536 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 5, 



distinguished member of our Society, for it was only last year that 

 the Society signified their appreciation of his reputation as a scholar 

 and numismatist by electing him one of their Honorary members. In 

 a recent letter I had asked him if he had any objections to my propos- 

 ing to the Council his appointment as the successor of the late H. H. 

 Wilson, and he has in reply readily assented. The post is one in which 

 he will be in a positionto be frequently of great service to us in England, 

 and which I think it is for the interest of the Society to keep always 

 filled. Its first incumbent, if I mistake not, was Colebrooke, who 

 retired from it, and indeed from all literary life, under pressure of ill 

 health in 1830. The next was H. H. Wilson, to whose active co- 

 operation we are perhaps mainly indebted for the annual grant which 

 was made to us more than twenty years ago by the home authorities. 

 In now appointing Mr. Thomas, the Society will secure for itself the 

 services of an Agent not less distinguished in his own special line of 

 study than were Colebrooke and Wilson in theirs." 



The Meeting unanimously adopted the Council's recommendation. 



Communications were received — 



J. From the Under-Secretary to the Government of India a 

 memorandum received from the Bombay Government regarding Cap- 

 tain Speke's expedition to Eastern Africa. 



The Secretary read the following extracts from the memorandum. 



Writing from Kazeh on the 24th January, 1861, Captain Speke 

 anticipated that he would be prepared to set out in a few days to 

 explore the Northern countries, and investigate the Victoria Nyanza 

 with the view of determining whether or not the lake was the source 

 of the Nile, and of following down any affluents until he arrived in 

 Egypt. Should unforeseen obstacles arise he intended to endeavour 

 to cross the Northern extremities of the Nyanza and reach Zanzibar. 



The expedition would attempt to reach the navigable Nile, the 

 passage to Egypt appearing, from all the information which could be 

 collected, the more easy and economical one, and the more advantageous 

 for the future opening of the country, and this plan would only be 

 relinquished in the event of Mr. Petherick or any other traveller 

 arriving at Uganda by the passage of the Nile before him. 



Captain Speke, and his companion, Captain Grant, had been most 

 hospitably received at Kazeh by Sheikh Moosa M'zari [a native of 

 Surat] a trusted friend of the former expedition. The Sheikh actively 



