492 
other, soas to form a ridge. Small craters and hillocks of 
ejected sand are sometimes formed on the surface of the Runn, 
and afterwards subside again to the level of the plain. Dry beds 
of rivers are traceable throughout the desert tract to the north. 
From the difficulties of access to the Thurr, it had been for cen- 
turies the place of refuge to remnants of various races and nations 
who had invaded Hindoostan, or succumbed to the fortunes of 
war. Here are still found specimens of the wild Bheels who 
claim to be the autochthones and whose blood is essential to 
ratify every solemn ceremony of the Rajpoot dynasties ; Coolies, 
who are anterior to the earliest Hindoo immigrants ; Jutts, who 
are said to be of Scythian origin and are hardly ever known to 
forsake their ancestral occupation as breeders of cattle. Hindoos 
of every tribe and caste are here found, and many representatives 
are seen of later immigrations—Belooches, Afghans, Kurds, 
Arabs, and even Turcomans. One tribe of Rajpoots in the 
Desert, the Sodas, retain their primitive custom of bringing up 
all their female children, and, in consequence, all the chiefs in 
Rajpootana, where female infanticide had become established, 
have had for ages to take their wives from the humble Soda 
settlements. The poor Soda chiefs have therefore powerful con- 
nections among their wealthy sons-in-law ; but, though they often 
pay around of visits among them, they are said never to exchange 
their lives of freedom and simplicity, in the desert, for the palaces 
of Rajpootana, In the discussion which followed, Lord Napier 
of Magdala stated his belief that if the improvements Sir Bartle 
Frere suggested, when Commissioner of Scinde, had been put in 
execution at the time, a great alteration for the better would by 
this time have taken place in the desert tract which he had 
described. — The following new fellows were elected :— Rev. 
T. H. Braim, John E. Dawson, E. Hutchins, J. Irvine, M. H. 
Lackersteen, Joseph Moore, Commander Noel Osborn, J. N. 
Robertson, Joseph Starling, Henry Stilwell, Charles Stenning, 
John Wilton. 
February 28.—Sir R. I. Murchison, president, in the chair. 
The following Fellows were elected :—Donald Butler, Com- 
mander George M. Balfour, W. A. M. Browne, W. L. Barclay, 
F. W. Buxton, Lieutenant E. F. Chapman, Colonel D. Carleton, 
Dr. R. H. Hilliard, R. A. Hankey, W. M. James, Colonel 
Charles E. Law, the Hon, Henry Lyttelton, John Markham, 
W. C. Midwinter, Major-General W. C. McLeod, Lieutenant- 
Colonel George W. Raikes, Right Hon. Sir John Rose, W. A. 
Whyte. 
“* A Visit to Yarkand and Kaskgar.” By R. B. Shaw. The 
author commenced by saying that the common idea of Tartary 
was that of a succession of vast plains, over which hordes of 
barbarians wandered at will with their cattle and tents. Hehad 
found the reality widely different. It was a well-cultivated 
country, containing flourishing cities of more than 100,000 in- 
habitants, where many of the arts of civilisation are carried on. 
Security of life and property exists, commerce is protected, the 
roads are full of life and movement, and markets are held on a 
fixed day of the week, even in the smallest villages. In the 
towns extensive bazaars, covered in against the rays of the sun, 
contain rows of shops, where goods of every kind and from every 
country are exhibited. In Yarkand alone there are sixty col- 
leges, with endowments in land, for the education of students of 
Mussulman law and divinity, while every street contains a pri- 
mary school attached toa mosque, There are special streets for 
the various trades. In one street will be found the silks of 
China, in another the cotton goods and prints of Russia, while 
a third will contain robes made of both materials, three or four 
of which make up the ordinary dress of the Turki inhabitants. 
In some streets all kinds of groceries are sold: others are set 
apart for the butchers, who offer a choice of horse-flesh, camel, 
beef, or mutton. The first is rather a luxury, but the two last 
are most abundant, selling at about one penny a pound. The 
bakers make most excellent light loaves by a process of steaming 
the bread. The greengrocers present abundant supplies of vege- 
tables in great variety, besides cream nearly as thick as that of 
Devonshire, and delicious cream-cheeses. Everywhere sherbet 
made of fruit is sold, which you can get cooled at any street 
corner, where there are stalls for the sale of ice. There are tea- 
shops where the great urns are ever steaming, and eating-houses 
in abundance. Such is the manifold life of this little-known 
nation ; living a life of its own, making history very fast, and 
looking upon European politics with the same indifference with 
which its own have been regarded by us. The author, who 
made his journey with the view of opening the way for trade, 
especially in tea, between India and Eastern Turkistan, described 
NATORE 
[March 10, 1870 
the manner of his reception by the Governor of Yarkand, and 
by the Ataligh Ghazee, the ruler of the country, then resident in 
Kashgar, who now seems firmly established as king over a pro- 
ductive region containing a population variously estimated at 
from 20 to 60 millions. The Andijanis occupy the chief places 
in the administration, and form the strength of the army; but 
their attitude towards the native Yarkandis is very conciliatory, 
and they are looked upon, not as conquerors, but as brothers in 
faith and blood, who have delivered them from the yoke of un- 
believers and idolaters. The Yarkandis are naturally addicted 
to commerce and the arts of peace, while the Usbeks of Andijan 
find their most congenial occupation in administration and arms. 
