222 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[October 1, 1895. 



M. Victor de Teniant presented a paper on " French 

 Africa, its present and future," in which it was maintained 

 that French settlements were not merely strategical 

 positions but genuine colonies. The geographical position 

 of France compels her to devote her attention to Africa, 

 and her aim, like that of England, is to develop the 

 resources of that continent. The Sahara will be trans- 

 formed in time by means of the development of the frmge 

 of valuable areas around it. The conquest of French 

 Africa will be effected by economic and scientific, and not 

 by military means, and two of the contemplated operations 

 are the raising of the low-water mark of the Eiver Senegal, 

 and a trans-Saharan railway. 



General E. F. Chapman, in a paper on " The Mapping 

 of Africa,'" gave a sketch of the progress of topographical 

 surveys there, and urged their extension. Travellers 

 would do more useful work by sketching areas rather than 

 lines of road, and suggested that information respecting 

 places fixed astronomically should be published, and that 

 concerted steps should be taken to fix more points 

 with the requisite accuracy. By the telegraphs many 

 important places may be fixed from time differences, and 

 thus a large number of satisfactory determinations of 

 longitude may be obtained within a comparatively short 

 time. 



Mr. Silva White read a paper on a crestographic map 

 of Africa, in which a new system of cartographic 

 expression is introduced, indicating political as well as 

 physical factors by which the comparative value of African 

 regions to any European Power is shown by "cresto- 

 graphic " curves. Thus are brought out into high relief 

 the areas of highest resistance against European domina- 

 tion, and the areas of highest relative value to the 

 European Powers, indicating, therefore, the lines of least 

 resistance against European domination in Africa. 



IjIMNOLOGY. 



Prof. F. A. Porel's paper on "Limnology as a Branch 

 of Geography" contended that the study of lakes is a 

 science, and a distinct branch of geography, for a lake is an 

 isolated and distinct geographical individual with its own 

 peculiar chemical conditions, its own inhabitants, its own 

 littoral, pelagic, and deep societies of organisms. Limno- 

 logy is well adapted for specialization, for its study comprises 

 hydrography, geology, petrography, hydrology, climatology, 

 chemistry, temperature, optical properties, and biology. 



A paper by Dr. H. E. Mill, on " The Limnology of the 

 British Islands," after referring to the occasional and 

 unsystematic study of lakes in the past, gave instances of 

 the exaggerated ideas of the depth of lakes that were 

 common. Loch Morar, one thousand and eighty feet deep, 

 is the deepest lake in the British Islands, while in an 

 extensive area of Derwentwater, said to have depths of 

 forty fathoms, it was found that two fathoms was the 

 maximum. A large number of temperature observations 

 have been made in Loch Lomond and other neighbouring 

 lakes, and measurements of lake-level are observed at 

 Derwentwater, Loch Katrine, Thirlmere, and the artificial 

 lake, Vyrnwy. The depth of many lakes has been officially 

 ascertained, and as a result of the soundings made by the 

 author and Mr. Heawood in 1893-4, on Windermere, 

 Ullswater, Derwentwater, Bassenthwaite, Buttermere, 

 Crummack Water, Ennerdale AVater, W^astwater, Coniston 

 Water, and Haweswater, the sub-lacustrine contours of 

 about twenty square miles were determined, and are now 

 being placed by the Ordnance Survey on the official maps 

 on the scale of six inches to one mile, and they are 

 published in the Oeoyi-nphica} Journal for July and August, 

 1895. 



M. Paul Vuillot contributed a paper on the Niger 



lakes which had been discovered through the French 

 occupation of Timbuktu. Lake Fagibine is fifty-five 

 miles long, with a maximum width of fifteen miles, and 

 communicates by a narrow passage with Lake Tele, which 

 extends south to Gundani. Their hydrography is peculiar. 

 The waterway connecting the lakes with the Niger has a 

 current, the direction of which varies according as the 

 water is higher in the Niger or in the lakes, thus forming 

 a natural reservoir for storing flood water, and maintaining 

 the current of the river in the dry season. There is a 

 third lake, called Dauna, south of Lake Fagibine, but it is 

 only known from native reports. 



A VOYAGE TO VICTOEIA LAND. 



The subject of Antarctic Exploration was resumed by a 

 paper by Mr. C. E. Borchgrevink, giving an account of his 

 voyage to Victoria Land in the Antmctic. As the 

 expedition was for whaling, few instruments could be taken. 

 Melbourne was left on September 20th, 1894, and they met 

 with their first snow on October 18th, on the night of which 

 day there was a magnificent aurora. An immense barrier 

 of ice, forty to sixty miles long, was sighted on November 

 6th. With level top and perpendicular sides, it attained 

 an elevation of six hundred feet above sea level. At 55° 

 S. the albatross and Cape pigeon had left them, but not the 

 stormy petrel. On December 7th the edge of the pack 

 ice was seen, and they then shot their first seal. Subse- 

 quently multitudes of marine animals were seen. Belenny 

 Island, with its lofty peak of twelve thousand feet, in 

 04° 44' S., was seen on the 14th, and the sun was just 

 touching the horizon at midnight on Christmas eve. On 

 the 2Cth the Antarctic Circle was crossed, and on January 

 14th, in 69° 55' S., they came again into open water, after 

 having spent thirty-eight days in working through the 

 pack. Cape Adair, on Victoria Land, in 71 23' S., was 

 sighted on the l(;th. The cape consists of a square mass 

 of basaltic rock, three thousand seven hundred and seventy- 

 nine feet high, and from it the coast extends to the west 

 and south as far as the eye can reach, with ice-covered peaks 

 that rise to twelve thousand feet, and glaciers so numerous 

 that twenty were counted close to the Bay of Adair. 

 Possession Island, in 71° 50' S., on which Boss had landed 

 fifty-four years before, was found to be covered with a thick 

 layer of guano, and to consist of volcanic rock rising to three 

 hundred feet, with vegetation at thirty feet above sea level, 

 while the surface was remarkably free from snow. On the 

 22nd they reached 74° S., and then turned north and landed 

 next day on Cape Adair, the first landing on Victoria Land, 

 when penguins were found to be abundant up to one 

 thousand feet above the sea. Temperature observations 

 showed a minimum of 25° F. and a maximum of 46° F., 

 while the water in the ice pack was 28° F. ; but at South 

 Victoria Bay it was above freezing point, showing a warm 

 north-running current. Within the Antarctic Circle the 

 barometer at 29 always indicated calm and beautiful 

 weather. A specimen of rock of quartz, felspar, and 

 garnets, pointed to economic minerals. An expedition 

 could safely winter at Cape Adair, where everything 

 indicated less rigorous conditions, and where meteoro- 

 logical observations might advantageously be made. He 

 was willing to lead a land-party to work to the South 

 Magnetic Pole. An expedition ought not longer to be 

 delayed, since the scientific results might be of the greatest 

 importance. 



Dr. John ^Murray thought the importance of the paper 

 could not be exaggerated. Tho interior of Victoria Land, 

 being a high pressure area, might have greater evaporation 

 than precipitation, and it was possible there might be an 

 annual vegetation. 



