614 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 



varying from 70 to 150 miles. It is divided into two great portions, 

 the southern portion, generally marked as a morass, being the 

 "Eunn;" the northern part consisting of sand-hills, which the 

 people consider to have been formed by the -sNind, but which Sir 

 Bartle Frere considers to have been formed by subterranean forces, 

 by the upheaval of the earth during an earthquake. The people 

 inhabiting this district are much attached to their sand-hills, and 

 possess a lowly kind of civihzation. The Kunn is not a bog, as 

 seems sometimes to be considered, but a perfectly flat, hard plain, 

 formed of sand and clay, the surface beiag so hard that the hoofs 

 of a horse galloping over it would scarcely leave their impress 

 behind. If rain falls, it finds no outlet, but remains until evaporated, 

 and becomes salt through the extreme saline nature of the surface. 

 No animals, vegetables, hollows, nothing that might be expected to 

 be seen on any part of the earth's surface, can be found in thia 

 curious district. It is also destitute of landmarks, and travellers 

 perform their journeys by night, guiding themselves by the stars, 

 and in one part, by a fire which is lighted and kept burning on a 

 hill by a family residing near the spot. The Eunn is subject to 

 periodical inundations by the waters of the Indian Ocean ; several 

 rivers also discharge themselves into it on the eastern side, but the 

 water is seldom more than thi-ee feet deep. The character of the 

 mirage in this district is extraordinary during the dry season, and 

 the deceptive resemblance to a large and magnificent city with its 

 palaces and towers is often seen. Sir Bartle Frere said he would 

 not pretend to solve the problem how this peculiar table-hke district 

 was formed, but would " hazard the conjecture that it was some- 

 how connected with the constant vibration caused by the very 

 active and persistent volcanic action, evidence of which was found 

 in the country around the basin, formed on the one side by the 

 Thurr, and on the south by the semicircular land and Cutch 

 proper. There could be no doubt that volcanic action all around 

 there was more active than in any other part of the world," In 

 attributing the peculiar geological phenomena to volcanic action. 

 Sir Andrew Waugh agreed with the President ; but Sir Charles 

 Trevelyan thought with the natives that the sand-hills in the north- 

 western part were more or less connected with the wind. 



A paper, entitled " On the Latitude of Samarcand," and read 

 in French by M. Nicholas de Khanikof, followed. M. de Khanikof 

 visited the famous capital of Tamerlane in 1811, being, next to his 

 companion, Lehmann, the first European who had seen it since 

 Gonzales Clavijo, envoy of Henry VIII., of Castile, entered the 

 city in 1404. He was not able himself to fix either the latitude or 

 the longitude of Samarcand, but M. Struve, who was there on a 

 scientific mission last year, has proved the latitude to be 39^ 38' 45", 

 and the longitude 64'^ 38' 12". 



