240 Dr Beke on the Mountains forming 
people, who, notwithstanding their native apathy, still appre- 
ciate the benefits of civilization,” 
(Signed) «KR. BOURGEAU.” 
I may state, in conclusion, that the views here expressed by 
M. Bourgeau accord on the whole with the opinion I myself 
have formed of the fertile portion of the Saskatchewan country, 
and which I believe is also that of the other members of the 
Expedition. 
On the Mountains forming the Hastern Side of the Basin of 
the Nile, and the origin of the designation * Mountains of 
the Moon,” as applied to them. By Cuar.zs T. BEKE, 
Ph. D., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., &e.* 
At the meeting of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science at Southampton in September 1846, I read 
before the section of Geology and Physical Geography a paper 
“On the Physical Character of the Table-land of Abessinia;”} 
the object of which was to show the physical configuration of 
that portion of the African continent which forms the eastern 
side of the basin of the Nile. 
On the 28th December and 11th January following, I read 
before the Royal Geographical Society of London a paper “On 
the Nile and its Tributaries,”’{ in which I traced the course 
of the Nile upwards as far as our existing knowledge per- 
mitted, and considered all the tributaries of that river on its 
right bank as they were then known; and in it I incorporated, 
with certain modifications, my previous communication to the 
British Association. 
In both papers I particularly directed attention to Professor 
Ritter’s ingenious but erroneous generalisation, which led him 
to regard the Abessinian plateau as consisting of a succession 
of terraces rising one above the other, the lowest being towards 
* Read before the Section of Geography and Ethnology of the British Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, at the meeting at Manchester, 7th 
September 1861. 
t See “Report of the British Association for 1846;” Transactions of the 
Sections, pp. 70-72. 
t See ‘‘ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,” vol. xvii. pp. 1-84. 
