808 



REPORT — 1884. 



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'l\. 





6. On the British Oonimercial Gengraphical Society about to he founded o - 

 the proposal of Commander V. Lovett Cameron, C. li. Ih/ Ccjmmiindtr 

 V. Lovett Cameron, C.B. 



In this paper tho author, who has taken the initiative in forminpr tin; Rriih'a 

 Commercial Geographiful Society, pointed out the growinjj nece8s<ity for strengta. 

 ening the bonds ot union between iMigland and the outlying portions of the 

 British Empire in all parts of the world. lie instanced tlie energy and eutt'ipiis-- 

 of France in seeking at the present time every available opportunity to infuse a 

 Jove for geographical knowledge in the rising generation destined to take ]tart ii 

 the commerce of their country. Tlie knowledge stored in eneyclopicdiiis, irazit- 

 teers, sailing-directions, consular reports, and otht'r ollicial and nou-ollicinl 

 documents needs digesting, arranging, and indexing to be rendered availaljlf f n 

 every-day use in a great commercial centre like Lon ' jn, where business men with 

 little loss of time can inform themselves with the least pussible delay on all inal!e:- 

 which concern them in their daily avocations. Tlie author set fatli the (iliji-L'tS'i: 

 the society, whieii has already met with the apjiroval of those who liavc given th' 

 subject their consideration, and felt convinced that no time slmidd he lust i; 

 repairing an omission in our system of commerce, or rather in meeting a nece.-fiu 

 which has sprung up, tlirough the increasing competition of (lur nrighhour!;, in 

 markets until recently almost exclusively supplied with Ihitish products. 



TUJJSDA Y, SEPTE.MIILJI 2. 



The following Papera were read : — 

 1. Arctic Experiences at Point Barrmc. By Lieutenant P. H. Ray, t/^.,S'..l. 



The author made an excursion in 1883 for a distance of 100 miles to the south 

 of his winter (juarters, near Point Uarrow, in the course of which he struck th- 

 Mead river sixty miles above its source, and followed up its cour.-e until lie ciime i:: 

 sight of a range of mountains trending X.W. and .S.l'^ Speaking of thf results c; 

 his meteorological observations, he stated that he was satisfied that ihfre wasii" 

 open polar sea, from tlie fact that the temperature of the sea water is imvaryiui: 

 from the time the sea closes in October until it opens in July, which could not well 

 be the case if there was a large body of warm water lying around the pole. 



2. lit'cent Discoveries in Northern Greenland aiul in Grinnell Land, 

 By Lieutenant A. W. Greely, U.S.A. 



The geographical work of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition covers nearly 

 three degrees of latitude and over forty degrees of longitmle. Startiii;; frcm 

 latitude mT 44', longitude (>4° 4o', Lieutenant Lockwood reached. May is, In-:'. 

 on the north coast of Greenland, latitude !-;;r 24', longitude 40° 40'. I'roni ih>' 

 same starting-point he reached, to the south-west, in May 188.'^>, in Uieely ri'rd, 

 an inlet of the western polar ocean, latitude 80° 48', longitude 78'l'U'. The 

 journey to the northward resulted in the addition to our charts of a new coast- 

 line of nearly one hundved miles beyond the farthest point seen by Ijiciitenaut 

 Beaumont, of the Itoyal Navy. It also carried Gn'cnlaiid over forty iiiilcs north- 

 ward, giving that continent a much greater extension in that tlirection llian it ha- 

 generallybeen credited with. The farthest point seen oiithetJ eenlandcoast wu^i'sii- 

 mated to ))e al)out latitude So° .'»o', longitude :',>'. There were no indieationx that th- 

 farthest point seen was the northern termination oftireenland. Thf newly-discovend 

 coast resembled in many respects that of southern (irei-nland. 'I'ht> nniiiihinil Wii- 

 intersected by many deep fiords, with innucrous outlying islands. TIk- iiiiiiinr of t! •' 

 country, as seen from an elevation of some 2,000 feet, consisted of cuniu^fil niassf 



