TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 657 



to obtain a monopoly in the 8up))ly of tliia universal article of fooJ. Thns tbe con- 

 struction of railways in the East exercises commanding inHuences over the markets 

 of the West. 



Consider also the traflic from China and Japan to America, with its G0,OOO,0O<J 

 people, by means of the great Atlantic and Pacific railways, in tea and raw 

 materials. Now, althoujrh railways cannot compete with direct traflic by sea, when 

 the necessity for more rapid conveyance of certain <roods arises, we find that a 

 combination of sea and land transport is often adopted in preference to the longer 

 route by sea alone. 



The development of any country, no matter what its geographical position may 

 be, is enormously increased by the construction of railways. Take the Congo 

 Free State as an instance (which is undoubtedly the finest property in Central 

 Africa). So long as the I'pper Congo region, with its miles — measured by tliousands 

 — of navigable tributaries, w-as separated froai tlie Lower Congo by the rapids 

 extending from Stanley Pool to Matadi, this magnificent territory was practically 

 shut to trade and ciimmerce. Every piece of goods in the interior had to be car- 

 ried on men's heads for more than 200 miles, and all ivory and otlier products were 

 brought to the coast in tbe same way. Roughly speaking, such transport costs 

 about 40/. per ton. 



The Congo Free State has wisely determined to build a railway, of some 250 

 miles in length, to cross this cataract region ; and the moment it is completed the 

 future of that country is assured. 



11. M. the King of the Pielgians has kindly given permission for a Belgian 

 officer of distinction, Captain Tliys, to read a pa])er at this meeting on this railway, 

 which will afford a more detailed account of this wise and patriotic undertaking. 



I have mentioned railways as the first point of interest because they are creations 

 of our own time, and have therefore a special interest of their own ; but the most 

 important factor in the early history of the science of applied geography, and to 

 which the establishment of our great colonial empire is mainly due, is the record of 

 the Merchant Adventurers. 



Their voyages and exploits, extending to every part of the globe, began at the 

 end of the fourteenth century, in the reign of Ilenry YIII., when the Cabots 

 (Venetians) sailed from England to Newfoundland, and afterwards to Florida. This 

 expedition and those which followed it were fitted out at the expense of corporations 

 of merchants, with the object of extending the commerce of the country by a search 

 after trade in new and foreign lands. They were placed under the command of 

 some well-known leader, and the results obtained were extraordinary. 



In 15.30 the Mercliant Adventurers of England attempted the Nortli-west passage, 

 as it is called, to China, and between 1550 and 1578, Sir II. 'NVilloughby, Frobisher, 

 and Sir II. Gibbon all made remarkable voyages. 



Between 1585 and 1615, Davis, Hudson, and BafTin were sent by merchant 

 companies to the polar seas, and their discoveries are handed down by the straits 

 and bays which they discovered, and which bear their names. 



In 1580 Drake took the first English vessels into the Pacific Ocean. Drako 

 was not only a bold and successful navigator, but he was also a commander of men, 

 in which he showed rare tact and ability. 



In 1588 the merchants of Exeter established a trade with the "West African 

 coast, and the Senegal Company was formed. 



In 1553 the first effort to reach India was made vl<i the Cape of Good Hope. It was 

 not, however, till the year 1G60 that any progress was made in the East. In that year 

 the East India Company was formed, and it is to the establishment of this Company 

 that we owe our great Indian Empire. The year IHGO saw the formation of the Hud- 

 son Bay Company — a company which exists at the present day. .\nd so tlie record 

 goes on down to our own times. Not the least amongst the trading corporations 

 of Great Britain were the Merchant Adventurers of this city in which we are now 

 assembled; and they too contributed in no small degree, not only in tlie past but 

 in the present, to the extension of our geographical knowledge and its ap])lication 

 as a science. No doubt the spirit and energy of our Scandinavian forefathers has 

 been fo.stered and encouraged until it has now found its development in the enter- 

 1889. C u 



