relief squadron from the United States. It was only just in time, for when rescued, Greely and the other survivors of that 94 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. heroic little band were keeping life in their bodies by such nourishment as they could get from plants, sea- weed and lichens. Section 6. The vast sheet of ice, possibly three thousand feet in thickness, which covers nine-tenths of the continent of Greenland, for a long time proved an insuperable obstacle to any exploration of the interior. A picturesque but necessarily futile attempt to cross this inland ice was made in 1728 by an armed mounted force. It was a hundred and fifty years later before, by repeated efforts, explorers succeeded in penetrating some two score miles from the coast. Facts being thus inaccessible, curious theories came into vogue about this mysterious in- land country. Scientists pictured it as not ice-capped, but merely ice-girt, the great glacial barriers enclos- ing a land of wide valleys and luxuriant vegetation, a sort of reindeer's paradise. It is now revealed as a lofty ice-covered plateau, a region of treacherous crevasses, of blue and white desolation, broken occa- sionally by ice-free but sterile summits, known to the Eskimo as nunataks, the haunts of dread beings beyond the pale of humanity. Explorations by Xordenskjold and his LajDp ski- runners on the inland ice in 1883 led to a daring venture on the part of Dr. Fridjof i^ansen five years later, which resulted in the first crossing of Green- land. ISTansen and five others, with a limited supply of provisions, landed from a iN^orwegian sealer on the almost unapproachable east coast. Having FROM 1875 TO 1900. 95 taken this step, tlicir lives depended upon their suc- cess in reacliing the inhabited western shore. The point at which they took to the inland-ice was 64° 45' X. After seventeen days of up-hill work among crevasses and plunging slopes they found themselves only forty miles from the coast which they were leaving behind, and the land still ascending. At an elevation of between eight thousand and nine thou- sand feet they were on the crest of southern Green- land, a broad table-land of comparatively smooth and safe ice. After fifty days of ice-travel the west coast was reached about one-third of a degree south of Godthaab. This journey with Xordenskj old's explorations two hundred miles to the north thoroughly exploded the theory, as far as southern Greenland is con- cerned, of ice-free and fertile regions in the interior. It remained for an American, as described in the next section, to achieve the still more brilliant feat of twice crossing this continent of ice one thousand miles farther north than Xansen. Section 7. In 1891 Mr. R. E. Peary, U.S. Xavy, was put down on the Greenland shore of Smith Sound, where he established winter quarters, and in spite of a broken leg persisted in preparations for his great journey of the following spring. After accumulating supplies at the edge of the inland-ice, which here reached only to within fifteen miles of the coast, Peary began his real journey on the 14th of May, 1892. Pirst he pushed northward, until, 96 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. after many detours to avoid fiords and crevasses, lie looked off from the northern edge of the great ice- cap, on latitude 82° IST. Before him lay " the brown- red, comparatively ice-free land discovered by Lock- wood in 1882." Turning south-east, Peary followed the edge of the ice until he reached a large inlet on the east coast, which he named Independence Bay. To the north still stretched a red, naked land. A return journey of about 450 miles, facilitated by the successful hunting of several musk-oxen, brought Peary to Smith Sound. Returning to the field as soon as funds could be raised, this eager explorer wintered again on the west coast, and early in March of 1894 ascended the inland-ice with eight men, ninety-two dogs and twelve sledges. After an advance of 134 miles fierce storms and unendurable cold descended upon them, killing the dogs and disabling the men. Cach- ing supplies and sending back the disabled, Peary struggled on Avith three picked men for a fortnight longer, but was finally compelled to abandon his sledges and retreat to his base. Indomitable in the face of this failure, he refused to return when the relief ship came to take the expedition back to the United States. Two men, Lee and Henson, volun- teered to stay behind with him. With Eskimo aid these three passed the winter without disaster, and in the spring turned again to the ice-cap. Failure again threatened when the pemmican caclie of the previous year could not be found, but with rash FROM 1875 TO 1900. 97 courage Peary pushed forward, reaching again the east coast at Independence Bay. Here his expedi- tion would prohably have come to a tragic end, but for the opportune shooting of ten musk-oxen. As it was, the return journey was " a frantic race against starvation." From their winter camp Peary and his two companions were picked up by the steamer Kite, and reached home in the autumn of 1895. By these two brilliant and daring journeys Peary not only revealed the limits and condition of the ice-cap in northern Greenland, but reached a point on the difficult east coast more than two degrees north of the highest previously achieved on that coast. Section 8. Meanwhile a daring innovation had been introduced into the methods of Arctic explora- tion by Dr. Fridjof Nansen. The drift of the Jean- netie, and the observations of the international cir- cumpolar stations, had convinced Dr. Nansen that the great ice-pack north-east of the Kara Sea set continually toward, and probably across, the Pole. He calculated that this drift would occupy three years before the pack, trending south again, would break up in the Greenland Sea. His idea was to desert his base and surrender himself to this drift, which he hoped would carry him within reach of the Pole. On the 24th of June, 1893, the Fram, specially constructed to court and withstand the terrible grip of the drifting pack, hitherto the hete-noir of every 98 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. poleward venturing ship, left Norway with a crew of. thirteen hardy adventurers. Pushing along the coast of Asia, and through the dreaded Kara Sea, the Fram rounded Cape Chelyuskin, whose waters had known no keel before or since the passing of Nordenskj old's Vega. North-west of the New Siberia Islands she sought besetment, giving herself up to the resistless forces which control the moving ice- fields; and in this subjection she was destined to remain for three years. At first it seemed the whim of these forces to shatter Nansen's cherished dream at the very outset, and for months the Fram was borne steadily south-east, away from her goal. But suddenly the ice-movement shifted northward, and the vast march upon the Pole began. The disturb- ances and pressures in the pack were tremendous, but left the little ship unhurt. Nansen tells how, from the deck, he has watched ridge after ridge of huge ice-blocks forced up, creaking and crushing, through the winter darkness around him, with a sound " now like the howling of dogs, now like the thunder of a waterfall." Sometimes the noise was so terrific that the men in their snug cabin could hardly hear themselves speak. By the spring of 1895 the Fram had been carried beyond the highest point hitherto reached by man. But not satisfied with her northward progress, Nansen handed over the command to Captain Sver- drup, while he and Lieutenant Johansen, with dogs, sledges and kayaks, pushed poleward over the ice. FROM 1875 TO 1900. 99 Their plan was, not to attempt to rejoin the Fram, but to strike homeward, when forced to turn, by way of Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen. By the Tth of April, in spite of rough ice, physical exhaustion, and a temperature sometimes 49° below zero these two reached a point 86° 14' N. and 95° E., whence they discovered no sign of land to the north. The following day they changed their course toward Franz Josef Land, and by the 6th of August came to an unknown group of four islands, gloomy and glacier-covered, which they named Hrittenland, the home of the princesses in Norse fairy-tales. Beach- ing Franz Josef Land by a hitherto undiscovered sound leading through a region which Payer, prob- ably deceived by mirage, had charted as unbroken land, ITansen and Johansen wintered in a tiny hut which they built of stones and walrus hides. About the middle of June, 1896, ISTansen was astonished to hear the barking of a dog. Going toward the sound, he met Mr. Frederick Jackson, of the Jackson- Harmsworth expedition, and accepted his offer of conveyance to Norway on the yacht Windward. The Fram, meanwhile, after drifting to 85° 57' N. the highest latitude ever attained by a ship, had fought her way out of the ice, and reached Norway soon after Nansen. At her home-coming she was greeted with flags, salutes from the men-of-war, and bonfires of welcome on the heights. Then, Nansen says, " The ice and the long moonlit polar nights, with all their yearning, seemed like a far-off dream 100 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. from another world — a dream that had come and passed away." By thus piercing, to within some two hundred miles of the Pole itself, those fastnesses of the white north which had come to be regarded as practically impregnable, !Nansen has made it tolerably certain that the actual Polar regions consist of a deep, eternally restless sea of ice. He says : " The im- movable mantle of ice with which the northern end of our globe has generally been supposed to be en- veloped has vanished. Everything is drifting, the entire ocean is incessantly moving from one side of the hemisphere to the other, the whole thing is a link in the endless chain of vicissitudes in Nature's perpetual round, and this ice is as restless and in- constant as human theories." Section 9. Two poleward expeditions by Mr. Walter Wellman, an American, met with misfortune. In his attempt of 1894, Mr. Wellman made a ship at Spitzbergen his base, pushing northward with sledge and boat. But adverse ice conditions, and the loss of his ship, the Ragnvald Jarl, forced him to turn back before he had passed much beyond the 81st parallel. Eenewing his efforts in 1898, he made his base in Franz Josef Land. Impatient of the return of the sun, Wellman started north with sledges in the depth of winter, and had reached nearly the 82d parallel of latitude, within 565 miles of the Pole, when he received serious injuries from a fall into a FROM 1875 TO 1900. 101 crevasse, and had to turn back. Two days later a severe earthquake destroyed his sledges and crushed many of his dogs. By this expedition the eastern limits of Franz Josef Land were explored, and some twenty new islands added to the map of that archipelago. Section 10. The most eminent arctic authorities concurred in the opinion that Franz Josef Land offered the most promising land route to the Pole, until this theory was put to the test by Mr. Fred- erick G. Jackson, financially backed by Mr. Alfred Harmsworth. Sailing in the Windward in 1894, Jackson built a house at Cape Flora, E'orthbrook Island, which he made his winter quarters and base of operations. His explorations during 1895 and 1896 proved this land to be anything but a favorable route to the Pole. Zichy Land, which Payer had laid down as " a vast mountainous region," Jackson found to be a group of narrow islands lying between Austria Sound and another main waterway which he discovered and named the British Channel. In 1897 the most important journey of the ex- pedition was carried out, the extreme western lands of the archipelago being visited, and their coasts laid down. The same year Jackson's explorations were brought to a close by the recall of the Wind- ward. Although failing to lessen the distance be- tween man and the Pole, the work of this expedition was most valuable from a geographic point of view. Franz Josef Land as an almost continental 102 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. mass stretching away toward the Pole has been resolved into a confused archipelago of lofty ice- capped islands. Jackson says : " At rare intervals high black basaltic rocks jut out of the ice near the shore, forming the only conspicuous landmarks. In front of these rocks the broken-down debris from the cliffs has formed a plateau or shore, upon which a certain amount of stunted arctic vegetation exists. Here may be found a few poppies, saxifrages, mosses, lichens, etc. ISTothing grows higher than six inches from the ground. Everywhere else, with the excep- tion of a few low islands, the ice-sheet dominates. Thick mists generally overhang this land; violent gales are frequent, combined with heavily falling and driving snow." Section 11. The most daring and unique attempt to reach the I^orth Pole is that of the Swede Andree. From Dane's Island^ in north-west Spitzbergen, he and two companions ascended in the balloon " Ornen" (the Eagle), and were borne by a strong c-ale into the north. All the details of this rash venture had been coolly and prudently thought out. The ascent was made on the 11th of July, 1897, and at time of writing the only definite word from the aeronauts that has reached the world is a brief mes- sage by carrier pigeon, despatched from the balloon on the second day after their departure. The " Omen " had then reached a north latitude of only 82° 2', and was drifting eastward. Though rumours have found their way into the newspapers of the FROM 1875 TO 1900. 103 balloon having been seen by natives, now in the Parry archipelago, now somewhere in Siberia, the fate of Andree and his companions remains a mys- tery which offers the gloomiest possibilities. One of the latest Arctic expeditions of the century left America in 1898, under Lieutenant Peary of Greenland fame. Selecting the " American route," he took with him sixty dogs, five couples of Eskimo, and sixty carcasses of walrus. His plan was, having sent back his ship, with the Eskimo and dogs to push onwards to the Pole, devoting, if necessary, several years to this purpose. He returned in 1902, having traced the previously imdiscovered northern coast of Greenland, where he stood on the most north- erly known land in the world. In the same year, and following also the " Amer- ican route," a Swedish jSTorth-Polar expedition en- tered the field under Captain Sverdrup in the famous Fram. Its principal object was '' to ascertain the extension of Greenland towards the north, to deter- mine the yet unknown configuration of the coast of its mainland, and, if possible, to discover whether this great Arctic land finally breaks into groups of islands in the north." * Sverdrup, too, returned in 1902, having discovered a large unknown island north of the Parry Islands. * The record " farthest north" (86° 33") was achieved by the Duke of Abruzzi's expedition in 1900. PART THREE. EXPLORATION IN CANADA. CHAPTER VII. DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. Section 1. Although the various sections of Brit- ish North America were not confederated into the Dominion of Canada until periods ranging from 1867 to 1873, throughout these chapters it will be convenient to use the name Canada vith its present application even when referring to explorations prior to these dates. At the beginning of the cen- tury this vast expanse of flowering prairies, sombre forests and rampired mountains, with its deep north- ward margin of desolation, was little more than a limitless hunting ground, its plains shaken by the thunder of innumerable galloping bison, with the shrill cries of their red hunters, its northern solitudes traversed by great migrant herds of caribou, its lakes and rivers loud with the whirring flight of water fowl. Into this primeval wilderness the com- paratively long-established eastern provinces had thrust a wedge of civilisation, occupying but a trifling fraction of the whole three and a half mil- DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 105 lion square miles. Practically all of the coast lying along the Arctic Ocean was utterly unknown save to the Eskimos, and concerning the resources of the great undeveloped interior there was little definite knowledge. Hearne and Mackenzie had made dar- ing and memorable journeys in the north and west, and their discoveries, although inaccurately recorded, had been very extensive. But except for the far- reaching activities of the fur trade, and occasional sanguinary out-flamings of the ancient feud between the Indians and the Eskimos, there was little of the human drama enacting upon all this illimitable stage. Section 2. To the wide and picturesque organisa- tion of the fur trade must be credited the pioneer work of piercing these fastnesses. Long before the beginning of the century trading posts of the Hud- son Bay Company punctuated the wilderness at lonely river mouths, on solitary and inaccessible inland waters, and along the coasts of Hudson Bay. During the early part of the century the North-West Company was also active in the field, and under the stimulus of a bitter rivalry lonely palisaded trading posts sprang into sudden existence, spreading north- ward to the Arctic Circle and westward even to the Pacific. Thousands of miles of canoe routes and overland trails were established by the ensuing traffic, and to the hardy adventurers of these great mercantile companies belong the beginnings of Canada's western provinces. Although these men 106 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. pushed their fearless way far and wide through the gloom of unknown forests and along great water highways where no white man had gone before, ex- ploration with them was altogether secondary to the expansion of the fur trade. Yet it can be said almost without qualification that every organised expedition of discovery to enter these wilds has been more or less dependent for its success upon the existence of the far-scattered forts and connecting trails of the Hudson Bay Company. Section 3. In 1840 the Canadian Government established the Geological Survey of Canada, under the directorship of Sir William Edmund Logan. Year by year this institution is doing exploratory and topographical work of great importance, incident- ally to discovering and making known the resources of the country. For authoritative and final infor- mation in regard to little-known sections we are mainly indebted to this most important branch of the Government service. In these chapters, how- ever, its many and important expeditions will not call for specific mention except when their work has opened up wide regions not hitherto traversed by civilised man. Section 4. The most conspicuous series of Cana- dian explorations was conducted in connection with the problem of a ISTorth-West Passage for ships, the work thus accomplished being greatly extended and supplemented in the same field by numerous relief parties in search of the lost Franklin expedition. DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 107 Owing to these two motives it came about tiiat during a period between 1819 and 1855 our knowl- edge of Canada's most forbidding and inaccessible regions of starved plain and stunted forest was steadily growing, while in the south and west, neg- lected and practically unknown, lay vast expanses of sun-steeped prairies, flowering glades and luxuriant woodlands. Section 5. Starting in 1819, an expedition under the command of Captain John Franklin, whose name was destined to become the most famous of all those connected with the ISTorth-West Passage, crossed the interior of Canada from south to north, from Red Kiver near the international boundary to the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Coppermine. The story of this journey by canoe and on snow-shoes, by men unaccustomed to these modes of travel, is one of in- trepid energy in the face of terrible sufferings and loss of life. With Franklin were Dr. John Richard- son, midshipmen Robert Hood and George Back, a seaman named John Hepburn, and a number of hunters and voyageurs. Reaching Cumberland House after a difficult autumnal journey of 700 miles from York Factory, they started northward again in January. A painful tramp of 800 miles with the unaccustomed aid of snow-shoes brought them to Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, where a dearth of supplies forced them to push on for Fort Provi- dence on Great Slave Lake. On leaving Providence Franklin's party consisted of twenty-six men and 108 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. three Indian women, with provisions for only ten days. Failure of food and scarcity of game shat- tered their hope of reaching the lower Coppermine by autumn, forcing them to build winter quarters, which Franklin named Fort Enterprise, on Winter Lake. Here their straits were relieved by Back, who re- traced his steps to Providence and Chipewyan, re- turning with food and ammunition after a journey of 1,100 miles on snow-shoes, the temperature at one time down to 90° below freezing, his only covering at night a blanket and deer-skin. On the 18th of July, 1821, Franklin's expedition reached the Arctic Ocean at the mouth of the Cop- permine, 350 miles from Fort Enterprise. Unde- terred by the fears of his voyageurs and the extreme uncertainty of food and fuel, with splendid daring he pushed eastward in canoes. The shore was barren, the sea rough and encumbered with ice. The coast traversed was unknown land, and it was not until August 22d, 1821, their canoes in a condition of wreck and only two days' rations of pemmican remaining, that the expedition turned back. Franklin's farthest east on this journey was Point Turnagain, 68° 18' K, 109° 25' W. In the face of obstructions and hardships almost insurmountable he had accomplished the delineation of the southern coast of a large sound and the entire shores of a lesser bay, which were named respectively Corona- tion Gulf and Bathurst Inlet. DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 109 It was already too late for the expedition to re- turn by the "vvay it had come, but having discovered Hood River on his outward route, Franklin hoped to ascend this to the head of canoe navigation and thence cross overland to the Coppermine and Fort Enterprise. But disappointment met him here. Hood River developed a series of rapids, falls and caiions which made further navigation impossible while he was yet 150 miles from Point Lake, at the head of the Coppermine. There was nothing to do but cover that distance on foot. From the remains of the boats two small portable canoes were made, and with less than one day's rations left the party started on its forlorn march. This was on the last day of August. On the 4th of September they were storm-stayed, and for three days remained in camp, without fire or food. On the Tth, after a three days' fast, they made a fire from the fragments of one of the canoes which had been broken in carrying, and ate the last of their food, a few soup-tablets and a little arrow-root. From this time their sufferings were of the extremest kind. Over marshy and desolate country almost entirely barren of game they struggled on. The snow lay a foot deep, but the ice on the streams was still young, and a further strain was put upon their enfeebled vitality by frequent sudden plunges into icy water. The flickering life was kept in their bodies by such nourishment as they could get from lichens, and from bones of animals left by the wolves, 110 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. •with now and then a stray ptarmigan or the chance luxury of a few berries. At last they reached the Coppermine, some 40 miles from Fort Enterprise, having lost only one man. Here eight days were wasted in vain at- tempts to cross the river, which was rapid and un- fordable. Franklin finally devised a willow-framed boat covered with canvas bedding, and the crossing was accomplished on the 4th of October. It was then decided that Back and two of the men who seemed most nearly equal to the extra effort should push ahead to Fort Enterprise, on the chance of securing aid for the others. The diet of lichens and scraps of roasted leather proving fatal to two of the men in the main party, and the others being in the last stages of exhaustion, a relief camp was established at the first place where fuel and lichen could be found in comparative abun- dance. Here Richardson, Hood and Hepburn re- mained behind, while Franklin and eight men pushed on. Four of the latter, a hunter named Michel and three voyageurs, overcome by exhaustion, returned to camp, where a wretched tragedy ensued. Michel, brutalised by his sufferings, and thinking only of in- creasing his own chances of subsistence, deliberately murdered Lieutenant Hood and the three voyageurs. Crazed with the instinct of self-preservation, the man had become a mere animal, and had to be shot down as such. The relief camp consisted now of only Dr. Rich- DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. m ardson and Hepburn, ^vho, leaving the scene so stained with slaughter, struggled on toward Fort Enterprise, in the track of Back and Franklin. The latter, with his four men, found the Fort utterly de- serted, and a note from Back to say that he was pushing on to Fort Providence for assistance. As Fort Providence could scarcely be reached inside of two weeks, the outlook for the party seemed hope- less. They were joined later at Fort Enterprise by Eichardson and Hepburn. There the six men, with- out strength to push forward, and with no means of sustenance but such bones and skins of deer as re- mained from the previous year, supplemented with moss and a variety of lichen called tripe de roche, waited, enduring a sort of living death, and clinging to a hope so forlorn as to be little more than a mockery. After two others of their number had perished, salvation came to the brave remnant from an unfore- seen source. Back, while yet only a few days' march from Fort Enterprise, fell in with a friendly band of Indians, who, contrary to the uses of that improvi- dent race, were plentifully provisioned. To their chief, Akiatcho, we owe the rescue of one of the noblest and most intrepid explorers our race has produced. Section 6. In 1S25 Franklin led a second expedi- tion from Ontario by way of Lakes Huron and Su- perior to Ked River, thence across country to Great Bear Lake, and down the Mackenzie River to its 112 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. mouth, whence he continued the survey of the un- known northern coast of America. Eichardson, Back and Hepburn again accompanied him. After establishing a winter post, Fort Frank- lin, on Great Bear Lake, from which centre im- portant magnetic and meteorological observations were carried on, and the lake surveyed, Franklin's party found itself in July of 1826 at the delta of the Mackenzie. Here they separated, one body under Franklin and Back skirting the coast westward, another commanded by Dr. Richardson proceeding eastward toward the mouth of the Coppermine. Franklin's division succeeded in tracing the coast for 374 miles to a point which they named Return Reef situated 70° 26' N. and 148° 51' W. ]\Ieanwhile Elson, of the Beechey expedition, sent out to meet Franklin by way of Bering Strait, had succeeded in rounding Icy Cape, never before doubled, and had explored an unknown coast as far east as Point Barrow, within 160 miles of Return Reef. Franklin, unable to reach Elson, turned back toward the Mackenzie River and Fort Franklin, where he found Richardson's party, safely returned after a most successful voyage. Amid the Arctic desolation of Atkinson Island they had discovered what was evidently a deserted winter settlement of the Eskimos, consisting of 17 winter-houses and a large log-roofed public building. After rounding Cape Bathurst, they had held south-east across Frank- lin Bay and along the coast, and had discovered a DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 113 neV7 land separated from the mainland by a strait some 15 miles wide. The strait they named after their boats Dolphin and Union, and the new land received the name of Wollaston. Before turning back they had traced the northern coast-line of America through twenty degrees of longitude and two of latitude, besides making many valuable bo- tanical and geological observations. The bands of Eskimos met with during this expedition proved in the main friendly, although inclined to take advan- tage of any accident or misfortune. Section 7. In 1833 Captain George Back was again in the field where already he had achieved so great distinction by his courage and endurance. In command of a relief expedition to discover the whereabouts of Sir John Ross he followed a route from Montreal to Lake Winnipeg, thence to Fort Reliance, which he built on Great Slave Lake, and dowm the Back, or Great Fish River, to the Arctic coast. The great ri^^r which Back followed to the sea, and which now bears his name, had never before been seen by a white man, its existence being known only by vague Indian reports. The actual descent of the river was not begun until the spring of 1834, by which time news had been received of the safe return of Ross's party. But the expedition pushed on to accomplish its secondary purpose of scientific and geographical work. Back River developed new dangers at every turn. 114 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Its rocky rapids were interspersed with impassable falls, while its more placid reaches often widened out into long ice-bound lakes. Its shores were in the main forbidding, and its generally turbulent nature may be judged from the fact that in the 530 miles between Back's starting point and the river's mouth his boat experienced the perils of 83 cascades and rapids. Back's explorations were practically confined to this river and to the barren lands lying at its mouth, although he sighted a strait to the eastward, after- wards explored by Simpson, whose name it bears, and an unknown land to the north which he named after King William. This latter was destined later to focus attention in connection with the tragic fate of Franklin's last expedition. An attempt to con- nect Point Turnagain and the mouth of Back Eiver by a land expedition along the coast failed at the outset, the country being so boggy that the men sank to their knees at every step. Back therefore turned southward again along the difficult river route by which he had come, the ice conditions making any coastwise exploration by boat impos- sible. Section 8. The next expedition in Canada had for its object the completion of the discovery and survey of the northern coast, and is remarkable among Arctic enterprises for its great success, and its freedom from serious disaster in spite of unnum- bered dangers and difficulties. In 1836 P. W. Dease DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 115 and Thomas Simpson were commissioned by the Hudson Bay Company with this undertaking. That winter Simpson, through piercing cold and driving blizzards, made a remarkable overland journey from Fort Garry to join Dease at Chipewyan, covering the 1,277 miles in two months. The route of Dease and Simpson in the early summer of 1837, down the Mackenzie to its mouth and westward as far as Return Reef, broke no new ground. At Return Reef their discoveries began. Between this reef and Point Barrow there lay 150 miles of unknown coast, along which the explorers pushed their way against vast difficulties, in constant peril from the ice-packs, at times, with their utmost exer- tions, advancing only a mile a day. At a cape which they named Simpson, within two degrees of Point Barrow, Dease consented to stay with the boats while Simpson and five men pushed along the coast on foot. Two days out they came on an Eskimo camp, from which they succeeded in obtain- ing skin boats and native rowers for the remainder of the journey, reaching Point Barrow on the 4th of August. Having thus united the known portions of the north-western coast-line of America, the expedition returned to the mouth of the Dease River on Great Bear Lake. Here they built winter quarters which they named Fort Confidence, and here they spent the time, until river navigation opened, in hunting, fish- ing and exploring the neighbouring country. 116 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. In the early summer of 1838, portaging from the Dease to the Kendall River, and descending the latter stream to its confluence with the Coppermine, they were there delayed by river ice. When at last they reached the Arctic coast the ice conditions were still so bad that by August 9th they had suc- ceeded in forcing their way eastward only as far as Cape Flinders in Coronation Gulf. From this point Simpson again took to the land, leaving Dease to follow by sea when the ice permitted. Passing Point Turnagain, a hitherto unexplored coast lay before him. Following this eastward for 100 miles Simpson found himself on a bold headland, from which he saw to the north an unknown land, and named it Victoria. August being now spent the party returned to winter quarters at Fort Confi- dence. By the 22d of June, 1839, they were again at the mouth of the Coppermine. Delayed here by the sea ice, which they found still solid, they filled up the time of waiting with the exploration of Kichardson River. When the ice broke they succeeded in reaching Cape Alexander, Simpson's farthest of the previous autumn, as early as July 26th. Here they were again obstructed, but by taking advan- tage of every opening in the ice they achieved Point Ogle before the middle of August, thus connecting Back's discoveries at the mouth of Back River with Point Turnagain of Franklin to the westward. Although their instructions were now fulfilled, DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. II7 Simpson pushed east as far as Castor and Pollux Bay, 68° 28' K, 94° 14' W., and returning explored the southern shore of King William Land, which he found abounding in " reindeer, musk-cattle, and old native encampments." Yet it was on this land that the Franklin expedition, nine years later, perished from starvation. Throughout the explorations of Dease and Simpson they found frequent Eskimo en- campments and everywhere an abundance of furred and finny spoil. But it is well known that the pres- ence of game is one of the most uncertain factors to be considered in connection with the exploration of extreme northern lands, where all life is pecu- liarly migratory. Section 9. In 1846 Dr. John Rae, also in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, left Churchill Station on the 5th of July, with instructions to make Eepulse Bay his base of operations, and from there to carry on the exploration of Boothia Felix and the rest of the unknown coast of the continent. Although it was expected that he would be absent on this expedition some fifteen months at the least, and probably nearly twice that time, the promoters of the scheme sent him afield with provisions for only four months, depending for the rest upon the game resources of those most unreliable regions. Beaching Bepulse Bay on July 25th, Rae found some Eskimo who were able to draw him a chart of the country to the north. From them he learned that by following a chain of lakes across the isth- 118 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. miis (Rae Istlimus) separating Melville Peninsula from the mainland, and bj portaging twelve miles, he would reach salt water to the north. Starting im- mediately on this route, he reached the southern point of Committee Bay, August 1st. Attempting to skirt, first the west and then the east side of this bay, Kae was in both cases turned back by the ice. Returning to Repulse Bay, he built a stone house ■which he named Fort Hope, a makeshift affair with canvas roof and parchment door. The remainder of the autumn was spent in hunting, fishing, and gath- ering fuel against the long bitter winter. But in spite of their providence, before spring they had suf- fered much from cold and privation. Nevertheless, the 5th of April found Eae and his party in good physical condition, and on that day they started with two sledges and eight dogs to ex- plore by land the west shore of Committee Bay. On the 16th of April Rae, leaving his dogs and three of the men behind to rest and hunt, pushed forward on foot. On the 19th he reached a height of land from which he overlooked Lord Mayor Bay, dis- covered by John Ross more than fourteen years earlier. After a return to Fort Hope for supplies, Rae started again on the 12th of May to follow the east coast of Committee Bay to the known shores of Fury and Hecla Strait. For the first three days he was supported by a dog team, but for the remainder of the journey travelled on foot, depending mainly DISCOVERIES IN THE FAR NORTH. 119 upon his rifle for food. He reached a point within about twenty-two miles of Fury and Hecla, thus practically completing the discovery of the northern coast of America. Only the north-west shores of Boothia Felix re- mained unvisited, a gap which was filled in later during the Franklin search. Eae had united the surveys of Eoss and Parry, a distance of about 700 miles, had made the first long sledge journey accom- plished in that part of the world, and had supported his party for twelve months on the spoil of gun and spear. Section 10. During 1848 and 1849 an expedition under Sir John Richardson, accompanied by Dr. Eae, made overland journeys in search of Franklin, but these added little to geographical knowledge. In 1851 this indefatigable traveller was again in the field, but this time his discoveries were in lands to the north of the American continent, and located in the Arctic section of this book. Again in 1853- 54 we find him wintering at Repulse Bay, living almost entirelv on food obtained bv the 2;un, hook or spear. In the spring he succeeded in joining the surveys of Dease and Simpson with those of Ross west of Boothia, and obtained the first scrap of definite information about the Franklin expedition. Murchison River was another of Rae's discoveries on this expedition. The party under Anderson and Stewart, who passed down the Back River in 1855, practically terminates the long wave of overland 120 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Arctic exploration to what is now northern Canada, at that time the territory of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany. Section 11. During the years between 1863 and 1878 a French priest named M. Emile Petitot, in the course of his service among the Indians and Eskimos, made important geographic and ethno- graphic contributions to our knowledge of certain little-known regions around the Mackenzie basin and in the neighbourhood of Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes. Other missionaries have traversed the section of Arctic America between Alaska and the Mackenzie Kiver. CHAPTER VIII. EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. Section 1. While strong men were suffering and enduring under frozen skies to make known the secrets of Canada's uttermost north, vast regions of smiling fertility in the south and west remained unexplored. In 1806 Simon Eraser had crossed the Rockies and descended by canoe, through plunging rapids and echoing caiions, the great river which commemorates his name. In 1828 Governor Sir George Simpson travelled from York Eactory on Hudson Bay to the source of Peace River, portaged to the great northern bend of the Eraser, and de- scended thence to the Pacific. Thirteen years later Simpson again crossed the continent by way of the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, Lakes Nipissing, Huron and Superior, thence by canoe route to Lake Winni- peg, across the prairie via the Saskatchewan to the Rocky Mountains, and down the Pacific slope through the valley of the Columbia River. Section 2. But the first regularly organised effort to gain knowledge of these kindlier regions was made in 1857, at the suggestion of the Royal Geo- graphical Society. This large and important ex- pedition, under the command of Captain Palliser, 122 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. remained in the field until the autumn of 1860, ex- ploring the country between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains, and beyond. Its work reached north to the sources of the chief rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, embracing 30° of longitude and in some places 6° latitude. ISTot all of this wide expanse of territory was terra incognita. In the rich arable lands of the Red River district was the Selkirk Settlement of Scotch immigrants, and north- westerly the country was known along the valleys of the Assiniboine and the IN'orth Saskatchewan, the Hudson Bay Company having had for years a chain of forts on the latter river at intervals of about 200 miles, established mainly because of the vast herds of bison which then roamed the prairies and were a source of meat and pemmican for the more valuable trading posts of the far north. The region of the South Saskatchewan, however, was un- known. Palliser speaks of the territory covered by his ex- plorations as roughly divisible, according to its physical features, into three districts. First, that traversed by canoe route from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg, which he describes as a rocky and arduous country, of small promise to the settler. The second, or central prairie district, now one of the greatest grain-producing regions of the world, was crossed by horses and prairie carts. These rolling miles of plain lay in all their virgin loneliness but abundant promise, in summer an ocean of wild EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 123 grasses whitening before the wind, or flushed with the innumerable blossoms of the wild rose, in the autumn too often, through the carelessness of Indians or hunters, a racing sea of fire. The river valleys of this region are cut deep and narrow through the soft soil. Palliser's third district was the wide mountain region west of the prairies. During 1857 the expedition examined the country from the forks of the Ked Kiver and the Assiniboine to the international boundary line at Pembina (longitude 97° W.) and along the line to the limit of the fertile belt (longitude 105° W.). Starting again from Fort Ellice it reached the boundary at Eoche Percee. On the plains dried buffalo dung, which burns with a hot glow like coal, formed an important item of fuel. In one place the prairie was studded with great scattering boulders of fine red granite, and the sides of these were worn to a polish by the rubbing shaggy sides of numberless generations of bison. Everywhere from east to west the summer twilight of the plains was full of the weird disproportionate booming of the night hawks. Palliser's explorations during the early summer of 1858 had for their field the country lying between the ISTorth and South Saskatchewan. On the North Saskatchewan he was struck with the absence of oaks, ash, elms, maples, and the various hardwood trees that he found on the Red River, " only a few trees of the false sugar maple, from which the In- 124 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. dians make a coarse kind of sugar, being found in cer- tain places." The country traversed by the South Saskatchewan or Bow River presented a different aspect, being in the main a region of arid plains, devoid of timber or pasturage. Wild sage and cactus gave the distinctive note of its plant life, ex- cept on isolated patches of table-land, where vege- tation of a more luxuriant type flourished. The river followed a deep and narrow valley, whose abrupt sides of calcareous marls and clays were baked and seamed by the parching sun. In August and September the expedition, divided into branch parties, explored the mountains, discov- ering four passes available for horses between the Kootanie and Columbia Valleys and the plains of the Saskatchewan, all lying within British territory — a point of importance, as the Government was then considering the advisability of establishing a road across the continent to the Pacific. They observed a remarkably fertile belt of country stretch- ing along the eastern foot of the Eockies, to a depth of from 1° to 2° of longitude. This belt, some 2,700 feet above the sea, labours under the disadvantage of light but almost continuous night frosts during the summer, although the winters are more open, and the springs earlier than in the country farther to the east. During the winter of IS 5 8-9 Dr. Hector of this expedition made a sledge journey over the height of land and down the Athabasca River, while Palliser EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 125 spent his time hunting with the Blackfoot and Pie- gan Indians, dangerous and inconstant tribes whose country west of the Rocky Mountains he was to ex- plore during the following summer. Early in IS 5 9 explorations were begun in the ter- ritory of the two tribes already mentioned, and also through the hunting-grounds of the Blood Indians. Although the expedition had been materially aug- mented and the men well armed because of the dan- gerous nature of the country to be traversed, it was with the greatest difficulty that Palliser could induce his half-breeds to proceed. These districts were considered practically inaccessible to white men, the Hudson Bay Company having long ago given up the posts they once held there as too dangerous to maintain. Palliser, however, succeeded in exploring all the British portion of the territory of these tribes without bloodshed or hostilities. Captain Palliser was assisted on this expedition by Lieutenant Blakiston as astronomer, ]\Ir. Bour- geau as botanist, and Dr. Hector as geologist, with other specialists, so that in addition to the broad and valuable geographical acquisitions accruing, impor- tant studies were made of the natural resources of the region. Another object accomplished was the topographical determination of the British ISTorth American international boundary line from Lake Superior to the western sea. Section 3. In 1862 Lord IMilton explored the Red River, and with Dr. Cheadle crossed Canada from 126 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the Atlantic to the Pacific. In their own words, " the expedition was undertaken with the design of discovering the most direct route through British territory to the gold regions of Cariboo, and explor- ing the unknown country on the western flank of the Eocky Mountains, and the neighbourhood of the sources of the north branch of the Thompson River." Their small party was completed by a half-breed guide, a family of Assiniboine Indians consisting of the man, the squaw, and their son, and an encum- brance in the person of a Mr. O'B., a man whose apt quotations from the Latin poets were never found wanting in the most unexpected emergencies. Before reaching the Rockies they were deserted by their half-breed guide, while yet six or seven hun- dred miles of the journey lay before them, through a difficult and perilous country of which none of them had any first-hand knowledge. They pushed on, however, relying to a great extent upon the Assini- boine's woodcraft and general knowledge of the wil- derness. At this stage the inefficiency and timidity of Mr. O'B,, when called upon to help in the management of the packhorses, and his imperturbable self-con- fidence when any emergency was past, relieved the monotony with mingled irritation and amusement. While the morning preparations for departure were in progress Mr. O'B. invariably disappeared, to be found at last in some secluded nook, absorbed in a EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 127 pocket volume of Paley's Evidences. During the day's march he invariably lagged behind; but upon losing sight of the rest of the party it was his cus- tom to collapse upon the nearest fallen tree and lift up his voice for assistance, refusing to budge until somebody came back for him. At night, when it was time to prepare the camp, he would again seek seclusion with his Paley. His lagging on the march was finally cured by the resourceful Assiniboine, who, being sent back to bring the helpless Mr. O'B. to camp, impersonated a " grisly " in the bushes beside the trail with such success that the loiterer rejoined the party at a sprint that might have been the despair of many a college athlete. Without serious misadventure they crossed the Rocky Mountains by the Yellow Head Pass, nearly 4° north of the American boundary. From the neighbourhood of Tete Jaune Cache, near the head- waters of the Eraser River, they looked out upon one of the grandest panoramas of mountain scenery in the world, hundreds of miles of mountains, packed range behind range, apparently stretching away to the Pacific, most of the peaks snow-clad, and separated only by the narrowest valleys. This was in British Columbia, a section of Can- ada which had been lifted into sudden prominence by the gold rush of 1858. Early in the century this giant young province of the Pacific was a sea of pine-clad and snow-capped mountains, inter- spersed with wild plateau and meadow, its unknown 128 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. rivers roaring seaward through dark gorges or roll- ing between curious triple-terraced banks clothed with the green patches of the bunch-grass. The famous American expedition under Lewis and Clark in 1804-6 penetrated a short distance into this unknown region, and their tracks were closely followed by the Astor Fur Trading expedition in 1810-11. But the most vital step toward the open- ing up of this luxuriant wilderness was taken by Sir George Simpson when he established Hudson Bay Company trading-posts in Vancouver Island and on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. As an outcome of this the Company in 1849 made Victoria or Vancouver Island the capital of its western ter- ritories. At this time the province could boast some thirty settlers in addition to trappers, factors, and other Company employes. But when the news went abroad of abundant gold discoveries on the Eraser and Thompson Rivers, and in the Cariboo and Cas- siar districts, the lonely canons and wooded steeps were soon awakened by feverish armies of gold-seekers and adventurers. Milton and Cheadle's party, soon after entering British Columbia, lost a packhorse in a rapid of the upper Fraser, and with it all the instruments of the expedition. Striking the headwaters of the Thomp- son, they attempted to force their way north-west- ward through piled-up mountains and unending pine forests to the gold district of Cariboo. This plan had to be abandoned because of the difficulty EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 129 of the country, its mountain barriers buried in dens- est forest being utterly impassable without the cut- ting of a trail, — and the axes, all except a small In- dian hatchet, had gone with the instruments. The travellers then decided to push do\vn the valley of the Thompson to Fort Kamloops, near the lake of the same name. All trail failed them, and for a month they were lost in the mountains. Food and ammunition gave out, and a doubt grew upon them as to whether the great mountain torrent within whose gorge