IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V / O {./ W, y 1.0 l.j 1.25 H 111112^ 22 2.0 36 11= 1.4 III 1.6 V] (^ /^ 'cr-l e. c^ ,-^' VI ^ ^ /n / Or- ///, Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY 14580 (716) 872-4503 ts C?- W, CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuveni exiger une modification dans la mdthode normale de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. □ n n D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bieue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planc^r to our every -rated ninety-six more or less fxtensive tracts known co be risiiij,' or sinking?. We owe to Mr. K. A. Peacock the aiTuinulation of abundant evidence that the island of .Jersey had no existence in Ptolemy's time, and probably was not wholly cat oil' from tiie cimtinent b«;fore the fourth or liftli century. Mr. A. Ilowarth has collected similar proofs as to the Arctic regions; and every fresh di.scuvery adds ti> the number. Thus the frallant, ill-tated Pe liOng, a tume not lobe mentioned without homage t(t heroic courage and almost superhuman endurance, found evidence that Jiemiett Island has risen a hundred feet in quite recent times. Nordenskjold found the renniins of whales, evidently killed by the early Dutch fishers, on elevated terraces of Martin's Island. The recent conclusion of Professor Hull, that the land between Suez and the MitU'r Lakes has risen since the lOxodus, throws fresh light on the Mosaic account of that great event ; and to go still further south, we h'arn from the Indian survey that it is ' almost certain ' that the mean s»>a level at Madrius is a foot lower, i.e. the land a foot higher, than it was sixty years ago. If I do not refer to the changes on the west side of Hudson's Hay, for a distance of at least six hundred miles, it is only bec-ause I presume that the researches of Dr. Robert Hell an* too well known here to require it. Any of my hearers who may have visited Uermuda are aware that so gently has that island subsided, tiiat great hangings of stalactite, unbroken, may be found dipping nniny feet into the sea, or at all events, into salt-water pools standing at the same level, and we have no reivson to sup])ose the sinkin;.' to have come to an end. We learn from the (Chinese annals that the .so-called Hot Lake Issyk-Uul, of Turkestan, rece/itly visited by Dr. Lansdell, was formed by some convulsion of nature about KM) years ago,' and there seems no good reason to reject the .Japanese lege!id that Fusiyama itself was suddenly tlirown up in the third century In^fore our era (li.c. 28 finds that he can scarcely raise his eyes frotn liia book at any moment, or direct them to any (juarter of the heavens, without seeing countless numbers of wild fowl, guided by unerring instinct, directing their timely fligiit towards the milder climates of the South. 4. To aildress you on the subject of geography, and omit mention of the pro- gress made within these very few years in our knowledge of the geography of this 1 »ominion, might indeed apjiear an unaccountable, if not an unpardonable oversight ; nevertheless, I pro])ose to touch upon it but briefly, for two reasons : first, I said nearly all I have to say upon a similar occasion four years ago ; secondly and cliiefly, because I hope that some of those advi^nturous and scientific travellers who have lieen tuigaged in pushing the explorations of the Geological Survey and of the ( 'anada Pacific Ilailway into unknown regions, will have reserved some conimuni- <^ations for this section. Canada comprises within its limits two spots of a physical interest not surpassed by any others on the globe. 1 mean the pole of vertical magnetic attraction, commonly called the magnetic pole, and the focus of greatest magnetic force ; also often, but uicorrectly, called a pole. The first of these, dis- ' Proc. R. a. S. vol. xviii. p. 250. IIM 1? le li- al al Ht a- covpn'il In Ross in I.S.'J"), was revisited in M;iy |s.J7 liy oflircrs of tlio I'raiililin l']x]M'(iii'on, wlinsf ul).servatiniifl Imvi' |)frislii' '>y McClintdfk in LS.V.t, and liy Schwatka in l'^7'.i; tu'ltlu-r ol" tlii'sc rx- plorers, however, was f(jui|)|)pd tor olisiMvalion. The utnio.st interfst atlacht's to the quewtion whether tho inaj^rnetic- ])oi<' has sliit'tt-d its jiosition in lit'tv years, ami althoujrh I am tar from ratiiii,' the ditliculty li^dilly, it is pmlmhly aiiproaehahle overland, witiioiit tlio j.'reat cost of an Arctic ex|)edition. 'J'lu' secund has never been visited at all, altiioiifjli Hr. 1». Ileli, in iiis e.\])l()ralion of l^ake Nipi^'on was within lilKJ miles of it, and tlie distance is al)ont tiie same from the Hat Portage. It is in the iieii^'hlxmrhood of ('at Lake. Here then we have ohjtcts worthv of a Hcientitic ambition and of the eiierfries of tliis ydung coiiutry, but reqiiirinfr liberal exjienditure and well-plaiineil efl'orts, contiimed steadily, nl least in the case of the first, for, ])erha]is, three or tour years. Of objects more exclu.sively jreograuliical, to wiiich it may be hoj)ed that tins meetini;- nuiy (.'ive a stimulus, I am inclined to give a ]iroininent phice to tiie ft.\[iloration of that immense tract of seventy or eighty tiiousand .sijiian' ndles, lying east of tho Athabasca River, wliicii is still nearly a l)lank on our maps, and in connection with such future e.xploration, I (!aniiot omit to mention tliat monument of fhilological researdi, the J)ictionary of tiie Languages of the ns ive Chipewyans, lare Indians, and Loucheu.v, lately publisiied by thi' IJ. v. K. I'etitot. Tlie le.xicou is preceded by an introduction giving the n.