The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOOIL4PIIICAL SOCIETY.

Yesterday evening a meeting of the fellows of the
Royal Geographical Society was held in Burlington
House—the president, Sir R. Murchison, in the
chair. The first paper announced was " Notes on
the Zambesi Expedition, from the journal of Mr.
Baines, communicated by Dr. Livingstone." It was
introduced by the reading of a letter from Dr.
Livingstone to the president, a portion of which
has already been published, in which Dr. Living-
stone described the enthusiastic reception given to
him by the natives who had accompanied his former
expedition, and mentioned -the, general condition of
the people, and their treatment by the Portuguese
authorities. Though these accounts are less unfa-
vourable than the one given in a preceding letter,
which was read by Sir Roderick Murchison at the
last meeting of the British Association, they noticed
the unsatisfactory relations between the natives and
the Portuguese as still continuing. The enmity of
the natives had not, however, extended to the Eng-
lish, the name of an Englishman being a passport
to their favour. Dr. Livingstone mentioned that
good coal had been received on board their steam-
boat, and that in the absence of coal lignum vitae
and other valuable hard woods had been consumed
as fuel. Mr. Baines's journal described the difficul-
ties encountered in navigating the river from the
rocks and want of water, and he mentioned the
various astronomical and meteorological observa-
tions which had been made by himself and other
members of the expedition; but neither he nor Dr.
Livingstone entered into any further description of
the produce of the country, nor did they mention
any advances having been made in opening com-
merce.

At the conclusion of the reading of Mr. Baines's
paper, a very animated discussion arose on the pro-
bable value of the territory on the banks of the
Zambesi. Mr. Laird and. Mr. M'Leod spoke
strongly in favour of the vegetable products of that
part of Africa. The latter, who has recently
returned from Mozambique, where he was British
Consul, has brought with him several specimens
of different kinds of wood which he considers will
prove of great value in ship-building. Some of the
trees fitted for that purpose, he said, are from 40 to
60 feet high, and afford timber four and even six feet
square. He spoke of the luxuriance of the vegeta-
tion, and said that wheat might be grown there in
sufficient quantity to supply the whole of Southern
Africa. Mr. Crawford, on the other hand denied
the possibility of growing wheat under the tropics,
except at an elevation of 4,000 or 5,000 feet, when
the temperature became European ; and as to the
timber, he questioned whether any trees grew near
the banks of the Zambesi that could be available
for ship building. Mr. M'Queen, in opposition to
Mr. Crawford, maintained that good wheat' can be
grown even at the Equator, and as to cotton, there
was proof that it was grown abundantly in all parts
of Africa, and had been so 3,000 years ago. Colonel
Sykes, in confirmation of Mr. M'Queen, stated that
at Guzerat he had seen an extensive track of coun-
try cultivated with wheat, which is of such excel-
lent quality, and contains so large a proportion of
gluten, that the Manchester manufacturers prefer
it to all other wheat for finishing their cotton
goods. He expressed his hope that Dr. Livingstone's
expedition would prove successful, and said he bad
no doubt that the accounts given of the fertility of
the soil and of the capabilities of the country were
quite correct.
Mr. SQUIER, of the United States, next read a
paper giving an account of the Lake Tojoa or
Taulche, in Central America. This lake lies nearly,
midway across the isthmus south of the Bay of
Honduras, and it possesses the remarkable pecu-
liarity of having 10 outlets, nine of which are sub-
terranean, and only one of them is an 'open river
course. The lake is about 25 miles long and eight
miles wide, and it has not been previously marked
in any maps. It is surrounded by mountains that
rise 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. The special
interest attached to Mr. Squier's paper arose from
the circumstance that the maps which accompanied
it traces a line of railway across the isthmus which
offers some peculiar advantages. The map of that
part of Central America exhibited the mountain
chain as broken up in various directions, through
which chasms the line for the railway was
traced. The summit-level would be 2,900 feet high,
but it would be a continuous ascent to that point,
and the gradients would in no part be steeper than
60 feet in a mile, which is much less than many of
the important railways in the United States.
Colonel SYKES observed, that one great advan-
tage of the proposed line from the Bay of Honduras
would be, that it would pass through the territory
of only one Government, which rendered it prefer-
able to any other proposed communication between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. After some fur-
ther remarks on the character of the lake and its
peculiar outlets, the meeting adjourned.

