APPENDIX.
At the
Meeting of the Eoyal Geographical Society on February 24, 1894, an
account of Mr. Warington Smyth's journey by the President, Mr. Clements
E. Markham, c.b., was read by Mr. Probyn. Before the reading of the paper, the President said—
The
paper we are to hear this evening is on exploration on the Upper
Mekong, in Siam, by Mr. Herbert Warington Smyth, who is serving under
the Siamese Government. Siam is from many points of view a most
interesting country, more particularly for us at the present time, and
it is observable that until about nine years ago, when Mr. Holt Hallett
read his paper, we had scarcely in this Society heard anything of Siam
except as to the exploration of the Mekong by our gold medallist,
Lieut. Gamier. We had only had scattered notices in previous years from
Sir Eobert Schomburgk and Sir Harry Parkes. But latterly we have
received most important communications from Lord Lamington in 1891 and
Mr. Curzon last year, and I think that not only this Society, but the
nation generally, owes a debt of gratitude to Lord Lamington and Mr.
Curzon for having so persistently, so patriotically, and so ably kept a
question of such importance to Ed gland
before the Government and the public. It was in 1887 that Mr. McCarthy,
after surveying Siam for several years, favoured us with a most
interesting communication. He was the first to describe to us the
geographical and the general features of the country; and I believe I
am right in saying it was through the advice and the persuasion of Mr.
McCarthy that this young and modest explorer, Mr. Warington Smyth, was
induced to send us his paper, which we shall listen to this evening.
Unfortunately,
he will be unable to read it himself; he is still—I won't say better
employed, because I don't think any one can be better employed than in
reading a paper before this Society, but he is quite as well employed
in preparing in Siam for further exploration, and I am glad to say
that, as the paper is in manuscript, or the condensed version which we
are obliged to use, a friend of Mr. Warington Smyth and an old
schoolfellow, Mr. Probyn, has very kindly undertaken to read it.
After the reading of the paper, the following discussion took place :—
Lord Lamington :
I think I may say that if Mr. Warington Smyth had been here he would
have considered it a great compliment to have had his lecture listened
to by so large an audience, and I may also say you will not think your
time wasted while listening to the paper. We owe a debt of gratitude to
Mr. Probyn for having undertaken to read a paper so full of names to
which he must be unaccustomed. With regard to the paper, no description
I have read has recalled to me so vividly the scenes in that part of
the world. Mr. Smyth hau shown himself not only a geologist, but a
close observer of natural history and
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