746 KEPORT— 1881. 



3. On the Island of Socotra. By Professor Batley Balfoue, M.D. 



See Reports, p. 482. 



4. A Journey to the Imperial Mausolea east of Pelcing. 

 By F. S. A. BouBSE. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6. 



The following Papers were read : — ■ 



1. Comparative sTcetch of what was hiotvn in Africa in 1830 with what is 

 Jcnown in 1881. By Lieut.-Colonel J. A. Grant, C.B., F.B.8. 



The author said that in fifty years a great deal had been done towards opening out 

 the centre of Africa as well as its suiTOimdings. There were no lights or lighthouses 

 around Africa prior to 1855, whereas now there were 129 harbour lights, all of 

 which were mauitained. The tu-st light was erected at Cape Coast Castle. The 

 soiu'ces of the Nile, the Niger, the Congo, the Zambesi, and the Limpopo had been 

 discovered. A dozen lakes of great magnitude, and the whole physical aspect and 

 resoui'ces of the continent, were now tolerably well known. The cutting of the 

 Suez Canal, which was opened m 1869, had had a most beneficial eSect upon the 

 continent. The discovery of Lake Tictoria Nyanza in 1863 was an event of great 

 magnitude, and Captain Speke and the reader of the paper were enabled to put at 

 rest the theories as to the soui-ce of the Nile, as they found that the parent of the 

 Nile took its rise in the newly-discovered lakes. Speaking of the labours of Sir 

 Samuel Baker and J\L-. H. M. Stanley, Colonel -Grant said that the benefits of those 

 laboiu's would be reaped in after years. The almost insurmoimtable labour they 

 went through in putting steamers upon the Victoria Nyanza would be of un- 

 told advantage hereafter. Speaking of Cape Colonj-, the author said that the 

 slave trade had been abolished in 1808, but slaves were sold until December, 1834, 

 when all slaves were emancipated in British dominions. The colony since those 

 days has made immense progress. The additions to knowledge of successive dis- 

 coverers were described in detail. 



2. Some Results of Fifty Years' Exploration in Africa. 

 By the Rev. Hobace Waller. 



Geographical interest fifty years since chiefly centred upon the countries lying 

 between the western fringe of the Sahara Desert and the Atlantic ; indeed the 

 Nigev river absorbed most of the enthusiasm which had been aroused by Denham and 

 Clapperton. It was in the year 1830, the year of the Society's bii'th, that Lander 

 traced the Niger to the sea. The countries bordering upon the western coast of 

 the Sahara Desert, which are watered by the Niger and its tributaries, have an 

 interest peculiarly their own. The travels of Captain Vincent, of Barth, Overwig, 

 Richardson, and others between 1849 and 1857, show that the comparatively 

 advanced state of civilisation which prevails in these densely populated districts 

 maj- be due to the very great difficulty of communicating with the French settle- 

 ments on the west and the British possessions to the south-west. For ages the 

 strict Moslems of these lands have preferred to draw those supplies which are 

 needed amongst the Berber tribes in Timbuctoo, in Barin, Kuka, and other cities, 

 from the marts of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. There, at all events, Arab met 

 Arab. The additions to oiu- previous knowledge of the Fari coimtry and the 

 Gaboon river were mainly seciu-ed to us bv the adventurous exploits of M. Paul de 

 €haillu in the years 1857, 1865, and 1867. From 1866 to the present date the 



