TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 685 



high, stretches throughout the length of the island, which is little short of 600 

 miles Except for clearings around isolated E,u8sian penal-settlements the sur- 

 face is mainly covered witli dense forests, the home of the bear, reindeer, wolf, 

 fox, sable, &c. ; and though swampy regions exist, the general character is better 

 described by the Siberian term ' taiga ' than ' tundra.' 



Geologically the island belongs to the Tertiary period, argillaceous sandstone 

 and calcareous schist being much in evidence, while coal is abundant on the west 

 coast. No traces of recent volcanic action are yet to hand. 



The middle of the island forms the watershed of two rivers, each with a course 

 of about 300 miles, one flowing north and the other south. 



The climatic conditions comprise extreme cold in winter with heavy falls 

 of snow, but the annual rainfall is less than that of England. The prevailing 

 exaggerated notions of constant fog need to be dispelled. 



The inhabitants of the island consist of («) Native tribes, and (i) Russians. 



(«) Natives. — Traces are found of extinct dwarf pit-dwellers. The present 

 inhabitants comprise five different tribes or races, (-i) Ainus, in the south of the 

 island ; a dying race, (ii) Gilaks, a semi-Mongol, semi-Tungus tribe, (iii) Orot- 

 clions, a more pronounced Tungus tribe, (iv) Yakuts, with only thirteen repre- 

 sentatives, (v) Tu7iguses, the great hunters of the island. 



(6) Russians. — Sakhalin is a Russian penal-settlement, with a white population 

 consisting of convicts, ex-convicts, and officials. There are comparatively few 

 political exiles, but a large percentage of murderers. Thousands of the latter are 

 at large under surveillance; and many escape from the prisons into the forests, 

 rendering travelling unsafe. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. 

 The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. The Motives of Antarctic Exploration, 

 By Hugh Robert Mill, D.Sc, LL.D. 



The motives which underlie the efforts to solve the problem of the Antarctic 

 regions and the nature of that problem have changed from age to age. 



With the ancient Greeks it was a mere academic speculation as to whether 

 there were Antarctic regions or not, in other words a discussion as to the figure 

 of the Earth. 



After Aristotle's demonstration that the Earth is a globe the question came to 

 be whether the Antarctic regions were accessible, and the theory of zones of 

 climate answered it in the negative, as it was believed that life in the torrid zone 

 was impossible. 



In the early middle ages belief in Antipodes, either of the west or of the south, 

 was stigmatised as a pagan error, and many prominent upholders of the belief in 

 the existence of Antarctic regions were excommunicated. 



The necessity of finding a sea route to India for commercial purposes led 

 eventually to the crossing of the tropics and the circumnavigation of Africa and 

 America. 



Belief in the existence of a great southern continent extending even to the 

 tropics, derived from the beliefs of Ptolemy and stimulated by discoveries of 

 islands on the verge of the unknown, led to all the southward exploration of the 

 sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, culminating in the second voyage 

 of Captain Cook, who proved that the Antarctic continent, if it existed, nowhere 

 penetrated far into the temperate zone. 



Commercial motives, actuated by Cook's discoveries of fur seals and oil seals 

 in South Georgia, ensured active Antarctic exploration by sealers from 1780 to 

 1839, the most successful in advancing knowledge being Palmer, Weddell, Biscoe, 

 and Balleny. 



