THE THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

West Coast Times, Issue 303, 12 September 1866, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

(FROM THE DAII,Y TELEGRAPH, MAY

' The Royal Geographical Society has just held its annual general meeting, and, as usual, there is a satisfactory report of progress. The English Government, it is true, has grown somewhat indifferent to the cause of maritime and inland discovery ; it prefers that ships 1 should ground upon their beef-bones in harbor, and that gallant officers should waste their lives in the discharge of tedious or trivial duties ; it cannot spare so much as a steam yacht to carry Sherard Osborn to the North Pole ; it leaves the conclusion of the long and glorious Arctic story to our American friends ; it does not care to complete 1 the map of the world ; it is not tempted to send fresh expeditions into those vast unexplored spaces in the Pacific, that are probably studded by a thousand islands. Governmental apathy, however, cannot chock the free rovingspirit of our race. Year after year some traveller '" +u-n , bearded and brown, with t;i v v alleys, new mountains, new rivers, new tribes of

men — tales that may yet be found to hare a most " practical " meaning. This little globe of ours has not yet been even surveyed !. Man is so careless a landholder that he has not taken the trouble to walk over his own estate. The Geographical Society does what it can ; and it is sure, so long as our national character remains unaltered, to have plenty of zealous allies. Be his motive religion, or science, or sport, or the mere love of adventure, the Briton is born a wanderer. There were men at the meeting yesterday, who might be considered almost as patriarchs of discovery; such as Sir Edward Belcher, Beechey's friend and companion, and Sir George Back, who was with Franklin and Richardson in their awful journey over the Barren Grounds ; but there were others, like Mr Baker, who have still the African scorch upon , their clieeks. The fine old type ,of the discoverer aud the explorer has not yet become obsolete ; on' the day when it does — on the day when the spirit of nraance and adventure shall fade away — the decadence of this realm will, indeed, have Commenced. But we see no danger yet of such a calamity, A mere glance at the rewards given 'by the society serves to reassure us, and to suggest, not only how wide is the field of discovery, but how zealous are the laborers.

The Founders' Medal of the year goes to Doctor Thomas, who has explored the Western Himalayas and Thibet, describing for the first time their true physical geography" : and the Patrons' Medal is awarded to Mr .William Chandler, who, in the other hemisphere, hasexplored the River Purus from its junction with the Amazon almost to its source, a distance of nearly nineteen hundred miles, defining its course by a continued, series of scientific observations. Then, M. dv Chaillu gets a hundred guineas, 'which it is to be hoped will do him good ;, and a gold watch is presented to Moola-Abdul-Medjid for a hazardous journey from Peshawur to Kokand, along the Upper Valley of the Oxus, and across the Pamir steppes. These rewards having been granted, Sir Roderick Murchison delivered the annual address. He had news from Dr. Livingstone, who at the end of last March was cruising about in an Arab dhow, with his men, six camels, three asses, and three buffaloes. His craft either drew too much water to ascend the Ro'vuma River, or found some other impediments in its way ; at any rate, it had to stand off, and was taken by a lieutenant in the navy to a fine harbor farther northward, where the much-enduring doctor was about to disembark. This part of Eastern Africa is — nominally, at any rate — under the control of the Sultan of Zanzibar, who, of course, accords his protection to the Doctor. Sanguine as over, Livingstone expresses his conviction that he will be able to reach the watershed between his own Lake Ny:mza and the Tanganyika of Burton, Spoke, and Grant; Supposing him to do so, aud to succeed in launching a boat upon the Tanganyika, he will- fur-, nisli a valuable and possibly a conclusive chapter to the history of the source of the Nile. In any o;isi>, he can, hardly fail to add several connecting links to the long chain of African discovery ; and it is to bo hoped that his researches will form . a useful supplement to the recent labors of that splendid traveller, Mr Baker. Perhaps the' most interesting part of the whole address is that which refers to a projected expedition into the heart of Greenland — an expedition which we flatter ourselves may be looked upon as peculiarly English. About the Greenland coasts, as far as the seventy-eighth parallel of north latitude, and especially about the western shore, we know a good deal, thanks partly to our own Arctic expeditions, partly to Danish surveyors, partly to missionaries, and partly to whalers. The life and labors of Hans Egede are very deservedly a a favorite theme for pious commemoration and celebration ; the routine of existence in the' little Danish village is one with which books of travel have made us all tolerably familiar : but hitherto we have only known the outskirts of the land. We are still ignorant of its boundaries to the north — a point which could have been satisfactorily settled, along with many others, had Sherard Osborn's project of a Polar expedition been approved; and of its interior we know scarcely anything. Nor is it by any means an inviting country, even for a summer excursion. Almost every day, from Aptil to August, a thick, cold, sepulchral fog hung about the land and sea. Writing in July, the finest month in these regions, Parry said : f> The greatest part of the^ land was now clear . of snow, which, however, still filled many of the valleys, and, together with the fogs that hung over it, rendered the scenes indescribably dreary and disagreeable. It requires a few days to be passed amid scenes of this nature to erase, in a certain degree, the impression left by more animated landscapes ; and not till then, perhaps, does the eye become familiarised anVl the mind reconciled to prospects of utter barrenness and desolation such as these rugged shores present." The shores are bold and rocky, while the coast is deeply indented with fiords like those of Norway. Inland, as we have said, it is still a Terra Incognita. Geographers as a rule suppose it to be one immense glacier, or rather an agglomeration of glaciers,slowly moving onwards to the sea, and now and then thrusting out an iceberg, as an Alp lets fall an avalanche. For the vegetation, we know of nothing beyond mos ;es and lichens, except it be a few dwarf "willows and junipers; for the animals, there arc reindeer, hares, foxes, and v white bears. But we do

know that of these reindeer there are large numbers ; and it has occurred to a young member of the society that within the glacier region there must be green recesses and well-grassed valleys. Hence he has determined to strike across the ice, taking with him only one well-trained Danish guide, and means to bring us word as to the real state of the country ; whilst, should he be successful in his plan, he hopes that he may help to settle the northern boundaries of Greenland. It is a bold scheme, and worthy of its author. Ordinary travellers might find it impracticable, but even those who are cursorily acquainted with Alpine lore must have heard of Mr Whymper as one of the finest icemen and most daring climbers in the club. Hence we cannot affect to consider the idea reckless or rash. That it involves dangers we do not dispute, but that, we are glad to find, is not regarded,' even in' these piping times of' peace, as a fatal objection.. 'There has been a good deal of virtuous indignation wasted on the Alpine adventurers. We have so often vindicated those 1 gentlemen against their assailants that we need not fight the battle over again; but we rejoice — heartily and cordially rejoice—that one of them is about to turn the experience gained during his holidays in Switzerland' to such good practical account. We presume that even if it be foilish to climb a Swiss mountain, it is not absolutely idiotic <to assist geographers in filling up a blank space upon their maps. During the coming summer Mr Whymper will make a preliminary journey to 'familiarise himself with the country ; and next year, if all goes well, he will trust himself to the "ice and strike off across the country with his guide. On the important matter of commissariat, we are as yet without any precise information ; but, as it stands, the plan is-a bold one, very possibly feasible, in any case creditable to Mr Whymper himself, and reassuring to all who care for English manhood.