National Geographic January-December 1986 [antikvár]

For about 1,500,000 of you, this is the first Geographic you have received as new members of the Society. Welcome aboard. For the other 9,000,000 or so opening your January magazine, welcome back. Together we are entering our 98th year as an institution devoted to the "increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge. " That may seem a long time, but everything is relative. A few weeks ago my neighbor, who lives a mile down a rolling gravel drive from our rural mailboxes, came to get his mail on a one-speed bicycle. Retired U. S. Army Maj. Gen. Sidney P. Spalding will be 97 this year. With typical optimism he started a dairy operation six years ago. We hope you'll agree we're also wheeling along at a good clip as we approach 100. Last year the Society published more magazines, maps, and books than ever before. We started a new cable television series and a new research journal and awarded more dollars in research grants than in any previous year. This year we hope to maintain the pace. We'll have to, because it seems that no matter how fast we move, the world moves just a little faster—like the mechanical rabbit at the dog races. InNovember, forexample, we presented the most up-to-date report available on the study of early man. At publication time President Reagan presented a Society gold medal to Kenyan Kamoya Kimeu, a valued assistant to anthropologist Richard Leakey in East Africa. When Richard and his co-worker Alan Walker arrived for the White House ceremony, both brought new discoveries that they somewhat gleefully told us had already outdated our article, which was still coming off the presses. We'll bring you those finds as soon as possible. December led off with an exclusive report by Robert Ballard of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on how his team and his French associates found and photographed S.S. Titanic deep in the Atlantic. If these partners return for further scientific exploration this year, we'll bring you that report also. We like to think the optimism and curiosity that led to the founding of the Society 98 years ago this month are just as alive and well as ever, and we hope those same qualities will keep all of you—especially 60-year member and neighbor Spalding—feehng as young as we do, and that we'll all celebrate the Society's centennial together. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC January 1986 Queensland, Broad Shoulder of Australia 2 Kangaroos and cattle outnumber Aussies in this wide-open state where traditional values are staunchly preserved, says William S. Ellis. Photographs by David Robert Austen. With a special report on unique fossil finds. Freshwater Turtles— Designed for Survival 40 Discovering how these armored reptiles have gone almost unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs may help science ensure their continued existence. Biologist Christopher P. White and photographer Bill Curtsinger track species of the eastern U. S. C. M. Russell, Cowboy Artist 60 Montana's rough-and-ready frontier life lives on in the paintings, sketches, and sculpture of a self-taught genius portrayed by Bart McDowell and photographer Sam Abell. Switzerland: The Clockwork Country 96 Behind the postcard scenery of snow-topped Alps lies a fortress nation with well-armed citizen-soldiers determined to guard its neutrality. John J. Putman examines the propensity for order that keeps Switzerland ticking. Photographs by Cotton Coulson. Hood River Adventure 128 John W. Lentz and photographer Todd Buchanan find relics of the first Canadian expedition of Sir John Franklin, whose quest for the Northwest Passage ended in tragedy. COVER: An uninvited guest wreaks havoc in "Bronc to Breakfast"—a detail from a Russell watercolor. The Mackay Collection, Montana Historical Society. THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE IS THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY POUNDED 1888 it--* ^ I ; ' ir irve