650 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



E.N.E. The summits of the arches form the present watersheds, while the 

 floors of the troughs are occupied by the present trunk streams. The effect of 

 the interference of the two sets of arches, of their gradual and unequal elevation 

 from point to point, and of the geological structure of the country can be readily 

 recognised in the principal river valleys. The intersection of the two central 

 arches was marked by the differential elevation of the Bauchi plateau and the 

 Nassarawa table-land and the lagging behind of the middle Benue valley. The 

 valleys of the upper Benue and of the middle Gongola are more ancient than the 

 Niger valley, and appear to be relics of an earlier hydrographical system. The 

 presence of swampy and lacustrine conditions in Bornu dates from a period 

 preceding the movement of elevation. Lake Chad, as we know it, owes its origin 

 indirectly to its position in a trough between two axes of elevation, and more 

 directly to the recent presence of arid conditions in the Sudan. 



2. The Exploration of Prince Charles Foreland, Spitsbergen, during 1906) 

 1907, and 1909. By William S. Bruce, LL.D., F.R.S.E. 



This communication was a result of explorations carried on by three Scottish 

 expeditions during the summers of 1906. 1907, and 1909. A brief account having 

 previously been given of the work during the first two years, an account of the 

 third summer's work was mainly dwelt upon. In 1906 Dr. Bruce was accom- 

 panied by two assistants and was largely equipped by H.S.H. the Prince of 

 Monaco, who also took the party from and back to Scotland on board his yacht 

 Pnncesse Alire, landing them on the north end of the east const south of Point 

 Carmichael. In 1907 Dr. Bruce chartered the steamer Phoenix, which took his 

 party of three and himself from Tromso to Prince Charles Foreland and landed 

 them twelve miles from the south end of the west coast at north end of Edinburgh 

 Isles. The party returned from the Foreland in the walrus-sloop Johannes Bachc. 

 In 1909 the trawler Conqueror, of Leith, was chartered, the fish-hold being con- 

 verted into a cabin for officers and scientific staff, and the after-quarters and 

 foc's'le being reserved for petty officers and crew. There were nineteen all told, 

 including the scientific staff of seven, besides Dr. Bruce. Captain Napier was 

 master of the ship, now transformed into the yacht Conqueror. The following 

 are the scientific people who have accompanied Dr. Bruce : Mr. Ernest A. Miller, 

 in 1906; Mr. J. Victor Burn Murdoch, F.G.S., and Mr. Stewart Ross, M.A., 

 in 1907 ; and Mr. John Mathieson (H.M. Ordnance Survey), Mr. R. N. Rudmose 

 Brown, D.Sc, Mr. J. Victor Burn Murdoch, F.G.S., Mr. Harry Hannay, Mr. 

 Ernest Miller, the late Mr. Angus Peach, B.Sc, and Mr. Alistair Geddes, in 

 1909. Piper Gilbert Kerr, formerly piper to the Seotia, accompanied all three 

 expeditions. 



The chief object of the expedition was to make a detailed map of Prince 

 Charles Foreland. The map is a continuation of similar work carried on by the 

 Prince of Monaco on the mainland of Spitsbergen and by Norwegians under his 

 direction. The scale is 1 : 126,720 = 2 miles to an inch. The heights on the land 

 are given in feet; the depths of the sea in fathoms. The island is about fifty- 

 four miles long and from three to seven and a half miles broad, having an average 

 width of five miles ; the area is about 262 square miles. An almost continuous 

 mountain chain occupies the northern two-thirds of the island. At the south end 

 is a hilly portion, the ' Ross Heights,' separated from the northern chain by 

 an extensive low-lying part now called the 'Foreland Laichs.' The northern 

 mountain chain is now named the ' Northern Grampians,' and in its central part 

 has hills rising to a height of over three thousand feet. The northernmost of these 

 is Mount Monaco (3,800 feet) and the southernmost is Mount Jessie (3,300 feet). 

 They are magnificent, precipitous, sharply peaked mountains with precipices and 

 gullies to the west, while they are heavily glaciated to the east with a large and 

 almost continuous ice-sheet, which is fed from glaciers arising in the first place 

 from the very summits and highest ridges. 



A considerable number of soundings were taken in Foul Sound, demonstrating 

 a bar towards the northern end over which vessels drawing more than twelve or 

 fifteen feet have difficulty in finding a passage. In the south end of Foul Sound 

 depths of considerably over a hundred fathoms were obtained, rapidly coming up 

 to three or four fathoms near Ferrier Haven. 



