GO 



care which has been bestowed upon them; and, as spechnens oi' 

 topographic art, are not exceeded by any which the Committee have 

 seen. 



The same attention to insure accuracy is equally visible through 

 the whole plan of organization and the details of the work ; and the 

 Committee can but repeat that, in their opinion, our Coast Survey 

 will, in this respect, bear comparison with the best geodetic measure- 

 ments of Europe. As to the efficiency and rapidity of progress of 

 the work, it is not possible to make a minute comparison, since, in no 

 other work of the kind, is there any annual report from which its 

 progress may be judged of, nor, indeed, was there in the Coast Sur- 

 vey, until this feature was introduced by the present Superintendent. 

 Nor can any statement of the number of square miles, accomplished 

 in any year, give a fair standard of comparison between two surveys 

 in different countries. The nature of the ground, the climate, and 

 many other causes, operate so strongly to retard or to facilitate a 

 work of this kind, that any parallel founded on them cannot but be 

 fallacious. The Ordnance Survey of Great Britain was commenced 

 in 1791, has been continued from that time, and is, we believe, not 

 yet finished. Our own Coast Survey was actually commenced by 

 the late Mr. Hassler, in 1817, discontinued from that time until 18.32, 

 when it was recommenced, and has been prosecuted continuously to 

 the present time. The triangulation now extends, in a connected 

 series, from Maine to Virginia, and has been commenced in North 

 and South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. 

 Since the work has been in charge of the present Superintendent, 

 (that is, since 1844,) an area of 17,555 square miles has been trian- 

 gulated ; the topographical surveys, with the plane-table, have cover- 

 ed 2138 square miles, and embraced an extent of shore-line, roads, 

 &c., of 7179 miles. The hydrography has covered an area of 

 20,086 square miles, of which 16,824 were principally oft'-shore, or 

 deep-sea work. Twenty-two sheets of maps and charts have been 

 published. , 



The plan adopted by the present Superintendent, by which the 

 survey has been simultaneously started at different points of the coast, 

 presents striking advantages in more than one point of view. It ex- 

 tends the benefits of the survey more speedily to all parts of the 

 country, reduces the time necessary for the completion of the work, 

 and, as the Superintendent has shown in his reports, diminishes the 

 total expenditure necessary for it. The minute division of labour, 

 and the specific instructions from the Superintendent to the various 



