208 MACQUEEN ON THE GEOGRAPHY [May 9, 1859. 



lion (since 1769) — as in any way giving us a rule respecting the question of 

 increase in the deltas of rivers under ordinary circumstances. Looking at it in 

 that point of view, therefore, the impression which has been left on my own 

 mind is this : — that, either the maps that give us the coast-line in the year 1769, 

 .as exhibited by that dotted line, are exceedingly faulty, or that, if that really were 

 the line of coast at that period, it must have been owing to some abnormal 

 state of things ; and that, owing to a change of currents, or to earthquakes, or 

 to other causes, into which we are not at present capable of entering, the line 

 of coast was not then in its normal state ; and that subsequently it has 

 returned to that which may be considered its normal state. This may be the 

 result of two causes : first, the matter brought down by the Danube ; secondly, 

 the prevailing winds of the Black Sea, which during the summer are from the 

 eastward, and would, therefore, tend to collect a great amount of matter along 

 that coast during a given period. I think that the increment given during 

 this period of 80 or 90 years is somewhere about 18 or 20 miles. If we 

 look at the increase of the deltas of other great rivers — such, for instance, as the 

 Ganges, the Mississippi, and rivers of that class — we find that the increase 

 here stated is altogether out of proportion to anything we are acquainted with 

 in those rivers ; so much so, indeed, that I can only look upon it as altogether 

 erroneous. I dare say that those gentlemen who are acquainted with the old 

 writers will recollect the oracular verses quoted by Strabo with respect to the 

 Pyramus, one of the rivers in Asia Minor, which brought down such an 

 enormous quantity of sand and mud that its delta was expected to increase to 

 an enormous extent : — 



"Ecrfferai iovo/xevois ore Uvpaij.os evpvodiurjs 

 'H'iSua irpoxetiiv Up^v iis Kv-rrpov 'iKrjTai. 



The meaning of which was, that a time should come in future generations when 

 the delta of the Pyramus should be increased to so large an extent by the mud 

 brought down from the interior, that it should stretch along the sacred land of 

 Cyprus. Now we know that the delta of the Pyramus has not increased one 

 mile since that was \vritten. Therefore, I must warn those who have heard 

 this paper read against looking upon this increment as anything like the 

 normal state of increment which is to be expected as resulting from the matter 

 brought down by any of the great rivers of the globe during the period that 

 has been referred to. 



The Second Paper read was : — 



2. Observations on the Geography of Central Africa, By James 

 Macqueen, Esq., f.e.g.s. 



Mr. Macqueen cites in his paper the authorities that exist on the 

 subject of the Upper White Nile, and on Kilimandjaro, with a view 

 of proving that the latter mountain is undoubtedly snow-covered ; 

 and that, on the other hand, it has no connection with the river. 

 He repeats the well-known description of Eebmann, wht3, during a 

 period of two months that he spent in its neighbourhood, saw 

 Kilimandjaro every day that it was clear, and even passed some 

 time within five or six miles of the snow-covered part ; and who, in 

 further corroboration of the existence of snow, mentions how the 



