IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
297 
ARTICLE III. 
REMARKS ON THE GENERAL MAP OF THE TRAVELS 
AND THE ELEMENTS WHICH SERVE FOR ITS BASIS. 
Having completed the construction of the itinerary^ 
it remained to subject all these lines of route to the in- 
variable data of which geography is already possessed. 
I first sought among these data for points common to 
M. Caillie's march : they are unfortunately very few in 
number. How then could I flatter myself, whatever trou- 
ble 1 might take, with whatever care I might combine 
all the data, hazarding nothing without some authority 
to support it, that I should produce any thing beyond a 
mere essay ? If it should be hereafter confirmed by the 
observations of travellers furnished with astronomical in- 
struments, the only merits of this work will consist in 
fortunate combinations ; if it should be falsified by future 
discoveries, still it will have called for the criticism of 
geographers, and will consequently not have been useless 
to science. In submitting to the reader results differing 
from those hitherto admitted, I wish to warn him against 
an error, too common, especially in map-making, that 
of giving the preference to the more recent publications, 
and to place confidence in them in proportion as they 
are so. I am far from desirous of usurping this species 
of interest, to the prejudice of geographical works in 
general estimation. 