they struggled forward was in reality the Thompson. Their course along this deep mountain-walled valley was obstructed by barriers of fallen pines and cedars, their uptorn roots and shattered branches tangled and matted with the tough and spiney vines of the aralia. So nearly impassable was the way to men armed only with a small hatchet and encumbered with horses that their utmost exertions could only accomplish an average of about three miles a day. Throughout this dismal advance they met with only one trace of man, the mummified and headless body of an Indian crouched in a sitting posture beside the finely-broken fragments of a horse's skull. When, at last, having killed and eaten two of their skeleton-like and utterly dilapidated horses, they emerged from the heavy gloom of the forest into an opener region of grass and sunlight, the party were for a time nearly blinded by the change. Some days before reaching Fort Kamloops they passed tb^ 130 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS, dead bodies of many Shuswap Indians scattered along the trail, sometimes a man and woman wrapped in the same blanket where they had lain down to die. It was afterwards learned that a fierce epidemic of small-pox had been raging among this tribe. Milton and Cheadle, continuing down the ■Thompson to its junction with the Fraser, and thence to ISTew Westminster at the mouth of the latter river, had completed the ISTorth-West Passage by land through British Territory, although failing of their other purpose to establish a direct route to the Cariboo gold fields from the east. Since Milton and Cheadle's expedition the prov- ince of British Columbia has been threaded in many directions by eager bands of prospectors, in search of both mining districts and arable lands; the Geo- logical Survey has done important and extensive work within its borders ; and the Canadian Pacific Railway has supplied an artery along which towns are springing up as in a night. Yet even now civil- isation has little more than fretted the margin of this vast congeries of looming mountains and high plateaus. Section 4. !N"orthward from British Columbia the Pocky Mountains, breaking down from their distinctive rampart-like character into lower hills, traverse a corner of the North- West Territory and turn westward into Alaska. This region, lying west of the Mackenzie River valley and north of the 60th parallel of latitude, can be most conveniently re- EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 131 ferred to as constituting one geographical section, and its exploration treated in this chapter, although Alaska is the property of the United States. The Yukon, its principal river, has so great a volume that at its mouth the water is fresh for ten miles out to sea, and 600 miles inland it has a breadth of more than a mile. This region, but more particularly the neighbour- hood of the Klondike Eiver, a tributary of the Yukon, has recently been lifted into conspicuous prominence by vast gold discoveries, rumours of which reached the outside world in 1897, causing an excitement which stirred all civilised countries, and drew the motley ever-restless tide of fortune-seekers into these desolate sub-Arctic wilds. The country along the western coast is wild and mountainous, emphasised here and there with an ominous volcano, and ribanded by hundreds of blue and white glaciers crawling to the sea. Its forests are sombre miles on miles of yellow cedar, spruce, fir, cypress and hemlock, wrapping the mountains to a height of 2,000 feet. Inland, it is a region of tundras and low bare hills, the scant forests clinging only to the river valleys. The gold-bearing section of this country, between the Yukon and Mackenzie Kivers, occupies an area nearly as large as France. In view of the colonising power of gold-reef and placer, and the possible opening of a summer route via Bering Strait and Mackenzie Bay, it is interesting to spec- ulate as to what form of permanent civilisation 132 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. will take root in this frozen and forbidding land. Already Dawson City, " the San Francisco of the North," has sprung into life at the mouth of the Klondike with a population of about 1G,000 people. The exploration of the northern coast of Alaska had been accomplished eastward as far as Icy Cape previous to this century. From Icy Cape to the mouth of the Mackenzie the coast was explored by Franklin and Beechey, as already narrated. Much information as to the topographical and geological characteristics of Alaska has been collected since that territory was ceded to the United States by Kussia in 1867. Portions of the country were also explored by employes of the Russo-American Tele- graph Company. To the trapper and the gold- seeker, here as in so many other difficult and desolate regions of America, belongs the credit of having to a great extent broken the way for the attainment of more accurate and official knowledge of these re- gions. The native inhabitants of Alaska are more than thirty thousand in number, made up in part of Eskimos and in part of " Indians." The Aleuts are an interesting offshoot of the first-mentioned race, while the so-called Indians belong to three different races, the Haida Indians of Alaska, the Tlinkits of the southern coast, and the Athabascans of the great interior region. Among the Ilaidas and Tlinkits elaborate totemistic usages are punctiliously ob- served- CHAPTER IX. THE BARREN GROUNDS, LABRADOR AND NEWFOUND- LAND. Section 1. There remain to be mentioned two wide regions of Canada in which important explor- ing work has been done during the century. These are the " Barren Grounds " to the west of Hudson Bay and the Labrador peninsula to the east of that water. The Barren Lands resemble in their physical feat- ures the lonely tundras of Siberia, and the kindred tracts in Lapland which received from Linnseus the expressive name of terrw damnatce. They support no trees save where here and there in some sheltered hollow or river valley crouches a grove of ghostly birch and poplar, or a few shivering aspens cling to the meagre soil. The water system is one of vast unsheltered lakes and cheerless rivers. The hills are rocky excrescences offering no adequate refuge from the keen icy winds and driving blizzards with which winter lashes these lands. Then all life seems at ebb between their endless leagues of earth and sky. When the intense northern summer touches them these sullen reaches smile with a beauty that but accentuates their desolation. Their deep blanket of mosses and lichens gives colour effects both soft and 134 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. brilliant, with tlie creamy whites and purple grays of the reindeer moss often touched into daring gaiety by vermilion patches of the cup moss. During the brief sub-Arctic summer small time is allotted to darkness, and the swampy levels make magical re- sponse to the flooding sunlight, greeting the long, hot days with a sudden burgeoning of leaf and blossom. The vivid pink and glossy green of the Kalmia, the cup-like bells of the cranberry vines, the dwarf rhododendron, the white blooms of the blackberry bramble, and many less hardy species of wild flowers greet with brave insouciance the fleet- ing largess of the sun. Several varieties of dwarf weeping willows sweeten the air with their perfume. Here and there, where some sheltered hollow has accumulated a sufilcient layer of soil, may even be seen a meadow-like stretch of wild grasses and bents. Into this mysterious region, whose 200,000 square miles of desolation stretch north of the 59th parallel, between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay, the Geological Survey of Canada sent an exploratory expedition in 1893, under the command of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, accompanied by his brother, James William Tyrrell. In the latter's own words : " Of almost this entire territory less was known than of the remotest districts of ' Darkest Africa,' and with but few exceptions, its vast and dreary plains had never been trodden by the foot of man, save that of the dusky savage." Upon this expedition the Tyrrell brothers had in LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 135 their employ three half-breeds and three Iroquois, and their only guidance was a rough sketch-map supplied by the Chippewyans of the Athabasca and Black Lake district. The verbal directions with the map told of a canoe route up stream to the height of land, across which a short portage gave upon a large lake, " from which a great river flows to the northward through a treeless country unknown to the Indians, but inhabited by savage Eskimos." Where this river, the Telzoa, emptied no one knew. The craft used on the journey were two light cedar canoes of the kind known as " Peterboros," and a larger canoe of basswood. To Black Lake the expedition followed an estab- lished route. Leaving this point on Saturday, July 8th, their journey into the unknown began. By a long series of little lakes, minor rivers and short portages, they entered a larger lake whose wide waters stretched some fifty miles to the north. This they named Lake Selwyn, in honour of the director of the Geological Survey. Here a band of Indians were met with who gave information and sketch-maps concerning the rumoured portage over the height of land, but nearly disorganised the ex- pedition by their graphic description of the terrific perils and certain disaster toward which it was travelling. The awful canons of the Telzoa, and the cannibalistic proclivities of its Eskimo tribes, were described with an eloquence which carried panic to the imaginiitions of the half-breeds. 136 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. The portage proved an easy one, "winding between rocky hills, and debouching on the shores of another large lake (Lake Daly), the level of which was some fifty feet lower than Lake Selwyn. In the neigh- bourhood of Lake Daly were observed curious " Karnes," or ridges of clear sand and gravel, sixty or seventy feet in height, and so level and uniform as to suggest ancient railway embankments. On the southerly slopes of these " Kames " were dis- covered many new varieties of plants. A large part of the country at the north end of Daly Lake consists of frozen bogs, which take on a glacier-like motion and break off into the lake. The brown vertical faces thus exposed for some ten or twenty feet above the water show them to consist almost entirely of frozen moss. On the morning of July 22d, the expedition dis- covered the Telzoa, the outlet of Daly Lake, and embarked on its broad shallow rapids. The country, as they sped northward, became a rolling treeless wilderness, the desolate monotony broken occasion- ally by a solitary white wolf, and once by a great herd of caribou. On August 2d the river opened into a huge frozen lake, whose vast ice-field seemed at first to bar further advance. When the wind permitted, however, they were able to follow open leads between the ice and the shore, in this manner reaching its outlet, the Lower Telzoa, in about eleven days. The lake thus traversed they concluded to be the LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 137 Doobaunt, sighted more than a hundred years ago by Samuel Hearne in his journey to the Coppermine, and vaguely known by tradition to the Athabasca Indians. The shores of Doobaunt Lake are com- posed largely of a dreary ferruginous conglomerate, and chilly desolation is written on every feature of the landscape. Once, when making a landing, the party was fiercely attacked by a pack of huge grey wolves. The only fuel now obtainable was the white reindeer lichen and another black wiry kind of moss — and these they could rarely find dry enough to burn. On August 18th, soon after entering the Lower Telzoa, the first traces of Eskimos were met with; and later, on the shores of a magnificent sheet of water afterwards named Aberdeen Lake, were found curious uniform stone pillows, evidently of Eskimo origin, of use or purpose unknown. Several bands of Eskimos were met with, and proved invariably friendly. The Lower Telzoa, now broadened into great lakes, now narrowed into wild rocky canons, carried the canoes by the 2d of September over its broad shallow delta into the blue waters of Baker's Lake, which empties into Chesterfield Inlet and Hudson Bay. The country of the Lower Telzoa is the home of the curious musk-ox, which has since lured several zealous sportsmen into this hazardous region. Although now in known waters, the expedition had still before it 500 miles of open coast to skirt in frail canoes before it could reach Fort Churchill, the 138 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. nearest abode of white men. The remainder of the journey was a forced retreat for life, the terrible winter of the north closing in at every pause, and clutching for them with stealthy hands of ice. The Tyrrells had travelled 1,650 miles through lands not previously known, and had discovered the Telzoa, a river 900 miles long, whose very existence had never been guessed by the map-makers. In 1894 Joseph Burr Tyrrell again entered the Barren Grounds, crossing them from the northern end of Eeindeer Lake to a point on Hudson Bay about 200 miles south-west of Chesterfield Inlet. Section 2. The boulder-strewn plateaus and mountains, the swampy and forlorn plains, that characterise the greater part of the north-east penin- sular portion of Canada, known in its entirety on the earlier maps as Labrador, are scarcely less deso- lately forbidding than the famous Barren Grounds. This vast region, in area about equal to Britain, France and Prussia, is traversed by small mountain ranges of barren and ancient gneiss, and the whole surface, but more especially that of the interior plateau, is strewn with innumerable boulders of the same sombre rock, ranging in height from one to twenty feet, and even perched in most erratic man- ner upon the summits of the mountains. These hills and rocks are the most ancient known on the Amer- ican continent, being of an origin as remote as the birth of the Eocky Mountains is comparatively recent. LABRADOR AISD NEWFOUNDLAND. I39 The bays and headlands of the Labrador coasts have long been familiar to the migrant fishing fleets and the boats of the Hudson's Bay Company, but the interior has been very partially explored. Although lying many degrees below the Arctic Circle, a large portion of it being between the same parallels of latitude as Great Britain, the climate of Labrador is noted for its extreme severity. An Arctic current chills its shores, and icebergs, even in midsummer, touch into cold splendour the frowning rock-bastions of the Atlantic coast. Two Moravian missionaries, Kollmeister and Kmoch, explored this coast and Ungava Bay in 1811. Soon after the amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay and Xorth-West Companies in 1821, trading posts were established in the interior of the peninsula, and much floating information about the " back coun- try " was gathered from the Indians. In 1857 the Hudson's Bay Company had nine of these posts in the interior ; to-day all but three are abandoned. In 1838 John McLean, an officer of this company, travelled overland from Fort Chimo at the moutK of the Koksoak to Hamilton Inlet. The following year he attempted the same journey by canoe, but was stopped by the Grand Falls of the Hamilton River. McLean was the first white man to see these stupendous falls, which thunder from a sheer rock platform to the channel, 316 feet below. Section 3. During the summer of 1861 Mr. H. Y. Hind, accompanied by his brother and two Govern- 140 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ment surveyors, explored the Moisie Kiver, which for centuries had been a thoroughfare of the once powerful Montagnais Indians, whose ancient port- age paths were found still clear and well worn. The river having not yet subsided from the spring freshet, Mr. Hind's expedition had much difficulty in passing its first and second gorges. Keaching a tributary of this river named the Cold Water, they ascended its black and sluggish waters through a gloomy defile of frowning purple rocks. Farther north, however, they found this sombre stream beaded with little lakes, full of sunshine and colour and sky, but always haunted by a depressing silence, an absence of any stir of animal life, so that their very beauty weighed upon the heart. The faint deli- cious fragrance of the Labrador tea-plant in bloom filled the air, and at the portages the terraces of gneiss were splendid with cream-coloured and scarlet mosses. When within a few miles of the source of the Cold Water River the expedition turned back. The Indians met with by Mr. Hind on this jour- ney belonged to the Montagnais tribe of the coast and the Nasquapees of the eastern interior. The latter in 1861 still held to their pagan religion, the central figure of which was the great spirit dwell- ing in the sun and moon. In the late winter, be- tween the going of the caribou and the coming of the geese, these Indians of the wild boulder-strewn table-land suffered terrible privations, often living for weeks on a broth of birchbuds and a meagre LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. 141 lichen known as tripe de rochet and being not infre- quently driven to cannibalism. From Indians on the Moisie Hind heard curious tales of flashing green " fire-rocks " and " fire-mountains " existing far inland toward the height of land. Although this exploration was very limited in its scope, covering only about 150 miles of waterway, Hind collected much information during the jour- ney, and his book is still referred to as the standard authority on the Labrador Peninsula. Section 4. Between 1866 and 1870 a Eoman Catholic missionary named Pere Babel lived among the Indians and with them explored both branches of the Hamilton River and the headwaters of many of the streams of the southern slope, mapping the country as he traversed it. In 1884 the Dominion Government sent a vessel under the command of Lieut. A. R. Gordon, R. N^., to Hudson Strait, to establish observation stations on both sides of the strait in order to ascertain accurately for what period of the year it is navi- gable. This, and the supplementary expedition of 1886 under the same command, have significance in relation to the Winnipeg and Hudson Bay Railway, which will have its terminus at Port Churchill, giv- ing a summer outlet for the produce of the North- West, by water route through Hudson Bay and Strait. Section 5. Since 1857 the Geological Survey of Canada has published many reports by members of 142 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. its staff concerning the Labrador Peninsula. The most important and extensive work in Labrador for this department was done by Mr. A. P. Low, whose expedition spent the years 1892-93-94-95 exploring the regions of the East Main, Yokso^k. Hamilton, Manicuagan, and portions of other rivers. Mr. Low had already, in 1885, surveyed Lake Mistassini, the largest and best known of the Labrador lakes, and in 1887-88 explored James Bay and the country east of Hudson Bay, drained by the Big, Great Whale, and Clearwater Rivers. Prior to Mr. Low's explorations 289,000 square miles, or more than half the total area of the peninsula, was practically unknown, and there yet remain unexplored more than 100,000 square miles of the northern portion, between Hudson and Ungava Bays. This region is totally unknown save to a few wandering bands of Eskimos who have penetrated inland from the coasts. The Indians of the peninsula belong to several tribes of the Algonquin family, and according to Mr. Low's estimate number about 3,500, while the Eskimos of the northern and Atlantic coasts ag- gregate some 2,000 individuals. Mr. Low, during his wide journeyings through the central interior, found the barren surface so chequered with shallow lakes and superficial connecting streams that he con- siders it possible to travel by canoe in almost any direction across the country, never encountering a portage of more than four or five miles. LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND. I43 Section 6. While not politically a portion of the Dominion of Canada, the iron-bound but fertile island of Newfoundland comes naturally under con- sideration in this section. Although the oldest Brit- ish colony, until the last half-century all knowledge of the interior of the island was confined to the Bethuk Indians, a race which, with the once innu- merable Great Auk of the coasts, is now extinct, man and bird having perished mysteriously before the inimical presence of the white settler. The first white man to cross Newfoundland was a Scotchman named Cormack, who made his journey in 1822, from Trinity Bay in the east to St. George's Bay in the west, accompanied only by a Micmac In- dian. Having reached the summit of the elevated and forest-clad ridge which walls off the sea from the interior, Cormack looked down upon a wide sa- vannah country, resembling a limitless park, the sur- face netted with yellow-green lines of path, worn by tlie countless herds of caribou which fed upon these undulating plains, or rested among the shadows of the spacious groves. The gleam of lakes and winding waters supplied the high lights in this broad and quiet landscape, while certain sharply-peaked isolated summits, or " tolts," lent a curious distinction to the scene. Cormack spent a month in crossing and examining this savannah region, after which he reached a hilly ridge of serpentine, separating the low slate forma- tion underlying the central plains from a high gran- 144 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. itie region in the west. During the sixty days occu- pied in crossing the island the two travellers sup- ported themselves entirely with the rifle, the wild animals of the interior showing no fear or knowl- edge of man. Dr. Moses Harvey, writing in 1883, states that to Cormack we are indebted for all we know of the central interior. It was in Newfound- land waters, by the way, that Dr. Harvey, in 1873, discovered the gigantic species of cephalopod, or devil fish, which at the time excited such interest among naturalists. In 1828 Cormack was the leader of an expedition to Eed Indian Lake, to seek a remnant of the Bethuks which it was rumoured still lived in that region. The search was unsuccessful, although many traces of the race which had so mysteriously and suddenly disap- peared were discovered. One of the most remark- able of these was a line of deer fences, stretching for thirty miles along the Exploits River, and evi- dently intended to force the caribou, in their mi- grations, to cross the river at certain points, where they could be the more conveniently slaughtered. Section 7. The Geological Survey of New- foundland, begun in 1864 under the directorship of Mr. Alexander Murray, is still in progress, and has supplied the only definite knowledge of the island's internal resources. The survey has been conducted along the lines of all the principal rivers and lakes, and has carefully examined the coast-line and the adjacent island ^groups. PART FOUR. EXPLORATION IN THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER X. LEWIS AND CLAKKE, AND PIKE. Section 1. The wisdom and foresight of Presi- dent Jefferson in sending out an expedition, under Captains Lewis and Clarke, to explore the Missouri river to its source in hopes of finding an all-water route to the Pacific, cannot be over-estimated. The exact and detailed accounts brought back by these explorers informed the world of a tremendous unde- veloped country rich in all the possibilities of civili- zation. The " Oregon Country " signified the terri- tory north of what was then Spanish California, — New Spain — and comprehended the vast province of the first expedition sent out by the United States Government. Lewis and Clarke were true pioneers. Having organized their forces during the winter 1803-4, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke left Camp Du Bois, at the confluence of the 14G DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Missouri and Mississippi rivers near St. Louis, — then a mere village — and started in the month of May on that extraordinary journey which was to bring so large a reward in accomplishment and fame. Section 2. As the plan of the expedition was for a water route, three boats were constructed ; and how thoroughly the leaders realized that they were saying farewell to civilization for many a long moon was evidenced by their choice of cargoes. Arms and ammunition, medicines and merchandise (this last to be used in Indian trade and for presents), com- prised the bulk of the provision. Eood and clothing for their more immediate needs were, of course, in- cluded; but the boats were loaded down wdth the other necessities, so, outside of emergency supplies, the organizers resolved to depend upon the country before them for their provisions. This confidence in the unknown lands was not misplaced. Through- out almost all their journey ings they found game ani- mals abundant, so that they were able to gather both meat and raiment as they went. Up the Missouri, against the eager current, striv- ing, mastering, progressing, studying, counselling, reconciling, pacifying, reassuring, wentthe unwearied band to herald the " Course of Empire " on its west- ern way. At a point ten miles above the great Platte river the expedition at length halted and encamped. There were observations to be made, and maps, and not a few repairs. With such game as deer, bears, beavers, and wild fowl of various kinds, with such LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. 147 fniit as plums, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, apples, cherries, and grapes, their table was luxu- riously supplied. On a high bluff, several miles above the camp, a council was held with the Missouris and Otters, the " White Chiefs " making speeches telling of the new government and its promises of protec- tion, and giving advice for the Indians' behaviour. They also distributed medals, paint, ornaments, and whiskey, which completed the Indians' satisfaction. The scene of this council is now the city of Council Bluffs. Near another bluff, afterwards called by his name, occurred the death of an officer of the expedi- tion. Sergeant Charles Tloyd, which was the only loss of the kind during the whole journey. Passing rich woods, rocky and imposing bluffs, wide prairies, and the mouths of innumerable streams, the explorers again halted a little above the Dakota river. Here they held council with a strong tribe of the Sioux. The men bearing presents from the expe- dition to the chiefs found themselves obliged by courtesy to feast cheerfully on roasted dog. Here the peace-pipe was smoked ; and " Calumet Bluffs " received their name. Hurrying on, the poor and hilly country drainedby the Niobrara was soon left behind for timber lands of red cedar, honey locust, arrowwood, oak, elm and coffeenut. A beaver's dam excited much interest, for the tails of these little engineers were esteemed by the explorers a great delicacy. On the high plains, hunted by their enemies the wolves, the proughorn 148 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS, antelopes grazed watchfully. Here also the buffaloes thundered over the levels in battalions thousands strong. And the surly bull elk waved towering antlers from every waterside thicket. Around the Great Bend, past plains of prickly pear, through fertile lowlands scantily wooded and backed by bare hills, leaving the Teton Indians rec- onciled and counselled, oft hindered by high winds and shallow waters, they pushed their way steadily. 'Now they noted fields of Indian corn, tobacco, beans, potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, and watermelons, sur- rounding the villages of the natives. More councils were held, with the usual exchange of speeches and presents. Most of the tribes begged for whiskey and would have bought it at great price; but the explo- rers were strictly moderate in their distribution of this j^erilous luxury, nor would they sell it at any price. Cannonball river was passed and named from the large spherical stones on its shores. Min- eral springs of virtue were tasted and noted. Ruined Indian villages were investigated. A fierce feud between the Mandans and Ricaras was healed, and at length, after having covered a distance of about 1600 miles, the expedition delayed to build Fort Mandan, to serve as a winter home. While the fort was building many visits and pres- ents were interchanged with the Mandans, whose chief village was close by. The explorers noted with interest the curious titles borne by the Mandan chiefs, such as: "White Buffalo-Robe Unfolded," LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. 149 " Old Woman at a Distance," " Little Wolf's Medi- cine," " Wolf Man Chief," and " Cherry in a Bush." Christmas Day, 1804 (the Fort having been com- pleted the day before), was celebrated by the com- pany with the best dinner their supplies could af- ford, followed by dancing and games. Trade with the Indians, and hunting, now kept the men whole- somely employed. The Missouri at this point was found to be 500 yards wide, measured on the ice, which soon grew strong enough (with the mercury at 45° below zero) to bear the weight of crossing herds of buffaloes. The meat of these buffaloes, dried and pounded in fat, formed the principal win- ter food of the Indians, who, though scantily clad, seemed to thrive under the rigours of the season. The temper, traits and trade of these people formed the study of the white men during the five long months spent at Fort Mandan awaiting " open water." Section 3. The 7th of April found the expedi- tion once more under way. Beyond the creek called Charboneau's no white man had ever ventured, — ex- cepting " two Frenchmen . . . who, having lost their way, struggled a few miles farther." High, irregu- lar hills emphasised the beauty of the landscape, and more and richer minerals were here in evidence than in the lower country. Much of the ground was crusted by the afterwards well-known " alkali," which in some places spoiled the water; and here, too, the eyes of the men were troubled by the irritat- 150 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ing alkali dust. Captain Lewis explored the valley of the Yellowstone river, and found it a delightful land of mountains and meadows. !N"ot far from Martha's river he killed his first grizzly bear, and wrote the first description ever penned of these fero- cious animals. In this primeval land the wild things fed with calm indifference to the approach of men, never having heard the sound of fire- arms. A stream called Turtle creek furnished a feast of soft-shelled turtles, — no ordinary luxury, these! — and, in fact, as far as provisions were con- cerned, the worn explorers were at this time living like princes. !N^ow came the crowning triumph of the expedition, — the first sight of the Eocky Mountains (26th of May, 1805) ! (Pike first sighted these mountains in Colorado on the 15th of Xovemher, 1806.) The great " Continental Divide " was crossed in three different places, many miles apart. At the junction of Maria's river the explorers found it impossible to decide which was the parent stream and which the tributary; so dividing the company they explored both branches. Captain Lewis discovered the Great Falls, on the south branch, and knew that he was on the main stream. Below these magnificent falls a cache was made of such things as were not actually necessary for their forward march. Above the falls new canoes were fashioned from tree trunks, and the journey was continued to Three Forks. These three rivers they named Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. 151 from west to east respectively; and they concluded that the Jefferson was the main river. Up its chan- nel, therefore, they directed their course, excepting a small party under Captain Clarke, which leader, following an Indian road, travelled afoot to where the Jefferson in turn was fed by three confluent streams. Of these latter the discoverers named the northwest branch Wisdom river, kept the name of Jefferson for the west or middle water, and chose Philanthropy to designate the southeast branch. Continuing still up the Jefferson, but this time with Captain Lewis on land, and Captain Clarke in charge of the canoes, the party reached another " meeting of the waters," which marked the extreme navigable point of the Missouri. One of the two creeks which here united came from the southeast, near what is now Yellowstone Park, and was the real source which the expedition had travelled so far partly to find. This fact was not known, however, at that time, and the other creek, leading from the Great Di- vide, was the one referred to as the " fountain-head." This water, called Prairie Creek, was explored by Captain Lewis to a point where one of his men with a foot on either side of it thanked heaven that he had " lived to bestride the Missouri ! " After climbing up through a gap in the mountains the party arrived at the " dividing line between the waters of the At- lantic and Pacific oceans." Descending the western slope about three-quarters of a mile, they came to a creek of bright cold water flowing toward the sunset, 152 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. and tasted the waters of the Columbia river. They were the first white men to reach bj land the western slope of the Rockies. After fatiguing investigation, the way of the Lehmi through Salmon and Snake rivers (all three called Lewis river by Captain Clarke) to the Colum- bia, was found to be an impracticable one either by water or land. A land journey by some other route was then imperative, the Columbia being their new objective; so, with horses bought from their good friends the Shoshones, the expedition crossed the Rockies by a gap since known as the Lehmi Pass, travelled down the Lehmi to the Salmon, then north- ward, and over the Bitter Root Mountains to the source of Clarke's river. Down this waterway they moved north to Travellers' Rest creek (now Lon Lon), leaving the Oolashoot Indians after a council and an exchange of courtesies and gifts. The scar- city of game now greatly hampered their progress; and they were compelled to educate their palates to the use of dog flesh, which they could purchase from the Indians. Up Travellers' Rest creek they moved west, and, again passing over Bitter Root Mountains, came to the sources of the Kooskooskee river (or Clearwater). Following down this river they had a race with star- vation till they reached a village of the Nez Perces. Then, " Having been neither frozen nor starved quite to death .... the explorers . . reached LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE, 153 navigable Columbia waters by riding and eating their horses." At Canoe Camp, on the Kooskooskee river, the whole party was ill from famine and unaccustomed foods; but with rest and careful treatment they re- covered sufficient strength to build the canoes which were to carry them " down the Kooskooskee, down the Snake, and down the Columbia, to the Pacij&c ocean." Shooting the ordinary rapids, and carry- ing the boats around the cascades, the whole com- pany arrived alive and well at the river's mouth,, where the waves of the mighty Pacific roared a welcome to the visitors fi'om a distant sister sea. The principal Indian tribes encountered during this latter portion of the journey were the Snakes, Echeloots, Cathlamahs, Chinooks, Skilloots, and Clatsops (all Flatheads except the Snakes) ; and the fort which the explorers built at the mouth of the Columbia was named from the last group. Fort Clat- sop was completed on the 30th of December, and was occupied till the 23rd of March, the men employing themselves through the winter in hunting, and in dressing skins for clothing. The long return jour- ney was made by water up the Columbia to the Great Falls and thence by land via the Kooskooskee to Camp Chopunnish (named from Chopunnish In- dians), where the party remained from the 13th of May to the 10th of June, trading, hunting, and studying the Indians. Pursuing their way over the Bitter Root Moun- 154 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. tains with some difficulty, the expedition was di- vided to cover more ground ; nine men under Cap- tain Lewis taking a course for the Missouri, in- tending to explore Maria's Kiver, and making the " Lewis and Clarke " pass of the Kockies ; while Captain Clarke and his party went south to the Jef- ferson and descended this stream to Three Forks. From this point he sent a detachment down the Mis- souri to the Yellowstone confluence, while he ex- plored the latter river. The whole company were re- united on the Missouri; and the rest of the voyage was over the same route which had been covered on the out-bound journey. Their camp at Fort Mandan was found in ashes, having been accidentally burned, and no new camp was made there. St. Louis and home were safely reached on the 23rd of September, 1806; and the most important exploration ever un- dertaken within the bounds of the United States was brought to a successful close. The explorers had covered in all a distance amounting to nearly a third of the circumference of the globe. Section 4. In 1805, Lieutenant (afterward Gen- eral) Zebulon Montgomery Pike was chosen by Gen- eral Wilkinson, Commander-in-Chief of the United States army, to head an expedition to the sources of the Mississippi river. The plan of this. Pike's first and the second gov- ernmental expedition, was very much like that of the Lewis and Clarke exploration, and both added greatly to the possessions of the United States. While Lewis LEWIS AND CLARKE. AND PIKE. I55 and Clarke urged towards the setting sun beyond the Eocky Mountains, Pike pushed northward on his first journey. When they were homeward bound by way of the Yellowstone and the Missouri, he was " pressing on his second way," this time tow^ards the Mexican mountains. And the expeditions led by Pike were second in value as in order only to the vast achievement of Lewis and Clarke. On his first journey this brilliant young soldier carried the stars and stripes among the British trad- ers, the Sioux, Ojibways, and other Indians of the North and West, and ably represented his govern- ment in all the councils and treaties. His other ac- complishments, as far as General Wilkinson's aim was concerned, were incidental. Pike is referred to as an authority on the his- torical, geographical, ethnological, and related inter- ests in the field covered by his book. Ordered (July, 1805,) to find the source of the Mississippi, to select sites for military posts, to treat with and to make peace if possible among the Indians, and to learn particulars as to the British traders who still occu- pied posts in the newly acquired territory of the re- public, he left St. Louis and ascended the great river. Beyond the village of Prairie du Chien, with the exception of the posts established by the North- west Company, there were no white settlements on or near the Mississippi, and the American flag had never been unfurled in that part of the country. Pike and his company travelled in boats to the viciu- 156 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ity of what is now Little Falls, but could navigate no farther. So, building a stout stockade and es- tablishing some of his men there for the winter, he struggled by land along the river to Lower Red Cedar lake, to Sandy lake, to Grand Rapids, and Pokegama Falls, to the mouth of Leech Lake river, up the lat- ter to Leech lake, and thence to Upper Red Cedar (now Cass) lake, at the mouth of Turtle river. Considering the Leech lake drainage area (which Coues calls the Pikean source) to be the true starting place of the Mississippi, " he remained in ignorance of the fact that this river flowed into Cass lake from such lakes as Bemidji and Itasca." Returning to Leech lake, and thence by a very di- rect route to the Mississippi in the neighbourhood of Lower Red Cedar lake, he descended the river to his stockade at Little Falls; and the whole com.pany returned safely to St. Louis by the first open water. From observations Pike made during this expedi- tion we obtain our knowledge as to the character of the country, the climate, the game, and the Indians of that period. He contrived a treaty with the Sioux whereby a grant of nine square miles near the St. Croix river mouth, to be used as a U. S. military post, was made in exchange for $2000 and hunting privileges. The peace w^hich he established between the Sioux and the Chippewas was not permanent, however, and it was some time before their strife was definitely concluded. Section 5. Almost immediately after his return LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. I57 from the voyage just described, Pike was urged to ac- cept the leadership of another expedition, which was being organized for the purpose of determining defi- nitely the Southwestern boundary of Louisiana, and of attaching the Indians to the Government. This time the young lieutenant was attended by two assist- ants, Lieutenant James D. Wilkinson of the army, and Dr. John H. Eobinson, an enterprising young scientist and volunteer. His company numbered twenty-three white men, besides a few Indians. Embarking with their supplies in two large boats in July, 1806, the explorers left St. Louis and started on their sail up the wide Missouri into the interior of the Louisiana territory. Passing on his way the Gasconade river, which was too well known to need more than a note. Pike left the Missouri at its junction with the Osage, up which stream he travelled till he reached the Little Osage, l^ear the mouth of this stream lay the chief village of the Osage Indians. Here he held a council, which was preceded by an exchange of presents, and followed by a feast of boiled pumpkin provided by the In- dians. At the Little Osage village a similar coun- cil was held, to the satisfaction of the red men, soon after which the expedition left " Camp Independ- ence " and began the land journey with fifteen loaded horses, following the course of the Little Osage river. Such game as deer, raccoon, geese, and turkeys, was the fresh food supply of the party while in this region. 15S DISCOVERIES AND EXPl.ORATIONS. At the chief village of the Pawnees, on the Repub- lican river, near what is now the Kansas-iSTebraska line, Pike held a council and succeeded in attaching this important tribe (hitherto under Spanish influ- ence) to the Government of the United States. He also succeeded in healing an old and bloody enmity between the Kans and the Osages, whom he per- suaded to smoke the pipe of peace together. Then, turning southward, he reached the waters of the Arkansaw at the point where now stands Great Bend. " There he dispatched his junior officer, Lieutenant Wilkinson, with a few men, to descend the Arkansaw, while with the rest of his company he ascended the same river into Colorado as far as Pueblo. From this point he made an unsuccessful side-trip which had for its object the ascent of the since famous peak which bears his name, and returned to his camp at Pueblo." Starting anew up the Arkansaw, he found himself arrested by the Grand Canon at the place where now flourishes Canon City. Here he turned to the right and journeyed up Oil Creek to South Park, through which he made his further way along the South Platte and its tributaries, through Trout Creek pass, and so back to the Arkansaw. After working up this river about as far as the present site of Leadville, he had the satisfaction of determining its source, after which he returned to his old camp at Canon City. Disappointed in having failed to find the sources LEWIS AND CLARKE, AND PIKE. I59 of Red River, as be had been instructed to do, " with more courage than discretion," be decided to make another effort before returning to civilization. Fol- lowing up another branch of the Arkansaw, called Grape Creek, he entered the Wet Mountain vallej, where the party endured untold sufferings from cold and starvation. From this harsh neighbourhood he made his way over the Sangri de Cristo Mountains into the San Luis valley. Here, along the banks of the Rio Grande del jSTorte, he found fertile plains well stocked with game, and a country which seemed to the famished and frozen travellers an earthly paradise. Here he built a stockade, and waited for his sick to recover from the effects of their hardships. The reason for Pike's presence in Spanish iSTew Mexico has never been explained by historians, and certainly was not understood by the Spanish Gov- ernor, General Allencaster. By his order a force of Spaniards " invited " Captain Pike and his party to visit Santa Fe. Virtually a prisoner, he accepted the inevitable, and was conducted from his strong stockade to the capital on the 2Yth of February, 1807, philosophically making the most of his oppor- tunities to study the country en route. Not feeling himself competent to decide the points at issue, the governor ordered Pike under escort to Chihuahua, where General Saledo, the Commandant-General, dealt with the problem firmly. After confiscating all Pike's papers, he gave him hospitable entertain- ment, and then sent him back under military escort, through Texas, to the American boundary. CHAPTER XL OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. Section 1. In September, 1810, Mr. John Jacob Astor, Laving planned an expedition " to es- tablish a line of trading posts along the Missouri and the Columbia to the mouth of the latter, where was to be founded the chief trading post or mart," formed an association with the title " Pacific Fur Company," and furnished a ship named the " Ton- quin," which, under the command of Lieutenant Jon- athan Thorn, U. S. IST., set sail for the mouth of the Columbia. In July of the same year, a land expedi- tion, headed by Wilson Price Hunt, started from Montreal with the same objective point in view. The " Tonquin " anchored in Baker's Bay, inside Chinook Point, towards the end of March, 1811. Early in April a party from the ship encamped near Point George, the site chosen for a fortified post to be named Astoria. Crowds of Indians of the Chi- nook tribe visited the camp and paddled to the ship in canoes, to gratify their insatiable curiosity with the small excuse of a few skins for barter. A party of the traders, exploring the lower Colum- bia in the footsteps of Lewis and Clarke, and seeking OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 161 suitable places for other trading posts, found the Chi- nooks, Clatsops, Wahkiacums, and Cathlamahs, with whom they came in contact, very friendly and in- clined to favour their enterprise. As soon as Astoria was well established, the " Ton- quin " left the mouth of the river with twenty-three persons on board, and sailing north arrived at Van- couver's Island. Here the ship was visited by a number of Indians who brought otter skins to trade. For these furs, however, they demanded such a price that Captain Thorn was enraged, and roughly drove the bargaining chiefs from the deck. The insult brought down upon the whole ship's company a terri- ble revenge. On the following morning, a large party of Indians, with war clubs and knives hidden under their blankets, gained access to the deck on pretext of trade, and butchered the unsuspecting white men before they could make any effective de- fence. After the savages had left the ship, the ship's clerk, one Lewis by name, though mortally wounded, recovered consciousness and planned to avenge his comrades. On the following day the Indians, think- ing that no one was left alive on board, returned to plunder the ship. Then Lewis put a match to the powder magazine, and carried to death with him more than a hundred savages. Only the interpreter escaped to tell of this tragedy. At Astoria the news aroused in the traders a fear for their own safety. So few, so far from help, so surrounded by treachery and distrust, they knew that 162 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. they held their lives on the frailest tenure. Their as- cendency, however, was firmly established by means of a shrewd stratagem. They showed the Indians a corked bottle, supposed to contain smallpox, of which the Indians dwelt in mortal terror. They promised to keep the cork in the bottle as long as the Indians behaved themselves properly ; and from that day the Indians were on their good behaviour. Thus secured, and snug in their completed fort, the com- pany settled themselves to pass the winter, with the hope of welcoming Hunt's expedition hand in hand with spring. Leaving St. Louis on the 21st of October, Hunt's party started up the Missouri on their long march to the Pacific, teaching the mouth of the Kodowa, and finding game plentiful and the season far ad- vanced, they went into camp for their first winter, which passed without event. The arrival of spring (1811) at this camp was signalled by a visitation of " prodigious flights " of migrating pigeons, the noise of whose wings on rising from their feeding grounds was " like the roar of a cataract." So numerous were they that one zealous hunter killed nearly three hundred in a morning. Open weather being assured by the return of birds and flowers, Hunt broke camp and continued on his way, employing four large boats to carry his com- pany of about sixty persons. This part of the jour- ney was through a picturesque region, where alterna- tion of forests and plains, hills and lowlands, kept OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 163 the interest of the travellers alert. " The prairies bordering on the river were gayly painted with in- numerable flowers, exhibiting the motley confusion of colours of a Turkey carpet," and the region was termed from Hunt's description a " vast realm of fertility." The 10th of May brought the expedition to the village of the Oraahas, where they received a friendly welcome ; and a little later at the home of the Poncas a like kindliness greeted their approach. But in passing through the Sioux country many precautions were taken against surprise, for rumours of their hostility were everywhere encountered. When, how- ever, the company came suddenly upon a Sioux war party, nothing more injurious than an overdose of nicotine through too much peace-pipe smoking was the actual result. The Sioux were all friendli- ness, once the object of the white men's journey had been explained. Another war party, consisting of Ricaras, Mandans, and Minnetarees, was met with soon after this; and with these tribes there was no great difficulty in maintaining that peace which had been so strongly advocated by Lewis and Clarke. In- deed, if all white men had dealt as bravely, gener- ously, and yet uncompromisingly with the Indians, treachery and hatred would have been replaced by mutual confidence and good will. At the Eicaras' village the boats were abandoned for horses pur- chased from the natives. A route generally south- westward, crossing many affluents of the Missouri, 164 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS, now led the expedition through a hunter's paradise, where buffaloes, antelopes, and elk ranged freely; then out across an arid desert, where