objective proof, such as we now possess. At any rate, How did all these animals become exterminated from all over the world, and exterminated apparently at once?

This, I claim, is the great outstanding problem of Geology-or of all natural science, for that matter. A very large amount of new evidence has come to light which tends to support the views of the New Catastrophism in Geology. A re-examination of this entire subject is the next thing in order. In the meantime, it should be remembered that the strictest logic must be applied to all these studies regarding the early days of our world, the same hard rules of logic which we would apply to a problem in physics or chemistry or astronomy. For it is already as clear as sunlight that very many ideas now confidently held in the name of Geology will not stand critical inspection. The geological theory of the successive forms of life is without doubt the weakest point in the theory of organic Evolution. How long are we going to retain this part of the Evolution theory in our orthodox discussions of the problems of science and religion?

The following statements were made in the course of the proceedings :

Before the reading of Prof. G. McCready Price's paper, the HONORARY SECRETARY read the following motion which had been passed by the Council, of which they invited the assent of the Meeting: :

"Having heard with profound sorrow of the death of Mr. Arthur Warwick Sutton, J.P., F.L.S., this Meeting places on record its sense of the great loss sustained by the Victoria Institute, of which Mr. Sutton had been a member for twenty-two years, as well as rendering valued service as Member of Council, Treasurer, and latterly as Trustee. Held in high honour as a Christian gentleman, Mr. Sutton was a warm friend of the Institute, and his co-operation —ever courteous and worthy of confidence—will be greatly missed in the coming days."

The CHAIRMAN then called on Prof. G. McCready Price, M.A., to read his paper, the Langhorne Orchard Prize Essay, entitled "Revelation and Evolution-Can They be Harmonized?" and when it was finished, handed him, in the name of the Council, a cheque for 20 guineas, being the Langhorne Orchard Prize, founded by surviving relatives to perpetuate the memory of the late Prof. H. Langhorne Orchard, a Vice-President of the Institute. Dr. J. W. THIRTLE, the Chairman of Council, added a few words in memory of the Professor, and explained the founding of the Prize and the nature of the triennial competition in connection therewith.

HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL,
WESTMINSTER, S.W. 1, ON MONDAY, MAY 4TH, 1925,
AT 4.30 P.M.,

PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S.,
IN THE CHAIR.

A paper by Professor Edouard Naville, LL.D., D.C.L., a VicePresident of the Society, was read, on "The Land of Punt and the Hamites."

The CHAIRMAN explained that, much to the regret of the Council, Professor Naville was not able to be present to read his paper, which had unfortunately arrived too late to be printed and circulated to members.

The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read, confirmed, and signed, and the HON. SECRETARY announced that the following gentlemen had been elected as Associates:-The Rev. Professor L. B. Henderson, A.M., B D., and Herbert B. Cole, Esq.

The CHAIRMAN then, after a few general remarks on the subject, called on the Hon. Secretary to read the paper, in Professor Naville's absence.

In introducing Professor Naville's paper: "The Land of Punt and the Hamites," the Chairman spoke of the importance of the subject. We knew something of the Hamites, but Punt was not a district with which ordinary Bible-students were acquainted. It was well known, however, to Egyptologists, and seems to have been a land of romance even to the Egyptians themselves. We might therefore expect that Professor Naville had something of considerable interest to tell us.

THE LAND OF PUNT AND THE HAMITES. By PROFESSOR EDOUARD NAVILLE, D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A. N the Egyptian inscriptions we frequently find the mention of a land with which the Egyptians were connected by special links, and to which they several times sent expeditions. It is chiefly referred to in religious texts because it was the land of frankincense, which was much employed in the ceremonies. It was the land which we shall call the land of Punt, though it is possible that the vowel of the name was lengthened, as it is shown by the Greek name Πουάνου πόλις.

The proof that the Egyptians considered that there was a sort of parentage between them and the land of Punt is that its name is never written with the sign of a foreign country, although in the

inscriptions even districts which were borderlands still have that sign when they belong to the administrative divisions of Egypt.

The first time we meet with the name of Punt is under King Chufu of the IVth dynasty. One of his sons has a slave from Punt. But a regular expedition to Punt is first recorded under the Vth dynasty, under King Sahura, as we know from the inscription of the Palermo stone. We see there that the king, building his sanctuaries, sent to the land of Punt to get there, in the first place frankincense, also a metal to which I shall have to revert, and which I believe to be copper, and a yellow mineral which I cannot determine. This shows that in that remote time already there was a commercial intercourse between Egypt and Punt, and the trade probably was by sea. It must have been regular under the Vth dynasty and afterwards, since we find the name of the frankincense in the texts of the pyramids of Unas, the last king of the Vth dynasty, and Teti, the third king of the VIth. Occasionally, at that epoch we find mention of Punt, from which a dancing dwarf is brought by travellers who went South; but what proves that there was a trade by sea with Punt is what we read in an inscription of an officer called Pepinekht, who was sent by King Pepi II of the VIth dynasty somewhere on the coast of the Red Sea, to avenge the death of an officer who had been killed by the people of the desert while fitting up a transport ship for Punt.

