712 REPORT — 1901, 



ill essentials, were ordinary subjects for theses in the universities of Sweden and 

 Finland during the eighteenth century. To come nearer home, the local handbooks 

 prepared for successive meetings of the British Association are frequently very fair 

 examples of the geographical description of a district. The essential qualities are 

 rarer in guide-books, but we must not forget one brilliant exception, the poet 

 Wordsworth's ' Guide to the English Lakes.' 



It is pleasant to hear that through the encouragement of Sir John Murray the 

 Scottish Natural History Society is taking up the systematic study of the basin of 

 the Forth, and they will, 1 feel sure, give a good account of their labours. One 

 poait which must be very strongly emphasised is that a geographical treatise is 

 distinguished from a jumble of facts mainly by the order and proportion in whicli 

 the phenomena are dealt with, and by the relation of cause and elFect that is 

 established between them. 



As to the utility of complete geographical descriptions, we must of course 

 recognise their greater practical importance in new and developing countries than 

 in old lands like our own. Yet even with us the study of the distribution of 

 natural resources may suggest important changes, involving great redistributions 

 of population. 



A Geographical Warning. 



Hitherto, except as regards exploration and cartography, the position of 

 geography in this country has never been satisfactory. Times are changing, and even 

 in exploration we are now only one amongst many rivals, often better equipped by 

 education, usually in no way deficient in daring. Although the best work of 

 several of our cartographers in Edinburgh and London need fear no comparison, 

 we cannot conceal the fact that Germany leads the world in map-making. As 

 regards the recognition or even the comprehension of geography by the State, by 

 the universities and by the public, we are equally far behind our neighbours across 

 the North Sea. 



It has sometimes been hinted that the study of geography has been deliberately 

 discouraged by politicians or by merchants because too much knowledge on the 

 part of the public might embarrass foreign policy or lead to mercantile competi- 

 tion ; but we surely cannot entertain such unworthy suspicions. I am inclined to 

 attribute the neglect of the subject merely to ignorance of its nature due to 

 imperfect education. 



Two cases in which the application of geography to political and practical 

 affairs suggests a definite course of action may be mentioned as examples. There 

 is still one important colonial boundary entii'ely undelimited in a region somewhat 

 difficult of access and still little known, where goldfields will probably be found 

 or reported before long, and where a very serious international question may 

 suddenly arise in a part of the world absolutely unsuspected by most people, even 

 amongst those who interest themselves in general politics and in colonial affairs. 

 It would cost a comparative trifle to survey the region in question, and to lay 

 down that boundary line before the goldfields are touched, so that no international 

 trouble could ever arise. What it may cost to postpone the matter until claims 

 have been pegged out on debatable land, the British Guiana and Venezuela 

 arbitration, the Alaska difficulty, and South Africa are there to tell us. It would 

 be interesting to calculate, now that the cost of a week of figliting is known, the 

 saving in pennies on the income tax that would have accrued from a survey of 

 South Africa if that had been carried out as an imperial duty when Cape Colony 

 was settled. I do not for a moment suggest that a survey would have prevented 

 the war ; but it is not unreasonable to believe that it would have shortened it by 

 some months. In this connection it is satisfactory to know that a valuable report 

 has been drawn up by a Committee of the British Association, presided over by 

 Sir Thomas Holdich, embodying a scheme for the systematic survey of British 

 protectorates. 



The second example comes nearer home. The utilisation of wind- and water- 

 power must increase in importance as mineral fuel diminishes in amount or 

 increases in price; Wind^ and water-power will never fail as long as the sun shines 



