4i o The National Geographic Magazine 



one and the same district tend to show, 

 are not always quite reliable, and it is 

 sometimes difficult to determine what to 

 accept and what to discard. 



Compare with work done on this 

 principle the result of routes equally 

 long which have been followed within 

 a circumscribed area — a single country, 

 so to speak. To begin with, the time 

 during which the explorer has been in 

 touch with one and the same tribe will 

 be calculated in months instead of days. 

 If he is experienced in native character 

 and methods, he will have gained the 

 confidence of the people ; he will have 

 picked scores of brains on every sub- 

 ject on which he is in search of knowl- 

 edge. From the outset he will have 

 been learning facts and unlearning fic- 

 tion. Having based his plans on hear- 

 say information, he will have visited 

 places of special interest ; will have so 

 arranged his routes as to enable him to 

 fix cardinal points, to enter in detail 

 the courses of important rivers, their 

 sources, and those of many of their 

 tributaries. The larger affluents will 

 have been crossed and recrossed at such 

 intervals as will have enabled him to 

 determine their mean direction. The 

 boundaries of tribes and subtribes will 

 have been similarly treated, and the 

 many crossings of routes and independ- 

 ent connections with the base will have 

 supplied checks and counterchecks of 

 the greatest value. The result should 

 be a map which will stand the test of 

 time. In addition to this, even if the 

 explorer is not an all-round specialist, 

 he will have collected as much data as 

 will supply food for thought to the 

 ethnologist, the naturalist, the botanist, 



and the geologist, and I venture to think 

 he will, on his return home, be struck 

 with the meagerness of the knowledge 

 acquired during his journeys to and fro 

 as compared with what he has learned 

 in the objective country. 



To efficiency in this case must be 

 added economy, for once arrived at the 

 base, there is no longer need to carry 

 about more supplies than are required 

 for the few months or weeks during 

 which each subsidiary expedition is at 

 work. Thus if the same caravan used 

 for the conveyance of supplies from the 

 coast or railway terminus is indispensa- 

 ble for the return journey it can be split 

 up into as many small caravans as there 

 are officers in the expedition, and these 

 can work separately along preconcerted 

 routes. If other means for the return 

 journey are available, the bulk of the 

 porters may be returned to their homes, 

 and the local native — usually a much 

 cheaper article — may be employed as 

 necessity demands. 



In conclusion, I would respectfully 

 venture to remind the representatives of 

 the many geographical societies assem- 

 bled here in Congress that the choice of 

 method in this direction is largely in 

 their hands. The would-be explorer 

 will very naturally prefer to proceed on 

 popular lines, and will look for advice 

 to those scientific experts in whose 

 hands his work will ultimately be placed. 

 If the Geographical Societies of Europe 

 and America prefer to popularize the 

 system recommended in this paper, the 

 future explorer will more often work on 

 these lines. If otherwise, reform in 

 this direction will be less rapid and de- 

 ferred. 