The first account of a naval expedition to Punt is given by the last king of the XIth dynasty, Sankhkara Mentuhotep. An officer called Hennu is ordered by the king to send a vessel to Punt, to bring fresh frankincense from the sheikhs of Punt. Hennu starts from Coptos with a troop of 3,000 men. His journey to the harbour on the Red Sea seems to have been difficult. It is possible that he had to open a new road to the harbour. He seems to have encountered on his way some hostility from the natives, and he had to dig several wells in the desert. At last he reached the sea: "I made the ship and I dispatched it with everything." He did not go himself with the ship, but he stayed till its return. The voyage does not seem to have been very long. Probably the ship went to the nearest port of Punt, which, as we shall see, was on the Arabian coast. After the ship's return, Hennu went back to Egypt, and he boasts of having brought for the king all the products he had found in the districts of God's land."

Here Punt is named by its Egyptian name, God's land or the

divine land. It received this name because, though it was well known, it was considered as the land of wonders, of marvels. What was very highly valued among the products of Punt was frankincense. It was for frankincense that the Egyptians sent expeditions to Punt. Other valuable things would come from there, but the odoriferous gum was the most precious, and it was much more prized for temple worship and household consumption than it is now. Punt was renowned for its perfumes; it was a sweet-smelling country. The greatest compliment which may be made to a woman is that she breathes all the perfumes of Punt. Punt and frankincense are nearly always connected, and the choicest frankincense, called by the Egyptians anti, comes from Punt only.

Frankincense is a gum produced by a plant which botanists call Boswellia Carteri; it grows to the height of 4 or 5 metres. The gum is gathered at the present day by the Arabs by cutting the stem, and, after seven days, collecting the gum which has exuded. But there are other varieties of Boswellia, which are trees, and which emit the gum which dries up in small patches along the branches, as we see in the pictures of Deir el Bahari. These trees are called sycamores of incense, and they are brought in pots from the land of Punt to be transplanted in the garden of Amon at Thebes, where they grow to a great height.

Where was the land of Punt which was so renowned for its incense? We have a picture of a part of Punt, to which the queen, whom I shall call by her familiar name Hatasu, sent her vessels, in the sculptures of the temple of Deir el Bahari. They were partly brought to light by Mariette; all that remains of them may be seen after the excavations which I made there for the Egypt Exploration Fund. It is a pity that these walls have been so much destroyed, even not very long ago, by travellers. The queen relates that it is on the express order of Amon that she sent an expedition to Punt, to the land of incense, after the god had promised her that, while her predecessors had received the marvels of Punt in return for large payments, "the incense terraces will belong to her," the god will give success to the expedition.

The queen sends an expedition, which has not a military character; it is not intended to make the conquest of the country, but to establish regular commercial intercourse. The five ships which are sent to Punt carry a certain number of soldiers, but there is no fighting, only trade carried on by exchange

of wares, as it is still done at the present day with African populations.

The ships anchor in a harbour which is certainly African; certain animals and plants which we see there are exclusively African, like the giraffe, certain monkeys, the elephant or rhinoceros, and the ebony wood. The population is mixed. The Puntites are the rulers, the land is theirs, but a negro population has established itself there, black and brown negroes. We see their huts, which seem to be made of wicker-work, probably palm-stalks; they are built on poles and reached by a ladder. We have here the picture of a kind of commercial factory, where the wares of the country were sold and the goods of the African natives were brought for barter. There is no doubt that what is shown to us is a harbour on the African coast; Punt was therefore a part of Africa. How far did this settlement extend on the coast of the continent? This is a very much discussed question. Some authors, like Glaser, maintain that Punt went as far as Mashonaland, that the Puntites knew the gold mines of South Africa, and that they raised the extraordinary constructions of Zimbabe. Mariette, who first published these inscriptions about Punt, considered that the land of ointments and of all sorts of fragrant gums, whither the Egyptians repeatedly sent expeditions on purpose to get frankincense, must be the Aromatifera regio of the Greeks and Romans in Africa; it meant the present land of the Somali as far as Cape Guardafui; but the Latin name applies also to the Arabian coast, and, in fact, we find that in the inscription Punt is spoken of as being on both sides of the sea. And when the countries are enumerated which are the cardinal points of Egypt, Punt is sometimes East, the Arabian Punt, and sometimes South, the African.

The Puntite is a tall, well-shaped man, of a type which certainly belongs to the Caucasian race; his hair is flaxen and is divided in well-made plaits; his nose is aquiline, his beard long and pointed; he wears a loin-cloth. The chief has a dagger in his belt. The type is very like that of the Egyptians; except in the hair there is hardly any difference between Egyptians and Puntites, who are loading together the five ships sent by the queen, and especially carrying the incense trees in pots, which are to be planted in the garden of Amon. The appearance of the Puntites such as we see them portrayed at Deir el Bahari shows that they formed part of the Hamitic stock, and, as we shall see further, that their original home was Arabia.