The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-28 00:00:00

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL. Gray's-inn-road
in the immediate vicinity of the Great Northern Bail.
way Terminus, at liimrs-cross.

Patron—The QUEEN.
President—The Duke et DUCCLEUCH,
Trea.surer—Edward Masterman, Esq.
This was the first hospital to introduce the principle of free
and instant admission to 'the destitute sick, without the for-
mality of governors' letters. It is entirely devoted to desti-
tution in its most pitiable torm—viz., that which is accom-
pr_nied by sickness a'ad disease, and is now of sufficient
m.arimittide that, 'e it's ailegiiate suipori, it may be rendered
capable of admitting,- intuits wards iit proportion of
the casual sick of this ;great. inetrop. i i,
,q, res but
th,,
Hinds in order to have 50(1 twda availalAe for the reception of
these the most wretched of our fellow-creaturos. Mei-eider,
it gratuitously Aloe& medical advice and medicine to Inure,
°lithe average, than 3,000 out-patients a week.
The Weekly Board feel it their imperative duty to make an
EARNEST APPEAL to the public for continued support,
to enable them to admit and relieve the distressing cases that
daily present themselves.
Contributions arc received by the Treasurer, Edward
,erman, Ksq. Co.
also by Messrs. Colitis a
Co-; Drummand Herries and Co.;Ransom and
C-; Oll O. , . _ _ c
Prescott, Grote, and Co.; Sm,iti.i,(tiaeyrn:n.d,•n6durou.e;;,n,:,u.d„
and co , ones Loyd and Co. ; Ihirclav and Co. ; Dertison
Co.; 'llianis, Deacon, and Co. , v ,
and ttt Messrs. J. :Darned and Co., Liverpool
STANFORD S. SMITH, Secretary.

o Let us now cast a rapid glance over the pro-
gress of discovery in distant lands, and particularly
where our countrymen have signalised themselves.
In this wide field, wherein our knowledge has been
extraordinarily increased within the last few years,
I will limit my remarks to three or four regions;
the more so as I have recently addressed the Royal
Geographical Society at large on many collateral
topics in a discourse which is now in circulation.
Australia, scarcely known to the civilized world till
after Cook's voyages (1770-75), has of late been so
rapidly colonized by Britain, that before long she
will be no mean rival to those vast regions of North
America which were first occupied by subjects of
the British Crown. At former meetings of this
Association we have dwelt on the early discoveries
of new lands in the interior of Australia, in which
the names of Mitchell, Eyre, Stuart, Leichhardt,
and others have been always mentioned with
honour and respect. The later journeys of the
brothers Augustus and Frank Gregory have earned
for these good surveyors the highest honours of the
Royal Geographical Society, for their extensive re-
searches and determinations of longitude and lati-
tude in northern, eastern, and western Australia.
While more recently the bold expedition of Burke
and Wills cost these noble fellows their lives, the
latest researches of their successors stand out as in-
deed most singularly successful. M'Douall Stuart,
after various previous triumphs, in one of which he
reached the watershed of North Australia, has
actually passed from Adelaide, in South Aus-
tralia, to Van Diemen Bay on the north coast,
in latitude 15 deg. S. Contemporaneously with
this last expedition, M'Kinlay, proceeding
also from Adelaide, reached the Gulf of Carpen-
taria, and thence travelled to the eastern shore ; and
Landsborough, realising all the value of the dis-
coveries of Burke and Wills, and penetrating from
the Gulf of Carpentaria, traversed the continent
southward until heregained the noble colony of
Victoria, in which the expedition was organised.
