The Project Gutenberg EBook of The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. II.,
No. 4, August, 1890, by Various
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Title: The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. II., No. 4, August, 1890
Author: Various
Release Date: August 2, 2020 [EBook #62827]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, AUGUST 1890 ***
Produced by Ron Swanson
Vol. II. No. 4.
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE.
PUBLISHED BY THE
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Price, 50 Cents.
CONTENTS.
Korea and the Koreans: Ensign J. B. Bernadou, U. S. N.
(Illustrated with three maps.)
The Ordnance Survey of Great Britain--its history and object: Josiah
Pierce, Jr.
Geographic Nomenclature: Herbert G. Ogden, Gustave Herrle, Marcus
Baker and A. H. Thompson
APPENDIX: Rules for the Orthography of Geographic Names: Contributed
by G. Herrle.
British System
French System
German System
Alphabets: Russian-English
English-Russian
Published, AUGUST, 1890.
PRESS OF TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE.
Vol. II. 1890. No. 4.
KOREA AND THE KOREANS.
BY J. B. BERNADOU.
(Abstract of lecture, with the addition of some new material.)
The Koreans are to be noted among nations for the possession of two
very different vehicles for the expression of thought, which they put
to nearly parallel uses for general needs of communication: a simple
and very perfect alphabet, and a complex system of hieroglyphics. The
alphabet they owe to the Buddhist priests, missionaries, who took the
idea of letters from their sacred books, and developed the Korean
symbols for the writing of tracts and prayers; the hieroglyphics came
from the mother country and civilizer, China.
The needs of a simpler mode of writing for the intelligent,
non-literary classes of Japan, had led in that country to a similar
development; but there progress stopped at a syllabary, and the
alphabetic stage was not reached.
Until within the past few years the development of accurate maps and
charts of Korea has been retarded, partly from a lack of reliable
information concerning Korean proper names, and partly from the
absence of systematic surveys of the coast. Very recently, however,
the difficulties of map making have been considerably lessened through
the efforts of students of the Korean language, who have developed
exact systems of transliteration, by the application of which the
sounds of Korean proper names may be correctly expressed in our own
letters. At the present day it would seem possible, therefore, to fix,
by common consent, upon a general, systematic orthography for Korean
proper names, to be used upon the charts prepared by all those nations
employing Roman letters; and this without serious danger of clashing
with previously developed national systems, or having to undo much
work done by others.
The system of transliteration developed by Mr. E. M. Satow, of the
British Diplomatic Service, which has been put to practical use by
that gentleman in his work entitled "List of Korean Geographical
Names," would seem well adapted to meet future needs. It gives a
simple series of equivalents for Korean sounds, and is remarkably free
from diacritical marks. Mr. Satow's system has recently been employed
by English and German authors, while efforts to extend its application
would seem to have met thus far with no opposition.
The French system of transliteration, which antedates the one above
referred to, was developed by the French Roman Catholic Missionaries
in Korea, and has been employed by them in their admirable works the
"Grammaire Coréenne" and the "Dictionnaire Coréen," by far the most
important yet prepared upon the language, and the first given to the
outer world. The missionaries aimed at reproducing native speech, and
to this end faithfully copied symbols representing shades of sound
that are not to be appreciated by the foreign ear, and which in fact
are often neglected in conversation by the Koreans of the present
day--for the Ön-mun, or native alphabet, has long since lost its
purely phonetic character. The simplicity of the French system is
marred, therefore, by the use of a multiplicity of letters, which,
appearing in the form of aggregations of consonants or of vowels, are
more apt to mislead than to guide.
Inasmuch as the proper names upon native maps, which are invariably
written in the Chinese, may be correctly rendered into English,
whereas attempts at the systematic transliteration of Chinese
characters have generally failed, it may be well to allude to the
points of difference in the two cases. The possibility of the
transliteration of Korean depends upon the following: (1) that the
Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters is independent of the pitch
of the voice or _tone_; (2) that the native alphabet is especially
constructed with a view to the easy reproduction of the Korean
pronunciation of the same; (3) that the Korean pronunciation of these
characters is quite uniform throughout the whole extent of the
country; (4) that the Korean equivalents may be readily transliterated
into English. All that is necessary, therefore, in fixing a geographic
name is to have it written correctly in Chinese and in the Ön-mun.
From the latter the English equivalent may be readily obtained. The
need of the Chinese form arises from the fact that but few of the
natives spell correctly, while many of them write Chinese well; so
that it becomes necessary to refer both writings to some authority, by
whom the native spelling may be verified.
Wide spread as is the use of the Chinese nomenclature, it is none the
less evident that the system is an artificial one, and that its
employment must end somewhere. In those parts of the country that are
the least explored, and where educational facilities are wanting, in
the mountain fastnesses of the north, and among the many islands of
the Yellow Sea, important geographic names occur that possess no
Chinese equivalents: native words capable of being written only in the
Ön-mun and which derive their origin from local peculiarities. To
ascertain these correctly the services of an educated Korean are
required; and it may be added here that no surveying party on the
Korean coast should be without the services of a native guide, capable
of speaking a few words of English. Such a man may be picked up at an
open port. He would be useful in many ways: in preventing the
destruction of signals from superstitious motives by the natives; in
ascertaining from fishermen the existence of dangers in the intricate
coast waters; in marking the position of towns and villages not to be
seen from their sea approaches; and in securing supplies of fresh
provisions.
The preliminary study of the geography of an eastern country
necessitates the comparative examination of data gathered from widely
different sources: the early partial surveys of the coasts by
mariners, and the rough maps made by the natives themselves. Inasmuch
as large sections of the Korean coasts are as yet hardly examined, and
since it is only within the last few years that foreigners have been
allowed to penetrate into the interior, it follows that no accurate
map of the land exists. In selecting bases for future developments it
becomes necessary, therefore, to examine the various approximate
representations, and to determine which of them is best adapted to aid
the work in hand.
Many writers upon Korea seem prone to attribute the mapping of the
country to the result of explorations and observations made by
foreigners. I believe this assumption to be erroneous and think it can
be readily proven that, although the Koreans may have known
practically nothing of the outside world up to the time of the
treaties, some twenty years ago, they had, nevertheless, long before
this formed an excellent idea of the configuration of their own
country. The first important work accomplished by outsiders was the
survey of the common boundary of Korea and China by the Jesuits,
acting under the orders of the Chinese Emperor Kang-hsi, in the year
1709. Severity of climate and roughness of country prevented the party
from making more than a preliminary examination of the districts that
they passed through, but a few fair determinations of latitude and
approximations to longitude were obtained, and the general direction
of the boundary determined. With the aid of these data, supplemented
by information from native sources, a map was constructed, in which
the Korean peninsula was connected with the general system of the
world's coördinates and proper names were given in our own alphabetic
characters. This map, which forms the basis of most of the
representations of Korea in use at the present day, shows its origin
in the transliteration of proper names in accordance with the Mandarin
Chinese and not the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters
employed to represent them.
The information from Korean sources which the missionaries must have
utilized in completing their work was doubtless attained by them in
the form of native maps. Of these there are several good ones in use
at the present day, two of which would seem especially worthy of
notice: (1) the large map of twenty sheets dividing the peninsula into
sections by parallel lines drawn from east to west, and (2) a map
giving the country in eight sheets, by provinces. The key to the
latter, showing the entire kingdom, as well as one of the expanded
sheets showing the Kyöngsang province in the southeast, and the
Nakdong river, the most important stream of the land, are appended to
this paper, and will serve to indicate the progress independently
attained by the Koreans in the art of map making. These plates have
been reproduced from a copy of an original now in the possession of
Mgr. J. G. Blanc, the French Missionary Bishop of Korea, to whom it
served as an accurate guide at the time of his perilous entry into the
country, fifteen years ago, during a period of severe persecutions.
[Illustration: KOREA.]
[Illustration: Province of KYÖNG-SANG-DO]
The preface of the Korean geographer, which is written in Chinese upon
one of the sheets, is of interest, as it illustrates the object of the
work, enumerates the classes of data utilized and alludes to
difficulties contended with. I therefore quote it here.
"The geographies of my country are quite numerous, but all maps are
influenced to a certain extent by the limit of the paper employed in
their construction, and so distances are very incorrectly given. Thus
ten or more ri (Korean unit of distance--about 2/5-mile) are sometimes
represented as two or three hundred ri; while sometimes two or three
hundred ri are represented as two or three. The bearings given are
also incorrect. Such a map offers great disadvantages to people who
attempt to learn about their country. Therefore I have taken all care
in constructing this one, both as to direction and distances of
places, as well as to the situations of mountains and rivers. For
distances I have made a scale in which one hundred ri are taken as one
ja (Korean foot), and ten ri as one poun (Korean inch, ten to the
foot). I have laid off distances in all directions from the capital,
so that the general shape and position of the eight provinces are
correctly represented. The islands, however, are only placed in
direction with reference to the provinces to which they belong,
without regard to actual distances. Where mountain ranges and rivers
are represented as boundaries, they are necessarily repeated upon the
sheets of adjoining provinces. In the measurement of distances one ja
represents one hundred ri in level places, and from one hundred and
twenty to one hundred and thirty ri where the mountains are high."
The assumption that the unit of scale represents an increased distance
in mountainous regions is a peculiarity of Chinese as well as of
Korean maps. Travelers who employ either are obliged in estimating
days' journeys to consider the character of the country ahead before
applying the unit of measurement.
An examination of the various conventional features of Plate I and II
will afford much information concerning the official subdivision of
the country for governmental purposes, and will serve to indicate the
facilities of communication that exist in a country where there are no
railroads, and where almost every important route extends in a
direction normal to that of the flow of the greater number of rivers.
The eight provinces of the kingdom are exhibited upon Plate I as
groups of towns, each group being displayed upon the original in a
different color, all of which, as shades of various intensities, are
fairly well reproduced upon the photo-lithographs. Each town is
denoted by a circle of very exaggerated dimensions, large enough to
allow its name to be written in Chinese characters in the enclosed
area. The apparent multiplicity of characters upon the present map is
due to the fact that all names are given in the native Ön-mun, as well
as in the Chinese. The employment of the former is unusual and in the
present case was resorted to at my own instance, in order to render
the map more generally useful to foreigners. Each town is the seat of
government of an officer who is subordinate to a provincial governor.
The strength of any portion of Korea may therefore be reckoned in the
native way as so many "cities," by the word "city," being understood
both the seat of government and the adjacent lands over which the
governor holds sway. The walled towns, which are quite uniform in type
throughout the whole extent of the country, deserve especial mention.
They are represented on the map as circles with serrated edges, and a
glance at the provincial sheets will show that they are quite
numerous, each province possessing from six to twenty of them. The
number is greatest along the coast of the Yellow Sea and to the
southward, facing Japan.
As secondary fortifications may be mentioned the San-söng, or mountain
walls, as they are called, built at the least accessible points of the
interior ranges, generally in proximity to some thickly settled
district. The more ancient are relics of the feudal period, when Korea
was governed by petty princes each with his castle upon a rock; the
more modern, witnesses of the Japanese invasion of two hundred years
ago, when they were either pillaged by the enemy or else held by the
people as places of refuge. A number of the San-söng are marked upon
the present map; those of lesser importance are omitted.
Not the least curious among Korean institutions is the system of
communication maintained at the present time. At the yok, or post
stations, represented on the map by diminutive circles, are kept
numbers of the small active native horses, well fed and in good
condition, attended by staffs of native couriers who are ready to
receive orders from the station-master and spring into saddle upon a
moment's notice. The service is well patronized and the couriers
frequently employed, partly at the instance of the government, who
desire to promote the efficiency of the system, and partly owing to
the general accumulation of private needs of various kinds. A letter
or parcel is thus rapidly transmitted from relay to relay, moving
onward by day and night--except in certain mountainous districts of
the north, where the fear of the tiger prevents night travel. Supplies
of fruit and game for the royal table are forwarded in this manner to
the capital from the most distant parts of the kingdom.
