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tenacity with which the customs and ritual of early Christianity have been maintained, and the absolute failure of the Portuguese Jesuits to bring Abyssinia under the dominion of the Pope is aptly parallelled by the absolute failure of the Roman Catholics to obtain a foothold in Greece, and bring about a union of the Eastern and Western Churches.

Nearly everything one comes across in Abyssinia has an interesting pedigree from the old world. The shamma, or cloak, they wear is neither more nor less than the old Roman toga: it is worn in precisely the ancient manner, with the right hand buried in the folds and the end thrown over the shoulder. The musical instruments they play are similar. The long trumpet played at games and festivals was well known in the ancient world as the tuba. The sistrum, or rattle, I have already alluded to. The Abyssinian harp is exactly like its old classical prototype, the lyra. We still find the rounded sounding-board, made in the form of a tortoiseshell, the ancient testudo of the lyre: out of this come the two cornua, and the strings are not touched with the fingers, but with plectra. The fly-flap used by the priests is exactly like the fly-flaps depicted on the Egyptian tombs. Children up to the age of puberty wear bulle, just as Roman children did. Every Abyssinian has his thorn-extractor, made of pliable metal, like the volsella of Roman times. The popular Abyssinian game, played on a sort of board with holes, something akin to draughts, is commonly found wherever Arabian influence has been felt all over the coast line of the East, in Asia and Africa alike. The umbrella, and the dignity attached thereto, is distinctly old world. The sacred arcana are always carried under gorgeously decorated umbrellas; only a prince may wear a red one, grandees wear white ones, and peasants go to market with umbrellas made of straw. There is hardly anything in Abyssinia which is not a well-authenticated relic of a bygone civilisation, as the few instances which I have given here will show.

We took the measurement of some fifty Abyssinians, according to the rules and regulations set down by the Anthropological Institute. These measurements have been placed in the hands of Dr. Garson, who has undertaken to work them out.

I hope in the ensuing winter to visit Southern Arabia, with a view to following up the same line of study, both archeological and anthropological. I feel confident that if Southern Arabia be submitted to a careful examination we shall there find traces of an exceedingly primitive civilisation; traces of an empire which existed many centuries before our era, which spread down the east coast of Africa south of the Zambesi, and constructed the ruined buildings visited by us last year in Mashonaland, and which, as Professor Müller shows, are built on exactly the same principle as those of Mareb and Sirwah in Southern Arabia, and were probably used for the same form of religion.

This year we have found traces of an Arabian occupation of Arabia as far back as the eighth century before our era in the mountains of Abyssinia. As discovery follows discovery I am sure we shall be able to reconstruct the history of a once mighty commercial race, which was contemporaneous with the best days of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and which provided the ancient world with most of its most valued luxuries.

APPENDIX.

On the Morphological Characters of the Abyssinians. By J. G. GARSON, M.D., V.P., Anthrop. Inst., Corresp. Memb. Anthrop. Soc. Paris and Berlin.

The data for this paper are a series of observations made by Mr. J. Theodore Bent during his expedition to Abyssinia on 46 male natives between the ages of twenty and forty years, 22 of whom belong to the Tigré tribe, 12 to the Amhara tribe, 4 to the Hamasan tribe, 1 to the Bogos tribe, 6 to the Galla tribe, and 1 to the Barea tribe. The first four tribes are members of the Himyaritic group of Semites, the Gallas are Hamites, and the Barea are one of the unclassified tribes.

The colour of the skin of the Himyaritic tribes is generally a rich chocolate, but sometimes cases of a dark yellow-brown or dark-olive hue occur. The Gallas are generally darker, being usually of a sooty-black colour; the Barea is also sooty-black. The eyes are dark, and a vestige of a frænum occurs in many cases at the inner angle of the eye. The hair is black and curly. The profile of the nose is uniformly straight. Prognathism of the mouth is generally very slight or entirely absent, except in the Gallas, where it is more marked than in the others. The lips are of medium thickness, but are somewhat thicker in the Gallas than in the other tribes. Platy prosopism, or flatness of face, predominates throughout all the tribes, but is slightly more marked in the Amhara

than in the others.

The cephalic index varies from 64 to 88, but chiefly centres between 76 and 79, the mean index of the series being 78.5, which places them in the mesaticephalic group. In the Amhara tribe it averages 81-4, in the Tigré 78-2, in the Gallas 79. The module of the head averages 158, as obtained from the length, breadth, and height of the calvara added together, and, after 15 mm. has been added to represent the distance from the meatus to the basion, divided by 3; from the length and breadth added together and divided by 2 it is 165. The nasal index averages in the Tigré 68 1, in the Amhara 74-2, and in the Gallas 76.2. According to Broca's divisions of this index in the living, the Tigré are leptorhine and the others are mesorhine.

