The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A very full meeting of this society was held on Mon-
day evening last ; Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Vice-
President, in the chair. Among those present were
his Excellency the American Minister, M. de Ver-
neuil, Sir David Dundas, Sir Woodbine Parish, Sir
Benjamin Outram, Colonel Everest, Colonel Lloyd,
Captain Gordon, R.N., the Earl of Sheffield, General
Monteith, Messrs. Rennie, Osborne Smith, Wentworth
Dilke, Dr. Lindley, Dr. Power, eitc., (h. Messrs. J.
King Watts, J. M'Dowell, R. G. Wear, and J. D. Dod-
son, were officially introduced upon their election. Rear-
Admiral Percy Grace, Captain M. Quin, R.N., the Rev.
Win. Oxenham, NI:A., Messrs. Robert Blencowe, J.
Nugent Daniel, George Dolland, and T. Clements Parr,
were elected fellows. The papers read were, 1. "Ac-
count of an Expedition to the Sources of the Amazon,"
by Colonel Lloyd, her Majesty's chargé d'affaires in
Bolivia, in which paper Colonel Lloyd went to show that
no hopes could be entertained of forming any direct
communication between Bolivia and the Atlantic via the
south-western tributaries of the Amazon.
The CaeramAN, in commenting on the ability displayed
by Col. Lloyd, adverted specially to one of the most impor-
tant results of his explorations, that the humid and woody
region to the east of Bolivia was so adverse to human life,
that no useful intercourse from west to east could be
established in these parallels, in which opinion Sir
Woodbine Parish entirely concurred.
2. " Variation of the Magnetic Needle at Aden," by
i nAccording
nti
soh
eCaptain
HCaapi
ntaeisn Haines,since
8134 n
ti ahne
Navy.vari
west-
erly at'Aden, 2 deg. 12 min. 40 sec., which renders it
probable that a. still greater change has taken place in
the northern part of the Red Sea since the survey,
and which during a dark night might place a steamer
six or seven nautical miles out of her supposed posi-
tion, particularly if assisted by a slight current.
Dr. Buist remarked that the needle at Aden seemed
to be no more than obeying the laws of, magnetic
variation all over the world. At Greenwich the
variation was, in 1576, 11 deg. 15 east ; in 1660, there
was no variation, and from this date it travelled westerly
till 1815, when it attained the western variation of 24
deg. 27 min., or at the rate of 9 min. annually. The
Greenwich variation of 1852 was 22 deg. 17 min. 34
sec., so that since its change of direction it had been
travelling at the rate of 3 min. annually eastward again.
The Bombay variation was set down, in 1788, at 0.40
min. west. Norrie gave it at 1 deg. subsequent to this,
but neither quoted date nor authority. In 1843 it was 11
deg. east ; in 1847, 14 deg. 0 min. 22 sec. ; in 1850, 15
deg. 8 min. 46 sec., the change takingplace at half a minute
annually. In 1844 the Bombay Geographical Society de-
signed a scheme of concerted meteorological observation
for all parts of the East ; but Aden was the only station at
which a complete series of observations had been taken.
Their object was here to have made magnetic as well
as meteorological observations; but in this they had
partly failed for want of instruments. Their plan was
similar to that now under consideration in other parts
of the world, and as the freights in square-rigged yes
-iels to and from India, exceeded 2,000,0001. sterling an-
nually, had voyages been shortened to the extent only
~f one-third of what Maury had shortened them in
ktneric t, a savi-,g of 2,0,0001. a year would have been ,
effected to the shipping interest.

3. " the Physical Geography of the Red Sea," by
Dr. G. 13ui:>t, F.R.S., F.R.G.S. The Red Sea is the

