408 



The National Geographic Magazine 



States, the topographical maps, with 

 their brown contour lines, blue rivers 

 and lakes, should be followed ; for South 

 America and the extreme north and 

 south of North America the representa- 

 tion by hill-shading would be sufficient. 

 But the map should not be confined to 

 land ; it should represent also the bot- 

 tom of the bordering seas, as is done by 

 the French map, and the inland lakes, 

 for which sufficient soundings already 

 exist. Geographical orthography pre- 

 sents for America no difficulties, for 

 only three languages are officially 

 adopted in the different countries — En- 

 glish, Spanish, and Portuguese. They 

 afford the standard for writing geo- 

 graphical names ; Indian names must 

 be given in that form which is usual 

 in the several countries. Thus on this 

 point uniformity could be more easily 

 reached than in other parts of the world. 

 The Geographical Congress may be 

 proud to have advanced by its resolu- 

 tions in former meetings the execution 

 of three great maps, which will cover 

 one-third of all land. It should recog- 



nize, however, the work done by those 

 countries which have acted in the essen- 

 tial points and acted upon its resolu- 

 tions. It should thank the Geographical 

 Service of the French Army at Paris, 

 the Orthographical Department of the 

 Prussian Survey at Berlin, and the In- 

 telligence Division of the War Office at 

 London, and it should extend the gen- 

 eral knowledge of these maps by calling 

 special attention to them. The Con- 

 gress should invite the above-named 

 offices to give an account of their work, 

 accompanied, if it is possible, by parts 

 of the maps in a supplement to its re- 

 port. But it seems to be especially ap- 

 propriate that the first Geographical 

 Congress held in this country should 

 take the first steps toward a general map 

 of America. Thus to the third part of 

 a map of the world, which is now prac- 

 tically in the way of execution, it would 

 add the map of another third of the 

 world. If in this way two-thirds of a 

 general map of the world are started, 

 the completion of the rest of the map 

 can not fail. 



METHODS OF EXPLORATION IN AFRICA 



By Major A. St. H. Gibbons, of the Royal Geographical 



Society of London 



In his explorations in Africa Major Gibbons has traversed about 22,000 miles. 

 This is more than seven times the distance from New York to San Francisco, and is 

 probably the record Jor African travel. What makes the distance all the more remark- 

 able is that the rotdes were ?iot hurried over, but every mile was accurately and sys- 

 tematically observed. Major Gibbons has crossed Africa from the Cape to Cairo, and 

 also from the mouth of the Zambezi to Benguela. He is the author of " Africa from 

 South to North through Mat vtselaud," just published in two handsome volumes by 

 John Lane, of New York and London. 



FEW problems are incapable of so- 

 lution by more than a single 

 method, and such is the consti- 

 tution of human judgment that opinion 

 is usually divided as to the best means 

 of attaining any given object. 



In the case of opinions founded on 

 hypothesis as distinguished from those 

 based on positive data, it is seldom that 

 a public verdict — even though arrived at 

 by an overwhelming majority — can be 

 definitely accepted as final, for the opin- 



