Chapter XII. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER: ASIA AND AUSTRALIA

The beginning of the nineteenth century was signalized by the initiation¹ of the great trigonometrical survey of India, and the first half-century was a period of much important geographical² and anthropological³ work within that empire, but to no great extent beyond its boundaries, though in 1808 a mission penetrated⁴ to the sources of the Ganges, and Baluchistan and Afghanistan were in some part explored by officials of the East India Company. But the physical problems of the heart of the continent were left to a later period—those, for instance, concerned with the trans-Himalayan region (as viewed from India), including Tibet, eastward⁶ that region so important in the hydrography of the continent, where the river systems of China and Burma take their rise, northward⁷ the deserts of Mongolia and Turkestan, westward⁸ the nodal mountain-region of the Pamirs, and the area which long concealed⁹ the sources of the Brahmaputra (Tsanpo) and the rivers of Punjab. In spite of the endeavours of the Tibetans to hold inviolate¹⁰ the secrets of their land—in great measure successful so far as their capital, Lhasa, was concerned—the Indian native surveyors, such as Nain Singh, Krishna, and Ugyen Gyatso, were able to penetrate⁵ the country, and even Lhasa itself; their work covered the period 1863–82.116 And the last quarter of the century provides a wonderful record of continuous exploration in Tibet, as will appear from the mere¹¹ quotation¹² of names and dates—P. Bonvalot and Prince Henry of Orléans, 1886–87; W. W. Rockhill, 1888 and 1891; Hamilton Bower¹³, 1891–92; Dutreuil de Rhins and F. Grenard, 1893–94; St. George Littledale, 1895; Captains W. S. Wellby, 1896, and H. H. P. Deasy, 1896, whose work was afterwards extended by Captain C. G. Rawling and by Sir M. A. Stein; and Sven Hedin, 1896–98, 1899–1902, 1906–08, whose last journey revealed the existence, long suspected, of the great mountain system north of the upper Tsan-po. This list is by no means exhaustive, nor can be that of the Russians who worked from the opposite direction, from their own territory; their leader was Nicolai Prjevalsky, who in 1871–73 and in 1876 worked in the Tsaidam region and made the first contribution to the mapping of the important hydrographical area above referred to, and in 1879 studied the vast physical changes which have taken place in Central Asia within historic times, and form one of the most remarkable¹⁴ geographical problems in the world. He continued his work in 1883–85, and was followed by Pevtsov and Roborovsky (1889 and 1894), P. K. Kozlov, Potanin, and many others. The names of Russian scientists, such as Baron¹⁵ A. Kaulbars and L. Griesbach, are also associated with the problems of the Aral and Caspian depressions. The former extensions of human settlement over areas now covered by the Central Asian deserts has been brought to light in great measure through the researches of Sven Hedin, and especially of Sir M. A. Stein. The general result of all these investigations¹⁶ has been to modify profoundly, even during the present generation, preexisting117 ideas of the physical geography of the central region. Nor should we overlook the work of recent travellers in China proper, a broad canvas on which outlines had been sketched¹⁷ earlier; but details remained, and still in great part remain, to be filled in, though Ferdinand Baron von Richthofen, in the course of his seven journeys in 1868–72, left few districts entirely¹⁸ unvisited.

The problem of the former existence of flourishing communities in areas now desert, and of the causes of the change, has a partial counterpart in southern Arabia. The modern period of Arabian exploration began earlier than that of Central Asia. The journeys of J. Halévy (1869), E. Glaser (1889), and J. T. Bent¹⁹ (1893) in the south were primarily arch?ological in purpose. In other parts of the peninsula the work of J. L. Burckhardt (1815), Sir R. F. Burton, Captain G. F. Sadlier, W. G. Palgrave, Charles Doughty²⁰, Wilfrid Blunt, C. Huber, Musil, Leachman, and others, has made it possible to lay down at least the position of the chief towns and settlements, and the main physical outlines, with close accuracy, save in the Dahna or great desert of the southern interior, which remains²¹ untrodden.

