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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



ing purposes from Russia, with a limited 

 supply from America. 



The fertile Hauran and the extensive 

 plains of Moab furnish the wheat and 

 barley necessary for such a large city. 

 The grain is brought thither on camels' 

 backs or by the Mecca railway. This 

 Mecca railroad has caused Jerusalem to 

 suffer considerably, because the large 

 supplies of wheat and native produce 

 which the Holy City originally obtained 

 east of the Jordan are now all sent by 

 rail to Damascus. 



There is no doubt that Damascus, as 

 the terminus of the Aleppo, Haifa, Bei- 

 rut, and Mecca railroads, is bound ere 

 long to become the hub of the East. To 

 and from it will radiate trade and com- 

 merce such as it has not known in all 

 its history. 



SURVEYS IN THE PHILIPPINES 



ALTHOUGH Spain created a hydro- 

 . graphic commission for the Philip- 

 pines as early as 1834, no systematic 

 surveys were conducted by it, the Span- 

 ish vessels being too much occupied in 

 the suppression of piracy and in per- 

 forming other police duty. They found 

 time, however, to make several chrono- 

 metric expeditions for determining longi- 

 tudes and to make geographic explora- 

 tions along the coasts. The resulting 

 charts are to be regarded as mere recon- 

 naissances, with the exception of a few 

 detailed surveys in detached localities. 

 These were supplemented by a British 

 survey of the west coast of Palawan, 

 between i85o-'54, and other exploratory 

 surveys by the British. 



It was not until the end of 1900 that 

 the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey began to extend its activities to 

 the Philippine Archipelago, and to con- 

 duct a systematic hydrographic and topo- 



graphic survey of the shores, based on 

 accurate and continuous triangulation, by 

 means of which all the surveys have been 

 properly coordinated. The extension of 

 the telegraph and cable lines offered the 

 desired opportunity for the precise longi- 

 tude determinations which were made, 

 and which, in connection with latitude 

 and azimuth observations, completed the 

 required data for fixing the triangulation 

 on the map of the world. 



In addition to its immediate purpose, 

 this triangulation forms the basis for the 

 extension of cadastral and topographic 

 surveys into the interior, a work which 

 has been taken in hand by the Philippine 

 government. The latter has contributed 

 about $70,000 a year to the work of the 

 Coast and Geodetic Survey, in addition 

 to the sums appropriated by Congress. 



The most pressing needs of the mari- 

 ner have been met by the publication of 

 about 120 charts by the Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey, the great majority of which 

 are based on its own work. The grati- 

 fying progress made is shown oh the 

 accompanying sketch-map, which repre- 

 sents the condition of the work at the 

 end of June, 1910, and which indicates 

 that a great contribution has been made 

 to accurate cartography. 



P. A. Wicker, 

 U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 



THROUGH inadvertence the author- 

 ship of the short article, "The Man 

 Without the Hoe," published in the last 

 number of the magazine, was not cred- 

 ited to Mr. J. Grinnell, of the University 

 of California, Berkeley, California. The 

 two illustrations accompanying the paper 

 were from photographs by Mr. Grinnell, 

 and should have been credited to him 

 instead of to "J. Griffin." 



