/
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THE / /
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
MAGAZINE,,
AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY >
honorary Editor: JOHN HYDE
HONORARY ASSOCIATE EDITORS
A. W. GREELY W J McGEE ELIZA RUHAMAH SCIDMORE
VOL. VII -YEAR 189G
WASHINGTON
THE NATIONAL GEOGRARIIIC SOCTETY" IS!)<;
NOV 5 1981
vJ:(Bf?ARIES
WASHINGTON, D. C.
JUDD & DETWEILER, PRINTERS 1896
CONTENTS
Page
Introductory; [John Hyde].., 1
Russia in Europe; by Gardiner G. Hubbard 3
Tlie Arctic Cruise of the U. S. Revenue Cutter Benr ; by Sheldon
Jackson 27
The Scope and Value of Arctic Explorations; by A. W. Greely. ... 32
Obituary (Robert Brown, Admiral Pearse, Henry Seebohm, Rear
Admiral Shufeldt) 40
Geographic Literature (Elementary Physical Geography, Tarr ; The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn, Spears; South Africa, Keane; National Geographic Monographs, Powell, Shaler, Russell, Wil- lis, Diller, Davis, Gilbert, and Hayes ; Tibet, Rockhill ; Chili,
Bianconi ; Highways of Commerce, Consular Office) 40
Executive Reports (War, Navy, Post Office, and Interior Depart- ments; Interstate Commerce Commission) 43
New Maps 45
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society .' 46
North American Notes 48
Venezuela: Her Government, People, and Boundary; by William
E. Curtis 49
The Panama Canal Route ; by Robert T. Hill 59
The Tehuantepec Ship Railway ; by Elmer L. Corthell 64
The Present State of the Nicaragua Canal; by A. W. Greely 73
Explorations by the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1895 ; b}^
W J McGee 77
Geographic Literature (The Yellowstone National Park, Chittenden ;
Sixteenth Annual Report of the IT. S. Geological Surve3’', etc. . . 80
Y ucatan in 1895 83
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society 86
Geographic Notes. 87
The Valley of the Orinoco ; by T. H. Gignilliat. 92
Tlie So-called “Jeannette Belies” ; by William H. Dall 93
Nansen’s Polar Expedition ; by A. W. Greely 98
The Submarine Cables of the World ; by Gustave Herrle. ....... 102
Peter Cooper and Submarine Telegraphy ; [A. W. Grelly] 108
The Russo-Ymerican Telegraph Project of 1864-’67; by W. H. Dall. 110 Survey and Subdivision of Indian Territory ; by Henry Gannett. . . 1J2
“ Free Burghs ” in the United States ; by Jamls H. Blodgeit 116
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society 122
Miscellanea 124
Seriland ; by W J McGnu and Willard D. Johnson 125
The Olympic Country ; by S. C. Gilman 133
The Discovery of Glacier Bay, Alaska ; bv Eliza R. Scidmore. ... 140 Hydrography in the United States ; by Frederick H. Newell 146
iii
IV
CONTICNTS
Page
RcccMit Trian^ulation in the Cascades ; by S. S. Gaxnktt loO
The Altitude of Mount Adams, Washinfjton ; by Edgar McCi.ure. . 151 Geographic Literature (Archeological Studies atnong the Ancient Cities of Alexico, Holmes; Geological History of the Chautauqua
Graj)e Belt, Tarr ; Die Liparischen Inseln, Hawranek) 153
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society 155
Aliscellanea 156
Africa since ISSS, with Special Reference to South Africa and Abys- sinia; by Gardiner G. Hubbard 157
Fundamental Geographic Relation of the Three Americas; by Rob- ert T. Hiui 175
Tbe Kansas River; b\’ Arthur P. Davis 181
Geographic Literature (Le(;ons de Geographie Physiipie, de Lappar- ent ; Annual Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey) 184
Miscellanea 188
The Seine, the Aleuse, and the Aloselle; by William M. Davis [IJ. . 189 Across the Gulf by Rail to Key AVest ; by Jefferson B. Browne. . . . 203 A Geographical Description of the British Islands; by AV. AI. Davis.. 208
The Alexican Census; [A. AV. Greely] 211
Geographic Literature (Handbook of Arctic Di.scoveries, Greely; Crater Lake Special Alap, Diller ; Rand, AIcNally and Company’s Alaps; Occupations of the Negroes, Gannett; Foreign Commerce
and Navigation; Statistical Abstract of tbe United States) 212
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society ’. 214
Geograidiic Notes .... 217
Aliscellanea, 220
The AA'ork of the U. S. Board on Geographic Names; by Henry Gan- nett 221
The .Seine, the Aleuse, and the Aloselle ; by AVilliam AL Davis [II] . . 228
A Journey in Ecuador; by AIark B. Kerr 238
The Aberration of Sound as Ilhistrateil by the Berkeley Powder Ex- plosion; by Robert H. Chapman 246
Alineral Production in the United States 250
Geographic Notes 251
Aliscellanea 252
The AVork of the National Geographic Society; [W J AIoGee] 253
Eighth Annual Field Aleeting of the National Geographic Society;
[W J AIcGee] 259
Geographic History of the Piedmont Plateau; by W J AIcGee 261
Sjkottswood’s Flxpedition in 1716; by William AI. Thornton 265
Jefferson as a Geographer; b}’ A. AA’. Greely 269
Albemarle in Revolutionary Days; bj' G. Brown Goode 271
Geograpliic Notes 281
Al iscellanea 283
The Recent Flarthquake AAhive on the Coast of Japan; by Eliza R.
Sctdmore 285
The Return of Dr Nansen 290
Descriptive Topographic Terms of Spanish America; by R. T. Hill. 291
CONTENTS
V
Page
The "Weather Bureau Eiver and Flood System ; by Willis L. Moori:. 302
Cliarles Francis Hall and Jones Sound ; [A. W. Greely] 3CaS
^lineral Production in the United States 310
Reports of Sealing Schooners from Tuscarora Deep ; by Eliza R. Scid-
MORE 310
Geographic Notes 312
The American Association at Buffalo ; [W J AIcGee] •. 315
Death of G. Brown Goode; [W J McGee] 316
California; by George C. Perkins 317
The Economic Aspects of Soil Erosion ; by N. S. Siialer [I] 328
The Nansen Polar Expedition; by Ernest A. Man 339
Ice-cliffs on the Kowak River; by J. C. Cantwell 345
Recent Hydrographic Work ; [F. H. Newell] 347
Miscellanea 348
The Witwatersrand and the Revolt of the Uitlanders ; by George F.
Becker ... 349
The Economic AsjDects of Soil Erosion; by N. S. Shaler [II] 368
A Critical Period in South African History; [John Hyde] 377
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society 379
Geographic Notes 380
Report of the Sixth International Geographical Congress. 380
The Geography of the Southern Peninsula of the United States; by
John N. MacGonigle 381
Tlie Sage Plains of Oregon ; by Frederick V. Covii.le 395
The U. S. Department of Agriculture and its Biological Survey ; [John
Ha’de] 405
Statistics of Railways in the United States ; [Henry' Gannett] 406
Geographic Work in Peru ; [W J McGee] 407
Geographic Literature (The Scenery of Switzerland and the Causes to which it is due, Lubbock ; Frye’s Home and School Atlas;
Lakes of North America, Russell) 408
Proceedings of the National Geographic Society 410
Geographic Notes 411
Miscellanea 412
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
Pl.vte 1 — Map of Russia in Europe 1
2 — United States revenue-marine steamer Bear, moored to a
field of ice in B(*ringsea 27
3 — Herd of reindeer lying down 28
4— Scene at Point Barrow in April 30
5 — Map of the Orinoco valley 49
6 — La Giiayra, from the east 52
7 — Valley of Caracas, east of the capitid, with coffee and sugar
j)Iantations .54
vi ILL I’STRA TIONS
Page
Platk 8 — Valley of Caracap, west of the capital, with plantations and
sugar factory 56
5) — Construction work on the Panama canal in 1895 62
10— Chart showing the submarine cables, principal land lines,
coaling stations, etc., of the world 9.3
11 — Portrait of Dr F’ridtjof Nansen 98
12 — Portrait of William H. Dali 110
13 — Indian Territory — camp of a .surveying party of the United
Suites Geological Survey, 1895 114
14— Map of Seriland, Sonora, iMe.vico 125
15 — VieM' of Seriland from camp on Tiburon island 128
16 — Map of the Olymiiic country, Washington .'. 133
17 — Front of ^luir glacier from the west moraine. Mount Case
in the background. 142
18 — Portrait of Gardiner G. Hubbard 157
19 — .Sketch map of Africa 16)4
20— Portrait of General A. W. Greely, United States Army. . . 189
21 — Map of the valley of the Seine near Duclair 191
22 — Ma]) of the valley of the Moselle near Berncastel 193
23— Map of the valley of the Meuse near St ^lihiel 194
24 — Maj) of the valley of the Meuse near Dun-.suf-Meuse 195
25 — Handiwork of the Cayapas Indians, Ecuador 221
26— Map of the lower valley of the Bar 236
27— Residence of the Gohernador of the Cayapas Indians, on
the Rio Cayapas, Ecuador 241
28 — Portrait of Henry Gannett 253
29 — Monticello, Virginia, meeting of the National Geographic
Society, May 16, 1896 2.59
.30— Effects of the earthquake wave at Kamaishi, .lapan, .Tune
1.5, 1896 285
31 — Sketch map of .lapan 285
32— Scenes on the coast at Kamaishi, .lapan, June 15, 1896. . . . 286
33 — Scene on thecoa.stof the island of Hondo, .lapan, after the
earthquake wave of June 15, 1.896 288
34 — IMap of the Arctic regions, showing routes traversed by the
Nan.sen e.vpedition of 189.3-1896 317
35— Market square, Johannesburg, .South Africa .349
.36 — Zulu bride and bridegroom 356
37 — Crossing the Umbelosi river, Swazieland 360
38 — Flying the Transvaal flag on the offices of the reform com- mittee, Johanne.sburg, December 31, 1895 364
.39 — Phosphate mining on the west coast of Florida .381
40 — On the St. Johns river .384
Falls of the Miami river 384
41— On the Caloo.sahatchee river .388
L- -
The
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AN ILttJSrkATE
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Honoitary Editor : JOHN ^VSe
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Hoioraiy Associate £^t[prs
W. OREELY W jiMcGEE , ELIZA l^UH AMAH SCIDMpRE
CONTENTS
TiEODUCTQRY THE EDITOR |
I^SIA IN EUROPE. HON. GARDINER G. HUBBARD
i‘B ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE U^S, REVENUE CUTTER “BEAR.” With illustrations. DR. SHELDON JACKSON
SCOPE AND VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.
GEN. A. W. GREELY
GRAPH19 literature
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THE
National Geographic Magazine
Yol. VII JANUARY, 1896 No. 1
INTRODUCTORY
With the present number the National Geographic Magazine commences a new series and makes its first appearance as a monthly publication. What shall be its precise scope and func- tion has been the most difficult question its editors have been called upon to^ete^Tnine. From no other point of view is the in- terdependence of the sciences so manifest as from the geographic. Geography in its broader sense has to do not merely with the physical featured of the earth’s surface, but with the distribution of animal and vegetable life, with political divisions and subdi- visions, with the growth and movement of population, with the progress of human society, with the development of the earth’s natural resources, and with commercial intercourse between na- tions. To cover successfully so vast and so diversified a field is entirely beyond the capacity of any single periodical publication. Either it must restrict itself to physical geography and become largely technical, or it must content itself with briefly chronicling the more notable additions to geographic knowledge in those parts of the world in which its readers are less directly interested, and with becoming more especially tlie exponent of the geogra- ph}^ — physical, political, and commercial — of the continent with which its pul)lication more particularly identifies it. And surely in the case of an American publication tins is a sufficient!}'' broad field. There are vast regions of the New World that must con- tinue to tempt the venturesome explorer for many years to come. Here, too, on this continent “ the rudiments of empire are,” in the words of one of our own poets, “ plastic yet and warm })olitical Ijrohlems are being wrought out on an unexami)led scale, a fusion of races hitherto without i)arallel is going on, and the bounty of nature is being {)Oured out with a more lavish hand than in any other equally e.xtensive [)ortion of the globe. It will accordingly
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IXTRODUCTOR Y
be the aim of the National Geographic Magazine to he American rather than cosmopolitan, and in an especial degree to be National. There is hardly a United States citizen whose name has become identified with Arctic exploration, with the Bering sea contro- versy, or with the Alaska boundary dispute who is not an active member of the National Geographic Society and a contributor to the pages of its magazine. In the Army and Navy the Society is also well represented, and from the gallant and accomplished ofificers of those important branches of the service it receives from time to time much valuable information. The principal officers and experts of the different scientific bureaus of the Govern- ment— the Geological Survey, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, the Hydro- graphic Office, the Naval Observatory, the "Weather Bureau, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Biological Division of the Department of Agriculture, and others — have always been among the most active members of the Society, and^the great work that is being done by these several bureaus — a work that is at once the wonder and admiration of foreign scientii^ts — will be regu- larly discussed in the pages of the magazine by those who are in close touch with if not actually engaged in it. Turning from our own country to the sister republics of the two Americas, we find almost all of them connected with the Society in the persons' of their diplomatic representatives, and through the cordial coop- eration of these gentlemen the magazine will receive from time to time the latest and most authentic geographic intelligence con- cerning countries in which the people of the United States are now taking an exceedingly keen and friendly interest. That the magazine will not reach at a single liound the high standard at which those responsible for its management are aiming will scarcely be a disappointment either to its editors or its readers. The measure of its success, however, will not wholly depend upon the efforts of those conducting it. Nothing less than the generous support of that numerous class of the community which is interested in one or another of the different branches of geo- graphic science will enable the National Geograidiic Society to make its magazine everything that it ought to lie and pro}ierly equip it for the discharge of its function as The ^Magazine of American Geography. To possess a knowledge of the condi- tions and possibilities of one’s own country is surely no small part of an enlightened patriotism, and to the })atriotic imi)ulses of the American people no appeal was ever made in vain.
RUSSIA IX EUROPE
3
RUSSIA IN EUROPE*
By Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, LL. D., President of the National Geographic Society
England, the United States, and Russia have each made greater territorial acquisitions during the present century than all the other countries of the world together. In the case of the British empire, these have been larger and more important than those of either the United States or Russia. The United States and Russia have only annexed contiguous territory, save Alaska. Russia when first enrolled among civilized nations, in the time of Peter the Great, had no outlet to any ocean except the Arctic, and consequently no possibility of a navy or of commerce. Since then she has extended her dominion northwest to the gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic sea, building St. Petersburg on the marshes of Finland, south to the Black and Caspian seas, southeast to Afghanistan and China, and in the extreme east to the river Amur and the Pacific.
The acquisitions of the Russian Empire within this centuiy are greater in extent and importance than the whole of European Russia before that time. Her frontier has been advanced toward Stockholm 630 miles, toward Berlin 700 miles, toward Constantinople 500 miles, toward India 1,300 miles. Her terri- tory in Europe comprises more than one-half of that continent; yet with all her great empire she has only three ports, and these on the Black sea, open to navigation throughout the year, the others being closed by ice from three to six months, while from those on the Black sea ships of war have no right to pas.s into the Mediterranean. Until within one hundred years southern and southeastern Russia were infested with hordes of Tartars and Kalmucks, who overran nearly one-third of Russia — wandering tribes without fixed habitation or permanent govern- ment, “ marauders, slave-dealers, and vagabonds,’’ who “ came, compiered, burned, ])illaged, murdered, and went.’’ The first step of Russia when she determined that her em])ire should l)elong to the civilization of Europe was the subjugation of these tribes. This has been accomplislied by compelling the Tartars
*Ammal :ul(lre.ss delivercil May 10, 1805.
4
RUSSIA IX EUROPE
and Kalmucks to live within fixed and permanent boundaries, by enrolling tlie Cossacks into bands of cavalry, and substituting the agricultural for the nomadic life. Many of the tribes, unwil- ling to give up their wandering life, retired beyond the Caspian sea, and from those regions continued their inroads upon the Russian settlements. Russia, for her own protection, was again obliged to subdue these unruly tribes, and thereby to extend her dominion still farther to the east, until it finally reached a barrier in the Pamir and tlie mountains of Afghanistan.
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF RUSSIA.
If nature ever made the boundaries of a nation, it determined those of Russia — the Arctic ocean on the north, the Ural mountains on the east, the Black and Caspian seas on the south, and the Baltic sea on the northwest, with Siberia and Trans-Caspia as the natural extension of her empire.
In August, 1881, I left London on a trip to Russia, passing through Antwerp, Berlin, and Konigsberg to St. Petersburg; thence to Moscow and Nijni Novgorod. From Moscow I went southeast through Russia, over the Caucasus to Tiflis, in Asia; thence to Batoum and Sebastopol, on the Black sea, and from the Crimea north to ^Moscow. In all this journey of 3,500 miles we crossed no range of mountains, we saw no hills more than five or six hundred feet in height until we reached the Cau- casus. It was one broad, level plain from Antwerp to Konigs- berg, 150 miles in width, bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the south by the Erzberg and the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. Entering Russia, the plain widens, extending north- east 1,800 miles along the coast of the Arctic ocean to the Ural mountains, south to the Black sea and the foothills of the Cau- casus, and southeast 3,000 miles to the mountains of Afghan- istan. My letters written from the foothills of the Caucasus say : “ Onl}’’ think of traveling from one end of Europe to the other over a plain, neither hill nor mountain in all the route, with scarcely a new scene from morning to night or from one day to another. After two days’ and nights’ traveling nearl}’- due south from St. Petersburg we have not reached as far south as St. Johns, in Newfoundland.”
“Yesterday our route was over great plains with rich black earth, occasional forests, i)retty well watered; today, broad level stej^pes with sandy soil, without a tree in sight. We are trav-
RUSSIA IN EUROPE
5
eling through the land of the Cossacks; men and -women at every station have Asiatic faces, and wear generally a goatskin coat, with the fur inside, fastened by a girdle. No trace of cul- tivation, except on the streams which we cross from time to time. These streams flow in low, narrow valleys; the road descends two or three hundred feet into the valleys by curves, and then ascends to the plain to save grading, and this affords the only variation in tlie scenery.”
In this great plain there are five distinct zones of land : The frozen, the forest, the black, the agricultural, and the barren steppes. The black zone, near the center, is the most fertile and thickly inhabited. To the north the country grows gradually less fertile, passing through the forest zone to the Arctic zone, entirel}’- destitute of vegetation. To the south of the black zone the country likewise grows less and less fertile, passing through the agricultural zone to the dry and sandy steppes, entirely des- titute of vegetation.
From 200 to 300 miles in width, the black zone extends from Austria, a little north of east, across Russia, over the Ural mountains, far into Siberia. It resembles our ])rairies ; has a rich, l)lack soil of great depth, unsurpassed in fertility. Reclus sa,ys that “ all traces of glaciers disappear where the black lands begin and the forests end, while the contrast between the flora of the two regions is complete.” American geologists believe that the glaciers extended over the whole of Russia to the Black sea, and that the great level plain which constitutes Russia is due to aqueo-glacial action.
In the northern part of the black zone are occasional groves of oak and birch ; traveling north these are succeeded by forests of hardwood, with occasional evergreens. Gradually the hard- wood disappears ; then we enter the forest zone, j)ines and evergreens. About one-third of Russia is forest. In this region are immense districts, where the onlv roads are rivers flowinsr througli interminable walls. Then comes a land of rocks, lakes, and swam])s,with isolated and snowy masses rising above the forests and peat-l)eds. This is the Arctic zone, and here is Finland, a region of lakes, over eleven hundred in one province ; the great forests of pine become small evergreens, reaching a height of 25 feet in 100 years, gaining their maturity in 300 years. Gradually they become yet smaller and are of slower growth. The giant of these forests is the willow, which sometimes reaches
6
RUSSIA IN EUROPE
a height of 6 inches. A little farther north the rainfall exceeds the evaporation and river-flow and forms a woodless plain of small lakes and morasses, called tundra, on which neither man nor beast could set foot if the ground were not frozen to the depth of very many feet; in summer melting a little more than one foot. Into this treeless region in summer come innumer- able birds of different kinds to build their nests and hatch their young. In autumn they fly south — some to the Crimea, some to Asia, others into Africa. So level is the countr}'^ that in their flight they rarely reach a lieight of 500 feet above sea-level. This is the land of the Samoyeds, where agriculture is impossi- ble, and the natives live by Ashing and hunting. Still farther north, yet in Russia, is Nova Zembla, 75° north latitude, where no animal life exists ; but even here, in this land of ice and snow, several hundred species of lichen have l)een found. Though the surface of the water is frozen for about nine months in the year, }’^et fish and animalculse abound, the temperature of the fish varying with the water in which they live, here only a little above the freezing-point.
