SURVEYS AND MAPS 33 



clear that central departments could be created for groups of terri- 

 tories with an organization analogous to that of the Union. The 

 Surveyors-general of the different territories and the Director of the 

 central department would form the directing board. Under such 

 an arrangement plans of work could be co-ordinated, and con- 

 sultation between the colonial and home authorities could be 

 arranged through the Colonial Survey Committee, in connection 

 with the periodic conference of Empire Survey Officers. 



FRENCH 



The fact that surveys in French territories are directed by the 

 Service Geographique de rArmee gives a military character to the 

 work done. In addition, organizations exist in Africa which are 

 more or less independent of the department in Paris. The details 

 are given by M. de Martonne (1928 and 1935). The Service Geo- 

 graphique in French West Africa will serve as an example. The 

 Director, with an office in Dakar, is responsible only to the 

 Governor-general and has a staff of seven specialist surveyors and 

 nine sous-officiers, of whom half work on geodetic triangulation 

 and half on topography. In addition there are officers in charge of 

 the drawing, computing and printing offices where most of the 

 work is carried out by African subordinate staff. The French do 

 not stress the importance of triangulation very much, and the only 

 area where this is complete is the mountainous region of French 

 Guinea. Most of the other country is so flat that triangulation is 

 difficult and the subsequent surveys depend on points fixed 

 astronomically to one-hundredth of a second. 



Topographic maps are constructed from route surveys, as has 

 been mentioned on page 27. This method is used in the desert 

 areas such as Mauritania, the Sudan and Niger Colonies, where 

 all survey is carried out by officers of the Camel Corps who are 

 responsible to the Service Geographique de I'Armee in Paris. By 

 this means it is claimed that practically every large rock in the 

 Sahara is now fixed in position. Cadastral survey is carried out 

 only in the large urban areas. 



BELGIAN 



The Belgian organization differs from the British in that the 



