
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 113 
scarcity, if not total absence, of animals. Mr. Petermann then procecded to state, 
that the views hitherto entertained regarding this subject were narrow, circum- 
scribed, and consequently erroneous; that individual observations in particular 
localities, comprised within a small space on the American side, had been received 
as data upon which to build general statements regarding the entire arctic re- 
gions, though in such observations the whole Asiatic side of the polar basin had 
been altogether overlooked. Arguments were then adduced, from the geographical 
features, and natural history of those northern regions, to prove that the commonly 
received hypothesis, that with ascending latitudes there was a proportional descent 
of temperature, and a consequent decrease of animal and vegetable life, is a fal- 
lacious one. With regard to the bearing of these observations upon the Franklin 
expedition, Mr. Petermann further remarked:—The general opinion is that the 
missing vessels have been arrested somewhere between Wellington Channel and 
Behring’s Straits, and the Siberian shores. Most probably their position is nearer 
to the latter than to the former points. As these three regions abound in animal 
life, we may fairly conclude that the intervening portion partakes of the same cha- 
racter ; and, moreover, that the further Sir J. Franklin may have got from Weiling- 
ton Channel, and the nearer he may have approached the north-eastern portion of 
Asia, the more he will have found the animals to increase in number. The direction 
of the isothermal lines corroborates this assumption, as they are indicative of a 
higher summer temperature in that region than in any other within the Polar basin. 
Those countries being probably uninhabited by man, the animals will have continued 
unthinned by the wholesale massacres by which myriads are destroyed for the sake 
of their skins or teeth. An interesting fact was mentioned by Lieut. Osborn, 
namely, that Captain Penny, in September 1850, had seen enormous numbers of 
whales running southwards from under the ice in Wellington Channel... We know 
this to be also the case in the Spitzbergen sea every spring, and that these animals 
are numerous along the Siberian coasts. This not only proves the existence of one, 
or perhaps two Polar seas, more or less open throughout the year, but also that 
these seas abound in animal life; to satisfy enormous numbers of whales, an amount 
of food is required which cannot be small. And it is well known among the 
Tchuktchi, on the north-eastern coasts of Siberia, where land to the north is said to 
exist in contiguity to, and probably connected with, the lands discovered by Captain 
Kellett, that herds of reindeer migrate between those lands and the continents. 
Taking all these facts into consideration, the conclusion seems to be a reasonable 
one, that Franklin, ever since entering Wellington Channel, has found himself in 
that portion of the arctic regions where animals probably exist in greater plenty than 
in any other. Under these circumstances alone his party could exist as well as 
other inhabitants of the Polar regions; but we must not forget that, in addition to 
the natural resources, they would in their vessels possess more comfortable and 
substantial houses than any of the native inhabitants. So far as food is concerned, 
reasonable hope, therefore, may be entertained that the missing Expedition would 
not altogether suffer by the want of it ; their fate, however, depends upon other cir- 
cumstances as well, among which that dire scourge of mariners, the scurvy, is pro- 
bably more to be feared than any other. 

Commercial Documents relating to the Eastern Horn of Africa, translated and 
communicated by Dr. Suaw. 

Notes on the Possessions of the Imaum of Muscat, and on the Climate of Zan- 
zibar, with Observations on the Prospects of African Discovery. By 
Lt.-Colonel Syxes, F. RS. 
Col. Sykes referred to a graphic account of the condition of Zanzibar by Lieut. 
Fergusson, Indian Navy, derived from the testimony of a Mohammedan merchant. 
Nothing, he said, comparatively speaking, was known of these territories, and it 
was an unfortunate thing that such should be the case, particularly as the Imaum was 
the friend of England, and willing to do anything he was asked. Two missionaries of 
the Church Missionary Society had resided on the coast of Africa, opposite Mombas, 
_ for six or seven years, and an account of their experiences appeared in the Journal 
1852. 
