VOL. III, PP. 205-261, I-XXXV, PL. 21, FEBRUARY 19, 1892
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
WASHINGTON
PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY.
Price, 75 cents.
CONTENTS.
Page.
The Cartography and Observations of Bering's First Voyage; by
A. W. GREELY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Height and Position of Mount St. Elias; by ISRAEL C. RUSSELL . . 231
The Heart of Africa; by E. C. HORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Report of Committee on Exploration in Alaska . . . . . . . . . . 248
Notes--La Carte de France, dite de l'Etat Major, par M. J. COLLET 250
Polar Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
The Crossing of Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Statistics of Railways in United States . . . . . . . . . 255
Index to volume III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Title-page and Imprimatur of Board of Managers . . . . . . . i
Contents and Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Publications of the National Geographic Society . . . . . . . v
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society . . . . . . . vii
Officers of the Society for 1892 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Members of the Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
{205}
VOL. III, PP. 205-230, PL. 21, JANUARY 28, 1892
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
THE CARTOGRAPHY AND OBSERVATIONS OF BERING'S FIRST VOYAGE.
BY GENERAL A. W. GREELY.
(_Presented before the Society March 20, 1891._)
It was with no ordinary pleasure that the members of the National
Geographic Society listened to the critical review and admirable essay
on Bering's first expedition, 1725-1730, read before this Society,
together with a translation of Bering's report on the expedition in
question, by one of our learned and distinguished members, Professor
William H. Dall. The subject then under consideration is one of great
interest, and this Society owes a debt of gratitude to Professor Dall
for his assiduous labor in collating and translating the available
data on this voyage, and must indorse the general conclusions reached
in a critical essay which is the result of careful, conscientious
research conjoined to much erudition. It is especially fortunate, in
view of the vagueness of Bering's report, that it should have been
translated and reviewed by a traveler and investigator so thoroughly
familiar with the topography of Bering strait and the adjacent region.
{206} It may appear somewhat presumptuous for the present writer to
further dwell on some points of subordinate importance, even with the
view of supplementing the investigations of Professor Dall; but he is
encouraged to the effort by the admirable spirit in which that
gentleman works, which is so clearly indicated in his own words: "I am
well aware this paper cannot be regarded as a finality, but as a
contribution to the geographical history of North America it will not
be without its value." This spirit encourages every one to contribute
his mite to elucidate the history of this interesting and ill-known
period.
The supplementary remarks now presented mainly relate to two points:
first, the cartographic reproduction of Bering's discoveries; second,
the alleged observations of lunar eclipses in Kamshatka by Bering and
his lieutenants in 1728-'29.
In attempting to add to Professor Dall's essay or to elucidate some
points, it is but natural to felicitate one's self that chance has put
in one's way rare data in the shape of text and map. Nevertheless,
much difficulty has been experienced in efforts to consult
publications and charts bearing on this subject, as supplementary to
the data in the writer's own library. Fortunately, among his personal
books and maps are the following, which have escaped the critical, if
not casual, observation of Professor Dall:
1. The original Hague[1] edition of Père du Halde, which Dall was
unable to consult; it is entitled "Description Géographique,
Historique, Chronologique, Politique, et Physique de l'Empire et de la
Tartarie Chinoise," etc. 4 vols., 4°: à la Haye, 1736.
[Footnote 1: The first edition, in French, was published at Paris, 4
vols., folio, 1735.]
2. De l'Isle's scattered essays, entitled "Mémoires pour servir à
l'histoire et au progres de l'Astronomie, de la Géographie, et de la
Physique, etc., etc.: à St. Petersbourg, de l'imprimeris de l'Académie
des Sciences. MDCCXXXVIII [1738]."
3. "Atlas Russien: contenant une Carte Générale et dix-neuf Cartes
particulieres de tout l'Empire de Russie et des Pays limitrophes
construites conformément aux règles de la Geographie et aux dernières
Observations. Par l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.
Petersbourg. St. Petersbourg, 1745."
This was the first atlas published in Russia in the map department
established by order of Peter the Great in the Academy of Sciences of
St. Petersburg. It includes a general map of the Russian Empire and
nineteen maps of provinces.
{207} 4. "Carte de la Sibérie et des Pays voisins. Pour servir a
Histoire générale des Voyages par le S. Bellin, Ing. de la Marine,"
two parts, undated, but to which E. Dufosse, of Paris, assigns the
date of 1749. The atlas for this work was originally published by Abbe
Prevost at Paris, 1747, et seq., the charts being engraved by Bellin.
This chart appears on casual inspection to be more accurate than
either that of d'Anville or of de l'Isle, or of the Russian atlas.
5. The very interesting and valuable map of J. N. de l'Isle, Paris,
1752 (without, however, the accompanying memoir).
I do not think the original map has ever fallen under the notice of
Professor Dall, although a garbled reproduction of it is mentioned in
his review as follows:
"A chart which deserves notice, though almost wholly fictitious, being
chiefly devoted to the spurious discoveries of the alleged Admiral de
Fonte, was issued by J. N. de l'Isle with the concurrence of M. P.
Bauche or at his suggestion. It appeared at Paris in 1752, and was
copied for Jeffery's second edition of voyages from Asia to America in
1764. I do not know if this copy appeared in the first edition, but
presume it did."
As the original of de l'Isle's chart (1752) is here exhibited
to-night, it is evident that Jeffery was careless, and that the map,
which I infer Dall has never seen, is really more valuable than is set
forth in his address; otherwise so critical an observer as Dall would
not have said: "I suspect this (referring to d'Anville's map of 1753,
with Bering island thereon) is the first publication of a cartographic
kind on which Bering island is laid down, as the map of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences, embodying the geographical results of Bering's
voyage to the coast of America, was not engraved until a year later,
while de l'Isle's of 1752 does not contain them." You will see that
this is an error, for the "I(sle) de Beering" is plainly inscribed on
the map. (This map has been reproduced by photolithography and forms
the accompanying plate 21.)
[Illustration: PLATE 21. CARTE GÉNÉRALE DES DÉCOUVERTES de l'Amiral de
Fonte.]
Dall further describes the copy of this map in the following terms:
"Connected with America and north of the Chukchi peninsula is land
with an island off it corresponding not badly to Wrangell and Herald
islands and marked 'Discovered in 1722.' It is possible that this land
is a hypothetical compound of the land reported by the Chukchis east
of the strait with that which they knew to be visible in clear weather
from Cape Yakan, more or less confused accounts of which had long been
current among persons interested in these regions."
{208} The legend on the original chart indicates that Dall's surmise
is correct, for the copy is not only abbreviated, but is in error as
to date. On the original it runs: "Grande Terre découverte en 1723 au
s'enfeuit les Tzutzy l'orsqu'ils sont poursuivis par les Russes que ne
les ont pas encore soumis."
There is another important legend on a very large imaginary island
about five degrees of longitude to the east of Bering island. On the
northern side of this land the text runs thus: "Terres dont le
Capitaine Beering's à en des indices dans son premier voyages en
1728." On the southern edge is the legend: "Cotes vues par Mrs.
Tchirikow et de l'Isle en Septembre 1741." Immediately south of the
land are two route tracks, with these legends: "Route du Kamtschatka a
l'Amerique par le Capitaine Tchirikow et Mr. de l'Isle de la Croyere
en Juin et Juillet, 1741," "Retour de l'Amerique au Kamtschatka en
Aout et Septembre 1741." The latter route track touches an indentation
in the southwestern coast, as though the vessel had entered the bay,
which has five mountains in the background.
The legend--"Terres vues par les Russes en 1741 ou le Capitaine
Tchirikow perdit sa Chaloupe armée de 10 hommes"--is likewise of
interest, as controverting the statement that "De l'Isle's (chart) of
1752 does not contain ... the geographical results of Bering's voyage
to the coast of America." It embodies a large part, but not all, of
the discoveries.
6. Buache's memoir and maps entitled: "Considerations geographiques et
physiques sur les Nouvelles Decouvertes au Nord de la Grande Mer,
appellee vulgairement la Mer du Sud; avec des Cartes qui y sont
relatives. Par Philippe Buache, Premier Geographe," etc. A Paris
M.DCC.LIII [1753], 4°, 158 pp. With my copy there is a separate
pamphlet, consisting of 13 maps, folio, with a preface and index,
quarto. The preface (4°, two leaves unpaged) is entitled: "Exposé des
Découvertes au Nord de la Grande Mer, etc., etc. Presenté au Roy le 2.
Septembre 1753, par Philippe Buache, etc." The index (4°, 4 pp.) runs:
"Liste des Cartes concernant les Nouvelles Découvertes au Nord de la
Grande Mer, &c. Par Philippe Buache, &c. Janvier, 1755."
These thirteen maps are very interesting. The first and second charts
bear particularly on the subject of this paper. The first is entitled:
"Carte des Nouvelles Découvertes entre la partie Orient'le de l'Asie
et l'Occid'le de l'Amerique avec des Vues sur la Gr'de Terre reconnue
par les Russes en 1741 &c., &c. Dressée {209} par Philippe Buache.
Presentée a l'Acad. des Sciences le 9. Aout 1752 et approuvée dans son
Assemblée du 6. Septembre suivant."
This map, somewhat fuller in details than that of de l'Isle, shows:
"Découvertes des Russes depuis 20 ans." There are route tracks of the
first expedition marked: "Route des Russes au N.E. et au N. en 1728 et
1731," and "Retour en 1731." Two route tracks of the later voyage have
the legends: "Route de Kamtchatka a l'Amerique en 1741. Retour des
Russes au Kamtchatka." Other legends are as follows: "Isle Beering;"
"Detroit du Nord" (Bering strait); "Terre déc. en 1723 par les Russes,
ou Isle dont le P. Avril a parle" (large land near Wrangell island);
"Terres reconnues par les Russes" (American coast in latitude 56 N.);
"Côtes vues par les Russes en 1741; Port ou les Russes ont aborde"
(fictitious and extensive land east of Bering island, on which are
also the following: "Puchochotskes selon Strahlenberg," and "Terre
habitée, ou Presqu' Isle, que je suppose joindre les découvertes des
Russes avec celles de l'Am'l de Fonte").
The second map, "Carte des Découv'tes de l'Am'al de Fonte avec les
Terres vuës et reconnues par les Russes, par Philippe Buache," has
other pertinent and interesting legends. In Bering strait appears:
"Beering a trouvé au N. et a l'E. de ce parage que la Mer y etoit
libre," and immediately eastward on the American coast below the
parallel of the arctic circle: "Terre découv. en 1731, et ou les
Russes ont rencontré un home qui s'est dit habitant d'un gr'd
Continent." On the American coast from 55° to 57° north latitude:
"Terres déc. en Juill., 1741, et où les Russes ont laisse 10 homes qu'
ils n' ont pu rejoindre." Over "Terre habitée," a large land just east
of Bering island: "Le Capitaine Beering a trouvé dans ce parage de 50
à 60 deg. les Indices d'une Côte et une gr. Riv. ou il a envoye
quelqu's homes qui ne sont revenus."
It is evident that these maps must have been actually published as
early as September 2, 1753, the date on which was presented the
"Exposé des Découvertes, etc., au Roy," but the charts give no further
indication than the legend: "Publiée sous le privilege de l'Acad.
R'le. des Sc. du 6 Sept'bre, 1752: à Paris." The actual date of issue
may or may not have been earlier than the map of de l'Isle of
September 9, 1752.
7. (Possibly most important of all) a letter of an officer of the
Russian Navy. This appeared first in Russian, presumably {210} printed
at St. Petersburg in 1752 or 1753; the original Russian I have not
seen. It was translated, however, into French and printed at Berlin
(not dated) in 1753, under the following title: "Lettre d'un officier
de la Marine Russienne. A un Seigneur de la Cour concernant la carte
des nouvelles découvertes au nord de la mer du Sud et le mémoire qui y
sert d'explication. Publiée par M. de l'Isle, à Paris en 1752. Traduit
de l'Original Russe, à Berlin, chez Haude et Sperer, Libraires de la
Cour et de l'Academie Royale (1753)."
This edition forms part of my library, and is the only copy which I
know of in the United States. It is not to be found in the Library of
Congress, the Astor Library, the Boston Athenæum, or the Boston Public
Library. It is not even in the Royal Library at St. Petersburg, but,
as might be anticipated, is in the British Museum. I find it nowhere
catalogued in any bibliography of arctic or subarctic works. The
French edition was inserted, with some changes, it is believed, in the
eighteenth volume of the Nouvelle Bibliotheque Germanique.
8. "A letter from a Russian Sea-Officer to a Person of Distinction at
the Court of St. Petersburg, containing Remarks on Mr. de l'Isle's
Chart and Memoir relative to the New Discoveries North and East from
Kamtschatka, together with some Observations on that Letter by Arthur
Dobbs, Governor of East Carolina, to which is added Mr. de l'Isle's
Explanatory Memoir on his Chart." 8vo, 85 pp., London, 1754.
The "Arthur Dobbs" who published this edition, and who possibly was
the translator thereof, is well known as the energetic promoter of the
discovery of the "northwest passage," and was personally interested in
discovery voyages to Hudson bay. The explanatory memoir of de l'Isle's
chart is a translation of the memoir previously mentioned as belonging
to the map of 1752, which memoir I have not been able to consult in
the original French. It may be added that Dobbs' reproduction of the
"Letter from a Russian naval officer" is not accurate, the translation
in places being so carelessly or indifferently made that the text
cannot be relied on for critical purposes.
This English translation is to be found neither in the Library of
Congress, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenæum, nor in the
Library of the American Geographic Society. It is, however, in the
Astor Library, and a second copy at one time belonged to the library
of Mr. J. C. Brevoort.
{211} 9. "Mappe Monde. Carte Universelle de la Terre. Par J. B. Nolin,
Geographe." 1755, 20¼ x 27 inches. On this appear the legends: "I. de
Beering; Detroit de Nord; Terres découvertes par les Ruses [sic] en
1741; Terres veues en 1741."
It is quite possible that this is the first map of the world on which
Bering island was charted.
10. John Christopher Adelung's very interesting history of sea voyages
for the discovery of a "northeast passage," which was published in
quarto form under the following title: "Geschichte der Schiffahrten
und Versuche welche zur Entdeckung des Nordöstlichen Weges nach Japan
und China von verschiedenen Nationen unternommen worden. Zum Behufe
der Erdbeschreibung und Naturgeschichte dieser Gegenden entworfen von
Johann Christoph Adelung, Herzoglich Sachsichen Rath Halle bey Johann
Justinus Gebauer, 1768."
11. Notice des Ouvrages de M. d'Anville. 8°, Paris, An. X [1802], 120
pp. By Barbic du Bocage.
In addition to these and other works from my own collection, I have
consulted at the library of the United States Naval Observatory, in
this city, "Histoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences, Année 1750,"
Paris, 1754, and the same, "Année 1754," Paris, 1757, which contain
articles on de l'Isle's manuscript maps of 1731 and 1752, the latter
being substantially identical with the published map of 1752.
* * * * *
From Dall's review we learn that Lauridsen is responsible for the
statement that the discoveries of Bering in his first voyage were
shown on a chart made at Moscow in 1731, but no authority is given as
to the cartographer. Later I shall adduce evidence to confirm Dall's
opinion that the Moscow map was merely a copy, such as were
distributed to personages of importance or to those connected with the
expedition. It is further susceptible of, as I think, tolerably
satisfactory proof that the outlines of Kamshatka, with fairly correct
meridians of longitude, were made public in a chart by de l'Isle not
in 1731, but the year following, 1732, and it is likely that the lost
map of that year was substantially reproduced in the chart of 1752,
which I have the pleasure of now presenting for your examination.
De l'Isle presented this map to the Academy of Sciences of Paris on
April 8, 1750. The circumstances connected with the {212} presentation
have been drawn from the official records of the Royal Academy of
Sciences, and are as follows:[2]
Cette année (1750) M. de l'Isle lut à l'assemblee publique de
l'Acadèmie, un Mémoire sur les Nouvelles Découvertes au nord de la mer
du Sud; et presenta en meme temps une Carte que M. Buache avoit
dressée sur ses Mémoires, et qui representoit ces Découvertes avec
toute la partie du Globe terrestre, à laquelle elles appartiennent.
Ces Ouvrages, alors manuscrit, furent depuis publiés en 1752, M.
