CHAPTER X 



TOPOGRAPHY 



The sketching in of the topography, or detail of the land, is a 

 point on which there is more variation, as to the manner in 

 which it is done, than in any other of the steps of a survey. 



It is the least necessary part of a chart, which is destined 

 mainly to guide over the water and not on the land ; but as we 

 are guided over the water hy the land, a perfect chart should 

 have the features of the country correctly delineated, so as to 

 assist the mariner in recognising the land by the mutual 

 positions of peaks and other conspicuous objects. Further- 

 more, with our universal presence and interest all over the 

 globe, it is impossible to say that an expedition may not want 

 to start from some point on our chart, when information for a 

 short distance inland will, in such a case, be most useful. 



As a general rule, the land should be put in as far back Width of 

 from the shore as it is visible from the sea ; but this is only a g^aphy 

 very general guide, and must depend upon the distance of the from 

 back ranges, and the size of our sheet of paper. When the 

 most distant mountains are very far back, we cannot spare 

 time to do more than fix their summits by angles, get their 

 heights and the extent of the range, and the country between 

 must be a perfect blank. 



Often, in savage lands, the country will be too dense with Rough 

 jungle to be able to do much to the topography by walking 3^aphv 

 over it, which is, of course, the only way to get it correctly 

 mapped, and we must then be content to sketch what we can 

 see from the sea, and from the coast. By making stations in 

 the ship, drawing a sketch at each, and getting angles to all 

 prominent parts, such as spurs of hills, valleys, ravines, 

 smaller peaks, etc., which will be entered on the sketch, a 



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