812 REPORT— 1892. 



strewn witli rounded and polished boulders of gigantic proportions that have been 

 driven from inaccessible heights and rounded on their downward course to the 

 plain. The greater part of the plain is ' an alluvium,' a rich loam derived partly 

 from the shales of the central mountains, partly from the sandstones south, and 

 partly from the limestone hills which reach here and there above the level of the 

 lowland. These are the great and small Kangshan, the white bank, Apeshill, 

 Saracenshead, Fingshan ; also still more elevated hills inland approaching Baksa 

 Valley ; by water, Lambay island near Tangkang. We see thus within the narrow 

 compass of the island of Formosa rainfall and its results, year by year adding 

 to the habitable plain, and creating extensive shoals between the island and 

 mainland. 



Another phase of rain-work in Formosa is the effect which the central moun- 

 tain range has in withdrawing the moisture from the atmosphere as it sweeps over 

 the island during the north-east monsoon, and conferring on the mainland of 

 Fakim Kwangtung, a province of China, one of the finest winter climates in the 

 world. 



4. On the Windings of Bivers. Bij J. Y. Buchanan, F.B.8. 



This paper summarised the hydrokinetical principles which regulate the form 

 and size of the curves traced out by rivers in their windings, forms which are 

 largely independent of the character of the ground. 



Travels in Lesser Thibet.^ By Mrs. Bishop. 



FRIDAY, AVGUST 5. 

 The following Papers were read : — 



1 . On Meteorological Observations in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 By the Prince of Monaco. 



The western shores of Europe, especially those of Great Britam and Ireland, 

 are exposed to continual devastations by storms which come from the westward. 

 The only source from which we can obtain warning is the continent of North 

 America, and the warnings thence received are of the greatest value. But the 

 width of the North Atlantic is so great that American storms lose themselves, and 

 others are generated of which Europeans can at present receive no warning. The 

 North Atlantic is fairly rich in islands, and in nearly every group there is at least 

 one island of remarkable altitude, where the meteorological conditions are likely 

 to be quite distinct from those obtaining at the sea-level. The results already 

 achieved at the high-level observatory on Ben Nevis justify the confident expec- 

 tations that equally and perhaps more valuable results would be obtained by the 

 establishment of a pair of high- and low-level observatories in one of the Atlantic 

 groups of islands, preferably the Azores. These groups of islands either are 

 alreadj-, or will be shortly, connected by cable with Europe, and the author 

 strongly advocates that we should now establish meteorological observing stations 

 at carefully selected sea-level places having cable connection with Europe, and 

 at least one high-level observatory at the top of one of the remarkable peaks 

 suggested. Further, as it might be advantageous to have these observations col- 

 lected at an observatory where much attention is given to oceanographical work, 

 he ofiers to undertake at Monaco the collection and discussion of the observations 

 received daily, and the distribution of the results. 



Published in the Scottish GeograpMeal Magazine. 



