496 



NA TURE 



[March 24, 1898 



were announced : (i) that the North Polar Ocean was not a 

 shallow sea, with scattered islands, distributing icebergs, but a 

 profound ocean basin ; (2) that there were definite movements 

 of ihe great ice cakes, and that they crossed, and did not merely 

 circulate round the pole. 



Antarctica. 



"Antarctica" was the subject of a lecture delivered by Sir 

 James Hector, the president of the geogrnphical section. The 

 Antarctic Continent,or Antarctica, as it had been recently called, 

 was an immense area of about 4,000,000 square miles ; but they 

 knew very little about it. There had been a number of expedi- 

 tions to the North Pole, but very little had been done in the way 

 of obtaining knowledge with regard to the South Pole. The las' 

 expedition by Nansen had ]:)ioved that the North Polar region was 

 a great cavity, nearly two miles deep, instead of being, as hitherto 

 supposed, an island witli half-open seas. The Antarctic regions, 

 on the other hand, consisted of a great solid mass of land, ex- 

 tending far beyond the area explored by Nansen at the North 

 Pole. Captain Cook, in 1776, furnished the first information 

 with regard to the Antarctic regions ; but it was not until Ros>' 

 expedition in 1841, followed by the Challenger in 1874, that any 

 accurate information was obtained in regard to this continent. By 

 means of his sounding apparatus, Ross made the discovery that 

 there was a belt of water two miles in depth right round the 

 Antarctic regions. In some places it showed a depth of 2000 

 fathoms, and in other places 4000 fathoms, without any bottom. 

 Ross discovered Victoria Land, a mountain promontory stretch- 

 ing for 500 miles north and south, during which he passed 

 through a belt of ice over 100 miles in width into calm, 

 beautiful water beyond. Ross sailed south to latitude 78°, 

 where he found volcanic mountains from 12,000 to 15,000 

 feet high, towering above a vast range of snowy mountains, 

 and vomiting forth flames and lava. Huge glaciers descended 

 for miles into the sea ; but along the rocky shore no 

 landing-place could be found, there being no harbour 

 or indentation of any kind. A landing was, however, effected 

 on Possession Island, which lay a short distance off the main- 

 land. He attempted to reach the mainland from this island, 

 but failed, and, turning eastward, he found a perpendicular 

 wall of ice 200 feet high, and he traced it for 300 miles with- 

 out a break. On some days the sun shone out with great 

 brilliancy from a perfectly serene and clear sky of intense blue. 

 Reference was made to the atmospheric conditions and cur- 

 rents of the Antarctic region, and then Sir James pointed out 

 that within this circle no living thing had yet been found 

 which belonged to the land. The life-history of the birds was 

 most remarkable, because they could not breed within the 

 Antarctic circle owing to there being no place for them to 

 build their nests, except ice that was melting. In concluding. 

 Sir James expressed Ihe hope that the exploration of Antarc- 

 tica would be continued. One of the most important things 

 to be done in this direction was to settle the exact position 

 and intensity of the magnetic pole, especially in the interests 

 of navigation. Until they had established by survey the mag- 

 netic conditions of the southern end of the globe, careful and 

 scientific provision could not be made for the safety of iron ships 

 steaming upon different courses. 



Australian Oceanography. 



"A Contribution to Australian Oceanography" was the title 

 of a paper by Mr. T. W. Fowler. The paper was suggested 

 by the reports of the Challenger expedition, which seemed to 

 leave room for much further investigation. An attempt had 

 been made by the writer to get additional information, and with 

 this end in view he had obtained from the captains or officers 

 of various intercolonial steamships proceeding at regular in- 

 tervals, samples of water passed through by them, together with 

 the temperature of the sea at the time the sample was obtained. 

 The samples were taken as near the vessels' bows as possible, 

 and placed in well-cleaned bottles, which were tightly corked 

 and forwarded to Mr. Walker for examination at the Mel- 

 bourne University. Mr. Buchanan's method of conducting the 

 examination was adopted. Two hydrometers were used, and 

 the results were checked by testing the instruments in solutions 

 of known densities. Tables were given showing the densities of 

 waters obtained between Fremantle and Melbourne ; between 

 Melbourne and Brisbane ; on the east coast of Australia 

 generally ; between Melbourne and the Bluff; on the Sorrento 

 Back Beach, Bass Strait, and a number of other places. 



