30S 



WHEAT FROM iEGILOPS. 



[1855. 



this river, — wliicli was followed by several otliei-.3 of the same kinJ, 

 as well as by Austrian Catholic missionaries, by many traders and 

 adventurers. The e.'itreme points reached on this river by any of the 

 travellers lay between i° and 5° north laitudc. 



At the westernmost bend of the Bahr ffl Abiad, in about 9° 10' north 

 lat. and 129° 1-5' east long, this river opens out into a rather ill-detined 

 lalce or marsh, by some called No, or Su, — by others, Birket el Ghazel, 

 — by others still, Lake Kura. Its circumference seems to vary at 

 different times ; aad JI. Brua Rollet in 1851 found it of very small 

 dimensions. Into it, from the west, according to a variety of sources, 

 is said to run an immense river, formed by two large branches, of 

 which the one has a westerly or W. N. W. direction ; the other one 

 from the south-west. The name of the latter is mostly given as Bahr 

 el Ghazal, Bahr Kulla, or JMisselad, — the latter names being also ap- 

 plied to the united main stream. The head waters of these rivers are 

 supposed to e.Ktend to the borders of Waday, Bagirmi, and even 

 Adamaua. But so little is known of the region thus described as the 

 basin of the river received by Lake No, that nothing can be stated with 

 any degree of certainty, except that certain rivers exist there, and 

 that these rivers belong to the basin of the Nile. Thus, Dr. Barth, 

 from information he received while in Bagirmi, from persons on whom 

 he had reasons to place reliance, lays down a river called Bahr il Ada 

 in about 7° north lat. and 22° east long. Greenwich, running east- 

 ward. In a report from Cairo, dated "the 22nd of OctobeV, 1843 (see 

 Augsburgh Zeitang, Nov. 18, 1843), it was stated that a German trav- 

 eller had been in Darfur, thence travelled for seven days due south, 

 and came upon a river, on which he embarked, and on it ultimately 

 reached the White River. This mayor may not be true: — otir pre- 

 sent information relating to that region is altogether vague and un- 

 certain. The extreme point reached by Europeans on the north side 

 is Kobeth, the capital of Darfur, in 14° 11' north lat. and 26° 65' east 

 long. Greenwich,— first visited by Browne in 1793. The furthest 

 point reached by Barth (or any other European) from the west is 

 iNIaseua, the capital of Bagirmi, the position of which may be taken at 

 11° 40'^ north lat. and about 16° east long. Greenwich. When in 

 Bagirmi, Dr. Barth collected an immense amount of information 

 respecting tho countries between it and the Nile, which information he 

 connected and laid down on the map. It relates, however, more par- 

 ticularly to the region east and north-east from Maseua, in the direction 

 of Kliartum, along the various caravan and pilgrim roads, which, 

 unfortunately, do not extend in the direction of Lake No or south of 

 it. The distance between Maseua and Lake No nearly amounts to 800 

 goographical miles, being equal to that between Kuka and Timbuktu. 

 The feeders of Lake Tsad Dr. Barth traced to about 18° east long. ; 

 there a broad mountainous region extends from north to south, which, 

 it is little doubtful forms the line of waterparting between the basin 

 Lake Tsad and that of the Nile, and gives birth to the rivers running 

 into the Bahr el Abiad at Lake No. 



It is from Lake No that the New E.xpedition is going to penetrate to 

 the westward, up the Bahr el Ghazel. This Expedition is fitted out 

 by, and under the direction of, JI. Brun Rollet, a Sardinian, who for 

 the last twenty-three years has been residing in Khartum, chiefly 

 engaged in mercantile pursuits. This gentleman has already ascended 

 the Bahr el Abiad several times from Khartlim as far as 5° north lat., — 

 of which explorations a full account will shortly be published. As 

 may be supposed, Mr. Brun Rollet is intimately .acquainted with the 

 countries of the White River, its inhabitants and natural resources. 

 He has been very successful in his mercantile transactions, particu- 

 larlyin ivory and gum, so abundant in those countries, — the yearly 

 export of the formej- amounting at present to about 800 cwt. But he 

 has reasons to know that the country he now proposes to explore is 

 much richer in that and other articles of commerce. This E.xpedition 

 will consist of six boats, manned by about sixty men, all well armed. 

 M. Brun Rollet is strongly built and inured to the climate, of scientific 

 attainments, and has been aided in his scientific outfit and preparations 

 by the savans of Paris and Turin. The Expedition is entirely a private 

 one, and undertaken by his own means, the French and Sardinian Gov- 

 ernments having given him special letters of recommendation to the 

 Pasha of Egj'pt. 



M. Brun Rollet is at present in Cairo, and will shortly start for 

 Kharttim, where his final preparations will be made for the ascent of 

 the Bahr el Abiad and Bahr el Ghazel, in the direction of Waday. It 

 may be noticed that the latter river has mostly been called Kellak in 

 late years ; but I am informed by M. Brun Rollet tha' -the .irabs and 

 the black natives of those countries do not know it under that name, 

 but principally by that of Bahr el Ghazel, sometimes Misselad. 



