DAM ARAS, OVAMPO, AND N AM AQUAS 151
plished that which every geographer in this room
must feel is of eminent advantage to the science in
which we take so deep an interest. Accept, with
these expressions, my belief that, so long as England
possesses travellers with the resolution you have
displayed, and so long as private gentlemen will
devote themselves to accomplish what you have
achieved, we shall always be able to boast that
this country produces the best geographers of the
day.”
The Geographical Medal gave me an established
position in the scientific world. In connection with
subsequent work, it caused me to be elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1856, and to
receive in the same year the very high honour of
election to the Athenaeum Club under Rule II.,
which provides that the Council may elect not more
than nine persons in each year on the ground of
distinction in Science, Literature, Art, or Public
Service, being at the average rate of a little more
than two elections annually, under each of these
four broad bends, The recipient is thereby saved
many, sometimes sixteen or more, years of waiting,
before his turn would arrive to be balloted for in
the ordinary course of election. So I have much
to be grateful for to the Royal Geographical Society,
and I loyally did my best to promote its interests
during the many years that I served on its Council
in various capacities.