Returning to the black zone, near the latitude of Mo.scow, and traveling south, first the hardwood gives place to the rich prairie land; then we reach the agricultural steppe, a treeless land, susceptible of cultivation, though lacking in the ricli, deep loam of the black zone. Farther south lie the vast barren steppes, in the west a sandy desert, in the east a vast saline plain, for- merly the bed of a great lake, of which the Caspian and Aral seas formed a small part. This is the genuine steppe, a country level as the sea, without even a gentle undulation or a particle of cultivation — neither tree nor bush, nor even a stone, to diversify the monotonous expanse. The inhabitants lead a nomadic life, like those of the Arctic region.
The very diversity of the country and the occupations of the people of Russia tend to unity, for the north needs the grain of the south, and the south requires the wood of the north. Middle Russia, that great center of manufactures, without the north and south would lack markets for its manufactures.
MOUNTAINS.
The greatest extent of upland in Russia is near Great Nov- gorod, southwest of St. Petersburg, where the Valdai hills rise from 800 to 1,000 feet.
RUSSIA IX EUROPE
III the east the Ural mountains separate Russia from Siberia, a range of plateaus rather than mountains, attaining an eleva- tion of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet, extending from the Arctic ocean south about 1,200 miles. They are rich in metals — gold, precious stones, iron, and coal — with large and productive mines. In the southeastern part of Russia are the Caucasian mountains, separating Europe from Asia and running from the Black to the Caspian seas, about 600 miles in length and 150 in width. The culminating point is mount Elburz, 18,572 feet above the sea level, 3,000 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Near the center of the Caucasus is mount Kazbek, 16,552 feet, 1,000 feet higher than Monte Rosa. These mountains are clothed with snow for several thousand feet, and down their sides flow many glaciers. The Russians have so little love of sceneiy -that they rarely make excursions among these mountains or ascend Elburz, which, though half a mile higher than Mont Blanc, is much easier of ascent, because there is only a steady climb for several hours over smooth, frozen snow.
Near Kazbek is the pass of Dariel, 8,000 feet in height, the only carriage road through these mountains. In ancient times this pass, called the “ gates of the Caucasus,” was guarded by Tartar towers, which still stand, thousands of years old, overlooking the pass. Until Russia conquered the northern part of Persia, the two sides were never held by the same power.
At the southeastern extremity of the Caucasus, on the Caspian sea, at Baku, there stands an old temple, where for centuries a beacon was kept burning by the fire-worshipers of India and Persia. The people in the olden time believed that the fire was supernatural — the gift of the god of fire. Modern science shoAvs that it came from oil wells, and modern enterprise has here de- veloped a great industry. The old temple of the fire-worshipers remains; on one side of it are huge derricks, ijumping tlie oil ; on the other, a great stone embankment, stretching over a mile along the coast, where steam and sailing vessels and long trains of railroad cars load Avith oil. Here is a population of fifty thousand, Avhere tAventy years ago Avere less than fifteen hun- dred. The Parsee tending the fire symbolizes the past; the Russian Avith his oil Avells, his railroads, and steamboats, the future. The petroleum is used for fuel on the Caspian and Volga steamers. It is sent up the Volga and its branches to all jiarts of Russia and is carrietl by rail from Baku to Batoum, on the
8
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]^lack sea, and thence )jy steamer to different parts of Europe. It has superseded American oil in Russia and competed with it in Vienna and Berlin until consolidation of the American and Russian interests was made. In 1893 Baku alone produced 33,104,000 gallons, a production largeh^ exceeding that of either of the two great oil-fields of America.
Another range of mountains, or rather a continuation of tlie Caucasus, runs across the Crimea. This range protects the coast on the southeastern side from the cold winds of the north, and here are Livadia and Yalta, where the late Czar died — the only places in all Russia Avhere there is an equable climate like that of Nice and Mentone. The road from Livadia crosses this chain of mountains through a pass about 3,000 feet in height, with views of the Black sea resembling those of the Mediterra- nean near Amalfi, and then descends to Balaklava and Sebas- to])ol, where the winter winds from the Arctic blow unljroken by any mountains.
EIVER SYSTEM.
In the plateau of the Valdai the principal rivers of Russia rise. The Volga and its branches flow east and south to the Caspian sea ; the Dnieper and Don to the Black sea ; others northwest to the Baltic. Russia is so level that its rivers are slow and sluggish, with little water except during the melting of snows. They are connected Avith each other and Avith the gulf of Finland and the Arctic ocean by canals, so that inter- communication betAveen different parts of the country is easy in the summer. The rivers that emj)ty into the Arctic ocean and into the Black and Caspian seas have several mouths, so that navigation from the river into the sea is A’ery difficult.
There are 33,000 miles of naA’igable rivers, 81,000 vessels of various kinds, and 138,000 rafts.
CLIM.A.TE.
In its climate, as in extent, conformation, and population, Russia differs from the other countries of Europe. These are bathed by the Avarm Avinds from the Atlantic and ^Mediterranean. The moisture of these Avinds is rapidly condensed as they pass over the Alps and Carpathians and the mountains of Noiavay and SAveden, the source of numerous rivers, and affording an abundant supply of rain to Avestern Europe. These Avinds then
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blow over Russia, but they have become cUy, without moisture ; consequently the rainfall of western Russia is only about twenty or twenty-five inches, or half that of western Europe. This steadily diminishes toward the east, leaving the steppes of east- ern Russia dry and barren, unless irrigated. The tem])erature diminishes rapidly from the west to the east. North of 50°, or far south of Moscow, it diminishes more rapidly from the west to the east than from the south to the north.
Over the vast plain of Russia the winds blow without obstruc- tion. The cold winter winds bring from the Arctic ocean the temperature of the polar regions, while the warm summer winds from the Black sea convey the temperature of the torrid zone. Spring and autumn are almost unknown, for as soon as the frost is gone, about the middle of April or the first of May, the wheat and grain fields and the foliage of the trees burst forth with a rapidit}' unknown in our country.
RACES.
Although Russia is one of the most uniform and level of countries, yet few are occupied by as great a variety of races. Southern and middle Russia were for centuries the great high- ways over which vast numbers of barbaric hordes — Scythians, Huns, Mongols, and Vandals — passed from Asia through Russia into Italy, Hungaiy, Poland, Germany, and by the Dari el pass over the Caucasus into Asia Minor. Some of each of these tribes remained ; all left their impress U{)on Russia. While these tribes were overrunning Russia the Slavonians came, to- day the ]>redominant race, the last of the Aryans to leave their original home, ai\il these retained when they entered Russia many Asiatic habits. In the fifth and sixth centuries they prol)- ably occu[)ied the region now known as “ Little Russia” and were the germ of the great Russian empire. ^Vhen the Slavonians entered Russia they found Mongols, Finns, and Huns; with .some they intermarried; others they pushed into northern and Arctic Russia, a region without temptation for the Aryan or other Avandering tribes.
From the Avest came the Northmen, Avho settled the country about the Baltic sea and founded NoA'gorod the Great, tlie oldest toAvn in Russia, and brought many of the customs and habits of western Europe. In the fifteenth century NoA'gorod was the largest and most important town in northern Euroj)c and a
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member of the Hanseatic league. It lost its independence and was overthrown hy Ivan the Terrible in 1570, and Novgorod as an independent State ceased to exist and is now a town of little importance.
In the thirteenth century the ^Mongol Tartars entered eastern Russia and for over 200 years, from 1238 to 1462, ruled, mingling their blood with the Russians. They in turn were conquered by the Russians and driven from central Russia into the valley of the Volga and the Crimea, where their descendants still live.
In the seventeentli century Poland, then one of the largest countries of Europe, undertook the conquest of Russia, and for some years there was a life-and-death struggle between the two nations. Moscow was captured and the king of Poland reigned there for thirteen years. The people of Nijni Novgorod the Great arose, selling their wives and daughters to buy arms, took Moscow, burning a large part of it, and finally expelled the Poles, but not until they had mingled their blood with the Rus- sian. This was the last invasion of Russia that left its impress on the country.
The Great Russians, the inhabitants of the black zone in north- ern and central Russia, are the most numerous of the poioulation of Russia, In the northwest they intermarried and mingled with the Finns ; in the east with the Mongol Tartars. In southern Russia the inhabitants called Little Russians intermarried with the Cossacks and Crimean Tartars and are next in number to the Great Russians. The Cossacks are Russians who preferred the nomadic to the agricultural life, and therefore wandered into the steppes away from civilization and formed bands of horse- men, called often by the country in which they lived, as the Don Cossacks. They resemble in some respects the cowboys of America. They occupied the Crimea and the country north of the Black sea, with Tartar tribes from Turania, Kalmucks, and Bashkirs.
Besides the races named, there are Turanians, Armenians, Poles, Semites, Georgians, and Turks — in all, thirty different races — with Greek, Catholic, Shumanistic, Buddhist, Jewish, Mohammedans, Dissenters and pagan religions of all kinds. These various races formerly intermarried, but the introduction of the ^Mohammedan religion among the Tartar trilies has pre- vented further mingling of these various races and has proved a great obstacle to their elev'^ation and civilization. I was struck
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with the variet}’’ of races at a dinner in Piatigorsk, a watering place at the foothills of the Caucasus, given by an officer of the Pussian army. My host was a German; the other guests, his fellow-officers, were a Pole, a Jew, an Armenian, a Caucasian, a Georgian, a Tartar, a Mongolian, and, finally, a Russian,
In a Tartar and Russian village there is no blending of races. Near one end stands the Mohammedan mosque ; at the other the Christian temple. In Finnish villages, on the oth^r hand, intermarriages of the Finns and Russians is causing the blend- ing of the two races.
CH.\RACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION.
Russia in Europe, with a population of nearly 100,000,000, is very thinly populated, having only fifteen inhabitants to the square kilometer, while Germany has seventy-eight and England one hundred and fourteen. The population is increasing at a more rapid rate than in either of these countries.
A recent writer says : “ The life that men live in the city gives the type and measure of their civilization. The word civiliza- tion means the manner of life of the civilized part of the com- munity— that is, of the city men, not of the country men, who are called rustics.” The cities of Russia, except St. Petersburg, are small, far apart, and have little connection with each other or influence on the population. The Russian peasant has there- fore little knowledge either of city life or of this civilization. He lives far removed from it, and there is little of it in Russia. Only one-third as many in proportion to population live in the cities of Russia as in the cities of the United States.
Two-thirds of the population, including all the Great and Little Russians, live in the black zone, with Moscow as a center. It is estimated that over six-eighths of these are either serfs them- selves or are the children of serfs, while 6,000,000 of the re- mainder are Poles and 2,000,000 .Jews.
It is impossible that in one generation such a population of freedmen should have made any considerable advance. Their life and habits are, therefore, mainly such as they were as serfs. It should also be borne in mind that while these are descendants from Aryans, yet this blood has from time to time and in very mau}'^ generations ])oen mingled with the blood of the Asiatics, and therefore with nations less civilized.
The highly civilized man makes nature subordinate to his
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convenience and necessities, but with uncivilized nations nature dominates and man becomes subject to its influence. The char- acter and habits of the Russians are therefore largely fashioned by their environments, which vary little in different localities.
Russia has only two seasons, summer and winter. During the long Arctic winter the people are without occu])ation, save the tending of flocks morning and night ; the days are short and sunless y*tlie nights long; the houses, Avithout ventilation, are hot and close ; the air bad. Even in my room, in the largest and best hotel in St. Petersburg, the windows in early November Avere sealed so tight that a breath of air could not get in. The rooms Avere heated by steam, Avhich could not be shut off, and the only ventilation Avas by a small hole in the Avail, through Avhich a little fresh air could enter. The peasants Avear the same clothes night and da}' ; all sleep together on the large stoves, and are required by their ])riests to bathe every Saturday evening, using the vapor bath instead of soap. A large room or cave is dug in the earth and heated very hot ; here they sit or lie doAvn ; fan themselves Avith a Avhisk brush ; a profuse perspiration opens and cleanses the pores of the skin ; they then often plunge into an icy stream or bathe in cold Avater. They lead idle, listless lives in winter, and Avhen Avinter ends are little inclined to Avork. Then folloAv the long, hot summer days, the heat fully as enervating as the bitter cold. Without mental or bodily activity, they become heavy and lethargic. Their food for generations has been mea- ger, of the poorest kind, almost entirely vegetal, and unsuitable to the climate. Those avIio survive to mature age have great })OAver of endurance, Avhich often becomes stolid stubbornness or passive courage and resignation. They are gentle-hearted, have little imagination, and therefore no inventive faculty. Every peasant, Avhether man or Avoman, Avears a shee[>skin in Avinter, bright colors in summer, the garment of nomadic triVjes, not Avorn by any other Euroi)ean race. They have little desire to rule others, or to make the tril)es Avhom they conquer subserv- ient, and are therefore admirably fitted for the Avork of })eaceful agricultural colonization. Wages are very Ioav. Tlie manager of the telegraph service of one section of Russia, Avith twenty- tAVO offices under him, told us that his salary Avas 1,100 rubles, or about S550, a year ; that the operators Avere on duty tAventy- four hours every other day and received 15 rubles, or 87.50, a month. Wallace tells us that “ a family of five, man and
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.wife, boy, and two daughters, actually lived in the northern part of Russia on sixty-one dollars a year.” There are few rail- roads in Russia, no stage-coaches, few daily and weekly pa])ers, neither magazines nor books, for the peasantry can neither read nor write. They have little more knowledge of the nearest vil- lage than we have of the moon.
We can scarce!}^ comprehend such a people or such a life and are not surprised to learn that they resort to cards and drink as the only relief from the dullness of the interminable winter. They never hurry, for time is not money. Among professional men and merchants in St. Petersburg business does not com- mence until after breakfast, at 11 or 12 o’clock; with dinner at 6 o’clock, little time is left for work, but a long evening for cards.
A t}"pical Russian village consists of two lines of houses, one on either side of the street, each house, built of pine logs, stand- ing alone, from ten to one hundred making a village ; each cabin is like its fellow except in size ; when you have seen one you have seen all. The floor is of earth ; the walls, rough logs, the crevices stuffed with moss, without paint — the type of houses in England in the time of Queen Elizabeth. At one end of the vil- lage is the cruciform church, of an oriental aspect, a dome gilded and painted in bright colors, surmounted by a gilt cross. We visited Rostoflf, the center of a large commerce with the interior of Russia, a city with a population of 50,000, at the mouth of the Don, inhabited by Russians and Cossacks. It has a large casino, containing a ball-room, gai'dens, billiaixl and refreshment rooms, where all grades of society assemble on Sunday to dance and hold parties of pleasure. We spent two hours here and took a drosky drive to the town about a mile distant. It is a long, dirty, .straggling, unkempt village, with broad streets, paved in the time of Peter tlie Great, apparently never repaired since his death ; the onl v difference in the streets is that some are worse than others ; a few large stores and a great market place, with bread enough for an army ; potatoes, quantities of beautiful-looking tomatoes, egg- plants, gra})es, and pears. The place looked as though it had considerable trade, l>ut is devoid of all interest. A\'e saw no new or fine buildings; only old and dilapidated houses.
In Russia there is no nnddle class and little intercourse be- tween the officials, who are the highest clas.s — the nobles, who are the upper class — and the peasants. They live in a world as distinct as Europe and Asia. 'I'he ui)per class follow the customs
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and manners of the west. Formerly they used the German lan-» guage, then tlie French, taking from France liberal ideas, but now Ivussian is the language of the court and has been adopted in polite society. The upper classes are as highly cultivated, as honorable, and as polished as any of the upper classes in Europe.
The peasantry, recently serfs, in their feelings and habits are Asiatics, fliithful to ancient manners and customs. They look upon innovation or change with distrust. St. Petersburg is the type of the new ideas, IMoscow of the old.
We now turn to northern and Arctic Russia, a country with inhabitants very different from that we have just described. In the west is Finland, formerl}" subject to Sweden, but annexed to Russia in 1800. The name and origin of the Finns is an ethno- logical problem. They are supposed to be of the same race as the Hungarian and Bashkirs. In summer the sun’s rays are nearly constant, and the growth of vegetation continuous and ra})id.
The people are tall, strongly built, and well proportioned, with faces rather square than oval. They are slow, dull, grateful and honest, industrious and energetic. Their peculiar language and literature have attracted much attention, and although writing seems to have been introduced onl}'- al)out three hundi*ed years ago and printing about one hundred years later, yet nearly all can read and write.
In the written language phonetic spelling is employed with almost perfect consistenc3^ One celebrated linguist says, “ it is the most harmonious and sonorous of tongues.” The}’’ are better educated, more highly civilized, and are improving more rajndly than the Russians. Serfdom was never introduced into Finland, and the Finns boast that the}’’ have never had a slave nor a noble in all their land. From these causes, while we regard the Rus- sians as Asiatics, we must look upon tlie Finns as Europeans. Northeast of Finland, on the Arctic circle, and hir to the north of it, wliere the shore-line stretches from Archangel toward the sunrise fifteen hundred miles, bound in ice chains for eight months of the year, where on the cliffs and ledges the snow never melts, a wandering tribe, sometimes called Samoyeds, live in a desert of ice and snow — a land without a road, with- out a field, without a name. Tlieir dwellings are tents l)uilt of poles, open at the to]> to let out the smoke, and covered
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with loose reindeer skins, secured by thongs of seal and walrus hide; within are small compartments, the whole warmed by a fire in the center of the tent and a seal-oil lamp in each com- partment. They own herds of reindeer, which alone make the region habitable. In summer they move frequently for food to fresh pastures of green moss, on which the reindeer feed, and on them the wild men of the country live, eating their food without cooking. In the winter they draw near the shore and live on seal and cod. They hunt the squirrel and fox and sell their skins to the Russians, and thus purchase a few of the necessaries of life. Their only arms are the bow and arrow. The Samoyeds are believed by some to be Finns, who, forced far into the Arctic -region, have degenerated and lost most of the peculiar habits of the Finns.
South of the agricultural zone we come to a third civilization, to another and different life, in the lands of the southwest and in the saline steppes in the southeast. These were inhab- ited by Cossacks, Tartars, Bashkirs, Kalmucks, and other no- madic tribes, who wandered over the steppes to find pasture for their cattle.
Among these tribes one hundred years ago Catherine II planted colonies of Germans to cultivate the land, establish set- tlements, intermingle and intermarry with the people, and in- troduce agriculture, thrift, and habits of industry. This experi- ment failed, for the Germans have lived almost entirely among themselves, and, while acquiring many of the bad habits of the people, have done little toward improving them. Since the law compelled the Cossacks and Tartars to live in fixed habitations many have migrated intoTurania, Armenia, and Turkey in Asia, while from Armenia and Turkey Armenians, Greeks, Druses, and other Christians have come and.'built flourishing towns and cities on the Black and Aral seas and river Volga. These new settlers are the most industrious and prosperous of the Russians, and immigration will continue as long as these countries are under Mohammedan rule. Before the emancipation of the serf, in 1861, the ])atriarchal system prevailed, under which each family was its ))roducerand consumer. Since then manufactures have rapidly increased and have nearly doubled the last twelve years. The mining interest has also increased with like rapidity ; the annual production of the mines is $67,000,000.
The mercantile or trading class and the manufacturers, usually
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the most im])ortaiit and influential, are in Russia less in pro- portion tlian in other civilized countries, and have little influ- ence, either witli tlie peasants, as they represent western ideas, or with the nobles, avIio look down upon them as traders.
This completes a general enumeration of the inhabitants of Russia. We have described the lives of tlie hunters and fisher- men of the north, of the agricultural laborers of central Russia, of the nomadic po})ulation of southern and southeastern Russia, and the mercantile or trading class and the manufacturers, who live around Moscow and Tula.
• Under one czar, Vladimir the Holy, the peasants could change their religion ; under another, Peter the Great, they could change their dress, but time alone can change the Asiatic to the Euro- pean.
