PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE 

 ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, 

 DELIVERED AT THE ANNIVER- 

 SARY MEETING, MAY 31, 1920 



NATURAL BEAUTY AND GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE 



I HAVE something to say jvhich to old-fashioned 

 geographers may appear very revolutionary, and 

 which you may hesitate to accept straight away. 

 But it has come to me as the result of much and 

 varied geographical work in the field ; of listening 

 to many lectures before this Society ; and of com- 

 posing this Address and five lectures for you, firstly, 

 as far back as 1888, on my journey across Central 

 Asia from Peking to India; secondly, on my 

 journey to Hunza and the Pamirs; thirdly, on 

 Chitral ; fourthly, on my mission to Tibet ; and 

 fifthly, on the Himalaya. And I expect when you 

 come to think over what I have now to say you will 

 find that, after all, my conclusions are npt anything 

 desperately revolutionary but something quite 

 obvious and natural. 



What I want to lay before you for your very 

 earnest consideration is this — ^that we should take a 

 profounder and broader view of Geography, of its 

 fundamental conception, and of its scope and aim, 

 than we have hitherto taken ; and should regard the 



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