Proceedings of the Geographical Section of the British Association. Manchester Meeting, 1887 Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, New Monthly Series, Vol. 9, No. 11 (Nov., 1887), pp. 689-707 Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1801285 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 02:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.78.143 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 02:42:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Transcript
Proceedings of the Geographical Section of the British Association. Manchester Meeting, 1887Source: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography,New Monthly Series, Vol. 9, No. 11 (Nov., 1887), pp. 689-707Published by: Wiley on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of BritishGeographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1801285 .
Accessed: 14/06/2014 02:42
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
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PROCEEDINGS OF TEE GEOGRAPHICAL SEOTION OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.
MANCHESTER MEETING, 18S7.
Thursday, Septernber 1st (continued). The Bangala. By Capt. COQUILIIAT.-This paper will appear in full in the
Journal of the Manchester Geoaraphical Society. The Congo below Stanley Pool. By Lieut. LE MARINEL.-This paper will
be published in the Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society. The Lower Congo: a Sociological Study. BY RICHARD COBDEN PHILLIPS.
Will be published in the Journal of the Anthropoloaical Institute.
Notice sur l'Etat Inddpendent du Congo. BY M. VON EETVELDE (Abstract). The ConCo State lies wholly within the tropicsX and covers an area of 1,07S,000 square miles. In sketchinct the physical configuration of the collntry thc author drew attention to its magnificent water-highways, and to the exceedin7 fertility of certain districts. He stated that Captain VanCele had been charged with a mission which it wasthoped would definitely settle the Moban(ti-Welle problem. hIeteorolotical observations had not as yet been carried on for a sufficient time to enable us to forms a definite idea of the climate. The climate, however, did not sensibly diff^er from that of other tropical reOions; and had this in its favour, that diphtheria, scarlatina, the yellow fever, the cholera, and typhus fever were unknown. The many (leaths which had occurred amona the officials were due rather to exceptionally hard work, to the want of comforts, and to lack of experience, than ton the badness of the climate. The hyaienic conditions mrould improve ith the progress of cultivation. Mr. Stanley estimated the total population of the
State at forty-three millions, and loolsing to the accounts of recent explorers as to the populousness of certain districts in the interior, this appeared no e2zaCgerated estinlate. The inhabitants might roughly be divided into river-tribes and into tribes inhabitinC the "Ntombe," that is, the tlplands and regions avFay from the rivers. The former were traders and fishermen, the latter agriculturists and hunters, and carried on domestic industry, such as ironsmeltina, the making of pottery, weaving, &c. On the lower Congo many of the natives sought employment as carriers. Four types of houses ha(l hitherto been observed, viz. the rectangular hllt, with a wooden frame and a thatched roof; the circular huts (on the Aruwimi); the houses of the Bakoi, with mud walls; and the huts which the people along thet Ubangi built in trees. Many of the villages were stockaded. Human sacrifices on the death of a chief were still common, but the authorities of the State were success- fully strivint, at,ainst this barbarity. Socially there existed three classes, viz. chiefs, freemen, and serfs. The civilisinC influences brought to bear tlpOh the esisting conditions were havint, a visible eSect. Missionary enterprise was expanding, and commerce rapidly developin(T. The railwav which it was proposed to build to Stanley Pool would aive access to the wealth of the interior. Courts of justice had been established, and atrocities, such as were reSerred to in a Report b;y Mr. Consul D. Hopkins, had become impossible. The suppression of the slave razzias, the alDolition of human sacrifices, the introduction of an impartial administration of jtlstice, the cessation of tribal wars, the protection and expansion of conlmerce, and the establishment of public security, were the objects aimed at by the State.
A Visit to Diogo Cao's " Padrao " at the Mouth of the Congo. Bv R. E. DENNETT. The author described a visit, in April 1887, to the supposed fraCrnents
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of DioCo Cab's '4Pillar," near Shark's Point, which had then recently been dis- covered (or rather rediscovered) by Barorl Schwerin and Serlor F. J. de Franga. qlhe latter had been told by the natixes of the esistence of a fetish made of stone, and as no stones are found for miles around San Antonio, where he resided, he at once concluded that the fetish would prove identical rvith the " Pillar " set up by the discoverer of the Con(to. The natives alleged that the fetish had fallen from heaven, and Senor FrancaSs persuasive powers were called into use to induce them to reveal its whereabouts. The author landed on the inner side of Shark's Point to avoid the surf. A short walk through coarsc grass led past " Kinc, George's Palace," close to which are now the tombstones re1noved from the submerged English cemetery. He then crossed the point, went past the site of the old cemetery, :llow covered by the sea, and at a few minutes' distance from the shore ascended to a hillock, where in a dense bushX the venerated stones were discovered. The bandages of cloth, which until recerstly covared them, bad been removed. The fragments consisted of a square base, 27 inches in height, part of the cylindrical column, 12 inches in diameter and 18 inches in height, and of two ball-shaped stones, all of white marble.*
On Acclimatisation, By Dr. A. OPPLER, of Bremen. (Sumtnary).-"Accli- matisation " means the adaptation of an organised being to new surroundings without injury to the individual, or dan>er to the esistence of the species. Our present views as to the orit,in of the races of man are based upon the possibility of man being able to become acclimatised in regions climatically different from that which has given him birth. If this is not conceded we are compelled to assume an indefinite number of centres of creation, from which man spread over the earth. The unity of race is generally conceded to certaia great human families, such as the Mongols, the Indo-Europeans, the Jews, and the American Indians. The last extend from the glacier-fiords of Tierra del FueCo to the Arctic circle, and from the hot and humiel lowlands high up to the dry and cold plateaus of Peru and Bolivia. These Indians must have originated fiom one primeval pair, whose descendants in course of time adapted then1selves to the most varied climatic conditions. The Mongols, too, are found in the most varied climates, from the hot and humid plains of Anam to the arid highlands of T'ibet and the frozen soil of the Tundras. Physically the Tatar of Lenkoran yields in no respect to his kinsman in the deita of the Lena. The Indo- European family estends from the moist lowlands of the (;anges to Scandinavia and Iceland, and in its case acclimatisation was effected in the course of no more than 2000 years. The Jews further illustrate the faculty of mau to lecome accli- matised. At the present til:ne there exists probably I1O people which still occupies the soil which originally gave it birth.
Having regard to the over-population of Europe the question of acclimatisation becomes one of practical importance. At the present rate of increase Europe donkles its population in thc course of a hundred years, and as the resources of the various
* Mr. Ravenstein Cwho read the paper in the absence of the author) said that the stones described had been referred to by previous e:xplorers. Dr. Bastian alluded to a Portuguese who llad visited them, and who had seen inscriptions upon them, which he was unable to decipher. Sir Richard Burton had visited and described what ^ere clearly the same fragments in 1863. It hardly admitted of a doubt that the Shark's Point of the ;4dmir.lity chart was identical with the Punta do Padrao de S. Jorge. A thorough exploration of the old Duchy of Sonyo would lead to interesting discoveries bearing upon the lsistory of the early Portugu&3e occupiers aud tlle missions, and could easily be effected by one of the gentlemen attached to the factories, such as Mr. Philipps or BIr. Derkllett.
