MONDAY, AUGUST 24. The following Papers were read: 1. Antarctic Exploration. By E. DELMAR MORGAN.1 The author pointed out that no serious attempt has been made to explore the South Polar region since the expedition under Sir James Ross fifty years ago. He urged that it was the duty of the British Government to take the work in hand, and to send an expedition equipped to spend a year in the highest attainable latitude. 2. Photography applied to Exploration. By JAMES THOMSON. 3. Journeys to the Lake Ngami Region. By HARRY D. BUCKLE. 4. A Visit to Kilimanjaro and Lake Chala. By Mrs. FRENCH SHELDON. Mrs. Sheldon succeeded in descending to the small crater, Lake Chala, at the S.E. foot of Kilimanjaro. The results of her observations will be found in the Proceedings, R.G.S.' for July 1891. 5. The Geography of South-West Africa.3 By Dr. HENRY SCHLICHTER. South-West Africa is in many respects only imperfectly known to geographers. Our information about Great Namaqualand, the western Kalahari, the large Kaoko district, and the belt between the Atlantic Ocean and the highlands of the interior is by no means satisfactory. Since Germany has acquired territories in SouthWest Africa many scientific and other travellers have traversed the German sphere of influence, and hereby contributed to our knowledge of the country. But geographical science has not yet gained much by these recent German explorations, for, with the exception of a few books and scientific publications, all the information has reached the public and been preserved only in various German papers and periodicals, mixed with many more or less unimportant colonial matters. The author has therefore tried to collect the geographically important facts from these sources. Moreover, the old explorations of South-West Africa needed revision. Mr. Theal, who has searched the archives of the Cape colony, has recently discovered that the Orange River was known before Gordon reached it in 1777, and that in 1761-62 a well-equipped expedition penetrated into the interior of Namaqualand, much farther north than Paterson, Gordon, and other travellers did. In 1791-92 a second exploring party reached a point still further north. But these interesting journeys were soon afterwards forgotten. The author has found that the British Museum contains the full diary (printed in Amsterdam, 1778) of the first of these expeditions, and as Mr. Theal has given only short reports, without going into geographical details, the author has examined this diary and compared it with the literature of the present and the last century. He finds that this old expedition is of considerable importance for our knowledge of South-West Africa. The object of the author in this paper, therefore, is to collect and criticise the new and old reports unknown to geographers and to give a correct account of the present state of the geography of South-West Africa. 1 See Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 632, October 1891. Printed in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 669, November 1891. Published in full in the Scottish Geographical Magazine for September and October 1891. TUESDAY, AUGUST 25. The following Papers were read :— 1. The Siam Border.1 By LORD LAMINGTON. 2. Colorado. By Dr. BELL. 3. The Physical and Industrial Geography of Florida. General. Florida is a peninsula with certain unique characteristics. Though an integral part of North America, a large portion of it belongs, climatically and botanically, to the West Indies. The southern half of the peninsula is subtropical, the extreme south tropical. Florida lies between 24° 25' and 31° 0′ N. Lat.; 80° 2' and 87° 37′ W. Long. Its area is 58,680 square miles-about that of England and Wales. Of this, 4,440 square miles are water. The extreme length is 465 miles, of which 400 miles belong to peninsular Florida and 65 miles to continental Florida. The average breadth of the peninsula is 100 miles. The coast line is variously estimated-about 1,200 miles is approximate. Florida, though the largest of the States E. of the Mississippi, is one-third the size of California. It is forty-five times the size of Rhode Island. The west, south, and east coasts are much influenced by the Gulf Stream, which escapes into the Atlantic through the Florida Strait; as it turns northward along the S.E. coast, it is a volume of water 2,000 feet deep, 30 miles wide, flowing with a velocity of five miles an hour, and possessing a temperature of 84° Fahr. The most remarkable inlet is the Indian River, on the E. coast. It is about 130 miles in length from N. to S., is salt and tidal, has an average width of a mile, and is seldom further than a mile from the ocean. The southern extremity of the peninsula is a network of lagoons and reefs united and formed by mangroves, and presenting to the Gulf Stream the long barrier of coral reefs known as the Florida Keys. The Surface. With the exception of Louisiana, Florida has the lowest average altitude of any State in the Union. The low watershed of the peninsula follows the anticlinical whose axis runs N. and S. through the central and northern regions, and it spreads out here and there