-ull of many years study among these people of tlie legends or traditions by wiiich th<'y account for their own origin. M. I'etitot, who formerly was unconvinced of tiieir remote Asiatic parentage, now finds al)undant proof of it. Hut ])erhaps iiis most interesting con- clusion is that in tliese living languages of tlie e.xtreme north, we iiave not only the language of liie yd'.ojus, one of tlie .Vjiache trilx^s of Me.\ico, which iuis been remarked as linguistically distinct from the others, but also the primitive AztiC tongue, closely resembling the language of the Incas, the Quiciioa, still spoken in South America. I need not say how greatly these relations, if sustained by the conclusions of other students, are OHlculated to throw light upon the profoundly interesting question of the peopling' of America. 5. This is perliaps a jiroper occasion to allude to a novel theory proposed about two years ago, witli higli ollicial countenance, upon a subject which will never cease to have interest, and perhaps never be placed quite beyond dis])ute. I mean the landfidl, as it is technically called, of Columbus, in 14!t2. 'I'lie late Captain G. V. Fox, of the Admiralty, Washington, argued in a carefully prepared work, that Atwond's Key, ernjiieously called Samana on many charts, is tlie oriirinal fiuanahari of Columbus, renamed by him 8. Salvador, alfo that (,'rooked Lsiand and Acklin Lsland are the .Maria de la Concepcion of Columbus and the true Samana of .succeeding navigators in the sixteenth century. The last supposition is unqiie.s- tiouably correct. Crooked, Acklin, and Fortune Islands, which from the narrow- ness of the channels dividing them may have been, and very probably were united four centuries ago, are plainly the Samana of the 1 Hitch charts of the seventeenth century, and are so named on the excellent chart engraved in 177<5 for JJryaii Edwards' ' History of tlie West Indies," but the view lliat Atwood's Key is identical with Giianahari is original, and is neither borne out by any oldcliart, nor by Colum- bus' description. This small island is conspicuou.sly wanting in the one physical feature by which (nianahari is to be identified * una Iwjuna cii medio muij ijrandt'' There is no lake or lagoon in it, nor does its distance from Samana tally at all with .'uch slender particulars as have been left us by ('ohimbus respecting his proceedings. The name 8. Salvador has attached, not to Atwood's Key, but to ('at Island, one of the Bahamas ; it is true that modern research has shifted it, but only to the next island, and on very good grounds. Cat Island is not niuy llnna, very level ; on the contrary, it is the most hilly of all the Bahamas, and it has no lake or lagoon. Watling Island, a little to the SI>. of Cat Island, and now geneially recognised as the true Ciianaliari or S. Salvador, is very level ; it has a large lagoon, it satisfies history as to the proceedings of Columbus lor the two da^s following iiis di.scoverv. by being very near the numerous islands of I'lxunia Sound, and I think few impar- tial ]iersons can identity; there are ditliculties in the iiilirpntaliou uf ( VtlmnldiH* lof.' Mil iiM\ livj)()tlu'siH, liiit tlit'iv is line liitlf ' tiiidi'siiriu'd coiiifidciiCf ' wliirli to iiiv iiiiiiil L''"-'* tiir to carrv cunviriicni. ( 'nliiiiihiis. when lie sitr|ift.(i land, wits <'rfatlv ill wiinl (if water, iiikI In; finitiniifd cruir^iii^' alimit uiiioii^' tht* small islaiiils ill si-aicli of it for some ilays. Clrarly, tln'it'fnrc, tlif Idi/inm on Oiiaiuihari was not a fn-sli water lake; nor is tlie lajfoon on \\ atliiifr i.-land fre.sh water, and so it exai-tly iii»'fts l!ie oasf. 0. Tlie rciioit of Lieutenant l{a\ nifiiid I*. IJod^'ers, of tiie I 'nitod States Navy, on the state of the ("anal Works at Panama so lately as January 2i> last, whirh has doubtless lieeii eaife'lv lead l>y many jnesent, leaves iiio little to say on that jrreat enterjn'ise. I'erhiips the followiiii; oflifial rotnrns of the anionnt of exravati<»n eHecied in cutiic nieti>s (a cuhic metre is l"iiU8 cubic yan.ls^ will enable the audience to realise its pro^fnvss :— \ HS.'J I ,H.s:{ Octotier NoveinlMT Decuiidier Tiitiil pxfavatf'il 2,:t7'.,r>:t4 In f.'ich iniiiilh n:j:i,:?(W 1884 18H4 1H84 January Kehriiary .March ." Tefnl r\favj»t(<(l ;{,H4(),r,;u 3.1174. Ill) 4,r.i»0,022 III onrh month •>«(>,( KM) 63:<,(!:)7 61 5,8:; I The total quantity of excavation to be done in a leiit^'tli of 40*() miles ia esti- niat(. Tlie CHiatrrea is a river as large as the Seine, hut .subject to preat Unci nations of volume; it cuts the line of the canal nearly at right angles, and for obvioii.i rea.^ona it is impossible to let it flow into it. It IS projiosed to arre.st tlie stream by an enormous dyke at Oamboa, n. ar the divide. It will cro.ss a valley lietAveeti two hills, and be 1,050 yards long at the liottom, 2,110 yards at the to]), 110 yards thick at the base, and 147 ft. in greatest hei^'ht. Out of the reservoir so constructed it is proposed to lead the overtlow hv two artificial channels, partly utilising the old bed. The cutting will be nearly oOO ft. wide at the top ( loO m.), with .sides at a .slope of }. It is pro- posed to" attack it by gangs or parties working on twelve different levels at the same time, one each .side of the summit, dividing the width at each level into five parallel sections. Thus tliere will be 120 gangs at work together, and it is confidently hoped that the whole will be really tinLshed in 1888, the date long .since as.signed for its completion by M. de Lesseps. There is practically no other project now competing with it: for the proposed routes by the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Atrato, and San Rlav, may be