July II, 1872] 



NATURE 



205 



the two, and notably illustrates how much a single un- 

 aided person may accomplish w ho makes his work a 

 labour of love. 



The condition of the Eastern Alps is even less satis- 

 factory than that of the western part of the chain. The 

 great French map will, doubtless, be com];leted sooner or 

 later, and when it is finislied the Western Alps will be 

 fairly, although only fairly, represented. There is no im- 

 mediate prospect of an equally perfect map being pro- 

 duced of the Eastern Alps. The map of Lombardo- 

 Venetia, in fort} -two sheets, on the scale of sslooi 's the 

 most important one which touches these districts ; and it 

 is as much inferior to the great French map as the latter is 

 to the Carte Dufour. Those who are intimately acquainted 

 with these regions point to its too great generalisation of 

 details and to its want of character, and obseive that it 

 (like other maps published at Vienna), although meritorious 

 for its day, is now behind the times. Sundry amateurs 

 have done good work in recent years in correcting or laying 

 down afresh several of the tnassifs of the Eastern Alps, 

 and amongst these individuals none are more worthy of 

 mention than Mr. Tuckett and Lieutenant Payer. In the 

 summer of 1S64, l\lr. Tuckett, of Bristol, devoted some 

 time to the exploration of the Orteler group, and sub- 

 sequently published a paper in vol. i. of the Alpine Joiinial, 

 entitled " Contributions to the Topography of the Orteler 

 and Lombard Alps:" This paper was accompanied by 

 numerous outline sketches, and by a map. The latter, 

 although roughly executed, gave, it is believed, for the 

 first time with some appi'oach to accuracy the positions 

 and forms of the glaciers on the south side of the chain 

 throughout the length of Val di Zebru, with the basins of 

 the Vitelli and Nagler glaciers, and the lower portions of 

 those of Suldcn and Forno. All these were more or less 

 incorrectly laid down (when represented at all) or vaguely 

 indicated on the Government Maps. Further topographi- 

 cal corrections in connection with the Southern Orteler 

 Alps (the result of visits in subsequent years) were re- 

 corded by Mr. Tuckett in the 2nd vol. of the Alpine 

 Jouj-nal. With the labours of Lieutenant Payer the 

 readers of this journal are already acquainted.* 



Of the Alps of Piedmont there is no map in existence 

 upon which dependence can be placed. A survey is 

 said to be in progress, which will be eventually worked 

 out upon a mammoth scale, and this will afterwards be 

 adopted as the basis for a reduction of more moderate 

 size. Many years must elapse before either of these maps 

 can be produced, and in the meanwhile the old Sardinian 

 Government map will be almost the sole authority. The 

 shortcomings of this map are notorious, and one wonders 

 at the rare ability of the draughtsmen who were employed 

 upon it in projecting mountains which do not exist. The 

 case of Mont Tseran is one of the most flagrant instances, 

 but others could be quoted scarcely less audacious. Mont 

 Tseran is laid down on sheet thirty-seven of the Sardinian 

 map upon the northern side of the valley of the Aic, not 

 far from the source of the river, and is credited with an 

 altitude of 4,045 metres. There is no important mountain 

 upon the spot which it is supposed to occupy, and Mont 

 Tseran may be considered to be absolutely mythical. The 

 late Mr. Cowell demonstrated that the peaks in this 

 neighbourhood do not anywhere approach the height of 

 4,045 metres,t and those who cross the Mont Cenis Pass 

 by tde old .oad can easily satisfy themselves that no great 

 mouiUain occupies the ground whereupon Mont Tseran 

 was located by the Sardmian surveyors. 



.Several amateurs have endeavoured to reduce the Pied- 

 montese Alps to a little order. Mr. ReiUy (whose name 

 has already been mentioned in connection with the chain 

 of Mont Blanc) carried on a survey of the southern 

 branches of the central Pennines in the years 1865-6, and 



* Papers have appeared from time to time upon Lieut. Payer's work in 

 the pages ot Petermann's " Mittheilungen." 

 t See "Vacation Tourists and Notes of Travel." London, 1S61. 



afterwards projected his work upon the s:ale of ,,,,,'i,,.,.. 

