348 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 



the supremacy of Kampala. The distribution of population round Mount Elgon is 

 interesting, for the amazingly populous southern slopes may be contrasted with the 

 sparsely peopled northern slopes. 



There are some unpopulated areas within this broad zone which stretches from 

 Buganda eastwards and these are explained by the conditions of health. The Sese 

 Islands, for example, were depopulated by the sleeping sickness epidemic of 1904-6, 

 although people have been reintroduced since 1919. The contrasts in the shore line 

 distribution round Lake Victoria result from the ravages of sleeping sickness. 



ii. An outer zone stretching roughly from S.W. to N.E. shows a sparse distribution. 

 The eastern part of Ankole, infertile of soil and lacking in rainfall may be included 

 within this zone. The whole of north-eastern Uganda, especially the Karamoja 

 district, contains scanty pastures sparsely peopled by semi-nomadic tribes. 



iii. Population increases upon approach to the Western Highlands. Kigezi and 

 Western Ankole have a dense distribution comparable with that of Ruanda and 

 Urundi across the boundary. Toro and Bunyoro are less thickly peopled though they 

 each show a concentration round their respective administrative centres at Fort Portal 

 and Hoima. In the West Nile district beyond the arid trough of the Nile there dwells 

 a considerable population. 



This relative distribution represents an adjustment to environmental conditions, 

 but it must not be considered as final ; control of disease and the development of 

 communications may modify its detail. It is certain, too, that Uganda could support 

 a much larger population, though the modern economic development of the country 

 bears witness to the ' human effectiveness ' of the present distribution. 



Mr. W. Fogg.- — Morocco : some Aspects of the Sebou Basin. 



The Sebou is the largest river in Barbary, its basin having an area approximately 

 one and a half times that of the Thames. The N. part of its basin is the S. and S.W. 

 slope of the RiSan Arc, with a surface of impermeable rock, the run-ofi from which is 

 the principal cause of the winter and spring floods in the lower basin. Overthruat 

 phenomena are of much interest in this section. 



The S. part of the basin is the N. and N.W. part of the Middle Atlas, with massive 

 tabular and folded limestones at the surface, the vauclusian springs of which maintain 

 the large flow of the river in its lower basin, during the summer drought. 



The lower basin is a large clay plain of very low altitude, on which the winter flood 

 waters spread and form extensive marshes, behind the high levees of the Sebou. 



The seasonal advance and recession of these marshes has given rise to a curious 

 seasonal migration of the natives, and some interesting land reclamation schemes for 

 French colonisation. 



In the Middle Atlas an extensive and well-defined Alpine nomadism is practised 

 by the native Berber tribes, but on the Rifi slopes sedentarism is the rule, both these 

 forms of adjustment showing close relationship to the physical conditions. 



The souk, or native market, is a very important geographical feature, in that it 

 very largely explains the great lack of native towns, which is one of the most striking 

 features in the geography of Morocco. 



Mr. V. S. SwAMiNATHAN. — The Villages and Village Life in the Tamil 

 Country. 



The paper deals with a stretch of country, forming a well-defined natural region, 

 roughly 54,000 square miles in area, with nearly 22,000,000 inhabitants ; coinciding 

 approximately with the ancient Pandya, Chola and Pallava kingdoms (forming the 

 East Co'ast Central and East Coast South divisions of the Madras Presidency, after 

 the census returns) ; having a culture and civilisation of its own, and cut ofi from the 

 north by virtue of its geographical position, though this was not complete enough to 

 prevent the peaceful penetration of the region by the Indo-Aryan emissaries, which 

 began many centuries before the Christian era. Tamil is the language of the over- 

 whelming majority of the population. 



Early tradition, backed by historical data, points to the existence of wealthy cities 

 on the one hand, and of highly developed village institutions involving real local 

 self-government, and administered on an elaborately organised system on the other. 

 The importance of rural activities and of village life in the Tamil Nad is great, since 



