GEOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY. On the Influence of the Invasion of the Danes and Scandinavians, in Early Times, on certain Localities in England. By Sir C. ANDERSON. HAVING lately visited Denmark and the northern parts of Europe, the author had been much struck with the similarity pervading the Danish and English languages, and he had thought it might not be deemed superfluous if he ventured to lay before the Meeting some of the results of his inquiries. The similarity he ascribed to the influence which the Danes possessed when they made a conquest of this island, and planted themselves as settlers in it. Sir Charles proceeded to give several examples in support of his assertion. On the Dialects North and South of the Humber compared. Mr. Beckett commenced by observing that the boundaries of English counties were various, and often arbitrary, the most natural being rivers. The river Humber, from its width and length, has always formed a most distinct boundary, not only between two different counties, but also between two classes of peasantry, differing much in many respects,-in origin, physiognomy, manners, conformation, and dialect. Abundant evidence exists of Danish origin in the names of towns and villages in both counties; no less than 212 places terminating in "by" in Lincolnshire, whilst in the north and east ridings of Yorkshire 135 of the same were found. This termination always points out a Danish origin. Several other Danish names of places, persons, and things, are also found. The distinction between the peasantry north and south of the Humber cannot escape the attentive observer. The Lincolnshire peasant is somewhat more phlegmatic, his physiognomy less marked and acute, and the face more oval in form than that of the Yorkshireman. His manner is more amiable and polite, but less decisive and acute. This harmonizes not only with his own appearance, but, singularly, also with the general mildness of the aspect of the landscape around him. These inquiries are the more interesting, because the progress of civilization, increased travelling facilities, and the lapse of time, all tend rapidly to efface ethnological distinctions. The successive irruptions of the Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman people into this country, were analogous to the warping of low land by successive tides; the existing language being a rich alluvium left by them all. Yorkshire has probably several dialects; Lincolnshire, two, according to Halliwell, the north and the south. Both agree in the broad pronunciation of many syllables-as, for instance, changing one into two: as, sea, sea-ah; seat, se-at; beast, bee-ast. Both use many archaic words, each county, however, having its own. The intonations and inflexions of the voice vary also in the two counties. But the chief difference lies in the relative value of the two vowels i and o. These are rendered ei in Yorkshire, and double or long i in Lincolnshire: as, wife, weife, wiife; life, leife, iiife, respectively. These apparently trivial differences are in fact sufficient to change the whole character of the vernacular speech. The o also has similar varieties; thus in Yorkshire we have now, noo, and thou, thoo. In Lincolnshire these would be thaou, naou. Some other characteristics were also mentioned. On the whole the Lincolnshire dialect is more soft and agreeable, contains fewer obsolete words and accents, and approaches more nearly to pure speech. The paper closed by inquiring how far climate and the social history and progress of the two counties might have operated, along with some differences of origin, in leading to these probably transient ethnological distinctions. Substance of a Topographical Essay on the Navigation of the Rivers "Plata," "Parana," "Paraguay," " Vermejo," and "Pilcomayo." By HERMAN C. DWERHAGen. In 1828 M. Herman C. Dwerhagen published some observations on the immense importance of the free navigation of the river Plata and its various ramifications to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Bolivia, which, he complains, met with no attention either from natives or foreigners, because they were unacquainted with the geography of both these Republics. This consideration has induced him to publish a map, which, although on a small scale, he considers sufficient for the object he had in view, although it only contains the names of the chief towns and such places as the navigation of the rivers lead to. The author states that the navigation of the river "Plata" would eternally unite the territories of Buenos Ayres and Bolivia, as it is navigable from its mouth in 35° S. latitude, to the junction of the Jauru with the Paraguay in 16° S. latitude, being an inland navigation of 19° in extent; the principal provinces in Bolivia, which would be directly benefited by the free navigation of the Paraguay (a branch of the River Plata), are Moxos, Chiquitos, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. These extensive territories, the most fertile in Bolivia, about 43,000 square leagues in extent, produce little or nothing at present, compared with what they might produce if they had an outlet for their products, which consist of sugar, rice, coffee, indigo, cocoa, cotton (that of Moxos being one of the best in the world), grain, many kinds of valuable drugs, and amongst them bark, dyewoods, tobacco, canes, numerous kinds of wood of the most beautiful description, hides, tallow, &c., articles which cannot on account of their bulk be sent over the Cordilleras to a port on the Pacific, as the expense of the carriage would exceed their value on their arrival there. The author considers these territories as the most choice in the Republic, and in proof states that they met the especial favour of the Jesuits, and have now the advantage of being peopled by industrious and intelligent