The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-09 00:00:00

Royal Geographical Society.

The Royal Geographical Society held one of its
monthly meetings last evening, and it being /ell
generally known that M. P. B. Da Chailla was
to read on the occasion a paper describing hi°
second journey into 'Western Equatorial Africa
an unusually numerous audience was drawn t°'
gether by the circumstance. Sir R. Murchison/ the
a
president of the society, occupied the chair, and
among the general company were Mr. Adams, the
American Minister ; Lord A. Churchill, Mr. Craw'
furd, Sir H. Rawlinson, M.P., Mr. G. Folson, Pre-
sident of the American Ethnological Society; Pre.
fessor Owen, &c.
The minutes of the last meeting having been read
and confirmed, and some other preliminary busiee°
having been transacted,
The PRESIDENT introduced to the meeting bps
friend M. Du Chaillu, to whom he was sure they
would give a most hearty reception. (Cheers.)
M. Du CHAILLU then came forward amid re;
newel cheering, and having stated that for the last
two years he had no opportunity of speaking Bag°
fish or French, and had, therefore to claim theiw
dulgence of the audience for, any deficiency they
might observe in his pronunciation, proceeded 0
read his papers. He left London on the 6th e;
h
August, 1863, and on the 9th of October in the sans
year he reached a point called Ferman Bay, on 7,8
African coast, immediately to the south of 'P
Equator. He advanced eastwards to the Ashira
country, where he had been-on a former journey'
and where he was well remembered and kindly rei;
ceived. He had many offers of marriage pressed uPa,
him, but these he had respectfully declined. (A laugli;ii
In reading the works of Grant, Speke, and Burt.°A,
ho observed many words which were identical vily
and which closely resembled words used in the di4:e
trict he had traversed, and he had no doubt that t'a
tribes of western and eastern Africa had forme
originally, one common stock. He had seen dull
his travels numbers of gorillas, and he saw nothi.,„r3l
after his renewed experience to retract in the 00')
he had already given of those animals. (Cheell.
After he and his party had been about three weel
Ashira a visitation of smallpox ravaged the count;
Misery and destruction were spread on every Si.cie
and he was himself reduced to a most deieete e
and prostrate condition. He could not Pr°c,it:
sufficient nourishment, and he and his 11 Ow'
or
panions had upon one occasion nothing to eat - f
ea
four days but two monkeys, and very agreeableoi,
they thought them. (A laugh.) He was ultirnateo'
enabled to continue his journey eastward, and
the course of those travels he met with a singular
ly
diminutive race, their average height being 00lya
from 4ft. 4in: to 4ft. Sin. After he had advalleee,
200 miles further than any European had yet Pell
trated his undertaking was brought to an unexpeete
termination by an accident. He reached a villagejo
,/
which one of his men fired off a gun, and, contraci
to his intention, two of the natives—a man all ee
woman—were killed. The villagers became at °fejt
t io
excited, and attacked himself and party with t'
bows and arrows. He could not blame them for
11a
suspicion and irritation under which they acted/ 500
he therefore forbade his men to fire on them.
then ordered his followers to retire, which the
Yd
at first in good order, while he himself reraaine
their rear, as he believed he was in a less der;
than they an object of resentment to the excited nei
tives. A panic, however, soon seizedthe party ;
threw away all the articles which they carried ;
himself felt compelled to join them in their /lig
and to part with many of the most valuable thin
which he had in his possession. The result was 0,3 t,
0
although his men energetically rallied, he lost all Pitt
instruments as well as his ammunition, and all th
could have enabled him to continue his journey .t)
advantage. He at once, therefore, retraced his ste-rio
westwards, and immediately afterwards made ;0
way back to England. M. Du Chaffin concluded s.
address by his expressing his gratitude to Sir be
Murchison and Professor Owen for the supPurtj
bad received from them throughout his labours, 71.
amid all the opposition with which he had to conterlet,
Sir R. IVIURCHISON next briefly addressed the we
ing, pointing out the remarkable qualities whiche
Du Chaillu had displayed throughout his trairalif
and observing that it was not perhaps generew
known that he had undertaken his last journeYbied
tirely at his own expense, and that he had been one of
to do so only by devoting to that object the-sill° elf
had a
the money he had derived from the sale of his /
remarkable work on Equatorial Africa. He
an/
the same time exhibited a skill, hardihood,
courage worthy of the gallant country—France--eb,
which he was born, and Englishmen and Freil,
men both would gladly welcome him as their °io
(Cheers.) eye
Professor OWEN then spoke in support 0
eye
veracity of M. Du Chaillu, remarking that a." bad
statements for which he had been most attacked o,
been borne out by subsequent evidence. Se ha
ejit
for instance, made the unwelcome announceehot
that he had met with a race of cannibals. eel)
statement had been called in question; but it had
confirmed by Captain Burton, who had followed es
over the district he had traversed. Then with resP
to the gorillas he felt sure that if M. Du Chaawl°
00
,
given any false account of their habits he should P,
found some traces of that falsehood in the kl/0.-tioo
ledge he had been able to obtain of the conformateo
of those animals. He had not, however, the slight
reason to suppose that what had been said 11 re,
Du Chaillu on the subject was in the slightest
spect untrue. (Hear, hear.) areenl
Mr. DUNKIN, one of the assistants of the --v
with Observatory, then came forward and S, and
ad
that he had been astonished at the multitude
accuracy of the astronomical observations
Du Chaillu had made. felt it
Mr. J. CRAWFORD, the chairman, said he 4blo
to be his duty to declare that he found it imptofo
to believe in the existence of the race of 0; rice.
which M. Du Chaillu stated he had met in Were
These people, if the statement were correct,
smaller than any human beings that had yet was
known, and he could not understand how Poet
possible that they could live in the midst of °
races who appeared to speak the same language'ran
M. Du CHAILLU observed that those people 010
away when he approached them, and he had been but,
to examine only one or two of their number ; to 0
with respect to them, he had only to repeat facts
they had come under his actual observation.
The meeting then separated.

