8.2 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
followed tlie reading of my paper (given in the Proceedings of 
the Society, Vol. IV., No. II., January 9th, 1880), the following 
extracts will show how eagerly the subject was advocated and 
distinctly declared to be designed by the Royal Geographical 
Society : 
The President was sure he should express not only his own 
feelings, but those of the meeting also, when he said that they 
were very much indebted to Mr. Consul Petherick for the very 
interesting paper which he had just read. It was marked by that 
spirit of commercial enterprise which was peculiarly the character- 
istic of our country, and from which undoubtedly the Society had 
upon so many occasions derived the greatest advantage. 
He was happy to announce that Her Majesty^s Government 
had been pleased to grant- .€2,500 in support of Captain Speke^s 
intended expedition, and he trusted that Mr. Petherick would 
continue, in an opposite direction, the explorations of which he had 
just given an account ; and he hoped the time might not be far 
distant when these two distinguished explorers might meet and 
greet each other, arriving from different directions on the banks of 
the White Nile. 
Sir Roderick Murchison believed that civilization could only 
be introduced into Africa by showing to its inhabitants that we. 
were anxious to deal with them fairly and equitably. Dr. Living- 
stone had often told him that the first step to be taken in civilizing 
the African was to barter fairly with him, and teach him that he 
could gain much by attaching himself to an honest Englishman. 
In conclusion. He heartily hoped that the scheme of developing the 
true source of the White Nile, which they had in hand, might be 
so accomplished that we should be the first people who really dis- 
covered the sources of the great historical river. Whether the 