The pong-wa, or signal-fire stations, are indicated upon the map by
small squares placed at the summit of the mountains. They are
especially numerous in the coast districts, where their sites are
chosen with great care, in such manner that the fires that are lighted
at each station at night-fall may be observed at some advanced point
of the interior, whence a single fire may be again flashed on, to form
a member of a more extended group. And so the lights proceed,
re-collected and re-forwarded until the final combinations are
gathered into a final group at the capital, to show that all is well
throughout the kingdom.
The faint network of lines extending over the whole country, as shown
in the map of the southeastern province, represents the chief public
highways, upon the determination of whose length and relative bearing
the development of the map is based. In general, roads in Korea are
well maintained, and during the greater part of the year are in fair
condition. It would be found impossible to take a wheeled vehicle of
any kind over them, however; for such use they are not intended,
travel in Korea being performed afoot, or with the aid of horse or
sedan. During the summer rains the streams rise rapidly; the waters
pour down from the mountains, each rivulet becomes a torrent and the
bridges are swept away. When the floods subside the local authorities
compel the peasants to turn out in force and make the necessary
repairs; delays of travel are thus reduced to a minimum.
Korea is preëminently a mountainous country. With the exception of the
alluvial plains at the mouths of the rivers, low ranges of mountains
with narrow intervening valleys are found everywhere, and are
characteristic. The main chain, forming the back-bone of the
peninsula, is not clearly defined, as it is formed principally by the
overlappings and intersections of minor chains, so that it is quite
irregular as to direction, but a glance at the sources of the rivers,
considered with reference to the intervening line of water-sheds,
shows that it springs from the mountains of Siberia at the north,
follows for some distance the line of the eastern coast and then
strikes inland, trending to the southward and westward until it
reaches the shores of the Yellow Sea. The loftiest ranges, therefore,
are in the northern and eastern provinces. At the centre of the
northern boundary is Paik-du-san, the "white-headed mountain," in
whose slopes rise the Yalu, Tuman, and Songari rivers, the two former
defining the western and eastern sections of the frontier, the latter
a tributary of the Amur, an important stream of southern Siberia.
According to Messrs. James, Younghusband, and Fulford, of the British
Indian and Consular services, who visited it in May, 1886, Paik-du-san
is "a recently extinct volcano with a lovely pellucid lake filling the
bottom of the crater, surmounted by a serrated edge of peaks rising
about 650 feet above the surface of the water. The height of the
loftiest of these was found to be about 7,525 feet above the level of
the sea."
Besides the rivers of the frontier are others of the interior that
deserve a passing mention. The mountainous nature of the country, as
well as its proximity to the sea, implies the existence of numerous
secondary water courses, but these as a rule are insignificant in size
and so shallow as to permit of navigation only throughout limited
portions of their extent. Among the larger streams that lie wholly
within the country is the Taidong, flowing through Phyöng-an-do, the
northwestern province, rising in the central ranges of the peninsula
and flowing into the Yellow Sea. During the greater part of the year
it is navigable as far as the city of Phyöngyang for native craft of
the largest size. In midsummer its waters rise rapidly during a short
rainy season; then quickly subside, the river resuming its former
limits. To this sudden shoaling may be attributed the loss of the
schooner Sherman, captured by the Koreans in 1871, the vessel going
aground without warning at a place where a few hours before abundant
water had been found.
The Han, the river of the capital, lies about one hundred miles to the
southward of the Taidong, and flows westwardly in a nearly parallel
direction thereto, from the central ranges of the peninsula into the
Yellow Sea. Its many branches join in a common estuary near the centre
of the Yellow Sea coast, and their collective drainage area comprises
a large portion of central Korea. Still farther to the southward is
the Keum, traversing a fertile rice-growing country, while at the
extreme south is the Nakdong. The latter is one of the most important
streams of Korea, and the facilities that it affords for communication
and interchange have done much towards rendering the district through
which it flows one of the most fertile and prosperous of the land.
The coasts of Korea are forbidding to the mariner and seem well
adapted for the preservation of the seclusion that it has been so long
the national policy to maintain. On the east, facing Japan, unbroken
lines of steep hills, void of harbors, bend abruptly into the deep
waters of the Japan Sea. To the westward countless outlying islands
extend seaward many miles, liberally interspersed with rocks and
shoals, between which eddy swift streams of tide-water. The terrors of
the Maelstrom would find their counterpart in many a Korean whirlpool,
which, forming in the vicinity of some submerged ledge, will cause a
large vessel to heel suddenly well over, and will swing her many
points off her course in a way to make the stoutest hearted captain
tremble for the safety of his charge.
The climate of Korea exhibits wide ranges of temperatures and
hygroscopic conditions. In the northeast province, Ham-kiung-do, the
winter is as rigorous as that of Nova Scotia; at the extreme south, on
the island of Quelpaert, it somewhat resembles that of Louisiana. The
warmth of Quelpaert is due to the proximity of the Kura-siwo, or Black
Stream of Japan, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific, part of which is here
turned into a cul-de-sac, from which it escapes with difficulty. One
result of this is the creation of a stormy region near the island,
where the mariner may at all times look for a hard blow. A
characteristic feature of Yellow Sea coasts are the Chang-ma, or
mid-summer rains, which set in with fair regularity in July and during
their month's duration resemble in phenomena and general effects the
periodic rains of the tropics. The winters, in all but the southern
parts of the country, are long and severe and set in with great
suddenness. As an illustration of the rapidity of this change I
remember that on one occasion I was ferried across the Han river near
the capital at a time when the only indication of cold weather was a
film of ice along the river banks, and that within forty-eight hours
afterwards I rode back across the river ice on horseback, over the
line of the former ferry.
Careful meteorologic records have now been kept at the open ports for
more than five years; at Che-mul-po, on the Yellow Sea (the seaport of
the capital, Söul); at Fusan, to the south; and at Gensan, to the
northeast. Stations are needed on the Yellow Sea coast farther to the
northward, at the extreme northeast, at points in the interior, and
especially on the island of Cheju, or Quelpaert, whose weather reports
may some day prove as valuable to the Japanese as those from Bermuda
would now be to the navigator of the western waters of the Atlantic.
All the above mentioned places are easily accessible and doubtless
soon will receive attention. In fact, to the navigator of these
regions this island of Quelpaert is almost of the importance that
Hatteras is to the navigator of our own coast.
As an important factor of Korea's future prosperity, and one that will
enter largely into the determination of her future position among the
nations of the east, may be mentioned her mineral resources. These yet
remain in an almost undeveloped condition. The most easily accessible
deposits and out-croppings, which are worked by the natives in
primitive ways, afford evidence of an abundant and varied supply of
the useful ores and minerals widely distributed throughout the whole
extent of the land. Many localities, moreover, are well known to the
people for their especial products. Thus the Phyöngyang province, in
the northwest, facing China, possesses abundant deposits of coal,
iron, and lime. Samples of this coal, which is but little used by the
people, were collected several years ago from twelve different
localities, and I remember that some of the Phyöngyang gatherings were
tested on board the U. S. S. Alert, but were found to have suffered so
greatly from exposure to the weather as to be comparatively valueless,
even for experimental purposes. Limestone is common in this district,
and in the town of Phyöngyang I have noticed the use of caustic lime
in the streets as a disinfectant. The iron produced at Yöngpyön, fifty
miles to the northward of this city, which is reduced in the native
way with charcoal, is remarkable for its malleability and purity.
Inasmuch as all these deposits are of very great extent and lie near
the sea coast, and in proximity to waters easily navigable by larger
craft, it may be assumed as probable that the time will soon arrive
when the iron of Korea will largely supply the ship-yards and machine
shops of northern China. Silver is found in at least four localities;
copper is worked in paying quantities in two; galena is widely
distributed; and zincblende has been found near the capital. Sulphur
is said to occur in Kyöng-sang-do; no ore of mercury is known to the
Koreans, who import their supplies of the metal and its preparations
from China.
At the time of the opening of Korea by treaty, 1870-80, an impression
seems to have prevailed quite generally that the country was extremely
rich in gold, that great quantities of the precious metals were soon
to be exported, or that mines of great richness would be found and
worked. The years that have elapsed since this date have partly served
to prove the fallacy of these assumptions, yet the doubt is not yet
fully removed. Gold is now known to occur in many places in moderate
quantities: in alluvial deposits, from which it may be washed by
simple mechanical process, and in quartz veins, from which it is
extracted in small quantities by crude and laborious methods of
rock-pulverizing and washing. A small constant demand for the metal
has always existed, for jewelry and gilding--the latter quite a common
decorative process, which up to the present seems to have required the
use of pure gold even for the crudest applications. The mines remain
for the greater part unworked, however, for three reasons: (1) the
native dislike for altering the geomantic conditions of any locality
by digging holes in the ground; (2) the laws forbidding the search for
the metal, for gold mining in Korea is a government monopoly; (3) the
inability of the peasants to find a market for the gold that they
surreptitiously work. There has always existed a chance of disposing
of it by crossing the border into China, and there has probably long
been a small steady export in this way; and a port has been opened
near the capital where reside Chinese and Japanese merchants who must
find a way of converting the Korean copper cash into some medium of
exchange easily negotiable abroad, and who for this purpose have been
known to purchase gold from the Koreans at a considerable premium. I
have examined a number of specimens of Korean gold which had been
brought to Che-mul-po and had passed into the hands of foreign
merchants there. In several cases I found small pieces of quartz
clinging to flat laminated grains of the metal of considerable size.
In answer to inquiries that I made from time to time during a
residence of more than a year in Korea I was told by the Koreans of a
number of localities where gold was supposed to be abundant. I have
endeavored to show these collectively upon a small map (Fig. III)
giving the Korean names of the towns and districts with their English
equivalents and the names of the provinces of the kingdom in which the
places are situated. I was told repeatedly that the metal was most
plentiful at Tan-chhön, in the Ham-kiung province. Concerning this
locality our Korean geographer says, "at Ma-un, west of Tan-chhön,
much gold is found. The mountains there are lofty and precipitous."
[Illustration: Fig. III]
THE ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN--ITS HISTORY AND OBJECT.
BY JOSIAH PIERCE, JR.
I. THE INSTITUTION OF NATIONAL SURVEYS.
The earliest surveys were not laid down as maps but consisted of
catalogues of property which are called "terriers;" of these the
Domesday Book is the earliest extant. Had the art of surveying been
properly understood at the time of the Norman conquest there would
probably have been a Saxon cadastre along with the Domesday Book,
which was ordered by William the Conquerer in the year 1085.
"After this had the king a very large meeting, and a very deep
consultation with his council about this land, how it was occupied,
and by what sort of men. Then sent he his men all over England, into
each shire, commissioning them to find out 'how many hundreds of hides
were in the shire; what land the king himself had, and what stock upon
the land, or what dues he ought to have by the year from the shire.'
Also he commissioned them to record in writing, 'How much land his
archbishops had, and his diocesan bishops, and his abbots, and his
earls; and though I may be prolix and tedious, what and how much each
man had, who was the occupier of land in England, either in money or
in stock, and how much money it was worth.' So very narrowly indeed
did he commission them to trace it out, that there was not a single
hide nor a yard of land (the fourth part of an acre), nay, moreover,
(it is shameful to tell, though he thought it no shame to do it) not
even an ox, a cow, or a swine was there left, that was not set down in
his writ, and all the recorded particulars were afterwards brought to
him."--_Saxon Chronicle, by Ingram_.
The publication of the Domesday Book was ordered first by George III.
in 1767, and completed in 1783. After the discovery of the art of
photozincography it was reproduced "in facsimile" in 1864-5, under the
direction of Lieut.-Gen'l. Sir Henry James, then director of the
Ordnance Survey.
Little change (in the art of mensuration or surveying) seems to have
been made until the early part of the 17th century when simple
boundary line maps accompanied the terriers of the surveys made in
Ireland in 1634, by order of Lord Stafford, then viceroy. Great
improvements were introduced about that time in Sweden by Gustavus
Adolphus, which must have become known to Cromwell, for in 1654, the
"Down Survey," as it was called, comprised maps of the townlands, and
baronies over two-thirds of the surface of Ireland, that is,
comprehending about 20,000,000 of English acres.
