OR , CHAPTERS FROM THE HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERY AND ENTERPRISE . WITH MAPS. COMPILED AND REWRITTEN BY THE LATE W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. “Have you been a traveller?” SHAKESPEARE. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. 1893....

The present age is sometimes described as an Age of Commonplace; but it has its romance if we care to look for it.  Assuredly, the adventures of its travellers and explorers do not lose in importance or interest, even when compared with those of their predecessors in days when a great part of the world was still “virgin ground.”  In the following pages, this thesis is illustrated by a summary of the narratives of certain “Heroes of Travel” belonging to our own time; and I believe it will be foun

We should be inclined to consider Sir Marco Polo as one of the greatest travellers the world has ever seen.  It is true he was not a man of genius; that he was not, like Columbus, inspired by a lofty enthusiasm; that he displayed no commanding superiority of character.  But when we remember the vast compass of his journeys, and the circumstances under which they were carried out; when we remember, too, how close an observer he was, and how rigidly accurate, and his plenitude of energy and persev

A.D. 1847. Mr. Ruxton’s sweeping condemnation of the Mexicans is, unfortunately, confirmed by most reputable authorities, or we might hesitate to reproduce it here.  “From south to north,” he says, “I traversed the whole of the Republic of Mexico, a distance of nearly ten thousand miles, and was thrown amongst the people of every rank, class, and station; and I regret to have to say that I cannot remember to have observed one single commendable trait in the character of the Mexican; always excep

Dr. Heinrich Barth , a native of Hamburg, and lecturer at the University of Berlin upon geography, had already had some experience of African travel, when, in 1849, he learned that Mr. James Richardson had planned an expedition from London to Central Africa, with the view of opening up the Soudan to European commerce, and substituting for the cruel slave-trade the legitimate enterprise of working the natural riches of the country.  Dr. Barth obtained permission to accompany it, and with another

Yola, the capital of A’damáwa, lies four degrees to the south of Kuka, on the Fáro, in a marshy plain, which presents nothing attractive to the eye of an artist.  Dr. Barth describes it as a large open place, consisting mainly of conical huts, surrounded by spacious court-yards, and even by corn-fields; only the houses of the governor and his brothers being built of clay.  When he entered it, Lowel, the governor, was in his fields, and could not be seen; but on his return the travellers proceede

The Niger—all the various names of which (Joliba, Mayo, Eghirrau, Isa, Kuara, Baki-a-rua) signify one and the same thing, the River —is about seven hundred yards broad at the Say ferry, and flows from north-north-east to south-south-west with a velocity of three miles an hour.  The left bank has an elevation of about thirty feet; the right bank is low, and crowned with a town of considerable size.  The traffic is incessant; Fulbis and Sourays, with their asses and oxen, continually pass to and f

Mr. Thomas Witlam Atkinson among recent travellers is not one of the least distinguished.  He ventured into what may be called “virgin country”—a region scarcely known to Europeans; carrying his life in his hand; animated by the desire of knowledge rather than the hope of fame; quick to observe, accurate in his observations, and intelligent in combining them into a distinct and satisfactory whole.  For some years he lived among the wild races who inhabit Siberia and Mongolia, the Kirghiz steppes

The tribes of the Kirghiz nation spread over the Asiatic steppes from the Aral river to the Ala-Tau Mountains.  From time immemorial they have been divided into the Great, the Middle, and the Little Hordes.  The Great Horde occupies the territory north of the Ala-Tau, extending into China and Tartary.  The Middle Horde inhabits the countries lying between the Ischim, the Irtisch, Lake Balkash, and Khokand.  The Little, which is by far the most numerous Horde, wanders over the undulating plains b

There is much to attract and impress in the scenery of the lakes of the Altai.  Lake scenery in a mountainous country is always picturesque, always striking, from the variety of forms which it presents, and its endless contrasts of light and shade, and its magical combinations of colours.  Moreover, it passes so rapidly from the calmly beautiful to the sublime! for at one moment the silver waters sleep as profoundly as a babe on its mother’s breast; at another, the storm-wind issues from the sav

