TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 149 



lowed by other researches of his companions and himself, which, as far as they go, 

 have completely realized his anticipation of detecting large elevated tracts, truly 

 Sanatoria as compared with those swampy and low regions near the coast, which 

 have impressed too generally on the minds of our countrymen the impossibility of 

 sustaining a life of exertion in any intertropical region of Africa. The opening out 

 of the Shire river, that grand affluent of the Zambesi, with the description of its banks 

 and contiguous lofty terraces and mountains, and the discovery of the healthfulness 

 of the tract, is most refreshing knowledge, the more so as it is accompanied by the 

 pleasing notice, that the slave trade is there unknown except by the rare passage of 

 a gang from other parts. Again, this portion of the country so teems with rich 

 vegetable products, including cotton, and herds of elephants, as to lead us to hope 

 that the spirit of profitable barter, which powerfully animates the natives, may lead 

 to their civilization, and thus prove the best means of eradicating the commerce in 

 human beings. 



Whilst Livingstone was sailing to make his last venture, and to realize the promise 

 he had given to his faithful Macololo friends, that he would return to them, and 

 bring them kind words from the Queen of the people who love the black man, Cap- 

 tains Burton and Speke were returning from their glorious exploits in a more central 

 and northern region of South Africa, where they had discovered two great internal 

 lakes or freshwater seas, each of not less than 300 miles in length. 



I may here notice, to the honour of our Government, and particularly to that of the 

 present Secretary of Foreign Affairs, that the undaunted Captain Speke, associated 

 with another officer of the Bengal army, Captain Grant, has received ,£2500 to enable 

 him to terminate his examination of the great Nyanza Lake, under the equator, and 

 we have reason to hope that he will find one of the chief feeders of the White Nile 

 flowing out from its northern extremity, and thus determine the long- sought pro- 

 blem of the chief source of that classic stream. 



I also trust, that in the last and most arduous portion of his efforts in proceeding 

 northwards, he will be assisted through the cooperation of Her Majesty's Consul at 

 Khartum on the Upper Nile in traversing the country immediately to the north of 

 the equator, where no traveller, ancient or modern, has ever penetrated, and which is 

 inhabited by wild and barbarous natives. After a residence of sixteen years in that 

 region, and having made many trading expeditions to the confines of this unknown 

 region, that bold and experienced man, Consul Petherick, is, I am persuaded, the 

 only European who can afford real assistance to Captains Speke and Grant ; and 

 if by their united efforts the true source or sources of the Nile should be discovered, 

 Britain will have attained a distinction hitherto sought in vain from the days of the 

 Roman Empire. 



During the week of our meeting, Mr. Petherick will bring before us his project, 

 which I trust you will support*, either for ascending the Nile to its source or 

 affording effective assistance to Captain Speke, without which it is much to be feared 

 that the gallant officer will never be able to traverse the savage tracts which intervene 

 between the Nyanza Lake and the highest part of the Nile yet visited by any 

 traveller. 



If we turn to the Polar Circle, we see what individual British energy has been 

 able to elicit from the frozen North. There, indeed, notwithstanding many a well- 

 found expedition sent out to ascertain the fate of Franklin, all our efforts as a nation 

 had failed, when the energy and perseverance of a woman, backed only by a few 

 zealous and abiding friends, accomplished the glorious end of satisfying herself, and 

 of proving to her admiring country, that in sacrificing their lives, her heroic husband 

 and his brave companions had been the first discoverers of the North West Passage. 



For her noble and devoted conduct in having persisted through so many years 

 to send out expeditions at her own cost, until she at length unravelled the fate of 

 the ' Erebus' and ' Terror,' the Royal Geographical Society of London has rightly 

 judged in awarding to Lady Franklin one of its Gold medals, whilst the other has 

 been appropriately given to that gallant and skilful officer Sir Leopold M'Clintock, 

 who in the little yacht the ' Fox ' so thoroughly accomplished his arduous mission. 

 He not only ascertained the death of Franklin, and the subsequent abandonment of 



* A Subscription List in furtherance of this great object is opened, headed by Lord Asli- 

 burton and Sir Roderick Murchison, 