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After several private mu) NI: nations of the 10-per-
sons in custody at Beverle charged with being
concerned in the murder of 7t ihn Washington Jex,
head gamekeeper to Mr. Ri eh. and Watt, of Bishop
Burton, on the 21st of NOT ember, the magistrates
of the East Riding of Yorl c shire, at their weekly
.sitting at Beverley on Sati. a 'day last, allowed the
inquiry to proceed in court. The principal witness
was the watcher, Mark Robin: son, who was severely
injured on the occasion in question, and who now
appeared in court for the first time. His head was
bound up, and he looked very - thin and haggard,
and had to be accommodated 11 7ith a chair. After
some preliminary evidence, he • gave the following
I.circumstantial account of the l part of the affrayin
ll] ear a dog bark and
which he was engaged
hare scream. The sounds cam e from the direction
of the Brogdale Plantation, an d x called the atten-
tion of Jex and Geddes to the: noisWe. We all heard
it, and turned back, and went don the side of the
Middle Galops Plantation. 'hen we came to the
corner of the Little Galops .e stood and looked
over into the Brogdale seedsfie ld, and we caught
sight of three or four men in ta Ile field, along the
woodside. We saw anothe r man in the corner of
the seedsfield nearest to Little Ga1.."1-)s; we stepped
over a low-cut hedge into the seedsli, '3ld. We had
not got far over the fence bet k.re some of the poachers
cried out, Come on, you --, you shall have,, it to-
night; we are fettled for you..' We had no G. ogs with
us, and their dogs came running up to ta:s, and
round about us. I think there would be six or
seven dogs. Jex told theni to call their dogs in,
and they made answer that they would not. Jex
then said he would shoot the dogs, and the
poachers replied that they would shoot him if he
did. One dog came very near to Jex, and he shot
it. I believe another barrel was fired at this time
from the poachers' side at Geddes. A man, who
was standing a little to the i 'fight of me, threw a
heavy stone at me, Which, caug ht me at the back of
the ear, and ga-V-d'inti i very ha rd-blow. The blow
cut ate at,the:barlci.of the car;, a ild.gaye me, a very
hard. blow. Thetstone cut me,. 0.0 blood-began to
flbw. I afterwards fonnd that it wtis a -stone
which gave me one of my severe wounds. Several
stones were thrown by the poachers. Two hit me,
but did not injure me. Some of the poachers then
made an attempt to rush in upon Jex, and I went
towards him to help him. They got round Jex ond
me, and I received a very severe blow on the bae.li
of the head with something.very heavy; it was not
a stone, but I cannot say
,exactly what it was. I
believe eight men were then surrounding us. The
blow brought me down on my knees, but before
that I heard several blows struck, though I did not
see them. I could see the sticks coming backwards,
but not the blows. I knew they were aimed at Jex,
because he was on my left hand. I then got up, but
had not been long up before I was knocked. down
again. I think it was with a bludgeon. The second,
time I fell I remained on the ground, and the
poachers beat me ; that is as far as I can recollect
of the affray. I have been ill ever since, and
this is the first day I have been out in the neigh-
bourhood since. The last time I saw Jex he was
holding up his gun with both hands to ward off a
blow. The last I saw of Geddes he Was about 30 ,
yards to the right of me, and there were some men
about him. I had heard Geddes shoot a dog some-
where behind my back." The witness, on being
requested to look at the prisoners, did so, and
pointing with his stick to Franklin, said, " He is
one I can recollect." Of M'Grath, who stood
second, he said, " He is very much like one." John-
son was standing on the other side of Franklin, and.
on Robinson looking closely at him, he said, " I
think he is the man who threw the fiintstone at
me." He then pointed his stick at Marshall, and
said, " That is one." The last man he noticed was
Thompson, and he remarked, " I think he has the
appearance of one." The witness added that there
were 11 or 12 poachers present, eight of whom
surrounded him and Jex. Marshall and. Thompson
had not previously been identified. Some other '
unimportant evidence was offered, after which one
of the prisoners, named Smith, who had surrendered
on bail, was discharged, and the magistrates inti-
mated that bail would probably be accepted for
Robson., The " confession" which it was supposed
one of the prisoners had made, amounts to nothing
more than a long rambling story about his personal
feeling, and an assertion that the gun which shot
the under keeper Geddes went off accidentally.