Il4 • REPORT 1865. 



a gap, contracted from a grand stream of perhaps 200 yards width, to a channel 

 not exceeding 50 yards. Through this gap it rushes with amazing rapidity, and 

 plunges at one leap into a deep hasin below. This magnificent cataract I have 

 taken the liberty of naming the • Murchison Falls.' 



" From that point I proceeded overland, parallel with the river through Chopi, 

 and at length I reached Karuma, having been for some months completely disabled 

 by fever, my quinine long since exhausted, 



" Lake Albert Nyanza forms an immense basin far below the level of the adjacent 

 country, and receives the entire drainage of extensive mountain ranges on the west, 

 and of the Utumbi, Uganda, and Unyoro countries on the east. Eventually re- 

 ceiving the Nile itself, it adds its accumulated waters and forms the second source 

 of that mighty river. The voyage down the lake is extremely beautiful, the moun- 

 tains frequently rising abruptly from the water, while numerous cataracts rush 

 down their furrowed sides. The cliffs on the east shore are granite, frequently 

 mixed with large masses of quartz. 



"On the eastern borders of the lake much salt is obtained from the soil; this 

 forms the trade of the miserable villages which at Ion"- intervals are situated on 

 the Unyoro shore. The natives are extremely inhospitable, in many cases refusing 

 to sell provisions. Mallegga, on the west coast of the lake, is a large and powerful 

 country, governed by a king named Kajoro, who possesses boats sufficiently large 

 to cross the lake. The Mallegga trade largely with Kamrasi, bringing ivory and 

 beautifully-prepared skins and mantles in exchange for salt, brass-coil bracelets, 

 cowries, and beads, all of which articles, excepting salt, come from Zanzibar via 

 Karagwe*, there being no communication with the west coast of Africa. 



" The actual length of the Albert Nyanza from south to north is about 260 geo- 

 graphical miles, independent of its unknown course to the west, between 1° and 2° 

 south latitude, and of its similar course in the north, in lat. about 3°. 



"I rejoice at having been able to accomplish this exploration without the assist- 

 ance which the Royal Geographical Society so kindly offered. I enclose map of 

 my route, with a list of elevations above the sea-level (taken by one of Casella's 

 thermometers, subject to correction in England). Success having rewarded me 

 for all hardships, I look forward with impatience to the pleasure of giving you more 

 detailed information in person. " Very sincerely yours, 



"Samuel W. Baker." 



"Sir Roderick I. Murchison, K.C.JB." 



On certain Simious Skulls, tvith especial reference to a Skull from Louth, in 

 Ireland. By C. Caster Blaxe, Ph.D., F.G.S., F.A.S.L. 



The author said the skull exhibited was the property of the Anthropological 

 Society of London. It was presented to their Museum by Captain Montgomery 

 Moore, who obtained it from Louth Abbey, in Ireland. Nothing more is known 

 of its history. The attention which has been drawn, during the last few years, to 

 the celebrated skull from the Neanderthal, in Germany, renders any skull which 

 at all resembles it in its most striking aspect of peculiar interest. M. Primer- Bey 

 was the first who pointed out the close resemblance between the skull from the 

 Neanderthal and those of existing Irishmen. Professor Wm. King, of Galway, in 

 his comparison of the Neanderthal skull with the more normal examples of human 

 crania, refers frequently to a skull from Corcomroo Abbey, County Clare, Leland, 

 which, from his description, appears to present some points of affinity witli the skull 

 from Louth now exhibited. The Louth skull was ovately dolichocephalic. The 

 brow-ridges are large, and the points of muscular attachment are well marked. The 

 frontal suture has been early obliterated, and no trace whatever exists. The length 

 of the sagittal suture is 11 '4 centimetres. Throughout the whole of the posterior 

 two-thirds of its length, obliteration has proceeded to such an extent as entirely to 

 obscure the indications which woidd have shown its proportions, direction, or ser- 

 ration. The lambdoidal suture is present on each side, in an upward direction, for 

 about two inches from its junction with the additamentum mastoidaUs. The coronal 

 suture offers some points of interest. Partial obliteration has extended through- 

 out the whole of its course, excepting the deeply serrated portion above the post- 



