delineation of the hydrographical features of Africa could hardly be greater. How inferior are all these maps to the intelligible and, in its main features, correct representation of worthy Fra Mauro!

The early reports of the Portugese explorers, and the writings of geographers" of the period, though abounding in allusions to Equatorial lakes, tell us really nothing about them. The knowledge of Abyssinia, and of its lakes, was very extensive at quite an early period, as evidenced by Fra Mauro's map; and it only needed a master-hand to sift and reduce these ample materials to reasonable proportions in order to produce a fairly accurate map. Of the existence of our modern Lake Nyasa, the Portuguese may be presumed to have had an inkling at an early date; and it became first definitely known to them in 1616, when Gaspar Bocarro, on going from Tete to Kilwa, passed for some distance along it. In the course of the eighteenth century the Portuguese became acquainted with Lake Bangweolo, and probably also with the Moero, although they had no idea of its great extent. The allusions of early writers to the great lakes supposed to exist in Equatorial Africa were provoked by the very misleading maps which enjoyed a very high authority at the time. The original references to such lakes are very few indeed. Encisco (1519) would have us believe that the people of Congo told him that their river, as well as the Nile, rose from a large lake in the "Mountains of the Moon." This, certainly, is making too great a demand upon our credulity. Manuel Pacheco (1536), who proposed to King John III. to explore the Congo River, is far more reasonable when he tells us that that river is reported to rise in "lakes," a very vague term in the mouths of Africans, and quite as applicable to Stanley Pool, or a broad river, as to a more extensive sheet of water. The only other reference to lakes, on the part of an actual explorer, which I have been able to discover, is made by Balthasar Rebello de Aragõa (1600), who left Loanda with the intention of crossing to the Contracosta, but did not even get as far as the Kwango. He was told that there existed a large lake, in about latitude 16° S., from which rose several rivers. All I can say is, that this worthy Portuguese was misinformed, for no large lake is to be found. in the direction pointed out to him. Possibly the swamps of Lovale, or a small lake like the Dilolo, were alluded to. Of the interior of Eastern Equatorial Africa next to nothing was known. Albuquerque (1506) heard that a river flowed at the back of Magadisho; Enciso (1519) mentions the Ethiopian "Mount Olympus," which can be no other than Kilima-njaro; and quite a number of writers allude to a powerful empire, Monemugi, supposed-quite erroneously as we know now-to have extended from Monomotapa, on the Zambezi, to Gurage, one of the southern provinces of Abyssinia, and possibly identical with the modern Unyamwezi.

Our great African lakes-the Tanganyika, Victoria, Albert, and Albert Edward, I feel convinced, only became known in the course of this present century, since caravans of Arabs and Swahili penetrated the Interior in search of slaves and ivory. The credit of having discovered them is due to these enterprising traders, but for their delineation upon our maps we are indebted to such men as Burton, Speke, and Grant, Livingstone, Baker, and Stanley.

DEFINITIONS OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.

BY KONRAD GANZENMÜLLER, PH.D.

THE teacher of Geography finds it impossible to avoid using a great number of foreign names; and these the student must, of course, be expected to remember. However discouraging at first, the study will eventually become extremely attractive if the scholar be made to see that the names are not mere sounds, but, on the contrary, significant forms capable of interpretation.

It is true that this is not the case with all names. There are some which cannot be explained; and the method of instruction will occasionally not admit of an etymological explanation of words of remote and obscure origin. Passing over these, there remain a considerable number of geographical names that may be made clear and intelligible through the languages to which they belong, if only the proper method be employed. Merely to give the name and the meaning of it-whether this be done by the teacher himself or set down in a book-would be to impose an additional burden on the scholar's memory. If rightly used, on the other hand, the explanations should assist the memory, lighten the task of the teacher, and give a living interest to the lesson.

=

Even the most repellent names of the Chinese cities, rivers, etc., may be made intelligible in this manner. With the map of this, the most densely-populated empire on the globe before him, the teacher may remind his pupils that, in English, monosyllabic words are frequently put together without any change, e.g. north-east, south-east, Great Salt Lake, New Zealand, etc. He may then add that the Chinese have in their singular language none but monosyllabic words, which can only be joined directly to others. By way of illustration, he may write on the black-board, in a column, the words: pe=north, tong east, nan=south, si=west; and in a second column: king capital, or king's household; hai=sea. If, in a third column, be written the names Pe-king and Nanking, the scholars will see at a glance that by the former the Chinese understand "the northern capital," and by the latter "the southern capital." These two capital cities of China, it might be shown, have their parallel in the Russian cities of St. Petersburg, the residence of the Tsar, and Moscow, the place of his coronation. (During the last two centuries, it is true, the Emperors of China have always resided in Peking). By this simple process even a pupil of dull wit will soon cease to be bewildered by these strange names: he will remember them with comparative ease, and will recognise their true geographical position.