The black zone of Russia is as rich as the prairies of America ; the lands cost no more; yet the inhabitants of Austria and Ger- many, contiguous to this fertile land, immigrate four thousand miles to the prairies of America rather than cross the boundary line into this rich zone. One reason for their preferring America is that in Russia they will be called upon to serve in the army. While this is undoubtedly one cause for their preference of America, yet, as the Germans and Russians have never mingled when they have been brought into contact, it is probable that the difference in the habits and customs of the two races — the one European, the other Asiatic — has as much, if not more, in- fluence in preventing the Germans from emigrating to Russia.
GOVERNMENT.
The diversity of races and languages was formerly much greater than at present, when each tribe had its ovm laws, re- ligion and customs, more or less barbarous, but in all the pa- ternal form of government. The head of the family and chief of th^ tribe had absolute power over the family and tribe ; the czar a like absolute power over all the tribes. The czar is the head of the government, and the peasants believe him to be aj>- pointed by God to be their father and ruler. A republican form of government once e.xisted in Novgorod the Great, and also at Pskoff, but these republics, after enduring one or Uvo hundi*ed years, were attacked by wandering triljes from the Orient and by armed bands from Germany, Sweden and Poland. For the
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purpose of repellinp; these invasions these cities were forced to unite with various tribes of Russia and form a strong imperial government under a czar.
Peter tlie Great organized municipal governments for towns and cities after the model of the German free cities, but these institutions having no root in the traditions and habits of tlie people, it has been impossil)le to maintain them or .to interest the people in them.
For many generations there has been no convocation or as- semblage of the people. The entire civilization has been Asiatic, differing greatly from that of the west. There was formerly no attempt either at uniformity in the government of the different provinces and nationalities or of symmetry in the administra- tion. There were not only territorial peculiarities, but different systems in the same territory. Changes in the laws were fre- quently made, but they Avere only local.
The idea of an united Russia belongs to Czar Ivan Kalita, Avho reigned in the middle of the fourteenth, century, though Peter the Great was the first to realize the necessity of a uniform and central administration if Russia was to become a great nation. He tried to bring order out of chaos and to inti’oduce Avestern civilization among the barbarous and oriental tribes of Russia, and, as there Avere no persons qualified for official positions, schools Avere formed to train men for office. Peter the Great had untiring zeal, perseverance, great ability, and genius. He tried many experiments, but frankly admitted their failure, and died, having overthroAvn many institutions, but Avithout creating a system. His successors took up the Avork and carried it forward, each according to his ability, and by sIoav degrees they have created a centralized government, Avith a certain uniformity in its administration. There are ranks of nobility, but, unlike those of Avestern Europe, the nobles have no [)olitical poAver or right of primogeniture. All their children are of equal rank, so that nobles are found among the drosky drivers of >St. Petersburg ; their influence de[)ends solely on Avealth and personal character.
A council and ministers or secretaries for the different de[)art- ments of government have been established, but there is neither uniformity of action betAveen the council and ministers nor betAveen the several members of the council or ministry. For the i)urpose of obtaining fuller information and from a greater variety of sources, the czar, in important matters, often ap})oints
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committees to examine and report directly to him and advise what action, if any, shall be taken.
There is a code of laws, full of commentaries, with a vast num- l)er of orders, decrees, and statutes issued by the czar at differ- ent times and under different circumstances; also innumerable circulars, open and secret, general, special, and local, forming a tangled growth, so that it is impossible to decide either what the law is or what are the rights of the individual. It is difficult for the czar or his ministers to know how far an order has been executed, for with a censorship of the press it is impossible for either the people or the ruler to know much of the conduct of affairs.
Russia is divided into eighty-five governments and six terri- tories of different areas and population, over each of which is a governor, responsible to the czar, and a council, wdth a strong centralized administration. The power of the governor is nearly as absolute and unlimited in his territory as that of the czar over the whole empire. Each government is divided into dis- tricts. The governor appoints officials in the various districts, who are responsible to him, and these officials appoint jDolice officers in the several villages, responsible only to them. The salaries of the lower officers are very small, and as thej’’ are barely sufficient for their support this has led to more or less corruption, although in Russia, as in other countries, embezzle- ment has not been confined to any class or rank. This was greatly lessened under the late czar, Alexander III, in the cen- tral government and in the great administrations.
THE MIR.
In Great and Little Russia, Avherever the Slav inhaliits, the vil- lage community, called the mir, has been persistent and exists today in a form not widely different from that which prevailed in ancient Arya and all over Europe and Asia. There are , 107,493 of these communes in Russia. All the land is held by the mir, owned in common, and is divided into three })or- tions — arable, forest, and pasture. The homes are all in the village. The fields, cut into long, narrow strips, are periodically divided among the families, so that each family shall have strips according to its size and numbers. There is a redistribution every few years. Nearly all the women and the greater part of the men are engaged in the cultivation of the land. All the
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affairs and business of the mir are regulated in a council, com- posed of the adult men and of the adult women when heads of a famil3^ This village assembly has power to try and punish criminals, and can even send them to Siberia. It is the only government of which the vast majority of Russians have any experience or in which they take an interest. The peasant gov-' crning the world in which he lives does not concern himself with the unseen and far away.
The mir, with the exception of community of property and judicial authority, is the counterpart of the New England town meeting, the corner-stone of our republican institutions.
The brightest men leave the commune and go to the cities to work as artisans, but they must first obtain permission from the mir, return to it when ordered, and send a part of their earnings to the village treasury or forfeit all their interest in the com- munal property and all connection with their ancestral home and kindred. The land and property being held in common affords little opportunity for that struggle for wealth and a better and higher life absolutely necessary for progress. It is indeed a communistic, socialistic system, which some, even in our day, propose to engraft upon our life.
Within fifteen or twenty years the power of the mir has been greatly limited by the establishment of the provincial govern- ment, with its police officer, the representative of provincial government, the police having much greater jDower in his vil- lage than formerly.
SERFDOM.
Serfdom and slavery, unknown in Russia before the fifteenth century, originated from several i)eculiar causes. Prior to the conquest of Russia by the Tartars, in the thirteenth century, the condition of the peasants of Russia and western Europe was in many respects very dissimilar. Russia never felt the bene- fits either of Roman law and civilization or of the Roman Cath- olic church ; neither the influence of large towns with municipal rights and privileges nor of the feudal system. The Teutons had a sturdy independence and asserted their rights, while the most enterprising of the Russians, having a i)redisi>osition to a vagrant life, preferred to seek independence l)y wandering away from tlieir communes, forming Cossack bands. This vagrancy was in- creased under the Tartar rule, when the ])resent Asiatic dress of sheei)skin was adoi>ted and other Asiatic habits accpiired.
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Another marked difference between eastern and western Europe, which also led to serfdom, arose from the ownership of the land, in Avestern Europe held in comparatively small par- cels and divided between the church, the nobles, and the people, Avhile in Russia the Czar, as owner of all the land, gave great ffracts to a few families or to religious houses, retaining the re- mainder ; hut these gifts were of little value Avhile the peasantry were allowed to roani Avherever and whenever they i)leased.
LaAVS Avere passed to remedy tliis evil by confining the peas- antiy to certain parts of the countiy, and subsequently to the estates Avhere thcA' lived. Conscription of the serfs for the army Avas then introduced, the proprietor Avas made responsible for the entry of the conscript into the army, and from that arose the obli- gation of the serf to the master. As the serf could only he profit- ably employed on the rich black lands around Moscoav and Kief, the number of serfs diminished Avith the distance from the black zone, Avhile in the extreme north and the steppes of the south it never existed. They either Avorked three days in the week for their masters, having the rest of the Aveek for them- selves, or they gaA^e a corresponding portion of their crops, or else one-half of their Avages to their masters. It Avas by sIoav degrees, subsequent to 1450, that serfdom Avas established and the serfs became ])ersonal property. With this right of projAcrty came control of life and limb, and these successive changes, often regulated by hiAvs passed for the relief of the serf, generally resulted in binding his chains tighter.
The act of emancipation in 1861 liberated 49,486,000 serfs, of Avhom 23,022,000 belonged to the nobles ; 23,138,000 to the state, and 3,326,000 to the departments.
A portion of the land OAvned by the state and of that OAvned by the nobles and religious houses Avas by the act of emancipa- tion given to the serfs. The government paid the nobles and religious houses sums fixed by arbitration for the lands surren- dered by them, while the serfs paid the state for the land given to them by annual payments running over fifty years, secured by the land and also by the other property of the serfs. The last of these payments Avill not be due until the early part of the next century. Even noAv 40 per cent of the land is OAvned^hy the state, 2 per cent by the imperial family, 33 per cent by the peasantry, and 25 per cent by private owners.
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EDUCATION.
There has never been any national system of education in Russia. Many noble and wealthy families have English nurses and French or German tutors. The children are taught to speak French, English, and German and formerl}’- were often better educated in those languages than in their native tongue.
There are nine universities in Russia, with between fifteen and eighteen thousand students, who are mostly from poor families and often support themselves by teaching. They strongly de- sire to reform the government, but are ignorant of any other way of accomplishing their object than by its overthrow. They have therefore become nihilists, hoping to improve the people with- out realizing how much evil they do. They have converted the universities into hot-beds of nihilism. The government has consequently subjected the students to very strict regulations, not only in their study but in their life outside as well as within the university, the tendency now being to restrict instruction and confine it to specified lines.
In addition to these nine universities, there are medical and professional schools for engineers, electricians, and mechanics, not included in the above enumeration. Each of the eighty-five governments has a grammar or high school, and the pupils on graduating from these schools can enter the higher seminaries.
There are also secondary common schools and gymnasiums, with 2,o00,000 scholars, while there are 15,000,000 of school age. Of every ten Russian men, two may be able to read, but of eveiy ten Russian women, hardl}^ one. For the last ten years consider- able sums have been appro|)riated by the government for edu- cational purposes, and in 1893 $31,000,000 by the general and local governments ; $175,000,000 a year were expended on the arm}’- and $22,000,000 on the navy, while in the United States $150,000,000 are annually expended for education.
Slight as are their educational privileges, and probably liecause they are so slight, the ])eople have no desire for a better and fuller system. Daring my stay at Nijni Novgorod I was invited to go over the house of one of the wealthiest men in the ])lace. It was a very magnificent house, with a broad marlde stairway leading to the salon, the floor of which was mosaic and the hang- ings fine tapestry. I visited every room in the house; in only one did 1 see a book, ])aper, or Avriting materials of any kind, and that was the children’s school-room. I was informed that
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neither the master nor mistress could read or write, hut I was, perhaps, misinformed. On leaving I kissed the hand of the lady of the house, and in return she kissed rny forehead, the invari- able custom in old Russian families in l)idding adieu to guests with Avhom they were pleased. The family, I was informed, lived in two or three small rooms, keeping the others for show and an occasional party.
Within the present century Russia has developed a literature of i^oetry and prose, history and romance, excelled by no other nation. Few novels are more read today than those of Tour- geniefF and Tolstoi and other Russian Avriters. Most of them recount tales of Russia and Russian life, and have a Avide circu- lation in other countries. The education of these Avriters and their mental training have been essentially Russian, and their Avritings, therefore, touch the heart of the Russian people, and this has led a constantly increasing number to learn to read- There is also a large number of folk songs and tales Avhich are Avidely sung and recited among the jAeasantry. Science has also made as rapid progress as belles-letters. There are no better geologists and chemists in the world than the Russian, Avhile other scientists are not far behind. In 1892, 9,588 books Avere produced, with an aggregate of 30,000,000 copies.
THE FAIR AT NIJMI NOA^GOROD.
The geographical position of Nijni Novgorod is most favorable as a gathering place for people from all parts of Russia and the Orient. Situated at the junction of the Volga and Oka, it is easily accessible by these rivers and their branches and canal connections to people from all parts of Russia and from some parts of Asia. It is also the nearest large city to the lowest passes for caraA^ans between Russia and China. This position makes Nijni NoA'gorod the natural place for the great fair of Russia. These fairs Avere formerly held in all the countries of Europe and Avere largel}’^ attended, but Avith good roads, steam- boats, and railroads the necessity for them has ceased, excepting in Russia and some parts of Asia.
In 1881 I visited the fair at Nijni NoA’^gorod. Held on Ioav, flat ground opposite the city, for more than five hundred years this fair, though not ahvays held at Nijni Novgorod, has l^een the great mart of exchange for the products of Russia, Sil^eria, China, Persia, Turania, and the Crimea. The fair is opened in
RUSSIA IN EUROPE
23
July and continues through August and September. Some of the articles for sale are brought by rail, but most by barges or steamboat. I counted fifty tugs from one point, while two or three times as many were anchored in other parts of the river.
From Siberia are brought furs and diamonds, precious stones, fine-toned bells, iron and wooden utensils, Siberian shoes, made of felt, impervious to snow or water, heat or cold. From China come caravan tea, worth $2.50 per pound, the finest tea that is drunk, and brick tea, the poorest, worth only 15 cents per pound. From Persia come precious stones, fruits, carpets, and silks ; from Circassia, shawls, slippers, and oils ; cotton from Khiva and Bokhara ; oil and wool from Astrakhan ; from west- ern Russia, woolen, linen, and vast quantities of hardware, nails, and steel, while Germany, France, and England sell their goods by sample. There is a palace with salons for great and small balls and dinners. There are streets with buildings and stores of stone, brick, and iron. These were found insufficient, and three thousand bazaars of a temporary nature are often erected. The same merchants come year after year, and often from gen- eration to generation, and occupy the same buildings. Some come on horseback with their stores, others with steam-tugs towing barges filled with merchandise. Near by on the rivpr Oka are sheds, nearly a mile in length, filled with Siberian iron, rolled, bar, and cast iron rods, plate iron, and boiler plates, wire, hollow-ware, stoves, nails, and all descriptions of rough iron-work. Here also are churches for all creeds — Rus- sians, Chinese, Tartars, Buddhists, Catholics, and Lutherans.
After the fair is over, by the middle or last of September, the place is deserted, stores and houses closed, the goods are taken away, and not a soul is seen in the place where only a few days before three or four hundred thousand people were gathered. The bridge of boats which connects the fair-ground with Nijni is taken down and removed for the winter.
TRAVELING.
The different methods of traveling show the habits and civiliza- tion of a people. In the far north of Russia the sledge and tlie reindeer are only used ; in Finland, steam or sail lioat or sledge. Travel in summer by land is unusual ; they wait for sleighing or go by boat. In central Russia they travel by railroad or
24
RUSSIA IX EUROPE
tarantass ; over the Caucasus and generally through the country by tarantass.
In southeastern Russia the horse and camel are the sole means of locomotion, and travel is generally l)y caravan. In several of the large cities there are hotels, as in other parts of Euro])e, but in tlie country hotels are unknown ; only rooms are furnished at khans or caravansaries, as all travelers carry their servants, pro- visions, bed, and bedding. Everywhere is found the samovar, a large copper vessel, with a long tube or funnel extending to the bottom, kept filled with charcoal, which when lighted smoulders all day long, keeping the water hot day and night, ready for making tea. In the conveyances for travel, in the hotels, and in everything else outside the large cities Asiatic customs pre- vail. There are regular stations where horses are kept, but they cannot be obtained without a prodovoina — a paper signed by the proper officer — which gives the traveler a right to claim the horses at a price fixed in the paper, which is usually very low.
From Berlin to St. Petersburg and INIoscow the sleei)ers are large, roonyv, and clean ; the accommodations for sleeping are excellent ; the stations and restaurants are well appointed, large, and handsome. After leaving Moscow, the first night we liad pillow-cases and mattress in the sleepers, but no sheets ; the second night neither pillow-cases nor mattress.
South of Moscow, when I was tliere the stations were poor, without restaurants, and even without water for washing. M'e reached Vladikavkaz at night and drove direct!}^ to a hotel which we understood was kept by a Frenchman, but he had left, and there was no one in the hotel, or apparently in the vil- lage, who could speak either French, German, or English. For- tunately we found a l)oy from one of the neighboring German settlements who could speak German.
The next morning we started on our tri}>, through the Dariel pass, across the Caucasus in a tarantass, a boat-shaped, covered carriage without springs or seats, for the roads are so rough that springs would soon break, without opportunit}" for repairs. We leaned against our trunks in the back of the carriage, filled with straw. We started with four horses abreast, dilven with six reins, one to each of the outside horses and the other four to the pole-horses. We drove rapidly, but were often delayed at post- stations waiting for horses. While we were stopping, more than once, an official drove up. Horses Avere immediately harnessed
RUSSIA IN EUROPE
25
and he drove on, although we had been told that there were no horses in the stables. We took a few provisions with us and found something to eat at one or two of the stations. At night there was only one common room, where all lodged and slept on the floors or benches, and as this is also used as a waiting- room for travelers by night while their horses are being changed, there was little opportunity for sleeping. The Russians carry their own beds and provisions, but we were not so fortunate, and so were obliged to lie on the boards, with straw for our beds.
At the end of the second day we were over the mountains and in Asia. We stopped at the post-station. Our provisions were gone, and we could get nothing at the station but a samovar with hot water ; so, late at night, we drove on to Tiflis, a city of over one hundred thousand inhabitants.
Through Tiflis the river Kur runs, with beautiful views of mount Kazbek and the snow peaks of the Caucasus to the north. Steep banks on either side divide the city into two parts, the one new, with fine boulevards, European civilization, and handsome houses, occupied solely by Russian officials ; the other, the old part, on hilly ground, inhabited by Persians, Armenians, Geor- gians, and others from the many different tribes of the Caucasus. Here are bazaars like those of Constantinople, Cairo, or Damas- cus, where goods from all parts of the Orient are sold.
CONCLtSION.
Many causes have been and are still at work that must arouse the Russians. Tlie first great impulse arose in the early part of the iH’esent century, during the Napoleonic wars, when the Rus- sian armies gathered from all parts of the kingdom, marched to Berlin and Vienna, and mingled with the armies of Prussia and Austria. Then came the invasion of Russia by Napoleon, the burning of Moscow, followed l)y the second march of the Rus- sian armies through Europe, and their entry into Paris in 1814, in each case coming home with enlarged vision and new ideas. Second, the introduction of steamboats on the rivers; third, the Crimean war and fall of Sebastopol, which aroused tlie ruling class to the ncce.ssity for railroads and better intercommunica- tion between the different parts of the empire, and led to the construction of three lines of railroad from the north to the south through the length of Russia, and three lines from its western to
2(3
nUSSlA IX EUROPE
its eastern boundary, thus inviting the people to travel from place to i^lace and to see more of the world; fourth, as a second result of the Crimean war was the freedom of the serfs in 1861 from a slavery of one hundred and fifty years ; fifth, the con- struction of the railroad across the Ural mountains to Siberia^ and its subsequent extension east, through the southern part of the country, to the Pacific, through the rich agricultural region of Siberia ; sixth, the trans-Caspian conquest and the construc- tion of the railroad along the borders of Persia and Afghanistan, across the desert and the river Oxus to Samarcand, opening up several countries and a large population to the manufactures and commerce of Russia ; thus a large and profitable commerce has been created or diverted from England to Russia, which must greatly benefit Russia and trans-Caspia ; seventh, the ex- port of grain and petroleum from Russia to Europe, which is rapidly increasing, and the money obtained in exchange niust greatly benefit the Russian farmer.
The destinies of Asia are in the hands of Russia and England, and are more intimately connected with Russia than with Eng- land, for the Russians have greater affinity with the Asiatics than the English, their influence over them is greater, and the Asiatics are more easily reconciled to the government of Russia than to that of the English.
This contact and intercourse tend to develop both Asiatics and Russians. The day of awakening, of progress, of education, of prosperity to the Russian peasant is sure to come ; but whether this civilization shall be that of Europe and America or Asia and China is uncertain. Russia, with her empire extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Avill become the leading nation of the Orient.
NAT. GEOG. MAG.
VOL. VII, 1896, PL II.