regarded as almost universally given up; both the latter would involve the construction of ship tunnels on a scale to daunt the boldest engineer. The so-called ( 'aledonia route has not stood the test of examination. There remains but the Nicaragua route, and this, while practicable enough, has failed to attract capitalists, and is environed by politic.il and other difliculties, which would leave it, if completed, under many disadvantages as compared with its rival. Among the latter must be named the necessity for rising by locks to the level of the Lake of Nicaragua ( 108 feet). It is very tempting to speculate on the probable consequences of bringing the Ilispano-Iiidian republics bordering on the Pacific into such early contact with the energies of the Old World, but the.se speculations belong to politics rather than geography; moral transformations, we know, are not effected so easily as the conquest over physical difficulties. 7. Let us now turn to another quarter. This meeting cnnnot fail to share tho pride and satisfaction with which the Royal Ofvigraphical Society regards the execution by Mr. Joseph Thomson of the iiuportant missions intrusted to him la.st vear, in Kast Africa, and to share my regret al.^o, that he is not here to receive our plaudits and our congratulations. Mr. Thomson was commissioned to explore the imknowii country about Mount Kilima-njaro and .Mount Ivi'nia, and if po.s.sible to continue hip route to TjRke Nyanza. He has done all this and much more. After Rii i»n.>rn1 ■'tiirl I'lnm /aiizilmr in Manli of lust yonr, in wliicli, Imw- wver, li»' rt'aclnM| Kilinia-iijain au>l ax-t iiilcd ii aliiiiil '■'.'HiO It., lie ri'tmnt'il to tlif f()a(a. W'l' ir e not Vft liilly ac(|ii!iiiiti'i| wiili liix ronti', lint we kimw tluU lif a;.'ain ivachfd ihn ^reiit tiKMintain, i'c]iiiti'il to l\a\i' an )'lr\ati<)n nt' nam' than U'(I,(K)() It., that. thiMU'c lie ri'iiclitii ilic ta>t side df Laki' Nxanza. liiiit lie in the first who han MnnA on till- shdnH III' I,. MTiariny^i. Tiiai tin nrc, al\va\>i ainnnj: natives who had never Iti'lnro sem a whitt; man, he leai-lnil Mduiit Ki'iiia, re|>ul»'il ;,i Iih 18,(KJ(irt. hiffli, and rnnnd hi> way liiuK In the coatt vvilhoul any cuntliet or losa «tf life by villi, 'lire, and this alter a joiUMiey of ahont ■')()() inilen, nearly the whole of it tliro\it;li a country previonsiy nnltnown to ueoirrajdiy. 'I'he cimravre and the tein|H>r, the dfcisiiin and the t«et rei|nired for siiceessfnl pri'^rress aninii^' the war- like and ra|ia('inii^< trilies whose territories he jmsmKi thronirh, are i)Malities which demand our ^femiine admiration. Take a "ini/le trait: * .\.h an illustration of their readiness to draw their ,-wnrds, I may me?ition,' he say^, 'my own case, in which a Maasai ai;tnally drew his ci/nr U, settle niatler.s witli me, hecanse fTt^ttiii^ tired of his vxtreine cnriiisity to ?•■»> ilie whiteness of my lejr, I jiiished him away. (h\ his drawinjj; his (iiiif I laii;.'ln'd and pieteiided I wanted to see it, and so the niiitter ended.' l^efiire .Mr. 'riinmson had actually returned to Zanzibar, unollnr exjilorer, nnder the direction of a < 'omniittee of this As.s(K;iatioii, had .started in the saino direction. .Mr. il. II. .lohnston, whcso plans, however, are devoted jirimarily to (h« invest i^'at ion of the faiimi and flora of Kilima-njaro, left the British lle.-idency, Zanzibar, in .May la,!t for .Mombasa, havin^r by the advice of Sir .lohn Kirk Meleoled that route for Kilima-njaro. Mr. ,Iohn-st()n had succeeded with Sir .lohn Kirk's kind itssistance in irettinjr top-ether a well or^ranised ])arty both of collectors and porltirs, and started in pood health, with every hope ol' ultimate success. Further details on this subject will be piven in the- report of the Kilima-njaro committee to be read in Section I). H. To the preat desire of the French to luiite their posses.sions in northern and < 'entral Africi, and to command the commerce of the native state.s aontli of the Sahara, we owe many iuijiortant expeditions, one of which terminated unfortunately in the destruction of ( "olonel Flatters topether with .several other oilicrs and men, by theTouareps in February IWSl. Nevertheless contiiuied propress has hern made in the eom])letiiin of our maps of that rep-ion. Colonel Flatters found everywhere evidences that at some remote period the preat W addy Isharphar was tiie l)ed of ii river flowinp into one (d' the most westerly of the Tunisian depressioits, that larpi! tracts were once fertilised by it, of which small and scattered oases alone have survived to our epoch, and that subterranean water probably e.vi.sts alonpits course. The hand of man, whi<"h is about to admit the waters of the .Mediterranean into those depres-sions, may yet work surprisinp chanpes in tlie.se aritl repions. We have evidence of the improvements po.ssible, in the description p-iven by Mr. Oscar Lentz, of theyonnp .Xrabelty of Teiidoul'on the skirt.s of the de.sert (cir. '_'" N.). Founded only thirty years apo, in the heart of Islani. he describes it as now con- .si.stinp of lar::e well-built houses surriiiiided with well-watered parddis ol' /ri/iniir.'i, and proves of date palm.s, a centre for caravan routes in tour ilirectioiis. Tliis traveller, who visited Timbuktu in Ij^sO, de.s<"rihes it as a decuyef very little commercial importance, as may be inne.'ined from their currency of cowries at the rate of !t(K) tor a franc; and pnatlv iti want ot' a litllc mure intercourse with the world, The jieojde, iinb'ed, imapino thi'ir ri\i'r, tiie \iper, to be identical with the Nile. The ])roject of a railway thithrr from Alperia, ai-tually marked in some maps, I e dismisst>8 as a c'limeia ; the idea, Iiowcmt, has not bfcii aiiandonixl. The line now propo.scd is from W'arpla by .