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THE SCOTTISH
GEOGRAPHICAL
MAGAZINE.
THE SCOTTISH
GEOGRAPHICAL MAaAZOE
PUBLISHED BY THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND EDITED BY HUGH A. WEBSTER and ARTHUR SILVA WHITE
VOLUME II: 1886.
EDINBURGH
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her MAJESTr,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1886
7
Authors arc alone responsible for their respective Statements.
SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
LIST OF COU NCI L.
{Elected 18th November 1886.)
President. The RioHT Hon. The EARL OF ROSEBERY, LL.D.
Vice-Presidents.
His Grace The Dcke of Aroyll, K.G., K.T.
His Grace The Duke of Sutherland, K.G.
The Most Koblt The Marquess of Tweeddale.
The Most Noble The Marquess of Lothian, K.T., LL.D.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Galloway.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Dalhousie.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Wemyss, LL.D.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Aberdeen, LL.D.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Glasgow, LL.D.
The Right Hon. The Earl of Rosslyn, M.A.
The Right Hon. Lord Forbes, M.A., F.R.G.S.
The Right Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
The Right Hon. Lord Reay, D.C.L., LL.D.
The Right Hon. Lord Polwarth.
The Right Hon. J. B. Balfour, LL.D., M.P.
Admiral of thi; Fleet Sir A. Milne, Bart., G.C.B.,
F.R.G.S. Sir Donald Currie, K.C.M.G., M.P. Colonel H. Yule, C.B., LL.D., F.R.G.S. Professor James Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. D. Milne Home, of Milnegraden, LL.D. John Cowan, of Beeslack.
Principal Sir William Muir, K.C.S.L, LL.D., D.C.L. William MacKinnon, of Balinakill. The Right Hon. The Earl of Crawford and BaI/-
carres, LL.D., F.R.S. Sir Charles U. Aitchison, K.C.S.L, C.I.E., LL.D.,
Lieut.-Governor of the Panjab. The Right Hon. Sir Thomas Clark, Bart.
Ordinary Members of Council.
James Currie, Leith.
James Grahame, C.A., Glasgow.
Thomas Harvey, LL.D.
F. H. Groome.
Robert Hutchison, of Carlowrie, F.R.S.E.
John Bartholomew, F.R.G.S.
Dr. W. G. Blackie, F.R.G.S., Glasgow.
James Tait Black, F.R.S.E.
Professor Cossar Ewart, M.D.
Adam W. Black.
Professor Roberton, LL.D., Glasgow.
Principal Peterson, M.A., LL.D., Dundee.
David Patrick, Jt.A.
A. B. M'Grigor, LL.D., Glasgow.
Rev. A. Gray' Maitland, Crieff.
Thomas Muir, LL.D., Glasgow.
Professor Calderwood, LL.D.
T. R. Buchanan, M.P.
H. J. Younger.
Alexander Buchan, M.A. , F.R.S.E.
Hugh Cleghorn, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E.
W. Scott Dalqleish, M.A.
Edward Cox, M.A., Dundee.
Sir Alexander Christison, Bart.
Colonel Dods.
Dr. Robert W. Felkin, F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S.
Rev. George A. Smith, M.A., Aberdeen.
W. Orr Leitch, Greenock,
David Stewart, M.A. , Aberdeen.
W. Renny Watson, Glasgow.
Dr. James Burgess, CLE.
T. B. Johnston, F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S.
James Stevenson, F.R.G.S.
Coutts Trotter, F.R.G.S.
Alexander Thomson.
Principal Donaldson, LL.D., St. Andrews.
James Clyde, M.A., LL.D.
James Campbell, of TuUiehewan.
Dr. George Smith, CLE., F.R.G.S.
F. Faithfull Begg, London.
Robert Cox, of Gorgie, M.A., F.R.S.E.
D. F. Lowe, M.A.
John Geddie, F.R.G.S.
John Murray, Ph.D., F.R.S.E.
Colonel R. Murdoch Smith, R.E.
Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc, F.R.S.E.
J. W. M'Crindle, M.A.
Walter B. Blaikie.
George R. Merry, Dundee.
Sheriff iENEAS J. G. Mackay, LL.D.
Professor J. M. D. Meiklejohn, St. Andrews
Ctustccs — Adam Black ; Robert Cox of Gorgie ; James Currie ; and the Honorary Treasurers, ex officio.
Igonorarg Stcrctaries— Ralph Richardson, W.S., F.R.S.E. ; John George Bartholomew, F.R.S.E.
^^onoraro litiitot— Hugh A. Webster. Srcrctavg ant) lEOitnr— Arthur Silva White, F.R.S.E.
Igonorarg STrcasurrrs— Alexander L. Bruce, Edinburgh ; P.obert Gourlav, Bank of Scotland, Glasgow.
lonorarg ILibrarian— William C. Smith, LL.B., Advocate. fflap^Curator— John George Bartholo.mew, F. R.S.B.
Cijicf (Clerk ant) assistant Itibratian— George A. Craig. auditor— James M. Macandrew, C.A.
SOCIETY'S KOOMS : 80a PRINCES 8TEEET, EDINBURGH.
CONDITIONS AND PRIVILEGES OF MEMBEKSHIR
It is provided by Chapter i. § iv. of the Constitiition and Laivs of the Scottish Geographical Society, that —
" The Ordinary Members shall he those who are approved hy the Council, and who fay the ordinary annual siibscription, or a composition for life-menibership."
The Annual Subscription is One Guinea (no Entrance Fee), which is payable in advance at the commencement of the Session, on November 1st of each year. A single payment of Ten Guineas constitutes a Life-Membership. Application Forms may be had by addressing the Secretary, Scottish Geographical Society, 80a Princes Street, Edinburgh.
The Privileges of Membership include admission (with one friend) to all Meetings of the Society, and the use of the Library and ]\Iap- Room. Each Member is entitled to receive free by post the Scottish Geograiohical Magazine, which is published monthly, and any other ordinary publication of the Society.
Branches of the Society have been established in Glasgow, Dundee, and Aberdeen, where periodical Meetings are held.
CONTENTS.
VOLUME IL, 1886.
No. I.— JANUARY.
PAGE
Names and Places in Easter Ross. By the Rev. William Taylor, M.A., 1 Physical Condition of Water in Estuaries. By Hugh Robert Mill, B.Sc,
F.R.S.E., F.C.S., .20
Royal Geographical Society's Education Schemes and its Exhibition of
Geographical Appliances, ...... 27
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, ... 32
Correspondence, ........ 32
Obituary, 1885, ........ 34
Geographical Notes, ....... 39
New Books, ......... 58
New Maps, ......... 63
No. II.— FEBRUARY.
East Central Africa, and its Commercial Outlook. By Joseph Thomson,
F.R.G.S., 65
Exploration Survey for Railway Connection between India, Siam, and
China. By Holt S. Hallett, C.E., F.R.G.S., .... 78
The Ancient Civilisation, Trade, and Commerce of Eastern Africa. By
Henry E. O'Neill, F.R.G.S., 92
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, . • .110
Geographical Notes, . . . . . . .113
CONTENTS.
New Books, .........
New Maps, .........
Maps A^fD Illustration —
Map of Indo-China, showing the Proposed Burma-Siam-China
Railway. Sketch-Map illustrating Ancient Trade Routes of East Africa. Portrait of Mr. Joseph Thomson.
PAGE
124 127
No. III.— MAECH.
A Visit to Badghis in 1883, and to the Herat Valley in 1885. By
Colonel C. E. Stewart, C.B., C.M.G., C.I.E., . . .129
Mountains : their Origin, Growth, and Decay. By Professor James
Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., 145
Baffin Land, 162
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, . . . 166
Geographical Notes, ....... 167
New Books, . ........ 185
New Maps, ......... 192
Map and Illustrations — Map of Badghis. Ten Diagrams illustrating Professor Geikie's Paper on Mountains.
No. IV.— APEIL.
The Geographical Evolution of Europe. By Professor James Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S.,
Uganda. By Dr. Robert W. Felkin, F.R.S.E., .
Three Years of Arctic Service, by Lieut. A. W. Greely, U.S. Army {Review), .......
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society,
Geographical Notes, ......
New Books, ........
New Maps, ........
193 208
227 231 231
249 2.54
No. V.-MAY.
South Africa : its Physical Configuration and Rainfall. By Wm. B. Tripp, Mem. Inst. C.E., F.R. Met. Soc, . . . .
S57
CONTENTS. ix
PAG K
Notes on the Place-Names of Kinross-shire and Vicinity. By W. J. N.
Liddall, B.A., Advocate, ...... 262
Notes on the Seaboard of Aberdeenshire. No. I. By William Ferguson
of Kinraiindy, ........ 2G8
Geographical Education in the Caucasus. By V. Dingelstedt, Hon.
Corr. Mem. Scottish Geographical Society Point Barrow, Alaska, Geographical Notes,
New Books, ..... New Maps, .....
Maps—
South Africa : Elevation and Rainfall.
No. VI.— JUNE.
274 276 28.3 312 319
Travels in Eastern and South-Central Madagascar. By Rev. William
Deans Cowan, ....... 321
The Dumbartonshire Highlands. By H. M. Cadell, B.Sc, H.M. Geo- logical Survey of Scotland, ...... 337
Physical Exploration of the Firth of Clyde. By Hugh R. Mill, D.Sc,
of Scottish Marine Station, ...... 347
The Physical and Biological Conditions of the Seas and Estuaries about North Britain. By John Murray, Ph.D., Director of Challenger Commission, ........ 354
Relative Proportion of Land and Water on the Surface of the Earth, . 3.58 Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, . . . 362
Geographical Notes, ....... 363
New Books, ......... 379
New Maps, ......... 383
Map—
Dumbartonshire Highlands. Illustrating Mr. H. M. Cadell's Paper.
No. VII.— JULY.
The Upper Zambesi Zone. By W\ Montagu Kerr, . . . 385
Notes on the Seaboard of Aberdeenshire. No. II. By William Ferguson
of Kinmundy, ........ 403
TheCultivable Area of the Egyptian Sudan. By J. T. Wills, . .411
CONTENTS.
A Journey in Persia, ... The Geographical Exhibition and Geographical Education, Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, Geographical Notes, .....
New Books, .......
New Maps, . ...
Map—
The Fertile Area of the Sudan, .
PAGE
415
420 424 426 441
448
413
No. VIII.— AUGUST.
Method, applied to the Teaching of Geography in the School. By Professor Laurie, .....
The Place-Names of lona. By Alexander Carmichael, .
Notes from the Cape, .....
The Industrial Products and Food-Stuffs of the Congo. By H Nipperdey, ......
The Patagonian Andes. By Colonel Fontana,
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society,
Geographical Notes, .....
New Books, .......
New Maps, .......
Map—
South Africa : Geology of Great Central Basin.
449 461 475
482 487 492 492 509 511
No. IX.— SEPTEMBER.
History, Poetry, etc., in Geographical Names. By Professor Meiklejohn, The Exploration of the Antarctic Regions. By John Murray, Ph.D., of
the Challenger Expedition, ..... Drainage Areas of the Continents and their Relation to Oceanic Deposits,
By John Murray, Ph.D., of the Challenger Expedition, Geographical Notes, ......
New Books, ........
New Maps, ........
Map and Illustrations—
South Polar Chart, showing Heights of Land and Depths of
Sea. By John George Bartholomew. Six Illustrations of the Paper on Antarctic Exploration by
John ^lurray, Ph.D.
513
548 556 573 576
CONTENTS.
No. X.— OCTOBER
PAGE
Niger aud Central Siidan Sketches. By Joseph Thomson, Hon. Mem.
S.G.S., ......... 577
Some Geographical Notes on the Work of the Afghan Boundary Com- mission. By Charles Edward D. Black, . . . .'396
Eeport to Council. By Robert W. Felkin, M.D., F.R.S.E., the Society's
Delegate to the British Association, 1886, .... 610
Memorandum on the Advantages from an Expedition to the Region within
the Antarctic Circle. By Ettrick W. Creak, R.N., F.R.S., . . 619
Geographical Notes, ....... 622
New Books, ......... 633
New Maps, ......... 639
Map and Illustrations —
Sketch-Map of Mr. Joseph Thomson's Journey to Sokoto. Six Illustrations of Mr. Joseph Thomson's Paper.
No. XI.— NOVEMBER.
The Panama Canal. By Ferdinand de Lesseps, .... 641 Can Europeans become Acclimatised in Tropical Africa ? By Robert
W. Felkin, M.D., F.R.G.S., etc., 647
The Balkan States. By Arthur Silva White, . . . .657
Notes on the Seaboard of Aberdeenshire. No. III. By William Ferguson
of Kinmundy, ........ 676
Geographical Notes, ....... 682
New Books, . . . . . . . . .697
New Maps, ......... 704
Maps—
The Balkan Peninsula.
The Balkan States.
The Panama Canal {page 643).
No. XII.— DECEMBER.
The Position of Dr. Emin Bey. By Robert W. Felkin, M.D.,
F.R.G.S., 705
Guernsey. By George G. Chisholm, M.A., B.Sc., . . . 720
Proposed new Route via Hudson's Bay aud Strait to the Great Prairie- Lands of Canada. By John Rae, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.G.S., etc., ......... 727
CONTEXTS.
On the Authoritative Publications of the Colonial Exhibition Coramis sion (Australia). By J. T. Wills, ....
Proceedings of the Scottish Geographical Society, Geographical Notes, .....
New Books, .......
New Atlases, ......
Report of Council, . .
Maps—
Sokotra.
Map showing Proposed Routes for Relief Expedition to Emin Bey.
733 739 742 755 762 762
THE SCOTTISH
GEOGRAPHICAL
MAGAZINE.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER KOSS. By the Rev. William Taylor, M.A.,
Author of " Researches into the Historij of Tain," etc.
This district is, roughly, that which lies between the Cromarty and Dornoch Firths ; more accurately, it is that eastern division of Ross-shire, of triangular form, of which the apex is Tarbatness, and of which the irregular base line passes over hill and dale from the mouth of the Alness Water to the main source of the river Oykell. It is bounded on the northern side by the Oykell, the Dornoch Firth, and the North Sea, and on the southern side by the Moray and the Cromarty Firths ; thus com- prising all the parishes that are united ecclesiastically under the Presby- tery of Tain, viz., Kincardine (including Croick), Rosskeen (including Invergordon), Edderton, Kilmuir-Easter, Logie-Easter, Tain, Nigg, Fearn, and Tarbat.
The bilingual character of the district will afford us a considerable advantage in our inquiry into the meanings and historical significancy of the names of places within it. The English or Scotch-English names, of which it contains a good many, will of course present little difficulty, not only because the language in which they are expressed is our own, but because most of them, being of comparatively recent origin, have under- gone little corruption. The names of older origin are mostly Gaelic ; these are, indeed, often mispronounced by the younger English-speaking genera- tion j but they may in most cases be heard in their genuine form from the lips of the older inhabitants who are familiar with the ancient tongue. When a place has two names, a Gaelic and an English one, of which one is a literal translation of the other, the meaning is especially unmistakable. When the two names do not thus explain each other, and have perhaps vol, it. a
2 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
no connection of meaning at all, there is greater difficulty — a difficulty, however, which we may regard as compensated by the greater interest which the double history of some kind, naturally suggesting itself for investigation, gives to our inquiry.^
Even the two languages do not suffice to explain all the names of places in this district, a good many being not easily referable to either. Of these, however, some find probable explanation on the assumption of the former existence here of dialects akin to, but not identical with, the languages at present spoken ; that is to say, of a Pictish dialect of the Celtic, more nearly allied perhaps to Welsh than to Gaelic, and of old Norse or Danish, one of the undoubted parents of our Scotch- English. So many names have been already explained, not in this district alone but in other parts of Scotland, by the help of these assumptions, that we may confidently anticipate the interpretation, by the same means, of many more. Yet, after all shall have been done that can be done in this way, there will probably be left a certain residuum of names still unexplained. These, as unintelligible to Graelic as to English ears, are, for the most part, the names, or parts of the names, of the mountains, great rivers, lakes, gorges, and other unchangingly prominent features of our country, and have come down to us, it is natural to conclude, through all the ages both of Celtic and of Gothic occupancy, as survivals of a long- forgotten past. They should not be too hastily pronounced to be irredu- cible. But Avhen they shall have really defied every attempt at reduction by means of the present languages and their cognates, and shall be exhaustively collected from all Scotland for comparison and scientific classification, glottologists will have in them hopeful materials for the solution of a great problem awaiting them — the ascertainment of the language, or at least of the affinities of the language, that was spoken by those pre-Celtic inhabitants of our land, the peculiar form of whose skulls, as disinterred from ancient barrows, has already led archaeologists to some probable conclusions.
We will begin with the name Eoss itself, which though now given to a whole county, seems to have been originally appropriated to Easter Ross, or even more strictly to what the AVest Highlanders call Machair Eois (pronounced Machir Eosh), that is, the fertile level sea-board of Easter Eoss. Was it derived from the prevailing clan, Eoss, of the district ? We think it more probable that the district gave its name to the clan, and that the origin of the designation must be sought in some geographical feature. Eoss, though hardly kno"\vn as a significant word in modern
^ Let me here acknowledge my obligation to several intelligent friends in the district lor help kindly afforded me in my inquiries. I must name in particular Mr. Roderick M'Lean, Ardross, a gentleman who, to familiarity with both the languages of the district, and intimate acquaintance with its localities, adds enthusiastic love for siich investigations. To him I owe not only the suggestion of several etymologies, but some of the most interesting traditions to which I appeal. I am glad to know that he intends to pixblish the results of researches extending over a wider area.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 3
Gaelic, is thought with considerable probability to have anciently denoted a promontory, or rather a point of flat and fertile land jutting into the sea ; which, being properly applied to Tarbat Ness, passed by a natural extension of meaning first to the fertile peninsula of Easter Ross (in the narrower of the two senses we have indicated), then to the wider district called by that name, which includes mountains as well as plains, and finally to the whole county of Ross. In modern Gaelic, indeed, a " point of land " is not Eos, but either Roinn (whence the Rhynns of Galloway), or far more' commonly Paigha (pronounced Ru'ti), Avhence the Gaelic name of Tarbat Ness, Rugha Tharbairt. In Irish, according to O'Reilly, Eos means either a promontory, an isthmus, or plain arable land ; meanings sufficiently divergent from each other, yet each of them applicable to Easter Ross (as indeed also to the Ross of Mull, which is likewise a low- lying, and in part fertile, strip of land jutting out from that island into the Atlantic). It is unnecessary, therefore, to have recourse to the Welsh or British language, in which Rhos means a marsh or moor, and RJncss (pronounced Rhuss or Rhooss), fertile land. This latter, indeed, would be a most appropriate name for Easter Ross as it is now, and was compara- tively appropriate for it doubtless even in ancient times ; and if there shall appear probable reason to believe that a dialect of ancient British akin to modern Welsh Avas once spoken in the district, this British etymology of its name will be at least worth consideration.
We will now enumerate the most frequently occurring generic prefixes and postfixes attached to names of places in this district, giving them in alphabetical order for convenience of reference, and adding illustrations of most of them.
Prefixes.
Ard (Gaelic for " high," or " a height "), whence Ardmore (" the great height "). Hence also Ardross (" the height of Ross "), a name now restricted to one ex- tensive property in the mountainous part of Easter Ross ; but given originally, as is probable, to the whole mountainous region, to distinguish it from Ross proper, or Machair Bois, the level sea-board.
Ardj (Gael. Airde, "height"), whence Ardjachy (Gael. Aird'-achaidh), "the height of cornland," a cultivable tongue of land to the west of Tain.
AucH (Gael. Achadh or Acha\ "cornland "), as in Auch-na-claicli, "the cornland of the stone," an estate in Rosskeen ; Auchnahanat (of which hereafter) ; and others.
AuLT (Gael. Alt, a burn or stream), prefixed to innumerable streams.
Bad (Gaelic for a bunch or clump of trees), as in Bad-a-chlamhan, "the kite's grove."
Bal (Gael. Baile, a "farm-residence," or " town"), in the beginning of innumerable names both of farms and villages.
Ben (Gael. Beinn, a "mountain" or "great hill"), as in Bengarrick, the Hill of Tain.
Blar (Gael, a " plain," and sometimes specially a '' field of battle "), as in Blarleath (blar liath, "grey" or "hoary plain"), a plain below Tain, perhaps so called from the hoary-blossoming blackthorn which once abounded in it.
4 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
Cambus (Gael. Camas, a " curve " or " bay "), as in Cambuscurry, a shallow bay of the Dornoch Firth.
Cairn (Gael. Cam, a "heap of stones," natural or artificial), as in Carn-Cuinneag, the " pitcher cairn," a mountain in Ardross, called a cairn, doubtless, from the loose masses of stone of which the visible portion of it is composed, and receiving its specific appellation of " Pitcher " from its general form.
Carrie (Gael. Carragh, a monumental obelisk), as in Carrieblair, of which by-and- bye.
Clash (Gael. Cluis, pronounced clash), a " furrow," artificial or natural, as in Clashnacomrich, " the Furrow of the Sanctuary," of which by-and-bye.
Coil (Gael. Coille), a " wood."
CuL, 1 (Gael. Cidl), a "corner," as iu the mongrel name given recently to a small property in Glen-UUadale, — Culpleasant, intended doubtless to mean " Pleasant Corner."
CuL, 2 (Gael. Cid), the " back," as in Gulnaha (" the back of the kiln ").
Dal (Gael. Dail, pronounced Dal), a "field ;" a word probably borrowed by the Gaels from one or other of the Gothic languages, though not exactly in the sense of " valley," which it bears in these. It may be known to be Gaelic, as in Dalmore {Dail mhor, great field), by the circumstance of its being a prefix, not a suffix as in names like Nithsdale, Liddesdale, of Saxon or Norse forma- tion, in Dumfriesshire, as well indeed as by the difference of meaning.
Drochaid (locally pronounced Drotsh, a " bridge "), as in Drochaid-an-aobh, the " Bridge of Noise," of which hereafter.
Dun (Gael. Dun), a mount or hill-fort, as in Dun-ailisceig.
Glen (Gael. Oleann), a " valley," generally narrower than a strath.
Inch (Gael. Innis, pronounced iTiish), a grassy island or other choice pasture-land, as in Innis Mhur, the " Big Island," at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth.
Inver (Gael. Inbhir, pronounced iTiiver or iFiir), a " confluence," or " the angle of land between two confluent waters," as in Invercarron, an estate at the confluence of the river Carron with the Kyle or upper part of the Dornoch Firth.
KiL (Gael. Cille), a " cell" or " chapel," as in Kilmuir.
Kin (Gael. Ceann, gen. Cinn), "head" or "end," as in Kincardine. The mountain Struie is in Gaelic called Ceann Strui', " the Head of Struie."