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countries do not increase at the same rate etigration and co]onisation have become a necessity. Up till now European emigration has mainly floxved to countries presentint climatic conditions simiiar to those of Europe, but tl1e temperate reaions are gradually filling up, and the question arises whether the tropical reCions might not aSord new homes to European emigrants. On this point opinions diCer widely. Henriclas Rant%ovius already says, " Est optiml1s aer, qui unicuique est nativus.' G. F. holl)> tle eminent statistician, looked upon the theory of a " Cradual acclima- tisation" as a cleception. Prof. Virchow maintains that neither individuals nor families can hecome acclimatised in malarial tropical regions, the families dyin out after three geIlerations. Certain tribes or races are, however, capable of oSering greater 1esistance to the deleterious itlfluences of a tropical clirnate, as for instance the Jewse an(1 certain Southern Europeans, in whose reins flo^ s Arab blood. Dr. Ilirsch and Dr. Fritsch agree in the main with these views, and they are also supported by uledical men who have lived within the tropics, such as G. A. Fischer, Dutrieux, and J. Montano. rlhe last says, with reference to the Philippi[e Islands, that Euro)elns who have lived there dulina eight or ten yeals stlffEr from antmia, which compels their temporary return to a temperate climate to recruit their health. NVomen suffer more severely from the climate than men, and children of Europeans suSer most of all.
Among authorities who maintain that Europeans are capable of becoming accli- matisefl within the tropics M. A. de Quatrefages holds a foremost place. He maintains that the Aryan race is capable of accomlnodating itself to every climate, although a victo1y over nature may be secured only at heavy sacrifices and in the course of generations. Many explorers, including LivinCstone, Stanley, Pogge, and Felkin, hold the same view. The argllments advanced in support of either of these views are, however, inconclusive, for there are no trustworthy statistics *vhich would enable us to assert that European families have suz vived in tropical countries for more than three generations. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the death-rate atr.ong Europeans residing there is exceedingly hiCh. If an attempt should be made to establish European colonies within the tropics, ouly indivifSuals physically and mentally qualified should be selected, and they shollld previously to startinC for their destination, be furnished with hycienic instructions suited to the tropics. In order to enable this to be done eSectively, a comprehensive and systematic study of the hygienic conditions of tropical countries is called for.
The author, havinC given a rapid sketch of the progress of Ellropean colonisation since the time of CharlemaOne, stated that of 80 million Europeans and their descendants, who lived at the present time in other continents, no fewer thanYten millions had found a horne witllin the tropics (or rather within the isothermal Iines of 68? F.). Of these ten millions fully nine millions lived in trot)ical America.
Friday, September 2Zed.
The Raian Maeris. BY COPE WHITEHOUSE, M.A. The Desert from Dahshur to Ain Raian. By Captain CONYERS SURTEESO The Bahr Yusuf, its present state and uses. By Captain R. H. BROV^rX, R.E. The above three papers are published in tbe October No. of the ' Proceedings,>
ante, p. 608. Trade Prospects with the Sudan. By Major C. M. WATSON, C.M.G., R.E. The Red Sea Trade. BY A B- WYLDE (of Jeddah). The author of this
paper dealt very exhaustively with the trade of the Red Sea ports. He spoke strongly in faxtour of the Suakin-Berber route, as compared with that down the Nile to Cairo, which was favoured by Egyptian officiali. Tribal ports, such as Mersa
No, XT.-Nov. 1887.] 3 a
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Haiaib (one of the healthiest places on the Red Sea), Roweyat or MIahamed Ghoul, Aghig, and Trinkitat should be opened to trade, which would do away with the ecessity of members of olle tlibe t)assing over the territory of another, and with
the frequent blood-feuds to which this led. He had spent from May last year until quite recently among trites avowedly unfriendly to the Egyptian government, but had been treated everywhere with the utmost courtesy and hospitality. They were all anxious that trade should be resumed. When the trade had been got back, and when camels were unable to cope with it, then the time for building a railway from Suakin to Berber would have come. By means of this railway the coal required by .steamers naviaating the Nile could be carried. 't'he Sudanis ought never again to be handed back to their old Egyptian or Turkish rulers, whom they detested and despi3ed. The question of the Sudan could and ought to be settled at once, and the country would cease to l)e a source of annoyance, and become another outlet for British trade.
Between the Nile and the Red Sea. By E. A. FLOYER, of the Khedivial Civil Service, ante, p. 659.
Account of a recent Visit to the ancient Porphyry Quarries of Egypt. BY W. BRIXDLEY, F.R.M.s. Egyptiaol pol phyry has been souaht after from the earliest times, as one of the most precious building stones. Ancient writers differed as to the whereabouts of the quarries from which that stone was obtained, and in modern times they were literally rediscovered by Burton and Wilkinson in 1893, and subsequently visited by Lepsius in 1845. The information published by these visitors provin of no immediately practical vallle, the author determined to follow in the footsteps of Wilkinson, and, accompanied by his wife, he came to Cairo in February last. Having examined the ancient granite quarries at the first cataract, lvhich supplied deep red, rose, and dark grey stone, which was quarried by metal wedges, and not wood (as is generally supposed), the swuthor started from Keneh with a small caravan and supplies calculated to last three weeks. Passinffl the remains of several Roman stations, the author, on the fifth day, reached an excellent well in the charming Bradi Kitar, hemmed in on three sides by precipitous mountains. Soo after leaving this valley he crossed the watershed (2400 feet above the Nile), an(l then travelled alotlC the flank of the immerlse porphyry mountain of Jebel Dukhan as far as an old Roman station with an old fort. The morning after his arrival the author ascended to the top of a pass (3100 feet), without having found even a frag- ment of porphyry; but espyinC, by the aid of a good field-glass, porphyry colonring on the opposite mollIltain he resolved to go there, and his delight kne+s no bounds when he found the ground there strewn with pieces of the most sumptuous porphyry, and discovered a pitched way or slide, 16 feet wide, down which the blocks were lowered. Further examination led him to the locality where the Romans had extracted their grandest masses, and he found that these quarries had yielded not only the usual spotted variety but also the brecciated sorts and green-greys. The areat qtlarry was at an altitude of 3650 feet above the sea, and a road led down to it to an ancient town with workshops. A path led hence to the old town in the Gralley, further up which are the ruins of a Homan temple. The blocks were formerly carried to the Nile, a distance of 96 miles, but they will in future be conveyed by a gentle incline to the Red Sea, which is about 25 miles distant. On his return to Cairo the author seellred a concession to relvork the quarries, the terms of which have since been ratified.
Matabeleland and the Country between the Zambesi alld the Limpopo. By Cay)t. C. E. HAYNES, R.E.- This reaion has been famous from a very early age for its productive gold-mines. They were being worlied when the Portuguese first
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;arrived in the eountry, and some of the mines still exist, but the slave trade and the inroad of the Matabele power have redueed all native industries to a very indeterminate quantity. The Matabele are the near kinsmen of the Zulu, and have nearly identieal eustoms. Both wear tllat unique head-dress, the gum ring, their badge of manhood. The Matabele were driven out of Zululand about the beginning of the century, and under their chief Umselikazi they beeame a terror to all the Bechuana tribes livina north oX the Vaal liver. Attacked by the Voortrek Boers, and by the Zulus under Panda, they were forced to lletire north of the Limpopo, and finally settled down in the midst of the Makalaka and Mashona tribes. About the same period the Gaza kingdom was established by Manikuza, one of Ghaka's generals, to the east of the Sabi river. This tribe, under the government of Umzila, proved itself a fast ally of the Matabele. The invasion of the Matabele has eaused the annihilation or disruption of the tribes with whom they eame in eonfliet. There are only fragments of the aboriginal people now, who still earry on in a furtive manner some of their old in(lustries, such as gold-digrging, iron-working, and weaving. The elimate of Matabeleland resembles that of the Transvaal, and the high veldt whieh ranges from the Nata river to the vicinity of the Zambesi near Tete, is well fit for European settlers, and promises to beeome a prosperous agrieultural region, with numerous local markets at hand in the mining districts. Care should be taken to protect the forests there. Their wholesale destruction has already begun. The Gaza country and the low veldt i5 not so salubrious, and, generally speaking, the Zambesi valley is malarious. Aariculture at present is in a depressed state. There is )lenty of arable land on the high veldt, and exeellent wheat, as well as all English vegetables, can be grorn alongside the banana and orange. The high and middle veldts are more suitable for stoek-farminU,. Facilities for irrigatioIl abound. The tsetse does not esist on the high veldt. The mineral wealth of the eountry still awaits development. The Tati gold-field is now being worked biy an English company, but a nod from the Matabele king may at any time put an end to this. It is a pity that this infant colony should not have been made the basis from whieh British interests in Matabeleland might be proteeted. The extension of the railway firom Kimberley to the Tati mines would have a most beneficial effect in attracting settlers. Complaints have lately been made that northern Beehuanaland is gradu- ally dryinC up, and it is not difficult to prove that at one time Lake Ngami was drained through the Botletle, Lake Makarikari, and the Shashi into the Limpopo.
