Geographical Institute. Since 1869 the Royal Geographical Society has made repeated efforts to alter the situation, and it would be an error not to recognise that we are on the upward gradient. The Society's policy has been embodied chiefly in four measures the offer of medals to the great public schools; the appointment of an inspector to report on foreign geographical teaching: the foundation of lecturerships in the universities, and the institution of a system of training for explorers. After sixteen years of trial the medals were discontinued on the ground that they affected only a few schools, and even in those schools only a few pupils. Out of a total of 62 medals awarded, no fewer than 30 fell to two schools; a noteworthy fact, as indicating at once the power and the rarity of skilled and enthusiastic geographical teaching. The most significant result of Mr. Keltie's report, and of the exhibition of specimens collected by him and now deposited with the Teachers' Guild in Gower Street, has been a general improvement in school text-books and maps, as seen particularly in some of the better elementary schools and training colleges. The university lecturerships have been effective only at Oxford for a suf ficient time to judge of results. There, a considerable class of historical students attend lectures in geography twice a week, but are not likely to give the time necessary for more thorough study without the stimulus of examination. None the less, students who have heard lectures are gradually spreading geographical ideas, and the mere existence of the lecturerships is a valuable admission that the study is one of University rank. The classes for explorers have been conspicuously successful, and are probably the best of their kind in the world. But here we are dealing with those arts of observation in which, as already remarked, Englishmen excel.

With the example of Germany before us, with partial success to encourage us, with the interest aroused by the recent Geographical Congress to aid us, and with the reorganisation of secondary teaching impending, is not this the ripe opportunity for another, and it may be final effort, to make geography effective in English education? I do not deny that there may be several good roads to success, but I cannot help feeling that our most immediate need is a certain amount of centralisation. This is so for two reasons. First, because we English geographers require, above all things, a tradition. We vary so widely in our views, and our examiners examine so differently, that teachers are at a loss whether to keep to the old methods or venture on the new. The old classical education still maintains its supremacy, mainly because through strong tradition it is workable without artificial syllabus; it is an organism rather than a machine. German geography, despite its modern growth, has a tradition, for Germans are all sons in geography of the ancestral group-Humboldt, Ritter, Berhaus, and Perthes. Secondly, we need a worthy object lesson, which is attainable under existing circumstances only by the concentration of funds, and by the co-operation of several leaders. For no single lecturer, such as the Universities at present maintain, can deal adequately with all aspects of geography. An historical or classical student listens to a dozen different teachers at Oxford or Cambridge. Berlin and Vienna have each of them two professors of geography, besides Docenten. Moreover, a German student may pass from university to university, and thus correct the limitations of his teachers. Yet nothing short of a considerable object lesson in England will bring general conviction as to the value and possibilities of geography. Nor need we fear that when centralisation has done its work, independent and local initiative will not vary the general tradition. Furthermore, the centralisation should not be complete. The work in progress at the Universities must not be abandoned. It will steadily gain importance in proportion as the central body does the work for which it is designed.

Clearly, if the policy of centralisation be agreed to, there is only one site for the central school. It must be in London, under the immediate inspiration of that Royal Geographical Society, whose past services to the cause would be a guarantee of support during the early efforts. But geographers must associate with themselves experts in education, if they are to avoid certain rocks which have knocked many a hole into the geographical projects of the past, and if public bodies and private individuals are to be moved to financial generosity. The beginning

might be on a relatively small scale, but must not be too small for completeness. Theory, both on the scientific and historical sides, must be represented, and each of the three geographical arts. As regards observation nothing better could be asked than association with the admirable classes already existing. Cartography would be needed not only to supply the English map trade with an occasional Petermann, but especially that all serious students of the school might learn the ways of the geographical workshop. Teaching would naturally be associated with the various secondary and elementary training colleges. A certain number of university men might be tempted by the offer of a diploma to interpose a geographical year between the university and the master's desk; for head masters would probably be only too glad to give the teaching of geography into the hands of specialists, provided these were men of university culture, able to be of general service in school-work, and provided also there was adequate guarantee that they were experts. There would, in addition, be a system of evening classes for teachers and clerks, and thus, while the school would render obvious and direct service to six millions of people, the staff would gain strength from the sense of a generally diffused trust in them. The school would in no way duplicate the Geographical Society, while its staff would contribute an element of trained experts to the newly established afternoon meetings.