TEA DONE TO A T.—Perhaps there is no roe
truer test of the delicacy of sensuous perCePh;•o
than a high tone of feeling on the subject of tea• l''tijo
is
nothing that is easier to make, granted of course
proper quality of tea to start with, without any e%Periiel'c
ig
at all, than teat and yet there is nothing in wticb,„-tva
more hopeless to expect even moderate excellence
in
person of unrefined mind. A cultivated man or weleL l
°oa
troduced to this beverage for the first time will on the se-‘,411
experiment easily grasp the whole points of the case bat
take
care to extract the true aroma without extractittoo
horrible colouring matter which is got by letting t" lei
brew, as the revolting phrase is—" brew," as if it 'Ol%OO
—will see the critical importance of seizing the ren,
when the urn or kettle just boils, and no more than. the
is at 212 deg. Fahrenheit, and not higher—for eliciting the
full fragrance of tea, and will have a fine feeling fe/. the
function of cream in softening without overpoWeriele of
most refined of sedative, the most stealthy and Stolen
stimulating, beverages. But preach to an ordinal,'" kitchen
maid for 40 years of the true rationale of the process honk'
her Messrs. North or Messrs. Twinings' best S°llc,:n°o!
now as low as 4s. 10d. a pound, thanks to Mr. Glade'''. will
green tea is never permissible to a pure taste—and tett is
produce you, after a life of melancholy endeavour eP-10if
wrestling not with any external difficulty but with the 00
of her own organisation, a cup of as coarse kitehell•tei:°
she would make for herself out of " a very decent art.ale°
2s. 4d." with skimmed milk, and that refuse of anion'ciaiels
and dried treacle called brown sugar—an ingredieeht: toro
alleviates rather than exasperates the unspeakable
of such a decoction as this.—Spectator.

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