lir THE REV. CAISSON TUISTEAM. 13 



course of formation, and where Cymri, Eoman, Pict, Saxon, 

 Dane, and Norseman have not left their traces under or over the 

 sod, while the hill sides seem everywhere to re-echo the ballads 

 and war-cries of the subsequent border warfare of centuries. We, 

 like our elder sister, the Berwickshire, have tacitly begun to in- 

 corporate antiquarian with natural history research. And how 

 happily they can be blended no one has shown better than one 

 of my gifted predecessors in this chair, in his Presidential Ad- 

 dress, the Hev. G. Eome Hall. 



If from our own homely excursions we turn our eyes afield to 

 the exploration of the regions beyond our domestic limits we 

 shall find less startling discoveries, less sensational announce- 

 ments of victories won over hitherto untrodden space, than in 

 most immediately preceding years. It was time indeed for the 

 geographical naturalist to pause and take breath, and to endeavour 

 to consolidate for a while the mass of new information so rapidly 

 displayed before his eyes, but scarcely yet grasped. In Africa, 

 especially, where the most rapid geographical conquests have re- 

 cently been made, there has been a temporary pause, though no 

 retrograde movement. One most important experiment, which 

 promises great results, has recently been launched, chiefly through 

 the sagacious patronage of the King of the Belgians, the intro- 

 duction of the Indian Elephant, and the attempt to utilize the 

 native African Elephant. We are all familiar with the fact that 

 the chief obstacle in the way of penetrating the interior of that 

 vast continent has been the absence of all beasts of burden, and 

 the fearful waste of power and life in the exclusive employment 

 of human carriers. No negro, save when taught by the Dutch 

 in the south to use the bullock, has ever thought of utilizing the 

 carrying power of any animal. If once the countless heads of 

 Afiican Elephants can be put to -a better use than mere slaughter 

 for the sake of their tusks, the advance will be not less than 

 from the pack-horse to the railway. Already it has been proved 

 that the African Elephant is not less docile or sagacious than his 

 Indian cousin. It may seem at first sight a small matter, yet I 

 venture to believe that this promising experiment is the most 

 important geographical and natural history feature of the past 