a meat famine was with difficulty endured ; and at last to a fork of Powder river and a rich and grassy oasis thronged with game. On the 30th of August, after a march of nearly four hundred miles from the Kicara village, the ex- pedition made camp at the foot of the Kocky Moun- tains, which were called by the Indians of that region " the Crest of the World." From this camp they were escorted through the mountain passes by a company of the Crow tribe, who sold them fresh horses and a supply of furs against the cold of the high altitudes. The next tribe to be encountered was that of the Shoshones, who, with some Flatheads, were hunting in the mountains, and who showed themselves ac- tively friendly. For some days after leaving their kindly hosts, Hunt followed the course of Bighorn river (whose watershed, as he had been told, was also that of the Columbia), and presently found him- self at the headwaters of the latter river. This point attained, he congratulated himself that the worst of the journey was accomplished, little dreaming of the terrible struggle yet before him. At Fort Henry a water route was decided upon by vote, and canoes were immediately constructed and launched on Henry river. But after a short voyage the expedition found itself involved in the perilous OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 165 rapids and cascades of the Snake; and after a suc- cession of exhausting portages the water route was abandoned as impracticable. No horses were to be obtained, and the party had to struggle forward on foot. So, through the wild mountain winter, through almost incredible hardships, of famine and frost, across a country never before traversed by white men, the adventurous band struggled on, and reached As- toria on the 15th of February, 1812. For nearly a year the little company of exiles in the fort had been awaiting them. On the 29th of June, 1812, Eobert Stuart set out with six men to make the return journey and carry the news from Astoria to JSTew York. By the 30th of December he had reached the Platte river, after bitter hardships; and there, finding buffaloes and elk for their needs, he encamped for the rest of the winter, celebrating New Year's day with a feast of buffalo tenderloins, tongues, humps, and marrow- bones. Section 2. It is not the fact that Lewis Cass carried out successfully an exploring expedition which he himself led while in office as Governor of Michigan, but that under the circumstances he should have considered the possibility of joining at all in such an enterprise seeins to be astonisliing ! Accompanied by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, — a naturalist in the broadest sense of the word — with a party of thirty-six followers, including Indian guides, Governor Cass left Detroit on the 24th of IQQ DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. May, 1820. The mode of travel chosen was by canoe, of which form of conveyance Gouverneur Mor- ris once wrote, " its slender and elegant form, its rapid movement, its capacity to bear burdens, and to resist the rage of billows and torrents, excited no small degree of admiration for the skill by which it was constructed." Passing through the St. Clair river, Schoolcraft noted that " it is difficult to imagine a more delight- ful prospect than is presented by this strait and the little Lake St. Clair." The banks were nobly wooded, and the open lands " rich and handsomely exposed to the sun." After leaving Lake Huron, by way of Sault Ste. Marie, the party camped on ]\Iackinaw Island, which they esteemed principally noteworthy for the delicious fish which the waters of its vicinage afforded them. Here the Governor aug- mented his company by the addition of ten American soldiers. Then he held a council with the Indians near the Sault, and arranged by formal treaty for a grant of land at this desirable point, to be used as a United States military post. In payment for this grant the Indians received a liberal allowance of blankets, knives, silver ware, cloth, and other arti- cles of value in their eyes. Along the south shore of that greatest body of fresh water on the globe, Lake Superior, the expedi- tion gathered specimens of native copper, opals, quartz, carnelians, jasper, agate, and other minerals; and the Indians conceived a naive idea that the white OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 167 men were able to turn "all minerals into either money or medicine." Owing to the difficulties of progress on the St. Louis river, the company was now divided, one half pressing forward by land, while the other struggled on by means of many portages, down the Savannah to Sandy Lake. Reuniting their forces here, they held a council with the Sandy Lake Indians, won their friendship, and arranged terms of peace between them and their enemies the Sioux. From Sandy Lake river Governor Cass explored the Mississippi toward its headwaters as far as the lake which bears his name, and which he believed to be the source; and then returning down the river, he carefully recorded its features as far as Dubuque. Eeascendins; the river to Prairie du Chien, the expe- dition went up the Wisconsin and portaged over to the Fox river. ISTow they were on the waters of the Lake Michigan basin, in a region where the rivers ran through vast fields of wild rice, the resort of innu- merable game birds. Once more dividing his company, Governor Cass decided to cross the peninsula of Michigan on horse- back while a party under Schoolcraft should survey the shores of the lake by water. Much was said in favour of the country about Chicago, as to its beauty, fertility and mineral value, and some intimation as to its future greatness seems to have been borne in upon the imaginative explorer. Schoolcraft and his water party returned to Detroit by way of Lake 168 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Huron, reaching that city in safety, on the 23r(i of September, with a treasure of exact knowledge as to the ethnolog}^, botany, zoology, and the geology of a considerable part of tJie " New Country." Section 3. As the Rocky Mountains had been scarcely more than discovered by the year 1819, the Secretary of War, Calhoun, organized an expedi- tion to explore them. The command of this expe- dition he gave to Major Stephen Harriman Long, who had done good work in 1817 in reporting the condi- tions at the Falls of St. Anthony. On the 5th of May a start was made from the city of Pittsburg. An im- portant object of the enterprise was to obtain exact topographical knowledge of the country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Accompanied by a physician and ethnologist, a botanist, a geologist, a sketch artist, and a military escort. Major Long em- barked in a steamboat especially built for the expe- dition, and started down the Alleghany. Ascending the " Father of Waters " to St. Louis, the company added to its supplies, and continued its way via the Missouri. At St. Charles some of the party disem- barked, and on horseback pursued a nearly parallel path as far as Franklin, at which point the party sus- tained a great loss in the death of Dr. Baldwin. Ac- cording to the records of the journey the country along their route was characterized by " continuous ridges, which, in their course across the valley of the Missouri, occasion the alternation of hill and plain." At Isle au Vache a council was held with the OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 169 Kansas Indians, which resulted in their promise to keep the peace. But in spite of pledges a party of Pawnees soon after this robbed the land division of its horses and baggage, and turned it back from the Indian villages. A French trader however came to the rescue. He provided the sufferers with two horses, and guided them back to Isle au Vache, whence a hurried journey to the mouth of Wolf river enabled them to rejoin the main company. After exploring the Missouri as far as Council Bluffs, the expedition made camp for the winter at a place which they called Engineer Cantonment. There treaties were entered into securing the friend- ship of the Otters, Missouris, lowas and Pawnees; after which Major Long left the expedition and re- turned to Washington. During his absence the vil- lages of the Oniahas and Pawmees were visited and O studied, and much new material was gathered for future use. Such studies and observations kept the men at the camp profitably occupied throughout the winter; but with the coming of spring they were aroused to more active enterprises. Major Long, meanwhile, had accomplished his journey to the east. He returned to St. Louis on the 24th of April, 1820, procured horses for a land journey to Council Bluffs, and reached the post safely on the 27th of May. Leaving a handful of men in charge of the steamboat, the expedition moved west- ward on horseback to the Pawnee villages on the Long Fork, then southward to the main stream of the Platte 170 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. river, and along its valley, toward the Rocky Moun- tains, which were sighted on the 4th of July. Many of the peaks were climbed only to find them backed by others still loftier, till the " highest peak " mentioned by Pike was sighted and named in honour of Major Long. Another snow-capped giant received the title " James Peak," from the fact that Dr. James made the ascension of its forbidding front. On the 24th of July the expedition was divided in order to cover more ground. A detachment under Captain Bell made an exploration of the Arkansaw river, meeting Kiowa, Kaskaia, Arrapaho, Cheyenne, Osage, and Cherokee Indians ; seeing troops of wild horses, hunting herds of bison, and pressing onward always in the direction of Belle Point. The other division, conducted by Major Long himself, desiring to explore the Red River, but being unable to ob- tain a capable guide, journeyed some distance down the Canadian before discovering their mistake. It being too late in the season to remedy the error, this division kept on to meet the first party at Belle Point. This rendezvous was reached by Long on the 13th of September, with all his party in good health in spite of such minor annoyances as thieving Indians, alkali dust, crystal springs that ran brine, and wood-ticks that ate into the travellers' skins. Cap- tain Bell and his party had arrived four days earlier. Gratified by the results of this expedition, the Government felt encouraged to explore its territories further, and Major Long was again commissioned to OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. lYl lead the way. This time the route was from Phila- delphia over the Alleghany Mountains to the Mis- sissippi; thence along the tributary known as St. Peter's (now Minnesota river) to its source, Big Stone Lake ; then to Lake Traverse, the source of the Red River of the ISTorth; down the latter stream to Lake Winnipeg, and finally back east by a long alter- nation of watercourses and portages, to and along the north shore of Lake Superior, and through Lakes St. Clair and Huron over the course already traversed by Schoolcraft. On the 30th of April, 1822, the party set out from Philadelphia. The first of their obser- vations were devoted to the geology of the Atlantic watershed, where coal, salt, and iron mines occu- pied their interests. In the western part of Ohio they noticed the heavy growth of forest trees, in- cluding oak, ash, elm, hickory, sugar-maple, black- walnut, beech, wild cherry, cottonwood, and tulip- trees ; and here the relics of the mound builders were examined with some attention, and ascribed to the Indians. Fort Wayne they found serving as a trad- ing rather than a military post, and the various tribes resorting thither were studied carefully. The vicin- ity of Chicago, '' one of the oldest settlements in the Indian country," appeared to the party very dis- appointing as not equalling in any respect the expec- tations excited by the praises of former travellers; but on the way to Prairie du Chien their spirits were raised again on finding it the most agreeable and 172 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. comfortable stage of their journey, nor were they lowered by the rudeness and cheerlessness of the fort itself, and the unattractiveness of the village. Over a rough and hilly country, beset with unexpected ob- stacles which caused their horses much suffering, the party pushed on towards the falls of St. Anthony. The 28th of June brought them into a beautiful valley within sight of the Mississippi, and " a land- scape was presented that combined grander beauties than any . . . ever beheld ; far as the eye could follow were traced two gigantic walls of the most reg- ular outline, formed, as it were, by successive faces of pyramids. Between them extended a level verdant prairie, the scene of the Python flexures of the Missis- sippi." Major Long held a council with the Sioux at their village near the place and left them wholly pleased with the treatment, presents, and promises of the white chief, given on behalf of his Government. All the expeditions in the western United States had complained of the annoyance of mosquitoes ; but it re- mained for Major Long's party on the journey up St. Peter's River to find them an unmitigable tor- ment. It was on this river that the company, being feasted by the Indians, first tasted buffalo meat. The meat had been " jerked." And now boiled into tastelessness and served without salt, it was pro- nounced " flat, stale, and unprofitable." Referring to another disappointment their historian wrote pathetically, " We were not so fortunate as to meet OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 173 with those apples, plums and other good things, which grew spontaneously sixty years since in the country." Within three miles of Big Stone lake was found the head of Lake Traverse, both bodies of water being in the same valley. The division be- tween was but slightly above their level, so that in times of flood the two were wont to unite. So trifling an elevation was it that availed to determine the di- vergence of two mighty rivers to opposite corners of the earth, — on the one hand the Mississippi seeking the Gulf of Mexico, on the other hand the Ked Kiver, journeying to the arctic desolation of Hudson Bay. By the way of the Ked Kiver the travellers reached Lake Winnipeg, the northernmost point of their journey, and, after paying a visit to Fort Alexander, turned their faces homeward on the 20th of August. Through a chain of lakes, rivers, and portages, they arrived at Fort William, to record the remarkable fact of having seen neither Indians nor quadrupeds since leaving Rainy Lake. Embarking at Lake Superior they traversed w^ater so transparent that the canoe appeared as if suspended in the air, and " the spectator, who remains too long intently gazing at the bottom, feels his head grow giddy, as if he were looking down into a deep abyss." At Cantonment Brady (at Sault Sainte Marie), under the command of Major Cutler, U. S. I, the party met Mr. H. R. Schoolcraft, who was there in the capacity of Indian agent, and who added consid- 174 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. erably to their store of information concerning the regions adjoining their route. Bronzed, bearded, and in vigorous health, the trav- ellers reached Philadelphia on the 26th of October, after six months of exploration destined to bear rich fruit in the future development of the northwest. Section 4. In the tremendous ruins of the mound builders, scattered over the United States from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Kocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, may be said to exist the alphabet of an extinct people with which some skilful archaeologist will contrive to read the history and ethnology of a race profoundly alien to the modern world. These mounds, of which the greatest numbers are to be seen in Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky, are very little known even at the present day, and in fact were scarcely subjected to any intelligent observa- tion till the middle of the century. Isolated and grouped dwellings, worship and burial places, and fortifications, excited the curiosity of the earliest white settlers, but no systematic attempt at unearth- ing their mysteries was made before lS-i8, in which year Squier and Davis examined the " Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi valley." At about the time that the Kentucky State surveying expeditions reported upon such of the remains as lay in the path of their general explorations, men of learning at last began to busy themselves to gain some definite knowledge of the vanished people who had left such OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 175 significant monuments behind them. All this delay was in spite of a certain interest excited from time to time by individual effort, — such as the careful survey of " Fort Ancient " by Professor Loche about 1840. Atwater, writing on the antiquities of Amer- ica, suggested that the builders of these earthworks and fortifications commenced at the head of the northern lakes and worked along down in a southwest- erly direction to the City of Mexico, where " they had their central seat and radiated into Central and South America." Prof. Samuel Park devoted much time to the ex- ploration of the mounds (discovered by John Smock, of Perry County, Ohio, in 1819) one mile northeast of Dresden ; and the opening of one mound eight feet high revealed five human skeletons placed like spokes of a wheel with their feet at the centre, and surrounded by flint arrow and spear heads, a stone hammer, an ornamented blue marble pipe, and sim- ilar articles of that primitive period. Of one thousand mounds examined in Licking County, Ohio, by Prof. Park, three hundred were found which had not been disturbed by investigation as late as 1870. It remained for Prof. Frederick Ward Putnam, assisted by Dr. C. L. Meiz, to make " the most im- portant archaeological explorations ever carried out in !N^orth America, being unapproached for scientific method and thoroughness," with results that so inter- ested Prof. Putnam as to decide him in making these investigations a life work. It was in 1881 iha^t 176 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. definite plans were so successfully carried out with respect to many of these antiquities as to place accurate accounts of them within reach of all who care to read. The mounds of the Cumberland valley in Tennessee first received Prof. Putnam's attention, but an endeavour among the people of southern Ohio to examine and preserve the earth- works on the Little Miami called him to the scene of their praiseworthy efforts. The first important excavation was that of an ancient cemetery, contain- ing more than sixteen hundred skeletons and cover- ing a plateau of fifteen acres, which according to his calculations must have existed for at least four hun- dred years. But Prof. Putnam's " most interesting and remarkable excavation " was that of the Turner group, comprising thirteen mounds and two earth circles enclosed by two circular embankments with a connecting graded way between. At the Peabody Museum are preserved two stone altars, four feet square, just as they were taken from the earth, with coal and wood ashes, two bushels of ornaments of stone, copper, shells, bears' teeth, and more than sixty thousand pearls (probably fresh water) per- forated for suspension, which mostly had been in- jured by fire. Prof. Putnam also disinterred orna- ments of copper, silver, and gold (this latter the first native gold found in the mounds), which had been hammered out to the required form. But he consid- ered the discovery of meteoric iron and articles made therefrom as the most important " find," though ri- OTHER EXPLORATIONS IN UNITED STATES. 177 vailed bj that of a number of Terra Cotta figurines, somewhat Egyptian in character, and two elaborate animal-shaped dishes carved from red stone. Most of the earthworks seem to have been fortifi- cations ; but near Lebanon, Tennessee, exists a flat- topped mound which probably was the site of a large stone structure of some kind. ISTear it is a small mound with sixty stone graves containing skeletons and burial objects. The group as a whole seems to represent a fortified village of nearly a hundred houses, guarded by a ditch and an embankment, and possibly by palisades above the latter, while outside the enclosure are a number of mounds which perhaps served as lookout posts, or sentry-boxes. At ITewark, Ohio, was found an embankment two miles square, enclosing mounds in the forms of circles, squares, etc., which were supposed to have had some relation to the reli£:ious ceremonies of their designers. The largest of the remains of this ancient race is the great mound of Cakokia, Illinois, opposite St. Louis, and though worn by ploughing, much of its soil being under cultivation, it is still quite traceable. It is about ninety-seven feet high, with " platforms " of some size at lower levels, and was probably a village site. " When we consider that this mound covers an area of nearly twelve acres, and remember that all the earth comprising it was brought a peck at a time in skins or baskets, we can form some idea of the labour expended in its construction." CHAPTER XII. MEXICO AND THE FAB WEST. Section 1. A very quaint and interesting addi- tion to the literature of exploration is the account written by Henry Ker of bis Travels in ISTew Spain and Western United States in the years 1808 to 1814. His objects were personal and undefined. A roving disposition, a brave heart, and the desire for in- creased resources led him from England to America (where he was born), from the old country to the new; and from the known to the unknown he was drawn as by a magnet. On the 10th of August, 1808, this young man left Charleston and journeyed on horseback to Newport, Tennessee, where he took to the water by means of an " ark " (a safe, flat- bottomed boat), and continued his expedition via the Holston, Tennessee, and Ohio rivers to the Mis- sissippi and New Orleans. The Ohio he belauded as " a river universally acknowledged to be the most beautiful of any on the continent or perhaps in the world." After a pleasant visit in New Orleans he returned as far as Natchez, and in October, 1809, started upon a most adventurous trip up the Red River in a small open boat accompanied by a negro servant. Encountering many Indians of both MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 179 friendly and hostile tribes, Cadoes, Uames, and Ilisees among them, he was led to exchange his boat for tvro horses by the delight of the Ilisee chief in the pleasures of sailing, new to Indian experience in that region. On horseback he visited the villages of such Indians as the Parathees, the Quas Migdos, the Yo- rotees, the Macedens, and the Obodens, and arrived at Talu of the " Mexican Empire " at the end of November. By way of Xilotepec and Chiomporayo, he reached the city of Mexico, where, being observed taking many notes, he was arrested as a spy in the employ of the Spanish ; but, his writings being found to be of the most innocent order, merely compris- ing his observations on the general nature of the country, and affording no governmental information, he was released. On his way north he fell a prey to a band of brigands, who confined him in a cave with designs upon his life, till his freedom was granted through remorse on the part of the robber captain. In lSl-4 Ker returned to the United States by way of San Antonio, ISTatchiloches, Tuckapantum, and Gib- sonport, to ISTashville, where he arrived on the 3rd of July, with an educated discretion and an accumula- tion of knowledge very large for his years. Section 2. Adventure claimed many followers when the century was young, but perhaps none more daring than the Patties, father and son, whose long fur hunt in the then new lands of the United States and in old yet unmapped Mexico, — from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and southeast to Vera Cruz, in the 180 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. period comprised within 1824 and 1830, — gave them full opportunity to prove their mettle. Sylvestre Pattie and his son James left civilization on the 20th of July with the intention of going to the upper Mis- souri for furs ; but not having a licence to trade with the Indians they were turned back at Council Bluffs, and thereupon changed their plans in favour of a "New Mexican route. Hearing of an important expe- dition under a Mr. Pratte, with a destination the same as their own, the Patties decided to join it, and took their way toward the Platte river where the party was encamped. On the Elkhom river they met a large body of Pawnees, who conducted them to their village (Republican Pawnee) on the Little Platte, and not only treated them courteously but gave them most helpful advice as to methods in the Indian country. The Patties joined their expe- dition to Pratte's party on the main Platte river, and Sylvestre Pattie, by virtue of his success as a leader when an officer in the United States army, was offered the command of the whole expedition. After a delay employed in collecting a supply of moccasina for the journey, Pattie led his men, 116 in number, with 300 mules and some horses, along the valley of the Platte to the village of the Pawnee Loups, who were friendly farmer Indians and enter- tained the party with warm hospitality. Corn, beans, pumpkins, and watermelons, were grown by this intelligent tribe, and the success of their efforts went far to prove that the vagabondage of other less JIEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 181 industrious savages was a matter of choice, not of necessity. Soon after leaving this tribe, the long march over wide plains was interrupted to make moccasins of buffalo skin for the horses, whose feet were being cut up by the harsh grass. At Osage Forks the company made camp, killed buffaloes for food, caught the first beaver seen in the journey, and resisted with success an attack from a band of Arri- carees, which left one man slightly wounded. This assault from the Indians was so uncalled for that, finding later the bodies of two white men, the com- mand surrounded the red camp and thirty savages were killed in the action which took place. When ten Indian prisoners of war were released with a warn- ing never again to attack unjustly, one of their num- ber presented an eagle's feather to Captain Pattie, saying, " You are a good and brave man. I will never kill another white man." After this the party pushed onward toward the south and west, till they reached the Taos Mountains. The crossing of this range occupied three days, and brought them to the Spanish town of St. Fernandino, where they found themselves obliged to pay duty on all their merchandise. They commended the Spanish people, rich and poor alike, at this place as elsewhere for their hospitality, which seemed to them as genuine as it was free. Carrying a supply of very palatable pinon nuts to vary the diet, the expedition marched from St. Fernandino to Santa Fe, where a diversity of interests now divided it into two sections. The 132 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Patties, with an escort of five men, left tiie larger party, with the object of trapping beavers for the skins and incidentally of investigating such parts of the country as their business could include. A jour- ney along the upper Kio Grande del Norte and thence across country brought them to the Gila, a river never before explored by white people. James Pattie with a single companion ascended this river in the winter season, living through almost incredible hard- ships. On January 1st, they discovered and named the " San Francisco " river. Occasionally big horn sheep were found in the mountains ; but the principal food of the Indians of the region was the fruit of the mesquite tree, on which they also fed their horses. The Avhite men found these harsh mesquite beans unpala- table and unsatisfying, but sometimes their only ref- uge against starvation. On the days when their trap- ping was successful, — and two hundred beaver skins were collected on the trip, — food was plentiful enough, of course, in the somewhat over luscious form of beaver tails. Descending the Gila, James Pattie wrote, " The country presents the appearance of hav- ing been once settled at some remote period of the past. Great quantities of broken pottery are scat- tered over the ground, and there are distinct traces of ditches and stone walls, some of them as high as a man's breast, with very broad foundations." Though almost starving and greatly distressed for lack of water, the travellers noted the richness of the miner- als along their route, specifically mentioning lead, MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 183 copper and silver. They were reduced at one time to the bitter necessity of killing and eating a faithful dog, that had followed the fortunes of the expedition all the way from Kentucky. This timely sustenance saved the life of Sylvestre Pattie, who was so reduced by famine as to be hardly able to move. But soon afterward they encountered some deer and turkeys, which for the time relieved their sufferings. There- upon they returned to Santa Ye for horses with which to convey their furs to safety, only to find that the latter had been discovered and stolen by the Indians and that all their work and endurance had gone for naught. In April the party reached the copper mines and were hospitably welcomed by the Spanish residents. Here the Patties made a peace treaty with the Comanches for the protection of the mines in the name of the United States, thus making generous return to the Spaniards (whom the Indians hated) for the kindness which the expedition had received at their hands. Under guidance of the Comanches the Patties paid a visit to Salt Mountain, near which they were astonished to find a spring of per- fectly fresh water. The minerals of this region in- cluded gold, copper, and silver ores, but the latter, though abundant, was so difficult to mine as to be considered unprofitable. Leaving his father with the director of the mines, James Pattie joined some French trappers on another expedition toward Gila river. All but three of this party of thirteen lS4r DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. were killed by the Indians. In his records of this trip, James Pattie wrote of the beauty of the Umene Indians whom he met at the mouth of the Gila. They were as straight as their own arrows, their forms were of the finest proportions, but their heads, alas ! were flattened. Pushing up the Colorado river Pattie met tribes of Mohawas, Shuenas, Shoshones JN'avajos, and Pewees, most of whom were entirely friendly. At the point where the mountains closed in upon the river exploration along its shoree became too difficult, and the party forsook the Gila for a route up the other great tributary of the Colorado, the Grand river, which afforded the only way through the Rockies. The passage of the mountains occupied six days and was followed by a trip across the plains to the Platte river. On this trip the party hunted buf- faloes with bows made of buffalo ribs, which was like seething the kid in its mother's milk. Leaving the Platte the travellers ventured down the Bighorn to the Yellowstone, up the latter to its head, across the Rocky Mountains, to Clarke's river, — which they commended for its excellent fish, — up Long's Peak, across country toward the head of the Arkansaw river, over the mountains to the head of the Rio Grande, and returned to Santa Pe in August, 1827. After this the young man's adventurous spirit reas- serted itself, and accompanied by one servant he vis- ited many walled towns, inspected what was perhaps the richest mining country in the world, and pushed westward to the Pacific Ocean. At a town called MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 185 Tepee he found gold, mined by Tago Indians, selling for ten dollars per ounce. At Paso del Norte lie tasted the wonderful native wines, at once rich and delicate. The possibilities of the country appeared limitless. How easily, as either miner or farmer, could he have attained wealth. But his was neither the age nor the temperament for a quiet existence. Wliat life could be interesting that did not depend from day to day upon strength of arm, quickness of eye, and ready wit ? Once more he urged his father into the wil- derness. Together they joined an expedition to trap for beavers on the Colorado river, and again Sylvestre Pattie was chosen leader. Leaving the Rio Grande del Norte for the Gila, the company fashioned canoes from tree trunks and journeyed down to tide water on the coast of California. Suffering terribly from heat and thirst in the sand desert, which they called " The Sahara of California," they reached the St. Catherine mission, only to be arrested at once as sus- picious characters. They were conducted to San Diego, and there, without a hearing, were thrown into prison, where Sylvestre Pattie died. James Pattie, being paroled for one year as recompense for vaccinating the people against a plague of smallpox, .was advised to take letters of explanation to the American minister at the City of Mexico. He trav- elled by ship to San Bias, thence crossed the country to the capital, and left his affairs in the powerful hands of the Mexican president. From Vera Cruz he took passage in a ship for New Orleans, and thence 186 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. hastened home to Kentucky. His explorations had occupied six strenuous and eventful years. Section 3. "A short history of a long journey " was written by John B. Wyeth from his personal ex- periences during the expedition under the leadership of his relative, Captain N'athaniel Wyeth, during the year 1832. With a company of one and twenty men, and with the hope of making his fortune, the adventurous captain left Boston, on the 1st of March, to explore the Oregon territory. For a private ven- ture the journey across the continent from ocean to ocean was no light undertaking in those ante-rail- way days. Wyeth invented and built three wagons made of boats on wheels, in which amphibious vehi- cles he expected to convey his company securely over land and water. They were disposed of on the way ! A large supply of " goods " for the Indians, with the necessary arms and ammunition, tents, and camp outfit, completed the equipment of these adventurers, who were characterised by contemporary chroniclers as being of " bold enterprise, neatness, and good contrivance." After crossing the Alleghany Moun- tains, they passed by steamboat down the Ohio river and thence to St. Louis, which they reached on the 18th of April. Another steamboat journey advanced them up the Missouri to a " town " called Inde- pendence, — the last white settlement on the way to Oregon. At this place they joined a band of sixty- two traders from St. Louis, imder Captain William MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 187 Sublet, who also was bound for the " American Alps." From Captain Sublet's trapping headquarters on Lewis's river Captain Wyeth moved forward toward the Columbia through a country rich in fur and fish. And here his history, as recorded and published by John B. Wyeth, stops, for the historian of the expe- dition was one of a party who now turned their faces homeward. The worst of the journey was over, and we know only that the remainder was successfully accomplished by the adventurous captain. Section 4. An arduous ten thousand miles of ex- ploration and survey was the accomplishment of Captain J. C. Fremont, who conducted three United States government expeditions in the years 1842, '43, and '44. The first, which started from St. Louis, terminated in the Eocky Mountains at " the two points of greatest interest," — the South Pass, which is the lowest depression, and Fremont's Peak, which claims distinction as the highest point, of the great dividing ridge. The second year's expedi- tion took up the work where the first had dropped it, and worked carefully through the country between the Oregon river and California. And the third venture was an examination of the section of the " Rockies " which gives rise to the Arkansaw, the Colorado of the West, and the Kio Grande del ISTorte. This expedition also studied the regions of the Great Salt Lake, and a section of the Pacific coast. Cap- tain Fremont's enterprise was planned to carry on 188 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. an exhaustive examination of the western territories, already begun by an authoritative survey of the state of Missouri, and it was designed to connect with the limits of survey of the regions about the mouth of the Columbia, under the leadership of Commander Charles Wilkes, U. S. 'N. Great attention was be- stowed upon the map-making, and the results ob- tained were most accurate and valuable. Mr. B. M. jSTorman's quaint account of his venture up the river Paruco in a canoe, in 1844, with a single Indian attendant, is a valuable addition to the bibli- ography of Mexico. He made a special study of such ruins as he found, and offered many specula- tions on the strange mounds and idols over which huge fig trees have grown to maturity and decay since their builders left the scene of their unex- plained efforts. With infinite labour and caution Mr. l!Torman managed to secure, and present to the 'Nev7 York Historical Society, a large stone head, and he made and published several drawings of other finds quite as wonderfully preserved. During the war between the United States and Mexico, a military reconnaissance was conducted by Lieut.-Col. W. H. Emory, covering the coun- try from Fort Leavenworth, Missouri, to San Diego, California, and including the Arkansaw, Rio Grande del ISTorte, and Gila rivers. Colonel Emory, though on military duty, made the most of his opportunity to study the regions through which he passed, and was efficiently aided by Lieu- MEXICO AND THE FAR WEST. 189 tenants Peck and Abert. They observed that thia region fell into three great divisions, distinct in char- acter, climate, and resources. The first, from Fort Leavenworth to Pawnee Pork, was a high, rolling, prairie land, with occasional rock formations of fos- siliferous limestone and coal, frequent woods of oak, black walnut, willow, sycamore, elm, hickory, su- mach, and Cottonwood. This division was occupied by roving tribes of Pawnees, Sioux, Osages, and some Comanches. The second, from Pawnee Fork to Bent's Fort, via the Arkansaw river, was partly sand hills and partly prairies of good nutritious grass, with no trees, some sandstone, and cacti in endless variety, including the wonderful I'pomea leptopliylla, •which the Indians called man-root from its size and shape. The third, from Bent's Fort to Santa Fe, was mostly grass lands; with a belt of cotton- wood, called the Big Timber, about three-quarters of a mile wide and three or four miles long, where the Indians were wont to gather their winter fuel, and feed their horses on the young cottonwood. It was in this third section that the party first saw the Yucca augusti folia, the palmido or soap plant, and the mesquite grass, on which their horses pastured. There were game animals such as buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope, along with their ever present at- tendants, the wolves ; while birds and insects, on tho other hand, were very rare. There, too, they got the first news of gold, silver, and copper. At the Rio Grande del Xorte, Colonel Emory knelt to slake his 190 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. thirst, and as he raised its water to his lips his toast was " the gallant Pike ! " — a deserved tribute to his indefatigable predecessor. In haste to proceed, Emory detailed the young officers Peck and Abert to make a map of ISTew Mex- ico, and himself turned toward the West and Califor- nia along the Salt and Gila rivers. He found mines of copper, sulphuret, silver and gold, in the valley of Nimbres, where a man named McKnight, " one of the earliest adventurers in New Mexico," was said to have amassed an immense fortune. At Pecor, an an- cient fortified town, he saw the place where once had burned the eternal fires of Montezuma, till the Aztecs, dwindling and retiring before their foes, removed them still alight to an unknown place " over the mountains." Still more mysterious were certain strange ruins that marked the sites of former habi- tations, and which commemorate the mechanical knowledge and engineering skill of a race which the oldest tradition does not tell of. After ford- ing the Colorado river, Emory and his company came to sand buttes, where they had to dig for water, and then to the great desert, stretching " ninety miles from water to water ! " From the brow of a hill they first saw the Pacific Ocean, and an inlander ex- claimed, " Lord ! There is a great prairie without a tree ! " Colonel Emory's work as a topographical engineer ended at San Diego, and his more strictly military duties occupied the rest of his journey to San Francisco. PART FIVE. EXPLORATION m CEIv^TRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. CHAPTER XIIL CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. Section 1. Since Vasco jSTuiiez de Balboa first crossed Central America, this neck of land whicli has been said to possess from its austere plateaus to its sweltering alluvial something of all climates in epitome, has served as a background for vivid pic- tures in the struggle for gold and empire. Mailed eonquistadores, swarthy buccaneers, and bearded ad- venturers from many nations have contributed to its atmosphere of colour and romance. But their stories are of another age. Grijalva, Cortez and Guray, the best known of its pioneer explorers, belong to the early 16th century. The geographical work that remained to be done in recent times consisted, comparatively speaking, of the filling in of details. The country is described in general terms as an endless succession of " mountain valleys clothed with dense vegetation, and nowhere allowing of ga'eat plains, though naturally presenting so immense a 192 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. variety of climate that in the course of a day's jour- ney the traveller may pass through hot, temperate, and cold regions." It is a land scarred with ancient earthquakes; and still sentinelled along its western coast with muttering volcanoes. Its forest growths are so rankly luxuriant, its rivers for the most part so little adapted to navigation, and the whole coun- try so inadequately supplied with good roads, that the work of instrumental survey is not easy. In Nicaragua the gigantic and slow-growing mahogany trees are said to deflect the compass sometimes as much as three degrees. Here, in these " dark and ghostly forests of the sun-land," the explorer wel- comes to his pot the great iguana lizard, whose deli- cate flavour belies its unappetizing personal appear- ance. Section 2. For a long time the jealousy of the Spaniards was a serious barrier to scientific research in Central and South America. In Central Amer- ica the more conspicuous explorations during the 19th century have been mainly inspired by one or other of two motives. Eager students of archaeol- ogy and ethnology have pierced the fastnesses of its tangled forests, seeking those ruined cities of the dead which have caused Central America to be re- garded as " the cradle of civilization in the ISTew World ;" and expeditions from various governments have traversed the isthmus in search of the best route for a canal to join the Atlantic and the Pacific. Of that mysterious race cradled in the table-lands CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 193 of Honduras and Guatemala, which had made wide roads and builded noble cities hundreds of years be- fore the keels of Columbus turned westward into the unknown, we know comparatively little. The growth of their civilization, and the story of their explora- tion and possession of the land in which the Span- iards found them, are lost in the tantalizing regions of unrecorded history. Their architectural remains, of which more than half a hundred gTOups have been discovered, lie buried in the jungle, throughout a limited area of the tropics, none existing north of the 22nd parallel, and none south of the 12th parallel of north latitude. Of the curious civilization which produced them, only these monuments remain. They bear witness to a people advanced in agricul- ture and the art of government, a people possessing a priesthood and an elaborate ritual, whose devel- opment was cut short at a most interesting stage by the advent of the Spaniards. Their descendants of to-day are a disinherited race, almost without tradi- tions of a past. Among the more famous ruins are those of Palenque — politically under Mexican do- minion, but geographically in the natural division of Central America — Utatlan and Copan. All are at a considerable elevation and nearer the Pacific than the Atlantic seaboard. In the low and teeming lands of the Eastern coast, there exist neither monuments nor traditions to in- dicate that the Indians of those regions have ever known any state more advanced than their savagery. N 194 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. The ruins of Palenque were explored by Captain William Dupaix in three successive expeditions be- tween 1805 and 1807. In 1822 Antonio del Rio visited them, and ten years later Frederick Waldeck made important researches. The published works of these men added to our knowledge not only of a strange and vanished civilization, but of the natural history of Central America. The most imposing structures in these ancient cities were evidently temples. They are described as " raised high above the surrounding buildings, on grand basements, square on plan, and rising by high steps to the summit, so as to have the general out- line of a low truncated pyramid." Mr. Catherwood considers these remains to be the productions of " a peculiar and indigenous civilization," and claims that " they present but very slight and accidental analogies with the works of any people or country in the old world." Section 3. The great project of a canal to cut the isthmus led to the surveying or partial explora- tion of some dozen courses before the Panama route was adopted, in 1881, and work on it begun. In 1854 and following years French and English expe- ditions examined the country in connection with this scheme, and in 1870 the United States Government carried out important surveys. Yet the region of the Lacandones, wild Indians who roam over the unexplored Cordilleras, shunning all intercourse with the whites, can still be classed as CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. |f)5 practically unknown. Waldeck describes the cos- tumes of some of these Indians seen by him as re- sembling that of the figures on the bas-reliefs of Pa- Icuque and Ocosingo. Their places of worship they hide away in the forests, remote even from their own villages. Section 4. Sir Clements Markham speaks of South America as " the classic land of travellers," and of its explorers he says that " every geographical author should be a student of Humboldt, of Schom- burgk, and of Bates." It is doubtful if any country offers its mysteries in a more alluring guise. The illimitable forests of the Amazon, the vast allu- vial deposits of the Argentine Pampas, the desolate shingle deserts of Patagonia, and the stupendous Cor- dillera of the Andes, have each their peculiar appeal to the imagination and each their peculiar prob- lems for the scientist. Section 5. When Alexander von Humboldt, about one hundred years ago, landed on its northern coast. South America, thanks to the jealous policy of Spain, was an almost untouched treasure-house for the scientist. Earlier writers had surrounded it with a glamour of strange myths, peopling its forests, the noblest in the world, with republics of warlike women, with Indians whose heads grew out beneath their shoulders, and with solitary and hairy " old men of the w^oods " whose pleasure it was to carry away women from the villages. Nor were giants lacking in this wide realm of the marvellous^ but 196 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. loomed to any height the imagination desired through the air of the vast Patagonian plains. While like a flash of splendour against these sombre monstrosi- ties stood out the legend of El Dorado. The beginning of the 19th century found the great Prussian naturalist at work in this land of rich promise. In 1800 Hmnboldt, with the botanist Bonpland, explored nearly the whole course of the Orinoco, a river surpassed in volume among South American streams by only the Amazon and the Parana. This expedition succeeded in proving that the Cassiquiare, an arm of the Orinoco, joins the Rio Negro, which in its turn empties into the Amazon, thus settling the long-disputed question of a water- communication between these two vast river sys- tems. Humboldt reached the Eio ISTegro in the first place by a portage to the Pimichin and the descent of that stream, but his return journey to the Orinoco was entirely by water, by way of the Cassiquiare. The explorers were unable to extend their journey by way of the Rio Negro and Amazon to the Atlan- tic, owing to the state of South American politics, which raised a barrier to the passage from Spanish into Portuguese territory. They were compelled to leave unaccomplished also the discovery of the sources of the Orinoco, because of the hostility of the Indians along its upper waters. In Humboldt's time the more amenable families of the Orinoco Indians were gathered together in semi-christianized villages or missions, scattered at CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 107 wide intervals along the river as far as its junction with the Cassiquiare. Yet even among these the priests complained of occasional lapses into canni- balism and other undesirable customs which flour- ished among their relatives beyond these little spheres of influence. Both polygamy and polyandry obtained among these outlying tribes. Their chief weapon was the poisoned arrow. Even in individual missions Humboldt found the number of different native languages in use both astonishing and confus- ing- Among the most interesting of the tribes described by Humboldt as found on the Orinoco may be men- tioned the Otomacs, who during two months of the year when the river is in flood and fish are difficult to capture, eat daily large quantities of a fine unc- tuous clay; a tribe of the Cassiquiare which during a great part of the year subsist upon a paste made of a species of large ants; the fair-skinned and the dwarf Indians of the Upper Orinoco, of which early writers had given exaggerated accounts ; and the Guaraons, tree-inhabiting Indians of the Orinoco delta, who live in the moriche-palm, the " tree of life " of the missionaries. Of these Guaraons Hum- boldt says : " It is curious to observe in the lowest de- gree of human civilization the existence of a whole tribe depending on one single species of palm-tree, similar to those insects which feed on one species of plant." In 1801 Humboldt ascended the Magdalena river, 198 