The mean stature of the series is 1m 693, the shortest being 1m.593 and the tallest 1m-870. The Amhara tribe averages about 2 cm. taller than the Tigré. The trunk, neck, and head are 50.3 per cent. of the stature, and the lower limbs from the level of the tuberosities of the ischia downwards are 49.7 per cent. of the stature. The canon of proportion of the various parts of the body to the height are as follows: Trunk, 32 per cent.; neck, 5.3 per cent.; head, 13 per cent.; the thigh, from the level of the tuberosities of the ischia, 23-2 per cent.; the leg and height of foot, 26.5 per cent.; the length of the foot, 14.5 per cent.; the entire upper limb, 44.9 per cent., the upper arm being 17.2 per cent., the forearm 16.2 per cent., and the hand 11.2 per cent. The length of the forearm to that of the upper arm gives an index of 96; while the leg and height of foot together give, with the portion of thigh from the ischial plane to the knee, an index of 114.3.

Although the tribes examined are all members of the Caucasian family, the Gallas and the Barea are more negroid in their characters than the Semitic tribes, probably from longer contact with the negro and

from the geographical position they occupy in South Abyssinia. Of the Semites the Amhara are more negroid than the Tigré, while the latter retain more of the characters probably typical of the inhabitants of South Arabia, the country which their language indicates as the original home from which they have migrated.

The Exploration of the Glacial Region of the Karakoram Mountains.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Colonel GODWINAUSTEN (Chairman), Professor T. G. BONNEY (Secretary), and Colonel H. C. B. TANNER.

THE Committee were appointed for the purpose of assisting in the exploration of the Karakoram Mountains, physically, geologically, and biologically, by Mr. W. M. Conway and companions.

Previous to the expedition of Mr. Conway's party to the Karakoram Mountains the whole of the Gilgit territory had been surveyed and mapped by parties of the Survey of India. Colonel Godwin-Austen, when making his survey of Baltistan in 1860 or 1861, had surveyed up to the Gilgit and Hunza-Nagyr frontier, while Captain Brownlow, R.E., and other assistants of the Kashmir Survey had roughly sketched from very distant points the Gilgit valley. Subsequently Colonel Tanner and two sub-surveyors had made a detailed survey of Gilgit and surrounding valleys. The latter work was published some twelve years back, on the scale of 2 miles = 1 inch, under the title of New Map of Astor and Gilgit.' The Bagrot valley and all the southern waterways from the Rakapushi chain were entered on this map, and the spurs of Rakapushi, extending W. and N.W. down to the Gilgit River, were also laid down with fair accuracy. Mr. Conway's exploration this side includes country already well known and surveyed, though his examination of the Bagrot glacier should be considered new and more detailed work. In the new map of Astor and Gilgit the glaciers were coloured green by hand, but not drawn hard with pen and ink on the original map, copied by photography and photozincoed.

On

Colonel Tanner's work was a continuation to the westward of Colonel Godwin-Austen's survey, and was picked up (with a small hiatus) from that officer's most northerly and westerly stations of observation. the publication those features not laid down from actual and accurate survey were entered in dots as a guide to any surveyor who might follow Colonel Tanner's party.

The exploring party in the Karakoram Mountains in 1892 consisted of Mr. W. M. Conway, Lieutenant the Hon. C. G. Bruce, Mr. A. D. M'Cormick, Mattias Zurbriggen (an Alpine guide), and four Gurkha sepoys. For part of the time they were accompanied by Messrs. Roudebush and Eckenstein, also by Colonel Lloyd Dicken.

The party reached Gilgit, on a tributary of the Indus, and made their first exploring expedition up the Bagrot valley, since the highest ranges were as yet (May) inaccessible owing to the amount of snow still unmelted. Working on a larger scale, the features of the higher ground, particularly the glacier, were much improved in detail, and the names of all the tributary glaciers recorded. An attempt to cross from it into

Nagyr over the main ridge was defeated, so the party returned to Gilgit. Some interesting observations were made on the mud avalanches in this region. These are vast masses of mud, thickly mingled with huge blocks of rock, which are swept down the gorges in the steep mountain flanks on to the more level parts of the valley, and become important factors in modifying this part of the earth.