It may not be uninteresting or irrelevant to bestow a few remarks upon
the development and methods of surveying in the seventeenth century,
many of which have descended with little modification to the present
day.
When man first conceived the idea of owning real property the art of
geometry or surveying became a necessity. Interest in other worlds
than our own, and the measurement of time, led to the development of
the science of astronomy, and of graduated instruments for measuring
angles. Many of the most refined modern instruments are but slight
modifications of original Arabian models, and the practice of linear
surveying, or the subdivision of land into triangles, and geometrical
figures, whose area could be computed, has been carried on without
modification for centuries.
The greatest development took place after the introduction of
artillery in the methods and instruments used for trigonometrical
surveying or range-finding. Every principle which is to-day known and
applied in the construction and use of modern trigonometrical
surveying instruments can be traced in a modified form to the
construction and application of the instruments of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.
In the practice of artillery, the first important question is the
distance or range of the enemy. As in war it was clearly impossible to
obtain the same by direct linear measurement, instruments were devised
for measuring the range trigonometrically, all based on the
calculation of a single triangle, the base and two angles of which
could be measured. These instruments were simply modified to the
extent of furnishing in the instrument itself a constant base or angle
so that only one or at most two measurements were necessary.
The one instrument that has received the greatest development in the
modern type is the quadrant, a simple graduated arc from whose center
was suspended a plumb-line, or which carried a movable arm with raised
sights for measuring horizontal or inclined angles. This arm has
retained the name alhidada derived from the Arabic.
Such was the trigonometrical instrument used by the earliest
navigators and astronomers for determining latitudes, and by surveyors
and artillerists for finding ranges.
In the latter part of the 16th century Thomas Digges, surveyor and
author, conceived the idea of combining two such graduated arcs in one
instrument, the one placed horizontally and the other in a vertical
plane, the whole supported on a rigid stand or tripod, and he called
the same his _Theodolitus_, which is said by DeMorgan to have been the
origin of the name of the modern instrument.
In the earliest books in the practice of artillery and of surveying,
the crescent of the dreaded Moor appears in the woodcuts illustrating
range finding or trigonometrical surveying generally floating over the
tower of some captured castle or town, which it is desired to bombard.
This clearly demonstrated that the chief use of trigonometrical
instruments was for military purposes.
Among the instruments of surveying of this period which became
practically obsolete in England in the present century, but which is
most widely used elsewhere, is the plane-table, unquestionably one of
the earliest instruments invented for measuring or recording angles.
At the period 1570, when the Germans claim that it was invented by
Pretorius, a professor of the University of Nuremburg, it was
unquestionably in use in England, and it is mentioned by Thomas
Digges, in his _Pantometria_, published in 1590, as a platting
instrument for such as are ignorant of arithmetical calculations. On
the relative merits of the theodolite and plane table authorities
still differ.
Throughout Europe great activity in the development of the practical
applications of geometry soon followed the exchange of ideas brought
about by the introduction of printing.
Side by side with the important geographical discoveries of the age
came the minor improvements in scientific instruments which rendered
national surveys and geodetic operations possible at a later period.
With trifling modifications the instruments devised by Durer, Newton,
and Gallileo are in common use to-day.
Gradual improvements can be traced in the application of surveying to
military and civil purposes, to mapping the campaigns of Louis XIV.
and Marlborough, and laying down the forfeited estates in Ireland by
William III., until in 1729 the first national survey on a large
scale, for public and private purposes, was commenced in Savoy and
Piedmont by Victor Amadie II., whereon nine years were occupied.
The method of large surveys obtained the name of Cadastre (Terrier
map). It was suggested for France in 1763, but was only commenced in
that country in 1793. The exact derivation and meaning of the French
term "cadastre" are not free from dispute. Some authorities refer it
to the verb "cadrer" to square or correspond with, all objects on a
large scale, plan, or cadastre being shown in their true position and
proportions, whereas in a mere topographical map similar accuracy is
impossible, and certain features must need be exaggerated for the sake
of distinctness.
The _Dictionaire des Dictionaires_ on the other hand derives
_cadastre_ (formerly capdastre) from the mediæval-Latin word
capitastrum (from caput "head," because formerly people were taxed,
and afterwards property) and defines it as "a public register,
containing the quantity and value of landed property, names of owners,
etc., and which serves for the assessment of the tax on property in
proportion to its revenue."
In the _Recueil des Lois et Instructions sur les contributions
directes_, the _cadastre_ is defined as "a plan from which the area of
land may be computed, and from which its revenue may be valued."
This, there is no doubt, is the sense in which the word is used on the
Continent, while in England it is taken as denoting generally a survey
on a large scale.
It was not until long after the organization of the Ordnance Survey
that it became a cadastral survey. Its organization at first was
distinctly for military purposes, and the extension of its operations
to cover all national needs only attained after years of discussion,
and struggle for existence.
The credit of originating and carrying into execution the first
tangible project for a systematic topographical survey of part of the
kingdom is divided between two engineer officers, both at the time
holding distinguished positions on the staff of the British army. The
idea would seem to have followed close upon the sanguinary termination
at Culloden of the "forty-five" rebellion, by which the fate of the
house of Stuart was decided, in the reign of George the Second.
It was doubtless the outcome of that unhappy rising for it
contemplated a general map of the Scottish highlands, precisely those
parts of the country in which the heart and soul of the
insurrectionary movement had all along centered. The difficulties of
moving troops through these wild mountain districts, and without any
clear knowledge of the passes connecting the glens and fastnesses, or
of the correct distances intervening, would have been enormously
lessened by the possession of good maps.
The survey of this wild and inaccessible region was undertaken in 1747
by Lieutenant-General Watson, an engineer, ably assisted by William
Roy, who afterwards played a distinguished part in the earlier
geodetic work of the Ordnance Survey.
The map, at first intended to be confined to the Highlands only, was
at last extended to the Lowlands and thus made general in what related
to the mainland of Scotland, the islands (except some lesser ones near
the coast), not having been surveyed.
It is spoken of by Lieutenant-Colonel White, in his excellent book on
the Ordnance Survey, as a "piece of work which appears to have been
excellently carried out as far as it went, qualified by the remark of
Roy that owing to the comparative inferiority of the instruments used
and the inadequacy of the annual grants provided for the survey it is
rather to be considered as a magnificent military sketch than a very
accurate map of the country."
The survey of Scotland was interrupted by the breaking out in 1755 of
another of England's intermittent wars with France, that which gained
her Canada, and the work was never completed.
"On the conclusion of the peace of 1763," writes General Roy, "it came
for the first time under the consideration of government to make a
general survey of the whole island at the public cost." But, for
reasons not assigned, the twelve years' interval of peace before the
outbreak in 1775 of the American War of Independence was allowed to
pass away without anything being done. There the matter remained in
abeyance until, after renewed hostilities with France and Spain, peace
was negotiated in 1783.
The trigonometrical survey of Great Britain may be said to have been
begun one hundred and six years ago.
Astronomers of that day were desirous that the difference of longitude
between the Greenwich and Paris observatories should be ascertained by
trigonometrical measurement; and under the auspices of the king and of
the Royal Society, General Roy, R. E., in April, 1784, began the task
by the measurement of a base line on Hounslow Heath which was to serve
as the starting point of a series of triangles to be extended to Dover
and across the channel.
This work was carried out, a connection with the French triangulation
being established in 1786.
Soon after this the government decided on having a general survey made
of the entire kingdom, on the scale of one inch to one mile for
military purposes, and General Roy's triangulation in the southeastern
counties became the basis of the Great Triangulation, which was
gradually extended over the whole of the British Isles and finished in
1853.
The one-inch survey was carried northward through England and Wales
under the successive superintendence of artillery and engineer
officers, and by 1824 had reached the southern borders of Yorkshire
and Lincolnshire.
At this time it became necessary that a survey of Ireland should be
made on a large scale as a basis for general land valuation. On the
recommendation of Colonel Colby, then director, the scale of six
inches to one mile was agreed upon; the work in England was suspended
and the force transferred to Ireland.
It appears from a report of Colonel Colby, in 1840, that the purposes
for which the English and Irish surveys were designed were gradually
developed and not all originally known.
The principal triangulation, on which the survey of South Britain had
been based, was partly designed for astronomical purposes, and partly
for a map on small scale.
The detail plans were commenced by officers of the Royal Engineers,
partly for the purpose of practicing them in military drawing, and
partly for the purpose of making plans for the use of the Ordnance.
The publication of some parts of this map on the scale of one inch to
one mile created a desire among the public to possess better maps than
had formerly existed.
This led to the employment of civilian surveyors to advance the
progress of the map, and it was found necessary at great additional
expense, to revise and correct these contract plans.
The work did not possess the accuracy demanded by the admiralty in
forming the basis of their coast surveys for the Geological Survey or
the civil engineers. As a military map its publication during war was
suspended, and its continuance became a matter of doubt in time of
peace.
At one time the gentlemen of Lincolnshire and Rutlandshire proposed to
the government to proceed with the map of their district out of its
regular turn, upon condition of their becoming subscribers for a
certain number of copies. These gentlemen partly wished for the map
for their use in hunting, and partly for the improvement of the
country in marking out the drainage of the fens.
Prejudices existed, which could be traced back to the Norman conquest
and Domesday Survey--against the right of a surveyor to enter a
private estate, and in the early contract plans for the English maps
the surveyors neglected the survey of the lesser streams, to obviate
the inconvenience of trespassing and to save themselves trouble.
These were some of the causes of delay, expense and insufficiency
which had operated against the earlier surveys.
The survey of Ireland began in 1825 under far more favorable
circumstances than the Ordnance map of England and Wales. The
triangulation commenced from a more accurate baseline than any
preceding triangulation, and was designed to serve as a basis for any
future survey in any scale, however large.
The House of Commons passed an act defining its principal object,
prescribing a legal mode for ascertaining the boundaries which were to
be surveyed, granting the surveyors power to enter lands for the
purposes of the survey, and preventing the removal of the objects
used.
The earlier methods of military surveying were abandoned, and new
instruments and a system were devised for its execution.
It is important to note that the organization of the Irish survey
marked an important epoch in the history of the Ordnance Survey, viz:
its change from a topographic to a cadastral survey.
In Ireland, subordinate to the parishes, there is an internal division
of smaller denomination called townlands, which are very frequently,
but not uniformly, conterminous with property.
The townland was the lowest unit of taxation for country purposes, of
an average size of 200 or 300 acres, and originally the map was to be
simply a topographic map, containing the boundaries of the townlands,
the roads, the streams and the houses, with a view to the valuation of
Ireland for the county assessment. The six inch was considered to be
the smallest scale that could be available for that purpose.
There was no intention in the original Irish survey to insert the
fields, but when the valuation began, it was found by the valuators
that additional minuteness was necessary to enable them to subdivide
the townlands into the qualities of lands of which they consisted, and
more especially that the boundary between the cultivated and
uncultivated portions ought to be inserted on the maps with great
accuracy.
This rendered necessary a very extensive revision which was undertaken
in 1830, and it became a survey by fields instead of townlands.
This was clearly a wide and most important departure from the original
intention of the six inch survey in Ireland, and it is not to be
doubted that General Colby, who would not trust to paper measurements
for the areas of entire townlands, would have adopted at the very
outset, for his manuscript plans of these minute subdivisions, a scale
much larger than that of six inches to one mile.
The engraving of the six inch survey appears to have resulted from a
demand for six copies of one sheet for valuation purposes when it was
found that it would be as cheap to engrave it as to make that number
of copies.
So valuable did the six inch map of Ireland prove for many purposes
over and above that for which it had been originally designed, that,
in 1840, when the Irish survey was completed, and that of England
resumed, the Government gave their consent to the adoption of the same
scale for the unsurveyed parts of Great Britain.
