HAPPY INDIA 55 



country in comparison, and England shows up very 

 much larger in proportion to India than it really 

 is. Maps on Mercator's projection ought to be 

 abolished from ordinary use because they are so 

 misleading. On Mercator's projection all the lines 

 of longitude are drawn parallel, whereas everybody 

 who has ever looked at a globe knows that they 

 converge towards the Poles, and all meet at a point 

 at the Arctic and Antarctic Poles. A line of 

 latitude drawn through Calcutta is about 23 degrees 

 north latitude, and a line of latitude drawn through 

 the centre of the British Isles is about 53 degrees 

 north latitude, and the lines of longitude converge 

 to a point at 90 degrees north latitude, and therefore 

 on a map on Mercator's projection England appears 

 nearly twice as wide from east to west in proportion 

 to India as it really is. 



Now, the area of India is, roughly speaking, about 

 ierty times the size of England and Wales, the 

 population is nearly ten times as great as the 

 population of England and Wales. The area of 

 India in acres is 1,152,000,000 acres, and excluding 

 the Native States, the area is about 700,000,000 

 acres. Including the Native States, there are 

 100,000,000 acres of forests, and excluding those 

 States, there are about 88,000,000 acres of forests 

 under Government control. There is in addition a 

 large area of forests which is not under Government 

 control. When we consider that the entire area of 

 England and Wales is about3|7,ooo,ooo acres, and 

 that the area of controlled forests in India is nearly 