U. S. REVENUE-MARINE STEAMER “ BEAR ” MOORED TO A FIELD OF ICE IN BERING SEA.
ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER ^‘BEAR^^ 27
THE ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE UNITED STATES REVENUE CUTTER “BEAR”
By Dr Sheldon Jackson, United States General Agent of Edu- cation in Alaska
Expeditions to the Arctic have alwa}^s had a fascination for mankind. From the early voyages of the Norsemen down through the successive expeditions of Davis, Baffin, and Ross to that of Peary the world has honored the men who have braved the dangers of the Arctic in voyages of discovery lasting from one to three years, but little account has been made of the whalers who have encountered these same dangers for many 3’ears in succession, and particularly of the United States reve- nue cutter service that has annually ventured into these icy re- gions for sixteen years past. The service began in 1880 with the sending of the little cutter Corwin into the Arctic in search of the Jeannette, and an Arctic cruise has been made each season since that time. In 1883 the steamer Bear, after the rescue of General Greely and party of the Lady Franklin bay expedition, was turned over to the United States Treasury Department and detailed for the Arctic service. She is a barquentine-rigged steamer, 198 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 18.5 feet deep, with a capacity of 714 tons. She was built at Greenock, Scotland, for the Dundee sealing and whaling fleet, and is .an excellent sea boat — in fact the best in the Arctic ocean for work in the ice. The commanding officer from 1884 to the present time has been Captain Michael A. Healy, an officer justlv^ rendered famous by his long, successful, and in many ways remarkable service in the dangerous waters of Arctic Alaska.
The annual cruise of the Bear to the Arctic ocean is unique in its multifarious duties and its practical usefulness. In addition to the ordinary duties of a revenue cutter in protecting the in- terests of the customs, more particularly Ijy the prevention of smuggling l)y the whaling fleet, this steamer has performed the duty of a traveling life-saving station. During these twelve years it has rescued from the l)leak and sterile coast of western and Arctic Alaska a thousand shipwrecked whalers and desti- tute mariners. Not a season passes without one or more whalers
28 ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER ^‘BEAR'^
being wrecked and relief being furnished by the Bear. In addi- tion to affording relief to the whaling fleet in times of disaster and peril, its record is equally brilliant in the protection of thou- sands of half-civilized natives from the rai)acity of the white man and the demoralization that comes from the white man’s rum. Along vast stretches of coast ( from 10,000 to 12,000 miles) unknown to civilization, the flag of the revenue steamer is the only evidence of the authority of the Government that is ever seen and the only protection ever afforded. The cruiser Bear also furnishes the only medical attendance which the natives living along thousands of miles of coast ever receive. In 1890 the importance of its annual cruise was still further increased by its affording transportation to the United States general agent of education in Alaska in his establishment and supervision of Government schools in western and Arctic Alaska, and in 1891 still another addition was made to its usefulness by its being employed in the transportation of domestic reindeer from Siberia to Alaska. Its visits to the native villages upon the American coast and the search for reindeer along the coast of Siberia bring it into. many bays and regions little known to the geogra})hic world. During the establishment of schools and the introduc- tion of domestic reindeer into Alaska the writer was enabled, by the permission of the Secretary of the Treasury and the courtesy of Captain Healy, to make five consecutive annual cruises along the Arctic coasts of Siberia and Alaska. The work being now well under way, his place was this season taken by the assistant agent, Mr William Hamilton. The cruise of the Bear in 1895 was over much the same course as in previous years.
After }»atrolling the North Pacific during IMay and June the Bear left the wharf at Dutch harbor, Unalaska, on June 24 for her Arctic trip. The next day she sighted through the fog first St. George island and then St. Paul. The sea being too rough to land, the ship pushed on to the northwest, passing St. IMat- thew island on June 26, and reaching anchorage at St. Law- rence island on June 28. Very soon the natives swarmed on board, bringing tidings that IMr and Mrs Gamble, in charge of the Government school on the island, were in excellent health and had had a very successful year. A sewing machine aftid a cabinet organ for Mrs Gamble, with supplies for the family and a twelve months’ mail, were landed safely through the surf. Hoisting anchor on June 30 the Bear crossed over to Indian
HERD OF REINDEER LYING DOWN. Photographed hi/ .4. L. Broadhent, U. B. i
VOL. VII, 1896. PL. III.
ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER ^‘BEAR" 29
point, Siberia, about 40 miles distant. There two Cossack officers of the Russian arm 3^ were found taking a census of the village. This was the first visit of Russian officials to that section of the Siberian coast in many years, and the natives brought the Russian coins they had received from them over to the ship to sell as curios. Here, as elsewhere on the ti’ip, the ship’s surgeon went ashore to treat the sick and ailing. The principal native of the village is Koharri, who is a noted trader all along the coast. He has a little frame whale-house filled from floor to ceiling with tobacco, flour, and looking-glasses, which he has obtained from the whalers and from which he sui)plies the country for hun- dreds of miles around. This man has been known to have as much as §75,000 worth of whalebone in his storehouse at one time. He does a business of probably §100,000 a year, and yet not a single coin of gold or silver nor a single bank note or bank check is used, nor are any books kept. All transactions are by barter, furs and whalebones being exchanged for tobacco, flour, and whisk\^ This wholesale merchant of the North Siberian coast can neither read nor write, nor can any one associated with him. Although so wealthy, he lives in an ordinary tent and sleeps on the ground, on a pile of reindeer skins.
On several occasions the Bear, in search of reindeer, has turned southward from Indian point and sailed up Holy Cross sound, at the head of Anadir gulf, some 300 miles into Siberia. In 1893, while in search of reindeer, Ave discovered a large river emptying into Holy Cross sound. After visiting a herd of rein- deer, an officer and crew entered the mouth of this stream, the Bear being the first ocean steamer that had ever ploAved those waters. This season the Bear, turning northward, anchored, on July 1, off South head, St. Lawrence bay. Peter and Kaimok, the leading men of that section, came on board and sold 40 head of reindeer. The herd, however, Avas on the opposite side of the baj' and could not be reached until the ice should go out, a month later. Being unAvilling to Avait, the captain set sail for King island, Avhich Avas reached the next morning. At tins point dur- ing two previous seasons the Bear Avas caught and imprisoned in large ice floes.
Leaving the island at 8 a. m., the Bear soon encountered large cakes of ice at the entrance to Port Clarence. Forcing her Avay through the ice, she found seven Avhalers at anclior inside, and news Avas receiA’cd of the successful winter of the reindeer herds.
30 ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER
The 4th of July was spent with the whaling fleet, at anchor. .A baseball game on shore and a salute of twenty-one guns at noon, with a dinner on the Bear to the whaling captains, comprised the public celebration of the day. On July 5 the Bear left for St. Michael, where she arrived the following day. On July 8 anchor was hoisted and a trip was made to the native village on Sledge island. On July 9 the steamer made Bering straits, calling at East cape, where four or flve influential natives were taken on board to aid in procuring reindeer. Learning that there was a large herd about 50 miles to the northward, the vessel entered the Arctic ocean. Early in the morning of Juh' 11 the Bear, picking and pushing her way through the ice, reached Utan At this place 16 deer Avere purchased and brought on board. Continuing the trip up the coast, the Bear tied up to a huge ice floe near caj)e Serdz;e, Siberia. ^Vhile there target practice was had at distant pieces of ice. On the 14th, learning that there were some deer at Chacoran, the vessel steamed over to that village, Avhere 22 deer were secured. The ice closing in, the cutter was compelled to move a few miles forther south. At this point 73 head of deer Avere purchased, and at midnight the Bear got under Avay for the reindeer station at Port Clarence, passing through a gale on the 16th and reaching point Spencer on the 17th, Avhere she anchored. About noon on the 20th, the gale haA'ing subsided, the Bear steamed over to the station and landed the deer. The brig W. U. Meyer, Avith the annual supi)lies for the several stations and schools, Avas found Avrecked on the beach in front of the station, having gone ashore during the gale on the night of the 17th. The supplies for the reindeer station had fortunately all been landed, but those for the schools at cape Prince of W'ales and point BarroAV Avere lost.
On .July 22 the Bear Aveighed anchor and headed for Siberia for another load of reindeer, and on July 23 she reached St. LaAV- rence bay. On the 24th she steamed to the head of the bay, Avhere 43 head Avere secured. The next day she returned to the reindeer station, Avhere the deer Avere landed on the 26th. On the 28th, the Bear having taken on board Mr and Mrs Hanna, Avho had been Avrecked on the IF. H. Meyer, Avith their supplies re- ceived from reindeer station, sailed for cape Prince of Whiles, Avhere they Avere landed that afternoon. Again hoisting anchor the steamer left for Kotzebue sound. On the Avay the schooner Jessie Avas boarded and examined. On J uly 30 the Bear anchored
SCENE AT POINT BARROW IN APRIL.
NAT. GEOG. MAG. VOL. VII, 1896, PL. IV.
ARCTIC CRUISE OF THE REVENUE CUTTER ^HEAPU'
31
in the lee of Chamisso island. On the 31st, while the vessel was lying windbound, Dr Sharp and Mr Justice, of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, and Mr William Hamilton, of the Bureau of Education, together with a party of officers, made an excur- sion to Choris peninsula. On August 5 the steamer left for point Hope, where it arrived next day. Here the school and whaling- stations were visited, and Dr Driggs. one of the teachers, who had been in that country for five years, was taken on board to return to the states for a vacation.
On August 7 the Bear started up the coast for point Barrow, wending its way through large packs of floating ice, and on the following day caught up with the whaling fleet at anchor near Icy cape, at the southern edge of the great Arctic ice pack. The whaling fleet had been at anchor for 19 days, waiting lor the ice to open. The Bear lay there for 14 days longer, waiting for an opportunity to get farther north. Parties from point Barrow, who came down the coast for their mail, reported that the past ■wdnter had not been very cold, the lowest temperature being 30° below zero. Giving up all expectation of getting farther north, young ice forming oil the sea and on the rigging of the vessel, the captain concluded to turn southward, which he did on August 22. The following day a shoal of walrus was sighted several miles away, and hunting parties were sent out and secured 10 of them. Picking up the walrus, the vessel continued south- i\'ard, calling at point Hope the next day and reaching the rein- deer station August 27. Two days were spent in securing requisi- tions and finishing up the business of the year. On September 1 the steamer, while near St. Michael, took on board 16 desti- tute miners from the Yukon region. On the evening of Septem- ber 4 the vessel anchored off the St. Lawrence island village. The evening was spent in closing up the season’s business at the station. Requisitions were made out for another year’s supplies, last letters were received, urewells were spoken, and Mr and Mrs Gamlffe were again cut off from all communication with the outside world for another year. At 4 a. m. on September 5 tlie Bear was again under way. September 6 St. Matthew and Hall islands were }>assed, and on the 7th anclior was droi>ped at St. Paul island, where on the 8th a landing was made for a few hours. On Sei)tember 9 a similar landing was made at St. George island, and at noon on September 11 anchor was dropped in Dutch harbor, Unalaska, closing the Arctic cruise of 1895.
32
SCOPE AND VALVE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
THE SCOPE AND VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS^ By General A. W. Greely
In a brief twenty minutes one can touch only in a desultory wa}’’ on this great topic that engages the thought and attention of so many famous members of the Geogra])hical Congress, yet a somewhat general outline of the scope and value of Arctic ex- ploration may not he amiss.
This, however, is neither time nor place to present in detail those phases of Arctic exploration that appeal so strongly to the popular fancy. If one would gain an adequate idea of the true aspects of such voyaging, he must turn to the original journals, penned in the great White North by brave men whose “ purpose held to sail beyond the sunset.’’
In these volumes will be found tales of ships beset not only months, but years ; of ice packs and ice fields of extent, thick- ness, and mass so enormous that description conveys no just idea ; of boat journeys where constant watchfulness alone pre- vented instant death by drifting bergs or commingling ice floes ; of land marches when exhausted humanity staggered along, leaving traces of blood on snow or rock ; of sledge journeys over chaotic masses of ice, when humble heroes, straining at the drag- ropes, struggled on because the failure of one compromised the safety of all ; of solitude and monotony, terrible in the weeks of constant polar sunlight, but almost unsettling the reason in the months of continuous Arctic darkness ; of silence awful at all times, but made }mt more startling by astounding i^henomena that appeal noiselessly to the eye ; of darkness so continuous and intense that the unsettled mind is driven to wonder whether the ordinary course of nature will bring back the sun, or whether the world has been cast out of its orbit in the planetary universe into new conditions ; of cold so intense that any exposure is fol- lowed by instant freezing; of monotonous surroundings that threaten with time to unsettle the reason ; of deprivations wast-
* Address delivered before the Sixth International Geographical Con- gress, London, at the Polar Session, July 29, 1895.
SCOPE AND VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
83
ing the body, and so impairing tlie mind ; of failure in all things, not only of food, fuel, clothing, and shelter, for Arctic service foreshadows such contingencies, but the bitter failure of plans and aspirations, which brings almost inevitable despair in its train.
Failure of all things, did I say ? Nay ; failure, be it admitted, of all the ph}^sical accessories of conceived and accomplished action, hut not failure in the higher and more essential attri- butes— not of the mental and moral qualities that are the foun- dation of fortitude, fidelity, and honor. Failure in this latter respect has been so rare in Arctic service as to justly make such offender a byword and scorn to his fellow-laborers and suc- cessors.
Patience, courage, fortitude, foresight, self-reliance, helpful- ness— these grand characteristics of developed humanity every- where, but which we are inclined to claim as special endowments of the Caucasian race — find ample expression in the detailed history of Arctic exploration. If one seeks to learn to what ex- tent man’s determination and effort dominate even the most adverse environment, the simple narratives of Arctic exploration will not fail to furnish striking examples.
There is a ^\it^espread impression that all Arctic voyages have been made for practically the same general purpose, whereas polar research has passed through three distinctive phases : First, for strictly commercial purposes in connection with trade to the Indies ; second, for advancement of geographical knowledge, and, third, for scientific investigations connected with physical sciences.
Commercial interests dictated the grand series of vo}^ages wherein England, competing with Spain from the period of the ventures of the Cabots to the discoveries of Baffin, sought for a short route to the Indies across the pole or by a northwest pas- sage. As the futility of efforts by these routes became more or less aj>parent, and as the naval strength of Spain and Portugal ensured their continued monopoly of the growing and valuable trade of the Orient, the attention of England was turned in sheer desperation to the northeast ])assage as possibly offering a com- ]>eting route. While this quest j)roved impracticable for the sailing ships of the sixteenth century, yet its prosecution inured to the great financial advantage of England through the estah-
34
SCOPE AND VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
lishmenttliereby of intimate and exclusive commercial relations with the growing and hitherto inaccessible empire of Russia.
The renewal of the true spirit of geographical exploration in the early part of the present century gave rise to a series of un- paralleled voyages in search of the northwest })assage, which re- sulted in the most splended geographical achievements of the century. These voj^ages were not splended alone from the defi- nite results attained, nor from the almost sui)erhuman efforts that ensured success, but also from the lofty spirit of endeavor and adventure that inspired the actors. The men wdio strove therein were lured by no hope of gain, influenced by no spirit of conquest, but were moved solely by the belief that man should know even the most desolate regions of his abiding place, the earth, and the determination that the Anglo-Saxon should do his part.
Franklin said : “Arctic discoveiy has been fostered from mo- tives as disinterested as they are enlightened ; not from any prospect of immediate benefit, but from a steady view to the acquirement of useful knowledge and the extension of the bounds of science, and its contributions to natural history and science have excited a general interest. The loss of life in the i)rosecu- tion of these discoveries does not exceed the average deaths in the same population at home.” Parry adds : “ Such enterprises, so disinterested as well as useful in their object, do honor even when they fail. They cannot but excite the admiration of every liberal mind.”
Of Chancellor’s voyage to the northeast Milton said : “ The discovery of Russia by the northern ocean . . . might have
seemed an enterprise almost heroic if any higher end than exces- sive love of gain and traffic had animated the design.” Modern critics except from dispraise the gallant men who in this centuiy have given their lives from no sordid motive, and so merit Milton’s full praise.
If not all, certainly some of these arctics have been animated with the noble thought of the poet :
And this gray spirit yearning in desire To follow knowledge like a shining star Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
Suffice it is to say, for geographic research, that it has remained for the nineteenth century, with its wealth of industrial inven-
SCOPE AND VALUE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
35
tioiis and store of indomitable energy, to make the northwest and northeast passages, to outline the northern coast of America, and to discover the archipelagoes and islands situated poleward from the three continents of the northern hemisphere.
Hudson’s voyage to the Greenland sea, in 1607, was of vast industrial and commercial importance, for his discovery and reports of the incredible number of walruses and whales that frequented these seas gave rise to the Spitzbergen whale fishery.
The voyage of Poole for walruses and exploration, in 1610, was followed by the establishment of the whale fishery by Edge in the following year. Enterprising Holland sent its ships in 1613, later bringing in its train whalers from Bremen, France, and other maritime centers. The whale fishery, as the most important of Arctic^industries, from which Holland alone drew from the Spitzbergen seas in one hundred and ten years, 1679- lf78, products valued at about $90,000,000, merits at least our brief attention.
Grad writes : “ The Dutch sailors saw in Spitzbergen wateTs great whales in immense numbers, whose calch would be a source of apparently inexhaustible riches. For two centuries fleets of whalers frequented its seas. The rush to the gold-bear- ing placers of California and the mines of Australia afforded in our day the only examples at all comparable to the host of men attracted by the northern fishery.”
Scoresby says: “ In a short time (whaling) proved the most lucrative and the most important branch of national commerce which had ever been offered to man.” This emphatic statement is devoid of exaggeration in the slightest degree. Scoresby gives, year by year, the products of the Dutch whale fishery in the Arctic seas from 1668 to 1778, which aggregate in value over $100,000,000. When it is known that Scoresl)y himself caught in thirty voyages fish to the value of $1,000,000, it will not be considered extravagant to place the products of the British whale fishery at $250,000,000. Starbuck gives the ])roduct of the American whale fisliery from 1804 to 1877 as $332,000,000, making the aggregate of three nations, America, England, and Holland, more than $680,000,000. How far this amount should be increased on account of .seal, walrus, and other strictly Arctic sea game need not be considered, but Norwegian and Bussian fishers have successfully exploited these sources for the past century.
36
SCOPE AED VALCE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATlOyS
The visit of Laikoff to the New Siberian islands added eventu- ally a wealth of fossil ivory to Siberian trade that was onl}'’ second in value to the extraordinary stock of furs that grew out of the explorations of the Arctic valley of the Kolinia by Rus- sian hunters. From Hudson’s voyage to the bay of his name are attributable the initiation and development of the extremely valuable fur trade of the Hudson Bay Company. Bering failed to outline the definite geographic relations of the contiguous shores of Asia and America, but his voyages directl}’^ resulted in the very extensive sea and land fur trade which has proved so profitable through a century and a half.
Altogether, it may be assumed that in a little over two centu- ries the Arctic regions have furnished to the civilized world pro- ducts aggregating twelve hundred millions^of dollars in value.
Norshoulditbe inferred that commercial ends, scientific knowl- edge, or the glory of effort crystallized in accomplishment have alone turned man to the j^olar regions. The altruistic spirit of Egede lavished its wealth of effort in the turning of the Greenland Eskimo to Christianity and civilization, and it enkindled the flame of Christian endeavor that Crantz and the Moravian breth- ren kept alive during the critical phases of Greenland’s history. As Cowper says ;
See Germany send forth
Her sons to pour it on tlie fartliest north.
Fired with a zeal j>eculiar, they defy The rage and rigor of a polar sky And plant successfully sweet Sharon’s rose On icy plains and in eternal snows.
In recent days Great Britain has had its Duncan, France its Petitot, and the United .States its Jackson, Avhose evangelizing labors, acting through the more successful method — that of in- culcating civilization and helpfulness — are a ]>art of the glory of this time. The residence of Holm among the east Greenland natives and of Peart' with the Etah Eskimo have, it is to be hoi)ed, not been fruitless along these lines and should stimulate human sympathy for these dwellers on the northern edge of the world. Evert' lover of mankind will rejoice that Denmark, with the Christian solicitude that has always marked its polic}' towards the Greenlanders, has extended its unprofitable trade relations to east Greenland and established a missionary station at Ang- inagsalik for the benefit of the natives. May we not hope that
SCOPE AND VALIE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
37
some religious association may likewise plant the seeds of civil- ization and Christianity amon'g the Cape York Eskimo?
There is neither intent nor time to worthily eulogize the deeds of living Arctic men, nor even to stimulate the eager rising youth who shall outdo all that has gone before ; rather would this brief word add a leaf of laui’el to the crowned dead whose Arctic fame forms part of each nation’s historic heritage — hallowed for the j)ast, priceless for the present, indispensable for successful fu- turity.
Shall I name the soldiers or sailors, the explorers or scientists, the trader or the whaler? Rather all, since science knows neither station nor profession, neither dialect nor nationality.