The detailed²² exploration of Australia began from Sydney, the earliest settlement, and was directed along the coast rather than towards the interior, the penetration²³ of which was difficult. George Bass²⁴, after a short expedition inland, was accompanied by Matthew Flinders in exploring the coast of New South Wales as far as the George River and Hat Hill towards the end of the eighteenth century; in 1797–98 Bass Strait was found to separate Tasmania from the mainland, and that island was circumnavigated. Bass was118 subsequently lost in South America; but Flinders extended the work in 1801–03, when, having sailed from England, he worked from King George Sound at the south-west of Australia right round the south, east, and north coasts as far as Arnhem Bay, west of the Gulf²⁵ of Carpentaria, and would have accomplished²⁶ more but for the unseaworthiness of his ship. Flinders was not only a competent explorer, but also a man of theories: he took the limestone²⁷ cliffs of the Great Australian Bight (south coast) for coral reefs, and when he entered Spencer Gulf he thought of a northward strait connecting with the Gulf of Carpentaria, and conceived an Australian archipelago; nor was he wholly disabused²⁸ until he had definitely located the heads of both gulfs. A number of important inlets, such as Port Phillip, Keppel Bay, and Port Bowen, were thoroughly²⁹ investigated by him, and he also surveyed the Great Barrier Reef. And the substitution of the name of Australia for New Holland is due to a suggestion of his. His unfinished survey of the western shores was completed by Captain P. P. King in voyages between 1817 and 1822.

The accident of a drought in 1813 drove some of the Sydney settlers to look for new pastures in the hinterland. The divide between the short eastward and the long westward drainage systems was surmounted³⁰ with difficulty; a road to the point where the town of Bathurst afterwards grew up was promptly³¹ made, and an arresting geographical problem confronted the investigators³² when the westward-flowing rivers Macquarie and Lachlan were found. Lieutenant³³ Oxley, R.N., attempting to follow the Lachlan in 1815, was presently brought to a halt by great swamps. He struck south to avoid them, and narrowly missed discovering the119 Murrumbidgee river, before he turned back to carry to Sydney the conviction that the westward drainage generally was lost in swamps fringing an inland sea. Cunningham found a route from this coast up to the rich Liverpool Plains, towards the north of New South Wales, in 1823; but for the most part exploration was temporarily directed to the south-west, and Hamilton Hume and Hovell in 1824–25 took an inland route from New South Wales to the south coast on the west side of Port Phillip. This inlet was not recognized by them; they returned to report that they had seen the coast-land, and found it good, further to the east at Western Port; settlers who visited that district on their recommendation were disappointed, and the development of the Victoria coast-lands received a set-back in consequence of this error. Cunningham in 1828 opened the route from the coast at Brisbane to the downs of the south Queensland hinterland. In the same year a new phase was entered in the solution of the problem of the far interior, when Charles Sturt, carrying with him Oxley’s conviction of the existence of an inland sea, journeyed inland at a season of drought to find the Macquarie river losing itself on the dry plains, and the Darling flowing salt. He attributed this fact to an admixture of sea-water, and set down the interior of the continent as a desert. In the following year he settled the problem of the drainage of the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, and Murray rivers by following them to the mouth of the Murray in Lake Alexandrina (south coast); and although he now held that the waters of the Darling were included (as they are) in this system, it was still doubted whether there was a divide between north and south flowing waters about the central latitude³⁴ of New South Wales, where, in the interior,120 high ground was known to exist. Sir Thomas Mitchell settled this question by a great journey in 1836, which, among other results, immediately threw open to settlement the fertile country about Port Phillip, hitherto, as we have seen, neglected through the misunderstanding of Hume and Hovell.

