144 REPORT—1858. 
esteemed Lord-Lieutenant of the West Riding, the late Earl Fitzwilliam, and through 
the skilful arrangements of the Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt and Professor John Phillips, 
aided, indeed, by the eloquence of a fourth Yorkshireman, the Earl of Carlisle, then 
Lord Morpeth, that we gained our first position. Few as were our members, yet, 
even then, so heartily were we bound together in the good cause of the search after 
the truths of science, that we felt confident of ultimate success. 
Holding our second meeting in the University of Oxford, the Association was then 
divided into six Sections; and to these another Section, or that of Statistics, was 
added at our third meeting in the University of Cambridge. 
At that time and for some years afterwards Section E was appropriated to Medi- 
~ cine; but the cultivators of the healing art, justly perceiving that they had materials 
wherewithal to occupy a much wider field of research on subjects of national import- 
ance, felt compelled to leave us and establish their own Association. The number 
of medical men who have since annually met in large towns, to compare notes 
and evolve new discoveries, have indeed proved the soundness of the views of the 
seceders, who still left to us the cultivation of Physiology, which science thence- 
forward became attached to the Section of Natural History. ] 
Thus abandoned, the symbol E remained for several years a dead letter, when 
it occurred to me that, the sciences of Geography and Ethnology having been hitherto 
very imperfectly represented in our Institution, it would be right to induce my asso- 
ciates who composed the General Committee assembled at Ipswich in 1849, then and 
there to fill up the blank by constituting a Section of Geography and Ethnology under 
this letter E; and of the new Section which was thus formed I had the honour to be the 
first President. In truth, the geographers and travellers who had been previously 
tacked on to the Geological Section, finding that they had no chance of a patient 
hearing among their associates the geologists, were dissatisfied ; and, having myself a 
real love of both sciences, I felt assured that their separation, followed by this new 
amalgamation, would be highly conducive to the best interests of each. Then, again, 
the ethnologists were discontented at having no local habitation, and at being 
compelled to form at several meetings a sub-section, seeking for a meeting-room 
where they best could find it. 
The union of geography and ethnology was indeed so natural, the subjects of which 
they severally treat are each so engaging and instructive, as well as popular, that the 
result has proved most satisfactory. In short, this Section has been, and I trust will 
continue to be, well-thronged by votaries, who rejoicing in the spirit of foreign re- 
search, come here to gather knowledge from the lips and writings of distant voyagers 
and travellers by sea and by land. 
As President of the Royal Geographical Society I have truly good cause to be 
proud of the extraordinarily rapid increase in its members, and also in their quality 
and character; for we reckon among them nearly all leading public men, as well as 
the most distinguished explorers of foreign parts. 
This success is indeed the natural result of the very constitution of the body politic 
of Britain and her extensive colonies; and, as there is no branchof science which is 
more intimately connected with the best interests of commerce and manufactures than 
that which makes us acquainted with the products and inhabitants of distant lands, 
so I confidently expect that in this rich and prosperous seat of industry, the me- 
moirs and descriptions to be read will be duly appreciated ; for, although we cannot 
expect to be every year honoured by the presence of such an explorer as my dear 
friend Livingstone, I know that you will be well satisfied with the communications 
which other distinguished men are about to make to you. 
Lastly,—Gentlemen, I hope that your discussions will be carried on with that 
desire to elicit the truth, and that absence of any acrimonious feeling among amicable 
disputants, which has characterized in preceding years the proceedings of this 
flourishing Section of the British Association. 
Notes of a Journey through parts of the Alatou, in Chinese Tartary. 
By T. W. Arxinson, F.G.S. 
During my wanderings in Central Asia I came upon several large river-beds, in 
some of which there was no water; in others the streams were so small, that I found 