In the roll-call of the dead Austria-Hungary answers with ’\Ve}"precht, whose greatest fame will ever be associated with the establishment of the international })olar stations.
Denmark follows, equally at home in Ainerican, Asiatic, or Eu- ropean waters, through Munk and Hamke, Jan Mayen and Vitus Bering.
Then France wdth De la Croyere, Pages, Blosseville, Fabre, Ctaimard, Marmier, Martins, and Bellot, the last a name ever grateful to English ears.
Germany has generously loaned her talent to insure success Avherever sound and important scientific work is to be done. Baer, Bessell, Petermann, and Steller are Avortny successors to Frederick Martens, of the seventeenth century — men and Avork of Avhich any nation may be proud.
Holland, in Barents, Nay, Tetgales, Rip, and Heemskerck, pre- sents a roll of honor Avell in keeping Avith the notable Avork of the thousands of Dutch Avhalers that exploited the Spitzbergen seas.
The Italian contingent, from the Zeni of the fourteenth cen- tury through the Cabots toBoveof our OAvn day, maintain here, as elseAvhere, their geographic standing.
Norwegian Othere set in the ninth century the ])ioneer standard of Arctic ex[)loration, Avhich later, combined Avith the labor of exploiting the northern seas, has Mattilas, Carlsen, Tol)iesen, and a score of others as Avorthy successors.
Russia finds the Arctic problem a domestic ([uestion, and from the time of Peter tlie Great to today has done an amount of Avork not generally ai)preciated or known. 'I’he Laptietts and Desh- neff, Tchirikof, and IJakoff’, Anjou and Wrangell, Kotzebue and
38
SCOPE AND VALVE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
Liitke, Pachtussof, Krusenstern and Zivolka, stand forth in the annals of the world.
In Hedenstrdin and Torrell Sweden finds examples that have borne such abundant fruit in the late active labors of her en- thusiastic sons.
Once it was said that the almighty dollar was the object and end of American endeavor, but when American treasure — not by the millions but b}'’ the billions — was poured out and lives by the hundreds of thousands were joyfully given for an idea tlie men of the new world rose to a higher place in Euroj)ean esti- mation.
A fellow-townsman of mine was a petty officer under Sir John Franklin, and among the hundreds engaged in tlie Franklin search none had a more altruistic and generous spirit than the American Elisha Kent Kane. Hayes left no danger undared to reach his “ Open Polar Sea.” Rodgers dared all, in Arctic ice as in the War for the Union. De Long and Ambler knew how to die, but not how to desert a helpless comrade. Hall followed the Arctic sledge to his veiy death. Lockwood, whose personal toil and suffering accomplished the farthest north and set the goal beyond which some more fortunate rival will soon pass, met with fortitude and sweetness the harsh fate which debarred the world from placing its laurel wreath save on his grave.
I can scarcely say aught of British effort in a field that has been peculiarly England’s for the past three centuries. And how, among her innumerable Arctic dead, shall I single out representatives, worthy exam piers of British courage and effort? Like Macbeth’s kings, the line stretches out to crack of doom.
Great were the daring navigators of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries — Chancellor and Davis and Frobisher, Hudson and Waymouth, Bylot and Baffin ; but were they greater than in their way were Cook, Hearne, and Mackenzie in the eighteenth ?
And when we come to their worthy compeers of this century, there is barely room for the names of these daring spirits. Here is Britain’s unequaled roll :
Austin, Back, Beechey, Buchan, Clavering, Collinson, Crozier, Forsyth, Goodsir, Inglefield, Kellett, Kennedy, Lefroy, Lyon, McClure, Maguire. Mecham, Moore, the immortal Nelson, Os- born, Penny, Pirn, Rae, Richardson, James C. Ross. Jolm Ross. Sabine, Saunders, Scoresby, father and son ; Simpson, and Stewart.
SCOPE AND VALVE OF ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS
39
Close communion in spirit and thought with their recorded labors for many years has made for me many friends among the great Arctic dead, and so particularly segregates in my mind, from this alphabetical list, the twin Arctic compeers, Franklin and Parry, sls facile princeps in this great company.
But the history of these men is inextricably interwoven with the wonderful development of the British Empire, and their deeds forever abide to the glory of the English-speaking race.
And of the Arctic dead of Europe, Asia, and America, from the earliest Othere of Norway and the Zeni of Italy to the latest fallen in Sweden, Nordenskiold the younger, promising son of his distinguished father, there may well be quoted the words of an American soldier :
On Fame’s eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead.
Storm-stayed and ice-beset no longer, their dust awaits the change and fate ordained by God’s eternal laws.
The end they sought, the work they wrought, the courage and devotion they showed should stand as ideals and patterns for the men of the future in the accomplishment of the great Arctic work which it shall be their good fortune to undertake.
But now we look again to England to retake its former place in Arctic research. Shall we look in vain ? I believe not. '
Let her remember that the beginning of the end will have come for the ever extending and ever developing British power when this insular people would ever consent, for any sum in pounds and pence, that the Arctic relics of Greenwich should be scattered, or that there should ever be removed from West- minster Abl)ey, rich with its clustering memories and gathered treasures of a thousand years, the tribute of genius to heroism, of England’s poet laureate to its Arctic dead.
Well has it been for Britain that hundreds of its youth have imbibed together learning and patriotism, love of the beautiful and admiration for glory, while translating into classic verse these immortal words :
N(jt here. Tlie white north lias tliy bones, and thou.
Heroic sailor .soul.
Art passing on thine hapjtier voyage now Towards no earthly pole.
40
OBITUARY— GEOGliAPIIIC LITER A TIRE
OBITUARY
Dr Robert Brown, the distinguished botanical geographer, died Octo- ber 20. He was in command of the Vancouver island exj)loration of 1804 and was in the Whymper West Greenland expedition of 1867, his glacial and natural history work attracting much attention. His “Manual of Botany” is his best work, although it is less widely known than are his “Peoples of the World,” “Countries of the World,” “Our Earth and its Story,” “Africa,” and “ Science for All,” which aggregate 24 volumes.
Admiral R. B. Pearse, R. N., died in November. He served as mate in H. M. S. Resolute, 1850-’51, and made a sledge journey of 208 miles, from Griffith to Bathurst island, during which he and one of his men were badly frozen. He rendered distinguished service to his country during the Chinese war of 1858-’60.
Henry Seebohm, the eminent ornithologist, died November 20. His investigations carried him over the greater part of the world. Two of his most interesting works, “ Siberia in flurope ” and “ Siberia in Asia,” were the outcome of his bird trips to the Lower Petchora in 1875 and the Yenisei in 1877, his ship being wrecked on the latter occasion. Seebohm’s great works are the “ History of British Birds,” “ Geographical Distribu- tion of Plovers,” and “ Birds of Japan.”
Rear Admiral Shufeldt, U. S. N., who died November 7, has left a record of unusual brilliancy. His most important geogra^ihical work was done while he was in command of the Tehuantepec and Nicaragua surveying expeditions. His reports, valuable documents illustrated by plates and maps, were printed by the Government in 1872 and 1874. The greatest service that Shufeldt rendered to .America, and, it may be added, to the world in general, was the negotiation, in 1882, of the treaty by which Korea was thrown open to tlie commerce of the United States, first of all nations.
GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE
Elemeniar;/ Physical Geofimphy. By Ralph S. Tarr, Assistant Professor of
Dynamic Geology and Physical Geography at Cornell University. Pp.
488, with maps and 267 illustrations. New York : Alacmillan & Co.
1895. ?1.40.
This book appears well adapted to serve as a text-book of physical geography. It will commend itself by its perspicuous style to the favor- able attention of those who may desire information concerning the most recent developments in this important field, without the labor of examin- ing ptirely professional papers, and who do not care to depend on irre- sponsible newspaper reports. The chapters devoted to geology are, as might be e.xpected, unexceiJtionable. In its treatment of ocean currents,.
GEO GRAPHIC LI TER A TURE
41
however, the work is open to criticism. With regard to the temperature and wind theories the author fails to make himself clear. He also omits ^iny explanation of the important part the salts play in the matter of ocean currents, and he entirely ignores the Yucatan channel current, the strongest one in existence. The general appearance of the book is excel- lent. The illustrations, with but few exceptions (as, for example, that of mount Vesuvius, on page 376), are very good and the price is exceed- ingly reasonable.
The Gold Diggings of Cape Horn: A Study of Life in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. By John R. Spears. Pp. 319, with illustrations. New York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1895.
So few books have been written about the terra incognita between cape Horn and the straits of Magellan that a new one by so well known an author as Mr John R. Spears will be heartily welcomed. It is written in the author’s usual quaint style, with a vein of humor running all the way throiigh; and while it does not claim to be a record of personal e.x- ploration like Beerbohm’s or Lady Brassey’s, but merely a collection of newspaper sketches written up at.homefrom data gleaned during a cruise around the edges, it is full of valuable information. While the author’s ideas of the gold diggings are a trifle too sanguine, his account of the Ona, Yahgan, Tehuelche, Alaculoof, and other Indians, as well as of the mis- sionaries who are tr}dng in vain to tame them, of the famous Welsh colony on Chubut river, of the general resources, and also of the birds, beasts, and reptiles, of lands at thetii^ end of the hemisphere is extremely interesting.
*Stan ford’s Compendium of Geography and Travel {new series). Africa. Volume II, South A frica. By A. H. Keane, F. R. G. S., etc. Pp. 671, with 11 maps and 92 illu.strations. London : Edward Stanford. 1895. American agents, J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. $4.50.
This admirable volume, fresh from the press, gives an authentic, “up to date ” account of the geography, history, and political complexion of South Africa. It is illustrated by nearly 100 admirably chosen plates and text figures and a dozen excellent colored maps. Perhaps no part of the world has ever undergone so rapid and fundamental a metamorphosis as has South Africa “ since the leading powers resolved, a few years ago, to transform this continent to a political dependency of Europe.’’ “ Occur- rences of far-reaching consequence,” says the author, “ have followed in «uch swift succession that in the preparation of this work the chief dilli- culty has been to keej) i)ace with the shifting scenes. In some instances many carefully prepared pages have had to he greatly modified, and even rewritten, owing to the unexpected turn taken by events in vanous parts of the continent.” ^Madagascar, ^Mauritius, and other islands of the Indian ocean are included in the book, and the author adopts the very modern view of an “ Indo-African continent ” connecting South Africa through Madagas(!ar with the Indian peninsula. While the work^deals mainly, as wouhl be expected, with the more purely geograi)hic and
42
GEOGRAPHIC LIT ERA TURE
political questions, it still bestows some attention on the fauna and flora, and it would have been well if these subjects had been referred to some of the eminent British naturalists who are so well qualified to speak on these topics.
National Geographic Monographs, published under the auspices of the National Geographic Society. Pp. .S36, illustrated. New York : American Book Co. 1895. $1.40.
The first series, comprising Nos. 1-10, ends with December. It consists- of memoirs by Powell, Shaler, Russell, Willis, Diller, Davis, Gilbert, and Hayes on geographic topics of primary importance. All geographers will find much that is interesting and instructive in these memoirs, but to- American teachers and students they will be especially valuable. They have been published by the American Book Company in the hope that memoirs by authors ranking among the most eminent of American scien- tists would by their intrinsic worth and scientific interest advance the- cause of higher education in the United States.
I'ihet. Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet. Based on Collections in the United States National Museum. By W. W. Rockhill. Report of United States National IMuseum for 189.3. Pp. 665-747, pis. 1-52. Washingtoiir 1895.
Readers of these interesting pages will be gratified that so extensive a, collection from this comparatively unknown country has been made by the National IMuseum. It is fortunate that the description of the different objects has fallen into the hands of one so competent by acquirements and experience as Mr Rockhill.
Chili. Republique de Chili. Cartes commerciales, physiques, etc. Par F. Bianconi. Librairie Chaix. Paris, 1895.
A valuable addition to the Chaix series, giving the latest information regarding the agricultural and mineral resources, commerce, railways,, etc., of Chili, with a map, 1:2,500,000, embodying the latest surveys.
Special Consular Reports, Vol. 12 — Highways of Commerce. The ocean- lines, railways, canals, and other trade routes of foreign countries. Washington, 1895. Pp. 763, with 9 maps.
A timely publication, whose value is materially increased by a nundier of ma])s, of which the most important sliow the railways of IMexico, Si- beria, Natal, and India. Some of the data, as seems unavoidable in Gov- ernment publications, are nearly two years old. The railway mileage of the world on December 31, 1894, was 423,923, of which 189,576 were in the TTuited States. At the end of 1892 tlie mileage of the princijial countries and the average cost per mile as given by the German Minister of Publie Works were as follows : United States, 174,747 miles, $.59,300; Germany, 27,451 miles, $95,200; France, 24,014 miles, $131,900; Great Britain and Ireland, 20,321 miles, $131,000; Russia, 19,622 mile.s, $90,400; Austria- Hungary, 17,621 miles, $95,400 ; Canada and other British American prov-
GEOGRAPHIC LITERATLRE
43
inoes, 14,866 miles, 857,600; Italy; 8,496 miles, 8114,600; Argentine Re- public, 8,161 miles ; Mexico, 6,624 miles ; Brazil, 6,388 miles ; Spain, 6,169 miles; Belgium, 3,379 miles, 8131,000.
The information concerning the railways of South and Central Africa is of especial interest, although great progress has been made in the ex- tension of transportation lines during the past year. The value of the report is enhanced by the insertion of the well known map of the world issued by the Hj'drographic Office of the United States Navy Department in June, 1891, which shows tracks of full-powered steam vessels, with dis- tances, and probably contains a larger amount of information on this subject than can be found elsewhere within an equally limited space. Its presentation on the map in both graphic and tabular form increases its usefulness. The distances between different ports on the east and west coasts of North and South America and the shores of the gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea are also shown. The volume contains a full topical index.
EXECUTIVE REPORTS
The annual reports of the cabinet officers, recently transmitted by the President to Congress, contain some items of geographic interest.
War Depart.mext. — The Secretary of War states that since 1879 829,500,000 has been appropriated for the improvement of the Mississipi^i river, of which 88,400,000 has been directly applied to general improve- ments to aid navigation. The greater jmrt of this amount has been spent on two reaches of the river, each 20 miles long, one situated 80 miles above Memphis and the other 80 miles above Vicksburg. The result has only been to increase the depth of the river at low water by 18 inches. For the improvement of the IMissouri river, which for years has had practi- cally no navigation, 88,900,000 has been appropriated. The Secretary questions the propriety of further appropriations for this river.
With regard to the propo.sed Chicago drainage canal, a board of engi- neer officers state that the abstraction of 10,000 cubic feet of water ]ier second from lake Michigan will lower the level of all the great lakes ex- cept Superior, and reduce the navigable capacity of all harbors and shal- lows, but to what extent cannot be foretold at this time.
The Yellowstone National Park has now 170 miles of good highways, permitting easy acce.ss from the railways to the principal points of interest. It is proposed that 25 miles of additional roads, now impassable for ve- hicles, be opened, which will complete the general scheme of highways.
Tlie .\pache Indian jirisoners, comprising about 70 families, have been removed to the Fort Sill reservation, which is being gradually brought to a self-sustaining basis.
The defensele.‘<s coinlition of the principal harbors is dwelt upon and the nece.ssity of liberal aj)p ropriations strongly ju-esented.
44
GEOGRAPHIC LITER A TURE
Navy Depaiitmext — Surgeon General. — Among valuable special reports are those of Surg. Gen. Tryon, on “The Relation of Naval Architecture to projjer Sanitation; Dr H. G. Beyer, on “Normal Growth under the Influence of Exercise,” and Dr E. K. Stitt, on “The Medical Aspect of tlie Nicaraguan Canal.”' Dr Stitt believes that while the construction of the canal would temporarily increa.se the prevailing malarial diseases, it would ultimately remove the most potent pestilential forces through changes in swamps and in the level of lake Nicaragua.
Po.sT Office Departmext. — The Postmaster General states that the revenue of his department for the year lS94-’95 was in round numVjers $77,090,000, and that the expenditures amounted to $87,000,000. ^lail service has been established on electric and cable lines in Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The net increa.se in the number of po.st-offices is 429, principally in Oklahoma, Indian Terri- tory, and Virginia. Cape Colony has joined the postal union, leaving Korea, China, and the Orange Free State the only civilized nations not embraced therein.
Departme.xp of the Ixterior. — The Secretary of the Interior covers in his report the operations of many bureaus, of which the more important are treated under the following heads :
Patent Office.— There were 3(3,972 applications for patents, 20,465 pat- ents were granted, 12,906 expired, and .3,208 were forfeited for nonpay- ment of fees.
Indian Bureau. — There are 161 Indian reservations, on which the prob- lem of making tbe ahiorigines self-supporting is progressing with more or less rapidity. For schools alone $2,060,695 was appropriated, and nearly $7,000,000 for payment for lands and other treaty obligations. The school pupils have increa.^ed by 1,417 during the year. The total enrollment was 23,036, of whom 4,673 are in industrial training schools. Lands have been patented to 6,851 Indians during the year.
Generfd Land Office. — Of public lands there have been disposed of to Indians 42,000 acres; by sale, 417,000; miscellaneous entries, 7,947,000. There remain undisposed of 599,000,000 acres, exclusive of Alaska. The vacant public lands are largely in the arid regions, and from 8 to 25 per cent, according to various e.stimates, may ultimately be cultivated by irri- gation. The Laud Commi.ssioner recommends the establishment of forest re.ser vat ions, and that legislation be enacted relative to public timber, to the surveying of public lands through the Geological Survey, and to the estiiblishment of a district land office in Alaska.
Bureau of Educ'Uion. — The number of pupils enrolled in schools in 1894 was 15,5.30,000, or 22.9 per cent of the entire population.
yationul Parka and Forest Resermtions. — There are si.xteen reservations, with a total area of 16,325,000 acres, embracing parts of Arizona, Cali- fornia, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. The more im- portant Yellowstone, A^osemite, and Sequoia parks are protected b\' mili- tary guards.
GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE
45
Geological Surven. — The operations of this important bureau are left for review until the publication of the full report of the Director of the Surve}'.
Censuf!. — The cost of the Eleventh Census to June 30, 1895, was $10,- 531,141. ’ Of 25 volumes, with 22,000 pages, all are printed or in })ress, except parts of volumes on Population and Vital Statistics.
IxTER-STATE COMMERCE COMMISSION. — The total number of miles of rail- way in the United States on June 30, 1894, was 178,708, an increase of 2,247 miles in twelve months. Miles of line per 100 square miles of ter- ritory, 6.02 ; per 10,000 inhabitants, 20.3(5. Stock capital, $4,834,075,6.59 ; funded debt, $5,356,.583,019 ; other indebtedness, $605,815,135; total, $10,796,473,813, or $62,951 per mile. Passenger receipts in 1893-’94, $285,349,558; freight receipts,- $699,490,913 ; other income, $231,338,131; total, $1,216,178,602. Expenditures, including fixed charges, $1,160,422,- 632. Number of passengers carried, 540,688,199; average number per train, 44; average journey per passenger, 26.43 miles.
NEW MAPS
Western Hemisphere Charts, published by the Hydrographic Office, United States Navy, July-December, 1895, with size, scale in inches, and price.
Great Lakes, No. 1462, Lake Ontario, Toronto Harbor, 22.6 x 27.5 ; M. = 3.377 ; $0.50. No. 1469, Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, Cabot Head to Boucher Point, 29.6 X 39.7 ; M.-=0.75; $1.00. No. 1475, Lake IMichigan, 24.4 X. 34. 5; D. Lat. =5.91; $0.75. No. 1477, Lakes Erie and Ontario, 23.4x23.7 ; D. Lat. =5.80; $0.75. E, The Great Lakes, Index to Coast, Special and Harbor Charts, 9x 15.2; D. Long. =0.6; $0.10.
Mexico, No. 1494, San Ignacio Lagoon, 26.3 .x 37 ; M. = 1.5; $0.75. Bermuda, No. 1495, Bermuda and Great Sound, including Grass\^ and Port Royal Bays and Hamilton Harbor, 21 x 25.75; M. =4.0; $0.50.
Xiearagua, No. 1510, Entrance to Pearl Cay, 16.6x22.6; M. =4.0; $0.50. No. 1517, Approaches to Pearl Cay Lagoon, with plans of Great and Little Corn Islands, 24.0 .x 37.4 ; M. = 1.0 ; $0.75.