\iisalah and In/.i/.e lo Timbuktu. I am temp1e(l here to remark that French travellers ha\e uunle one observation which is far from beinp a matter of concern to them alone. They \i.:ii. 1 Hiid Wf lia\f liH'l tiMi recent evideiict (tf tlie raiiHliei,>*rii it jx caiialile (>( iiis]iiriii;.', lint to j)erceivu liere a moral elt'iiieiit wliicli may j^reatly afU'ct white settleiiienlN and iiiissionai y enterprise in Central Africa liereal'tcr. Any political ciianffew which wiiiiM siilwtiiiite Inr^'tT nnit.s of territory, ami definitt! hounduiit ■•<. and ]ierinanent names, for the present lleetin;.' lan, the Watwa, on the upper waters of the Sankiini, not a new fact in African ethnoj.Taphy, because wo have lonjj been familiar with the diminutive lioshnicu of the Cape of Oood Hope; but interestintr, like the fair-conijiloxioiied natives seen by .lohiislon, as evidence of tht( diversities of orif;in, character, and capabilities, wliich bettei' ac(|uaintance with the African people is likely to disclose, and which has at all times been a potent factor in human proei-ess. It is scarcely necessiiry to refer here to the laliorii>us work of Mr. ( 'usi (m the Modern Lan;ruap-e.s of Africa as r treasury of information. It may be said in military phrase that the east and west of Africa are in touch. Stanley was able to despatch letters in Decemlier Inst, liii Nyanpwe, to Kari'nia from his most easterly station on the islaiul of W'diKi-liiisuni, Stanley I'alls. We can better appreciate the leemini^ life of these Ivniatorial regions, when we read that his little expeilition of three steam launche'i encountered, on November 24 last, a tlotilla of over a thousand canoes {pht^ dr niillc c(inii(s), which had just before devastated the villap? of Mawembe, miiideriiiav, ha,- (|Nite iveintly, in coiiipany wilh a hiilcli hunter. founiiiiiliiiii's, to tilt* (' rt'iiifinlo'D'il, was nstnnjs \u-r. I'o^rp' coniiiart's tlif <'IirnRtf of Mir^siimba on x)\o Hih narallol, in tlif niontli of DocfmlHT, to that of North (Irrnmny, and th<> fact illustnitf.-* wliat we h'ain from so ninny other 'iniutt'i'.", that much of thp intciicr of .\ frica hclmiji-s, In reason of itt clfvafion ahovrt the sea, to a far mor»» tein(ierate zone, and is better xiiited to the Jliiro- p«an constitiifioii than its j.'eo^>i'ii|ihical po.-iilion promises. 'I'he terrihle previilenco of fever which has cost so many lives, will proltnhly lie miliiriited in time and hy improved acroniiilodation. The hillsare coin]mralively free from it. Ilavin;.'n!liided t(t Ilr. I'luil I'o^'p', who«e death at I/iando in .Marcli last deprives freoirrapliy of an adventuious ).xp|or>'r, I may add that the account of his journey in 1x7*) to Miismimlia, tlie capifnl nf the powerful ncLrro Kiii^'ilom nf tin' Miiata ^'anvo, or Matianvo nf Liviii;/stoiie, puhlislie«l in ]^<8(>, remains to he translated 'I'hat, l^'reat travclhir failcil to reach it. Cameron ci'iihsimI the territory, hut a lonp way to the Miuth of it, and no previous traveller, that I am aware of, has descriher. l'ii;.'ne i-csidttd there four or five months, and we learn many intrrestiiij,' particniars Ironi him, and from Dr. Max Miichner, a .sulisefpieni traveller. The people, alt hoii^di Ketisli worshipjierfl, practise tho rite of circnmcision : they are a line, warlike race, unhappily addicted to slave huntinir. but far in advance of their cannilial neip-hbours of Kauanda. Their institutions are of a feudal character: .Muata Vanvo is an hereditary title. .\mon on the ('onp>. That tiist necessity ot civilisation, a road of some sort, will connect the petty ca}iitals, and link in friendly communicalion tribes which know ouo another now chiefly by hostilities and reprisals. The .\frican ii-ikes Coin])aiiy, of (ilasfrow. hits ten small depots Ix'tweeii (JniHimaiie and .Malawanda on Lake Xyas.-a, and iVom this place a practicable road of J:*() miles has been carried to I'ambete, on fjake Tanpraiiyika. Tlio.se jilaces are likely to become the tir.st centres of tiade at which the natives have already learned to respect the white man. where there aie residents who have niasteree in a few years from the conflict of many creeds and nationalities, in a sort of' no man's land," the table I subjoin may assist tho.se who desire tr have a definite idea of the pvoi/ros-- alrea n'jfioii tiexl till- moHt iimcccssiljlu, and pn'^'nanl, ]ii'i'liaiis, with jricntur fvt'nt.". Tin- Kas.-iiaii pnijcct lor (livcitinir tin- Oxiis or Ainu Ihiiyii I'roni tlif Sea of Aral into till' (JaM|iiuri, n-intiiiis iiinlcr iiivcMti^ration. We li-arn iVoni tlif li\rly accniiiil of Mr. (ffortfo Keiiimii, a rt'Ct'nt Anu-ricaii travi-lkr, tliat then* i.s more than one niotivi' for niir this prcat work, if it .shall pruvf pracf icablt'. \\v ntalfs that tho loweriii^f of the levii of tin- ('a.«|(iati Sea, in con.seijiifnce of the jrnat eva])i>nition from its Miiifiice, in oeeii.sioniii^r the Ifusnian (hiverniiitiit j^rcat anxiety, that the level is .steadily hut .slowly falliii^f, notwitliKtainliiiK the enormous (piantity of water jionrfd in hy the \'ol>ra, the I'lal, and other rivers. In fact, Colomd ¥«i%»W . say « that the {'a,sj»iaii is dryiii^c iij) fast, and tinit tlie fresh-water .seals, which form ho ciirioiLs a feature of its fauna, are fa,st diminishinj.^ in luunler. .\t lirnt view there wouM not appear jrreat dilHculty in re.xtorin;.'- water eoimnunication, tlie point where the river would hediverted l»einfr ahout 21(5 ft. ahovetlie Caspian ; hut accurate lovellini^ has sliov.ii considerahle di'pns, ions in thi: intcrvenin tract. .