of a secret jealously kept by the former Governments of Spain, for the security of their colonies; and secured by a decree of the penalty of death against any one who deviated in his voyages up or down the Atrato from the straight course of the main stream. This proved an effectual bar to the trader's greed as well as to the explorer's curiosity; till the question was dropped and forgotten during the protracted war of Independence.

Now it may readily be understood how the gradual accumulation of drift mud, sand and rocks, together with big trees, innumerable weeds and every kind of detritus brought down by the frequent freshets of the mighty river, and by the many affluents of the "American Strait”—and incessantly driven back towards its Eastern terminus by the impetuous high tides of the Pacific, have formed that comparatively slight obstruction which separates, at present, the two oceans. The subsequent slow upheaval which, according to the savant Sir Chas. Lyell, has raised the ground all along the Pacific coast of South America, helped by the marvellous vegetation of the Tropics, may well have formed also those irregularly disseminated hillocks or mounds that cover both banks of the river Cacarica at its junction with the lagoons.

Again, to refer to more recent opinions, Rear Admiral Charles Davis, at p. 16 of his report to Congress in 1866, speaking of my communication about my proposed route, and of its intended resurvey by "competent authority," cites Admiral Fitzroy and draws himself the line via Paya in his general map. And finally, Dr. Maak of Harvard University and geologist of the U. S. Exploring Expedition of 1871, officially reports that

evidence exists in the tertiary strata, that the two oceans freely mingled their waters through the present valley of the Tuyra as late as the pliocene period; a learned opinion which is the more to be noted because it shows that the conclusions of science so completely agree with the tradition.

All which tends to confirm the exactness of the data that I have furnished since so many years; and as I hold that science has neither nationality, nor political nor "moneyed" creed, I leave the question open to the judgment of the learned world, and stand by my old device "Magna est veritas, et prævalebit,"―tardé !

I am, Mr. President, very respectfully,

ANTHONY DE GOGORZA.

THE RAIYAN MOERIS.

ance.

BY

COPE WHITEHOUSE.

The Journal of this Society (Vol. XIV.) contains, under the title of Lake Moeris, the results of those early explorations in the Fayoum and the adjacent desert which have now assumed a transcendent importThe claim there made for the great inland sea has been fully justified. The vindication of the integrity and intelligence of the ancient historians is complete. The splendid engineering works of remote antiquity dazzle the eye and stimulate the imagination of statesmen and engineers, who study the arid plains of the Western States or watch the turbulent floods of the Father of Waters.

Diodorus, the Sicilian geographer, thus describes what he saw during his visit to that part of Egypt: "A little south of Memphis a canal was cut for a lake, brought down in length from the city forty miles. usefulness was worthy of all admiration and the magnitude of the work incredible. The circuit of the lake is

Its

said to be four hundred and fifty miles; and, in many places it is three hundred feet in depth. Who is he, therefore," he exclaims, "that considers the greatness of

NOTE. This paper contains the substance of an address made before this Society on Nov. 11, 1889. It was illustrated by lantern slides which gave the complete cartography of Middle Egypt, including hieroglyphic, Greek, Arabic and modern maps; as well as by original views of the Bahr Jusuf, the Fayoum, Raiyan and Muellah depressions, and the adjacent desert.