The larger problems of Australian geography were thus early settled, though there was (as even now there is in some parts) a multitude of details to be filled in. But the leading questions awaiting solution by explorers now become economic rather than purely³⁵ geographical. Thus we find Dr. Leichhardt’s first expedition (1844), from Moreton Bay in southern Queensland by the Burdekin, Mitchell, and Roper rivers to Port Essington, inspired by the conception of an overland route between Sydney and a northern seaport³⁶. He was lost (and the mystery of his fate was never solved) in 1848 in attempting a crossing of the continent from east to west, and Kennedy’s expedition in the same year, in attempting to cross northern Australia, also met with disaster, where A. C. Gregory succeeded in 1855–56. The penetration of the interior from the south and the crossing to the north had attracted travellers before this; Eyre in 1840 had discovered the series of salt lakes and swamps which he lumped together under the name of Lake Torrens, while Sturt in 1845 added little to Eyre’s discoveries, and, after failing to penetrate the Stony³⁷ Desert to the north, put a temporary period to explorations in that quarter. Babbage in 1856 and Parry in the following year obtained more accurate knowledge of the Lake Torrens region, and Goyder in 1857 reported a great freshwater lake which was found later to have been conceived out of some shallow pools and visions of the mirage³⁸.121 J. M. Stuart’s six expeditions from south to north in 1858–61 added much to exact knowledge; that of Robert Burke and William Wills in 1860–61, ill-managed as it was and ending in the death of the leaders, obtained a fame in excess of its scientific value; but other expeditions sent in search of it achieved better results, and incidentally made clear the danger of assessing the worth of some of the inland districts on the report of one traveller who might have come upon them at an unfavourable season. Thus J. McKinlay in 1861 brought word of fertile lands which Sturt had condemned³⁹ as desert. The many journeys through the interior of Western Australia—such as those of J. S. Roe⁴⁰ (1836), the brothers Gregory, H. M. Lefroy (1863), Sir J. Forrest (various expeditions in and after 1869), Warburton (1873), and Ernest Giles (first crossing from Adelaide to Perth by an inland route, 1875)—though often of extreme importance from an economic point of view, whether concerned with the discovery of pastoral lands or of gold or other mineral fields, can only be referred to here as having gradually opened up the detailed knowledge of this part of the continent, and as having redeemed⁴¹ it in part from a reputation for complete inhospitality, until we have now a trans-continental railway planned to connect the systems of south and of western Australia. The exploration of the Kimberley and north-western areas of the state was delayed until the latter half of the last century.

1 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

2 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

3 anthropological   

adj.人类学的

参考例句：

• These facts of responsibility are an anthropological datums- varied and multiform. 这些道德事实是一种人类学资料——性质不同，形式各异。 来自哲学部分
• It is the most difficult of all anthropological data on which to "draw" the old Negro. 在所有的人类学资料中，最困难的事莫过于“刻划”古代的黑人。 来自辞典例句

4 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

5 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

6 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。

7 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

8 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

9 concealed   

a.隐藏的，隐蔽的

参考例句：

• The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
• I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。

10 inviolate   

adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的

参考例句：

• The constitution proclaims that public property shall be inviolate.宪法宣告公共财产不可侵犯。
• They considered themselves inviolate from attack.他们认为自己是不可侵犯的。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

13 bower   

n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽

参考例句：

• They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
• Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

14 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

15 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

16 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

17 sketched   

v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The historical article sketched the major events of the decade. 这篇有关历史的文章概述了这十年中的重大事件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sketched the situation in a few vivid words. 他用几句生动的语言简述了局势。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

19 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

20 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

21 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

22 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

23 penetration   

n.穿透，穿人，渗透

参考例句：

• He is a man of penetration.他是一个富有洞察力的人。
• Our aim is to achieve greater market penetration.我们的目标是进一步打入市场。

24 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

25 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

26 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

27 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

28 disabused   

v.去除…的错误想法( disabuse的过去式和过去分词 )；使醒悟

参考例句：

29 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

30 surmounted   

战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上

参考例句：

• She was well aware of the difficulties that had to be surmounted. 她很清楚必须克服哪些困难。
• I think most of these obstacles can be surmounted. 我认为这些障碍大多数都是可以克服的。

31 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

32 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

33 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

34 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

35 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

36 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

37 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

38 mirage   

n.海市蜃楼，幻景

参考例句：

• Perhaps we are all just chasing a mirage.也许我们都只是在追逐一个幻想。
• Western liberalism was always a mirage.西方自由主义永远是一座海市蜃楼。

39 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

40 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

41 redeemed   

adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。
• He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。