On the Achievements of Scotsmen During the Nineteenth Century in the Fields of Geographical Exploration and Research

Scottish Geographical Magazine

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On the achievements of Scotsmen during the nineteenth century in the fields of geographical exploration and research

Arthur Silva White F.R.S.E.

To cite this article: Arthur Silva White F.R.S.E. (1889) On the achievements of Scotsmen during the nineteenth century in the fields of geographical exploration and research, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 5:10, 540-549, DOI: 10.1080/00369228908732403

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00369228908732403

Published online: 27 Feb 2008.

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fitted out with the necessary sounding apparatus, thermometers, areo- meters, zoological capturing gear, etc., not to mention accurate compasses and logging machines for the exact determination of the direction and rate of the currents. For the physical, chemical, and biological researches on shore, as well as for the working up of the observations collected at sea and on shore, there is required a special board or commission, with a laboratory and scientifically trained workers. To a country like Norway, with its extended and rich home fisheries, such an institution would be an immense benefit. It would cost much money, of course, but there is no short cut conducting to the goal. Theoretical speculations based upon chance and one-sided observations may be interesting, but do not always point in the true direction. The Barents Sea, with its fisheries, is an interesting field for investigation. Imagine what it would mean to the hard-working fishermen if the near approach to the land or the habitat of the fish could be predicted beforehand. What advantages has not the telegraph added by flashing instantaneous messages regarding the arrival of the fish, in place of the slow and inadequate means of reporting from the fishing-stations as in former days ! Why should not an investigation of the fishing-grounds, systematically planned and carried out, by means of the telegraph, in future warn the fishermen where to find and to await the migrations of the shoals of fish 1 What modern meteorology, a science scarcely thirty years old, has achieved in the way of giving warning of storms to seamen and of weather to agriculturists, is only a beginning ; but it leads one to hope that a duly organised institution for the investigation of the sea bordering our coasts, at some not very remote future, could do something like this for our fisheries. For the movements and changes in the Ocean are slow in comparison with the rapid motions and frequent fluctuations of the atmosphere.

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 ON THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCOTSMEN DURING THE NINE- TEENTH CENTURY IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. A REPORT TO THE PARIS GEOGRAPHICAL INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF 1889.

BY ARTHUR SILVA WHITE, F.R.S.E., Secretary to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. (Continued.) NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA AND POLAR REGIONS. THE achievements of Scottish explorers in America and the Polar Regions are more concentrated the further we proceed north, until in Arctic America and the North Polar Regions they stand out in remarkable prominence. For the purposes of this Report, it will, therefore, be more IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. 541

convenient to chronicle Scottish exploratory work in those regions under the one geographical division. After the brilliant discoveries in America up to nearly the close of the sixteenth century, a long period of inaction set in. In North America, particularly in the Arctic regions of the continent, this torpor was dis- pelled by the action of the British Government in offering (1746) a reward of £20,000 for the discovery of the North-West Passage—in the attempt at which two hundred expeditions, exclusively British, are said to have set out. Of these only the most prominent, under Scottish leadership, can be mentioned here. At the same time, the officers of the Hudson Bay Company—which numbered many Scotsmen—were the pioneers of discovery in many of the interior parts of British North America. SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, who was the first European to cross the American continent from Ocean to Ocean, carried out two important expeditions towards the close of last century. In 1789 he started from Fort Chipewyan, on the northern shore of Lake Athabasca, and, reaching Great Slave Lake, passed down the river which now bears his name, to the Arctic Ocean. His second expedition (1792-3) was from the same starting-point. Proceeding up the Peace Eiver, over the Rocky Mountains, he reached the coast of the Pacific opposite Queen Charlotte Islands, thus accomplishing the overland journey to which I have referred. The earliest settlement in the great North-West was established by a Scotsman. This was the Selkirk or Eed River Settlement, founded in 1811 by the EARL OF SELKIRK. The pioneers of this colony were almost exclusively composed of Scotsmen, four of whom were reported as living in 1887 ; incorporated in the province of Manitoba, the district is still a point of attraction to Scottish emigrants. SIR GEORGE SIMPSON (1792-1860), who, in his youth, was a protégé of the Earl of Selkirk, was for some forty years in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, whose affairs in British North America he superintended. He rendered great service to exploration : the Arctic expeditions of the Company were, I

