408 Chronicles of Science. [July, 



tlements on the coast and with the eastern seas, from which they 

 are now cut off hy a range of mountains. Mongolia is at present 

 the home of Mussulman cut-throats who overrun the neighbouring 

 provinces, unchecked by the supineness of the Chinese Government. 

 The third portion, 13 i, is divided by a range of mountains. This 

 district, interesting from the many ancient cities to be found within 

 its borders, approaches that region of Central Africa which pro- 

 mises most to the enterprising traveller. In these regions the ad- 

 vancing powers of Kussia and England will some day meet, and it 

 remains to be seen whether, advancing gradually as the countries 

 throw themselves into our hands, we may meet as friendly allies, 

 warring alike and in common against Oriental tyranny and iniquity, 

 or whether with the grasping spirit engendered by too great a de- 

 votion to commerce we coerce unwilling tribes and with unsettled 

 borders encounter a warlike nation ready to wrest our ill-gotten 

 gains from our hands. Other papers that have been read lately 

 have been :— " A Trip to the Sources of the Sutlej," by Captain 

 H. U. Smith and Mr. J. S. Harrison, M.A. ; « On Part of Mesopo- 

 tamia contained between Sherial- el-Bey tha, on the Tigris, ten miles 

 N.W. of Baghdad, to the large mound Tel-Ibrahim, nearly in the 

 centre of Mesopotamia, nineteen miles N.N.E. of Hillah," by Lieu- 

 tenant J. B. Bewsher ; " On the Discovery of the Sources of the 

 Lycus, the site of Nicopolis and other places in Kurdistan," by 

 Mr. Consul Taylor; "A Description of Diarbekr," by Mr. R. J. 

 Garden. 



The anniversary meeting of the Society took place on the 27th 

 of May. The report of the year describes the increase in the 

 number of Fellows, and consequently of funds, the large additions 

 to the library, both in the way of books and of maps, and the mode 

 in which various sums had been expended in the advancement of 

 geographical science. The Founder's Medal was bestowed on 

 Admiral Alexis Boutakov, of the Russian Imperial navy, whose 

 researches on the Sea of Aral are epitomized above, and the Vic- 

 toria or Patron's Medal was given to Dr. I. I. Hayes for his re- 

 searches in Arctic regions, where he reached a point farther north 

 than any of his predecessors on land. In a simple, unpretending 

 manner these researches are chronicled in his work on the ' Open 

 Polar Sea.' 



The President's Address was chiefly occupied with what has 

 taken up so greatly the time of the Society during the present 

 session, viz. the discussion of the probabilities in favour of the life 

 or death of Dr. Livingstone, as reported by the man Moosa. 