Buache presenta dans cette meme année la première partie de ses
Considérations géographiques sur le meme sujet, avec les Cartes qui y
étoient relatives.[3]
"Muni de ces premières connoissances [referring to the discoveries of
1729-1739] M. de l'Isle traça une carte qui representoit l'extremite
orientale de l'Asie, avec la partie opposée de l'Amerique
septentrionale qui y répond, afin de faire voir aisément ce qui
restoit à découvrir, et il dressa un Mémoire dans lequel il exposoit
la manière qu'il jugeoit la plus avantageuse pour faire ces
découvertes."[4]
"Mais les vaisseaux Russes qui avoient été envoyés pour les
découvertes dont nous venous de parler (1731-1741), n'étant pas encore
revenus lorsqu'elle lui fut envoyé il extremit l'examen après son
retour en France, qui étoit assez prochain. A son arrivée, il
communiqua ses vues et cette relation a M. Buache; celui-ci, qui par
la," etc., etc.[5]
"Cette Mémoire [de l'Isle, 1750] étoit accompagnée d'une carte qui
étoit comme l'esquisse du système géographique de M. de l'Isle sur
cette partie."[6]
[Footnote 2: Extracts from Histoire de l'Acadèmie Royale des Sciences,
Année MDCCL (1750), 4°, Paris, 1754; and the same, Année 1753, 4°,
Paris, 1757.]
[Footnote 3:_ Loc. cit._, "Année MDCCL," p. 142.]
[Footnote 4: _Ibid._, p. 151.]
[Footnote 5: _Ibid._, p. 145.]
[Footnote 6: _Loc. cit._, "Année 1753," p. 263.]
It has been pointed out by several authorities that some of M. de
l'Isle's statements in his memoir of 1752 are to be received with
caution, especially his elaborate endeavors to impress the Paris
Academy with the belief that the discoveries of Bering subsequent to
the first voyage were the result of his (de l'Isle's) own carefully
considered instructions. In this connection Adelung says:
"De l'Isle, in his Explication de la carte des nouvelles découvertes
au Nord [1752], traces out his proposed route quite differently
[referring to de l'Isle's previous statements in his report to the St.
Petersburg Academy in 1732], somewhat as if it had been outlined in
view of accomplished facts."
{213} It behooves us, then, to inquire carefully into the authenticity
of the alleged map of de l'Isle of 1731, since if he antedated his
opinions as to the route he might also have antedated his map.
Fortunately we do not have to depend only on de l'Isle's own
statement, either in 1750 before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, or
as published in 1738 at St. Petersburg and printed at the printing
office of the Royal Academy; for we also have extraneous and
convincing evidence, even from sources critically hostile to the
French astronomer.
M. de l'Isle, in his Mémoires sur les Nouvelles découvertes au Nord de
la mer du Sud, Paris, 1752, says:
"After I had, near twenty years ago, got these first informations of
the longitude of Kamschatka by means of Captain Bering's map and
journal, I made use of them in constructing the map, representing the
eastern extremity of Asia, with the opposite coast of North America,
in order to show at once what still remains for discovery between two
large parts of the world.
"This map I had the honor of presenting to the Empress Anne and the
Senate, in order to animate the Russians to undertake these
discoveries, and it took effect, this princess ordering a second
voyage to be made according to the plan which I had drawn up for it."
"Two maps," he adds, were presented to the Academy in Paris, "one
being a copy of the map which I had drawn at St. Petersburg, 1731, on
Captain Bering's first voyage, and had the honor of presenting to the
Empress Anne and the Senate, with a manuscript memoir explaining its
use and construction." The other map (from which the lithograph before
you was lately reproduced) was, according to de l'Isle, only changed
by adding the later discoveries of Bering and his lieutenants.
De l'Isle further says of this chart:
"The second manuscript map which I laid before the Academy at Paris
was in all respects like the former, only with the advantages of the
new discoveries made since 1731."
Ph. Buache, the French geographer, made for de l'Isle a reduced copy
of the second chart, and it is supposed that the map before you is a
substantial reproduction of that copy.
In the preface to de l'Isle's scattered essays, 1738, St. Petersburg,
page 2, we find:
"Aiant comparé la situation du Kamschatka et des pais voisins, avec
celle de la Chine, du roiaume de Corée, du Japon, et de la terre
d'Yeco, qui m'étoit connue d'ailleurs, je me suis fait un sistème, &
j'ai dressé l'an {214} 1731, une carte de cette extremité orientale de
l'Asie. J'ai marque aussi sur cette carte les dernières terres connues
de l'Amerique, les plus voisines de cette partie septentrionale de
l'Asie, afin de faire voir ce qui restoit encore d'inconnu entre-deux.
On trouvera dans ce recueil une reduction de cette carte, avec le
Mémoire que j'ai dressé dans ce temsla, & lu a l'Academie, dans lequel
je rends raison de la construction de cette carte."
Only one volume of de l'Isle's essays appeared, so that the map and
memoir promised in the introduction were never, so far as can be
learned, published in their original form. The statements made by de
l'Isle, however, unless definitely refuted, should be given full
credit, seeing that the work was published by the Academy of Sciences
at St. Petersburg, to which the map and memoir were presented, as is
claimed, only seven years earlier. A doubt does, however, exist as to
the date of the map made by de l'Isle. On this point Adelung, in his
"History of Northeastern Voyages," Halle, 1768, page 569, evidently
quoting from Müller, says:
"On the 17th of April, 1732, the order was, therefore, sent from the
privy Cabinet to the Senate, which thereupon inquired of the Academy
of Sciences of St. Petersburg what and how much had as yet been found
out about Kamschatka, the surrounding countries and waters. The
Academy confided the making of the report to Mr. Delisle, who prepared
a chart upon which Kamschatka, Jeso, according to the description of
the crew upon the Castricom, the Staten island, Company island, and
the coast of Gama were designated. This chart was supplemented by a
memoir in which he described the discoveries already made and
suggested various routes for making new ones. He expressed himself in
regard to those routes in the following manner: 'If one have attained
the northern boundary of Asia, and at the same time the eastern
limits, as far as Captain Bering went on his first voyage, one cannot
fail to arrive in America, and might even choose the route, either
northeast or southeast, whichever he prefers, as he would have, at
most, only 600 miles to pass over. 2. Or, without venturing so far, it
would perhaps be better and more comfortable to sail from the east
coast of Kamschatka, go directly east, to look for the neighboring
country which Bering found traces of in his first voyage. 3. Finally,
he thought that if they should sail southeast from Kamschatka they
would perhaps more speedily and more certainly discover the country
seen by Juan de Gama.'"
Can the inconsistency between the dates, as given by Müller and
Adelung on the one hand, and by de l'Isle on the other, be reconciled,
or is it apparent rather than real? As Bering, according to the
Russian marine officer (Waxel?) returned to St. Petersburg on March 1,
1730, it is reasonable to suppose that de l'Isle, {215} whose duties
were those of a cartographer, had finished within the next year and a
half his reproduction of Bering's working chart. The fact that the
order of inquiry about the results of the voyage did not leave the
privy council until April 17, 1732, does not necessarily indicate that
the map at least, if not the memoir, was not already prepared, even if
not in possession of the Academy of Sciences. It appears probable that
the map may have been drawn by de l'Isle in 1731, but it is quite
certain that it was not made public until 1732.
Lauridsen speaks of a map in Moscow in 1731, and, as it is evident
from "Lettre d'un" that there was no difficulty in persons of
influence procuring copies from the Senate, it is likely that the
Moscow chart was a copy of the map of de l'Isle, and that the date of
1731 is correct; but this theory must rest on Lauridsen producing
evidence that such a map existed in Moscow in 1731.
The Russian officer speaks with authority as to the map of 1732.
Commenting on de l'Isle's account of the circumstances under which he
compiled the map of 1732, he continues as follows:
"The Empress Anne having directed her Senate to give instructions to
M. Bering for the second voyage, that body believed that it could not
act with success unless it obtained from the Academy the fullest
information relative to the situation of the lands and seas to be
traversed. Therefore the Academy was so ordered by the Senate, which
enjoined on M. de l'Isle the construction of the map of which I speak,
and, for a clearer understanding, an explanatory memoir; which being
done, both map and memoir were presented to the Academy by the Senate.
Consequently, there is no reason to doubt that, far from exciting the
Russians to new discoveries, far from being the cause of Bering's
second voyage, M. de l'Isle only worked under specific orders. It is
quite another question whether or not the memoir contributed to the
success of the expedition, which I will discuss later. However that
may be, the Senate gave a copy of it, as well as of the map, to M.
Bering. I took a second copy of the memoir, which enabled me to
compare it with what M. de l'Isle has now said to us of it in his
later memoir of Paris."
These and other statements confirm those of de l'Isle as to the date
of the map, in which year d'Anville engraved it (1732, or 1731 at the
earliest), and likewise indicate that copies of both map and memoir
were obtainable without great difficulty.
An interesting note as to the authenticity and origin of the {216}
chart of d'Anville, 1737, appears in the narrative of Adelung, who
speaks with a certain air of authority. He says:
"These Beering maps were, after the captain's return, sent from Russia
to the King of Poland, who presented them to Mr. du Halde or, rather,
to Mr. d'Anville, who made the charts for his work. Du Halde is
therefore very correctly informed when he, in the Mémoires de Trevoux
(737 pages, 2,389 f.) considers these charts questionable and imagines
that they were merely made by d'Anville from Beering's journal."
But further evidence from an unquestionable source is available as to
date. The charts in du Halde's "China" were engraved between the years
1729 and 1734, and all but the general maps were completed prior to
1733. The date 1732 is assigned by d'Anville's colleague to the map of
Bering's journey. Of these maps it is further said:
"They form what is commonly known as d'Anville's Atlas of China.
Nevertheless this geographer did not participate equally in the
production of all. The detailed maps (of which the Bering map is one)
were furnished by the Jesuits and he only supervised the engraving,
but the general charts were entirely the work of d'Anville, who
reconstructed and amplified them from all possible sources. They were
reproduced at Hague under the title 'New Atlas of China,' etc., by M.
d'Anville."
These statements of d'Anville's colleague, M. Barbic du Bocage, are
thus verified by du Halde, page lxix:
"Pour les Cartes Générales, nous y avons peu touché & celle du Voyage
du Capitaine Beerings paroit sans le moindre changement."
In the Russian atlas, 1745, the explanatory text regarding map 19,
whereon appears the extreme northeastern coast of Siberia and the
greater part of Kamshatka, runs as follows:
"We have determined the location of these provinces in part by
astronomical observations which have been made there, and in part upon
certain geographical and hydrographic maps which have been transmitted
to us."
So far as Kamshatka and the Bering strait regions go, it is reasonable
to believe that this chart, since it was published by the Royal
Academy of Sciences, is substantially a reproduction of the map
transmitted to the Academy by de l'Isle in 1732, especially as this
geographer was employed for about thirteen years in amassing data for
the atlas in question.
{217} The writer has very carefully compared the chart of Kamshatka
and adjoining regions as published in d'Anville's atlas of 1736, in
the Russian atlas of 1745, and in the de l'Isle chart of 1752. From
comparisons he is led to believe that these maps have substantially
the same basis--that is, the chart prepared by de l'Isle in 1732 for
the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. In this connection the
criticism of the Russian officer is significant. He says: "I will now
finish with a general observation about the part of Siberia that we
see on M. de l'Isle's chart (1752). It is simply a copy of the Russian
atlas (1745), without even corrections of the errors of drawing and
writing which have crept into that work." Elsewhere he adds: "We can
correct the error of M. de l'Isle, who places Bering island at 54
degrees, only a short distance from Avatscha, whereas it is on the
56th parallel, 60 miles off Avatscha and 40 Dutch miles from the mouth
of the Kamschatka river."
It is worthy of note that on Bellin's map of 1749(?) Bering island is
crossed by the 56th parallel of latitude, and that along the southern
edge of the Arctic ocean is a route track, marked "Voyage fait par Mer
en 1648 par 3 vaisseaux Russiens dont un est parvenu a la
Kamtschatka." On de l'Isle's chart of 1752 also appears the route of
1648, but Bering island is in latitude 54°. As to the position of
Bering isle, the truth, as the Wise Man tells us is oft the case,
abides between the two, as the 55th parallel intersects the land in
question. At Cape Shelagskoi, d'Anville, 1737, the Russian atlas of
1745 and the de l'Isle of 1752 agree in charting four islands
northeast of the cape instead of two islands to the west. This
indicates a common origin to the charts, and where else can it be
ascribed than to the de l'Isle map of 1732? The Russian officer,
however, gives a clue as to the date when work on the map was
commenced. He says:
"At that time I visited M. de l'Isle. I was a witness of his
geographical labors as far as they had new discoveries for their
object. I acted as interpreter to M. Bering in the conversations which
he had with him; and I can assert positively that when M. de l'Isle
began that chart the second expedition was already ordered, and
Captain Bering, knowing what was still wanting to his discoveries,
offered to continue them and his lieutenants with him, and they
received promotion in consequence."
Lauridsen says:
"On January 5, 1732, the Senate gave him leave of absence to go to St.
Petersburg.... Almost simultaneously he was promoted, in regular {218}
succession, to the position of captain-commander in the Russian fleet,
the next position below that of rear-admiral."
This indicates that the expedition was decided on at least as early as
January 5, 1732; possibly earlier. Fortunately we are not left to
inference, for elsewhere the Russian officer says:
"Mr. de l'Isle 'throws discredit on our discoveries by leaving on his
chart the fictitious land of Gama, which, in order to avoid
conflicting with our accounts, he places (in 1752) a little more to
the west and south than he did on his chart of 1732.'"
This definitely fixes the year in which de l'Isle presented the map to
the Senate.
We learn, however, from Lauridsen that "as early as April 17 (1732)
the Empress ordered that Bering's proposition should be executed, and
charged the Senate to take the necessary steps for that purpose.... On
May 2 it [_i.e._, the Senate] promulgated two ukases, in which it
declared the objects of the expedition and sought to indicate the
necessary means." It is very improbable that, in the case of so
dilatory a man as de l'Isle, this chart could have been elaborated and
drawn, the memoir written, a report made by the Academy to the Senate,
and action be taken in the fifteen days which elapsed between the
order for the chart and Bering's instructions. It is possible that the
chart was drawn at the end of 1731, and that de l'Isle, for obvious
reasons, gave it the earliest possible date.
In giving an account of Bering's provisions, as Dall says, every
historian has followed a mutilated, if not garbled, paragraph from
Bering's original report. The excerpts from Brooke's translation of du
Halde, which was followed in Campbell's edition of Harris' Voyages,
are as follows:
"The provisions consisted of carrots for want of corn [= grain or
wheat], the fat of fish, uncured, served instead of butter, and salt
fish supplied the place of all other meats."
"Fish oil was his butter and dried fish his beef and pork. Salt he was
obliged to get from the sea; ... he distilled spirits from 'sweet
straw.'"
It appears from Bering's own journal, as well as from du Halde's
account, that in 1727 Bering ordered one of his officers to endeavor
to "deliver to the command at Kamschatka some part of the provisions,
iron, and tar." Bering himself said that he was obliged to use tar
made from the native spruce, "since {219} the tar which we should have
brought with us had not arrived." This is confirmed by the additional
note in du Halde, which says that the provisions, iron, pitch, and tar
did not arrive till 1728, conveying the inference that it came too
late to be of service. Bering appears to have had, on July 3, 1727,
2,300 poods of flour, equal to about 8,300 pounds, which would be less
than a year's supply for his entire party. I cannot agree with Dall
that Bering had plenty of flour or meal and meat.
I have said "From Bering's own report," because it seems incredible
that du Halde did not have a transcript of Bering's report, since his
narrative (du Halde's) follows almost word for word Dall's
translation. It is not surprising that different transcripts should
differ slightly on unimportant matters.
However this may be, it is evident that Brooke's translation of du
Halde is careless. For instance, in Brooke's translation (edition
London, 1736) of du Halde, on page 430, the number of Bering's party
should be 33 instead of 30, and on page 440, where the voyage from
Ochotsk to Takutski is given as from July 23 to October 2, the
first-named date should be July 29.
Dall doubts that "carrots" were of Bering's provisions. Brooke omits
the italicized words of du Halde's narrative (p. 567, la Haye, 1736):
"Les provisions consistoient en carottes _et en racines_." As
indicated by context, the roots were radishes and turnips. The word
"carottes" is explained by a passage in Grieve's Kamshatka as follows:
"The morkovai poushki, or _carrot_ bunches, are so called because they
are like carrots in their leaf as well as in taste. They likewise eat
this green in the spring, but they oftener sour it like sour crout or
make a liquor with it." Doubtless Bering took these "carrot bunches"
with him.
Another question which has engaged my attention is that concerning the
lunar eclipses which Bering or his party is said to have observed in
the winter 1728-'9. Dall says: "In none of the published reports of
the expedition is any mention made by Bering or his officers of the
occurrence or observation of an eclipse.... However, Middendorf states
(Sib. Reise, iv. I, p. 56) that Bering and his lieutenants in the
years 1728 and 1729 observed in Kamtschatka two eclipses of the moon,
by which they corrected the longitude. He gives," says Dall, "no
authority for this statement, and it is probable that an eclipse
observed at Ilimsk, in middle Siberia, by Chirikoff is thus
erroneously referred {220} to." Mr. Marcus Baker, in a paper appended
to Dall's account, makes it evident that such eclipses, if any, were
those of February 25 (local calendar), 1728, or February 24, 1729.
