1865.] Geography and Ethnology. 747 



improved detailed map of the Mont Blanc chain ; he exhibited to the 

 Section the large original drawing of Ins map ; and his paper was 

 descriptive of the various surveys which had been undertaken in the 

 district, and the causes of the gross errors that existed in other maps, 

 especially that published by the Swiss Federal Survey. The errors 

 in their delineation of the chain arose from the fact that only a small 

 portion of it belongs to Swiss territory, the rest being Sardinian, and 

 the official surveyors of the two countries working at different times 

 up to the summit of the ridges constituting their respective frontiers, 

 produced maps which could not be fitted into each other. The Swiss 

 in dovetailing the Sardinian map with their own made a most serious 

 blunder, for their surveyors, in carrying their triangidation up the 

 eastern side of one of the ridges on the Sardinian frontier, which 

 had been already triangulated by the Sardinians on the western side, 

 mistook the position, and inserted it on their map as a separate 

 mountain chain. In doing this, and to reconcile it with the rest, it 

 was necessary to annihilate four square miles of glacier, and to pull 

 together into one two mountains which had previously stood apart, 

 different in name, separated by a distance of more than a mile, and 

 differing in recorded height by nearly 700 feet. Mr. E. Whymper, 

 as related in his own paper, was the companion of Mr. Adams-Eeilly 

 in his survey during the summer of 1864. Their intentien was to 

 have ascended the Aiguille Verte together, but the difficulties seem to 

 have been too great ; and it was reserved for Mr. Whymper alone, 

 with two guides, Aimer and Biener, to accomplish the feat during the 

 present summer. The third Alpine paper was by Mr. G. S. Mathews, 

 on the " Ascent of Mount Blanc, by the Glacier de Brenva." The 

 author was highly complimented by Professor James Forbes, who 

 made a few observations on the three papers, for having accomplished 

 what had previously been deemed impossible ; and for having added 

 several facts of great topographical importance, during his ascent. 



Turning to Asia, there were first two papers on Palestine : one, a 

 " Eeport of the Results of Surveys relating to the Water Supply of 

 Jerusalem," by Capt. T. M'Neill, and Capt. Wilson, C.E. ; and the 

 other, " On the Exploration of the Holy Land, as proposed by the 

 Palestine Exploration Fund," by Mr. G. Grove, Secretary to the Fund. 

 The first mentioned seemed to belong as much to Engineering as 

 to Geography, but communicated several new and interesting facts 

 relative to the physical aspects of the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. 

 The authors explained the non-existence of rivers by the porous nature 

 of the soil, washed down the steep hill sides by heavy rains, and 

 accumulated in the valleys, for instance in the valley of Urtas, to the 

 depth of at least twenty feet. The surface water sinks through this 

 and runs in subterranean courses to a great distance. It was only by 

 reconstructing the terraces of the hill sides which probably existed 

 formerly, and thus preventing the soil from being washed down, that 

 the ancient fertility of the land could be restored. Mr. Grove's paper 

 was of the nature of an appeal for support to the scheme of explora- 

 tion proposed by the Palestine Exploration Fund, which after a very 

 vol. n. 3 E 