Indians; and all that is wanted is the introduction of steam-navigation to bring forth the natural capabilities of the country, and to produce a most extensive commercial intercourse betwixt the States of Buenos Ayres and Bolivia, in lieu of the present slow mode of communication by vessels. These are sometimes made fast to a tree for a fortnight waiting for a fair wind, during which time the whole extent of the navigation might be accomplished by a steam-vessel; so that a large territory, now producing but little, might, by having proper stations on the Paraguay and the aid of steam navigation, become productive in the most extraordinary degree, and greatly increase its population. At present, the only port which Bolivia turns her attention to is Lamar, alias Cobija, on the Pacific, but by the plan now under consideration, the intercourse with Buenos Ayres and Europe would be made easy and constant, and the navigation round Cape Horn avoided. The passage from Buenos Ayres to latitude 16° 20', that is, to the mouth of the river Jauru, might be made in about a fortnight as soon as the navigation of the river should be properly understood, allowing the same rate of time as is required for an equal distance on the river Mississippi, and the return would be effected in less than half the time. The mouth of the Jauru is on the same parallel of latitude as the town of Santa Anna, the capital of the province of Chiquitos, and distant from it about 70 leagues, and is a much less distance from various other towns of the same province. From the capital of Matagroso it is about 73 leagues, and about 100 leagues from the nearest towns in the province of Moxos. This steam navigation being once established, the inhabitants of Bolivia might with ease bring all their own products down to Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, and take back in return such articles as they might require, all of which would be found at either place at reasonable prices. All these remarks apply with equal force to the noble river Pilcomayo, which is navigable nearly as far as Chuquisaca and Santa Cruz de la Sierra; thus by means of this celebrated river, which runs through a most fertile country, supplies of sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco, &c., and in fine all the products of the East and West Indies and Brazil, everything which nature is capable of producing within the tropics, might be received. The navigation of the Pilcomayo is said to be obstructed by three falls, which might perhaps be remedied; but if not, such steam-boats would have to be constructed as would navigate betwixt them, and proper arrangements made to facilitate the transhipment of the goods from one steam-boat to another. All this would attract the attention of the Indians and bring about a trade with them, for they would soon begin to cultivate all kinds of tropical productions; in addition to this, on the banks of this river, honey, wax, skins, and many other articles are to be found, besides the finest wood in the world; and in fine, the navigation of the Pilcomayo" would more rapidly promote the civilization of the Indians of the Chaco, and of that part through which it runs, than all the attempts of the last three hundred years. Thus the whole of the Argentine Republic would have an active commerce with that of Bolivia, which would be furnished with all the products of the world, and in return would give her own. To the inhabitants of the eastern side of Bolivia it would be more advantageous to make their purchases at Buenos Ayres rather than at any port on the Pacific, because they would be able to reach Buenos Ayres more conveniently, and quite at their ease, and be certain of finding there everything they wanted, and cheaper than in the ports of the Pacific, the number of vessels which arrive at Buenos Ayres being so much greater. The traffic in gold and silver can only be carried on beneficially from the ports on the Pacific, but all merchandise of any bulk is most advantageously transported by the rivers, and generally where the property goes there goes the owner also. The foreign trader will always prefer the river Plata, and be content with half the gain which he might make in such places as Arica and Lamar, as the returns would be so much quicker as to make him ample amends. It may be said that by means of the new canal by the river St. John and lake Nicaragua an active commerce may be established with Bolivia by means of Puerto Lamar, but a vessel from Europe or from the United States of America would reach the river Plata as soon as it could the mouth of the river St. John. This canal will enter the Pacific in about 11° 30' N. latitude, from whence a new voyage is to be commenced for Port Lamar, during which time the cargo, which may be shipped to Buenos Ayres direct, will have been placed on board the steam-boat and arrive much quicker at Santa Anna or Chuquisaca. Some people imagine that Bolivia might have an active commercial intercourse by means of the river Bini or Rio Grande, branches of the great Maranham; but in the first place, the distance is much greater from the three provinces of La Plata, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Chiquitos, and even Moxos; secondly, these rivers run through deserts and countries inhabited by savages, and filled with clouds of insects and other things which torment mankind, and the air breathed in such voyages is pestiferous; thirdly, the greater part of the year it rains, and immediately after a shower the sun bursts forth with such excessive power as to open the upper works of the vessels, and before they could reach the mouth of the Maranham great part of their cargoes would have perished. Now, if all these difficulties are attendant on the descent of the river, how much would they be increased in the ascent, which would require double