Knock (Gael. Cnoc), a "knoll, or "low hill," as in Knockbreck ("speckled hill").
Kyle (Gael. Caol or Caolas), a "narrow sea," or "firth."
Leck (Gael. Leac), a " flagstone."
Loan (Gael. Lon), a " meadow," or "marshy field."
Loch (Gaelic for a " lake," or other sheet of wholly or nearly enclosed water), as in Lochslin, once a small lake (though now drained for agriculture), which must have emptied itself into the Dornoch Firth at the village of Inver, as this is called in the old records Inverlochslin.
Pit (not probably Gaelic). See remarks on it in what follows.
Port (Gaelic for " harbour " or " ferry "), as in Portmahomack, a village in Tarbat, having a good harbour ; Portinculter, the " Meikle Ferry " across the Dornoch Firth.
Pol (Gael. Poll), a " pool " or " pond," as in Polnicol and Polio.
Rhu {Rudha or Eugha, pronounced Ru'a), a "point of land," as in Rhunahinshe- more, " the point of the Big Insh."
Strath (Gael. Srath, pronounced Strah), a "river valley," generally wide and fertile.
Tor (Gael. Torr), a mound or castellated hill.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 5
The foregoing list of prefixes almost tells its own tale. They are (with one exception) all Gaelic, and their meanings are beyond question. The solitary exception is Pit, a syllable which begins the names of Pit-hogarty, Pitnellie, Pitmaduthy, Pitkeiry, Pitcalny, Pitcalzean, being farms or small properties called by these names in old charters, and still generally so called by the English-speaking people. The Gaelic people, however, though they do sometimes use the prefix Fit Avith a Gaelic intonation in naming those farms, replace the Pit generally by the really Gaelic prefix Baile, which signifies a town or farm -residence, but leave the remaining part of the names, as they find them, quite unintelligible both to them- selves and to non-Gaels. It seems improbable that a prefix which Gaelic people thus habitually translate by a Gaelic word can be, or can ever have been, itself Gaelic, or that the names in which it occurs are of Gaelic origin. Yet its position at the beginning and never at the end of the names which it characterises, argues it, on grammatical grounds, to belong to one of the Celtic rather than of the Gothic languages ; and as it is found similarly beginning many names of villages and farms in all the agricultural counties on the East Coast of Scotland, from Moray to Fife inclusive — that is to say, in a district which is believed to have been formerly occupied and cultivated by the Pictish race — we infer that it was probably a Pictish word. And knowing no reason to question, but many reasons to accept, the usual Gaelic translation of it by Baile, we conclude that it was the Pictish equivalent for that word, and, like it, meant a town or farm-residence. This, it perhaps may be thought, is a narrow founda- tion on which to rest a conclusion that Easter Ross, or at least the plain and fertile part of it, belonged to old Pictland ; yet we venture to draw that conclusion. We could do so with greater confidence had we in the district any other topographical terms that, though not Gaelic, were yet probably Celtic — had we, for example, among the many occurrences of Inver (Gaelic, Inbhir) in the sense of river-mouth, embouchure, or con- fluence, any occurrences also of the British Aber in the same sense, such as we find not infrequent in the eastern counties we have indicated, and even in that part of Inverness-shire which lies east of the great valley of Scotland or line of the Caledonian Canal. But since, as we have seen, even Pit is in Easter Ross already nearly displaced by the Gaelic Bal or Baile, we do not find it difficult to suppose that many Abers may have existed here of old that have now been wholly replaced by Invers. Oui' opinion that at least the level part of Easter Ross was once occupied by the Picts is confirmed by the fact that in one place in Edderton — ^just where this level part touches the mountains — there was to be seen not long ago a fine example (Dun-allishkeg) of those ancient structures called Brocks, or Picts' houses, which a living archaeologist, with much force of argument, shows were probably constructed by a peaceful agricultural people, such as the Picts, as granaries and store-houses in which to preserve the produce of their fields and other property from their plundering Highland neighbours. Our opinion is strengthened by
6 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
this other consideration, that the Gaelic dialect spoken in Easter Ross differs notably from that of the Western and Southern Highlanders, and in ways for which it is difficult to account, except on the theory of the transmitted influence of an obsolete tongue.
If the generic prefixes in the district appear thus to be all Celtic, the generic postfixes, on the other hand, appear to be almost all Gothic — that is to say, either English, Scotch-English, Anglo-Saxon, or Norse. They are chiefly the following, in alphabetical order : —
Suffixes.
Bay, as in Cambuscurry Bay — a tautology, for Camas in Gaelic means " bay." Boll, cognate doubtless with our holl, a measure for corn or meal ; but anciently,
it would seem, denoting rather a measure of cultivated land. Burn, as in Scotsburn. Bridge, as in Garrick Bridge. Brig, as in Gizzen Briggs.
Castle, as in Balnagowan Castle, Ballone Castle. Croft, as in Mary's Croft, Poors' Croft, Hangman's Croft. Dale, as in Carbisdale, Uiladale. End, as in Bridgend of Alness. Farm, as in Moorfarm. Ferry, as in Meikle Ferry, Cromarty Ferry. Field, as in Hartfield, Highfield, Rockfield, Seafield. Firth (Norse, Fiord), as in Dornoch Firth, Cromarty Firth. Hill, as in Rosehill.
House, as in Tarbat House, Kindeace House. Mount, as in Eosemount.
Ness (Norse for a " headland "), as in White Ness, Tarbatness. Point, as in Ardjachy Point.
Town or Ton, as in Hilltown, Hilton, Milltown, Milton. Wick (Norse, Vik), a "bay," as in Shandwick. Wood, as in Calrossie Wood, which contains a probable tautology, if Cal stands for
Coille, Gaelic for " wood."
To the foregoing generic suffixes should be added the termination -ie, which is found attached to a good many names of places in the district. It is, in sound at least, identical with the Scotch diminutive termination ie. The names in which it occurs are reniai'kable, as in most instances Gaelic, but modified into unintelligibility by Norse or Lowland strangers. What renders such a process probable is, that several of the English or Scandinavian suffixes above mentioned are found occasionally attached to undoubtedly Celtic words. The most interesting (historically) of such mongrel names are those which are half Gaelic, half Norse, and the most important is, perhaps, Tarbatness ; of which the ness is undoubt- edly Norse for a headland, but the Tarbat (or Tarhart) as certainly Gaelic for an isthmus. Tarbat is supposed by Gaelic scholars to be a contraction of Tarruing-hata (YitQvaWy " draw-boat "or "boat-drawing"); and the parish of Tarbat is said to have received this name from a narrow neck of land which separates the waters of the German Ocean at the Bay of Portmahomack
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 7
on the north, from the waters of the Moray Firth on the south ; over which neck the inhabitants of old used to draw their light skin-canoes or curachs from sea to sea, in order to avoid the perilous doubling of the lliigha, or promontory. As to this promontory, the co-existence of the mixed name, Tarbatness, with a purely Gaelic name, Jtugha-Tliarhairt, in- dicates pretty plainly a supervention at some not extremelj^ ancient date, upon the native Gaels of the district, of an intruding Scandinavian race from beyond the German Sea. Those intruders apparently accepted Tarbat, the Gaelic name of the territory, but formed from it a compound name for its conspicuous headland, in a way accordant with their own idiom, by affixing Ness. As we know that the Norsemen gave names to most of the conspicuous objects on the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland (as well as of the Hebrides), and even to many inland farms in those dis- tricts, we ask with interest, " To what extent do the names of places in Easter Ross indicate the same influence 1" Let us first take the places on the coast. Sailing from Tarbatness along the southern or Moray Firth side of the peninsula of Easter Ross, we pass a fishing village that bears the thoroughly Scandinavian name of Shandwick ("sand-bay"), so called doubt- less from the little bay in which the fishermen's boats nestle. After Shand- wick the voyager passes the Hill of Nigg (a name more probably Scandi- navian than Celtic, and akin perhaps to nook or nick), rounds the northern Sidor (a name that has no Gaelic meaning, but was prol^ably given by the Scandinavians from their own language, in which Skuti, from Skuta, to " jut out," means a shelter formed by jutting rocks). Then, passing on his left the town of Cromarty, which had perhaps been already colonised by a kindred Saxon or Frisian race, he sails up the Cromarty Firth until, on the Ross-shire shore, he touches a headland, which he calls a Ness, and which to this day is known in local parlance as the Ness of Invergordon. Proceeding on his voyage of discovery and appropriation a few miles farther, the Norseman similarly names Alness ; and finally passing on to the very head of the Cromarty Firth — let us be excused for accompanying him here beyond the strict bounds of our subject — he lands at Inver- Feffer (in Gaelic, Inbhir-Phebran, or InlMr-Pheabhran), forms a settlement there, establishes in it a Thing, or Court, and re-names the place Thing- valla, or Dingwall.
But he, or another Norse adventurer, sails also along the northern shore of the peninsula, passes a dangerous sandy bar, bearing the Gaelic name of Drochaid-an-Aohh, which guards the entrance of the Dornoch Firth, learns perhaps the meaning of that name as " the Bridge of Noise," and either translates it freely, or, by an onomatopoetic instinct prompted at once by eye and ear, re-names the bar for himself as the " Gizzen Briggs " — a name apparently cognate with the Geyser, or great boiling spring of Iceland, analogous also to the Bullers (" boilers ") of Buchan, so that it seems to mean "the Boiling Bridges." Though the Gaelic name of the bar in question is in constant use still among the Gaelic-speaking part of the population, it is more difficult to explain etymologically than that
8 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
which we regard as of Norse origin ; but we believe it to mean, as we have said, " the Bridge of Noise." Drochaid (locally, and in this instance always, Droit, pronounced Drotsh), unquestionably means "bridge;" but Aohh is not now in use in any sense whatever. Eihh, however, in Gaelic, means a prolonged sharp or tingling noise ; and, though the noise of the Gizzen Briggs is certainly neither sharj) nor tingling, yet as acute 6 long is in several Gaelic words interchangeable with the broad sound of ao (French eu or German o), it would in this case very naturally pass into this broader sound through an instinctive tendency to imitate the deep, broad roar of the breakers that boil and foam over the sandy bar. "We may compare with this name that Avhich Livingstone heard given by the native Africans to the great Falls of the Zambesi — a name meaning in their language " the sounding smoke," and thus appealing similarly both to eye and ear. Some people, indeed, whom we have interrogated as to the Gaelic name in question, have pronounced it to us as if it were spelled not with hit (the common v) but with mh or nasal v, making it Droit an naomh, that is, Drochaid nan naomh, " the Bridge of Saints," and backing this pronunciation with a myth to the effect that there is heard on Sabbath- days, from below the waves, the voice of psalmody proceeding from the drowned crew or passengers of a vessel that was once stranded on the bar. But, though Ave confess that it requires a sharp ear to distinguish at all times infallibly between the common and the nasal v in Gaelic, we are pretty confident that Aobh is the genuine form of the word ; for so (without the nasal) we have always heard it from unsophisticated people who had no myth in their minds to influence their pronunciation of it. Having passed the bar, our supposed Norse adventurer, doubling the projecting point of the " Morrich More " (a plain covered in part with sandhills, in part with lagoons, or marshes, and which was once apparently covered by the sea), gives to that projecting point, in his own language, a name which, in modified form, it bears to this day, the " White Ness." He then sails a few miles further up the firth, and, rounding the headland of Portnaculter, the " Meikle Ferry," enters the shallow bay of Cambuscurry, between Tain and Edderton. Tradition still speaks of a Danish fleet as having anchored in that bay ; and its name (a Gaelic one), if admitted to have undergone a slight corruption in the final syllable, may be easily under- stood to mean the " Bay of Canoes." Did the adventurers sail on to the very head of this firth, as they did to that of the Cromarty Firth 1 That they did, is made highly probable by the occurrence of the Gothic name Carbisdale at the head of the Kyle (or highest and narrowest part of the firth), amid a host of Gaelic names all around. This spot, Carbisdale, has become memorable as the scene of Montrose's last battle immediately before his flight and capture ; which battle the Highlanders have commemorated by calling the adjoining hill, in their own language, Creag Caoineaclmn — the " Rock of Lamentation."
But though the Norsemen sailed to the head of the Firth, their main efforts of conquest seem to have been put forth nearer to its mouth. It
I
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 9
was doubtless with a purpose of conquest that (according to the Edderton tradition) they anchored in Cambuscurry Bay. For, a mile or two to the west of that bay, near the parish church of Edderton, there is a rude monumental obelisk, traditionally said to mark the grave of a Danish prince, and to this day called Carrie-blair (Carragh-a'-bhlciir), the " Ol^elisk of the Battle-field." Not far from it also is Balblair (Baile-a-bhlair), the "town " or "farm of the Battle-field." Then, on the hill-side, some little distance above, is a peat-moss bearing the name of Ranich (in Gaelic, Ehmich, "crying" or "wailing")— a curious appellation, which may be supposed to commemorate the lamentation of women over their dead slain in battle. Closely adjoining this, but on the other side of the hill towards Tain, is another peat-moss bearing the no less ciirious name of the Gocaman, that is, "Sentinel," suggesting the idea that at this place a sentinel was posted in the olden times to warn the inhabitants of Tain, and generally of the fertile country of Easter Ross, of the approach of enemies — whether of caterans rushing down from the Highlands of the west, or of vikings from beyond the North Sea. The dangers from the former source are perhaps commemorated in the name of a sand-hill formerly visible on the shore east of Tain — " Paul MacTyre's Hill " — so called apparently after a noted freebooter of that name, who, from the heights of Kincardine, where he resided, in the fourteenth century, kept his neighbours of Sutherland, Easter Ross, and even Caithness, in terror of his raids, subjecting them to an oppressive black-mail. The reality of the other danger we have already learned from the Edderton obelisk and traditions, and from the names of various places in that parish. We find, moreover, significant indications of foreign conquest in various names in the parish of Tain and other parts of Easter Ross. Not, indeed, in the name of Tain itself (anciently Than or Thaijne), though this was supposed by a late distinguished antiquarian in the north to be derived (like Ding- wall) from the Norse Thing or Ting, "a court." At one time Ave adopted that etymology, but only for lack of a better, as we always felt it necessitated the supposition of a rather too violent corruption. We are now inclined to think that the name of Tain (which is given not only to the town, but to a river or stream which enters the firth below the town) originally belonged to the stream, and from it passed to the town, not vice versa from the town to the stream. Three northern towns — Thurso, Wick, and Nairn — are undoubtedly named after the rivers at whose mouths respectively they stand, as is proved by the fact that in Gaelic they are called Inhhir-Tlielrrsa (Inver-Thurso), Inhhir-Uig (Inver- Wick), and Inhhir-Nearainn (Inver-Nairn). Now, the tradition is that the town of Tain was once built much nearer than it is at present to the mouth of its river, on land that has been in great part swept away by the sea, but that was called in old charters, and is sometimes remembered still as Inver-Eathie, or in Gaelic Inbhir-^ thai'. Eathie or Athai must then have been at one time the name of the Water of Tain. And since the same name belongs to a burn near Cromarty, made famous by Hugh Miller as the
10 NAilES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
" Burn of Eathie ; " since a river also in the Buchan district of Aberdeen- shire bears a nearly similar name, Ythan ; and since Buchan, in its names, bears many marks of old Pictish occupation, our conjecture is that Ythan was the Pictish equivalent of the Gaelic Alt and Welsh Nant, a "stream" or " burn ; " and that it came, in the instance we are presently concerned with, to be abbreviated in tAvo different ways, both in the form of Eathie, found in Invereathie the old site of the town of Tain, and in that of Than, Thayne, or Tain, the name of the present town.
We do not then find evidence of Norse occupation in the name of Tain itself; but we do find a good deal of evidence in the names of other places in the parish. Thus in the north-eastern corner, and near to the fishing village of Tnver, where there is a fairly good natural harbour for invaders to have landed, there is a farm called Balingall, which is manifestly the Gaelic Baile nan Gall, the " Town of the Lowlanders or Foreigners," a name that must have been given by the Gaelic population to a settlement of persons speaking a strange tongue ; for Gall meant to the Gael exactly what fSdpfSapos did to the ancient Greek. Now it is noteworthy that almost at the opposite corner of the parish there rises a stream called the .Scotsburn — a name which at once recalls that of the Scotswater, by Avhich the Firth of Forth was known when it formed the boundary between the Anglo-Normans on the south and the Scots or Gaels on the north, and which suggests the idea that the Scotsburn, too, must at some time have been a dividing line between races. Unlike Balingall, this name must have been given by the foreigners, though the natives also have adopted it. The Gaelic people, however, often translate it into Alt nan Albanach, which means the same thing. " Why is it so called 1 " we lately asked a small tenant who resides in the Glen of Scotsburn. " There was a battle once fought there between the Scotch and English." " And which party gained ? " "I suppose the English." And so Ave suppose too, if for English we be alloAved to substitute Norsemen. The tradition of a decisive battle fought there is confirmed by the name of the hill that fianks the glen on its eastern side, Bearnas a' Chlaidheamh ; for, though Bearnas has no known meaning as it stands, the supposition of a very slight corruption — the transposition, namely, of a single letter r — gives us Bre'anas ("Judgment"), the whole name thus yielding the meaning of " the Judgment of the Sword ; " a name most suitable for the site of a battle that fixed for a time the territorial boundaries of two contending races. In the Ordnance map the name appears, but less agreeably to common usage, as Beam a' chlaidheamh, or the " Notch of the Sword." Even this name, though less suggestive, is still plainly enough indicative of war. Still more indicative of deadly war is the name of a place about a mile distant, C/wc nan Ceann, the " Hill of Heads " (the Ordnance map transliterates it Knocknacawn) — an appellation so immanageable by Lowland tongues, and so gruesome also in its suggestion of human heads piled upon the spot, that a more attractive English name (Rosehill) has been given to a villa residence lately built upon it.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 11
The Scandinavians must have seized, whether or not they permanently occupied, not only most of the parish of Tain, but other large parts of the plain of Easter Ross. Not far from that farm of Balingall, in whose Gaelic name we have seen preserved the memory of foreign occupation, there are two farms (one of them now the home-farm of a large estate), bearing names of indubitably Scandinavian origin, — Arboll ^ and Cadboll. These are situated in the most fertile part of Easter Ross, and thus not only indicate plainly enough what the Norsemen sought in their invasion, but show that they were to a large extent successful in attaining their object. Not, indeed, entirely successful ; for all around these Norse names are many that are not Norse, but manifestly Gaelic, along with some that are probably Pictish.
So much for the Norsemen. Now for indications of religious and ecclesiastical influence. The name of one of the parishes, Kilmuir, mean- ing Mary's cell or chapel, tells its own tale ; we remark only that the prefix Kil points probably to Culdee rather than to later Romish times. Nonikill, the name of a ruined chapel in the parish of Rosskeen, is said to mean Ninian's cell — a somewhat doubtful etymology, because accord- ing to Gaelic, and indeed all Celtic analogy, the generic syllable Kill ought to have preceded, not followed, the name of the saint. But if the etymology be allowed, it is interesting as leading us back for the introduc- tion of Christianity into Easter Ross to times even earlier than those of the Culdees — to the days of Ninian, the founder of Whithorn in Galloway, or, at least, of his disciples. Near Tarbatness is Portmahomack — in Gaelic, Port-ma-Chahiuic, the harbour of St. Calmac. Ma, whether we suppose it to be a contraction of the Gaelic Maol, " bald," or of Mael, " servant," is found in many names derived from Culdee saints in other parts of Scotland. Calmac, then, we presume to have been a Culdee saint, who landed at Portmahomack, in order to evangelise Easter Ross. It quite accords with this, that the parish church of Tarbat, which is close to Portmahomack, is in old documents called the Church of St. Colman ; for, in not a few Gaelic words, final ii or rather nn, is dialectically interchangeable with c or g. There is, not far from Portmahomack, a fine natural cave, called Teampull Earach (or Eirich), entered by a " noble porch, which conducts the explorer along a corridor to three successive chambers." Whether the word "Temple" indicates the employment of this cave for Christian worship by St. Calmac (Colman) or some other evangelist, or whether it tells of heathen worship in still older times, we are unable to say. St. Calmac apparently did not confine his preaching to the sea-coast; a name, Kilmaclmlniag, "the cell or chapel of St. Calmac," in the heights of Kincardine, indicates that his evangelistic labours extended into the heart of the county.
1 Assuming holl to be Norse for a piece of cultivated land, the prefix ^r is probably the Scandinavian cere, which was an old coin, the eighth part of a mark [an ore is still a current coin, the hundredth part of a krone, which equals \s. He?. — Eds.] ; so that the name of this farm becomes analogous to the marklands, pennylands, etc., found in various parts of Scotland. Perhaps Eriboll, on the north coast of Sutherland, is the same as Arboll. What the Cad of Cadboll means we do not know.
12 NAMES or PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
In the Gaelic names of the town and parish of Tain (Baile DhutJmich, "St. Duthach's town," and " Sgire-Dhuthaich, "St. Duthach's parish"), we find commemorated the name of another saint — indeed the most famous saint of Easter Ross. The traditions of the fifteenth century aflfirm him to have been a native of Tain, and Irish annals afiirm him to have been "the chief confessor of Ireland and Scotland" in the eleventh century. Besides a number of places in his nati^'e town and parish, the farm of Fitmaduthy, in the parish of Logic, has almost certainly derived its name from him ; for Ma, as we have seen, indicates a Culdee saint. If Pit was, as we have said, a Pictish word, then one Pictish word at least must have been in occasional use as late as the eleventh century, even if Pictish, as a language, had fallen into disuse by that time. Belmaduthi/, the name of a mansion-house near Fortrose, has the same mean- ing, but in more consistent Gaelic. Did the same century, then, witness the transition in Easter Ross from the Pictish to the Gaelic language, that witnessed the transition in Scotland from Culdee to Romish ecclesiastical customs ] At the southern boundary of the parish of Tain, near Scots- burn, is a place called Clash na Comarich (Clais na comaraidie), the "Furrow of the Sanctuary," where doubtless the fugitive of old, when making for the Girth of Tain, drew breath, knowing that he was now safe. (Comaraich, we may observe, is the Gaelic name also of a parish in Wester Ross, Applecross, which, like Tain, had a right of sanctuary). Near the Clash or Furrow just mentioned is a copious fountain of pure water bearing the name in Gaelic and English of Fuaran Daihhidh, " St. David's Well," the St. David being probably King David I. of Scotland, that " sair saunt to the Crown," who may have been the donor both of the fountain and of the lands adjoining it to Tain and its " Girth."
