788 



REPORT — 1884. 



there. A recent Oermnn writer, Dr. Ilalin, linsenumorated iiiiitty-six mort' orlesn 

 extensive tractH known to he visu\)i or sinking. We owe to Mr. 11. A. Peacock tlm 

 accumulation of iilMindant eviilfnco tliat the island of Jeiwy had no existenct' in 

 I'loleniy'.s time, and ])r-)bahly was not wholly c;it olV from the continent lieforc the 

 fourtii or fiftli century. .Mr. .\. Ilowarth has coUeeted similar jmiol's as to tlm 

 Arctic rej^-ions; and every fresli di.scovery adds to the number. Tliiis the piUam 

 ill-fated l>e Lonjjf, a name not to he mentioned without hnmn^ro to heroic eoura;fc ami 

 almost superhuman onduranc, found evidence tiiat Hcnneft Island has risfi i 

 hundred feet in quite recent times, Nordeiiskiiild found tiu- reuiiiins of winilfs, 

 evidently killed by th(^ early Dutch tiahers, on elevated terraces of Martin's Isliiini, 

 The recent conclusion of Professor Hull, that the land between Suez and the 1 Jitter 

 Lakes has risen since the Kxodua, tiirows fresli lifrlit on the Mosai(! account of tlmt 

 frreat event ; and to fjo still furllier south, we learn from the Indian survey that it 

 is 'almost certain ' that the mean sea level at Madras is a foot lower, i.e., the limd 

 a foot liiprher, than it was sixty years ago. If I do nf)t refer to the chaiifres uu the 

 west side of Hudson's I Jay, for a distance of at least six hundred miles, it in only 

 because* I presume that the researches of Dr. Uohert Deli are too well known \m\> 

 to require it. Any of my hearers who may have visited Dermuda are aware that 

 80 {jently has tbnt island subsided, that preat iumijinps of stalactite, unbroiien, iimv 

 be found dippinfjf many feet into the sea, or at all events, into salt-water ymb 

 8landin|jr at the same level, and we have jio reason to suppose the sinkinjr to havi' 

 come to an end. AVe learn from the (.'hinese annals that the so-called Hot Lake 

 I.'wyk-kul, of Turkistan, was formed by some convulsion of nature ahoiit 1<JU yeur^ 

 ajjo,' and there .seems no pood renson to reject the Jajjanese legend that l''iisiyania 

 itself was suddenly thrown up in the third century before our era (ii.c. l'8(i). 

 These are but illustration."? of tlie assertion I began with, tiiat <reograpliy anil 

 geology are very nearly connect hI, and it would be equally easy to show on liiw 

 many points we touch the domain of botany and natural history. The tlijfiit u( 

 birds lias often guided navigators to undiscovered lands. Nordenskiold went so far 

 as to infer the existence of ' vast tracts, with high mountains, with valley.s filleij 

 with glaciers, ami with precipitous peaks' between Wrangel Land and tih' 

 American shores of the Polar Hea, from no other sign than the multitudes of birds 

 winging their way northward in the spring of 1879, from the 'Vega's' wiiitir 

 quarters. The walrus hunters o. Spitzbergen drew the same conclusion in a 

 previous voyage from the flight of birds towards the Pole from t!io J']uropean Mv. 

 Certainly no traveller in the more northern latitudes of this continent in the 

 autumn can fail to reflect on the cea.sele3s circulation of the tide of life in the 

 beautiful harmony of nature, when he finds that he can scarcely raise his eyes from 

 his book at any moment, or direct them to any quarter of the heavens, without 

 seeing countless numbers of wild fowl, guided by unerring instinct, directing tlii'ir 

 timely flight towards the milder climates of the South. 



4. To address you on the subject of geogra])hy, and omit mention of the pro- 

 gress made within these very few years in our knowledge of the geography of thij 

 Dominion, might indeed appear an unaccountable, if not an unpardonable oversight ; 

 nevertheless, I propo.se to touch upon it but briefly, for two reasons : first, I said 

 nearly all I have to say upon a similar occasion four years ago ; secondly and 

 chiefly, because I hope that some of those adventurous and scientific trave'' who 

 have been engaged in pushing the explorations of the Geological Survey ana of the 

 Canada Pacific Railway into unknown regions, will have reserved some communi- 

 cations for this Section. I cannot, however, refrain from alluding to that remark- 

 able discovery recently communicated to the Geographical Society of Quebec by 

 M. N. A. Oomeau, of which we shall, I hope, hear fuller particulars from Pro- 

 fessor Laflamme. I mean the extent and importance of Lake Mistassini. That it 

 should be left to this day to discover in no very remote part of the north-east a 

 lake rivalling Lake Ontario, if not Lake Superior, in magnitude, is a pleasant ex- 

 ample of the surprises geography has in store for its votaries. Canada comprises 

 within its limits two spots of a physical interest notsurpassed by any others on the 

 globe. I mean the polo of vertical magnetic attraction, commonly called the mag- 



> Proc. R. G. S. vol. xviii. p. 250. 