I launch this scheme, not with any fixed idea on the subject, for I would willingly abandon it in favour of another shown to be better, but because I am convinced that now is a great opportunity, and that a definite plan, even if it should prove unworkable, is more likely to provoke discussion and to produce result than mere negative criticism, which has often been anticipated. As effects of any adequate scheme, I should hope that, in a few years' time, geographical examinations would consistently test not merely memory for small detail, but clearness of apprehension, breadth of view, and power of statement, whether in word or map; that teachers would have the knowledge needed for Socratic rather than dogmatic teaching, and that students of geography would exercise the powers of analysis and composition, and not merely observe and remember. Geography would then be a subject rather for the higher than the lower parts of schools, and with the aid of a shelf of the classics of travel, sixth-form boys would write geographical essays with rapid but accurate map illustration. Then, the Universities would receive freshmen who, whether candidates for historical or scientific honours, could express themselves resourcefully in map and diagram, as well as in language and writing. I speak from experience when I say that not one undergraduate in thirty has the necessary equipment for accurate appreciation of space-relations in history, as well as timerelations. In an age of inevitable but unfortunate specialisation the organising of another correlating study should not be unwelcome.

Once more, let us emphasise the fact that geography is not the science of all things. It has been the aim of this address to bring out the specific character of geography and of the geographer. Nor is it the only important subject in education. Its devotees frequently do it harm by excessive claims. Moreover, let us admit that as geography is now too often taught, and even as it is conceived of in some circles which pass for geographical, it merits no greater mercy than it receives at the hands of educationalists. Nor let it be denied that some facts that we would see taught as geographical are already dealt with in other, and as we think, less advantageous connections. Lastly, let us beware of extolling the German example, which happens to be good in geography, to the degree of imputing inferiority to the whole system of English education. Let us do full justice to the position of our opponents, let us humbly benefit by their criticism, and then claim soberly, but with persistence, that a worthy geography is no pariah among intellectual disciplines. Amid the changes of organisation which are imminent, let us steadily maintain that the geographical is a distinct standpoint from which to view, to analyse, and to group the facts of existence, and as such entitled to rank with the theological or philosophical, the linguistic, the mathematical, the physical, and the historical standpoints. No intellectual education is complete which does not offer some real insight from each of these positions.

The following Papers were read :—

1. On a Journey in Tarhuna and Gharian in Tripoli.
By H. SWAINSON COWPER, F.S.A.

This short excursion was made with the express purpose of investigating a series of megalithic ruins, which were known to exist, but of which nothing has been hitherto known, except brief notices on one or two sites mentioned in the writings of the travellers Barth and Von Bary. The author travelled first south-west, and entered the Tarhuna district by the Wadi Doga, which appears never to have been entered previously by an English traveller. The Wadi Doga is a fine valley about 800 feet above sea-level, surrounded by hills about 800 feet higher, and contains numerous ancient sites of megalithic temples, some in a fair state of preservation. Thence the author passed by Kasr Doga, à magnificent Roman monument described by Barth, on to the Tarhuna plateau, a grassy and partly cultivated plain, twentyfive miles from east to west and of unascertained width. Here the remains were even more numerous than in Wadi Doga, there being hardly a hillock on the summit of which the remains of one of these megalithic temples could not be found. Mr. Cowper camped on this plain with the family of his guide, and was throughout treated with hospitality by the Tarhuni Arabs. These people are pastoral Arabs of pure race, rigid Mussulmans, but apparently not fanatically inclined towards Christians. They live in rows of tents during the winter, and in wattle huts among their crops during summer. Some of them inhabit underground chambers dug in the soil below the level of the ground.