\s the (pieslioii is one of jrri'at p'o^fiaphical interest we may devote a few iniiiutfs to il. It is not to he dou)>ted that the Oxus, or a hranch of it, oncf tlowed into tlio Caspian Sea. I'rofe.s.sor 11. Ijeiitz, of th(^ |{us.sian Acadc^mie Iniperiale dea Seietwes, sums up lii.s invest ifjiit ion of ancient authorities hy alKrmin^f that there is no satis- factory evidence of its ever having done so before the year IIJ^O; pa.ssaf.'es which have been quoted from Arab writers of the ninth century only ]U'ove in his opinion that tliey did not di.scriminale between the Caspian Sea and the Sea of Aral. 'I'here is evidence tliat in the thirteeiitli and fourteenth centuries the ririir bifur- cated, and one brMnch found its way to the Caspian, l)ut probably ceased to do so in the sixteenth century. This aj^rees with Turkoman traditions. Kveii so late a.s 18(5!) the waters of the ().\us reach"d Lake Sara Kaniysb, SO or (M) miles from their cliannel, in a great Hood, as iuippeneil also in iSoO, but Sara Fvamysh is now .some 4i> ft. lower than the ( 'aspian, and Injfore they could proceed further an inimenso basin nuist be tilled. The diliiculties then of the restoration by artificial means of a communication which natural causes liiive cut off, are (^/) The di.sap])ein'an(e of the old bed, which cannot be traced at all over jiart of the way ; (h) The ]tossibility that further natural changes, such as have taken place on the Syr-I>aria, may defeat tlie object ; (c) The immense expentliture under any circumstances necessary, the ai.stani:e Ix'ing about 3oO miles, whicli would be out of all proportion to any imraetliate commercial benefit to be ex])ected. We may very .safely conclude that the thing will not be done, nor is it at all probable that IJu.ssian finances will permit the alternative projiosal of cutting a purely artificial canal by the shortest line, at an estimated expense of lo to 20 million roubles. We have hud, I tliink, no news of the intrepid Russian traveller, Colonel Prjevalski, who started from Kiaklita on November 20, of later date than January 20, when he had reached Alashan, north of the (heat Wall. lie bad for the third time cros.sed the great Desert of (lobi, where he ex])erienced a tempera- ture below the freezing point of niercury, and was to start for Lake Kuku-nor ( + lOj^OO ft.) the following day, thence to proceed to Tsaidam, where he proposed to form a dejiot of stores and jirovision.s, and leaving some of his party here, to endeavour to reach the .sources of the Yang-t.se-kiung, or Yellow Kiver. It was his intention to devote the early jiart of tlie |)reseiit summer to e\|iloration of the Sefani country, .situated between Kuku-nor to the nortli and Hatan to the .«oiith — a country likely to yield an abundant harvest of novelty in natural history — afterwards to tran.sfer his jiarty to Hast, in Western Tsaidam, which may lie reached next .s])ring. Fr(mi this jioint the expedition will endeavour fir.st to explore Northern Thibet, which is his main object, in the direction of Lhasa ami Lake Tengri-nor, and then returning northward, cro.ss the Tliibet plateau by new routes to Lake Lob-nor. After the re-as.sembly of the expedition at this jioint, it will Erobably regain Iliissian territory at Is.syk-kul. Colonel Prjevalski is accompanied y two officers, an interprett'r, and an escort of twi'nty Co.s..'lilniuriiiir 'nil imiifi^'Iibdiirlv n'^'iniis kI' AllLrlmii- i-^tiin, Kanliniir, rnrkf.'tiiii, Ni'pnul, Tliilit't - ill iilim :*t rvfi\ MMict! of four y»'ar.s His rniitf took him to Daiclit'iidu or Tadiiali (liit. .'(I ), till' most westerly point rniclu'd by tlic late Cajitaiii .1. f Jill, IMl., in I "^"7, ami tliiiH (•(iiint'cts tilt' explorations of that acromplii-lu'd and limt'iiti'd traytdlcr with Central Asia. A-k has l)ron>.'lit f're.xh evidence that tlie Sanpoo and the Miah- ma|)o(>tra are one; the quite modern opinion that the former tloWH into the Irrawaddy heinjr shown to he ^'roiindlesn. After drain iii^' the nortlieni ,-Io|)e.x of the Himalayas, the Mrahniajiootra makes a loop round tlioir eastern thmks where it has heeii called the Dehaiifr, and tlieiipe. as everybody kiioww. Hows westerly to join the (Jan),'es: the maps havH been shown in this instance to be rijrht. 'I'lii! travels of these native e.\ph>rers, their stratai^ems and their dis^^'iii.-es, their lia/.ard.s and siillerinvs, their frequent hair-breadtli escajies, are teeming' with '.r-'citenient. One of them descrilies a portion of his track at the back of Mount Everest, rk carried for the third of a mile alon^' the face of a precipice at the heijjfht of l,'>(K)ft, above the Jihotia-koai river, upon iron peirs let into the face of tiie rock, the path behig formed by bars of iron and slabs of stom^ stretching' from peg U) Ki'P, in no place more than 18 incdies, and often nf>t more than !