1869.] Geograpluj. 613 



and found the position of the month of the Limpopo to be 25° 15' 

 South, but was unable to get the longitude, owing to the difficulties 

 of transit having compelled him to abandon his iustrumeut. The 

 value of a " Small Altazimuth Instrument for the use of Explorers " 

 — a description of which by Colonel Strange concluded the day's 

 proceedings — was here made manifest, as by its means ]\Ir. Erskine 

 would have been enabled to fix his position with the greatest ease 

 and accuracy. 



The second jDaper was by Dr. Beke, and was entitled, " Plan 

 of a Canal to imite the Upper Nile with the Eed Sea." The 

 idea conveyed m this paper is not new, a sovereign of Ethiopia 

 having, several centuries ago, threatened to carry out a similar 

 " plan," in order to be revenged on the ruler of Egypt. The notion 

 is that a canal might be formed along a natural watercourse, and 

 that the Atbara — "the black mother of Egypt," as Sir Samuel 

 Baker calls the river — might be diverted to the Eed Sea. The 

 Nilotic fertihzation being thus turned in another direction, Egypt 

 would speedily become a desert. Sir Bartle Frere thought the 

 paper did not contain such an impracticable suggestion as might 

 at first sight appear ; but Dr. Blanc, one of the late captives in 

 Abyssinia, considered the difficulties in the way of the construction 

 and navigation of the canal to be insuperable. 



"A Visit to the Holy City of Fas, in Morocco," by Mr. J. 

 Stirling, was next read. The author visited Fas in the suite of 

 Sir J. Drummond Hay, the British Minister, in November last; 

 the party being, it is said, the only Europeans, with the exception 

 of Lord St. Maur, the eldest son of the Duke of Somerset, who 

 have visited the city in modern times. The place once served 

 Moorish pilgrims as a substitute for Mecca, hence probably the 

 term "holy." Fas is fortified, and well situated on a tributary 

 of tJie river Sebu. The poj)ulation of the city could not be ac- 

 curately ascertained, but Mr. Stirling estimated it at somewhat less 

 than 100,000. 



Captain T. P. White, R.E., furnished a paper on a " Bifurcating 

 Stream in Perthshire ;" and Captain C. Dodd gave some " Notes on 

 a Recent Visit to the Suez Canal." 



The second day's proceedings commenced with a description, by 

 the President, of "The Eunn of Cutch and the Countries between 

 Eajpootana and Sinde." Sir Bartle had visited this singular tract 

 of country in the exercise of his official duties. It forms a great 

 belt, with neither mountain ranges nor river systems ; yet it cannot 

 be called a plain, for it is ridged into sand-hills, nor can it be 

 designated a desert, since it is everywhere inhabited, and in some 

 parts supports a considerable fixed population and numerous herds 

 of cattle. Cutch is a district about GOO miles \oi\<i, its breadth 