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS, joiirnejcd overland among the frozen ridges of the Andes, and reached Quito in January, 1802. From here he explored the masses of Pichincha and Chim- borazo, and made an expedition to the sources of the Amazon. His work in this volcanic region led to some of his most important and brilliant generaliza- tions. After carrying his investigations into Mexico, he returned to Europe in 1804. Section 6. The struggle of the Spanish colonies in equinoctial America to throw off the yoke of Spain served for a time to check the impulse given to scien- tific exploration by the work of Humboldt. But as soon as the turbulent politics of the country per- mitted, naturalists hastened to explore its treasures. During the years 1817-20, "by command of his Majesty the King of Bavaria," a scientific expedition under Doctors Spix and Martins explored the east- ern coast and the valley of the Amazon. For some time this expedition made Eio de Janeiro its base. In 1819 they sailed to Para, and thence began the ascent of the Amazon. The solitude of the great forest was relieved by wandering tribes of savages, and by the noise of countless multitudes of monkeys and birds. The stream swarmed with turtles and crocodiles. Five hundred miles from the mouth of the river they found the rise and fall of the tide still perceptible. Beyond the mouth of the Eio Negro " everything becomes more wild, and the river of the Amazons resumes its ancient name of Soli- moes, which it had from a nation now extinct." CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. IQQ At Ega the travellers separated, Dr. Martius fol- lowing the course of the Japura, while Dr. Spix, continuing his journey up the main stream, " crossed the broad rivers Jurua and Jurahy, and the Spanish river Iga, and penetrated at length, through clouds of poisoned arrows discharged by the Indians, and of venomous insects, through contagious diseases and threatening mountain torrents, to the mouth of the river Jupary, at the last Portuguese settlement of Tabatiaga, on the frontiers of Peru, where he heard the language of the Incas." His colleague on the Japura " overcame by the most painful exertions the cataracts and the rocks of the river, and at length arrived at the foot of the mountain Arascoara, in the middle of the southern continent, separated from Quito only by the Cordilleras." Thus quaintly are their voyages summarized in an English translation of their travels published in 182-i. Keturning to Para in 1820 the two scientists pros- ecuted from that centre a number of lateral expedi- tions which added to their collections and extended the scope of their observations. To quote again from the summary above referred to, " the continent had been traversed from 24° south latitude to the Equator, and under the line from Para to the eastern frontier of Peru ; an incredible store of natural treas- ures and of curious information had been acquired." On his return to Europe Dr. Martius published, at the expense of the Austrian and Bavarian gov- 200 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ernments, a most important work on the flora of the regions visited by his expedition. Section 7. Mr. J. B. Pentland took advantage of his long residence in South America as a British consul (1825 to 1837) to carry on an important series of explorations in Peru, Chili and Bolivia. An accomplished geologist and trained observer, his geographical work gained the praise of Humboldt, Cuvier and Peschel. The region covered by his re- searches was then little known, and the existing maps of it were not only lacking in detail, but inaccurate and misleading. He measured some of the chief summits of the Bolivian Andes, among them lUimani and Sorata ; and his determinations of certain points by astronomical observations were of great value to geographers. He was the first to call attention to the remarkable fact that certain streams formerly mapped as having their sources on the eastern side of the Andes actually rise to the west of the Cordil- lera Eeal, and find their way eastward through gorges in that seemingly impassable barrier. But perhaps the most interesting region he visited was that of Lake Titicaca. For a broad statement of the location and setting of this remarkable body of water we cannot do better than quote Pentland's own words : " The great chain of Andes, which appears to form an undivided ridge from the most southern extremity of the Amer- ican continent to the neighbourhood of the tropic of Capricorn, separates into two great longitudinal CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 201 ridges in the vicinity of the celebrated city of Potosi (lat. 19° 35'). These ridges .... bound the im- mense inter-alpine valley of Desagnadero, including the great mediterranean lake of Titicaca, .... and re-unite at the northern extremity of this great basin to form again an undivided chain in the Andes of Vilcahota and Cusco." This vast elevated basin, or enclosed plateau, has no visible outlet for its water-system. Pentland estimated the area of Lake Titicaca, the largest body of fresh water in South America, as over four thousand square miles, and its elevation he found to be 12,795 feet above the sea, " an eleva- tion superior to that of the highest summits of the Pyrenees." To the great terrestrial basin already defined, in the northern and highest part of which the lake lies, he ascribes an approximate area of more than 16,000 square miles, a figure which has been doubled by later authorities. There are indications that in a remote age the lake occupied the greater part of this tremendous basin, and poured its over- flow eastward through a profound gorge which still cuts the Cordillera Eeal near La Paz. It must then have been the largest lake in the world; and if its glory did not end with the disappearance of the an- cient Pampean sea, it must at one time have formed the chief reservoir of the Amazon, the largest river in the world. Xow the only visible outlet of Titicaca is the Desa- guadero, a stream scarcely fifty yards in width which 202 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. escapes southward only to lose itself again in the lit- tle-known expanse of Lake Aullagas. Pentland called attention to the fact that the rarefied atmos- phere due to the great height at which Lake Titicaca lies must cause enormous evaporation, thus solving the mystery of its surplus w^ater. Later writers, however, have found this solution inadequate, and in- cline to the theory of a subterranean outlet. Though ice forms along the shores of Titicaca, the lake never freezes over, and its presence mod- erates the climate of the lofty and desolate region in which it lies. The most famous of its islands, also called Titicaca, was the sacred island of Peru, to which the Incas traced their miraculous origin. It still shows a ruined temple of the Sun and a royal palace, with other monuments of a lost civilization. On a neighbouring island are the remarkable remains of the Palace of the Virgins of the Sun. Some at least of the Indians who still inhabit this region are undoubtedly descendants of that great race of em- pire builders which went down before the march of Spanish conquest. Pentland's explorations of Lake Titicaca were car- ried on during 1827-28, and again in 1837. Hav- ing surveyed and mapped it, his observations were embodied in a chart published by the British Ad- miralty. Contemporary with the researches of Pentland were those of Eduard Poeppig, a German naturalist who spent the years 1827-32 in Chili, Peru, and the CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. OQS basin of the Amazon. In 1830 be made the descent of the Huallaga, a stream which flows into the Ma- railon or upper Amazon after a course lying between and nearly parallel to the courses of that river and of the Ucayali. Section 8. In ISTovember, 1827, Lieut. Henry Lister Maw, K. 'N., accompanied by a Mr. Hinde, be- gan an adventurous journey across South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Sailing from Lima to Truxillo, he thence crossed the Peruvian Andes, part of the way on foot, to Balsa Puerto on the Cachi- yaco river. This stream he descended by canoe to its junction with the Huallaga, which in turn carried him to the Maranon. Deserted by his Indians, he drifted on to the Brazilian village of Egas (now Teffe), where he was able to procure a fresh crew. At Barra, at the mouth of the Bio Xegro, he em- barked on a river craft which traded down the Ama- zon. At Santarem the stupidity of certain Brazilian officials led to his arrest and trial on an absurd charge of being a menace to the peace and safety of the country. In April, 1828, Lieut. Maw emerged safely from his long adventure into the brilliance and social gaiety of Para. On the remoter reaches of the Amazon in Brazil Maw found the " brancos," of low European stocky still hunting and enslaving the wild Indians; while among the latter he heard of those whose custom was to eat their aged relatives, considering such inter- ment preferable to that offered by the grave. His 204 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. impressions of the branco throw some light upon Dr. Martins' lament for the Amazonian Indian quoted in section of this chapter. Maw writes: "Con- tinuing our route, we reached marks of — not Euro- pean civilization — but European demoralization. The uneducated, unenlightened branco, finding him- self unchecked by those laws and authorities that ex- isted in the country he has left^ — finding himself amongst a people inferior to his countrymen, and not comprehending the advantage or necessity of re- straining his inclinations, assumes arbitrary power, and commits uncontrolled enormities; whilst the unfortunate wretches amongst whom he fixes suffer his tyranny and acquire his vices. It is perhaps not possible to behold human nature more degraded. Slowly and with difficulty we passed through this state of things, until we again met with a general commerce, which, in such cases, may be said to bring healing on its wings, by importing true civili- zation, and proving the necessity of just laws and well-regulated authority." Section 9. Of more geographical importance than Maw's journey was the crossing of the continent by Lieut. Wm. Smyth and Mr. Frederic Lowe, K. K., during the years 1834-35. This expedition indi- cated, although prevented from entirely following, the great water-route from Peru to the Atlantic by way of the rivers Pachitea, Ucayali and Amazon. Leaving Lima in September, 1834, the travellers crossed the Andes, through hail and snow, traversed CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 205 a silver-mining region of Peru, and made the utmost efforts to reach, by a long-abandoned trail, the de- serted fort of Mayro on the head-waters of the Pach- itea. But dread of the terrible Cashibos, a canni- bal tribe living among the forest fastnesses of that river, caused the repeated desertion of the Indians and the Peruvian soldiers that accompanied the ex- pedition, so that finally the attempt to reach IMayro by land was relinquished. Smyth and his companions then descended the Hu- allaga to the mouth of the Chipurana, ascended that stream and the Yanayacu as far as canoes could go, portaged across to a little river called the Santa Catalina, and descended the latter to its junction with the Ucayali, whose waters had never before been navigated by an Englishman. They still hoped here, through the influence of a priest whose life had been spent among the Indians, to procure canoes and boatmen for the exploration of the Pachitea. They learned, however, that to ascend that river would require a little army of conquest at least three hundred strong, a force beyond the means of the ex- pedition. With extreme disappointment they at length continued their voyage down the Ucayali to the Maranon, and thence to Para. The Indians of the Huallaga were expert canoe- men, and Lieut. Smyth was much impressed by their manner of " running " the fiercer rapids to an ac- companiment of their own barbaric music. He writes : " The waves completely concealed the body 206 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. of the canoe, leaving the men only visible through the spray; and as they approached us, the wild In- dian scream, the constant drumming, the hollow sound of the horn, the roar of the water, and the savage grandeur of the surrounding scenery, raised in us feelings of admiration and delight which must always remain fresh in our memories." Yet these Indians did not furnish ideal crews for an exploring expedition, refusing to make any journey unaccom- panied by their entire families of women, children, dogs and cats. On this journey Smyth determined his route by careful observations as far as the mouth of the Kio ISTegro, beyond which point the course of the Amazon was already pretty accurately laid down. He found much error in the best maps of the upper course of that river. He notes the curious fact that with the exception of sudden and brief squalls, the wind on the Amazon " w^as always in a direction exactly con- trary to that of the stream, notwithstanding its wind- ings ; and the same was the case on the Ucayali and the Huallaga." CHAPTEE Xiy. SOUTH AMEKICA. Section 1. In 1826 the ships "Adventure" and " Beagle " were commissioned by the British Ad- miralty to survey the southern coasts of South Amer- ica. The expedition was commanded by Philip Parker King and Robert Fitzroy, R. IST. The eastern coast of Patagonia had already been charted by Malaspina, and the Strait of Magellan mapped with a good deal of detail by iSTarborough, Cordova, and others ; but the southern coast of Terra del Fuego had been little explored, and the difficult western coast of the continent as far north as the island of Chiloe was to a great extent unknown. During 1826-30 a laborious and exact survey, with but few breaks from the La Plata to the Horn and northward to Chiloe, was accomplished. Com- municating with Magellan Strait Fitzroy discovered two large unknown inland seas, which he named Otway Water and Skyring Water. On the shores of the Strait King was struck by the presence of par- rots and humming-birds, both chiefly associated in our minds with tropical surroundings. The humming- 208 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. birds he noticed in the month of May darting about through an atmosphere white with falling snow. The surveying of the western coast was a matter of considerable danger owing to the fierce tide-races which rage through its intricate channels. From about 40° S. to the southern extremity of the conti- nent the Pacific washes the very base of the great chain of the Andes, and " flowing as it were into the deep ravines that wind through its ramifications, forms numerous channels, sounds and gulfs, and in many instances, insulates large portions of land." Some of these sounds terminate in magnificent gla- ciers, and the whole coast is fringed with large is- lands and archipelagoes. Upon its return to England in 1830, the expedi- tion carried with it four Fuegian Indians, of the lowest race of South American aborigines. From 1831 to 1836 this surveying voyage was con- tinued by the " Beagle " alone, commanded by Kob- ert Fitzroy and with Charles Darwin on board as naturalist. This second expedition filled in the gaps left in the work of the first, carried the survey of the Pacific coast as far north as Guayaquil, ex- plored a part of the unknown interior of Patagonia by way of the Santa Cruz river, and surveyed the remarkable group of the Galapagos Islands. Fitzroy relates that off the coast of Patagonia the " Beagle " was enveloped in a wonderful cloud of white butterflies swept to sea before the wind, " as numerous as flakes of snow in the thickest shower." SOUTH AMERICA. 209 He estimated the space occupied bj this frail host to be " not less than two hundred yards in height, one mile in width, and several miles in length." It was in April, 1834, that the " Beagle " sent a party in boats to explore the unknown course of the Santa Cruz, a rapid stream, which, fed by the snow- fields and glacial lakes of the Andes, crosses southern Patagonia below the 50th parallel of latitude, and empties into the Atlantic. Though tried by the freezing nights and blazing days, they found the cli- mate dry, clear and invigorating. No headway could be made against the current except by towing, a process unpleasant enough along bleak shores bor- dered only by a species of thorny shrub. The sur- rounding country was a vast expanse of gravel plain, treeless and unbroken. Land and water seemed alike barren, and not a fish was taken during the journey. The monotony was only broken for the eye by wary herds of guanacoes, wandering in search of the scat- tered tufts of wire-grass, and now and then a huge solitary condor soaring against the sky, or a few ostriches striding along the horizon. The eighth day brought them to a region even more forbidding, where sombre basalt overlaid the shingle, giving to the country a surface like rough iron. Here was a curious record from the days of the Pam- pean sea, when all this land lay beneath the Atlantic. Darwin says : " The basalt is clearly nothing more than lava, which has flowed beneath the sea ; but the eruptions must have been on the grandest scale. At the o 210 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. point "where we first met this formation the mass was about 120 feet in thickness; following the river course it imperceptibly rose and became thicker, so that at forty miles above the first station it was 320 feet thick. We must therefore look to the mountains of the Andes for its source; and worthy of such a source are streams which have flowed over the bed of an ocean to a distance of one hundred miles." In twenty days, the party had explored about 250 miles of the Santa Cruz, and was then within sight of the Andes, when lack of food compelled its return. Considerable interest attaches to the explorations of the " Beagle " expedition in Terra del Fuego, that outcast among lands a bit of whose forest scenery Darwin describes as follows : — " On every side were lying irregular masses of rock and uptorn trees; other trees, though still erect, were decayed to the heart, and ready to fall. The entangled mass of the thriving and the fallen reminded me of the forests within the tropics; — yet there was a difference; for in these still solitudes, Death, instead of Life, seemed the predominant spirit." Elsewhere in his journal, writing reminiscently of this voyage, Darwin speaks of the impression made upon his mind by " the stars of the southern hemisphere, — the water-spout — the glacier leading its blue stream of ice in a bold preci- pice overhanging the sea — an active volcano — and the overwhelming effects of a violent earthquake." But of all these scenes, he adds, " none exceed in sub- limity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of SOUTH AMERICA. 211 man, whetlier those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are predominant, or those of Terra del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail." The last work of the expedition in South American waters was the survey of the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic group lying under the equator, five or six hundred miles west of the mainland. Darwin says : " The natural history of this archipelago is very re- markable : it seems to be a little world within itself ; the greater number of its inhabitants, both vegetable and animal, being found nowhere else." Most con- spicuous among its fauna were great numbers of a gigantic kind of tortoise, and two strange species of large lizard. But more significant yet was the fact that individual islands of the group possessed species peculiar to themselves; and this even among the birds. The latter showed no fear of man. A full- grown hawk allowed Darwin to push it off a branch with the muzzle of his shot-gun. This voyage of the " Beagle " will be always memo- rable as having led Darwin to that series of re- searches which resulted in his writing " The Origin of Species," a book which has made its influence felt in almost every department of human thought. Section 2. In the same year when the British survey of those coasts was begun, xVlcide Dessalines D'Orbigny, a French zoologist and ethnologist, was commissioned by the Museum of ISTatural History at Paris to travel in South America. For eight years (1826-33) he wandered through the country, jour- 212 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. neying southward from soiitliern Brazil through Uruguay, the Argentine Eepublie, and Patagonia; thence northward through Chili, Bolivia and Peru. Having been hospitably received by a band of Pata- gonian Indians, D'Orbigny was compelled to fight side by side with his hosts in a savage war against a neighbouring tribe. Jules Verne states that " it took 13 years of hard- est work to put together the results of D'Orbigny's extensive researches." He made collections of great value to science, and his encyclopaedic writings re- sulting from this expedition were published by the French Government in twenty-one quarto volumes. Section 3. Pobert Hermann Schomburgk, a Prussian scientific traveller, spent eight years (1835- 44) exploring British Guiana and neighbouring re- gions to the north of the Amazon. His important work was carried out in the beginning under the au- spices of the Eoyal Geographical Society of London, and later by commission of the British Government. Humboldt, it will be remembered, had been pre- vented from extending his explorations on the upper Orinoco beyond the little Indian Mission of Esmer- alda. But he had called attention to the fact that east and south from that village there stretched prac- tically unknown country three times as large as Spain, in which not a single position had been as- tronomically determined. This, except where it lay to the east of the 55th meridian, was the region ex- plored by Schomburgk. SOUTH AIMERICA. 213 Late in 1835 he began his explorations by the as- cent of the Essequibo and its tributary the Ripanuny. The latter stream he ascended as far as it "svas navi- gable by his lightest corial, beyond which point he pushed on on foot across low savannahs toward its source, until forced by illness and the rainy season to turn back. After visiting Lake Amuku he continued the ascent of the Essequibo to its great falls, which he named King William's Cataract. On this first expedition the explorer was deeply impressed by the beauty and strangeness of his trop- ical surroundings. Inquisitive bands of monkeys frequently followed the corials along the banks, and at one point a large jaguar regarded the expedition with tolerant indifference, moving calmly into the forest only when the boats were within sixteen yards of him. Schomburgk describes a night on the upper Essequibo, at the beginning of the rainy season, when the fallen and decaying leaves were phosphorescent, illuminating the ground about his tent : — " But this was not the only wonderful production of the rain ; the latter had loosened the tongues of all the frog- kind in the vicinity, and to judge from the variety of their cries, the species were numerous. The sounds resembled the bleating of calves, the chirping of birds, the call of the duck, and even the hoarse voice of a man ; but the most remarkable was ' the paddler,' whose quacking voice resembled the regular stroke of a paddle." Schomburgk next (1S3G) explored the Corentyne 214 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. until his corials were stopped at the foot of a splen- did composite cataract, which in one of its channels had an unbroken leap of forty feet. Where pre- vious maps had represented this river as taking its rise he found it still an important stream with a width of nine hundred yards. In November of the same year he began the ascent of the Berbice. Where this river plunges in a long series of rapids it swarmed with large caymans, while boas and iguanas were numerous in its thickets. The innumerable rapids were further obstructed by the trunks of huge fallen trees, and the difficulties in- creased with every mile. The first of January, 1837, found Schomburgk almost discouraged. But enter- ing on that day a smoother and expanded reach of the river, all troubles were blotted out in the enthu- siasm of discovery. In his own words : — " Some object on the southern point of the basin attracted my attention; I could not form any idea what it might be, and I hurried the crew to increase the rate of their paddling; in a short time we were op- posite the object of our curiosity — a vegetable won- der ! All calamities were forgotten ; I felt as a bot- anist, and felt myself rewarded. A gigantic leaf, from five to six feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a broad rim of a light green above and a vivid crim- son below, rested on the water; quite in character with the wonderful leaf was the luxuriant flower consisting of many hundred petals, passing in alter- nate tints from pure white to rose and pink." Thus SOUTH AMERICA. 215 Tvas discovered the now famous Victoria Itegia, per- haps the most striking and beautiful representative of the flora of the western hemisphere. Failing food, exhaustion, desertions among his In- dians, and difficulties of navigation so great that with the utmost exertion his progress was often scarcely two miles per day, compelled Schomhurgk to give up all idea of reaching the sources of the Berbice, Be- fore beginning the descent, however, he corrected the position ascribed on the maps to the upper course of this river, by a journey overland to the Essequibo, only nine miles distant. September of the same year found him started upon another expedition to discover the sources of the Essequibo. The route chosen took him largely through unknown country, among Indians who had never before seen a white man. By the end of the year he reached one of the sources of the river, among mountains more densely wooded than any he had be- fore seen. Returning to the Ripanuny, he occupied some months in side explorations. Later he reached Fort San Joaquin on the Rio Branco, a tributary of the Rio ISTegro, whence he explored the Caruma Mountains. In September, 1838, he returned to Lake Amuku, whence a journey on foot brought him to the sheer red walls of the Roraima Mountains. This remark- able upheaval of the older sandstones is celebrated by the Indians in their songs as " Roraima of the red rocks, wrapped in clouds, the ever fertile mother of 216 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. streams." Here, from enormous cliffs which tower to a height of 1500 feet, waters hurl themselves in marvellous cataracts, and flow in different directions to join the Amazon, the Orinoco, and the Essequibo. From Roraima a journey of three months, through regions for the most part known only to the Indians, brought this indefatigable explorer to Esmeralda (Feb. 1839), thus connecting his astronomical ob- servations from the east with those of Humboldt from the west. He had hoped at the same time to reach the sources of the Orinoco, but w-hen in sight of the very mountains among which they lie was turned back by the murderous attitude of the Kirishanas, who had previously frustrated Hmn- boldt's attempt. However, Schomburgk's journey reduced all uncertainty as to the source of that river " to wuthin the narrow limits of less than thirty miles." From Esmeralda, following Humboldt's route by the Cassiquiare to the Rio I^egro, he returned by the Rio Branco to Fort San Joaquin. Thence striking overland to the Essequibo, he reached the coast again, having been absent from civilization for nearly two years. During this time he had made a circuit of upwards of 3000 miles. In 1841 he explored the wonderful delta of the Orinoco, and '' acquired a correct knowledge of the courses of the rivers Waini, Barima, Amacura, Bar- ama, and Cuyuni, all of which had never before been visited by any person competent to delineate them in SOUTH AMERICA. 217 a map." Most of these rivers of the flat coast region communicate with one another by curious connecting channels. The marshy vegetation of this rich allu- vial belt gives the country a border of vivid green, relieved by numerous Hocks of scarlet ibises, white aigrettes, and flamingoes. The following year found Schomburgk at the sources of the Takutu, a stream which joins the Rio Branco after a course of about two hundred miles. In 1843, starting from Pirara, a Carib village near lake Amuku, he reached Watu Ticaba, a village of the Wapisianas on the upper Eipanuny. An over- land journey brought him to a settlement of the Maopityans, whence by the descent of the Caphiwuin and the ascent of the Wanamu, two small and turbu- lent rivers of the interior, he reached the country of the Pianoghotto tribe, at the sources of the Coren- tyne (IS-!-!). By the latter river he returned to the coast. Throughout his journeys in Guiana everywhere among the Caribs Schomburgk met with stories of a horde of warlike women, called Woruisamocos, who were said to dwell near the sources of the Corentyne, in a region no European had ever visited. The ac- counts given were so circumstantial and definite that the thing assumed some probability. xVll his in- formants agreed that these Woruisamocos " shot with the bow and arrow, and used the cura or blow-pipe; that they cultivated their own grounds, and held no intercourse with other Indians except once a year, 218 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. when they permitted men to visit them in parties of twenty; and that if their offspring proved a male they killed it, but reared the female children." Ilis last expedition, however, took him through the very terra incognita ascribed to these independent females, and resulted in driving the ancient and persistent myth of the Amazons from one of its last refuges. The level maritime region of Guiana stretches back from ten to forty miles, to a ridge of sandstone which must have formed a prehistoric coast-line. Beyond a second ridge of hills extends a gradually rising table- land. Here the rivers become practically unnaviga- ble, and present scenes of splendid confusion. Their tumultuous descents are often interrupted by huge granitic boulders as much as forty feet high. Schom- burgk frequently found the largest of these rock- masses engraved with rude picture-writings, of which the meaning is lost. He traced these strange inscrip- tions scattered here and there over an extent of 350,- 000 square miles. His Indians seemed to regard them with a certain amount of awe, although the only explanation they could give of their origin was that '* women made them, long ago." Schomburgk constructed an admirable map of the region he explored, and his collections were a valua- ble acquisition to the British Museum. For his im- portant services to geography he received the gold medal of the Royal Greographical Society, and was knighted by the Queen. Section 4. An important French Government SOUTH AMERICA. 219 expedition, under the leadership of Count Frangois de Castelnau, was occupied from 1843 to 1847 in explorations within the vast extent of South America lying between the tropic of Capricorn and the Equa- tor. This expedition twice crossed the continent, first from Eio de Janeiro to Lima, and thence eastward again by the Amazon to Para. This immense journey revealed all the most varied and characteristic phases of the scenery of tropical South America. After crossing the virgin forest zone of the Atlantic border, the explorers entered up- on the great campo section of the interior, whose sparse and stunted trees contrasted strongly with the region left behind. From Goyaz in Brazil they de- scended the Araguay, then almost unknown, and re- turned southwards up the Tocantins, whence they traversed a great wilderness inhabited only by fierce cannibal tribes. A laborious march of two months carried them across the wide solitude which separated them from Cuyaba. Thence by an excursion north- ward they determined the sources of the river Para- guay, entangled, it may almost be said, with those of the Rio Tapajos, of the Amazonian system. Re- turning to Cuyaba, they descended the rivers Cuy- aba, San Lourengo and Paraguay to Fort Bourbon. Reascending the Paraguay, they traversed, after an excursion into the Gran Chaco, the great Laguna de los Xarayes, hitherto unexplored. The remainder of their journey westward took the travellers through Potosi, the highest abode of man in South America, and past Lake Titicaca, to Lima. 220 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Special interest attaches to the Gran Cliaco and the " Lagima " de los Xarayes. The latter is not in reality either a lake or a marsh, but a great level plain, part of the bed of the old Pampean Sea. Dur- ing the rainy season, however, the streams flowing through it are merged into one vast sheet of water, stretching in all directions beyond the sky-line, with here and there clumps of trees dotting its surface. Being in this state of inundation when first dis- covered by the Spaniards, they thought it a boundless lake, the source of the Paraguay. Somewhere be- yond its unexplored horizons their imaginations placed the site of El Dorado — a fable, apparently, of many habitations. It is curious to note that Keymis locates it on an island of the non-existent " White Sea " in Guiana, a geographical myth born also of the rainy season, when Lake Amuku overflows its wide savannahs. Proceeding to Cuzco, Castelnau thence began his second journey across the continent (1846). With a party of about thirty, including a military escort, he reached the village of Echarate in the valley of Santa Ana, where he superintended the building of canoes and rafts for the voyage. Finally his little flotilla began the descent of the Urubamba. Dissension, de- sertions, and the difficulties of navigation soon re- duced the party to such weakness that Viscount D'Oscry was sent back with a large part of the im- pedimenta, instruments and collections. After the first 180 miles the difficulties of de- SOUTH AMERICA. 221 scending the Urubamba diminished, and Castelnau reached in safety the confluence of that river and the Tambo, which united form the Ucayali. The latter has substantial claims to be considered the real mother-stream of the Amazon, its course being longer and its volume greater than the Maranon. Accord- ing to Castelnau, navigation is possible from the mouth of the Ucayali to the lowest considerable cas- cade of the Urubamba, a distance of 1040 miles. This would give, from the mouth of the Amazon to the cascade in question, 3360 miles of uninterrupted river navigation. Castelnau reached Para without serious misad- venture ; but in the meantime the expedition had suffered a grievous loss in the murder of the young savant. Viscount D'Osery, who had been sent back in charge of the most valuable records and collec- tions. His own guides were his murderers. By his death were lost all the astronomical, meteorological and magnetic observations made during the four years of exploration. Section 5. In 1851 the Government of the United States of America commissioned Lieut. Wm. Lewis Herndon, U. S. i^avy, to explore the Amazon valley from west to east with a view to discovering its commercial possibilities. As his instructions al- lotted only a secondary place to geograjDhical and scientific observations, Herndon was compelled to choose a route already known. But he instructed Lieut. Lardner Gibbon, his associate in the work, to 522 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. attempt one of the unexplored approaches to the great river, and afterwards to rejoin the main expe- dition. Starting from Lima, Herndon crossed the Andes to the Huallaga, by which he entered the Marahon or upper Amazon. Farther down, his boat was accom- panied from day to day by flesh-coloured river-por- poises. On the Brazilian sand-banks of the river he saw the wholesale gathering of turtles' eggs, the oil extracted from which forms an important article of commerce. Herndon's account of the products of the Amazon- ian region, by bringing the wealth of a vast area into the confines of a single sentence, appeals to the im- agination like a glimpse into Aladdin's garden: — " From its mountains you may dig silver, iron, coal, copper, quicksilver, zinc and tin; from the sands of its tributaries you may wash gold, diamonds, and precious stones; from its forests you may gather drugs of virtues the most rare, spices of aroma the most exquisite, gums and resins of the most varied and useful properties, dyes of hues the most brilliant, with cabinet and building woods of the finest polish and most enduring texture." Gibbon, meanwhile, starting from Cuzco, had trav- elled overland to the junction of the Tono and the Piiiipini, whose united waters form the Rio Madre de Dios, a then unexplored river of much specula- tive interest to geographers, for reasons which will appear later in this chapter. His plan was to descend SOUTH AMERICA. 223 the Madre de Dios by canoe, to discover its course and where it emptied. This intention he had to abandon, as his Indians refused to commit themselves to a region of which nothing was known except that it was inhabited by the implacable Chunco savages. Retracing his steps. Gibbon tried successfully an- other route, this time through Bolivian territory. From Cochabamba he descended the Mamorc to the Madeira, and by the latter river entered the Amazon, of which it is the largest southern tributary. The value of the Madeira as a highway of commerce is not commensurate with its length and volume, as its waters cut their way through projecting spurs of the Cordillera Geral to the Amazonian plains in a great series of falls and rapids which occupies more than 200 miles of its course. These falls were first ex- plored and mapped in 1846, by Senor Jose Augustin Palacios. To the foot of the falls, the river is navi- gable by ocean-going steamers. Section 6. In 1848 Alfred Russell Wallace and Henry Walter Bates began their exploration of the natural history of the Amazonian region. For the first two years they worked together, exploring the fauna and flora of the forest around Para, and of the valley of the Tocantins. Afterwards Wallace alone explored the Rio Negro, and its most westerly af- fluent, the almost unknown Uaupes. On this river he for the first time met with Indians whose habits had not been modified by the missionary or the trader. Here, too, he heard the curious Jurupari, or 224 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. devil music, -wbicli the Uaupes Indians produce by a set of trumpet-like instruments. These, for some un- known reason, no woman must see, on pain of death. About the numerous falls of the Uaupes slender granitic pillars of rock " rise above the surrounding forest like dead trunks of giant trees." On this river Wallace describes also a rapid which hurls its waves forty or fifty feet into the air, as if great subaqueous explosions were taking place. Of the vast Amazonian basin he writes : — " Its entire extent, with the exception of some very small portions, is covered with one dense and lofty prime- val forest, the most extensive and unbroken which exists upon the earth. It is the great feature of the country, — that which at once stamps it as a unique and peculiar region." Some idea of the teeming life in the water of this, the greatest river system in the world, may be formed from Wallace's estimate that in the Rio ISTegTo and its tributaries alone at least five hundred species of fish exist. Wallace returned to England in 1852, but Bates remained in South America seven years longer, ex- ploring the Amazon to the Peruvian boundary, as well as the Tapajos, Teffe, Jutahi, and other tribu- taries of its lower course. During his whole eleven years in this region Bates was constantly collecting and studying its insect life, with the almost incredi- ble result that he discovered 8000 species hitherto un- known to science. Section 7. It is remarkable that the montana re- SOUTH AMERICA. 225 gion of Peru, which stretches eastward from the lower slopes of the Andes, and forms more than half the area of the republic, remained largely unexplored until far into the 19th century. Though a region of vast potential wealth, its dark forest fastnesses main- tained an impregnable front against the forces of civilization, setting a limit to the advance of the great Inca empire, and later rolling back the tide of Span- ish colonization. The name most widely known in connection with modern exploration in this region is that of Don Antonio Eaimondi. An Italian by birth, he went to Peru in 1850, and devoted the next twenty years to the study of its geography, geology and zoology. His explorations and researches covered almost every section of the republic, and their results were to have been embodied in a monumental work called El Peru; but only the first three volumes had been published when his death intervened. In this space it is only possible to touch upon that portion of Eaimondi's work which belongs to the field of pioneer exploration. In the province of Caravaya, famous for its gold, he carried on laborious researches on foot, by which he made known the courses of the numerous streams which there descend the slopes of the Cordillera Nevada. The interest of this region lay in the fact that no one knew whither all these rivers flowed, nor to what tributary of the Amazon they joined themselves. Most important was his explora- tion of the Ollachea (or San Gavan) and the Aya- 226 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. pata, two tributaries of the Inambari, which in its turn joins the Madre de Dios. To enter this region across the snow-clad eastern range of the Andes, the traveller passes rapidly from an arctic to a tem- perate, and thence to a tropical climate. His only roads lie in deep gorges or quehradas, shut in by sides so lofty and sheer that it is impossible to escape from them. In each of these deep-gashed valleys, Kai- mondi found species of birds, insects, and shells pe- culiar to itself, showing how long and complete their isolation. That part of the eastern slope in the province of Caravaya lying between 8,000 and 12,000 feet above the sea is subject to neblinas, mists so dense that objects distant a few feet become ob- scured. After exploring the sources of the rivers above mentioned, Kaimondi with great difficulty followed the Ollachea, called in its lower course the San Gavan, to its junction with the Inambari. He says, " Those only who have explored the dense forests of Peru, in so broken a country as this of Caravaya, can form an idea of the difficulties that present themselves." So dense was the growth of palms, tree-ferns, and bam- boos, that in places his march was through darkness, though beyond the matted roof of foliage the tropical sun might be blazing. This is the home of the dreaded Chunco savages. The forest which has here its beginning, stretches without a break across the continent to the Atlantic Ocean. By this journey Raimondi proved that the rivers SOUTH AMERICA. 227 Ollachea and Ayapata enter independently the river Inambari, without either uniting with one another, or with the Marcapata, as represented in earlier maps. After a long period spent in investigating the Peru- vian portion of the Amazon, Raimondi explored in 1866 the difficult passes leading from Huanta to the confluence of the Mantara and Apurimac, from whose union results the Tambo, one of the great tributaries of the TJcayali. The Tambo itself had not then been explored, but Raimondi found, at the point reached, enough water to float small steamers even in the dry season. This would give from the mouth of the Ucayali a navigable route of 1022 miles. Section 8. During the period of Raimondi's work the Peruvian Government was encouraging all explorations that might open up a commercial route to Europe by way of the Amazon and the Atlantic, and public attention was focussed upon all the Ama- zonian tributaries reaching into Peru. It was gen- erally supposed that the Madre de Dios was really the upper course of the great unexplored Purus, and was hence looked upon as the most promising route to the Amazon. It presented, however, exceptional difficul- ties to the explorer, chiefly on account of the attitude of the Chuncos, through whose territory it ran. The disastrous voyage of Don Faustino Maldonado (1861) proved, however, that the Madre de DIo3 sends its waters to the Madeira, and not to the Purus. With seven companions this daring Peruvian ex- 228 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. plorer abandoned himself to tlie current at the point on the Madre de Dios whence Gibbon had turned back. His only boat was a light raft. Even this had to be deserted at a place of fierce rapids, and the jour- ney was continued on foot for a day or two. Then a new raft was built, and again these adventurers com- mitted themselves to the unknown waters. At last, to their surprise, they were carried into the Mamore, at a point still within the country of the Chuncos. Ten days after entering this river the raft was wrecked in a furious rapid (probably the Calderao do Infierno) where Maldonado and three of his com- panions lost their lives. The others continued their voyage into the Madeira, and on to the Amazon, whence they returned by way of the Huallaga to their native town, Tarapoto. The result of this daring ad- venture was of great importance as it disproved the belief, then held by the best geographers, that the Madre de Dios was either the upper course of the Purus, or at least an affluent of that river. In 1866 a Peruvian and Brazilian Boundary Com- mission ascended the unexplored Yavari for an esti- mated distance of 1000 miles from its mouth. From this point the expedition was driven back with loss by the Indians. In the same year a Peruvian expedition under Cap- tain Vargas was sent to explore the Pachitea. In a little river steamer, it ascended the river for about 60 miles, when two of the officers were killed by the Cashibos, and the others turned back. A larger force SOUTH AMERICA. 229 in three steamers, and led by Don Benito Arana, at once returned to the scene of this misadventure, and after inflicting punishment upon the Indians, pushed forward to the mouth of the Palcazu. This tributary was ascended for some distance by the smaller steamers. The success of the expedition attracted much attention at the time, but Doctor San- tiago Tavara, a later surveyor of thePachitea-Palcazu route, was less enthusiastic about its possibilities. Other expeditions under the Government added greatly in the aggregate to our knowledge of the Ama- zon's Peruvian tributaries, some of which, though not free from rapids, proved navigable to steamers of light draught to the very bases of the Andes. Ex- ploration was pushed up the Apurimac and Vilca- mayo to within a moderate distance of Cuzco. In 1852-54: Sir Clements R. Markham trav- elled in Peru, and explored a section of the forest region on the eastern and loftier range of the Peru- vian Andes. He was in the country again in 1860- 61, on a mission from the British Government to ob- tain cinchona plants for culture in India. This time he explored the montana region a little south of the field of Eaimondi's explorations in Caravaya. The rich valleys of Paucartambo, once covered with flour- ishing Spanish farms, he found relapsed into a state of unbroken tropical forest, so effective had been the hostility of the Chuncos, and so overpowering the vigour of vegetable life in those regions. CHAPTER XV. LATER EXPLOKATIOXS IN SOUTH AMERICA. Section 1. In 1864 William Chandless, an Eng- lish explorer who two years before had surveyed the Tapajos from its sources, began a journey which was destined to materially modify the maps of a large area in South America. Although it was three years since the wild adventure of Maldonado had upset the idea, generally accepted among geographers, that the waters of the Madre de Dios found their way to the Purus, the latter river was still practically unknown when Chandless undertook its exploration. On his first ascent of the river Chandless spent eight months in its exploration (June, 1864, to Febru- ary, 1865). The most striking feature of the Purus is the exaggerated tortuousness of its channel. Plowing as it does through almost level country, and unac- quainted with hills throughout its course, it makes the most of its opportunities to double and redouble upon itself in a manner so involved, that sometimes a long day's journey only brought the explorer to a point a few miles, in a direct line, from his starting point in the morning. Other peculiarities of this stream are its uniformity of width and absence of rapids and islands. Its banks of light sandy soil are rich in SOUTH AMERICA. 231 vegetable productions of commercial importance. Here and there cliffs of stratified sand and clay, often showing brilliant colours, abut upon the river. Chandless was struck by the evidence of enormous changes in the bed of the PurCis within very recent times. Of the Indians, the Muras, of the lower reaches, he describes as a tribe indolent, drunken and violent. Above the affluence of the Jacare he found the Pam- marys, a peaceable race, but afflicted with a peculiar skin disease. In time of flood they retire to the lakes, where in mat huts, built upon rafts, and moored as far as possible from shore, they take refuge from the mos- quitoes. Still further up the Purus he found the Hypurinas, a numerous and formidable tribe, delight- ing in war for its own sake. Not until some 900 miles from the mouth did Chandless meet with any obstruction to navigation. Beyond this, however, were frequent shallows, show- ing rocks of yellow and claret-coloured sandstone, and in the dry season barring the progress of large craft. Some of Chandless's party turned back, owing to shortness of rations, and were murdered by the Hy- purinas. Chandless himself, with his diminished fol- lowing, pushed steadily on, through a region uninhab- ited by Indians, and where, in consequence, game was plentiful and unafraid. Especially noticeable, owing to their size and fearlessness, were the tapirs, those curious connecting links between the elephant and the hog. Eeaching a point where the stream forked, 232 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. he explored both branches until they became narrow, rapid, and practically impassable for canoes. On the northern branch he met with a family of Indians of the forest, who had emerged upon the river-bank by chance. These were unacquainted with iron, and as- tonished at sight of a canoe. Their axes and cutting implements were of stone. This journey afforded a second proof that the Madre de Dios is not the head-water of the Purus, and made clear that the latter river does not rise among the Cordilleras of the Andes. Chandless mapped the course of the Purus by a continuous series of astro- nomical observations for latitude and longitude, and true compass bearings. In 1866 he again ascended the river, and explored for 465 miles the course of the chief affluent, the Aquiry. From the latter he made an overland journey through the forest, hoping to strike some stream belonging to the Madre de Dios; but after cutting his way for six days through the dense and tangled vegetation he turned back. During the following year Chandless attempted to reach the sources of the Jurua, a lesser stream of the same type as the Purus. At a point of 1120 miles from its mouth, he had a brush with some war canoes of the dreaded ISTavas, Indians whose boast was that they fought all comers. These warriors, although armed only with bows and arrows, spears, and round black shields, against the firearms of the explorers, inspired such a panic among the boatmen, that Chand- SOUTH AMERICA. 