‘ TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 143 
“came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he 
came from Padan-Aram, and pitched his tent before the city.” 
Dr. and Mrs. Beke, being unable to obtain an escort to accompany them as far 
south as the Jabbok, crossed the Jordan at the point where they first reached it. 
While proceeding along the opposite bank, they were attacked by a party of 
Beduins; after freeing themselves from whom, they at once crossed the mountains 
between the Ghor and Wady Far’a, where they again fell into the road taken by 
the Patriarch Jacob, along which they continued to Nablis, the ancient Shechem, 
arriving there on the tenth day after their departure from Harran. 
On the Geography of Mont Pelvoux, in Dauphiné. 
By the Rev. T. G. Bonnuy, M.A., F.GS. 
This district of the Alps is very imperfectly laid down on all the maps at present 
puted. The following are the principal authorities known to me :—(1.) A map 
y General Bourcet, published at Paris in the year 1758, It is a most laborious 
erformance, and very accurate for all parts below the snow-line, but above that of 
ittle use. (2.) A paper by M. Elie de Beaumont, in the ‘Annales des Mines,’ 
3™° Série, tome v. In this there is some very valuable information, but given in 
so confused a manner, that it requires a thorough knowledge of the district to un- 
derstand it. (3.) A most interesting article on Dauphiné, by Professor Forbes, at 
the end of his work on Norway and its Glaciers (published 1853). He did not, 
however, pierce the “massif” of the Pelvoux, and consequently, being misled by 
Bourcet’s map, he speaks of it as a single mountain, overhanging the valley of La 
Berarde. (4.) A paper by Mr. Whymper, in the second volume of the second series 
of ‘Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers’ (published in 1862). This gentleman ascended, 
for the first time on record, the highest peak of the Pelyoux, but misunderstanding 
Elie de Beaumont, he has fallen into several topographical errors. The Pelvoux 
was also ascended during the past summer by Mr. Tuckett, of Bristol, who was 
the first person to clear up the difficulties about the heights and names of the 
mountain. On his return through Paris, he saw at the Département de la Guerre 
the manuscript map made from Capt. Durand’s survey in 1828. He obtained a 
tracing of the district in the immediate neighbourhood of the Pelvoux, of which 
he has kindly sent the author a copy. It is impossible to speak in too high terms 
of commendation of this map, but unfortunately it will not (as he was informed 
at the Department) be published for five years. The chief features of the district 
are as follows. The watershed between the Romanche and the Durance, after 
passing the Col du Lautaret and running south for some four miles, turns to the 
south-west for about three miles, and then turns to the south again, passing through 
the Pointe des Ecrins (the highest mountain in the group), 15,462 feet, and l’Alé- 
froide, 12,878 feet. Where the line turns to the south, a large offshoot runs in a 
north-westerly direction, in which are the Aiguille du Midi de la Grave, 15,081 feet, 
and the great Glacier du Mont de Lans. From the Pointe des Ecrins a short spur 
runs out to the east, dividing the Glaciers Blane and Noir. From the Aléfroide 
another large spur runs out to the east, terminating in the Grand Pelvoux, 12,973 
feet. This portion of the chain may be said to consist of four distinct peaks—(1) 
lAléfroide, two rocky aiguilles without name, 11,772 feet? and 12,845 feet? re- 
spectively, and the Grand Pelvoux, with its five heads. Besides these there are 
several other mountains in the district, from 11,000 to a little over 12,000 feet. The 
authority for the heights is a list obtained by Mr. Tuckett from the Etat-Major 
Frangais. The scenery of this part of Dauphiné is of the grandest description ; 
some of the snow-fields and glaciers are of great extent, and the magnificent pre- 
cipices that surround them equal, if they do not surpass, anything that can be found 
in Switzerland or Sayoy. ; 
On Colour as a Test of the Races of Man. By J. Craw¥urn, F.R.S. 
Colour in different races appeared to be a character imprinted upon them from 
the beginning, because, as far as our experience ‘goes, neither time, climate, nor 
locality has produced any change. Egyptian paintings 4000 years old represent 
the people as they are now. The Parsees in India who went from Persia are now 
