Jan. 24, 1859.«] ON THEIR DISCOVERY OF LAKE UJIJI. 117 



Captains Burton and Speke have done ; and I repeat that they have confirmed 

 the important observations of Livingstone — that the coast range that they 

 traversed is much of the same height and composition as that which he 

 traversed, and that like him they found in the interior that, great watery 

 plateau, the existence of which he demonstrated.* 



In concluding the business of this evening, I may announce that I no 

 longer have any hesitation in addressing my associates as Fellows of the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society. For, in consequence of the application which I made, 

 by the authority of the Council, Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously 

 pleased to grant us Her Charter, and the Eoyal Geographical Society is now, 

 therefore, placed on the same footing as the older scientific bodies of the 

 country. 



Sixth Meeting, February 14f^, 1859. 



Sir RODERICK I. MUROHISON, President, in the Chair. 



Presentations. — The Duke of Wellington; Captain F, M. Jones; 

 Alderman Bottertll, of Leeds ; and T, H, Alsager, Joseph Mayer, J. Miland, 

 M. H. [Pasteur, L. E. R. Rees, W. C. Thomson, Arthur Vesey, and 

 Theodore Walrond, Esqrs., were presented upon their election. 



Elections. — Captain Andrew Clarh, r.e. ; Fieut.- Colonel William 

 Pottinger ; Captain Louis Tindal, r.n. ; Samuel Clarke, c.E. ; C. Went- 

 worth Dilke ; Anthony L. Fisher , m.d. ; and John W. Ogle, m.d., Fsqrs., 

 were elected Fellows, 



The Papers read were — 

 1. On the ^^ Aurora Borealis" in Greenland, By J. W. Tayler, Esq. 

 Communicated by Sir W. C. Teevelyan, Bart., f.r.g.s. 



The fame of the Aurora's beauty is well known. Travellers in the 

 Arctic regions have written pages describing its fairy brilliance — 

 how it enlivens the frozen solitudes of the north, and makes kind 

 amends for the lost sun. An extended series of observations of the 

 aurora would doubtless be of great interest and service. The few 

 following observations have been made in Greenland as a small 

 instalment. 



The distant glimmer of the aurora, as sometimes seen in our 



* The Lake of Ujiji lies, according to the route-maps sent by Captains Burton 

 and Speke, between the meridians of 26^*^ and 28° E. long. Its breadth, where 

 crossed between Kabogo and Kasenge, is about 23 miles. From this, crossing to 

 Uvira, near its north end, is 135 miles; the entire lake being 330 miles in length, 

 between latitudes 3° 10' and 8° 30' S., and is there made to be about 700 miles 

 from the eastern coast of Africa. Lake Ukerewe, south end, is estimated to be in 

 about latitude 2° 40' S., longitude 31° 30'. But the observations for longitude, 

 made by Captain Speke at Ujiji, on the E. shore of the lake, which have since 

 been roughly computed by Mr. George, place it in longitude 30° 23' E. Should 

 this position prove to be correct, the distance of the lake from the coast will be 

 only 520 miles.— A. F. 



L 2 