Both peoples speak the same language, which is essentially that 
of the Turks of Constantinople. The Ataligh, Yakoob Beg, 
impressed Mr. Shaw as a man of remarkable intelligence and 
energy. Merchants from India are beginning to frequent Yarkand, 
and it only required the removal of a few obstacles in the hill 
countries subject to our own influence to open out a field for trade, 
of which it would be difficult to over-estimate the importance. 
The whole region forms a vast elevated basin, in Central Asia, 
about 4,000 feet above the sea-level, surrounded on three sides 
by a wall of snow-covered mountains, reaching in many places 
an altitude of more than 20,000 feet. On the east it passes into 
the sandy desert of Gobi, which separates it from China, All 
the rivers which descend from the snows of the mountain, flowing 
eastward, are lost in the sands, and, as there is little or no rain, 
the soil has to be fertilised by canals and irrigation. ‘The beau- 
tiful cultivation and luxuriance of the thickly-peopled parts are 
entirely due to these irrigating canals, which are exceedingly nume- 
rous and carefully kept. Mr. Shaw stated that the King himself 
superintended the works at a new canal whilst he was there, and 
even laboured at it himseJf. The country is separated from the 
plains of India by the mountain-system of the Himalaya, form- 
ing an elevated belt 500 miles broad, with eleven more or less 
elevated parallel ridges of mountains lying along it. The most 
northerly of these ridges was styled Kuen-lun by the Chinese, but 
was not a distinct chain from the rest of the mountains. Mr. Shaw 
concluded by describing his return journey {over the Karakorum 
Pass. Sir Henry Rawlinson said that the Government of India 
had considered Mr. Shaw’s discoveries of so much importance 
that they had entered into negotiations with the Maharajah of 
Cashmere for the purpose of encouraging trade with Eastern 
Turkistan, and arrangements had been entered into by which all 
transit duties through Ladak would be abolished. The diffi- 
culties of the route northward from Ladak over the Karakorum 
would probably be obviated by the adoption of the much easier 
road to the east zd Changchenmo, or, still better, by the ele- 
vated level plains of Rudok still farther east. The difficult 
Sanju Pass over the Kuen-lun would also be avoided in future 
by the adoption of the Yenghi Pass, all that was necessary being 
the establishment of a fort at its foot to protect caravans from 
the depredations of hordes of robbers who frequent that dis- 
trict.—The President reminded the meeting that Mr. Shaw was 
the first European since the days of Marco Polo who had pene- 
trated to Yarkand, and been allowed to return from that won- 
derful country. The Society’s envoy, Mr. Hayward, had reached 
the place a few days after him ; but the two were not allowed 
to see each other until they were on the way back again.— 
A second paper was read, ‘‘On a Joumey through Shantung 
and a visit to the Tomb of Confucius,” by Mr. J. Markham, 
Consul at Chefoo, The paper contained a most interesting 
account of the author’s reception at Kio-foo, the city of Con- 
fucius, and his examination of the monuments and temples con- 
nected with the fame of the Chinese sage. The great majority 
of the inhabitants of the city are descendants of Confucius and 
bear his surname, and the magistrate’s office is hereditary in 
the family. The result of the author’s experience acquired in 
journeys throughout the length and breadth of this important 
province was that the middle and lower classes of China were, 
as a rule, inclined to be friendly to strangers, and that all acts 
of offence are instigated by the governing class of mandarins. 
Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 7. — Colonel 
P. J. Yorke in the chair. His Royal Highness the Prince 
Christian of Schleswig-Holstein was elected an honorary mem- 
ber, and W. H. Barlow, A. J. Booth, F. W. Buxton, J. T. 
Clover, Rev. J. Congreve, G. H. Darwin, F. Galton, Lord R. 
Gower, R. Grubb, J. Gurney, H. Hoaie, J. Houldsworth, Lieut. - 
Colonel G. Ives, T. Jacomb, E. C, Johnson, Sir J. J. T. Law- 
rence, F. M‘Clean, J. O’Halloran, H. Pechell, F. Pennington, 
G. Phillips, M. R. Pryor, Dr. J. Rae, Rey. D. M. Salter, A. G. 