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 believe, whilst he held office, all planned and fitted out under his immediate direction. EOBERT CAMPBELL discovered (1840) the upper course of the Yukon Eiver, and, for a period of fifteen years, carried out important explorations, which opened up a number of new routes. SIMON FRASER discovered (1806) the Fraser Eiver, explored the Stewart Eiver, and did other excellent work. SIR JAMES E. ALEXANDER spent seven years in exploring the forests of New Brunswick, the results of which he published (1849) in two volumes : L'Acadie, or Seven Years' Explora- tions in British North America. Between 1830 and 1831 he also made two exploring expeditions up the Essequibo and Mazaruni Eivers, in South America. The Geological Survey of Canada was instituted by the Provincial Government in 1843, with the more immediate object of surveying the mineral wealth of the countiy. No extended systematic work had been previously undertaken. In the newer provinces, especially in the North and West, the geologists have perforce been their own pioneers, and have had to construct reconnaissance maps of the country. Thus, the Survey 542 ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCOTSMEN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

has been largely geographical, and has considerably added to our topo- graphical knowledge of the country. The greater number of those who have done the real work from the time of Logan (1842-3) up to the present year have either been Scotsmen or their immediate descendants. They may be briefly mentioned. SIR W. E. LOGAN was appointed provincial geologist in 1843, and held office till 1869. Up to the date of Sir W. Logan's resignation, about thirty-five annual reports were issued, the most important of which was the Geology of Canada, which summarised the results obtained by the Survey up to 1863. DR. DAWSON has carried out explorations on the mainland of British Columbia, in the Queen Charlotte Islands, from the Pacific coast to Manitoba by way of the Peace River, in the Rocky Mountains, and elsewhere. DR. R. BELL has explored the country between Lake Superior and Hudson Bay, and has carried out explorations on the Lower Athabaska, Nelson and Churchill Rivers, the coast of Hudson Bay, and in other adjacent regions. MESSRS. JAMES RICHARDSON and WALTER M'OUAT have explored north of Lake St. John, in the vicinity of Mistassini Lake, and on the Rupert River. MR. ANDREW LAWSON has worked on and in the neighbourhood of the Lake of the Woods. Other Scottish officers of the Survey, who also have done good work, have been Messrs. ALEXANDER MURRAY, CHARLES ROBB, HUGH FLETCHER, WALLACE BROAD, PETER M'KELLAR, ALEX- ANDER MACKENZIE, JOHN THORBURN, R. CHALMERS, and S. COCHRANE. At the end of last century a series of important scientific expeditions was commenced, the main incentive to which was the discovery of the North-West Passage. The British Admiralty itself took up the matter in the year 1818, and despatched Captain (afterwards SIR JOHN) ROSS in the Alexander, and Parry in the Isabella, in order to attempt a solution of the great problem. They made the circuit of Baffin Bay, ascending Lancaster Sound for some thirty miles, and returned the same season. Parry, more sanguine than his colleague, was intrusted by the Govern- ment with a commission in the following year, and succeeded in advanc- ing 30° of longitude further west than any of his predecessors, and in

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 showing the true direction in which the Passage was to be sought. The coast between Bering Strait and Point Turnagain (109° W. long.) being known, it was an important object to find some navigable passage between the latter point and Regent Inlet, to discover which Captain John Ross was again sent out in 1829. The expedition spent three winters away, exposed to great dangers amongst the ice, and reached lat. 74° N., and long. 90° W., but, owing to scarcity of provisions and the approach of another winter, returned to England in 1833. On this occasion Ross discovered the Boothia peninsula, and his nephew, Sir James Clark Ross, the second in command, located the North Magnetic Pole. SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS served with distinction in all the expeditions, between the years 1818 and 1833, for the discovery of the North-West Passage. As I have mentioned, he discovered (1831) the North Magnetic Pole. In 1848 he made a voyage in the Enterprise to Baffin Bay in search of Sir John Franklin, but without success. Between 1839 and 1843 SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS commanded the famous expedition to the Antarctic Regions, which, in point of geo- IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. 543

