The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-25 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A crowded meeting of this society was held on
Monday evening—Sir R. I. Murchison, K.C.8.,
President, in the chair. Among those present were
—The Earl of Cavan, Lady Franklin and Miss
Cracroft, Captain and Lieut. Maury, Sir E. Belcher,
Sir T. Fremantle, Comte D'Escayrac de Lauture,
Professor and Mrs. Ramsay, M. Otto Torell, Sir G.
Pollock, Mr. M. Milnes, M.P., M. Du Chaillu, Sir
C. Rawlinson, the Master of Trinity, Captain and
Lady Lluellyn, Sir H.Verney, M.P., Sir H. Stracey,
M.P., Mr. Russell, M.P., Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P.,
Mr. Gregson, M.P.

The first paper read was, "On Rupert Land, the
Colony, and its limits," by Captain Millington H.
Synge, R.E., F.R.G.S. Captain Synge described
the first boundaries of Rupert Land, and the nature
of the charter granted to the " Company of Adven-
turers trading to Hudson Bay," from which it would
appear that Rupert Land was merely given in trust
for the purpose of prosecuting the discovery of a
new passage to the South Sea. He also endeavoured
to show, from geographical description and from
history, that it does not include the territories of
the Red River and the Saskatchewan, a question of
importance now that the communication between
British Columbia and Canada being about to be
opened up, the transition of the country from a
hunting ground to a colony will, as a matter of
course, follow.
Dr. TRAVERS TWISS, F.R.G.S., said if the Hud-
son Bay Company had power under their charter to
throw impediments in the way of a passage across
their territory, there was a higher power in this
country which would remove them, and therefore
he saw no reason for despair as to the accomplish-
ment of the object in view. In discussing the legal
effect of the charter, Dr. Twigs remarked upon the
difficulties which frequently arose in reference to
questions of boundary, owing to the practice of di-
plomatists to select a river as the boundary line,
which when traced to its source caused the greatest
confusion. This very difficulty arose between our-
selves and the United States in settling the Oregon
boundary in 1846. The grant to the Hudson Bay
Company contained the words " land upon the
rivers," and such a phrase either in a treaty or a
grant was always assumed to mean all the land up
to the head waters of the river. The grant was
limited if it turned out to conflict with prior pos-
session by other countries. Dr. Twiss then briefly
reviewed the provisions of the treaties of Ryswiek
and Utrecht, under which the French ceded to us
their possessions in North America ; and he pointed
out on the map the boundary lines that were then
agreed upon between two countries. He submitted
that these treaties threw light upon the meaning of
the charter, which granted to the Hudson Bay Com-
pany the land on all the rivers flowing into Hudson
Bay and Hudson Straits. Finally, be spoke in
commendation of the policy pursued by the Hud-
son Bay Company, so far as regards their trading
relations with the Indians, and remarked upon the
great prospective importance of the territory held
by them.

Dr. N. SHAW then read the second paper, " On the
discharge of water from the interior of Greenland,
through springs underneath the ice," by Dr. H.
Rink, of Greenland. The whole of Greenland may
be calculated to be more than 300,000 square miles,
and is probably divided by a mountain range run-
ning from north to south. There being also reason
to believe that this water parting lies nearer to the
east than west side, Dr. Rink assumes that 200,000
out of the 300,000 square miles discharge their
waters into Davis' Straits and Baffin's Bay. Every
turnedg l cl* er being
into
icea,
smtiollunctoanintinruives to move, but thiaer, the upper part
change does not affect all the water contained in the
original river, some part of it continuing to flow in
a liquid state either on the top of the glacier or un-
derneath it. Wherever the inland ice reaches the
sea, having a perceptible motion out into it, there
is always observed a motion in the water, in front
of the outer edge of the solid ice, like that of large
springs issuing from the bottom. The water looks
as if it were boiling, and myriads of sea-birds are
continually seen to hover about, diving after food
in the brackish water. But the most remarkable
thing is, that a lake lying close up to the ice at
some distance from the sea presents phenomena
similar to those in the sea in front of the ice. Dr.
Rink thinks that much valuable information would
result from a careful inspection of these and similar
phenomena.
The PRESIDENT said Dr. Rink had brought for-
ward the most convincing proofs of what had been
established by the labours of Agassiz, Forbes,
Charpenter, &c., that glaciers were simply frozen
rivers. These investigations were also important
as throwing light upon the former condition of the
northern parts of Scotland, which at one time re-
sembled the present condition of Greenland..
Professor Ramsay and Dr. Robert Chambers also
offered observations upon the glacier theory, and
after some remarks from Dr. Rae and Col. Shaffner,
the meeting adjourned to Monday, the 9th of March,
when papers on the recent explorations of Stuart,
Landsborough, APRinlay, &e in Australia will
be read. .1
Several beautiful diagrams illustrative of the for-
mation of ice in Greenland were exhibited.

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