The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-30 00:00:00

INNS OF COURT HOTEL.

The ordinary meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the London Tavern, Mr, Cox in the

chair.

The secretary read the report, which stated that
notwithstanding considerable difficulties arising
from the state of the money-market during the past
year, the undertaking was steadily progressing, and
the building advancing towards completion. The
directors had been enabled to make advantageou3
arrangements with all those persons interested in
the tenements surrounding the Holborn portion of
the building, and the uncovered land thus placed in
possession of the company was valued ati:40,500, a
price only £5OO less than that at which it was
bought when covered with buildings. It was esti-
mated that the whole cost of the building, includ-
ing the furnishing of the hotel, would be about
£140,000. The directors proposed to ask the con-
sent of the shareholders for additional borrowing
powers to the extent of £20,000.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said the prospects of the hotel were molt
encouraging, and he thought the good security tle
company had to offer would enable them to raise
the money required to complete the hotel witholut
any difficulty.

Theresolution having been seconded was agreed to
The meeting was then made special, and a reso.
lution was agreed to empowering the directors to
borrow a further sum of £20,000.

A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded the
proceedings.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

The second meeting of the present session of this
society was held at Burlington-house on Monday
evening—Sir R. I. Murchison, president, in the
chcir, There was a full attendance.

The first paper read was "An Expedition across
the Rocky Mountains into British Columbia by the
Yellow Head or Leather Pass," by Viscount Milton
and Dr. Cheadle. Lord Milton and his companions
set forth in the spring of 1862 to cross the conti-
nent of North America through British territory,
with a view to discover a practicable route which
should be free from the risks attendant on a road
too near the United States' boundary. The Leather
Pass, rihich lies in the same latitude as the gold dis-
trict of CAriboo, had been formerly used by the
voyageurs of the Hudson's Bay Company, but the
route from this to the settled parts of British
Columbia, by the head waters of the Thompson
River, had never yet been trodden by a European.
The travellers arrived at Fort Garry on the 7th of
August, and, after a severe winter passed at a
solitary hunting station near the north branch
of the Saskatchewan, commenced their journey of
exploration in the following April. The country
between the Red River and the Rocky Mountains
they described as extremely fertile, rich prairies
ready for the plough being interspersed with woods
rich in timber for building and fencing. Coalbeds
and ironstone exist in several places, and, in short,
when the obstructions placed in the way of settle-
ment by the governing power are removed and com-
munication established between Canada and British
Columbia, this would become one of the most valu.
able portions of the British possessions. The road
beyond Edmonton (the last station at which sup►
plies can be obtained) was merely a pack-trail. At
this place the party was finally formed ; it consisted
of seven persons, including a half-breed as guide,
and an Indian called the " Assiniboine," with his
wife and son, who attended to the pack horses.
During the following three weeks they progressed
slowly over the spongy and boggy soil of the
primeval forest which stretches for 300 miles from
Lake St. Ann's to the foot of the mountains. They
obtained their first view of the range on arriving
at the banks of the Athabasca River, which emerges
from the heart of the mountains through a narrow
gorge, and on reaching the plains expands into a
lake several miles in length. On its western bank
is Jasper-house, a summer station of the Hudson's
Bay Company, surrounded by snowcapped moun-
tains. The scenery is the vicinity was described
as most enchanting, all the lower slopes being co-
vered with a carpet of wild flowers of the most
varied colours. Three dap' march from Jasper
brought them (on the Bth of July) to the watershed
between the Pacific and Atlantic, and on the 10th
they struck the Fraser River, which they found, even
at this altitude, to be a stream of considerable size,
rushing down a narrow rocky gorge. Here the great
difficulties of the journey commenced, the only road
being along the almost precipitous cliffs of the
narrow river valleys. On the 17th two of the
pack horses slipped into the torrent, and were
swept away in an instant. One of them was rescued
by the heroism of the " Assiniboine," but the other,
carrying all the instruments, tea, salt, and nearly all
the
fammunition, was lost. Another accident which
them three days afterwards, in crossing the
Canoe River, a branch of the Columbia, nearly cost
two of them their lives, for the raft became unman-
ageable, and plunging under the projecting
the banks, its living freight was
swept
off trees
like
flies. on
ght
Lord Milton and the " Assiniboi "
'
ne wife clung to
a tree overhanging the torrent, and Were rescued
some time after by their companions. From this
stream the party crossed to the valley of the Thomp-
son River, passing one of its sources, and following
this for several days, they finally came to a point