Leaving the Tarhuna plateau, the author rode north-east, and crossing the Wadi Daun (which with two smaller Wadis which join it are full of Roman ruins and crossed at frequent intervals by Roman dams) he reached the foot of Jebel Msid, lying at the east end of a wide and beautiful valley called Kseia. Having examined the ancient sites here, he retraced his steps to the Tarhuna plateau, which he crossed to the south-west, and entered a country of more mountainous character. These hills are partly in Tarhuna and partly in Gharian, and his route was crossed at frequent intervals by important watercourses running north towards the coast. The country, like the Tarhuna plateau, is nearly treeless, and in March very poorly supplied with water. A few crumbling ruins, probably of Roman date, cap the hills, but the megalithic sites are comparatively rare. Houses in Gharian are, as in Tarluna, unknown, except at the Kasr, where there are Turkish troops.

Throughout the district game of any sort is most rare, nothing being seen except quails, partridges, a few hares, and a wild cat. After crossing the Wadis Bir el War and Gethathet Dum, the author arrived at Wadi el Ghan, a southern prolongation of the important Wadi Haera, which leads straight to Tripoli. The scenery down this Wadi is very fine, as it runs between grand cliffs of limestone and sandstone, and at one place there is a fine hill of ferruginous clay.

Emerging from the mountains, the author passed a curious isolated group of hills lying on the plain like islands, and from this point a two days' journey across the plain brought him to Tripoli.

2. On Rockall. By MILLER CHRISTY.

3. On Western Siberia and the Siberian Railway. By Dr. A. MARKOFF.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13.

The following Papers were read :—

1. A Voyage to the Antarctic Sea. By C. E. Borchgrevink.

More than half a century ago Sir James Clark Ross discovered the South Victoria Continent.

Nobody had visited those southern shores until last year, when the whaler 'Antarctic' forced her way through the ice-fields and ran into that large ice-free bay which stretches from Cape Adare down to the volcanoes Erebus and Terror. It seems strange that fifty-four years should have elapsed without any attempt having been made to finish that work which was so bravely commenced by an illustrious Briton. The more strange does this fact seem as the journals of the Erebus and the Terror tell about vast new and promising fields for science and

commerce.

The recent antarctic expedition was a commercial one, and it was commercially a failure because we did not find the black or 'right' whale, so valuable for its whalebone.

The Antarctic' was fitted out for the hunt of that particular kind of whale, but I have nevertheless no doubt that the commercial result of the recent expedition would have been much better had we worked under more favourable auspices.

I by no means consider the fact of our not having met with 'right' whales in those seas as a proof of their not existing in the bay at South Victoria Land. It would seem to be incredible that Sir James Clark Ross made a mistake as to the existence of this valuable whale in southern latitudes.

Of great commercial importance are the guano beds which we discovered, and which ought to be well worth the attention of enterprising men of business.

From the analysis of specimens of rocks which I brought back from the mainland, the presence of valuable minerals on the continent is proved, although the lava flows and volcanic aspect of the coast-line do not speak favourably for the presence of heavy metals near the surface. The discovery of a brownish grey mica schist, evidently a very ancient sedimentary rock converted by heat and pressure operating through a long period of time into its present schistose and crystalline condition, together with the presence of 'granolite,' indicates the possibility of finding ore deposits, and is strongly in favour of a probable continuity of land from Victoria Land across the south pole to Graham Land. Somewhat similar schistose rocks are known to occur in the South Shetlands, south-east from Cape Horn.

The specimens from Possession Island are entirely composed of volcanic rocks. They are chiefly fragments of what seems to be a basaltic rock apparently belonging to flows of two different ages. The fragments belonging to the older flow show evidence of the lava having been much frothed up by steam escaping from its pores. It is of a reddish to pinkish brown tint. The newer lava is more dense and is of a blackish grey colour. It is, however, impossible to describe these rocks in detail until microscopic sections of them are completed.

An investigation of the origin and consequences of the north-east current which we experienced in the Victoria Bay is of great interest. When we look upon the phenomena which cause and accompany the great currents of the ocean in the northern hemisphere, we are justified in anticipating that also in the southern hemisphere similar phenomena occur.

