TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 155 
work. He then found that on a line so far north the climate and lands would not 
be as well snited to settlement and culture as further south, on territory of the 
United States; but he had since examined the subject more thoroughly, and found 
a large extent of country on the British side well adapted to settlement and culture. 
At the Selkirk settlement, further north even than necessary for the line of the road, 
wheat, rye, barley, oats, potatoes, and even Indian corn, were cultivated to perfec- 
tion, the yield large and grain fine, and almost the entire line on this side would be 
a good grass country. The Pacific side for some parallels was 10° milder. The 
British side was far the most favourable for constructing a railroad with much lower 
grades. From Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountain Range was almost a level 
country. Near 50° parallel the stream divided, running north-easterly and south- 
easterly, and north of 45° parallel the mountains sloped to the Arctic Ocean, and 
nowhere north of 50° did they elevate their peaks above 5500 feet, with many de- 
pressions peneticaip for a railway. Was not this, then, the route for the commerce 
between Europe and Asia? Mr. Whitney pointed out that there was excellent 
harbour accommodation at Halifax, on the Atlantic side, and Puget Sound on the 
Pacific side, and observed that these two places would form excellent depdts for the 
commerce of Europe, Asia, the American continent, and indeed the whole world. 
A cargo of merchandise might then pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific without 
transhipment or delay, and the actual distance from England to China was some 2000 
miles less than any route likely to be fixed upon by the United States. Panama 
Railway and the projected railway across Mexico were truly great enterprises, but 
people were mistaken as to their probable results. They would certainly facilitate 
travel and intercourse with California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands, but not 
so with Australia, the other islands, China, and India; because the sailing distance 
from England and Australia, China, India, &c., was less round the Cape of Good 
Hope than via Panama. The distance from Canton to London via the Cape of Good 
Hope was 2000 miles less than via Panama. The writer said that the Panama rail- 
way had not in any way changed the position of the people of Europe or Asia, nor 
in any way given to each the means of consuming more of the other’s products, 
The result of it, however, he believed would inevitably be the hastening of the great 
changes consequent upon the encircling of the globe with civilization and Christi- 
anity, and building upon the Pacific slope a nation which must control the com- 
merce of all Asia. Let England, then, he concluded by urging, put forth her whole 
strength and build a great highway for the world over her own soil. It could be 
accomplished in ten or fifteen years, and, with modifications, on the plan proposed 
by him to the United States. It could be accomplished nominally without outlay of 
money by the nation, creating by its connexion with the settlement of its line the 
means for its own construction: it would add millions ‘of wealth to the nation, 
and give to it the control, not only of the commerce of all Asia, but of that of the 
world also. With steam, the distance from London to China could then be per- 
jarred in twenty-eight days; merchandise even could be taken in thirty or thirty- 
ive days. 
Notes on the Physical Geography of North-Western Australia. 
By J.8.Wiison, Geologist to the North-Western Australian Expedition. 
The paper described the climate of that part of Australia as being hot for six 
months in the year, but not injurious to health. The country, it said, was fertile, 
and a large variety of luxurious grasses was found growing, one species of which 
was a kind of wild oats, from 3 to 6 feet high. The indigenous plants were more 
numerous and superior to those of Southern Australia. The characteristics of the 
natives were similar to those of the aborigines of the south of the country, and the 
writer was glad to say that, in Lower Victoria, at all events, there was no unfavour- 
able impression upon the minds of the native population against the settlement of 
the English. 
On the General and Gradual Desiccation of the Earth and Atmosphere. 
By J. Spotswoop Wixson. 
The writer drew attention to the fact, that those who had travelled in continental 