Departing again from Gilgit, the travellers visited the rock-bound valley of Hunza-Nagyr. The weather was unpropitious, but another attempt (not completely successful) was made to reach the Bagrot pass from this northern side, and an expedition was undertaken to the Barpu glacier. One branch of this was explored and mapped, and a peak which rises at its head was ascended. The ridge separating this tributary (Barpu) valley from the main Hispar valley was traversed by a pass about 16,000 feet above sea-level. From the latter valley the most important glacier expedition was undertaken, for the Hispar pass (17,600 feet) was crossed to Askoli, which was reached on July 26, nearly a fortnight having been spent on or by the side of the two great glaciers, which stream from the summit (gained on July 18). Their combined length is about sixty-seven miles, and they both terminate at some 10,000 feet above the sea-level.

Askoli was left on July 31 for an expedition to the great Baltoro glacier, and a good view was obtained of K2 (or Mount Godwin-Austen) (28,278 feet), which rises grandly from the upper part of this ice-region. Pioneer Peak (22,500 feet), a minor summit of the Golden Throne at the head of the Baltoro glacier, was climbed, as well as a lower (Crystal) peak.

The party returned to Askoli on September 5, and crossed southwards from that place by the Skoro pass (about 17,000 feet) to Askoro, in the Shigar valley, whence they reached Skardo on the Indus. From it they visited Leh, and regained Abbotabad (whence they had begun their journey to Gilgit) after an absence of seven months.

Mr. Conway has added some 600 square miles of quite new topography east of Hunza-Nagyr and north of the Rakapushi range up to near the longitude of the Nushik La. Hence his route-map up the Hispar glacier, down the Biafo, and on again to the Baltoro is based on and kept in proper position by the topographical work of the Indian Survey on the 4-miles-to-the-inch scale, executed in 1860-61 (previously alluded to), very much enlarged, showing consequently a great deal of close detail either sketched in on the spot or taken from photographs. The portion near the Hispar pass, never before crossed by any European travellers, has thus been very accurately laid down. He has also corrected the topography of the tributary glaciers at the head of the Baltoro, which Lieut.-Colonel Godwin-Austen when making his survey of it was only able to plane-table roughly from a distance of fifteen to twenty miles.

This detail work of Mr. Conway covers about 1,200 square miles, and is an instructive piece of Alpine topography, because the scale is large enough to show the extent and proportions of the ice and snow-covered surface, and the size and position of the lateral and median moraines, &c.

Many photographs were taken, and a number of sketches were painted by Mr. M'Cormick. The following collections were made: (1) A large number of rock specimens representative of the geology of the districts explored. These are being examined by Professor Bonney, who hopes to

communicate an account of them to the Royal Society next session. (2) A collection of dried plants (sent to the Kew herbarium), of seeds, of which forty species are now growing at those gardens, and of some iris-bulbs. (3) About one hundred specimens of butterflies, sent to the British Museum (South Kensington). (4) A collection of spiders, beetles, &c., was also made, but the greater part of this, unfortunately, was stolen from the baggage on the journey down from the mountains. Some account of the details of the journey has been given by Mr. Conway to the Royal Geographical Society, and has appeared in their journal for November 1892 and for February and July 1893, and a fuller narrative will be published in a volume in the course of a few months.

The Teaching of Science in Elementary Schools.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Dr. J. H. GLADSTONE (Chairman), Professor H. E. ARMSTRONG (Secretary), Mr. S. BOURNE, Dr. CROSSKEY, Mr. G. GLADSTONE, Mr. J. HEYWOOD, Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Sir PHILIP MAGNUS, Professor N. STORY MASKELYNE, Sir H. E. ROSCOE, Sir R. TEMPLE, and Professor S. P. THOMPSON.

YOUR Committee have the satisfaction of reporting this year two important circumstances which show the increased value set upon the teaching of science in elementary schools. The one has reference to the rapid advance in the adoption of Elementary Science' as a class subject; the other is the great provision made for it in the new Code for evening continuation schools.

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The report of last year showed the commencement of the movement for the substitution of scientific teaching in the place of the so-called 'English' as a class subject, a movement which has now become much more pronounced. It will be seen by the following tables that, while the teaching of English' steadily rose with the gradual increase in the number of schools, that of geography and elementary science slightly decreased during the years 1882 to 1890; and that when the obligation to take 'English' had been removed these two scientific subjects took a start at once, which has been more than maintained in 1891-92.

The number of departments of schools in which these class subjects have been examined by H.M. Inspector during the eight years 1882 to 1890 has been as follows:

Class Subjects.-Departments 1882-83 1883-84 1884-85 1885-86 1886-87 1887-88 1888-89 1889-90

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The numbers during the last two years are as follows:

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