With three Cossacks, seven Kalmucks, eight rifles, and a store of powder and lead, Mr. Atkinson passed into the Gobi.  His Kalmucks had their hair cut close, except a tuft growing on the top of the head, which was plaited into a long tail, and hung far down their back.  The chief was named Tchuck-a-bir, a stalwart, powerful fellow, with a fine manly countenance, large black eyes, and massive forehead.  He wore a horse-skin cloak, fastened round his waist with a blood-red scarf.  In warm weather

About 1862, letters from Khartûm, the capital of Nubia, stimulated the curiosity of European geographers by announcing that three courageous ladies had undertaken a journey into Central Africa, with the view of reaching those mysterious Sources of the Nile which, for generations, had been the object of Western research.  At first the news was received with suspicion; many persons did not hesitate to speak of it as a hoax; but incredulity vanished as the information grew more copious and more pre

Mr. J. A. Macgahan , as special correspondent for the New York Herald , a journal well known by the liberality and boldness of its management, accompanied the Russian army, under General Kauffmann, in its campaigns in Central Asia in 1873 and 1874. Bound for the seat of war, he made his way, in company with Mr. Eugene Schuyler, the American chargé d’affaires at St. Petersburg, who desired to see something of Central Asia, to Kasala, a Russian town on the Syr-Daria (the ancient Jaxartes ), where

The Khivans, according to Mr. MacGahan, are generally medium-sized, lean, muscular fellows, with long black beards, and no very agreeable physiognomy.  They dress in a white cotton shirt, and loose trousers of the same material, over which is worn a khalat, or long tunic, cut straight, and reaching to the heels.  The Khivan khalat, with its narrow stripes of dirty brown and yellow, differs very much indeed from the beautiful and brilliant khalat of the Bokhariots.  Most of the Khivans go barefoo

The north-west of the “island-continent” of Australia seems to have been discovered almost simultaneously by the Dutch and Spaniards about 1606.  Twenty years later, its west coast was sighted; and in 1622 the long line of shore to the south-west.  Tasmania, or, as it was first called, Van Diemen’s Land, was visited by the Dutch navigator Tasman in 1642.  Half a century passed, and Swan River was discovered by Vlaming.  The real work of exploration did not begin, however, until 1770, when Captai

That vast and various region of sandy deserts and fertile valleys, of broad open plains and lofty highlands, which extends eastward from the Caspian Sea to the borders of Afghanistan, and from Persia northward to the confines of Siberia, is known to geographers by the name of Turkistan, or “the country of the Turks.”  Across it, from north to south, strikes the massive chain of the Bolor-tagh, dividing it into two unequal portions.  The western division is popularly known as Independent Tartary,

In the afternoon of the following day two officials arrived from the Khan, with an escort of six men on horseback and four on foot, to conduct the English officer to the palace.  Mounting his horse, he rode forth, preceded by the six horsemen, and with an official on either side; the rear being brought up by Nazar, with some attendants on foot, who lashed out freely with their long whips when the staring crowd drew inconveniently near the cortége .  Fresh sightseers arrived every moment, for the

Of late years the Lake Regions of Central Africa have offered a fertile and attractive field to the explorer.  The interest of the public in African discovery, which had for some time been dormant, was revived in 1849, by the achievements of Dr. Livingstone, who, starting from the south, crossed the tropic of Capricorn, and penetrated to the shores of Lake Ngami.  In 1853 to 1856 the same great traveller traced the course of the river Leeambye or Zambési, and traversed the entire breadth of the

Happily, after suffering for some days from brain fever, Lady Baker recovered consciousness, and thenceforward her progress, though slow, was sure.  After a brief rest, the march to the lake was resumed by the undaunted travellers; for the devoted wife would not allow any consideration of her comfort or safety to come between her husband and the accomplishment of the work he had undertaken.  At a village called Parkani, the guides informed them that they were only a day’s journey from the lake. 

[3]   The roc, a gigantic bird, which figures in the Eastern fable of Sinbad the Sailor. [12]   A rich, quaint, walled-up doorway, in semi-Monastic, semi-Byzantine style, still extant in the Corte del Sabbrin, or Corta Sabbonicia, is nearly all that remains of the house of Messer Marco Palo. [17]   A summary of the Russian explorations of the Pamir, by Sievertzof, has been published in Kettler’s “Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Geographie.” [22]   Cuir-bouilli , leather softened by boiling, du