the Norwegian Sea lying at the bottom of the Faeröe-Shetland Channel, and loses its horizontal motion. The warmer the Atlantic current, the more rapidly does this mixture take place. Hence in a hot, windless summer a mass of Atlantic water, extending to a great depth, tends to collect on the northern and northwestern edge of the North Sea bank. 2. At all seasons Atlantic water is drawn from the Faeröe-Shetland Channel and forced into the North Sea by the tides between Orkney and Shetland. The tidal streams run N. W. and S.E., and an eddy is formed to the north-west of the Orkneys, into which North Sea water is drawn, and perhaps also water from below. 3. As the season advances the surface water of the North Sea becomes warmer, the upper layers probably receive smaller supplies of fresh water, but they become specifically lighter than the under layers, which they protect from the warming influences of the atmosphere. The upper layers becoming ultimately warmer than the Atlantic current, the surface of the North Sea becomes higher, and the surface water spreads outwards into the Faeröe-Shetland Channel, checking the surface supply of Atlantic water. Meanwhile, the mass of Atlantic water, collecting at the edge of the North Sea Bank, seeks entrance into the North Sea. Mixing with the cold bottom water already there, it increases its salinity, but reduces its specific gravity by warming it, and, at a certain stage of mixture, the temperatures and salinities of the two waters combine to form a ridge or axis of maximum specific gravity. This axis, which probably runs N.E. from Shetland in the end of May or in June, turns slowly toward a N. to S. direction, and moves eastward. As it retreats, Atlantic water is gradually admitted round the north end of the Shetlands, passes down the east side of the groups, joins the tidal stream at the south end, and, guided by the axis of heavy water, is distributed along the east coast of Scotland, probably during July and August. Later in the summer, as the axis retreats still further, the Atlantic water is probably distributed more towards the eastward, perhaps until the latter part of September, when the diminishing supply from the Faeroe Channel, and the increasing outflow from the eastern side of the North Sea, bring about a gradual return to the conditions with which we started. Obviously the controlling conditions are complex, but it appears that the greater the winter cold and the spring supply of ice-cold water from the continent, the more slowly will Atlantic water penetrate into the North Sea below the surface; and the warmer the summer, the more will the surface supply be checked. At the same time, the warmer the summer the larger the quantity of Atlantic water seeking admission, and the greater its thermal power to drive back the axis of maximum weight. 4. On Geographical Photography. By JOHN THOMSON.. The paper dealt with the difficulties experienced by travellers in the use of photography as an aid to exploration. The purposes of photography referred to did not include surveying, but merely the production of pictures showing ethnographic types, characteristic scenery from the geographical rather than the artistic point of view, and the details of artificial structures. The necessity of proper training in the principles as well as the practical methods of photography was insisted on. Practical hints were given for the preservation and use of dry-plates, and for the successful development of negatives in tropical countries. A series of travellers' photographs illustrating the excellences and the defects of such work was shown by the lantern. 5. A New Light on the Discovery of America. By H. YULE OLDHAM, M.A., F.R.G.S. The development of America has had such a vital effect on the British Islesremoving them from an obscure situation on the outskirts of the known world to their true geographical position as the centre of the land masses of the globe-that everything relating to its discovery is of exceptional interest. It is now well known that Columbus's famous voyage in A.D. 1492 opened the way to the settlement of the New World. It is not so well known that it had been visited before his time. A glance at the map of the Atlantic Ocean will show the three easiest points of access. (1) North America, by means of the convenient stepping-stones, Iceland and Greenland. (2) Central America, with the help of the steady N.E. trade-winds. (3) Brazil, in South America, which is not only the nearest point to the Old World, but has the additional advantage of winds and currents tending in its direction. There can be little doubt that America was visited by Norsemen about A.D. 1000 by the first route. Tradition and the records of some early maps, which show large land masses as far west of the Azores as they are west of Europe, seem to indicate that the second route had been possibly utilised early in the fifteenth