My own investigations confirm the statements of Middendorf, and in
support of this I refer to de l'Isle and to the author of the
"Letter." In this connection, however, we have the clear and definite
statements of de l'Isle, both in his essays of 1738 at St. Petersburg
and his memoir of 1752 at Paris. These statements are fully confirmed
by the evidence of the Russian marine officer, who certainly served
with Bering in his later expeditions if not in the first, and whose
familiarity with all the records and papers should have enabled him
definitely to contradict de l'Isle on the main question instead of
correcting him in details. In his St. Petersburg memoirs of 1738 (page
10) de l'Isle writes:
"On verra a cette occasion la situation du Kamtchatka de terminée par
deux eclipses de Lune, que M. le Capitaine Bering & ses gens y sont
observées dans leur premier voyage [the expedition 1725-'30], & dont
j'ai rendu compte a l'Academie aussi-tot que ces observations m'ont
ete communiquées."
In the paper of Paris, 1752 ("Nouvelles découvertes au Nord de la Mer
du Sud") de l'Isle says on this point:
"Captain Beering and his lieutenant likewise took observations at
Kamschatka of two eclipses of the moon in the years 1728 and 1729,
which helped me to chart the longitude of that eastern extremity of
Asia with all the precision which the nature of these observations,
made by seamen and with their own instruments, would admit of; but
these first determinations have been since confirmed by observations
on Jupiter's satellites, taken in that place with the utmost accuracy
by my brother and some Russians conversant in this kind of
observations and who were provided with the best of instruments."
It appeared to me possible that the report on the eclipses of the moon
made by de l'Isle to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences might be
traced up among the archives of that society. In searching for
information on this point it was learned from Mr. O. Fassig, librarian
of the Signal Office, that among the unpublished manuscripts in the
Pulkova library, St. Petersburg, were a number by de l'Isle. A list of
the manuscripts of M. de l'Isle was compiled and published in 1844 by
the distinguished astronometer O. Struve, and among the number is one
entitled: "Observations pour la longitude du Kamchat, d'ou se conclut
aussi de Tobolsk. 1729, MSS."
{221} It was reasonable, in view of de l'Isle's statements in 1738, to
suppose that this is the report made to the Academy by him as soon as
the observations were furnished him. I had hoped to present with this
sketch definite information on this point, since a kinsman of the
collator of the manuscripts (I refer to the very distinguished
representative of Russia to the United States, M. de Struve) most
courteously offered his valuable mediation in the matter.
Unfortunately, I have as yet no further information, but I expect a
communication as to the contents of the MSS. at an early day.
Criticising the memoir of de l'Isle of 1752, the Russian officer
ridicules the author for speaking of Kamshatka as a town, but he
adds:[7]
"It is certain likewise that M. Bering and his lieutenant, M.
Tschirikow [quoting from de l'Isle's Memoir of 1752], had, in the
years 1728 and 1729, observed at Kamschatka two eclipses of the moon;
but that by these observations M. de l'Isle was enabled to determine
the longitude of this most eastern part of Asia, with such precision
that the same had been confirmed in the second expedition, by precise
observations of the satellites of Jupiter is what I cannot well
conceive. Mr. de l'Isle himself intimates that Messieurs Bering and
Tschirikow were not provided with astronomical instruments. They
observed both these eclipses by the help, not of pendulums, but of
their watches, without being able to know whether they went right or
wrong; which makes it almost incredible that a determination based on
these two eclipses should exactly agree with that deduced from the
observations of Jupiter's satellites."
[Footnote 7: "Une Lettre," Berlin, p. 19.]
The officer, from his own account, served with Bering. In the
introduction to "Une Lettre" he says:
"The orders of your Excellency [to whom the letter was addressed as
written by his orders] will be complied with by me with more than one
inspiring motive, and I shall not dwell on my unfitness, although I
could find excellent pretexts for such an excuse, inasmuch as many of
greater experience and equal application participated with me in the
discoveries which resulted from the two voyages, called by us the
Kamtschatkan expeditions. The only grounds on which preference could
be shown me over them arise from my being charged, after my return
from America, with the comparison of the journals of the various
vessels together and with whatever was elsewhere to be found relative
to lands situated in the South Sea, in order to therefrom construct a
map which should accurately represent them all."
{222} This officer, then, should be the very best authority on this
question, especially as he gives details, is always exact in his
dates, and sets no value on the observations. Whether or not such
observations of lunar eclipses took place, these extracts tend to
confirm Dall's opinion that they served no purpose in determining the
longitude of Kamshatka.
The letter and its author are worth some attention at our hands. As
has been said, it was published anonymously, and I do not know that
its authorship has ever been traced. It appears from the letter that
the writer was an officer of the Russian navy; that he was a Russian;
that he was on familiar terms with both Bering and de l'Isle; that he
acted as interpreter between them in 1730-1731; that he was with
Bering in his last voyage to America, and was one of the ship-wrecked
mariners on Bering island, and that on his return to St. Petersburg he
was charged with the compilations from the various ship journals. As
the naval officer states he was with Bering on Bering island, it is
evident that it must have been either Swen Waxel, Sophron Chitrow, or
Steller, the well-known scientific professor serving with Bering's
expedition. It could not have been Steller, since the professor was a
German, and moreover he died in November, 1746, prior to the date of
the letter. It is improbable that it was Chitrow, who was originally
in a subordinate position as a master-of-fleet, but while serving in
Kamshatka and prior to Bering's second voyage was made a lieutenant.
It is not likely that a subordinate of Chitrow's position should have
been so situated in St. Petersburg as to have served as an interpreter
between Bering and de l'Isle. It is therefore more than probable that
Lieutenant Swen Waxel was the author of the letter. In further
confirmation, this officer says that he is charged with the
preparation of a chart out of the material furnished by the maps and
journals of the separate vessels. As we know from other sources, Waxel
later made a chart of the Kamschatka region.
Waxel displayed great energy and excellent judgment in conducting
affairs on Bering island, both before and after Bering's death, and it
is gratifying to note his intellectual discrimination in dealing with
de l'Isle's fictitious account of a journey in America said to have
been made by one Admiral de Fonte. Waxel skilfully dissects this
geographical invention, clearly proving its inconsistencies, while
geographical writers in England were engaged years later in
endeavoring to prove its truthfulness.
{223} It is significant that although Waxel omits any reference to it,
the following paragraph, which is evidently intended to be exculpatory
of Bering's turning back at the most northerly point of his first
voyage, forms part of Bering's report as translated by Dall: "Neither
from the Chukchi coast nor to the eastward could any extension of the
land be observed." This very important sentence does not appear in
du Halde's account, and evidently was not in the copy which was
furnished him. Possibly the person who furnished the copy to du Halde
omitted it. Elsewhere Waxel adds:
"I say nothing here which I have not repeatedly heard M. Bering say. I
also saw his instructions."
This gives value to his statements in reference to Bering's efforts to
find land east of Avatscha bay, whereof Waxel quotes de l'Isle as
saying:
"On his return to Kamtschatka (in 1729) M. Bering learned that there
was a land to the east, which could be seen in clear, fine weather. He
attempted to go thither, after having repaired the damage his vessel
had suffered in a storm. The second attempt was fruitless, for after
sailing about forty leagues to the east without seeing land, he was
assailed by a violent tempest and a contrary wind, which quickly drove
him back to the port whence he had emerged."
In criticism Waxel adds:
"Would not this narrative lead one to believe that the second attempt
of M. Bering had been made immediately after the first voyage [in
1729]? However, it was entirely otherwise: Before making this journey
M. Bering wintered at Kamtschatka, set sail only on June 5, 1729, and,
_without intending to return to the port which he was quitting_,
doubled the southern point of Kamtschatka and went straight to the
mouth of the river Bolschaia-Reka and thence to Ochozk."
He further says:
"Perhaps it may appear strange that M. Bering during this voyage did
not fall in with the island (Bering island) whereon he was shipwrecked
during his second expedition; but the isle might have been hidden by
fogs, which are very common in that sea."
Waxel's account of the second voyage is worth translating, being the
plain tale of a participant, who is as modest as he is truthful, for
Waxel nowhere mentions his own name nor the {224} efficient service he
rendered first to his chief and later to his shipwrecked comrades. He
writes in "Une Lettre" as follows:
"Let us now come to the details of the second expedition, which M. de
l'Isle pretends owes its origin to a map of _his_ and was undertaken
according to a memoir made by himself. 'I had the honor,' he says, 'in
1731 to present this chart to the Empress Anne and to the Senate, in
order to stimulate the Russians to explorations of what still remained
to be discovered, and it had its effect.' Was it time or age which
caused M. de l'Isle to commit this error? Could he have forgotten the
orders which led him to make the chart in question? Had he remembered
it, perhaps he would not have said that he presented the chart to the
Empress, and still less that he made it in order to excite the
Russians to new discoveries. At that time I visited M. de l'Isle; I
was a witness of his geographical labors, as far as they had new
discoveries for their object; I acted as interpreter to M. Bering in
the conversations which he had with him; and I can assert positively
that when M. de l'Isle began that chart the second expedition was
already ordered, and Captain Bering, knowing what was still wanting to
his discoveries, offered to continue them and his lieutenants with
him; and they each received promotion in consequence.
"It is therefore true that M. de l'Isle's work must be attributed to
the orders of his superiors; and I remember that the Empress Anne
having commissioned her secretary to give the necessary instructions
to M. Bering for his new voyage, the latter did not think he could
carry it on successfully without getting from the Academy all the
information possible concerning the countries and waters where he was
to navigate. The Academy was therefore called upon by the Senate, and
it ordered M. de l'Isle to compile the chart of which I speak, and in
order that it might be better understood, to explain it in a memoir;
which having been done, the chart and the memoir were presented to the
Senate by the Academy; so that there can be no possible doubt that, so
far from having stimulated the Russians to new discoveries, so far
from having occasioned the new voyage of M. Bering, M. de l'Isle only
worked according to the orders he had received. There arises another
question, as to whether the memoir caused the success of the
expedition, which I will treat later on. However that may be, the
Senate gave a copy of it to M. Bering as well as of the chart. I took
a second copy, which enables me to compare it with what M. de l'Isle
tells us about it in his last memoir from Paris.
"He pretends to have proposed three different routes to be followed in
order to discover what was still unknown. The first, to sail straight
to Japan, pass Yeco, or rather the straits which separate it from the
island of the States and the land of the Company, to discover what is
to the north of Yeco and search for the passage between that country
and the coast of eastern Tartary. This is what is called giving advice
after the event. In the original memoir there is not a word said about
any such researches. M. de l'Isle contents himself with proposing
three different routes for finding the countries lying near to
Kamshatka on the east. {225} The first two, we must admit, agree well
enough with the second and third routes mentioned in the Paris memoir.
They are expressed in these terms:
"1. 'If one advances to the most northern extremity of Asia, and at
the same time the most eastern point reached by Captain Bering (wrong
supposition, as I have already remarked), one cannot fail to reach
America, no matter what route one takes between the northeast and
southeast, at a distance of not more than 600 leagues (great error in
estimating the distance of the opposite lands of Asia and America,
since they are only separated in the north by a narrow strait which
widens as it goes south).'
"2. 'Without going so far, it would perhaps be easier to start from
the eastern coast of Kamshatka, sail directly east and reconnoitre the
neighboring land, of which M. Bering discovered indications on his
first voyage.'
"In regard to the third route, M. de l'Isle conjectures as follows:
"3. 'Perhaps the countries seen by Don Juan de Gama might be found
more speedily and with more certitude by seeking them to the southeast
of Kamshatka;' the outcome of which project showed him his mistake,
which is apparently the reason that induced him to change it to that
of the route by Japan and Yeco.
"Nothing is so imperfect in detail, and withal so dry, as the recital
of M. Bering's voyage with which M. de l'Isle regales us. He makes him
start in 1741 to look to the east of Kamshatka for the land which he
had seen indications of in his first voyage. 'He did not go very far,'
he says, 'for, being assailed by a violent storm during thick weather,
he could not remain at sea, and brought up on a desert island in
latitude 54°, only a short distance from the Port of Avatcha from
whence he had sailed.'
"M. Bering, then, did nothing but fail, and he did so soon after
leaving port. I must therefore supplement the meagreness of M. de
l'Isle's relation by giving an account of the voyage of M. Bering and
the other officers, chiefs of these expeditions, which will be so much
the more easy as I took part in them and as I can, besides, refer to
the charts and journals of each vessel as proofs of my correctness.
"The Captain Commanding Bering and Captains Spangenberg and
Tschirikow, with several other naval officers, left St. Petersburg in
the spring of 1733. They waited at Yakouzk and Ochozk until the
vessels being built at this latter place for their expedition were
completed, and when all was ready for the departure of M. de
Spangenberg he was dispatched first, according to the orders of the
Senate. He started, then, from Ochozk in the month of June, 1738,
having three vessels under his command, to which he added a large
covered row-boat of 24 oars, which he caused to be constructed at
Bolscherezkoi Ostrog in Kamshatka, where he wintered. This boat was to
be used to go into the narrow straits between the islands that they
might find and where the ships could not go. In the summer of 1739 he
went to Japan, the long chain of islands situated between Japan and
Kamshatka serving to guide him. He landed at two different places in
Japan and was received with great civility by the people of the
country; but he never went to Matsmai, the principal place {226} on
the island of Yeco, as M. de l'Isle erroneously states. He thought he
had sufficiently complied with his instructions without doing so, and
returning to Ochozk, passed the winter at Yakouzk. As soon as a
detailed account of this voyage was seen in St. Petersburg they
concluded by the route which M. Spangenberg had followed that he must
have passed near the coast of Corea, and he was therefore ordered to
make a second voyage in order to confirm the first. He started in 1741
and 1742, but his ship, built hastily and of unseasoned wood, leaked
and obliged him to return.
"MM. Bering and Tschirikow left Ochozk the 4th of September, 1740.
They both had the same destination; the second was to follow the track
of the first. They only took different vessels so as to be able to
assist each other more efficaciously in case of any accident. Without
entering the Bolschaia-Reka river, as is customary in coming from
Ochozk, they immediately rounded the southern point of Kamshatka and
anchored at Avatscha, or port of St. Peter and St. Paul, as they
called it. While wintering in these places, they made all their
preparations for commencing in spring their principal voyage, which
was to have America as its object. Owing, however, to the uncertainty
as to the route which they were to follow, M. Bering assembled a naval
council on the 4th of May, 1741, and it was resolved to endeavor first
to discover the land of Don Juan de Gama, a fatal resolution which was
the cause of all of our disasters. The 4th June we put to sea.
M. Bering had on his vessel, sent by the Academy, an adjutant,
M. Steller, physician by profession, but above all well versed in all
that pertained to natural history. M. de la Croyere was with
M. Tschirikow. Although M. Bering and M. Tschirikow were not to
separate, according to their instructions, they could not avoid it,
for eight days after sailing they were separated by storms and fogs.
The search for the pretended land of Gama caused them to direct their
course southeast; they continued to sail in that direction as far as
the 46th degree without, however, finding the slightest vestige of it.
They then changed their course to the northeast and both reached the
coast of America, but in different places and without knowing of the
whereabouts of the other. M. Bering and we who accompanied him saw
land for the first time after being six weeks at sea. We then
calculated that we were about five hundred Dutch leagues from
Avatscha. We provided ourselves with fresh water. We saw indications
of inhabitants, but could perceive no one. After being at anchor three
days, M. Bering consulted with his officers, and it was resolved to
return. The 21st July we weighed anchor before sunrise. There was
nothing to do but to follow the coast, which stretched westward; but
navigation was seriously embarrassed by frequent islands, and when we
tried to put to sea we were met by storms and contrary winds, which
caused us new delays every day. In order to procure fresh water, we
returned towards the coast, from which we had kept as far as possible.
Soon it was in sight, seeming about ten miles distant. We anchored
between the islands, and the one where we landed was
Schoumagin-Ostrow. The water was good, but although taken from a lake,
there was, nevertheless, some sea water in it brought by the tide,
which sometimes inundated the island. Afterwards {227} we felt
disastrous effects from its use, in sickness and the loss of several
of our men, who died. We tried in vain during three or four days to
discover some natives of the country, whose fires we could see at
night on the coast. The 4th of September these savages finally came,
of themselves, in little canoes, and, having announced their arrival
to us by a loud cry, they presented us with their calumets, in sign of
peace. These calumets were sticks with the wings of falcons attached
to the end. We understood from their gestures that they were inviting
us to come on land in order to furnish us with provisions and fresh
water. We wished to profit by the opportunity, and some of us ventured
to follow them; but soon, however, misunderstandings arose and all
communication was broken off.
