River in the Colombia valley. In this transit the mountains were overcome at an elevation considered by the party as practicable for locomotives, being far less than that crossed by Frémont in 1843 and 1844. From this point the valleys were kept through Oregon to Astoria, and also over moderately elevated plains to Olympia, the newly-founded capital of Washington Territory on Puget Sound. An astronomer, topographer, botanist, geologist, and a staff of qualified observers accompanied Mr. Stevens, and the most accurate maps may be expected to result from this expedition.

"A southern line for a passage of the Rocky Mountains has been surveyed by a party conducted by Messrs. B. F. Beale and G. H. Heap. This party started from St. Louis, on the Mississippi, in lat. 38° 37'. They traversed in a southern direction the naked plains which intervene between this point and the base of the Rocky Mountains. They passed the Kansas, Arkansas, and Red Rivers, pursuing the latter into and over the gorges of the mountains into the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte, which they reached at Albuquerque, in New Mexico, 10 miles above Santa Fé, which is in lat. 35° 41'. Thence they proceeded W., through a country infested by fierce tribes of Indians, the Utah and Apache, to the Rio Colorado of the West. The peculiarities of this region, its wide tracts of barrens, its immense cañons of volcanic rocks, and general destitution of resources, offered trying obstacles. The Rio Colorado was crossed and followed down to the Tejar Pass, and by the Tulare lakes, into the valley of the Joacquin river of California, and thence to its capital, San Francisco. The journal of these gentlemen has been published.

"The central party of exploration was commanded by Captain J. W. Gunnison, U.S.A., aided by Mr. R. A. Kerns. They entered the passes of the Rocky Mountains at about the 43rd degree of north latitude, and had proceeded in the exploration of the mountain territory of Utah with satisfactory results, till reaching the vicinity of the Mormon settlements of the Great Salt Lake Valley, when they were set upon by a body of hostile Utah Indians and ruthlessly murdered. Their notes and papers have been recovered, and will, it is expected, in due time, be published, together with, or separately from, a large amount of information respecting this primal American chain of mountains.

"Early in the winter of 1853 Colonel J. Frémont set out with a competent party to explore a central pass, his object being to demonstrate the practicability of travelling that route in the winter. He *took with him about twenty men, but not a large stock of provisions, expecting to kill sufficient game for the subsistence of his party.

Accounts have been received which show that this resource has unhappily been found insufficient, and that great suffering has been endured by the party from failure of food. He had reached the Rocky Mountains with little difficulty, but, after crossing the Middle Pass, was beset by great obstacles. He was met on the 4th of February, above Vegas, on the river Santa Clara, near the line of New Mexico, and about 400 miles directly east of San Francisco, having with him but fourteen men, the rest having perished in the mountains. It was deemed impracticable for him to continue his route due west over the Sierra Nevada, and he intended to pass down the Colorado and enter California through Walker or the Tejar Pass.

"Recent explorations by Mr. W. H. Nollis, made however without instruments, denote a practicable route for a railroad from the valley of the Sacramento by the south pass in latitude 42°, to Fort Laramie, on the Nebraska river. The facts require maturer surveys. The elevations to be overcome, and the extent of the barrens to be traversed, are believed to be adverse to this line."

In noticing the energetic efforts of the United States to open up a direct communication between its Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the natural advantages for interoceanic transit existing within the British territories in North America, which have been so fully discussed by this Society, must not be forgotten. Our Canadian fellow-subjects are rapidly extending railway communication from the Atlantic westward, and the advantages of direct intercourse with the Pacific will not be overlooked by them. A useful topographical work, by W. H. Smith, on Canada West, and the Canadian Journal, containing the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute at Toronto, have been sent to the Society, and furnish interesting proofs of progress in the British American provinces.

During the last summer the upper portion and sources of the Red River of Louisiana have been explored by Captain R. B. Marcy, U.S.A. This district, hitherto unknown, has been penetrated not without great perils from the Indians, and from want of supplies; and perfect delineations and maps have been made, which Congress has lately ordered to be printed.

A volume by Dr. E. K. Kane has lately appeared from the American press, containing the details of the Arctic Expedition, commanded by Captain de Haven, in search of Sir J. Franklin. It is illustrated with very beautiful engravings. With the renewed liberality of Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Peabody another expedition, under the command of that intrepid officer Dr. Kane, sailed from New York on May 31, 1853. No advices have reached the United States since his entry into

the depths of the Arctic Seas, and the profoundest interest is taken in the objects and success of this second American Arctic voyage of humanity and discovery.

Our library has also just been enriched by the beautiful volumes containing the Personal Narrative of the Explorations in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, by J. Russell Bartlett, the United States Commissioner.

The well-known German traveller, Mr. Kohl, has lately brought with him to this country a collection of MS. maps and annotations of importance with regard to the history of discovery in America. This collection includes copies of some 750 maps taken from many old books and collections in Germany, France, and England, arranged in chronological order in 26 portfolios. He has also contrived to trace and distinguish on a single sheet the progress of American discovery as achieved by conquerors, traders, and other explorers from the earliest times to the latest, extracted from the records of upwards of 700 travellers. It may be expected that Mr. Kohl's visit to this country and present researches in the British Museum and other repertories will produce useful accessions to this great collection.