NO. 1482, VOL. 57] 



Remarks on Central Australia. 



" Notwithstanding the labours of the past, the last volume of 

 Australian discovery is still incomplete," was the opening re- 

 mark of the paper by Mr. W. H. Tietkins, who in 1889 led ar> 

 expedition, which was fitted out under the auspices of the South 

 Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society, one of 

 the objects of which was to determine the outline of Lake 

 Asmodeus in Central Australia. Mr. Tietkins suggested that 

 attention should be directed to the Rawlinson and Peterman 

 Ranges, which lie to the north of the Mann and Tomkinsor* 

 Ranges, and which were hounded on all sides by barren and 

 inhospitable sandy wastes. To the best of his belief these 

 ranges had not been visited, except by Giles, whose party was 

 much reduced. These ranges formed an extensive and fertile 

 field for systematic and scientific examination. It was suggested 

 that a party might leave the settlements at Giles Range or 

 Erldunda, and proceed from there to Mount Olga, where the 

 first depot would be formed, pending the discovery of suitable 

 water being found further west and nearer the scene of opera- 

 tions. No difficulty would be experienced in reaching Sladen 

 Water. It might be almost taken for granted that valuable 

 waters would be found before reaching so far west. From the 

 western end of the Rawlinson Range the party could return by 

 a slightly different route, and if time and circumstances allowed 

 before leaving Sladen Water. The conviction was forced upon 

 him that no pasture lands of sufficient extent might be looked 

 for that would develop the western interior, but the hope might 

 reasonably be entertained that the mining industry in that lati- 

 tude would challenge the enterprise of the Australian people. 



Ethnology and Anthropology. 



The Origin of the Aborigines of Tasmania and Australia. 



This was the subject chosen by Mr. A. W. Howitt, President 

 of the ethnological and anthropological section, for his presi- 

 dential address. He was of opinion that, in spite of the con- 

 tention of many writers to the effect that the primitive Aus- 

 tralians and Tasmanians had come from other lands ir> 

 ships or canoes, there were but little evidences to show 

 that they had any knowledge of navigation or of sea-going 

 vessels. In any solution of the origin of the natives of Australia 

 one fundamental element must be that the ancestors of these 

 savages reached Australia or Tasmania by land ; or if the lant) 

 connection was not continuous, the intervening channels were 

 such as could be traversed by vessels no better than the cata- 

 marans or canoes above mentioned. The lecturer quoted many 

 geological facts, all of which tended to show that an immense 

 period of time was one of the elements of any solution of the 

 profjlem, and that during that period the Australians had beerk 

 isolated from outside influence, having at the same time a con- 

 tinental area in which to develop their institutions. The level 

 of culture of the Tasmanian had been termed the eolithic, and 

 that of the Australians might fairly be termed neolithic, or even 

 as regards some of the tribes of Central Australia bordering orn; 

 the palreolithic. The social organisation of the Tasmanians was 

 also below the level of that of the Australians. Finally he came' 

 to the conclusion that the Australians reached the continent by 

 a land bridge connecting with the Indo- Asiatic continent or by 

 a land extension of the Austral continents to the north-west or 

 over some shallow channels separating Australia from these 

 lands, 



A lecture on "Native Life in Central AMStralia" was. 

 delivered by Prof W. Baldwin Spencer. After describing 

 the difficulties of travelling, the lecturer remarked that the 

 country was divided into the lower steppes, the desert 

 country, and the higher steppes, where the James and 

 Macdonell Ranges rear their lofty summits sometimes to a 

 height of 5000 feet. Lake Amadeus in the dry season is a 

 mere sheet of salt. Ayers Rock, another remarkable formation 

 of this distant and mysterious land, rises abruptly from the 

 surface of the desert country. It is about one mile long and 

 five miles in circumference. Formerly there were vast rivers , 

 here, and animals, such as the diprotodoton, a wombat-like 

 creature about four times as large as a kangaroo, flourished on 

 the plains. Now animal life was scarcely noticeable. The fish 

 Hved in the waterholes in the hills until the wet season came 

 and washed them down the foaming gorges of the mountain to 

 the lower lands. In the dry season the water-frog fills himself 

 up with water, and, rolling himself into the mud, exists there 

 until the next rains, which may not come foi two years. In 