"The 6th of September, after having at first had a tolerably good wind
for the voyage, we began to find that as we advanced the obstacles
were increasing, nothing but coasts and islands on every side.
M. Bering wished to get away from them by sailing more southwards,
and, in truth, for several days the sea appeared much more free. Our
joy, however, was of short duration. The 24th of September, in
latitude 54 degrees, we came upon coasts bordered with a number of
islands, and at the same time a violent tempest arose, which lasted
seventeen days and sent us back a distance of eighty miles. An old
pilot acknowledged that during the fifty years that he had followed
the sea he had never seen such a storm. We should then stop calling
this ocean 'Pacific.' This name may, perhaps, be suitable to it in the
tropics, but certainly is wrongly given to it here. The weather became
calm again, but our provisions were by this time considerably
diminished and there was only about a third of our crew who remained
well and serviceable after all the hardships to which they had been
exposed. There was still more than half of our way to make, counting
from the extreme point of our voyage in the East to Avatscha. In view
of these facts, many of us were of opinion that it would be better to
winter somewhere in America, rather than run the risk of encountering
new dangers worse, perhaps, than those we had just escaped; and these
counsels came near prevailing over those who were of opinion that we
should make a supreme effort to reach Avatscha, and that it would be
time to think of seeking another refuge when we had lost all hope of
succeeding in so doing. The month of October, however, was passed as
fruitlessly as the preceding ones. The 30th of that month we came upon
two islands, which seemed to us to bear some resemblance to the first
two of those islands which stretch from the southern extremity of
Kamshatka to Japan. Thereupon we directed our course northwards, and
the 4th November, having observed the latitude, we found that we were
under the 56th parallel. The 5th, however, finished our voyage.
Wishing to sail to the west, we struck upon a desert island, where we
had a good prospect of finishing our lives. Our vessel went to pieces
upon one of those banks with which the island is surrounded, and we
were not long in seeking land, which we fortunately reached with
everything which we thought we should need. By a special dispensation
of Providence, the winds and waves threw the remains of our vessel on
shore; we gathered them {228} together to try, with the aid of God, to
put ourselves in a position to leave this sorry dwelling. The island
where we now found ourselves was destitute of trees. We were,
therefore, obliged to depend upon the wood that the sea brought us to
build our cabins and warm ourselves. We gave to this desert place the
name of Bering island, in honor of the chief of our expedition, and it
was there that he died, on the 8th of December, of grief and sorrow at
having to give up all hope of returning to Kamshatka. He refused to
eat or drink, and disdained the shelter of our cabins; his advanced
age could not rally under such a disaster. We young men kept our
courage up, resisted with firmness all discouragement, made it a duty
to still enjoy life and to make as much as we could out of our prison
home. Before our arrival, Bering island was the refuge only of the
inhabitants of the sea, who came there to breathe the air and deposit
their young. We were, therefore, able at first to observe these
creatures very closely without their taking fright. It was only after
having seen several of their number fall before our guns that they
fled at our approach. We killed a great number of them, as much to
furnish us with food as for their skins. It was by these valuable
spoils, splendid castor skins, that we were repaid in some measure for
our sufferings.
"At the approach of spring the following year we built of the remains
of our vessel, as we had intended, a large covered boat, furnished
with anchors and sails and able to live at sea if not exposed to
storms. In this boat we confided ourselves to the sea, trusting in
Providence, the 17th of August, 1742, and after nine days at sea, with
beautiful calm weather, we arrived safely at Avatscha on the 26th,
giving thanks to the Almighty, who had delivered us from such great
dangers, and imbued us with gratitude such as time can never efface.
"From this account we can correct the error of M. de l'Isle, who
places Bering island at the 54th degree, only a short distance from
Avatscha, whereas it is on the 56th parallel, sixty miles from
Avatscha and forty Dutch miles from the mouth of the Kamshatka river.
"The voyage of M. Tschirikow, although attended with less fatigue and
danger, was not less painful to him. His tender heart, which his
profession of mariner had not rendered indifferent to the sufferings
of others, was indeed sorely tried. After parting from M. Bering,
sailing northwest, he came on the 15th of July to a country the shores
of which were lined with rugged rocks, at the foot of which rolled a
deep sea. He prudently refrained from approaching too near the shore,
but at the end of three days sent the pilot, Abraham Dementiew, with a
crew of ten men, to reconnoiter the country. Neither Dementiew nor any
of those who accompanied him ever returned; and most sincerely was he
mourned, and deservedly so, for he was young, good-looking, of an
honorable family, steady and clever in his profession, and zealous in
the service of his country. After waiting six days, M. Tschirikow sent
the boatman, Sidor Sawelef, with three men, but they did not return
any more than the others. While waiting for their return we constantly
saw smoke on the shores, and the day after the departure of the
boatman two men, in different boats, came from the spot where
Dementiew and Sawelew had {229} landed. When they had approached near
enough to be heard they began to call out, 'Agai, agai,' and then went
back. M. Tschirikow did not know what to think of their conduct, and
now, despairing of the return of his men and having no more boats to
send on shore, he determined, on the 27th of July, to leave the place,
follow the coast as much as possible, and then return to Kamshatka.
M. de l'Isle, then, makes an addition of his own when he says that
'M. Tschirikow made many excursions into the country, during the month
of August, while waiting for the return of his men.' To return to the
truth, M. Tschirikow, in a distance of one hundred miles, never lost
sight of land; he battled often with contrary winds, had much anxiety
on account of the heavy fogs, and lost an anchor which he had put out,
not far from the coast, in a moment of great danger. He was visited by
twenty-one canoes, of tanned skins, each one containing a man; but
this was all--for he was unable to converse with them. The scarcity of
water and the scurvy carried off many of his men. Among the officers
he lost two lieutenants--Lichatschew and Plautin, fine men and
excellent mariners--who might have rendered good service had they
lived. M. Tschirikow himself began to have the symptoms of disease,
but good food and the air on land restored him to health. M. de la
Croyere was not so fortunate; he appeared to have held his own until
he was just at the point of death. His companions marveled at the good
effects of the large quantities of brandy which he drank every day;
but they soon saw that the only good it did him was to make him forget
his sufferings. He died on the 10th of October, as they were entering
the port of Avatscha, having dressed himself to go on shore and having
celebrated his arrival by new excesses. We cannot ignore the important
service rendered by M. de la Croyere to the expedition, when he
recognized the Americans who came to M. Tschirikow as bearing great
resemblance to the inhabitants of Canada, whom he had met while
serving in that country seventeen years before coming to Russia, with
the King of France's troops."
* * * * *
NOTE.--A pamphlet which has just come into my possession, entitled
"Lettre de Monsieur d'Anville au R. P. Castel, Jesuit. Au sujet des
Pays de Kamtchatka," etc. (24mo, Paris, 1737), throws some light on
the map of du Halde (1732), and definitely fixes the date and locality
of the observation of the eclipse of the moon referred to by de l'Isle
and the Russian officer, as well as later geographers.
D'Anville says:
"The map of Bering's voyage is attributed to me.... The only part I
had therein was to reduce it from the much larger original map, of
which I had made a tracing by means of oiled paper.... I first learned
of Bering's voyage by letters from de l'Isle, then in Russia; and
finally an account of this voyage having been sent to R. P. du Halde
by His Majesty Stanislas, King of Poland, it was placed in my hands.
{230} "Likewise, both by a sheet of _astronomical observations made by
Bering which came to me_ later, and by the same letters of M. de
l'Isle, I knew that the mouth of the river of Kamtchatka was found by
astronomical determination to be in latitude 56° and some minutes.
"Bering in his navigation doubled the southern point of this continent
[Kamshatka] in latitude 51° 10", as is expressly noted in the sheet of
_observations_ which is now before me.
"But though the solution of the difficulty in the case of the Land of
Jeco may be very simple and natural, yet it was not obvious to me, it
may be said, for Bering's voyage and observations caused me to recur
to this subject, and I can no longer doubt that the eastern coast of
Tartary should be moved to the east as far as the maps of the Jesuits
first indicated; for although M. de Strahlenberg in his excellent map
of Siberia shows only 65° of longitude between Tobolsk and Okhotsk,
and there are even less in de l'Isle's map of Tartary, yet Bering's
map indicates that there are 74°.
"It was found that it (Ohkotz) is 25° off of the meridian of Peking,
which the observations of P. Gaubil placed in 113° fifty-odd minutes
from Paris, so that it closely approximates the 139° which we have
found it to be from Bering's observations. This determination does not
differ much from the result of some astronomical observations, which,
as I learn from China, M. de l'Isle, now in Russia, contemplated using
in order to ascertain approximately the longitude of Kamtchat. The
observation upon which I place the most dependence, and which likewise
gives the greatest difference, is of an eclipse of the moon of
February 25, 1728, of which the end was observed on the west coast of
Kamtshat in latitude 52° 46' N., Sirius having an altitude of 19° 18'
to the west, wherefrom M. de l'Isle calculated that the true time
answered to 6h. 52m. p.m.
"This eclipse, the end especially, fell throughout Europe in the
daytime, but having been observed at Carthagena, West Indies, by
D. Jean Herrera, where it ended at 3h. 34m. a.m., a difference of
8h. 42m. is deduced between the meridians of Carthagena and the coast
of Kamtshat."
It is thus evident that Bering observed an eclipse of the moon in
Kamshatka, and that the observations came into the hands of
M. d'Anville.
A. W. G.
JANUARY 21, 1892.
{231}
HEIGHT AND POSITION OF MOUNT ST. ELIAS.
BY
ISRAEL C. RUSSELL.
(_Laid before the Board of Managers December 11, 1891_.)
The height and position of Mount St. Elias have been measured several
times during the past century with varying results. The measurements
made prior to 1891 have been summarized and discussed by W. H. Dall,
of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.[1] The various results
obtained are shown in the following table. With the exception of the
position determined by Malaspina and the measurements of 1891, they
are copied from Dall's report.
[Footnote 1: Rep. of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey for
1875, pp. 157-188.]
_Height and Position of Mount St. Elias_.
-----+--------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Date.| Authority. | Height. | Latitude. | Longitude.
-----+--------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
1786 | La Pérouse | 12,672 feet | 60° 15' 00" | 140° 10' 00"
1791 | Malaspina | 17,851 " | 60 17 35 | 140 52 17
1794 | Vancouver | ----------- | 60 22 30 | 140 39 00
1847 | Russian Hydrogra- | | |
| phic Chart, 1378 | 17,850 " | 60 21 00 | 141 00 00
1847 | Tebenkof (Notes) | 16,938 " | 60 22 36 | 140 54 00
1849 | Tebenkof | | |
| (Chart VII) | 16,938 " | 60 21 30 | 140 54 00
| Bach. Can. Inseln | 16,758 " | 60 17 30 | 140 51 00
1872 | English Admiralty |
| Chart 2172 | 14,970 " | 60 21 00 | 141 00 00
1874 | U. S. Coast Survey | 19,500±400 "| 60 20 45 | 141 00 12
1891 | Nat. Geog. Soc. Ex.| 18,100±100 "| 60 17 51 | 140 55 30
-----+--------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
The position given by Malaspina is from a report on astronomical
observations made during his voyage,[2] which places the mountain in
longitude 134° 33' 10" west of Cadiz. Taking {232} the longitude of
Cadiz as 6° 19' 07" west of Greenwich, the figures given in the table
are obtained.
[Footnote 2: Memorias sobre las obversaciones astronomicas hechas por
les navegantes Españoles en distintos lugares del globe; Por Don Josef
Espinosa y Tello. Madrid, en la Imprente real, Ano de 1809: 2 vols.,
large 8°; vol. 1, pp. 57-60. My attention was directed to this work by
Dr. Dall, who owns the only copy I have seen.]
The data from which the various determinations made previous to 1874
were obtained have not been published. The observations made by
Messrs. Dall and Baker, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, are
published in full in the annual report of that Survey for 1875,
already referred to. The observations made by myself last summer as a
part of the work of an expedition sent to Mount St. Elias by the
National Geographic Society and the U. S. Geological Survey, from
which the height and position of the mountain have been computed, are
as follows:
A base line 16,876 feet long was measured on the beach at Icy bay. The
line, with the exception of section _C_ to _D_, as shown below, was
measured three times in sections of about 3,000 feet each. The
distances given below in columns 1 and 2 were obtained with a 100-foot
steel tape, and those given in column 3 with a 300-foot iron wire.
These are rough measurements, made without the use of a plumb-bob and
without taking account of temperature. The ground was quite smooth,
with a rise of about five feet in the center; but section _C_ to _D_
was crossed by a stream channel about 300 feet broad and twenty feet
deep. Throughout much of the distance the ground was covered with
grass, which was only partially cleared away. The stations at the ends
of the line were ten feet above high tide. The bearing of the line
from the western base was S. 89° E., magnetic.
_Measurements of Base Line_.
---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
| 1. | 2. | 3. | Mean.
---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
| _Ft. in._ | _Ft. in._ | _Ft. in._ | _Ft. in._
Western base to | | | |
station _A_ | 3,179 10 | 3,178 7 | 3,178 9 | 3,179 1
Station _A_ to | | | |
station _B_ | 2,355 2 | 2,354 1 | 2,354 2 | 2,354 6
Station _B_ to | | | |
station _C_ | 3,589 0 | 3,587 9 | 3,586 0 | 3,587 7
Station _C_ to | | | |
station _D_ | Rejected. | 2,609 2 | 2,609 5 | 2,609 3
Station _D_ to | | | Not |
eastern base | 5,145 5 | 5,144 10 | measured. | 5,145 1
| | | | ---------
Length of base line | | | | 16,875 6
---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
The measurements of angles were made with a gradienter reading by
vernier to minutes. The error of the vertical arc was -3', and
remained constant during the observations.
{233} _Measurements of Angles at Western Base_.
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
| Right | Left | Vertical|
| vernier. | vernier. | angle. | Date.
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 218° 35' | 38° 35' | +5° 40' | 1891, Aug. 14, 10 a.m.
1. Eastern | 317 6 | 137 7 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 218 34 | 38 37 | +5 40 | " " "
2. Eastern | 317 6 | 137 7 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 218 37 | 38 39 | +5 40 | " " "
3. Eastern | 317 6 | 137 8 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 261 41 | 81 43 | +5 40 | " " "
4. Eastern | 0 10 | 180 11 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 261 41 | 81 43 | +5 40 | " " "
5. Eastern | 0 10 | 180 10 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 50 15 | 230 15 | +5 40 | " " 6 p.m.
6. Eastern | 148 45 | 328 45 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 50 15 | -------- | ------- | " " "
7. Eastern | 148 45 | -------- | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 181 5 | 1 5 | +5 40 | " " "
8. Eastern | 279 30 | 99 32 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
_Measurements of Angles at Eastern Base_.
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
| Right | Left | Vertical|
| vernier. | vernier. | angle. | Date.
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252° 26' | 72° 27' | +5° 34' | 1891, Aug. 17, 11.30
1. Western | 176 19 | 356 19 | ------- | " " a.m.
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 26 | 72 26 | +5 34 | " " "
2. Western | 176 19 | 356 19 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 25 | 72 26 | +5 34 | " " "
3. Western | 176 19 | 356 19 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 26 | 72 27 | +5 34 | " " "
4. Western | 176 19 | 356 19 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 26 | 72 26 | +5 34 | " " "
5. Western | 176 19 | -------- | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 27 | 72 28 | +5 34 | " " 2 p.m.
6. Western | 176 20 | 356 20 | ------- | " " "
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
St. Elias | 252 28 | -------- | ------- | " " 4.30
7. Western | 176 21 | -------- | ------- | " " p.m.
base | | | |
------------+----------+----------+---------+-----------------------
{234} From these observations the following angles between the base
line and the line of sight to the summit of Mount St. Elias are
obtained. The correction for error of vertical circle has been applied
to the angles of elevation.
_Resulting Angles_.
--------------------------------------+
| WESTERN BASE. |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | | Corrected |
| Right | Left | Vertical |
| vernier. | vernier. | angle. |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
1 | 98° 31' | 98° 32' | +5° 43' |
2 | 98 32 | 98 30 | +5 43 |
3 | 98 29 | 98 29 | +5 43 |
4 | 98 29 | 98 28 | +5 43 |
5 | 98 29 | 98 27 | +5 43 |
6 | 98 30 | 98 30 | +5 43 |
7 | 98 30 | --------- | +5 43 |
8 | 98 25 | 98 27 | +5 43 |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 98 29 22 | 98 29 00 | |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Mean 98° 29' 12" +5° 43' |
--------------------------------------+
| EASTERN BASE. |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | | Corrected |
| Right | Left | Vertical |
| vernier. | vernier. | angle. |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
1 | 76° 7' | 76° 8' | +5° 37' |
2 | 76 7 | 76 7 | +5 37 |
3 | 76 6 | 76 7 | +5 37 |
4 | 76 7 | 76 8 | +5 37 |
5 | 76 7 | --------- | +5 37 |
6 | 76 7 | 76 8 | +5 37 |
7 | 76 7 | | |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 76 6 51 | 76 7 36 | |
--+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Mean 76° 7' 10" +5° 37' |
--------------------------------------+
The known elements of the triangle from which the distance of St.