In the parish of Tain, there is a farm called Pit-hogarty, which we suppose to be the Pictish equivalent of the Gaelic Baile-Shagart (pro- nounced Bal-a-hagart), and to have meant the "Priests' town " or " farm;" also quite near the traditional birthplace of St. Duthach, is Cnoc nan Aingeal, the Angels' Hill (a name noticeable as the same with that of a place in lona, where St. Columba is said to have had a vision of angels on his arrival in the island of his intended labours) ; and not far off is a small estate, now known as Kirksheaf, but anciently known as Kirk-skaith, a name either of Scotch or of Scandinavian origin, and at all events of ecclesiastical import.
One other religious memory, before leaving St. Duthach. In the upper part of the parish of Tain is a footpath or bridle-road, called the King's Causeway, which tradition affirms to have been constructed by the people of Tain for the King (whether James iv., whose pilgrimages to St. Duthach's were numerous, or some other of the old Scottish kings), upon their learning that he was on his way, barefoot, to the shrine of their local saint. The Gaelic name is Rathad an Righ (pronounced Raad an Ree), meaning the same thing ; and this is likewise the Gaelic name of the estate of Raddery, in the peninsula of the " Black Isle," over which.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 13
say the Black Isle traditions, the king journeyed on his way to Tain between the two ferries of Ardersier (Fort George) and Inverbreckie (Invergordon).
Let us complete our review of ecclesiastical and religious names by examining the remaining names of parishes in the district. Four — Nigg, Tarbat, Kilmuir, and Tain — we have already considered.
Fearn, the parish next Tain on the east, has a borrowed name, trans- ferred to it from the original site of the Premonstratensian Monastery at Fearn in Edderton, founded in the thirteenth century, by Farquhar, Earl of Ross. It appears that, though the situation of the monastery was in other respects very pleasant — for it was amid beautiful scenery, and the place itself (afterwards divided into the three farms of Easter Fearn, Wester Fearn, and Mid Fearn) was very fertile, — the monks did not relish the close neighbourhood of the wild Highlanders of Kincardine, and therefore shifted their residence to a spot in the parish of Tarbat, which, though far less beautiful, was even more fertile, and where they had the Burgh and Girth of Tain interposed between them and the marauders they feared. They carried Avith them the name of Fearn from the former locality, where an abundance of alder-trees had made it appropriate {Fearn, in Gaelic, is an " alder- tree ") to their new abode, which was thenceforth known by the name of New Fearn, Latinised into Nora Farina. After the Reformation, the lands around the monastery were disjoined from Tarbat, to form the parish of Fearn, or, in Gaelic, Sgire Mhanacliainn {i.e. Monastery Parish), or sometimes Manachainn Eois (the Monastery of Ross), in con- tradistinction from lar MhanacJi (the Western Monastery) or Manachainn, MMc Shimidh (the Lovat Monastery) at Beauly.
LoGiE. — The name of this parish is undoubtedly from the Gaelic Laige, " a hollow," because the church was formerly situated in a sheltered hollow.
Edderton. — This parish has a name so English-like, as to strike even Englishmen travelling in this part of the Highlands. But this is a mere accident ; for the name cannot be explained either from the English or from any allied language, but, as pronounced by the Gaelic people, is pure Gaelic. The two Gaelic words Eaclar Dhin ("between duns ") give, both as to sound and sense, a good etymology ; for these two words, rapidly uttered, are almost exactly Edderton ; and the parish contained until lately at least one remarkable dim or broch, and is traditionally said to have contained several more.
Kincardine is a more difficult name. Kin is certainly the Gaelic Ceann, "head" or "end," so that it must mean here the Head or End of some- thing. Of what 1 The Dornoch Firth has its apparent head close to the farm and church of Kincardine ; for just there the broader sheet of the firth suddenly narrows to the dimensions of a river, all of it above this point being called by a different name, the Kyle. Cardin is not known to be a
14 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
Gaelic word at all ; but we might imagine it to be a slight corruption of Gairdean,a,n "arm," could we show (which we cannot), that the Highlanders, like the Lowlanders, conceived of firths as arms of the sea. Or we might imagine it to be a borrowed word, a Gaelic corruption of the Scandinavian Fiord, "a firth." But in the absence of all evidence for either of these suppositions, we will mention the ingenious derivation offered by our friend Mr. M'Lean, who supposes cardine to be a contraction for car- aodainn, the "bend of the (hill)-face," or the " bending hill-face," so that Kincardine would mean the " end of the bending hill-face ;" a name suitable enough as describing one feature of the locality, though by no means so strikingly suitable as would be the " Head of the Firth," could we only prove this last historically, and by comparison with the three or four other Kincardines in Scotland.
Croick, lately disjoined from Kincardine, is said to be derived from Crh, a sheep-fold or other circular enclosure, and to be so called from the circle of mountains within which the disjoined portion is enclosed.
ROSSKEEN (in Gaelic, Ros-Owme) is the name of a large parish, but is said to have denoted originally only the point of land or peninsula now known as the Ness of Invergordon ; this peninsula, it is further said (whether traditionally or by an etymological guess), was so called after a man Macqueen, who once farmed it. But the fact that there are other Rosskeens (two or three) in Ireland, makes this an improbable guess. Joyce^ says, that one of the meanings of the Irish Ros is " wood," and that Caoin means " beautiful ;" those Irish names meaning the " beautiful wood." Possibly. But in Scottish Gaelic those two words have not the alleged meanings ; and besides, there neither is, nor is it likely that there ever was, a "beautiful wood," if a wood at all, on the Ness of Invergordon. We therefore regard the name as of unknown origin. The most impor- tant place in this parish is —
Invergordon, which has recently grown up to be a flourishing sea- port town. It is so called from the estate of Invergordon, which is itself, however, quite a modern and mongrel name, composed of the Gaelic Inver (" confluence ") fantastically prefixed by a former proprietor to his oAA'n name Gordon, as if that were a river. The name had previously been Inverbreckie, and one farm on the estate is still called so. The " Inver " is explained by the statement that, previous to modern agricul- tural changes, there was on this farm a confluence of two small streams. Assuming the termination ie to be here (as in several other names of places in the district) an accidental meaningless addition to an original Gaelic name, Ave take that to have been Inverbreck (Inbhir breac), the " speckled confluence," whether so called from the appearance of difi"erently coloured mingling waters, or from the alternation of differently coloured lands in the angle between the two Avaters.
1 Irish Names of Places.
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 15
Before passing from names connected directly or indirectly with religion, we will mention one more. There is, in the parish of Kincardine, a farm called Auchnahannat (Acha na h-Anait, "the field or corn-land of the Annat," whatever "the Annat" may mean). Several other j)laces in the Highlands are called Annat ; and, as we are informed, there are at each of them indications of an old burying-place. The word Anat, then, may have meant a burying-place. The word is said, however, whether traditionally or conjecturally, to have been the name of a heathen goddess who was of old worshipped at those spots. If so, the thoroughly Celtic form of Acha nil h-anait, in which Anat is construed with the Gaelic feminine article in the genitive case (na h- being = the Greek ttJs), suggests two conclusions : first, that Anat was probably an appellative title for a goddess, or supernatural female in general, rather than the proper name of a particular deity ; and, second, that whether particular or general, the deity worshipped was Celtic more probably than Scandinavian or Gothic, if not of still earlier origin than either, and a survi^'ing superstition of the prehistoric race. This is an interesting point, involving a still more interesting inquiry, what the connection was in that old heathen religion between burial and worship ; whether those ancient people made it, as mediaeval Christians did, a matter of religion to bury their dead near their places of worship, or, more probably, offered actual prayers and sacrifices to the dead, and beside their graves.
This speculation has led us back to very remote times indeed. Other superstitions, probably quite as old in their origin, have left more distinct traces in popular tradition, perhaps because of a more domestic character. Not only are there in the district a good many Fairy Hills, called SWiean (pronounced Sheean) ; but in Eosskeen there is a spot called Muilean v nam Fuadh, that is, " Mill of the Fuadhan," the Fuadhan, says the myth, being spirits who used to work for the miller during night, if cooked victuals were placed in the mill for them.
The following belongs to the Celtic heroic age. On the Mains of Ardross, there is a great cist bearing the name of Flonntairneach, a peculiar name Avhich has been supposed to mean the Cairn of the Fingalians. Round it are many small tumuli, indicating, it is probable, the site of a great battle ; as to which, hoAvever, nothing is known.
But let us come to names commemorative of feudal and other manners and customs not so ancient, yet now obsolete. There is in the district quite a startling number of knolls known as Gallow Hills (in Gaelic Gnoc na Croiche), telling too unmistakeably of the possession and exer- cise of the power of "pit and gallows," by the lords of every manor or barony, not very long ago. There are several such in the parishes of Tarbat and Fearn. In the parish of Logic there is not only a Gallow Hill, but beside it a Drowning Pond (in Gaelic Foil a Bhathai'), which tradition still speaks of as used in the execution of witches and other female criminals ; overlooking both the Gallow Hill and the Drowning Pond is the "View Hill" {Cnoc an Amhairc), on which spectators stood to
I
16 NAMES 0]<^ PLACES IN EASTER ROSS,
witness the executions. On the links of Tain also is a " Gallow Hill," used when the magistrates had the power of life and death. An English traveller, Eichard Franke, who visited Easter Ross in the year 1657-58, says that in Tain all criminals were drowned. In this he was certainly MiTong, though we do not doubt that female criminals were drowned there as in Scotland generally. There is indeed no Drowning Pond remembered at Tain, but the adjacent river would answer the purpose. Franke doubt- less committed the error, common to travellers, of generalising too fast from some single case.
In the parish of Rosskeen there is a large boulder-stone called Clach ceann nam meur, the "Stone of the Finger Ends," at the east of the Farm of Dalnadoich, "the field of the stone." Connected with this stone is a tradition which shows it as a horrible memorial of feudal times — that a laird of Achnacloich, when settling marches, asked a youth, whom he had taken to witness the settlement, whether he would remember that as the march-stone. On his replying that he Avould, the Laird commanded liim to lay his hand flat upon the stone, and with a stroke of his sword cut off the tips of the lad's fingers, saying, " You will remember it now." And posterity still remembers it.
Delny (formerly Delgny), now a farm in the parish of Kilmuir, was of old a seat of the Earls of Ross, and, as is said, a place where they trans- acted business with their retainers, whence it was called Tigh Deiligni', the " House of Dealing," This is however very impure Gaelic borrowed from English, so that the etymology is not very satisfactory.
Balnagown, now the name of the castle and large estate of a Baronet, means, in Gaelic, " the smithy-to Avn," and this reminds us of the times when the occupation of the smith (as the armourer) was specially honourable, and his workshop the most important place (after the laird's house) on the estate.
Duel Hill, a sandy knoll below Tain, has borne this name for about 150 years, because, says a still vivid tradition, it witnessed the last fatal <luel in the district. We know not that it has any Gaelic name.
Cnoc a' Mhadai', the " Wolf's Knoll," has its name explained by an interesting tradition kindly communicated to me by Mr. M'Lean. The knoll, it is said, was the den of the last wolf killed in Scotland, " The story," says Mr. M'Lean, " was quite fresh'in the people's minds forty years ago, so that the Avolf must have been later than the historical one killed by Black Ewen of Locheil," An old woman had gone to a neighbour's house for the loan of what used to be well known in Scotland as a baking girdle. On her way home at night, when passing a clump of trees, she met the prowling wolf. In terror she flung the girdle at him, and returned to the house she had left to give the alarm. The people soon gathered, with guns and sticks, for what they expected would prove a desperate fight, but they found their enemy dead, the sharp edge of the iron girdle having penetrated his skull — an ignominious end for the last Scottish wolf.
NAIVIES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS. 17
Saltburn (in Gaelic, Alt an t-salulnn), the name of a small village on the Cromarty Firth, near Invergordon, preserves the memory of those not remote days when a heavy duty was payable on such a necessary of life as salt. In those days smugglers, it is said, used to conceal salt in the banks of a burn at the east end of this village, with the view of dis- posing of it at leisure to the people around.
We ^vill now enumerate, in no particular order, some remaining names of places that have not come up under any of the classes we have con- sidered ; not attempting to make the list exhaustive, but omitting a multitude that present no features either of historical, traditional, or etymological interest.
Allan is the name of an Easter Ross estate, noted for the fertility of its clay lands, which are said to produce the finest oats in the north, if not in all Scotland. The name Allan sallacli, by which one part of the estate is mentioned in an old charter, was probably not meant to be uncomplimentary, but to be descriptive of the soft, loamy character of the soil, which the casual foot-walker in rainy weather doubtless found as disagreeable as the modern agriculturist finds it satisfactory for his uses. There is a Gaelic word Ailean, meaning a "green plain," of which Allan is the nearest possible English pronunciation, and which affords therefore a satisfactory etymology.
Balmuckie is a farm in Fearn. The name is doubtless the Gaelic Baile-mhuc or Baile nam muc (the "Town," i.e. "Fai-m of Swine"), with the Scotch-English termination ie affixed. A neighbouring farm has a different but quite analogous name ; it is Balnagore, that is, Baile nan gabhar, (the "Town of the Goats"). A well also in the locality is called Tobar nan gabhar, "the Goat's Well."
The Scotch-English termination ie, as we have now partly seen, is found attached to several names that, though not pure Gaelic, are, when deprived of that termination, easily reduced to Gaelic. Such as, —
Aldie, the name of the Water of Tain in its middle course; the name also of an estate lying on the left bank of that water. It seems to be just the Gaelic Alt (pronounced Ault), "a burn," having the Scotch-English ie attached, and otherwise so modified in sound by Scotch-English tongues as not to be at once recognisable as a Gaelic word even by the Gael, who has therefore received it back from the intruding Lowlander in his altered form, and now calls it Alldai\
Rhynie, Dunie, Ardcronie are names formed after the same analogy. But more interesting is Calrossie (with the accent on the first syllable), the name of a richly wooded estate in Easter Ross. Though now used even by the Gaelic people in this form (with a more Gaelic-like enunciation indeed, as if it were spelt, according to the Gaelic system of orthography, Callrosai'), it has no meaning in Gaelic, any more than in English. Yet VOL. II. B
18 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS.
it presents every appearance of having been the Gaelic Coille Hois, the " Wood of Ross," modified in sound by Saxon, Norse, or Lowland incomers, and received back by the Gaelic people in its modified form.
A still more interesting name of mingled origin is Glen-Ulladale, by which the valley of the Aldie, or Water of Tain, is in its upper course denoted in older records. The prefix and the affix of this name are iden- tical in meaning, and, belonging originally to different languages, tell us of a gradual blending of the tAvo races whom we have already seen engaged in deadly war at the Scotsburn, in the close neighbourhood of this valley. As for Vila, the middle and distinguishing part of the name of the valley, it is so very like the distinguishing part of the name (in Gaelic) of the strema at this highest part of its course — AU-Luai' {i.e. the " Waulking " or " FulHng Burn," or, as it is still more unromantically translated, the "Washing Burn"), — that we identify the two. The invading Saxons or Norsemen having, as we suppose, heard the burn called Uiai\ named the valley through which it flowed Luadale, slightly altering it into Uladale. In course of time, the surrounding Gaelic population received back this name, Ulladale, from the sons of the strangers, whom they had now accepted as friends ; and, not knowing or not obser\ang that the last syllable contained the idea of valley, prefixed their own Gleann, or glen, in that sense, thus unwittingly creating a taiitology. Such tautologies are, Ave think, not infrequent in names of places formed during the blending of races.
Fendom (always used with the article—" The Fendom ") is the very curious name of a low-lying plain east of the toAvn of Tain, which has from of old contained a number of farms more important, relatively, in former days than noAV. In Gaelic it is called Na fana (locally pronounced Na fitnu), AA^hich in all probability means the " Ioav grounds," and is perhaps cognate Avith the Gothic Fen : from Avhich last, doubtless, " The Fendom " has been formed, but in a Avay to which Ave know no English analogy, except in Kingdom., Earldom, Christendom, and a very feAv words more, in- cluding one other local example, the " Mairdom of Delny " (probably from the Gaelic Moor, " officer "). Connected Avith this curious name of Fendom is the name of " The Plaids," formerly the home-farm of an im- portant estate, to Avhich Avas long attached the " Bailiary of Tain," and AA-hich is really part of the Fendom. In Gaelic it is na Plaidean, which, we suspect, is a Gaelic corruption of the Scotch-English, " the flats," and so, like the Fendom, indicates the blending of races.
Meddat is the name of a certain farm. It was the name of the large estate which is now known as New Tarbat, and on Avhich is built Tarbat House, the family seat of the Earls of Cromarty. The parish of Kilmuir Easter was once called Kilmuir (of) Meddat. We cannot reduce the name to any language knoAvn to us ; but it is noticeable that the termination at is found in several other names equally unreduced ; viz., in Annat (already mentioned), Amat (an estate on the heights of Kincardine), and Bennet,
NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTEll ROSS. 19
or Bennat (in Meall Bemiei, a hill in Ardross). Possibly ai was a signifi- cant affix belonging to the prehistoric language of Scotland.
May we say a little about one unexplained name more — that of Geanies, an estate in Tarbat 1 The word is a plural ; for in old charters we find mention made of Easter Gany, Mid Gany, and Wester Gany. The Gaelic name is Gan. In at least one old charter it is spelled Gathenn, of which (if Gaelic) the pronunciation would be Gahen, but which suggests the possibility of a still older form, Gaten. We know of no meaning for the name in any of its forms in either of the presently spoken languages or their cognates. Did it belong to the prehistoric language % We are interested at least in comparing it with the name Cantae, given by the old geographer Ptolemy to the tribe inhabiting the country between the Moray Firth and the Western Highlands : we venture to compare it also with the name Cantium, which he gives, as Julius Caesar had previously given, to the county of Kent, and indeed to the south-eastern part of England, including London. It is to us by no means inconceivable that in prehistoric times one language (branching doubtless into many dialects) may have prevailed all over Britain, and that this particular word, Gaten, or Cant, may have been known from south to north. If so, its meaning may perhaps be guessed at from those geograi)hical features which are common to Easter Ross with the south-east of England — both being maritime and both fertile.
To the number of unreduced, and perhaps irreducible, names, let us add Stride, a mountain in Edderton ; Onoc Lecli (compare Ben Ledi, in Perthshire) ; Garrick, the old name of what is now the Hill of Tain ; Oykell and Enig, two rivers in Kincardine. We do not add under this head the Carron, the name of one of the chief influents of the Dornoch Firth, and of at least two other streams in Scotland ; for it may with probability be explained as Gaelic, from Car (a "bend" or " turn"), conjoined with Amhuinn (pronounced Jvin, and easily contracted into an), a "river," so as to make "the winding river."
The chief results, then, of our investigation are : —
First, That the names of places in Easter Ross present probable traces of at least one prehistoric race.
Second, That they furnish evidence of ancient Pictish occupation.
Third, That they show constant occupation by the present Gaelic race for many hundred years back.
Fourth, That they give distinct evidence of at least one, and perhaps more than one, hostile invasion and partial occupation by Gothic tribes, whether Germanic or Scandinavian, or, as is probable, both.
Fifth, That they indicate the first planting of Christianity in the district to have taken place at a period almost as early as in the south of Scotland.
Sixth, That they present memorials of manners and customs, feudal and of other kinds, that, if less ancient, are at least of considerable interest.
20 NAMES OF PLACES IN EASTER ROSS,
Seventh, That they show the English or Scotch-English language not only mingling Avith the Gaelic of the district from a pretty remote time, but in later days rapidly displacing it ; a process that must be painful to the Gael as a matter of patriotic sentiment, and because of some real evils necessarily attending it, — but that is inevitable, and that will in the end be beneficial to the Highlanders themselves.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES.
{Read at Meeting of British Association, Aberdeen, 1885.) By Hugh Robert Mill, B.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.C.S.
Chemist to the Scottish Marine Station, Granton, Edinburgh.
Rivers either flow directly into the sea or mix gradually with sea water in inlets ; and the density, temperature, and salinity of the water vary at various points in the course of the estuary and in vertical depth.
The rivers which I have examined hitherto are the Forth, Tay, Clyde, and Spey. A jireliminary paper on the salinity of the Firth of Forth was read by me to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in January 1885, and to it 1 I must refer for details as to that estuary, and for descriptions of the methods of working.
The Firth of Clyde is a comiilicated estuary. It is cut up into many long lochs running up into mountain valleys, and exposed to the rainfall of a moist region, while the river Clyde is relatively small. The water must obviously be largely affected by direct rainfall, which veils the freshening influence of the main I'iver, to which a typical estuary owes its character. The published observations upon the Firth of Clyde,^ and those which I have made, are insufficient to base any generalisation upon ; but the interesting nature of the problems presented by the Clyde invites further research.
The Scottish Marine Station has been at work on the Firth of Forth since January 1884, and from the numerous observations made some generals conclusions may be drawn.
Water samples from depths beneath the surface may be taken by means of any of the forms of deep-sea valved or slip water-bottles ; but in estuary Avork, I have been led to adopt a slip water-bottle which can be closed by a weight slipped down the line, and which secures itself when shut by an automatic si^ring-locking arrangement.'^ The density of the water, the most important of the observations made, was determined, as in the Challenger Expedition,* by means of a large glass hj^drometer,
* Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh, xiii. pp. 29-64.
- Stevenson Macadam, British Association Jiejwrts, 1855, ii. p. 64. 3 An early form of this instrument is figured in the Scottish Marine Station Pamphlet, 1885.
* Challenger Reports, Phys. Chan., vol. i. part 2, p. 2.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES. 21
the volume of which and its coefficient of expansion are known, while the weight may be varied by attaching small pieces of brass at the top of the stem. The weight of the loaded instrument, divided by the immersed volume, gives the density at the temperature of observation, which is reduced by Dittmar's Tables ^ to that at 15° -56 C. as a standard for comparison. Except when otherwise stated, the densities given in this paper are at 15°"56, which represents specific gravifij at that tempei-ature, water at 4° being taken as unity.
The river Forth gradually merges into the Firth, which is — speaking generally — a simple funnel-shaped inlet 55 miles long from Alloa to the sea at the Isle of May, and increasing from two to eighteen miles in width. Its depth may be said to increase uniformly towards the sea, from 2 fathoms to 30 ; but in the shallower parts there are some deep tracts, notably one near Inchgarvie, where the depth over a small area exceeds 40 fathoms.
No change in salinity has been observed to be connected with the season ; but the effect of floods is to produce a lowering of density all along the estuary right out to sea. The lowering is greatest in the surface water of the upjDer reaches, and gradually falls off" towards the sea. The bottom water is not apj^reciably affected anywhere.
