The PRESIDENT: We now come to what is the principal and most interesting business of the Meeting - the presentation of the Annual Medals and Awards.

In the first place come the two Royal Medals.

The Founder's Medal this year has been awarded to Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett, R.A., for his explorations and surveys on the upper waters of the Amazon. Lieut.-Colonel Fawcett has worked for a number of years on the exploration of those tributaries of the Amazon which have their headwaters in the territory, until recently in dispute between. Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, and has contributed several important papers to the Society. In particular his exploration of the rivers Tambopata and Heath laid the foundations of the agreement between Peru and Bolivia, to which he afterwards contributed effectively by his work as a Commissioner for Bolivia in the delimitation and demarcation of the frontier. The total length of the routes and rivers mapped by Colonel Fawcett in Bolivia for the first time is about 1100 miles, while that of the re-mapped routes is 800 miles. On all of the journeys careful observations were taken for latitude and longitude, and the route traverses have been adjusted. Beyond that, Colonel Fawcett has visited sundry tribes who have never been seen by white men before, and should furnish very interesting results to ethnologists. There are few geographers with a finer record of exploration than Colonel Fawcett, and I am glad to say he is able, which is a rare thing this year among our recipients of awards, to be present to-day to receive his Medal.

Reproduced with the permission of the Royal Geographic Society, 2001