372 COLONEL WAUGH— ROYAL AWARDS. [May 25, 1857. 



tliis one act, the grand Trigonometrical Survey of India should now 

 receive a reward which it so long ago merited." 



Colonel Everest replied : — 



" Mr. President, — I beg to return my acknowledgments for the 

 complimentary terms in which you have been pleased to advert to 

 the labours of my honoured predecessor and myself, and on behalf 

 of my esteemed successor Lieutenant- Colonel Waugh to expiess the 

 warmest thanks to yourself and the Eo3^al Geographical Society for 

 the very proud mark of distinction which has just been conferred 

 on him, by the award of the Patron's Medal of this j^ear. 



" The applause of our fellow men is naturally prized by us all, 

 and nothing is more cheering to a person engaged in an arduous 

 undertaking, replete with privations and hardships, than the per- 

 suasion that, if he endures to the end, his labours will not be unre- 

 quited. Colonel Waugh, however, is not of that stamp to need such 

 a motive to induce him to persevere in the strict performance of his 

 duty, and having no precedent which could hold out the prospect of 

 such a distinction as the present, it will come on him altogether as 

 an unexpected boon, and as such, will be additionally acceptable. I 

 am certain that this Medal will be received by Colonel Waugh with 

 the deepest and most sincere feelings of gratitude and respect for 

 those who selected him for the proud honour of possessing it, and not 

 only by himself, but bj^ all the members of the department of which 

 he is the chief, will this adjudication be hailed as an earnest that 

 there is a body of gentlemen most qualified by their talents and 

 knowledge to form a judgment, and as willing, as able to act accord- 

 ing thereto, with right singleness of purpose. Sir, if anything 

 could enhance the value of this mark of distinction, it is the 

 circumstance that it has been conferred during the presidency of a 

 gentleman of wide renown — known wherever civilization reaches — 

 acknowledged even by our antipodes as one of the first geologists of 

 the age, and not more distinguished by his scientific attainments 

 than by his courtesy, urbanity, and kindness of heart. 



*' The Trigonometrical Survey of India has been in progress ever 

 since 1803, a period of 54 years, and will in its entirety, embrace a 

 tract which exceeds the area of Great Britain and Ireland in the 

 ratio of about 12^ to 1. Of course a vast deal still remains to be 

 accomplished before so gigantic an undertaking can be pronounced 

 complete ; and as Colonel Waugh has now been engaged in this 

 arduous task for 25 years, it is needless to expect much prospective 

 effect from the present award as far as he is concerned, for his 

 career in India must be drawing towards its close ; but the memory 

 of the present graceful act of this Society will assuredly not be lost 

 on his eventual successor, or on India in general. He is still in the 

 prime of life, and though he has suffered lately from more than one 

 severe attack of illness, yet it is to be hoped that the injury which 

 his constitution may have thereby sustained, is not greater than 

 can be restored by a return to his native country, and that he will 

 some day arrive to return his thanks in person to the Eoyal Geo- 