graphical discovery, transcended in importance all other expeditions to those regions.1 He investigated important physical questions concerning terrestrial magnetism, and partly accomplished his chief object in locating the South Magnetic Pole. He earned the distinction of being the only man who has been so near to both Poles. The expedition, moreover, discovered the most southern known land in the world—Victoria Land, and its great volcano, Mount Erebus,—and attained the highest southern latitude (78|°), or to within 700 miles of the Geographical Pole. To return to the North-West Passage and the expeditions undertaken for its discovery. SIR JOHN RICHARDSON accompanied (1819) the discoverer of the Passage, Sir John Franklin, on his first Polar land expedition. From Great Slave Lake, he descended the Copper- mine River, and explored the coast of North America as far as Cape Turnagain. Franklin, in his introduction to the First North Polar Expédition, gives Richardson the exclusive merit of whatever collections 1 and observations were made in the department of Natural History. In Franklin's second expedition (1825-28), Richardson was intrusted with the exploration of the Arctic Sea between the Mackenzie and Copper- mine Rivers—a distance of over 900 miles. These two expeditions resulted in " the exploration and delineation of the northern shore of the American continent throughout 40 degrees of longitude, comprising an extent of coast-line amounting to 2000 miles."2 The magnetic and meteorological observations and the natural history collections were undertaken by Richardson, and were of high scientific value. In company with Dr. Rae, Richardson, in 1848, with the object of relieving Franklin, descended the Mackenzie River, and explored the shores from thence to the Coppermine River. DR. JOHN RAE, who entered the Hudson Bay Company's service in 1833, made very extensive journeys of exploration, and is distinguished for his sledge travels. During the five expeditions in which he was engaged, he traversed some 23,000 miles, over 1800 of which were new survey. As I have mentioned, he accompanied Sir John Richardson in the search for Franklin, in 1848.

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 He carried out a similar expedition two years later on behalf of the Company. During one expedition (1853-54), to Repulse Bay, he discovered a new river which falls into Chesterfield Inlet, and, in the following Spring, his men were the first to ascertain the fate of Franklin and his followers. He had travelled 1100 miles when his party made this discovery, for which he received the Government reward of £10,000. In 1861, Rae made an expedition to the Red River and the Rocky Mountains. I should have mentioned that, as early as 1847, his discovery that Boothia was a peninsula of the American continent had an important bearing on the subsequent expeditions for the discovery of the North- West Passage.

1 The expeditions to the Antarctic Regions have been :—Cook (1772-75) ; Bellinghausen (1819-21); D'Urville (1837-40); Wilkes (1838-42); and, finally, Ross (1839-43). The Challenger (the only steam-vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle), also made observations (1874) of depth, temperature, and the specific gravity of the sea in the neighbourhood of ice ; but her stay was brief. 2 R. G. S. Proc. vol. x. p. 200. 544 ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCOTSMEN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

As in the Antarctic regions, so in the Arctic, a Scotsman commanded the expedition which attained the highest latitude, until Lockwood, of the United States Polar Expedition, under Greely, wrested this long- coveted distinction. I refer to SIR GEORGE NARES. He served as mate on board the Resolute in the Arctic Expedition of 1852-54, when he distinguished himself by his sledge travelling, and he commanded the Arctic Expedition of the Alert and Discovery (1875-76), when, as I have above indicated, Markham made his gallant attempt to reach the Pole over the Palseocrystic Sea, reaching latitude 83° 20' 28" N". Between 1872 and 1875, he commanded the famous expedition of H. M. S. Challenger. He also carried out (1878) a two years' survey in the South Pacific. My chronicle of Scottish enterprise in the Arctic Eegions would be imperfect without a reference to the Scottish whaling captains, whose great experience of ice-navigation has been so helpful to Arctic explorers. I cannot do better than quote, in this respect, the eulogy by General Greely, on the occasion of his address to the Eoyal Scottish Geographical Society:—"The Scotch whalers have pushed their vessels often into extraordinary latitudes, and have sometimes passed beyond the limits reached by other explorers. Several I know have passed in Smith Sound far beyond the 78th parallel, and gazed on the ice of those seas beyond the point reached by the ships of Baffin, Koss, Inglefield, or Hayes ; and the record of one—CAPTAIN WALKER—was found by me on Littleton Island in 1881. The veteran whaler—CAPTAIN ADAMS—has, I learn, sailed further into some of the inlets of Lancaster Sound than any of his predecessors."1

