885 REPORT— 1890, 
supremacy. It is a mere islet, it is true, a barren rock, but one surrounding a 
noble harbour, and so eminently in its right place that we cannot contemplate 
with equanimity the possibility of it being in any other hands than our own. 
It is by no means certain whether exaggerated armaments are best suited for 
preserving peace or hastening a destructive war; the golden age of disarmament 
and international arbitration may not be near at hand, but it is even now talked of 
as a possibility. 
Should the poet’s prophecy or the patriot’s dream be realised, and a universal 
peace indeed bless the world, then this sea of so many victories may long remain 
the harvest field of a commerce nobler than conquest. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Vertical Relief of the Globe. By H. R. Miu, D.Sc., F.R.S.E. 
This was a brief account of investigations already described in the ‘Scottish 
‘Geographical Magazine’ for 1890, 
2. Geographical Teaching in Russia. By H. R. Mit, D.S8c., FLR.S.H. 
The author dealt mainly with Russian text-books of geography, which he 
exhibited, showing how by means of maps of different scales the pupil is led out 
from his immediate neighbourhood to the geography of his district, his province, 
and so on, to still greater areas. Dr. Mill also pointed out the defects of the 
Russian system.’ 
3. A Railway through Southern Persia.? 
By Major-General Sir F. J. Gotpsuip, C.B., K.0.8.1., F.R.G.S. 
This paper is intended as a supplement to one read in June 1878, at the Royal 
United Service Institution, on ‘Communications with British India under Possible 
Contingencies.’ The main object on that occasion was to advocate the construction 
of a line of railway connecting the western shores of the Mediterranean with the 
western coast of India by a direct, convenient, and politically expedient route—a 
great part of which, on the eastern side, though terra incognita to the many, had 
chanced to come under the personal examination of the writer and one or two 
brother-officers. After delivery of the address (repeated by request at the Royal 
Engineers’ Institute, Chatham), a leading article and some prolonged correspondence 
in the Times, and more than one leading article in the Daily Telegraph, directed 
public attention to the subject, interest in which was enhanced by the subsequent 
occupation of Cyprus—practically the step recommended as an introduction to rail- 
way operations on the coast opposite Famagusta. 
One part of the programme originally sketched out, however, was wanting in 
essential details. It was not laid down with any precision what should be the 
actual course taken by the through line to India when branching off from the Lower 
Euphrates. Surveys and reports by recent travellers have now rendered it easy to 
supply this link of rail, one which may be appropriately called the Baghdad- 
Bandar-Abbas section, or, more minutely, the Baghdad-Shiraz and Shiraz-Bandar- 
Abbas sections. As to the route from Bandar-Abbas to Karachi on the east, and 
from Tripoli to Baghdad on the west, any doubts or difficulties that present them- 
selves are already ripe for discussion, and their solution cannot be treated as 
Jependent upon further travel and research. 
Tt is proposed to carry the line from Baghdad through Persian Arabistan, either 
by way of Dizful and Shustar, continuing along the recognised track from the latter 
place to Bebehan; or by an alternative route down the left bank of the Tigris, and 
»id Haweizah to Ahwaz, whence Major Wells, R.E., has furnished full details of 
1A full abstract in Proc. R. G.S. vol. xii. p. 669. 
2 Printed in full in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. vii. 