By 1851, Yorkshire, Lancashire, the Isle of Lewis, and several
counties in the south of Scotland were finished on the six inch scale.
Then began that long controversy which has been well termed the
"battle of the scales" and which for eleven or twelve years retarded
the progress of the survey and led to a large waste of public money.
During the time that the Ordnance Surveyors were engaged in making
their six inch map of Lancashire and Yorkshire they were called upon
and employed to make, at the expense of the land owners, twenty-three
plans of parishes and townships on the scale of twenty-six and 2/3
inches to one mile for tithe commutation.
It was even found that the plan of London, made for the Metropolitan
Commissioners of Sewers, on the scale of sixty inches or five feet to
one mile was inapplicable to house drainage within the area.
Between 1851 and 1852 no fewer than three select committees and one
royal commission deliberated on the scale for the survey, and fourteen
blue books were presented to Parliament.
The main point of the controversy was whether the six inch or some
larger scale was best fitted for the national map. A host of persons
eminent in science were consulted on the subject, and a great
diversity of opinion was found to exist, the weight of evidence,
however, inclining by a majority of four to one, to a scale of from 20
to 26-2/3 inches to a mile.
In 1853 a statistical conference held at Brussels and attended by
twenty-six delegates from the chief States of Europe considered the
question of national maps or cadastres, and pronounced unanimously in
favor of a scale of 1/2500th of nature equivalent to about 25-1/3
inches to a mile, recommending at the same time that the cadastre on
this scale should be accompanied by a more general map on the scale of
1/10,000 equivalent to about six 1/3 inches to a mile, and thus very
nearly corresponding to the six inch scale of the Ordnance Survey.
The scale finally adopted of 1/2500, on which the whole of England has
at last been surveyed, is one which corresponds with that adopted for
the national maps and plans of the chief countries for Europe. Lastly
it possessed the incidental advantage that a square acre is to all
practical intents represented on the plans by a square inch.
Among the many public purposes which the national map was expected to
subserve are the following: the valuation of property for the
equitable adjustment of taxation and assessment; the sale and transfer
of land and the registration of title; railway and other civil
engineering work, such as the construction of roads and canals, large
sanitary and drainage schemes, military engineering works,
hydrographical, geological and mineral surveys; the reclamation and
improvement of waste lands, and of land from the sea; transactions
affecting land as between landlord and tenant; statistical surveys,
the setting out and adjustment of parochial and other public
boundaries and so forth.
It has been amply proved on the best evidence that a map, with levels,
on a scale of something like twenty-five inches to one mile is the
smallest which can properly fulfill all these requirements.
In the organization and equipment of the Ordnance Survey, as it exists
to-day, no pains are spared to secure the utmost precision and economy
in its methods of field work and publication.
After more than a century of development and the completion of the
cadastral map, let it not be supposed that its mission is at an end,
for it is proposed to make a complete revision of all the cadastral
work at least once every twenty years.
This is rendered necessary by the constant changes in property
boundaries, and the growth of population--which may be gathered from
the fact that the city of London increases in population at the rate
of about 50,000 a year, and that eighty or more miles of new streets
are added in the same time.
II.
The Ordnance Survey of Great Britain as it exists to-day is a
remarkable Publishing Bureau, from whose presses are given the most
elaborate and accurate series of maps which any country possesses.
Maps not alone confined to the representation of the physical features
of the country, but containing every detail of interest or value for
civil or military purposes.
It has justly gained the commendation of the French that it is "a work
without precedent, and should be taken as a model by all civilized
nations."
The principal scales of publication adopted by the Ordnance Survey
are: (1) A general map on the scale of one mile to one inch. (2)
County plans on the scale of six inches to one mile. (3) Cadastral or
Parish plans for the whole country on the scale of 1/2500 or about
25-1/3 inches to one mile, on which one square inch on the plan
represents an area of one acre. (4) For towns of over 4000 inhabitants
a scale of 1/500 of actual length on the ground or 10-56/100 feet to
one mile.
On the latter scale the city of London with its environs could not be
well shown on a sheet of paper less than 300 feet long by 200 wide.
When the facts are taken into consideration, that the Ordnance Survey
is a cadastral one, in other words, that one of its many objects is
the measurement and definition of all existing boundaries, political,
municipal, parochial or private, and a survey and valuation of
property for assessments, that its maps are accepted in courts of law
as authoritative on such questions, then the problem of the scales of
publication is the most important one to be considered.
As an illustration of the relation of the scale of a map to the amount
of detail, which can well be represented on it without confusion,
assume for a moment that an observer is stationed in a balloon, which
can be raised or lowered or placed at any desired height above the
ground, and in addition that he is provided with a horizontal screen
on which he is able to trace the details of the landscape below. The
eye of the observer well represents the lens of a camera, and the
screen the focussing plate. Therefore to produce a perfect image or
map of the ground below it will be necessary to assume that all parts
are stationary, balloon, plate and eye. For convenience assume that
the eye remains over the centre of the screen at a distance of two
feet. At a height of four miles above the ground the scale of the
image on the screen would be exactly six inches to one mile, or a
reproduction of the popular county map, on which every detail of
importance such as houses, roads, paths, and fences is shown, and the
smallest scale on which any attempt is made to preserve the relative
proportions of such details.
On such a scale the 1/100th part of an inch represents a distance of
very nearly nine feet on the ground and consequently however accurate
the map might be in its projection, as an image showing the relative
positions of all objects of importance on the ground, the scale is
clearly too small for the measurement of areas for valuation purposes,
and it is but a reproduction of the larger cadastral map.
Again assume that the balloon is stationed at a height of twenty-four
miles above the ground, and that the observer places his eye at the
same distance of two feet above the screen and attempts to construct a
map from the image on the screen, which is now reproduced at a scale
of one mile to one inch, or the exact scale of the general map. It
needs but little imagination to foretell that houses would be mere
specks, roads, faint lines, and forests, masses of color, in other
words, that it would be more instructive to consult the general map,
on which all details are magnified to be clearly visible and
topographic features brought out with great distinctness than to
attempt to trace with unaided eye, from the image of objects at a
distance of twenty-four miles, the course of streams or roads through
forest or moor, or to judge of the relative elevations or modeling of
the ground from the values of light and shade. Without an intimate
local knowledge of the county there would be nothing to indicate the
name or boundaries of villages, or estates or the political and other
subdivisions of the land, which are most clearly indicated on the map,
in unmistakable styles of lettering.
Another and more serious problem which would be lessened as the
balloon receded from the earth would be the distortion in perspective
produced by the irregularities of the surface. The higher points being
nearer the balloon would appear in the image on larger scale than the
lower, and only in the case of a perfectly level country, would it be
possible to produce a map without distortion by the method proposed,
and then only for a limited area.
As the balloon receded, the relative differences of elevation would
bear a smaller and smaller proportion or ratio to the distance, in
other words, the distortion would grow less until at an infinite
distance it might be neglected.
We might conceive that the observer was stationed at an infinitely
great distance, and provided with a series of magnifying lenses of
suitable powers to produce maps of any desired scale, yet, beyond a
limited area, he would still be confronted with the problem of
eliminating the distortion produced by the curvature of the earth.
Such is the conception of an accurate map which is an attempt to
produce on a plain surface or sheet of paper, a horizontal projection
of objects on the ground, which will show the relative positions of
every detail on any desired scale with as little distortion as
possible, and on which distances may be measured in any direction, and
areas computed with a degree of accuracy only limited by the scale.
When a survey of a small area is made, such as an estate or parish,
which bears but a small proportion in area to the surface of the
earth, curvature is neglected, distortion due to this cause being
imperceptible, but in the survey of a large country it is of primary
importance.
Returning to the conception of an observer stationed at an infinite
distance his position with reference to the new general one-inch map
of England and Wales would be in the plane of a meridian passing
through Delamere in Cheshire, and the published quarter sheets would
be a series of rectangles each 18 miles by 12 miles, containing an
area of 216 square miles whose edges were parallel to, and at right
angles to the central meridian.
Those of Scotland and Ireland have for each country a central meridian
and projection.
In viewing the county maps of six inches to one mile and larger
scales, it would be necessary to assume that the observer was
stationed over the center of each county except that, where two or
three counties lie so well north and south of one another, the same
meridian serves for more than one.
In the reproduction by photography of the maps on the scale of one
mile to one inch from those of larger scale, these facts, that
different planes of projection are used for the latter, have to be
taken into consideration.
In countries of larger areas than England it is more customary to
assume a central meridian for each sheet, in other words, the observer
would be stationed in the zenith of the center of each sheet and would
sketch but a limited area. The successive planes of projection,
represented by the maps, would resemble the facets of a diamond, and
it would be impossible to combine with any degree of precision a large
number together in one plane surface. On the other hand, the whole of
the one-inch series of England and Wales of Scotland or Ireland
register perfectly, and the distortion due to curvature cannot be
great, as the combined area of the three countries bears but a small
ratio to the whole surface of the globe.
Attention has been called to the fact that viewed from a balloon in
ordinary sunlight the minor features of topography become flattened
and indistinct.
If, therefore, we regard a sheet of the one-inch map held at a
distance of two feet from the eye as the picture of a country seen at
the distance of twenty-four miles, we see that details, that would be
invisible from above, are brought out with great distinctness on the
map and every detail of topography is shown in bold relief. In other
words the map is a diagram rather than a picture.
In the representation of relief on the one inch series, two systems
are common, contours and hachures. Contours represent the successive
shore lines which water at rest would form in following the modelling
of the ground at successive stages or elevations. If now we assume
that the water, having reached the highest point, is allowed to
retreat steadily to sea level the paths which the particles of water
would take from all points of the surface are those which the engraver
would endeavor to reproduce in the shade lines of a hachured map. In
addition he would adopt an arbitrary scale of shade increasing with
the steepness of the slopes, from white on a horizontal surface to
dead black on slopes of forty-five degrees, or greater, to produce the
effect of a model of the surface illuminated from above.
In the Irish maps this effect is bolder and more artistic, an
illumination from the northeast quarter having been carried out. The
shade lines still preserve the paths of particles of water in motion
on the surface, the color values being deeper on the eastern and
southern slopes, shadows have even been projected across valleys and
horizontal surfaces are in half tone, producing much the same effect
as the illumination of the country at sunset in midsummer.
The Irish maps exhibited are considered the finest specimens of
careful hill shading and will bear critical examination. For
comparison with these, other topographic maps are exhibited of many
scales and countries.
So far attention has simply been drawn to a few of the problems of
map-making, which are, briefly:
1st. The reproduction on a finite scale on a plain surface, of the
natural features of the terrain, with all the artificial boundaries
and objects added by man, so far as the scale permits.
2d. The extension of such a series of maps to cover a large area of
country still carried out with as little distortion as possible.
3d. The reproduction of such maps on suitable scales to meet all
demands.
If the conception is still carried out that the map, at a distance of
two feet, is but the image of the ground viewed from above, then the
cadastral map of England, from which areas of fields and estates are
measured for valuation purposes, would represent a view of the country
from above at a range of 5,000 feet or nearly one mile, and a town
plan, an image at 1,000 feet or a possible view from a series of
Eiffel towers.
This suggestion of an observer stationed in a balloon will not have
been valueless if it draws attention to the fact that vastly more
information is given on the map than it would be possible for any
single observer to discover from an elevated station with an
unobstructed view, the map being the compilation of the results of
hundreds of observations by many workers, and that its scale and the
amount and character of the detail shown have been specially designed
to meet definite ends.
It is beyond the limits of the paper to enter into the theory or
practice of surveying, or to say more than a few words of the delicate
and refined operations necessary in carrying out the geodetic or
trigonometrical work of a national survey which binds together the
many parts to make a complete whole.
The principal triangulation of the British Isles was begun in 1784 and
finished in 1852. Two magnificent 3-feet theodolites made by Ramsden,
one for the Royal Society, the other for the Master General of the
Ordnance, an 18-inch theodolite also by Ramsden, and 2-feet theodolite
by Troughton and Simms were used in these observations.
