The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-27 00:00:00

Royal Geographical Society.

Yesterday evening the seconi ordinary meetit
for the session, of the Royal Geographical Society
was held in Burlington House—the president,
ir
Roderick Murchison, in the chair. The first our'
munication read was a letter from Dr. Livingstone,
from the Rovuma river, East Africa, in which ~
described the progress he had made in pursuing
course of that river into the interior, with the ObJeca
of reaching the north end of Lake Nyassa)
thence proceeding to Lake langanyiki, which lies ""
the south of the Albert Nyanza. The latter lake'
which is at present considered the source of the Nile,
is suspected by many geographers to derive its water,
from the southern one, which would in that case
0
come the source of that river. Dr. Livingate%
stated that he had advanced along the Iterlrat
about 100 miles, and though the natives were lic)r
to be trusted, he had succeeded in gaining the fav°ll,,
of one of their chiefs, and he felt confident of boll:
able to accomplish the objects he had in view. T 11„,
experiment of taking camels and buffaloes with al'a
had not answered, for several of the animals had
died.

Sir RODERICK MURCHISON, in some remarks O
the letter, expressed the opinion that Dr. Livil't'
stone would be at least able to penetrate as far as
the Nyassa, so as to determine whether any rivt'r
entered it from the north, which would be an I'll
portant point to ascertain.

Col. PI, AYFAin, her Majesty's consul at Zanzibar!
also made some observations respecting the discovery
of a more accessible means of penetrating the 111
terior than the course taken by Dr. Livingstone.
Dr. R. J. MANN then made a communication a
the physical geography and climate of Natal, where
he had resided nine years. The sea coast of the €l7,
trict stretches in nearly a straight line in a se the
westerly direction, facing the Indian Ocean-
shore is bounded by a range of low hills for a leagh`e
of 150 miles, immediately after crossing which t'
land rises rapidly towards a range of mountains that
partition the district of Natal into three divist°l)s.
0
These mountains are a branch from mounOl'
still more lofty, which form the frontier of IN3t3t
towards the north-west, and thus inclose a .laio
c 0
,
about equal to one-third of England. From ,v 'ai"
sea-shore there is a steep general incline toy°
the first range of mountains, at a distance of 3101.'
30 miles, until an elevation of one mile is attained
From these mountains five other lower ranges diverge
towards the sea, and these again divide, so thatthere
,
a,re numerous streams which flow independentlY t°o
wards the sea iu rapid falls and cascades. Foul h
middle range of mountains the land sinks down
wards the north-west, and forms an extensive bast'.;
until it rises to the higher mountains of the frontle
The climate was described as being most delightfuei:
and the vegetation combines the produce of the tr,
pies with that of temperate regions. The mean teillter
perature in summer is about 69 deg., and inwillpr.
60 deg., and on only two or three occasions did .ve
Mann observe the thermometer so low as freer
point. The average quantity of rain in the Ye.l3`,
was about 30in., by far the larger quantity f 3 111:e
during the summer months, which is contrary t 0 'r
times of rainfall at the Cape, and where the larg-co
quantity falls in the winter. The kind of Prcatid
varies with the elevation of the land, pineapples an
other tropical fruits being abundant near the sbciis:
and on the table-land of the mountains wheat, 00ave
and most other European crops grow freely
is
of the principal articles of produce mentioned ls-o
rowroot. The only drawback to this settlement° i
stated to be the want of harbours, for the 5h°1.480.0
encompassed by sand-bars, excepting in one °I. 0,
places. The harbour of Durban is, however, c-,15
able of admitting at certain times of the tide irc's.;,
of 500 tons burthen, and is capable of being 1
-
proved so as to admit ships of 2,000 tons.
T dr.
scribing the geological character of the district,. to
Mann said the granite,trap, and sandstone constivlof
the principal rocks, the lower parts consisting be
•
granite, on which sandstone and basalt seemed t° at
piled without any regularity. The mountains
_n,
Natal, as at the Cape, are mostly flat at the w,r,,
t
grea
presenting large extents of table-land at

vations.
At the conclusion of Dr. Mann's communiellti°lll);
which was given without referring to the paper, rot
had written, Capt. Toynbee and Mr. eralv'uoi,
made some observations, the latter remarking
the large produce of arrowroot and the small gtlit:, I
tity of sugar as not indicating a fertile sub-trop;":8,
country. Ile remarked also on the absence °f v`13.00.
Dr. MANN stated, in reply, that the cultivaiti co
of arrowroot was being discontinued, to give
to more valuable crops, but the riches of the
try had not yet been nearly developed, for tho
it l'vwas
lish had not been settled there 20 years, and
not more than 40 years since any white Iran ob,
pied the land. With respect to the vine
served that the wet summers prevented the cult°
tion of grapes.
1 t tl
Sir RODERICK MURCHISON congratu.a-c nit
audience on the valuable, interesting, and
ad-
communication which they had heard, end 1101
j ounued the meeting to the 10th December, N."
papers relating to Asia will be read.

His Royal Highness the Duke of
Commander-in-Chief, has appointed Cul. -b.
tl.
~,..
Johnson, C. 8., Royal Artillery, to be an e.`:
aide-de-camp to his Royal Highness, vice COL ti',
,e
Hon. H. F. Keane, Royal Engineers, who has ceas,::
to hold that appointment, on being nominated a!tu't.
de-camp to her Majesty the Queen. Tile appoil
wont is to bear cl4tQ Aug. 4, 1800. Carubr,icic,