had had two distinct and well-pronounced cyclones developing themselves in the Arabian Sea between the 54th and 56th meridians, and which scarcely seem to have extended over twelve square degrees in all. From the irretrievable barrenness of the Curia Murias, the scarcity both of animal and vegetable life, we are quite prepared to find them almost destitute of inhabitants; but they never seem to have been wholly unpeopled since first mentioned in history. The following is the account given of them by Dr. Hulton * :

Among the people on the southern coast of Arabia, they are usually spoken of as the Juzan of Ghulfan: called so from an enterprising family belonging to the great Mahara tribe. The head of this family, Said bin Oomar bin Haat bin Ghulfan, possessed a small property in the neighbourhood of Morbat, called Howeeys. Being of an active commercial turn he amassed considerable wealth, and, having drawn together a numerous party of adherents, he made a vigorous attempt to possess himself of the government of Morbat. In this, however, he failed, and was compelled to seek refuge in the island of Helániyah. When affairs had become more settled, he returned to Howeeys, reserving to himself and heirs the right of possession in all the islands. His two sons and nephews, regarding the islands as hereditary property, still visit them occasionally for the purpose of collecting any money the natives may have received for watering foreign vessels and bugalahs. These visits are always hailed with pleasure by their poor subjects, as they seldom fail to supply them with a few dates and other necessaries.

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Helániyah is the only island in the group which is now inhabited. Its present population consists of twenty-three individuals, who differ nothing in form and complexion from the Arab. They are perhaps somewhat degenerated from their forefathers in strength and bodily vigour, but this may be explained by their extreme poverty and wretched mode of living. The soil of the island is quite incapable of being cultivated in any part, whatever industry or care might be bestowed in the attempt. There is, indeed, barely sufficient vegetation for the support of a few straggling wild goats, which the sterility of· the plains and growing neglect of their former possessors have driven to the hills and valleys. Necessity has compelled the inhabitants to look to the sea alone for means of subsistence: in fact, they may be classed with perfect propriety as ichthyophagi; but in any one previously acquainted with their mode of existence, the comparatively healthy aspect of these islanders cannot but excite a certain degree of astonishment.'

The enormous flocks of birds, and the amount of excrement which both the Curia Murias and Salt Rocks off the easternmost point of Africa afford, as observed in 1834-35, are mentioned both by Captain Haines and Dr. Hulton. Guano from sea-fowl was not then known as a marketable commodity; had it been otherwise, probably these gentlemen would have surmised that that seen by them was neither of quantity nor quality sufficient to meet charges. In 1845, Mr. Waghorn despatched a light vessel from Suez to examine the various islands in the Red Sea. In 1846, the ship Northumberland, having carried out cargo to Aden, crossed over to Salt Rocks, where the display of birds and gossip excited by Mr.

* See Hulton, p. 184 and 185 of Geographical Transactions, Bombay, vol. iii.

Waghorn's adventure led to the belief that guano must abound, and the ship was accordingly loaded with a brownish-looking powder, supposed to be dried excrement.

Salt Rocks, like Socotra, consist of granite, and it is possible the powder was of a kind similar to that brought as guano by the native boat, in 1856, from the Curia Murias.

H. M. S. Juno, Captain Freemantle, was, in February, 1854, despatched from England to investigate the matter, and the following July the islands were ceded to the British Government by the Imaum of Muscat. In 1856, Mr. Ord "fitted out an expedition and proceeded to the Curia Murias." They were met by a horde of armed Arabs, who denied the Imaum's right to cede the islands and threatened to shoot the invaders if they did not instantly retire. Mr. Ord once more applied to Government, and H. M.'s Steamer Cordelia was despatched, on the 6th June, 1857, to protect the guano seekers against the Arabs; on arriving, on the 14th of September, at the Curia Murias, the Cordelia found no opposing Arabs. The Cordelia visited Bombay in November in quest of provisions, returning again to the Curia Murias.

The CHAIRMAN expressed his obligation to Dr. Buist for having dispelled their ignorance with respect to the supposed occurrence of large masses of guano in the tract under consideration. But still even there phosphatic substances might be found which would prove to be of some value to our agriculturists. For instance, there had been recently discovered in the Anguilla islets, in the West Indies, deposits of this nature. An American vessel got becalmed off a rock called Sombrero, north of St. Kitt's and the Anguilla isles, and there the captain found a deposit of fossil bones and guano. Specimens having been carried to New York, were analysed and found to be worth from 47. to 67. 10s. per ton, and since then this little rock had been stripped of its deposit to the value of 200,000l. sterling. Sir Hercules Robinson, the late governor of St. Kitt's, having heard of this adventure, had sent home specimens of a similar deposit on our own Anguilla islands, which had been submitted to Sir Roderick's examination, and he had no hesitation in saying that the substance might prove to be of value to the agriculturist. He had recommended to Her Majesty's Government that a geologist should be sent to these islets, to discover whether some of them may not be as valuable as the rock of Sombrero.

