TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E, 458 
guese at the end of the fifteenth century. But they found a thriving civilisation 
along the coast from Sofala northward, Shirazi, Arab, and Indian. 
Ruins exist in many places which have not yet been properly investigated, and 
we are quite unable to say from what date we are to place the earliest foreign 
settlements, nor how many breaks existed in the continuity of the gold-mining, 
which apparently was proceeding at or very shortly before the Portuguese visit. 
After the recommencement of exploration by sea in the fifteenth century, 
seamen slowly gathered enough information to draw the lines of the coasts they 
passed along, and in time—that is, by the middle of the eighteenth century—most 
lands were shown with approximately their right shapes. But of true accuracy 
there was none, for the reason I have before mentioned, that there was no exact 
method of obtaining longitude. 
If we look at a general world chart of Ap. 1755--and to get the best of that 
period we must consult a French chart—we shall find on this small scale that the 
shape of the continents is fairly representative of the truth. But when we 
examine details we soon see how erude it all is. 
I have compared with their true positions the positions of thirty-one of what 
may be taken as the fundamental points in the world as given in the larger scaled 
French charts of 1755, from which the general one is drawn, and I find that on 
an average they are forty-eight miles in error. The errors vary from 160 miles 
to two miles. If the delineation of the coast-lines between be considered the 
inaccuracies are very much greater. 
Very shortly after this date more accurate determinations began to be made. 
The method of lunar distances was perfected and facilitated by tables published in 
the various astronomical ‘ephemerides,’ and seamen and explorers commenced to 
make use of it, Still the observation required constant practice, and the calcula- 
tion, unless constantly made, was laborious, and it was used with complete 
success by the few. The great Captain Cook, who may be looked upon as the 
father of modern methods of surveying, did much to show the value of this method ; 
but the chronometer came into use shortly after, and the principal advance in exact 
mapping was made by its aid, as I have already stated. 
There is a vast amount yet to be done for Geography. Until we possess 
publications to which we can turn for full information on all geographical aspects 
of things on this globe of ours, there is work to be done. Seeing that our present 
publications are only now beginning to be worthy of being considered trustworthy 
for the very small amount of knowledge that we already possess, geographical 
work in all its branches is practically never-ending. 
But of exploration pure and simple very little remainsto be done. The charm of 
travelling through and describing an entirely new country which may be practi- 
cally serviceable to civilised man has been taken from us by our predecessors, 
though limited regions still remain in Central Asia and South America of which 
we know little in detail. 
I must except the Polar regions, which are in a somewhat special category, as 
their opening-up affords few attractions to many people. But a knowledge of the 
past history of our globe—fit study for human thought—can only be gained by 
study of the portions still under glacial conditions. 
What is there round the South Pole—a continent or a group of large islands? 
What is going on there? What thickness does ice obtain? Have these regions 
always been glaciated; and if not, why not? Can we get any nearer the mystery 
of magnetism and its constant changes by study at or near the magnetic poles ? 
All these and many other scientific questions can only be solved by general 
geographical research in these regions, and all interested in such questions have 
been delighted at the recent attempts to gain more knowledge. 
The object of these expeditions was frankly and purely scientific. All hope 
of remunerative whale or seal fisheries had been dispelled by the visit of the 
Norwegian whalers in 1892 to the region south of Cape Horn, and the known 
general condition of the land forbade any expectation of other protitable industries, 
unless indeed gold and other valuable minerals should be found, which is always 
