THE EARLY STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY. 213 



a similar manner to teach the reading of a map of the same area. 

 Relief maps of large areas on a small scale have their uses, but they 

 are unsuitable for educational purposes on account of the manner in 

 which heights must be exaggerated to make them appear at all ; this 

 objection, however, does not apply to models of limited areas on a suf- 

 ficient scale, which always give a truthful and effective representation 

 of the ground. One reason why models have not been more used has 

 been their cost, but the means of constructing them with ease, rapid- 

 ity, and at slight expense, are quickly accumulating as the six-inch 

 contoured sheets of the Ordnance Survey are published. Instruction 

 in geography should begin at home ; and I would suggest that, as the 

 six-inch survey progresses, each decent school throughout the country 

 should be provided with a model and a map of the district in which it 

 is situated. If this were done, the pupils would soon learn to read the 

 model, and, having once succeeded in doing this, it would not be long 

 before they were able to understand the conventional manner in which 

 topographical features are represented on a plane surface, and acquire 

 the power of reading not only the map of their own neighborhood, 

 but any map which was placed before them. In our wall maps I think 

 we have been too much inclined to pay attention to the boundaries of 

 countries, and to neglect the general features of the ground. It is 

 difficult to say whether the maps have followed the teachers or the 

 teachers the maps, but I fear instruction in physical geography too 

 often comes after that in political geography, instead of a knowledge 

 of the latter being based on a knowledge of the physical features of 

 the earth. My meaning may perhaps be explained by reference to a 

 wall map probably well known to every one, that of Palestine, Avhich 

 frequently disfigures rather than ornaments the walls of our school- 

 rooms. In this map there are usually deep shades of red, yellow, and 

 green, to distinguish the districts of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and 

 perhaps another color for the Trans-Jordanic region, with a number 

 of Bible names inserted on the surface, while the natural features are 

 quite subordinate, and sometimes not even indicated. There is per- 

 haps no book that bears the impress of the country in which it was 

 written so strongly as the Bible ; but it is quite impossible for a 

 teacher to enable his pupils to realize what that country is with the 

 maps at present at his disposal. The first object of a wall map 

 should be to show the geographical features of countries, not their 

 boundaries, and for this purpose details should be omitted, and the 

 grander features have special attention paid to them. In school at- 

 lases the same fault may be traced, physical features being too often 

 made subordinate to political divisions ; and there is also, in many 

 cases, a tendency to overcrowd the maps with a multitude of names 

 which only serve to confuse the pupil and divert his attention from 

 the main points. The use of globes in our schools should be en- 

 couraged as much as possible, as there are many physical phenomena 