> inoiies wide, evertheless this path is constantly used by men carryini: burdens. One of the finest feats of mountaineerintr on record was performed last year by Mr. W. W. (iraham, who reached an elevation of 1I3,5(H) ft. in the Himalayas, about ;?,!MK) ft. aliove the summit of Chimborazo, whose ascent by Mr. Whymjier in |H8(), mark«'dan epoch in these expluit.s. Mr. Oraham wa.s accompanied by an ollicer oi the Swiss army, an experienced mountaineer, atid by a ])rofessional Swis.s f^niidt;. They ascended Kabru, a mountain visible from Darjeeliiiff, lyinjr to the west of Kanchinjunjra, whose summit still defies the strength of man. 13. And here I may refer to that great work, the Trigonometrical Survey of India. The primary triangulation, commi-nced in the year |H(K), is practically completed, although a little work remains to extend it to Ceylon on one side and to Siam on the other. Much secondary triangulation remains to be executed, but chiefly outside the limits of India proper. The I'isgah views, by which some of tb3 l'>ftie.st mountains in the world have l.ven tixed in position, sometimes from points !u the neare.st Himalayas, 120 miles distant, only serve to arouse a warmer desire ft." unrestrained access. The belief long entertained that a summit loftier than Mount Everest exists in Thibet is by no means extinct, but it is po.ssible that the snowy peak intended may prove eventually to lie the Mount Everest itself of the original survey. Still, however, science, in spite of fanatical obstruction, makes sure advauces. The extraordinary learning and research bv which Sir H. IJawlin- son was enabled a few years since to expose a series of niyst ideations or falsiticationa relating to the Upper Oxus, which had been received on liigh geographical authority, can never bi forgotten. That river has now Ijeen traced from its sources in the i*«ik|«fc, chiefly by native explorers, and to them we may be >aid to be indebted for all we know of Nepaul, from which Europeans are as jealously excluded as they are from the wildest Central .Asian Khanate, although Xepaul is not so fur from Calcutta as Kingston is from Quebec. Carrying their instruments to the most remote and inaccessible places, and among the most primitive hill tribes, the narrative reports of the otliceis of th»! Indian Survey are full of ethnogra))hic and (itiier curious inforiuution. Take for example the account given by .Mr. O. A. .McfJill, in i>8:.'. of the liishuoies of h'aj- piitana, a cla.ss of people, he says, who live by themselves, and are seldom to be found in the same village with the other castes, ' These peojde hold sacred every- thing animate and inanimate, carrying this belief so far tliat they never even <'ut down a green tree; they also do all in their power to jireveut others from d(Mig the same, and this is why they live a]iart from other jieople, so as not to witness the taking of life. Tlie Rishnofcs, unlike the rest of the inhabitants, strictly avoid drink, smoking ami eating o]iiinii ; this lieing prohibited to them by their rolif;ioii. Tliey are also stringently enjoined to nioiiogainy and to the peil'ormance of regular 10 aWiil ions daily . TiKlor all tlicse circunistaiices, and iis may be oxptcled, the Hisli- nc)'"'t are a well-to-do coniiminity, but are abhorred by the other people, especially as by their domestic and f'rujral habits they soon get rich, and are the owners of the best lands iu the country.' In one particular, the experience of the Indian Survey cjvrries a lesson to this country, • A constantly growinf^ deruand,' says General Walker, ' has risen of lato years for new surveys on a large scale, in supersession of the small scale surveys which were executerl a generation or more ago, . . , The so-called topographical surveys of those days were in reality geographical reconnaissances sufficient for all the requirements of the Indian atlas, and for general reproduction on small scales, but not for purposes which demand accurate delineation of minute detail.' Wo have in the Canadian North-West, a region which has not yet passed beyond the preliminary .stage, and it would probably be possible to save much future expendi* ture by timely adoption of the more rigorous system. There is perhaps no region on the globe which ofTers conditions more favourable for geodesy than the long stretch of the western plains, or where the highest problems are more likely to present themselves in relation to the form and density of the earth. The American surveyors have already measured a trigonometrical base of about 10'8G miles in the Sacramento Valley, the longest I believe as yet measured in any country (the Yolo Base) and reported to be one of the most accurate, 14. The Australian continent has been crossed again from east to west, oji the parallel of 28" South or thereabouts by Mr. W. Whitfield Mills, Starting from i?eltana, near Lake Torrens, S.A,, on June 0, 1883, and travelling almost due west, he finally reached the coast at Northampton, W.A,, in January last, after great suffering from want of water. But for the introduction of camels, the expedit ion must have broken down. On one occasion they were eleven or twelve days without water, lie reports a great extent of available pasturage between the AVarburton range and the iilyth watershed ; but he found only three perennial sources of water supply in ],G00 miles ; such conditions give more than usual interest to the recent discovery that subterranean su])])lies may be expected all over a cretaceous area esti- mated at 12(i,0()0 square miles in the central region of the Australian continent, (rood water was struck in April last by an artesian boring at a depth of 1,2:.*0 feet at Tiirkannina, lat, oU^'S. h)ng. 138.1° E, It is difficult to overrate the importance of this discovery, the supply being very abundant, and not likely to fail, since its sources are believed by Air. Ikown, the Government geologist, to be derived from the rainfall of the southern watershed of the Queensland and Northern ranges. Mr. Mills started with thirty camels, attended by five Aflghan drivers; six of them died from the effects, aa was supposed, of eating poisonous lierbag", Mr. Mills did not deviate much from the tracks of the late Air. W. C Gosse, and of Mr. J. Forrest, his journey has therefore added little to previous geographical knowledge, but it Jias helped to make the route better known, and ailbrded fresh t'vidence that the value of the camel in those terrible Australian Saharas if in no degree less than it is where he has long been known as the ' ship of the dese^'t.' Another traveller, Mr. C, Winnecke, starting from the Cowarie station on tlie Warburton IJiver, in 28° S. has traversed about 400 miles of new coun- try in a northerly direction, and made a sketch map of 40,000 square miles, u]) to Goyders Pillars, a remarkable natural feature in the Tarleton range, lie too owed his success to the employment of camels, which he describ(>s as ' behaving nobly,' The recent establishment of a Geographical Society of Australasia pro- mises that many adventurous private explorations, little known and soon forgotten, will beieatter contribute to a better knowledge of that vast interior. 