A Note on Houghton, the African Explorer. By Major Sir HERBERT PERROTT, Bart. (a great-,randson of Major Houghton).-Major Daniel HoughtoIl, who perished in an attempt to reach Timbuktu from the Gambia, was a descendant of the ancient family of De Hoahton, De Houghton or Hoahton Tower, Laneashire. He was educated at the Charterhouse, alld married Philippa, a sister of the two last Baronets Evelyn, of Wotton, Surrey. He entered the army, and served in the 59th Foot, and subsequently beeame Consul-General at Moroceo. His explorations were undertaken at the instance of the African Association. He left two sons, one Commander Houghton, B.N., who served under Nelson, the other a midshipman, s.N., who was lost with all hands on board the Magnet sloop of war. His services were alluded to in a sermon preaehed on Dee. 12, 1872, by the Rev. John W. Irvine, entitled " Brethren and Companions," and published by H. S. iEZing and Co., 1873.
Eriday, September ond
GFeographical nvork in Western Australia, 1870-1887. By the Eon. JOHN FORREST, C.1W.G., Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Surveyor-General of AVestern Australia. Western Australia is about one-third of the Australian
3 a 2
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continent, and comprises all that portion lying to the westward of the 129th meridian of east longitude. Its area is about one million square miles, and is therefore eight times that of the United Kinrdom of Great Britain alld Ireland. Previous to the year 1869 scarcely anythin(t was known of that vast area of Western Australia lying to the eastward of the narrow fringe of settlements along the western coast, and not much more than one-fourth of its area was explored-in other words, about 750,000 square miles of territory was represented by a blank space on the map of Australia. The object of the paper was principally to shom2 what has been done in regard to exploration since 1869, and specially to refer to the development in recent years of the extreme northern portion of Western Australia, locally called the liimberley District, which contains about 134,000 square miles. Mr. Forrest coutinued as follows:-
Previous to the year 1870 NVestern Australia had existed for forty years in a very isolated condition, and had very little means of communicatint, with the eastern colonies, or with other parts of the world. In 1870, however, I travelled fron Perth to Adelaide along or near to the south coast, a route that had been travelled by Eyre in the very early days of the colony, and under very great difficulties. Benefiting by his experience, and keeping further inland, I was enabled to perform the journey without very great difficulty and in abollt five months after leaving Perth I entered Adelaide with my small party of sis persons all told, and with my horses and equipments. One of tlle chief objects of the expedition was to detelmine whether a telegraph could be erected, and my report bein;, favourable, the work was undertaken and completed.
The result to Westerll Australia has been that the isolation in which it had existed so long was entirely removed, and we were at once placed in hourly commu- nication with the eastern colonies of Australia and also with the rest of the world. I also found that the country along the shores of the Great Australian Bight was an elevated plateau, averaging from 250 to 500 feet above the sea, of limestone forma- tion and well grassed, but entirely destitllte of surface water. No doubt water will eventually be obtained by sinking, or by storage in dams or tanks, and then this large area of good country will be utilised, and be of great value for pastoral pur- poses. After this journey from Perth to Adelaide a great deal of attention was drawn- to the great unknown interior of Australia which remained a blank on the map, and between the year 1873 and 1876 several expeditions were sent out with the object of crossing from the telegraph line between Adelaide and Port Darwin, which had just been erected, to the settlements on the western coast. Several of these expedi- til)ns failed to accomplish what was intended, but Warburton, Giles, and myself were successful. Warburton in 18W3 left the telegraph line at Alice Springs travelled generally along the 21st parallel of latitude, and reached the sea-coast by following down the De Grey river on the north-west coast. For the most part this journey was through an inferior country covered with triodia, and water was also very difficult to find. Brarburton was provided with camels, and managed after great difficulty and privation, having to kill his camels for food, to complete the work he had undertaken. In 1874 I travelled from (hampion Bay, on the vsest coast, to the telearaph line, along the 26th parallel of latitude, a distance by the route followed of nearly 2090 miles. I reached the Peake telegraph statioIl abouts 600 miles to the north of Adelaide. This expedition occupied sis mollths. From Champion Bay for several hundred miles was through a fertile and well-arassed country, but after the watershed of the rivers fallintt into the western coast was reached, I encountered the same inferior district crossed by Warburton further to the north. I was llOt provided svith camels, and had very great difficulty in makin* pro, ress, owing principally to the absence of water. The cotmtry was slightly
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2mdulatina, and was frolll 1500 to 2000 feet above the sea it was covered with triodia, grassy valleys of limited extent intervenin(t. Here and there masses of hills stood out above the surrounding country, sometimes rising as much as 1200 feet above it. The prevailing rock in this country was the tertiary desert sandstone, 60 continually met with in central Australia.
Up to this date (1874) the predictions of geographers and others that the interior of Australia might contain a large inland lake, and that beyond the head-waters of the Murchison, rivers might exist running into the interior and emptying themselves into this lake, had stron3 grounds for their opinion. It was said, and I think, with much to support it, that as the western rivers took their rise at least 1500 feet abolre the sea, there would most probably be a watershed, and on the other side, rivers would be found runnint, to the eastward.
These predictions and hopes were for ever dispelled by my expedition of 1874, and the fact was established that the drainage of the interior was absorbed by evaporation, and by the salt marshes which are found here and there. In some eases such as Lake Amadeus and Lake Eyre, these marshes are of enormous extent, and rivers several hundred miles in length empty into them.
The nest explorer who crossed from the telearaph line to the western coast was Giles, in 1875-76. He crossed to the west coast generally along the 30th parallel of latitllde, and returned to the telegraph line generallJr along the 24th parallel, being on the first expedition midway l)etween my journeys of 1870 and 1874, and on the return journeNr between that of Warburton in 1873 and my own of 1874. In these expeditions Giles had the advantaCe of camels and was able to perform lont, journers without water, in one instance travelling over 300 miles in 17 days without findinffl any. His experiences were similar to those of Warburton and myself, the same desert sandstone, the same triodia, the same occasional ta,rassy valleys, and the same difficulty in procuring water. Thus four distinct lines of exploration were accomplished between 1873 and 1876, and this throuOh country that was before 187.3 a blank space on the map of Australia. Tllere does not, in my opinion, remain at the present time any problem of great geographic interest unsollred on the Australian continent.
The next exploration of importance was that of my brother, Alesander Forrest, in 1879, and was within the limits of the rivers falling into the sea, being from the De Grey river on the north-western coast to Port Darwin, and for the most part along the 18th parallel of latitude. This route was outside the desert sandstone tracts traversed by Warburton, Giles, and myself, and was generally through a
ell-watered and fertile country. The Fitzroy river was ascended and mapped as far as the Leopol(l Ranaes, which are about 2000 feet above the sea. It was found to be an almost permanent stream, running through fertile alluvial grassy plains; oIle of its tlibutaries was named the Margaret, and was followed for over 100 miles to its source, and after crossing the watershed, a large river, named the Ord, was discovered, and found to empty into Cambridge Gulf. l'he result of this expedition has been the openina up of this portion of Australia, its occupation bsr focks and herds, and the discovery of a payable gold-field.
