292 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Magnetism. During the late South 

 African war it was even said that some 

 of the difficulties encountered by the 

 English soldiers in the first campaigns 

 were due to the fact that the available 

 maps either did not give the compass 

 direction or what was given was more 

 or less erroneous, and in consequence the 

 directions followed did not invariably 

 lead directly to the places desired. 



In spite of the annoying delays due to 

 breakdowns and the very trying weather 

 encountered — dusty and windy, with 

 temperatures usually over ioo° F. — Dr 

 Beattie had succeeded in making the de- 

 sired magnetic observations at about 20 

 points between Cape Town and Ookiep, 

 besides securing other geographical data 

 of value. 



The projected route from Ookiep is 

 through German Southwest Africa to 

 Windhoek. From Windhoek the over- 

 land trip is to be continued to Bulawayo, 

 Rhodesia, and from thence through 

 British Central Africa and German East 

 Africa to Lake Victoria Nyanza, and 

 finally through Egypt to Cairo, where 

 connections will be made with the mag- 

 netic survey of Egypt by the British 

 government. 



Every facility is being furnished the 

 party by the governing officials of the 

 countries to be passed through, special 

 credentials and passports, free passes on 

 railroads wherever available, etc., being 

 readily supplied. At times there will be 

 required 100 or more porters for carry- 

 ing instruments, provisions, camp equip- 

 ments, and other baggage, and it is a 

 pleasure to be able to record, as a token 

 of the general interest being shown in 

 this work, that the Honorable Dr Jame- 

 son and Sir Lewis Michell have agreed 

 to contribute $500 toward the cost of the 

 carriers in Rhodesia. 



While Doctor Beattie is engaged on 

 the work as outlined, another associate of 

 the Carnegie Institution, Prof. J. T. Mor- 

 rison, Department of Physics, Stellen- 

 bosch, Cape Colony, set out from Cape 

 Town the middle of January to reach 

 points along the' southwest coast of 

 Africa as far north as French Congo. 



He will penetrate into the country from 

 the ports visited as far as available trans- 

 portation facilities will readily permit; 

 then, returning to Cape Town, he will do 

 similar work on the east coast of Africa, 

 finally joining Doctor Beattie. 



Early in 1908 Mr Joseph C. Pearson, 

 a magnetic observer of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution, en route to magnetic work in 

 Persia and Asia Minor, visited Alexan- 

 dria, Port Said, and Cairo, and made 

 magnetic observations at each place, his 

 work in Egypt having been greatly facil- 

 itated through the kind offices of the 

 British Ambassador, Mr Bryce. Mr 

 Pearson since then, in the course of his 

 work, has passed through Persia from 

 north to southeast, and will most likely 

 secure magnetic data at various ports 

 along the Red Sea toward the end of the 

 present year. 



Thus, with the work already accom- 

 plished by various governments and with 

 that now in progress under the auspices 

 of the Carnegie Institution, it will not be 

 many years more before it will be pos- 

 sible to map out, with a fair degree of 

 accuracy, the magnetic conditions — for 

 example, the compass directions — over 

 the Dark Continent. 



The new vessel of the Carnegie Insti- 

 tution designed for ocean magnetic sur- 

 veys, the Carnegie, now in course of con- 

 struction at Brooklyn, is expected to be 

 cruising along the coasts of Africa in 

 19 10 to supplement the port data being 

 obtained this year by the observers named 

 above. Furthermore, similar magnetic 

 observations will be made on board the 

 Carnegie at sea, so that the lines of equal 

 magnetic declination or "variation of the 

 compass," for example, may be drawn at 

 the same time both over sea and land. 



There is thus being rapidly realized 

 for the first time the dream entertained 

 by Alexander von Humboldt three- 

 quarters of a century ago the completion 

 of a general magnetic survey of the 

 globe, embracing both sea and land, 

 within a comparatively short period of 

 time (10 to 15 years), instead of inter- 

 mittent, non-interdependent, and desul- 

 tory work spread out over many decades. 



