164 REPORT—1874. 
recent operations on the Gold Coast, and that so little, comparatively speaking, has 
been added to our knowledge of Ashantee and the Protectorate. The conclusion 
of peace with King Coffee, and the effect that must have been produced on the 
inland tribes by the destruction of Coomassie, appear to offer facilities for the exa- 
mination of a new and interesting region, which it is to be hoped will not be neg- 
lected by those who are able and willing to take part in the arduous task of 
African exploration ; and I trust that before many years have passed we shall know 
much more than we do at present about the Prah, the Volta, the great trade-routes 
leading from the coast to Central Africa, and of the open grassy country abounding 
in game which is said to lie between Coomassie and the lofty mountain-range 
called on our maps the mountains of Kong. 
The most important military contributions to geography have undoubtedly been 
those great topographical surveys which are either completed or in progress in 
every country in ‘Europe, except Spain, Turkey, and Greece. Frederick the Great 
was, I believe, the first to recognize that in planning or conducting operations on a 
large scale, as well as in directing many movements on the field of battle, a com- 
mander should have before him a detailed delineation of the ground of a whole or 
part of the theatre of war. To supply this want Frederick originated Military 
Topography, which, in its narrower sense, may be defined as the art of representing 
ground on a large scale in aid of military operations. It was found, however, that 
during war there was rarely sufficient time to construct maps giving the requisite 
information, and thus the necessity arose of collecting in peace such data as would 
enable maps to be prepared that should show the extent, relative position, and 
comparative height and steepness of mountain-ranges, as well as their connexion 
with each other, the course of the rivers, the direction of the main lines of com- 
munication, the position and importance of towns, the extent of morasses, forests, 
and other obstacles to the free movement of troops, and which at the same time 
should distinguish by different depths of shade those places over which troops 
could or could not be manceuvred. 
In this necessity may be seen the origin of all national topographical surveys, 
including our own, which was commenced as a purely military survey in 1784 b 
General Roy, and transferred in 1791 to the old Board of Ordnance. The gradual 
development of these surveys, and the various stages through which they have 
gr before reaching their present state of excellence, need not be noticed here ; 
ut it may be remarked that, whilst in all foreign countries the topographical maps 
have retained their essentially military character, the Ordnance Survey maps have for 
many years past been constructed with the paramount view of their general 
utility to all classes in the kingdom, and the military character of our topographical 
map on the one-inch scale has had to give way to the civil requirements of the 
State. We find also on the Continent that the Cadastral surveys are conducted by 
a civil department of the State, the topographical surveys by the War department ; 
whilst in our own country all operations connected with the Cadastral and topo- 
graphical surveys are concentrated in one department, the Ordnance Survey, which 
ee 1870 has formed part of a purely civil department of the State, the Office of 
orks. 
Side by side with the large establishments engaged in the production of the to- 
pographical maps, there have grown up in most countries extensive departments, 
sometimes employing from fifty to sixty officers, whose duty it is to supplement the 
maps of their own and foreign countries by the collection of all information of 
whatever nature that may be useful in time of war, to arrange and classify the 
information thus collected, to prepare what may be called military-geographical- — 
statistical descriptions of all possible theatres of war whether at home or abroad, 
to study the science of marches, the influence of ground on the movement of troops, 
the best and most rapid means of concentrating and moving large bodies of troops, 
and to plan campaigns under varied circumstances. The brief interval that elapses 
between the declaration of war and the commencement of hostilities, the rapid 
movements of armies, and the short duration of campaigns at the present day have 
shown more clearly than ever the imperative necessity of previous preparation for 
war; and the publication of the great surveys of most European countries has given 
an impetus heretofore unknown to the studies I have alluded to. In our own country 