The whole distance between Roebuck Bay and Cambridge Gulf has since been carefully trianaulated, and a good topofflraphical map has been compiled, while a country which two years aao had scarcely been visited, except by the first explorer and afterwards by a few others, is now intersected with roads and cart-tracks, and it is an easy matter to drive from Kinffl Sound to Cambridge Gulf. This hurried settlement has been chiefly caused by the discovery of gold at the head-waters of the Fitzroy and Ord rivers, which has attracted large numbers of people from all parts of Australia and New Zealand.
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The geology of this part of Australia is most interesting, and although it hasF been to some extent examined by the late E. J. Hardman, whose labours have been much appreciated, and whose sudden death we all so much deplore, there is still a. vast amount of most important and valuable work to be done. The immense basaltic plateau, named by Eardman the Antrim Plateau, covering an area of qvlite 3000 square miles, the numerous other outcrops of basalt, the carboniferous lime- stones and sandstones, the numerous gold-bearing quartz reefs, all these and many others present a most inviting field for the geolooist. In a river-bed in lat. 17? 20' S. and long. 125? E., not far from one of the numerous limestone tidges, Hardman discovered a fossil bone of the l)iprotodon ilustralts, the first specimen of this e2ztinct marsupial that has been discovered in Western Australia; and this discovery now I think conclusively proves that this gigantic animal was common to the whole of Australia. In 1883, and again in 1886, I visited estreme North-western Australia. On the first occasion I travelled from La Grange Bay to the Fitzroy river, ascended it as far as the St. George Range, and also examined the country as far north as Port IJsborne. The country consists of rich alluvial grassy plains, is well watered, is admirably suited for settlement, and is fast being stocked with cattle, horses, and sheep. A township, Ilamed Derby, with a Government staff, was also established on the eastern shore of King Sound. In 1886 l had a similar duty to perform in founding a Government station, and selecting a townsaip named Wyedham on the east shore of the west arm of Cambridge Gulf, and both these towns now bid fair to be places of much importance; Derby on Rinz, Sound being the outlet of the fertile valley on'the Fitzroy river, and Wyndham on Cambridge Gulf the outlet for the fertile valley of the Ord, while both are the ports for the Kimberley gold-fields. The gold-fields are situated about 250 miles from both Derby and +Vyndham. Good harbours esist at both places, the one at Cambridge Gulf being one of the best in Australia
It is veryencouraging for the future of this part of Australia, that in such a short time two flourishing towns should arise, that a gold-field should be discovered, and that flocks and herds should be depasturing on its rich grassy plains, which in the long past have remained unknown an(l vmutilised. Australian exploration of the adventurous kind is now almost a thina of the past. AVithin less than a century, and for the most part within the space of an ordinary lifetime, another Britain has arisen at the Antipodes.
Monday, September 5th. The Beginning of the Geography of Britain. By Prof. BOYD DAWKINS, F.B.S.-Exploration is now progressing so swiftly that in comparatively a fer yea.s the whole earth will become familiar to geographers, with the exception of perhaps a limited area round the poles, and we can look forward to a time when there will be little left of the surface to conquer. There is, however, a geography in time, as well as a geography tn space, which has to be mastered. The present surface cannot rightly be studied without knowiDg how it came to be what it is, and geology stands to geography in the relation of ancient to modern history. In this communication an outline is laid before the Section of the first beginning of the geography of Britain, as an e2zample of the method by which the results of geological research may be used for the building up of a geography in tzme. The resulSs of the deep-sea expeditions, and more especially of the Chaltenyer, prove that the accumulations in the waters of the sea are deposited in a definite order and position. While the depths of the ocean are occupied by large areas of Globi- gerina coze and of red clay, the sea-bottom at depths varyinC from about 750 fathoms
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to the shore-line is covered by detritus derived from the land and accumulated in bands more or less broad, and lapping round the present shore-line. NVe may follow Murray in dividincr them into abyssal or deep-sea deposits, and nlarginal, or those formed in water comparatively shallow. If we now pass on to the examination of the marine strata of the crust of the earth, the first point to be remarked is that the abyssal deposits are conspicuous by their absence, while all the marine stratified rocks belong to one or other of the marginal series; in other words, have been accu- mulated on the borders of an ancient land at depths not exceeding 1000 fathoms, and most of them at a depth very much less. The second point is, that not only do the marine strata of the earth's crust occur in definite bands, but that they are arranged in a definite sequence, which indicates the position of the masszf of the land on the shores of which they were accumulated. To turn, for example, to the geological nzap of Britain. l'he newest rocks (tertiary) occupy the south-eastern counties, while the secondary and primary rocks form a series of bands runninC from the north-east to the south-west, the older being to the west, until the series is at last abruptly terminated by the crystalline schists, gneisses, and granitoid rocks of the Archaian formation. If, again, we make a traverse from the Caspian Sea through St. Petersburg and Norway, vre traverse similar bands of secondary and primary strata, until we are in like manner brought up by the Archaian rocks. On the other side of the .&tlantic a traverse from the Gulf of Mesico to the Canadian lakes reveals to vIs the existence of similar bands of rocli, ranted in the same ordery and abluptly ending as before with the Archaian or Laurentian strata. It is clear7 therefore, that an ancient continent existed in the north and west, composed of Archaian rocks, and which I have therefore named Archaia,* on the margin of which the newer roclss were laid down in both the Ol(l and the New \Vollds during the primary and secondary periods. Eow far it encroached southwards into the depths of the Atlantic may be left an open question. The British Isles appeared another- world (atter orbis) to the lRonlans, because they were isolated fronl the continent, a view which is true not only historically, but from the geological point of view. They have been built up of materials accumulate(l on the ever-changina south- eastern marain of a g;reat continent, which was not Europe but Archaia.
Britain in the Archaian age was covered by a waste of water, broken only by a felv volcanic cones, to the west of Snowdon, of St. David's, in the district of the Malverns, Wellington and Church-Stretton in Shropshire, and in Charnwood in Leicestershire. In my opinion we must ask in vain the question, " Where was the shore of theArchaian Sea?" So profoundly have the rocks been altered and crumpled since they were deposited. We may, however, infer fiom the enormous crumpling of the schists that the surface of the earth as a whole has contracted to one-half of its original extent at the close of the Archaian age and before the depositing of any of the Cambrian rocks. By these changes the geographical boundaries have been xvholly obliterated.
It is only in tlle succeeding, or Cambrian aae, that we are able to mark down the shore line of Archaia, by massive shingle beaches some 8000 feet in thickness in the Western Highlands, composed of pebbles torn from the Archaian cliSs. At the beginning of the Cambrian age the continent of Archaia extended, as Hull points out, from the western border of the Highlands in a south-westerly direction, so as to touch the extreme north-west of Ireland and to enclose the area of the Hebrides and an indefirjite region to the north-west now covered by the Atlantic. It probably estended to the north-east so as to include Norway. From this shore the sea estends over the whole of the British Isles with the exception of sluall islands in the neigh-
* Royal Institution Lectures, 1886.
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bourhood of Snowdon and Anglesey, at St. David's, the Malveres and Church-
Stretton, Charnvood near Leicester, and Lickey near Birmingham. Dtlring the
Cambrian period the lvhole British area sank until it was covered nwany thousand
feet deep with Cambrian sand-bauli and mud-bank. The sinkinffl continued during
the whole of the Lower Silurian or Oldovicean tirnes, the sediments from the land
accunlulating sufficiently swiftly to prevent any very deep water in the British area.
