Transactions. 14] 
Mr Scott-Elliot was cordially cheered on rising to address the 
meeting. Having in a few words expressed the pleasure with 
which he found himself again in Dumfries, he addressed himself 
at once to the subject of his lecture. The funds for the expedi- 
tion, he explained, were granted by the Royal Society of London; 
and he briefly sketched his route. This was from Mombasa, 
which he left on th November, 1893, to Lake Victoria Nyanza, 
thence across Uganda to Mount Ruwenzori, his objective point. 
This was reached on the Ist of April—a most inauspicious day, re- 
marked the lecturer. On the return journey he passed down the 
interior, by Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, until he reached the 
coast at the mouth of the Zambesi. He gave a suggestive glance 
at the duties of the leader of such an expedition, who, in addition 
to his scientific observations, had to take his company of Swahili 
porters under his wing as if they were a large family and he the 
father, mother, and schoolmaster combined. One of the incidents 
of the outward march was the encountering of a body of Masai 
warriors, who proved very friendly, and subsequently falling in 
with one of their great encampments, it being the practice of the 
tribe to stay with their flocks and herds for about ten days in 
one place, and then move on to fresh pastures. Some of the 
young women, he mentioned, were almost unable to walk on 
account of the number of rings which they wore on their arms 
and legs. The Uganda plateau, with its small rolling hills and 
frequent marsLes, and Ruwenzori (which he ascended to a height 
of 13,500 feet), with its three distinct zones of vegetation, were 
described in some detail ; and an account given of the persecution 
to which the timid tribes inhabiting the land to the west of the 
mountain have been subjected. He observed that two Huropeans 
with a force of perhaps 150 native soldiers, at an expenditure of 
perhaps £1500 a year, would bring peace and prosperity to the 
whole of the tribes around that mountain. That would not be a 
large sum for a nation like our own to spend ; and the country 
which would thus be secured contained a great expanse of rich 
virgin soil, covered with dense forest, and having a permanent and 
abundant water supply. Mr Scott-Elliot bestowed a good deal of 
attention on the river Kagera with the view of determining how 
far it is navigatable and therefore available as a connecting link 
between Tanganyika and the Victoria Nyanza, into which it flows. 
He found it navigable to a point about forty miles from the head 
of Tanganyika ; and he pointed out that, making use of the chain 
