1838] 



Royal Asiatic Society. 



379 



tain Moresby, in the Paliinirus, in surveying it from JucMa to Akkaba 

 and Suez : and the result of these two surveys has been published 

 in that magnificent chart of the whole of the Arabian Gulf, of which 

 Captain Cogan has presented a copy to the Society. In 1833, some more 

 of the officers were ordered to survey the coast of Arabia, from the 

 Arabian to the Persian Gulf; and thereby connect the survey of the 

 Eastern coast of Africa, made from the Cape of Good Hope to the 

 Arabian Gulf, by Captain Owen, of the Royal Navy, with that of the 

 Western coast of the peninsula of India, made from Cape Comorin to 

 the Persian Gulf, by the officers of the Bombay Marine, and between 

 eight and nine hundred miles of the coast of Arabia have already been 

 surveyed by them. In the same year Lieutenant Wellsted w^as em- 

 ployed in surveying the Island of Socotra, and his chart, and his ac- 

 count of that island, copies of which are published in the Journal of 

 the Geographical Society, do the highest honour to his talents 

 and to his scientific acquirements, and afford the public a proof 

 of the advantage which they have derived from the employment 

 of such an officer on so important a service. Many of the officers 

 of this navy have availed themselves of the opportunities which 

 their profession has afforded them, of acquiring a knowledge of 

 the customs and interests of the different native chiefs on whose 

 coasts they have been employed. Captain Cogan has pariicularly dis- 

 tinguished himself by his knowledge of the territories and of the inter- 

 ests of the Imam of Muscat ; and by establishing an intimate alliance 

 between that chief and Great Britain. He, at the request of the Imam, 

 two years ago, brought to England the Liverpool, of 74 guns, as a pre- 

 sent from the Imam to the Ring of Great Britain ; and, by command of 

 His Majesty, last October, took back one of the finest of the Royal 

 yachts as a present from His Majesty to the Imam. This officer, while 

 he was in England, having given the Committee much useful informa- 

 tion relative to the countries and people under the authority of the 

 Imam of Muscat, and to the protection and encouragement afforded by 

 the Imam to arts and sciences, the Society, on the recommendation of 

 the Committee, nominated that chief one of its Honorary Members, 

 and sent him, by Captain Cogan, a diploma conferring that honour up- 

 on him. The Government of Great Britain, aware of the importance 

 of the Bombay Marine, have lately extended to that navy the provi- 

 sions of the Mutiny Act ; have given the officers a fixed rank ; liave 

 placed the whole establishment under the superintendence of one of his 

 Majesty's naval officers at Bombay ; and have changed the name of the 

 service from that of the Bombay Marine to that of the Indian Navy. 

 Under all these circumstances, I can have no doubt that the Society 

 must be, as the Committee of Correspondence is, convinced that the 



