1 845 THE QUAR TERL Y A CCO UNTS 69 



progress of the field-work. To gain these important 

 objects it would no longer be possible for him to 

 spend his whole time in the field carrying out inde- 

 pendent mapping on his own part. It would be 

 needful to keep himself in touch with the progress of 

 the mapping in every district, though he resolved 

 from the first that he would still devote a good part 

 of the working season to mapping by himself an 

 employment for which he was so admirably qualified, 

 and in which he took such a keen pleasure. 



But besides superintending the surveys in the 

 field, the Director was charged with the task of seeing 

 the maps prepared for the engraver, of arranging the 

 lines of horizontal section, and of editing these sections 

 before they were sent to be engraved. These indoor 

 duties were sometimes exceedingly onerous, involving 

 as they did much correspondence and frequent visits 

 to the ground before all discrepancies, omissions, 

 or mistakes were finally rectified. From this time 

 forward letter-writing on official business claimed an 

 ever-increasing share of Ramsay's time. 



The most irksome part, however, in the routine 

 of these duties was the supervision of the accounts 

 of the staff. Incredible as it may now seem, 

 each member of the corps was required to procure a 

 receipt for all travelling expenses. Continual and 

 vexatious were the disputes with railway-clerks, coach- 

 proprietors, hotel-keepers, and others who refused to 

 be at the trouble of granting receipts, or declined even 

 to sign their names at the foot of official receipts 

 already prepared for them. Moreover, each officer 

 was further bound to furnish at the end of every 

 quarter a detailed statement of his disbursements, with 

 vouchers for his travelling fares and other payments. 