Elias from the ends of the base line may be determined are:
[Illustration: Distance triangle.]
These data were sent from the field to the Secretary of the National
Geographic Society, and, in connection with other measurements made at
the same time, have been computed by {235} Mr. S. S. Gannett, of the
United States Geological Survey. The results of the computation, so
far as they relate to Mount St. Elias, are given below:
_Computation of the Height of Mount St. Elias_.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
_Station_. _Angle_. 16,876 _ft. log._
Dist. E. base--W. base = 4.227270
St. Elias 5° 23' 38" A. C. log. sine = 1.026862
Western base 98 29 12 log. sine = 9.995218
Eastern base 76 07 10 log. sine = 9.987129
---------- --------
St. Elias--W. base = 5.241261
St. Elias--E. base = 5.249350
-------------------------------------------------------------------
_log. feet_. _log. miles_. _miles_.
Log. distance: St. Elias--W. base = 5.241261 1.518627 33.01
Log. tan angle of elevation 5° 43' = 9.000465
--------
17447 ft. 4.241726
Curvature and refraction = +623
Western base above sea = +10 Correction for curvature and
----- refraction in feet = 4/7 sq.
St. Elias above sea = 18080 ft. of dist. in miles.
log. distance miles = 1.51863
1.51863
log. 4 = 0.60206
A. C. log. 7 = 9.15490
-------
log. 623 ft. = 2.79422
-------------------------------------------------------------------
_log. feet_. _log. miles_. _miles_.
Log. distance: St. Elias--E. base = 5.249350 1.526716 33.63
Log. tan 5° 37' 8.992750 1.526716
-------- 0.602060
17462 = 4.242100 9.154902
Curvature and refraction = +646 --------
E. base above sea = +10 log. 646 ft. = 2.810394
-----
St. Elias above sea = 18118 ft.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mean elevation above sea level = 18099 ft.;
or in round numbers 18,100 ft.
Mr. A. Lindenkohl, of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Mr.
S. S. Gannett have each computed the geographic position of Mount St.
Elias, using the azimuth and angle of elevation of the mountain
obtained by the U. S. Coast Survey at Port Mulgrave in 1874,[3] and
the elevation given above. From {236} these data the approximate
position of Mount St. Elias was found to be:
Lat., 60° 17' 51" N.
Long., 140° 55' 30" W.
[Footnote 3: Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Survey
for 1875, Appendix 10, pp. 157-188.]
The computation by which these results were obtained is given below:
_Computation of Geographic Position of Mount St. Elias_.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Azimuth: Port Mulgrave to Mount St. Elias = 142° 17' 17"
Diff. azimuth -59 55
+ 180° +180°
-------------
Azimuth: Mount St. Elias to Port Mulgrave = 321° 17' 22"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
_Latitude_. _Longitude_.
59° 33' 42" = Port Mulgrave 139° 46' 16"
+44 09 = Diff. lat. +1 09 14 = Diff. long.
---------- -----------
60° 17' 51" = Mount St. Elias 140° 55' 30"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Term. 2d Term.
_Log. meters_.
Log. K = (Dist., Mulgrave-St. Elias) = 5.0183184 K^2 = 0.0366
Log. cosine azimuth, Z, 142° 17' 17" = 9.8982292 Sine^2 Z = 9.5731
Log. B = 8.5093902 Log. C = 1.6335
--------- ------
Log. 2666".5 = 3.4259378 Log. 17".6 = 1.2432
1st term = + 2666".5
2nd term = - 17 .6
-------
Difference lat. = 2648".9
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Log. K = 5.0183184
Log. sine azimuth = 9.7865328
Log. A[4] = 8.5086148
Arithmetical complement 60° 17' 51" = 0.3049593
---------
Log. diff. in longitude 4153".6 = 3.6184253
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Log. diff. long. = 3.61843
Log. sine mean latitude 59° 55' 46" = 9.93722
-------
Log. diff. azimuth--3595" = 3.55565
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[Footnote 4: _A_, _B_ and _C_ are terms depending on the size and
figure of the earth and the latitude of the place.]
{237} The geographic position of Mount St. Elias is of popular
interest in connection with the boundaries of Alaska.
In the convention between Great Britain and Russia,[5] wherein the
boundaries of Alaska are supposed to be defined, it is stated that the
boundary, beginning at the south, after leaving Portland channel,
shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the
coast as far as the 141st meridian, and from there northward the said
meridian shall be the boundary to the Arctic ocean. Whenever the
summit of the mountains between Portland channel and the 141st
meridian "shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine
leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions and
the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, above mentioned, shall
be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the coast and which
shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom."
[Footnote 5: Message from the President of the United States,
transmitting Report on the boundary line between Alaska and British
Columbia. 50th Congress, 2d session, Ex. Doc. No. 146, Senate, 1889.]
As Mount St. Elias is approximately in longitude 140° 55' 30" west
from Greenwich, as already shown, it is therefore only 4' and 30" of
longitude or 2½ statute miles east of the boundary of the main portion
of Alaska. Its distance from the nearest point on the coast is 33
statute miles. There is no coast range in southeastern Alaska parallel
with the coast within the limits specified by the treaty, and the
boundary must therefore be considered as a line parallel with the
coast and ten marine leagues, or 34½ statute miles, inland. The
mountain is thus one and one-half miles south of the boundary and
within the territory of the United States. Its position is so near the
junction of the boundary separating southeastern Alaska from the
Northwest Territory with the 141st meridian that it is practically a
corner monument of our national domain.
{238}
THE HEART OF AFRICA.
BY E. C. HORE.
(_Abstracts of two Lectures presented before the Society March 6 and
March 13, 1891_.)
I.
The subject of Africa and its people has recently become a most
interesting and popular one. We are but now beginning to realize the
size and importance of Africa, as we are reminded that it contains
nearly one-fourth part of the land area of the world; that it has
mountains at least 1,000 feet higher than the most lofty American
peaks; that the known extent of the Nile and the Congo now make them
the rivals of the Yang-tse-Kiang and the Mississippi as the longest
rivers in the world; that its central regions, instead of the great
desert blank so long shown on our maps, is a rich and beautiful
elevated region, having upon its heights a splendid collection of
fresh-water lakes or inland seas, fertilizing by their outflowing
streams the whole continent; and that it is known to contain over
250,000,000 people, or about one-seventh part of the world's
population. It is called the "dark continent:" rather should it be
called the "new world," in which our interest and
responsibility--political, commercial and social--is rapidly growing.
For purposes of general description, there are three great divisions
of the African continent and its peoples and affairs:
_The northern division_, stamped and characterized--men, manners and
things--by the orientalism of its conquering settlers, so intimately
blended by blood, religion and character with the natives as to have
become essentially African, its original peoples so thoroughly
influenced by the incoming foreigners as to be now essentially
oriental;
_The southern division_, overrun in more modern times by foreigners of
other races, and having its own peculiar civilization and
characteristics due to that influx; and
{239} _Central Africa_, including all that portion of the continent
lying between, say, the Albert Nyanza and the river Zambesi, and
Zanzibar and the Congo mouth, and which, although no part now remains
of it that is not nominally the territory either of the Congo Free
state or some European power, is still almost entirely in the
possession and occupation of its lawful owners, the native uncivilized
tribes.
As well as this transverse political division of Africa, we may make
what may be called a concentric analysis. Commencing with the outer
_skin_, the 16,000 miles of African coast, we find upon it certain
excrescences, which, if our examination went but skin-deep, might well
lead us to regard Africa not as a "new," but as an "old, old" world.
On the north and east the remains of ancient civilizations, Morocco,
Tangier, Egypt, remind us of Africa's bygone grandeur--remind us how
very much of forms of beauty and secrets of science and art came to us
in the birth of civilized Europe from or through Africa. On the south
and west again, memorials of Phoenician, of Portuguese, of Dutch,
English and American conquering visitors and adventurers remind us of
the constant preying of the nations on the dark continent--remind us,
through certain prison castles still to be seen on the western coast,
of the great world's crime, the slave trade. But on the outer surface
of Africa other signs are to be read: North, south, east and west
there are ports and roadsteads forested with the masts of the world's
shipping conveying to Africa's every shore those products of the
civilized world which, according to their nature for good or harm, are
to influence and civilize the Africans; carrying away from her shore
the land's products--a constant stream, increasing perhaps just now,
but which has always been flowing--of wool, cotton, oil, rich spices,
dyes and medicinal and ornamental woods, india-rubber, gum-copal,
ivory, precious stones, gold. Are these the products of a desert land
inhabited only by a lazy and savage people?
Following our concentric analysis, the first layer behind the outer
skin of Africa may be said to consist of a verdant slope, broad and
luxuriant in the tropics, where nature herself has been lavish,
narrower, but still ever widening, in the drier north and south, as
the oriental and the European respectively advance their groves of
fruit and fields of corn, maintained in luxuriance alike by the vapors
of the sea and the down drainage from the higher lands, and from the
same causes also malarious and {240} unhealthy. In another sense, too,
this outer belt is both rich and unhappy. Into it come those men and
things representing "civilization" from afar. To it, from the
interior, gravitate those of the natives who are influenced by contact
with those men and things, deprived to a great extent of the old
uncivilized condition and its innocencies and partially imbued with
what of civilization has come to them. Mankind, too, in this outer
belt is often only too rank and unhealthy in his character. It is
truly "darkest Africa;" for, first, the slave trade and then the rum
bottle have in many parts been the preponderating representatives to
them of outer civilization.
The next layer is a step or terrace of flat sandy semi-arid country,
narrow in the tropics, widening toward each extreme, until it bulges
out in the north into the Sahara desert, in the south into the
Kalahari, some parts always bare and sandy or covered with a sparkling
saline or alkaline deposit, some parts forming broad savannas or
prairies, bearing rich grasses in the rains, burnt bare in the dry
season; others covered with thickets of thorns or stunted and crippled
trees under the same variations of seasons. This is the land of the
ostrich and the pelican, the scene of vast prairie fires or whirling
dust spouts; it is the land also of the nomad man. Across the Sahara
the wandering Arab leads his camels from oasis to oasis; amid the
wastes of the Kalahari the homeless Bushman finds a congenial hunting
territory; in the narrow, tropical parts such semi-nomads as the
Somali, the Wamasai, and the Wagogo lead their cattle from place to
place, as the grass and water serve them with the seasons.
This terrace or flat sandy belt being crossed, we come to the true
central region of Africa, a long irregular oval-shaped elevation of
mountain masses, spreading out in many places as vast plateaus and
forming altogether that mysterious elevated region reported from time
to time by old investigators as well as compilers of native reports as
the Mountains of the Moon. In the crevices of this central mass, in
rocky basins, in fathomless chasms, in vast depressions of the
plateaus, lie those great natural rainwater tanks known as the central
African lakes. On and around it are the richest and most beautiful and
healthful countries. Spreading over it and around its beautiful waters
are the most intelligent and industrious of the native African tribes,
their native industry and enterprise yet almost undisturbed by the
{241} busy excitement of civilization. Hence there may fairly be drawn
something like a sample of the real African native character and
condition. They live in families; among them the family tie and the
rights of property are regarded; conscience pronounces criminal and
offensive the same irregularities as are so regarded among civilized
peoples; in stature and physical condition they come up to the best
standards. I argue that the life and condition which presents this
state of things after isolation for thousands of years from all we
call civilized can scarcely be called evil or degraded.
Among these people, both pastoral and agricultural, are to be found in
progress the germs at least of all the useful arts--the procuring and
working of both iron and copper, pottery-making, the spinning and
weaving of cotton cloth, the very beautiful development of plaiting of
all kinds of vegetal fibers into string, rope, mats, baskets and
cloth; and where valuable materials and products are naturally
confined to particular localities, as is the case sometimes with oil,
salt, etc., it is manufactured and distributed. Too often are people
described as lacking in industry who are not the same as ourselves;
but it seems to me ridiculous that a man should be called lazy because
he has ample leisure between his busy times, who has made with his own
hands, from nature's absolutely raw material, his house, his axe and
hoe and spear, his clothing and ornaments, his furniture, his corn
mill, all things that he has, and who, though liable often in a
lifetime to have to repeat that whole process over again, has the
energy and enterprise to commence afresh. Too often have the same
people been called savage and bloodthirsty who, through all experience
and by all their traditions getting naturally to regard unintroduced
armed strangers as enemies, have the same desperate energy to defend
themselves and their own which, as displayed by our own ancestral
relatives, we love to term patriotism and courage.
In a fairly central position on this great central elevation is the
elongated basin surrounded by a mountain rim in the bottom of which,
in a long chasm, lies Lake Tanganyika, in a position alike so central
and so unique that I have termed it the Heart of Africa. Inside the
mountain basin rim, the rainfall all converges into Tanganyika;
outside, it all flows to the outer shores of the continent by the
Nile, the Congo or the Zambesi. Fifteen years ago the waters of Lake
Tanganyika, having very slowly {242} gained upon the evaporation (the
then only means of carrying off its surplus) attained to the height of
the lowest gap in its rim and commenced to flow out, and thence its
surplus water ever since has found an exit and now forms part of the
Congo system. Tanganyika is 400 miles long and from 15 to 50 miles in
width, and is 2,700 feet above the sea.
To leave, however, this very rough general description of Africa at
this point would convey a wrong idea. We have described the verdant
slope from the coast, the terrace of flatter country, the central
elevation and its heart; now we may imagine a series of great ridges
and furrows and other radial features diverging from the heart of
Africa to its very shores, besides certain isolated ridges and peaks,
some of them snow-clad, and certain isolated depressions forming lakes
or swamps; first the three great furrows of the Nile, Zambesi and
Congo and the three great ridges formed by their dividing water-sheds,
and so on through fan-like expansions of rim or ridges and furrows
until the previously described concentric formation, although still
there, is considerably cut up.
The great central mountain mass, buttressed by its far-stretching
ridges, forms _the backbone_, from which, outward and downward, in
intricate articulations, extends the complicated _bony skeleton_ of
Africa.
Set like sparkling jewels in its crevices and depressions, the great
lakes send forth the streams which, flowing through gaps in their
surrounding mountain barriers, rushing through narrow channels, oozing
slowly through elevated flats or bounding in beautiful cascades over
steep steps, and carrying the vitalizing fluid in every direction
through the length and breadth of Africa, form _its system of
circulation_.
Bordering the great lakes and clustering on the slopes, forests of
gigantic trees form the _flesh and muscle_ of this great creation;
preserved in perpetual verdure wherever water constantly remains and
in long extending lines and network fringing the ever-winding banks of
the streams, and finally joining with the verdant belt of the
sea-coast to form the brilliant _epidermis_ of the whole, and forming
background and filling to the network of these prominent features, in
broad concentric curves and in belts and patches, the more stunted
thorny growth, long grass, broad savanna and sandy plain, ever
changing in color and aspect.
The great new and beautiful world of Africa lies open before {243} us;
250,000,000 intelligent and courageous people have become exposed to
the influence, for good or evil, of the civilized races. What shall we
do with it and them? Quite possible is it fairly and honestly so to
explore and deal with both country and people as to develop its
resources and benefit them, while adding to the world's treasury of
comfort-bringing products and human brotherhood the riches and the
friendship of a new continent; but it must be by peaceful and just
measures and by honest trade with wholesome wares.
II.
As a practical way of leading you in imagination to the heart of
Africa, and as indicating the circumstances and experience upon which
my observations on Africa are based, I shall describe one of my many
journeys.
In the year 1882 I had the honor to be leader of the largest European
expedition that has yet entered Africa, having in it, for instance,
200 more men than the Emin Pasha relief expedition. There were ten
Europeans, all told, who represented survey and navigation, medicine,
carpentry, blacksmithing, and other specially selected talent for the
purpose of exploration and civilization, as well as those specially
devoted to the teaching of Christianity, which was the ultimate aim of
all. We entered Africa from the village of Saadani, on the eastern
coast, opposite Zanzibar, our destination being the shores of Lake
Tanganyika at Ujiji.
To make not only our progress sure, but work and residence at our
destination safe and possible in such a land, we had stores of
groceries, medicines, tools and clothing, and a large quantity of
calico and other cloth, which forms the currency of the country, for
the purchase of supplies and payment of wages to porters, servants and
workmen.
