TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 91 



was a notice, he lost no time in getting to that district ; and with only one deviation 

 to the Unga range of mountains, he passed through the Zulu country, arriving at 

 the river Umfaiosi in one month from Natal, in company of a party of about 200. 

 From this point they proceeded on foot. Two days from Umfaiosi brought them to 

 an arm of St. Lucia Bay ; here they had to ford the water, at a place two miles in 

 width, and breast deep. The maps of this part of the country represented the mouth 

 of the bay as communicating with the sea, whereas it runs into the river Umfaiosi. 

 The bay was estimated at about eighty miles in length, and of an average width of 

 eight or ten miles. Flamingoes, ducks, cormorants, and other water fowls were 

 found on its banks. After four days' journey along the banks, they diverged into 

 the woods, where there were large numbers of land shells, and five or six new kinds 

 of trees, the timber of which might prove commercially valuable. Two days from 

 the bay took them into the Araatatu country, a small tribe allied to Padua, and 

 principally distinguished from the Zulus (who are chiefly a pastoral people) by sub- 

 sisting more extensively on the produce of their gardens. Next to this tribe were 

 the Amutangus, a more powerful tribe, who combined the occupation of agricultu- 

 rists and hunters. In the latter character they were particularly successful, even 

 against the largest animals. The tilling of the ground was principally left to the 

 women, who worked very successfully. Their basket manufacture also might vie 

 with that of any country. The people were well- formed, and exhibited a high de- 

 gree of civilization, rarely found in these districts. The next five days' travelling was 

 highly monotonous ; when they crossed the Pengola, and entered the Makasan country, 

 a district seldom visited by the white man. The Makasans were very friendly, 

 but very poor, through having been at war for two years with their neighbours. 

 Dwarfs are very common in the district ; one, who was a kind of factotum to the 

 late king, being only 3 feet 7 inches high, though beautifully proportioned. Idiots, 

 apparently from sun-strokes, were also very common. An error on the maps was 

 noticed here. The river Pengola did not run into the sea, but into another river, 

 called the Uzatu, so that the author asserted that no river or other water could enter 

 the sea between Umfaiosi and Delagoa. The range of the Drachimbirgo here came 

 in view, and, at the point where the author turned back, they were not more than 

 fifty miles from the sea. After travelling about 300 miles from the Umfaiosi, 

 they found a wood with a stream of water running through it. Sickness becoming now 

 prevalent in the party, it was determined to return to Natal, which was efi^ected 

 with much diBSculty, owing to the rivers having swollen to such an extent as to 

 make it hazardous to cross them. However, this was accomplished by the assistance 

 of the oxen, who were good swimmers, the author twisting the tail of one of them 

 round his wrist, and guiding its progress with his other hand. 



On Contributions to tlie Aiu lent Geography of the Arctic Regions, 

 By Professor Rafns. 



On the Brigantes, tfie Romans, and the Saxons in the Wolds of Yorkshircm 

 By the Rev. T. Rankin. 



An Inquiry into the Variations of Climate within the Tropics, in connexion 

 with the Vertical Action of the Sun and the actual Motion of the Earth, 

 especially with reference to the Climate of the Gulf of Carpentaria in 

 North Atistralia. By Trelawny Saunders, F.R.G.S. 



The prevailing opinion on tropical climates regards the whole area within the 

 tropics as equally objectionable to European constitutions. But the evidence of 

 Capt. Stokes and others on the climate in the Gulf of Carpentaria proves that the 

 range of the thermometer in that region contributed to render it peculiarly 

 healthful. The thermometer had been observed as low as 50°, the air cold and 

 bracing, and the effect on health, under great deprivations, had been proved to be 

 excellent. It was a fundamental idea, in regard to the distribution of temperature, 

 that it graduated from a line adjacent to the equator towards the poles. Mr. Saun- 

 ders proposes to show that the relative duration of the sun's vertical action within 

 the tropics produced five distinct zones, presenting characteristic and distinguishing 

 features. The passage of the sun's vertical action between the tropics described a 



