210 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE
meeting in the journal of the Association have been so toned down that no one would suspect from reading them what really took place.
My connection with the Royal Geographical Society was a long one, and I served for many years on its Council, but the time came when my deafness was an insuperable bar to utility. On Sir Clement Markham becoming President, he very kindly offered me the vacant post of Trusteeship, which carries with it a permanent place on the Council, and is not practically a burden ; but I was compelled to decline, and have taken no direct part in furthering its interests since that time, but have confined my work to other pursuits.
I had a hand in many actions of the Society. I n its earlier years there was good cause of complaint as to the method in which the Society was being worked. Mr. Spottiswoode and myself were the joint Hon. Secretaries, and the necessary reform was only brought about by our simultaneous resignation on the ground that our urgent remonstrances were shelved by the then President. It was agreed between us that, to save appearances, Spottiswoode should continue to act for a short time longer, being earnestly requested to do so.
In due course a new Assistant Secretary was appointed, and after some failures to secure a man capable of worthily filling that important post, we had the good fortune to find and appoint. Mr. H. W. Bates (I825-i 892). He was remarkably well informed on geographical matters, had been a considerable traveller in companionship with Alfred Russell Wallace in South America, and was one of the first