233 less was compelled to abandon reluctantly the further ascent. In 1868 he explored and mapped the Canuma, Abacaxis, and Mave-assu, three inferior but remark- able rivers. Their first peculiarity is that they are not direct affluents of any main stream, but discharge into the Parana-mirim de Canuma, a curious side- channel some 245 miles long, which forms an addi- tional communication between the Amazon and its great tributary, the Madeira. A second peculiar fea- ture of these three streams is that, having a width al- together disproportionate to their length, they reverse the usual custom of rivers, and narrow abruptly, as if pulled in with drawing-strings, at their mouths. Section 2. Meanwhile (1862-63), some two thousand miles to the south, Don Guillermo Cox, a Chilian of British parentage, had been carrying out explorations in search of a new commercial route across Chili and Patagonia from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. His work lay in the least known parts of the Andes south of Valdivia, where he sought a practicable pass communicating with the head streams of the Patagonian river !N'egro or Cusu. Starting from the German colony of Port Montt, Cox crossed the Andes, without great difficulty, to the unexplored lake ISTahuel Huapi, a sheet of water extending some forty miles by fifteen. Here he built a boat, navigated the lake, and entered the unknown river Limay, which he believed would carry him down 234 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. to the Negro. When within a few miles of the latter river, however, his boat came to grief in a rapid, and he and his party were captured by the warlike Arauca- nians, hereditary foes of Chili. By these he was finally released, but not allowed to proceed on his journey. Kepeated attempts on Cox's part to win his way through the country of these Indians by gifts and ingratiation were met by the caciques of the tribe with an attitude of unyielding opposition. The ex- plorer was thus prevented from traversing the route he had successfully indicated. Section 3. Conspicuous in the annals of inland exploration is the adventurous journey of Commander G. C. Musters, R. IST., who, accompanied only by a wandering band of Tehuelche Indians, traversed from south to north the vast and desolate plains of Pata- gonia. This journey covered 960 miles of latitude, for 780 miles of which the route lay through a coun- try previously unknown. On the 19th of April, 1869, Musters began his jour- ney from the penal colony of Punta Arenas, on the Strait of Magellan, whence he struck in a northerly direction across the barren Pampa to Santa Cruz, on an inlet of the eastern coast. Here he waited till August when the winter began to break, meanwhile getting on friendly terms with the Tehuelches with whom he intended to associate himself for the carry- ing out of his adventure. With these companions he followed the Rio Chico nearly to its source in the west, then turning north skirted the foothills of the SOUTH AMERICA. 235 Andes to Manzanas, a village of the formidable Araucanians. Thence his route turned eastward through a coun- try of salt lakes, mountains and deserts, till it ended at Patagones on the Atlantic coast. The northern interior of Patagonia resembles the Pampas in character, and is watered by a few east- ward-flowing rivers. Southward it changes to a boundless desert of shingle, unrelieved for hundreds of miles by mountain or river, a vast desolation where the puma breeds and hunts, an impressive and domin- ating solitude which grips the imagination of the trav- eller in these lonely regions. Throughout the journey Musters lived, as his com- panions lived, by the fruits of the chase. His account of the year spent in this strange march, gives the most intimate and interesting information in regard to the character, superstitions, and habits of the Tehuelches, the true Patagonian Indians. Much has been written concerning the stature of these Indians. Schouten, writing in 1615, described them as " human skele- tons 10 or 11 feet long," while D'Orbigny in his day " never found any exceeding 5 feet, 11 inches." Such accurate observers as Fitzroy and Darwin, however, estimated the average height of the men to be 6 feet, the tallest average height of any people. Musters' estimate was 2 inches less, but he describes them as possessed of great muscular strength and fine physi- cal development, especially in the arms and chest, and 236 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. records their remarkable power of sustaining severe exertion for two or even three days without food. Section 4. Turning again to the equatorial re- gions of South America we find the field not neg- lected. During 1868 and several following years C. Barrington Brown was ofiicial geologist and surveyor for British Guiana. He surveyed all the chief rivers of the colony, his work supplementing and extending that previously done by Schomburgk. It fell to him to discover the magnificent Kaietur Falls on the Po- taro river. At this cataract the river hurls itself in great mass over a cliff 822 feet high, with a sheer unbroken plunge of Y41 feet. During the years 18Y3-75, as leader of a geological commission, Barrington Brown explored the Amazon- ian tributaries Tapajos, Trombetas, Juruty, Jamun- da, Mauhes and Abacaxis, Madeira, Kio ISTegro, Purus, Jurua, Javary and Jutahy, covering in all over fifteen thousand miles of this great water-system. Section 5. While Barrington Brown was enlarg- ing our knowledge of the southern affluents of the Amazon, Thomas P. Bigg-Wither was pioneering as an engineer in the great forests of Parana, Southern Brazil. The object of his exploration was to discover the best route for a line of railway from Curitiba, capital of the province of Parana, to Miranda, in the province of Matto Grosso. In 1872, with three other engineers and a body of Indians and Brazilians, he began to explore the Ivahy valley. After a year and a SOUTH AMERICA. 237 half of work on this river the appearance in camp of some of the dreaded " Wild Indians " caused such a panic among the Brazilians that the survey had to be abandoned for the time. Meanwhile Bigg-Wither undertook the exploration of the Tibagy valley as an alternative route. This work was done by boat. In its upper course, where the river yields gold and diamonds, navigation was not dangerous. But when it reached the edge of its elevated plateau its character changed, and its waters plunged furiously forward, with a fall of 600 feet in only 30 miles. In places the stream was broken into fierce cataracts by eruptions of trap through its sandstone bed. For 200 miles of its course the Ti- bagy was quite unkno\vn, its torrential nature having baffled earlier explorers. Bigg- Wither, however, con- quered the diiBculties of this section, previously con- sidered impassable, and successfully explored the whole course of the valley. His work contributed fresh knowledge of the nat- ural history of the region generally, but of special interest were his observations of the Botocudos, a curious and little-known tribe of Indians, akin in type to the Yaghans of Tuegia. These Botocudos " are amongst the rudest and most primitive of all peoples, and were long regarded and treated by the white settlers rather as wild beasts than as human beings." Their mouths are dragged out of shape and horribly disfigured by enormous lip ornaments, wooden discs two or three inches in diameter. These 238 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. are suspended from a cruel hole in the lower lip, and make it impossible for the mouth to be really closed. Section 6. The work of Edward Whymper among the great Andes of the Equator attracted the attention of the general public as well as of the scientists. During 1879-80 he achieved the summits of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Antisana, Cayambe, Sara- urcu, and other dominating mountains of Ecuador ; all of them, with the exception ,of Cotopaxi, virgin peaks. Of these, the highest was Chimborazo, 20,517 feet above the sea. Besides winning him distinction as a daring mountaineer, Whymper's journeys deter- mined points of great importance to cartographers and corrected glaring errors in the previous maps of Ecuador. He discovered also that, contrary to ac- cepted opinion, the chief peaks of the Ecuadorian Andes possess large glaciers. A brief passage in Whymper's own words will give some suggestion of the awe-inspiring conditions under which his explorations at these great altitudes were carried on. He says : — " It is almost impossible to speak in too extravagant terms of the highly electrical condition of the Equatorial Andes. On no single occasion when we were at considerable elevations were we free from storms of greater or less severity. The whole air seemed saturated with electricity, and dis- charges might be determined at any moment. I think that the stray, occasional flashes which some- times glared out between us and an intervening ridge, followed by a solitary roll, set us thinking more than SOUTH AMERICA. 239 the grand displays when the whole sky was filled with fiery darts, and crash after crash pealed out without intermission ; though I never shall forget the occasion when on the top of Sincholagua, and close to the summit, on a narrow ridge of icy snow in which we were cutting footsteps, a ridge so steep and narrow that the merest touch might have tumbled us over on one or the other side, we were surprised by a storm, which commenced without premonition, and in a few seconds raged above, below, and around us, with a fury which made us quiver, and maintained a cease- less roll, as flash after flash darted across our ridge, and others struck, or appeared to strike, the rock pin- nacles beneath us. With our axe-heads hissing, and not knowing whether it was more dangerous to go down or up, we at length went forward, snatched a few rocks from the immediate top, and then fled, scarcely daring to look behind, and escaped in safety, though astonished to find ourselves alive." Section 7. Koraima, the great table-topped mountain of Guiana, already mentioned in the ac- count of Schomburgk's explorations, had for a long time fascinated the imaginations of geographers, with something akin to the peculiar potency with which it dominated the minds of the Indians dwelling beneath its shadow. Although its total height is only 8600 feet, Eoraima is of vast bulk, and lifts its cro^vning plateau on sheer or overhanging cliffs a bold 2000 feet above its wooded lower slopes. For untold ages it3 wide expansive summit had rested inviolate, an in- 240 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. accessible and mysterious island, laved by a sea of cloud. Although Barrington Brown and earlier explorers, as well as Indians of the neighbourhood had declared the walls of Roraima unscalable, in 1884 Everard im Thurn achieved the ascent. He discovered a narrow ledge sloping up and across the red face of the cliff, and by this reached the top. There the scene, upon which no human eye had looked before, is worth describing at some length in his own words : — " The first impression was one of inability mentally to grasp such surroundings; the next that one was entering on some strange country of nightmares for which an appropriate and wildly fantastic landscape had been formed, some dreadful and stormy day, when in their mid career the broken and chaotic clouds had been stiffened in a single instant into stone. For all around were rocks and pinnacles of rocks of seemingly impossibly fan- tastic forms, standing in apparently impossibly fan- tastic ways — nay, placed one on or next to the other in positions seeming to defy every law of gravity — rocks in groups, rocks standing singly, rocks in terraces, rocks as columns, rocks as walls and rocks as pyra- mids, rocks ridiculous at every point with countless apparent caricatures of the faces and forms of men and animals, apparent caricatures of umbrellas, tor- toises, churches, cannons, and of innumerable other most incongruous and unexpected objects. And be- tween the rocks were level spaces, never of great SOUTH AMERICA. 241 extent, of pure yellow sand, with streamlets and little waterfalls, and pools and shallow lakelets of pure water; and in some places there were little marshes filled with low scanty and bristling vegetation. Here and there, alike on level space and jutting from some crevice in the rock, were small shrubs, in form like miniature trees, but all apparently of one species. And as far as eye could see, no trace or movement of animal life." Section 8. A river which has attracted much at- tention and yet baffled explorers is the Pilcomayo. As this river rises in the interior of the Bolivian highland and debouches into the Paraguay below Asuncion, it would, if navigable, prove a commercial route of much importance. Its attempted explora- tion in 1882 by Dr. Jules Crevaux of the French Navy gained it a tragic notoriety. Dr. Crevaux and all the members of his expedition were murdered by the Indians. In 1890 Lieut. O. J. Storm ascended it in a specially constructed steel steamer for more than 300 miles, until the stream apparently lost it- self in a wide swamp, although in reality nowhere near its source. This journey, however, proved it impracticable for purposes of commerce, chiefly ow- ing to its shallowness and the unbelievable number of snags which fill its channel. Meanwhile progress was being made in the great basin drained by the Madeira. In 1880-81 Dr. Edwin R. Heath had explored the Beni, and four years later Pray Nicolas Armentia ascended the Q 242 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. famous Madre de Dios for about 200 miles. The as- cent of this stream was completed by Colonel Pando in 1892, who found it a clear and majestic river, full of islands, and flowing through a region by nature one of the richest in the world. In 1892-93 a special Brazilian commission did exploratory work in what has been called " the Bra- zilian Island," from which waters flow into all the im- portant fluvial systems of South America. In 1894 G. G. Dixon discovered the source of the Barima river in British Guiana, a point of some importance in the boundary dispute between that country and Venezuela. Until the closing years of the century no part of South America offered greater opportunities to the explorer than Patagonia, In a paper published in 1897 Sir Clements Markham described as terra incog- nita a vast strip along the eastern side of the Pata- gonian cordillera, of about the area of all of England. Patagonia is in all a strange land. Owing to the fact that it shows evidences of instability in its geographi- cal structure, and of great physical changes in recent time, it has exceptional interest for the geologist. After the journey of Commander Musters little was done to add to our knowledge of the country until 1880, when Dr. Hans Steffen began explorations among the Patagonian Andes which extended over a period of ten years. But the man who finally re- moved from the map the great blank to which Mark- ham referred was Don Francisco Moreno, a very dis- SOUTH AMERICA. 243 fingnished South American scientist. His maps and the results of his explorations published in 1899 made a most important addition to geographical knowledge. Mention must be made of Col. George Earl Church, to whom we owe a definite conception of the ancient Pampean Sea. Going back to several years before the period treated in this section we must also mention the explorations in Terra del Fuego by the staff of the Challenger as an incidental item in the course of " the greatest scientific voyage ever undertaken/' a voyage which may be said to have given birth to the new science, oceanography. Whymper's work in the mountains of Ecuador had attracted the attention of scientific mountaineers to the inviting field for achievement offered by the An- dean range. In 1897 Edward A. Fitzgerald led an expedition among the High Andes of Argentina. His work lay in " a barren land where sandstorms blow all day over a desert of loose shale." Mr. Vines, a mem- ber of this expedition, achieved the summit of Acon- cagua (23,080 feet), the highest known peak in South America. This was probably the greatest height up to that time climbed by man in any part of the world. The expedition also explored Tupungata and other neighbouring peaks. In the following year Sir Hugh Conway succeeded in reaching the summit of Illimani (21,200 feet) and other giants of the Bo- livian Andes, adding much to our knowledge of this great range. PAET SIX. EXPLORATION IN AFRICA. CHAPTER XYI. AFRICA AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY. Section 1. Until quite recent years the vast con- tinent of Africa remained tlie least mapped division of the earth. But so great a field for exploration, with the enchanting possibilities of the unknown, could not remain unexploited, with the growing earth hunger of the nations urging man on. Just how much the ancients knew of the interior cannot now be as- certained. The fruits of such explorations as they developed have withered long since. The Great Des- ert belt cut off investigation from their seat of civili- zation, Egypt, till the introduction of camels by the Arabs. With the organization of the " African Society," at London, in the latter half of the eighteenth cen- tury, began a new era in Africa's story. Under the auspices of this Society important work was done in AFRICA. 245 the field by Houghton, Mimgo Park, Hornemann, and Burckhardt. The association merged into the Royal Geographical Society in 1831. During the nine- teenth century more was done to acquaint the world with the geography of Africa " than during the whole of the 1700 previous years since Ptolemy taken to- gether." " The exploration of Africa, almost wholly effected in modern times .... is a subject which has a literature of its own. The systematic, scientific examination of the continent by travellers had its origin in 1788, when the African Association of Lon- don was founded, — though James Bruce, a Scot, had, in the period between 1768-73, made much research in Abyssinia, travelling from Massowah to the sources of the Blue Nile, and returning to Eg}'pt by way of Sennaar and the jSTubian Desert." The name that stands in the forefront of African exploration is that of Mungo Park. He it was whose achievements turned the eyes of the world toward the mysteries of the Dark Continent. His work ex- tended over the first six years of the nineteenth cen- tury. In 1795 he penetrated from the Gambia on the west coast to the Niger, followed the latter to Silla, and fixed the southern limits of the Sahara. In 1805 he undertook a second journey to the same regions, planning to descend the Niger to its mouth. This expedition cost the explorer his life. He made his way past the city of Timbuktu, and reached Boussa, where he was killed by the natives while cross- ing the river in a canoe. He had fortunately 246 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. sent back his letters and journal from Sansanding on the Niger in JSTovember, 1805. The first white men on record as having traversed the continent from ocean to ocean were two Pombeiros, or Portuguese traders, who, between 1802 and 1806, crossed from Angola eastward through the territories of the Muata Hianoo and the Cazembe to the Portuguese posses- sions on the Zambesi. In 1816 an expedition was sent out by the British Government, Captain Tuckey commanding, to the Congo, which was popularly believed to be the lower course of the Niger. " This was a disastrous under- taking, and the additions to geography were slight, the river being ascended but two hundred and eighty miles." Section 2. About 1816 an attempt was made by an expedition under the command of Major Peddie of the British army to follow Park's route from the Gambia. With one hundred men, including Captain Campbell, he started up the Kio Nunez, but suc- cumbed to fever before many days, leaving his brother officer to head the company. Campbell reached the Pulah country, but was badly treated by the natives in general and especially by their ruler, who detained the white men four months for ransom. A large amount was extorted from the commander for mere permission to return by the way they had come. But the brave captain and most of his followers died on the homeward journey, and were buried at Kakundi under the orange trees near the AFRICA. 247 factory of an English resident. In September, 1818, Mr. Ritchie, " a man of science and ability," was sent by the British Government on a mission to the inte- rior of Africa. On the way he was joined by Captain Lyon, who volunteered his services, and together they landed at Tripoli, making that place the starting point of the journey which carried them a short distance beyond Mourzook, where Mr. Ritchie died. Captain Lyon then explored Fezzan till his supplies were too reduced for safe travelling, and returned to Tripoli, only when a further advance seemed hopeless. Un- derground villages of agricultural natives, corn and saffron fields, orchards of apple and almond trees in bloom, Roman ruins, cultivated olive and fig trees, and strange " new " animals, are among the details of interest noted by this traveller. The village of Garian was notable, among many similar places, for the " excellence of its oil, the richness of its saffron, and the goodness of its corn," as Captain Lyon's journal quaintly has it. With their tall, straight, muscular bodies, and handsome oval faces, — dark- skinned from much exposure, — he found his Arab ac- quaintances intelligent, energetic, and capable of en- during both fatigue and abstinence. Lyon remarked not only of the Arabs and their camels, but of all the animals in the country he visited, that they could re- main a very long time without water. Of the Ara- bian horses he observed that they were kept underfed to modify their good looks, lest they be demanded as tribute by the powers. These horses wore shoes for 248 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. mountain and hill work, but ran free-footed in the desert. White, wolf-like dogs and elfish children played and ate together, and the latter hospitably pressed upon the travellers gifts of sour buttermilk and " teefaas," — a root like potatoes in looks and like mushrooms in taste and smell — to Mr. Ritchie. Cooscooscoo, Bazeen, and Zumeita — flour pastes — served them as food. Dancing and a game called Helga kept them amused. They called the Atlantic " Sea of Darkness," and thought the countries " in the sea " (i. c. islands) had neither sun nor moon. They wondered why the people living on the islands did not fall off into the water and they had no great respect for folk who dwelt so precariously. Over the desert Klia, past the Elood and Guatela Mountains, and through many villages, went the mis- sion to the town of Sockna, which was situated in an immense plain bounded by the Soudah, Wadan, and Guatela mountain ranges, and surrounded by more than two hundred thousand date-trees, the fruit of which was superior in quality to any in North Af- rica, a fact which even the horses appreciated. At Sockna the natives spoke a language peculiar to them- selves, which was supposed to be the original Berber tongue. The people of Sockna proudly claimed that this ancient language was the speech of ISToah him- self. To Hoon, to Emzairaat, to Mesheil, and across the desert of Sbir ben Afeen (where they observed that the air was so dry that putrefaction was arrested, dead AFRICA. 249 animals being seen quite shrivelled but not decom- posed), marched the travellers, reaching Samnoo to find " the best Arab cooks " of the journey. Thence still forward, from palm-encircled Sabha, in the midst of the dreary desert, to Wad el Nimmel (" valley of ants "), so called " from immense numbers of these insects of a beautiful pink colour." At last, travers- ing a great desert plain, the mission entered the " paim groves and gardens of Mourzook," the capital, — a walled town of twenty-five hundred black inhabi- tants. Lyon, attacked by dysentery and seriously ill, made great demands upon his constitution, but quickly recovered his strength and was able to care for his friend Eitchie, who was down with fever and raving in delirium. Section 3. There were times when Lyon and Ritchie found themselves in straits from lack of food, no help being forthcoming from the neighbouring but unneighbourly sultan. But all the deprivations and sufferings were cheerfully endured in the cause of discovery and the development of their plans. Many tales of absorbing interest were told by traders con- cerning the countries of the interior, and especially as to the wonders of Lake Tchad. But Ritchie's cour- age and strength at last gave way under an acute at- tack of the fever which had remained in his system from his first illness. On the 20th of November, 1819, his brave spirit gave up the struggle. Captain Lyon, thus left alone in the perilous ven- ture, decided to continue the journey as far beyond 250 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Mourzook as his resources would permit. Fighting against illness, and very weak, he pushed onward ob- stinately. At Zulla he found the inhabitants white, and very proud of their direct descent from Mo- hammed. The " most respectable, hospitable, and quiet peoiDle in Fezzan, and their whole appearance (for they were handsome and well-dressed) bespeaks something superior," was Captain Lyon's comment upon them. At Terboo, the " most wretched village .... met with," he kept Christmas day by drinking a bumper of coffee to the health of his friends in England. This stage of the expedition covered a great salt country, that necessary mineral being seen lying upon the ground like snow in crystal flakes. Gatrone was notable for its young Tibboo girls, of the '' brightest black " colour, who, adorned for Mohammed's birth- day, presented a most attractive appearance. Tegerry brought the Englishmen to the southern limit of Fez- zan where the cultivation of the palm ceases and the desert begins. Before leaving Mourzook, Captain Lyon and the inhabitants exchanged presents expressive of their mutual good will, and on the 9th of February, 1820, the Expedition set out for Sockna. Their route took them through E"eshona, Ghroodwa, Sabha, Temen- hint (the "most inhospitable town in Fezzan "), Zeghen, and past the Kohol Mountains. At Sockna they helped the natives to celebrate, with song and dancing, the " first of Spring" (28th of February). AFRICA. 251 Passing throiigii Bon j em and Zemzem, they arrived at Zlcetun ^vhere their desert-weary eyes again saw the sea ; and Captain Lyon roared " Rule Britannia " and '" God Save the King " till they thought he had gone mad. By way of Lebida they reached Tajoura, there to be met by Dr. Dickson, the consul, Colonel Warrington, Messrs. Carstensen, and others, to wel- come them back to civilization; and on the 25th of March, 1820, they re-entered Tripoli — exactly one year after they had left it. Section 4, In 1822 the English Government sent out an expedition, under Lieutenant Clapperton, of the army, and Dr. Oudney, a naval surgeon and naturalist, to explore the course of the Niger. They started, as Ritchie and Lyon had done, from Tripoli, and w^ere joined by Major Denham, an old " Penin- sular " officer, who had set out on a similar expedition under the auspices of the African Association. Mak- ing their way towards Mourzook, they halted at the walled town of Sockna, a half-way place. Though, unlike all earlier Englishmen who had penetrated into the interior, they wore no disguise, they were accorded a most gratifying reception by the governor. From Sockna the travellers moved out across the desert, but after suffering greatly from water famine and sand storms they reached Mourzook only to meet a most disappointing reception from the Sultan, of whom they sought an escort to Bornu. Finding that neither bribes nor persuasions could move that potentate, Denham returned to the Basha 252 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. of Tripoli, who had promised them aid, but found him equally reluctant to help the expedition forward. It was only Denham's threat of appealing to his own government that brought the Basha to terms. Ke- turning from Tripoli, Denham found Clapperton and Oudney both ill with fever at Gatrone; but by the end of November they were well enough to travel, and the journey was resumed. After crossing the Tibboo desert, strewn with the skeletons of those who had perished in earlier expe- ditions, Dherka was reached soon after New Year. On the 4th of February they arrived at the town of Lari, and looked upon the wide waters of Lake Tchad. The natives of Lari, mistaking the caravan for a war- party, fled in panic into the forest. On reaching the shores of the lake they found it tenanted by thou- sands of birds of brilliant and varied plumage, in- cluding ducks, pelicans, yellow-legged plovers, and cranes four or five feet high. From Lari the expe- dition proceeded along the shores of the lake, and after a four days' journey Bornu itself was entered for the first time by Europeans. From Bornu they pressed forward to Kouka, where they were hospita- bly received by the Sheikh. Here Clapperton and Oudney rested, while Denham joined a slave-hunt which carried him to the country of the Falatahs. The invaders were defeated, their leader killed, and Denham, after having been stripped naked by the conquerors, barely escaped with his life. On reach- ing Kouka again he found Oudney in the last stages AFRICA. 253 of consumption and Clapperton shaking with fever, yet both preparing to press forward to the explora- tion of Soudan. Though they failed to ascertain the source and termination of the Niger, they succeeded in determining the positions of the kingdoms of Man- dara, Bornu, and Houssa, and of their chief towns. At length, they were forced by Oudney's increasing weakness to halt at Murmur, a town on the borders of the Houssa territory. Here, while planning the next advance, the heroic Oudney breathed his last, and was buried under a Mimosa tree. Though still a sick man himself, Clapperton now resumed the journey resolutely. He reached Kanan on the 20th of January, 1824 ; and a month later ar- rived at the important town of Sokoto. At Sokoto he was cordially received by the Sultan, who at first promised him an escort down the Quorra river. Af- terwards, however, the fickle ruler declined to sanc- tion this venture, as being too perilous ; and after six weeks of delay Clapperton, finding that the poor remnants of his health were giving out, turned back in haste to Bornu. Meanwhile, Denham, accompanied by a young Englishman, by the name of Toole, " who almost alone had traversed the long route from Tripoli to Bornu," set out to visit the Shary and the Logon. After leaving Angornou they proceeded along the eastern border of Lake Tchad to Angola, and reached the Shary, which they found to be a half mile in width and flowing at the rate of two or three miles 254 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. an hour towards the lake. Owing to the unsettled state of the country and to an illness from which Toole was suffering they could not stay long in any one place, but managed at last to reach Logon on the Shary. They found the inhabitants of the country thereabouts industrious and partly civilised. On tlieir way back to Angola, Toole grew rapidly worse, and shortly after their arrival he died, leaving Den- ham, alone and disheartened, to make the best of his way back to Kouka. Here he found Clapperton, just arrived from the Soudan. Together they left Kouka on the 16th of August. Arriving at Tripoli on the 28th of January, 1825, they took ship for London. During their great journey, which occupied three years, Denham and Clapperton explored from the east side of Lake Tchad to Sokoto, a distance of seven hundred miles from east to west in the heart of Africa. Section 5. In September, 1825, the indomitable Clapperton, now a cajDtain, undertook a second jour- ney. He was accompanied by Dr. Morrison and Cap- tain Pearce, both of whom died within a month of the start. From the coast of Guinea he crossed the Kawawa and entered the kingdom of Yarrita, to be kindly received at its capital Katunga. He then went to Boussa (where Mungo Park died), and to the kingdom of Zegzeg, the capital of which, Zaria, he found to contain no less than 50,000 inhabitants. Ar- riving finally at Sokoto, he achieved the distinction of being the first European traveller to cross Africa AFRICA, 255 from tlie Guinea coast to the Mediterranean. At So- koto, Clapperton found the Sultan no longer friendly as before, and was so depressed by his reception that he fell ill of fever, and died on the 13th of April, 1827. The Sultan being somewhat moved by his death, his followers were allowed to perform the fu- neral rites with every mark of respect. The leader- ship of the expedition now devolved upon Richard Lander, Clapperton's personal attendant and com- panion. After an unsuccessful attempt to trace the ^N'iger to its outlet, Lander struggled out of the wilderness, and reached the coast at Badagry on the 21st of No- vember, 1827. The second journey of Clapperton added ten-fold to the value of the results of his first expedition. He had the good fortune to find the shortest and easiest route to the populous countries of the interior, and he could boast of being the first man who had " com- pleted an itinerary across the continent from Tripoli to Benin." While Clapperton was out on his second journey, Major Loriug undertook to penetrate to Timbuktu. From Tripoli he crossed the Kafila desert by way of Gadames. He was attacked by a ferocious tribe of natives, wounded twenty-four times, and left for dead. But by the careful attentions of his compan- ions he recovered, and succeeded in reaching Tim- buktu, only to be murdered a little later by a treach- erous Moorish guide while attempting to reach Scgo. CHAPTEE XVII. AFRICA AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY (con- tinued) . Section 1. Owing to the hostility existing for many years between the Ashantees and the Fantees, their part of the country was unsafe for foreign mer- chants, and the European trade was interrupted. The African Association therefore decided to send an embassy to Ashanti, with the double purpose of ex- ploring its territories and negotiating a treaty with its ruler. A mission, consisting of Messrs, James (the gov- ernor of the fort at Akra), Bowdich, Hutchinson, and Teddlie, left Cape Coast Castle on the 22nd of April, 1817, and arrived at Dadawasee on the 14th of May. Under the escort of an official sent to meet them by the king of Ashanti, the party entered Coom- assie. Passing under a fetich, or sacrifice of a dead sheep wrapped in red silk and suspended from lofty poles, they were greeted by five thousand warriors with bursts of martial music. They were received by the king with encouraging courtesy; and at first everything seemed to promise success. At a later in- terview, however, the king advanced a claim for eer- AFRICA. 257 tain sums alleged to be due from the Britisli for the privilege of holding fortified factories in the coun- try. Mr. James, though leader of the embassy, felt himself unwilling to take the responsibility of settling this question, and was thereupon accused by the king of having come to spy upon his resources. At this critical juncture, Bowdich, realizing the peril that threatened the expedition, by the exercise of great tact succeeded in appeasing the excited monarch. Mr. James being recalled shortly afterwards, Bow- dich was made head of the mission. In this capacity he concluded a treaty which satisfied the king's de- mands and threw open the Gold Coast to British set- tlement. Section 2. In 1818 M. Gaspard Mollieu, a young Frenchman, was sent out by his government to discover the sources of the Senegal and Gambia rivers. Equipped with merely a donkey-load of stores and trading goods, and with a single Marabout as escort, he left St. Louis at the end of January and proceeded southwest through the lands of the Jal-oofe and the Foulahg. " Here detained as prisoner, there com- pelled to join some predatory excursion, but every- where escaping with his life by dint of the exercise of unfailing patience and tact," he ascended the Sene- gal to Bondu, which he entered on the 15th of March. There he discovered water communication between the Senegal and Gambia, and, after wandering through dense forests watered by the latter river, he 258 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. discovered the sources of both the Gambia and the Rio Grande, — " situated within a short distance of each other in two thickets on one of the heights of the lofty mountains called Badet." To accomplish the second purpose of his mission he proceeded to the ancient city of Timbo, close to which the Senegal was believed to have its rise. There he narrowly escaped being murdered at the hands of the natives, who considered the Senegal so sacred that they threatened death to anyone attempting to dis- cover its birthplace. By means of a considerable bribe, however, he persuaded a guide to lead him to the river's source, — " hidden from view in dense woods, never penetrated by the sunbeams, about half way up an exceedingly steep and rugged mountain." After successively exploring three basins, one above the other, and after learning that the Senegal was the same as the Bafing or Baleo, which Park had er- roneously considered identical with the IN'iger, Mol- lieu set out for home by way of Timbuktu. Just as he seemed to have triumphantly accomplished his task, he was taken seriously ill with fever at Ban- deia and compelled to remain for a month among a hostile people who attempted to kill him for the sake of his scant property. On the 12th of June, he was able to resume his journey. Relinquishing all idea of visiting Timbuktu, he travelled in a northwesterly di- rection and reached the coast by way of the Portu- guese settlements of Geba and Bissao. He returned to St. Louis, after a year's absence, by way of Goree, AFRICA. 259 and six weeks later, though weakened by fever and fatigue, continued his voyage to his native land. In March, 1819, he reached Paris where the story of his achievements aroused a wide interest. After the failure of Peddie and Campbell, another expedition was sent out, in 1818, under the command of Major Gray and Dr. Dochard. Wishing to avoid Timbo, the capital of the Almani, they sailed up the Gambia, and after travelling through Tonli and Galu reached Bondu. There the king demanded from Gray, " on pretext of some old debt due from the British Government," such a quantity of goods that the resources of the expedition were exhausted. In the hope of buying permission to continue the jour- ney. Gray sent to Senegal for more merchandise, and succeeded in covering most of the ground explored by Park. But the people were found to be as hostile as when Park visited them, thirteen years before. Do- chard, weakened by privation and disappointment, was seized with fever, and presently added his name to the long list of those who have given their lives to solve the dark riddle of Africa. The whole expedi- tion had meanwhile melted away by death and dis- ease. Section 3. Eene Caillie, inspired by reading " Eobinson Crusoe " and such adventurous tales, was seized at the early age of sixteen with an irresistible longing to explore new lands. With just sixty francs in his pocket, the enthusiastic boy left Prance and started alone for Senegal (181G). When he reached 260 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. St. Louis the English expeditions into the interior were the sole topic of conversation. Fired by the hope of joining one of these expeditions, Caillie travelled on foot to Dakar, and thence by boat to Goree. There, however, he was dissuaded by a kindly French officer, and accepted a passage to Guadeloupe. Soon after- wards an accidental reading of Munco Park's travels so revived his old enthusiasm that he seized the first opportunity to return to Goree, where, in 1818, he succeeded in attaching himself to Major Gray's ex- pedition. At Bakel he was so weakened by fever and over-exertion that he was obliged to return to France to recruit his health. Strong in his purpose, however, he went again to Senegal in 1824, and spent some time among the Brackmar Moors, in order to acquire a knowledge of the Arabic language and the religions and customs of the country. Under pretence of being a convert, he succeeded in being initiated into the mysteries of the Koran and Mussulman prayers, and, after learning to speak, read, and write Arabic, he re- turned to St. Louis to apply to the Government of Sen- egal for assistance in a journey to Timbuktu. He also wished to cross Africa to Egypt in the guise of a mer- chant and pilgrim to Mecca. The Government of Sen- egal refusing to aid him, he went to the English col- ony of Sierra Leone, where Sir Charles Turner, the governor, set him to superintend some indigo planta- tions at a salary which enabled him to save within a short time two thousand francs. Converting his whole capital into merchandise use- AFRICA. 261 ful for barter in the interior, and resuming a com- plete Arab disguise, on the 22nd of March, 1827 (three years after his arrival in Africa), he set out on his journey, and at the end of the month reached Kakondy, a village near the mouth of the Rio jSTuiiez. His stock of goods was too small for him to pretend to be a trader as he had planned, — but he had his story ready. " Born in Egypt," he told everyone, " I was taken as a child and made to serve in the French army, which was then in Egypt. I was brought as a slave to France, and my master took me with him to Senegal to assist him in his business. He was so pleased with my services that he gave me my liberty, and now that I am free to go where I will I naturally desire to return to Egypt to find my parents and re- sume the Mussulman religion." This fable of his origin led to a courteous reception from the Mandingo and other merchants in the village, and, on the 22nd of April, he started for the interior with a caravan con- sisting of five free Mandingoes, three slaves, a Foulah porter, and a guide with his wife. Proceeding along the left bank of the Rio Nunez, the party after two hours' march came to the Betleman factory in the garden of which were the graves of Major Peddie and his companions. Undaunted by this grim reminder, Caillie proceeded on his way with energy, in an east- north-east direction, stopping now at a Foulah camp and now at a quiet village, and halted for two days at Pandeya (a village of 150 or 200 inhabitants) to take part in the Mohammedan festival of the Ramadan, 262 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. sharing alike in the feasts and the prayers as a true Mussulman. Passing through the Futo-Jallou coun- try, he came to the banks of the I^iger at Kurnsa, crossed the great river by canoe, and reached the im- portant town of Kankan. This town he described as being '^ well-kept .... with broad streets shaded by date, baobab, and other trees, situated on the left bank of the Niger, and containing some six thousand inhab- itants." After a month's delay awaiting an escort to Jen- neh, Caillie left Kankan on the 10th of July, and rap- idly traversed one district after another till he reached Time on the southern border of Bambarra, where he was taken ill and compelled to remain four months. There, during his illness, he was constantly annoyed by the natives, who demanded more gifts than he could supply, and accused him of having hidden wealth, " Lyiug in a miserable hut, with no pillow but his leather travelling bag, and unable to eat any- thing but a little rice," he experienced his first de- pression, and felt that he could never reach civiliza- tion again. But on the 9th of December, he was able to join a caravan of five Mandingo merchants bound for Jenneh, which remote town Caillie was the first European to visit. The country through which they passed was fertile and thickly populated with peace- ful Mandingoes professing Mohammedanism. The city of Jenneh was the principal trade centre of that part of Africa, and its bazaars offered for sale all kinds of European manufactures. Many of the AFRICA. 263 citizens were wealthy and comparatively refined, and believing Caillie's story they made up a purse to pay his expenses to Timbuktu. On the 13th of March, 1828, he set out again, but, as he w^as the only white man among many negroes, the voyage was far from pleasant. There were times w^hen he had scarcely enough food to sustain life ; but though suffering greatly he never failed carefully to observe the char- acter of the country through which he passed. Just one year after the start from Kankondy, Caillie ar- rived at Cabra, the seaport of Timbuktu. Here " se- cure in his disguise, he mingled freely with the crowds in the streets attending the daily mar- kets held for the supply of necessaries to Soudan traders, acquainted himself, in a word, with all the most notable peculiarities of this rendezvous of natives from the ISTorth, South, East, and West of Africa." Accompanied by a Tuarick Arab he pro- ceeded on horseback to Timbuktu. " After all he had heard of its magnificence, the first sight of the city, consisting as it does of a mass of ill-built earthen houses, w^as disappointing; but gradually its aspect, rising up from the midst of yellow sands and attest- ing the courage and patience of its builders, won his admiration, and he felt that it might indeed be called the Queen of Western Africa." Mohammedan enough not to arouse suspicion, he lived for two weeks in a house opposite the one once occupied by the un- fortunate Laing. Kindly treated by the citizens, who begged him to prolong his stay, Caillie was neverthe- 264 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. less eager to return to civilization, and urged his de- sire to be with " his own people in Egypt." On the 4th of May, therefore, he set out across the Great Desert, and arrived on the ninth at the cele- brated desert emporium, El Arawan, near which Laing was murdered. Here, for the first time since a-ssuming the character of an Arab, Caillie was an object of suspicion, and it was only by redoubling his zeal in observing religious duties that he removed the distrust of the natives. With a caravan of 1400 camels he made the journey to Talifet, on the desert side of the Atlas Mountains, in a three weeks' struggle against the terrors of drifting sand, burning east winds, scarcity of water, and finally scurvy. The 2nd of August, 1828, brought the company to this town, seventy-five days from Timbuktu, where Caillie begged in vain for help from the Moorish Government to enable him to reach Eez. It was only by at last selling some native apparel that he raised enough money to hire a donkey. The 12th of August found him at Fez, triumphant. Six days later he reached Eabab, a seaport near the Straits of Gibraltar, but the French consul at this point refused to help him. With great difficulty he struggled on to Tangiers, where he was enthusiastically received by the vice- consul, M. Delaporte. On his return to Paris he received the reward of 10,000 francs which had been offered by the French Geographical Society to the first traveller who should AFRICA. 265 penetrate to Timbuktu and bring back an authentic account of that mysterious city. Section 4. The honour of being the pioneer European to enter Timbuktu was claimed also for Major Alexander Gordon Laing (1826), who suc- ceeded in reaching the place from Tripoli, only to be murdered in returning across the desert. His greatest work as an explorer, however, was done in Kambia and the Mandingo land, in ascer- taining the state of the country, the disposition of the inhabitants towards trade and industry, and their sen- timents and conduct as to the abolition of the slave trade. Laing was commissioned by the British Gov- ernment (January, 1822) to advise the natives to cultivate white rice, cotton, and coffee for the Eng- lish trade and their own betterment, and to deal fairly in all such intercourse as should come from their growth and development. Having fulfilled his mis- sion at Kambia, Laing crossed the river Scarcies and marched to Malacouri, a strongly fortified town on the river Malagera, where he learned of native hostil- ities, and tried (though ill with " fever and ague ") to make peace and release the captives. After reporting at Sierra Leone, Laing started again on his embassy with Assistant Surgeon Mackie, and reached the towns of Malagera and Fouricaria (Boukaria) successively. The white men were ob- jects of intense admiration to most of the natives, and one chief, observing Laing taking off his gloves, stared in surprise, covered his widely opened mouth with his 266 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. hands, and at length exclaimed, " He has pulled tho skin off his hands ! " Again returning to Sierra Leone, Laing suggested to the governor of Western Africa that an opening of trade between the natives and the colonists might be commercially advantageous to both, as he had ob- served considerable quantities of gold and abundant ivory in the possession of the men of the army in Soolima. The governor arranged that Laing should penetrate into the country of the Soolimas to open the way and complete his observations. The brave officer once more left the English settlement, and travelling up the Rokelle river visited the chiefs of Maharre, Rosa, and Macabele by water. Shallows preventing further progress by boat, Laing proceeded on foot to Rokon, and thence through a beautiful country to the small orderly town of Terre, sur- rounded by rocks and plantain trees, and to the vil- lage of Toma, where, though it was not more than sixty miles from Sierra Leone, he learned that no white man had preceded him. At Toma the sight of the strangers so astonished a woman whom they met that she stood fixed like a statue, and stirred not a muscle till the whole party had passed, when she gave a loud cry and covered her face with her hands. Through Rodoma, Mokundoma, and Romontaine, holding " palavers " all the way, went Laing on his civilizing errand, and arrived at Balanduco, " the only town of importance since Rokon," — where the AFRICA. 