In the principal triangulation of Great Britain and Ireland there are
218 stations, at 16 of which there are no observations, the number of
observed bearings is 1554--and the number of equations of condition,
920.
In order to avoid the solution of this enormous number of equations,
containing 920 unknown quantities, the network covering the kingdom
was divided into a number of blocks, each presenting a not
unmanageable number of equations of condition. These calculations, all
in duplicate, were completed in two years and a half, an average of
eight computers being employed. Many of the sides of the principal or
primary triangulation are of great length, 66 of them exceeding 80
miles, while 11 measure more than 100 miles, the longest being 111
miles, that from Sea Fell to Sheir Donard. So great, however, had been
the accuracy of the observers' work, that the average amount of
correction of the observed angles was no more than 0".6, and the
measured length of the Salisbury base differed from its length as
computed from the Irish Base, 350 miles distant, by a difference of
only five inches.
The secondary triangulation interpolates points at shorter distances
apart ranging down to five miles, the observations being made with
theodolites of 12-inch circle. These triangles again are broken up
into smaller ones of sides from one to two miles in length, for the
use of the surveyor who is to follow and measure between the stations
with the chain; and a further subdivision of the trigonal spaces is
made in towns to points about 10 chains apart, where the survey is to
be made on the very large special scale. In the two last cases, 7 inch
instruments suffice for the measurement of the angles.
LEVELLING.
From 1839 to 1855, lines of initial levelling extending all over
England, Scotland and Ireland were run, and the observed altitudes of
the bench marks were reduced by the method of least squares.
In England and Scotland, these levels are based on the Ordnance Datum
at Liverpool, which is approximately the mean tide level of that
place; in Ireland, they are based on the low water level at Dublin,
which is about 8 feet below the mean level round the coast of Ireland.
The detail levelling is carried out contemporaneously with the
progress of the cadastral survey. Starting from the marks on the
initial series, lines are run along nearly all the turnpikes and
parish roads, and bench marks cut at intervals of about a quarter of a
mile.
The whole of the bench marks of the initial levelling are shown in
position on the 25-inch manuscript plans, and their heights given to
the nearest tenth of a foot. Surface heights, to the nearest foot are
also marked on the plans, at frequent intervals between the bench
marks.
CONTOURING.
Contrary to the custom in other countries, the contours of the English
survey have all been surveyed and levelled on the ground, checked by
the numerous bench marks, the standard of accuracy demanded in
levelling being two-tenths of a foot.
Owing to the expense of the process, about $1.25 per lineal mile, only
the 100 foot contours have been surveyed, except where greater detail
is required for military purposes, which information is not furnished
to the public.
HILL SHADING.
The hill features for the one inch maps are first sketched in the
field by the military method of slopes and sketch contours or proof
impressions of the contoured sheet.
Finished drawings from the field sketches are then made on cardboard
impressions from the one inch outline plates, and finished as guides
for the engraver to work by.
Beautiful and delicate in finish as is all the work of the copperplate
engravers on the Ordnance Survey, there is perhaps no branch in which
they so peculiarly excel as in their delineation of hills on the one
inch maps.
III.
It is impossible in the limits of a single paper to attempt to
describe the methods and processes of publication which are carried at
the headquarters of the Ordnance Survey at Southampton.
Carefully prepared treatises on the subject have been written by
officers engaged in the work, and for clear and concise description
none are better than the series of articles by Captain H. Sankey,
R. E., published in _Engineering_, in 1888.
There are two points of great interest in connection with the Ordnance
Survey which cannot be neglected. The one its military organization,
and the other the economy of its methods of publication.
Of its military organization, which has continued since the first
surveys were made for military purposes, it may be said that the
conservative precision of its methods of field work are best adapted
for military control and discipline. Under the successive
superintendence of highly educated officers of the Royal Engineer
Corps, whose patriotic efforts have been to secure efficiency and
economy in the service, the country has greatly profited.
Many of the improvements and inventions that have made possible the
publication of maps of all scales at the lowest possible cost, are the
results of experiments made by these officers.
It should not be forgotten in addition that as a branch of the War
Office and the Publishing Department of the Intelligence Branch,
military supervision is essential. Its offices are therefore not open
for public inspection except on proper introduction.
The author had the rare privilege of spending three months at the
Southampton office in 1888, through the introduction of the director
of the Geological Survey, and the request of our recent minister in
London, Mr. Phelps.
Nothing could have exceeded the courtesy and hospitality of the
director of the survey, Sir Charles W. Wilson, and the officers in
charge of the various departments, not alone in granting the necessary
authority to inspect every branch of the work, but in lending personal
aid and men for that purpose.
Great interest was also expressed in the topographic surveys of this
country which differ so essentially from the Ordnance Survey. In the
former, field work and methods are directly adapted to the scale of
publication; in the latter, the largest scale of publication governs
the operations of the survey, and the smaller scales are reduced by
photography, with a gradual elimination of unnecessary details from
the larger to the smaller scales until finally the topographic map of
the country, on the scale of one mile to one inch is produced, which
possesses an accuracy and character that could be obtained by no other
method.
To illustrate this important subject there are exhibited a series of
experimental and complete maps and diagrams which will well repay
careful examination. They were prepared and collected at the Ordnance
Survey at Southampton expressly for this purpose and with the kind
permission of the present director, Colonel Sir Charles W. Wilson,
R. E., C. B.
* * * * *
The author desires to state that many of the paragraphs of the paper,
particularly those relating to the history of the Ordnance Survey,
have been extracted from the following works and reports on the
subject:
1. The Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom, by Lieut.-Col. P.
Pinkerton White, R. E.
2. The Ordnance Survey of the Kingdom, by Capt. H. S. Palmer, R. E.
3. Methods and processes adopted for the production of the maps of the
Ordnance Survey, by Lieut.-Genl. Sir Henry James, R. E., F. R. S.
4. Reports of Col. Colby and others in the Blue Books presented to
Parliament--1850-1860.
GEOGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE.
REMARKS BY HERBERT G. OGDEN, GUSTAVE HERRLE, MARCUS BAKER, AND A. H.
THOMPSON.
MR. OGDEN: It was expected that Professor Mendenhall would be with us
this evening to address the society on the subject of Geographic
Nomenclature but he is unavoidably absent, having been called to
Philadelphia, and has requested me to represent him, and present to
you an apology for his absence.
Professor Mendenhall has been greatly interested in this question
since he assumed charge of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Questions of
orthography and nomenclature have been before him almost constantly,
and the variety of views elicited in response to his inquiries
confirmed him in the opinion that the subject is of serious import. He
has had, of necessity, to decide a great many cases for publications
which were being made: finally a long list relating to Alaska came
from the Hydrographic office, which led to a discussion and the
suggestion that a board should be formed consisting of representatives
from the different departments and bureaus in Washington that were
interested in this matter, and that were issuing maps, charts and
other publications requiring geographic names. It is too true that the
different bureaus are now using the same names spelled in different
ways, sometimes different names for the same place, and the same name
for different places; indeed, the confusion is so great you may even
read publications relating to the same locality and at first not
realize the fact.
The object that Professor Mendenhall had in view in organizing a board
was to secure harmony; that all might come together; and that when a
question arose between different bureaus it might be referred to this
board to settle, with the concurrence of all. Such a board would also
secure stability, as no bureau would undertake to make changes in
names that have been accepted, as may now be the case when a bureau
falls under new management, or the determination of the questions is
referred to new officers without experience. This board, as proposed,
was to be formed by representatives from the Hydrographic Office,
Smithsonian Institution, War Department, Geological Survey, Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Light-house Board, The National Geographic Society,
Post Office Department, and the General Land Office. All these bureaus
or departments gave their assent except the Post Office Department and
the General Land Office; but we may hope that these departments will
eventually be represented, when the practical usefulness of the board
has been demonstrated by its decisions.
There are three, perhaps four classes of cases that cause the most
trouble in geographic names. In the first class, those cases where we
are certain of the name itself--that is, we agree in the
pronunciation, but disagree in the orthography; in the second class,
where there is no question as to the orthography, but where there is a
question as to what name should be used--that is, several names are
given to the same point, to the same body of water, or to the same
island; in the third class, where there is no question as to the name
or the orthography, but a question as to the place to which the name
applies--that is, there is no dispute as to the name, but it is
applied to different places; this class is sometimes modified by
questions as to the geographical limits to which a name applies--that
is to say, the area to be indicated by the name; for instance, some
body of water or a range of mountains, and may be designated a fourth
class.
To cite a few instances of these classes: we have the question of
Wood's "Hole" and Wood's "Holl;" for many years it was called Wood's
Hole, recently it would seem to be the conclusion that it should be
called Wood's Holl; we formerly had "Hurl" Gate, and now "Hell" Gate;
"Princess" Bay was at one time spelled "Prince's" Bay, the error
arising, doubtless, from the pronunciation; we also have "Body's"
Island or "Bodies" Island; we have a peculiar case on the North
Carolina coast, "Pamplico" Sound has generally been used, now we have
"Pamlico" Sound, legalized by the State legislature; on the coast of
Virginia we have the case of "Metomkin," which has frequently been
written "Metompkin" and "Matomkin;" in California we have Point
Conception, whether it should be spelled with the "c," or with the
"t," in the last syllable; we also have "Point Boneta" or "Bonita;"
should Yaquina be spelled with one "n" or two ("nn"); Coos Bay, with
"k" or "c." This name, I understand, is sometimes pronounced "Co-os,"
as though it had two syllables; if the spelling of this name was
governed by the rules of the Royal Geographical Society the "K" would
be used for the hard "C," but "Coos" has been adopted by the State
legislature and will probably be retained. One of the most singular
perversions is found in "Bering Sea;" the explorer wrote his name
"Bering," and yet we find it is customary, almost everywhere, to spell
it "Behring."
In the second class of cases, where we have different names for the
same place, we may cite Bangs Island, at the entrance to Portland
harbor; an effort was made not long ago to change this name on the
Coast Survey charts to Cushing's Island, the evidence was so strong
that an order was issued to effect the change, when the supporters of
"Bangs" produced additional evidence and secured the retention of that
name. On the coast of Florida we had two Saint Joseph's Bays, and a
comparatively modern name, "Anclote Anchorage," was presented to take
the place of a part of one of them, which led to designating the rest
of the bay "Saint Joseph's Sound," Sound being more appropriate for
the locality. We have also some notable instances on the Pacific
coast, as "Cape Orford" or "Blanco;" "Cape Gregory" or "Arago;" "South
Farallon" or "Southeast Farallon;" and in Alaska there are instances
too numerous to mention.
In the third class of cases, the locality to which the name applies,
we may cite "Isle-au-Haut" Bay and "East Penobscot" Bay, on the coast
of Maine; "Hempstead" Bay, on the coast of Long Island, a bay which is
almost filled with small islands, rendering it most difficult to
satisfactorily define the limits; "Chincoteague" Bay, on the Jersey
coast, is an instance of growth; it was at one time called
"Assateague," and although "Assateague" was retained for many years as
applicable to the upper part of the bay, it has finally been
restricted to a very small cove in Assateague Island. On the Pacific
coast there are a great many instances, possibly one of the most
difficult relates to the limits of Admiralty Inlet, how far it extends
into Puget sound? Again, to the northward, is what for years has been
called "Washington" Sound, an effort is being made to change it to
"Possession" Sound, the latter name, I believe, was once applied to a
portion of the area; perhaps we shall eventually see both names on the
chart. The difficulty of defining the limits to which a name applies
may be experienced in dealing with "Hampton Roads," or "Tybee Roads;"
apparently simple problems, but who will undertake to define the exact
limits of these famous roadsteads?
