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TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 137 
natives, by appearing in the English costume, and making no secret of the object 
of their journey. The explorers passed the Great Wall of China, from which 
they extracted a brick (which was exhibited), and gleaned much valuable in- 
formation about the country. 
On the Discovery of the Sources of the Nile. § By J. A. Grant, Bengal Army. 
Our party consisted of Captain Speke, myself, and two hundred natives, formed 
of Seedees from Zanzibar, ten men of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and negro porters 
returning to their homes in the interior, Of baggage-animals, we had twelve mules 
and three or four donkeys ; but these all died within three months of our having left 
the coast. Food was purchased, and porters paid, in cotton cloths, Venetian beads, 
or thick brass and copper wire; when these failed, the chiefs of the countries were 
conciliated with presents of rifles, ammunition, watches, medicines, &c. 
The route from the sea to the lake district lay through large properties governed 
by paltry but independent sultans, who delayed us till their demands for taxes 
were satisfied. Further on a new and distinct race were met with—the Wahuma 
kings owning the fertile lands on the western shores of the Lake Victoria-Nyanza, 
and holding the key to the Nile. Fortunately for us, they showed great intelligence, 
asking many questions about our Queen, our arts and manufactures, and finally 
anted our long-wished-for desire—a passage through their countries towards 
Beypt. On questioning them where the waters of that mighty lake of 2000 square 
miles went to, they were, until enlightened by us, as ignorant of its course as we 
had been, for ages, of its source. 
On the Aboriginal Occupation of North Tynedale and Western Northumber- 
land: an Illustration of the Social Life of the Northumbrian Celts. By 
the Rey. G. R. Hatt. 
The author said that his archeological survey had extended over an area of 
about 300 square miles, and that many vestiges of the prehistoric period were now 
noticed for the first time. The numerous ancient British Cerau, or fortified 
towns, might be considered as hill-forts, located, as the Warden Hill Camp, near 
the confluence of the North and South Tyne, on elevated sites; or, as lowland 
fastnesses, of which the Countess Park Camp is a good type, occupying escarp- 
ments, usually flanked by deep ravines in the river-basin itself. The foundations 
of ramparts, including from one to three acres, and of numerous hut-circles or 
dwellings, ranging from 15 to 46 feet in diameter, can be traced in many instances. 
The action of fire was evident on the unhewn, massive blocks of white freestone in 
several oppida—a proof of long occupation by the aboriginal tribes, who seem to 
have consisted of petty septs or clans, generally at war with one another. Nu- 
merous terraces for primitive cultivation, querns or hand-mills, large mounds of 
iron scoriz, with the rudest pottery intermingled, and “delves” to furnish ore for 
these primitive smelting-works, occur’ at Birtley and elsewhere. A remarkable 
conical tumulus, 30 feet high and 100 paces in circumference, exists near Gun- 
nerton, called the Money Hill. Many smaller barrows, in one of which a cist-vaen 
was found, have been noticed, and several flint arrow-heads and iron spear-heads 
have been ploughed up in this district. 
These vestiges were shown to be most probably Celtic, and of pre-Roman date, 
the present state of the North-American Indians illustrating very nearly the social 
life of the Gadeni Celts. 
On Routes between India and China. By Captain Henperson. 
The paper treated of some proposed overland and river routes between British 
India and Western China for emigration and trade. These routes are to be opened 
out by the general system of tug- and tow-boats of the native type, to be established 
in Eastern Bengal and British Burmah, and have for their object to open the coal- 
fields of Assam and Silhet in connexion with the Eastern Bengal Railway, and to 
extend the traffic of the Calcutta and South-eastern Railway to Burmah and 
China, vid the River Irawaddy and its tributaries at Bamu, under the recent 
