Sept. 13, 1888] 



NATURE 



481 



must ever owe a deep debt of gratitude for many kindly words of 

 advice and encouragement. Then, as now, popular interest 

 centred in Africa, and Sir Roderick Murchison, on taking the 

 chair, was accompanied by a group of distinguished African 

 explorers. Some amongst us may remember the enthusiastic 

 greeting accorded to Livingstone, and the heart-felt sorrow 

 caused by the announcement that the gallant, chi% r alrous officer, 

 whose name will ever live in history as the discoverer of the 

 sources of the Nile, had been cut off in the fullness of his strength 

 and vigour. 



The African travellers who have honoured us with their 

 presence to-day, have shown the same pluck, the same persever- 

 ance, the same disregard of personal risk and comfort as their 

 predecessors. One African traveller, a distinguished officer of 

 the German army, who hoped to have been with us, has this 

 year been awarded the highest honour which the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society can confer — its gold medal. Lieut. Wissman, 

 who possesses all Livingstone's indomitable courage, his con- 

 stancy of purpose, and his kindly feeling towards the natives, 

 has twice crossed Africa, in its widest extent, without firing a 

 shot in anger. He returned recently to Europe, filled, like the 

 great English traveller, with indignation at the atrocities per- 

 petrated by the Arabs on the blacks ; and eager to find means, 

 if such there be, of putting an end to, or at least mitigating, the 

 unspeakable horrors of the slave trade. He is now organizing 

 an expedition which has the double object of opening up the 

 territory in Eastern Africa that falls within the sphere of Ger- 

 man influence, and of bearing relief to Emin Pasha. In both 

 enterprises we may heartily wish him " God speed ! " 



The light thrown upon the interior of the Dark Continent is 

 the most striking feature of geographical exploration during the 

 last twenty-five years ; and it is really the work of the last eleven 

 years, for it was only in 1877 that Mr. Stanley, by his remarkable 

 journey, gave a new continent to the world. If Sir Roderick 

 Murchison were now alive he would feel more than gratified at 

 results which have been so largely clue to his initiative. I pro- 

 pose, presently, to return to the interesting subject of Africa ; 

 but I would first draw attention to the influence which the 

 natural features of the earth's surface have had, and are still 

 having, in conjunction with other causes, on the trade routes 

 and commercial relations between the West and the East, and 

 more especially with India. 



The great civilizations of high antiquity appear to have risen 

 and expanded in four riverain districts : Chinese in the basins of 

 the Hoang-ho and the Yang-tse-kiang ; Hindu in those of the 

 Indus and the Ganges ; Chaldsean and Assyro-Babylonian in 

 those of the Tigris and Euphrates ; and Egyptian in that of the 

 Nile. India is separated from China, on the one hand, by 

 rugged, lofty mountain ranges, and the high- lying plateau of 

 Tibet ; and from Mesopotamia, on the other, by the Sulei- 

 man Mountains and the Perso-Afghan plateau. Intercom- 

 munication between these early seats of man's activity must, 

 therefore, have been of slow growth. From Mesopotamia, on 

 the contrary, there is easy access to the Nile basin by way of 

 Syria and Palestine, and there are indications of traffic between 

 these districts at a very remote period. Inquiry into the causes 

 which first led to intercommunication and into the means by 

 which it was effected is needlesss. Desire of gain, lust of power, 

 were as much a part of human nature in the earliest ages as they 

 are now- The former induced the pioneers of commerce to feel 

 their way across trackless deserts, and to brave the hidden 

 dangers of the sea ; and for nearly three hundred years it led 

 gallant men to seek a way to the wealth of India through the 

 ice-laden seas of the Arctic region. The latter brought the 

 great empires of Assyria and Egypt into hostile conflict, and 

 carried Alexander to the banks of the Oxus and the Indus ; and 

 it is largely answerable for the land-hunger of European States 

 in our own generation. 



Nations rise, fall, and disappear, but commerce extends in 

 ever-widening circles, and knows no limits. Efforts are con- 

 stantly being made to discover and open up new fields of com- 

 mercial activity and to connect the great centres of commerce by 

 quicker and shorter trade routes. The earliest traffic was con- 

 ducted by land : men travelled together in caravans for mutual 

 protection, and rested where food and water were to be obtained ; 

 at the most important of these halting-places cities were founded. 

 As trade extended, it became necessary to carry goods through 

 independent tribes or countries which often insisted on retaining 

 the transit trade in their own hands, and this led to the rise of 

 cities at points convenient for the transfer of loads and the 



exchange of commodities of one country for those of another. 

