1866.] Geography. 99 
being about to abandon the place, so they continued their adven- 
turous voyage for 1,000 miles more. During this stage they met 
with much severe weather, including a gale of wind which lasted 
three days; the country continued barren until they reached 
Champion Bay, when it began to improve. 
Previous to the reading of the papers at the third meeting of 
. the Society this session (December 11th), Sir R. I. Murchison, 
President of the Society, adverted to the great loss the science of 
Geography had sustaimed by the death of the distinguished African 
traveller, Dr. Henry Barth. 
The intelligence previously received of the disastrous termina- 
tion of two African expeditions had since been to some extent con- 
tradicted, for M. du Chaillu (who is now in England) had succeeded 
in penetrating 200 miles farther than on his previous journey ; and 
though an unfortunate accident had led to an encounter with the 
natives, he had happily saved his journals, chronometers, and records 
of astronomical observations. The other expedition—namely, that 
of the Baron von der Decken on the east coast—had certainly met 
with a disaster, one of the two steamers having been wrecked on the 
bar of the Jub; but the other and larger one had been repaired, 
and had conveyed the party a considerable distance up the river. 
The first paper read was on “ A Boat-journey along the Coast- 
lakes of East Madagascar,” by Capt. W. Rooke, R.A. The author 
had heard that the chain of lakes south of Tamatave might be 
traversed for several hundred miles in a boat sufficiently light to be 
carried over the short portages, and accordingly attempted the ex- 
ploration with three companions and a native crew. ‘The journey 
occupied 32 days, during which the party travelled nearly 400 
miles, and passed numerous villages, and several larger towns of 
about 1,000 inhabitants each ; it was chiefly along winding channels 
and streams, which connected the lakes together, and whose banks 
were clothed with magnificent tropical vegetation, arching overhead 
in the narrow watercourses, and thus adding greatly to the beauty 
of the scenery. 
Another paper, entitled “On Ankova, the Central Province of 
Madagascar, and on the Royal or Sacred Cities,” by the Rey. W. 
Ellis, was then read. The provinee of Ankova is the most important 
of the twenty-two into which the island is divided, from being the 
country of the Hovas or dominant race ; it is 150 miles in length by 
nearly 100 in breadth, is hilly or mountainous, the elevations rising 
singly or in masses, rather than forming continuous chains. Mount 
Ankaratra, in the south-west of Ankova, is one of the highest 
mountains in the island, being about 13,000 feet above the level 
of the sea. The author described the streams, lakes, forests, and 
fertile valleys between the isolated mountains, and concluded with a 
notice of the twelve sacred cities of Ankova, which derive their 
H 2 