At this time no poltion of the coutinent of Archaia touched the British Ides. Active
volcanoes, however, rose above the waters, out of whose ashes and lava-streams the
higher mountains of Cumberland and North Wales have been carved. They occurred
aIso at St. David's and alona the line of the Severn. The cliS of Archaia are proved
not to have been very far to the ssest ot Scotland, from the lart,e blocks of Archaian
rocks in the (Ordovicean Lower Silurian) strata of Wigtonshire. We have now to record a profound geographical change in the British Isles, at
the close of the Ordovicean times. The Ordovicean (Lower Silurian) rocks were
lifted up above the waters and denuded before the deposit of the Silurian (Upper)
strata. In the Highlands the rocks underwent such enormous strain that they zerere
folded and broken and thrust against the rrlassif of Archaia with such force that an
enormotls slice of country in the neighbourhood of Durness has, accordillC to A.
Geikie and Peach, been pushed 10 miles to the west of its original t)osition in such
a manner as to brint, the older Archaian floor orl which they rest immediately alsove
them. To this period also belong the faults which have causedthe line of weakness
now marked by the Great Glen as well as the parallel ranges of mountains. 'l'he shingle-banks of the Upper Silarian sea in the central valley of Scotland
mark the shore-line which estended over the estreme north-western parts of Irelatld.
According to Hull they also mark the presence of an island in Southern Scotlklnd,
in Cumberland, in the district of Snowdonia, in Radnorsllire, and at Church-Stretton
in Shropshire. The whole of these islands, however, were sinking during the
Silarian age, and all, with the exception tJerhaps of Snowdonia, were covered by the
Upper Silurian waters. While this southern area was sinking the 1llarine plateau of the Highlands, so
graphically descril)ed by A. Geikie, was being attacked by the subaerial aCents of
denudation, and the line of faults in the Great Glen, and the area of Caithness, and
the eastern part of the Southern :Hiohlands, erode(l an(l cut up into valleys, in the
lower parts of which the massive shale beds and sandstone of the old red sandstone
lochs was accumulated. From this SiluriaIl age down to the Middle Tertiary time the Highlands, or
some portion of them, have formed part of Archaia-a corltinent which allowed of a
free migration of animals and plants flom America by waft of Greenland to Etlrope,
or vice versa, throughout the pritr.ary and secondaly periods, and as f*tr down as the
Meiocene division of the Tertiary.
Report of the Committee on the Study of Geography at Oxford and (;ambridge.*-The Committee met on the 12th January, 1887, and decided " 'l'hat the (Douncil of the British Association be requested to give their sllpport to the
representations and offers made to the Vice-Chancellors of the two Universities by
the Council of the Geo,,raphical Society in letters dated July 9th and December
9th, 1886." t The Teaching of Geography at the Universities. BY H. J. MACKINDER.
- To give a practical value to the discussion on the teaching of geography as
* See ' Proceedings,' 1886, p. 740. t Ibid., p. 529. On December 9th a letter of similar purport was addressed by the
President (General R. Strachev) to the Vice-Chancellor of CambridU,e.
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applicable to the Universities, I propcse exposing to the fire of your criticism my programme for the conlinC academical year. There will be two courses of lectures: course A, on the principles of geography; cotlrse B, on the geography of Central Europe. In these lectures no definition of geography will for the present be attempted. But to prevent Oeography becomina a discussion of things in general, a distinct line of art,ument svill be ker)t steadily in vie\T. this we may indicate thus :-
Tlhe basis, a descriptive analysis of the earth's surface, including in that term the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the form of the lsthosphere, and the material of its surface. From this we shall reason backwards to causes, and forwards to effects. The causes largely ,,eolooical, the eSects mainly on man; inother words, in the former stage sve answer the question "why?" for physical, in the latter for political geography.
Course A is intended to be annually repeated, subJect of coulse to improvements. It will deal with the nzethods and principles of ,eocrraphical observation, reasonina and exposition, with the great circulations in air and water, with the various types of features, with the bread facts of distribution of animals and plants, and lastly, with the dependence of man on geoaraphical conditions and the distribution of llis social attributes. The classification will not be topocraphical, andthe esamples will be drawn from all parts of the world.
Course B will vary in subject from year to year, but will always be an analysis of a partieular region. I select Central Europe to begin with, because it best fulfils the necessary conditions. Good topographical surveys ,ive us with precision the form of the earth. Geolotical surveys are available for causal reasoning, and a long history tives us abundant scope for the exhibition of effects.
It is impossible to foretell the nature of the classes, but I trust to see at course B historical students; at course A, those who intend becoming masters in our great public schools, and at both a few who intend being geographical professors, poli- ticians, &c.
As regards examination, I am inclined to doubt the ultimate advantage of the too speedy- irltroduction of examinations. We shall lose, perhaps, in the number of students at first, but on the other hand, we require time to train teachers, time to begin the traditions of a school, and as in this time we are bound to make experi- ments and mistakes, let us at least make them with our hands untied by a syllabus.
One method of stimulating exertion is, however, not open to the same objection. Let us hare a prize, but a prize under special conditions. Provisionally I would suggest the following: Make a list of say twenty small regions, carefully selected, not too distant from England, regions of historical and physical interest. Let the student select one of these at will; let him read up the literature on the stlbject, and then write an essay. Awal-d the prize by the essays, and let the winner use the money in visitig the region he has treated theoreticallJr. There let hinl revise his essay on the sy)ot, or, as he will more probably do, rewrite it. Then let it be published. Thus I hope we might help high trainin ,, and at the same time produce a valuable set of monographs. I sould add also, as a preliminary qualification, attendance at the rea(ler's lectures.
As regards diagram-mars, I adrocate many similar outline maps, each coloured to represent one set of features, htlng side by side.
Lastly, as to the relation of physiography to geography. It is impossible to teach rational geography without r)ostulating on elementary but sound kIlowledge of certain chemical and physical laws and facts, chiefly relating to air and water. Thistraining, it is true, is required for other scientific studies, and even for the intelligent nelvspaper reader; but it is indispensable to the geographer, and until the
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schools send us boys so trained, or until the Universities supply such a course for their students generally, the geographical lecturer will have to deal much with physiography. But physioaraphy is not geography; it lacks the topography, which i3 the essential elenlent in eography. In the discussion which followed Mr. Mackinder's paper: The Rev. Canon TRISTRA1E opposed Mar. Mackinder's siew that geography llad but little concern with geoloCy, and criticised the comprehensive range of subjects which it appeared was to be tauaht in the new geography. Dr. YEATS congratulated Mr. Mackinder on the grasp which he had of his subject.
Professor BOYD DAW1RINS thought there would be difficulty in the carryint, out of what Mr. Mackinder had described as a workable scheme. It seemed to him to cover almost everything, except the three little maps which he (Professor Dawkins) had ventured to brina before the Secretary as a humble oSering from the geolooi- cal side of the hedge. Ee did not know whether they called that georaphy or geology; it was the natural outcome of geolot,y, but if it came to dividing veolovy from geography he could not accept the hard and fast line which Mr. Mackinder was inclined to draw. If we cut oS geology from geography we did e2zactly the same mischief as by separating ancient from modern history. He therefore felt he ought to utter a few words of protest. Professor SEELEY argued for the importance of geology in geographical study. He appealed most earnestly that they should not sever the preseIlt from the past, that we should not take the existinC state of the earth as an ultimate fact ill any one phase, and not be content to borrow our knowledCe from any department of science and assume we could commence with its elemeIltary data and build on them a magnificent superstructure of our own.
