378 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— E. 



Afternoon. 

 Joint Discussion with Section H on Natural and cultural regions (2.0). 



Prof. P. M. RoxBY, Dr. L. Dudley Stamp, Prof. C. B. Fawcett, 

 Prof. J. L. Myres, Mr. H. J. E. Peake, Lord Raglan, Mr. R. U. 



Sayce. 



Tuesday, September 7. 



Mr. F. G. Morris. — The relations of history and geography as illustrated by 

 the British colonies in America, 1607-1775 (lo.o). 



The British colonies in America offer a very fine field for the study of 

 the relationship between history and geography, because in them we see 

 the results of the transplanting of certain groups of European peoples, each 

 with its own economic, social and cultural characteristics into a new natural 

 environment, which had, however, already been modified by the Indians, 

 to whom the Europeans were indebted in several ways. This new environ- 

 ment offered to the settlers certain possibilities, but the actual use made of 

 them depended on the economic, social and cultural heritage of the different 

 groups, together with the existing economic and political system of the 

 British Empire. The broad division of the colonies into three groups — 

 New England, Middle and Southern — may be admitted, the criteria being 

 both physical and cultural. Nevertheless, in all these areas one should 

 recognise sub-division into coastal and interior groups. Even within these 

 more or less homogeneous areas, it is necessary to realise that settlers of 

 different origin did not react in the same way to the same environment and 

 that there were important contacts between them. 



Dr. O. J. R. HowARTH, O.B.E. — Charles Darwin's village : a note on the 



historical geography of Dozvne, Kent (10.45). 



Charles Darwin lived in Down House, Downe, from 1842 to 1883, and 

 the house is now, by the gift of Sir Buckston Browne, in possession of the 

 Association and is maintained as a national memorial open to the public. 

 Close to Downe was also the residence of John Lubbock, afterwards Lord 

 Avebury, Darwin's friend and our President in 1881. Downe is hallowed 

 ground for science. 



Downe remains a rural village, though within the urban district of 

 Orpington. It stands high (between 500 and 600 ft.) on the clay-with-flints 

 which overlies the chalk of the North Downs. Its site is thus differentiated 

 from most of the old villages in the district, which were established on other, 

 less favourable, soils. It seems, on such slight evidence as has been found, 

 that the village originated in clearings of the woodland for agricultural 

 settlement from neighbouring communities. It paid tribute to the manor 

 of Orpington. It is not mentioned in Domesday, and does not appear 

 until later as a definite village community. The suggestion is made, 

 therefore, that the original implication of its name is simply Orpington's 

 piece of downland. 



Mr. S. J. Jones. — A prehistoric settlement phase in the Rio Grande Valley, 

 New Mexico (11.30). 



The area under consideration includes that portion of the Rio Grande 

 valley bounded on the north-east by the Rio Grande Caiion and on the 

 south-west by the White Rock Caiion, with north-westerly extensions along 