267 manufacturing of palm oil to the amount of thirty or forty gallons a day was the industry of the women. At Ma Yerma the travellers were most inhospita- bly received ; but at the town of Ma Yosso they were plentifully supplied with food by a " very superior, but scantily attired" people, which so encouraged them that they made a quick march to Ma Boom. A strange secret association called the Purrah was greatly dreaded by the inhabitants of this land. Its members lived in the woods and plundered towns and villages at night, taking people, provisions, and cloth- ing, unhindered. They were really in control of the general government, — all disputes between towns being arranged by them, — and were a serious obstacle to the civilization of the superstitious race which they terrorized. The agricultural productions of the country were quickly enumerated, for white rice, red rice, yams, plantains, ground nuts, bananas, and cas- sava comprised the staples. These were cultivated with the crudest of implements. Intoxication among these blacks was of frequent occurrence, palm wine being very abundant ; and only enough work was done to keep them well supplied with food. At the town of Ma Boom, however, more enter- prise and industry had developed regular trades among the Mandingo inhabitants, — a shrewd race from the gold country of Manding, distinguished in the travellers' eyes by their simple and rational cos- tumes. They wore a kind of short trousers, the width of which was a mark of distinction with them j 268 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. SO that the title " wide trousers " was a synonym for great man. At Kooloofa, Laing was honoured by the chief as the " first white man who ever set foot " in the town. Reaching Seemera he was visited by the king, who " thanked God that he had seen a white man " before his death, and helped Laing on his way by every means in his power. A beautifully diversified coun- try led the explorer with his companions to a '' large, clean place," surrounded by lofty mountains, and called ISTyiniah. At ^STeta Koota the natives were employed in extracting iron from the laterite by means of earthen smelting furnaces. At Kamato, Laing was ill with fever for five days. He was met there by two horses sent by the king of the Soolimas from Falaha. One of the king's mes- sengers had been at the camp in the Mandingo country, and he, recognizing Laing, leaped for joy and cried, " It is true ! He is the white man from the water side. . . . He is the white man who said he would walk to this country, and he has kept his word ! " ]!^one of the natives could tell Laing how far the kingdom of Kooranko extended to the East, none of them ever having travelled there. They said the people beyond were " savages," — cruel, naked, and barbarous. Although Laing was considered by the blacks to live like a prince, his whole expenditure for washing, lodging, food, etc., did not average more than four pence per diem. Nourishing vegetables and fruits, AFRICA. 209 such as yams, rice, plantains, wild spinach, ground- nuts, pineapples, and bananas, were so plentiful as to be incredibly cheap in the markets. From Kamato the expedition crossed the Rokelle on a native bridge of three slack ropes, — two for the hands and one for the feet, and stretched from tree to tree. The King of Falaha, on welcoming Laing to his kingdom, presented him with two massive gold rings, and invited the " faithful white man " to a seat at his side. Later a horse was delivered at Laing's hut with the king's compliments. At this place he was laid up with a fever which came near terminating his explorations and his life together. On recovering, he visited Gangooia, a very large town ten miles from Falaha-land, surrounded by country in a high state of cultivation, and evi- dencing a superior agricultural knowledge on the part of the native farmers. Major Laing believed the sources of the Niger to be at no great distance from Falaha; but he was unable to visit them, because the natives held the place sacred. He explored, however, the head of the Rokelle, which he was first of his race to visit, and said of it, " It is the only river in Africa, with which I am acquainted, which bears the same name from the source to the sea." Just before leaving Falaha he gave a grand enter- tainment and ball to the town, which cost him the extravagant sum of " seven and sixpence ! " The 270 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. appreciative king said, " you English are good people .... You walk long journeys .... to help us." After a three months' stay, Laing took his depar- ture from Falaha, enriched by a valuable present of gold ornaments and ivory, some beautiful cloths, and a saddled horse. He parted from the good king with deep regret and sincere feeling on both sides. He had opened the road to Sierra Leone for trade and enlightenment. On the way home, at Maherre, he had the gratification of shaking hands with a Portu- guese official, Senor Altaville, and Captain Stepney of England, who had come out to meet him. Later they were joined by Kenneth Macaulay, and the whole party embarked in a barge which carried them to Tomba, where Laing wore English clothes for the first time in seven months, his own having given out long since and been replaced by native garb. Section 5. It was Richard Lander who, by his descent of the last eight hundred miles of its course, succeeded in clearing up once and for all the mystery of the mighty Niger. He was accompanied by his brother John. The journal of their travels tells the story of some of the most remarkable explorations ever accomplished. No geographical problem ex- cepting that of the '' North West passage " had busied the conjectures of so many men as the direction and termination of this great African river, the Niger. Richard Lander, Captain Clapperton's attendant on his last expedition, and the only one of his party to return to England in safety, left Portsmouth with AFRICA. 271 Ins brother on the 9th of January, 1830, and arrived at Badagry on the 22nd of March, where the rnling monarch supplied his own war canoe for the explor- ers' transportation to Bornu. At that place (where Clapperton once landed) donkeys, parrots, alligators, hippopotami, wild ducks, etc., gave life to the land- scape. Both the brothers were interested in natural history; and at the large town of Wow this interest was particularly aroused by an incredible number of butterflies of the most brilliant and varied colourings, such as " sky blue and silver, purple and gold, green and gold, black velvet and lace." At Bidjie (the place'where Pearce and Morrison fell sick on the pre- vious expedition) the king, in a robe of green silk damask, and a skull-cap of purple and crimson vel- vet, offered the travellers every hospitality, shook hands, and drank their health in rum. Again at Larro the brothers were greeted with great kindness by a cleanly, orderly people, governed by a chief in velvet robes and yellow leather boots. The moated town of Jenna boasted the usual bedizened ruler with his usual background of wives, with whom the Lan- ders exchanged the usual compliments and goora nuts, and by whom they were presented with yams, milk, honey, and a goat, in acknowledgment of the usual courtesies of red cloth and beads. Beset by ants, mosquitoes, worms, centipedes, and other crawling creatures, the Landers passed through large groves of stately trees to the great town of Egga. Beyond Egga they found immense planta- 272 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. tions of cotton, indigo, Indian corn, yams, etc. Pass- ing mountains of wonderful shapes, they visited the populous town of Dufo, where the industry of the in- habitants had made the region wealthy. At Acboro they were very pleasantly entertained, and on their taking leave the governor remarked, "White men do nothing but good. I will pray that God may bless you, and send more of your countrymen to Yarriha." Beyond Cootoo the " soil became richer and deeper, the verdure more cultivated and thicker, and the trees more luxuriant," and the way led to the great town of Bohas, fortified, moated, and triple-walled, where their welcome took material form in abundant pro- visioning. A bullock, with yams, bananas, and not less than six gallons of new milk, afforded a feast to which the travellers sat down in great contentment, on the slope of a " gentle and fertile hill " at the base of which flowed a stream of milk-white water. The Falatahs, with their hair plaited in elaborate fashion, received the white men (the first they had seen) with respectful courtesy, and in fact kindness was the rule throughout this part of the journey. At the great city of Katunga the Landers were re- ceived by the king in his robes of state: a headpiece like a mitre, ornamented with strings of coral ; a robe of green silk, crimson silk damask, and green silk vel- vet, all sewn together like patchwork ; English cotton hose, and leathern sandals of native make. A " large piece of superfine blue cloth " given to him by Clap- perton, served as a carpet, and surrounded by those AFRICA. 273 '* huge hills of flesh," his eunuchs, he presented a most imposing appearance. Over a road through a rich country, where deer, antelopes, lions, leopards, elephants, and wild asses abounded, the travellers arrived at Kiama. Richard was greeted with enthusiasm by the king, whom he had seen on his earlier journey, and who promptly ar- ranged a horse race for his guests' entertainment. They found the strange, far-wandering Falatahs dis- persed all over the Borgoo states, but could learn noth- ing of their origin. At Boussa, after a formal reception by the king and queen, they eagerly visited the ISTiger, at this place not more than a stone's-throw wide, and saw the place where Park perished in attempting to ex- plore it. The brothers moralized upon the number of valuable lives which had been lost in the same cause, and prayed that they might be the " humble means of setting at rest forever the great question of its course and termination." Travelling on its surface they journeyed to Yaoorie in canoes, and paid a visit to the Sultan, from whom they concealed their real object. They found Yaoorie a city of immense ex- tent and said to be as populous as any in the whole continent. There were many industries, and the mar- kets were large and prosperous. Delayed by the Sul- tan for some time, the explorers visited Guada, and then returned to the Niger and canoes. They passed vast fields of corn under cultivation, and arrived at the celebrated market town of Warree. s 2Y4: DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Near Garnicassa several rivers joined the Niger to form a mag-nificent stream seven or eight miles in width, and caused the brothers much wonder as to what became of such a quantity of water when five miles below the Great River was shallow and but a stone's-throw across. It was believed by some of the natives that a large part went by a subterraneous pas- sage to a few miles below Boussa, but " no two opin- ions agreed as to the source, course, and termination " of this wonderful stream. On the Landers' return to Boussa they were wel- comed with enthusiasm by the king and queen, and the former paid a visit to the " black water " (Niger) to ask if it would grant the Englishmen a passage down its current, when, as the river " promised to conduct [them] in safety," he placed a large canoe at tlieir service. After repeated thanks to the king and queen for their sincerity, hospitality, and uniform kindness, the brothers took their leave regretfully. The Niger's course was now much interrupted by islands, which, like the banks, were very beautiful and fertile. Mighty trees, " elegant " shrubs, and festoons of creeping plants framed their waterpath, but not a flower was to be seen! They were sur- rounded one night by an incredible number of hippo- potami, which, " splashing, snorting, and ploughing all around the canoe," placed them in great danger. Cities, market towns, and villages without number, passed in review, and many of the natives, though civil and attentive for the most part, stood rather in AFRICA. 275 fear of the white strangers. At Egga the chief told the Landers that they were " strange-looking people and well worth seeing," and his tribesmen flocked hy the hundreds to satisfy their curiosity with a sight of the visitors. Presents of goora nuts, cocoanuts, yams, country beer, rice, etc., were laid at their feet, and information as to the temper of the tribes below along the river were offered for their guidance. At a point near Kirree a party of travelling blacks in a war canoe fell upon the Landers and succeeded in overwhelming them. Most of their effects were spilled in the river, and great damage was done to their notes. A council of war was held at Kirree, and the inhabitants insisted on having the '' barbarians " punished who had violated the " white man's peace." Further down the river the explorers, now both ill with fever, were held for ransom by the king of Eboe. Ransomed by another king they reached the sea without further misadventure, and took passage in a vessel bound for Rio Janeiro, whence they made their way back to England. The second expedition of the Landers, in 1832, which started with the intention of ascending the Kawara to Timbuktu, reached only as far as Rabba, and was generally unsuccessful and disastrous; — as was also the " Great I^iger Expedition," sent out under Captain Trotter by the British Government at about the same time for the same field. CHAPTER XVIII. MID-CENTURY EXPLOEATION IN AFRICA. Section 1. On the 1st of June, 1831, an expedition commanded bv Major Jose Correia Monteiro set out from Tete to follow up the Portuguese explorations which had been done bj Dr. Lacerda on the west coast in the previous century. Accompanied by Cap- tain Antonio Garnitto and about four hundred and twenty blacks, Monteiro made his way as far as the Kraal of Cazembe, but beyond that place the diffi- culties encountered were so terrible that, after send- ing a letter to the governor of Angola by some of the black traders of their party, the expedition turned back. The letter, which was dated 10th of March, 1832, was delivered on the 25th of April, 1839. It was the black men and not the Europeans who trav- ersed the continent on this occasion. But Monteiro was more fortunate than his predecessor, for he was enabled to complete a map of the country he visited, and to bring back a complete account of the journey as far as it went. The daring Hungarian traveller, Ladislaus Mag- yar, by a series of journeys into the interior during the years 1849 to 185G, nearly completed our knowl- AFRICA. 277 edge of the district between the most northern point reached by Anderson and the route afterwards taken by Livingstone from the valley of the Upper Zambesi, to the west coast. Just when Magyar first visited 'Africa is not known. By his own story he went to the Portuguese settlements of the western coast about 1847, marched from Ambriz across the country to the Congo, and, after passing " beyond the cataracts which had stopped all previous explorers, traversed much of the region south of the river." As early as 1847 he was in Benguela, the most southern Portuguese province on the coast, and in 1849 he accompanied a native caravan to the inland kingdom of Bihe. The route lay along the verge of precipitous abysses at the bottom of which they could see the bleached bones of earlier travellers. " Now and then, among the lowering hills above them, they saw the forms of the wild predatory tribes of the hills, apparently mustering their forces, and deliber- ating whether an attack might be ventured." As they advanced into the interior, the rainy season came on, and on reaching Kissangi-land they were obliged to erect temporary huts every evening for protection. Persevering, they proceeded through the valley of the Kubale river, over the lofty table-land leading to the Lingi-Lingi Mountains, and at last reached the exten- sive plateau of Sambos, which is about six thousand feet above sea-level. At Bihe Magyar was cordially welcomed by the black king, who a few days later offered him his 278 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. daughter as a wife. Realizing that such an alliance would give him influence, the explorer accepted the dusky lady, and was soon established in all the digni- ties of an African prince. Determined, however, to carry out his intention of penetrating the country farther, he set forth accompanied by his wife on an eastward march towards the Coanza river (1850). After crossing the hilly country of Kimbandi, they passed through the great Obowihendi forests (a di- viding belt between the western and central regions of Africa), and met with the Mu-Kankala, — a strange race of beings " not more than four feet in height, of a rusty yellow colour, and with features which seem a caricature of the human face." Leaving these dwarfs, they traversed the land of the Chibogue, — a people who afterwards caused Liv- ingstone much trouble, — and entered the kingdom of Moluwa, which seems to be identical with that of Cazembe, and which Magyar regarded as the most powerful in Central Africa, Magyar remained for over a year among the friendly Moluwa people, and, in spite of their extreme superstition, considered them superior in intellect to all other native African tribes. Setting out upon his return to Bihe in 1851, he chose a southern route, passed through the district called Lobal, and, though not aware of the fact, crossed the upper end of the Zambesi valley. He even traversed a small portion of the path later taken by Livingstone, — " skirting Lake Dilolo, and, like the AFRICA. 279 latter traveller, leading bis caravan throngh the marshes which surround it." In these marshes he found many great snakes, which, killed, roasted, and eaten fresh, were esteemed a great delicacy by his followers. During the year after his return from the Moluwa kingdom, Magyar made a journey to the land of the Kilengues, — lying farther to the south than he had yet ventured, — and in 1853 reached the Kunene river, so perseveringly sought by Anderson and Green. Keturning through a desolate country he claimed the discovery of the source of the river in Galengue plain between two and three degrees south of the Equator. He again penetrated the forests of Obowihendi and reached the country of Lobal in 1855. But in 1857 his career of prosperity was suddenly terminated by the murder of his father-in-law, the king, and he was compelled to return to Dombe Grande, a town in Benguela, where he died in extreme poverty in 1864. Magyar's journal of his travels from 1849 to 1856 was sent to Pesth, where the first volume was pub- lished in 1859 at the expense of the Hungarian Acad- emy. Among the most distinguished of east African ex- plorers. Dr. Charles Tilstone Beke figured very con- spicuously. This great traveller made his first ad- vance into Abyssinia in 1840, and devoted three years to the study of its geography, peoples, climate, products, etc., with the ever-present idea of opening 280 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the coimtry to trade with Great Britain. " His jour- ney resulted in making known the true physical structure of Abyssinia and of eastern Africa gen- erally, showing that the principal mountain system of Africa extends north and south on the eastern side of the continent, and that the Mountains of the Moon of Ptolemy are merely a portion of the meridional range. Dr. Beke was the first to ascertain the remarkable de- pression of the salt lake, Assal. He fixed, by as- tronomical observation, the latitude of more than sev- enty stations, and mapped upwards of seventy thou- sand square miles of country. He visited and mapped the watershed between the Nile and the Hawash, along a line of fifty miles northward of Ankober, and he discovered the existence of the river Gojeb. He constructed a very valuable map of Gojam and Damot, and determined approximately the course of the Abai." At the time of Dr. Beke's pioneer visit, Abys- sinia was " one of the most ancient, most renowned, most remarkable, and yet least known of kingdoms." He writes : " On my way to and from that country, I crossed the eastern edge of the high table-land of eastern Africa at points .... more than four hun- dred miles distant from each other, and, in 1842, I explored, in company with Eev. Dr. Krapf, a district of nearly one degree in latitude along the edge of the table-land, on which occasion I determined the water- parting in that direction between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans." (The waters of one side flowing AFRICA. 281 into the Indian Ocean and the other into the jS^ile.) Dr. Beke received the gold medals of the Royal Geo- graphical Society of London, and of the similar Paris institution. Section 2. At the end of April, 1841, Major W. Cornwallis Harris, selected by the British Govern- ment to conduct the mission to the King of Shoa in South Abyssinia, left Bombay under instructions of the government of India for Taj era on the East Af- rican coast, from which the objective capital was sup- posed to lie four hundred miles inland. Besides Major Harris, the embassy included Captain Douglas Graham, Assistant Surgeon Kirk, Dr. Roth as nat- uralist, the Reverend Dr. Krapf, who visited the heathen in the cause of Christianity, and the efficient geographer M'Queen, with volunteer and other sol- diers and natives. Tajera, the great trading seaport, made a most interesting starting point for a journey which was to taste in its course both suffering and success. The difficulty in obtaining water, which afterwards menaced the lives of the whole party, began almost at the outset, and at Ambabo the waterbags were filled, preparatory to the crossing of the dreary Odel desert. The march led over a level table-land, its " barren surface strewn with shining lava and bleached animal bones; [and] sickly acacias of most puny growth, sparingly invested with sunburnt leaves, here and there struggling through the fissures as if to prove the utter sterility of the soil; whilst total absence of 282 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. water, and towering whirlwinds of dust, sand, and pebbles, raised by the furnace-like puffs that came stealing over the desert landscape, completed the dis- comfiture of man and beast." The sufferings from thirst, already almost unbearable, were em-phasized by the arrival at Bahr Assal, a great salt lake, sur- rounded by a field of salt and a weird scene of " un- kempt desolation." Goongoonteh, however, brought a great measure of relief in a rivulet of water and a chance to rest. In the short journey across the dire Tehama from Tajera, fifty pounds of well-packed spermaceti candles had so melted out of their box that a mere bundle of wicks remained. At Suggadera, where dwarf palms and tamarisks relieved the monotony of the level, dwelt a pastoral race among their goats, sheep, and camels, with an income increased by the salt trade. The next stage of the journey brought the expe- dition to the foothills of a lofty range behind which the river Hawash was " lost in the great lake at Aussa." Observing a gradual improvement in the aspect of the waste, the company proceeded over the high table-land of Hood Ali, and thence to Dullool, (1228 feet above the sea level) a perfect flat, bounded by a bold mountain range, and inhabited by ostriches and antelopes. At Oomergooloof, though Harris noted an extraor- dinary mirage, they learned that no water could be found at any season, and most of the way a tree was AFRICA. 283 a rare phenomenon. The expedition, approaching Woema, encamped in the territory of the Danukil tribe, the members of which were one and all so given to thievery, that a constant watch was maintained in their presence. N^ear Killnlloo Harris examined some of the many extinct volcanoes, a very large one of which. Mount Abida, was learned to be three thou- sand feet above sea level, while the crater of Aiiilloo rose even higher. Hazed in the extreme distance rose the "great blue Abyssinian range" towards which the caravan was directed ; but at Burdadda the peaks became quite clear to the travellers' eager vision. Working their way towards the Hawash, their atten- tion was frequently held by the myrrh-bearing tree, the Kurbeta, in the precious sap of which the natives traded extensively. The great Hawash, the second of the rivers of Abyssinia, rises in the heart of ^Ethiopia at eight thou&and feet above the sea, which it never reaches. " It is fed at long intervals by small tributaries from the mountains of Shoa and Efat, and flows like a great artery through the arid plains of the Adaiel, and is finally absorbed in the lagoons at Aussa." Most of its shore line is marked by luxuriant vegeta- tion, however bare the surrounding country may be, and its waters are the home of innumerable hippopot- ami, whose presence increased the difficulty exper- ienced by the caravan in crossing. Le Ado (" white water") they found to be an extensive lake, rich in lotos flowers and aquatic birds (geese, mallard, teal, 284 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. herons, and flamingoes), and a favorite bathing place of elephants. There white faces were strange to the sight of the natives, who crowded curiously about. " Kising tier above tier to the supremely soaring head of Mamrat .... ever canopied in clouds, the lofty mountains which fortify the royal domin- ions now shot like giant castles from the sandy plain." In the valley of Kokai', the principal mountain pass, the " first crystal brook " of the journey greeted the travellers and renewed their strength. The advance of the embassy to Farri was inter- rupted by a functionary of the king's, so a camp was made on the plain of Dinomali. A message from the court, however, brought a royal command in their behalf, and at the frontier station of Argobba the usual import duties of ten per cent» were omitted, and presents from the king of oxen, sheep, bread, beer, and hydromel were delivered to them. With an escort of three hundred matchlockmen of the king's guard, the expedition proceeded to Farri, where " clusters of conical-roofed houses, covering the sloping sides of twin hills .... [were] welcome signs of transition from depopulated wastes to the abodes of man." At Alio Amba they were again delayed, and here they gave their attention to the customs and markets of the natives. Honey, cotton, grain, etc., beads, metals, coloured thread, glass, ostrich feathers, cloth, coffee, horses and mules, were displayed in more or AFRICA. 285 less tempting array, and the clamour of the bargain- ing rose loud upon the ears of the outsiders. At last the royal orders urged the embassy to Shoa, and they made their way to that elevated table-land over a road rich with corn, red and white clover, brooks, endless hedgerows of flowers, dog-roses, and jessamine, the fragrance and colour of which made that march the pleasantest of the expedition. The stockaded palace at Machal-wans, with its conical white roofs, surrounded by a fair grove of juniper and cypress, and sentinelled by a tremendous moun- tain, a guard of which slept in the background, was a sight well worth the journey. Received after re- peated delays by the luxurious ruler of their quest, who donned his robes of state in their honour, the am- bassadors (in full dress uniform) completely won his heart by the gorgeousness of their presents to him, — presents which had been chosen in India with a re- markable fore-knowledge of the native taste. He had no words to express his entire satisfaction, and most gladly signed the treaty which was to open Abyssinia to the traders of a country whence had come so much magnificence. A successful elephant hunt so added to the personal honour of Harris and his companions that they were treated with regal pomp, — and their ac- complishments became the subject of national rejoic- ing, when their merits were sung into renown by the throng of natives who escorted the conquerors back to the king. After many excursions into the surrounding coun- 2SG DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. try, exploration of lakes and volcanoes, and valuable folk study, Harris and his party returned to receive the merited applause of their country. Messieurs Ferret and Galinier, two officers of engi- neers, were employed by the French Government to survey l^orth Abyssinia from Hamazen to Gondar in 1840-41. Only the most meagre and unsatisfactory accounts are to be obtained of their expedition, which was to have reported especially concerning the Tigre, and the general conclusion seems to be that little was accomplished by their efforts. Section 3. Lord Palmerston, in 1849, sent out a " mixed scientific and commercial " expedition to the Soudan, w^hich was headed by Mr. Eichardson, and accompanied by two " scientific Germans," — Doctors Henry Earth and Overweg. Richardson soon and Overweg later succumbed to the climate, but Dr. Earth survived five years' exploration of "those pes- tilential regions," and returned to civilization in safety, rich with exact information concerning the country visited. His journeys covered the vast area between Tripoli and the Pagan kingdom of Eag- hirmi, 1500 miles by 800, from the eastern shores of Lake Tchad to the mysterious city of Timbuktu. He mapped correctly the great water system of which Lake Tchad is the reservoir, and traced the Eenuwe to its marriage with the Niger. He says, " Our [expedition] would never have been able to achieve w^hat it did, if Oudney, Denham, and Clapperton had not gone before us; nor would AFRICA. 287 these travellers liave succeeded so far, had Lyon and Ritchie not opened the road to Fezzan, nor would Lyon have been able to reach Tejerri, if Captain (Rear-Admiral) Smith had not shown the way to Ghirga .... " Extending over a tract of 24° from North to South, and 20° from East to West, in the broadest part of the continent of Africa, my travels necessarily comprise subjects of great interest and diversity. " After having traversed vast deserts of the most barren soil, and scenes of frightful desolation, I met with fertile lands irrigated by large navigable rivers and extensive central lakes, ornamented with the finest timber, and producing various species of grain, rice, sesamum, groundnuts in unlimited abundance, the sugar cane, etc., together with cotton and indigo, the most valuable commodities of trade. " The whole of Central Africa, from Bagirmi to the East, as far as Timbuktu to the west, .... abounds in these products. " The natives of these regions not only weave their own cotton, but dye their home-made shirts with their own indigo. " The river, the far-famed Niger, which gives ac- cess to these regions by means of its eastern branch, the Benuwe, which I discovered, affords an uninter- rupted navigable sheet of water for more than six hundred miles into the very heart of the country. Its western branch is obstructed by rapids at the dis- tance of about three hundred and fifty miles from 288 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the coast; but even at that point, it is probably not impassable in the present state of navigation, while, higher np, the river opens an immense high road for nearly one thousand miles into the very heart of western Africa, so rich in every kind of produce. " We found here commerce in every direction ra- diating from Kano, the great emporium of Central Africa, and spreading the manufactures of that in- dustrious region over the whole of western Africa." By way of Muryuk the expedition reached Ghat, and there realized that they were "about to enter upon a region totally unknown, of which no authentic ac- counts from eye-witnesses .... had ever reached [them] ; valleys unexplored, deserts unconf routed ; countries which no European had ever surveyed." Leaving Maranaba, the " half-way " town between Ghat and Air, Earth was obliged to compromise with a " wild and lawless set " of borderers of Aheer, — a spontaneous gathering of all the blackguards of the country, — and to pay large tribute for freedom and " protection." " One of the most interesting phenomena " wit- nessed during the expedition was a characteristic desert " flood " — a river of water where had been a dry valley but a few hours before. The valley of Tintellust brought the travellers to the residence of the old chief A'nnur, who observed that " even if, as Christians, [they] had come to his country stained with guilt, the many dangers and difficulties [they] had gone through would have sufficed to wash [them] AFRICA. 289 clean, and that [they] had nothing now to fear but the climate and the thieves." Barth writes of him, " I cannot withhold from him my esteem both as a great politician in his curious little empire, and as a man remarkable for singleness of word and purpose." A'gades he considered a comparatively healthful and convenient place from which to open trade rela- tions with Central Africa. Camping on the last day of 1850 the company ex- perienced no little difficulty in finding a sufficient space free from the feathery bristles of Pennisetum distichum, but found consolation in an extra dish of two ostrich eggs. At Tagelel they reached the point where travellers were able to proceed singly with safety, and there Overweg and Barth parted from Richardson, because of financial depression, to try their independent fortunes till new supplies should arrive from " home." Barth at first had difficulty in tolerating sorghum as food, but later learned to like some preparations of it and to consider it the most suitable food for a hot climate. Under the protection of the Sultan of A'gades and other rulers, Dr. Barth journeyed to A'yads, a " con- siderable town, said to have been once as large as Tunis, situated in the midst of lawless tribes, on the border of the desert and of the fertile tracts of an al- most unknown continent, established there from an- cient times, and protected as a place of rendezvous and commerce between nations of the most different T 290 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. character and having the most various wants." Dr. Barth then departed for Soudan, — alone as far as white company was concerned. Near Chirak Dr. Overweg, planning to make an excursion to Gober and Maradi, took leave of Dr. Barth, and accom- panied only by a Tabu servant started for Tasawa. He was in excellent health and spirits, and filled with enthusiasm. Kano had been one of the great objects of the journey as the point whence the still more difficult and distant regions might be most successfully at- tempted. Dr. Barth reached it after nearly a year's exertions. A population of 30,000 was occupied in the manufacture of cotton cloths, and in the Kola-nut and slave trades. Bornu was reached via Geyawa, Daka, and Gerki, Dr. Barth travelling part of the time quite alone with- out even a servant, and, though ill for several days, never for a moment despairing. Soon after passing Zurrikulo he learned of Richardson's death, and near Bandigo visited the latter's grave at Nghurutuwa. On the first of April, Barth camped near Kukawa — " the capital of the populous and rich Empire of Bornu." He approached the residence of the chief, whom the mission was especially ordered to salute, in a poor plight, and thrown entirely upon his own re- sources by the director's death. He had been greatly hampered all the way by lack of means. From Kukawa he made excursions towards Lake Tchad, the second one carrying him as far as Ngul- AFRICA. 291 hea. He found the great lake a fine, open sheet of water with no visible outlet, surrounded by a forest of reeds, and covered with water plants. " !Number- less flocks of water fowl of every description played about," and many antelopes of a variety peculiar to the region made the lake their drinking place, as did also the elephant herds to the north. Barth then rode to Maduwari, where Overweg's death a year and a half later added one more victim to the cause of ex- ploration. From Kawa, Barth sent his faithful Mur- yuk servant, Mohammed el Gatroni, by caravan t6 Fezzan with Mr. Richardson's effects and journal, and letters to the British Government introducing himself, and asking for instructions. He was author- ized to carry out the expedition just as it had been planned, and was provided with means for the enter- prise. Overweg arrived in Kukawa very ill. When he was able to proceed he and Barth started for Adam- awa, whose capital, Yola, is situated on a tributary of the i^^iger. Barth visited the confluence of the Benuwe and Faro to decide for himself with regard to the direction and tributaries of the great southern river. Dr. Overweg returned from Pintwa to navi- gate the Lagoon in his English boat. Two detached mountains which they saw were called Alantika and Taife. While waiting for canoes, Dr. Barth took a bath in the " great eastern branch of the ISTiger," and the na- tives shouted that he was searching for gold, which they thus submitted was to be found there. 292 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. At Yola, — a large open place of conical huts sur- rounded by courtyards, — he was turned back by the governor, and, though ill, obliged to leave the tovs^n because of having come through an enemy's country, and of having no letters from the British Government. He returned to Kukawa much reduced by fever. Overweg, meanwhile, had returned to Maduwari from " his interesting voyage on the Tchad, of which everyone will deeply regret that he himself was not able to give a full account." He now joined Earth on his adventurous expe- dition to the northeast, the latter fighting ofP an at- tack of fever all the way. ISTearing the lake one day for water the party saw a herd of ninety-six ele- phants arranged in regular array with the males in front, then the young, then the females, and five large bull elephants as a rear guard, — " One of the most interesting scenes which these regions can possibly afford ! " Later they killed a snake measuring eighteen and a half feet in length, which two natives immediately cut open for the sake of the fat, declaring it excellent. The company returned from Kanem, because of hostilities between the natives and free- booters, leaving the eastern shore of the lake unex- plored. From Kiikawa Earth joined a warlike expe- dition under the Sheikh and his vizier, arguing and advising against the slave-trade. They marched to- wards the Musgu country attended by eight female slaves — the vizier's war-harem! (This gentleman was quite outdone, however, by the King of Eagirmi, AFRICA. 293 who was seen on an expedition witli forty-five mounted female partners en train!) Passing many strange and barbarous tribes the party reached Kakala, the vizier's army having taken three thou- sand slaves. Earth gained an exact knowledge of the richly-watered equatorial zone, which had been sup- posed to offer insurmountable barriers to exploration in a high mountain chain and in savage tribes but little removed from wild beasts. The company returned to the " town " (Kukawa) on the 1st of February, 1852, and a month later Barth set out for Bagirmi, accompanied as far as Ngornu by Overweg, who there set out along the shores of the lake towards Maduwari on his last expedition. ISTgola, Afades, Kala, and Logon (or Karnak) were visited by the indefatigable Earth successively, who left the latter place to penetrate into entirely un- known regions never before trodden by European foot. He gladly noted shallow watercourses as one of the most characteristic features of the Central African landscape, which was thought to be a dry, elevated waste. Dense jungle and great numbers of wild animals were encountered east of the Shuwa villages, and there Earth first saw footprints of a rhinoceros — " unheard of in the western parts of Negroland." What was his astonishment to behold wild hogs standing knee deep in the same pool with native boys in bathing, and the same ferocious ani- mals browsing among the tame cattle of the villagers. At the town of Bagoman he stood on the banks of 294 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the o-reat river of Batrirmi, — the Shari, — and there t:> o ^ experienced at midday a temperature of 110°. He was turned back by the native authorities, and went to Bakadd to await the Sultan's permission to enter the country. He wrote that there " could not be the least doubt that the greater part of the inhabitants were unfavourably inclined toward the stranger." After waiting a long time he started back intending to retrace his steps, but missed the route and found himself at Kokoroche. On the way to Mele, to which he was directed by the natives, he was astonished to see quantities of dum-bushes and dum-palms ; which he had believed to belong only to Upper Egypt. He reached the " in- auspicious village " where he had first set foot in the country, only to be seized and put in irons ; where he remained till a friend from Bakada, — Haj BuBakr Sadik, — came to his rescue and conducted him to the capital Mas-eiia. Receiving dispatches from England with new au- thority, means, etc., he was able at last to meet the Sultan and his court with vested and sustained dig- nity, and spent some time studying the habits and customs of the tribes thereabouts. At Kukawa he was rejoined by Overweg, and together they achieved a treaty with the Sultan, opening the country to trade with Great Britain. Overweg, greatly reduced and weakened, struggled to the lake and back seeking change of air, and then returned to Maduwari to die. Barth, though saddened by the loss of his companion, AFRICA. 295 was still energetic and sanguine, and soon started for Timbuktu and the countries on the Niger. He left Kukawa on the 25th of JSTovember, 1852, with the im- mediate definite object of reaching the Niger at the town of Suj. He experienced the coldest night of his whole journey on the way, — 9° above the freezing point Passing through the districts of Eedani, Kangalla, and Meggi, he observed many wells from twenty to twenty-five fathoms deep, and experienced a plague of ants threatening the demolition of his luggage. He approached the Komeduga of Bornu through a dis- trict of richest vegetation, and enjoyed " one of the greatest delicacies of the traveller in these regions " — the flesh of the guinea fowl. At the site of the an- cient capital of the Bornu Empire, built at the end of the fifteenth century, he found a once strongly walled but now sadly dilapidated structure of sunbaked bricks in a regular oval six English miles in circum- ference. Across a great stretch of open country the explorer (leaving the town of Nghurutuwa where Richardson died), reached the province of Manga, beyond which the way looked dreary and uninviting but gradually led to a fertile region of tamarind trees and the Kuka or monkey bread trees. An open sheet of water called Thaba-Kenama was so filled with fish that the natives had developed an important industry by dry- ing, pounding, and making them into balls, which they extensively exported. Leaving the decayed town 296 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. of Geshiya, Barth frightened away a band of thieves by the novel method of playing on an accordion. He proceeded in a northwesterly direction towards Zurri- kulo, " the queen of the region of dum-palms," pass- ing a comfortable, populous place called Kechiduniya — " the sweetness of the world " — where a market offered for sale groundnuts, sour milk, grain, earthen pots, sheep and young cattle. Having mapped a hilly country of " triangular form in the very heart of l^egroland," Barth now passed through the valley of Tongure, with its date palms, cotton, and mimosas, to the Gure capital, where he was received by the governor, — " powerful, respectable and princely," — with the usual exchange of presents. On the march to Zinder — the " gate of the Soudan" — he visited Mushek, Magajari, and a natron lake one and a half miles in circumference. At the great caravan centre (Zinder) he renewed his supplies and set out for the west. The whole region was overrun by parties of Asbenawa salt traders who " greatly contributed to the animated character of the landscape, but by no means added to the security of the country." On this stage of the journey the first district passed through was densely inhabited but scantily timbered ; the second covered with thick groves of dum-palms and fine old tamarind trees; and the third an unsafe wilderness between the independent Hausa states and the Fulbe country. At Katsena, Barth made pres- ents to the governor and purchases to the amount of AFRICA. 297 1,308,000 shells in silks, etc., — shells being the stan- dard in currency. With Wurno as his headquarters. Earth visited the country in all directions, making the excursion to Sokoto over extensive rice fields, and the march to Daghel and Gidanmanomi over the path used by Clapperton on his second journey. lie found Clap- perton had been very accurate as to direction and dis- tances. Leaving Wurno and passing Sokoto, Earth entered almost unknown regions on his way to Timbuktu. He visited the town of Gando, passed through the province of Kebbi, approaching the Niger by way of the town of Say, and crossed " this celebrated stream the exploration of which had cost the sacrifice of so many noble lives " in large canoes, — the " first Chris- tian to visit Say." The southwestern side of the Niger being totally unexplored, Earth with great in- terest passed through the hilly country of Gurma, crossed the river Sirha, and reached Sebba, the capital of Yagha ("of the wilderness"), crossed the river Yali, arrived at the village of Nomantugu, and in turn at the wealthy city of Dore, the village of Da- nande, the town of Aribinda, and the villages of Filiyo and Tinge. After a considerable delay caused by the rains, the traveller proceeded, visiting the city of Bone ; an encampment of the Tuarek — " the rob- bers of the desert " — with its leather tents, mosqui- toes, and hyena camp followers ; the town of Bambara, where the doctor pretended to be a Mohammedan ; the 298 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. town of Sarayamo; by water the town of Katara (Timbuktu's harbour) ; and by land reached at last the great and populous city of Timbuktu, the object of his most arduous undertaking. Christians not be- ing welcome, Earth kept to the house assigned to him when his real character was discovered, and the con- finement encouraged an attack of fever. Recovering, however, he had the gratification of hearing news and praises of his predecessor Laing. How, after having been plundered and almost killed by the Tuarek, he was assisted to the camp of the Sheik's father (half a day's journey from the well of Bel Mehan, and at present deserted), where his " great bodily strength and noble and chivalrous character " met with the utmost respect. Barth noted that Timbuktu's market traded ex- tensively in manufactured leather work, kola-nuts, rice, corn, vegetable butter, pepper and ginger, and a little in cotton; that salt was more valuable than gold ; that silver was greatly in demand ; and that gold was the chief staple. For the short distance he was able to penetrate beyond Timbuktu, he observed that the vegetation was very rich. Bose-bango was as far as the natives allowed him to venture. His final de- parture from Timbuktu took place on the 17th of May, 1854. He reached London on the 6th of September, and to the astonishment and gratification of the entire civ- ilized world " made known the whole of that vast region, which even to Arab merchants in general had AFRICA. 