E.— GEOGRAPHY. 101 



course, for the purpose of this address solely in the geographical sense. 

 It will, I think, be generally agreed that one of the main objects of a 

 survey is the production of a map. It is not by any means the sole 

 object. Much information of the greatest value can be conveyed 

 adequately and conveniently without the aid of a map ; such, for example, 

 as the positions of trigonometrical points, which can be given by a list 

 of co-ordinates, or the values of levels and bench-marks. But the bulk 

 of the information obtained by the survey of a country is most con- 

 veniently and clearly shown by a map ; and by general consensus of 

 opinion the map is the outward and visible sign of survey work — the 

 final result and fruition of that work. 



The production of a map consists of a regular series of operations, 

 each necessary to the whole ; each preparing the way for the operation 

 which follows, and each dependent on that which has gone before. These 

 operations are first the establishment of the framework (usually but not 

 always done by triangulation) ; next the detail survey on the ground ; 

 next the drawing of the map in the office ; and next the reproduction 

 and printing of that map. The first stage — the triangulation — produces 

 the skeleton of the work. The second stage — the detail survey — provides 

 the material for the map, clothes the skeleton, as it were. The third 

 stage — the drawing — provides the map in the form we want it ; but as 

 it is still in the original, it is available only to the few. It is not till we 

 reach the fourth stage, when the drawn map is reproduced and printed, 

 that the results of the survey become available to the public for whom 

 they are intended. We may say then that the function of a survey 

 which is alive to its duties and which is provided with the necessary 

 funds is to carry through all these stages of the survey of the country. 

 But there is something further. Once a map is published it becomes 

 out of date. The face of the country is constantly changing, and if the 

 map is to remain a correct representation of the country, it must be kept 

 up to date, or revised. We must then add this operation of revision to 

 the functions of a properly conducted survey. 



It may appear to you that in specifying these operations of survey 

 I am merely reciting the obvious. You may well say, ' But surely no 

 Survey Department would fail to carry through all these stages to their 

 logical conclusion — no survey would stop at one of these stages, and not 

 complete the work.' I can assure you, however, that it is by no means 

 uncommon to find that surveys are not completed ; that they do stop 

 at one or other of the stages I have mentioned. I can give you many 

 examples of this. 



In this very country, in the Union of South Africa, you have an 

 immense amount of most valuable triangulation which has been in 

 existence for years ; but little mapping has resulted. There has been 

 no systematic progression from triangulation to survey, and from survey 

 to the published map. In making this statement I should like to make 

 it clear that I am not criticising anyone or any department — I am merely 

 stating a fact which is common knowledge to those who are interested in 

 these matters. Similarly I shall be able to give you examples, in countries 

 whose surveys I shall describe to you shortly, of cases where the survey 

 has reached the stage of the drawn map and never got any farther ; the 



