Feb. 14,1859.] OF PASSES THROUGH THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 127 



Eeports which have been read, and also upon having heard from Lord Bury 

 such an able exposition of the physical capabilities of this great country. I 

 have also great pleasure in announcing that, in reply to an a})plication which I 

 made to obtain permission for Captain Palliser and his associates to return to 

 England by crossing the Rocky Mountains into British Columbia, Sir E. B. 

 Lytton has acceded to that request, which had indeed been preferred by the 

 travellers themselves ; and thus many most important and interesting additions 

 will doubtlessly be made to those discoveries the nature of which we have 

 been considering this evening. 



Seventh Meeting, February 2Sthj 1859. 



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



Presentations. — Lieut. -General P. Cannon; Viscount Strangford ; 

 James Brand, Pascoe St. Leger Grenfell^ T. Corhyn Janson, and xhomas 

 Sopwith, C.E., Esqrs., were presented upon their election. 



Elections. — Major A. C. Coohe, r.e. ; Lord De Blaquiere ; Com- 

 mander W. N. W. Hewett, r.n. ; Pev. Evan Lewis, b.a. ; Captain Kenneth 

 Murchison ; Captain Robert Havard Price; Lieut.- Colonel J. F. D, 

 Crichton Stuart, m.p. ; Pev. F. W. Tremlett, m.a. ; and Henry Hulse 

 Berens ; William F wart, m.f. ; Henry Hansard ; William Mitchell ; Thomas 

 Phinn, Q.c. ; Edward Rawdon Power, and Henry William Willoughby, 

 Esqrs., were elected Fellows. 



Auditors. — Thomas H. Brooking and E. Osborne Smith, Esqrs., 

 on the part of the Council, and Thomas Lee, Esq., and the Eev. J. 

 Worthington, d.d., on the part of the Society, were appointed 

 Auditors. 



Exhibitions. — Two large paintings by Mr. Atkinson, showing the 

 character of mountain scenery at the source of the Bascan, and the 

 snowy chain of the Ac-tu, were exhibited. 



The Papers read were : — 

 1. A Journey through some of the Highest Passes in the Ala-tu and 

 Ac-tu Mountains in Chinese Tartary. By T. W. Atkinson, Esq., 

 F.R.G.s. and G.s. 



During my wanderings in Central Asia I came upon several large 

 river-beds, in some of which there was no water, in others the 

 streams Were so small that it was difficult to account for the forma- 

 tion of such enormous water-courses. I shall therefore attempt to 

 describe a phenomenon caused by a terrible earthquake at some 

 distant period, which rent the mountains asunder, letting out the 

 water of a large Alpine lake, which has formed one of those vast 

 channels across the plain. I also hope that my description will 