AUSTRALIA.

With respect to that vast portion of Northern Australia which remains to be explored, you are well aware that the attention of this Society has been not only directed with general interest to the subject of such exploration, but that a specific scheme for its accomplishment has been distinctly under our consideration. The plan proposed by the Royal Geographical Society is, that the expedition should be equipped at Moreton Bay, and proceed from thence early in the year to explore the country from the mouth of the Victoria River southward, as far in the direction of its sources as practicable, and then eastward towards the Albert River and the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is proposed that the expedition should be conveyed from Moreton Bay by a vessel which should remain under the instructions of the leader, and be available for securing supplies, storing the collections, and rendering the assistance which was so much needed in the expeditions of Eyre, Kennedy, and Leichhardt. The examination of the country southward of the Victoria River and the Gulf of Carpentaria would probably determine the extent of the fertile regions in Northern Australia penetrated by Stokes and Leichhardt, as well as the northern limits of the central desert discovered by Sturt. And further, the expedition might be enabled to

conclude its labours by exploring the country between the gulf and the settlements on the eastern coast. It is indeed but recently that Her Majesty's Government, after giving ear to our recommendations, decided upon taking exclusively into its own hands the undertaking in question; and a vote of 5000l. has been obtained from Parliament for the purpose. I for one think that the Government decided wisely in adopting this resolve, which I apprehend by no means will be found to preclude us, should we see reason, from addressing to Her Majesty's Government any further suggestions which may occur to us. I am not, however, now that we are discharged from responsibility in the matter, able to state the exact present condition of the scheme. I can only state that it has been by no means abandoned, and that at the worst it has only suffered scarcely avoidable postponement in consequence of the absorption of official time and attention by the war. In the mean time, we are informed by Mr. G. M. Waterhouse, that at his suggestion the legislature of South Australia have voted 5000l. a year for two years towards the exploration of the interior to the N.W. of Gawler range, at the head of Spencer Gulf, and to the westward of Sturt's farthest. In the south and east another triumph has been achieved in the successful accomplishment of some 1500 miles of steam navigation up and down the river Murray, performed by Captain Cadell and Lieut.-Governor Young. It will be in your recollection that our own Sturt had already (1829) paved the way for this exploit, and I trust that this is an omen of the successes to be achieved in the north--that an expedition carefully matured and confided to able hands will achieve all that Leichhardt's lamentable loss has left unperformed-and that we may live to see Mr. Arrowsmith point out on the map the exact northern limits of that Central Desert which Captain Sturt discovered and partly penetrated from the south.

I have now gone through briefly and superficially such topics of present geographical interest as I am able to specify. It remains for me to congratulate you on the circumstance mentioned in the Council Report,-the assistance which we are about to derive from the liberality of Her Majesty's Government. Looking as I do for the best consequences to the public and ourselves from this measure, I consider myself fortunate in its having been adopted during my tenure of office. Fortune however is one thing, and merit is another; and I am bound, while I accept the one, to disclaim the other. It was during the first presidency of my predecessor Sir Roderick Murh

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chison that he originated the application to Government, on the success of which we have now to congratulate him and ourselves. This was followed up by a memorial addressed by our Council under his second presidency to our Vice-Patron, Prince Albert; I find him in 1852 at our anniversary meeting still expressing hopes for the success of these efforts; and as his successor in 1854 I am here to share the advantage, but not the honour of the result. I cannot omit to mention that a voice justly potential in these matters, that of our associate, Mr. Joseph Hume, has been strongly raised in our favour. Such has been the advocacy; but even such advocacy would have failed, if it had not rested on substantial evidence of the activity of your proceedings, the value of your publications, and the evidences of the devotion of talent and valuable time on the part of our acting associates to the concerns of our Society. Having been hitherto a sleeping partner, I could address Her Majesty's Government with no authority of my own. What I could say, and did say, was to this effect:-"The objects of our Society are of a nature which attracts to its operations men not only of first-rate, but of very varied eminence in all departments of science and of the public service. We can command for our council and management the services not only of men devoted to some special scientific pursuit, but of others also who are familiar with the conduct of business in every shape. We can thus offer a guarantee for redeeming our obligation to the public. Trust us, and you will have no reason to repent of your confidence.” This I considered was a business-like way of addressing a Chancellor of the Exchequer, and it had the advantage of being the truth, and one which I am confident from my own experience of the assiduous attendance on our Council meetings you will substantiate for the future. am able to announce that our House Committee has all but concluded arrangements for a lease of fit premises, and that the situation seems to me everything we could desire; and I have reason to believe that in other respects the arrangement will well answer our purposes, as affording convenient space for our meetings, and accommodation for our increasing collections of maps and charts.

I