century, but the third and easiest was not available till the West African coast as far as Cape Verde had been discovered. It was in A.D. 1445 that Cape Verde was for the first time rounded by one of the exploring expeditions despatched from Portugal by the indefatigable Prince Henry. There is good reason to believe that only two years later Brazil was reached. At that period great activity prevailed in Portugal; a large and increasing number of ships were yearly despatched along the West African coast. Nothing is less improbable than that one of these vessels should have been carried out to sea and driven to the coast of Brazil; and to show that this actually occurred we have documentary evidence. There is at Milan a remarkable manuscript map, dated A.D. 1448, drawn by Andrea Bianco, of Venice, one of the best known of the map-makers, who worked in the first half of the fifteenth century. On this map are shown for the first time the results of the Portuguese discoveries as far as Cape Verde; but in addition there is drawn at the edge of the map, south-west from that cape, in the direction of Brazil, a long stretch of coast line labelled 'Authentic Island,' with a further inscription to the effect that it stretches 1,500 miles westwards.' Such a name and inscription are quite exceptional on maps of this kind, and must have been due to definite information. Antonio Galvano in 'The Discoveries of the World,' published in the middle of the sixteenth century, says that in A.D. 1447 a Portuguese ship was carried by a great tempest far westwards until an island was discovered, from which gold was brought back to Portugal. As Bianco's map of A.D. 1448 was made in London, it is likely that it represents information about this voyage derived in Portugal, where Bianco probably called on a voyage from Venice to England. The conclusion to be drawn is that South America was first seen in the very year in which Columbus is believed to have been born by one of the Portuguese explorers despatched by Prince Henry the Navigator. 6. Explorations in the Sierra Madre of Mexico. By OSBERT H. HOWARTH. A comparison is made of physical features common to the whole western range of North America from Oregon to Guatemala, illustrated by slides, and by notes from other ranges of great extent, e.g., the Great Atlas and the Caucasus. The means and incidents of travel in the Mexican ranges described and compared with those of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. The variations of climate in the Sierra Madre, and their effect upon mountain dwellers and their habits and industries, including certain of the isolated Indian tribes and the cave-dwellers of Sonora and Chihuahua, are illustrated by author's experiences in crossing the main range in Sonora, Sinaloa, and Michoacan, compared with similar experiences in Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and California. The probable source of origin of Sierra Madre races, viz., North American, South American, and Asiatic, is discussed and illustrated by description of various antiquities, including villages, tombs, cave fortifications, and gardens, discovered or visited by author. Incidents are given showing the gradual fusion of these races into the existing Mexican nation of to-day, and the extent to which a few families still remain unabsorbed; as in the case of the Apaches in Sonora, the Cota Indians in Durango, and the Zapotecas of the Tehuantepec Isthmus. Certain peculiarities in the geological structure, vegetable productions, and fauna of the Sierra Madre are noted, together with legends and traditions amongst the primitive inhabitants arising out of known facts connected with them. The extent of mountain country in Western Mexico still practically unexplored is shown by comparison with modern maps, which are entirely vague and imperfect in every instance, excepting where the State authorities have made some attempt at actual survey, owing to the necessity of defining mining claims. The watersheds and their discharges are pointed out, with general description of the great lakes of Chapala, Patzcuaro, and Cuitzeo. Also some description of the pine forests above the timber-line, the summits above snow-line (compared with those of North America), and the present seats of volcanic activity, and their relation to seismic disturbance along the Pacific coast. The author's view is given as to the structural history of the western coastline, and the very slight changes which have probably occurred in it since the Paleozoic period. MONDAY, AUGUST 13. The following Papers and Report were read : By Miss FRANCES BAILDON. 