66 
Portion of the United States,’’ by H. N. Darton (Wash- 
ington) ’’; ‘A Meteorite Crater of Arizona,’’ by Prof. 
Fairchild. 
The afternoon meeting was presided over by the presi- 
dent, Mr. Aguilera. Only two papers were communicated, 
one at the beginning by Prof. David, on *‘ The Occurrence 
of Diamond in Matrix at Oakey Creek, Inverel, New South 
Wales,’’ and one at the end by Mr. E. O, Hovey (New 
York), on ‘“‘ La Sierra Madre Occidentale de 1’Etat de 
Chihuahua,”’ which was illustrated with lantern views. 
The intervening period was taken up with reports and 
general business. Prof. Reid gave a résumé of the report 
of the International Glacier Committee, of which he is 
president. No report having been received (though asked 
for) from the committee on the geological map of Europe, 
a motion was carried regretting the omission. The secre- 
tary read a report by Sir Archibald Geikie, president of 
the committee on cooperation in geological investigation, 
which was approved. It was announced that the com- 
mittee of the Spendiaroff prize had awarded this to Prof. 
Tschernyscheff for his work on ‘‘ Die obercarbonischen 
Brachiopoden des Ural und des Timan.’’ Prof. Frech pre- 
sented the report of the committee on the ‘‘ Palzontologica 
Universalis,’’ and its proposal to extend the scope of 
its publications was unanimously approved; several new 
American and Mexican members were elected to the com- 
mittee. 
Prof. Sjogren then invited the congress to hold its 
eleventh session at Stockholm, and in 1910 instead of 
1909. The invitation was accepted with acclamation, and 
it was agreed to leave the date to be fixed by the Swedish 
committee. (In view of the British Association meeting 
at Winnipeg in 1909, the later date would be preferable, so 
far as British geologists are concerned.) 
Hearty votes of thanks to the Mexican Government and 
the organising committee were passed on the motion of 
Prof. Stefanescu and Mr. Sabatini. They were responded 
to by Mr. Aguilera, who thanked the foreign geologists for 
coming so far to make the congress a success, and invited 
them all to meet again at Stockholm. This closed the 
formal business of the congress. 
A number of very interesting excursions had been 
arranged in connection with the congress. They were of 
two kinds—one-day excursions between the meetings, and 
long excursions of from three to twenty days’ duration, 
which took place before and after the congress proper. 
The former were free of expense to the members, and for 
the others an inclusive charge which averaged about 
fifteen shillings per diem was made, the greater part of 
the expense being borne by the Mexican Government. 
The first one-day excursion was devoted to the City of 
Mexico itself, the members being driven about the town 
and shown the museums and other public institutions. On 
the Sunday a long day was devoted to Cuernavaca, and 
this proved to be probably the most interesting of all. 
After journeying for some miles over the plain in which 
Mexico stands at an altitude of nearly 7500 feet, there is 
a stiff ascent of the range which bounds this plain, the 
railway reaching an altitude of almost 10,000 feet. 
Cuernavaca lies nearly 5000 feet down on the other side, 
and the steep, winding descent is very picturesque. From 
near the summit magnificent views are obtained over the 
lower plain, from which rise numerous volcanic cones and 
ranges apparently but little changed from the time of their 
formation; the whole stretches out before the observer 
just like an immense relief map. On the map, the dis- 
tance from Mexico to Cuernavaca is barely forty miles; 
by rail it is seventy-five, and the double journey takes 
more than nine hours. The town itself has one of the 
finest situations in Mexico, and is a favourite resort. 
Cortes built his country palace there, and on its terrace 
the congress was entertained to a banquet by the Municipal 
Council. 
Another day was spent in visiting the Toltec remains at 
San Juan Teotihuacdn. Here there are two pyramids (of 
the sun and the moon), and the remains of many other 
interesting structures. After inspecting these, the members 
lunched in the ‘‘ Grotto Porfirio Diaz,’”’ a large, natural 
cavity formed under an ancient lava flow in the neighbour- 
hood. 