299 remained more unknowTi than any other part of Africa." After frightful dangers, pecuniary em- barrassments, illness, and hostile intrigue: Suc- cess! In the latter part of 1853, the British Government sent out Dr. Yogel, a young German naturalist and astronomer, to strengthen Earth's expedition, and to follow up the latter's discoveries. Well equipped with instruments and provisions, Vogel landed at Tripoli, and by following the regular caravan route, made his way to Kukawa in Bornu, on the 13th of January, 1854. At Kukawa he met and consulted Earth, and then proceeded at once to the task of extending and elaborating the work already done. After thoroughly scouring all the provinces in the immediate vicinity of Kukawa (or Kouka), he advanced in a southwesterly direction to the Benue river, which Earth had visited at a point four hun- dred and fifteen miles east of its conjunction with the Kiger. Thence he turned eastwards in the direction of the Nile, " hoping to bridge over the gap between the discoveries of the heroes of l^orth Western and North Eastern travel," — ^but on reaching Wara, the capital of Waday on the northeast of Darfur, he was put to death by order of the Sheikh of that district. Dr. William Balfour Baikie was appointed in 1854 to the position of surgeon and naturalist to an expe- dition sent out by the British Government for the pur- pose of opening up the ISTiger to further trade with England. On the death of its leader at Fernando 300 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Po, Dr. Baikie assumed command, and in a little ves- sel called the Pleiad sailed up the lower Niger to its conjunction with the Benue, and then ascended the latter river to a point about two hundred and fifty miles beyond that reached by any previous traveller. His enterprise and successful administration on this occasion led the Government to give him command of a second expedition, in 1857. On this journey, however, the Pleiad was wrecked, and Dr. Baikie was deserted by his faint-hearted companions. San- guine and undaunted, he took up the work alone ; and at Lokoja at the confluence of the Niger and the Benue, he founded a trading station which may be regarded as the first serious attempt at civilization in the Niger region. Lokoja quickly became the ren- dezvous of most of the neighbouring tribes, and Dr. Baikie, for several years personally superintending the station as British consul, so completely won the confidence of this " motley crowd of barbarians and savages " that within five years English trading ves- sels had ventured up to the settlement, and were en- gaged in a secure and profitable trade with the na- tives. During his stay at this post. Dr. Baikie collected the vocabularies of fifty dialects spoken in the set- tlement, and translated parts of the Bible and Prayer Book into the Hausa language. In 1863 he started for home, but died on the way and was buried at Sierra Leone. CHAPTER XIX. SEEKING THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. Section 1. All the early Abyssinian travellers had traversed the Daukali country and that of the northern tribes ; but the land of the Gomal had never been visited, and Harar was an unknown wonder. " The ancient metropolis of a once mighty race ; the only permanent settlement in Eastern Africa, the reported seat of Moslem learning, a walled city of stone houses, possessing its independent chief, its pe- culiar population, its unknown language, and its own coinage, the emporium of the coffee trade, the head- quarters of slavery, the birthplace of the Kat plant, and the great manufactory of cotton cloths, it ap- peared, deserved the trouble of exploration," — Harar, the counterpart of the far-famed Timbuktu. Sir Eichard Francis Burton, one of the most dar- ing and successful of modern travellers, disguised himself as an Arab merchant, and prepared to visit this forbidden city. He left Aden in October, 1854; arrived at the capital of ancient Hadiyah in Jan- uary, 1855, after having penetrated " a vast and pop- ulous region scarcely known to geographers ; " and 302 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. returned to Arabia and safety in February for stores for a second and longer journey which he planned but never carried out. Somaliland, not only unknown, but enveloped in a mist of fable and strange report, seemed to offer to ex- plorers all the possibilities which excite the enthu- siasm of the venturous. Captain John Hanning Speke, who volunteered to the British Government to try and reach the Wady ISTogal, struggled over much new country, but failed in his object, owing to the bad conduct of his hired guide, and to the warlike temper of the tribes. In 1856 began the memorable series of expeditions to the country of the upper Nile. Towards the end of that year Burton and Speke, who had been to- gether at Berbera in 1855, started out to ascertain the truth of certain reports collected by missionaries of a vast sea lying in the heart of the continent. They left Zanzibar early in 185 Y, and made their transit of the Kingani and Mgeta rivers from Bomani. In great danger from the ignorance and superstition of the natives, all of Burton's rare diplomacy was needed to win permission to proceed, — and this while he was so ill as to be obliged to travel in a hammock. Beyond the cultivated land their route plunged into jungle " where the European traveller realizes every preconceived idea of Africa's aspect, at once hideous and grotesque." The damp, heavy, odorous air teemed with the malarious exhalations of decay- ing vegetation and standing water. " Zungomere, THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 303 the head of the great river valley, is a plain of black earth and sand, prodigiously fertile," and the centre of traffic in Eastern Africa. The first, or maritime section, of their journey extended from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the mountain chain of the land of TJsagara. Its undulations, everywhere covered with abundant and luxuriant vegetation, presented " no eminences worthy of notice." In the many clear- ings, tobacco, maize, groundnuts, beans, pulse, sweet- potatoes, etc., flourish lavishly. The pineapple was a weed! Mangoes, pawpaws, plantains, limes, etc., throve throughout the near-sea districts, and rice grew abundantly over the lower levels. In August the expedition left Zungomere, and pushed forward to the Usagara Mountains, with both Burton and Speke enfeebled by malarial fever, till the " wondrous change of climate at Mzizi Mdogo," on the frontier of the second region, the " land of the Delectable Mountains," restored their strength. Pushing on with new energy, they marched among the noble tamarinds which lent their name to the dis- trict. At this period of their journey, Burton noted " a curious contrast in this strange African nature, which [is] ever in extremes, and where extremes ever meet, where grace and beauty are seldom seen with- out a sudden change to a hideous grotesqueness," where a splendid view of the open country which charmed him in the morning was replaced at noon by the rank growth of a jungle — " a tangled mass of tall fetid reeds " and forest with decaying tree trunks en- 304 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. croacliing upon the path. Towards the Myomho river the expedition was visited by a plague of ants, and suffered greatly from the tzetze fly (the scourge of a country otherwise perfect for farming) ; and many deaths occurred among both the men and the asses. With great labour they surmounted the " Pass Terrible," and later the " Windy Pass," summit of the third and westernmost range of the Usagara Mountains, the main watershed of the region, with an elevation of 5700 feet above the sea. The Ugogo plains were found to be a high tableland, comprising the second or mountainous region. Usagara was pe- culiarly the land of jungle flowers and fruits. The delicious fragrance of the jasmine flowers, and the soft perfume of the mimosa, mingled with the clean odour of a kind of sage. In September, having passed over several desert places, the caravan arrived at the Ziwa (a pond), three thousand one hundred feet above the sea level, and the drinking place of big game such as ele- phants, giraffes, and zebras. Their path invaded the haunts of lions, leopards, rhinoceri, wild cattle, gnus, quaggas, ostriches, and antelopes, which afforded ex- citing sport to the hunters of the party. With much difficulty and more illness the expedition proceeded day by day, submitting perforce to the outrageous ex- tortions practised by the natives when selling sup- plies, while cold moons and burning suns added to their discomfort, and the ceaseless alternation of chok- THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 305 ing jungles and withering deserts kept reducing their numbers. Ugogo, the third region, rose gradually to a higher, cooler, and dryer altitude. The rice, cotton, and tobacco, which flourished from the coast far inland, were supplanted by rugged sorghum and maize. The cultivation of these food grains was entirely in the hands of the women, the men reserving their strength for the emergencies of battle and the hunt. Entering Unyamwezi, the " Land of the Moon," so far-famed for its contrasts to the surrounding country, the expedition arrived atKazehonthe7th of November, 1857 — the one hun- dred and thirty-fourth day from the coast. This was the capital of the Omani merchants. Cloth, slaves, ivor}', food stuffs, and ornaments- found here an active market. Unyanyembe, the central and prin- cipal province of Unyamwezi, had an almost wholly Arabian population. Emigrants from Oman, and their caravans, dissolving and forming, radiated about Kazeh like the spokes of a wheel. At this place, their departure being repeatedly deferred by the au- thorities, the expedition remained till the 14th of De- cember, and then, released at last, moved onward toward tJjiji- At Kajjanjevi, Burton was stricken with a pe- culiar paralysis, of which, though he shortly re- covered sufficiently to proceed, the effects lasted over a year. While still almost helpless, he insisted upon resuming the journey, and started for Usagozi, in a hammock borne by six men. u 806 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. The country thereabouts was in '' alternate seams of grassy plains, dense jungle, and fertile field." And luxuriant crops of grain, vegetables, and tobacco were ripening on the cultivated lands. The caravan crossed the Malagarazi river in native canoes. Unyamwezi with the Uvinza country constituted the fourth region of Burton's classification. It was a powerful realm, perched on a hilly tableland, but with no mountains. Burton called it the garden of central intertropical Africa. Their route now lay through a desolated wilder- ness, once populous and fertile, but laid waste by war. Journeying for a short distance along the shore of the Malagarazi river, the expedition entered the dis- trict of Kinawani. Turning away from this river across rugged and rolling ground, intersected by deep morasses, they forded a tributary stream called Eu- sugi, and reached a settlement of the Wavinza en- gaged in digging and preparing salt for the market. Over fatiguing inequalities and through diffi- cult swamps the company advanced to the Ruguvu river, which they crossed by a temporary bridge of tree trunks. On the 13th of February, 1858, Burton, who, though worn with toil, was indefatigable, ran ahead of the caravan to reprove a native guide ; — and there before his eyes lay the reward of his labours, Lake Tanganyika in the lap of its mountains. " Forget- ting toils, dangers, and doubtful of return, I felt willing to endure double what I had endured; and THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 307 all the party seemed to join with me in joy," ran the words of his note-book. Important as was the position of Ukaranga, Bur- ton found there, to his disappointment, only a few miserable grass huts. Travelling by boat on Lake Tanganyika to the " port town " of Kawele (a little village), they were greeted by swarms of blacks " whose eyes seemed about to start from their heads with surprise." This lake port was the scene of a well supplied bazaar or market, — the only relic of its one-time Arab civilization. Fresh fish, good honey, milk, butter, poultry and eggs, sheep, goats, etc., gave a needed variety to the table of the travel- lers. The fifth region, including the alluvial valley of the Malagarazi river (draining the Mountains of the Moon), with its rich loamy soil, which though desert in places was never sterile, terminated at Ujiji, the most productive province in this section of Africa. The expedition succeeded in visiting many points on Tanganyika, but they were carefully kept away from the head of the lake by the natives, who pro- tested against any exploration. There was much talk of the cannibal tribe at Murioumba. Seeing the futility of attempting to prevail against the obstinacy of the blacks. Burton perforce abandoned his plan of visiting the upper end of the lake, and the whole company returned to Kawele in May, 1858. On returning to Kazeh, Speke was despatched to 308 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ascertain the truth of the natives' rumours as to a second great inland water ; — and on the 30th of July, 1858, he had the glory of discovering the vast Vic- toria Nyanza. He rejoined Burton in triumph, con- vinced that he had discovered the mysterious source of the Nile. The departure for Kazeh on the homeward jour- ney took place on the 26th of September. At Hanga, Speke was seized with a strange attack of knife-like pains, accompanied by spasms, which almost cost him his life. Both he and Burton were obliged to travel in hammocks on the down trip. The 3rd of February, 1859, saw their arrival at the little seaside village of Konduchi. Leaving Zanzibar on the 22nd of March, and Aden on the 28th of April, the fortu- nate explorers returned to their native land. In the same year, however, the indefatigable Speke returned again to the scene of his trials and his triumphs. He was accompanied this time by Cap- tain Grant, and his large escort was made up of a small proportion of volunteers from the British army, and a number of native freedmen. It was Speke's belief that a large company would be neces- sary to prevent opposition from the semi-hostile tribes. On the 24th of January, 1861, the expedition ar- rived at the old station of the previous trip, Kazeh in Unyamwezi, and thence travelled through Karague and Uganda, to the ISTile and the great lakes. Speke separated from Grant at Kuri, in order to increase THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 309 the ground covered, and to hasten to the head of nav- igation on the Nile, where he had arranged a ren- dezvous with Mr, Petherick. Ho passed through Ungoro and visited Madi. Fearing to be late he made all speed, arrived at the meeting place and came upon Sir Samuel Baker's expedition, on the 15th of February, 1863. As Baker was an old friend, Speke and Grant (who had rejoined his leader) re- mained his guests till the belated Mr. Petherick at last arrived, in the boat which was to carry the party down the 'Nile to Alexandria. Speke had discovered also the afSuent of the Vic- toria iSTyanza, — the Alexandra Nile, " thus com- pleting a great link in the chain of African discov- eries which binds the country known from the east coast to that explored from the side of Egypt." Section 2. In 1861, Sir Samuel White Baker resolved to attempt the solution of the great Nile problem, and if possible to meet and assist his friend Captain Speke. Warned by the experience of his predecessors as to the dangers resulting from divided counsels, he de- termined to furnish an expedition entirely at his own expense, and to have as sole companion his wife, — a Hungarian lady whom he met and married at Cairo. Leaving Cairo on the 15th of April, they sailed up the Nile to Korosko, crossed the Nubian Desert in the glare of a scorching sun, and reached Berber in the middle of the summer season with the thermom- eter at 114°. 310 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. By this time, Baker, realizing that his ignorance of Arabic left him at the mercy of the interpreters, " "who have many opportunities of being dishonest, and seldom neglect these favours of fortune," re- solved to devote a year to the study of the language, and to tracing the various Abyssinian affluents of the Nile. Accordingly, after a week at Berber they set out on donkeys, accompanied by an escort of Turkish sol- diers on dromedaries, across the desert, and in two days reached the junction of the Atbara and the Nile, — whence they proceeded to the village of Sofi on the former river. There they decided to remain during the rainy season. Baker built huts for the comfort of his followers, and beguiled the time for three months " potting hippopotami, knocking over croco- diles, stalking elephants, and not disdaining a shot at the pretty antelopes and stately giraffes." At the end of the rains he determined to continue the exploration of the Abyssinian rivers, so, accom- panied by a party of Hamran Arabs, celebrated as hunters, and by a German whom he met at Sofi, he and Lady Baker took their way to the Settite river. After carefully exploring this stream, they traced the Atbara to its source, then, proceeding due west, reached the Binder near its confluence with the Blue Nile, and finally descended the latter to Khartoum, which they reached on the 11th of June, 1862. At Khartoum, which, as Baker wrote later, he found " sacred to slavery and to every abomination THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. SH and villainy that a man can commit," lie met with difficulties at every turn. All the officials and traders looked npon him as a spy sent by the British Government to suppress their profitable slave trade, who would bring to light their iniquitous dealings, enumerate the advocates of slavery, and put an end to it by European intervention. All the Turkish of- ficers were anxious to prevent him from advancing southward. Despite this opposition, however, Baker managed to raise about ninety followers, of a some- what dubious character. On the 18th of December he set sail in three ves- sels, and proceeded up the Nile with his company to Gondokoro. The journey required six weeks, and was most wearisome, owing to adverse winds, and to the windings and fierce rapids of the river. Gondokoro, which was reached on the 2nd of February, proved to be a wretched place, a mere collection of grass huts, occupied only a small part of the year by traders on their return from raids into the interior. These traders also at once mistook Baker for a spy, and entered into a conspiracy against him, circulating damaging reports until his followers agreed to mu- tiny. The plot was revealed to Baker in time, how- ever, and by the intercession of Lady Baker the diffi- culty was smoothed over, and the men returned to their duties. This was but a foretaste of future troubles. On the 15th of February occurred the memorable meeting with Speke and Grant, fresh from their dis- 312 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. coveries. " When I first met them," wrote Baker, " they were walking along the bank of the river to- wards my boats. At a distance of about a hundred yards I recognized my old friend Speke, and with a heart beating with joy I took off my cap and gave a welcome hurrah Speke appeared the more worn of the two ; he was excessively lean, but in real- ity he was in good tough condition. He had walked the whole way from Zanzibar .... Grant was in honourable rags .... He was looking tired and fe- verish, but both men had a fire in the eye that showed the spirit that had led them through." On first learning their conviction that they had discovered the source of the Nile, Baker feared that nothing remained for him but to turn back, and that *' before the real work had begun." But Speke exhibited a map of his route, and as- sured Baker that they had by no means completed the exploration of the IsTile, It appeared that, though they had traced that river from the Victoria Nyanza to the Karuma Falls, when they crossed it, they did not meet it again till they arrived at 3° 32' Worth latitude. They had been told by the natives of the district of Ungoro that the river flowed westward for a several days' journey from Karuma, and finally fell into a large lake called the Luta ISTzige. Both Speke and Grant attached great importance to this state- ment, and were much chagrined that the fierce wars then being waged in the surrounding districts had made it impossible for them to verify the story. THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 313 Baker then decided to explore this lake of mystery, though doubtful as to the temper of his men, who still exliibited an unruly disposition. Fighting against mutiny among his own men and conspiracy among strangers, not to mention the hard- ships of the rough country, he struggled towards Tar- rangolle. Beyond Latome the way led through one of the finest regions in Africa, and Baker pronounced the natives the handsomest people he had yet seen on that continent. Though warlike, they were frank, naive, and polite. They went quite naked but wore elaborate head-dresses of their own hair done in strange shapes and ornamented with beads, cowries, and ostrich feathers. Baker found Tarrangolle to contain about three hundred houses. By invitation he next visited Obbo, whose chief had sent him presents. He was very cordially re- ceived, but at this place both he and his wife were prostrated by fever, and so ill that neither could rise to nurse the other. The rainy season again set in, and it was not till the 5th of January, 1864, that they were able to start for the vicinity of that great un- known lake, the object of all their efforts. During their stay at Obbo, their last horse and all their asses had died, so they were obliged to supply their places with whatever pack animals could be obtained and to materially reduce their luggage. Leaving Obbo, they crossed the river Asna, and reached Shoob to be again kindly received. Obliged by the desertion of porters still further to lighten 814 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. their equipment, they proceeded to the Karuma Falls of Speke and Grant's journey, where in order to over- rule the natives' opposition to their crossing. Baker assumed the part of Speke's brother, saying that he had come to thank them for their kindness. Upon this he was welcomed with shouts of joy and wild dances. After some hesitation they were received by the king. Though both Baker and Lady Baker were still suffering from the effects of fever, they asked permission to proceed to the lake. This request was at last granted, and an escort provided of three hun- dred men with guides. At the crossing of the Kafue river, Lady Baker was smitten with sunstroke, and fell from her horse insensible. Her husband was horror-stricken, and feared for her life. She was carried through an un- inhabited stretch of jungle country till a more hos- pitable land was reached, where she suddenly re- covered. They then resumed the march, and came to the village of Porkani. Gazing at a range of lofty mountains. Baker was told to his delight that they marked the boundary of the Nzige ; and on the 14th of March, 1864, at a place called Vacovia, he looked down upon the magnificent lake which he named the Albert ISTyanza. Weak though he was from his long fever, he was stimulated for the moment by the sight, and hastening to the white sandy beach " rushed into the lake, and, .... with a heart full of gratitude .... drank deeply of the sources of the Nile." THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 315 Having attained the real object of tlieir long jour- ney, their great desire was now to return home as speedily as possible. Baker wished to sail dovm the Nile from the lake to the cataract in the Madi country. On their way down the Victoria iSTile, they discovered a magnif- icent waterfall one hundred and twenty feet high, which Baker called the Murchison Falls, and of which he made a successful picture. At Patooam they learned that there was a war in progress just ahead of them. After two months' delay Baker was summoned to assist his friendly natives in resisting an attack from rival tribes and a gang of Turks. The attack was beaten off ; but it was iSTovember before an escort could be spared for the homeward journey. At Gondokoro they took a touching leave of their followers, whom they dismissed with suitable pres- ents. At this point they had a great disappointment in not finding the letters and supplies which they had expected; and they learned to their dismay that the plague was raging in front of them at Khartoum, and that fifteen hundred people had already died of it. At length, however, they took boat for that place, where they were joyously received by the small Euro- pean population, who had given them up for dead. At Cairo they heard that the Eoyal Geographical Society had awarded Baker its gold medal ; and on his arrival in England he was rewarded with a knighthood. Section 3. On the 11th of May, 1848, was discoy- 816 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. ered that great isolated mountain, Kilima-njaro. It was the Rev. Mr, Rebmann, a German missionary of eighteen years' residence in Eastern Africa, who, wan- dering inland from Mombasa, discovered the wonder- ful snowy dome. When, on his return, he told of his discovery to Mr, Krapf, another missionary, the lat- ter started at once for the interior, and, though he only saw Kilima-njaro at forty miles, discovered Mount Kenia. " The results of these two remark- able expeditions were modestly made known to the Geographical Societies of Europe, but in Paris alone did the discovery of Kenia and Kilima-njaro meet with any practical recognition." The silver medal of the French Geographical Society was awarded to the two men " for making known the existence of snow- clad mountains on Eastern Equatorial Africa." Leaving Kitui on the 3rd of December, 1849, Reb- mann also saw Kenia, and observed it to be higher than Kilima-njaro, and that a "multitude of rivers had their rise in each." In England there was a disposition to doubt the existence of snow-capped peaks in Equatorial Africa ; but in 1861 Baron Von der Decken, a Hanoverian, went to Kilima-njaro, stayed from July till Septem- ber, and entirely corroborated Rebmann and Krapf. He attempted the ascent of the giant cone but failed to reach the snow line, owing to extreme cold. He is the chief authority to-day for the characteristics of this great mountain mass, and of its two great peaks, Kibo and Kimawenz, the former 18,880 feet above THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. 317 the sea level. For his achievements he received the gold medal of the RdJ^al Geographical Society. Sixteen years of travel in Eastern Africa placed John Petherick high in the list of her explorers, though no one great discovery is attributed to him. He first entered Africa in 1845, travelled up the Nile, visited the Soudan, and explored from Khartoum to the region of the equator. During his term as Eng- lish consul he was employed by the Royal Geographi- cal Society to succour Speke and Grant in the years 1861-2. After that he explored the Nile region west of Gondokoro, with careful accuracy. A survey in 1856 of the greater part of the course of the Orange river by Mr. Moffat (son of the mis- sionary who encouraged Livingstone to go to Africa) was an important addition to " exact geography." And in the following year Damara Land in the south- west was traversed by Messrs. Hahn and Eeth as far as the Cunene river boundary of the Portuguese ter- ritory. A series of important explorations were made by Gerhard Eohlfs beginning in 1861, in Mo- rocco and in the Moroccan Sahara, and in the equa- torial east coast region. In a journey lasting from 1865 till 1867, he crossed the whole north of the con- tinent, travelling from Lake Tchad towards the south- west by an entirely new route and reaching the Bight of Benin. Among the most important work done during the years 1863-71 ranks that of the great botanist. Dr. Schweinfurth, in the region of the '' complicated net- 818 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. work of tributaries received by the White Nile west of Gondokoro." He crossed the watershed between the Nile basin and the west, and entered a new drainage area belonging to Lake Tchad. In 1863 he botanized in the delta of the Nile, — " travelled along the shores of the Red Sea, skirted the highlands of Abyssinia, passed on to Khartoum, and, finally, hav- ing exhausted his purse, returned to Europe, after an absence of two years, with a splendid collection of plants." He suggested the plan for a botanizing ex- pedition to the equatorial regions west of the Nile, which the Royal Academy of Science sent out under his guidance in 1868. On this journey he reached the neighbourhood of Baker's lake, passed through the country of the Niam-Niam, and visited the unknown kingdom of Monbuttoo. He was the discoverer of a race of dwarfs in Cen- tral Africa called the Akkas. In 1870 he discovered the Welle river, afterwards known to be tributary to the Congo; and after an absence of three years and four months he returned to Europe on the 2nd of No- vember, 1871. Other important work in this period of exploration was accomplished by Galton ('51), Gassiot, Silva Porto (a Portuguese trader). Dr. Bastian, Du Chaillu, Du Veyrier, New, Touchard, Young and Grandy. CHAPTER XX. LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. Section 1. Encouraged by the veteran Dr. Mof- fat, David Livingstone ventured to Africa in the ca- pacity of missionary, arriving at Cape Town in the year 1840. Erom Algoa Bay he proceeded northward to the town of Kuruman on the 31st of May, 1841, where he joined Dr. Moffat's station, and began his labours. In 1844 he married Dr. Moffat's daughter, Mary, and with her continued his work among the natives. In 1847 he went to Kolobeng, and, establishing his headquarters there, made excursions into the sur- rounding country. Hearing rumours of a lake " away in the north " beyond the Kalahari Desert, he started with two Eng- lishmen (Murray and Oswell) to find and explore it (1st of June, 1849). After a toilsome and dangerous journey they reached first the Zonga and then the Tamunakle river, and discovered Lake Ngami. Hav- ing no boat he returned on the 1st of August to his wife at Kolobeng, and with her to Kuruman, to re- cruit his strength. 320 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. In April, 1851, lie went again into the interior ac- companied by his wife, their three children, and his friend Oswell. On urgent invitation he visited Chief Sebituane, " the greatest warrior in Central Africa," and was warmly received ; but while he was there hia host died. Soon afterward, while exploring to the north-east in search of a healthful station for his family, he came to the great tide of the Zambesi — the largest river in Southern Africa. But finding no suitable place for a home, he decided to send his wife and children to England, that he might be the more free for his undertaking. Livingstone was now ready for the journey which was to result in the opening of routes from Central Africa to the west and east coasts, and in the dis- covery of Victoria Falls. When, on reaching Kuru- man, he found that the Boers had plundered his goods and fired the town, he was more than ever determined to open the country to the northward that trade might bring in a civilization capable of controlling such barbarism. Crossing the Kalahari Desert he reached the Chobe river, explored the country round Linyanti, and on the 11th of November, 1853, left that place for Loanda. He travelled part of the way by the Chobe river on land and then took to canoes on the Zambesi. Visiting Shinte's town, he found it the largest and best planned that he had seen in Central Africa. Through Katerma's territory, through the Chiboque LIVINGSTONE AND STANLt:7. 321 conTitry, across the Quango river, be sturdily guided his black followers, and at last reached Cassange, a Portuguese settlement, where he was very hospitably received. He arrived at Loanda on the 31st of May, 1854, much reduced by the fever from which he had suf- fered nearly all the way, and had great delight in sleeping once more in an English bed, which was supplied to him by the English Commission. His constitution had been severely tried, but he at length recovered; and on the 20th of September started on his return to Linyanti. All the rivers in this part of Africa, Livingstone found to have their rise near Lake Dilolo, which he discovered ; and they all flowed into one or the other of two main systems : to the north the Congo, — to the south the Zambesi. Standing on this central ridge, Livingstone was astonished to find how slight its elevation really was. In September, 1855, he reached Linyanti, and started for the east coast along the Zambesi. On the 13th of November, he discovered the great falls which he named for Queen Victoria. Below the rap- ids, where the Loangwa joined the Zambesi, he crossedthelatter river and proceeded to Tete, whence, by way of Senna, he reached Quilimane on the 20th of May. On tlic 12th of December, 1857, he re- turned to England " to find himself the most famous man for the time in the British Tsles." He had per- formed " the then unparalleled feat of crossing 322 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Africa from ocean to ocean in those latitudes." He had opened territory " thickly wooded, richly fertile, well watered, and abounding in mineral wealth." After the publication of his travels he returned to Quilimane in 1858, as British consul, and began the five years' journey on which he was accompanied by Dr. John Kirk. He first examined the four mouths of the Zambesi and then in a steamboat proceeded up that stream to the rapids of Kebeabosa. He explored the Shire, the largest northerly affluent of the Zambesi, between Tete and the coast, till he was stopped by the Mur- chison cataracts. With Tete for his headquarters, he started north in March to search for a great lake of which the natives spoke, and discovered Lake Shirwa in the heart of a beautiful country. He re- turned to Tete on the 23rd of June, and in August began the journey which resulted in the discovery of Lake ITyassa (16th of September), the most south- erly of the great African chain of fresh-water lakes. Remembering the yet unsolved mysteries possessed by the Makololo country, he started for Tete on his second journey thitherward in May, 1860, and reached Zumbo on the Loangwa river in June and the Victoria Falls in August. After a thorough explora- tion of the country thereabouts he passed on to re- visit Seshake. Returning he passed through Sinemane, Zumbo, Tete, and proceeding slowly down the Kongona river, reached his starting-place on the 4th of Jan- LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 323 uary, 1861. After a short rest he went again to Lake Nyassa with the object of completing his map. Upon his return to Shnpanga he was overwhehned by the death of his devoted wife. Silently turning his face inland he hastened to bury his grief in the depths of the wilderness. Conceiving the idea that Lake Nyassa might be reached by way of the Rovuma river, he sailed for that watercourse on the 6th of August, 1862, and, arriving there a month later, ascended it till the cataracts of ISTyamtolo barred his progress. On the 19th of May, 1863, he returned by order to England with a new record of several thousand miles. After a much needed rest he went again into the field, reaching Zanzibar in 1866 to begin his third journey. On the 28th of March, he left that place to reascend the Rovuma. At Nyamtolo he left his boat, made his way south of Lake IsTyassa, and jour- neyed northward through the Lobisa country, which he found occupied by tribes largely engaged in the slave trade. Crossing the valley of the Loangwa, he passed along the north shore of Lake Liembi, thus proving it to be a separate water from Lake Tangan- yika. Proceeding again into the Lobisa region he vis- ited Lake Moero, and then, in 1868, went southward to discover and explore Lake Bemba (or Bangweolo) and its vicinity. The Lualaba river, which he crossed, he took to be a member of the Nile syistem ; but it was afterwards discovered by Stanley to be the upper Congo. He then went back to Lake Moero and along 324 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. its east coast, back to Cazembe, and back to Lake Tan- ganyika. After exploring the west shore of this great lake up to Uguhha, he crossed to Ujiji, in May, 1869, and there took a short but sorely needed rest. Eeturning to Uguhha, he started on a journey which led him to Bambarre in July. With that place as a base he explored Lake Kamalondo to the south- ward, and then the unbroken country to the north, where he discovered many rivers. In August, 1870, he left Bambarre to go farther west, visited Bakoos and Bagenya on the Lualaba river, and discovered a large lake whicli he named in honour of Abraham Lincoln. In the regions to the eastward he found great stretches of forest set with countless villages. By way of Bambarre he returned to Ujiji in October, 18Y1, quite worn out physically and at the end of his resources. Section 2. Henry Morton Stanley, a Welshman by birth but American by early adoption, while acting as correspondent for the l^ew York Herald, was com- missioned by that paper to head an expedition to learn the fate of Livingstone, from whom but the vaguest rumours had reached the world for two years. Equipped by nature with inexhaustible energies, and by Mr. Bennett with unlimited resources, Stanley started inland from Zanzibar towards the end of March, 1871, with a following of 192 men. To Bagamoyo, across the Kingani river to Mous- sondi, to Simbamwenni, to Mbumi near the Usagara Mountains, to Kwikuru the capital of Unyanyembe, LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 325 to Kwikara and Tabora, the young commander urged bis caravan triumphantly through every obstacle. At Kwikuru he was received with the greatest enthusi- asm, but was there laid low by a severe attack of fever which confined him till the 14th of July. He was given a package of letters addressed " To Dr. Liv- ingstone, Ujiji, November 1st, 1S70. Kegistered letters." How long overdue ! On the 29th of July, Stanley set out again, but was stopped at Masangi by a native war. On the 20th of September, though still weak from fever, he again started forward. To the large village of [Ugunda, to Manyara through a rich game country, to TJtende in Ukonongo, to Mwaru he pressed on eagerly; and at this last village heard from a cara- van just arriving that a white man, whom he took to mean Livingstone, was reported to be in " Urua." He hurried to Mrera, and from there on the 17th of October turned north-west over the valley of Mtambu, a " terrestrial paradise for the hunter." Through Itaga, Kawanga, Mamtaga in Ukaranga, where he was hospitably received by the king, past the great Lake Tanganyika, and at last to Ujiji. There a black man said " good morning ! " and much to Stanley's astonishment another from the throng of natives came to him with an English greet- ing. They were Dr. Livingstone's servants! With " feelings that were well-nigh uncontrollable," Stan- ley went to meet the man whom he had come so far to find. 326 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. *' As I advanced slowly towards him .... I no- ticed he was pale, looked wearied, had a gray beard, wore a bluish cap with a faded gold band round it, had on a red sleeved waistcoat and gray tweed trous- ers," wrote Stanley. With outward calm he said: " Dr. Livingstone, I presume." Welcomed with a kind smile and hand clasp, and with a few words of gratitude, he delivered the packet of letters which had been three hundred and sixty- five days from Zanzibar. The two explorers drank each other's health in champagne which Stanley had brought all the way for that purpose. Livingstone was found ! To the old explorer Stanley gave a new impulse to work, along with bountiful supplies; and together they embarked for a cruise on Tanganyika to solve the problem of the Kusigi river. They found that it flowed into and not out of the lake as they had hoped. The return voyage covered three hundred miles of water, and they reached Unyanyembe on the 18th of February, 1872. Livingstone, refusing to return to civilization, now resolved to satisfy himself as to the sources of the Nile. The two men parted on the 14th of March, Stanley taking the homeward way. At Bagamoyo he met members of another " Livingstone Eelief Ex- pedition," which disbanded when he told the news of hig success. Soon after Stanley's departure, Livingstone started LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 32Y on his last journey. Worn with his long labours and all but exhausted, the brave pioneer ventured once more with his black comrades into the unknown wilds. His plan was to pass to the southward of Lake Tan- ganyika to the south shore of Lake Bemba, then north to the west of the Conda Trugo Mountains to Lake Lincoln, and thence to the " large lake at the north which has never been visited." He had only reached the south shore of Lake Bemba when he found that his strength was failing too rapidly for him to pro- ceed. Weak and almost helpless he crossed the lake to the west shore, and started for Unyanyembe, filled with a great longing for home. But he had delayed his return too long. For a few days his faithful attendants carried him in a litter. Then he was obliged to stop. " Build me a hut to die in ! " he cried. And there in the wilder- ness his great work ended, in May, 1873. His body was afterwards removed to England and buried in "Westminster Abbey. Section 3. As it was feared in the civilized world that the Stanley expedition had failed, no news being forthcoming, Verney Lovett Cameron volun- teered to go in search of Livingstone under the pat- ronage of the Royal Geographical Society. The com- mand of the expedition, however, was given to Lieut. L. G. Dawson of the navy, and on the return of Stan- ley to the coast with word of Livingstone the company as we have seen, was disbanded. But in November, 1872, a second expedition was put in commission with 328 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Cameron at its head, with the double purpose of as- sisting Livingstone and adding to the knowledge of the country. Captain Cameron was accompanied by Dr. W. E. Dillon and left England on the 30th of N'ovembcr, 1872. At Aden they were joined by Lieut. Cecil Murphy, and at Zanzibar by Kobert Moffat, a nephew of Livingstone's. Cameron was struck down with fever at once, but soon recovered. Having gathered a company of the best followers he could find, though not trained men, he started for the interior by way of Bagamoyo. From Kikoka he advanced by a route parallel with Stanley's. He reached Msuwah, forded the Lugerengeri, passed through the Kungwa hills, and through Simbo to the " dreaded Makata Swamp." Here Moffat died of fever, but the rest, though suffering, went on over a dry desert, and at last reached Ugogo. At TJnyan- yembe they received a letter from Baker addressed to Livingstone. Here they made a long halt, being all ill with fever; and here, on the 20th of October, Cameron got the news of Livingstone's death. He at once dispatched a messenger to the coast and sadly awaited the arrival of Livingstone's body. It came in a few days, borne by his servants. With his death the real object of the expedition was gone. Murphy resigned to return to the coast. Dillon decided to proceed with Cameron to Ujiji for Livingstone's belongings, but was seized with an in- flammatory illness which compelled him to give up. Because Cameron would otherwise be left alone, Mur- LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 329 phy now "volunteered to continue" with him; but his offer was gratefully declined, as the former be- lieved that the smaller the caravan now the better the chance of success. On the 9th of November 1873, therefore, Living- stone's cortege, escorted by Dillon and Murphy, started for the coast ; while Cameron turned his feet westward. They parted with sadness, and though they spoke bravely, they had misgivings as to their ever meeting again. Cameron, reduced to a skeleton by his fever, injured by a fall, and suffering from ophthalmia, was in a condition to remain in bed ; but he took up the march with his usual indom- itable energy, accompanied only by his servants and an escort of hired natives. As he was leaving for Itumvi a message from Murphy brought the news of Dillon's death on the 18th of November. Cameron, who loved his old companion, was deeply sorrowful, and marched for days as if in a dream. He had re- duced his equipment as much as possible, and almost all his provisions had been left behind. Beyond Mapalatta he journeyed through a pleasant country of " trees delicately green and fresh, [and] open, grassy glades enamelled with various wild flowers." Driven by the natives to Hisinene to await the permission of the authorities for his advance, he was taken ill again with his fever. On his recovery he occupied himself in hunting, and declared the flesh of the zebra to be the " best meat in Africa." Soon after Christmas came word 330 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. that he might proceed through the disputed village of Ugara ; and he presently reached a large and popu- lous place ruled over by the mother of the last friendly chief, who treated him with great hospital- ity. Entering the country of Ugara he found food plentiful and game of every kind. Then he crossed the south Ngombe, one of the southern affluents of tho Malagarazi river, and found it the home of hippo- potami, crocodiles, and immense water lilies. He went next to the village of the chief of West Ugara, where the whole population turned out to see the white man. Cameron's dog, Leo, filled them with amazement. The chief presented the usual goat of African hospitality. It was so tame and became so attached to Cameron that he kept it alive as a pet, and it followed, with Leo, at his heels wherever he went. At Man Komo his reception was so far from cordial that he hastened across the Sindi to the vil- lage of Itambara, the headquarters of the chief of Uvinza, and there was welcomed with every kindness. To ITgaga, across the Malagarazi, to Itaga, and to Lugowa, Cameron pursued his way, noting at the last place the superior quality of the plentiful salt largely exported throughout central and eastern Africa. Crossing many small rivers he reached Tanganyika on the 18th of February, and proceeded by boat to Kawele, enjoying the grand scenery of the moun- tains of Ugoma. He was warmly greeted by the traders, and received Livingstone's papers safely. On the 13th of March, he left in boats for Point LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY. 331 Mfondo, whence he went by land to Ugunya and camped at Kabongo. On the 23rd of March he rounded Has Kungwe in his boat and entered a part of the lake never before seen by a white man. On this exploring trip his crew of natives was terribly frightened by storms. At Kabogo Island, on the 28th of March, he found a large population cultivating a rich and fertile soil. Passing many river mouths and islands he camped at the large village of Makukira on the river of the same name. He saw innumerable monkeys along the shores, but was unable to secure one. After leaving the Luguva river mouth he came to the village of Akalunga, one of the largest he saw in Africa. All the " country was like a huge sponge full of water," springs and rivers everywhere irrigating the land. Game was consequently very plentiful. Cam- eron wrote — " Mj expectations and hopes were now greatly raised by the guides promising to show me the outlet of the lake on the following day. It ap- pears that Speke did not get quite far enough down; and Livingstone, coming from Kazembe's town, passed its mouth in a canoe without noticing it, and, on going to Manyuema, did not come sufficiently far south." On the 3rd of May, Cameron explored the mouth of the (then) outflowing Lukuga! The Lu- kuga tasted the same as the Tanganyika water: not salt but peculiar, and not sweet and light like other rivers. The caravan then proceeded to Kasenge, and on the 9th of May reached Ujiji where the leader found letters and good tidings from Murphy. 332 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. In that part of the great lake explored by Cameron he found ninety-six rivers inflowing, and one, the Lukuga, flowing out. Crossing the lake to Kivira on the 31st of May, he went by land to Ruanda, a town in the centre of a flat, fertile, alluvial plain. De- scending the Lualaba river by boat, he reached the permanent settlement of the Zanzibar traders, — 'Njangwe, — and then left the Lualaba for a land march to the Rovubu river and Lake Mohrya, which he reached on the 1st of November. After a long stay in the Urna country he started on the 10th of June, 1875, for Bihe. Ulunda, Katende village, Lumeji river, Kanyumba village, Kuanga river, passed in turn, brought him to the capital of Bihe, — Kag- nombe, — the largest town of his African experience. Starting for the coast he visited Belmont, and on October ISth passed the Kutato river, and went on through scenery increasingly beautiful. Large tree ferns, myrtle, jasmine, and other flowering shrubs, and ground ferns afforded wonderful variety of col- ouring. At sight of the sea his caravan made a rush march to Katombela (7th of iJTovember), and Cam- eron was greeted there as " the first European who had ever succeeded in crossing tropical Africa from east to west." After a severe illness, during which he received great kindness at the hands of the people of Benguela, he went to Loanda and found many letters awaiting him. At the end of February, 1876, he sailed for England. He arrived there in April and was wel- comed with enthusiasm. CHAPTER XXI. IN THE HEART OF AFEICA. Section 1. Mr. H. Hartley, while on a hunting tour in Matabele Land, in 1866, invited Herr Carl Mauch to accompany him, upon which occasion the latter discovered the great gold fields between the Zambesi and the Limpopo. A party under Captain Black investigated this dis- covery, and the gold-bearing region was found to be eighty miles long by two or three in width. Under the fresh impetus thus given, the rich country north of the Transvaal was rapidly and carefully explored. Mauch, in 1871, found the ruins of an ancient city or fortification named Zimbase, " certainly not of African construction," about two hundred miles west of Sofala. Through this discovery it has been at- tempted to identify this region with the Ophir of the Bible. In 1807 a child on a farm north of Cape Colony was found playing with a " brilliant pebble." This pebble proved to be a diamond of twenty-one carats, worth £500! Another of these gems was presently discovered on the banks of the Vaal river, more were 334 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. found in 1868 and 1869, and a Dutch farmer se- cured, for the price of £400, the since famous dia- mond called " The Star of South Africa," from a na- tive who had kept it only as a charm. Uncut, it weighed eighty-three carats, and the purchaser resold it for £11,000. When these stories leaked out there was the in- evitable " rush " of adventurers and fortune-seekers, and the banks of the Vaal were soon the scene of a great industry, with ten thousand miners feverishly searching the soil. The alluvial " drift " was first washed, with excellent results ; but a great find of the gems in " dry diggings " made the development of the country a certainty. " The town of Kiraberley sprang up, as it were in a night, and became a great and flourishing centre of activity. A new era for South Africa began with the advent of the digger, the capitalist, and the company promoter, and civilization suddenly advanced its borders far into the wilderness beyond the Orange river. In that paradox of barren mystery, the world's greatest desert, Sahara, some valuable work was ac- complished out of the beaten tracks by Dr. Nachtigal, a German scientist. In 1869 he was commissioned to convey presents from the King of Prussia to the Sultan of Bornu on Lake Tchad, in acknowledgment of that potentate's favours to former travellers. Be- sides the successful accomplishment of this mission, Nachtigal investigated the central mountainous country of Tibesti in Eastern Sahara, before known IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 335 only by vague native rumour. In a later journey, Nacbtigal proved the existence of a large river flow- ing out of Lake Tchad, which had been believed to have only a subterranean outlet or none. Section 2. Sent out by the New York Herald and the London Daily Telegraph to complete the ex- ploration of the equatorial lake region, Stanley re- turned to the scene of his former triumphs. He left Bagamoyo on the east coast for the interior in No- vember, 1874, at the head of three hundred men. From the Monangah river he marched in a northerly direction across a pathless country " seamed with elephant trails, rhinoceros wallows, and gullies which contained pools of muddy water," to the Usiha country, and on the I7th of February, 1875, reached the beginning of the "beautiful pastoral country which terminates only at the Victoria ISTyanza." At Gambashika he had a glimpse of the Urirwi mountains, and at Kagehyi a view of the great lake. On the 27th of February, the long march ended at the water side; and the boat which had been carried in sections from England was hurriedly equipped for the circumnavigation of the great inland sea. On the 8th of March the boat was launched, and the voyage began. The course was eastward along the shores of the wide arm which they named Speke Gulf in honour of their predecessor. Passing rivers, capes, and islands, and villages, Stanley reached the Trangara islands, and there first came into view the main body of the lake, — a " vast amplitude as though of ocean." 336 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Natives, in beautifully made canoes of graceful form, paddled about the boat, offering to trade their fowls, eggs, bananas, sweet-potatoes, milk, and mar- amha or banana wine, for beads. At the hospitable vil- lage of Kirudo Stanley was met by an embassy from the King of Uganda requesting a visit. He was re- ceived at Usarara, the royal hunting village, by the extraordinary monarch of an extraordinary people, with a pomp and dignity never equalled by any other African ruler. As the representative of the nations who " know everything," Stanley was subjected to a most search- ing examination, which he had the wit and good for- tune to pass with credit. Mtesa, the " Foremost Man of Equatorial Africa," was a tall, clean-faced, large- eyed, nervous-looking person, clad in a dignified black robe with a white shirt belted with gold. He was intelligent in his questions beyond anything Stanley had expected in Africa, and treated his white guest with every mark of favour. He and his chiefs were of a dark reddish brown or bronze shade and not black; and Stanley concluded that brown must be their national colour, as the canoes and the court robes matched their skins. At the Uganda capital Stanley met M. Linaat de Bellefonds, a member of the Gordon Pasha Expe- dition, and found him a most agreeable companion. By the exercise of persuasive tact Stanley succeeded in converting Mtesa and his chiefs to Christianity, thus practically winning over a population of two million souls. IN THE HEART OP AFRICA. 