BIBLIOGRAPHY : AMERICA AND POLAR EEGIONS. I have already mentioned in the above : SIR JAMES E. ALEXANDER'S L'Acadie, or Seven Years' Exploration in British North America (1849). SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE gave an account of his adventurous journeys in Voyages through North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans (1801), Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 which contains a considerable amount of information in regard to native tribes, and is prefaced by an historical sketch of the Canadian fur-trade, in which he was engaged for a number of years at Fort Chipewyan. SIR JOHN BOSS published Voyage of Discovery in the " Isabella " and "Alexander " to Baffin's Bay, and Probability of a North- West Passage (1819) and Eesidence in the Arctic Regions, etc., 1829-34, with an appendix. SIR JOHN RICHARDSON'S works are of an important character. His great work, in two folio volumes, on the Fauna Boreali-Americana (1829-36) is a valu- able contribution to science. He reported on the zoological results (fish and fossil remains) of the Sulphur (1843), Samarang (1848), and Herald (1852); and On the Frozen Soil of North America (1841). His explorations were given in Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, 1819-&2. Second Expedition, 1825-27, including an account of a Detach- ment to the Eastward (1823-28). His journey with Dr. Rae, to which I have alluded, is chronicled in Arctic Searching Expedition : A Boat Voyage

1 Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. i. p. 598. IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. 545

through Rupert's Land, etc. (1851). In addition to these he published, besides his article on Polar Regions in the Encyclopœdia Britannica (1859) a general work entitled The Polar Regions: Physical Geography and Ethno- logy of the Areas within the Polar Circle (1861). SIR JAMES CLARK EOSS recounts his remarkable expedition in Voyages to the Antarctic Regions, 1839-J^S (1847). DR. JOHN EAE has published Narrative of an Expedi- tion to the Shores of the Arctic Sea, 184.6-J/.7 (1850). SIR GEORGE NARES contributed to the published results of the voyage of the Challenger in Reports on Ocean Soundings and Temperature (187'4-5). In 1876 he published his official Report on The Last Arctic Expedition, and a more popular account in Voyage to the Polar Sea in the " Alert " and " Discovery " (1878). ALEXANDER WILSON, a minor poet, will be remembered for his work on American Ornithology, the first volume of which appeared in 1808, the eighth and ninth volumes being edited after Wilson's death by George Ord. The traveller, CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, whose journeys in Asia I have referred to, published (1822) Extracts from a Journal written on the Coast of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in 1820, which forms two of the earlier volumes of Constable's Miscellany, and a work on Travels in North America (1827-8 1), which was violently attacked by the American press.

AUSTRALASIA, MALAYSIA, AND POLYNESIA. THE history of the exploration of Australia is to a large extent, as Mr. Favenc points out,1 lost among the unpublished records of private travel : the pioneer squatter has played an important part in the discovery of the continent; and, though private individuals have done far more of the detail work, it is chiefly to the Government or public expeditions that we must look for our data. That Scotsmen have borne an important share in the exploration of Australasia, is evident from the Scottish names abounding on the map. The first traveller I have to refer to is JAMES GRANT, who, in