Mr. RAVENSTEIN said that the scheme which had been placed before them by Mr. Mackinder was an ambitivus one, no doubt, aIld one which he would perhaps be unable to carry out ill its entirety within the limite(l tine placed at his disposal. He thought that Mr. WIackinder intended to approach his subject in the proper spirit. He was more especially pleased to find that it was intended to devote considerable attention to the study of facts, for it was the possession of facts alone which justi- fied their enterinC
upon tho3e geographical speculations, which appeared to esercise so great a fascination upon
certain minds. Geography presented, no doubt, many aspects according to the side from which you approached it, and he trusted the multiplication of chairs of geography in the Universities would render it possible to do justice to all of them. From the Universities an adequate knowledae of geography would spread to the trainina colleges until the whole body of our teachers were permeated with it. Mr. COPE WHITEHOUSE suggested that geologists themselves needed teaching in geography. In order to correct what in his mind was an error on the part of the geoloists, he had just written to Sir H. Roscoe, oSering to defray the expenses of an expert to report upon the caves in the island of Staffa, and upon the difEarences which exist between the illustratiorls of those caves in the standard works in use in li;ngland, Alnerica, and Germany. Professor WILKINS said Mr. Mackinder evidently meant to teach geography on a scientific basis, but not to teach geoloCy or biologs. He anticipated that Mr. Macliinder would have some difficulties in his new work at Oxford, and chiefly because of the varying degrees of knowledae with which the students would come to him. To place the sttldy of geography on a satisfactory basis the University should arrange that students should be up in the subjects which would enable them to follow the teaching of the geographical reader, and which it was no part of his duty to teach. Professor M7ilkins mentioned incidentally that in the Manchester
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Grammar School geoCraphy was taught in a manner as attractive to the boys as it was creditable to the teachers.
Mr. MAaxIsDER, in reply, claimed that the subjects he had indicated could be loolSed at from diXerent points of view, and that the point of view of the geographer would bring into prominence a special series of facts bearing in a special way on ,,eography. He had in Manchester last winter delivered a course of teographical lectures, somewhat on the lines he proposed to adopt at the University, and with gratifying results. He claimed, therefore, that the practicability of his scheme had to some estent been proved by *actual trial. His hope was at first to work with a small class of men, who would afterwards go throuOh the land teaching the results they had arrived at in comrnon.
The Ruby Xines of Burma. BY GEO. SKELTON STREETER. The ruby mine tract, which the author reached in the company of a military column, is a broaci valley some twelve miles long, lying in the slope of the Sibwi Dung or Golden Mountain. The valley bears unmistakable signs of volcanic origin, its principal feature beinC ridges and isolated peaks of gneiss, blackened by the hand of time. The mines are of three distinct kinds: the first is furnished by the metamorphic loclS, whose mass is traversed in all directions by huae fissures, filled with a soft, reddish, clayey earth, generally containing rubies. The mines are being worked by extracting the earth between the walls of rock, as far as practicable. The second variety of mine is found on the sides of these rocky hills, where diversified strata of clayer consistency have been upheaved. This earth the natives wash away slowly, by a simple system of hydraulic mining, the wnter beiDg brought from the molantain- streams by nzeans of bamboo or timber aqueducts. The last system of mining is by sinking pits in the lower or level parts of the valley, and washing the earth estracted by the hand. In these pits the ruby-bearina earth is found in two layers, the lower layer being the richer. T'he rubies e2ztracted from these pits are inferior in value to those obtained from the hill mines.
The mining reoion was by no means a barren stretch of land, disfigured by huge pits and shafts. The contrary was the case, for the slopes of the hill were covered with trees, shrubs, and flowers, a great part of the level country was under cultivation, and numerous small villages were to be seen, sheltered by the spurs that run down into the valley. Mogok, the capital of the district, contained some well-built timber houses, three large kyungs or monasteries, covered with beautiful carstings, and several rest-houses. It was surrounded on every side by pat,odas, many of which were covered with gold-leaf, erected by the principal men or by fortunate miners. From it, paths or mule tracks led direct to Bhamo, Momeit, an(l Mainluna, and also apparently to Momein, which the Chinese considered their frontier town. C)n every fifth day a large market was hel(l. l'he inhabitants of Mo,,8k were mostly Burnzanised Shan, but the vil]ages around were inhabited by quite a variety of tribes. Those e2ztending down to the Irawadi were inhabited by the pure Burmese. Then there were Palun^,s, who cultivated tea on the mountains between China and Burma; Lisaws in sorne of the more remote villages, who grew paddy and traded in piUs and firewood; Katheys from Manipur; Meinthas from the borders of Yunnan, and also many pure Chinese, the Patlthays or Mahommedan Chinese being the principal traders. Just north of the ruby mine valley, on the top of the Sibwi DunC range, 6000 feet above the level of the sea, a sanitarium for the British troops had been built, and this station, christened Bernadmyo, promised to gro^r into the Simla of Burma.
Mr. A. R. COLQUHOUN (Commissioner of Bhamo, Upper Burma) said he thouCht that the oil and amber industry would be of more value than the ruby mines in Burma. }E[e founcl tlle Burmese llot ill-disposecl to our Government
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or ourselves, but they looked to us very naturally to understand and tolerate their old customs and prejudices. Those charged with the'administration of the country were doing their best to attach the clergy of the country and to gain the sympathies of the people, without which we should not get a satisfactory hold of Burma or be able to govern it properly. The C:hinamaIl, ne remarked, is the heart and soul of commerce in that region. Mr. Colquhoun warned the public against attaching too much value to minerals in Btlrma. The real wealth of that country was not in the mines but in the agriculture, forest, and hillside land, with its great possibilities of inlprovement. He thought it vrould be most improper to hand over this large country and intelligent people to be exploited by an Eng;lish syndicate. Siam. By J. M'CARTHY.-Will l)e published in a subsequent No. of the ' Proceedins.' The Valley of the Rio Doce (Brazil). By W. J5O. STEAINS. The author in 1881 left England for Brazil in the employ of Messrs. Hugh Wilson and Son, contractors for the construction of a railway in the flourishing little province of Alagoas. On the completion of this railway the author, at his own expense, -andertook an exploration of the Rio Doce and of its northern tributaries, which, notwithstanding his narrow means, and in the face of considerable physical obstacles, he carried to a successful conclusion. His expedition left Rio de Janeiro on June 7th, 1885, and for eiCht ̂eary months it had to battle against hardships and privations, such as want of provisions, inhospitable natives, fevers, and ague. The valley of the Rio Doce is one of the most feltile regions of the empire. Virgin forests cover nearly the whole of it. Gold is found in Cuithe, a district of Minas Geraes, close to the right bank of the Doce, as also on the head-waters of the Rio Tambaquary, a tributary of the Sussuhy Grande. Most of the basin of the Rio Doce is inhabited by wild Botocudo Indians, who possess an inborn hatred of the wlaite man, who, on his side, looks upon these " Bugres " with feelings of intense horror and dread. Until these wild Indians shall at least have been partially civilised, the valley of the Rio Doce must necessarily remain a sealed Paradise. The few attempts made hitherto in this direction have hopelessly failecl, perhaps because of the gross mismanagenzent on thc part of those to whom the task was entrusted.
The author's arduous explorations have resulted in a carefully plotted map of the Bio Doce and of its tributaries, based upon over 4000 magnetic bearings and careful dead reckonings. Eis map and drawings were exhibited to the meetinC and excited considerable interest, as the work of a traveller who at the time of undertaking this exploration was under twenty-two years of aae. South-eastern Alaska. Bqy Prl)fessor lV. LIBBET, jun.-For the substance of this paper, see ' Bulletin of the American Geographical Society,' No. 4, 1886.