These questions, even when stated in their simplest form, are
oftentimes very complex, for several of the general classes I have
referred to may be included in one question, and when we attempt to
determine that which is best they become very perplexing. In seeking
advice we are met with a variety of views; some will maintain that we
should take the nick-names given by the fishermen; some prefer names
that have been recognized independent of nick-names; some will abhor
corruptions, while others prefer the corruptions, if expressive and in
general use. The experts are very prone to hunting up the root, or, if
necessary, to constructing one, and throwing out everything that will
not conform with it. The fact that our country was settled by French,
Spanish, and English, and that many names are derived from the Indian
dialects, also causes peculiar difficulties in treating some sections.
The rules of the Royal Geographical Society can be a great help, so
far as they are applicable; they seem to have been used in the modern
spelling of "Dakota"--for the man-of-war we had of this name some
years ago, it was spelled "Dacotah," but in the name of the States
recently admitted to the Union, "k" has been substituted for the hard
"c" and the final "h" has been dropped. There is also great
disagreement as to the propriety of the use of the possessive case;
some will not admit it at all, others would like to drop the
apostrophe and retain the "s" in certain cases for euphony: this is a
question that requires special consideration in each case, as the
omission of the possessive will sometime give the name a descriptive
meaning not at all applicable to the locality or feature. The
propriety of personal names is also questioned by many, and may lead
to continued discussion in Alaskan nomenclature, where explorers and
surveyors have been so liberal in bestowing new names on the same
places. It would seem to be a good rule in selecting a new name to
follow the old Indian custom of describing the place. An opportunity
for an expressive nomenclature seems to have been lost in the
north-west in transferring so many of our eastern names, instead of
selecting new names from the rich native vocabularies.
As different bureaus may be governed by different principles, and may
not even be consistent in their own rulings, through new principles
that may come in by the frequent change of personnel, it has
heretofore been impracticable to secure uniformity, and disputed
questions have been carried along for years. The board that has been
organized is in the direction of developing uniformity in the practice
of all. It is no easy task, but if guided by a generous spirit,
willing to yield a little here and there, its object may be
successfully accomplished.
We cannot foresee to what extent the board will be called upon. It has
not power to take the initiative; but we hope its rulings will prove
acceptable; that it may establish a reputation that will be recognized
by the people as well as by the departments interested in its
organization; and that eventually rules may be recommended for the
nomenclature of our own country that may be an acceptable guide in the
determination of new names, as well as in the interpretation of those
now in question.
* * * * *
MR. HERRLE: Any one conversant with the state of geographic
nomenclature of a large part of the world cannot fail to appreciate
the difficulties in the way of the establishment of a comprehensive
and uniform system of writing geographic names, that would be
acceptable to all nations using the Roman alphabet in their
literature. But while some advance towards international uniformity
has been made within the last five years, we are still very far from
it; we may, however, at least rejoice in the prospect of the general
acceptance of a uniform system in geographic orthography by all
writing the English language.
I refer to the action of the British Hydrographic Office and of the
Royal Geographical Society in 1885, when they adopted certain _main_
principles to guide the orthography of geographic names, and thereby
took an important and far-reaching step in the line of a reform which
had already been too long delayed.
In France a reform in geographic nomenclature had been earnestly
agitated by Édouard de Luze since 1880, and soon after the publication
of the system adopted by the Royal Geographical Society, the Société
de Géographie appointed a commission which, in 1886, reported a system
for the guidance of French geographers.
In Germany, we also find individual attempts made (Egli, Kirchhoff,
Ewald and others) to bring system into the orthography and
pronunciation of geographic names, primarily with a view to secure
uniformity in text books and in the teaching of geography in schools.
No doubt influenced by the action of the British and French geographic
societies the Imperial German Hydrographic office in 1888 also
established rules for guidance in its future publications.
We thus see three of the principal nations of Europe inaugurate a
reform, the beneficial effects of which will not, however, become
apparent until a sufficient time has elapsed, that is, until the
British, French and Germans have had time to apply the rules in their
publications, and particularly in the construction of new and in the
correction of old charts. No reform of this nature can be carried
through by the stroke of a pen, but a generation's life-time will be
required to accomplish it.
The adopted rules which lay down a general phonetic principle only
require, of course, perfection in details, so as to furnish an
unerring guide in the treatment of names belonging to special
languages.
If we compare the British, French and German systems, we can clearly
see a gravitation towards uniformity in the spelling of foreign
geographic names that are not originally written in the Roman
alphabet. Each of the three systems contains important concessions to
the others; the British, by adopting the continental vowel system, and
the French and German, by representing certain phonetic values
differently from the old way, so as to approach the British system. In
the French system, this is particularly the case in regard to the
letters _ou_, _c_, _ch_, _g_, _q_, _th_, _tch_, _w_ and _y_, and in
the German system in regard to the letters _c_, _j_, _q_, _ch_, _sh_
and _y_.
There is very little doubt that English and French geographers will
readily adopt the systems set up by their foremost geographic
societies; but whether scientific Germany will be willing to follow in
the wake of its Hydrographic Office, we will probably learn after the
next meeting of the German Geographic Congress.
If we compare the British, French and German systems further, we find
also a perfect agreement in the treatment of the geographic names of
those nations that use the Roman alphabet in their literature, they
differing only as to exceptions from the rules of old forms of names,
which, through long usage, are held almost sacred. The spirit of
conservatism tends to retard every reform, and this one makes no
exception from the rule. It is, however, to be regretted that neither
the British, nor the French, nor the Germans have set any fixed limit
to permissible exceptions, leaving, apparently, everybody to decide
for himself what is meant by "long usage."
If a radical departure from past usage is perhaps too objectionable to
many, this much could be done at present to greatly reduce the list of
exceptions, leaving it to the future to smooth over the remaining
cases: let all names which are now written but slightly different from
their national form and which are easily recognized in the latter
form, be corrected, and extirpate all gross corruptions. Also lessen
the number of exceptions in those foreign names which are readily
understood when written in accordance with the adopted phonetic rules:
as Kalkutta for Calcutta, Mekka for Mecca, Kutch for Cutch, Selebes
for Celebes, Bonni for Bonny, etc.
Another notable agreement in the British, French and German
Hydrographic Office systems is found in their declarations in regard
to diacritical marks in the writing of foreign geographic names. The
British say that a system which would attempt to represent the more
delicate inflections of sound and accent would become so complicated
as to defeat itself. They therefore recommend only the use of the
acute accent to denote the syllable on which stress should be laid.
The German Hydrographic Office has adopted the same view. The French
Commission in its deliberations expressed decided opposition to the
adoption of Lepsius' or any similar system, and finally adopted
besides the "_tilde_" and "_créma_," only the accent "_circonflex_"
and the "_apostrophe_," signs of which the two last are ordinarily
employed in the writing of the French language. "In our country," the
French commission says, "a native of the Normandy and one of the
Provence do not employ exactly the same sounds in pronouncing, for
instance, Marseille, Enghien, or Montrichard, and, in foreign lands,
we find still greater diversity in this respect." Therefore, we should
use diacritical marks with the greatest economy, and only when they
are indispensable.
It is of course not to be expected that a certain school of
geographers, who are in favor of the strict application to geographic
names of a simplified form of Lepsius' standard alphabet, will
acquiesce in this view, but it is to be hoped that all practical
minded geographers will agree to reserve the extended use of
diacritical alphabets for purely linguistic literature only.
In the meanwhile, the United States has not been idle, and the
Hydrographer, Captain Henry F. Picking, U. S. N., has taken the
initiative by the appointment of a board to consider and report a
system of orthography for foreign geographic names for guidance in the
compilation of the Hydrographic Office charts, sailing directions and
notices to mariners, which as we know cover all parts of the world.
The Hydrographic Office, by its daily experience with the subject
matter, is thus peculiarly fitted to inaugurate a reform, and it is
hoped that the board, profiting by what the British, French and
Germans have already done, will report rules, that may become
generally satisfactory to American geographers.
In our own country the territory of Alaska needs special attention in
regard to settling the orthography of its geographic names of Russian
origin. Russian names have always been more or less of a bugbear in
geographic literature, since so great a number of them appear in
different forms. The difficulties of transcribing Russian names so as
to reproduce the correct pronunciation are well enough understood. In
the first place the Russian alphabet contains 36 letters, of which 12
are vowels and diphthongs, 3 are semi-vowels, and the balance,
consonants. In this alphabet, there are 12 elements which have no
exact equivalents in the English alphabet, and, on the other hand,
there are 4 English sounds (_j_, _w_, _x_ and _h_) not represented in
the Russian alphabet. Hence, whatever system is employed, we can only
hope to give the pronunciation approximately. Many of the Russian
names found to-day in English and American maps and publications show,
by the way in which they are rendered, an utter absence of knowledge
of the grammatical construction of Russian on the part of those who
originally transcribed them. There are few other languages in which
case and gender play such an important part in the terminal
inflections of proper names as in this great Slavonic idiom. Any one
not conversant with the Russian declensions should not, therefore,
attempt to transcribe Russian geographic names into English, as he
will be sure to blunder. On Russian maps, for instance; Behring Strait
reads, "Beringov Proliv;" Behring Sea, "Beringovo More;" Kamchatka
Bay, "Zaliv Kamchatkii;" Herald Island, "Ostrova Gheralda;" etc.
By the by, I cannot exactly understand why the spelling of the name of
_Behring_ should, within the last few years, have been changed on
American and English maps to _Bering_. The navigator of this name,
_Veit Behring_, was a native of Germany, in the service of Russia, and
it is safe to say that his name contained the letter _h_. Naturally,
in transcribing his name into Russian, the _h_ had to drop out, as
that letter is missing in the Russian alphabet.
The excellent system of transcribing Russian names into English,
published in a recent number of _Nature_[1] having already been
accepted by English and American representatives of various scientific
institutions, it is greatly to be desired that English and American
geographic societies should express their views of it at an early day.
The system is easily brought in harmony with the general principles
adopted by the Royal Geographical Society, by a simple declaration in
regard to the diacritical marks by which, mainly for the purpose of
facilitating correct re-transliteration of Russian names, the vowels
_i_, _i_ [with macron], _i_ [with breve], _e_ and _é_ and the silent
semi-vowels are sought to be distinguished in the written names. For
the benefit of those unacquainted with the system of transliterating
Russian, published in _Nature_, it is reprinted at the close of this
paper.
[Footnote 1: February 27, 1890.]
A few words more in regard to the treatment of the Russian geographic
names found in Alaska. This territory will in the course of time
contain a large English-speaking population, and its geographic names
of Russian and Eskimo origin should, in a certain sense, no longer be
classed by us under the category of foreign names.
The future official orthography of Alaska might, therefore, be treated
liberally, that is to say, complicated spelling following from a
strict transliteration might be simplified to a certain extent, as has
been done with the spelling of many aboriginal Indian names.
Of the geographic nomenclature of Asiatic countries none has become so
rapidly well known as that of the Japan Archipelago, and we can
already now class Japan among the countries having an official
geographic nomenclature in Roman character.
Within less than twenty years, the wonderfully progressive Japanese
have established a geographic service for the survey of their domain,
and a hydrographic service for the survey of their coasts and
navigable waters. They have now published several hundreds of nautical
charts, which are as good and practical as any published by other
nations.
On those Japanese charts, which are based exclusively on their own
surveys, the names are printed in the signs of the '_Kana_' with the
transliteration of the name in Roman character added. It is this
feature which has materially helped us to a better and correct
knowledge of their geographic names. Within the last few years the
_Romaji-Kwai_[2] has made immense progress, and I understand that the
society's system forms already part of the instruction in a number of
schools in Japan. Hence, we may look forward to the day when Japanese
books printed in Roman characters will supersede, to a large extent,
the books in the signs of the '_Kana_.'
[Footnote 2: Society for the introduction of the Roman character for
writing the Japanese language.]
One of the best authorities for writing and pronouncing the names of
the districts, cities, towns and villages of Japan is a very recent
publication[3] by our honored countryman, Mr. W. N. Whitney,
interpreter at the U. S. Legation at Tokyo, who compiled this
admirable book with great care and labor from the official records of
the Japanese empire. It not only contains the names in the original
Japanese print, but what is of chief value to us, also the
transcription, in accordance with the _Romaji-Kwai_ system. We cannot
do better, at present, than to follow this book in determining the
orthography of geographic names in Japan.