into a low group of rolling hills. The lottiest point is Table Mountain, by Lake Apopka, and is barely 500 feet. altitude of the great swampy tract called the Everglades (10,000 square miles), which lies in the extreme south, is, at its northern point, 16 feet, and at its southern point 5.5 feet above sea-level. The majority of the lakes are situated in the higher rolling country at altitudes from 150 to 300 feet ; but there are many that are low-e.g. Okeechobee (1,000 square miles), 20-44 feet. The main aspect of the surface is rolling country with light sandy soil, and heavy and continuous forests of long-leaved yellow pine (Pinus australis), pitch pine (Pinus cubensis). Low hummocks frequently occur with clayey soil, topped with fibrous humus, and having dense growth of cypress (Taxodium distichum), red bay (Persea carolinensis), live oak (Quercus virens), palmetto, magnolias, mahogany, swamp ash (Fraxinus viridis), Ficus aurea, &c. Numerous rivers and streams, and about 1,500 lakes and springs,' diversify the surface. Swamps and prairies'—low grassy land with standing water-are frequent. Hydrography.-Florida is dominated by water. It has numerous rivers, and streams, and lakes. Nineteen of its rivers are at present navigated by steamers to a total distance of 1,000 miles. The waterway navigable by boats is nearly ten times this length. The only important rivers that empty into the Atlantic are the St. Mary's and St. John's Rivers. The former forms the natural boundary 1 Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 701, December 1891. between Georgia and Florida. The latter rises within ten miles of the Ocean into which, after a N.W. course of 300 miles, it flows. Into the Gulf of Mexico flow the Caloosahatchee, draining Lake Okeechobee; the Peace River, which rises in the highlands west of Lake Kissimmee, and flows S.W.; the Withlacoochee, rising in the same highlands, and flowing N.W.; the Suwannee rising in the Okefenokee swamp of Georgia; and the Apalachicola. Of lakes and springs' there are about 1,500. Some are mere expansions of a river's course, but the majority occur in the high rolling district which runs N. and S. through the peninsula. Okeechobee (1,000 square miles) is the largest. The water is quite clear. The springs are sulphurous, and occur everywhere. Silver Spring, 200 yards in diameter and 30 yards deep, is the largest. Climate. The water surface of Florida is 4,440 square miles. The isotherms run from W. to E. in an E.N.E.-N.E. direction. The isotherm of 75° mean annual runs from Tampa Bay to Cape Canaveral, and represents that of the important section of central or semi-tropical Florida. The average mean of Jacksonville, the industrial capital, and the northern limit of the orange belt, for twenty years has been for January 55° and for August 82°. At Key West, sub-tropical Florida, the mean for January is 71.04°, and for August 84:33°. The annual mean humidity is 68.8. Rainfall during the five winter months at Jacksonville = 16.62; at Key West 9.10. The annual rainfall at Jacksonville is 54 inches. The prevailing winds are from the S.E., blowing from the tropics over the heated Gulf Stream and N.E., also over the stream. This makes the E. coast milder than the W. The W. coast also occasionally suffers from a cold snap,' which has descended the Mississippi Valley. Geology and Soul.-As far as has yet been ascertained, the oldest strata are, if not coeval, at least similar or equivalent to the Tertiaries of the Thames Valley, or those of the Paris Basin. But all the divisions of the Tertiaries are represented. The Eocene is present in great depth; the Miocene and Pliocene are less thick; Pleistocene beds are very thick. Fossil remains have been found, not only of the mastodon, but of hippopotamus, rhinoceros, tiger, hyena, lion, elephant, and llama. An anticlinal, with an axis parallel to the peninsula, runs through central and northern Florida. True coral rock is found continuously in the south and in many districts further north. Under this are dense beds of limestone, consisting of shells of marine organisms. Cf. reef-limestones of Cuba. The soil is divided into-(1) hummocks; (2) 'pine' or sand lands. Hummock land is low-lying clayey soil, in which much potash and phosphorus (from decaying vegetation) are found. The sand lands contain 50 per cent. soluble matter-are a mixture of sand and clayof very various mineral character, but uniformly light to work. Vegetation. Florida may be divided into three zones according to vegetation. (1) The northern or continental portion. (2) The central or semi-tropical portion, whose southern limit extends from the Caloosahatchee on W. coast (26° 35' N.L.) to the Indian River inlet (27° 30′N.L.). Iso-floral lines may be drawn from W. to E. across the peninsula in a direction varying from N.E. to N.N.E. The three divisions might be called southern, semi-tropical, and sub-tropical. Of the 200 species of forest trees about 38 per cent. are tropical, and similar to those of West Indies. Many of these trees grow luxuriantly on the Keys and extreme south, but dwindle and become mere bushes at the northern limit of the belt-26° 35′ N.L. to 27° 30' N.L. from W. to E. The following fruits are cultivated with great success :-(1) in north pear, peach, grape, and orange (risky); (2) in central or semi-tropical belt: orange, lemon, lime, pine-apple, persimmon; (3) in sub-tropical belt: lime, pine-apple, banana, cocoanut. A large number of tropical fruits are being tried. Sugar and rice are grown extensively in lowlands north of Okeechobee. Industries.