Tuesday, Septe?nber 6th. Final Report of a Committee on Bathyhypsographical Xaps. Will be published in a subsequent number of the ' Proceedings.' On some defects of the Ordnance lWaps. BY SPENSER NVILKINSON, M.A. (Abstract.) In cartographical matters England seemed to the author to be a long way behind other countries, and the few good maps in existence were only the e2Z- ceptions which proved the rule. The Ordnance Survey had done so much excellent work, and its shortcomings were so lalgely due to tlle indifference of Parliament, that no one would wish to speak of it in any spirit of fault-finding. His criticism would be nlade in the hope of increasina its usefulness. lthe hills on the 1-inch map
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were shaded without reference to a definite scale of shade. The fundamental principle was that of vertical illumination, but light was sometimes introduced from a corner of the map to give a stronger relief. By givin a pictorial rather than a
mechanical delineation of the t,round the English cartorrapher had been eminently successful in representing the hillt distriets, but his failure where the unevenness of the ground was only sliCht was very conspicuous. In this respect the Prussian ,eneral staff had been fairly successful. The contours on the Ordnance Maps were so few and fairlt as to have no practical value. On the cadastral or 25.inch maps, no attempt at all had been made to represent the features of the ground. The intervals between the corltours ors both the 6-inch and the 1-inch nzaps were too fal apart, and could be traced only with d;fficulty. Contours on smaller and eqllal intervals had bcen use(l with much eSect m foreign rnaps of even a smaller scale than that of the Ordnance 1-inch map. The " Surrey Hill Survey " was an Enalish exatnple of the combinatiol] of contours with shading, but the contours svere too far apart to be of any military use. The Ordnance Survey had not con- tributed as freely as it nliCht have done towards the improvement of cartography. Government might fairly be called unon to irtlish the public with a , od physical map of the British Isles on a scale of 5 or 6 miles to the inch.
The shortcomings of British geography, the author maintained, were due to the weakness of British geography, and those of the Ordnance Survey in particular to its counection with the army, the one national institutioll which had been for at least a generation, an(l until quite recently in a state of intellectual torpor. In con- clusion the author qlloted Ruskin (' Stones of Venice,' vol. ii. ch. vi.), for a description of an ideal map. (The paper uas illustrated by an exhibition of representative foreign and English maps.)
Sir CNARIJES NVILSON said the officers of the Ordnance Survey Department were always very glad to receive any practical sllg(testions for the improvement of the maps of the country, but he failed to see any practical sucgestion in the paper. The reader of the paper appeared to be under some misconception with regard to the nature and character of the Ordnance Survey. It diSered in some respects from those of foreign countries, which nvere made for purely military purposes. It was true that our Ordnance Survey in its conception was military in character, but its military character was soon lost, and it was now a cadastral survey. The reader of the paper had complained of the crowded detail on the OrdIlance maps, but it was to be borne in nind that England was much more crowded than any foreign country. He was acquainted with most of the gentlenaen who superintended the foreign surveas, an(l he knew that our l-inch map was looked upon as one of the most- beautiful pieces of worlv that had been pululished. With regard to contours, he said they were tied down by Parliament; but he would like to say that the contowlrs on the Ordnance Sllrvey were instrumental contours, and all strictly accurate. The Ordnance Survey maps indeed were acknowledged to be the most mathematically accurate maps in Europe. Every part of Great Blitain that coulel possibly be es- posed to an enemy, or where camps would be necessary in case of a European Wa1 had been slSetched by the Ordnance Survey in thc most perfect manner on the 6-inch scaIe. These maps were not issued to the public, but were kept in :rnanuscript, and couId be photographed at any moment if required for use. Mrith ret,ard to the publication of small maps, he said the Government had refrained from publisning maps that were not needed for State purposes in order not to take the bread out of the mouths of the map-makers of the country.
Mr. STOTHERT (Bath) su,Cgested that the altitudes of all heiallts sllould be inscrted upon the 6-inch maps.
Mr. TRELAWNEY SAUNDERS said that the altitudes inserted upon the Ordnance maps had not been selected with suSicient judgment, and that it was more especially
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desirable to give the altitudes of river confluences and xvater-partings. The public were certainly responsible for many defects in the Ordnance Survey. F.conomy was incompatible with perfection. Every sheet now was out of date before it was published, the interval between the survey and its publication beinC so great. He thought that the services of local surveyors mic,ht be utilised in keeping the maps up to date. Among the specimens of cartography exhibited by Mr. Wilkinson, he missed Lehmann's map of Sa2rony. Lehleann was the Rembrandt of car- tographers.
Mr. H. R. MILL regretted that the Ordnance maps gave no information as to the depth of lakes.
The PRESIDENT said it seemed to him that the reader of the paper had been comparing the work on the Continent of the present day vvith work in this country of fifty years ago; and he did not quite understand why no distinction was made between the work of an artist in hill shading and scientific accuracy in showincr contours. T'hose who had to do with this work knew the difficulty of combininC accuracat with pictorial eSect; and it was by no means settled, as the reader of the paper assumed, which system was best for hill shading. For reconnaissance pur- poses contours only were used.
On the Utilisation of the Ordnance Survey. By Sir C. W. WILSON.- Thirteen years aao, when presidino over the Geoaraphical section, the author drew attention to the many practical purposes which the maps of the Ordnance Survey should subserve, and to the manner in which their manifold uses were ignored by the public. rThe present year, which would see the completion of the field work, seemed a fittinC time to recur to the subject. The author then illustrated the manner in which the Survey mit,ht be utilised as a basis for the proper assessment and valuation of land for local tasation; in the sale and transfer of land, for a sariety of local purposes, for educational purposes, and in many other respects. In Irelatld, the maps were very larrely used in all branches of the administration, and had done much to economise labour, but England, after spending millions in the production of the most perfect map in Europe, hesitated to make use of that map in the manner intended by the able statesmen and scientific men upon whose recom- mendations government authorisea the prosecution of the survey at the public expense. The author drew attention to the chaotic condition of the administrative boundaries, and hoped that the proposed boundary commissiorl might find some way of evolvinC order out of the existing chaos. The *lnit of the area should be tlle same for all local purposes, and the larU,er areas should be multiples or aggregates of that unit. This would probably lead to the division of the country into civil parishes, unions, urban sanitary districts, and counties.
Mr. WILKINSON, rising to reply to Sir Charles Wilson's remarks on his paper, said it was no answer for Sir C. Wilson to say that his suCgestions were of no value because the Ordnance map was not a military but a cadastral map. He faile(l to see how the whole of the work of the Survey could be described as cadastral, and in particular how the 1-inch map, which was the one he had chiefly criticised, could be used for cadastral purposes. It was no doubt true that the contours had been limited by the Parliamentary vote, but they lnust insist on Parliament grantinffl money to make the maps adequate in all respects. Nor was it an answer to say that they had better maps which were not published. It was one of his complaints against the Ordnance Survey that they kept so much secret.
General Sir E. THEILLIER thought the Orduance Survey wa? a magnificent production. The introduction of hill-shading on the six-inch scale was an impossibility.
On the United States Geographical and Geological Survey. By JOSIAH PIERCE, jun The author exhibited twenty-five topograpnical maps on
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variou8 scales, published by the United States Survey, and typical of all the important t)hysical features of the country. In doing so he drew attentiotl to the methods of field-work; to the wide use of the plane-table; and to the representation of relief by contours.
Note on a Bathy-Orographical Map of Scotland and the surrounding Sea8. BY H. R. MILL, D.SC.
A Plea for the lKeter. BY E. G. RAVENSTEIN.-There have not been wanting in this country advocates for the meter, and of a decirnal system of weights and measures generally. Such a system, based, however, upon the existinffl yard, Nvas recommended by a Royal Commission as long 3C0 as 1839, when terms like " milyard," "millet," and "centner" were recommerlded at the time for general acceptance. It is obvious, that a decimal system could be introduced without introducint, the nzeter, but I also maintain that at this day the meter is that among the international units of length which has most chances of being generally accepted.