MR. J. CRAWFurd, f.r.g.s., observed that it was utterly impossible that good guano could exist on the Curia Muria islands, lying within the south-west monsoon, and where, consequently, there were torrents of rain. Guano existed only in certain latitudes on the western coast of America, where no rain ever fell, and there necessarily only on uninhabited islands. The Chairman had said that the island of St. Kitt's might give us a substance equal in value to guano; the price showed clearly enough that that was not the case.

The CHAIRMAN.-67. 10s.

MR. CRAWFURD.-37. 10s. was the average price; but even 67. 10s. would not be half the value of good Peruvian guano, which in this country was 157.

Sixth Meeting, Monday, February 13th, 1860.

SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON, VICE-PRESIDENT, in the Chair. PRESENTATIONS.-The Revs. T. Butler, and C. S. Allen Dickenson; Consul J. Petherick; Colonels J. F. D. Crichton-Stuart, M.P., and J. F. Bateman; R. H. O'Dalyell; and R. H. W. Dunlop, Esqrs., were presented upon their election.

ELECTIONS.-Captain J. F. Cooper (7th Royal Fusiliers); Commander H. Carr Glynn, R.N.; and David Aitchison; John Ball; G. Wingrove Cooke; David A. Freeman; Nicholas P. Leader; John Rutherford; Henry Wynn Seymour Smith; and John Ingram Travers, Esqrs., were elected

Fellows.

AUDITORS.-Thomas H. Brooking and E. Osborne Smith, Esqrs., on the part of the Council; and the Rev. Dr. Worthington and Thomas Lee, Esq., on the part of the Society, were elected Auditors for the year.

The Paper read was—

China; Notes of a Cruise in the Gulf of Pe-che-li and Leo-tung in 1859. By MR. MICKIE.

Communicated by H. HAMILTON LINDSAY, Esq., F.R.G.S.

SHANG-TUNG and Leo-tung lie on opposite sides of the Gulf of Pe-che-li. They are mountainous provinces, similar in character, though separated by a tract of alluvial plain. Their opposite shores are connected, across the gulf that lies between them, by the chain of the Miatao islands.

In April and May, at the close of the dry season, the soil appeared arid in the extreme; every breeze raised a storm of dust; but the rains of June and July filled the watercourses and brought out the verdure. The hills are bare of trees; they are stripped for firewood. Part of their sides are terraced for cultivation, and sown with Indian corn and millet.

The climate during spring and summer, is undoubtedly good; there is no malaria, and the air is dry and pure. The cold in winter is described as intense. Every man at Che-fow has a fireplace under his bed. The buildings differ from those of South China, being small, substantial, and plain. They are built of stone or brick, and rarely of wood. The people are simple in their habits; they are a hardy race, tall and robust, and live long. The poorer people live on Indian corn, the others on wheaten bread, and, in winter, all of them consume much animal food. The population lives by agriculture, fishing, and carrying produce. Each donkey or mule

carries but a small load over the hills, and a driver is required for every two animals.

In winter the whole population lies nearly dormant.

Che-fow is the general depôt of trade in the Gulf. The principal imports are English and American piece-goods, opium, sugar, and Chinese paper from Ningpo. Alum and Shanghai cotton are also imported to a small extent, together with sundry other Chinese cargo. The great exports are bean-cake, peas, and pea-oil. Trade opens in March, when the ice breaks up, and closes in October. Coal is a regular article of local trade. It is found at several places along the coast, but is soft and dirty, and dearer than foreign coal would be.

SIR R. MURCHISON, in returning thanks to Mr. Mickie for his communication, said it was highly creditable to one of our leading merchants to employ such an excellent observer as that gentleman. Formerly it was too much the practice among English merchants to keep good things to themselves, but now they seemed to have a satisfaction in communicating all the information they obtained, whereby commerce might be extended. He was happy to see sitting near him his friend Mr. Hamilton Lindsay, the gentleman who had engaged Mr. Mickie to visit these countries, and who having some personal acquaintance with the country would, he hoped, address the meeting.

MR. HAMILTON LINDSAY, F.R.G.s., said he felt a peculiar interest in this contribution of Mr. Mickie, because some twenty-eight years ago, in 1832, it was his lot to add in some small degree to our geographical knowledge of a country immediately adjoining those which had been visited by Mr. Mickie. In 1832, under the auspices of Mr. Charles Marjoribanks, then the head of the Company's factory in China, he made a voyage along the coast of China, and visited in his course the ports of Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, Shanghae, thence round the promontory of Shantung to the port of Wei-hae Wei; from there he struck off as far north as he could to the promontory of Corea. There, in a perfectly new tract of country, he fell in with a magnificent harbour, which he named after his friend Mr. Marjoribanks, and also made some discoveries which the Geographical Society honoured him by calling an Island after his name. He thought a great deal of credit was due to Mr. Mickie. He went in charge of a purely commercial speculation, to see what could be done in carrying out commercial operations with the Chinese, and had it not been for our operations at the mouth of the Peiho at that time, he might have acquired more extended information. Sufficient, however, had been gained to prove the probability of important commercial relations with that part of the world.