As I have recently dwelt at some length on these
bold adventurers in an anniversary address, refer-
ring also to some geographical determinations by
Mr. Walker, of Queensland, I will now simply
direct your attention to the huge map of Australia
which hangs upon the wall, and on which all the
routes of these explorers are laid down. The rapid
rise of the different colonies in Australia is truly
marvellous; and, while we have successfully occu-
pied all the available ports and lands along the
eastern, southern, and western sides of this great
continent, we are, I rejoice to say, now beginning
to extend our settlements to the north coast, the
occupation of which I have advocated for many a
year, on political as well as on commercial and colo-
nial grounds. A few years only of practical re-
searches have dispelled our ignorance respecting the
interior of this vast mass of land, in which, though
there are wild desert tracts, there are also many
rich and well-watered oases of fine pasture-grounds,
through which the colonist may open out communi-
cations across the continent from the south and east
to the northern shores. A short time only, I ven-
ture to predict, will elapse before towns arise at the
head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as at the
mouth of the Victoria River of the north, whence,
as well as from the new settlement of Cape York,
Australians will have a direct communication with
our great Indian empire. In speaking of the pro-
gress of these remarkable colonies, it may be con-
sidered invidious to seem to select any one for espe-
cial notice, where all of them have such high claims
to our notice. I may, however, in passing men-
tion the lest-formed of these wonderful separate
Governments—that of Queensland, possessing a
surface six times greater than that of the
United Kingdom, and the very grazing grounds
of 'which (according to its accomplished Go-
vernor, Sir G. Bowers) are about twice as large as
the British isles,—to say nothing of large tracts
peculiarly
adapted to the growth of cotton. The
progress which our enterprising Austrian colonists
have made not only in wealth and
material pros-
perity, but in all that can dignify a people, was
strikingly manifested at the last Great International
Exhibition. In it we saw collocated not merely
the rich natural products of gold and copper, with
admirable pictorial views which even enabled u$ tQ
imagine that we had visited the mines of our anti-
podes, but we also had before us solid proofs, in the
publication of excellent maps and the catalogues of
the valuable libraries of Sydney and Melbourne,
that there is scarcely any branch of knowledge or
of industry which is not ell It ivattel in Australia with
a zee.; eivalline that of the mother coentry.
long on 1110 conveniations which it was my pri•
vilege to hold with the distinguished men who re-
presented the several Australian colonies on that
occasion, as well as with many personal friends who
have long resided there, I feel assured that there is
no part of the British dominions where the people
tiro more attached to the t3overeigu and the British
Ovnsti!ution than Australia. It has always, there-
fore, been a soutce of pain to me whefl Porne per-
sons have spoken or written of the coming of the
a day when these great colonies tare to be 2epar,itea

;rota us. Seeing no cause for such separation, aril
believing that our Government and Legislature are
much too enlightened to commit the error into which
our ancestors fell when Britain lost her North
American settlements, we are, I rest satisfied, never
likely to estrange oar Australian colonist by similar
treatment. It has been well said by a late Governor
of South Australia that the loyalty of Australia is
an homage to the enlightened rule of Engler d, of
which her statesmen may be proud. On my own
part, I am indeed persuaded that if judiciously and
considerately treated, Australia, which affords by
far the finest possible field for the emigration of
our superabundant population, will long continue
to be a source of wealth and strength to the
mother country, and will, I trust, for ages hold
out a proof that the people which lives under
a constitutional monarchy enjoys much truer
freedom in its best sense than those which have
formed part of any democracy, ancient or modern.
And now let me say a few words on the last grand
geographical feat—the discovery of the sources of
the Nile. The first act in this portentous operation
was the discovery, by Captain Speke alone (when
he left his leader, Captain Burton), of the large
African lake which, in the year 1858, he named the
Victoria Nyanza. In his late expedition, when ac-
companied by Capt. Grant, he has proved (as he
said he would before he started) that this great bed
of fresh water is the main source of the White Nile,
and in this exploit we have one of the greatest geo-
graphical triumphs of all history. For age after age
had rolled on—traveller after traveller, from the
days of the Egyptian priests and of the Roman
Emperors, down to modern periods, had endea-
voured to ascend the Nile to its sources, and ad had
failed ! By reversing the line of research followed
by all former travellers, and by proceeding from the
