To The
Geography Of The East Coast Of Africa, And Of The Adjacent Districts,
Little Or No Addition Has Been Made For A Very Considerable Length Of Time.
II. The discoveries in Asia may in general be divided into those which the
vast possessions of the Russians
In this quarter of the globe, and the
corresponding interest which they felt to become better acquainted with
them, induced them to make, and into those to which the English were
stimulated, and which they were enabled to perform, from the circumstance
of their vast, important, and increasing possessions in Hindostan.
The most important and instructive travels which spring from the first
source, are those of Bell of Antermony, Pallas, Grnelin, Guldenstedt,
Lepechin, &c. Bell was a Scotchman, attached to the Russian service: his
work, which was published about the middle of the last century, contains an
account of the embassy sent by Peter the Great to the emperor of China, and
of another embassy into Persia; of an expedition to Derbent by the Russian
army, and of a journey to Constantinople. Of the route in all these
directions he gives an interesting and accurate account, as well as of the
manners, &c. of the people. Indeed, it is a valuable work, especially that
portion of it which conducts us through the central parts of Asia, - an
immense district, which, as we have already remarked, is not much better
known at present, (at least considerable portions of it,) than it was three
or four centuries ago. The travels of Pallas, &c. were undertaken by order
of the Russian government, for the purpose of gaining a fuller and more
accurate account of the provinces of that immense empire, especially those
to the south, which, from climate, soil, and productions were most
valuable, and most capable of improvement.
The English possessions in Hindostan have led the way to two sets of
discoveries, or rather advancements in geographical knowledge: one which
was derived from the journies frequently made overland from India to
Europe; and the other, which was derived from embassies, &c. from Calcutta
to the neighbouring kingdoms. In general, however, the journies overland
from India, having been undertaken expressly for the purpose of expedition,
and moreover being through countries which required the utmost caution on
the part of the travellers to preserve them from danger, did not admit of
much observation being made, or much information being acquired, respecting
the districts that were passed through. The travels of Jackson, Forster,
and Fitzclarence, are perhaps as valuable as any which have been given to
the public respecting the route from India to Europe, and the countries,
and their inhabitants, passed through in this route.
From the embassies and the wars of the British East India Company in
Hindostan, we have derived much valuable information respecting Persia,
Thibet, Ava, Caubul, &c.; and from their wars, as well as from the
institution of the Asiatic Society, and the facilities which their
conquests afforded to travellers, the whole of the peninsula of Hindostan,
as well as the country to the north of it, as far as Cashmere and the
Himaleh mountains, may be regarded as fully explored. Perhaps the most
valuable accession to geographical knowledge through the English conquests,
relates to these mountains. They seem to have been known to Pliny under the
name of Imaus: they are described by Plotemy; and they were crossed by some
of the Jesuit missionaries about the beginning of the seventeenth century;
but they were not thoroughly explored till the beginning of the nineteenth.
Mr. Moorcroft was the first European, after the missionaries, who
penetrated into the plains of Tartary through these mountains. The fullest
account, however, of the singular countries which lie among them, is given
by Mr. Frazer, who in 1814 passed in a straight line, in a direction of
this chain, between 60 and 70 miles, and also visited the sources of the
Ganges.
Our commerce with China for tea, and the hope of extending that commerce to
other articles, produced, towards the end of the last century and the
beginning of this, two embassies to China, from both of which, but
especially from the first, much additional information has been gained
respecting this extensive country, and its singular inhabitants; so that,
regarding it and them, from these embassies, and the works of the Jesuit
missionaries, we possess all the knowledge which we can well expect to
derive, so long as the Chinese are so extremely jealous of strangers.
The British embassies to China, besides making us better acquainted with
this country, added no little to our information respecting those places
which were visited in going to and returning from China. Perhaps the most
important correction of geography is that which was made by Captains
Maxwell and Hall, who took out the second embassy: we allude to what they
ascertained respecting the kingdom of Corea. They found a bay, which,
according to the charts of this country, would be situated 120 miles in the
interior; and at the same time they ascertained, that along the southern
coast of Corea there was an archipelago of more than 1000 islands. These
discoveries; the valuable additions which were made during the voyage of
Captain Maxwell to the geography and hydrography of the Yellow Sea; the
correction of the vague and incorrect notions which were long entertained
respecting the isles of Jesso and the Kuriles, by the labours of La
Perouse, Broughton, Krusentein, &c., and the full and minute information
given to the public respecting Java, and other parts of the southern Indian
archipelago, by Raffles, Craufurd, &c. seem to leave little to be added to
our geographical knowledge of the eastern and southeastern portions of
Asia.
III. We come now to America; - and though Africa is one of the most ancient
seats of the human race, and of civilization and science, and America has
been discovered only about 350 years, yet we know much more respecting the
coasts and interior of the latter than of the former portion of the globe.
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