Table I. gives the mean value for the density of the surface water, observed during one winter and two summers, at intervals of live miles along the Firth in the central line. The density is given at the standard temperature of 15°'56 C, and also at the mean temperature in situ for each station during the summer and winter months. It illustrates the state of equilibrium arrived at in the Firth in normal conditions, but which is liable to be disturbed, especially in the riverward portion, by unusual rainfall or drought, and by exceptional tides and storms. It will be observed that at first the density increases very rapidly, then more and more gradually as the sea is approached, and at the mouth of the Firth, there is a slight fall. This I have shown to be due to the fresher water of the Firth of Tay, carried southward by the flood-tide. ^ The regularity of the curve representing these figures is striking, and would be more so if it were divided into two branches, as it ought to be, for the first five stations. In that region the tidal influence is very pronounced ; but sufficiently numerous observations have not been col- lected yet to determine the tidal range of densities at various places. At Alloa it appears to be from about r007 at ordinary high water to 0-9994 (fresh water) at low tide ; and at Kincardine, five miles lower, the variation is from 1-015 at high tide to 1-005 at low water. The diff'erence becomes less marked each mile along the Firth, and beyond Inchkeith it is im- perceptible.
1 Challenger Reports, Phys. C'hem. vol. i. part 1, p. 70.
2 The Salinity of the Firth of Tay and of St. Andrews Bay, by Mill, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Edinburgh, xiii.
22
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES.
TABLE I. Mea>" Surface Density of Firth of Forth.
|
Station. |
Number of samples examined. |
Density. |
||
|
! I. Alloa, . |
8 |
at 15° -56. |
In situ, Summer months. |
In situ. Winter months. |
|
1 00027 |
1-00032 |
1 00135 |
||
|
II. Kincardine, . |
•27 |
1-01010 |
1-01033 |
1-01137 |
|
III. Hen and Chickens, |
IS |
1 01931 |
1-01970 |
1 ■0-2078 |
|
IV. Blackness, . |
13 |
102167 |
1-02224 |
1-02316 |
|
V. Inchgarvie, . |
20 |
102364 |
1-02434 |
1 02510 |
|
VI. Oxcar, . |
23 |
1-02418 |
1-02488 |
1-02553 |
|
VII. Inchkeith, . |
30 |
1 02467 |
1-02538 |
1 -02594 |
|
VIII |
15 |
1 -02495 |
1-02570 |
102610 |
|
IX |
13 |
1-02509 |
1-02588 |
1-02619 |
|
X. OfiFFiddra, . |
17 |
1 02514 |
1 02594 |
1-02619 |
|
XI. Off Bass Rock, |
12 |
102531 |
ro-2616 |
1-02632 |
|
XII. Isle of May,. |
10 |
1-02526 |
1-02613 |
1-02622 |
The influence of the smaller river.s which run into the Firth is not observable at the centre, where the samples were collected for examination. Each small river freshens a tract along the shore, rarely extending beyond half a mile or a mile outwards, and varying in direction wdth the w4nd and tide, sometimes running to the eastward, and sometimes towards the west.
The density of the siirface and bottom-water at Stations ill., v., VII., and XII., is given in Table ii. The surface densities given here are those obtained from samples taken at the same time as the bottom samples, and the smaller number of cases will account for their divergence from the figures in Table i.
TABLE IL Bottom and Surface mean density of Firth of Forth.
|
Station. |
Depth. |
Number of Cases. |
At 15°-56. |
Suuunei |
, in litu. |
Winter |
i7i titu. |
|
|
Surface. |
Bottom. |
Surface, |
Bottom. |
Snrf^Ke. |
Bottom. 1-02237 |
|||
|
III. Hen and Chickens, |
5fra. |
(5 |
1-01793 |
1 02093 |
1-01831 |
1-02146 |
101937 |
|
|
v. Inchgarvie, . |
40 „ |
5 |
1-02285 |
1 -02448 |
1-02354 |
1 02545 |
1-02430 |
1-02586 |
|
VII. Inchkeith, . |
15 „ |
6 |
1-02352 |
1-02497 |
1-02422 |
1-02587 |
1-02476 |
1-02615 |
|
XII. Isle of May, . |
25 „ |
3 |
1-02506 |
1-02530 |
1-02593 |
1-02625 |
1-02602 |
1-02624 |
This shows that in the upper part of the Firth there is a much greater difference in the salinity (density at constant temperature) of bottom and
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES,
23
surface water, than in the seaward part, and that considering the effect of temperature, the density in situ shows a greater divergence between sur- face and bottom in summer than in winter.
The Firth of Tay is narrower, shorter, and shallower than the Firth of Forth, and as the river Tay is larger and more rapid than the Forth, the density of the Avater in the estuary is considerably less in the former case for equal distances from the sea. But the rate of change of density is almost the same as in the Forth at a position of corresponding salinity. From the consideration of surface water density alone, St. Andrews Bay might be considered as part of the estuary of the Tay, and the freshening influence extends round into the Firth of Forth as far as Anstruther at times. The bottom water beyond the mouth of the Firth of Tay pre- serves the density of average North Sea water, and is not influenced to an appreciable extent by the river.
The temperature of surface-water is observed by immersing an ordinary thermometer in a bucket of water freshly drawn. Temperature beneath the surface is ascertained by the use of Negretti and Zambra's patent deep-sea thermometer, mounted in the "Scottish" frame, ^ Avhich was specially devised for the work in shallow water where there are rapid currents. This frame effects the reversal of the thermometer by means of a weight dropped down the line from the vessel ; it has been found to act very satisfactorily at all depths down to 90 fathoms, and beyond that it has not been tried.
The temperature of water is subject to many conditions, and its variations have been studied with some care. Speaking generally, during the winter months the temperature of the water is higher at sea than in the river, while in summer the reverse is the case. The rise or fall is gradual all along the line at all seasons. The water winter, when the temperature is below the annual average, extends in the Firth of Forth from November to April, and the summer from May to October.
Two instances about the period of transition, when the water approached its mean annual temperature (47° "5 for all positions in the Firth), are given in Table in.
TABLE III.
|
Date. |
Station. |
||||||
|
I. |
II. |
III. ! IV. ! |
V. |
VI. VII. VIII. IX. |
X. |
XI. |
XII. |
|
Nov. 188-4, May 1885, |
45-1 |
' 1 45-6 46-9 47-2 47-8 49-4 48-3 47-2 46-3 |
47-7 48-3 46-2 46-2 |
48-4 48-9 46-9 46-4 |
49-6 46-3 |
... |
... |
To neutralise the accidental variations produced by warm or cold
1 Figured in Scottish Marine Station's Pamphlet, 1885.
24
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES,
currents, shoals, and exceptional sun-heating, all the temperature observa- tions made between January 1884 and April 1885 were distributed into four divisions of the Firth, and the mean for each taken for each month of the year. Table IV.^ is the result.
|
' |
rABLE |
IV. |
|||||||
|
Position. |
Jan. |
Feb. Mar. Apr. |
May. .June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. ' 1 i |
Nov, 46-1 |
Dec. |
||||
|
1. (I. II. ITT.) |
37-9 |
36-5 41 0 |
44-5 |
48-8 |
56-7 |
1 ... 57-4 51-7 |
|||
|
2. (IV. V. VI. ) |
39-7 |
40-3 40-7 |
43 0 |
47-9 |
52-7 |
57-8 ... 55-2 52-2 |
48-1 |
40-8 |
|
|
3. {vii. VIII. IX. ) |
42-9 |
45-7 |
51-0 |
55-3 55-6 '54-9 52-8 ) r |
47-6 |
42-3 |
|||
|
4. (x, XI. XII. ) |
44-6 45-4 |
50-9 |
... 54-3 54-0 52-8 |
48-8 |
43-7 |
The annual range of surface temperature is about four times as great at Station I. as at Station xil. The bottom temperatiu-e is lower than that at the surface in summer, but in winter it is higher ; the difference in each case being about V F., greater in greater depths, and less in shallow water. The temi^erature is not made uniform by convection currents when the warmer water lies beneath, as its superior salinity (see Table ii.) keeps it denser than that at the surface, and it would take a much greater fall of temperature than has been observed, to make the surface stratum dense enough to sink. In the deei^er Avaters conduction appears to be the chief agent in altering the temperature at the bottom, and the retardation of the diurnal maximum which has been observed bears out the supposition.
Shallow water is more rapidly affected by sunshine or heated sand — and similarly by radiation at night and chilled sand — than deeper water is. Two instances will illustrate this. On May 14, at high water, 14.30 o'clock, weather dull, air temperature 48° "5, the temperature was observed every 10 yards from a boat rowed in to shore (a sandy beach) at Granton from about 200 yards out, where the depth was 2 fathoms : — 200 yards out. Shore.
46-6, 47-0, 47-3, 47-6, 47 9, 47-8, 48 0, 48-1, 48 0, 48 3, 49-0, 50 0.
On June 12, crossing the Firth of Forth, sailing true north on the meridian of 3° W. from Morrison's Haven to Methil, a distance of 1 6 miles, the following observations were made, the weather being warm, with occasional sunshine and westerly wind : — Morrison's Haven — Shore.
559, 54-5, 53-7, 52-5, Mid-firth. 51 0.
63-9,
57-0,
62-6, 59-8, 4 miles out.
49-6. i mile off Methil. 48 1, 48-3, 48 8,
50-1, 50-7, 510, 510,
i^ mile out, 52-0, 51-7, 51-6, 51-5 12 miles out. 50-5,
Shore. 50 7, 52-0, 53-8.
1 See paper on the Temperature of the "Water in the Firth of Forth, by Mill, Proceed- ings of the Royal Societi/, Edinburgh, vol. xiii.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES. 25
It is obvious from a consideration of these figures, that, to be trust- worthy, sea-temperature observations must be made at least a mile from shore.
The temperature of the water in an estuary may be considerably reduced by floods. This effect is not very noticeable in the Forth, but in larger rivers it is striking. On August 1 2, the river Spey at Garmouth had the temperature 55° -0, and was small in volume ; on the 13th, a warm day, there was a very heavy spate, and the temperature went down to 48°-3; on the 14th the flood was much less, with temperature 52°0; and on the 15th the normal value of 57°-0 had been regained. A heavy gale made it impossible for boats to go to sea for several days, so there was no opportunity of examining the chilling effect on the surface water in the bay.
The colour and transparency of the water in the firths of Forth and Tay vary with the position. Eough observations were made by sinking an iron disc painted white, noticing the colour it assumed, and the depth at which it disappeared. From Alloa to Inchgarvie (Stations I. to V.) the water is usually muddy and yellow, lower down it gradually becomes clearer and green. At Inchkeith it is a pale clear green, which deepens in tint on proceeding seaward, until at the Isle of May the colour is deep blue green, and the transparency such that the white disc is visible at a depth of 60 feet. In St. Andrews Bay the water is deeper in colour, and near the Tay Fairway Buoy it becomes a dusky green, which changes to olive green off Tayport, and finally passes through a succession of beauti- ful brown-green shades to a clear amber colour at Newburgh, where the water is fresh. The difference between the colour of the water in the two rivers and their estuaries, though partially due to suspended matter, is probably caused mainly by colouring material dissolved in the river water.
From the observations I have made on the Spey, the Tay, and the Forth, I am led to consider that mixture of sea water is very gradual and super- ficial where a large river runs into the sea directly. At high tide pure sea water runs up the river bed for a certain distance under the opposite current of fresh water, which it serves in some degree to slacken and dam back ; but on the ebb setting in, the salt water leaves the river and the fresh water flows out in a strong unimpeded stream on the surface of the sea, in a direction determined by the conformation of the river mouth, the run of tide, and the wind ; gradually mixes with it, and spreads later- ally, until its influence is ultimately lost sight of.
When a large river enters the sea by a small estuary in which the water is never more than brackish at low tide, the sea and river water mix partially, but the bottom water is much more dense than that at the surface ; the tide produces great changes in salinity and temperature, and the surface water of the surrounding sea is slightly freshened to a considerable distance.
In a large estuary, such as that of the Forth, the part that may be
26 PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WATER IN ESTUARIES.
strictly considered as a tidal river is affected just as it would be if it ran directly into the sea, but as the water into Avhich it flows is only brackish, the effects are much less distinct. In the lower part of the estuary the salt and brackish water mix more and more completely until, where it merges into the sea, there is a nearly uniform salinity throughout, very slightly less than that of the water with which it has to mingle.
The three classes may be distinguished as (1) that in which all the salt water is withdrawn from the estuary by the ebb-tide ; (2) that in which it is only partially Avithdrawn, and (3) that in which the salt water always remains, and the tides serve to mix it thoroughly with the river water.
In ocean Avater, however much pure water may be added to it, the amount of each salt present is known when the density is known ; but the tables for interpreting the density of ocean water cannot be applied with certainty to estuary water, since it is ocean water diluted with river water, itself a very dilute solution of salts in quite different proportion. It is as a necessary preliminary to a chemical research upon the composition of estuary water that I have undertaken the investigation referred to in this paper.
While the main bearing of the results obtained is physical and hydro- graphical, they have a contingent biological interest. The conditions of marine life must be different in an estuary where at each point the water has a definite density and temperature at each time of year, and which are only slightly and uniforml}' affected by circumstances, and in the neigh- bourhood of a large river running directly into the sea, where the water is as a rule salt, but subject to sudden and irregular rushes of cold fresh water over the surface of large areas.
The interest of temperature observations in rivers, considered as a department of meteorology, is very great. The conditions vary so much in different streams, and even in parts of the same stream, that singular differences often appear in the temperature of the water at the same time. Observations made on the Tweed, Forth, and Spey, and their tributaries, show that the diurnal and annual range of temperature in rivers is very much greater than that of the sea, and that depth, colour, nature of bed and of surrounding country, and the position and course of tributaries, all contribute to produce differences which as yet have scarcely been subjected to observation.
It is very desirable, from a scientific point of view, and would, I am convinced, be of jH-actical value, to investigate the conditions of the lakes, streams, estuaries, and surrounding seas of our island, in a systematic manner, for a few years. For this work — which is shortly to be com- menced on a small scale in certain quarters — careful arrangement and the co-operation of interested observers are more important than large means, although the initial expense would be considerable. This is a work in which the influence of proprietors of rivers and fishings woidd be peculiarly valuable, and possibly ultimately remunerative.
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S EDUCATION SCHEMES. 27
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S EDUCATION SCHEMES AND ITS EXHIBITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL APPLIANCES.
In 1868, at the suggestion of Mr. F. Galton, the Council of the Royal Geographical Society instituted a scheme for the encouragement of the study of Geography in Great Britain, by offering prize medals for limited competition in a certain number of the principal Public Schools. The examinations, which were conducted annually by the Society, were usually in special subjects announced beforehand. These prize medals have been awarded annually for the last seventeen years ; but the results have been far from encouraging ; and, latterly, the number of competitions was so small that the Council last year wisely resolved to alter their scheme before it resulted in total failure. It was with this object that, in 1884, the Council resolved to institute a thorough inquiry into the state of Geographical Education at home and abroad, the conduct of which was intrusted to Mr. J. Scott Keltie. Although the failure of the prize scheme has indirectly been the means, through the results of Mr. Keltie's investigations, of advancing the study of Geography in this country, yet we feel that, had the former scheme been carried out on wider lines, and "vvith fewer difficulties and restrictions in the way of competition, it might have met with a fair amount of success. The examinations were far too difficult to invite anything like general competition, being much above the standard of teaching in schools, as the papers contained questions which might fairly have " floored " even a professional geographer. A boy wishing to compete had to devote his spare hours to the special study of the subjects of examination, which were probably altogether new to him. Thus the pupils were intimidated, and the number of competitors diminished year by year. But, on the other hand, had the examination papers been simpler and more in accordance with the present teaching of Geography ; had the prizes been less valuable, but more numerous and in the different grades ; and if, instead of thirty schools being invited to compete, every school in the country had been included, then a more general and healthy competition might have been looked for. The adoption of this more liberal method would not necessarily have involved greater expense ; and it is only reasonable to suppose that it would have met with greater success. To have made it possible for any boy in any school in the kingdom to gain the Medal of the Royal Geographical Society simply by showing excellence in his ordinary class work, might have stimulated every intelligent boy to the study of Geography.
In promoting the recent inquiry into the exact state of Geographical Education, and methods of teaching at home and abroad, however, the Royal Geographical Society have laid bare the very root of the matter. While it was generally supposed that the German schools taught Geography much more thoroughly and efficiently than any school in this country, and
28 THE KOYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S EDUCATION SCHEMES
some even affirmed that in almost every other civiHsed country in the world it received more attention than in the British Isles, many school- masters, on the other hand, said all this was idle talk, and that we had every reason to be satisfied with our own system. Mr. Keltie, in his very able Report, gives us the facts as they are, and clearly shows how far we are behind Germany, at least in this respect.
It is of coui'se quite true that, notwithstanding our comparative neglect of geography, our commercial men have reaped many of the advantages Avhich are supposed to accrue from its comprehensive study, and our eflforts in the way of colonisation and geographical work abroad have by no means been exceeded by those of other nations. Still, it is reasonable to infer that with increased knowledge would come increased opportunities.
The practical difficulty in the way of giving greater attention to Geography in schools is increased by the fact that there are already too many subjects more or less compulsory. The only way of obviating this is to make the choice of subjects in more advanced education an alterna- tive one ; so that the pupil who has a taste for geography may study it as a speciality, with a view either to cpialify himself for commercial enter- prise, or technical work, or to help him in the study of kindred sciences, with many of which Geography is so closely and inevitably connected. In acquiring a knowledge of the various sciences, the pupil is, more often than not, confused with the unconnected array of facts regarding the laws of Nature; and we venture to assert that the law of Continuity — which itself governs the laws of Nature — can best be studied through the science of the Cosmos.
As regards elementary education, this should include a good general grounding, in which elementary geography should have its proper place ; but, as regards its more advanced study, the option of choosing it should be left to those to whom it would be specially useful in their future career. If we cannot have Geographical Chairs at the Universities, we might at least begin with Lectureships : there is no reason whatever why scientific Geography should not receive the same attention and consideration as other special subjects. The newly-awakened interest in its claims as a class-subject makes the present a favourable moment for defining its place in the curriculum of the Universities ; and we trust that the Royal Geographical Society will follow up its preliminary inquiry by active co-operation with the responsible authorities.
As supplementary to his Report, Mr. Keltie was instructed to form a collection of the appliances used in geographical education at home and abroad, and this may be said to constitute, to a great extent, the evidence on which the Report is based. This collection, which is now being exhi- bited by the Royal Geographical Society, at 53 Great Marlborough Street, London, was formally opened by the Marquis of Lome on the 9th of December last. We are glad to learn that school teachers and the general public have in large numbers availed themselves of the
AND ITS EXHIBITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL APPLIANCES. 29
opportunity of seeing, for the first time perhaps, evidence of how little has been done, and how much remains to be done — especially in this country — in the way of good appliances for demonstrating the subject, without which Geography must continue to remain as barren and un- attractive as it now is. The Royal Geographical Society have taken advantage of the interest aroused by this Exhibition to institute a course of lectures, — the first two of which were delivered in the Rooms by Mr. Ernest G. Ravenstein and Mr. J. Scott Keltic, respectively.
The Exhibition is of a representative character, and is not so much a collection of school maps, globes, atlases, etc., as of specimens of the various kinds from the different countries. It is wonderfully complete, and reflects the greatest credit on Mr. Keltie's capability and enthusiasm. The exhibits are classified in the catalogue as follows : — I. Wall Maps ; II. Globes ; III. Telluria, Planetaria, etc. ; IV. Models and Relief Maps ; V. Geographical Pictures ; VI. Atlases ; VII. Text-Books ; VIII. Miscel- laneous. They represent contributions from Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Japan, as well as our own country. Had time allowed, the collection might have been materially inproved ; several important maps are wanting, and, perhaps, the most serious omission is the large collection of the unique and admirable geography books used in the United States. The diff"erent maps, globes, models, atlases, etc., are so numerous and so varied in character, that it is of course quite beyond the scope of the present notice to mention anything unless of special interest. Some of the maps are only in manuscript, and contain many original ideas not yet carried into execution for the purpose of publishing. One ingenious map of the world actually shows specimens of the products of the various countries each in their proper locations — a real cigar is found adhering to Havana, natural grains of wheat to South Russia, gold nuggets to Australia and California, and tea-leaves well glued to the surface of India and China. Another very interesting model, with the aid of rain from a watering-pan, practically illustrates the course of a river from its source among " mountains of perpetual salt," along the " green painted, fertile valleys of stucco," past the villages on its banks, to its mouth or estuaiy, into a miniature sea "of real water." With such teaching as this, children would no doubt enjoy playing at Geography !
The wall-maps are arranged geographically, beginning with general maps of the world, and going on to general maps of Europe ; then its subdivisions ; then Asia and its subdivisions, — and so on. The British and foreign maps are all mixed, though the British master- pieces, as a rule, happen to be "skied." The merits of the diflferent maps sent by any one country vary very much ; and it is curious how, amongst the much-praised French and German publishers, we get some of the worst as well as the best specimens of cartography. Many well-meaning German maps are simply confused puzzles, through attempting to show everything, and in the end showing nothing intelli-
30 THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S EDUCATION SCHEMES
gibly. It may as truly be said of maps as it has been said of women — " that they should not only be good but good-looking ; " and, certainly, nothing is more calculated to diffuse geographical knowledge than artistic, attractive maps, which simply and clearly convey correct information. Every map ought to have a definite object. The map which shows the full details for the man of science must be very much simplified for the school-boy, and as far as possible should explain itself like a picture.
Among German maps, the most notable are those by Prof. H. Kiepert of Berlin, and from the Geographical Establishment of E. Holzel of Vienna. The only fault of Prof. Kiepert's maps is that they are almost too minute for use in class-rooms. Holzel's series is very effective, and in it is perhaps the most artistic map in the whole Exhibition, — one of the Alpine countries, by Vincenz von Haardt. Another map of the same region by Wurster, Randegger & Co., of Zurich, is almost equally beautiful. France is principally represented by E. Levasseur, all of whose numerous maps evidence the untiring diligence of a geographer who has thoroughly studied the wants of educational geography. In Cortam- bert's maps there are no novel features ; they have a strikingly English appearance about them, and rather resemble Keith Johnston's series. Italy is well rej^resented by Prof. Guido Cora, whose work is bold and effective, and well adapted for school use. The Swedish and Norwegian maps are most strikingly distinct and elaborate. Compared with the best of the foreign maps, the British wall-maps certainly do not show to much advantage, especially in the picturing of physical features. Stanford's series, by Prof. Ramsay, is good, but the colouring is too confused to give any pictorial effect. The principal fault in all the British wall-maps is that they are wanting in bold, picturesque effect, so necessary for educational purposes. The political wall series by Stanford would be very good if they were all the size of his large map of England ; but, unfortunately, the sum of money devoted to geographical apparatus in British schools is very limited, and publishers cannot do maps for nothing, neither do good maps meet with the same appreciation as they do abroad, but, on the contrary, we often find reprints of old plates have as large a sale as superior new maps, produced at great expense and labour. The other British maps include the well-known series of W. & A. K. Johnston and of George Philip & Son. Specimens of school-maps are also exhibited by J. Bartholomew, Ruddiman Johnston & Co., and Bacon & Co., but they present no new features.
