REPORT FOR 1864.

THE Council have great pleasure in being able to report to the Members of the Hakluyt Society that, during the last year, a considerable increase has been made to their numbers. At the same time the list of subscribers has been carefully revised, and has been cleared of a great many names of members who disregard the applications made to them for the payment of their arrears. The number of Members is now 224, and the balance in the Banker’s hands is £431:17:3. The arrears due to the Society amount to £290:17:0, while there are no outstanding debts of any kind.

Thus the funds of the Society are in a prosperous condition, and several Editors have, since the issue of the last annual Report, undertaken works of great value and rarity. The Council, therefore, congratulate the Members on the satisfactory state of the Society’s affairs; but they would also remind them that a large addition to the number of the subscribers is very desirable, and that the power of doing full justice to the authors whose works are reproduced in the Society’s volumes, depends upon the support which is received from those who are interested in this very important branch of literature.

Since the last General Meeting, the two following volumes have been delivered to members:—

1. “Mirabilia Descripta.” “Or the wonders of the East, by Friar Jordanus (circa 1330).” Translated from the Latin original, with the addition of a commentary by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B., late of the Royal Engineers (Bengal).

2. “The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia (A.D. 1503 to 1508).” Translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, with a preface, by John Winter Jones, Esq., F.S.A.; and edited with Notes and an Introduction by the Rev. George Percy Badger.

The following work is in the hands of the printer, and will be delivered to Members in the course of the autumn:—

“The Travels of Pedro de Cieza de Leon, from the gulf of Darien to the city of La Plata, contained in the first part of the Chronicle of Peru, which treats of the boundaries and description of provinces, founding of new cities, rites and customs of the Indians, and other strange things worthy to be known (Antwerp 1554).” Translated and edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by Clements R. Markham, Esq.

And the following works have been undertaken by Editors, one of which will be issued as the second volume for the present year:—

1. “The Travels of Josafa Barbaro and Ambrogio Contarini in Tana and Persia.” Translated from Ramusio by E. A. Roy, Esq., and edited by Viscount Strangford.

2. “The Narrative of Pascual de Andagoya, containing the earliest notice of Peru.” Translated and edited, with Notes, by Clements R. Markham, Esq.

3. “The Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands by Bethencourt in 1402-25.” Translated and edited by Captain J. G. Goodenough, R.N.

4. “The Voyage of Vasco de Gama round the Cape of Good Hope in 1497,” now first translated from a contemporaneous manuscript, accompanied by other documents, forming a monograph on the life of De Gama. To be translated and edited by Richard Garnett, Esq., of the British Museum.

5. “The Three Voyages of Sir Martin Frobisher,” with a selection of his letters now in the State Paper Office. Edited by Rear-Admiral R. Collinson, R.N., C.B.

6. “Cathay, and the road thither.” A collection of all minor notices of China, previous to the sixteenth century; to be translated and edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by Colonel Henry Yule, C.B.

7. “The Fifth Letter of Hernan Cortes, describing his Voyage to Honduras in 1525-26,” to be translated and edited by William Stirling, Esq., M.P.

8. “The Voyage and Travailes of John Hughen van Linschoten into the East or Portugales Indies from A.D. 1576-92,” to be reprinted from the English translation of 1598, and edited by the Rev. G. P. Badger.

9. “Description of Africa and of the notable things in it, by John Leo Africanus.” To be translated from Ramusio, and edited, with Notes and an Introduction, by Dr. Henry Barth, C.B., Hon. Corr. Mem. F.R.G.S.

The following Six Members retire from the Council:—

Commodore Cracroft, R.N., C.B.

John Forster, Esq.

Dr. Hodgkin.

Sir Erskine Perry.

Major General Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B.

Lord Broughton.

Of this number, the three following are proposed for re-election, viz:

Sir Erskine Perry.

Major General Sir Henry Rawlinson, K.C.B.

The Right Hon. Lord Broughton.

And the names of the following gentlemen are proposed for election:—

Viscount Strangford.

General C. Fox.

Rear-Admiral R. Collinson, C.B.

Captain Sherard Osborn, R.N., C.B.

Rev. G. P. Badger.

John W. Kaye, Esq.

STATEMENT OF THE ACCOUNTS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE YEAR 1863-64.

Balance at Banker’s at last Audit £357 10 0Mr. J. E. Richard, for Paper £35 2 0

Mr. Richards, for Printing 175 11 0

Received by Banker during the year 341 5 3Transcriptions 21 17 0

Mr. Stanford, for a Map 29 7 6

Petty Cash in hand at last Audit 1 16 0Charge at Hull, on £2:2 (Bank of England) 0 0 6

Petty Cash received in July 1864 10 0 0Gratuity to Agent’s Foreman 5 0 0

Expended in Petty Cash 5 0 7

£271 18 7

Present Balance at Banker’s 431 17 3

Present Balance in Petty Cash 6 15 5

£710 11 3 £710 11 3

Examined and approved July 15th, 1864.

CHARLES BAGOT PHILLIMORE. WILLIAM NEVILLE STURT.