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

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL 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 " otes 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. AlQueen, 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 had
no doubt that filo 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 th at

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 advanr
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 anv 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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