The meteorology of the antarctic circle might throw a valuable light on the origin of oceanic currents; and it is not improbable that the warm current in the bay at Victoria Land plays a similar, if even an inferior, part in the southern hemisphere to that of the Gulf Stream in the northern.

The constant light pressure of the air within both the arctic and the antarctic circles seems remarkable. There is probably a similar movement from and towards

the pole in the air as there is in the water, so that there is constantly a rush of cold air from the pole towards the equator, and this, combined with the slow movements of the globe, with its air so near the axis of rotation, would form the chief cause of this low pressure.

All through our voyage the westerly winds were predominant, but gradually decreased in strength as we drew south of the Roaring Forties. In noting the strength of winds, Sir James Ross's scale 0 to 12 was used. The strongest winds were noticed before we entered the antarctic circle, and not before we returned to the Forties again was wind of force 12 observed. We experienced then a very furious gale of distinctly cyclonic character, turning spirally from north-west to south, and reaching its maximum strength from the south. We had to use oil to protect the ship from the furious breakers. All the time spent in the bay at Victoria Land we experienced light southerly to south-easterly winds, and not once a wind of strength above 5. From the formation of the snow peaks I should think that the westerly winds prevail on the plateaux, and, should this be the case, a land expedition would be greatly assisted in returning from the south magnetic pole towards the bay by the use of sails on the sledges. Our heaviest snowfall was experienced just before we entered the icefields on our return. On the night of January 25, in latitude 69°, when the air was one dense white mass of snow, the wind being once up to 10 in strength, and surrounded by icebergs, our position was far from safe. Although the thermometer did not fall below 30° F., it was a cold and anxious watch in the crow's nest.

We always observed the reflection of the icefields in the air, and we were thus warned from far off, even of the presence of a narrow stream of ice or of an iceberg; this ice blink and the presence of the Procellaria nivea never deceived us. When the swell is heavy in the icepack, it is often very difficult to ascertain from which side the swell comes, and as difficult as this is, so is it important, for the safety of the ship depends upon a right judgment in these emergencies. When the huge ice masses begin to move and screw and press on the sides of the vessel, which rises and falls in the heavy swell, there is but one escape-namely, to work the vessel into the fields away from the side from which the gale blows.

Birds of the snipe family were discovered at the Campbell Island. Nests of the black-bellied storm-petrel were found on the rocks of Victoria Land, which is, therefore, the home of this hardy petrel. The white petrel, the Procellaria nivea, seemed also to nest at Cape Adare, where it lived in peace with the penguins. The penguins on Possession Island, and on the mainland, were all distinctly different from those seen at the Campbell Island.

The northern penguins, rock-hopper penguin (Eudyptes saltator), were all crested, that is to say, they had over each eye a tuft of long yellow feathers, which gives them an appearance of Mephistopheles in miniature, and their hoarse scream just suits their peculiar look.

The penguins which we met in the pack on Possession Island, and on the mainland, were the short-bellied penguin (Eudyptes adelia). Four specimens of Aptenodytes Forsteri, the large, lonely penguin, were secured. They had several pounds of pebbles in their stomachs.

It was noticed that the plumage of birds gradually changed into lighter colours as we drew southwards.

Four kinds of seals were seen the white seal; the sea-leopard; the earless seal; and the common grey seal.

The difference in the formation of arctic and antarctic ice is known to be very great. While the northern bergs mostly consist of a large ice mass running up in numberless towers and arches resembling the very mountain peaks which surrounded the glaciers which gave rise to them, the antarctic bergs are solid masses of floating ice with perpendicular walls, and an unbroken plateau on the top.

All the bergs showed distinctly whether they were broken from the large southerly barrier, or were discharged from the glaciers of South Victoria Continent. All the barrier bergs had very distinct blue lines across their walls, indicating their annual growth by snowfall; these lines were, of course, not to be found on the glacier ice, which showed more likeness to the northern ice than did the