east coast of Africa, near Zanzibar, to the central,
lofty, and flat plateau-land forming in that meri-
dian the watershed between North and South
Africa, these gallant Indian captains reached the
true reservoir from whence the Nile flows. Thence
they traced the mighty stream northwards into
Egypt, and demonstrated that while the White
Nile, which they followed, is the Great Nile, the
so-called Blue River, joining the parent stream at
Khartum on the frontiers of Egypt, is, like the
Atbara and other waters, a mere tributary. As the
outlines of the long walk of Speke and Grant across
those vast interior and equitorial regions of Africa
have been given to the public, first in my address
to the Royal Geographical Society, and subse-
quently in various periodicals, it would be out of
place to say more on the subject until their own
full account, which they are preparing with many
illustrative sketches, shall have been published. In
the mean time it is gratifying to know that our gra-
cious Queen has shown by her own kind expressions
how truly she is proud that two of her own gallant
officers should have succeeded in performing what
the people of many a European nation have failed to
accomplish. We may therefore be sure that the
British people will rejoice with all geographers, if
the travellers should receive due honours and re-
wards for such glorious services. Among foreign
Sovereigns the King of Italy has taken the lead in
the desire to commemorate the great event, by or-
dering two gold medals to be struck on the occa-
sion. The first, which immediately after its com-
pletion was presented to the leader on the Royal
Geographical Society's anniversary, had on its re-
verse the words, so well known to Englishmen as
the motto of Nelson, " Honor a Nilo." The second,
which the Italian Minister, the Marquis d'Azeglio,
since put into my hands, and which has been de-
livered by me to Capt. Grant, has on it those preg-
nant words, "Al Capitano Grant, divise col Capitano
Speke glade a pericoli," Thus do these medals re-
mind us that, through the enterprise of her sons,
England has won glory through many a danger at
the sources, as at the mouth of the Nile. Among
the geographical communications which have been
already sent in to be read at this meeting, and of
which I have any acquaintance, I will now allude
to four only. Referring still to Africa, we hope to
bo favoured by ])r. Barth with a translation from
the German of the ascent of the lofty snow-clad
mountain of Kilimandjaro, in tropical Eastern
Africa, as carried out by that energetic Hanoverian
traveller, Baron C. von der Deck en. In relation to
China, you will, I doubt not, be much gratified
with the memoir of Mr. R. Swinhoe, a practised
Chinese scholar, and formerly a British vice-consul,
on the large, but little known, island of Formosa,
and the numerous islets between it and the main-
land. While the publications of the last few years,
including the "Narrative of the North China Cam-
paign of 1860," by Mr. Swinhoe himself, have ren-
dered us well acquainted with large portions of the
interior of China—and whilst Capt. Blakiston has
laid down on a beautiful chart the course of that
mighty stream the Yang-tsze-Kiang to a distance of
nearly 1,000 miles above the highest point previ-
ously reached by our countrymen—the great island
of Formosa, off the eastern coast of the Chinese
mainland, has remained comparatively unknown.
Since the days when parts of its west coast were
surveyed, the outline of those shores has, it appears,
undergone a great change by the rapid increment of
silt and sand washed down from the mountainous
interior ; so that a new survey is imperiously called
for, to render some of the ports accessible to com-
merce. Near the north end of the island, indeed, the
port of Tani Sui is not liable to these dangers, and is
indicated by Mr. Swinhoe as being best suited for
commercial dealings ; and this part of the coast was
so well surveyed by Captain (now Admiral) Collin-
son, that his charts thereof may be entirely depended
on. In short, now that Lord Elgin's Treaty of
Pekin has thrown open to British enterprise all the
ports of China, it is to be hoped that by the comple-
tion of accurate surveys of the south-western coast
of Foe mosa, its present unapproachable harbours will
soon be frequented by British vessels. We learn from
Mr. Swinhoe that these extensive lands are very rich
in natural productions; and he willinterest you much
by a description of his personal adventures, and of
the habits, costumes, and peculiarities of the Chinese
occupants. The aborigines—a Malayan race—still
occupy all the mountainous districts, or eastern side
of the island, and live among the great forests that
yield so much camphor. The subject of Formosa is so
novel that this communication will prove very attrac-
tive ; while you will, I doubt not, be struck by the
coloured drawings which the author has made of the
Chinese inhabitants of this great island, and after
whom, particularly the women, the Portuguese may
well be supposed to have named it "Formosa." If,
as I have been led to believe, my accomplished friend
Sir Harry Parkes should join our Section on this
occasion, it is certain that he will give us a lively