The special locality to be worked being the countries surrounding Lake
Tanganyika, to which that extensive and beautiful inland sea gives
access, we carried with us also, for its navigation, a sailing boat
built of steel, of the form of a sea-going life-boat, and constructed
in small sections and pieces for transport. This boat I designed
myself. Six of the sections were to travel on {244} specially
constructed light carts, drawn by African natives, and the rest, in
small pieces, were to be carried by the porters in the ordinary way.
The mode of travel was walking, except when now and then an invalid
was carried in a hammock. The method of transport was by means of
native porters, hundreds of whom devote themselves to this work. They
are paid $5 per month as wages, payable at Zanzibar on their return to
the coast, less such advance in kind as they may draw from their
leader along the road. In addition, they get a regular allowance of
two yards of white calico per seven days, each man, as barter with
which to obtain food.
The organization and start of such a party took some time, and parties
of from 100 to 300 were dispatched along the road as things were
ready, until, when I started with the final rear guard, we had on the
road over 900 of these porters, with their headmen and petty officers,
all under complete organization.
The first start of the boat-section carts was the scene of apparent
disaster. The men, wild with excitement and uniting their shouts with
those of onlookers, were beyond all restraint for the moment, and as
they rounded a sharp turn to get out of the village of Saadani, over
went the carts, one after the other, on their sides; and it was some
time before I could train the men to steer more carefully or to move
gently down a declivity. In time, however, the whole thing worked
well. The fore compartment of the boat, going stem first, often forced
its own way through masses of brush and creeper, helping to clear the
way for the narrower sections, whose carts insinuated themselves
through surprisingly small gaps. The men themselves were most zealous
in the service, and as we emerged from lengthy stretches of jungle,
ascended steep river banks, or jolted whole days over rugged stony
places unharmed, we made up our minds that, these carts would "go
anywhere." In twenty days we reached Upwapwa, 200 miles from the
coast, and joined an advance party awaiting us; and after a few days
rest and reorganization, we started once more westward.
The first village beyond, in the country of Ugogo, was thirty miles
off. The first day was a comparatively easy march to a watering place,
but the next two days gave us tough work. The thick, tangled, thorny
scrub became quite dense, and for those two days we had to cut our way
through it foot by foot. Hour {245} after hour the twang of the
sword-bayonets and the thud of the axes were almost the only sounds to
be heard till the train of carts moved slowly on as the way was
opened. Toward evening of the second day we followed a narrow pass
along the side of a rocky river bed, stout, inflexible trunks and
branches here projecting into our path. On some of these ebony bars
the axes resounded as on an anvil, and they yielded only to the more
patient saw. As the sun descended we began to flag, but help was at
hand; for a party coming back to us from the camp ahead with food and
water, we picked up strength and spirit and reached camp late in the
evening.
The level plains of Ugogo, which here represent the flat, open step or
terrace to which I have referred in the general description of Africa,
enabled us to make a week or so of splendid and comfortable marches.
Ugogo passed, there lay before us the much-dreaded wilderness,
so-called, of the Magunda-Mkali, separated from Ugogo by a steep,
rocky ascent, which we could only tackle one cart at a time, and we
soon came to a point so rugged with broken rocks that we could proceed
no further; but the sections were unlashed, the carts taken to pieces,
and all handed or dragged across the difficult place and put together
again beyond. Over the scrubby, rugged hill and dale of Magunda-Mkali,
without inhabitants, 20 to 25 miles a day was often made; every man
knew the necessity of pushing on for food and water, and the danger,
from wild beasts or wandering highwaymen, of lagging in the rear.
On, on, went the novel train, through weary miles of forest, across
the scorched plain, rattling over the hard sun-baked footprints of the
elephant and rhinoceros; on through grassy glades where the nimble
antelope bounded, scared out of our path, and the zebra and giraffe
were startled by the rattling of these strange disturbers of their
solitude; on still, through miles of swamp, with its croaking legions;
on through scenes of surpassing beauty, bright flowers and gleaming
birds and butterflies; on past the bleaching bones of other travelers
waylaid or exhausted, till the sun creeps up high overhead and eager
glances are cast at green spots where water once had been; on, till
the pace grows slow with weariness and thirst, and still on, till it
revives again as the welcome messenger from the front appears in sight
with water or the camp-fires tell of food and rest.
Completing this difficult section of the journey and mounting {246} to
the beautiful forests and numerous villages of Unyamwesi, we had
arrived upon the central heights of the continent, which everything
around us bespoke its best part; the clearer, more healthy air, the
rich land, the open forests, the numerous and industrious people, all
spoke eloquently of a better and brighter state of things in the
interior of Africa than on its outside.
At Urambo we elicited the pleased surprise of our friend, the famous
chief Mirambo. Said Mirambo, laying his hand emphatically on one of
the boat sections, "This boat and these carts are mine, and all
Unyamwesi is yours." It was his way of expressing sympathy and
admiration of what he considered to be a very wonderful enterprise,
and we left him pondering more deeply than ever on the doings of the
"white men."
The rains were now at hand and the country rich and verdant; we
hastened on with all speed possible to enable us to cross the
Malagarasi river before it should be too swollen. Emerging from
elevated forest land to a view of the valley of the river, it appears
like a vast level expanse of harmless grass, but the swift river is
flowing in the bottom. The toll required by the natives being paid, we
descended to the river through the thick grass. We crossed the river
in tiny dug-out or bark canoes managed by the natives. One old man, a
leader among these ferrymen, we had especial cause to notice; we
called him "the old admiral." He wore a curious skull cap apparently
made of bladder, and presented a most odd appearance. To him we paid a
special fee of propitiation for the boatmen. As we proceeded down
toward the river the first sign of it among the long grass was quiet
shallow water on the path; this grew deeper and deeper as we walked on
until we were immersed to the armpits, the grass rising avenue-like
overhead. We emerged upon a small island or rising ground, and the
river proper was before us. On this little eminence stood "the old
admiral" superintending all. The porters and their ordinary loads all
crossed in the usual way, two or three at a time in the little canoes.
The two large carts, with the bow and stern compartments of the boats,
were floated along the watery avenue by the buoyancy of their
tank-like loads; the others came, sections and carts, separately. The
fare for each load was one yard of calico, but when the carts appeared
there was general astonishment among the ferrymen, who showed signs of
clearing off altogether; "the old admiral" alone was unmoved; his
stolid countenance showed no sign, but a deep bass growl, {247} "Eight
yards, eight yards for these!" expressed at once his nonchalance and
his determination; and eight yards we had to pay. All was safely got
over in a day. Two of the bark canoes were lashed together with poles
across, and one section or one cart at a time laid on top, and thus
all was carried across.
Obstacles which further back would have been regarded as great
hindrances were now made little of; success seemed assured to all, and
the men even began to rehearse their triumphal entry into Ujiji. One
more difficult river, the Lusugi, we had to cross. We reached its
banks, down a rocky descent, late one night in a heavy fall of rain.
We waited an hour or two next morning till the river had somewhat
subsided, and then commenced work. Two or three volunteers swam across
with a stout rope, which was then hauled tight across the stream. The
porters, holding this rope in one hand, slowly but surely made their
way across. Then the carts and sections were attached to a block
running on the rope, and so, carefully attended by two or three men,
were floated over in safety.
Ujiji was now only a few marches ahead. The view of the lake was
caught at last, a narrow strip of its waters gleaming in the sun in
the distance, and next morning we slowly marched into Ujiji in a
compact body. The boat was duly launched and has now been for years at
work on Lake Tanganyika in the cause of civilization and Christianity.
The _completion_ of this journey, however, was but the _commencement_
of a still larger enterprise in the region reached. Stations were
established among the tribes on the lake shores; a larger vessel, with
steam power, was built and launched on the lake, and a substantial
mission was established and is still at work at a point which is only
400 miles from that point on the Congo river accessible to the
steamers of the missions there.
* * * * *
All the work I have described was done at the expense of the London
Missionary Society.
{248}
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXPLORATION IN ALASKA.
(_Accepted April 3, 1891_.)
_Washington, D. C., April 3, 1891_.
TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY,
_Washington, D. C._
_Gentlemen_: Your Committee, instructed "to consider the advisability
of further Alaskan exploration by the Society this year and if deemed
advisable, to consider and report upon ways and means for
accomplishing it," respectfully submit the following report:
The general question of desirability has been decided affirmatively by
the Board of Managers; it therefore is inferred that the question of
advisability may be taken as involved in that of ways and means.
In outlining a plan of work, concerning which such inquiry is to be
made, it has been found necessary, in the lack of formulated opinion
by the Society, to make assumptions as to what should be its purpose
and policy in undertaking exploration. It is assumed tentatively that
in order best to further the object for which the Society is
organized, namely, "the increase and diffusion of geographic
knowledge," the aim in exploration should be not so much to promote
the growth of science as to diffuse a general interest in geographic
work in its several departments, and, adhering to the principle of
attractiveness, to increase the sum of knowledge by discovery and by
the addition of general and elementary facts rather than by detailed
investigation, for appreciation of which scientific training must be
presupposed. It is furthermore believed that the policy of the Society
should be to invite coöperation, offering opportunity at the same time
for special study in related sciences; to effect the organization and
devise the plan, and itself to take part directly in field work only
so far as may be necessary to initiate and promote it.
Your Committee find that apparently it will be practicable, {249} with
coöperation, for the Society to extend this year the exploration work
of last year in the vicinity of Mount St. Elias. Specifically it is
recommended that the plan be to determine directly, from a long base
line near the coast, the height of the mountain, to ascend it, to
observe systematically the unique phenomena of physical geography of
the Malaspina glacier from Icy bay to the initial point of last year's
exploration, and to explore the Seward glacier to its head if deemed
advisable after the ascent of the peak.
In view of the fact that it is the purpose of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey to carry the international boundary survey into this region
within one or two years, it is considered inexpedient for the Society
to undertake extended topographic work. It is, however, submitted, as
a principle which this Society should emphasize in projecting
exploration, that facts of physical geography have minimum value and
may lead to false conclusions unless correlated through their space
relations; and it is recommended that the expedition aim always to
employ such means as may be practicable for making record of its
course and of its observations in approximate geometric relation to
surroundings.
Conditional offers of coöperation have been made by the Revenue Marine
Service, the Geological Survey, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the
Century Company of New York. Transportation from Seattle to Alaska and
return, it is thought, may be secured on the steamer Corwin, and that
vessel's commander, Captain Hooper, has expressed a desire to extend
his coast-line exploration of last year by making a survey of
Disenchantment bay. The Geological Survey offers to detail Mr. Russell
to conduct the expedition, and to bear the expense of a number of
field hands and of their equipment. The Coast and Geodetic Survey has
expressed a desire to aid, if practicable, by beginning boundary work
in the same field this year, and incidentally to do other surveying
with special relation to the work of the expedition. The Century
Company offers to send an artist experienced in Alpine work and to pay
the greater portion of his expenses. The opportunity for study of the
fauna and flora of the region it is thought should not be neglected.
The cost to the Society, wholly in items of field expense otherwise
unprovided for, which may be considered as the cost of enabling the
combination to work as one organization, is estimated at $500.
{250} The expedition should leave Seattle in the latter part of May,
aiming to reach Icy bay by the first of June, and field work should
close by the end of September.
Your committee consider further exploration in Alaska by the Society
this year as practicable, and recommend that the proposed expedition
be authorized, and that Mr. Russell be at once invited to organize and
conduct it, under the auspices of the Society.
Very respectfully,
G. K. GILBERT,
EVERETT HAYDEN,
WILLARD D. JOHNSON,
_Committee on Exploration_.
NOTES.
_La Carte de France, dite de l'Etat Major, par M. J. Collet. Paris,
1887. 8vo, pp. 92, with 4 plates._--This pamphlet describes the great
"Staff Map" of France, recently completed, giving its history, the
methods employed in the field and office work, the contents of the
map, and the means of representing the various features therein
described. The scale of the map is 1:80,000. Relief is represented by
hachures, for drawing which approximate contour lines have been
located, but these are not otherwise used. A great variety of cultural
features are shown, many of which are ephemeral, and which contribute
to the overloading of the map with details. Moreover, as the time
which has ordinarily elapsed between the survey and the issuance of
the work in printed form is ten or twelve years, most of this culture
has become not only of no value but misleading by the time it is
published.
The account of the organization and methods by which the map has been
produced is of special interest. The primary triangulation upon which
it is based is one of the most elaborate and accurate ever executed in
any country. No expense has been spared in this direction. Within this
triangulation is a secondary triangulation, also very elaborate, from
the stations of which numerous additional points are cut in, or
located by unclosed triangles. All this work is of the highest order
of excellence, being infinitely more accurate than the map requires.
{251} With this, however, the accuracy appears to end. The detail
consists of the map, or the map proper, little more than a compilation
of commune cadastral plans. These were fitted to the triangulation
points and to one another, a process which appears to have been by no
means easy of satisfactory accomplishment. This adjustment having been
completed, the culture was brought up to date of survey and a survey
was made of the relief features by the use of such inferior
instruments as the clinometer compass and chain.
The principal and obvious criticism upon such work is that it is
top-heavy. The triangulation is far more elaborate than is required,
while the provision for making the map itself is by no means
comparable with it: it is as far below the requirements of the scale
as the triangulation is above it.
This leads up to a broader proposition, which may be stated thus: That
the general tendency of surveying organizations is in the direction
illustrated by that of the "French Staff." Organized originally for
map-making, they progress little by little in the direction of
devoting their energies to geodetic work, while at the same time the
topographic work proper, for which they were created, is belittled and
neglected. As a consequence the latter depreciates in quality and
diminishes in quantity; the main purpose of the organization is lost,
and a mere means becomes the ultimate end of the work. This tendency
should be recognized in map-making organizations. The weakness of our
modern maps is seldom in the primary control. It is easy to do
triangulation of sufficient accuracy for the control of maps upon such
scales as that above considered, little knowledge or experience being
required beyond that gained at our engineering schools; while the more
accurate triangulation, generally known as geodetic work, requires
merely better instruments, more time, and more experienced observers.
The weak features of maps are generally the details, the part of the
work that, strange to say, is usually relegated to the lowest grade of
professional men. This weakness consists in an insufficiency of minor
locations for the control of the sketch and in unfaithful sketching.
It is the sketching that requires the most careful attention and the
best and most experienced men. The instrumental portion of the work is
the least difficult; the artistic portion, or sketching, is the most
difficult. It would seem more logical and would doubtless produce
better results to reverse the {252} usual order of promotion and place
the topographer above the triangulator. Moreover, the triangulation
should be regarded as merely a means for the correction of the
sketching, and it should be required only that it be of sufficiently
high grade to meet this condition. The minor locations should be
sufficiently numerous and well distributed to fully control and
correct the sketching; and finally the sketching should be as faithful
a representation of the topography as is consistent with the necessary
generalization of the surface features.
H. G.
* * * * *
_Polar Regions_.--The _Societe de Geographie_ of Paris in its
Proceedings publishes the following communication from M. Ch. Rabot on
the new Danish expedition engaged in the exploration of the eastern
coast of Greenland, under the command of Lieutenant Ryder, of the
royal Danish navy. The expedition has in view the examination of the
unknown coast between Franz-Josef fiord, in latitude 73°, and the most
northerly point reached by Commander Holm and Lieutenant Garde, about
latitude 66°. Lieutenant Ryder left Copenhagen June 7, 1891, in the
Norwegian whaler _Hekla_, which had been chartered by the Danish
government. The first ice was met on the 20th, in latitude 68° 12',
longitude 13° 05' west. Unable to pass through the pack to the
Greenland shore after several attempts, the ship proceeded northward,
and in the vicinity of Jan Mayen made soundings and successful
dredgings. Several attempts to reach the coast of Greenland were made
from the 75th parallel southward, but without success up to July 2,
when the _Hekla_ was in latitude 71° 31', longitude 6° 30' west. Since
that date there has been no direct news, but on July 26, in latitude
72° 40', longitude 14° 25' west, the English whaler _Active_ saw the
_Hekla_ a few miles to the northeast, heading to the south-southwest.
On August 2 the _Active_, in latitude 71° 40', approached within 12
miles of the coast, and on August 20, in 70° 30', was within 7 miles
of the mainland. In both instances the intervening sea was free of
ice. The English captain believes that the _Hekla_ made the eastern
coast in about 71° 30'. The _Hekla_ is provisioned for the winter, and
there is a prospect of marked success by the Danish officers in their
undertaking.
* * * * *
{253} _The Crossing of Tibet_.--The explorations of Mr. Rockhill in
Tibet and his renewed attempt to reach Lassa, the "holy city" of that
country, creates an unusual interest for Americans in the account of
the crossing of Tibet by M. G. Bonvalot, Prince Henri d'Orleans, and
P. Dedeken, published in the last Bulletin of the Paris Geographical
Society.
Six days' journey from Moscow brought the party through Russia and
Turkestan to Kouldja (45° N., 41° W.), in extreme western Mongolia.