The most interesting section of the Exhibition is, perhaps, the models and relief maps. One of the most noticeable is a model by J. B. Jordan, showing the bottom of the seas around the British Isles — a copy of which ought to be in every school in this country, but which it probably would not pay to reproduce as matters now stand ; another model of the Monte Rosa group is also very perfectly executed ; but, of the models which are published, the most beautiful are certainly those of Mdlle. Kleinhaus, published by Delagrave in Paris. There are also some very large Russian school-models of the continents. Among relief maps there is the series by
AND ITS EXHIBITION OF GEOGRAPHICAL Al'PIJANCKS. 31
A. Eavenstein, of Frankfort — the first of the kind ever published ; a very cheap and good set of reliefs by Capt. Giuseppe Roggero, published in Turin; and a better but much more expensive series by Schotte of Berlin, Avho has also a series of relief globes.
The Globes and Telluria present many novel and ingenious, but rather costly, arrangements for explaining the motions of the earth, and other lessons in Astronomical Geography. Those of Messrs. Philip, provided with Rice's patent screens, are well adapted for elementary teaching.
In Continental schools, wall-maps are supplemented with wall-pictures, illustrating the prominent and distinctive physical features of every country. This is very necessary in the teaching of Physical Geography, and even a five minutes' study of the splendid series published by Holzel, of Vienna, gives one a very valuable lesson in Geography.
The atlases and text-books are very numerous, and they vary very much in merit. Some of the newer German school atlases — notably those of Andr^e, Debes, Diercke & Gaebler, and Witrster— are so exceptionallj- good that it is surprising how some of the superannuated works still continue to be published in competition with them. They have served their day, and made good commercial returns ; and it is only reasonable that they should now retire from public life before they get laughed at. British school atlases are very numerous, but only of mediocre quality for teaching purposes. They contain the long lists of names given in the texts-books, and that is all that schoolmasters seem to require of them.
The relative merits and demerits of the text-books are a matter for more serious consideration than we can give in this brief notice ; but it appears to us, that it would tend greatly towards the promotion and popularisation of Geography if the greater number of them were simply done away with. A series of school-books, somewhat after the style of a con- densed Stanford's Compendium of Geography, copiously illustrated with suitable pictures and maps, would, in our opinion, be all that is required for a good general elementary Geography. But before making another change in the Code, care should be taken to thoroughly test any new scheme before it is adopted ; and, when adopted, it should hold good for a certain number of years, as frequent changes in methods of teaching are very confusing and prejudicial to progress. If the Royal Geographical Society undertakes to become the patron of geographical education in England, it should, besides giving prizes, decide upon the best text-books to be used ; and if they do not exist, offer a prize for the best new text- book. It is in this way that we feel it will be necessary for the Society to follow up its present Avork so as to insure a thorough Geographical Reform. In conclusion, the Council of the Royal Geographical Society must be congratulated on the success with which they have, through the assistance of Mr. Keltie, accomplished this important step towards geographical reformation in this country, by shoAving us hoAV far we are behind many other countries, and by giving us hints as to how we may best remedy this. J- Cr- B-
32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.
An Ordinary Meeting of the Society was held in the Masonic Hall, Edinburgh, on the evening of 8th December, when Mr. Holt S. Hallett, C.E., read a Paper, entitled, "Exploration-Survey for Eailway Connection between India, Siam, and China," which will be given in the next number of the Magazine. Dr. George Smith, C.I.E., Member of Council, presided ; and Mr. Archibald Colquhoun, on the conclusion of the Paper, made a few remarks on the political aspects of the matter under discussion, which will be reproduced with Mr. Hallett's Address. Colonel Dods, Member of Council, moved, and Mr. W. B. Blaikie seconded, the vote of thanks to the lecturer.
On Thursday evening, December 10th, Mr. Holt Hallett re-delivered his Paper before the Dundee Branch of the Society in the Hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, Dundee, — Mr. Alexander Henderson, President of the Dundee Chamber of Commerce, occupying the chair. j\Ir. Walter Shepherd moved the vote of thanks.
The late SIR GEOEGE HARPJSON, LL.D., M.P.
In the death of Sir George Harrison, the Society, in common with every public body with which he was connected, has suffered a great loss. As Vice-Presi- dent, and one of the promoters of the Society, he took an active interest in our proceedings ; and, it may be remembered, presided at the preliminary meeting, when the Society was formally constituted. His rare business qualities and genial presence, added to the important civic office which he so ably filled, were very heljjful influences in the early stages of our constitution. The Council desire, therefore, to record their sense of his valuable services and of the high appreciation in which they held him. As a mark of sympathy and condolence, a wreath, bearing a suitable inscription, was sent, on behalf of the Council, on the day of the funeral, at which the Society was represented.
CORRESPONDENCE.
By request of Professor "William Robertson Smith, one of the Editors of the Encyclopcedia Britannlca, Ave publish the following letter from Mr. Clements Markhara to Lieutenant Greely, in reply to remarks respecting the article on the Polar Regions in the Enci/dojxedia Britannica : —
" 21 EccLESTON Square, S.W., 5th Dec. 1885. "Dear Sir,— I have just returned from America, and my attention has been called to some remarks you made upon my article in the Encyclojm'dia Britannica on the Polar Regions, in an address you lately delivered at Edinburgh.
" Your objection to my article is that it contains the statement that the region on either side of Robeson Channel and facing the Polar Sea, was thoroughly explored by the Expedition of 1875-76.
" In reply to this objection I would remind j'^ou that the region in question was unknown before 1875-76 with the exception of the portion travelled over or seen
CORRESPONDENCE. 33
by Hall, and the coast-line was erroneously laid down. The Expedition of 1875-76 discovered that the coast of Grant Land trended west and then southerly, and that the coast of Greenland trended north-east, both facing a sea encumbered by heavy masses of ancient ice. The character of this ice was carefully and minutely examined. The coast-lines were examined for over 300 miles, and lofty hills were ascended. Careful and diligent observations were made, which furnished data by which a judgment might be formed of the extent and nature of the Polar Sea in this direction. The currents and other hydrographical phenomena were observed at various points. The geological formation of the newly-discovered land was ascer- tained as well as its physical conditions. Collections of rocks and fossils were made at every point. Glacial action was observed. The existence of tertiary coal in 82° N. and the former extension of Miocene vegetation to that parallel, was discovered ; the numerous specimens being subsequently described by Professor Heer.
" The expedition also made an exhaustive collection of a biology of a region previously unknown to science. The flora of this region was made known, and was found to possess special interest in connection with questions of distribution ; very complete collections were made as regards mammalia, birds, fishes, insects, mollusca, Crustacea, echinoderms, and vast numbers of microscopic forms. The limit of Eskimo northerly migration was fixed. In physics a complete series of meteorological, magnetic, tidal and other observations was taken at two different fixed stations, one of them further north than any other series has been taken before or since.
" These results comprise a thorough exploration and examination of the region. "Your expedition visited the same region, partly for the purpose of taking synchronous meteorological observations, and partly to reach points beyond those attained by the travelling parties of 1876. In the latter object Lieutenant Lockwood succeeded, going beyond the point reached by Lieutenant Beaumont. Journeys were also made into the interior of Grinnel Land with interesting results. " These journeys are duly mentioned in the Encyeloixedia article. They do not alter the fact that the region in question had previously been thoroughly examined and explored, as regards general scientific results, by the Expedition of 1875-76. An extension of coast-line in one direction and inland journeys in another do not alter that fact. Nor does the fact of previous exploration detract from the merit of the American explorers. The journeys of Lieutenant Lockwoood were most remarkable ; and no praise can be too great when bestowed on the skill, energy, perseverance, and indeed the heroism of that most distinguished oflicer, and of Sergeant Brainard.
" I cannot refrain from protesting against your assumption that I seek to depreciate American Arctic work. Nothing can be more opposed to my feelings, and to my course of action during many years. I myself served with Dr. Kane in the Arctic Eegions. I knew him and De Long personally, and I corresponded with Captain Hall. I wrote in high praise of their work on several occasions. More recently I have written papers on the work of Schwatke and of Berry. I appeal to those articles to prove my feelings with regard to American Arctic exploration. I have publicly expressed my admiration of the work done by your Expedition. Last October I presided at the meeting of the Naval Institute at Annapolis, when Lieutenant Danenhower read his interesting paj^er. I then made a speech which proves my appreciation of the services and merits of American Arctic officers.
" While, however, I maintain the correctness of what I wrote in the Encyclo- pcedia article in question, I at the same time very much regret that it should VOL. II. C
34 CORRESPONDENCE.
have been the cause of annoyance to you. If I could have anticipated any such consequence, I should have certainly omitted the sentence, -which was not essential as the facts speak for themselves.
" I take this opportunity of congratulating you on your safe return, and on the valuable work done by yourself and your gallant companions, and remain yours, etc.,
(Signed) CLEMENTS R. MAEKHAM.
"Major Greely, U.S.A."
The following was in answer to the above, which we give by the request
of Lieutenant Greely : —
" Liverpool, Dec. 22, 1885. " Clements E. ISIarkham, Esq.
" Dear Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of December 19th supplementing that of the 5th inst., regarding your article on the Polar Eegions, and my reference to it at Edinburgh. It is evident to every one who reads that the sentence referred to was depreciatory of the work of my Expedition, but you have pointed out that the article was written in August 1884, and that you had no intention of giving any such meaning to the sentence.
" You say, ' I have already expressed regret, that the sentence in question was inserted. I now wish to add that the word ' exhaustively ' ought not to have been used ; ' — and in view of these words I cannot but express my regret that I should have incorrectly attributed such a .spirit to you.
" I note with especial pleasure what you write as to your appreciation and admiration of American Arctic work, and the aid you have rendered in making it known.
" That I can thus modify my strictures at Edinbirrgh, leaves my journey to Great Britain free from any unpleasant reminiscences. — Faithfully and sincerely,
(Signed) "A. W. GEEELY."
OBITUARY, 1885.
Alexander, General Sir J. E., K.C.B., died on 2d April, at the Bridge of Allan. He was born in 1803, and was educated at the Colleges of Edin- burgh and Glasgow, and then at the Military College, Sandhurst. He entered the army in 1821, and served with distinction in most parts of the world — in India, in Burmah, at the Cape, and in North America. In 1836-7 he was employed on an expedition of discovery into the interior of Africa, and was the first knight "created for services in Africa" by her Majesty, in 1838. He was also engaged on a Government surveying party in the forests of New Brunswick. He was afterwards present at the siege of Sebastopol, and, subsequently, commanded in New Zealand. It was partly due to his exertions that the obelisk called Cleo- patra's Needle was transported from Egypt and placed on the Thames Embank- ment, He wrote many books, some of which were in their day of considerable value. Among them may be mentioned his Travels from India to England, his Transatlantic Sketches, and his Voyage of Observation among the Colonies of West Africa.
DuNKER, Professor Wilhelm, died at INIarburg on INIarch 13. He was the author of several important works, among which may be mentioned — Beitrdge zur Kenntniss des norddeutschen Oolithengehildes, Monographic der norddeutschen Wealdenbildung, and the Geologische Karte der Ch-affschaft Schatimburg (1867),
OBITUARY. 35
which was a new method in the colouring and treatment of geological charts that has since been widely adopted.
Gordon, Major-General C. G., R.E., C.B. — According to native reports, but as yet unconfirmed by trustworthy evidence, we have to deplore the death of General C. G. Gordon, better known, in nearly all the world, as Chinese Gordon or Gordon Pasha. He was a son of General W. H. Gordon, and was born at Woolwich on January the 28th, 1843, and is supposed to have been killed about January the 26th, 1885, at Khartum.
Gordon entered the army at the age of fifteen, and soon made a mark during the Crimean War, where he exhibited all the truest qualities which go to make a great soldier. After being employed in the East on various commissions until April 1859, he attained the rank of captain ; and the next year found him in China, where his magnetic influence over semi-civilised men commanded universal attention. He was appointed Commander-in-chief of the " Ever Victorious Army ; " and, with marvellous determination and rapidity, he completely crushed the Taeping rebellion, which had threatened to dismember the Chinese Empire. His unselfish refusal of all reward created a lasting impression on the nation, who has ever retained a deep feeling of afi"ection and esteem for their deliverer. From 1865 to 1871 were pro- bably the happiest years of Gordon's life. He was stationed at Gravesend, and employed the whole of his leisure hours in work among the waifs and strays of London. The amount of good he was able to accomplish during this period will never be known, but hundreds of boys were rescued from their miserable surround- ings and aided to useful and honourable employment by his self-sacrificing efforts. From 1871 to 1874 he served upon the Danube Commission ; and was then appointed to succeed Sir Samuel Baker as Governor of the Egyptian Equatorial Provinces. During the two years subsequent to his appointment, he and the officers of his staff accomplished good geograp)hical work. The Nile from Berber to Urondogani was surveyed in detail, and the mystery of the Albert Nyanza was solved. This work alone gives Gordon a right to rank among the practical geographers of the day ; and yet this was but the least of his achievements. The work he accomplished, first as Governor of the Equatorial Provinces, and after- wards as Governor-General of the whole Sudan, was simply marvellous, and can hardly be appreciated by any one unacquainted with the vast area over which he ruled and the complex conditions of the various tribes, both Arab and Negro, whose affairs he had to regulate. He was almost worshipped by the people, who recog- nised in him a ruler who feared God and disregarded man, and who, although holding the balance of justice even, was alike a sympathising loving friend to the down-trodden poor, and the stern relentless foe of tyranny and oppression.
The writer of this notice passed through a considerable portion of the Sudan soon after Gordon had relinquished his post as Governor-General, and witnessed the intense sorrow, almost despair, which took possession of the people as they realised that their " father " had left them.
The brief space at our disposal will not permit us to mention the part he took in averting the threatened war between China and Russia in 1880, nor his unsuc- cessful visit to the Cape ; nor can we refer to his last journey to the Sudan, as that would involve our entering into political questions, which are out of place in a Geographical Magazine. Suffice it to say, that Gordon's actions are beyond the ken of party politicians, and can only be understood by those who fully appreciate absolutely pure and disinterested motives.
GoDEFFROY, J. C, Sen., died at Hamburg in February. He was notable as being the first German merchant who made commercial enterprise serviceable to the
36 OBITUARY.
cause of science. Along with his business agents, he sent out scientists to explore the South Sea Islands, to collect specimens of their products, and to report upon them. The Godeifroy Museum in Hamburg, and the works published in con- nection with it, form an invaluable memorial of the great services he has rendered to his country.
Hansal, Coxsul. — This veteran resident in Khartum was killed on January the 26th, 1885. He first went out to the Sfldan as a lay brother attached to the Austrian Roman Catholic Mission, and spent some years at Gondokoro. He was subsequently appointed Austrian Consul at Khartum, and was also for various periods acting Vice-Consul for England, France, and Germany. Those who know him well called him the father of White Nile explorers — such was the interest he took in them, and the ungrudging aid he was always ready to give to any one, of whatever nationality, who Avas bound for the sources of the Nile. He had resided about twenty-six years in the Sudan, and was much respected by all classes of the community.
Laidlay, John Watson, was a native of Glasgow, and when only seventeen years of age went out (in 1825) to India. Until 1841 he was generally in charge of either an indigo or a silk factory. In 1844 he took up his residence in Calcutta, and soon became well known through his talent for languages, his love of decipher- ing inscriptions, his perseverance in chemical researches, and his wide knowledge of the sciences. He contributed numerous papers to the Bengal Asiatic Society, of which he was for some time Secretary. He returned to England in 1849, and devoted the rest of his life to the study of chemistry, meteorology, archaeology, and natural history. At North Berwick he investigated the supposed rise of the East Coast of Scotland since Roman times, and showed that had the land really subsided it must have been swept away. Among numerous papers which he wrote may be mentioned the following : — Analysis of Raio SilJc, On the Rate of Evaporation in the Open Sea, and Notice of a Chinese Geographical Work. He translated the Pil- grimage of Fa-Hian,
M'EwAN, W. 0. — A notice of the death of this able young engineer was given in the last volume of the Magazine, page 576, et seq.
Nactigal, Dr. Gustav, one of the most notable of recent African explorers, and the pioneer, so to speak, of German colonial enterprise, died of fever on AprU 20, on the German gunboat Mowe, off the West Coast of Africa. He was born, in 1834, at Eichstedt ; studied medicine in Germany until, in 1862, his health necessitated change to a warmer climate, and he proceeded first to Algeria, and then to Tunis, where he studied the archteology of the country, and gained some reputation as a physician. In 1868 he started on a mission to Sheik Omar, the Sultan of Bornu ; and his journey, which was extended to six years, through some of the most interesting and least known parts of Africa, was fruitful in a remarkable degree to all departments of geographical knowledge. In 1882 he was appointed German Consul-General at Tunis, and from 1884 to the date of his death was employed by his Government in placing under German protection the territories of Togo-land, the Cameroons, and the coast to the south of Cape Frio. He was the author of SaJiara ^md Sudan.
Parkes, Sir Harry Smith, died not long after the death of his friend, General Gordon. Having gone out to China at ten years of age, he soon made himself familiar with the language of the country ; and, while still a mere youth, acted as
OBITUARY. 37
interpreter between our Minister and Kiyino;. He acquired subsequently a know- ledge of the Manchu, Mongolian, and Thibetan languages. He accompanied Bowring on his mission to Siam, and was afterwards appointed British Consul at Canton, where he assisted in the capture of Commissioner Yeh. Owing to his thorough knowledge of Chinese, he was constantly employed in the events con- sequent on the refusal of the Chinese Government to ratify the Treaty of Tientsin, and was one of those who were treacherously seized by the commander of the Chinese army, and sent in bonds into Peking. After the close of this campaign, he accompanied Admiral Hope in his expedition up the Yang-tze-Kiang, and, towards the close of the Taeping rebellion, acted as Consul at Shanghai. In 1865 he was appointed Minister at Yedo. He remained here for eighteen years, and took the chief part in negotiating the commercial treaties which regulate the trade between this country and Japan. On returning to England, he received the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ; and in 1883 he was transferred from Yedo to Peking — the highest object of his ambition. He was for some time President of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
RiEBECK, Dr. Emil, died June 22. He spent the ample fortune which he inherited from his father in the furtherance of geographical and anthropological research. In 1880 he left Germany for the East ; visited the Caucasus, Greece, Asia Minor, and parts of Syria — attempting an exploration of Moab. He subse- quently paid a visit to the island of Sokotra in company with Dr. Schweinfurth, returning to Germany in 1883. He was a liberal supporter' of geographical research ; and was the author of The Chittagong Hill Tribes : Besults of a Journey made in the Year 1882.
EiGBY, Major-General Christopher Palmer, died on April 14, in his sixty- fifth year. General Rigby held many important military, civil, and diplomatic appointments, and owed many of his chief successes to his exceptional powers as a linguist. His fearless diplomacy and firmness of character was, on more than one occasion, of the highest service to this country. He was the compiler of an Outline of the Somali Language, and Vocabularies of the Sathpoora Languages, which were published by Government.
Rogers, E. T., generally known as Rogers Bey, died on the 10th of June, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He first came prominently into notice as British Consul at Damascus, during the period of Lord Dufferin's Mission to the East. Subsequently, after having acted as British Consul at Cairo, he became the Khedive's representative in London, and, somewhat later, he held various impor- tant posts under the Egyptian Government. He was a devoted student of numis- matics, and formed a complete collection of the coins of the Khilafat and of other Arabian dynasties. He wrote for the Art Journal a very interesting account of Cairo and its mosques, and, only a few weeks before his death, presented to the Khedive a valuable report (not yet published) on the Monuments of Cairo. He was the discoverer of the Mausoleum of the Abbaside Khalifs.
ScHLAGiNTWEiT, Dr. Robert VOX, Well known for the investigation made by himself and his two brothers for the British East India Company, died in January at the age of 52. He was Professor of Geography and Ethnology in the University of Giessen.
SoNKLAR, Major-General Karl, died at Innsbriick on the 10th of January, in his 69th year. He was a native of the Banat of Temesvar, and entered the
38 OBITUARY.
Austrian Army in 1839. He was for many years Professor of Geography in the Military School of Vienna (Neustadt), and was the author of numerous mono- graphical treatises on various mountain groups of the Alps, the glaciers of which he carefully investigated.
Stokes, Admiral John Lort, whose death occurred on 11th June, entered the navy in the year 1824, and served through all the grades of his profession on board Her Majesty's ship Beagle. For twenty years the Beagle was employed in explor- ing and surveying Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, Torres Straits, and Western Australia ; and, in 1846, by order of the Lords of the Admiralty, Captain Stokes prepared an account of this vessel's discoveries in Australia while he held the com- mand of the survey.
Vaux, William Sandys Wright. — The Royal Asiatic Society suffered a very severe loss by the death, on the 21st June, of its learned and indefatigable Secre- tary, William Sandys Wright Vaux. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took his M.A. degree. As a keeper in the British Museum, he took a deep interest in the many subjects that came within his range, and especially did an immense amount of laborious work in the Coin Department. His connection with the Asiatic Society began in 1874. He found its affaii's in a depressed state, but by his energy and devotion he greatly increased the membership, doubled the size of the Journal, and raised the financial state of the Society to great prosperity. His annual reports, in which he took a wide survey of all that was being done in the field of Oriental learning and research, obtained a very great reputation. His erudition was remarkably varied and extensive. He wrote on Assyrian discovery, on the Greek cities of Asia Minor, on Persia, on the Arabic coins of the Atabegs of Mosul, — on coins, in fact, of every description. The articles on " India and the Eemote East," in Smith's Dictionary of Classical Geography, were also from his pen.
