412 Chronicles of Setence. [July, 
has been his employment in the trigonometrical survey of India 
by the Government; and whilst in this position he endeavoured 
to extend his knowledge beyond the limits of the country assigned 
to him. Whilst occupied in this manner he succeeded in becoming 
acquainted with a Moonshee, named Mohammed-i-Hameed, suffi- 
ciently instructed to be able to work ordinary surveying instruments 
and willing to convey those entrusted to his charge as far as was 
required of him. This man started and accomplished the main 
objects of his mission; but, unfortunately, was unable to return. 
He died within a short distance of the termination of this journey. 
His papers, however, were conveyed to Captain Montgomerie, who 
has obtained some very important results from them. Yarkund has 
proved to be in latitude 38° 19’ 46”; longitude, 77° 30’ E., and 
at an altitude of 4,000 feet ; the distance from Jummoor is said to 
be 430 miles, so that the narrowest breadth of this portion of the 
Himalayan range cannot be estimated at less than 400 miles, a 
distance that it took the Moonshee fifty-one days to traverse, forty- 
tive of which were spent at a greater elevation than 9,000 feet, and 
twenty-five at not less than 25,000. The climate seems to be 
severe ; the mass of the people Mahommedan, though under Chinese 
rule. 
Commander Forbes furnished a paper “ On a Journey to the 
Western Shore of Volcano Bay im Yesso,” which described the 
volcanic phenomena of this northernmost island of the Japanese 
empire, and gave an account of the Ainos, a race of hairy men 
supposed by some to belong to a different and more aboriginal race 
than the present Japanese, a position Professor Huxley to some 
extent controverts on the authority of similar conformation of 
skulls, which, though elongated, are distinct from the Esquimaux, 
and altogether unlike the crania of the races of Hastern Asia. 
Other papers and communications read before the Society have 
been—“ On the Settlement of Lukoja on the Niger,” by Mr. T. 
Valentine Robins; A letter from Commodore Eardley Wilmot, 
Commander-in-Chief of the West African Station, “On the Niger 
Settlement ;” “A Description of Peking,” by Mr. W. Lockhart, 
M.R.CS.; “On a Visit to Dana, in Tibet,” by Captain A. Bennet. 
At the anniversary meeting of the Society, the medals were 
awarded as follows:—The Founder’s, to Dr. Thomas Thomson, 
M.D., for his exploration of the Western Himalayas and Thibet, 
and for his work thereon; the Patron’s, to Mr. William Chandless, 
M.A., for his survey of the River Purus. M. Du Chaillu received 
one hundred guineas to reimburse him for the loss of his mstru- 
ments in Western Africa. 
Sir Roderick Murchison delivered a lengthy address, which 
alluded first to the deaths of Fellows during the last year. He 
then described the advance made of late in chartography and meteor- 
