Xl PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



surely envy those which raise their proud heads ia St. Paul's or 

 "Westminster Abbey. Happy is that nation which can boast of 

 possessing many men who leave their simple but eternal monu- 

 ments in the hearts of the people." 



Major-General Poetlock was the only son of Capt. Nathaniel 

 Portlock, of the Eoyal Navy, who was one of the loyal colonists 

 of America. He had entered the Navy as a Midshipman under 

 Capt. Cook, and was with him at his death, and he afterwards 

 became one of the leaders of that hardy band of circumnavigators 

 whose discoveries ornamented the last century. In command 

 of the 'Arrow,' a frigate of peculiar construction and of light 

 draught of water, he distinguished himself in many a gallant 

 action with the enemies of his country, and established a name 

 for his family which was honourably sustained by his son, our 

 late lamented President. 



Major- General Portlock was born in 1794. He left the Eoyal 

 Military Academy in 1813, and in April of the following year was 

 ordered to Canada, where he was not undistinguished in the 

 operations on the American frontier. He took part in the siege 

 of Fort Erie, and when the army retired, was the officer who con- 

 structed the lines and tete de pont of Chippewa, at which Sir 

 Gordon Drummond made his successful stand and saved Upper 

 Canada. Lieutenant Portlock continued in Canada for several 

 years. 



After his return to England new and important duties awaited 

 him. In 1824 the Ordnance Survey was about to be extended 

 to Ireland, and Lieutenant Portlock was one of the first officers 

 selected by Colonel Colby to be employed on it. I need not here 

 dilate on the more extended system, beyond that to which the 

 Survey of Great Britain had been confined, which was contem- 

 plated in the Irish Survey. The work required in Ireland was 

 not a map, but a general-estate survey on a much larger scale, 

 though intended for a public purpose. 



Much had to be done in the creation of the machinery and 

 arrangements for this great work, which ultimately led to the 

 formation of a Topographical Department. With the cordial 

 assistance of the Duke of "Wellington, Colonel Colby succeeded 

 in carrying out his plans and organizing his arrangements. In 

 all these Portlock was the confidential officer and companion of 

 Colonel Colby, and he was retained at head-quarters at the Tower 

 for that purpose. Thus passed his first year on the Survey. In 

 1825 the first detachments were moved to Ireland, and were 

 established in the Co. of Londonderry, where the first base was 

 to be measured. The first trigonometrical station Avas taken 

 upon the eastern coast, on Divis Mountain, near Belfast, to con- 

 nect the trianguiation of Ireland with the points already fixed 

 in Great Britain. Colonel Colby, accompanied by Lieutenant 

 Portlock, then proceeded to Ireland and joined the trigonome- 

 trical party on Divis, frojiJ which, at the close of the season, the 