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 the year 1801, on board the Lady Nelson, was the first to pass through Bass' Strait and verify Bass' discovery of 1798. The following year, LIEUTENANT MURRAY, who succeeded James Grant in the Lady Nelson, continued the exploration of Bass' Strait, and made the important discovery of Port Phillip, which he also surveyed. CAPTAIN STIRLING, who accompanied (1823) Oxley in discovering the Brisbane River, surveyed (1828) the coast from King George's Sound to the Swan River. Between the years 1817 and 1829, ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, the well-known botanist, conducted an important series of explorations. He was first (1817-20) associated with Captain King in the survey of the Australian coasts that had hitherto been un visited. In 1823 Cunning- ham found what is known as "Pandora's Pass "—a good and practical stock route to the Liverpool Plains. Two years later, travelling through this pass, he examined the table-land to the north of Bathurst. In 1827 he made one of his most eventful trips, in the course of which he

1 In the History of Australian Exploration, 1788-1888, to which I am indebted for many of my facts. VOL. V. 2 Q 546 ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCOTSMEN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

discovered the Darling Downs, and the Dumaresque, Gwydir, and Conda- mine Rivers. The next year he proceeded by sea to Moretón Bay, and connected the settlement with Darling Downs by way of Cunningham's Gap. His last expedition was in 1829, when he explored the source of the Brisbane River. SIR GEORGE MACLEAY was second in command on Captain Sturt's Morumbidgee expedition (1829-30), and contributed materially to discovery and other scientific work. SIR THOMAS LIVING- STONE MITCHELL, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, was one of the most useful of Australian explorers. Between. 1831 and 1832 he commanded an expedition, the object of which was to trace the mythical Kindur, but which led to the discovery of the Drum- mond Range. This journey of Mitchell's was important, because it revealed the courses of the rivers discovered by Oxley and Cunning- ham, by crossing them much lower down. Accompanied by RICHARD CUNNINGHAM (the brother of Allan Cunningham, and also a botanist, who, on this expedition, was murdered by.the natives), Mitchell started again in 1833, and succeeded in identifying the Darling with the Karaula on the north and with Sturt's Murray junction on the south : the hypothesis of an interior river flowing to the north-west coast had to be finally relinquished. Mitchell's journey also helped to disperse the erroneous or exaggerated ideas as to the uninhabitable nature of the Far Interior. His remarkable journey through Australia Felix was undertaken in 1836 ; like the others, it was more of a connecting survey than a virgin exploration, but its results were of an important character : he obtained a full knowledge of the country and rivers south of the Murray and was able to confirm previously held convictions as to the value of the district. His last expedition (1845-6) was to the Barcoo. On this journey he discovered and named several rivers, and made known immense tracts of pastoral country in Central Queensland. ANGUS MACMILLAN, the discoverer of Gipps-Land (1840), which he named "Caledonia Australis," discovered several rivers which were afterwards re-christened by Count Strzelecki. Of all Australian explorers, probably the most Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 distinguished was JOHN M'DOUALL STUART. His first expedition (1858) into the interior was to the west of Lakes Torrens and Gairdner. The next year (1859) he made another journey, at the commencement of which one of his party discovered the famous Hergott Springs ; crossing Chambers' Creek, he discovered several other springs and the Neale Creek. His third expedition (1861) was in the vicinity of Lake Eyre. On this occasion, though his attempt to cross Australia from south to north was frustrated, he succeeded in reaching the centre of the continent. He discovered and named Central Mount Stuart, and christened the Murchison Range and Tennant's Creek, but failed in reaching the head-waters of the Victoria. Between the years 1861-2 he performed his last and most notable journey, from the terrible hardships of which he never recovered. Following his old track from Adelaide, and passing through the very heart of the continent, he reached the head of Arnheim Land, and was thus the first to cross Australia. His track is now marked by the enduring monument of the overland telegraph line. The expedition across the continent from Adelaide to IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. 547

