Geography 



495 



moderate temperature and charged with 

 much moisture. 



The result is that in the latitude of 

 Yorkshire every mountain mass over 

 3,000 feet high is covered with eternal 

 snow and sends glaciers down to the sea. 



I was convinced by what was going 

 on under my eyes that it only required 

 an upheaval of the land of 2,000 feet or 

 so to cover the whole of Patagonia with 

 ice. But then the climate would still 

 not be very severe. The temperature 

 of the wind from the sea would be the 

 same, and such part of it as blew along 

 the channels and on the lower land 

 would moderate the cold caused by the 

 ice-covered slopes. 



The shores of the whole of western 

 southern Patagonia, deeply indented 

 with long and deep fiords, indicate, ac- 

 cording to all received views of the 

 origin of such formations, that the land 

 was formerly higher, while signs of 

 glaciation are everywhere present. 



CHANGES OF CLIMATE 



The results of geographical research 

 show us that in many parts of the world 

 climate must have greatly changed in 

 comparatively recent times. 



In the now arid regions of northern 

 Africa, central North America, and in 

 parts of Asia, there is ample evidence 

 that the climate was in times past more 

 humid. In a remarkable paper on the 

 causes of changes of climate, contributed 

 by Mr F. W. Harmer to the Geological 

 Society in 1901, and which has not ob- 

 tained the notice it deserves, it is pointed 

 out how changes in the distribution of 

 the prevalent winds would vastly alter 

 climatic conditions. Like everything 

 else in nature, and especially in the de- 

 partment of meteorology, these ques- 

 tions are exceedingly complex, and 

 similar results may be brought about in 

 different ways ; but there can be no doubt 

 that the climate of South Africa would 

 be greatly modified, and more rainfall 

 would occur, if only the cyclonic storms 



which now chase each other to the east- 

 ward in the ocean south of the Cape of 

 Good Hope could be prevailed upon to 

 pursue a slightly more northerly line, 

 and many obstacles to the agricultural 

 prospects of South Africa now existing 

 would be removed. This is, howevf 

 beyond the powers of man to effect ; 

 but, as I have just said, there are other 

 ways of attaining the object, and it is 

 earnestly to be hoped that the attention 

 now being paid to afforestation may re- 

 sult in vigorous efforts to bring about 

 by this means the improvement in hu- 

 midity so much required in many parts 

 of the country. 



NEW KNOWLEDGE OF TIBET 



The other recent event in geograph- 

 ical exploration is the result of the 

 expedition to Lhasa. It was an un- 

 expected solution of this long-desired 

 knowledge that it should come from 

 political necessities and by means of a 

 government mission. The many ardent 

 travelers who have dreamed of one day 

 making their way in by stealth have 

 thus been disappointed, but our knowl- 

 edge is now fuller than could otherwise 

 have been gathered. 



The most important fact is the reve- 

 lation of the fertility of a large part of 

 southern Tibet. Much has been added 

 to topographical knowledge, but the 

 route maps of the secret Indian native 

 surveyors already had given us a rough 

 knowledge of the country on the road 

 to Lhasa. It was not, however, real- 

 ized how great was the difference be- 

 tween the aridity of the vast regions of 

 the north, known to us from the travels 

 of men of various nationalities, and the 

 better- watered area in the south, though 

 from the great height of the plateau — 

 some 12,000 feet — the climate is very 

 severe. The upper course of the Brah- 

 maputra has been traced by Captain 

 Ryder, but unfortunately a political veto 

 was placed on the project to solve the 

 interesting problem of how this great 