and accurate description of the Chinese people, as
well as a solid and trustworthy account of our poll-
tieal and commercial relations both with China and
Japan. Turning to Central America, you will
have a very interesting memoir by Mr. Osbert
Salvia on the physical geography of Guatemala, in
which the author will particularly notice tbe geo-
graphical distribution of the 'various zoological pro-
ductions of that country. He will also give us
accounts of its virgin forests, volcanoes, and lakes,
as well as of the Indian remains and building' which
ho hse traced in it, Another American subject to
be brought before us will doubtless bring to our
belle many perstnal interested in the . triumph of
mechaniolkill
prii:ttiC4llY applied to the
overcoming ofgreat dillieulties'pres,"ltcd by PllYsico-
geo rAph;eat tealeres. Mr. Wen. right hasg,
commenced the execatinli of a meet important en-
vineerinte work, called the (keel Cor'tral Argentin
Railroad, to which he fornicriy called the attention
of the Rod al Geographical Socieirt. which is des-
tined to connect the great port of 13ueno; gyres,
oa
the Atlantic, with the city of Copirlpo and the Fort
of Caidera, on the Pacific. Starting from the tows;
of ltoearie, on the right bank of the great navig-
ablo of the Parana, about 2.J) miles above the
city of Buenos Ayres, the first section traversed is
to the important city of C,:nieva, tilAant t'.47

wh,

and situated at, an elevation of 1,240 feet above the
river; thence by a circuitous line through the pro-
vinces of Santiago, Tucuman, Catamarca, and Rioga.
Passing up a fertile valley, and along the celebrated
mountains of Famatina, it is to reach Fiambala, at
the foot of the Cordilleras, at a height of 5,164 feet
above the Pacific at Caldera. From that point the
road will ascend the eastern side of the Andes with
practicable gradients, until it reaches the culmina-
ting point, in a depression of those mountains,at an
elevation of 16,023 ft. above the Pacific Ocean at
Caldera, and in a distance of 136 miles, or at about
80ft, per mile. From this pass cf San Francisco it
will descend the western side of the mountain
through the valley of Paipote, and reach the city
of Copiapo, 1,300 ft. above the ocean ; end thence
continue to Caldera, one of the finest ports in the
Pacific, after a descent of 246 miles from the cul-
minating point of the road in the Andes. Mr.
Wheelwright does not apprehend any insuperable
difficulty in traversing this immense elevation,
which he thinks can be accomplished
with locomotive power, excepting one in-
clined plane of five or six miles. Mr. Wheel-
wright has already had a railroad constructed
from the valley of Copiapo to the mineral district
of Charmacillo, on which the trains run 12 miles an
hour, ascending 1,900 feet in 9 miles. At the last
Manchester meeting, we interchanged questions
and answers with the philosophers of St. Peters-
burg during an evening assembly—and since then
great advances have been made in transmitting
telegrams round the world. In this way a vast
stride will be made in the ensuing winter by the
extension of the telegraph from Constantinople
through Asia Minor—and thence via the Persian
Gulf to the country of Mekran, at the head of the
Indian Ocean, and so to the British possessions in
India. At the same time their efforts are in pro-
gress to carry a system of telegraphs from Russia
through Siberia, and thence even across the Desert
of Gobi to Pekin. The great desideratum, however,
of connecting Europe with America, by a subma-
rine telegraph remains to be accomplished. With
a view to that desirable end, the Council of the
Royal Geographical Society warmly supported a
proposal by Dr. Wallich to effect a complete survey
of the sea bottom as a precursor to the actual lay-
ing down of a cable upon the vast unknown irregu-
larities of the submarine surface. We naturally
supported an effort like this, whica was certain to
throw much light on natural history and physical
geography—and we rejoiced in the preliminary re-
searches which have been made towards the esta-
blishment of an electric line overland to British
India ; because, they, for the first time, laid open to
European knowledge countries which, though un-
known to the moderns, were seats of war when
Alexander the Great and his lieutenants invaded
India. The soundings which ascertain the nature
of the bottom of the ocean, not only give us the
outlines and characters of various sunken rocks,
sands, and mud-banks, and of vast and deep cavi-
ties, but inform us where undercurrents prevail,
and where at vast depths the surface is tranquil
and unruffled in some places, while in others sub-
marine volcanoes disturb the sea•bottem. Nay,
more, these submarine operations have taught us
that animals can not only live, but flourish, pre-
serving even their colours at the enormous depth of
one mile and a half. We thus see how the efforts
of the nautical surveyors and the engineers to
spread the electric telegraph are nor merely
destined to be useful to mankind, but also to elicit
great and important truths in natural history, the
development of which is specially connected with
the pursuits of the geographer and the ethnologist.