Veth, Daniel David, who found his last resting-place on the banks of the Kalahanka River in May 1885, was born at Amsterdam, February 17th, 185U. Having been educated at the Upper Burger School of Leyden (whither his father, the learned Professor P. J. Veth, was called in 1864 to a Chair in the Government institution for the training of Indian officials), and afterwards at the Polytechnic Schools of Hanover and Stuttgart, he started practical life as a railway engineer (1873) in the service of the Left Shore Zurich Lake Railroad. He was afterwards engaged for some time on the St. Gotthard Railway. But the desire which he had for years entertained of doing " something for the development of mankind," by opening up some unexplored region of the world, was not to remain long ungratified. The Dutch Geographical Society, of which Professor Veth had been President from its foundation in 1873, organised an expedition for the exploration of Central Sumatra, and Mr. Daniel Veth was appointed one of its leading members, with the special task of making the geographical survey of the country. He reached Padang Roads on January 13th, 1877, and started on his home journey from the same place on March 7th, 1878. A large portion of the official work, in which the results of the expedition were recorded, was from his pen, and it was mainly illustrated by the photographs he had personally taken. Those who attended the Sheffield Meeting of the British Association in 1879, had an opportunity of hearing the gallant young explorer discourse on the success of the Sumatran campaign. It was very largely to ^Nlr. Veth's exertions that the Dutch Indian Section of the Amsterdam International Exhibition was indebted for the geographical and anthropological interest by which it was characterised; as
OBITUARY. 39
Secretary of the Commissioners, he had been obliged to remain at Batavia, when he had intended to travel through the Javanese residencies. During his first expedition his attention was attracted by the Ombilin coal-field, and, in 1882, he published a pamphlet, expounding a scheme for its exploitation by the aid of a cable-railway to Brandewijn's Bay. An application, however, which he made for a concession for the carrying out of this proposal was with scant courtesy refused by the Government. By two articles in the Nieuwe Botterdamsche Courant, December 1883, his thoughts were turned to the exploration of that part of Africa which lies south-east of Mossamedes, in the direction of the Transvaal. The plan of his expedition was laid before the Dutch Geographical Society in April 1884, and, by December 7th of that year, he and his companions, L. J. Godeff'roy and P. J. van der Kellen, had reached Mossamedes. At first things seemed to promise well. Mr. Veth went inland by Capangombe, Huilla, and Humpata, and returned to the coast with oxen for the wagons. But the journey to Humpata with the baggage was a trying one, and subsequent anxieties and exertions wore away the strength of a nature only too ardent and eager for the accomplishment of work.
WoRSAAE, Professor Jens J. A., a well-known archceologist, died on the 15th of August, when on a visit to the island of Zealand. He was born at Veile in 1821. Having been educated at Horsens College, he entered, in 1838, the University of Copenhagen. His first appointment was to the post of Assistant at the Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen. In 1842 he obtained a grant of money, which enabled him to make an archaeological journey through Sweden ; and, with the aid of a subsequent grant, he visited also Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Great Britain and Ireland. In 1846-47 he undertook a journey to inquire into the visits of the ancient Danes and Norsemen to England, and this resulted in his well-known work upon that subject. He wrote also a work on the Industrial Arts of Denmark.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
ASIA. Annexation of Burmah. — The newspapers publish an ofiicial notification of the following proclamation by the Viceroy and Governor-General of India : — " By command of the Queen-Empress, it is hereby notified that the territories formerly governed by King Theebaw will no longer be under his rule, but have become part of Her Majesty's dominions, and will, during her Majesty's pleasure, be administered by such officers as the Viceroy and Governor-General of India may from time to time appoint. (Signed) Dufferin."
Burmah, Present and Future. — Mr. Holt S. Hallett read a paper on the subject of " Burmah, Present and Future," before the Society of Arts, London, on Dec. 16. In the course of his remarks, Mr. Hallett said : — Upper Burmah and the Shan States lying to the east of it, which were until lately under its control, should be of the greatest interest to us as a trading nation, for they are interposed between the two most populous empires in the world, India and China. In these days, with foreign competition getting keener every day, and hostile tariffs not only shutting the European markets against us, but in a lesser degree American and English colonies also, with the race for fresh colonies and new markets among European Powers, it is of importance that we should avail ourselves of our present opportunity for an inland connection and commercial alliance with Indo-Chiua and China, and thus acquire new markets of transcendent promise. Burmah and the Burmese
40 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
Shan States are highly favoured by their geographical position. They lie in the course of the monsoons, and are gifted for the most part with a plentiful rainfall. Burmah is bounded on the north by the snow-clad hills of Southern Tibet ; on the east by China, the Shan States tributary to China, Burmah, and Siam, and by Siam ; on the west by Assam, Manipur, Chittagong, and the Indian Ocean ; and on the south by the Indian Ocean and Siam. It may be said to exist in four natural divisions, one of which, comprising the iJrovince of Arracan, borders on the Bay of Bengal ; the second, and by far the most fruitful and important, the basins of the Irrawady, Sittang, and Beeling Rivers ; the third, the portion of the basin of the Salween that lies to the south of Karennee, and as far west as the Thoungysen River ; the fourth, the portion of our province of Tenasserim lying along the Indian Ocean. Having glanced at tlie history of the country, Mr. Hallett said — The inhabitants of the Shan States of Thebaw and Theinni on the Myit-Nge River, as weU as those of Thoung-Thwot on the Khyeng-dwen River and of Kampti, lying near the sources of the Irrawady, have been for some time in rebellion, owing to the oppression and cruelties of the Burmese. The Shans of Thebaw and Theinni, together with those of Monay and other States, driven to desperation and revenge, have been lately ravaging the country up to the very gates of the Burmese capital, and had we not interfered, the whole of the country would soon have been in a state of turbulence and disorganisation, which would not only have stopped trade, but have led to serious complications on our frontier. The Irrawady is a river which discharges about 420,000,000 metric tons of water during the year. The river is about 90Q miles in length, the last 240 being in British territory. As far south as Akouk- toung its bed is rocky ; further down it is sandy and muddy. New sand-banks are continually forming and old ones being removed, which renders it necessary for the steamers plying between Rangoon, Mandalay, and Bhamo^to have a service of pilots upon the river. In the rainy season steamers and large boats enter the main river from Rangoon by the Pan-Hlaing Creek, but during the dry season they have to descend the Rangoon River for some distance and proceed by different routes into the Irrawady. The Khyeng-dwen, the river where, as we have heard, several Europeans have been killed, is navigable for the largest boats plying on the Irrawady, and for steamers certainly as far north as Kendat, and most likely as far as the rajiids which occur a little above the junction of the Ooroo River. A great deal of grain is grown in the lower portion of the Khyeng-dwen valley, and likewise in that of the Ooroo, near the sources of which are the serpentine mines. The lower portion of the river passes through a broad, populous, and fertile champaign, and presents an almost continuous horizon of palmyra groves, — always in Burmah a sign of population and culture. From these there is a considerable manu- facture of palm sugar. The sugar-cane is generally used by the Burmese merely for munching, but, according to Colonel Yule, a little sugar is made from the cane in the neighbourhood of Ava. Bhamo, on the course of the Irrawady, is the entrepot of trade for North-western Yunnan, and will certainly become under our rule a place of great importance, as it is the terminus of the shortest caravan routes into Western China. For some time it was proposed by many of our officials to improve the caravan route by the construction of a carriage road, and even a railway, but subsequent explorations have shown that although Bhamo, which is 430 feet above sea-level, is only 250 miles distant in a direct line from Talifu, yet a railway would have to be 600 miles in length to connect these places. The cost of a railway connection by this route would be at least four times as great as that proposed by Mr. Colquhoun and myself, which, besides, has the great advantage ot terminating at a seaport instead of at a town 840 miles up a river, of opening up
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 41
the whole of Central Indo-China, and of passing through a much more fertile and better populated region than would be traversed by the other route. Bhamo will, no doubt, before long be joined by rail, via Mandalay, to our Rangoon and Tounghoo Railway, and subsequently to the Indian system at Dibrugarh, thus tapping the whole of the passes leading from the west of the Shan States, and completing one of the schemes long ago proposed by my colleague and myself. Having described minutely the course of the Irrawady and the country through which it passes, Mr. Hallett remarked that the inhabitants of Burniah, owing to the excellence of the climate, are robust and healthy-looking. They attain the average length of human life, and children especially thrive in the country. The registration returns show that in Burmah the deaths of cliildren under five years of age are in the proportion of 27'S5 of the total deaths at all ages, whereas in England they are 40 per cent. Concerning the characteristics and peculiarities of the Burman, much need not be said. His virtues, which are many, and his failings, which are not a few, are much the same here as in every part of his extensive country. Here, as elsewhere, he displays much spasmodic energy and general laziness ; much love of feasts and shows ; much disregard of the sacredness of human life, and much tenderness for the lives of inferior members of the animal kingdom ; much arrogance and iucon- siderateness when placed in high position ; and last, though not least, much general truthfulness, and, among unsophisticated villagers, the very unoriental trait of being quite unable to tell a specious falsehood, a trait which is as honourable to himself as it is agreeable to those who have the government of his country. His occupa- tions are cultivation on a small scale and petty trading. Actual poverty is almost unknown, but riches are never accumulated. The Burman is strongly distinguished from the Indian races by his love of sport and amusement, and his strong turn for the ridiculous. In every way he is a marked contrast to the Hindoo. The women-folk mix freely in all social gatherings on perfectly equal terms, and form a very important factor in society. Proceeding to speak of British Burmah, Mr. Hallett said that only one-half of the area of that country is cultivable, and only one-seventh of that half is under cultivation. Taking the present population at 4,000,000, there is room for 24,000,000 more, without overcrowding the province. Even now about 1,000,000 tons of rice are exported every year, after feeding the population, cattle, and elephants. It is, therefore, certain that if all the reclaimable waste lands were brought under tillage, Burmah would be unrivalled as a granary. The population of British Burmah has increased from 2,747,141 in 1872 to 3,736,771 in 1883. In the same interval the public expenditure in the province has risen from .£779,513 to £1,493,702. Trade has more than kept pace with the advance of population and revenue, as the following figures will show : — In 1874 the imports were £1,859,095, and in 1883, £3,772,887. In 1874 the exports were £3,480,407, and in 1883, £7,039,525. The relative increase of the imports is somewhat greater than the increase in exports, but, with the balance of trade so strongly in favour of the province, its capacity as a consumer of British manu- factures is very imperfectly measured by the actual value of the imports. Again, the comparatively small amount of those imports demonstrates conclusively that Upper Burmah has acted as an effectual and insurmountable barrier between the port of Rangoon and those illimitable commercial requirements of Western China and the Shan States which it has been the hope of the Government and merchants alike to ascertain and to satisfy. Rice represents 80 per cent, of the total exports. The other chief exports are teak, cotton, jade, petroleum, spices, tobacco, hides, horns, ivory, india-rubber, shellac, cutch, and drugs. Of these, teak forms 7 per cent, of the total exports, and cotton 2| per cent. The statistics of the province
42 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
show that one of the chief wants is population, a want which our connection with India and China would make it easy for Madras, Bengal, and China to supply, thus adding materially to the producing capacity and general prosperity of the province. In the ten years ending 1883, the State outlay in British Burmah was £11,228,282, or an average of £1,122,828 per annum. During this period the revenue rose from £1,565,186 to £2,702,086, an improvement of £1,136,000 between the first and last years of the decade. This is a result which seems to prove that the State could not, in its own interest, pursue a more wise or a more profitable domestic policy in the case of British Barmah than to devote to the province special funds to be employed in opening out the country, in the extension of its railways, the improve- ment of its new water communications, and the construction of carefully-selected roads to feed the railways and the river channels. Our conquest of Upper Burmah, which has been so happily concluded within the past few days, will place the Burman Shan States under our protection. We can now drive the iron horse from India down the valley of the Irrawady, and, via Moulmein, to the very gates of China without any political impediment.
Britain and Russia in Asia. — Mr. Archibald R. Colquhoun read a very able Paper, on 16th December, before the Royal United Service Institution, London, dealing with the political position of England and Russia in Asia — a full report of which was published in The Times of the following day. The following statistical facts are worth recording. Sketching briefly the present position in Eastern Asia, Mr. Colquhoun said : — " England's Asiatic dominions and dependencies cover more than 2,500,000 square miles. She has 270,000,000 souls under her rule, speaking more than twenty languages. Her European military strength in Asia is 70,000, with 140,000 native auxiliaries, while her naval force counts some forty vessels. She has 10,000 miles of railway, and 20,000 miles of telegraph on land in Asia, and over 8000 miles of submarine cable. She has invested in her territories, either in State loans or railways under the State, over £250,000,000, besides scores of millions sterling invested in private enterprise — agricultural, commercial, industrial — which cannot be exactly estimated. Our foreign trade with these territories is over £150,000,000 annually, of which one half is with England. The trade of other Asiatic countries with Britain is over £40,000,000, of which four-fifths is English, while an enormous coasting trade, growing yearly with great strides, is mainly in our hands. The trade between Eastern Asia and our Australian colonies is growing yearly, and has a great future before it. The Asiatic dominions or dependencies of Russia are two-and-a-half times as great as our ovm, containing over 7,000,000 square miles. But they have a population of only some 18,000,000, not one-fifteenth of our Asiatic population, scattered over this enormous region, which, in economic wealth, is poverty-stricken compared to our own. It is this simple fiict more than any other which makes the rapid advance of Russia towards India and China, in the present generation, so significant. From the shores of the Caspian as her base she has now thrown forward a network of communications towards Central Asia and Afghanistan. In the Amur she is making great efi"orts to consolidate herself, and to perfect the communications between Vladivostok and Russian Siberia. Her trade with Eastern Asia, consisting almost entirely of tea from China, is trifling. French interests in Asia consist of her possession of Cochin China, covering an area of 22,000 square miles, with a population of 1,700,000 ; Cambodia, 40,000 square miles, and a population of 1,000,000 ; Annam (including Tonquin), 200,000 square miles, with a population of about 10,000,000— in all about 13,000,000 souls. The total trade represents merely some £7,000,000 sterling annually."'
Return of M. PrzhevalsM. — The following letter from M. Venukoft' has been
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 43
published by the Revue de Gcographie : — " At this moment, M. Przhevalski ought to have reached Karakol, a Eussian town in the neighbourhood of Lake Issyk-Kul. At least, in his letter of the 20th August, dated from Tchir (53 miles west of Khotan), he expressed his desire of reaching it towards the end of October (O.S.) This letter contains a resume of the geographical discoveries made by this famous traveller since his departure from the confines of Lob-nor. The mountain chain Altiing-tacjh {GolAen Mountains), which rises to the south of this lake, and stretches from east to west, ends abruptly on the banks of the Tchertchene, which emerges from Tibet 223 miles from Lob-nor. Beyond this river a new mountain-chain is visible, to the west and south-west, the Tokuz-daban, which forms the continuation of the series of mountains, the Burkhan-buda, the Marco Polo, Colomb, etc., dis- covered by M. Przhevalski during his former expeditions The Tokouz-daban and its ramifications cover all the space between Tchertchene and Kiria, the extent of which exceeds 248 miles. The direction of the principal range of these mountains, until now absolutely unknown, is from the north-east to the south-west, whilst from thence to Kiria the Kuen-Lun resumes its general direction from east to west. All these mountains are covered with snow. At the mouth of the river Yurum-Kach, in this mountainous country, there is visible to the south-west a new group, covered with perpetual snow, which stretches towards Karakorum. M. Przhevalski wished to penetrate it, but obstacles placed there by nature, as well as by the Chinese, did not allow him to accomplish this design. He was obliged to continue his journey towards Khotan, and beyond this town, as far as Tchir. Moreover, all the terra incognita between Lob-nor and Khotan had already been explored by him, when he wrote his last two letters, the one to the Hereditary Grand Duke of Russia, the other to myself. It is curious to notice, a propos of this correspondence, that my letter, sent off on the 23rd January 1885, was received by M. Przhevalski at Khotan, or in its neighbourhood, after having traversed the enormous distance of 8700 miles, from Paris by Kiakhta, Pekin, and the deserts of Southern Mongolia, of Tzai'dam and of Eastern Turkestan. This proves that nowadays the most perfect security holds sway over all this space. The population of the countries explored by M. Przhevalski is very thin. The traveller only found two congregations of any size — the one on the confines of Lob-nor, the other in the valley of the Tchertchene. The first group was composed of 400 individuals belonging to a mixed race of Turks and Mongols ; they live by fishing, by hunting birds, and, to a small extent, by agriculture. The second group was more numerous, containing 3000 persons, who dwell in some hamlets scattered here and there, and occupy themselves with the cultivation of gardens and fields. Judging by the number of ruins that INI. Przhevalski has found in the oasis of Tchertchene, one must suppose that this population, so heterogeneous in its compo- sition, is the remnant of a more numerous one, for the traces of more than twenty towns and villages are still to be seen. Two main reasons have caused the depopulation of the country. First, the cruelty of the Chinese, the actual masters of the Tchertcheneans, and then, second, the advance of the sand from the neigh- bouring desert. During the whole of his journey between Lob-nor and Kiria, M. Przhevalski observed clouds of dust which filled the air, obscured the sun, and covered the vegetation with a very thick layer. The chief wind which carried it was that from the north-east. The traveller hoped to arrive at St. Petersburg towards the 10th January 1886."
Derbend and the Porta Caspia. — To the Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, Herr von Eckert contributes some interesting details in regard to the great wall of Derbend, which, for a distance of 30 to 40 miles, runs west from the shores of the Caspian.
44 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
Discounting the portion of the wall which encloses Derbend itself on north and south, it may be said to begin to the west of Naryn-Kaleh, the citadel which com- mands the town ; but the heights above the citadel ascend so rapidly that the wall is continued only part of the distance (about Ih miles) to Pramiishki-Kaleh, which lies in a hollow of the same ridge. The next castle, Karogli-Kaleh, lies to the south of Pramiishki-Kaleh ; but there is no wall between. From Karogli, however, it extends across a deep valley to Ivejili-Kaleh, on the highest point of a parallel range. The wall generally fronts the north. Besides the castles, which all have Tartar names, and form quadrangles of 40 to 80 paces in extent, there are numerous square watch-towers along the wall, from the interior of wliich a stair leads up to the top.
From Kejili-Kaleh the wall continues along the mountain-ridge by Metagi, Kemokh, and for some distance further north ; then it turtis westward by Zadian and Belgadj to Shilkani, where it bends abruptly south to resume its generally westward direction by Seshur Darvag (where for some distance there is a double line of wall), Zil, and so onwards, along the ridge, to the great terminal castle of Chukhun, a fine feudal-looking building, which occupies the highest point in the neighbourhood, and commands a view of Kemokh, Metagi, Kejili, and Pramashki. According to a passage which Herr von Eckert quotes from the Arabian geographer and historian Yakut-el-Hamawi (1230 a.d.), the wall was erected by Anushirwau, (531-579) of the Sassanid dynasty, who also buUt the town of Bab-el- Abwab (i.e. Gate of the Gates), or Derbend.
Was Patrokles at the Kara Bugas ? — This is the title of a paper by Professor Hermann Wagner, a corresponding member of this Society, which appeared in the July number of the Journal of the Royal Scientific Society of Gottingen University. Kara Bugas is the name of a great gulf, which deeply indents the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, and Patrokles was a JNIacedonian general, who, while acting as Governor of the eastern i)rovinces of the Syrian kingdom, founded by Seleukus, made an exploring voyage along the Caspian shores, somewhere between the years 285 and 282 B.C. Strabo (Book xi. chap. 6) has preserved to us the knowledge of this fact : — " Eratosthoies says that the navigation of this sea (the Caspian) was known to the Greeks, that the part of the voyage along the coast of the Albanians and Cadusii comprised 5400 stadia, and the part along the country of the Anariaci, Mardi [or Amardi], and Hyrcania, as far as the motdh of the river Oxus, 4800 stadia, and thence to the Jaxartes, 2400 stadia." Strabo subjoins the caution, " that we must not understand the accounts of writers in too literal a sense, parti- cularly with regard to distances." The Oxus now discharges into the Sea of Aral, though formerly (whether in historic or prehistoric times is still an unsettled question) it entered the Caspian Sea at the indentation called the Balkan Bay ; and the question which Wagner discusses is whether it was the entrance to this bay, or to the Kara Bugas further north, which Patrokles took to be the Oxus mouth. His object is not so much to settle the questions in dispute about the Oxus as to expose the careless and unscientific method in which even professional geographers are too much in the habit of examining such questions. A German scholar, he says, called Rosier, in his excellent work entitled, The Aral Sea Question, 1873, had again sought to employ the voyage of Patrokles as a fundamental proof for the existence of an Oxus entrance into the Caspian at the time of that voyage. He had, however, fallen into the error of setting down the distance from the mouth of the Mardus (Sefid-RCid) to that of the Oxus at 3800 stadia, instead of 4800, as given by Strabo. The credit of detecting this mistake of Rosler's belongs to Herr K. J. Neumann of Strassburg, who (Patrokles and the Oxus, in Hermes, xix., 1884, pp. 165-8) pointed
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 45
out that if one o'oes 1000 stadia further northwards from the Balkan Bay, into which the supposed dry bed of the Oxus, called Usboy by the natives, enters, he arrives exactly at the entrance of the great gulf Kara Bugas, which Patrokles, he adds, niiofht have supposed to be the mouth of the Oxus. This supposition was of course a mistake, and consequently Patrokles in that case would stand no longer in the way of those who assume that the desiccation of the lower course of the Oxus took phice in prehistoric times, and hold as unproved an influx of its waters into the Caspian in historic times. This theory A. Kirchhoff of Halle not only accepts with- out reservation, but he seeks to give it additional support by a conjecture regarding the geographical representations of Patrokles " on the non-existence of an Oxus entrance into the Caspian in antiquity." The theory thus gradually developed, our author subjects to a rigid examination, not, he says, M'ith a view to subject the question of the old course of the Oxus to a fresh scrutiny, but merely to consider whether we ai-e warranted in ascribing to Patrokles the discovery of the Kara Bugas. He undertakes to show that Patrokles did not reach that gulf, and seeks to resolve all the proofs adduced, either to misconceptions or to the want of a proper method of geographical investigation. His objections are based (1st) on the want of an accurate analysis of the estimates of distance in Patrokles ; (2nd), on the miscon- ception of the position of the island of Talka in Ptolemy (vi. 9) ; (3d), on the considerable over-estimate of the geographical insight of Patrokles (on the part of Kirchhoff) ; and (4th), most particularly on the want of all consideration of the nature of Kara Bugas, and therewith on the considerable under-estimate of the powers of observation possessed by Patrokles.
(1.) Wagner agrees with Neumann in regarding the mouth of the Mardus (Patrokles' starting-point) as identical with the mouth of the Sefid-Rdd (Kizil-Uzen). The distance thence to the mouth of the Oxus, according to Strabo, was 4800 stadia, but Rosier erroneously regarded it as only 3800, taking the 3800 stadia = 380 geographical miles (10 stadia = l mile, and 600 stadia = l°).
