TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 571 
the places, their climate and water-supply, and last, but not least, the composition 
of the soil and variations of the climate. 
Regarded from the commercial point of view, it has to consider the methods 
and apparatus of traffic, and the goods forwarded by such apparatus. An 
important problem is the determination of the regional distribution of the 
various kinds of routes and means of transport; while other subjects to be studied 
are the various classes of commerce, railways, sailing and steamship routes, 
ports, and the like. 
Joint Meeting with Sections C, D, and K. 
The Preservation of Natural Monuments. By Professor ConwENTZ. 
FRIDAY, AUGUST 2. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. The Surveys of British Africa. By Major C. F. Cuose, &.£. 
It is perhaps not generally known that during recent years a good deal has 
been done to ensure the systematic mapping of British Africa, There are at the 
present moment properly organised survey departments in the Anglo-Kgyptian 
Sudan, Uganda, Hast Africa, Southern Nigeria, and the Gold Coast. In addition, 
an exact topographical survey is in progress in the Orange River Colony ; and in 
the Cape Colony a military reconnaissance survey has been at work for two and 
a half years, 
The annual cost of the surveys above enumerated amounts to some 80,0001. 
An account of the progress made, the scales adopted, and the history of the 
surveys will be found in a Colonial Office Annual Report, No. 500, entitled the 
‘Surveys of British Africa.’ 
Unfortunately, official reports have a limited circulation and public depart- 
ments cannot very well advertise their achievements. As a consequence, all this 
systematic work, which produces surveys of a permanently valuable character, is 
largely unknown to the geographical world. 
It is clearly desirable that that section of the public which takes an interest in 
the matter should be informed as to the steps which are being taken to map and 
explore British Africa, which, it may be noted parenthetically, covers an area of 
about 2,690,000 square miles. 
During the current year about 45,000 square miles will have been topogra- 
phically surveyed, and to this must be added a large number of compilations, the 
surveys of boundary commissions, and cadastral surveys. The maps are put on 
sale as they are published, and can be purchased from the usual map sellers and 
agents. Anyone desiring special information on the subject is advised to write 
to the Secretary, Colonial Survey Committee, Colonial Office. 
2. The Modern Explorer: his Maps and Methods. 
By Captain T. T. Besrens, A. Z. 
The author said that the paper dealt with temperate and tropical conditions, 
and not with the special circumstances of surveys in the Arctic. He proposed to 
explain the methods of African field-work by lantern-slides illustrating operations 
of this nature in East Africa and Uganda. These surveys had recently fixed the 
positions of Mounts Ruwenzori and Mfumbiro, on the Congo border. 
The completion of the maps of the whole land surface of the globe on atlas 
scales has been made possible by the rougher exploratory methods of the past. 