If, now, the teacher point on the map to the sea that bounds China on the east, he will find that the scholar will understand at once why it is called Tong-hai; and that Nan-hai must be the name of that sea which washes the southern shores of China. In this latter sea, in the "south of the sea," is the island Hai-nan.

These examples having been sufficiently explained, and the words set down on the black-board having been copied out by the scholar, the teacher may then write under si the words: chu-pearl, kin=gold, sha=

sand; pei=white, hoúng=yellow, ta=great; and below hai: kiáng = stream, ho= river.

Attention may then be directed to the confluence of the three rivers near the city of Canton, flowing from points of the compass after which they are named. The Si-kiang, or "the western stream," has a place in the majority of school-books; and the pupil, looking for a Pe-kiang, or "northern stream," and a Tong-kiang, or eastern stream," is able at once to form in his mind, and to retain a far more lively idea of, a riversystem and the importance of its commerce than that which any other method of teaching could convey.

"

The three rivers just named unite and form the Chu-kiang, or "the pearl-stream." The Yang-tse-kiang, or "the stream of" (the ancient province of) "Yang," which is very broad and deep in its lower course, and navigable for large vessels a great distance from its mouth, is also named Ta-kiang, or "the great stream"; and, farther up, Kin-sha-kiang, or "the stream with golden sand." The Hoang-ho, or "yellow river," cuts a deep bed through the yellow soil, from which it derives its colour. Yellow Sea Hoang-hai; Pei-ho (on which Pe-king is situated) = the white river.

With younger pupils the explanation of names might stop at this point for the day, and the rest of the lesson might be devoted to a general account of China and its remarkable people. In the case of elder scholars, the teacher might proceed to speak of the coast, the mountains, the rivers, etc. For these pupils he would write below ta: tián or tien = heaven, shang= upper (upward), chung the middle, ngan= rest; and below ho: shan mountains, mo= desert, tsin=ford, chin= market-place; and in a third column: Tian-shan mountains of heaven, Tien-tsin-ford of heaven.

=

=

Here the teacher would point out that the word hiá signifies "below," and that the Chinese call their empire by the name Tien-hia, "below heaven," meaning by this the earth; and he would thus correct the mistaken expression of the "Celestial Empire."

Then would follow: Sha-mo sand desert (the Chinese name for the Gobi Desert); Shang-hai=upper sea (situated inland from the sea), Chung-king the middle capital; Tong-king=(country of) the eastern capital; Si-ngan=(place of) rest, or peace in the west; mai to buy, mai-mai-to buy and to sell, to trade; and Mai-mai-chin, usually Maima-chin a place of trade. Fu designates, further, a city of the first rank, or a city with a prefecture; and cheu (meaning a district) one of the second rank.

Thus, it is easy to see that the pupil's mind must be roused, and in the highest degree interested in a subject presented in a manner at once so concise and so direct. What before were meaningless sounds have now become instinct with life through the explanations given; and it cannot be doubted that, whatever be read or studied concerning China will be firmly retained by the mind.

Applying the same principle to the names of Mongolia, opportunity will be found for instituting striking comparisons. Dagh (Turkish)= mountains, muren (Mongol)= river, tengri heaven, kara black. The

Mongol-Turkish Tengri-dagh, it will be seen, has the same meaning as the Chinese Tian-shan, " mountains of heaven." Kara-Muren (now Amur) is "the black river." If the pupil be now reminded that, in the Balkan Peninsula, there are to be found the Kara-dagh, or "the black mountains," and the Kara-su, or the black river," he cannot fail to note and to remember the wide range of the Mongolian race. And when he hears, in the lesson on Japan, that to means east," and sai "west," and kio 'capital"; so that To-kio-eastern capital, and Sai-kio (Kiyoto or Meako)= western capital, he must be struck with the likeness of these expressions to the Chinese tong, and si, and king.

Referring to the East Indies, it would be advisable to consider the Archipelago, Hindustan, and Further India together, and to divide the names in accordance with their respective languages. Many of the names belong to Sanskrit, or to its derivative, Hindustani.

It will be best to study at first the appellations of the islands and mountains and rivers, and afterwards to take up the cities. Diva, or dvipa, it is found, means "island"; Malaia, the coast of Malabar; singh, "a lion"; java means "barley," "grain," and lak, or laksha," one hundred thousand." Of the old name Java-diva, "grain island," the first part only has survived. It is the same as Singhala dvipa, "island of the lions," from which dvipa has been dropped, while the Singhala has become Ceylon, though the inhabitants are still known as Singalese (Cingalese). The Laccadive Islands are so called because of their immense number, or Laksha dripas hundred thousand islands; and the Maldives take their name from the compound word Mala-dvipa, " garland of isles."