[Footnote 3: A concise Dictionary of the principal _roads_,
_chief-towns_ and _villages_ of Japan, with _populations_,
_post-offices_, &c.; together with Lists of _Ken_, _Kori_, and
_Railways_. By W. N. Whitney, M.D., Interpreter of the U. S. Legation,
Tokyo.]
In not so satisfactory a state as the orthography of Japanese
geographic names is that of the countries adjacent to Japan.
Considering that Asiatic names have been transcribed phonetically by
explorers and surveyors of different nationalities, at different
periods of time, and who were often but little, or not at all,
acquainted with the languages they had to deal with, it is not
surprising that many of the names we find on the charts should have
been written utterly wrong. That such was the case on even
comparatively recent surveys is, for instance, illustrated by the
change in the nomenclature on the French plan of Cape Koan Lan, in the
Gulf of Tongking (Plan No. 3721). In this French survey of 1878 the
same names on the editions of 1879 and 1886, respectively, are
rendered thus:
1879. 1886.
Cap Cua-Lam. Cap Koan Lang.
Ile Capuitao. Cai-puï-tao.
Ile Soum-La-Too. Siong-Lai-Tao.
Ile Laito-San. Lai-Tao.
Ile Foum-Lung. Ile Fong Wong.
Such differences in spelling, and examples of pleonasm, as are
indicated by these names, are found on the charts of all nations, but,
under the beneficial working of the systems adopted by the British,
French and Germans, similar errors are rapidly being corrected, and
progress is being made towards international uniformity in the
spelling of all geographic names.
Owing to the number of languages and alphabets in use in the Indian
empire, the orthography of its geographic names has for a long time
been in controversy. As we see from the "British System," the Royal
Geographical Society has decided to spell Indian names in accordance
with "Hunters' Imperial Gazetteer of India," a decision which, in view
of the fact that the spelling in the Gazetteer is not always in
harmony with the adopted rules, is to be regretted. But we can at the
same time understand the difficulties of the situation, and appreciate
the strong love of the British for old forms and long usage. The
differences between the system and the Gazetteer are, however, not
radical, since the continental vowel system is followed; still, it
would be just as easy to write Kalkutta, Kutch, etc., for Calcutta,
Cutch, etc., as it is to write Korea for Corea, and thus be consistent
with the rules.
Geographic names in Malay and its branches we know mainly through
Dutch, British and Spanish surveyors, and their status may be judged
from the prefatory remarks in Maxwell's grammar of Malay, published in
1882, wherein he says, that the spelling of Malay words in the native
character is hardly yet fixed, though the Perso-Arabic alphabet has
been in use since the 13th century, and that those _follow but a vain
shadow_ who seek to prescribe exact modes of spelling words, regarding
which even native authorities are not agreed, and of which the
pronunciation may vary according to locality.
On the charts published by the Batavian Hydrographic Office, the Malay
names are rendered in accordance with the Dutch phonetic system of
transliteration (only that the sound of _g_ is always hard) and as
this differs from the British phonetic system in several particulars,
it is clear that certain corrections must be applied to the spelling
of "_Dutch_" Malay names to facilitate the approximately correct
pronunciation of such names by English speaking peoples. But a source
of trouble is the seeming uncertainty of the Batavian geographers
themselves in regard to the orthography of many names, since it is a
frequent occurrence to find the same names variously rendered on
charts, or in sailing directions issued at short intervals of time.
We can see, from what has been said above, that chances for
disagreement in the rendering of geographic names, originating in
countries that do not use the Roman alphabet for their literature, are
numerous, and hence, the occurrence of errors in the application of a
new system should not be too harshly condemned; nor would the culprits
deserve to be dealt with according to the law laid down by the
municipal council of the good old Swiss town of Küssnacht, which not
very long ago issued a decree that the final _t_ in the name of their
town should be dropped in all official communications, and that any
local official failing to obey this decree should be fined.
* * * * *
MR. BAKER: In the preparation of a map, the last things to go on are
the names. If the map covers a region of country long known or thickly
settled most of its features already have names. But comparison of
several maps of, or writings about, a region almost invariably reveals
confusion, contradictions and errors in the names. The same feature
often bears different names on different maps. The same name has
various spellings, and the names on the map may in their turn not
agree with local usage. Examples of this confusion abound everywhere,
and are a source of constant perplexity to the geographer.
The names are often misapplied. The name of one cape or mountain peak
through accident, carelessness, ignorance, or by intent is often found
attached to some other cape or mountain peak. A small feature's name
may be extended to cover much more than that to which it fittingly
belongs; or a name rightly applicable to a large tract may be wrongly
restricted to a small one. In the hands of the map-maker geographic
names may be regarded as labels loosely attached and easily misplaced.
Handled by many writers, both careful and careless, these labels
become misplaced or lost; and in replacing these misplaced labels or
in restoring lost ones much confusion and many errors arise. The
newspaper writer writing hurriedly, the magazine writer without hurry,
or the book writer working deliberately, each in turn finds that the
investigation of questions relating to geographic names carries him
away from his subject. If a question arises respecting a
non-geographic term the dictionary can be appealed to and, right or
wrong, followed without discredit. But with many or most of the
questions about geographic names, in the United States at least, we
have no adequate dictionary or "authority" to appeal to. As a
consequence in most cases the writer takes indifferently what is
nearest to mind or hand and thus produces new varieties in names,
variants upon old ones or quite new ones. Such names are called
corrupt until usage and familiarity removes the stigma and the
corrupted name having grown respectable is adopted.
A foreign name may be transliterated by one writer and translated by
another. This course gives rise to two or more forms. The absence of
uniform usage in transliterating, causes diversity in one case, and in
the other as several translations are possible, and mistakes probable,
various forms arise.
The progress of all science is intimately associated with questions of
nomenclature. Modern progress in biologic science dates from the
adoption of the binomial system, and it is not too much to expect that
progress in geographic science will similarly be found to be
intimately associated with a study of geographic names and the
principles which should control in their adoption and use.
The object aimed at in these notes is to draw attention to the
importance of the subject and to arouse discussion; the purpose of the
discussion being to ascertain if there be not certain guiding
principles which may serve to aid in solving the numerous and
perplexing questions relating to geographic nomenclature.
What is a geographic name? Without attempting a categorical answer to
this question I would say that geographic names seem to me to bear a
strong resemblance to the names used in biology. They are generic and
specific. To designate any specific geographic feature we usually use
two words, _one_ a descriptive term, such as river, island, lake, pond
or mountain, and the _other_, a specific name indicating what
particular pond, lake, or mountain is designated. The term Mississippi
River is a compound name, in which river may be regarded as a part of
a proper name. It is the name of a genus, whereas the term Mississippi
is the specific designation. Of course it will happen in geographic
names, as in biologic, that certain features or objects become so well
known that a single name, either the generic or the specific will be
used by itself to designate the object. We speak of Maine without
prefixing the generic term "State of," the specific name being
sufficiently characteristic. On the other hand here in Washington
references to "the Avenue" meaning Pennsylvania Avenue are familiar to
all. In this case the generic term is used for particular
specification. These exceptional usages, however, do not appear to me
to invalidate the general principle that the designation of geographic
features consists in general of a specific and of a generic name.
The origin of generic terms has been much studied. The origin of
specific names has been studied but little and the present notes
relate chiefly to this class. Specific names may be said to have two
distinct origins, _first_, those of formal origin where the name has
been given _pro forma_ and published in a book or map relating to the
region by its discoverer, or by the earliest explorers. This covers
the case for a small body of names. _Second_, there is a very large
body of names which appear to have arisen without such formal origin,
and to have, as it were, grown up by common consent in the usage of
the people of the region.
That which it seems profitable to discuss here, and now, is the
principles which should be adopted and followed in the selection of
the names which are to go upon the map; principles which will enable
one to discriminate when usage is divided, between that which should
be adopted and that which should be rejected. To make this clear, a
few instances of the peculiar questions which arise may be cited, and
then some of the guiding principles stated which it might be possible
to adopt and to follow.
The river which flows along the western edge of New York City is
locally known as the North River. Shall this be called the North
River, or Hudson River, or Hudson's River? And if this geographic name
is printed in the text of a book, will you print river with a capital
letter or a small letter? It must be borne in mind that this question
is asked not for the purpose of immediate or categorical answer, but
for the purpose of eliciting thought and discussion upon the
principles which should control the answer.
In 1793 Vancouver entered and mapped Port Townsend, which he formally
named Port Townshend. At the present time the city situated upon that
harbor, as well as the harbor itself, is universally known as Port
Townsend, the "_h_" in the original being omitted. This is a clear and
specific case, where the name formally applied by the original
explorer is now modified in its orthography by usage. What form of the
name shall be adopted? The former or original name or the present
modified name? And if the original name is to be adopted, shall we
proceed similarly in all cases and go back to the original form?
In the case of names which have undergone transformations through
ignorance or through usage, shall an attempt be made to restore the
original orthography? Take the case in Missouri of the stream called
Bois Brule, or burnt wood, and which has become in the usage of the
residents in that part of the world Bob Ruly, and is so spelled in the
local publications, and so pronounced in the local usage.
When Champlain sailed along the heel of Cape Cod and discovered the
extensive shoals which vex the navigation in those waters, he put upon
his chart the statement _mal barre_, and a number of later maps
applied this name to the southernmost point of the heel of Cape Cod as
Malabar, and so it stood for 100 years or more as Malabar and may even
be found upon some current publications. In the Coast Survey
publications it is uniformly called Monomoy.
Again on the north shore of Martha's Vineyard is a place formerly
known by the Indian word Kiphiggon. On the modern maps this place is
called Cape Higgon. Shall we in this case adopt the practice of the
purists and restore the earlier form? In this same locality are four
small harbors, called by the sailors _Holes_; namely Holmes' Hole,
Wood's Hole, Robinson's Hole, and Quick's Hole. In current usage,
except among seamen, Holmes' Hole has disappeared and been replaced by
Vineyard Haven. Wood's hole has been converted into Wood's Holl,
though still pronounced hole; while Robinson and Quick still remain
holes. In this case shall we attempt to be consistent, or in other
words to be uniform?
In the vicinity of New Haven there is a hill occupied many years ago
by Coast Survey parties, and called in their records Rabbit Rock.
Surveying parties last year in searching for this station inquired
diligently in the vicinity and failed to find any information
respecting it for some time. The place, however, is well known to all
the people for many miles around as Peter's Rock, and this name
appears on the county atlas of New Haven, published in 1856. I suppose
the name Rabbit Rock has found earlier publication on Coast Survey
charts or in its reports, though I have not verified this supposition.
But assuming that it has been so published, shall we now call that
hill Rabbit Rock or Peter's Rock?
Allegany County, New York, is spelled Allegany. A post office in
Sierra County, California, is spelled Alleghany; the city of Allegheny
near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is spelled Allegheny. Shall these names
be allowed to stand unchanged, or should an attempt be made to reduce
them all to one form?
In the last century, the place we now know as Sitka was known to the
English as Norfolk Sound, to the French as Tchinkitane Bay, and to the
Russians as New Archangel. The earliest of these names being Norfolk
Sound. Is there any doubt in this case as to the advisability of
retaining the name Sitka?
The great sea between Northeastern Asia and Northwestern America, at
one time known as the Sea of Kamchatka, and now known as Bering Sea,
has been variously written Bhering Sea, Behring Sea, Beering Sea,
Bering Sea, as well as all these forms with the addition of the
apostrophe "s." I will not ask what is the correct name, as the
question in this form seems to imply that there is a correct form, and
all other forms are erroneous. The question should rather be, what
form is it advisable to adopt with the view, let us hope, of securing
its general adoption?