337 Proceeding along the west coast of the lake, Stan- ley next explored the head of the Alexandra Nile, the Victoria Nyanza's giant affluent. Of this river he says, " Having explored by water all the coast of the Victoria Nyanza, and having since travelled on foot the entire distance between ISTakaranga Cape and Baka Bay, I can state positively that there is but one outlet from the lake, viz., the Kipon Falls." At Kagehyi Stanley was taken down with a severe attack of fever by which he was terribly reduced both in weight and strength. In ISTovember Mtesa gave him an escort to assist him to Lake Albert Edward Nyanza, the Muta Nzige of the natives ; and leaving Uganda, — " land of inexhaustible fertility," — he took his way to the hostile country of Unyoro. No- ting as he passed the glories of the " Switzerland of Africa," he arrived at the shore of the " vast mirror, tranquil and blue " which it was his immediate am- bition to explore. Alas for this ambition ! The natives of the Uzim- ba country refused to allow the white man to remain in their land. He was obliged to go back content with a mere glimpse of the lake which he had come so far to see. He journeyed by way of Windermere lake to Karagwe, where old King Eumanika said he would be delighted to have the explorer stay as long as it pleased him. So Stanley took this opportunity to ex- plore Lake Windermere, the Kagera river, Mtagata hot springs, Marure lake, and Kiwandare mountain. At length he went on to the watershed of Lake Vic- 338 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. toria and the Malagarazi river. " From the 17tli of January, 1875, to the 7th of April, 1876, we had been engaged in tracing the extreme southern sources of the Nile, from the marshy plains and cultivated up- lands where they are born, down to the mighty res- ervoir called the Victoria ISTyanza. We had circum- navigated the entire expanse, penetrated to every bay, inlet, and creek .... we had travelled hundreds of miles to and fro on foot along the north coast of the Victoria Sea, and, finally, had explored with a large force the strange countries lying between the two lakes Muta Nzige and the Victoria, and had been permitted to gaze upon the arm of the lake named by me Beatrice Gulf, and to drink of its sweet waters. We had then returned from farther quest in that di- rection, .... and had struck south from the Ka- tunga lagoon down to the Alexandra Nile, the prin- cipal affluent of the Victoria lake which drains nearly all the waters from the west and southwest. We had made a patient survey of over one-half of its course, and then .... we had been compelled, on the 7tli of April, to bid adieu to the lands which supply the Nile, and to turn our faces towards the Tanganyika." On the 27th of May Stanley arrived the second time on the border of that majestic lake at the town of Ujiji. On the 11th of June he embarked in his boat on its waters to find its mysterious outlet. After repeated inquiry and much observation he learned that the lake was slowly but steadily rising. Cameron's find of an outlet in the river Lukuga was IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 339 disclaimed by the natives. " There is none," said they. In the same English-built boat that he had used on the Victoria ISTyanza, Stanley started on the cruise which was to decide the question. The 12th of June found him at the mouth of the Malagarazi river, after exploring which he proceeded, to the site of a former camp of his and Livingstone's. A native, who had also been with the earlier expedi- tion exclaimed here, " See ! — the Tanganyika is eat- ing the land ! " for the beach he had known was un- der water. Stanley believed that as the lake was ex- panding with considerable rise from year to year, no outlet would be found draining its flood. He was right. The 15th of July brought him to the Lukuga, — a still inlet or arm with no current other than that made by the winds. Choked with vegetation and sand at the mouth, its channel was stopped with mud at no great distance from the lake, and, with the exception of a few pools beyond, the water ended with the navi- gation. "Whatever conditions had existed to convince Cameron that he had made an important discovery here were unhappily of a temporary nature. No out- let existed at the time of Stanley's visit, — the char- acter of the land precluding the possibility of a sub- terranean river, — but he decided that when the lake had risen sufficiently the Lukuga would undoubtedly act in that capacity. He found by soundings that the Tanganyika, like the other great lakes of his African 340 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. quest, was of extraordinary depth, the middle of the lake revealing no bottom at 1280 feet. On the 31st of July he returned to Ujiji, after an absence of fifty- one days, during which he had sailed eight hundred and ten miles round the lake. On the 25th of August he crossed the lake, and took up the march to Man- yema. In October he reached Ka-Bambarre, where Livingstone's memory was cherished with all sin- cerity by the natives. Soon after crossing the Luama river, he came to its confluence with the Lualaba, or Livingstone, which he was the first white man to ob- serve, — and there committed himself to the task of following the latter river to the sea. Filled with enthusiasm, he urged his men to ex- treme haste on the march to the Arab village of Tu- banda, where he was greeted by the famous trader and slave-dealer, — Tippu Tib, handsome and clean as to apparel, intelligent and agreeable as to manner. There he heard that the reason Livingstone and Cameron had not gone down the Lualaba was be- cause they had not been able to persuade the people to sell or lend canoes. He was warned of the extra- ordinary dangers that would inevitably attend such a journey as he had decided to make, but nothing daunted he clung to his dear ambitions, and succeeded in making a contract with Tippu Tib to accompany him part of the way. The 27th of October was the day of their arrival at ISTyangwe, — the north-western limit of the visits of Arab traders from Zanzibar. The caravan left N^yangwe on the 5th of November IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 341 and marched to the north-east on the east side of the river. Stanley said, " The object of the desperate journey is to flash a torch of light across the western half of the Dark Continent." The enormous com- pany of nine hundred men (154 of them Stanley's and the rest Tippu Tib's) entered the great black forest of Mitamba on the 6th of November, little real- izing the dreadful difficulties to be encountered. Mon- keys and snakes were abundant, and seemed to thrive in the close damp atmosphere, but the men found it an effort to even breathe, and, as they were also obliged to toil strenuously in order to make any prog- ress, their sufferings were terrible. Tippu Tib prayed to be released from his contract when he had gone no farther than Kirumbu, saying, " I never was in this forest before, and I had no idea there was such a place in the world ; but the air is killing my people. You will kill your own people if you go on ... . This country was not made for travel; it was made for vile pagans, monkeys, and wild beasts. I cannot go farther." But at lengih he consented to accom- pany Stanley twenty marches more. On November 19th they reached the Livingstone, brown and silent, flowing down " to the unknown." Stanley launched his portable English boat and with the help of some native canoes conveyed his entire expedition to the opposite side, where he found him- self in the Wenya district, — the beginning of the can- nibal country. Against all Tippu Tib's dissuasive efforts Stanley continued down the river to the 34:2 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Ukassa rapids through a land which threatened every disaster. Through rapids, past villages, islands, rivers, and creeks, he urged his men against the opposition of the natives; fighting when forced to it, making peace where he could. At Vinya-Njara, on the 22nd of De- cember, Tippu Tib was released from his contract and paid off. After a Christmas celebration in which the whole company participated, he parted from Stanley, who, with one hundred and forty-nine souls, now made final his decision to reach the end of the Livingstone or die in the attempt. Down the steady current he voyaged till he came at last to the first cataract of Stanley Ealls, which his one white companion, Frank Bocock, christened in his name. There the first portage was made with great difiiculty, and the expedition again embarked in smooth water, — an operation which was repeated seven times before these falls were passed. Maintaining his strength marvellously on a diet of bananas and tea, Stanley came at length to that great expansion of the river now known as Stanley Pool, which measured two thousand five hundred yards across. Livingstone Falls were reached on the 16th of March, 1877, beyond which for a long distance the falls, rapids, whirlpools, etc., were incessant. At Zinga point, in an attempt to go over the cata- ract of Zinga in a canoe, Frank Bocock, Stanley's only remaining white companion, was drowned. Stanley was overwhelmed by this loss, and being af- IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 343 flicted with fever at the time, found it difficult to re- cover from the blow. Regaining at last his usual vigour, he passed suc- cessively Mbelo, ISTgombi, and Itumzima Falls, and arrived at Kilolo on the 28th of July. He reached " Covinda Cove " of Tuckey on the 30th, and on the 31st the boat which had travelled nearly seven thou- sand miles up and down Africa was regretfully aban- doned. A march overland for Embomma carried the expedition only so far as Nbambi Mbongo, where the refusal of the natives to sell them food compelled a halt, till supplies could be got up from Embomma. On the 9th of March, the nine hundred and ninety- ninth day from Zanzibar, Stanley came once more face to face with civilization. He was entertained enthusiastically at the Portuguese settlement, whence he journeyed to Cape Town, and back to Zanzibar, on the 26th of November. On his return to Europe the record of his achievements was greeted by the ac- clamations of the civilized world. " He established that the Congo or Livingstone "with its multitude of tributaries is the second longest river in the world, with a length exceeding three thousand miles, draining a basin of 1,300,000 square miles, and discharging into the Atlantic Ocean a volume of water exceeded by that of the Amazon alone." Section 3. When it was decided that a govern- mental expedition was impracticable for the rescue of Emiu Pasha, governor of the abandoned province of 34^4 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the Egyptian Soudan, Stanley volunteered his ser- vices free of remuneration to a company organized by subscription. He reached Zanzibar on the 21st of February, 1887. With Tippu Tib and a large band of followers he proceeded to the mouth of the Congo by way of the Cape, and arrived at the scene of his former successes on the 18th of March. By means of small vessels the expedition was transported to the head of navigation at Matadi on the lower river, and then marched two hundred miles past the cataracts of Stanley Pool, where navigation was resumed. Stan- ley expected to be back in England for the Christmas of the same year ; but it was almost three years before he saw home again. The mouth of the Aruwimi, the real starting point of the expedition (1,500 miles from the Congo's mouth), was not reached till the beginning of June. The distance from there to the nearest point of the Albert !N"yanza was about four hundred and fifty miles. Knowing that Emin had two steamers, they believed that communication with him would be easily gained. While travelling through the " terrible for- est " the men were obliged to carve a path with axes, and this prolonged strain so weakened their energies that on returning to river travel again they had hardly strength left for the necessary portages. On the 16th of September, two hundred miles from Yambuga, where part of the expedition had been left, the rescue party reached the slave camp of Ugarowwa. The slavers had laid waste the country in all direc- IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 345 tions, and between the 31st of August and the 12th of November the travellers were almost famished, ar- riving at the native village of Ibwiri mere skeletons. Out of the three hundred and eighty-nine men who started, only one hundred and seventy-four entered Ibwiri, and so weak were these that they had been compelled to leave behind them, under guard, the boat and most of their goods. After thirteen days at that place of plenty, however, where fowls, eggs, bananas, cream, etc., proved a potent medicine to their ener- gies, one hundred and seventy-three vigorous men set out for the Albert Nyanza. On the 31st of E"ovember the " gloomy forest sud- denly ended," and an open country, with the light of day no longer obstructed, cheered their eyes. Some little fighting was forced upon them before the goal was reached; but on the 12th of December the be- ginning of the long descent of the watershed was gained, and " suddenly the eyes of all were glad- dened with the sight of the lake some three thousand feet below." The expedition stood at an altitude of five thousand two hundred feet above sea level. On reaching Kakongo they met with an unfriendly reception. In response to their questions the natives said no Emin Pasha had ever been heard of. There was nothing to show that the messenger sent from Zanzibar to announce Stanley's coming had reached the governor. The only boat of the expedition was at Kilinga Longa's, — one hundred and ninety miles away 1 Stanley resolved to return to Ibwiri, and 346 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the 7th of January found the whole party back in that land of plenty. There Fort Bodo was built, and the stragglers rejoined the main expedition, so that on the 7th of August, 1888, when Stanley started again for the lake he had the assistance of two offi- cers. With the boat in sections and plenty of stores they proceeded over the old path where this time the natives were friendly. The chief Kavalli delivered a letter to Stanley from Emin Pasha, saying that he had heard rumours of Stanley's presence in the land and asking the latter to wait till he could come to him. Stanley at once had his boat launched and sent Lieut. Jephson, one of his officers, off to find Emin. On the 29th of April a " steamer came down the lake with Emin, the Italian Casati, and Jephson on board." The " great object of the expedition seemed at last to be all but fulfilled." But the work was not all done. There were still the sick along the way, the party at Fort Bodo, and the rear column at Yambuya, all to be brought up before starting for home. Time would be required also to gather and transport the people of Emin from Wadelai and other stations. Emin did not want to be " rescued." After enduring three weeks of the Pasha's vacillations, Stanley started on the 25th of May to return to Fort Bodo to collect his men, leaving Jephson and a guard with Emin. The fort when reached on the 8th of June was in a thriving state, with acres of flourishing fields under IN THE HEART OP AFRICA. 347 cultivation. All the stragglers who were left alive came to the Fort, but no word from the rear column had been received. On the 16th of June, Stanley started on the search journey which might lead him all the way back to Yambuya, — back through that ter- rible forest to find out for himself what had caused the delay! With plenty of provisions, but no white companion, he led his devoted blacks to an unplanned rescue. On the 10th of August he learned that three of the carriers he had sent to the rear had been killed. On the 17th he found the rear column at Bonalya, eighty miles above Yambuya, and there first heard of the dreadful disaster that had befallen it. Major Barttelot, the officer in charge, had been shot by the Manyuema, and of the four other officers only Dr. Bonny remained. Out of two hundred and fifty- seven men only seventy-two were left, and of these only fifty-two fit for service ! At this point Stanley sent home his first letters, which reached England on the 1st of April, 1889, when the expedition had al- most been given up as lost. Reorganizing the remnants of his men he plunged once more into the forest, and this time by a route on the north side of the river, through a region so wasted by Arab slave hunters that the company was reduced almost to starvation, he again reached Fort Bodo, on the 20th of December. There he found conditions about as he had left them. ISTo word from Emin awaited him, though that gentleman had promised to bo at the Fort. 348 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. The Avhole expedition now marched towards the lake, and Stanley, pushing ahead with a small company, arrived for the third time, on the 18th of January, 1889, to find that Emin and Jephson had been made prisoners by the former's own men. The Mahdistshad attacked the station, a panic had re- sulted, and disorder reigned. But at last the prin- cipals came together again, and Stanley strove to per- suade the governor to arrive at a decision. Wlien at last he prevailed, the main purpose of the expedition was accomplished, but at what a cost in time, life and money ! The object of the world's solicitude was now ready to be helped where he could not help himself. Soon after the start for Kavalli's on the 10th of April, an almost mortal illness laid the great leader low, and it was a month before he was able to take up his responsibilities again. On the 8th of May the huge caravan of one thousand five hundred people was fairly on its way back to civilization. With the exception of some fighting with raiders the home- ward way was comparatively free from difficulty. On the Gth of December, Stanley once more entered Zanzibar, which he had left two years and ten months before. Section 4. One of the illustrious among African explorers was Joseph Thomson, who died in 1895, aged but thirty-seven. Like so many other explorers he was a Scotchman, and born with a passion for travel and adventure. In 1878, at the age of twenty, he was appointed IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 349 geologist and naturalist to an expedition sent out by the Royal Geographical Society under the leadership of Keith Johnston, the younger, to find a practicable route to the interior from the east, and to explore the region between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. Thomson succeeded to the command m June of the following year, and explored the disputed west shore of Lake Tanganyika. On another expedition he made a remarkable journey from Mombasa through the country of Masai, among the " most ferocious savages in the world " (18S3-4). He reached Kilima-njaro on this journey, and was the first to visit that mountain from the north. In March, 1885, Thomson entered the mouth of the "mighty Niger," and with extraordinary speed made his way to Sokoto and Gando, securing for the Na- tional African company the right by treaty to navi- gate the '• great commercial highway of West Africa," and its tributary the Benue. In 1895, when his first expedition reached Lake Rudolf, Dr. A. Donaldson Smith had more than ac- complished the object of his journey. The company had been a year on the march, and had not only reached its goal, but " had successfully explored much more country " than Dr. Smith had anticipated being able to cover in that time. He then made a fort- night's journey up the Mela river, and on that side trip planned to some day " pursue the setting sun " across the vast plains from Rudolf to the Nile. 350 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. This plan resulted in the organization of a caravan at the coast in 1898. But the whole winter of '9S-'99 was spent in the jungle of Somaliland waiting for a chance to cross the border, — political complications and the " gratuitous interference of the consul-gen- eral " preventing. During May and June he fitted out another expedition (the third for this purpose), and at last managed to get " out of the reach of in- comprehensible officials." On the 1st of August, 1899, he started into the in- terior from Berbera, with forty-eight men and the in- tention of exploring beyond Lake Rudolf to the west. To the Shebeli river via Milmil, Sesebane, and She- weli, he made the first stage of his expedition ; and thence went on to Godi, El Dere, Le, and Mega, — the latter a beautiful, broad, open plain between moun- tain peaks, where there was " a delightful freshness in the atmosphere and in everything living." A Gurka attached to the expedition exclaimed, " Ah, Sahib, if we could always have it like this ! " From an elevation of five thousand feet the land suddenly dropped to seventeen hundred feet above sea level, and great was the difficulty experienced in lowering the camels to the new level. ^November saw the caravan again among the moun- tains, — this time near the south-east end of Lake Ste- fanie. Dr. Smith made the ascent of Mount Janissa (5600 feet) for a view of the country. "Elephants were ubiquitous; you could scarcely move in any wooded valley without disturbing many of them." IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 35X He said of his Somali attendants that they were " howling, hungry, humbugs," but in superb physi- cal condition, swift-footed, of great endurance, and intelligent. After much discomfort from lack of water and from exhaustive marches the expedition reached Lake Eudolf, whence Dr. Smith found that the " for- merly rich tribe of Rusia had ceased to exist, and ex- cept a few representatives of the Hamerkuki tribe " they met no human beings at all till they reached the river Nianam. On his first journey Dr. Smith had followed up what he supposed was the Nianam for a long dis- tance to Mela. " But since I was there," he writes, " that illustrious traveller, the late Captain Bottego, discovered that the Mela river made up only a part of the ISTianam, and that this was joined by another river, the Omo. It is clear to me now," he continues, " that my river, which I will call the Mela, and the Omo together in equal volume joined to form the iSTianam, the name given by Count Teleki to a large stream flowing into the lake." Here occurred a remarkable change in the fauna. An entirely dif- ferent set of birds, of over a hundred varieties, was found in the Nianam region, and the mammalia, too, were unlike the animals of the maritime country. They were advised by the natives of this section to travel to the north or south, but persisted in the wes- terly course till after Christmas, regardless of paths and getting literally " into many a hole." Then, tak- ing a northerly direction, they reached the Omo 352 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. where it bends from the north to the east round the Mela hills, penetrating on the way dense forests of " giant sycamores, mimosa, cedar, and tamarind trees." The way now led westward along a fertile alluvial plain to the base of a low mountain range, and from his observations Smith was inclined to the opinion that Lake Rudolf, the ISTile, and the Sobat were once united in a vast inland sea. Crossing the low mountains to a broad valley where flocks and herds of domestic animals flourished on the abundant grasses and water supply, they saw to the westward a splendid mountain range stretching for twenty miles along the valley. Mount Etna, the highest peak, thrust its bare crown over seven thou- sand feet into the air, and was seen later by the expe- dition at over forty miles distance. The high moun- tains of this country were found to be of volcanic origin. The soil of the valleys, for the most part covered with woods, is of the richest alluvial earth un- derlaid with clay. Progress through these valleys and uplands made Smith wish for tweeds instead of khaki. " Except for the goatskin apron worn by the women, the Mushas contented themselves with the same cleanly nakedness that was the fashion from the Boran to the Egyptians." The journey led next to another mountain range, to a large watercourse flowing west, and to a new tribe of natives, — the Magois. These people were different both in appearance and customs from any before en- IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 353 countered. Their dress consisted mostly of tattooing but many ornaments were worn. In the attempt to continue west a desert plain of sand caused consider- able suffering to the company, the lack of water at last compelling them to turn back. A south-west march brought them to the Katua tribe of cow-wor- shippers. All the natives were alike in their fond- ness for the " wonderfully fashionable little red sim sim (beads)." Pressing on to the south-west the car- avan crossed the great desert of the Sobat to the moun- tains where the Akara and the Dinka Dings lived on the most friendly terms. On the 22nd of February, 1900, they rounded the extreme northern end of the Dinka Ding Mountains and camped at Lumin. " Although there was much to interest me, I can- not reflect on my journey," writes Smith, " from the time we reached the great desert of the Sobat until we arrived at the Nile, with pleasure unalloyed, for shov- ing along a caravan of dying camels and would-be dead Indians, by the help of careless Somalis and a few tired though good-natured Indians, for many weeks, is a thing that one cannot forget." At the large village of Omin they found the many natives entirely friendly, of " magnificent physique, pluck, and skill in the use of the spear and bows and arrows." At Lorkale Smith was given an audience by King Amara, and found him a very capable man. He came to the white man's camp with about two hundred sol- diers to exchange presents, wearing a dark blue uni- X 354 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. form quite "spick and span," — a handsome, tall, broad, strong, and splendid specimen of a Soudanese. Dr. Smith believed the country to the west of Tar- angela to have been thoroughly explored by Emin Pasha, Sir Samuel Baker, and members of the Mae- Donald expedition, but found his own map to be the only one giving any detail. Two days'marches brought the caravan to a village governed by a " lady chieftain," and Dr. Smith wrote : " I confess the position was rather strange to me to be sitting with a well-formed lady clad in the same manner only as Gunga Din, and talking over weighty matters involving the welfare of her sub- jects." Amara had told Smith that there was an English- man stationed on the east bank of the N'ile considera- bly south of Lado. At Loker's he learned that no steamers had come up the river, and that no canoes were to be had. At Fort Berkely, on the 14th of March, 1900, Dr. Smith met Captain Dugmore and remained his guest for nearly seven weeks, but in April Major Peake appeared in a gunboat and took the explorer with him over the 1100 miles of water to Omdurman. Smith reached Cairo in the early part of June, ten months from the beginning of his journey. A fortnight later found him in London with his collection of specimens safely installed at the British Museum, to which he presented many birds, plants, mammalia, reptilia, batrachia, fishes, butterflies, etc., a number of them new to science. IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 355 The rest of bis treasures of natural history he gave to the Academy of Xatural Sciences of Philadelphia. Section 5. In 1S9G, Mr. H. S. H. Cavendish' left England for Aden to explore Lake Rudolf and the surrounding country. Lieutenant Andrew accom- panied the expedition, which entered Africa by the most usual east coast route. Cavendisb observed concerning the Boran people that they were the most industrious race, as well as, by a natural result, the richest tribe of his African experience. Their trade in rubber, fibre, rope, honey, gum, and ivory with the Somali coast, had earned them wealth. In January, 1897, the expedition left Egder, diverging from Dr. Smith's route, and pro- ceeded over a new line almost due west for Lake Stefanie, through a very rough and mountainous country. Three days' march from the Galena brought them to the southern extremity of the lake, where they were so fortunate as to find " perhaps the most useful thing that has been found in tropical Africa, — ^that is to say, coal, and coal in large quantities." The hunt- ing of elephants and leopards as they proceeded gave excitement to their days, which in any event were filled with variety. West of Lake Stefanie they visited four tribes of people, sometimes living not more than ten miles apart, each absolutely unlike the others and speak- ing distinct tongues, one tribe wearing no clothes and the next swathed in home-woven cotton. They saw 356 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. the cultivation of coffee and the manufacture of spears by a tribe neighboured by people who worked only enough to obtain food. But the god of most of these tribes was the same and called Wak, though small time or attention was given to his worship by any of them. ISTorth of Lake Rudolf, Cavendish and Andrew separated to explore both the east and west shores and to meet at the south end. Cavendish crossed the Omo river among the crocodiles and hippos in a dugout belonging to a tribe of fishers, and turned southwards. Arrived at Mount Lubur, " one of the landmarks of the country," he ascended it though with great diflficulty, and found a crater nearly two miles across, where grass was growing amid fresh- water springs ! It was used in war time by the natives as a stronghold for their flocks and herds, there being on one side a path which, if difficult, was easily de- fended. To the westward, as far as the eye could reach, stretched a great mountain chain mostly cov- ered with forests. The Turkane country he found possessed of a great tribe of people " perfectly united under one big chief " — a quite blind, but " very bad old man." Cavendish thought them very ugly men, but was as- tonished at their powers of endurance. They were the fastest runners of all east Africa, excelling even the Masai in that respect. Cavendish examined some islands wath silver col- oured banks in Rudolf, and then passed on through IN THE HEART OF AFRICA. 357 country before explored by Count Teleki, coming at last to the south end of the lake and the place where Teleki's active volcano had been. It was now re- placed by a flat plain of lava. The natives told Cav- endish that six months earlier the lake had overflowed so that the waters met the mountain and a vast ex- plosion had occurred, after which the waters swept in where the crater had been, put out the fire, and re- tiring left only a cold field of lava extending to the shore. They also said that a new crater had opened three miles down the lake, and that it was slightly active. Cavendish rejoined Andrew at a point on the east shore, and together they turned south towards Ba- ringo. But being delayed for guides over the almost impassable mountains, they discovered an entirely un- known body of water about thirty miles south from Lake Rudolf, with barren shores enclosed by moun- tains. It was fed by two streams and interrupted by several rocky islands. jSTear the north end a smoul- dering volcano was discovered which Cavendish named after Lieutenant Andrew. Experiencing many difficulties and privations they continued towards Baringo, noticing a very high mountain, to the north-east of the Inuro plateau, and passing through a great lion country. At Lake Bar- ingo they heard of white men in the neighbourhood (Mr. Jackson and Dr. Macpherson of the Uganda protectorate). Following Schlater's road to Kibwczi, and thence the Mackimmon road, they reached the 358 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. bead of the Uganda railway and the vanguard of civ- ilization. As the century drew to a close, the Sns country, lying between the Atlas Mountains and the desert was still a " terra incognita to the explorer as well as to the trader." For, though Eohlfe and others bad penetrated thither in disguise, the region was " too dangerous to bear prolonged investigation." In 1897 Major A. Gibbon Spilsbury accepted an opportunity of visiting this unknown region on be- half of a '' charter company," welcoming the chance to explore it even without the advice and assistance of his government. Against the wishes both of the English and the Moorish governments, he entered this forbidden land undisguised. A fishing schooner from the Canaries landed him on the coast in July, and, contrary to the expectations of all who knew his er- rand, he succeeded in concluding a treaty with the tribes of Sus. His plan of breaking down the obstacles of fanati- cism and throwing open this wealthy district to the markets of the world was not fully accomplished, it is true, but in December, 1897, he sailed from Antwerp in the " Tourmaline " to initiate the commerce pro- vided for in his treaty. Space does not permit of more than passing men- tion of the names of Messrs. Young, Jessi, Von Wissmann, De Brazzn, Johnston, Hohnel, Eeach, Bot- tigo, Parkinson, and Dunbar, who have done valuable work in solving the mysteries of the Dark Continent. PART SEVEN. ASIATIC EXPLORATION-. CHAPTEE XXII. ASIATIC EXPLORATION 1800 tO 1825. Section 1. A map of the world, published as the frontispiece to Jules Verne's Great Explorers of the XlXth Century, and shaded to indicate the known and unknown regions of the world at the beginning of that period, shows all of Asia as ground already- explored. This is to some extent misleading. At the beginning of the century European geog- raphers had a very imperfect knowledge of the physical features of the huge Asiatic continent, the home of the most ancient civilizations and the theatre of some of the most interesting and remote events in the recorded history of the human race. Wide tracts, indeed, were to the Occidental nations absolute terrcB incognitoB. Even of those portions of south-western Asia whose history was most familiar through the Sacred Scriptures and the writings of some of the Greek historians, our geographical information was 360 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. scant out of all proportion to our historical knowl- edge. Section 2. In Asia during the early part of the century, the south and south-west received the bulk of attention. The two chief points of departure from which exploring expeditions may be said to have ra- diated, were British India and Asia Minor. The lat- ter country is one of peculiar fascination for the his- torical geographer. It has been compared to a bridge between Asia and Europe, across which has advanced and receded, since the beginning of history, the strug- gle for dominance between the East and the West. The work of Colonel William Martin Leake in this interesting region at the very beginning of the cen- tury (1800-2) calls for mention, his map of the pen- insula being the best of its time. Between 1802 and 1811 Ulric Jasper Seetzen, a brilliant and scholarly German explorer, made im- portant journeys in Syria, Palestine and Arabia. In spite of crusades and pilgrimages, the vaguest ideas prevailed in Europe concerning the Holy Land, and to a trained scientific explorer like Seetzen, it offered a rich field. By way of Constantinople he reached Aleppo, where he spent some years in perfecting his knowledge of Arabic, studying the works of Eastern historians and geographers, and carrying out various scientific researches. Thence he proceeded to Damas- cus which was to be the starting point of his more important expeditions. In Syria he explored Baalbec and the Lebanon ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1800 TO 1825. 361 valley, and the districts of Rashciya and Hasbeiya at the foot of Mount Hermon. His first expedition into Palestine was through the little-known province of Hauran, in the north-east, and a small district named Ladscha. He writes: " That portion of Ladscha which I have seen is, like Hauran, entirely formed of basalt, often very porous, and in many districts forming vast stony deserts. The villages, which are mostly in ruins, are built on the sides of the rocks. The black colour of the basalt, the ruined houses, the churches and towers fallen into decay, with the total dearth of trees and verdure, com- bine to give a sombre aspect to this country, which strikes one almost with dread. In almost every vil- lage are either Grecian inscriptions, columns, or other remnants of antiquity ; amongst others I copied an in- scription of the Emperor Marcus ^iurelius. Here, as in Hauran, the doors were of basalt." After suffer- ing arrest at the hands of a band of Arabs, he re- turned to Damascus. Early in 1806, disguised as an Arab physician, Seetzcn again entered the Holy Land. This time he succeeded in traversing the country east of the Jor- dan, rounded the southern end of the Dead Sea, and reached Jerusalem. Some of the points of special interest touched in the course of this journey, were the famous Sea of Galilee, the Waters of Merom, Mount Nebo, and the ruins of Rabbath. His route lay in part, through what was anciently the land of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Gileaditcs, and later, 362 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. under the Romans, a portion of the famous Decapolis. Numberless ruins testified to the ancient prosperity of the country. Ten months later, Seetzen again visited the Dead Sea, at that time unexplored, which later investiga- tions have proved to be the deepest lake basin in the world. Its intensely salt, dense, and nauseous waters, shut in by lofty cliffs, are suitably set in a desolate region of sulphur, salt-desert, and lava. Bahr Lut, or Dead Sea, is the name by which it has been locally known from time immemorial. After two years spent in Egypt, Seetzen in 1809 explored the Sinai penin- sula, and then turned his attention to Arabia. Hav- ing publicly professed the faith of Islam, he visited Tor and Jeddah, and gained entrance as a pilgrim into the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. He was the first traveller since Ludovico Barthema (1503) who visited Mecca, and the first European to even see the city of Medina, which contains the tomb of the Prophet. He was again in Mecca in 1810. The fol- lowing year, while in Yemen — the capital of which, Sana, he described as " the most beautiful city of the East " — he was robbed of his collections and bag- gage. Thus his diaries and observations, the impor- tant results of all his work in Arabia were lost. Soon after, word of his death reached the ears of Europeans in the Arabian ports. Section 3. The work of John Lewis Burckhardt, a Swiss by birth, followed close upon that of Seetzen in the same regions. A man of profound scholarship ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1800 TO 1825. 363 and adventurous spirit, Burckhardt devoted his life from 1809 to the time of his death in 1817 to the practical study of the East. In order to facilitate his investigations he took the name of Ibrahim-Ibn-Ab- dallah, and disguised himself as an Indian Mussul- man. Three busy years spent at Aleppo fitted him for the adventurous journeys which he had in mind. During this time he made excursions to Palmyra and into Hauran and Gor. In the course of one of these, having fallen among thieves, and been deprived of all his possessions but his trousers, we are told that his difficulties were increased by the wife of the robber chief imperiously demanding his sole remaining gar- ment. During 1812 and 1813 he examined the sources of the Jordan, visited the Dead Sea, which receives the waters of that famous river, and made important ad- ditions to our knowledge of those parts of Palestine already described by Seetzen. Kegions which could then only be traversed by a stranger at the peril of his life are now accessible to the ubiquitous tourist. After two years spent in Egypt and ISTubia, Burck- hardt returned to Asia, this time choosing Arabia as his field. Like Seetzen, he succeeded in entering both Mecca and Medina in the guise of a pilgrim, and his was the first full and detailed account of these cities which had been given to the world. He describes El Haram, the mosque containing the Kaaba, in which is enshrined the famous " black stone," worn by the kisses of millions of pilgrims; Zemzem, the sacred 364 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. well ; and the " Gate of Salvation ;" and gives a pic- ture of the terrible mortality which descends upon the crowded city towards the end of the pilgrimage. He died at Cairo in 1817, unfortunately before be bad carried his explorations into the Arabian in- terior. Of that western strip of the country lying along the Ked Sea, which was the scene of bis later journeys, bis published account is full, graphic, and was at the time a solid addition to geographical knowl- edge. Between 1821 and 1826 a complete survey of the Arabian coasts was carried out by Captains Moresby and Haines, R. IST., by order of the British Govern- ment, as a basis for the first trustworthy map of the peninsula. The journey of Captain Sadler, of the Indian Army, also calls for particular mention. In 1819 he crossed Arabia from Port El Katif, on the Persian Gulf to Yambo on the Red Sea. He was the first European to accomplish this journey. Section 4. In the beginning of the century the attention of more than one European nation was turned to Persia, and political ambitions led to a great expansion in our knowledge of the country and its people. The British East India Company in par- ticular realized the necessity of establishing friendly relations, with which end in view many embassies and missions were despatched to the Persian Court. In most cases these were accompanied by geographers and trained scientific observers. One of the earliest of these missions was that of Sir J. Malcolm in 1808. ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1800 TO 1825. 305 On liis staff was John Macdonald Kinneir, whose memoir on the geography of Persia for long took its place as the chief authority on the subject. Kinneir spent the years from 1808 to 1814, travelling in Asia Minor, Armenia, Kurdistan and Persia. In many instances his route lay " through countries never be- fore traversed by any European since the days of Al- exander the Great." He ascertained the courses of the principal rivers which contribute towards the for- mation of the Euphrates and Tigris, and discovered the lakes of Nazook and Shello. His narrative of his journeys is full of interest and exciting incident. As early as 1802, Scott Waring had visited Persia from India, and his journey was not without geo- graphical results. In 1808-9 James Justinian Morier, as secretary to Sir Harford Jones's mission to the Persian Court, travelled through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople. He traversed again the same countries between 1810 and 1816, adding to our knowledge of the geography of the northern part of Persia. So true were Morier's powers of observation, and so sympathetic his study of the country, that his oriental romance " Haj ji Baba of Ispahan " ranks as a classic. Another distinguished name associated with much the same region is that of Claudius James Eich. As the East India Company's Eesident at Bagdad from 1808 to 1823, he took advantage of his opportunities to travel extensively in that neighbourhood and in 366 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. Kurdistan, to visit Babylon, Nineveh and Persepolis, and to descend and survey the Tigris. The travels of James Baillie Fraser in Persia in 1821 and later, also made contributions to our geographical knowl- edge of the country. Section 5. In India, geographical exploration, in the main, went hand in hand with the extension of British influence. The most important enterprise, from a scientific standpoint, was the beginning in 1800 of the great trigonometrical survey of the coun- try. With its accompanying topographical and geo- logical surveys, this great undertaking has required practically the whole of the century for its comple- tion. The individual work of some of its officers will call for particular mention in later chapters. With its initiation is associated the name of Major Lamb- ton. At the same time much was done by the East India Company to encourage explorers to make known its vast domains, and the countries bordering upon them. In 1808 an expedition under Lieutenant Webb was sent to explore the sources of the Ganges, the sacred river of the Hindus, concerning which conflicting re- ports prevailed. After following this river through its fertile plains, the expedition left good roads be- hind, and entered a country so difficult that the bulk of the baggage had to be abandoned. Webb himself finally gave up the attempt to proceed, and waited at Sirinagar while certain members of his party pushed on to the point sought, and returned to him with ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1800 TO 1825. 367 their report. "Webb describes the source of the Ganges, in rather ambiguous English, as follows: — " A large rock, on either side of which water flows, and which is very shallow, roughly resembles the body and mouth of a cow. A cavity at one end of its sur- face gave rise to its name of Gaoumokhi, the mouth of the cow, who by its fancied resemblance is popularly supposed to vomit the water of the sacred river. A little further on advance is impossible, a mountain as steep as a wall rises in front ; the Ganges appeared to issue from the snow, which lay at its feet; the valley terminated here. 'No one has ever gone any further." The expedition returned by another route, visiting on its way the sources of the Baghirati and the Al- kanunda, tributaries of the Ganges. In 1817, Captain J. A. Hodgson visited the source of the Ganges, and that of its affluent, the Jumna, carrying a survey to the heads of these rivers. He went farther than Webb, and describes the Ganges as first emerging into light from a low arch in the midst of an enormous mass of frozen snow, at a point in the Himalayas 12,914 feet above the level of the sea. A similar mass of snow, between perpendicular walls of granite, appeared to give birth to the Jumna. Section 6. Afghanistan and Baluchistan geo- graphically form an eastern extension of the Iranian plateau, and were indeed, for a long period of their history, politically a portion of the Persian mon- archy, which they now separate from British India. 368 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. In general terms they may be described as an exten- sive sandy plateau, having a mean elevation of about 3000 feet, and rising into highlands and mountain ranges in the north, east and south. Except for the fertile regions which border the rivers, the bulk of the country is waste, and much of it desert. Some of the streams of Afghanistan, after flowing bravely for a hundred miles and more, enter the desert, dwindle ingloriously and disappear. The Helmand, the chief river, empties its waters into the great Haman Swamp in the west. In 1808 Mountstuart Elphinstone was despatched as a British Envoy to the Court of Afghanistan. This embassy, which was a large and important one, started from Delhi, crossed the northern part of Eaj- putana, and a portion of the Indian Desert, to the Suliman Mountains, and turned northward to the border city of Peshawur. To this place the Afghan monarch came to give audience, as it was impossible at that time for the embassy to proceed farther, owing to the intestine warfare which was then disturbing the country. The British returned to Delhi by another route, through the Pan jab, the country of the Sikhs. Although Elphinstone did not penetrate beyond the eastern border of Afghanistan, he gathered a great deal of important and new information about the country, which makes his book on the subject still of value. On his staff was Lieutenant J. Macartney, who collected materials for a map of Afghanistan. While skirting the Suliman Mountains, an expedition ASIATIC EXPLORATION— 1800 TO 1825. 369 from the embassy explored and ascended the peak called Takt-i-Suliman, upon which according to one ancient legend, the ark of ISToah rested after the del- uge. Section 7. More important from a geographical point of view was the expedition under Captain Christie and Lieutenant Pottinger, in 1810, across Baluchistan, Afghanistan's little-known southern neighbour. The previous year these two officers had accompanied a mission to the Emirs of Sindh, in the course of which they had examined the delta of the Indus, and acquired important documents relating to the country traversed by that river. Baluchistan is apparently almost as destitute of rivers as Arabia, and at the beginning of the century its people were so fanatical that it would have been impossible for a European to travel far among them except in disguise. Hence it need scarcely be said that the undertaking on the part of Christie and Pot- tinger to traverse this country and join Sir J. Mal- colm in Persia was one likely to be attended with both danger and difficulty. Disguised as Cabuli horse- dealers, they started from Sunmiani, a seaport in the extreme south-east, and travelled northward along the course of the Purali river to the little town of Bela, through a region of morass varied only with jungle. Thence they pushed on to Kelat in the north-east, the capital of Baluchistan, passing at times among out- lying mountains of the Hala range, and experiencing cold severe enough to freeze the water in their leather 370 DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. bottles. After some delay at Kelat they crossed a dreary and sparsely populated district, whose only river runs dry in the summer, to JSToutch (ISTushki), a small village on the Afghan border, north-east from Kelat. Here the idea occurred to them to continue their journey by separate routes, thus making it possible to acquire a much more extensive knowledge of the country. Christie selected a course which would carry him first well into the north of Afghanistan, and then westward on to Persia, while Pottinger chose a line far to the south of this, but having the same objective. This was scarcely decided upon, when word reached them from a confidential agent at Kelat that the Emirs of Sindh suspected their pres- ence in the country, and had sent in search of them. Thus the success of the expedition and the personal safety of the explorers depended upon their pushing forward without delay. We will follow first the journey of Captain Christie. Prom iNushki he crossed mountains and waste country to the banks of the Helmand, the prin- cipal rive