Wagner objects to Neumann's views — (a) that he has apparently made no careful measurement of the stretch of coast between the mouth of the Sefid-Rud and the Balkan Bay, or he has measured -wrong ; (b) that the Kara Bugas is distant, not 4800, but 5500, or at least 5200 stadia from the Sefid-Rud, whilst the Eratosthenic number of 4800 refers much rather to the inner recess of the Balkan Bay than to Kara Bugas ; (c) that experience shows how unsafe it is to base so important a localisation merely on " exact " coincidence of distance and place ; (d) that the well-known tendency of the ancients to over-estimate coast-line distances opposes the assumption that the 4800 stadia refer to the Kara Bugas.
In establishing these positions, our author remarks : " Rosier came now from the Sefid-Rud with his 3800 stadia ' extraordinarily near ' to the Balkan Bay, while Neumann reaches quite exactly the mouth of that bay, and thus to about 39° 45' N. lat. ; but I scarcely reach the south side of the island of Chaleken. Herewith the question at once arises of the length of the south coast of the Caspian Sea. The distance of the present main mouth of the Sefid-Rud from the bending of the coast at the Bay of Astrabad measures scarcely more than 2100 stadia ; but the Sefid-Rud delta having undergone change, it is difficult to deter- mine with precision the position of the ancient embouchure, and, moreover, a sub- sidence of the sea-level has probably made the coast-line a little shorter than in antiquity. From Enzeli, at the entrance into the Bay of Resht, onward to Astrabad Bay, there are 2400 stadia, according even to Melgunof (the author quoted by Neumann), who reckons 240 sea miles, or 2400 stadia. But how, under this supposition, the remaining 1400 (3800-2400), or, it may be, 1700 (3800-2100) stadia should lead us from the Bay of Astrabad (the island of Ashur) northwards
46 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
to the entrance of the Balkan Bay, is beyond my ability to discover. Perhaps it may be said the difference of latitude 2° 50' gives 1700 stadia. If one, however, has to feel his way, in the manner of coasting voyages, by hugging the shore, he comes after 1400 stadia, even without entering the Atrek Bay, to about the island of Mugan, and after 1600 stadia to the southern entrance to the shallow channel, full of sand-banks and flat islands, which separate Chaleken from the mainland, where he is still from 300 to 500 stadia distant from the southern entrance into the Balkan Bay, and that, too, whether he goes eastward or westward round the island. But if we assume for the south coast eastward from Sefid-Eud only 2100 stadia, then 1700 stadia further do not bring one beyond the south side of Chaleken. This cannot be noticed at all on survey maps of a small scale, but can be seen well on Petermann's map or the Russian one. This being settled, that further voyage of 1000 stadia, which Hosier's error prevented him from taking into account, would lead by the directest way between the island of Chaleken and the mainland, after 700 stadia, to the innermost recess of the Balkan Bay, while to reach thereto by sailing round the island would require 1000 stadia. In other words, the very shortest reckoning from the mouth of the Sefid-Rud to that of the Oxus gives 4400 (2100 + 1600 + 700), the other 4700 stadia (2400 + 1600 + 700). On the other hand, the south side of Chaleken is from 1300 to 1400 stadia distant from the Kara Bugas. It is consequently proved — 1st, that those 3800 stadia can in no case lead to the entrance into the Balkan Bay, and conse- quently that Neumann is wrong in counting from this point the additional 1000 stadia ; and 2d, that the Kara Bugas, if not 5500 stadia distant from the Sefid- Riid, is, at the lowest calculation, 5200 (2100 + 1700 + 1400). Besides, a coasting voyage from the midst of the entrance of the Balkan Bay, after a course of 1000 stadia, would take one 100 stadia beyond the Bugas, while the end of the Usboy is from 500 to 600 stadia distant from the entrance. This statement, it appears to me, takes away the force of proof from the conclusion exhibited, viz., that those 4800 stadia which Patrokles left behind him in reaching the Oxus mouth lead exactly to the Kara Bugas. They fall, in fact, short of the requirement by, at the very least, 400 stadia, or by just so much as the shortest measurement of the distance from the Sefid-Rud mouth to the Oxus mouth is under the distance given by Strabo (4800 stadia)."
We need not follow our author in his illustration of the other two points on which he bases his opposition to Neumann's views. It is well known that the estimates of distances in ancient authors are, as a rule, excessive. Nearchus, for instance, estimated the distance between the Indus and the Straits of Ormus at 13,000 stadia, instead of 8000, and Arrian, in his Periphis of the Euxine Sea, exaggerates, by t to J, the distances from stage to stage in a coasting voyage from Heraclea to the Bosporus. Is it not then, Wagner asks, more likely that this 4800 stadia refers to the inner recess of the Balkan Bay, whose entrance is from 4000 to 4200 stadia distant from the Sefid-Rud, than to the Kara Bugas, which is 5500 distant ?
(2.) The second objection turns upon a misconception with regard to Talka, an island which Ptolemy mentions in his description of Hyrcania, and to which he assigns a latitude of 43° 5' N., almost the same as he assigns to the mouth of the Oxus, 43° (ed. Wilb. 416). Rosier identified Talka wdth the island of Chaleken, which lies before Balkan Bay, but assumed the latitude of the Oxus to be 44° instead of 43° 5'. Neumann accepts the identification, but neither he nor our author can divine on what grounds he altered the latitude. His assertion, more- over, that, to Ptolemy, Talka must have appeared as not far distant from the Oxus mouth, is altogether baseless ; for Ptolemy, while giving Talka nearly the same
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 47
latitude as the Oxus mouth, places it no fewer than 5° further west (longitude of Talka, 95° ; of the Oxus mouth, 100°). Now, as Ptolemy assumed that a degree at the Equator measured 500 stadia, 5 degrees of longitude, in latitude 43°, would be equivalent with him to 1830 stadia. How then, it may be asked, did Neumann justify his assent to Eosler's identification of Talka with Chaleken, so far as that identification was based on Ptolemy's figures ? By asserting that Ptolemy mis- understood the sources from which he drew his information. " Rosier," he says, " has not drawn the necessary conclusion from the well-known fact, to which he himself refers, that Ptolemy, through a lamentable error, had made the great axis of the Caspian Sea run from west to east, instead of from north to south, thus giving to its basin a configuration by which great portions of the coast, running in the direction of the meridian, would be drawn into the direction of the parallels of latitude. The estimates of distance, which were meant for the fixing of latitudes, would be used for the fixing of longitudes. ... If, then, we translate Ptolemy's deter- minations (long, of Talka 90°, of Oxus mouth 95°) into what was meant by the original sources, it is not a great difference of position from west to east that is indicated, but from north to south, and thereby the relation of the Oxus mouth to Balkan Bay, as represented by Ptolemy, disappears ; but the result thus attained combines exceedingly well with the way from Kara Bugas." In controverting this argument, our author points out (1st) that it is impossible for any one who has examined Ptolemy's map, and compared it with a modern one, to conceive that his error with regard to the longitudinal axis of the Caspian arose from a corresponding change of the direction of the coast-line, whereby it was made to run from east to west, instead of from north to south ; (2nd), that the meridional axis of the basin, from the mouth of the Rha (Volga) to the northern coast of Media is, after all, but to a comparatively insignificant extent less than on our present maps — viz., 8° instead of 10° ; (3d), that the undue extension of the distance from west to east is attributable to the fact that Ptolemy, knowing nothing of the Aral Sea and the Ust-Urt plateau, drew them both within the limits of the Caspian Sea, since he had no authority for giving to the Jaxartes and Polytimetus a mouth lying so far to the west, as it would have been necessary to give had he represented them as flowing into the east coast proper ; (4th), that in fact, as a consequence of Neumann's way of dealing with respect to Talka and the Oxus mouth, all the adjoining territories would be thrown at once into the most absurd positions. Wagner then i^oints out that the argument is unfortunately chosen in support of the theory that the Kara Bugas was reached by Patrokles ; for while the island of Chaleken is actually only l^", or 900 stadia southwards from the Kara Bugas, Talka, by the new interpreta- tion, is made to lie 5° in the same direction from it — that is, as has already been shown, a distance of at the very least 1830 stadia. That Chaleken, however, is the modern representative of Talka is not at all unlikely ; for, though the former is quite near the coast, and the latter, according to Ptolemy, at least 183 miles from it, it is to be remembered that the Greek geographer was in the habit of "throwing islands that lay near the coast far out into the sea."
(3.) The third argument in support of the new hypothesis has been advanced by Kirchhoff, and is of such a nature as hardly to require refutation. It involves the ascription to Patrokles of a power of geographical intuition which he could not possibly have possessed. The argument is thus stated by Kirchhoff" himself : — " We might add that the assumption on the part of Patrokles, that the Kara Bugas is the termination of the Oxus, might well enough be based on this further consideration ; that the line of the Oxus at that point where it became known to the Greeks, from the time (329 b.c.) when its stream was crossed by Alexander the Great, possesses exactly a direction which, if supposed to be further continued, would reach the sea
48 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
at Adji Darya."' Adji Darya, it may be explained, is the giilf called Kara Bugas {i.e. the black gulf) in the maps, t hough Kara Bugas is properly only the entrance from the Caspian Sea into that gulf). " This \^e^y," says Wagner, " I can assuredly in no wise accept^ — nay, this mode of arguing, in the mouth of a professed geographer, is not without its own peculiar danger ; for is it to be expected that those whom I may call the geographical laity will refrain from advancing the most daring conclu- sions if such complicated questions are to find their solution by merely applying a ruler to some particular river or coast-line ? " Then, dealing with the argument itself, he asks how it can be conceived that a man who lived more than 400 years before Ptolemy, and lived even before Eratosthenes himself, should have had as clear and as correct an idea of the situation of Baktra (where the middle course of the Oxus lies) relatively to Hyrcania, which, through INIargiana intervening, is distant from it more than 1200 kilometres ( = the distance between Venice and Copenhagen), as we at the present day are able to represent on our maps. But it is known for certain that there were no maps before Eratosthenes, and nobody in those days had ever thought of such modes of representing the earth's surface as began to make their appearance in the time of Ptolemy. The point where Alex- ander crossed the Oxus has not even yet been fixed with certainty, but as we know that it lay somewhere to the north of Baktra, its distance from the mouth would be about 1200 kilometres, or 6500 stadia. How then could any one, from merely observing in what direction the Oxus was Mowing, while still at that great distance from the sea, deter mine at what particular point it would enter the sea ? As Kara Bugas and the Balkan Bay are only 1$° distant from each other, the one might be selected for the embouchure with just as much reason as the other. Ptolemy, it may be added, fixes the passage of the Oxus at Zariaspa, under the 44th degree of latitude, which is a degree further to the north than the latitude he assigns to the mouth.
(4.) If Kirchhoff's argument endowed Patrokles with an almost supernatural gift of geographical intuition, the next does not credit him even with the simple powers of observation which an ordinary seaman possesses. What is most striking, our author observes, in the whole of the proof adduced, is, that a conclusion has been arrived at without the peculiar nature of the Kara Bugas being ever taken . at all into account. After 4800 stadia, it is said, an opening shoivs itself in the coast. On this Neumann (p. 176) remarks: — "There has thus really happened here what in the history of discovery stands by no means without example ; Patrokles has taken a narrow arm of the sea for the mouth of the Oxus. We see therefore no trace of an actual knowledge of the course of the river and of its mouth." As we possess not even the slightest indication of any observa- tion ever made by Patrokles, on the countries which he visited, we can only adduce probabilities. The Balkan Bay contracts itself into the shape of a funnel, and has at the end of its third portion a breadth across of only from 3 to 4 kilometres, so that both banks can easUy be seen, especially the Balkan range, which towers up on the north side. At the same time, if the voyage was not continued into the innermost recess, there c ould in this case be produced in the mind of Patrokles the idea of the embouchure of a river far more readily than if he had been sailing through, or even merely sailing past, the Kara Bugas, where behind the dunes that rise up from the flats in front the surface of the Adji Darga will again gleam forth. From the times of Herodotus the notion was widely current in antiquity that the Oxus was a very noble river, even one of the greatest rivers of the known world, and we may assume that its breadth where Alexander crossed would be about 1000 metres. And how stands it then with the breadth of the supposed embouchure at Kara Bugas? The entrance of it, according to SherebzoflF, is 80 Eussian fathoms
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 49
(sazhen), which are equivalent to 480 or 560 English feet, according as the fathom is taken as = 6 (as here it probably ought), or 7 feet. Should it, however, be assumed that in antiquity the opening might have been far wider, this is to enter the region of conjecture. Besides, such an assumption is precluded when the firm nature of the soil is taken into account, and the fact that the banks are rocky and resist the pressure of the sea. Can it be supposed that Patrokles could have taken this opening, which is only about 150 metres wide, for the mouth of the mighty Oxus, which he must have pictured to himself as at least 1000 metres in breadth ? Must not the mouth in that case run far out to sea, with its waters compressed into a vast and deep stream ? Let us now revert to the Balkan Bay. If, in reality, as I also believe, the main stream of the Amu at that time no longer flowed into the Balkan Bay ; yea, further, if that small arm of brackish water should itself have been dried up, still it is possible to assume that in the Balkan Bay there was, occasionally at least, a weak outward current which did not escape the sailor's notice, this being produced by a multitude of streams periodically running down into the Bay from the adjacent range of hills during the prevalence of winds from the north. How much stronger must that current have been, supposing that a part of the Amu as well as of the Murghab and Tejend at that time still emptied into the River of Usboy, and the surplus, in part at least, went to the Caspian Sea ? At all events, the impression that one found himself there in the mouth of a river would be decidedly created by the existence of this current. Exactly the very reverse of an outward current towards the Caspian Sea is found at Kara Bugas. Of the former configuration of the " Black Gulf," or Kara Bugas, we know nothing ; but what of it now ? A geographer must, I think, on a mere inspection of the map, — which shows him, lying in latitude 41° to 42°, a secluded basin, which is surrounded on all sides by wide burning steppes and does not receive the waters of any river, — come to the conclusion that here he has to deal with an evaporating basin which is only prevented from being dried up because a current from the Caspian Sea passing through the Black Gulf compensates for the loss caused by the exhalations. That there is such an efflux from the Caspian there is abundance of satisfactory evidence to show, as, for instance, that of Peter the Great, who at the time he was resident in Paris, men- tioned the subject to Delisle, the French cartographer. " The Prince," says Delisle, " did me the honour to say that it was a mistake to suppose there was a whirlpool in the Caspian Sea — that if there was such a thing at all anywhere, it could only be in another sea — a small one of 15 leagues in extent, into which the Caspian Sea discharged itself on its east side, and of which we have no knowledge up to the present time ; that the water of this little sea was so intensely salt that the fish of the Caspian Sea that entered it immediately lost their sight and died soon afterwards." It is well known that the existence of the Kara Bugas basin became known in Western Europe at first through Peter's description of it to Delisle. Karl E. Von. Baer is at present occupied with his third treatise in connection with his highly interesting studies of the Caspian. Herein he seeks to show that the amount of salt contained in that sea, including the Adji Darya (which he calls also the Kara Bugas) is undergoing diminution, and he at the same time communicates the results of the hydrographical investigations conducted by Sherebzoff in 1847. What interests us most of all is the character of the current. Sherebzoff states expressly that it flows constantly into the gulf, running with a west wind at 2i knots, and with an east wind at 1|, and at the entrance into the bay at from 2| to 3| knots. Karelin and Blaramberg also found that, even with an east wind prevailing, the set of the current was still towards the east. Baer is, moreover, inclined to assume that the current going through the Kara Bugas gave rise to the tradition about the whirlpool (schlunde) into which the Caspian waters precipitate themselves. Accord- VOL. II. D
50 C4E0GRAPHICAL NOTES.
ing to Sherebzofl', tlie current ceases to be perceptible at the distance of 25 sea-miles from the entrance, for its rate being there from j to | a knot cannot be distinguished from the eflfects produced by the wind.
This last observation shows us clearly that Patrokles on his coasting voyage must have observed something of this current, which would have carried him out of the Caspian Sea, even if he had only come in sight of the gap, since it is self- evident that to the west of the opening a current running towards it from a great distance must have been formed, seeing that it was traceable at a distance of 25 miles out at sea. That the same conditions existed in antiquity is shown by the excessive saltness of the water. At all events, this enclosed gulf is to be regarded as a salt lake, which through the excessive amount of the continual evaporation draws away salt from the Caspian Sea. Which, then, of the two suppositions is the more probable, " that Patrokles, finding no current in the small Balkan Bay, has taken this for the mouth of the Oxus, or that, being caught by a current penetrating into the narrow Black Gulf, he confounded this with it ?"
After all this, says our author, one might assert that the evidence yielded by this voyage for an entrance of the Oxus into the Caspian in antiquity is not set aside by the new hypothesis. We are still without the means of deciding the ques- tion, and wait for further disclosures of special exploring expeditions, and the accurate examination of places where ruins exist on the Usboy. The occasional discussions of the Eussian geographers afford at all events of no conclusive judg- ment on the point in question.
AFRICA.
The Congo Free State. — It is announced that, on Januaiy 1, 1886, the Congo Free State will enter the Postal Union.
It is stated that an agreement has been concluded between the Government of the Congo Free State and Mr. H. M. Stanley and Mr. J. F. Hutton, M.P., acting on behalf of the Congo Eailway Syndicate, Manchester, for the construction of a State railway between Vivi and Leopoldville, to connect the Lower with the Upper Congo.
Exploration of the Lulongo and tlie UruM. — Le Mov.rement Geographique for 27th December contains an interesting communication, which the editor has just received from Mr. Grenfell, of the Baptist Mission of Leopoldville.
In company with Lieutenant von Francois, an agent of the Congo Free State, Mr. Grenfell has just accomplished another voyage of discovery, on board the steamer Peace. For the first time, Europeans have j)enetrated into the vast region extending to the south of the great bend of the Congo. The course of the rivers Lulongo and Uruld are known up to a point at a considerable distance from their confluence. The details of Mr. Grenfell's journey through this virgin territory are not yet known, but he sends a sketch-map, which is reproduced by the Mouvement Geogrcqyhiqtie, together with some new facts contained in an accompanying letter. Mr. Grenfell and Lieutenant Francois have explored the L^ruki and Lulongo. The former, which is the more important affluent, was named by Stanley the " Black River ; " and above its confluence it is known as the Chuapa. It comes almost in a straight course from the east. The Peace was enabled to ascend it to the vUlage of Bokuku, in 1° 1' S. lat., and 23° 14' E. long. At this point the river measures 164 yards, and is so far navigable. Higher up it deflects to the south, where its source is supposed to take rise in about 3" latitude. On its left bank, the Chuapa receives an important affluent, named the Bussera, which comes from the south-south-east. It has generally been known up to V 9' S. lat.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 51
and 20° 23' E. long., where it still has a breadth of 54 yards. The Peace was unable to proceed in consequence of the water being too shallow. It appears probable, however, that between the Bussera and the Kassai there are one or more affluents of this latter river on the right bank. We already know, from Stanley and Van Gele, that the Uruki, at its confluence, has a breadth of from 875 to 1094 yards, which, after four hours' navigation, is reduced to 656 yards.
As reo-ards the Lulongo, which empties itself into the Congo through a mouth 546 yards broad, this river flows, more or less, from west to east, north of the Equator. The Peace ascended it to 10' of N. lat. and 22° 32' of E. long., where steam navigation stops. Here the river is not more than 32 yards broad. On its rio'ht bank, it receives an affluent of some importance, which appears to have a direction parallel to the Congo in that part of its course, and which is called the Lopuri. 'The travellers also ascended its lower course. As inferred by Lieutenant Coquilhat, the Lulongo drains the waters of the region situated immediately to the south of the left bank of the Congo, which explains the absence of any large affluents flowing into the latter between the confluence of the Lulongo and that of the Lomami.
This exploration would seem to dispose very satisfactorily of the suppositions hitherto advanced in regard to the direction of the waters in this region. Instead of flowing from south to north, as was supposed, the Lulongo, Uruki, and their affluents, would flow from east-south-east towards the west. This would tend to demonstrate, too, the importance of the hydrographical system of the Upper Congo for the purposes of navigation. The Congo itself, between Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls ; the Mobangi, as far as Grenfell ascended it ; the Kassai, to the confluence of the Lulua ; Lakes Leopold and Mantumba ; the Lulongo and Uruki — all these constitute an admirable network of navigable waterways, which off"er advantages for the exploration and occupation of the whole of this vast and fertile region.
The Licona River. — The Licona is that river the upper course of which M. de Brazza explored during his first journey in 1879, and which all maps agree in making flow into the Congo between the Equator and 1° of south latitude. At one time, we believed, says the Mouvement Gcografhique, basing our calculations on the information of the traveller himself, that, instead of going to join the Congo, the Licona, flowing in a course parallel to the Equator, went eastwards to the left bank of the Lower Mobangi. It appears that it does nothing of the kind. " I send you to-day," Mr. Grenfell writes to us, " some sketches from my chart of the Mobangi delta, and of the right bank of the Congo, from this point as far as the Mboshi (the French ' Alima '). I send them to you because I believe them to be interesting on account of the latest information they contain on the subject of the Mobangi and the Licona. . . . There is not any river between the delta of the Mbunga (where the Licona debouches), and a point on the left bank of the Lower Mobangi, at 2° north of the Equator, that a man could not take at a single leap." According to the chart of the explorer, the Licona falls into the Congo at 1° 8' S. latitude (observed), and 17° 20' E. longitude (estimated), a little to the east of the village of Mbunga, where the French had established a post, now abandoned, and nearly oi^posite the station of Lukolela (left bank). The position approximately indicated by Stanley in the large chart which accompanies Five Years on the Congo is almost exact. In the new exploration which Mr. Grenfell has just terminated so favourably and so rapidly — this time in company with Lieutenant von FranQois — the Peace returned to the Licona, and ascended the river for nearly 31 miles. It follows, according to the map of the Lieutenant, that the Licona, in its lower course, follows a
52 geoCtRAphical notes,
north-east and south-west direction, consequently pretty nearly parallel to that of the lower Mobangi. As the left bank of this latter river does not receive, for about 170 miles of its lower course, a single tributary, it appears certain that it is the Licona which drains the waters of the region situated immediately to the west. After having flowed from west to east in its upper course, where M. de Brazza saw it, it must wind to the south, since it finally trends to the south-west. It may now be said, therefore, that the eastern boundary of the French colony of the Congo leaves the right bank of the Congo towards 1° 5' S. latitude, opposite the station of the Lukolela, and goes from thence towards the north-west to rejoin the 17th meridian. In this part of its course, the Congo is full of islands, and one sees by Mr. Grenfell's map that the confluence of the Licona has escaped until now the observation of navigators. With regard to the AUma, which at its confluence bears the name of Mboshi, Mr. GrenfeU places it in 1° 38' S. latitude, and IT"" 2' 30" E. longitude — " about 40'," writes the explorer, " more to the east than the longi- tude given by Dr. Ballay." The Alima at its confluence is 20 feet deep, and the rate of its current is 147 feet per minute.
