924 REPORT— 1898. 



Section E.— GEOGRAPHY. 

 Pbesident of the Section — Col. G. Eael Church. 



THURSDA Y, SEPTEMBER 8. 

 The President delivered the following Address : — - 



Argentine Geography and the Ancient Pampean Sea. 



Instead of addressing you upon geography as a science, or summarizing the 

 triumphs of explorers during the past year, I shall invite you to accompany me to 

 southern South America — a step towards the Antarctic regions — and let me try to 

 add to your knowledge of Argentine geography and the ancient Pampean Sea. 



The matchless voyage of Magellan gave rise to one, in 1526, for the discovery 

 of ' the Islands of Tharsis, Ophir, and Eastern Cathay,' the command of which 

 was given by Charles V. of Spain to Sebastian Cabot, the son of John. Sebastian, 

 &i route, lured by silver-tongued fable, diverted the expedition, sailed for and 

 ascended the Plata estuary and river Parana, and attempted the conquest of the 

 Plata Valley. Disaster attended him, and with a single ship he returned to 

 Spain. That valley is now being developed into a prosperous state by the applica- 

 tion of 200,000,000/. sterling of European capital — three-fourths of which is 

 British— and is already the home of hve millions of thriving, intelligent, and 

 energetic people. 



Sebastian Cabot having been brought up as a boy in this city of Bristol, I 

 have thought it not inappropriate to this occasion to give you some idea of the 

 land which he tried to conquer, and how Nature has there marshalled her forces. 

 She has, within easy reach, all the elements she requires for action upon the most 

 imposing scale : and it must be admitted that she has brought them lavishly into 

 play. The present drainage area of the Plata basin is, according to Dr. Bludau, 

 1,198,000 square miles, being over two and one-half times that of the entire 

 Pacific slope of the Andes. The minimum water discharge into the Plata estuary 

 would, every twenty-four hours, make a lake one mile square and 1,G50 feet deep. 

 About 74 per cent, of it would represent the flow of the Parana, and 26 per cent. 

 that of the Uruguay River. In my subject, the latter plays only a secondary 

 part ; the majestic Parana and its branches assume the primary role. These 

 interlace with the affluents of the Amazon along a line of 14 degrees of longi- 

 tude. Even on the ocean I have been unable to realise vastness, as regards 

 quantity of water, to the extent which I have while standing on the blaff over- 

 looking the Parana at Rosario, and also on the bank of the Amazon at Obydos. 

 Dark, profound, and mysterious, the rivers ceaselessly roll past, ever in the same 

 direction, never to return; and, awe-struck, one reflects that, for aeons of ages, 

 they have never halted in their stately march, and asks where and what is the 

 power that gathers and lets loose these mighty floods ? 



