REMARKS. 
577 
other occupations prevent his observing at any particular hour, he may suit 
his convenience by making use of any star, not less however than the third 
magnitude, which he may at that time find on the meridian. And a further 
recommendation of this method, not to be overlooked by him who travels 
among the barbarous tribes of Africa, or even among the more civilized, 
but more jealous nations of the other quarters of the globe, is the oppor- 
tunity which the hour and the darkness of night afford him for concealing his 
operations and his instruments ; the glittering appearance of which might 
excite in savages the desire of possessing them, and his imprudence tempt 
them even to murder. 
From my own experience of the great advantages of this practice, 1 
can, without hesitation, recommend it to the adoption of others who may 
be in similar circumstances. The sextant, which was on the new construc- 
tion, an excellent instrument made by Troughton of London, and with 
which all my observations were made, was one of eight inches in radius, 
and having the limb subdivided by the nonius to every ten seconds ; but 
virtually to every five, in consequence of the real angle being doubled by 
reflection from the artificial horizon. 
With respect to those parts of the map not comprised in my personal 
observations, more particularly the western side of the Colony, I must con- 
fess that they have cost me considerable trouble, and have exercised the 
whole of my patience ; for on examining and comparing together those 
maps which had previously been published, I found them, to an almost in- 
credible degree, at variance with each other ; and had nearly despaired of 
the possibility of combining such materials together. I undertook the task 
of forming sketches of the routes, from their own narratives, of such pre- 
ceding travellers as I judged worthy of confidence, particularly Thunberg, 
Sparrman, Paterson, and Lichtenstein. Although to Thunberg's Travels 
no map whatever is annexed, I was enabled by laying down his route on a 
large scale, to derive from it the greatest portion of the materials obtained 
by this method of making sketches. 
As to the miserable thing called a map, * which has been prefixed to 
* Its geographical deficiencies are so numerous, that in order to give it some appearance 
of a map, by covering the blank paper with writing, the compiler of it has been reduced to the 
necessity of spreading it over with scraps of information taken from the text, and with lists of 
wild animals. If, in constructing this elegant map, the Shotvmen at Exeter 'Change had been 
consulted and advised with, they would certainly have recommended it to be written at the 
edge of it, as an invitation to the readers, " Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, and view the wild 
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