PRESIDEKTIAL ADDRESS. 431 



be half this time before all the parts of the earth's surface that are likely to 

 be of any use to man as settlements, or capable of his development, are properly 

 surveyed and mapped. There are, of course, regions, such as those near the 

 Poles and in the arid deserts, that are never likely to be accurately triangulated 

 and mapped to any extent, and it would be mere waste of time and money to 

 attempt anything of the kind. 



As might be expected, the parts of the earth's land-surface that are 

 accurately surveyed, about one-seventh of the whole, are those inhabited by the 

 most civilised nations and their dominions. The areas so mapped include the 

 European countries (with the exception of some parts of the Balkan States), 

 India, Japan, Algeria, Tunis, Egypt, and other parts of Africa under the 

 dominion of European nations, United States, parts of Canada and Mexico, the 

 international boundaries between some of the South American countries, and 

 very restricted areas of Australasia. These have all regular Government topo- 

 graphical surveys based on accurate triangulation, and are therefore shovsrn in 

 the darkest shade on the map. The parts that are still unsurveyed and 

 umnapped in any sense are, as will be seen^ certain remote unexplored regions 

 near the Poles, a few small patches in Central Asia, much of the interior of 

 Arabia, parts of the Sahara and certain other comparatively small areas in 

 Central Africa, a considerable amount of the interior of South America, specially 

 those parts between the great rivers, and certain areas of the interior of 

 Australia. These are shown by the lightest shade on the map, and at the 

 present day represent slightly less than the area that is accurately mapped. 

 Between these two extremes the surveying and mapping varies in merit and 

 degree of reliability from that of a fairly accurate nature, such as land-office 

 plans (which as a rule make no pretence at showing topographical features) and 

 the more accurate plane-tabling and compass-traversing, which altogether may 

 be taken as covering about one-twelfth of the earth's land area, and that 

 enormously extensive area only roughly mapped from route-traverses of explorers 

 and others, which now constitutes about two-thirds of the whole of the earth's 

 land surface. 



Many and varied have been the influences that have led to the surveying 

 and mapping that have already been accomplished, and it would be interesting 

 if we had time to analyse them. Among the preliminary surveys, I think it 

 would be found that military operations would hold an important place. Many 

 an unexplored region has been mapped for the first time as the result of frontier 

 expeditions, such as those of the frontier regions of India and parts of Central 

 and South Africa, while the need of a more exact acquaintance with the topo- 

 graphical features for military requirements have frequently led to more exact 

 trigonometrical surveys. Our own Ordnance S~urvey is indeed an example of 

 this, for in the first place it resulted from the military operations in Scotland 

 in the latter part of the eighteenth century. 



Among other causes that have resulted in surveying and mapping might be 

 mentioned the delimitation of boundaries, commercial or industrial under- 

 takings, such as gold-mining and land-development, projects for new railways, 

 all of which have at times been fruitful in good cartographical results Nor 

 must we forget Christian missions. The better-trained missionary has always 

 recognised the importance of some sort of a survey of the remote field of his 

 operations, and the route to it, if for no other reason, with a view to the good 

 of hi.s fellow-workers and those who come after him; and in the earlier days 

 specially perhaps most of all pioneer mapping was done by the self-sacrificing 

 service of the missionary. We have only to think of such men as Moffat 

 Livingstone, Arnot, Grenfell, and others of the same sort, to be reminded of 



ox?,, r ^1 , missionary from all interested in geographical mapping 



Still, few of the expeditions referred to so far have had surveying as their 

 primary object, and such mapping as has been carried out has been incidental 

 and necessary for the prosecuting of the main purpose in view Pronerlv 

 equipped surveying expeditions that have been despatched from this and other 

 countries have during recent times added enormously to our knowledge of the 

 surface configuration of the earth. 



The survey of British possessions in Africa and other parts of the world 

 under the Colonial Office have recently maxJe rapid progress, and full particulars 