In adverting to the consideration of the other
science which this section embraces it gives me
pleasure to be able to report that our sister society,
the Ethnological, is in a prosperous and satisfactory
state, having within the last three years greatly
increased the number of its members, and improved
its financial condition. This satisfactory result is
in great measure duo to the vigorous exertions and
numerous contributions of my eminent friend, its
last president, Mr. John Craufurd, whom I am
happy to she among us at this meeting. Under his
auspices and in the past season the society held no
fewer than 15 different meetings, at which 25 papers
were read and amply discussed. They embraced
such topics as the following :—The human remains
found at Wroxeter, in the ruins of the Roman city
of Uriconium ; the African cannibal tribe of the
Fans ; language as a test of the races of man ; the
aborigines of Australia ; on certain wild tribes in
Southern India; on the commixture of the races of
man in its influence on the progress of civilisation;
on certain ancient relics from the coast of the State
of Ecuador; the native tribes of the British Pro-
vi.nce of Burmah ; en the Jews of Aden ; on the
psychological differences which exist between the
different races of man ; on the history of the gipsies;
on the ethnology of the Island of Formosa; on the
wild tribes called Yadis in the district of Chingle-
put, Madras; on the brain and skull in the various
families of man ; on the antiquity of man ; on the
native inhabitants of Vancouver Island ; on the wild
tribes in the interior of the Malay Peninsula; on the
institution and origin of the Hindu castes; on the
languages and races usually called Celtic; on the
ethnology of the African nations and tribes visited
by Captains Speke and Grant, from the island of
Zanzibar to the source of the Nile ; and on the pre-
paration of figures of typical forms of human
crania. Among the papers which are to be com-
muicated to the ethnological branch of our section,
the following may be named :—" On the History
and Migrations of the Tamil Nations of India," as
communicated in person by that very accomplished
Cingalese gentleman, Mutu Coomaroo Swamy, a
member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, and
now, I am happy to say, a barrister of Lincoln's-
inn. Mr. Joseph Craufurd will give us one memoir
" On the Domesticated Animals, and their Influence
on the Progress of Civilisation, and another " On
the Origin and Antiquity of Man," both of which
will attract many listeners. If time permits, the
same indefatigable ethnologist will also give us his
analysis of the so-called Celtic languages and ram,
and a paper " On the Commixture of Races of Men
in Central and Eastern Asia." A memoir" On the
Tribes and Nations inhabiting the British Province
of Burmah," Lieut.-Col. Phayre, her Majesty's Com-
missioner in that region, promises to be of great in-
ht earde s tt.h
eAgso
good
the
fEo
rttheneoel otgoi ceae le Society ept yl a
000 f
vLaoenadt oe nd hashy
the retirement of Mr. Craufurd filled up by the ap-
pointment of so skilful and philosophic a naturalist
as Mr. John Lubbock and as Mr. Francis Galton,
the president of this section at the last meeting of
the Association, has kindly consented to act as the
Ethnological Secretary, wo may reasonably calculate
on receiving much sound support from men like
these, whe can so well connect the sciences which
we cultivate with many other branches of human
knowledge."
This evening, when the business papers of the
day have all been got through, there is to be a
great soiree and conversazione in the Exchange news-
rooms. Both for its size and its internal architec-
ture this fine meeting-place would do credit to any
part of the metropolis ; in truth, the metropolis has
niaortg,heinageoolfiotilrol kind likee,aodlitit;foro Builtaboivne
,t.
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vt e formi
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fine
roof, supported on a series of handsome columns, it
is one of the largest, and certainly one of the finest,
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dleitlgiiisol l\Tt oeeefcalostt
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exhibition, model opecirnens of mining ana nt,,,,r0
and
work:,
roost popular mayor, Mr. Bell,
and chiefly at
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are Wonderfully fine