the Gulf of Carpentaria (1861) of JOHN M'KINLAY finally demolished the theory, which Stuart had so long and so successfully combated, that the whole interior of the continent was a terrible desert, quite useless for pastoral occupation. M'Kinlay's expedition to the East Alligator Eiver (1864), with the object of finding a suitable site fora township, was not so successful. WILLIAM LANDSBOROUGII, who led the Queensland search party for Burke and Wills, explored (1861-2) the country from the mouth of the Albert River to the south of the Gulf of Carpentaria, discovering some rivers and several tributary creeks. He subsequently completed the overland journey to Melbourne : making for the Flinders, by way of the Leichardt, he followed up the river and discovered the beautiful downs through which it flowed ; from thence he went to Bowen Downs, discovered by himself and Buchanan two years previously. Between 1866 and 1867, the eminent Arctic explorer SIR GEORGE NARES surveyed the eastern and north-eastern shores of Australia and Torres Straits. SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL BRISBANE, Governor of New South Wales (1821), did much to encourage exploration and scientific research in others; the same may be said of his successor, GENERAL LACHLAN MACQUARIE, after whom the Macquarie River was called. CAPTAIN FRANCIS CADELL was the first (1850) to open up the navigation of the Murray River, upon which he placed steamers. MR. ROBERT LOGAN JACK, Government Geologist in Queensland, has explored and mapped considerable areas in that colony. The eminent botanist ROBERT BROWN made discoveries in Australia and other parts- of the world which threw an entirely new light on the geographical distribution of plants. Baron Humboldt said that the name of Robert Brown would always be associated with " the minute development of the relations of organisation in natural families, the geography of plants and the estimate of their numerical proportions." His first great contribution to science was an account of the flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's land, which, with his succeeding works, initiated a new era in systematic botany.

Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 The geographical nomenclature of Tasmania and New Zealand, like that of Australia, attests the presence of Scotsmen in the exploration of these countries, though I am unable, from the absence of data, ta chronicle their work. MR. J. TURNBULL THOMSON, as Surveyor-General of New Zealand, carried out some pioneer explorations in the South Island. He explored and mapped 10,000 square miles of country, which was extended over unknown parts of the Lakes District by his subor- dinates, and he was the originator of what is familiarly known as the- New Zealand system of survey, the aim of which is to rapidly establish settlers in occupation of their land, free from any subsequent risk from imperfect surveys or defective descriptions of title. The Provincial District of Otago grew out of a special settlement, originated in 1847, by a body of men adhering to the Free Church of Scotland, who pur- chased a block of 400,000 acres from the New Zealand Company. Shortly after Cook s discovery of the islands of the South Sea, the London Missionary Society was formed, and their agents have ever since been in the van of exploration. Settling first at Tahiti, the missionaries 548 ACHIEVEMENTS OF SCOTSMEN DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

spread to the Hervey group, Samoa, the New Hebrides, and the Loyalty Islands, in the direction of New Caledonia, and then took up their, perhaps most successful, station in New Guinea. The exploration of New Guinea, which dates only some seventeen years back, is largely due to the missionaries of this Society, who have made the country accessible to Europeans. For this great service we are almost exclusively indebted to the missionaries W. G. Lawes, the "father of New Guinea travel," to JAMES CHALMERS, whose extensive explorations in south-eastern New Guinea exceed those of any other traveller, and to DR. M'FARLANE. Their contributions to geography, ethnography, and philology have been very considerable. MR. HENRY 0. FORBES, whose recent ill-fated expedition to New Guinea was substantially supported by some members of the Eoyal Scottish Geographical Society, though unsuc- cessful in his main object of ascending the Owen Stanley Peak, surveyed and mapped a good deal of new country extending between the Owen Stanley range and Port Moresby. His original map and a report of his explorations were published in the fourth volume of the Scottish Geogra- phical Magazine. Mr. Forbes had previously travelled in the Eastern Archipelago. Quite recently SIR W. M°GREGOR successfully explored the crest of the Owen Stanley Range, ascending Mount Owen Stanley, and naming several high peaks. The work of JOHN CRAWFURD is, for greater convenience, alluded to under " Asia." MR. BURNS was the first European who ventured to explore the interior of Borneo proper. DR. GEORGE TURNER and his colleague, Dr. Nisbet, were the first settlers on Tanna, in the New Hebrides, from which they had to fly for their lives after seven months' residence. Dr. Turner's contributions to ethnology have been considerable. He made voyages through the New Hebrides in 1845, 1849, and 1859. He is remembered chiefly for his work on Samoa, to which I shall have occasion to refer. His son, DR. GEORGE A. TURNER, who travelled through the Ellice and Gilbert groups, etc., in 1874 and 1878, has written with acceptance on the islands of the Western Pacific. Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016

