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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1917
The Secretary of State for India, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, said: When I came here to-night as the guest of one of your members, and even when on entering this building you expressed a desire that I should say a few words in the course of the evening, I did not quite understand the position of prominence which you intended to allocate to me, and I am afraid that I am wholly unfitted for it. I am not a fellow of your Society and I am afraid if any geographical knowledge, let alone any geographical exploration, is necessary to qualify for that position, I shall never attain to it. . My recollections of geography are of a painful study which, laboriously acquired, was inevitably quickly forgotten; a study of maps of which most were already too full, and which it is the business of your Society to crowd with still more details. You and perhaps the auidence will feel that these confessions hardly indicate my fitness for my present position; but at least I am trying to improve. I had the pleasure of welcoming Sir Aurel Stein at the India Office, in virtue of the position I hold there, and though I learned very little from him in the brief and very modest account which he gave me of his travels, it was at any rate sufficient to make me feel the importance of the work which he had done, and the immense interests of the results which he had achieved. I think I may fairly say-for I had nothing to do with his travels at any stage-that he was fortunate in the collaboration of the representatives of two Governments. He had the good will of the Government of India, and, as we are glad to recognize, he enjoyed equally the good will of the Russian authorities. By their aid, and above all by his own indomitable perseverance, his courage, his endurance, and his enthusiasm, he has achieved results which are of interest to all of us, which are of importance to the Governments of India and of Russia, and which, I venture to add, will serve to confirm the high reputation which he has won among explorers. I am not fitted to initiate a discussion of the kind you have invited. I am glad to pay my tribute-and to pay my tribute as Secretary of State for India-to what Sir Aurel Stein has done ; but for a learned discussion of his work you must turn to other and greater authorities.
The President: Mr. Austen Chamberlain has alluded to one of the happiest points in the explorations of Sir Aurel Stein—that they constitute a new link in the friendship between the two great Empires that share the larger part of Asia, England and Russia. We are happy in having here to-night the distinguished Russian officer General Baron Kaulbars. I do not know if he would be kind enough to say a few words to us. (General Baron Kaulbars bowed his acknowledgements.)
Sir Hercules Read (British Museum): I am personally very glad to say a few words in order to bear my small testimony to the extraordinary qualities that my old friend Sir Aurel Stein has brought to bear upon the varied aspects of the journey that he has just described to us. I know nobody among all the explorers whom I have met, who has greater capacity for carrying on archæological and geographical work under conditions that we all can imagine. after having seen that beautiful series of slides he has put before us. In the intervals of extremely tedious marches he has devoted himself to archeological research in temperatures and climates which are very trying, and, as in former years, he has brought home a collection of antiquarian remains which have opened up fresh fields to archeologists in these islands. For this we who perforce remain at home are most grateful, and not only to Sir Aurel Stein but in a very great degree to the authorities at the India Office. The atmosphere at this meeting is naturally a geographical one, and I feel that the importation of archaeological questions is somewhat of an intrusion; but I can speak only about my own business. Sir Aurel Stein has given us from time to time a résume of his geographical discoveries, using