 His map was published at the expense of the Alpine Club, 

 and it is, I believe, the only one which at all fairly repre- 

 sents the southern side of Monte Rcta, the valle) s of Val- 

 pelline, Barthelemy, and Tournanche, and the ranges 

 which divide those valleys. Mr. R. C. Nichols has de- 

 voted several seasons to clearing up the topcgiaphy of the 

 Graians, and has from time to time communicated papers 

 to the "Alpine Journal," some of which .ire illustrated by 

 maps. But the full extent of his labours will not be known 

 until a map is published, about which I have now a few 

 words to say. 



Some six or seven years ago the want of a general map 

 of the Alps was a topic of conversation amongst those 

 who habitually frequent those mountains, and ultimately 

 a committee of the Alpine Club was appointed to super- 

 intend the production of a new map which was intended to 

 rival the Carte Dufour in accuracy, and to comprehend 

 the entire chain. The preliminary investigations quickly 

 discovered that the plan must be modified, on account of 

 lack of data ; and it was at length determined to limit 

 the scheme to the Central Alps, to the exclusion of the 

 most eastern and western ones. Mr. William Longman, 

 the eminent publisher, accepted the financial responsi- 

 bilities, and Mr. Nichols was appointed editor. 



This map will be in four large sheets on the seale of 

 • inVno, and is being engraved on steel. It is now in 

 course of production at the geographical establishment 

 of Mr. Stanford, and it promises to b; one of the most 

 minutely and beautifully engraved maps ever published in 

 this or in any other country. Its sheets arc somewhat 

 larger than those of the Swiss m.ip on the scale of 3j„'„„- 

 and it does not extend quite so far to the north as the 

 Swiss map, but in the south it embraces the important 

 groups of the Graian Alps to the south of the Valley of 

 Aosta, which include the Valleys cf Locana, Cogne, 

 Savaranche, Rhemes, Grisanche, and the Tsure, with their 

 peaks Tour de St. Pierre, Grivola, Grand Paradis, Grand 

 Apparei, Aig. de la Sassicrc, Mont Pourri, and the Ruitor. 

 All of these valleys and mountains are not included in 

 the Swiss map. In the west tlie boundaries of the two 

 maps are identical, but in the east the English one ex- 

 tends 10 kilometres beyond Landeck, thus t=iking in the 

 Orteler group, the Zufallspitze, the Adamello and Presa- 

 nella (all of which mountains will be just without the 

 range of the Swiss map), but stopping short of the Oetj- 

 thal group, and thus excluding a great part of the Tyrol, 

 the Bavarian Alps, and everything beyond. The map is 

 expected to be completed in about two years, but it is not 

 at the present time sufficiently far advanced to permit of 

 an elaborate criticism. I believe, however, that it will 

 be found to be little or not at all inferior to the Swiss maps 

 in finish of engraving, in its relief, and in its accuracy, 

 but will hardly be so clear as they are, in consequence of 

 the introduction of details which would have been suffi- 

 cient for a map of four times its scale. Still its appear- 

 ance will be welcome to those who travel amongst or 

 who are interested in the Alps, and it is to be hoped that 

 the scheme as at first propounded will one day be carried 

 out to its fullest extent. 



In the foregoing rapid survey of maps of the Alps it has 

 only been possible just to glance at some of the principal 

 ones ; but this glance has, I trust, enabled the reader to 

 understand that an unlimited amount of work remains to 

 be accomplished before the Alps can be said to be tho- 

 roughly explored, and that a splendid field still remains 

 open for the employment of superfluous energy of men 

 who desire to distinguish themselves. The efforts of in- 

 dividuals are scarcely perceptible upon so vast an extent 

 of country ; but a body of zealous observers, spread over 

 its various districts, might break the neck ot the woik 

 in a few years, and render it possible to produce for the 

 first time a map of the entire Alps upon a uniform scale. 

 Edward Whvmper 