NEAMN CEES 
tastes were catered for. 
| NOVEMBER 15, 1906 
district of Pachuca, where yisits were paid to various mines 
and works; in these the celebrated ‘* patio process ’’ was 
seen in operation on a large scale. 
Four of the long excursions took place before the con- 
gress opened. One, of nine days’ duration, was to the 
south, and visited, in addition to various districts of more 
purely geological interest, the famous Mitla ruins near 
Oaxaca. Another, of three days, went east to Vera Cruz, 
on the coast, returning by Orizaba over the celebrated 
picturesque route of the Mexican Railway (known as ‘*‘ The 
Queen’s Own”? from its British origin), with its difficult 
engineering and striking scenery. The remaining excursions 
had special attraction for vulcanologists. On the one, the 
principal points of interest were Jorulla and Toluca, 
though the whole excursion lasted for thirteen days; while 
the last, of twelve days’ duration, had Colima as its prin- 
cipal attraction. 
In connection with these excursions, the greatest pains 
had been taken to make the visits as enjoyable and profit- 
able as possible. Special trains, conveyances, and riding 
horses were provided; detachments of the famous Rurales 
(a kind of military gendarmerie) attended to the safety 
and comfort of the travellers; where hotels were not avail- 
able on the cross-country journeys, camp equipment was 
sent in advance, or the proprietors of haciendas were 
called upon for hospitality. The travellers, therefore, per- 
formed their journeyings under exceptionally favourable 
conditions. It was not possible to carry out the full pro- 
gramme in every case, however, as the excursions took 
place during the rainy season, which this year has been 
somewhat exceptional. At the same time, the difficulties 
or dangers were not nearly so great as, it appears, the 
sensational accounts in some European papers would lead 
one to believe was the case. 
The principal excursion took place after the congress, 
from September 15 to October 4. The field covered ex- 
tended from Mexico City right up to Arizona in the north 
and down to Tampico in the east, and the distance 
travelled amounted to three or four thousand miles. The 
members taking part were accommodated in two special 
Pullman trains, which served both as means of convey- 
ance and as hotel. The route was arranged so as to in- 
clude a very wide range of interesting ground, so that all 
Numerous mines were visited— 
sulphur, silver, copper, lead, and coal—also oil wells; 
various smelting and separation processes were seen in 
operation; extinct craters were inspected, and fossiliferous 
beds were searched for specimens; and, in addition, there 
was the general interest peculiar to the country itself, to 
say nothing of the splendid hospitality everywhere 
encountered. It is impossible to enter into details of the 
trip, but two striking features may be mentioned. The 
first is the great stretch of semi-arid region towards the 
north of the Republic, through which the railway passes 
for hundreds of miles. This is practically level, and con- 
sists of a series of ‘‘ Bolsons,’’ which at first sight lool 
as if they must have been of lacustrine formation. The 
evidence is entirely against this, however, and the sup- 
position is that, though the first depositions may have 
taken place in shallow lakes, these were soon obliterated, 
and the great bulk of the deposit was levelled out simply 
by the rush of surface water during the rainy seasons. 
From the plains thus formed the mountains rise with 
startling abruptness, as from a sea, sometimes with fan- 
tastic outlines, so that the traveller could almost imagine 
he was sailing some distance off a mountainous coast, like 
that of Norway. Even more interesting were the oppor- 
tunities afforded for studying geological structure on a 
large scale. The mountain ranges are generally bare of 
vegetation and overlying material, so that the contortion, 
folding and faulting of strata, formation of anticlinal 
valleys, &c., can be observed with the greatest ease. This 
was ‘particularly noticeable along the railways in the 
neighbourhood of Monterrey, and it was a matter for 
regret that arrangements had not been made for the train 
to stop at various points to enable the photographers of 
the party to make proper exposures; good photographs 
of many of the structures observed would have possessed 
all the lucidity of geological diagrams, with the additional 
advantages which pertain to truthful representations of 
The last of these excursions was to the celebrated silver | actual structures. 
NOWMG 2a VOL 75) 