Augustus Petermann. 



lloyal Geograpliical Society, 



At the last Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society 

 (May, 1855.) the report stated that the Patron's gold medal has been 

 awarded to Dr. Livingston for his recent explorations in Africa, between 

 Lake Ngami and the Portuguese settlements on the west coast ; and a 

 testimonial of the value of 25 guineas in surveying instruments, bearing 

 a suitable inscription, to Mr. Charles John Anderson, for his travels in 

 south western Africa, as laid down in his route-map communicated to 

 the society. The Bishop of Oxford, in moving the adoption of the report, 

 said, the award of the gold medal to Dr. Livingston, a friend of his own 

 gave him indeed great pleasure, for he had been the means of introdu- 

 cing commerce and civilization to the uncivilized parts of the earth. As 

 a minister of religion he had been the pioneer of art, commerce, and 

 civilization. In geographical discoveries in many parts of the world 

 they had followed the same tract as here, leading to the highest pur- 

 poses of humanity and civiUzation. One of the most remarkable in- 

 struments used by Dr. Livingston was contained in his reducing to 

 writing the language of the barbarous and uncivilized nations of the 

 earth, and by their written language conveying the truths of Christi- 

 anity to the uncivilized people. As Dr Livingston was the first man of 

 their blood who had crossed the great continent of South Africa, most 

 heartily did he congratulate the members of the Royal Geographical 

 Society that their gold medal had gone into .such hands. 



The Earl of Ellesmere in his annual address, commenced by advert- 

 ing to the members of the society who had been removed by death dur- 

 ing the past year. First in importance was their friend and associate, 

 Sir John Franklin, the hero and victim of the Arctic regions, for which 

 service he had been trained almost from his youth. He suffered ship- 

 wreck in 1807, and honourably served under Nelson at Copenhagen and 

 Trafalgar, and was one of six out of 60 who, standing on the poop of 

 the Bellerophon, escaped unhurt. He served under Cornwallis and St. 

 Vincent, and, although wounded, after his gallant services in war the 

 harvest of his fame was still to be won. He was emploj-ed in America 

 from 1809 to 1820, and by his services 1,200 miles of coast were add- 

 ed to the map of the British possessions. The sad details that had 

 reached them left no room for hope, preceded as that intelligence was 

 by the sacrifice of the gallant Bellot, which melancholy event inaugura- 

 ted the alliance now happily existing between his own and this 

 country'. As long as the name of Franklin should be known, it would 

 be venerated and admired. After passing some warm eulogiums on 

 the excellence of the late General Sir Andrew Barnard (Governor of 

 Chelsea Hospital), Mr. Joseph Hume, Rear-Admiral Price, Colonel 

 Lloyd, Sir Henry do la Beche, Mr. G. B. Greenough, Lord Dudley 

 Stuart, and Lord de JLauley, he proceeded to comment on the advances 

 that has been made in the acquirement of geographical knowledge during 

 the past year. Since their last annual meeting Captain Collinson had 

 returned in the Enterprise, having left his country in 1849, but had 

 not added much to their geographical knowledge of the Polar Seas. 

 By Dr. Rae's intelligent discoveries of the relics of Franklin's expedi- 

 tion .there could be no doubt as to his melancholy fate, but still he 

 hoped that further light would be thrown upon the subject by means of 

 the Hudson Bay expedition. In allusion to the Arctic question he might 

 •observe that plans for the monument to Lieutenant Bellot had been 

 submitted by the council, and it would shortly be erected near Green- 

 wich Hospital. He also alluded to the opening of the trade between 

 the United States and Japan, after all intei-course with the latter coun- 

 try had been closed for neai-ly two centuries. Having adverted to some 

 other topics, in conclusion, he thanked the members for the indulgence 

 they had shown him while he occupied the presidential chair, and an- 

 nounced, as his successor, Admiral Beechy, who would amply supply 

 any deficiencj' they might have sustained. 



"VViieat from iEgilops.* 



The announcement by Prof. Dunal, of Montpellier, two or three 

 years ago, that M. Fabre, of that vicinity, had converted jEf/ilojis tri- 

 iicoides into wheat, by cultivation for several generations, excited a 

 lively sensation, which has not yet subsided. Prof. Dunal appears to 

 have satisfied himself that ^Ei/ilops triUcoides, or rather its ancestor, 

 yE. ovata, — a common grass on the southern coast of France, — is the 

 original of wheat, and Prof. Lindley has adopted this opinion. This, 

 if true, would be the only instance in which any one of the staple ce- 

 real grains has been identified with a wild original. Dunal's publish- 

 ed account has called forth many detailed discussions, in which vari- 



* American Journal of Science and Art. 



