270 National Geographic Magazine. 
look forward to the day when Japanese books printed im Roman 
characters will supersede, to a large extent, the books in the signs 
of the ‘ Kanda.’ 
One of the best authorities for writing and pronouncing the 
names of the districts, cities, towns and villages of Japan is a 
very recent publication™ by our honored countryman, Mr. W. N. 
Whitney, interpreter at the U. 8. Legation at Tokyo, who com- 
piled this admirable book with great care and labor from the 
official records of the Japanese empire. It not only contains the 
names in the original Japanese print, but what is of chief value 
to us, also the transcription, in accordance with the Romaji-Kwai 
system. We cannot do better, at present, than to follow this book 
in determining the orthography of geographic names in Japan. 
In not so satisfactory a state as the orthography of Japanese 
geographic names is that of the countries adjacent to Japan. 
Considering that Asiatic names have been transcribed phoneti- 
eally by explorers and surveyors of different nationalities, at dif- 
ferent periods of time, and who were often but little, or not at 
all, acquainted with the languages they had to deal with, it is not 
surprising that many of the names we find on the charts should 
have been written utterly wrong. That such was the case on 
even comparatively recent surveys is, for instance, illustrated by 
the change in the nomenclature on the French plan of Cape 
Koan Lan, in the Gulf of Tongking (Plan No. 3721). In this 
French survey of 1878 the same names on the editions of 
1879 and 1886, respectively, are rendered thus : 
1879. 1886. 
Cap Cua-Lam. Cap Koan Lang. 
Tle Capuitao. Cai-pui-tao. 
Tle Soum-La-Too. Siong-Lai-Tao. 
Ile Laito-San. Lai-Tao. 
Tle Foum-Lung. Ile Fong Wong. 
Such differences in spelling, and examples of pleonasm, as are 
indicated by these names, are found on the charts of all nations, 
but, under the beneficial working of the systems adopted by the 
British, French and Germans, similar errors are rapidly being cor- 
rected, and progress is bemg made towards international uni- 
formity in the spelling of all geographic names. 
* A concise Dictionary of the principal roads, chief-towns and villages 
of Japan, with populations, post-offices, &c.; together with Lists of Ken, 
Kori, and Railways. By W.N. Whitney, M.D., Interpreter of the U.S. 
Legation, Tokyo. 
