Undiscovered Lands

Western Star, 23 November 1909, Page 2

Undiscovered Lands

A 1.1 , , ' ‘ Although the great; plum h a s fallen o Oommnd.r l>o al y or Dr Cook for * oi ') st-41 , , remains wutrodtba by human ieet/sufficient of theoArth’s surface fa satisfy . the ambitions ■- G f • many generations Q f adventurous Spkits. The map of the world is loss Com < - ? piete than many people imagine it * > to bo. The globe is sprinkled with . geographical blan<sfwhich will ) ei uir« . % m, uny, many years to HU. From the days of lierbdotus, when • Itoju the shores, of the Greater Syrtis the five young Nasamonians set out ; to discover .the Niger, down to Gabot, Franklin, Livingstone, Nansen, and ; ; Poary, succeeding generations and eg- . cs have furnished resolute men eager to wrest from the Earth her long and jealously-guarded • secrets. And for the worK yet to be donebefore w r e really know the world we live in. 'there is no-\^ —as there has ever been sine© title \' Father, of History made recoed of the •first -expedition— an; abundance of- ' brave volunteers. At the present moment, in different parts of the glo.be, . many men are 'knocking at the gqtos . ‘ of strange, unkciowh: lands—the gdps that open to the Temple of Fame, wilierein are insscribed for all time«iie-• ■■ utemos of the doors of great things. Three million square miles in Antarctic regions hav.e never been penetrat- - od by a white man. But the Poles' by r ’ ; 4 ■ A. I A I 1 (• no means attoiMl im only scope for / * future explorers.. There are, for instance, lour hundred thousand ;: t siqjtiaro miles of South-Eastern Arabia, auout : which next to nothing is known. ,That! •■ fearsome desert, the.ltoba el Khali or ‘■Dwelling of the Void,’’ at life : Wory; ‘:.y : sight of which stout hearts , have quailed and brave-. men haw turned k back, has never yet been crossed by a whit© man. And yet there is a> belief 7 that under the ever-eucroachmg change lul sands of this desert ruins of dead 7V cities lie, together ( with much, Indeed, an exploring party is at Sent engaged i n searching, for the ter. Then, in Tibet and North .1 Ir.na,% : despite recent, efforts l , there .surveyed amid unmapped areas that 1 would hold three Great Britain*. Practically the whole of the mtericr,kk ol.New Guinea is still % sum's . . land;” The Du tch, -to whom it belong k ; have made frequent endeavours- to pen ,' , etrate the country from the south,'k, but have uetier succeeded in getting •_ . far from the coa&t. For the rest, New , Guinea, with its giant range of moun- : tains, is a geographical blank. Ih A{- ' rica, the happy hunting, ground of ' modern explorers, them is much. Still . undiscovered. Several parties jar© present engaged in ferreting out the ; secrets jof the Sahara. One notable achievement will be the exploration of * mountain range which extends for ; about seven hundred miles north-west.' tom Der Fur into the heart oi But ]>cihaps the biggest field joE all for the pioneer explorer of to-day ■ ** ■ Western! South America. There million square miles of land, coming. Between there is a tract of territory untouched by human feet—unless it may be thoseof some unknown race—which is Bo vast that Groat Britains could be o» ' : commod.ited within it. Hereabouts, ink -: the wHd forest regions of Ecuadorsearch was made for El Dorado in the sixteenth century. ■Enormous mountain ranges in Peru, Sajania, Tarapaca and PallacrtalviatU have not yet been measured or accur.' ‘ ately mapped.’ , .We do n*rt even know our• owh Austrolia—not the least bright gem ifWfaie .f| Imperial Crown. Away in the west of : the gioat island lies an unexplored ; area about twelve time's the siaek the llolthex Country. Thb scantiness of .* the population of the whole of West ■ Australia may be judged from the' foot that there is an average of ' square miles of land to every individ- . In the Congo basin, in Bonieo, , North America, -there are othlet erable corners yet to bo discovered and surveyed before one can point, with pride to the Complete Map of the . W o rld. : 7 But that is not for this 'generation • or'tbe next. 1