'I'he rejiorted outbreak of a new v(dea!io in the northern part of West Australia, on August 2o. ]S8.'5, in connection with the great eruption of the Sunda Straits lias not, as far as I know, been verified ; but the graphic description of the natives : ' Big mountain l)(ir?i up. He big one sick. Throw him up red stuff, it rundown side and burn down grass and trees,'' seems to leave little doubt of the reality of the occurrence. 1"). Tile International Gircnmiiolar expeditions have added. perhaps, to local knowled;j('. e.-pi cially as leganls the cliinateand means of sup]inrting life at various I .\„hn;, (•■el.niarv L'l. ISSf 11 stations; but nnt mucb, so far as reported, to peogrnphy genemlly. To tliia remark, lioAvever, a hrilliai.t exception mu8t be made, on the intelliirence tlaslied throujK'h tlie tele;.'raph while these lines are passing through the press. Tlie dis- tinction of the nearest approach to the North Pole yet made by man has been won by the late Lieutenant Lockw^ood and Serpeant IJrainerd, of Lieutenant Greeley's expedition. They readied, on May 13, 1882, an island not before known, in lat. 83 24' N., loDg. 44° 5' W., now named after its discoverer. This is four or five miles beyond Captain Markham's furthest point (8.'J° 20' N.), and it apjiears to bo by no means the only geographical achievement whicli in some measure rewards the painful sufteriiigs and losses of the party. Lieutenant H. P. May, T'.S.A., has also rectiiied many details of the map about Point liarrow, and discovered a range of hills which he lias named the Meade Mountains, running east from ( "ape Lis- burne, from which at least two streams, unmarked, flow into tlie Polar Sea. Wo may expect similar service from the Italian parties at Patagonia, and from the Germans in South Georgia. 16. There are few particulars in which the best atlases of the present day differ more from those published twenty-five years ago, than in the intbrmation they give us respecting the submerged portions of the globe. The British Lslands, with the fifty and one hundred-fathom lines of soundings drawn round tbem, seem to bear a diH'erent relation to each other and to the Continent than they did before. Tlie geography of the bed of the ocean is scarcely less interesting than that of the Continents, or less important to a knowledge of terrestrial physics. Since the celebrated voyage of II.M.S. 'Challenger,' no marine researches have been more fruitful of results than those of the 'Talisman' and the 'Dacia.' The first waa employed last year by the French Government to examine the Atlantic coasts from Kociicfort to Senegal, and to investigate the hydrography and natural history of the (^ipe Verde, Canary, and Azores archipelagos. The other ship, with her companion the 'International/ was a private adventure, with the commercial purpose of ascertaining the best line for a submarine telegrapli from Spain to the Canaries. These two last made some 550 soundings and discovered three shoals, one of them with less than 50 fathoms of water over it, between the Continent of Africa and the islands. If we draw a circle passing through Cape Mogador, Teneritle, and Funchal, its centre will mark very nearly this submarine elevation ; tlie other two lie to the north of it. The ' 'J alisman ' found in mid-ocean but 1,640 fathoms, among soundings previously set down as over 2,000 fathoms. Our knowledge then of the bed of the Atlantic, and of the changes of depth it may be undergoing, 's but in its infancy; and we have only to reflect wliat sort of orographic map of Europe we could hope to draw, by sounding lines dropped a hundred miles apart from the highest clouds, to be conscious of its imperfeclion. But this knowledge is accumulating, and whether revealing at one moment a pro- found abyss, or at another an unsuspected summit : iiiai vels of life, form, and colour, or new aTid pregnant facts of distribution ; it promises for a long time to come to furnish inexhaustible interest. 17. If railways are features of a h'ss purely gengrapliicnl interest than the great interoccanic canals which dissever continents, tliey are not less important to the traveller; and whether commercial, political, or strategic motives have most influenced their construction, they not less fulfil the beneficent imrpose of landing men in closer ties. It is not necessary that I should sjieak to you of tlie Canada Pacific Railway, of which many of my hearers will soon iiave perMmal knowledge, or of the ])roposed railway from Winnipeg to lludsDn's I'ay; thrre an' numerous other undertakings which serve in an equal degree to mark this ninett'i'nlli century as the mother of new forces and new possibilities. Tlie Mexican Central Itailway open some time since from VA Paso on the Hiver Gninde, to Jimenez, has been opened to Mexico itself, and will soon reacli Tehuuntepec, which will thus be placed in direct railway comniunication with New Orleans, whih' the .Sonoran branch will connect the United States with Gnaymas on the Gulf of California. It requires ,t moment's recollection ot the events we have seen in our own day to a[)pi'eLiato the vaslness ol ihi'.