Guiana, No. 1512, Corentyn River, Approaches to Nickerie River, 16.5 x 20.7; :\L = 4.0; $0.25.
Guiana, No. 1513, Entrance to Corentyn River, 7.1 x 9.4; M. = 0.5, and Entrance to tlie Coppename and Sarainacca Rivers, 7.1 x 9.4 ; M. = 0.25 ; .$0.25.
Argentina, No. 1515, Port San Julian, 14.3 x 18.6 ; M. = 2.0 ; $0.25. No. 1516, Port Santa Elena, 13x17.5; M. = 3.0; $0.25. No. 1518, Port San Antonio, 10.2 x 13.3; .M. = 1.0; $0.25. No. 1519, Rio Negro, 11.1 x 12.6; M. = 1.0; $0.2-5. No. 1521, San Bias Harbor, 13.1 x 14.8 ; M. = 1.0 ; $0.25.
Brazil, No. 1520, Port Camamu, 21.2 x 30.4 ; M. = 2.0 ; $0.50. No. 1522, From Bahia to Ilheos .\nchorage, 28.5 .X 38.8 ; M. =0.25; $1.00. No. 1524, Port Tamandare, 9.7 x 11.4 ; 51. = 4.0; $0.25.
40
XATIOXAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY:
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, SESSION i895-’96
Special Meeting, October 11, lS9o. — President Hut>bard in the chair. Vice- l^resident Greely delivered an address on The Si.vth International Geo- graphical Congress, London, 1895.
Special Meeting, October 25, 1895. — President Iluhhard in the chair. Mr Ernest Flagg, Architect of tlie new Corcoran Art Gallery and of the Wash- ington Episcopal Cathedral, read a paj)er, illustrated hy lantern slides, on The Development of the Mediteval Cathedral.
Regular Meeting. Xovemberl, 1895. — Vice-President Gannett in the chair. Vice-President Ogden addressed the Society, giving a narrative of explo- rations on the isthmus of Darien.
Special Meeting, Xovember 8, /^.95. — President Iluhhard in the chair. ]\Iajor Alfred F. Sears, C. E., read a paper, illustrated hy lantern slides, on The Geographic Conditions that Create Great Commercial Centers.
Regular Meeting, Xovember 15, 1895. — Vice-President Gannett in the chair. General topic : The H vdrography of the United States, divided as follows: Hydrographic Investigations, hy 5Ir F. II. >»ewell. Chief Hy- drographer, L". S. Geological Survey; The Work of the Weather Bureau relating to Hydrography, hy Prof. W. L. Moore, Chief of the Bureau ; Stream Measurements in the West, hy 5Ir A. P. Davis; Hydnjgraphic Studies in the .\ppalachian Area, hy Mr C. C. Bahh, and Hydrography of the Xavigiihle Waters, hy ]\Ir Marcus Baker. Each paper was illus- trated l)y maps and diagrams.
Special Meeting, Xovember 22, 1895. — President Huhhard in the chair. 5Ir E. L. Corthell, D. Sc., C. E., read a paper, illustrated by lantern slides, on The Tehuantepec Route.
Regular Meeting, Xovember 29, i59.5. —President Hubbard in the chair. ;Mr Marcus Baker read a paper on Alaska and her Boundary, illustrating his remarks hy a series of historical maps. The discussion that followed was participated in hy Hon. .1. R. Procter, Gen. A. W. Greely, and Dr AV. H. Dali.
Special Meeting, December 6, 1895. — President Hubbard iu the chair. Mr C. M. Ffoulke read a paper on The Tapestry-Producing Nations, and exhibited a number of tyjjical i)ieces of tapestry from his valuable col- lection.
Regular Meeting, December 1.3, 1895. — Vice-President Dabney in the chair. Dr C. Hart Merriam read a paper on The Life of the Desert, with special reference to the fauna of the desert regions of the United States. Dr ^lerriam illustrated his remarks hy means of a number of skins and of stuffed animals and birds; also hy lantern slides of animals and of desert scenery.
ITS PROCEEDINGS
47
Special Meeting, December SO, ^<955.— President Hubbard in the chair. Admiral E. AV. Meade, U. S. N., delivered an address, illustrated by maps and lantern slides, on The Caribbean Sea: the Mediterranean of the AVestern \A'orld.
Elections. — New members have been elected as follows :
October 14. — AA’’alter C. Allen, Joseph A. Arnold, Gustav Ayres, Maj. Cbas. Bendire, U. S. A., Frederick Benjamin, John H. Brickenstein, Prof. J. F. Chamberlain, Henryk M. Chapman, Miss Josephine A. Clark, AA^. AV. Cheshire, Miss Virginia E. Dade, T. H. Davies, John T. Devine, Mrs A. G. Draper, AV. AA'^. Duffield, Jr., Prof. M. J. Elrod, Alaj. F. L. Evans, E. E. Ewell, Prof. D. C. Farr, Charles AV. Fisher, Mrs Alary E. Gilpin, Dr Geo. 0. Glavis, Capt. C. H. Gordon, U. S. A., Edward P. Hall, John H. Hinton, Aliss Alartha N. Hooper, Richard L. Howell, Ernest \ . Janson, Thos. Kirby, Prof. F. Lamson-Scribner, John E. Lyons, J. T. Alacey, AVm. J. Alarsh, Airs Cornelia N. Alason, Philip Alauro, Chief Engineer Fred. G. AIcKean, U. S. N., Airs Y. AV. Aliller, Airs V. A. Aloore, Prof. AVillis L. Aloore, Dr A. C. Patterson, Daniel A. Ray, Dr E. AAh Reisinger, N. H. Shea, Chas. AA^. Smiley, Capt. J. G. Sobral (Spanish Kavy), Dr A. C. True, Dr F. W. True, Dr J. Van Rensselaer, Aliss Alahel L. AA^hite, President B. L. AAdiitman, John C. AA'ilson, Hon. AVm. L. AVil- son, J. AA". AA'^itten.
October So. — Edmund Becker, Airs Isabella' AI. Bittinger, AlercerD. Blon- del, Eugene C. Brown, O. B. Brown, Airs J. Alills Browne, Hon. AAhn. R. Castle (Hawaiian Alinister), James H. Crew, Surg. S. H. Dickson, U. S. N., Airs Alary Fuller, S. C. Gilman, Col. A. Heger, U. S. A., Airs Julia Hen- derson, E. C. How'land, AA''m. A. Hungerford, Col. D. L. Huntington, U. S. A., George H. Judd, Aliss Tessa L. Kelso, J. R. Alarshall, AAhn. H. AIcKnew, Airs L. R. Alessenger, Dr AA''. F. Alorsell. Thos. Nelson Page, Aliss Josephine Pickles, Airs Fannie AI. Reynolds, Rev. J. Havens Rich- ards, S. J., Albert N. Seip, Airs A. AI. Shaw, Aliss Juliet Solger, Baron Thielmann (German Ambassador), L. L. Thompson, Frank ATncent, Geo. AA’^. AA’’eber, H. A. AA'ierwille, Alonzo C. Yates.
November 8. — Chas. B. Bailey, AA^m. H. Beck, B. AA'. Beebe, P. C. Claf- lin, Arthur J. Dillon, Aliss J. C. Donovan, George E. Emmons, Aliss Frances Graham French, Gen. L. P. Graham, U. S. A., H. A. Griswold, Aliss Alamie E. Hale, Dr Theo. G. Hoech, A. B. Hoen, Dr AA'm. H. Holmes, Henry AI. Hubbard, F. A. Kendall, AIi.«s Carrie AI. Lash, C. R. Richards, AAhn. P. Richards, C. E., Chas. J. Tilden, Homan D. AA'al- hridge, Daniel AA'ehster.
November 18. — Chief Justice Edward F. Bingham, Capt. G. Rodney Burt, Mr Justice Shepard, John K. Souther.
November SO. — Senor Jac<)ho Blanco, Prof. L. C. Glenn, Rev. Allen Hazcn, Alaj. A\'. P. Hu.xford, U. S. A., S. A. Aloreland, AA'alter F. Rogers, Elmer G. Runyan, James C. Spriggs, Jr., AVhn. P. Steam, Gen. Richard A'illafranca.
48
yOliTir AMERICAN NOTES
December iJ.— Hon. C. B. Beach, ]\I. C., Dr J. L. M. Curry, Hon. C. E, Foss, ^I. C., Dr E. 31. Gallandet, Baron Beno von Herman (German Em- bassy), W. J. 3Iartin, 3Iaximilien de 3Ieck (Secretary, Russian Legation), Pak Yong Kin (Chai'ge d’Affaires Korean Legation), Sefior Don Edmundo J. Plaza (Mexican Legation), Dr J. L. Reeves, Rev. Prof. Rene de Saussure, Alexander de Somoft’ (Charge d’Affaires Russian Legation).
The following delegates from The N.\tiox.\l Geogr.m’hic Society at- tended the Sixth International Geographical Congress, held in London in July last: General A. W. Greely, Assistant Secretary of State Rockhill, Miss E. R. Scidmore, 3Iiss Aileen Bell, 3Iiss Lilian Hayden, Lieut. Com- mander W. S. Cowles, IT. S. N., Lient. Everett Hayden, U. S. N., Cyrus C. Adams, and W. C. Whittemore.
NORTH AMERICAN NOTES
The convention between the United States and Great Britain to.provide the requisite topographical data to determine the lioundary between Alaska and British Columbia expired by limitation December 31. An- other commission will determine the location of the line.
Gkeenland. The National Geographic Society welcomes back one of its members, Engineer R. E. Peary, U. S. Navy, from his perilous and terrible journey across Greenland. If he failed to surpass his own record of 18i)2 he paralleled it, thus emphasizing a success far beyond that of any other explorer of the inland ice. Ethnologists look contidently for impor- tant data relative to the Etah Eskimo, and American universities have profited largely by the natural history collections.
Rhode Island. According to the state census of 1895 the population of the state is 384,758, as against 304,284 in 1885 and 345,506 by the fed- eral enumeration of 1890. Cities over 20,000 are as follows: Providence, 145,472; Pawtucket, 32,577; Woonsocket, 24,468; Newport, 21,537, and AV'arwick, 21,168. The drift of migration is from agricultural districts to manufacturing centers.
Florida. Palm Beach, the terminus of the Florida East Coast Railway, has been created a port of entry in connection with a line of steamers, which leaving in the afternoon reach Nassau the next morning, thus open- ing a new route, important both to commerce and tourists.
Block Island. A land-locked liarbor, 1,600 acres in area, has been con- structed in the interior of Block island at a cost of §100,000. The channel to the Atlantic is 12 feet deep at low water and 300 feet Avide, with a break- water extending 600 feet into the sea. It is proposed to doulde the depth and width of the channel.
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Capt. John R. Bartlett, U. S. N.
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Dr. Wm. H. Dali, Smithsonian Institution, Pres, of the Phil. Society of Washington.
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^Ir. Arthur P. Davis, U. S. Geological Survey.
Mr. Wm. M. Davis, Professor of Physical Geog- raphy in Harvard Universit)'.
Dr. David T. Day, Chief of the Div. of Mining Statistics and Technology, U. S. Geol. Sur.
Mr. J. S. Diller, U. S. Geological Survey.
Hon. John W. Foster, e.v-.Secretary of ,State.
Mr. Henry Gannett, Chief Topographer, U. S. Geol. Sur. anrl Geographer of nth Census.
Mr. G. K Gilbert, U. S. Geological Survey, Pres, of the Geol. Society of Washington.
Gen. A. W. Greel}', U. S. A., Chief Signal Officer, War Department.
Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, President of the National Geographic (Society.
Dr Mark W. Harrington, President of the Uni- versity of the' State of Washington.
Lieut. Everett Hayden, U. vS. N., Secretary of I the National Geographic Society.
I ^Ir. Wm. II. Holmes. Dir. of the Dept, of An- I thropology, Field Colum. Museum, Chicago. i Dr. ISinil Holub, Vienna, Austiia.
IDr. Sheldon Jackson, U. S. Commissioner of Education for Alaska.
Mr. George Kennan.
Prof. William Libbey, Jr., Princeton Coll., N. J.
Prof. W J McGee, Bureau of American Eth- nology.
Mr. John E. McGrath, U. S. Coast Survey.
Admiral R. W. Meade, U. S. N.
Dr. T. C. Mendenhall, President of the Poly- technic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist and Mam- malogist, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Hon. John H. Mitchell, U. S. vS.
Prof. W. L- Moore, Chief of Weather Bureau.
Mr. Frederick H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer of the U. S. Geological .Survey.
Mr. Herbert G. Ogden, U. S. Coast Survey.
Lieut. Robert E. Peary, U. S. N.
Mrs. Robert E. Peary.
Hon. Geo. C. Perkins, U. S. S.
Mr. William H. Pickering, Profe.ssor of Astron- omy in Harvard University.
Major John W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of American Ethnology and President of the Anthropological Society of Washington.
Prof. W. B. Powell, .Superintendent ot Schools, District of Columbia.
Hon. John R. Procter, President of the U. S. Civil Service Commission.
Mr. Israel C. Russell, Profe.ssor of Geology in the Universit}'^ of Michigan.
Dr. N. S. Shaler, Profes.sor of Geology in Har- vard University.
Commander Charles D. Sigsbee, Hydrographer to the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Dept.
Miss Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore.
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Hon. Charles D. Walcott, Director of the U. S. Geological .Survey.
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Mr. Bailey Willis, U. S. Geological Survey.
Among the contents of forthcoming numbers will be articles, for the most part illustrated, on the Panama, Nicaragua, and T'ehuantepec routes ; on Venezuela, by Mr. W. \i. Curtis, late Chief of the Bureau of j the American Republics; on the Geography, Peo})le, and Resources of s Costa Rica, by General Richard Villafranca, Commissioner-General to I the Atlanta Ivxposition ; on S(^me Recent Explorations in the Foothills U of the Andes of Ecuador, by Mr. Mark B. Kerr; and on Some Physical I Features of Lake Superior, by President M. W. I larrington.
The February Number
. . . OF . . .
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. . . BY . . .
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Late Chief of the Bureau of the American Republics.
Entered at the Post-office in Washington, D. C., as •second-class mail matter.
JUDD & DETWEII.KR, PRINTERS, W.\SHINGTON, D. C.
FEBRUARY, 1896
No. 2
CONTENTS j
YBJTEZUElJ^ : HER t^OVERNiMENT, ^EOPLE, |aND B0UNDARt/ -
’ - -- william e. Curtis
Egbert Tv^^lLL
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ELMER L. CORTHELL.
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\ \ \ ! /iv'' GEN. A. W. OREELY
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OF AMBHfiCAN ETHNOLOGY
W J McGee
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VoL. VII FEBRUARY, 1896 No. 2
VENEZUELA; HER GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, AND BOUNDARY
MTlliam E. Curtis,
Ex-Director of the Bureau of the American Republics
Along the Spanish main, from Trinidad to the isthmus, is a mixture of Florida and Switzerland, where one can find 'wdthin the radius of a single day’s journey any climate or scene to suit his taste, from a tropical jungle swai'ining with tigers and ’gators to mountain crests crowned with eternal snow. The Andes and the Cordilleras, fonning a double spinal column for the continent, split and scatter and jump into the sea. At the very edge of the ocean, within view of passing vessels, are jreaks whose snow- capped summits-seem to hang in the air. •The Nevada de la Santa ISIarta, 17,500 feet high, affords one of the most majestic spectacles in ail nature. Tourists are always incredulous when the peak is pointed out to them, for it resemliles a hank of clouds, Imt they are finally compelled to admit the truth of geogra]>hy, for clouds do not stand transfixed in the sky, unchangealile and immovalile, like this phenomenon.
Between these mountains and along the coast are narrow val- leys of luxurious troi)ical verdure and a rich soil — valleys which yield three harve.sts annually and are densely populated. Coffee, sugar, and chocolate are the staples of the lower region, called tierre calicntei hoi earth) ; corn, beans, and other ])roducts of the temperate zone are raised upon the mountain sides, and higher, seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, am herds of goats and cattle.
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VENEZUELA :
The population of Venezuela is about two and one-half mill- ions, not including 260,000 Indians, and there are nine states, one federal district, and five territories. The country is still in a |)rimitive and com})aratively undeveloi)ed condition. Outside the principal cities it has made little or no progress since the yoke of Spain was thrown off, and the population is believed to Ije less than it was then.
Agricultural and industrial development has been retarded by political revolutions and a lack of lalj)or and ca])ital, hut the ])i’operty of foreigners who do not meddle with local affairs is sel- dom disturljed and the government offers lil^eral inducements for colonization and investment. IManufacturing estal.)lishments are almost unknown. There is little machinery in the country, and industry is generally carried on in the households and by the most primitive processes. There is an abundance of conven- ient water power, hut fuel is scarce and ex^jensive; therefore the future wealth of Venezuela, as well as her })resent prosi)erity, lies in the development of her agricultural resources, which are almost l)oundless, and her mineral deposits, which are among the richest and most accessible. Coffee is the great staple, and the product is unsurpassed.
It has been the unhapjiy lot of Venezuela to have been the scene of almost constant warfare. There is not a country in the world whose history is more stained with blood. She is tlie Hungary, the Poland, of South America. There is scarcely a city or a settlement within the limits of the rei)uhlic which at some time or another has not suffered total or i)artial destruction, and scarcely a mountafti to]) from which some ])attlefield may not l3e seen. During colonial times Venezuela was cuffed and kicked about by Spain so that her peoi>le were in almost con- stant rebellion, and since her independence was estal)lished, three- ([uarters of a century ago, her political leaders have ke})t her like an armed camp. Most of her rulers have l)een elected l>y l)ullets and bayonets instead of by ballots, and most of her great men have died in exile, to have their l)ones brought home in after years with tremendous honors and buried under monuments of marble and statues of hronz(\
The president of Venezuela is assisted in the performance of his duties by a cabinet of eight memljers. He receives a salary of a thousand dollars a month, a house to live in, honses and car- riages, servants and furniture, and, in fact, everything except Ids food. He conducts himself verv much like the President of the
HER GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, AND BOUNDARY
51
United States ; his daily routine is similar, and he is annoyed by office-seekers to about the same degree. He commences business at half-past six o’clock in the morning, and often has cabinet meetings as early as seven. The government offices open at seven, when all the clerks and officials are expected to be on hand, no matter how late they were dancing or dining the night before, but they knock off work at eleven for their breakfast and siesta, and do not return to their desks again until two.
Cabinet ministers are paid $6,000 a year and congressmen $2,500, without any additional allowances, but the sessions do not last more than three months usuall}'', so that they may engage in their regular occupations the rest of the year.
The standing army is composed of five battalions of infantry, 1,842 men; one battery of artilleiy, 301 men, and one regiment of cavalry, 325 strong. Besides these regulars, who garrison the capital and the several forts throughout the country, there is a fed- eral militia which is drilled annually and required to respond to the call of the government at any time.
The rank and file of the army is composed exclusively of In- dians, negroes, and half-breeds. They are obedient, faithful, and good fighters. Some of the fiercest battles the world has ever known have taken place in Venezuela with these poor fellows on both sides. Their uniform in the field is a pair of cotton drawers, a cotton shirt, a cheap straw hat, and a pair of sandals, hut when they come to occupy the barracks in town and do guard duty around the government buildings they are made to wear red woolen trousers, blue coats, and caps of red and blue, with regular army shoes.
The officers are generally good-looking young fellows of the Ijest families, who take to military service and enjoy it. They wear well kept uniforms, have good manners, and are usually graduates of the university.
The government has estaldished a school of industry for the education of the Indian children, and every year a commission is sent to obtain recruits for the army among tliem. The boys are tauglit trades and all sorts of handicraft, as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the girls are drilled in the duties of the brnne. When they have reached an age when their faculties are fully develo])cd and their habits fixed they are sent hack among their tribe as missioiiaries, not to teach religion, hut civili- zation, and the Indians are said to he imja'oving ra})idly under the tuition of their own daughters and sons.
VENEZUELA :
52
The chief towns of Venezuela are Caracas, the capital, and La Guayra, its seaport ; Valencia, which lies upon a curious lake, one of the most interesting of natural phenomena ; Puerto Cabello, where Sir Francis Drake dief] and was dropped into the water with a l)ag of shot at his heels, and Maracail)o, upon the lake of the same name, from which we get much of our coffee.