1. On a Visit to British New Guinea. The author and her brother visited British New Guinea in 1891 as guests of the Rev. J. Chalmers, the well-known missionary. They reached Port Moresby in a Queensland Government schooner of sixty-eight tons register on August 15, and after a short stay continued this journey westward for 150 miles to Motu-motu, where the native villages were visited. A canoe voyage was then undertaken to the inland village of Movi-avi, where the natives were suspicious and dangerous. After returning to Port Moresby by the same route a visit was paid to Kerepuna, and Hood Bay was left for Cooktown in Queensland on September 2. 2. Report of the Committee on the Climatology of Africa. 3. On a Journey in the Libyan Desert. By H. WELD BLUNDELL.1 1 Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1894, p. 472. 4. On Bhutan and the Himalayas east of Darjiling. 5. On the best Method of Aiming at Uniformity in the Spelling of Place-names. By G. G. CHISHOLM, M.A., B.Sc. The purpose of this paper is to show in the first place that the indispensable preliminary requirement with a view to the end stated is to have an adequate scheme of orthography, not adequate in the sense of providing a separate sign for all articulate sounds, but through making up for the deficiency of such signs by clear rules to be followed with respect to the sounds for which signs are lacking. To leave it to the individual judgment to decide what is the nearest sound represented in the scheme to one for which no express provision is made is bound to lead to confusion. The inadequacy of the latest version of the Royal Geographical Society's scheme from this point of view is then pointed out, and suggestions of remedies are made. It is contended that the recognition of customary spellings under Rules 2 and 7 of that scheme, reasonable and indeed inevitable as such recognition is, imperatively demands the drawing up of schedules of such recognised spellings as supplements to the scheme. The addition of some subordinate rules likely to promote the efficiency with which the scheme is carried out is next recommended. Attention is drawn to special difficulties in connection with Russian and Greek names, and reasons are given for entertaining the hope that, with the aid of Oriental scholars, special rules might usefully be framed with regard to the spelling of Chinese and Indo-Chinese names. Finally, it is urged that, once an adequate scheme adequately expounded is adopted, it would be of great importance to make special arrangements to secure the co-operation of all contributors to the 'Geographical Journal' and other geographical periodicals, of publishers and authors, and, above all, of the newspaper Press, towards getting the scheme carried out. 1. On Researches by the Prince of Monaco in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Summer of 1894. By J. Y. BUCHANAN, F.R.S.1 2. Report of the Committee on Observations in South Georgia or other Antarctic Island.-See Reports, p. 358. 3. On the Jackson-Harmsworth Arctic Expedition. 4. On the Geographical and Bathymetrical Distribution of Marine Organisms. By JOHN MURRAY, LL.D. 5. Report of the Committee on the Exploration of Hadramout. Geographical Journal, 1894, p. 368. 16. On the Geography of Lower Nubia. By SOMERS CLARKE, F.S.A. The paper was chiefly confined to that part of Lower Nubia which will be flooded by the proposed Nile reservoir. The difference in size and colour-effect of the scenery in the valley of the Nile above and below Assuan were noticed. The Wadi Kenus, the abode of the Beni Kensi tribe, is nearly coincident with the projected Nile reservoir, and if the proposed scheme is carried out the population to be displaced numbers about 30,000, inhabiting a cultivated area of some 10,000 square acres (?). Population in the Ptolemaic times must have been greater, as there are tracts about Korti and Dakkeh, once under cultivation, now abandoned. In the Dodeka-Schoenus there are a number of temples and remains of antiquity within the district thus named, a further proof of considerable population; and the district is protected by a line of forts, some of very high antiquity, some of later date. The existence of Egyptian civilisation side by side with the ruder customs of the natives is especially to be observed in the method of burial. The present inhabitants on the course of the Nile valley from Assuan to Wadi Halfa exhibit very slight variations in modes of dress, particularly among the women. Men go to Cairo, women stop in the villages, so that the men adopt ordinary dress of fellaheen in Egypt. The manner of building houses from lumps of earth, crude brick, with flat wooden or vaulted brick roofs constructed in the same way as those used by the ancient Egyptians was noticed. Reed shelters are also in use. Not only the unique antiquities but the present people, with all life, animal and vegetable alike, are affected by the projected reservoir. In view of the contemplated destruction it is of the utmost importance to make an exhaustive scientific investigation of the valley before it is submerged. 7. On a New Representation of the Vertical Relief of the British Isles. By B. V. DARBISHIRE. |