SIR JOHN DAVIS, F.R.G.S., observed that the interesting paper just read bore testimony to the extraordinary propensity of the Chinese to spread themselves by colonization. Du Halde, who wrote about a century and a half ago, gave this as a reason for inserting the Tartar and not the Chinese names, in a map of Manchouria, constructed by the Jesuits-" Of what use would it be to a traveller in Manchouria to know that the river Saghalien (the Amoor) is called by the Chinese Hèloong Keang, or River of the Black Dragon, since he has no business with them, and the Tartars, with whom he has to deal, know nothing of this name?" Now Huc, in his late work on Tartary and Thibet, remarks that at present the tables are completely turned, and the Chinese have nearly displaced the Manchous in their original country, from the north-east of the Great Wall to the Amoor. "It is just," he observes, as if one was travelling in a province of China." The paper of this evening

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talked of Chinese ports, and a Chinese population, on the shores of the Pecheli Gulf; and, if we were ever to trade with the new port of Niu-Chwang, under our treaty, it was well that the population was Chinese, and not Tartar, for we should have little enough trade with Tartars. The same tendency to spread themselves, so strongly displayed on the north of their empire, has adhered to the Chinese far away to the south; and Mr. Crawfurd would bear witness to the numbers and wealth of the Chinese colonists throughout the whole of the Malayan Archipelago, from Java up to Sincapore. Even in those newest of countries, California and Australia, the astonishing influx of Chinese had excited the jealousies of our own countrymen and of the Americans.

MR. LAURENCE OLIPHANT, F.R.G.S., said that when he was in China, he had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of Mr. Mickie. There were one or two points in his paper which deserved attention. One was the great availability of the port of Chefow, situated a little to the eastward of Tungchow, on the point of the Shantung Peninsula. When at Tientsin the desirability of the different ports was brought under the consideration of Lord Elgin, but the merits of Chefow were not then altogether known. The importance of that port had arisen from the fact of the rice trade having taken that direction since the blocking up of the Grand Canal. It would be desirable, in any new arrangement with the Chinese government, to provide for a trade at Chefow. We might give up our right to trade at Tungchow, for there was very little trade there, and the harbour was four miles distant. Another point in Mr. Mickie's paper, which was peculiarly interesting at the present time, was the account which he gave of the resources of the neighbouring country. He described large flocks of goats on the hill-sides of Tungchow. Mr. Oliphant then discussed the question of a military advance upon Pekin in connexion with these resources, and expressed his belief that the Chinese would have no objection to sell to an enemy, if he had the slightest chance of getting any thing by it. With respect to the port of Nu-chung, it was rather of political than commercial importance. The recent arrangements with the Russian Government brought the Russian frontier comparatively close down upon north part of the Gulf of Leotung, and therefore it was very desirable that we should have a political agent in that part.

the

CAPTAIN SIR F. NICOLSON, R.N., F.R.G.S., in corroboration of Mr. Oliphant's remarks respecting the supplies to be obtained in that part of the world, said, in the first Chinese war, a party from H.M.S. Blonde secured seventy bullocks one afternoon, on the shore of the Gulf of Leotung. He merely stated this, as doubts had been thrown on the capabilities of the country to supply a large number of troops.

He

MR. W. LOCKHART, F.R.G.S., thought it would be desirable to point out on the map the places of the most consequence mentioned in the paper. accordingly proceeded to do so, and, with regard to Tungchow and Niu-Chwang, observed that they were the most northerly consular ports opened to us under Lord Elgin's treaty. The promontory of Shantung is very mountainous, and is the terminal point of one of the spurs of the Himalayan mountains which crosses China from the upper part of Thibet; there are several breaks in this mountain-chain to allow the Yellow River to pass through, in different portions of its course across the country. This being a mountainous country, the inhabitants of Shantung are a large race of men; the tallest and largest in the empire of China. Chefow is a more important port, as Mr. Oliphant had just stated, than Tungchow, where the water was so shallow that no vessels could approach it. Tungchow and Chefow are the ports for the natives' exports of oil and the beans from which the oil is made, as well as the bean-cake which remains after the expression of the oil; this is used largely all over China for manuring the fields. Large quantities of this bean-oil are produced in the north of China, and it is extensively used both for cooking and for lamps, and