1830.] 
Of the late Col. Lambton. 
77 
that used by General Roy, were in addition ordered from England. In 1801 
every tiling requisite had arrived, and about the same time, on Captain Lambton’s 
application, Lieutenant Warren, H. M.’s 33d Regiment, was appointed his assistant. 
The instruments received from Calcutta were, however, from disuse and neg- 
lect, some of them in bad order. In particular the object glass of the zenith sector 
could not be moved so as to adjust the focus. No observation could be made with 
the instrument. Nor was there a possibility of procuring the assistance of any 
skilful mechanic to correct any of these defects or supply any trifling deficiencies. 
But Captain Lambton himself possessed considerable mechanical skill ; his geniu3 
was fertile in resources ; nor was he ever unprepared for these or any other difficul- 
ties. He contrived to adjust the sector so as to render it fit for taking the most 
delicate observations ; and its performance in the course of the survey is the best 
proof of his success. A still more puzzling difficulty occurred, soon after the com- 
mencement of the angular observations with the great theodolite, which was near 
interrupting the progress of the survey for some time. In hoisting the instrument 
to the top of one of the lofty pagodas, which formed the stations in the Tanjore 
country, the guy rope having broke, the instrument was dashed against the build- 
ing, and it was at first supposed irreparably injured. Notwithstanding the intricacy 
and complexity of the frame work of the instrument, which it is said contained 
2000 screws, he determined to take it to pieces, and finding the axis uninjured, 
and only a small part of the limb damaged, he was able to restore it so as to obtain 
equally good observations with it as before the accident. In fact, without this power, 
for which he was remarkable, of providing for every exigency, his work must have 
been subject to continual interruptions. In Europe such matters are easily managed, 
and occasion no embarrassment to the’ surveyor ; but it is otherwise in India. To 
conduct such a work as this of Captain Lambton’s, it was necessary to have not 
only tlie acquirements of the mathematician, but in some degree those of the in- 
strument maker. 
Had Captain Lambton been opposed by no obstructions but these, — had his at- 
tention been only directed to obviate such difficulties, his progress must have been 
as satisfactory as it was rapid 1 . But there were, unfortunately, others less easy to be 
surmounted, and which, renewed from time to time during the whole progress of 
his survey, must, from their very nature, have been irksome in the extreme. We 
allude to the prejudice and hostility which the subject of our paper had to 
encounter at his outset, and even subsequently, owing to the general ignorance 
which prevailed, amongst influential personages, (a few excepted,) of the import- 
ance, or even nature of his operations. What we do not understand, we are 
naturally disposed to undervalue ; and in this way may be accounted for much 
of the opposition he met with. It was desirable to obtain the sanction of the Court 
of Directors for the prosecution of the work, but so incorrect an idea had been 
given ot the nature of it in England, that Major Rennel, who had been consulted on 
the subject, gave it as his opinion, '* that there being already a topographical sur- 
vey of Mysore, instituted under Captain Colin Mackenzie of the engineers, he saw 
no necessity lor having two at the same time, because the same surveyor who de- 
lineated geographically (topographically) the country, might very well carry on 
the necessary astronomical observations for correcting the position of the princi- 
pal stations.” We think very highly of the father of our Indian Geography, and 
yield to no one in admiration of his sagacity and skill in combining heterogene- 
ous materials, and extracting from conflicting statements results so nearly approach- 
ing to truth, as to leave little for his successors beyond the task of confirming his 
statements. But we assert, — and a reference to his memoir will bear us out in the 
assertion, — that science was not his forte ; nor had he carried his acquirements in 
mathematical learning to the level of his cotemporaries in Europe. Colonel 
Wellesley might justly observe, in comparing his opinion with that set forth in 
Captain Lambton’s prospectus, “ that one or the other must be very ignorant.” 
Fortunately, however, this prospectus had been forwarded to Dr. Maskelyne, then 
Astronomer Royal, through his relative Lord Clive ; and he having explained to Ma- 
jor Rennel the real nature of the survey, the latter, very handsomely, came forward 
and declared to the Court, that he had been misinformed ; and wrote also to Captain 
Lambton to urge him to prosecute his labours. 
It appears that he had many other opponents beside Major Rennel ; — men who, 
though totally ignorant of the subject, were disposed to think, in the pride of office^ 
1 In 18 months a series of triangles was carried across from the Coromandel to the 
Malabar Coast, extending between the parallels of 12 and 14 ; this work included the 
measurement of three buses. 
