TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 1137 
be found in that direction. The numerous so-called ‘temples’ found near the head 
of the Gulf of Papua, with a priestly class attached to them, is remarkable, and 
argues a decided mixture of race, pointing in fact to the prevalence of Polynesian 
as opposed to Papuan religious ideas. 
After referring to the hydrographical problems suggested by the character of the 
country on the Gulf, and further west, at Onin, Mr. Trotter discusses the probable 
importance of the recent ascent of the Amberno river, an account of which, trans- 
lated from the Dutch, was contributed by him to the Royal Geographical Society’s 
Proceedings for March last. He adds some notice of surveys by the Germans of 
the territory recently annexed by them, parts of which opposite to the island of 
New Britain appear to offer a fairer prospect to settlers than any other district as 
yet discovered in New Guinea. 
The author takes an unfavourable view of the effect on the interests of the 
natives of the conflicting jurisdictions, and differing ways of treatment, to which 
they will now be subjected. This paper will be found in eatenso in the ‘Scottish 
Geographical Magazine’ for October, 1885. 
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. On Journeyings in South-Western China. By A, Hosts. 
In the autumn of 1881 Mr. Hosie was appointed Her Majesty’s Agent in Western 
China, and reached Ch‘ung-ch‘ing, in the province of Ssii-ch‘uan, in January 1882. 
From this point he made three journeys in South-Western China. In the spring 
of 1882 he proceeded through Southern Ssii-ch‘uan and Northern Kuei-chou, the 
Chinese ‘Switzerland, to Kuei-yang Fu, the capital of the latter province, whence 
he journeyed westward in the footsteps of Margary to the capital of Yiinnan. 
From Yiinnan Fu he struck north-east through Northern Yiinnan, following for 
days here and there the routes of Garnier and the Grosvenor Mission. At last he 
descended the Nan-kuang River and reached the right bank of the Great River, 
the local name of the Upper Yangtsze, at a point below Hsii-chou Fu, an 
important city at the junction of the Min River and the Chin-sha Chiang, or 
River of Golden Sand. Here he took boat and descended the Great River to 
Ch‘ung-ch‘ing, his starting-point. 
In February 1883 Mr. Hosie again left Ch‘ung-ch‘ing, and proceeded north-west 
to Ch‘éng-tu, the capital of the province of Sst-ch‘uan, by way of the brine and 
petroleum wells of Tzi-liu-ching. From Ch‘éng-tu he journeyed west and south- 
west through the country of the Lolos, skirting the western boundary of 
Independent Lolodom. From Ning-yiian, locally called Chien-ch‘ang, and lying 
in a valley famous, among other things, as the habitat of the white-wax insect, he 
passed south-west through the mountainous Cain-du of Marco Polo, inhabited in 
great part by Mantzii tribes, and struck the left bank of the Chin-sha Chiang two 
months after leaving Ch‘ung-ch‘ing. From this point Ta-li Fu, in Western Yiinnan, 
was easily reached. From Ta-li Fu Mr. Hosie journeyed eastward to Yiinnan Fu, 
which he had visited the year before, and then struck north-east through Western 
Knuei-chou to the Yung-ning River, which he descended to the Great River. Lu 
Chou, an important city at the junction of this river with the T‘o River, was soon 
reached, and the Great River was again descended to Ch‘ung-ch‘ing. This journey 
occupied four months. 
In June 1884 Mr. Hosie again left Ch‘ung-ch‘ing, and from Ho Chou, a three 
days’ journey to the north of that city, he struck westward through a beautifully 
cultivated and fertile country to Chia-ting Fu, on the right bank of the Min at its 
junction with the T‘ung River. Chia-ting is famous as the great centre of seri- 
culture in Ssit-ch‘uan, and as the chief insect wax producing country in the Empire. 
1885. 4D 