Having obtained authority from the Chinese governor of the province to
proceed, the party, aggregating 15 in number, left that place
September 12, 1889, with Batang, China, as an objective point. On
October 5, after a journey of about 450 miles, during which they
crossed the Thian-chan ("heavenly") mountains by Narat pass, they
camped at Korla, near Bagratch-koul. Here they were warned that they
could proceed no farther, and the governor of Ili sent an order to
arrest them. The mandarin and other local authorities did not,
however, actively oppose their departure, which took place during the
night of October 10, the party then consisting of 20 horsemen and 40
pack-animals. On October 28 they reached Kara-douran, the western end
of Lob-nor. A side trip by d'Orleans and Dedeken to Lob-nor proved it
to be no longer a lake but a series of swamps and sandy islands, with
the water nowhere more than four feet deep. Meantime Bonavolot
accumulated supplies and replaced from the hardy Mongols the more
timid among their camp-followers, the party being reduced to seven,
with a few extra men for a short distance.
Quitting Tcharkalik on November 17, they followed the route taken by
Carey; but on the advice of the natives they resolved after crossing
the Altyn-tagh to go directly southward instead of turning eastward,
and thus to attempt a new route, on which they were beset by the usual
physical discomforts attendant on travel at great elevations. On these
mountain ranges they saw only wild sheep, blue hares, wild horses,
crows and partridges. On December 5, just south of a large salt lake
(Ouzoun-tchour), they, saw a caravan of Kalmouk pilgrims returning
from Lassa by an unknown route, which they refused to make known, and
decided to temporarily abandon their idea of reaching Batang and
instead to go direct to Lassa by retracing the caravan trail. From
this point (about 38° 30' N. and 87° 30' W.) they proceeded directly
southward. The region penetrated was unknown, the winds {254} violent
the entire day, the desert treeless and without water, the route lined
with the carcasses of camels and their drivers, the only fuel the dung
of wandering yaks or caravan camels, and the trail so indistinct that
at times they marched by compass. The elevation gradually and steadily
increased to 15,000 and even 16,500 feet; the mountain fever became
worse, the storms more violent and continuous, and the temperature
ranged from 7° (-14° C.), with wind, at midday to 30° below zero
(-33° C.) at night. One by one their horses and camels died, and also
an old Kirgese who followed them. Extensive glaciers were passed, from
which flow on the one side the Salouen and Mekong into Indian ocean,
and on the other the Yang-tse to China sea. On January 8, 1890, they
skirted a large unfrozen lake named Montcalm, 50 miles long by 12
miles wide, and on January 14 traversed Duplex pass, 20,000 feet
elevation. On the 31st they finally ran across a man, a wild Tibetan,
small, thin, with enormous lips, long knotted hair, clothed in
sheepskin and armed with a saber and flint-lock gun, whom they called
"appa" (father); he knew neither Chinese nor Mogul, but spoke Tibetan
of which the travelers knew scarcely a dozen words. Other Tibetans,
with flocks of sheep, soon appeared and sold them mutton, a little
salt, and rancid butter, and then followed on horseback for fifteen
days without losing sight of the explorers. Often they were counseled
in Mogul by those in authority to turn back.
In the middle of February they reached lake Nam-tso ("heaven"), or
Tengri-nor, a large frozen body of water. Out of 40 camels only 15
remained, and, of 20 horses but one survived; three of the party of
seven were in desperate state of health, while all were worn out and
almost without provisions. They were finally obliged to stop in a
mountain pass of the Nindjin-tangla, which led directly to Lassa, then
not more than sixty miles distant. On February 17 the Tibetan
authorities sent a large party to meet them and ask their intentions.
Mistaken for Russians, it took 13 days to convince the authorities
that they were French. They received presents from the authorities and
obtained costumes from Lassa, but found it impossible to visit the
"holy city." After 49 days of negotiation, on April 5, provided with
arms, provisions and horses, and also a safe permit from the Talia
lama to cross Tibet to Batang by an unknown route, they started
eastward, on a course nearly {255} parallel to and north of Salouen
river, reaching Sô and once again seeing houses on April 15. They
arrived at Batang early in June, their route some distance west of it
having joined the Imperial highway from Pekin to Lassa over which
l'Abbe Huc travelled. From Tatsien-lou, where the French Tibetan
mission is located, their route turned southward to Red river, which
was reached, at Manhoau, on September 21, when their journey
practically ended, as Hanoai was reached two days later.
An excellent map of the itinerary, by Prince Henri, accompanies the
article.
A. W. G.
* * * * *
_Third Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United
States to the Interstate Commerce Commission, for the year ending
June 30, 1890_: Washington, Government Printing Office, 1891 (advance
copy, pp. 1-100).--This pamphlet, by Professor Henry C. Adams, is
issued in advance of the full report, which is promised to comprise
about 875 pages. It contains a summary, digest and discussion of the
full report.
It appears that the total railroad mileage on June 30, 1890, was
163,597, an increase of 5,838 miles during the year. The increase came
mainly from southeastern and western states. This mileage was owned by
1,797 distinct corporate bodies, but entirely controlled in one way or
another by only 747 companies. To illustrate the extent to which
consolidation of railroad property has gone, it may be stated that
47.5 per cent of all railroad mileage is controlled by but forty
companies, and that 65.4 per cent is controlled by seventy-five
companies. The greatest mileage controlled by one company is 6,053,
operated by the Southern Pacific company.
The total capital and bonded debt of railroad companies was
$9,871,378,389, or $60,340 per mile. Stock and bonds were about equal
in amount. Mr. Adams estimates the value of railroad property by
capitalizing at 5 per cent the dividends and interest on bonds paid
during the year, reaching as a result $6,627,461,140, or about 2/3 of
the nominal capital and bonded debt. The justice of this method may
fairly be questioned. A comparison of the ruling prices of
dividend-paying stocks with the rate per cent of the dividend shows
that 5 per cent stocks are above par and that 4 per cent stocks
average nearly par. {256} Moreover, it is well known that many
railroads are built and operated, not for their own immediate earnings
but to give value to other property of the companies, notably to
lands, from the sale or lease of which the companies derive profits.
Again, many railroads are built, not for present but for future
profits, after they shall have induced settlement of their territory;
and, furthermore, numerous branch roads have been built as defensive
measures to prevent rivals from occupying territory; and in many cases
earnings are used in betterment of property instead of distributing it
as dividends. In all these cases the roads have value, although they
are not paying dividends.
Taking all these matters into account, it does not appear that the
railroad stocks of the country have, collectively, been watered to any
great extent, if by "watering" is meant expanding nominal values above
actual values.
Concerning dividends paid on stock, Mr. Adams presents a table showing
that 63.76 per cent of all stock paid no dividends; that but 6.47 per
cent paid less than 4 per cent; that 25.26 per cent paid from 4 to 8
per cent, the remainder paying above 8 per cent. It appears that in
the northeastern states much the highest dividends were paid, while in
the west, so far as dividends are concerned, the stockholders have to
wait for future developments.
The total passenger mileage for the year was 11,847,785,617, a slight
increase over the previous year. The total freight mileage was
76,207,047,298, an increase of nearly 10 per cent over that of the
previous year. The gross earnings of the year were $1,051,877,632, and
the operating expenses $692,093,971, leaving as the income from
operations $359,783,661. The income from other sources was
$126,767,064, and the total deductions from income were $384,792,138,
leaving as the net income $101,758,587, out of which there was paid as
dividends on stock $89,688,204.
The magnitude of the railway interests of the country is set forth in
the above enormous figures. It is still further emphasized by the fact
that nearly three-quarters of a million men are in the employ of this
industry. Assuming that each such employé supports two others besides
himself, it is seen that the railroad interest supports two and a
quarter millions, or more than one thirtieth of the inhabitants of the
country.
H. G.
{257}
INDEX.
ABBE, CLEVELAND, cited on isostaths, 43
--, Record of communication by, viii
-- -- -- discussion by, viii
ABORIGINES of South America, 7
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Russian, Quotation from records of, 212
ADAMS, HENRY C., Review of report on railway operations by, 255
ADELUNG, J. C., Geographic work by, 211
--, Quotation from, on de l'Isle's map, 212, 213, 214
ADMIRALTY BAY, 56
AFRICA, Area of, 32
--, Conquest and division of, 31
--, Natural divisions of, 238
--, Population of, 238
-- (The Heart of); E. C. Hore, 238
AGASSIZ GLACIER, Ascent of, 147
-- -- named, 73
AGE of St. Elias range, 175
ALASKA (An expedition to Mount St. Elias,); I. C. Russell, 53
--, Boundaries of, 237
--, Early works concerning, 206
--, Report of committee on exploration in, 248
ALLEN, JAMES, cited on isostaths, 44
ALPENSTOCKS, Necessity for, 165
ALPINE glaciers, 176, 180
ALTON, EDMUND, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
ALVORD, H. E., Remarks by, at field meeting, x
AMAZON, Discovery of the, 11
--, Sketch of the, 4
AMENDMENT to by-laws proposed, xii
ANDES, General description of the, 1
ANEMOMETER formula devised by C. F. Marvin, 49
ANGOT, A., Reference to work of, 46
ANTIQUITIES of Peru, 8
ARCHANGELICA, Mention of, 89, 114
ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, Sketch of, 19
ASIA, Exploration in, 253
ATREVIDA, Mention of the, 63, 92, 105
AURIFEROUS sands from Yakutat bay, 196
AVALANCHES, 145, 155
BAIE DE MONTI, 56
-- named by La Pérouse, 60
BAKER, MARCUS, cited on early eclipses, 220
-- -- -- Mount St. Elias, 232
--, Explorations by, 70, 72
--, Reference to bibliography by, 58
--, Record of discussion by, viii, ix
BASE LINE, Measurement of, 86
BATES, H. W., Quotation from, on South America, 29
BEAR, Meeting with the, 94, 109
BELCHER, SIR EDWARD, Explorations by, 68, 69
BELL, A. GRAHAM, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
BELL, CHARLES J., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
BELLIN, S., Geographic work by, 207
BERING BAY, Mention of, 56
BERING'S first voyage (The cartography and observations of); A. W.
Greely, 205
-- provisions, 219
BERING, VITUS, Explorations by, 58
BERG, M., cited on thunderstorms, 44
BIEN, MORRIS, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
BIGELOW, F. H., Record of communication by, viii
BIRNIE, JR., ROGERS, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
BLACK GLACIER, Brief account of, 101, 104
BLODGETT, J. H., Record of discussion by, vii, ix
BLOSSOM ISLAND, Description of, 113, 122
BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES, Institution of the, 39
BONVALOT, G., Crossing of Tibet by, 253
BOURSIN, HENRY, Mention of, 79
BRAZIL, Revolution in, 36
--, Sketch of, 17
BROKA, GEORGE, Explorations by, 73, 74
BUACHE, PHILLIPE, Geographic work by, 208
BUCHAN, ALEX., Reference to work of, 44
BUCKLE, SIR HENRY, Quotation from, on tropical America, 29
BY-LAWS, Proposed amendment to the, xii
CAMP hands, 166
CARPENTER, Z. T., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
CARTOGRAPHY, Discussion of, 251
-- (The) and Observations of Bering's First Voyage; A. W. Greely, 205
CASCADE GLACIER named, 144
CENTURY COMPANY, Offer of coöperation by, 249
CHAIX HILLS named, 73
CHARIOT, THE, Mention of, 140
CHATHAM, Mention of, 66
CHERIKOF, ALEXEI, Explorations of, 58
CHINA, Exploration in, 253
CHRISTIE, J. H., Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 82, 83, 84, 96, 103, 112, 113, 123, 162
CLIMATE of South America, 6
CLOVER, RICHARDSON, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY, Explorations by, 70, 72
--, Offer of coöperation by, 249
COLD WAVES, Prediction of, 51
COLLETT, M. J., Review of map described by, 250
COMMERCE of South America, 17, 19, 23
COOK, CAPTAIN JAMES, Explorations of, 58
CORDILLERAS of South America, 1
CORWIN CLIFFS, Mention of, 138
CORWIN (The) in Disenchantment bay, 100
-- Return of the, 163
CREVASSES, 181, 182
-- at Pinnacle pass, 130
CROSS SOUND, visited by Vancouver's expedition, 67
CRUMBACK, J. H., Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 96, 103, 122, 125, 129, 131, 135, 137
CURTIS, W. E., Record of communication by, xi
CYCLONES, Theory of, 42
DAGELET, M., Mention of, 60
DAHLGREN, ULRICA, Presentation of flag by, viii
{258}
DALL, W. H., cited on Bering's first voyage, 205
-- -- -- -- supplies, 219
-- -- -- de l'Isle's map, 218
-- -- -- early eclipses, 219
-- -- -- Mount St. Elias, 231
--, Explorations by, 70, 72
--, Quotation from, on map by de l'Isle, 207
--, Record of discussion by, vii
--, Reference to bibliography by, 58
DALTON, JOHN, Glacier named for, 98
--, Mention of, 73
D'ANVILLE, M., cited on early eclipses, 229
DAVIS, W. M., Reference to meteorologic review by, 47
DEDEKEN, P., Crossing of Tibet by, 253
DEFINITION of formations in St. Elias region, 167
DEKALB, COURTENAY, Record of communication by, ix
DE L'ISLE, J. N., Authenticity of map by, 211, 213
--, Geographic work by, 206
--, Map by, 207
--, Quotation from, on eclipses, 220
DE MONTI BAY, Arrival at, 79
DESCUBIERTA (The), Mention of, 63
DESENGAÑO BAY, named by Malaspina, 63
DEVIL'S CLUB (_Panax horridum_), Mention of, 95, 115
DIGGES' SOUND, named by Vancouver, 68
DILLER, J. S., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
DIP at Pinnacle pass, 140
DISCOVERY (The), Mention of, 66
DISENCHANTMENT BAY, Canoe trip in, 96, 103
--, Last view of, 163
--, Mention of, 56
--, visited by Malaspina, 63, 64
DIXON, CAPTAIN GEORGE, Explorations of, 60, 62
DOBBINS, J. W., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
DOBBS, ARTHUR, Geographic work by, 210
DOME PASS named, 146
DONEY, L. S., Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 85, 158, 159, 160, 162
D'ORLEANS, PRINCE HENRI, Crossing of Tibet by, 253
DOUGLASS, E. M., Record of discussion by, xi
DOUGLASS, CAPTAIN, Explorations of, 62
DRY BAY, Mention of, 55
DU BOCAGE, BARBIC, Geographic work by, 211
--, Quotation from, on de l'Isle's map, 216
DU FOSSE, E., cited on early publications, 207
DU HALDE, PÈRE, Geographic work by, 206
--, Quotation from, on de l'Isle's map, 218
EARTHQUAKES, South American, 2
ECLIPSES, Early, observed in Kamshatka, 219, 229
EIFFEL TOWER, Use of, in meteorology, 46
EKHOLM, NILS, cited on isostaths, 43
ELDORADO, Early accounts of, 14
ELECTION of officers, xii
ESPERANZA, POINT, Mention of, 14, 85
EXPEDITION (An) to Mount St. Elias, Alaska; I. C. Russell, 53
EXPLORATION in Alaska, 248
FARENHOLT, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER O. F., of U. S. S. _Pinta_, 79
FAULTED pebble from Pinnacle pass, 171