most remarkable estuary on the surface of the globe ;
it is 1,280 miles in length, with a maximum breadth
of nearly 200 miles, a circuit of 4,020 miles, and an area
of 103,154 miles ; its cubic contents are probably about
800,000 miles ; its greatest depth is 400 fathoms. The
mean depth of its axis is about 150 fathoms for about
ten miles along mid channel. The neap tides at Aden,
Ras Mahommed, and Suez are about five feet ; the
spring is about seven feet ; and the rise at the upper
end of the sea, by a continued south wind, is about
four feet. The temperature and saltness of the Red
Sea is ahnost the same as that of the ocean. The
evaporation over its surface amounts to about eight
feet annually, which seems to be provided for by
a strong inward current from the Indian Ocean,
a lower current of the water thus concentrated
flowing out again through the Gulf of Aden, sweep-
ing around by Scinde, and so southward, till diluted
by deluges of rain from the western shores of India.
Crossing again to Africa, it flows northward, and returns
to the place whence it came, to give off fresh supplies of
vapour to the rainless districts around. The Red Sea is
walled in by vast chains of mountains, which, from the
eleventh to the sixteenth parallel, and from Aden to 200
males into Abysinia, are volcanic, affording a volcanic
field of about 10,000 square miles in area, probably
the third largest in the world, a portion of which
E' is still active. Gibelteer has been smoking con-
stantly for the past century, and a violent eruption
occurred in the Zebaz islands in 1846. From lat. 16
deg. to Ist. 20 deg., the rocks seem mostly to belong
to the vast nummalitic formation, which has been
traced from Burmah to the Bay of Biscay in one con-
tinuous sheet around nearly one-third of the globe. All
round the shores of the Red Sea are evidences of a sub-
mergence and re-emergence of the land, at probably a
recent geological period. The volcano of Aden con-
tains an old sea-beach in its crater. The Isthmus of
Suez consisted of gravel and shells, the latter being iden-
tical with those now found in the seas adjoining, and
there is reason to suppose that this part of the shore has
risen from six to ten feet within the last three thousand
years. Mr. Robert Stephenson has proved, by survey,
that the level of the waters of the Mediterranean and
the Red Seas is the same, and to all appearance the
Bitter Lakes on the isthmus have at one time formed a
portion of the sea, though the surface of the waters is
now fifty feet below its level. The Gulf of Akabfi,
differs remarkably in its characteristics from that of
Suez, from which it is separated by the isthmus of
Senai. The Wardi-Araba, or valley stretching from the
Gulf of AkabA, towards the Dead Sea, appears in part to
be an old sea-beach, deeply grooved by torrents, but how-
ever interesting to the geographer, very little is known
of it. The summit-level has been placed in the Transac-
tions of this society for 1848, at 485 feet, but from the
paper by Captain William Allen, of the Royal Navy,
in the 23d vol., it is evident that nothing certain is
known either about the position or altitude of its
divide. From Akabi to the Dead Sea is a distance of
about 105 miles, the surface of the latter being 1,350
feet below that of the Mediterranean, and we are alto-
gether ignorant of the extent of the boundaries of this
extraordinary depression. It is singular, that though
the Red Sea is traversed every week by scores of Eng-
lishnhen, and though vessels of the Indian navy are con-
stantly cruizing about in it, or lying at Suez or at Aden,
we know less of its physical geography than we do of
that of Siberia, the Ural mountains, or some portions of
the Arctic regions ; and while the wilds of South America
are being carefully explored, a tract of vast importance,
associated as it is in our minds with some of the most
wonderful events in sacred history, remains utterly
neeiected at our doors.
Sir R. MURCHISON, in adjourning the meeting to the
24th inst., expressed his great satisfaction in having oc-
cupied the chair when a memoir, containing so many
o.eogranhical data bearing on geology. had been commu- I
nirated in so ele.ir and intelligent a manner, and hoped
that so ab!e a man as Dr. Buist may be employed in a 1
natural history surrey of the Red Sea, by which we might !
hope in due thee to obtain as accurate an acqeaintatice
with it as we have obtained of the Mediterranean, through
the researches of Admiral Smyth. As regards Capt.
Alien's offer to explore the Wadi Akab4, it was no fault
of the society that the exploration had nut long ago been '
undertaken, he (the Chairman) having last year very
strongly recommended the uudettaking to the proper
authorities.

THE LATE _EXTENSIVE ROBBERY IN
WALWORTH.

DISCHARGE OF THREE OF THE PRISONERS
WHO HAVE BEEN CONVICTED.
It will be recollected that at the Central Criminal
Court last week, five persons, named Frederick Norris
aliaa Connor, Eliza Bacon, Thomas Brumpton, Richard
Hilton, and Samuel Bacon, were tried and convicted of
the charge of breaking into and stealing from the house
of
Mr. Harvey, No. 11, Carter-street, Walworth, 16311.
in gold, and 150/. in bank notes. The judge before
awthtohme
ttheime prisoners had been tried (Mr. Baron Martin)
fully acquiesced in the justice of the sen-
atenndceti3eandh sentenced Norris to transportation for life,
ll'
is lordosthier Prisoners to four years' penal labour each.
P, however, seemed subsequently to have
some. misgiving as to the absolute guilt of the three
prisoners—Hilton, Brumpton, and Samuel- Bacon, and
in consequence sent for Mr Superintendent Lund and
iSnerjtheaentea.93e7inbnuetarw,
hwohehadw. were
not only witnesses
andof the
experiencedrobbery.
officersAt th the interviewinformed e entire ti
Baronre i:ivaeisitiing atthi oant
prisoners
intelligent
Bitruwmasptethiei,iraonpdinsiaomn
uthelatnatehnonughhadthbeee
ii infe r s
fact, Hilton,b been
e n
aware of the in-
tention to commit tho robbery, and hnariso parties to attempt to break into the house' the prose-
cutorllad been present on the
er
telfie.throebra-
on the Friday
followingeveuitig, yet
night,that
whenneiteh
ep ii
ns oi
on
ns ,
I bury had been effected by Norris and two other
nor had they, is far as they (the officers) had been
t, learn, a single shilling of the large Burn stolen.
able
His Lordship observed that this was his own
and he should have been much better pleased if the jury
had acquitted them. Soon after this an order was
1
re-
ceived at Newgate to discharge the three prisoners, on
entering into their own recognisances to surrender and
serve their four years imprisonment if called upon. The
prisoners accordingly entered into the required bail, and
were set at liberty.
The two persons who assisted Norris, in effecting the
robbery, and who are known to have got the lion's
share of the plunder, are stillj at large ; and, unfortu-
nately for the ends of public u,tice, there is nothing can
touch them, as there does not appear to be a single tittle
of legal evidence to fix them with a participation in the
offence.