294 , MEASUREMENT OF AN ARC 



handed to m in the printed maps. Thefe it is true, are erropeous, but 

 when we conftder the materials from which they have been compiled, 

 and the total impoffibility of procuring better, we mud allow that 

 great credit is due to thofe gentlemen who have had the perfeverance 

 and induftry to compile them. I can now fpeak with confidence with 

 relpcci to the Peninfula in general, in which, in the courfeofthis and 

 the nest year, every place of note will be laid down from Cape 

 ■Comorin, to Goa on the weft, and Mqfulifiatam on the eaft, including 

 all the interior. Thefe which fall within the limits of the meridional 

 triangles, will ferve as a fpecimen of what has been done elfewhere, [and 

 the reader can compare their pofitions with those in the printed maps. 

 I only hope that the next maps of the Peninfula, if any ihould be pub- 

 lifhed, will be conftrucled from other materials befides what are fur- 

 nilhed by military marches, and perambulators. Thefe may do in the 

 hands of a Quarter Mafter General who wants the aclual diflances that 

 troops have to march, and not the dillances reduced to the chords 

 of arcs; nor does it matter to him whether the armies march on the 

 furface of a fpheroid, or of a fphere, or on a flat. But when fuch 

 materials are intended for geographical purpofes, it becomes neceffary 

 to have the outlines at leaft, of a general map, on correct principles, 

 fo that his dillances, however crooked and winding, may be adjufted, 

 and fitted to thofe laid down with mathematical accuracy. Under 

 thefe limitations, the materials furnifhed from military marches may be 

 eminently ufefuL 



I shall conclude by exprefEng my earneft hope that nothing will 

 happen to prevent my fulfilling what I have here held out to the learn- 

 ed reader: and were any incitement wanted to accelerate my exertions, 

 it would neceiTariry arifc from reflecting on the liberal and flattering 



