NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY PRO GRAM OF LECTURES AND MEETINGS The Popular Course consisting of thirteen lectures will be delivered in the National Rifles Armory, G street between Ninth and Tenth streets northwest, on Friday evenings at 8 o'clock, commencing November 8 and alternating with the Technical Meetings which will be held in the Assembly Hall of Cosmos Club. Experience has shown that it is unwise to arrange lectures too far in advance, as points of geographic interest shift rapidly; hence only the following dates have been definitely assigned: November 8.-The Twelfth Census Honorable FREDERICK H. WINES As a practical sociologist, Dr. Wines has given special attention to the classes and movements of our population as ascertained by the Census Office, and his lecture will form the first public presentation of interesting facts and conclusions reached during the past year. November 22.-The Interior of Borneo Prof. A. C. HADDON The natives of Borneo were the object of study of an expedition dispatched to the island from England in 1898-1899. As leader of this expedition, Prof. Haddon obtained much interesting information about the peoples and country of the little-known interior. December 6.—Peary's Progress Toward the Pole HERBERT L. BRIDGMAN Vice-President Arctic Club of America Mr. Bridgman will describe the lands nearest to the Pole discovered by Peary in his recent arctic campaign. Peary is now beginning his fourth consecutive winter in the land of snow and ice. December 20.-The Trans-Siberian Railway Honorable E. J. HILL As a member of important committees in the House of Representatives, Mr. Hill has taken a practical interest in the extension of American influence, and has just returned from the Orient over the Trans-Siberian railway. His journey gave opportunities for observations of much interest, which will receive first announcement through the Society. January 3.-The new Mexico Honorable JOHN W. FOSTER General Foster was U. S. Minister to Mexico during the years 1873-1880, when the republic was just starting on that phenomenal career of development which raised it to a prominent position among nations and placed its president among the world's great leaders. Twenty years later (in 1901) he revisited the country as its guest; and his observations and impressions will form the theme of his lecture. January 17.-American Progress and Prospects in the Philippines. General A. W. GREELY Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army General Greely is on his way home from an extended tour among the Philippine Islands. As an example of American progress in the Philippines, it may be stated that 6,000 miles of telegraph lines and cables have been put up in these islands by the U. S. Signal Corps in the three years since the capture of Manila. Telegraph and cable connections are now complete between the northern coast of Luzon and Jolo, 1,000 miles to the south. Arrangements have also been made for the following popular lectures, at dates to be announced later : The Appalachian Forest Reserve; Honorable JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture. Fifty Years of Immigration; Honorable E. F. MCSWEENEY, Asst. Com. Immigration. Finland; Mr. GEORGE KENNAN. Provisional arrangements have been made for lectures on Pacific Cables, Actual and Proposed ; Our Coming Oceanic Canal; America Before the Advent of Man; Chinese Problems; Lands and Life in Ocean Depths; Colombia; Danish West Indies; and Afghanistan-the Buffer State. Regular Meetings of the Society for the reading of technical papers and discussions will be held in the Assembly Hall of Cosmos Club on Friday evenings, at 8 o'clock, commencing November 1, and alternating with the Popular Lectures. November 1.-Symposium on the Growth and Prospects of the Society. Pres. GRAHAM BELL Followed by Professor HEILPRIN and others The Lenten Course of five lectures will be delivered in Columbia Theater, F street near Twelfth, at 4.20 o'clock, on Wednesday afternoons of March 5, 12, 19, and 26 and April 2 As previously announced, the general subject of this course is "Problems of the Pacific" the special topics being Japan, Hawaii and Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand, Physical Features of the Great Oceanic Basin, and the Pacific as a Factor in WorldGrowth. The program is not yet complete, but it may be confidently stated that each subject will be treated in an authentic and interesting manner. THE NATIONAL DIARY OF A VOYAGE FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO TAHITI AND RETURN, 1901 BY S. P. LANGLEY U PREFACE NTIL lately Tahiti (Cook's Otaheite) has been reached from the United States only by a sailing schooner from San Francisco in a voyage of six or seven weeks. There has been an occasional steamer from New Zealand; and the French, who are in possession of the island, send a warship at intervals; but on the whole the islanders are in very much the same condition that they were a hundred years ago. The French Government has just subsidized a vessel of the Oceanic Steamship Company, which is to make a trip to Tahiti once in every five weeks, the voyage lasting only about eleven days. On the occasion of the French National Fête, on the 14th of July (1901), the company advertised a trip widely throughout the United States. I was led to think that the occasion was one for seeing the native ways and customs of the islands before the innovations that would be introduced by the steamer communication in the future, and, expecting to have a companion, I had arranged to take the voyage. My companion failed me at the last moment, and I took the trip alone, commencing my diary with the departure from San Francisco. I have published it as written at the time, without modifying the style such diarial notes naturally take. June 25.-In the morning of the 25th of June I went down to see the Australia at the dock. She is a long, narrow vessel, painted white, of 3,200 tons burden, with great piles of lumber on her main deck, and evidently both old and overloaded. I secured my passage with some misgiving. June 26.-Going down to the boat at 9.30 a. m., I hear from more competent judges than myself the confirmation of my feeling that the boat is extremely overloaded. The depth to which she has sunk in the water and the lumber on the decks say this even to a landsman's eye; but when I get on board of |