MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 685 



ney had been the construction of a section of elevation across the entire Con- 

 tinent of Africa from sea to sea, laid down upon a line between the fourth 

 and twelfth degrees of south latitude, of which the protraction has been veri- 

 fied throughout by a careful and repeated astronomical observation. He need 

 hardly say that Lieutenant Cameron had received congratulations from almost 

 every country in Europe on the splendid success of his African journey ; and 

 that Society, as the patron and supporter of his work, was proud to be able 

 to participate in his triumphs. With regard to Colonel Gordon's survey of 

 the Upper Nile not much information had been gained, and the contour and 

 extent of the Albert Nyanza, and even the possible discharge of its waters to 

 the south-west, remained among the unsolved problems of the African Con- 

 tinent. 



In the evening, at the anniversary dinner, Sie Henry referred to the 

 intention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask Parliament to vote 

 £3,000 towards the expenses of Lieutenant Cameron's recent Expedition. He 

 also proposed " The Medallists of the year." Lieutenant Cameron, in re- 

 plying, was received with cheers. "He had travelled," he said, "through a 

 country of untold richness, where the means of its being utilised lay ready 

 to their hands, the vegetable and mineral products there to be found being 

 beyond the imagination of any one living. Unfortunately this charming coun- 

 try was desolated by the slave trade, which was the great blot upon it at the 

 present moment, and the only way the traffic in slaves could be abolished was 

 by the establishment of legitimate commerce. He felt certain that a wise 

 and liberal expenditure of capital, under proper auspices, would prove profit- 

 able, and, at the same time, would be the means of regenerating the natives, 

 and lead to the abolition of the slave trade. They must not look for this to 

 be brought about in a few days, for the idea of the slave trade was engrained 

 in the hearts of the African race, and had been for many years, so that any 

 amelioration of the present condition of things would be proportionately 

 slow. He had been twitted with lowering the cause of Christianity by stat- 

 ing that the regeneration of Africa was only to be brought about by the exten- 

 sion of commerce. He had not referred to the work of the missionaries, but 

 it should be remembered that they went to Africa, not as a means of showing 

 the races how to get a living, but to teach them a religion which they were 

 not sufficiently educated to understand. It was by means only of opening up 

 the country to commerce that good would follow." 



In September, 1876, the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science held its Forty-Sixth Annual Meeting in Glasgow ; and Commander 

 Cameron was the hero of the occasion. He appeared before the public 

 several times, and on every appearance was received in a most enthusiastic 

 manner. His first appearance was in the City Hall, under the auspices of 

 the Glasgow Athenaeum, when he delivered a lecture on his African travels. 