FAULTS 83, 136
--, Thrust, in Hitchcock range, 118
FERREL, WILLIAM, cited on cyclones, 42
--, Reference to treatise by, 47
FINLEY, J. P., Reference to work of, 50
FLORAL HILLS, Brief account of, 105, 108
FLORAL PASS, Brief account of, 105, 108, 110
FORMATIONS of the St. Elias region, 167
FOSSILS at Pinnacle pass, 140
--, Description of, of Yakutat system, 172
FOSSIL PLANTS, Report on, by Lester F. Ward, 199, 200
FRANCE, Review of Staff Map of, 250
GABBRO on the Marvine glacier, 123
GALIANO, DON DIONISIO ALCALA, Mention of, 63
GALIANO GLACIER, Visit to, 89, 90
GANNETT, HENRY, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Instructions from, 194
--, Review of railway operations by, 255
-- -- -- Staff Map of France, by, 250
GANNETT, S. S., Computation of height of Mount St. Elias, by, 235
GEOGRAPHIC names, Board of, 39
GEOGRAPHY of the Air; A. W. Greely, 41
-- -- -- Land; H. G. Ogden, 31
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, Acknowledgments to, 40
--, Instructions from, 192, 193, 194
--, Offer of coöperation by, 249
GEOLOGY of the St. Elias region, 167, 174, 190, 191
GILBERT, G. K., Instructions from, 192, 193
--, Record of discussion by, vii, ix, x
--, Remarks by, at field meeting, x
--, Report on exploration by, 250
GLACIAL currents, 187
-- river, Example of, 183
-- streams, 183, 184
GLACIER BAY, Mention of, 67
GLACIERS in Disenchantment bay in 1792, 64, 65, 97
-- -- -- -- observed by Malaspina, 64, 65
-- -- -- -- -- -- Puget, 67, 68
-- of the St. Elias region, 176
-- west of Icy bay, 187
GRACE, M. P., Financial operations by, 23
GREELY, A. W., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
-- cited on Mississippi floods, 38
--; Geography of the Air, 41
--, Note by, on polar regions, 252
-- -- -- -- the crossing of Tibet, 253
--, Record of communication by, vii, viii, xi
--; The Cartography and Observations of Bering's First Voyage, 205
GUIANA, Sketch of, 13
GUIDES, Use of, in ascending St. Elias, 166
GUYOT GLACIER named, 73
HAENKE, D. TADEO, Haenke island named for, 65
HAENKE ISLAND, Condition of, when seen by Malaspina, 63, 64, 65, 97
--, Visit to, 96, 103
HANN, JULIUS, cited on cyclones, 42
HAYDEN, DR. F. V., Glacier named for, 108
HAYDEN, EVERETT, Contributions to exploration fund by, 75
--, Record of discussion by, vii, viii, ix, xi
--, Report on exploration by, 250
HAYDEN GLACIER, Brief account of, 108, 110, 111
HAYS, J. W., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
HAZEN, H. A., Reference to work of, 50
HEIGHT and position of St. Elias, 189, 190
HENDRIKSEN, REVEREND CARL J., Mention of, 80, 83
HILL, S. A., Reference to work of, 47
HILL, R. T., Record of communication by, xiii
HITCHCOCK, PROFESSOR EDWARD, Range named for, 112
HITCHCOCK RANGE, Brief account of, 112
-- from Pinnacle pass, 133
--, Structure of, 118
{259}
HOOGEWERFF, J. A., Record of communication by, viii
HOOPER, CAPTAIN C. L., Navigation of Disenchantment bay, 56, 100
--, Offer of coöperation by, 249
HORE, E. C., Record of address by, vii
--; The Heart of Africa, 238
HOSMER, E. S., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Return of, 83
--, Volunteer assistant, 76
HOTCHKISS, JED., Record of communication by, ix, x
--, Testimonial to, x
HOVEY, H. C., Record of communication by, x
--, Remarks by, at field meeting, x
HOWELL, E. E., Record of communication by, xi
HUBBARD, GARDINER G., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Glacier named for, 99
--, Presentation of flag by, viii
--, Record of presidential address by, xiii
--; South America: Annual address by the President, 1
HUBBARD GLACIER, Brief description of, 99
HUC, L'ABBÉ, Route of, 255
HUGHES, T. MCKENNEY, Record of communication by, x
ICEBERGS, Formation of, 98, 99, 101, 102
-- in Yakutat bay, Description of, 87
ICE tunnels, 184
INCAS of Peru, 8
INDIANS of South America, 7
INSTRUCTIONS from Geological Survey, 192, 193, 194
-- -- National Geographic Society, 194
IRVING, PROFESSOR R. D., Mountain named for, 144
JACKSON, SHELDON, Record of discussion by, ix
JOHNSON, J. B., Record of discussion by, xi
JOHNSON, WILLARD D., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Exploration planned by, 75
--, Record of discussion by, vii
--, Report on exploration by, 250
JUDD, J. G., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
JUNGEN, ENSIGN C. W., Mention of, 81
KAMSHATKA, Cartography of, 217
--, Early eclipses in, 219, 229
KERR, MARK B., assigned as an assistant, 75
-- cited on Mount St. Elias, 39
--, Report on topographic work by, 195
KHANTAAK ISLAND, Village on, 79, 80
KING, HARRY, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
KNAPP, HON. LYMAN E., Mention of, 79
KNIGHT ISLAND, Scenery near, 83
-- named by Puget, 68
KNOWLTON, F. H., Report on fossil plants, 199
LA BOUSSOLE, Mention of, 58
LAKE CASTANI named, 73
LAKELETS on the glaciers, 119, 120
LAKES, Abandoned beds of, near Blossom island, 116
LA PÉROUSE, J. F. S., Explorations of, 58, 60
LA PLATA river, Sketch of, 5
LASSA, recent attempt to reach, 253
L'ASTROLABE, Mention of, 58
LAURIDSEN, P., cited on early maps, 215
--, Quotation from, on de l'Isle's map, 217
LEACH, BOYNTON, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
LEVÉE systems of the Mississippi, 37
LIBBEY, PROFESSOR WILLIAM, Explorations by, 72, 73
LINDENKOHL, A., Computation of position of Mount St. Elias by, 235
LINDSLEY, W. L., Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 122, 131, 134, 135, 139, 144, 149, 150, 153, 157, 158,
164
LITTLEHALES, G. W., Record of discussion by, vii
LITUYA BAY, Mention of, 55
LOB-NOR, Character of, 253
LOGAN, SIR W. E., Mountain named for, 141
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY, Acknowledgments to, 247
LUCIA GLACIER, Brief account of, 192
-- --, Crossing of, 105, 106, 108, 109
LYNN CANAL, Mention of, 78
MALASPINA, ALEJANDRO, cited on Mount St. Elias, 231
--, Explorations of, 62, 66
MALASPINA GLACIER, Character of, 187
-- described and named, 71, 72
--, Excursion on, 120, 121, 162
-- from Blossom island, 118, 119
--, Mention of, 56
MALDONADO, Reference to, 62, 63
MAPS of Alaska, Rare, 206
-- (Staff) of France, Review of the, 250
MARVIN, C. F., Reference to work of, 48
MARVINE, A. R., Glacier named for, 112
MARVINE GLACIER, Account of, 112, 122, 124
MCCARTENEY, C. M., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
MCGEE, W J, Record of communication by, xiii
--, Record of discussion by, x, xi
MELVILLE, G. W., Record of communication by, viii
MENDENHALL, T. C., Record of discussion by, xi
METEOROLOGY, Condition of, 41
MEYER, HUGO, Reference to work of, 47
MIRAGE in Yakutat bay, 87
MISSISSIPPI RIVER, Flood of, 37
MONSOONS, Characteristics of, 47
MONGOLIA, Exploration in, 255
MOON, Mountains of the, 240
MORAINES, 195
--, Medial, on the Marvine glacier, 123
-- on the Malaspina glacier, 134
-- near Yakutat bay, 191
MOUNTAINS of South America, 1
MOUNT AUGUSTA, Avalanches on the sides of, 145
-- Elevation of, 117
MOUNT BERING, Height and condition of, 65
MOUNT COOK, Appearance of, 92
-- named, 72
--, Rocks composing, 92
MOUNT FAIRWEATHER, Height of, 69
MOUNT LOGAN named, 141
MOUNT MALASPINA, Elevation of, 117
-- named, 72
MOUNT NEWTON named, 146
MOUNT ST. ELIAS, Expedition to, 53
-- (see St. Elias, Mount).
MOUNT VANCOUVER named, 72
MUIR GLACIER, Visit to, 78, 79
MULGRAVE, LORD, Port Mulgrave named for, 60
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, Instructions from, 194
NÉVÉ fields, 180, 181, 182
NEWELL, F. H., Record of communication by, xi
{260}
NEWTON GLACIER, Ascent of, 150
NEWTON, HENRY, Mountain named for, 146
NEW YORK TIMES, Expedition of the, 72, 73
NICARAGUA CANAL, Progress of the, 37
NOLIN, J. B., Geographic work by, 211
NOMENCLATURE, Geographic, 39
NORDHOFF, CHARLES, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
NORRIS GLACIER, Mention of, 78
NUNATAK in Lucia glacier, 106
OFFICERS, Election of, xii
OGDEN, H. G.; Geography of the Land, 31
--, Record of communication by, xi
--, Record of discussion by, viii, xi
OIL stoves, Use of, 164
OREL, Mention of the, 70
ORINOCO RIVER, Sketch of, 3
ORTHOGRAPHY of geographic names, 39
ORTON, JAMES, Quotation from, on South America, 28
OTKRYTIE, Mention of the, 69
OUTFIT necessary for Alaskan expeditions, 165
PANAX HORRIDUM, 95, 115
PAMPAS, Characteristics of, 19
PANAMA CANAL project, Revival of the, 37
PAN-AMERICAN congress, Work of the, 36
-- railway route, 27
PARTRIDGE, WILLAIM, Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 158, 159, 162
PARTSCH, DR., Reference to work of, 46
PEARY, R. E., Record of communication by, viii
PERU, Incas of, 8
--, Sketch of, 22
PHIPPS, C. J., Port Mulgrave named for, 60
PIEDMONT glaciers, Characteristics of, 122, 176, 185, 186
-- --, Example of, 120, 121
-- type of glaciers, Mention of, 57
PIMPLUNA rocks, Mention of, 70, 187
PINNACLE PASS cliffs, Account of, 132, 137
-- --, Height of, 137
-- --, View from, 132
--, Description of, 130, 132
-- named, 130
PINNACLE SYSTEM, Description of rocks of, 167
-- named, 131
PINTA, Mention of the, 79, 81
PIZARRO, GONZALO, Discovery of the Amazon by, 11
PLANTS on Blossom island, 114
POINT ESPERANZA, Camp at, 82, 84, 85
POINT GLORIOUS named, 137
POINT RIOU, Mention of, 69
POLAR regions, Recent work in, 252
POMORTSEW, DR., Reference to work of, 46
POPULATION of Africa, 238
-- of South America, 6, 15
PORT MULGRAVE, 56
-- named by Dixon, 60
POWELL, J. W., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Record of communication by, viii
-- -- -- discussion by, x
-- -- -- introductory remarks by, xiii
POWELL, WILLIAM B., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
PUERTO DEL DESENGAÑO, Mention of, 56
PUGET, PETER, Explorations of, 66, 68
PYRAMID HARBOR, Mention of, 78
QUEEN CHARLOTTE, Mention of the, 60
--, Voyage on the, 78, 79
RABOT, CH., cited on polar exploration, 252
RAILROADS, South American, 25
--, Statistics of, 255
RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, Expeditions by, 14
RATIONS, 164
REPORT on sands from Yakutat bay by J. Stanley-Brown, 196
RESOLUTION relating to publication, xii
REVENUE MARINE SERVICE, Offer of coöperation by, 249
REYNOLDS, J. J., Remarks by, at field meeting, x
RIO DE LA PLATA, Sketch of, 5
RIVERS, Glacial, 183
-- of South America, 3
ROCKHILL, W. W., Reference to explorations by, 253
ROPE CLIFF named, 149
ROUTE (New), Suggested, 163, 164
RUSSELL, I. C.; An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, 53
-- cited on Mount St. Elias, 39
--, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
--, Height and Position of Mount St. Elias, 231
--, Proposed exploration by, 249
--, Record of communication by, vii, xi
-- -- -- discussion by, vii, ix
RUSSELL, THOMAS, Acknowledgments to, 62
-- cited on cyclones, 43
--, Reference to work of, 51
RUSSIAN Academy of Sciences, Quotation from records of, 212
"RUSSIAN OFFICER," Geographic work by the, 209
--, Identity of the, 222
--, Quotation from the, on de l'Isle's map, 215, 217
-- -- -- -- -- -- writings, 221
SALMON fishing, 162
SANDS, Auriferous, from Yakutat bay, 196
SAN FRANCISCO RIVER, Sketch of, 5
SANGAI, Active vulcanism of, 2
SCHWATKA, LIEUTENANT FREDERICK, Explorations by, 72, 73
SERPENTINE on the Marvine glacier, 123
SETON-KARR, H. W., Explorations of, 72, 73
SEWARD GLACIER, Crevasses on, 133, 179, 180
--, Crossing of, 142
--, Description of, 177, 178, 179
SEWARD, HON. W. H., Glacier named for, 129
SHARP, BENJAMIN, Record of communication by, xiii
SHENDUN, Field meeting at, ix, x
SIEMENS, WERNER VON, cited on air currents, 45
SITKA, Arrival at, 79
SNOW crests, Figures of, 143
-- line, Description of Alpine glaciers above, 180
-- -- -- -- -- -- below, 183
-- --, Elevation of, 92, 111
-- on mountain crests, 182
SOUNDINGS in Disenchantment bay, 56
SOUTH AMERICA: Annual address by the President; Gardiner G. Hubbard, 1
SPRUNG, A., cited on air currents, 45
STAMY, THOMAS, Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 137, 139, 144, 150, 153, 157, 158, 160
STANLEY-BROWN, J., Record of communication by, vii
--, Report on sands from Yakutat bay by, 196
{261}
ST. ELIAS, Described by La Pérouse, 59, 60
--, Discovery of, by Bering, 58
-- expedition, Review of, 39
--, First full view of, 135
-- (Height and position of Mount); I. C. Russell, 231
-- -- -- -- -- 40, 189, 190
-- -- -- -- -- determined by La Pérouse, 60
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- Tebenkof, 69
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- Malaspina, 64, 65, 66
-- range, Age of, 175
-- --, Character of peaks of, 175
-- region, Glaciers of the, 176
-- schist, Description of rocks of, 167, 173
--, Suggested new route to, 163, 164
-- uplift, 190
STEIN, ROBERT, Translations by, 59, 64, 65, 66
STEPNIAK, SERGIUS, Record of address by, viii
STRAIT OF ANNAN, 56
STRUCTURE, 174
STRUVE, CH., Acknowledgments to, 221
STRUVE, O., cited on manuscript records, 220
SWISS guides in Alaskan exploration, 166
SULPHUR, Mention of the, 69
TAKU GLACIER, Mention of, 78
TAKU INLET, Visit to, 78
TANGANYIKA, LAKE, Characteristics of, 241
TEBENKOF, CAPTAIN, Notes on Alaska by, 69, 70
TERRACE on northern shore of Yakutat bay, 82, 85
-- point, Brief account of, 106
THUNDERSTORMS, Relation of, to air-pressure, 44
THOMPSON, GILBERT, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
TIBET, Note on the crossing of, 253
TIDE-WATER glaciers defined, 101
TOPOGRAPHIC work, Report on, 195
TOPHAM, EDWIN, Explorations by, 73, 74
TOPHAM, W. H., Explorations by, 73, 74
--, Reference to map by, 177
TORNADOES, Results of, 50
TRADE, South American, 23
TRIANGULATION, Commencement of, 86
TUCKER, J. RANDOLPH, Remarks by, at field meeting, x
TUNNELS, Ice, 184
TYNDALL GLACIER named, 73
TYNDALL, J., cited on marginal crevasses, 127
VAN BEBBER, A., Reference to work of, 47
VANCOUVER, CAPTAIN GEORGE, Explorations by, 66, 68
VERATRUM VIRIDE, Mention of, 114
VOLCANOES of the Andes, 2
WARD, LESTER F., Report on fossil plants, 199, 200
WAXEL, SWEN, Quotations from, on de l'Isle's map, 223
--, Translations from letter by, 224
--, Work of, 222
WHITE, THOMAS, Member of expedition, 76
--, Work of, 158, 160
WILLIAMS, C. A., Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM, Explorations by, 73, 74
WILLIS, BAILY, Contribution to exploration fund by, 75
WILSON, H. M., Record of communication by, ix
YAKUTAT BAY, Arrival at, 79
--, Base camp on western shore of, 86, 89
--, Shores of described, 57
--, Synonomy of, 56
YAKUTAT INDIANS described by Dixon, 61
-- system, Description of rocks of, 167
-- -- named, 131
{i}
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
VOLUME III, 1891
[Illustration: National Geographic Society seal]
WASHINGTON
PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
1892
{ii}
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
1891
GARDINER G. HUBBARD, _President_
HERBERT G. OGDEN |
EVERETT HAYDEN |
A. W. GREELY | _Vice-Presidents_
C. HART MERRIAM |
HENRY GANNETT |
CHARLES J. BELL, _Treasurer_
MARCUS BAKER |
C. A. KENASTON | _Secretaries_
ROGERS BIRNIE, JR. |
G. K. GILBERT |
G. BROWN GOODE |
WILLARD D. JOHNSON |
W J MCGEE | _Managers_
T. C. MENDENHALL |
W. B. POWELL |
B. H. WARDER |
PRINTERS
JUDD & DETWEILER
WASHINGTON
ENGRAVERS
MOSS ENGRAVING CO.
NEW YORK
{iii}
_CONTENTS_.
Page.
South America: Annual Address by the President, GARDINER G.
HUBBARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Geography of the Land: Annual Report by Vice-President HERBERT G.
OGDEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Geography of the Air: Annual Report by Vice-President A. W.
GREELY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska; by ISRAEL C. RUSSELL . 53
Introduction--The Southern Coast of Alaska . . . . . . . . . 55
Part I--Previous Explorations in the St. Elias Region . . . . 58