I am not concerned here to defend the meter as a unit of lenath. If the question of an international unit of length had to be determined at the present time, it is rery probable that the meter would not secure a majority of votes, the illusory notion of its being in any sense a "natural" unit, and therefore entitled to some particular degree of respect, having 10DC since been dispelled. Geographers and surveyors would perhaps prefer a unit equal to the milit3ry pace of 30 inches, whilst others, and I believe a majority, wotlld be in favour of retaining the foot Indeed, had a system of decimal weights and measures been built up with the English foot for a unit, even fifty years ao, it is just possible that those countries which had not at that time accepted the meter would have accepted the foot, whose reign might then have been perpetuated for all time.
But regrets avail nothing. The meter is tl)o firmly established as an inter- nat.ional measure ever to be displaced. XThe units of length of the countries of the world fall into the four following groups:-
707 707 PROCEEDINGS OF FOREIGN SOCIE1'IES, PROCEEDINGS OF FOREIGN SOCIE1'IES,
-done in other lands, but recorded in meters, far exceeds all the rest in bulk and in- trinsic value. It should not be forCotten that the geographer is not solely con- cerned about the heights of mountains or the distances between different localities. tIe is bound to take a more comprehensive view of his duties, and since the workers in other departtnents of science have so largely adopted the meter, he should follow this praiseworthy example.
Geography, however, is so intimately connected with the common affairs of life, that there is little hope of the meter beinffl generally accepted until it shall have become the legal standard of length. Such a change would no doubt be accompanied by some inconvenience, but what has been possible in Germany and in Greece, should not be impossible in England, xvhere every Board-school child is tallght the principles of the metrical system.
Mr. C. A. KESSELMEYER (President of the Analo-Metric Association) objected to the French meter that it was not a perfect decimal, and he gave some explatlations with regard to a " one-aught " of twelve units (in which 10 and 11 have separate signs), lvhich he thinks would better answer the purpose.
PROCEEDINGS OF FOREIGN SOCIETIES.
Geographical Society of Berlin, October 8th, 1887: Professor SACHAU in the Chair.-The death of Professor Koner was announced, who for many years acted as librarian and editor of the ' Zeitschrift ' of the Society. He succumbed on the 29th September to an attack of inflammation of the lunt,s. Professor H. Kiepert gave some personal reminiscences of the late Dr. Roner, whose friendship he had enjo) ed for a period of fifty years. AVilhelm Koner was born in Berlin in the year 1817, and occupied for many years the post of director of the University Library at Berlsn. He published with his friend Guhl from 1860 to 1864 the work entitled ' Leben der Griechen und Romer, nach antiken Bildwerken dargestellt,' which laas since been translated into almost every European language. In 1861 he undertook the editorship of the ' Zeitschrift,' for which he during thirty-two srears compiled the valuable biblioU,raphical notices of newly-published geoaraphical books and maps.- - Dr. Mense, formerly a doctor in the service of the ConCo State at Leopoldville, tave an account of his journei5r up the Kwango in company with the Rev. G. Grenfell. l'he Kwanao at the point of its discharge into the Kassai forms a delta, which was reached by the party on the 16th Decelllber in the steamer Peace. The direction i)f the river is here almost directly contrary to that of the Kassai, and forms with the latter an anale of 110?. As in the case of the Wabuma tribe on the lower Kassai, temale government prevails in the villages along the lower Kwango. The women vear heavy brass hoolls, often wei^,hinD from 15 to 20 lbs., rollnd their IleclXs. The river is here from 700 to 800 yards in breadth, and flows through a low grass country. In the afternoon of the second day of the voyage up-stream a tributary with deep black water, alld possessint, a breadth of a quarter of a mile, was dis- covered flovs7irla from the south-east; it is perhaps the Saia or Ruilu of Kund's expedition. The natives called it Djuma. Above this point the banks of the river xre covered nvith a forest of lofty trees, full of caoutchouc-lianas and valuable timber in greater abundance than is to be found anywhere on the middle Conao. Whether this forest is only a gallery wood, or whether it extends far inland from the river- Icanks, the party were unable to determine, owing to its impenetrable character. The riarer gradually lvidens up to a breadth of about 1w mile, and becomes in conse- uence more shalloxv. The numerous sandbanks impeded verr considerably the
rocrress of the vessel. The inhabitalats of this reOion appear to live chieflr by No. XI. Nov. 1887.] 3 D
-done in other lands, but recorded in meters, far exceeds all the rest in bulk and in- trinsic value. It should not be forCotten that the geographer is not solely con- cerned about the heights of mountains or the distances between different localities. tIe is bound to take a more comprehensive view of his duties, and since the workers in other departtnents of science have so largely adopted the meter, he should follow this praiseworthy example.
Geography, however, is so intimately connected with the common affairs of life, that there is little hope of the meter beinffl generally accepted until it shall have become the legal standard of length. Such a change would no doubt be accompanied by some inconvenience, but what has been possible in Germany and in Greece, should not be impossible in England, xvhere every Board-school child is tallght the principles of the metrical system.
Mr. C. A. KESSELMEYER (President of the Analo-Metric Association) objected to the French meter that it was not a perfect decimal, and he gave some explatlations with regard to a " one-aught " of twelve units (in which 10 and 11 have separate signs), lvhich he thinks would better answer the purpose.
PROCEEDINGS OF FOREIGN SOCIETIES.
Geographical Society of Berlin, October 8th, 1887: Professor SACHAU in the Chair.-The death of Professor Koner was announced, who for many years acted as librarian and editor of the ' Zeitschrift ' of the Society. He succumbed on the 29th September to an attack of inflammation of the lunt,s. Professor H. Kiepert gave some personal reminiscences of the late Dr. Roner, whose friendship he had enjo) ed for a period of fifty years. AVilhelm Koner was born in Berlin in the year 1817, and occupied for many years the post of director of the University Library at Berlsn. He published with his friend Guhl from 1860 to 1864 the work entitled ' Leben der Griechen und Romer, nach antiken Bildwerken dargestellt,' which laas since been translated into almost every European language. In 1861 he undertook the editorship of the ' Zeitschrift,' for which he during thirty-two srears compiled the valuable biblioU,raphical notices of newly-published geoaraphical books and maps.- - Dr. Mense, formerly a doctor in the service of the ConCo State at Leopoldville, tave an account of his journei5r up the Kwango in company with the Rev. G. Grenfell. l'he Kwanao at the point of its discharge into the Kassai forms a delta, which was reached by the party on the 16th Decelllber in the steamer Peace. The direction i)f the river is here almost directly contrary to that of the Kassai, and forms with the latter an anale of 110?. As in the case of the Wabuma tribe on the lower Kassai, temale government prevails in the villages along the lower Kwango. The women vear heavy brass hoolls, often wei^,hinD from 15 to 20 lbs., rollnd their IleclXs. The river is here from 700 to 800 yards in breadth, and flows through a low grass country. In the afternoon of the second day of the voyage up-stream a tributary with deep black water, alld possessint, a breadth of a quarter of a mile, was dis- covered flovs7irla from the south-east; it is perhaps the Saia or Ruilu of Kund's expedition. The natives called it Djuma. Above this point the banks of the river xre covered nvith a forest of lofty trees, full of caoutchouc-lianas and valuable timber in greater abundance than is to be found anywhere on the middle Conao. Whether this forest is only a gallery wood, or whether it extends far inland from the river- Icanks, the party were unable to determine, owing to its impenetrable character. The riarer gradually lvidens up to a breadth of about 1w mile, and becomes in conse- uence more shalloxv. The numerous sandbanks impeded verr considerably the
rocrress of the vessel. The inhabitalats of this reOion appear to live chieflr by No. XI. Nov. 1887.] 3 D
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