172 REPORT— 1870. 



island. This very manifest ftict is in accordance witli the discoveries made by 

 Columbus on the island, and also with what took place when Columbus left his 

 moorings for the second island, for he then saw several islands, and was doubtful 

 which he should visit first. This would really be the case when starting from 

 the S.E. point of Watliug's Island, but would not hold good if he started from the 

 anchorage assigned by Capt. Becher; so that the author has here, for the first 

 time, demonstrated that the first anchorage of Columbus in the New World was 

 oli* the south-east point of Watling's Island. 



On Railway Boutes across North America and tJie Physical Aspects of the 

 Country. By Lord Milton, M.P., F.B.G.S. 



Journey into the Interior of Hadramaut. By "Weeisteii Mitnzinger. 



The author, after recovering from woimds received in Abyssinia, accompanied 

 Capt. Miles on an excursion eastward from Aden towards the interior of Arabia. 

 The region traversed aboimded in Himyaritic inscriptions and in other vestiges of 

 remote civilization. The travellers went by sea as far as Bir Ali, and travelled 

 thence into the interior for a distance of about 300 mUes, their furthest point 

 being a place called Ilabban, 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Their route 

 was laid down by compass bearings, and they took barometric observations for 

 height. From Bir Ali the country formed a plain with a gentle slope inland, 

 nearly covered by isolated hills and ridges of sandstone with flat tops, all of the 

 same height, about 1500 feet above the plain, and quite destitute of vegetation: 

 the very narrow strips of alluvial soil in the rapines, not one-tenth of the whole, 

 are alone capable of cultivation ; but these are generally well cared for, and yield 

 three and even four crops in the year, being irrigated by wells. These patches 

 form a number of oases with a dense population and towns of several thousand 

 inhabitants. The people cultivate dates, millet, wheat, and the Abyssinian grain 

 called tef. Water is generally met with, in boring, about fifty feet from the sur- 

 face. Beyond this region, and further inland, thej' came to what M. Munzinger 

 called a granitic and metamorphic land, with roimded hills boimding several wide 

 plains. Here there was more vegetation, with some fine trees ; and wild hogs, 

 gazelles and herds of cattle were met with. The people belonged to different 

 races, and the Himyaritic language was not entirely lost or forgotten, in spite of 

 1200 years of Islam. But all spoke Arabic, though in a very strange dialect; 

 there was an absence of religious feeling and of regular government, and civiliza- 

 tion was at a very low ebb, the only sign of it being the very large houses with 

 several stories, each of them a castle in itself. The travellers met with little hos- 

 pitality, but were not actually ill-treated. At Ghorab they were near the Desert 

 of Akhaf, described by Wrede, and the Bahr el Safli, or Sea of Saffi, so called from 

 King Saffi, who, in an attempt to cross the desert, disappeared with his entire army. 

 The desert was described as an immense sandy plain, covered with numberless un- 

 dulating hills, which gave it the appearance of a moving sea, and as lying 1000 

 feet below the level of the gi-anitic land. On the desert are white patches formed 

 of impalpable powder, into which if a plummet with a sixty-fathom line is thrown, 

 the whole slowly disappears. In one of these quicksands the ill-omened King 

 Saffi and his host found a tomb. The whole region of Hadramaut and Yemen is 

 full of curious legends, and abounds in geographical and historical questions of the 

 deepest interest. The author confessed that the excui'sion of Capt. Miles and 

 himself formed but a small contribution to our knowledge of Arabian geography, 

 but hoped it would incite other travellers to explore this nearly unknown laud. 



Notes on the Site of the Terrestrial Paradise. Bij Major-Gen. Sir Hexky 

 Eawlinson, K.C.B., LL.D., D.C.L., F.E.S.* 



In this paper the author propounded, as the result of his investigations of 

 Semitic antiquities and of the Cuneiform Tablets of Babylonia, a new hypothesis 



* This paper will be printed in extenso in the Journal of the Eoyal Geographical 

 Society, 



