716 REPORT— 1894. 



The means and incidents of travel in tlie Mexican ranges described and com- 

 pared with those of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada. 



The variations of climate in the Sierra Madre, and their effect upon mountain 

 dwellers and their habits and industries, including certain of the isolated Indian 

 tribes and the cave-dwellers of Sonora and Chihuahua, are illustrated by author's 

 experiences in crossing the main range in Sonora, Sinaloa, and Michoacan, 

 compared with similar experiences in Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and 

 California. 



The probable source of origin of Sierra Madre races, viz., North American, 

 South American, and Asiatic, is discussed and illustrated by description of various 

 antiquities, including villages, tombs, cave fortifications, and gardens, discovered 

 or visited by author. 



Incidents are given showing the gradual fusion of these races into the existing 

 Mexican nation of to-day, and the extent to which a few families still remain 

 unabsorbed ; as in the case of the Apaches in Sonora, the Cota Indians in Durango, 

 and the Zapotecas of the Tehuantepec Istlimus. 



Certain peculiarities in the geological structure, vegetable productions, and 

 fauna of the Sierra Madre are noted, together with legends and traditions amongst 

 the primitive inhabitants arising out of known facta connected with them. 



The extent of mountain country in Western Mexico still practically unexplored 

 is shown by comparison with modern maps, which are entirely vague and im- 

 perfect in every instance, excepting where the State authorities have made some 

 attempt at actual survey, owing to the necessity of defining raining claims. 



The watersheds and their discharges are pointed out, with general description 

 of the great lakes of Chapala, Patzcuaro, and Cuitzeo. 



Also some description of the pine forests above the timber-line, the summits 

 above snow-line (compared with those of North America), and the present seats 

 of volcanic activity, and their relation to seismic disturbance along the Pacific 

 coast. 



The author's view is given as to the structural history of the western coast- 

 line, and the very slight changes which have probably occurred in it since the 

 Palaeozoic period. 



MONDAY, AUGUST 13. 



The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. On a Visit to British New Guinea. By Miss Frances Baildon. 



The author and her brother visited British New Guinea in 1891 as guests of 

 the Rev. J. Chalmers, the well-known missionary. They reached Port Moresby in 

 a Queensland Government schooner of sixty-eight tons register on August 15, and 

 after a short stay continued this journey westward for 160 miles to Motu-motu, 

 where the native villages were visited. A canoe voyage was then undertaken to 

 the inland village of Movi-avi, where the natives were suspicious and dangerous. 

 After returning to Port Moresby by the same route a visit was paid to Kerepuna,. 

 and Hood Bay was left for Cooktown in Queensland on September 2. 



Report of the Committee on the Climatology of Africa. 

 See Reports, p. 348. 



3. On a Journey in the Libyan Desert. By H. Weld Blundell,^ 



Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1894, p. 472. 