the time; and what human frame could stand such a trial? for the heat being excessive to begin with, would be increased as the voyage was prolonged, the navigation being continued under the equator, so that none but the most hardy Indians could support it; whereas the descent of the rivers to Buenos Ayres would have exactly the contrary effect, as a more genial climate would be approached with extraordinary rapidity. The river Vermejo is navigable nearly as far as Tarija, and which, by means of its branches, brings us in contact with Jujuy and Salta, which was ascertained by Don Francisco Gavino de Arias in 1789, Don Juan Adrian Cornejo in 1790, and Don Pablo Soria in 1827; they all three descended the river, and reached the Paraguay without difficulty, the first in February, the second in May and June, and found not less than three varas of water. The advantages which the free navigation of this river would be to the Argentine Republic are incalculable, for a steam-vessel would be able to reach Oran in twelve days, or even perhaps nearer to Tarija. What a stimulus would this be to cultivate the rich territory of the three provinces Tarija, Salta, and Tucuman! and these would have a direct interest in the free navigation of the Vermejo, as they all border on the said river, and they now produce rice, sugar, grain, indigo, coffee, wax, honey, tobacco, woods of all sorts, dyewoods, leather, hides, skins, &c.; but these articles are abandoned, although not for want of hands, because in those provinces very good Indians are to be had, who come from Chaco of their own free will to work for moderate wages. The province of Paraguay alone is capable of producing an enormous quantity of tropical products, besides many other important and useful articles; and as soon as ever person and property become respected and secure, there will be no want of individuals ready to engage in so lucrative a business as steam-navigation will afford; and rivers which are little known and almost abandoned will be enlivened by a brisk trade, and the territory through which they run will acquire a very increased value, owing to their quick and easy communication with the sea. It would also be to the interest of Brazil to allow the products of that country to be exported from one or two ports of Matagroso situate on the Paraguay. A Sketch of the Progress of Discovery in the Western Half of New Guinea, from the Year 1828 up to the Present Time. By G. WINDSOR Earl. This paper is a continuation of an essay on the same subject by Mr. Earl, which appeared in the Transactions of the Geographical Society in 1837. In 1849 the Dutch war-schooner Circe was sent by the Netherlands Government to explore the north coast of New Guinea, for the purpose of choosing a site for another settlement. Port Dory and the trading ports on the shores of the Great Bay were investigated; after which the Circe proceeded to the eastward along the coast, intending to examine Port Humboldt, but contrary winds prevented her from entering the bay, after having arrived within a few miles of the head. Nevertheless, the information collected was considered sufficient to authorize the establishment of a settlement, and a garrison, consisting of burghers, or native militia, was fixed there in the early part of 1852. Mr. Earl is of opinion that this settlement is likely to prove useful to shipping employed in the traffic between India and the west coast of America, as the neighbouring coast has hitherto afforded no place of refuge for distressed vessels, which is so much the more necessary from the savage character of the inhabitants. The only discovery of importance made during the voyage of the Circe was between Dobie and the Arimoa Islands, where the low land, through an extent of nearly 100 miles, was found to be the delta of a large river, called Ambermo by the natives, which, from the immense quantity of alluvium that has been deposited at its mouth, forming a shallow bank, extending many miles out to sea, may be a river of importance, affording access to the interior. Some mountains were seen far inland from the mouth of the river, which were conjectured to be the same lofty range seen from the south-west coast in 1828, and supposed, from their white appearance, to be covered with snow. A lithographed sketch of this range, by one of the artists attached to the Dutch Expedition of 1828, accompanied the paper. On the Currents of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The progress of meteorological science having been pre-eminently fostered by the British Association, it was thought that one hitherto much neglected, but very important branch of it, would form a fitting subject for their consideration. When it is remembered that of the surface of our planet, the proportion of water to land is at least 391 to 100, or nearly four times greater in area, and that the phænomena of the atmosphere must be exhibited much nearer their normal condition at sea than on land, amid the infinite variety of terrestrial disturbances, the nature of oceanic circulation must be allowed to be of no small importance in the generalization of atmospheric phænomena, and the distribution of climate. Yet this branch of natural science has had as yet but few votaries. The labours of Lieut. Maury at the National Observatory of the United States have of late drawn attention to it, and it is hoped that England may enter into an honourable rivalry in this domain of science. It was, however, with deference urged that the labours of our American brethren had not, as yet, added much to our knowledge of the North Atlantic currents, as it was left to us by the personal labours of Major Rennell, who gave us the first memoirs on the subject as it now stands in 1778 and 1793. It is with the currents of the North Atlantic only that we are tolerably intimate, but even this