The chief seajjort of Venezuela, La Guayra hy name, has the rci)Utation among sailors of having the worst harbor in the world. It is merely an open roadstead, beset by almost all the dangers and difficulties which seamanship can encounter. Even in calm weatlier the surf rolls up with a mighty volume and dashes into S})ray against the rocks uj)on which the toAvn is ljuilt ; but when a breeze is blowing, and one comes almost every afternoon, the waves are so liigh that loading or unloading vessels is dangerous and often impossible.
Between La Guayra and Caracas is a mountain called La Silla, whicli reaches nearly 9,000 feet toward the sky and springs di- rectly from tlie sea. There is only a beach about two hundred feet in width at the foot of the peaks, along which La Guayra is stretched two miles or so — a .single street. Part of the town clings to the side of the momster like a creeper to the trunk of a tree, and one wonders tliat the earthquakes, which are common there, do not shake the houses off into the ocean.
The distance in a straight line through the l)ase of the moun- tain would be only about four miles, and a Washington engineer once made ])lans for a tunnel and a calde railway, but it was too exi)ensive an undertaking. Over the dip in the saddle is an Indian trail about eight miles long, and in 1883 English engineers and capitalists l)uilt a railroad twenty-four miles long between the two ])laces, which climbs 3,600 feet in about twenty miles, and cree])S through a pass to the valley in which the ca})ital is situated. It is a remarkalile piece of engineering and offers the traveler a scenic view whose i)icturesqueness and grandeur have })een extolled from the time the Si)anish invaders came, in 1520, until now. IIunil)oldt says there is no picture combining the scenery of the mountains and the ocean so grand as this, except the i)eak of Teneriffe. It is as if Pike’s peak rose abruptly from the beach at Long Branch.
There is nothing Indian about Caracas except its name, and it is one of the finest cities in South America. The climate is superb, being a perpetual spring, the thermometer seldom rising above 85 degrees and seldom falling below 60 ; there is not a
NAT. GEOG. MAG. VOL. VII, 1B96, PL. VI.
LA GUAYRA — FROM THE EAST.
HER GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE, AND BOUNDARY
53
stove, nor a fireplace, nor a chimney in the town ; there is no glass in the windows ; the nights are always cool, and in the day- time there is a difference of ten or twelve degrees in temj)erature between the shady and the sunny sides of the street.
In 1812 the city was entirely destroyed by an earthquake and twenty thousand people were killed. It came on Holy Thurs- day, when the citizens were pre]>aring for the great religious fiesta of the year. There was not a cloud in the sky and not a thought of danger in the minds of the people, when suddenl}’ the town l)egan to rock, the church hells tolled voluntarily, and a tremendous explosion was heard in the Ijowels of the earth. In a second the city was a heap of blood-stained ruins and the air Avas filled with .shouts of horror and the shrieks of the dying.
There have been several earthquakes since, attended with se- rious casualties, and Avhile the people profess not to fear them they build the walls of their- houses three and four feet in thick- ne.ss and seldom make them more than one story high.
The })eople of Caracas have an opera supported l;)y the govern- ment, a university, art galleries, public buildings that are beau- tiful and expensive, and homes in which one can find all the evidences of a refined taste that are knoAvn to civilization. While in some res})ccts the people are two hundred years behind our own, and while many of their manners and customs appear quaint and odd Avhen judged by our standard, there is no social station in America or Plurope which the educated Venezuelan Avould not adorn. Their women are proverlnal for their beauty and grace and their men for their dei)ortment.
There is no convenient Avay of getting from Caracas to the Orinoco country exce})t by sea. Of course, one can “cut across lots,” and many peoi)le, armies, indeed, have gone tliat Avay, but it is a long, tedious, and diflicult journey, and dangerous at times, because of the mountains to be climbed, the forests to bo ])enetrated, the rivers to be forded, and the trackless swani|)s. To a naturalist the trip is full of fascination, for the trail leads through a region ])rolific with curious forms of vegetable and animal life.
To reach Ciudad bolivar, formei’ly known as Angostura, the ])olitical ca])ital as well as the comimircial metropolis of the Ori- iVK-o country, is neither diHicult nor expensive, and, aside from the heat, the journey is eomfortabh*. It is like going from New York to .Memphis by sea, how(“V(-r, although not s<t great a dis- tance. 'I’here are no native means of transportation, but you can
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take any of the English, French, or German steamers, and they are usually leaving La Guayra as often as twice a week to Port- of-Spain, on the British island of Trinidad. At least once a week, and generally twice, a steamer leaves Port-of-Spain for the upper Orinoco. The time required to make the journey depends upon the season of the year and the condition of the river. If Amu are going during the rainy season — that is, from the first of IMay tO' the first of November — you can reach Ciudad Bolivar in three days ; hut during the dry season, when the river is low, naviga- tion is slow and difficult because of snags, bars, and other ob- structions. At Ciudad Bolivar the traveler shifts his baggage to- a smaller craft, similar to those that ply the Ohio, Tennessee, and other streams of the United States, and starts onward for the head of navigation, A\dierever that may he.
It is possil)le to go within two days’ journey on mule-back of Bogota, the capital of Colombia, by taking the Meta, one of the chief affluents of the Orinoco, and by passing southward through the Cassiquiare the Amazon can be reached. Few people are aware that a boat entering the mouth of the Orinoco can emerge again into the sea through the Amazon Avithout leaving the Avater. This passage is not naA'igahle for large steamers because of rapids- and obstructions, I)ut it might he made clear at an expense that Avould be very slight in comparison Avith the advantages gained..
Another branch goes nearly to Quito, the capital of Ecuador,, and in fact its affluents are so numerous and so large that in all the five hundred thousand square miles of territory drained by the Orinoco there is scarcely a point more than three or four days’ journey l)y mule from navigable Avaters, and there are said to l>e four hundred and thirty navigable branches of the river.
From the Atlantic to the Andes, from the chain of the Cordil- leras that hugs tire coast of the Caribbean to the legend-haunted Sierra de la Parima, there is an area as large as the valley of the INIississippi, and similar in its configuration, capable of producing mighty crops of nearly CAmrything the Avorld feeds on, and afford- ing grazing ground for millions upon millions of cattle. From the foothills of the mountains in Avhich the sources of the river are, tAvo thousand miles to the sea, are great plains or llanos, like those of loAAai and Illinois, almost entirely destitute of timber, exce])t along the courses of the rivers, Avhere A^aluable trees are found.
The scenery for the greater part of the voyage is interesting,, but as you reach the upjAer Avaters and enter the foothills of the
VALLEY OF CARACAS, EAST OF THE CAPITAL, WITH COFFEE AND SUGAR PLANTATIONS.
Jr-,
HER GOVERNMEXT, PEOPLE, AND BOUNDARY 55
Andes it l>econies sublime; but there steam navigation ceases, and canoes j>addled by Indians are the onh" means of transporta- tion. The heat along the lower river is intense, but the boats are built so as to protect the traveler from the sun and afford tlie greatest degree of coolness possible. The water is turbid and muddy; the banks are low, and the Orinoco, like the Missouri, often tires of its old course and cuts a new one through fields or forest; on either side the coarse grass and reeds grow tall, and toward the end of the season are topped with tassels that nod and droop in the sun.
At daybreak long lines of pelicans and other water birds awakened 1 >y the breathing of the steamer go clanging out to sea, and as morning wakens, the thin blue mist that nature nightly hangs upon the river rises and leaves the slender rushes that line the banks to quiver in the burning glare. Toward noonday a breeze springs up, which is as regular and faithful as the stars ; it cools the atmosphere, covers the surface of the river with pretty ripples, and makes life possible under a tropic sun. There is no twilight ; the sun jumps up from below the horizon in the morn- ing and jumps down again at night, and then tor a few moments the sky, the river, and the savannahs are one vast rainbow, livid with colors so spread and blended that the most unpoetic eyes cannot behold it without admiration and awe.
The smaller streams are sheltered by flower-bespangled walls of forest, gay with innumerable insects and birds, while from tlie branches which overhang them long trailers droop and admire their own gorgeousness in nature’s mirror. Majestic trees whose solitude was undisturl^ed for centuries are covered with decora- tions that sur))ass the skill of art; their trunks and limbs con- cealed by garlands finer tlian were ever woven for a bride — masses of scarlet and jnirple orchids, orange and crimson, l)lue and gold — all the fantastic forms and lines with which nature liedecks her robes under the fierce suns and the faltering rains of the tropics.
The onl}’’ jilace of real importance, the entreiiot of all com- merce, the headquarters of all trade, the source of all supplies, and the political as well as the commercial capital of lU'arly half of the re])ublic of Venezuela, is (dudad Bolivar. It has about 12,000 inhabitants, representing almost every nation on earth ; it is built upon a clay bluff about seventy feet aliove high-water mark, so that it is in no danger of being swept away. During the six months of dry season, when the water is low, most of the ship-
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])ing business is transacted upon the beach. The government lias concentrated at Ciudad Bolivar the civil and military au- thority. It has the only custom-house upon the entire Orinoco system and practically the only courts.
The city resemhles other Spanish-American towns, for they are all alike, has a number of jiretty foliage-shaded squares, several rather imposing government buildings, a cathedral, a puldic market, a theater, a college, and the inevitable statues of Bolivar, the liberator, and Guzman-Bianco, the regenerator of Venezuela. The volume of business done there is enormous in jiroportion to the jiopulation, as it is the supply iioint and the })ort of shipment for a large and productive area. Within the last few years the exports of gold alone from that little town have been valued at 8oh,0( )0,( )00. The ])rincipal merchants are Germans, the restau- rant keepers are Italians, and the lal)oring classes are negroes from the West Indies or Canary islands. Shii)s from all ports in the world land at the i>iers, and the flags of every nation may he seen floating from the poles on the house-tops. The manu- facture of cigars is extensive, as excellent tobacco is cultivated in the neighl)orhood, and in almost every household the women emjtloy their sjiare time rolling the leaves into what are known in the nomenclature of N(wth America as “ Wheeling stogas.” These are u.sed in amazing quantities by the negro roustabouts, and are sent down the river to Los d'aljlas, from whence they are carried on mule-hack 150 miles into the interior to the mines.
The most })rofitahle mine in Venezuela, and one that is famous all over the world, is El Callao, situated on the borders of the dis])uted territory, in the state of Bolivar, al»out one hundred and fifty miles south of the Orinoco river.
I suppose that the richest gold mine ever discovered Avas the Consolidated ^hrginia, the mine from which so many of the Cali- fornia mining kings drcAV their enormous fortunes. It is diffi- cult to calculate the output of the old Spanish mines in South America, hut El Callao is reckoned second to the Consolidated Virginia in the amount of g(fld ])roduced, and I understand that it has already produced more “ free gold ” than any other eA’er o])ened. It was Avorked Ijy the Indians long ago ; at least its location corresponds Avith that of a legendary de})Osit fi’om Avhich the saA'ages of Venezuela got much of the gold taken from them by the S])aniards, hut after the latter took possession of the coun- try its existence AA'as a matter of much doubt, until four Jamaica negroes hajq)ened to run across it on a prospecting tour.
VOL. VII, 1896, PL. VIII.
VALLEY OF CARACAS, WEST OF THE CAPITAL, WITH PLANTATIONS AND SUGAR FACTORY.
HER GOVERXMEXT, PEOPLE, AXD BOUXDARY
57
Three agreed to sell their share in the discovery to a party of Corsicans for a nominal price. The fourth negro decided to keep his interest, and has ahvays been glad that he did so, for vithin the next two or three years he was able to return to his native island, where he has since lived like a nabob at the city of Kingston, the richest man in Jamaica.
The Corsicans, when the}’ began to realize the value of the jiroperty, sent two of their number to England, and succeeded in raising sufficient money to build a stamp-mill and introduce other necessary machinery ; 1nit they did not capitalize their com])any at ten or tAventy millions of dollars, as is customary in the United States, nor did they put any of their stock on the market. They issued only thirty-tAvo shares, Avhich Avere sold originally at S2,500 a share cash, making their entire capital $80,000. These shares have since sold for half a million dollars each, at Avhich rate the mine Avould 1>e AA’orth $16,000,000; Imt most of them are still in the possession of the original suliscribers.
There is little immigration and labor is scarce. Most of the miners are negroes from Jamaica, Trinidad, and other A\'est India islands. They appear to be the only class of human beings Avho can endure the climate, for the land is Ioav and the mines are situated almost directly on the equator. The country is comparatiA'ely healthy, but the rays of the sun are intense, and until a man liecomes acclimated he is easily })rostrated by e.xposure. Wood is the only fuel, and a A'ery poor quality costs seven dollars a cord.
Some of the mines are Avithin and some Avithout the territory claimed by Elngland, l)ut Great Britain has tAvo gunboats ujxrn the Orinoco, and at the first possil>le excuse Avill tak(* })ossession of the entire mineral district. Such an act Avould be audacious, but AA’ould l)c lieartily Avelcomed by the i)Cople, Avho AA'ould A’ery much |)referan English colonial goA’ci'innent to Venezuelan rule. I have l^een told by dozens of men — .Americans, Germans, natiA’c Venezuelans, and representatives of other nations — that if the <|Uestion Avere subnutted to the miners the decision Avould lu? almost unanimously in favor of England. JJie most poi)ular and po])ulate<l diggings are on the Harima liver, in the disputed territory, Avhere several million dollars of foreign ca]tital, mostly British, is invested, and some twenty thousand miners are at AVork.
The colonial authorities of fJuiana liaA’e calmly occu]»ied this territory, organizing jxdice, appointing local magistrates, assum- ing legislative as Avell as cxecutiA'c jurisdi<-tion, providing hiAvs
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and regulations for the government of the mining camps, requir- ing prospectors to obtain licenses from the colonial officials at Georgetown before commencing work, and to advertise their claims and locations in the Official Gazette of the colony.
These regulations have been imposed by the British colonial authorities within a territory to Avhich they did not claim owner- shi}> until the discovery of gold, and over which they did not attempt to exercise jurisdiction until 1883 ; and as new mines have been discovered they have gradually pushed their frontier line westward until it now includes nearly twice as much terri- tory as they claimed twenty years ago and seven times as much as was ceded to Great Britain by Holland in 1814. It is true that the Venezuelans have shown no enterprise or activity in develop- ing their own resources. They have permitted foreign prospectors to enter and occupy the mining districts at their will, and have never attempted to exercise police or even administrative control in the mining camps. The original })rospectors, being English- men, naturally looked to the colonial government at Georgetown for ]>rotection, and the other foreigners fell in without a question,, acknowledged British sovereignty and obeyed British law.
It was within this disputed territory, between the Orinoco and the Amazon, that the ancient voyageurs located the mythical city of Manoah, the El Dorado upon which the wonder and greed of two centuries were concentrated. Tidings of its barbaric splen- dor were brought home by every voyageur, and each caravel that left the shores of Europe carried- ambitious and avaricious men,. Avho ho})ed to share its plunder before their return to Spain ; but the alluring El Dorado was not a place ; it was a man. The term signifies “ the gilded,” and was originally applied to a mythical king who every morning was sprinkled with gold dust by hi.s slaves. The nuggets of gold and the rudely wrought images which Sir Walter Raleigh laid at the feet of Queen Elizabeth when he returned from his exploration of the Orinoco doubtless came from the noAV famous mine of El Callao. But the El Dorado was never found ; no courage could overcome, no persistence could dis- cover, what did not exist, and the fabulous king of the fabulous island still sits on his fabulous throne, covered from his fabulous crown to his fabulous sandals with the fabulous dust of gold.
[Note — The foregoing article is an abstract of a lecture delivered before The National Geographic Society by Mr Curtis, January 10, 1896. The lecture itself consisted of se- lected extracts from Mr Curtis’ book, “V’enezuela: A Land Where it’s Always Sum- mer,” which will shortly be published by Harper k Brothers.]
THE PANAMA CANAL ROUTE
B}" Robert T. Hill,
United Stales Geological Survey
Within the space assigned to me for the discussion of the most unpopular of the three rival isthmian routes, I can do little more than present a brief summary of the facts concerning the Panama canal. At the outset it ma3"be stated that if the Nicaragua route could he exclusive!}" controlled by the United States, even if it was far more costly, my personal preference would be for it. In no case, however, does such personal preference necessitate or justify misstatements as to the rival Panama route, concerning which, since it was allowed to pass out of American control into the hands of the French and to become involved in serious financial difficulties, imblic opinion in this country seems to be singularly misinformed.
That this route is in control of a foreign power ; that it is a rival enterprise to one supposedly controlled by a private corpo- ration in which American citizens and officials are interested, and that it has fallen into ill repute through scandalous mismanage- ment are facts which are undeniable.
These questions of adiuinistration have, however, little to do with the purely scientific problem of what constitutes the most feasible route for uniting the two oceans by a maritime canal. Some ])atriotic Americans, while admitting that national preju- dices draw them to a preference for the rival route, can yet see the arguments on both sides of the question and can di.stinguish the proposition that the financial failure of the Panama Canal Company in Paris is no condemnation of the feasibility of the Panama canal route.
The engineering investigations that liavc been conducted since the ])ractical susj)ension of operations on any extensive scale on the canal itself have been singularly overlooked. At least three thoroughly e(iuip|)ed eorj)S of engineers have resurveyed the entire route and recommended modifications in the plans. The rejiorts of two of these commissions descrihing the ini|)roved lock-level .system are in print. 'I’he third and more recent com- mi.ssion was engaged in studying the canal during my visit to tin;
6'J
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THE PANAMA CANAL ROUTE
isthmus in January, 1895. It comprised a large and competent Imdy of skilled engineers, and my final word must V>e held in reserve until this commission has made its report.
In the meantime, what are the principal facts concerning the feasibility of the Panama route?
1. It is the shortest of all, being only 42 1 miles from sea to sea, across about 20 miles of which the canal has been completed to 28 feet Ijelow sea level, making the actual present distance I)e- tween the two oceans less than 25 English miles, or about one- seventh of the actual distance (170 miles) to he overcome between Greytown and San Juan in the case of the Nicaragua route.
2. It is the only ])ossil)le tide-water route in the whole isthmian region. To accom])lisli it would, it is true, require great engi- neering and constructional feats, but in no respect impossilde ones.
8. It is said by competent and reliable engineers to he feasible for a lock-level route. The plan ]woposed involves the construc- tion of a dam at Bujio or San Pahloa of about the same size as that which is admitted to he necessary at San Carlos on the Nica- ragua route, together with six locks. The construction of this dam would create a summit lake 125 feet above tide water and 12 miles in len<rth if placed at San Pahloa, or 21 miles if located at Bujio. In addition to giving free summit navigation, such a lake would control the floods of the Up])er Chagres, storing tliem in the rainy season and supplying water to the summit lock- levels.
4. It is in a region comparatively free from seismic disturb- ance and one in which no volcanic action has occurred since late Tertiary time. The Nicaragua route is within a zone of topo- gra])hically destructive volcanic disturbance, where earthquakes are frequent.
5. It has what no other route possesses : excellent terminal harbor facilities, with anchorage at both oceans so improved that ships can enter and leave at will.
fi. It has been minutely surveyed. Every ^foot of the “ trace ” has been cleared of vegetation and ]mrtially excavated and tested I)v ])onngs, so that the actual problems of construction are ap- proximately known. As to problems that will surely arise in the Avork on the other route Ave liaA’e absolutely no data.
7. It has on the Caribbean side only 31 miles of flooded thahveg
THE PvlJNM.Y.l CANAL ROUTE
61
(21 of the Chagres and 10 of the Obispo) to be threaded and con- trolled, against 111 miles in the case of the rival route. It is true that the Nicaragua route proposes to avoid a part of the San Juan 1)V a cut of 40 miles, but the control of the remainder will be a similar and probably as serious a problem as that 2)resented by the Chagres. From 10 to 15 miles of the latter have been coni- l)letely diverted and the remainder can be controlled by the i)ro- l)Oscd summit-level lake. In the case of a sea-level plan the di- version would still be a great problem, but by no means an insur- mountable one.
8. It will be the cheapest route to construct. The plant already furnished, with two-fifths of the excavation now completed for a
PANAMA CANAL,
SHOWING A PORTION OF THE 13^ MILES COMPLETED ON THE CARIBBEAN SIDE. WIDTH, 80 FEET. TOPOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL PORTION VISIBLE IN BACKGROUND.
sea-level route, including (;x])cnse of administration and ma- chinery, lias actually cost 8 150,00! ),()()(). Fpon this basis it is estimated that the entire length of 421 miles will cost 81 1(),00<),000 more U]»on the lock-level plan. A sea-level route would cost 82< M ),( M )0,000 more. 1'lie amount of work necessary to complete the Fanama canal is far le.ss than would be required to construct the Nicaragua route. Engineers admit that 40 miU*s of excava- tion— almost equivalent to the entire length of the Panama eaiial — are necessary along tlu; rival route. What the cost of the
62
THE PANAMA CANAL ROUTE
construction of the Nicaragua route will be can never be told until the actual work is well under way.