-Fruit growing, vegetable raising, and lumbering are main industries. Recently extensive phosphate beds have been discovered in river valleys, and great outputs been registered. Kaolin of superior quality has been discovered S. of Lake Harris and elsewhere. Cotton and tobacco are largely grown in N. Oyster and sponge fisheries employ thousands of hands. The ranches of Lee County are famous for their large herds, and infamous for quality of same. Inhabitants.-The aboriginals were Miccosukies. These have disappeared, the 1891. 3 A remnant mingling with the Seminoles, who were originally Creeks, but in seceding from that tribe under leadership of Secoffee (1750 A.D.) were styled Seminolesrunaways, vagabonds. Not more than 300 Seminoles now in Florida-chiefly in Everglades, Negroes, old Southerners, northern immigrants, and foreigners (chiefly English) make up, in this order of proportion, the population, which in 1880 was 269,000, and is now estimated at nearly 500,000. 4. The Volta River. By G. DOBSON. 5. The Bakhtiari Country and the Karun River. By Mrs. BISHOP. 6. Physical Aspects of the Himalayas, and Notes on the Inhabitants.2 By Colonel HENRY TANNER. 7. On the proposed Formation of a Topographical Society in Cardiff. By E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S. 1 See Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, p. 633, October 1891. • Published in full in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, p. 581, November 1891. SECTION F.-ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. ! PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION-Professor W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D., D.Sc., F.S.S. THURSDAY, AUGUST 20. The PRESIDENT delivered the following Address : Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism in Economics. THE year which has elapsed since this Association met at Leeds has afforded ample evidence of the vitality of economic studies in England at the present time. It is no small proof of a widely diffused desire to pursue such investigations seriously that a second edition of such a substantial volume as our late President's Principles of Economics' should have been called for within a few months of the issue of the first. While, too, economics alone among sciences has been hitherto unrepresented by any journal or review published in England, the year which has passed has seen first one and then another quarterly periodical started with the avowed object of catering for the wants of economic students. The larger of these magazines has come into being as the organ of an Association which is designed to do other work for our science besides that which it has already undertaken. Both of these new ventures deserve a hearty welcome from this Section, though in different ways, for they have emanated from different sources. The Review bears on the forefront that it hails from Oxford; while the 'Journal' and its destinies have been often talked over at Cambridge, and it seems to me, at least, to be full of the Cambridge spirit. The old contrast between these two Universities comes out strongly and distinctly. The intense interest which Oxford has always shown in the study of man and of conduct has put her in practical touch with many sides of actual life, and has caused her to be the mother of not a few great movements. But in Cambridge we are so engrossed in the study of things that we have no time to spare for trying to know ourselves. If we ever do give our thoughts to man, we like to think of him as if he were a kind of thing; so that we may apply the same methods which we are wont to use in the study of physical phenomena. If we turn our attention to history, we try to classify the various forms of constitution that have existed on the globe, and then we call the result Political Science. We may devote ourselves to Ancient or Modern Literature, but they seem to interest us not as vehicles of thought or as forms of art but as the bases of Philological or Phonological Science. If we investigate human industry, we like to treat the individual as if he were a mere mechanism, ind busy ourselves in measuring the force of the motives that may be brought to bar upon him. It is when we deal with physical things that we can be precise; this we are determined to be at all hazards; and of course we may always attair to precision in our statements on human affairs so long as we are content to be superficial, and are not at pains to penetrate to the very heart of the matter. Bu indeed there are dangers on either hand, whether we give ourselves. as best we ray to the study of Man, and deal with Economics in its more human aspects; or whether we are chiefly interested in the study of things, and try to |