702 REPORT— 1897. 



Climate of Central Gerwanj',' by R. Assmann ; ' The Distribution and Orio-in of 

 the Germans in Silesia,' by Dr. K. Weinhold ; ' Mountain Structui'e and Surface 

 Configuration of Saxon Switzerland,' by Dr. A. Hettner ; ' The Erzgebirge : an 

 ■Orometric-Anthropogeographical Study,' by Dr. J. Burgkhardt ; ' The Thurin"-ian 

 Forest and its Surrounding's,' by Dr. II. Proscholdt, and so forth. There is thus an 

 inexhaustible field for scientific geography in its most comprehensive sense, a series 

 of problems which may take generations to work out. In a less systematic way 

 we have similar monographs by French geographers. One or two attempts, mainly 

 by teachers, have been made in England to do similar work, but the impression 

 generally produced is that the authors have not been well equipped for the task. 

 I am glad to say that in England the Royal Geographical Society has initiated a 

 movement for working out in a systematic fashion what one may call the regional 

 geography of the British Islands on the basis of the one-inch maps of the 

 Ordnance Survey. It is a strange thing that the geography of the Mother Country 

 has never yet been systematically worked out. 



Taking the sheets of the Ordnance Survey map as a basis, it is proposed that 

 each district should be thoroughly investigated, and a complete memoir of moderate 

 dimensions systematicall}' compiled to accompany the sheet, in the same way that 

 each sheet of the Geological Survey map has its printed text. It is a stupendous 

 undertaking that would involve many years' work, and the results of which 

 •when complete would fill many volumes. But it is worth doing; it would 

 furnish the material for an exact and trustworthy account of the geography of 

 Britain on any scale, and would be invaluable to the historian, as well as to others 

 dealing with subjects having any relation to the past and present geography of the 

 land. The librarian of the Society, Dr. H. R. Mill, has begun operations on a 

 limited area in Sussex. "When he has completed this initial memoir, it will be for 

 the Society to decide whether it can continue the enterprise, or whether it will 

 succeed in persuading the Government to take the matter up. I refer to work of 

 this kind mainly to indicate what, in my conception, are some of the problems of 

 the future which geography has to face, even in fully surveyed countries. Even 

 were the enterprise referred to carried out, there would be room enough for special 

 researches in particular districts. 



But while there is an inexhaustible field in the future for geographical work in 

 the direction I have indicated, there is no doubt that much still remains to be done 

 in the way of exploring the unknown, or little known, regions of the globe. Let 

 us briefly refer to the problems remaining to be solved in this direction. Turning 

 to the continent of Asia, we find that immense progress has been made during the 

 past sixty years. In the presidential address given sixty years ago, already 

 referred to, Mr. Hamilton says of Asia: — ' "\Ve have only a very general kuow"- 

 ledge of the geographical character of the Burman, Chinese, and Japan empires ; 

 the innumerable islands of the latter are still, except occasionally, inaccessible to 

 European navigators. Geographers hardly venture on the most "loose description 

 of Tibet, Mongolia, or Chinese Tartary, Slam, and Cochin China.' Since then the 

 survey of India, one of the greatest enterprises undertaken by any State, has been 

 completed, and is being rapidly extended over Burma. But I need not remind you 

 in detail of the vast changes that have taken place in Asia during these years, and 

 the immense additions that have been made to our knowledge of its geography. 

 Exploring activity in Asia is not likely to cease, though it is not to be expected 

 that its Inhospitable centre will ever be so carefully mapped as have been the 

 mountains of Switzerland. 



The most important desiderata, so far as pioneer exploration in Asia is con- 

 cerned, may be said to be confined to two regions.' In Southern and Central 

 Arabia there are tracts which are entirely unexplored. It is probable that this 

 unexplored region is in the main a sandy desert. At the same time it is, in the 

 south at least, iringed by a border of mountains whose slopes are capable of rich 

 cultivation, and whose summits the late Mr. Theodore Bent found, on his last and 



' For part of what follows with reference to Asia, I am indebted to a valuable 

 Memorandum on the subject drawn up by the late Mr. Ney Elias. 