9. It is nautically the most important route, being more cen- trally situated relatively to the two continents. Its Carilibean terminus is as near by sailing and steaming routes both to the North Atlantic and European ports as is Greytown, while its Pacific terminus is far more convenient to the South American trade.
10. Politically it is the only route at present possessing treaty rights under guaranteed neutrality with any isthmian country by which canal construction can be i^ermitted. The region through which it passes is American in interest and practically under our protectorate, and a neutral canal across it, even though the French construct it, would give us all the privileges now apparently to l)e obtained via Nicaragua under the Bulwer-Clayton treaty.
The foregoing are the salient facts concerning the Panama route. An ini])ortant point to remember is that underground conditions, l)oth favorable and unfavoraI)le, and which were not antici])ated from the preliminary surveys, have Iieen encountered in the course of construction. For instance, the 25 kilometers of the canal on the Caril)hean side were contracted for and paid for as rock-cutting, when the material ]>roved to be, for the most part, the easiest kind of earth excavation. On the other hand, an utterly unlooked-for obstacle developed in the creeiDing of the clays for al)out a mile along the Culebra summit. These are geological considerations with regard to which we have alisolutely no information along the Nicaragua line, and it is urgently needed.
Although not essentially pertinent to the subject of feasibility, a few words concerning the actual present status of the canal con- struction may he of interest. The com})any has passed through the ordeal of experimentation and financial fiiilure and its affairs are now in the French courts, under whose direction accurate re- searches have been ])rosecuted during the past year to ascertain the exact expenditures of the late company and to determine what steps are necessary to complete the work. Upon the report of the commission will depend the completion of the canal. The French people have put too much money into the enterprise not to complete it, and Americans need not deceive themselves with the expectation that the work is abandoned or that the company is utterly bankrupt. Almost the entire plant, including dredges.
NAT. GEOG. MAG.
CONSTRUCTION WORK ON THE PANAMA CANAL, NEAR THE SUMMIT, Photographed by Robert T. Hill.
THE CAXAL ROUTE
63
raihvay locomotives and other machiner}^ track, barges, steam vessels, pontoons and locks, houses, shops, etc., for the comple- tion of the v'ork is on the ground, and this alone represents a large proportion of the money expended hy the old company. This plant is not undergoing the ruinous decay that has been represented in this country, but, on the contrary, it is kept in scrupulously good order and will be available for the completion of the work.
The old Panama Company was responsible for nearly 6266,000,000, of which it spent 6150,000,000 upon the plant and construction and criminally distributed nearly 6100,000,000 among the dishonest parties who brought the company into dis- rei)Ute. In the hands of the courts, however, there still remains some 820,000,000 awaiting the reorganization of the company. That the present commission does not consider the route im- practicable is attested by tlie fact that they have kept the work progressing, al)out 2,000 laborers having been employed upon the construction of the canal during the past year. When, in Feb- ruary, 1895, 1 took the photograph reproduced as an illustration to this article I counted five locomotives at work cariying away the excavations from the Culebra summit.
No available news comes to this country from France concern- ing the operations of the canal. The Outlook, however, in a recent issue, makes the following statement:
“It was announced recently that the French company in charge of the work on the Panama canal is now collecting 2,000 more men from Jamaica and other West Indian islands to add to the 1,800 now at work, and that it is intended eventually to increase the force to 6,000 men. The New York Evening Poet declared that it had received information which it considered trustworthy that the money to finish the work on the j)resent plan has all been furnished, and that nothing can prevent the opening of the canal at the appointed time, e.vcept accidents and obstacles not now anticipated. The managers even expect that the work will be completed in six years. This is (juite in line with the report maile by Sir Henry Tyler, the late president of the Grand Trunk railway, who has been visit-' ing Panama. He .says that it is propt)sed to construct two large dams, one across the Upper Chagres and one on the Lower Chagres river. Two lakes will thus be formed, the upper one siijiplying water to the higher portion of the canal, while the lower one will be mainly usc<l to furnish water for the navigation of the lower j)art. Ten locks will be built, en- abling the canal to reach a height of 170 feet above the sea level. Sir Henry bolds that there is no insiijauable didiculty in the compUdion of the canal in six years, at a cost of .filOO, 000,000, by utilizing the w<wk already done for a distance of sixteen ndles from C<don ami four miles from Panama.”
64
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY
COMPARATIVE TABLE: NICARAGU*A AND PANAMA ROUTES.
Nicaragua.
Panama — Lock- level plan.
Natural distance, sea to sea miles. .
Present distance, sea to sea miles. .
Natural altitude, continental pass feet. .
Same, as reduced by artificial cutting, .feet. .
Miles of river course, Caribbean side
iVIiles of river course below site of propo.sed
dams
Proportion of above diverted bj' artificial cut- ting
Proposed height, summit level feet. .
Proposed dams to create summit level
Miles of proposed summit navigation
Proposed locks
Excavation (miles originally proposed)
iNIiles of excavation completed for lock plan. Miles of excavation to be completed for lock
plan
Terminal harbors
Plant on ground for completion. .
Estimated cost to complete canals
169.5
169.5
147
147
111
32
110
1
144.8
7
40.3
0
40.3
None.
$133,500,000
42.5
25
260
246
31
21
10
125
1
12 or 21 6
42.5
15-20
101
Completed.
All.
$116,000,000'
1 Tlie adoption of tlie lock-level plan will avoid several miles of e.xcavation originally contemplated in sea-level plan. 2 U. S. Commission.
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY By Elmer L. Corthell, C. E., D. Sc., etc.
The Avoiid is still discussing the question of the best route by Avhicli to fiicilitate interoceanic traffic bettveen the Atlantic and the Pacific. Coniinercial interests now center on three routes — Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec. The first has entailed enormous exiienses on France and involved many of its promi- nent citizens in serious conqdications ; the second has been spe- cially urged on the United States as the Ameriean route; the third, advocated for many years by a great genius, has been ad- vanced to snch a stage liy Mexico as to be the only Avork that jiresent conditions haA'e justified.
Addressing ourselves to the advantages of the Tehuantepec route, its interesting construetive, commercial, and geographic features must be prefaced by a brief historical resume. The
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP PAILWAY
(55
Mexican republic in 1824 invited proposals to open the isthmian route, but internal dissensions delayed action. In 1842 Santa Anna granted a charter to Jose de Garay, but the only tangible result was the complete survey of the isthmus by Gaetano iNIoro, an able Italian engineer. In 1850 efforts to negotiate treaty rights for the United States in this respect failed ; but by the Tehuantepec Railroad Company, chartered l)y Mexico, exhaust- ive surveys of the route were made, under the direction of Gen. J. G. Barnard, U. S. A., hy Mr J. J. Williams, whose report of 1852 is the most complete ever published. In 1868 the Loui.siana Tehuantei)ec Company conducted a large trans])ortation Imsi- ness of freight and passengers over a partly built Avagon road, but its charter of 1857 AA^as soon forfeited. The life of tlie La Sere grant of 1867, nullified in 1879, AA^as marked l)y the active interest of the United States in the proldem of interoceanic com- munication. In 1870 Commodore Shufeldt, sailing Avith an able corj)s of army and navy assistants, exhaustively surveyed Te- lAuantepec and Nicaragua, and in his report strongly advocated the Tehuantepec route for its many adA'antages. Mexico coop- erated in an independent survey under Sehor M. F. Leal, noAV her secretary of })ublic Avorks.
It Avas President Diaz Avho initiated railroad construction and has so earnestly persisted in efforts to open an international route aenjss this isthmus. Under the charter of 1878 Mr EdAvard Learned, an American, constructed 22 miles, receiving a sul)sidy of 812,000 })er mile, but in 1882 he surrendered his charter to tlie Mexican go A'ernment, receiving, l)y arbitration under charter pnn'isions, 8125,000 in Mexican sih'er and 81,500,000 in gold. These futile i)riA'ate effijrts led Mexico to undertake the AAork herself; Imt she soon rcA'erted to the contract .system, and undei- Mr 1). Sanchez, a Mexican, some miles of track Avere laid on the Atlantic and Pacific sides at an expense of 81,484,185 in Mexican silver. In 1882 a loan of £2,700,000 AA'as negotiate<l, and Mr E. Me.Murdo, of London, contracted to repair the track built and complete the road pro|)cr. Much Avork Avas done, but Mr Mc- Murdo di(;d and the contract AA'as abrogated, tlu' company hav- ing failed to comply Avith its terms. Some 82,000,000 of Mexican silvia* remained, and Avith this sum and an additional ai)pro|)ri- ation of 81,111,985 in silver Messrs ( .'4. Stanho])e, J. IL llanip- son, and F. L. Corthell completed tin* railroad in 1804. Mc'xico now operates it and is spending 81,990.000 in gold, under a con- tract with Mr S. Ilermanos, to perfect the e<|uipment and (iidsh 6
6G
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY
some permanent structures. Since 1878, including the last con- tract and excluding interest, Mexico has silent on the route $16,000,00(1 in gold and $2,670,170 in Mexican silver.
The completion and o})eration of this railroad will greatly fa- cilitate the construction of the ship railway when the time arrives to build it, as it ma}' with great advantage be employed to dis- tribute supplies, materials, and laborers along the line of the ship railway, and thus be used as an auxiliary line, which Mr Eads had intended to build in advance for this pur^jose.
Permit me now to state the part taken by Mr Eads in solving the problem of interoceanic transit. In a letter to the New York Tribune, June 10, 1879, he advocated a ship railway at Panama instead of a shi}> canal. As against the douldful in-oject of a ship canal and in favor of a ship railway" he said :
“ My own studies have satisfied me of the entire feasibility of such tran.s- ])ortation by railroad, and I have no hesitation in saying that for a sum not e.xceeding one-third of the estimated cost of the canal, namely, about $.■>0,000,000, the largest ships which enter the port of New York can be transferred, when fully loaded, Avith absolute safety across the isthmus, on a railway constructed for the purpose, within twenty-four hours from the moment they are taken in charge in one sea until they are delivered into the other, ready to depart on their journev.”
I le urged the construction of a ship raihvay on De Lesseps, but the great Frenchman said, “A canal at sea level or nothing.” He found nothing, at a cost not of $120,000,000, but of $2.50,000,000.
IMr Eads then turned his attention to the much more advan- tageous route at Tehuante'pee, only 800 miles from the Mississipj)! jetties, and it was my good fortune to 1 >e henceforth associated Avith him until his death.
The concessions of INIay, 1881, modihed in 188.5, provided for the construction and operation of the ship railAvay for 99 years. Many liberal provisions Avere included, such as the donation of about 2,700,000 acres of land, ample rights of Avay, right to col- lect tonnage and Avharf dues. Far the most valuable grant was the guaranty that one-third of the net revenue of the coinpaii}’’ for fifteen years from the opening of the raihvay should amount to $1,2.50,000, Avith the right to secure a similar guaranty for $2,500,000 to cover the remaining tAvo-thirds of the interest from foreign nations, but Avith the understanding that this guaranty should be sought from the United States.
IMr Eads made the plans Avith his customary skill, and after obtaining the approval of many ijrominent naval architects and
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP 1'
67
Longitmle
Sierra 'S.MartinWf.
jJiV o m, ii r e e n w i c h
Ihi/fameca
Paso nuevo
!pteapam^g°^°'eacaqu(
oMnlnacan
ACAYUCANg J^tiparjj^
’^napa
Almajroj
v^sGaleras
Incat
I^Mari^
>/iuen]
Chihuitan,
JUCHITAN
MAP OP THE
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Showing the Houles of the National Railroad of Tehuantepec and the iirnposed ' EADS SHIP RAILWAY.
-r l/uusa- ISFKHIO'Hy
uni: m OH
68
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY
engineers came to the United States Congress with a hill for the charter contemplated in the Mexican concession. Scarcely two months later the promoters of the Nicaragua canal came before Congress with a somewhat similar measure, and the two projects antagonized each other up to the death of Mr Eads, in 1887.
Meanwhile the most exhaustive survey's were made and a satis- hxctorw route was laid doAvn between the ocean terminals of the isthmus. The requirements of the charter as to beginning con- struction work were fully complied with, and the amount of con- struction work done l)y Mr Eads will he best appreciated by the statement that about $500,000 in gold was exi)ended.
From the Tehuantepec railroad to the Panama railroad, meas- ured along the Pacific coast, is al)out 1,200 statute miles, and to the Nicaragua canal aljout 800 miles. All commerce from these more southern routes must pass directly by the Pacific terminus of the Tehuantepec railroad in going to San Francisco, Oregon, Yokohama, or Hongkong. On the Atlantic side Tehuantepec has similar advantages in distance over southern routes. The calculation shows that on eighteen routes to be affected by open- ing u]) Te]iuantc[)ec the aggregate saving in distance over the present cape routes and Panama is over 125,000 miles and l)y sail routes nearly 200,000 miles.
Mr Thomas J. Vivian, an expert statistician of the Census Office, was engaged to make a report upon the probable traffic on the proposed ship railway. The results of his very careful and ex- tended investigation and his clear analysis and groujnng of a great number of facts fully justified his selection. The detailed estimates show that in 1896 we might expect a traffic of 5,288,000 tons of freight, if the railroad Avere fully equipped and sufficient time had elai)sed to develop the ncAV commerce. At a rate of $2 per ton, to include handling and transpoiding from ship to ship, and adding to the total receipts from freight the passenger re- ceipts, Ave AA’ill have a gross income of $10,576,000. Estimating the operating expenses at 60 per cent of the gross receipts, Avhich for through traffic is sufficient, Ave shall have a net income of $4,294,000. The estimates of traffic for a ship raihvay, in the same conservative manner, give a total traffic for 1 896 of 7,263,000 tons, Avhich at $2 per ton Avbuld yield a gross income of $14,526,000. Assuming the cost per ton for transporting from ocean to ocean, including all expenses, at 50 cents, the net income Avould be $11,044,000.
The cost of moving steamships through any canal on the
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP PAIL Till I'
69
American istlimus will amount to more than the cost of operat- ing the ship railway. The time in transit through the restricted channels and locks at Nicaragua will be twice as great as the time I’equired on the ship railway, and will eyen exceed the time required on the railroad to load on the ears, haul across the isth- mus, and reload into yessels. The Suez canal, immeasurably easier to maintain than any canal would he at either Panama or Nicaragua, cost for maintenance and working in 1883 $2,784,869. A careful study of the cost of operating the ship railway gives a safe estimate of 30 cents per ton. I haye no dou1)t that with a traffic of 7,000,000 tons this is ample, but I haye decided to use 50 cents per ton in the present estimate. As to the cost of pre- paring the three routes under comparison for a large traffic, the ship railway, fully equipped for canning yessels weighing 10,000 tons and 7,000,000 tons of freight, will cost on a cash basis about $60,000,000. I shall not estimate the cost of building a ship canal at Panama or Nicaragua. The former, parti}" comjffeted — cer- tainly not over one-half — has already cost probably $250,000,000 in cash and the plan changed from a sea-level canal to a lock canal, the practicability of wliich is extremely doubtful, due to inadequate water supply in the dry season ; and as to Nicaragua, we mu.st rely u))on the report, soon to be made public, of the able board of engineers appointed by the Presidcmt.
4'he presentation of the subject will not be coni})lete without a re.sume of the jjroposed method of carrying shij)S overland by railway, for avc are aecustomed to regard any method that has not the sanction of use as visionary.
Many ])r()jects for commercial sliii) railways have been made during the last thirty years. In 1872 Brunlees and ^Vebb, of Great Britain, made plans for a sliii) railway across the American isthmus at Honduras, which would haye l)een built but for the financial depression that. soon followed. It was intended to trans- ])ort vessels of 1,200 tons register. The United States (‘ngineers have designed a steamboat railway to avoid tlie dangerous navi- gation of The Dalles of the Columbia river. The project and ]»lans have receivcsl the ai)])roval of Congr((Ss and an api)ro])ria- tion of $100,000 lias been made to begin work. The ship railway of Nova Seotiii, designed by Mr H. G. C. Ketchum, Sir .John Fowler, and Sir Benjamin baker, to connect the gulf of St. Ivaw- rence with the hay of Fundy, d(‘serv(!s special attention, as it is nearly eonipleh'd. ( )f the $5,500,000 required, all hut $1 ,500,000 has been expended. The line is about 17 miles long, and by-
70
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWA Y
draulic lifts are used for raising the vessels. The platform on Avhich the car and vessel rest is about 40 feet wide. There are 20 hydraulic presses, each 25 inches in diameter, with a stroke of 40 feet, and the sy.stem is capable of lifting a vessel carrying 1,000 tons of cargo. There are two tracks of standard gauge, 18-foot centers, with rails weighing 110 pounds per linear }’ard. This ship railway would now Ije in operation hut for the lapi^e
MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE CHIGNECTO SHIP RAILWAY, TO CONNECT THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE AND THE BAY OF FUNDY.
of the government charter during a tem])orary failure of funds for construction. It is confidently expected that a rencAval of the charter and an extension of time will soon l)e granted. The hopes of all advocates of ship-railway methods are centered in this comparatively small railway at C'hignecto.
The main features of the ship railway designed for the Tehuan- tepec isthmus are terminal docks jirovided with a great lifting steel pontoon, which was sunken with the ship carriage to the-
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAILWAY
71
bottom of a dock, guided in its movements b}'’ a large niimlier of vertical C}dinders. The ship is then tloated in over the carriage and placed in exact position, the pontoon is pmni)ed out, and the continuous keel block comes in contact with the keel of the vessel, Avhen a system of hydraulic rams working through the deck of the caisson pushes the keel block closel}" against the keel and also a large number of 1 >ilge blocks and side supports against the side of the vessel. Each one moving up vertically comes in contact with the ship, Avhen the adjustable surfaces of each sup- port, which is faced with rubber, take the form of the vessel by means of a universal hinged joint. The Aveight of the vessel is thus uniformily distributed, according to the principle on Avhich the hydraulic system Avas designed.
The locomotives are then coupled ou and the vessel hauled to the opposite terminal, Avhere it is set afloat by exactly the reverse process. At tAvo points on the isthmus it becomes necessary, in order to obtain grades of not more than 1 per cent and to secure a practically straight line, to arrange for an abrupt change of direction, Avhich is done by a great floating turntable, simply a hollow pontoon grounded on the bottom of a masonry basin Avhen the car is hauled upon it, and then raised slightly upon its bearings by pumping Avater into the basin and made to revolve around a vertical central axis or guide until it takes the neAV direction.
There is an important advantage Avhich the ship railAvays have OA'er the ship canals in the American isthmus, particularly in such rainy portions of it as Panama and Nicaragua, the rainfall at the latter place ranging from 200 inches to 300 inches per annum. The adA'antage lies in the fact that a ship raihvay is ahvays alcove the floods, Avhile the canal is alAVays IacIoav them and menaced at all times by most serious dangers.
The Nicaragua route has been considered the American route. If it is so, then the Tehuantc])ec route is still more American in reference to all commercial features, and certainly is of more im- ])ortance to us from a strategic point of vicAV than any route out of the piril)bean.
The cl(;ar and decided vieAA's of Admiral Shufeldt upon its ad- A’antages Avere exjtresscd as folloAvs:
“ Kadi iHtliimiH rinoH into importance as it lies ncar(*r tlic center of American political and commercial inlluence, and the intrin.sic value of this eminently national work oii^dit to he hased niion the inver.«(* ratio of the difitance from that center. A canal throne'll the isthmn.s of Telman-
THE TEHUANTEPEC SHIP RAIUVAY
72
tepee is an extension of the ^Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean. It converts tlie gulf of IMexico into an American lake. In time of war it closes that gulf to all enemies. It is the only route whicli our Govern- ment can control. So to sj^eak, it renders our own territory circum- navigable. It brings New Orleans 1,400 nautical miles nearer to San Francisco than a canal via Darien.”
The Tehuantepec route can Ije made more easily accessible to the United States and Mexico by railroad, over which armies and munitions of war can he quickly trans})orted.