 Generally speaking this early overland trade was coextensive 

 with the geographical limit of the camel. Next in order to land 

 traffic came that by water, first on rivers, then on the sea ; and 

 cities naturally sprang up at places on the coast where the mer- 

 chandise brought down the rivers in boats could, conveniently 

 and safely, be transferred to galleys or ships suitable for coasting. 

 After a knowledge of the monsoons had been acquired, men 

 began to trust themselves to the open sea ; the ships were im- 

 proved, and a system was established under which voyages were 

 made, with great regularity, at cer'ain seasons of the year, so 

 that advantage might be taken of the periodic winds. Increased 

 knowledge of the globe, improvements in the art of shipbuilding, 

 and the invention of the steam-engine, have gradually led to the 

 ocean traffic of the present day, conducted by large steamers 

 which, regardless of wind and tide, follow the most direct course 

 from one point to another. The trade routes of the world are 

 subject to two great modifying influences, one physical, the 

 other political. The inland trade of India, for instance, can 

 only reach Central Asia and the West by way of Herat or 

 Bamian ; caravan roads across the deserts of Asia and Africa 

 must follow lines of springs or wells ; climatic conditions render 

 all Polar routes impracticable ; and the removal of a physical 

 obstacle, by the construction of the Suez Canal, is now causing 

 a remarkable redistribution of the channels of commerce. So, 

 too, disturbance of traffic by war, or its designed destruction by 

 conquerors ; and great political changes, such as the establish- 

 ment of the Persian Emuire, the rise of Rome, the disruption of 

 the Roman Empire, and the advent of the Arabs to power in 

 Wsstern Asia, divert trade from its accustomed routes and force 

 it into new channels, to the ruin of some cities and States and 

 the enrichment of others. The general tendency of trade so 

 diverted is to seek, where possible, a maritime route, for water 

 transport is not only less costly but less liable to interruption 

 than land transport. 



India, partly from its geographical position, partly from the 

 character of its people, has always played a passive role in com- 

 merce, and allowed the initiative in commercial enterprise to 

 rest with the West. The greatest advantages have always been 

 derived from the possession of the trade between the East and 

 the West, and from a remote period the nations of the world 

 have contended for this rich prize. One State after another has 

 obtained and lost the prize ; England now holds it, but if she 

 is to keep what she has obtained there must be a far closer study 

 than there has hitherto been of geography and terrestrial phe- 

 nomena in their relation to commerce. Trade between the 

 East and the West may be divided into three periods : the first, 

 during which the limits of Oriental commerce were the eastern 

 and south-eastern shores of the Mediterranean, closed with the 

 foundation of Carthage about 800 B.C. ; the second, or Mediter- 

 ranean period, ended in the fifteenth century ; the third, or 

 Oceanic period, has lasted to the present day. In the first 

 period there were two principal lines of traffic : the southern sea 

 route, following the coast line, and the northern land route, 

 traversing Asia in its whole extent from east to west. There 

 are indications of communication between China and the West 

 so early as 2698 B.C. ; and in 2353 B.C. an embassy arrived in 

 China from a country which is supposed to have been Chaldsea. 

 There is also an early notice of caravan traffic in the company 

 of Ishmaelites, bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh to Egypt, 

 to whom Joseph was sold (Genesis xxxvii. 25-28). The earliest 

 maritime people to appreciate the value of trade between the 

 East and West were, apparently, those living along the south 

 coast of Arabia. Happily situated between the Persian Gulf 

 and the Red Seaj and separated by vast deserts from the great 

 nations of Asia, the Sabaeans were free from those alternations 

 of industry and war which are so unfavourable to commercial 

 pursuits ; for centuries they possessed the commerce of India, 

 and they became famous for their opulence and luxury. Sabaean 

 ships visited Ceylon and the Malabar coast, and Saba;an mer- 

 chants supplied Indian goods to Mesopotamia and Syria, as 

 well as to Egypt and Ethiopia. The ships trading to the Per- 

 sian Gulf discharged their cargoes near the mouth of the 

 Euphrates ; whence the traffic passed partly by river, partly by 

 land, to the coast towns of Syria and Palestine, and through the 

 Syrian and Cilician gates to Mazaca {Kaisariyeh), and Pterium 

 {Boghazkeui) ; from the last place Indian goods found their way 

 to Sardis and Sinope. The ships visiting the Red Sea landed 

 goods at Elath, at the head of the gulf of Akabah, for carriage 

 by land to Tyre and Sidon, and on the western shores of the 



