TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 663 



TUESDAY, AUGUST 31. 



Tlie following Papers were read : — 



1. On the North-East Passage. 

 By Lieutenant George T. Temple, B.N. 



The author sketched briefly the history of the North-East Passage since the 

 ill-fated expedition of Sir Hugh' WilloiighW , showing how the way was gradually 

 paved for the brilliant success of Baron Nordenskjold, and recapitulated the 

 advantages likely to accrue from the establishment of a regular trade between 

 Europe and Siberia. He then gave an outline of Nordenskj old's Arctic career up 

 to 1876, and described the voyage of the Ve(/a in some detail. The nature of 

 the country and the manners and customs of the Tchuktches were also touched 

 upon, and iSTordenskj old's summary of the immediate practical residts of his enter- 

 prise was quoted. "Referring to the various attempts which had been made to 

 follow up the successful voyages of 1875 and 1876, the author mentioned that 

 several foreign vessels, specially built for the purpose, were actively engaged at 

 that moment, and that the steamer Nordenshjold was attempting the North-East 

 Passage in the inverse direction. In connection with this subject, Lieut. Temple 

 remailved that the sailing directions for the coast of Norway, to which he alluded 

 at the preceding year's meeting of the British Association at Sheffield, had now- 

 been published" by the Admiralty, while some of the Norwegian charts were in 

 com-se of preparation. It was trusted that, in spite of some apparently inevitable 

 errors, the publication of this work, with the necessary charts, would fill up the 

 gap which had hitherto existed for British navigators in the new commercial high- 

 way, and that British seamen would be better able to take their share in the establish- 

 ment of a regular trade-route between Europe and the mighty ri^■ers_ of northern 

 Asia, by means of which the vast, but hitherto pent-up, wealth of Siberia would 

 find a natural outlet to the great commercial centres of the civilised world. The 

 discovery of the North-East' Passage might, altogether, be regarded as the most 

 completely successful Arctic voyage that had ever been made. The paper con- 

 cluded with a warm tribute to" the foresight, gallantry, and skiU with which the 

 enterprise had been conceived and carried out. 



2. On an Examination of the Balearic Idands. 

 By Dr. Phen^, F.S.A., F.B.G.S. 



The author gave a general description of the several islands in the group, with 

 the meaning of their appellations and the method of reachmg them ; following 

 with a description of the euei'getic agricultural operations of the rural classes, and 

 the nature of the soil, and a general view of the aspect of the country in each 

 island. 



In Minorca there are no guides, and the inhabitants of one end of the island 

 seem to know nothing of the other, or of anything in it except in their own dis- 

 tricts. Of the extraordmary remains in Minorca there is absolutely no historic 

 information ; the masonry iiidicates that they are Cyclopean of the oldest type, 

 Avhile that of the Nurha'gs of Sardinia, with which many suppose they agree, is 

 not only in courses, but of wrought or well-trimmed stone. The grand feature of 

 the latter also is wanting, viz., the spiral staircase or ramp, which is foimd also in 

 the Brocs of Scotland. The plan of the grandest structure in Minorca is square at 

 the base, and forms a pyramid of which there is no example in Sardinia. 



There is historic reference to the Nurhags of Sardinia, and even to their builder, 

 lolaus, but tlie antiquity of the remains in Minorca is lost in the mist of ages, or 

 referred to the time of the very oldest of the mythological deities, Saturn. The 

 ■works of lolaus in Sardinia are described in a way to prevent mistake, and they 



