816 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



pond and rivulet. This latter discipline is one which requires a high 

 degree of local knowledge and local affection, combined with the insidi- 

 ous and persistent curiositj' of the true investigator, and the patient 

 devotion of the antiquary. The reader of this paper will be surprised to 

 find how large an amount of material exists upon the Cartography' of 

 New Brunswick, but I have no reason to suppose that this pi-ovince is 

 unusually rich in this re.spect ; and it is altogether i)robable that every 

 older province in the Dominion, and every older state of the Union, may 

 be made to yield results equally rich. 



1. On the Scarcity of Old Maps. 



One may almost say that the chief characteristic which old ma])s 

 have in common is their scarcity. Many great libraries ])0ssess but an 

 insignificant number, and one often has to search through many for a 

 single copy of a map which once existed in far larger editions than did 

 many of the books upon their shelves. As Kohl has said : '' There is no 

 class of historical documents on which the ' tooth of time ' has been more 

 busy, moi'c cruel and destructive, than on old maps, — those compiled, as 

 well as those made from actual survej^, the manuscript, as well as the 

 ■engraved and printed. We could point out some maps engraved and 

 printed only a few hundred years ago, and then existing in hundreds or 

 thousands of copies, of which now scarcely a copy is left, which is 

 valued by amateurs at its weight in gold." ' 



The destruction of maps is, perhaps, due chiefly to the fact 

 that, unlike books, their shape makes them difl[icult to store and 

 keep accessible. This is well illustrated b}' one of the " don'ts " in a 

 booklet issued some years ago for libi'arians, which read : "Don't try to 

 find a convenient way to keep maps — there isn't any ;" a truth to which 

 any of us who possess collections are ready to testify. In our houses 

 and offices, too, a map for Avhich there is not wall-room, when superseded 

 by a better, is not placed in the library, but its awkward shape is dis- 

 posed of in the garret, whence its way lies through dust to destruction. 

 Moreover, old editions of maps are i-egarded as of little value when newer 

 ones appear, thus differing somewhat from older editions of books, which 

 are generally preserved. This is true, also, to a considerable extent, of 

 the original maps of the earlier explorers ; and after these were used for 

 the compilation of the general maps, they were thought of no farther 

 value. But how precious would be the original sketches of Cabot and 

 Oartier to us ! 



In modern times, of course, original mai)8 of explorers and surveyors 

 are carefullj- preserved, and where there is a central dejjo.sitory for such 

 maps under government supervision there is likely to be a rich collection. 



1 Discovery, 25. 



