808 report— 1884. 



6. On the British Commercial Geographical Society about to be founded on 

 the proposal of Commander V. Lovett Cameron, C.B. By Commander 

 V. Lovett Cameron, C.B. 



In this paper the author, who has taken the initiative in forming the British 

 Commercial Geographical Society, pointed out the growing necessity for strength- 

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

 British Empire in all parts of the world. He instanced the energy and enterprise 

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

 love for geographical knowledge in the rising generation destined to take part in 

 the commerce of their country. The knowledge stored in encyclopaedias, gazet- 

 teers, sailing-directions, consular reports, and other official and non-official 

 documents needs digesting, arranging, and indexing to be rendered available for 

 every-day use in a great commercial centre like London, where business men with 

 little loss of time can inform themselves with the least possible delay on all matters 

 which concern them in their daily avocations. The author set forth the objects of 

 the society, which has already met with the approval of those who have given the 

 subject their consideration, and felt convinced that no time should be lost in 

 repairing an omission in our system of commerce, or rather in meeting a necessity 

 which has sprung up, through the increasing competition of our neighbours, in 

 markets until recently almost exclusively supplied with British products. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2. 

 The following Papers were read : — 

 1. Arctic Experiences at Point Barrow. By Lieutenant P. H. Rat, U.S.A. 



The author made an excursion in 1883 for a distance of 160 miles to the south 

 of his winter quarters, near Point Barrow, in the course of which he struck the 

 Mead river sixty miles above its source, and followed up its course until he came in 

 sight of a range of mountains trending N.W. and S.E. Speaking of the results of 

 his meteorological observations, he stated that he was satisfied that there was no 

 open polar sea, from the fact that the temperature of the sea water is unvarying 

 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. Recent Discoveries in Northern Greenland and in Grinnell Land. 

 By Lieutenant A. W. Gkeelt, U.S.J . 



The geographical work of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition covers nearly 

 three degrees of latitude and over forty degrees of longitude. Starting from 

 latitude 81° 44', longitude 64° 45', Lieutenant Lockwood reached, May 18, 1882, 

 on the north coast of Greenland, latitude 83° 24', longitude 40° 46'. ' From the 

 same starting-point he reached, to the south-west, in May 1883, in Greely Fiord, 

 an inlet of the western polar ocean, latitude 80° 48', longitude 78° 26'. The 

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

 line of nearly one hundred miles beyond the farthest point seen by Lieutenant 

 Beaumont, of the Boyal Navy. It also carried Greenland over forty miles north- 

 ward, giving that continent a much greater extension in that direction than it has 

 generally been credited with. The farthest point seen on the Greenland coast was esti- 

 mated to be about latitude 83° 35', longitude 38°. There were no indications that the 

 farthest point seen was the northern termination of Greenland. The newly-discovered 

 coast resembled in many respects that of southern Greenland. The mainland was 

 intersected by many deep fiords, with numerous outlying islands. The interior of the 

 country, as seen from an elevation of some 2,000 feet, consisted of confused masses 