-r ehiiiiij-es. In S'Tiitli America we lunc tin I'ailwm <<[' Doni P' dr" 11. cneiiin'^ "ii t-nvard.- 12 Paraj^uay ami tin.' Arj^ontinu IJupiiljlic. It lins reached S()ro(.'a])a, while hriiiiclu'f from S. Paolo to th« uortli-west a|ij»n)ach "rrcat tracts on tin- Parana and Pazaina- panania, which an^ inarKed on tlu- latest liraziliaii niajis aw ' unknown Indian territorins,' perhaps 1()(),(K)() square niilcs in extent, cut by the tropic, but con- tributing alnioHt nothinjf as yet to commerce. Turninwa .... U'Sagara . . 6 22 36 22 C. M. Soc. Kisokwo .... *l 6 20 36 16 (;. M. Soc. Mrof^oro .... »* 6 15 36 15 S. H. and S. Cocnr do M. Ba^amoyo . . . Near Zanzibar 6 25 38 55 S. E. and S. C(riu- dc M. K AUK MA . . . L. Tanijan.vika 6 50 32 Belgian International Contloa .... U'Sagara . . 6 52 36 55 G.-A. Assoc. Lundwe, or Lien- L. Tanganyika 8 45 31 L. M. Soc. dwci Maliwanda . . . W.ofL.Nj'assa 9 42 33 30 F. C. of S, and A. L. Co. Karonga.s . . . On L. Nyanza 9 57 33 53 A. L. Co. Store Mtua liovume . . 10 10 39 30 U. i\I. Ahlallah Pisa's residence Lindi East Coast 10 39 45 U. JI. Viec Consul Smith's residence Gwangwara . . . Ti. Nyassa . . 10 30 35 30 »» i» Gwaiigwara . . . )» — — Belgian International IMasasi .... Inland Station 10 48 38 55 U. M. Newala .... Rovume . . 10 57 39 13 U. M. about 10 miles S.E. of Masitsi M. Wainbc . . . L. Nyassa . . 11 .35 35 20 U.M. Mombira .... L. Nyassa, A- Ngoni-land 11 30 31 F. C. S. above Handawe Bandaw6 (Nm^ L. Nyassa . . 11 54 34 5 F. C. S., Livingstonia Mis- LiriiKjxtouiu) sion, tS: A. L. Co. Cliitoji'i's .... »» 12 10 34 48 U. M. Blantyro .... E. of R. Shire 13 45 34 57 E. G. of S. Consul Foote's residenee Cape Ma clear ( Old L. Nyassa . . 14 3 34 44 F. C. of S. Livingstonia) Matope .... On the Shire 15 22 34 55 A. li. Co., a road hence to below tlw ^lurcldson rapids on the Shire Mangala .... R. Shir6 . . 16 35 A. L. Co. Stores Tette (Nyungwe) . Zambesi . . 16 9 33 28 Jesuit Mission Lialui Zambesi cir. 15 30 23 15 F. P. M. Sheaheke . . . Zambesi . . 17 31 24 55 St. J. also F. E. M. Mosangu (Mwem- Zambesi . . 17 45 27 45 Jesuit ba'a) .... Victoria Falls . . Zambesi . . 17 55 25 50 French Protestant Quilimaue, or Kili- East Coast 18 37 Jesuit mani Mopca .... Zambesi . . 18 36 >> »» Panda Ma Fenka . S. of Zambesi 18 30 25 55 »i )• 15 11. Wkst op Lonoitudk 26° ^:. IS Place Stations in italic arc State raOM THE KyUATOR TO THE KuiM^N OK CUMANK understood to have been given up. Island of W.-ma Rusani Kquator Station L liukolela Lecoua . . Holobo . , Msuata . . Misoiigo Qua'mouth Qua'mouth . M' Gaucho Brazzaville (Mfwa) R liOopohlvillp . . L Kimbolo (Arthinfj^- ton) . . . . L I Kintcha.ssa . . L N'Gombi . . . L Liverpool . I Lutete . . j Banza Manteka L ! Manyantja (N. N'uombi's town) L liukungu .... Isanghila . . . R Mukimbungu . L Bayneston . . L Vivi . . . . R Palabella. . . L Ikungiila .... Undcrhill (Wauga- Wanga) Nokki or Noqui L M' Bomu, or Boma R Banana Point . R Mukimvika . . L Stanh^y Falls Upjier Congo N'Kutu R. Kwango R. Stanley Pool svv >* Lower Congo Franceville . . B'ranktown . . Stanley Niadi . Baudoiiinville . Stephanieville . Pbilipvillo . . Nkula .... Bulangungu . . M. Boko songho San Salvador . Rudolf Stadt . Grantville . . Nengeneuge S. of Congo . R. Passa . . R. Kwilu . . Kwilu District Congo Coast Coast 70 miles up Gambia Lat. 10 Long. Grganisatioii B. L Assoc. + 6 18 50 17 45 17 30 17 40 "Ifi 42 16 28 16 40 15 41 15 38 15 50 15 47 15 22 4 49 I 15 10 5 24 1 14 13 4 39 ! 14 52 I 14 53 14 12 14 26 14 13 13 53 14 3 13 45 13 42 13 43 13 3 B. L Assoc, and B.M., 7(K) miles from the coast B. L Assoc, and B.AJ. M. De Brazza B. I. Assoc. B. I. Assoc. L. I. M. B. I. Assoc. B. I. Assoc. M. De Brazza French Establishm. B. I. Assoc, and L. 1 M B. M. B. I. Assoc. B. M. Late B. M. B. I. Assoc. L. 1. M. B. I. Assoc, and late L. M, L. L M. B. I. Assoc. L. I M. B. M. B. I. Assoc. L. L M. B. I. Assoc. B. M. B. I. Assoc. B. I. Assoc. fi i 16 12 L. I. M. 6 11 12 18 I L. I. M, I French setfiemeut B. I. Assoc. B. L Assoc. B. I. Assoc. U. L Assoc. B. 1. Assoc. B. I. Assoc. B. I. As.soc. B. L Assoc. Late B, M. B. I. Assoc, B. I. Assoc. 11 42 11 46 16 Wj A. P, M. 16 • Table II. {cmtinued) Place State j 1 Lat. o / 2 Long. / 9 45 1 Orpani.sation 1 1 Rpnito .... 1 Bight of Biafra A. P. M. ('(iris(X), Islunfl of . tl I 20 U 45 A. P. M. HaiJika .... Nearliibrevilh' ! ;to 1> HO A. P. M. Lihrt'ville . . . Gaboon . . . 1 30 9 ao S. K.sjjrit Kiitif^wi! .... S. of Of^owe . 1 10 A. P. M. Talliigupi . . 2.3.') rnilr'H up Ogowc 10 1 1 .-)0E A. P. .M. St. Fr XavitT . . li. Ogowe . . 10 45 S. Ksprit and CdMir dc M. Lain bare . . . II 45 10 30 ■ S. Ksprit and Ca-ur de M. l.aiKiana .... W. Coast . . 5 16 \ 12 7 Ch. of Rome Malemba. . . . It 6 18 12 10 Cli. of Koine Hcnila.s .... • 6 12 20 Ch. of Home S. Aiitoine . . — 6 20 1 12 10 Cli. of llouie Uailunda. . . . Angola . . . 12 15 25 A. B F. M. Hilic „ 12 50 16 26 A. B. F. M. Huilla N. of Kunene 15 2 ! 14 S. K.sprit Hnmba .... 1 On the Kunene 16 50 15 5 S. Ksprit 1 The stations of the Livingstone (Congo) Inland Mission (originated by the Flast London Instit\ite for Home and Foreign Missions) liave been recently transferred to the .American Baptist Missionary Union. I'ositions from the moutli of tlu^ ('(jiigo as far as Stanley Pool, are taken from tlie i.^w map by M. M. Capello and Ivens (1H83) pul)lislu!d by the Portuguese .\dniiralty. The letters L. R. signify that the station is on the left or right bank of the "ongo. ■ FOTTlSWOOnB AKD CO., .MCW-BTSERT iqCAUII ANU I'.VUI.I VUK.NT STUkKT