Giri=mountain, mountains, sindhu=stream, ganga=river, stream, nadi=river; Brahma (n)=name of God; Sankar is a surname of the god Siva, devi=goddess; the goddess Parvati is also called Nanda-happiness, Kali=the goddess of destiny, raja=king, and rashtra=kingdom; putra=son, alaya=abode, hima=snow, dhavala=white, gauri=white, or fair, nila blue, maha (t)=great.

Putting these together, it is easily seen that "the abode of snow" must be Himálaya, and the Blue Mountains Nilagiri (Nilgiri), “the white or fair (god) Siva" will be Gaurisankar, "the goddess Nanda" Nandadevi, the White Mountain Dhavalagiri, and "the son of Brahma" Brahmaputra. (Ganga), Ganges = stream, and Kaliganga = river of Kali. We at once recognise in Mahanadi "the great river," in the analogous combination, Maharaja "the great king," and in Maharashtra "the great kingdom." The Marathas are, therefore, "the inhabitants of the great kingdom." The name of India itself is taken from the word Sindhu, after the Persian pronunciation Hind, hence the Greek "Ivdos, the Latin Indusa stream.

=

=

Pura means a city, nagar city, patna = city, town, kata = ground, holy place; Sri- the goddess of good fortune, naga serpent. In the history of Alexander the Great mention is made of Pura, a city of Gedrosia, and Singapore is, of course, Singhapura = the lion's city, the island taking the same name; Nagapura, Nagpur=the city of serpents. Patna, 'city," is a well-known emporium on the Ganges. Srinagar (in Kashmir)= the city of Sri (the goddess). Calcutta (Kalikata)=the holy place of Kali, the goddess of destiny.

Deccan (formerly Dakshina-patha, or the south way) means the "south," or southern land"; and the mountains of Ghats (ghat is "an ascent in the form of steps") were so named because they are very rugged and steep, and the entrance into the Interior is over only very narrow and difficult passes.

=

In North-Western India the names are frequently of Arabian and Persian origin. Stan = land, ab=water (and hence," the land between rivers "); abūd=city, pur city, town, Allah = God, shah=king, shikar = hunter, Hindu - Indian, Haidar (a personal name) = lion; other proper names are Ahmad, meaning "the praised," and Murshid, "guide," or spiritual teacher"; Aurangzib, the "ornament of the throne," was a famous Mogul, reigning from 1656 to 1707; panj=five.

66

=

==

From these we have: Hindustan, the land of the Indians, Panjab= land of five rivers; Allahabad the city of God; Haidarabad (on the Indus and in Deccan) = city of Haidar; Ahmadabad=city of (the Sultan) Ahmad; Aurangabad = city of (the Great Mogul) Aurang-(zib); Shahabad king's city; Shikarpur-hunter's town.

It will illustrate the vast extent of the Arabian empire in former times to remind the pupil that the name of the southern district of Portugal, Algarve, is also Arabic, and signifies "the West."

In the Malayan language Timor (the island) means "east," and Timorluut = north-east. The Cingalese palk means " whirlpool," hence the Palk Straits. Colombo = harbour, and Galle=rock. Cheri (Tamil) = village, hamlet, pudu new, and Pondicherry = (for Puducheri) new city.

=

India (including-as already mentioned-the islands) has also names of European origin, such as the English words: strait, mount, settlement. Mount Everest (Gaurisankar) received its present name from Sir Andrew Waugh, who ascertained its height, 29,002 feet, in honour of Sir G. Everest, the Surveyor-General of India. The Strait Settlements are the settlements along the Strait of Malacca.

Dutch names also are met with: zorg care, buitenwithout, Buitenzorg without care (cf. the French Sans-souci), a town of Java, thirty-six miles south of Batavia, the capital, which has a fine harbour, but an unhealthy climate. This capital of Batavia itself takes its name after the Batavians, an ancient tribe (in the modern Zeeland, in the kingdom of the Netherlands).

The Philippine Islands are called after Philip II., king of Spain (from 1556 to 1598). By the Portuguese the name Elephanta was given to the island near Bombay, because one of the most conspicuous works of art was a colossal elephant wrought in stone (but now all in ruins).

The lessons on Irania, Arabia, Asiatic Turkey, and Asiatic Russia should be proceeded with in a similar way.

In Africa there might be made three divisions of names: those of North and North-East Africa, those of Central and South Africa, and those of the East and West Coasts and the islands.

In Central and South Africa the Negro languages are very much alike, and new words are formed by prefixes, as in the following: Sungu =white; a white man is called M'sungu, and a number of white men is Wa-sungu; the white man's country is U-sungu, and his language