SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 445 



Friday, August 19. 



Mr. G. C. L. Bertram. — King George VI Sound in the Antarctic (lo.o). 



King George VI Sound was discovered in the course of the British 

 Graham Land Expedition, 1934-37 (led by Mr. John Rymill). Previous 

 information about southern Graham Land was based mainly on the inter- 

 pretation of what was seen by Sir Hubert Wilkins in a flight down the east 

 coast in December 1928. After this flight, southern Graham Land was 

 considered to be an archipelago with channels at sea level connecting the 

 Weddell and Bellinghausen seas. The work of the British Graham Land 

 Expedition, 1934-37, showed that in fact the whole of Graham Land forms 

 a single narrow peninsula and that the ' Antarctic Archipelago ' as such is 

 non-existent. On the west side of Graham Land, separating it from 

 Alexander I Island, is a remarkable channel nearly 300 miles in length, to 

 which has been given the name of King George VI Sound. This sound 

 averages 15 miles in breadth, runs almost due north and south, and is 

 bounded on either side by mountainous country running up to over 6,000 ft. 

 The mountains of the Graham Land side are a continuation of the main 

 Andean chain and are made up of rocks of similar petrological facies. In 

 contrast the Alexander Island side for the most part is composed of a great 

 thickness of late Mesozoic sediments. Apart from its geological interest, 

 the Sound is remarkable in containing the only known area of confined 

 shelf-ice ; this shelf- ice being some 3,000 ft. thick. 



Prof. F. Debenham. — The Geographical Laboratory (10.45). 



Miss J. B. Mitchell. — Suffolk agriculture in the Middle Ages (11.30). 



Suffolk agriculture in the Middle Ages presents a varied picture : there 

 are strong contrasts between the predominantly pastoral region of the 

 Breckland in the north-west and the agricultural economy of the clays and 

 loams of the east. The west was at this period farmed in open fields while 

 the east, by the sixteenth century, was largely enclosed. 



The 1327 and 1524 subsidy returns for Suffolk, when plotted, give an 

 indication of the distribution of regional prosperity throughout the area at 

 the beginning and towards the end of the period. The Inquisitiones 

 Nonarum of 134 1 are relatively detailed for most parts of Suffolk : sufficiently 

 so to give a strong indication of the land utilisation of the county. Much of 

 the data can be mapped and a close correlation is revealed between the soil 

 type and the economy practised : the poor sandy soils of the Breckland are 

 used for sheep farming ; the central boulder clays are essentially corn- 

 growing lands ; and the fertile loams and silts of the eastern river valleys 

 appear to carry an important dairying industry. 



Reyce's Breviary of Suffolk, published in 16 18, gives an excellent picture 

 of the county at the beginning of the seventeenth century. His account 

 shows the same agricultural pattern as was suggested by the fourteenth- 

 century figures. 



Mr. F. Walker. — East Anglia and the Civil War (12.15). 



One of the most striking features of the historical geography of eastern 

 England is the continuous regional distinctiveness which has characterised 

 East Anglia since the very earliest times, and it is an extremely interesting 

 fact that practical expression was given to this * individuality ' during the 

 Civil War of the middle of the seventeenth century. 