BIBLIOGRAPHY : AUSTRALASIA, &c. Accounts of SIR THOMAS MITCHELL'S extensive journeys, to which I have referred, were given by him in Three Expeditions into New South Wales and Australia Felix (1839), and Expedition into Tropical Australia, Eydney to Carpentaria (1848). In 1864 was published M'DOUALL STUART'S Journals of Explorations in Australia, 1858-62, which gives an account of his journey across the continent. DR. GEORGE TURNER'S Samoa, a hundred years ago and long before (1884) is a standard book of reference, and includes " Notes on the cults and customs of twenty- three other islands in the Pacific " ; he also published Nineteen Years in Polynesia (1860). Dr. Turner's companion in Samoa, MR. A. W. MURRAY, the pioneer of the New Guinea Mission, who has travelled perhaps more extensively in the South Seas than any other pioneer missionary, served fifty-three years as an agent of the London Missionary Society. Of his numerous writings, I may mention The Bible in the IN THE FIELDS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH. 549

Pacific, which is an authentic record of the influences by which civilisa- tion has been introduced in those regions, and its results, Forty Years' Mission Work in Polynesiaand New Guinea (1876), and Missions in Western Polynesia (1863). DR. M'FARLANE, in his Story of the Lifu Mission (1873), gives an account of the Loyalty Islands. MR. COUTTS TROTTER, a leading authority and contributor on Polynesian geography, is the author of the paper in the R. G. S. Proceedings (vol. vi., 1884) giving a Summary of our knowledge of New Guinea, and of the article New Guinea in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, neither of which have yet been superseded. JAMES CHALMERS, in Work and Adventure in New Guinea (1885), and Pioneering in New Guinea (1887), exposes his unique knowledge of the country and its people, and describes his extensive journeys. Foremost among the Scotsmen who have opened up the Western Pacific, especially the New Hebrides Group, is DR. JOHN INGLIS, whose Grammar and Dictionary of the Aneityumese Language and book In the New Hebrides ( 188 7), in which he deals with the geography, meteorology, and languages of that part of Melanesia, are one result of thirty-three years' conscientious and successful labour. CAPTAIN (afterwards ADMIRAL) ERSKINE, who voyaged a great deal in those parts, published a remarkably well-written Journal of his cruises. MR. H. O. FORBES' book on A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago (1885) is an original contribution of merit. The labours of JOHN M'GILLIVRAY, the naturalist, MR. F. A. CAMPBELL, the author of A Year in the New Hebrides (1873), DR. ROBERT HAMILTON, author of Jubilee History of Victoria (1888), CAPTAIN PALMER, whose journals of cruises in H.M.S. Bosario referred to the Labour Traffic, are also deserving of record. Mr. J. TURNBULL THOMSON, who contributed several scientific papers to the New Zealand Institute, wrote a book on Life in the Far West. {To be continued?) Downloaded by [] at 16:53 10 June 2016 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. EUKOPE. THE PARIS GEOGRAPHICAL INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS. AFTEE an opening Address from the President, M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Congress, for the purpose of its deliberations, divided into seven sections : —(1) Mathematics, (2) Physics, (3) Economics, (4) History, (5) Education, (6) Voyages and Explorations, and (7) Ethnography and Anthropology. The work of these seven sections may be thus briefly summed up :J— (1.) In the first, the Mathematical, Section, presided over by Prince Albert of Monaco, a communication was made by Colonel Bassot on the methods of deter- mining latitude. Colonel Derrécagaix explained the progress made in the method of drawing maps on a large scale ; he insisted on the necessity of expressing alti- tudes in mètres and not in feet, and read a note on the Geographical Service of the French Army, of which he is the Director. A discussion, introduced by 1 Translated from Le Temps, 9th Sept. 1889.