knowledge is imperfect, for we know nothing of submarine or subsurface currents, though such knowledge is greatly attainable. Of the other parts of the wide world of waters we are in great ignorance, and it is in the Pacific, the Asiatic Archipelago, and the Indian Ocean that the real harvest of maritime meteorology is to be gained. There are several difficulties in the formation of an entire system from the labours of Rennell; the waters constantly setting into the Sargasso Sea, the origin and continuance of the North African and Guinea currents and of the Arctic currents are not satisfactorily explained by him, but by analogy with the Pacific currents and further observations, these anomalies may perhaps be removed. The Arctic current setting southward out of Baffin's Bay and between Iceland and Greenland, passes down Labrador and Newfoundland, and turns to the westward in soundings along the coast of the United States as far as Cape Hatteras, in opposition to the direction of the Gulf-stream; this was first explained by Mr. Redfield in 1838. The warm Gulf-stream closes in with the land in its northern progress at Cape Hatteras, and the line between this and the cold inner currents is a nearly perpendicular wall of warm and cold water in juxtaposition. At the banks of Newfoundland the Arctic current flows beneath the Gulf-stream and transports icebergs into its warm waters. Another feature of the Gulf-stream lately elicited by Bache and other officers of the U.S.N., its bifurcation off Cape Hatteras, may be attributed to the recurving of that portion of the equatorial current which flows to the northward of the Bahamas. Between Porto Rico and the Bermuda Islands, some singular phænomena were observed in May 1850 by Lieut. Walsh, U.S.N., the currents at the depth of 126 fathoms flowing in opposite directions on consecutive days, generally with greater velocity, and always different in direction to the surface current, indicating a sort of eddy. The Gulf-stream does not stop at the Azores, as was supposed by Rennell, but a portion is propelled toward the Bay of Biscay, and producing the temporary Rennell's or 'thwart-channel current, and probably impelled by the prevalent S.W. wind, it reaches the western shores of the British islands and the coast of Norway, causing the climates of these countries to be in marked contrast to those of Greenland and Labrador in the same latitudes. It also reaches the S. and W. shores of Iceland, as shown by Capt. Irminger of the Danish Navy. The portion which strikes the coast of Portugal passes southwards, forming the North African current, and south of Cape Verde and Cape Roxo it turns to the westward into the great equatorial current, and does not probably form the initial portion of the Guinea current flowing eastward into the African Bights. The equatorial current, with less regularity on its eastern side, but constantly on the western, flows from east to west within the tropics, and the northern portion forms the commencement of the Gulf-stream; that southward of Cape S. Roque on the Brazil coast, flows southward as the Brazil current, whence it is deflected to the eastward as the Southern Connecting Current across the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean south of the Agulhas Bank off the Cape of Good Hope. The Agulhas current flowing to the west around the Cape, and then along the west coast of Africa northwards to the Bight of Biafra, enters the southern portion of the equatorial current, which flows in opposition to and in juxtaposition with the Guinea current. The waters thus circulate around the parallels of lat. 30° in each hemisphere, the central portion of the North Atlantic on this line being known as the Sargasso (or weedy) Sea. The Guinea Current, a warm stream setting to eastward, or in opposition to the equatorial currents, along the coast of Guinea as far as Fernando Po and Princes' Island, has been attributed to a prolongation of the North African current; but why this latter should turn to the east instead of to leeward or to west has not been explained. It was here affirmed to be an independent stream, originating in mid-ocean, in the zone of equatorial calms, between the N.E. and S.E. trade-winds, and the true character of which is cleared up by the existence of a similar current in the Pacific, which was first placed on the charts laid before the Meeting, and presently alluded to. In describing the currents of the Pacific Ocean, we enter upon comparatively a new subject; but from a collection of observations arranged on the charts laid before the meeting some new features and extended knowledge may be established. It may be asserted, however, that the waters of the Pacific do not appear to move with so great velocity and apparent regularity as in the North Atlantic, and this especially so in its south-western portions. The southernmost movement is in the Antarctic current, moving with a velocity apparently of 10 to 35 miles a day from southwards towards the north and east, down to lat. 33° or 34° S. Of many particulars we are still ignorant, which is to be regretted, as it has an important bearing upon the track of our Australian homeward-bound ships. It is analogous to the Southern Connecting Current in the Atlantic, and, as has been demonstrated by Duperrey, it strikes the west coast of Patagonia about the parallel of Chiloe, one portion passing south and east around Cape Horn, and carrying the drift-wood to the Falkland Islands, and even 900 miles eastward of them. This current also flows past Tristan d'Acunha to the E.N.E., and also past the islands south of New Zealand. The northern branch of this cold antarctic current is a remarkable one, and was first demonstrated by Humboldt in 1802, and hence called the Peruvian or Humboldt's Current. It is a moving mass of cold water, of great depth, moving northwards |