Region between the Congo and the Kassai. — The following are some of the positions given in Mr. Grenfell's sketch-maj) : —
Confluence of the Alima (r. b.), Village of Ikuba (r. b.),
„ Bosako „
„ Mbunga „ Confluence of the Licona (r. b.), . Lukolela Station (1. b.). Village of Mgombe (1. b.), . Confluence of the Irebon (1. b.), . Delta of the Mobangi (W. mouth),
VUlage of Mpoka (extremity of isthmus), Village of Bisongo (1. b. of Mobangi),
The Mobangi-Welle Hypothesis. — According to Le Mouvement Geographique for 27th December, the hypothesis advanced by the editor (Mr. Wauters) some time back, that the Mobangi River, which forms a great arm of the Congo, meeting it on the right bank a little south of the Equator, could be no other than the lower course of the Welle, has been adopted by Mr. GrenfeU himself. In an article in the October number of the Magazine, " The Welle-Congo Theory," we took occa- sion to refer to this ; and the map we gave in illustration of it agrees in many important respects with the more recent information conveyed through Mr. Grenfell's letter. Mr. GrenfeU writes, under date, LeopoldvUle, 31st October : — '' The Mobangi does not deflect to the west, as far as I have traced it on the map (4" 20' N, lat.). It has a course corresponding exactly to that which you have given il in your map. I may therefore say that I cheerfully accept your hypothesis." In 4" lat. the WeUe, measuring 267 yards, flows towards the west ; in 4° 20' the Mobangi, measuring 656 yards, comes from the east. The identification of the two streams of water is evident. Between their two extreme points some 450 miles remain to be known. All the lower course of the Mobangi, between the confluent and 0° 20' N. lat., is covered with islands. As on the Congo, one can scarcely, at this part of the river's course, see from one shore to the other. At its confluence, these islands form a labyrinth, the waters flowing through eight different mouths.
|
S. Latitude. |
Long. E. of Gr. |
|
o / II |
o / /; |
|
1 38 10 |
17 2 30 |
|
1 24 5 |
17 7 0 |
|
1 13 50 |
17 12 40 |
|
1 8 0 |
17 18 30 |
|
18 0 |
17 20 0 |
|
1 7 0 |
17 31 0 |
|
0 44 30 |
17 58 20 |
|
0 39 30 |
18 6 25 |
|
0 33 30 |
18 1 30 |
|
0 24 30 |
18 10 5 |
|
0 22 30 |
18 7 0 |
|
0 6 30 |
18 9 0 |
X
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 53
The narrowest of these mouths measures 33 yards, the largest 1100 yards. The delta measures at its base 15 miles. The most northern mouth is in 0° 24' 30" S. lat., the most southern in 0° 33' 30". Five miles above the base, that is to say at the head of the delta, the river measures about 2^ miles in breadth, which it retains up to at least 0° 17' N. In this latitude, the right bank is in 18° 20' E. long. The river flows in a south-west direction."
Sources of tlie Lujenda. — A correspondent sends us a copy of Bishop Smithie's Report, which has just reached England, of his journey from Matop(i, near Blantyre, to Newala, near Lindi, upon the East Coast. This journey of Bishop Smithie — Bishop of the Universities Mission to Central Africa — down the valley of the Lujenda, has not often been performed. After seeing the launch at Matop^ of the Universities Mission steamer Oiarles Janson, the Bishop started for the coast with a Mr. Foster, who had gone up country to shoot, and between thirty and forty carriers, chiefly Zanzibar men. His route led him across the north end of lake Shirwa, or Kilwa, and up the east side of lakes Chiuta and Amaramba. Bishop Smithie's remarks concerning the true source of the Lujenda River, and the minor lakes Chiuta and Amaramba, fully bear out Consul O'Neill's description of them, given in his journey in that district during 1883, and published in the B.G.S. Proc. of November and December 1884. The Bishop's exact words are : - " Before my journey down the Lujenda, I had not seen Mr. O'Neill's account of his journey to Lake Kilwa and the sources of the Lujenda in 1883, nor his map. I am glad to see that all I have said, independently from an unscientific point of view, about the country which I passed through by accident, coincides with his accurate and careful account." Speaking of Lake Shirwa and the Lujenda River, the Bishop says : — " The water of the lake could certainly never overflow this hill, and the guide said the lake had no connection with the Lujenda, and entirely repudiated the idea of there being any possible overflow, — corroborating Mr. O'Neill's conclusion." The " hill " of which Bishop Smithie speaks is the low ridge which cuts off Lake Shirwa from the Lujenda. Further on Bishop Smithie states : — " If there were any con- nection between Lake Kilwa and the Lujenda River, we could not have failed to see it." Leaving the head- waters of the Lujenda, the Bishop travelled down its valley, keeping along the main caravan route, which leads from Kilwa to South Nyassa. The Bishop states : — " The whole country is swept of inhabitants by suc- cessive raids of tribe after tribe on those who settle there. We met two caravans returning from the coast, one a large one of some hundreds of people. A large number were boys and women. These, and probably some men, were slaves, whom the heads of the caravan had failed to sell." Frequently were seen villages built upon piles in the waters of the river, and where the bed was much cut up by islands — as was often the case — which were densely populated. The Bishop speaks of the natives crossing over to these islands " in flat boats made of bark, with a sort of trellis-work of bamboo for seats." The principal chiefs visited en route appear to have been Mtarika, Kandulu, and Chipajola, all of the Yao tribe, and it is satisfactory to find that these are able to make a successful stand at times against those celebrated marauders, the Makangwara. The Bishop says : — " At Kandulu's we heard the Makangwara had forded the river where it was shallow, and destroyed five villages on the islands, killing or capturing all the people. But since then, in trying to cross the Lujenda, they were attacked by the Yaos, and, it is said, a great number were killed." Namtusi, a spot on the Lower Lujenda, at which M. Angelvy, a French engineer in the service of the Saltan of Zanzibar, reports good coal, was visited, but the chief being away, the inhabitants refused to show the place of the coal to the Bishop's party. The Universities Mission Station
54 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
of Newala was reached on October 24th, after a journey of forty-five days, accom- plished without sickness or serious difficulty of any kind.
Germany and Zanzibar, — According to an official report received from Zanzibar, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation was signed on the 20th inst. on board the Bismarck, now stationed at Zanzibar, between the German Empire and the Sultan of Zanzibar. The treaty will be laid before the Federal Council and Reichstag this session. The Norddeutsche states that the negotiations came to a speedy and favourable conclusion, thanks to the conciliatory and friendly conduct of Bargash Ben Said. This treaty replaces that of 1859 between Zanzibar and the Hanse Towns, and contains important concessions for Hamburg and the German East African Company. Amongst other advantages, farm machines and implements, and plant for railways and tramways destined for territories under German j)ro- tection, are to be imported free of duty. Thus the work of peace, which has been negotiated under the auspices and with the best wishes of England, has been brought to a satisfactory issue. The conclusion of this treaty gives great satis- faction amongst those interested in German colonisation, for it is hoped that it will materially assist German trade and the prosperity of colonial undertakings in East Africa. It is also a plain proof that England is willing, when able, to give a helping hand to the German colonial policy.
La Luz : Canary Islands. — The Bohtin de la Sociedad Geografica de Madrid, Sep- tember 18S5, contains a detailed account of the new harbour works at La Luz, on the east side of the isthmus of Guanarteme, in the Bay of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, lat. 28° 4' N. and 15° 50' W. long. A steam tramway from Las Palmas (17,823 inhabitants) 4 mUes north, to La Luz, is in course of construction. The new harbour is to be formed by a main pier running south from the coast to the east of the castle of La Luz for a distance of 4758 feet into water 35 to 40 feet deep, and a lesser pier projecting eastwards, to separate an inner from the outer basin. The main pier terminates opposite the Castello de Sta. Catalina.
OCEANIA.
New Guinea. — A letter from Mr. H. O. Forbes, dated 6th October, announces his arrival at Sogere, in the hills, after a nine days' march ; his party consisting of eighty native carriers, besides the thirty men whom he brought with him.
The Caroline Islands. — In the short article in our issue of last month reference was made to the work of American missionaries in civilising the Caroline Islanders. ISIuch information in regard to the group has in this way come into the possession of the officials of the American Board of Foreign Missions, and we are glad to find that it has obtained an outlet to the public through the pages of the American weekly journal. Science. Accompanying the article is an admirable little map of its kind, in which appear most of the immediate neighbours of the Carolines, so that the exact position of the group which we tried to indicate last month is made quite manifest. The islands on which missionary stations have been established have their names underlined ; and a glance suffices to show the great importance to be attached to the M-ork which the Americans are doing. Working their way west- ward from their stations in the Gilbert and ]\Iarshall Islands, they have slowly but surely spread their influence over the Carolines ; and although Yap, at the western end of the group, is not underlined, we learn that probably by this time it deserves to be so. The article gives several curious little details regarding the people. As to the language, it is noted that " the variations are more than dialectic. There are at least six or eight distinct languages." The proceedings of the recent land-grabbers
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 55
are spoken of in a well-put final paragraph as follows : — " As to the question of the sovereignty of the Carolines, which is now in dispute between Spain and Germany, it may be said that, though Spain may claim possession on the ground of prior discovery, she has not for three centuries enforced that claim, or occupied any of the islands, unless it may be a single one nearest her Philippine possessions. Germany has no claim save on the ground that a dozen traders, more or less, have taken advantage of the improved condition of affairs, due to the labours of American missionaries, and have carried on a small trade in the dried fruit of the cocoa-nut. The interests of civilisation and humanity do not require that either of these nations should assume control."
A New Island.— On October 13, in latitude 20° 21' S. and longitude 175° 28' W., a submarine volcano was found to be in action. Dense volumes of steam, and clouds of smoke, ascended from the sea, and, every one or two minutes, eruptions took place, presenting scenes of changing splendour. Closer examination revealed a new volcanic island, estimated to be 2 or 3 miles long and 60 feet high. So reports the United States Consul at Auckland. His colleague at Samoa gives the latitude 20° 28' S. and longitude 175° 21' W., and estimates the breadth at 250 feet. The island is thus not far from the Tonga Islands, and on the direct route of the San Francisco and New Zealand steamers. It has not yet been annexed by any European Power.
AECTIC REGIONS.
Grinnell Land. — Lieutenant Greely, in an extemporaneous address delivered, on December 21st, before the Royal Geographical Society, gave some additional infor- mation in regard to the interior of Grinnell Land. This land, which has been known to us for some thirty years, had been thoroughly explored by his expedition. Lieutenant Greely made a trip into the interior of 250 miles in twelve days — a journey which had made known to him and his followers the peculiar features of that territory. He explored a large fiord, which had been passed by Captain Stevenson and Lieutenant Archer as a small bay. Archer's Fiord turned out to be a river which he traced to its source, and which, at the end of a winter of Arctic severity, he found to be an open river fed by a glacial lake to the north, which was situated at about 500 feet above the sea-level. Later, during the summer time, he was able to make a second trip into that country, covering some 370 or 400 miles. In Grinnell Land, along the glacial lake, he found a number of valleys leadmg to the westward, and eventually to the summit of the mountain from which he saw the whole country stretched out before him like a map. His attention was naturally turned to the northward ; and there he saw the mountain ranges trending to the north-west ; and he was led to believe that the sea was not far distant. In the valleys, game abounded in considerable quantities. The mosses of the Arctic regions grew in a luxuriance never seen in more temperate climes — the browns, the yellows, the reds, the greens, so mingled as to give the land great beauty of colour. In the interior of Grinnell Land he had seen moss- beds acres in extent, and in other places he had seen the creei^ing Arctic willow, which rose scarcely an inch above the soil, covering for many acres the ground so closely that the human foot could not touch it. During the summer the region was not so entirely devoid of animal life as was supposed ; — apart from musk oxen, the fox, the hare, the Arctic wolf, the ptarmigan, and other animals were found. These were seen during the summer, but rarely in the autumn. In addition, there were some thirty or more varieties of birds, among them being the snow-bunting, the waders, ducks of several kinds, the eider-duck, the female of which had
56 GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
remarkable beauty of colouring, and the king-duck, which had the appearance of a rainbow from its marvellous variety of coloiirs. There were also the brent goose, the knot, and the gulls. These were with them six or seven weeks, during which time the water ran freely into the surrounding inlet, and offered plenty of food and ground for them. Lieutenant Lockwood, with Sergeant Brainard and an Eskimo, travelled 70 or 80 miles by the side of a perpendicular ice-cap, 150 feet high, extending across the land. There could be no doubt that Grinnell Land had risen from the sea. His own party found shells some 1000 feet above the sea, similar to the shells of the Arctic Ocean. Seven or eight miles from the seashore he found two trees imbedded, and in such a state of preservation that he was able to use a considerable part of them for fuel. No doubt they had come up as driftwood.
Discussing the question of ice-formation. Lieutenant Greely stated that, taken as a general rule, it did not form to a greater thickness in the Arctic Seas than about f) feet ; but in certain latitudes, and under certain circumstances, it reached 7 or 8 feet. Over-running and under-running ice would sometimes form 15 or 20 feet thick, but seldom more than that. He had seen a single piece of ice 15 miles long, and, perhaps, 2 or 3 miles wide, forming a plateau of 30 to 45 square miles, and at least 50 feet thick. This is what Sir George Nares very properly called palseo- crystic ice, which, in some instances, has been found to be 700 or 800 feet thick. He had seen photographs of the floe-bergs seen by the Challenger Expedition and his idea was that the southern, like the northern, floe-bergs were detached from bergs near the pole. Similar bergs were seen by Leigh Smith near Franz-Josef Land. In the o23inion of Lieutenant Greely these floe-bergs were formed on land. In Grinnell Land he had seen many lakes, but, contrary to what might be expected, they were not frozen to the bottom ; neither did the ice increase year by year, but attained only a normal thickness.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Germany's Colonial Empire. — An Imperial Memorandum of considerable importance on the subject of the colonies was lately presented to the German Eeichstag. Particular stress is laid by the Government on the fact that Germany does not intend to colonise in the usual way of European countries. It is not proposed to set up an administrative system of the character of a bureaucracy. As Prince Bismarck plainly pointed out, he does not intend that the new colonies shall be a happy hunting-ground for office-seekers at home. The colonies are to be commercial colonies, administered as much as possible by the trading companies which undertake to develop their resources, yet at the same time the Empire will retain an unrestricted right of surveillance, and will afibrd all the protection requi- site. This is a new departure in the history of colonisation, and it will be interest- ing to observe how it succeeds. It is clear that the plan Prince Bismarck has in view is the best for Germany, for it will exempt the country from the heavy expenditure necessarily incidental to colonisation on the English principle — namely, that of calling into existence a maximum of officials for the discharge of a minimum of duties. The memorandum is divided into five parts, dealing in turn with (1) the Cameroons and Togo-land ; (2) the German East African Company ; (3) South-west Africa ; (4) Vitu, or Suaheliland ; and (5) the New Guinea Company. In regard to the Cameroons and Togo-land, it is pointed out that a Governor (Baron von Soden) has been sent out to the Cameroons, and two commis- sioners to Togo and Angra Pequeiia. The Governor of the Cameroons is assisted in his administration of the colony by a board consisting of three members — men settled in the colony and chosen annually. Membership is obligatory, and where
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 57
iiecrssary the Governor can call in the offices of one or more native chiefs. As far as possible, local usages are to be observed in administering justice, but the German common law is valid in the colony. As to the commercial aspect of the question, traders will do well to note that houses dealing in spirits of any kind are bound to pay 2000 marks yearly for the necessary licence. An export duty of 5 marks is levied on every ton of palm oil sent from the Cameroons, and one of 2^ marks on every ton of palm kernels, frauds on the Customs authorities being punishable by penalties five times the amount of the duties leviable. Pilotage is compulsory, and tonuage-dues are payable by all vessels. The Memorandum states that the first acquisitions of land in East Africa were made by agents of the Association for German Colonisation, who, in 1884, secured by treaty with the chiefs the territories of Usuguha, Nguru, Usagara, and Ukami, together from 2500 to 3000 German square miles in extent. The German East African Company then came into exist- ence, and in February last received Imperial letters of protection. Further acquisitions of land have been made, but the boundaries of the respective depen- dencies of Germany and the Sultan of Zanzibar have not yet been determined, though a Commission has been appointed for the purpose. The lands in South- West Africa, which in December 1884 were taken under protection, were partly acquired by the firm of F. A. C. Liideritz, of Bremen, and partly by an association at whose head was the Disconto Bank of Berlin. The first Liideritz acquisition, secured by treaty, included the coast from the Orange River northward to the 26th degree lat. south, extending 20 geographical miles inland, this being part of Great Namaqualand. Dr. Nachtigal concluded a further treaty in October 1884, extend- ing the protectorate. Liideritz followed by securing from the Topnaar chief, Piet Haibib, suzerainty over his territory from the 26th to the 22nd degree lat. south, with the exception of the English possession of Walfish Bay. Further additions of smaller extent have since been made to the protected area, and the German Colonial Company for South-west Africa has been established for the development of this region. The Memorandum refers to the negotiations with England respecting Angra Pequeiia, the result of which was the abandonment of that territory, together with the adjacent Shark Island, by England on the ground of non-appro- priation. Negotiations were going on between the Prussian Government and the Sultan of the Suahelis so long ago as 1867, though no definite treaty was concluded. The African traveller, Clemens Denhardt, acquired from the Sultan from 20 to 25 German square miles of land in 1885, and this was the nucleus of the present pro- tectorate, which includes the Sultan's entire possessions. The Memorandum shows how the New Guinea Company was instrumental in implanting German influence in New Guinea. The boundaries of the German possessions were the subject of negotiations with the British Government, and the Memorandum emphasises the fact that further acquisitions made without the permission of the German authori- ties are not valid. The carrying away of natives for work in plantations is prohi- bited, except in the case of those islands of the New Britain group in which the practice has been observed in the past, and here it can only be done subject to control.
[Mr. H. H. Johnston, the African traveller, whose able book on the Kilima- njaro Expedition is reviewed overpage, has been appointed British Y ice-Consul at the Cameroons ; and has already left England in order to take up his post there. Mr. Johnston, who is a Corresponding Member of our Society, will not, we are glad to learn, wholly discontinue his geographical work.]
58 NEAV BOOKS.
NEW BOOKS.
The Kilima-njaro Expedition : a Eecord of Scientific Exploration in Eastern Equatorial Africa. By H. H. Johnstox, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S. London : Kegau Paul, Trench and Co. 1886. Mr. Johnston writes with such a facile and pleasing pen that anything from his hand is sure to command attention. His last book has all his characteristic merits ; from first to last one foUows him with deepening interest — at one moment trembling for his safety, at another charmed by his happy descriptions of scenery and atmospheric effects, and at another entertained by the droU culs-de-sac this enterprising traveller occasionally fell into. Mr. Johnston is essentially an artist, and his word-painting, and the careful and delicate sketches which profusely illus- trate the text, proclaim him to be one of no mean order. But not only as an accomplished cicerone does Mr. Johnston carry us with him through his narrative ; as a scientific explorer he also shows his claims to his selection as commander of the Kilima-njaro Exjjedition. This Expedition, as our readers will remember, was sent out at the joint instance of the British Association and the Royal Society, with the object of collecting specimens and ascertaining the relationships of the flora and fauna near the snow-line (the region of vegetation ends at about 15,000 feet) of Kilima-njaro. The unique position of this snow-capped mountain ofiered advan- tages to science which, we venture to think, have been fully realised by the results of Mr. Johnston's Expedition. Kilima-njaro — (pronounce Killy-manjdhro, from Kilima, mountain, and njaro, the name of a demon supposed to cause cold, probably the " east wind ") — has been identified with the legendary " Moun- tains of the Moon," from which the sources of the Nile were supposed to take their rise ; and Encisco, a Spanish writer of the sixteenth century, men- tions its existence, and, according to Mr. E. G. Eavenstein, called it "3Iount Olympus." Mr. Johnston made two ascents, but failed, from causes he could not control, to reach the vii-gin peak. The greatest height attained, on the second attempt, was 16,315 ft. (observed and computed), or about 2500 ft. of the summit, which is usually estimated at 18,800 ft. During his four months' stay at Moshi (5000 ft.), the average readings in the shade of the thermometer were 71° at noon, 60° at 8 P.M., and 58° at 6 a.m. In his more elevated collecting stations (at 10,000 and 11,000 ft.) the lowest night temperature recorded was 29°, and the highest, at 3 p.m., 65°.
Mr. Johnston's first settlement at Kitimbiriu, on the slope of the mountain, was in close proximity to the capital of Mandara — a chief whose name is now familiar to English readers, and whose fame is only equalled by his cupidity and cunning. One of the first questions asked him was : " What is your name, white man ? " " Johnston." " Jansan ? " they shrieked laughingly ; " why, you must be Tamsan's (Thomson's) brother." Mr. Joseph Thomson, on his way to Masai-Land, had passed through Taveita, leaving a very pleasant impres- sion behind him, which stood our explorer in good stead. In fact, Mandara received him with open arms, and would have had him take up his abode with him. His invitation was almost touching : " Bwana Tomsen (Mr. Thomson; came here ; I liked him," he said ; " he was generous, and he spoke well of my country, but he would not stop. Baroni (Baron von der Decken) and Bwana New (Mr. New, the unfortunate missionary) have both been here, and they came and went. Now," he added, laughing grimly, "the Baloza (Sir John Kirk) has sent you here to see me ; well, I don't want you ever to go. Do you hear ? (Usikia) ? Never ! Now, come along to my house, and show me the presents
NEW BOOKS. 59
you have brought." But Mr. Johnston was not ambitious. Our traveller's con- nections and subsequent troubles with this monarch afford most entertaining reading, and occupy the greater part of the first portion of his book, which — wisely, we think — is devoted to the narrative and personal incidents of the journey. The latter half is devoted to the purely scientific results of the Expedition — Climatology, Geology, Botany, Zoology, Anthropology, etc. ; and to this is added a study of the languages of the district, which he attempts to group. Were this not relegated to a portion of the book one is not obliged to read, we should feel disposed — speaking in the popular interest — to demur to the tax imposed on the memory, in carrying in one's mind the inflections rung on the diflerent prefixes to proper names. Thus, to give an illustration : Uganda is a place we all know very well ; Lu-ganda we should not recognise, did we not remember that it referred to the language of Uganda ; whilst M'ganda, an inhabitant of Uganda, and Waganda, the plural, almost require to carry a certificate of baptism with them. In the orthography of place-names,