And this leads up to the question of possessives generally in specific
geographic names. Many specific geographic names have the possessive
form, while many others do not. Is it advisable to attempt to secure
uniformity of usage in this regard? I will frankly avow my own
conviction which has resulted from more or less consideration and
study of the matter to be, that the use of the possessive form should
be discouraged and abandoned as far as practicable. While it seems to
me unwise to lay down a hard and fast rule, yet there are a very large
number of cases in which the possessive form may be dropped to
advantage and without, I think, arousing any general opposition to the
practice. When the theory held that the King owned all, and geographic
features were named for the royal family or for the nobility, the
possessive form was very frequently used indicating possession or
ownership, and this in cases where such possessive form has now
disappeared from the maps. Why should not the possessive form be used
to denote possession only? A pond, a hill, a swamp, lying on Smith's
land may be properly designated as it often is, as Smith's pond,
Smith's hill, etc. But nobody would think of saying Madison's Place,
or Washington's Monument. There appears to be a certain principle
involved. Those particular features which are of a public character,
such as states, counties, towns, streets, parks, etc., which are named
for individuals are almost universally named without the possessive
form. And this commends itself as a reasonable practice. Without,
therefore, cutting off possessives from all names where usage has now
fixed them with considerable firmness, there yet remains a
considerable body of geographic names in which the possessive form
remains, but which are not strongly intrenched in public usage. In
such cases it seems to me we may advantageously drop the possessive
form. Let us say Donner Lake, not Donner's Lake, Hudson Bay, not
Hudson's Bay, James Bay, not James' Bay, Baffin Bay, not Baffin's Bay,
etc., etc.
* * * * *
MR. THOMPSON: I hardly know how I came to be brought into this
discussion. The Secretary caught me in his net unawares and
unprepared. I do not propose to trespass long on your time, nor do I
suppose I shall add anything to a philosophical discussion of
geographic nomenclature. I only wish to call your attention to a few
principles that obviously should be followed in the selection of new
geographic names and to show some absurdities and difficulties which
are liable to occur if the sentiment in favor of Indian nomenclature
is allowed full liberty. A geographic name should be short, euphonic,
pronounced as spelled, and have a meaning or express some sentiment to
help fix it in the memory. Especially should these principles govern
when we consider that in childhood, in our school-days, we obtain by
far the greater portion of our geographic knowledge.
The old Spanish explorers followed these rules largely in their
geographic nomenclature, and although "Saint" and "Sierra" occur with
alarming frequency, there is always some reason for the appellation;
either they saw a line of peaks cut the horizon or the christening
occurred on the natal day of the holy martyr. "Rio Dolores" and "Las
Animas" are certainly better than "Sorrow Creek" or "Soul Wash," and
even "Purgatoire"--though the Colorado cow-boy corrupts it into
"Picket Wire"--is better than "Cottonwood Creek."
Some Indian names are very expressive, characterizing topographic
features. In northern Arizona is a steep volcanic neck or needle, its
sharp sides rising in one step twelve hundred feet above the
surrounding country. From the base of this pinnacle, two long lava
dykes stretch on either hand in a gentle curve across the mesa. The
resemblance to the spreading wings of a bird is striking, and the
Navajo Indian calls the rock "A-ga-thla"--the "Flying Bird." A name
well worthy, it seems to me, of being placed on the maps of that
region, as it is on the one I hold in my hand. But on the same map,
close along side, is "Te-ze-ba-a-kit Lake," a barbarous
appellation--unspellable, unpronounceable and unlovely. Nor can I say
less in denunciation of "Zilh-le-ji-ni Mesa"--a name that needs
intimate acquaintance with wigwam smoke and Navajo gutturals to handle
lingually. But what shall we say of "Boo-koo-dot-klish Cañon;" the
Navajo name for what the white man calls with better propriety, it
seems to me, for our maps, "Bluestone Wash." "To-go-hol-tas-e Spring"
could hardly be worse in English. And here is "Sa-hot-soid-be-azh-e
Cañon" (pronounce it as you please or can) sandwiched between "Gothic
Wash" and "Gypsum Valley"--one hardly knows which to prefer, Indian or
English.
"Cañon del Muerto"--the Cañon of the Dead--so named from the discovery
of mummified or rather dessicated Indian bodies in its cliffs--seems
very appropriate, but its brother cañon--"Cañon de Chelly," pronounced
Cañon de Shay, will be neither spoken nor written correctly.
On this same map are shown two small mesas, crowned with forests and
standing beautiful and symmetric in the landscape. They attract
attention at once and the Indian, with a fine sense of
appropriateness, names them "Son-sa-la"--the "Twin Stars"; another
name well worthy of being retained. Some patriotic American has named
the deep gorge separating the "Stars" "Washington Pass," a good
example of the right name in a wrong place.
The sense of broad humor that often characterizes the Indian leads him
to sometimes give the inquirer a name expressive of contempt or
bearing a meaning hardly translatable to ears polite--"Nic-doit-so-e
Peak" is an example--and I confess, with considerable humiliation,
that I was the victim in this case.
I present these instances, Mr. Chairman, to emphasize the necessity of
adopting some guiding principles to aid us in the selection of
geographic names.
APPENDIX.
RULES FOR THE ORTHOGRAPHY OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES.
CONTRIBUTED BY MR. HERRLE.
_British System_--_French System_--_German System_--_Alphabets_,
_Russian-English_; _English-Russian_.
BRITISH SYSTEM.
_Rules adopted in 1885, by the Royal Geographical Society at London,
for the Orthography of Native Names of Places._
Taking into consideration the present want of a system of geographical
orthography, and the consequent confusion and variety that exist in
the mode of spelling in English maps, the Council of the Royal
Geographical Society have adopted the following rules for such
geographical names as are not, in the countries to which they belong,
written in the Roman character. These rules are identical with those
adopted for the Admiralty charts, and will henceforth be used in all
publications of the Society.
1. No change will be made in the orthography of foreign names in
countries which use Roman letters: thus Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch,
etc., names will be spelt as by the respective nations.
2. Neither will any change be made in the spelling of such names in
languages which are not written in Roman character as have become by
long usage familiar to English readers: thus Calcutta, Cutch, Celebes,
Mecca, etc., will be retained in their present form.
3. The true sound of the word as locally pronounced will be taken as
the basis of the spelling.
4. An approximation, however, to the sound is alone aimed at. A system
which would attempt to represent the more delicate inflections of
sound and accent would be so complicated as only to defeat itself.
Those who desire a more accurate pronunciation of the written name
must learn it on the spot by a study of local accent and
peculiarities.
5. The broad features of the system are that vowels are pronounced as
in Italian and consonants as in English.
6. One accent only is used, the acute, to denote the syllable on which
stress is laid. This is very important, as the sounds of many names
are entirely altered by the misplacement of this "stress."
7. Every letter is pronounced. When two vowels come together, each one
is sounded, though the result, when spoken quickly, is sometimes
scarcely to be distinguished from a single sound, as in _ai_, _au_,
_ei_.
8. Indian names are accepted as spelt in Hunter's Gazetteer.
The amplification of the rules is given below:--
---------+-----------------------------+----------------------------
Letters. | Pronunciation and Remarks. | Examples.
---------+-----------------------------+----------------------------
a | _ah_, _a_ as in _father_ | Java, Banána, Somáli, Bari.
e | _eh_, _e_ as in _benefit_ | Tel-el-Kebír, Oléleh, Yezo,
| | Medina, Levúka, Peru.
i | English _e_; _i_ as in |
| _ravine_; the sound of |
| _ee_ in _beet_. Thus, not |
| _Feejee_, but | Fiji, Hindi.
o | _o_ as in _mote_ | Tokio.
u | long _u_ as in _flute_; the |
| sound of _oo_ in _boot_. |
| Thus, not _Zooloo_, but | Zulu, Sumatra.
| All vowels are shortened in | Yarra, Tanna, Mecca, Jidda,
| sound by doubling the | Bonny.
| following consonant. |
| Doubling of a vowel is only | Nuulúa, Oosima.
| necessary where there is |
| a distinct repetition of |
| the single sound. |
ai | English _i_ as in _ice_ | Shanghai.
au | _ow_ as in _how_. Thus, not |
| _Foochow_, but | Fuchau.
ao | is slightly different from | Macao.
| above |
ei | is the sound of the two | Beirút, Beilúl.
| Italian vowels, but is |
| frequently slurred over, |
| when it is scarcely to be |
| distinguished from _ey_ |
| in the English _they_. |
b | English _b_. |
c | is always soft, but is so | Celebes.
| nearly the sound of _s_ |
| that it should be seldom |
| used. If _Celebes_ were |
| not already recognized it |
| would be written |
| _Selebes_. |
ch | is always soft as in | Chingchin.
| _church_ |
d | English _d_. |
f | English _f_. _ph_ should |
| not be used for the sound |
| of _f_. Thus, not |
| _Haiphong_, but | Haifong, Nafa.
g | is always hard. (Soft _g_ | Galápagos.
| is given by _j_) |
h | is always pronounced when |
| inserted. |
j | English _j_. _Dj_ should | Japan, Jinchuen.
| never be put for this |
| sound. |
k | English _k_. It should |
| always be put for the |
| hard _c_. Thus, not |
| _Corea_, but | Korea.
kh | The Oriental guttural | Khan.
gh | is another guttural, as in |
| the Turkish | Dagh, Ghazi.
l | As in English. |
m | As in English. |
n | As in English. |
ng | has two separate sounds, |
| the one hard as in the |
| English word _finger_, |
| the other as in _singer_. |
| As these two sounds are |
| rarely employed in the |
| same locality, no attempt |
| is made to distinguish |
| between them. |
p | As in English. |
q | should never be employed; |
| _qu_ is given as _kw_ | Kwangtung.
r | As in English. |
s | As in English. |
t | As in English. |
v | As in English. |
w | As in English. | Sawákin.
x | As in English. |
y | is always a consonant, as | Kikúyu.
| in _yard_, and therefore |
| should never be used as a |
| terminal, _i_ or _e_ |
| being substituted. Thus, |
| not _Mikindány_, but | Mikindáni.
| not _Kwaly_, but | Kwale.
z | English _z_. | Zulu.
| Accents should not | Tongatábu, Galápagos,
| generally be used, but | Paláwan, Saráwak.
| where there is a very |
| decided emphatic syllable |
| or stress, which affects |
| the sound of the word, it |
| should be marked by an |
| _acute_ accent. |
---------+-----------------------------+----------------------------
FRENCH SYSTEM.
_Rules adopted in April, 1886, by the Société de Géographie at Paris,
for the orthography of native names of places._
The geographic names in countries in which the Roman character is
employed in writing (which includes the néo-Latin, Germanic, and
Scandinavian languages) shall be written in the orthography of the
country to which they belong.
The following rules apply solely to geographic names in countries
without a written language, and to geographic names in countries where
another than the Roman character is employed in writing.
Names of places for which the orthography, through long usage, has
become consecrated shall, however, be excepted from the rules.
Examples: La Mecque, Naples, Calcutta.
The rules in detail are:
1. The vowels _a_, _e_, _i_, and _o_ are pronounced as in French,
Spanish, Italian, and German. The letter _e_ shall never be mute.
2. The French sound of _u_ shall be represented by _u_ with a _tréma_
like the German _ü_.
3. The French sound _ou_ shall be represented by _u_, as in Italian,
Spanish, and German.
4. The French sound _eu_ shall be represented by the character _oe_
[ligated] and be pronounced as in _oeil_.
5. The lengthening of a vowel sound shall be indicated by the '_accent
circonflexe_' (^), and the shortening by an '_apostrophe_' (').
6. The consonants _b_, _d_, _f_, _j_, _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, _q_,
_r_, _t_, _v_, and _z_ are pronounced as in French.
7. _g_ and _s_ have always the hard French sound, as in _gamelle_,
_sirop_.
8. The sound represented in France by _ch_ shall be written _sh_.
Examples: _Kashgar_, _Shérif_.
9. _Kh_ represents the strong and _gh_ the soft Arabic guttural.
10. _Th_ shall represent the articulation in the English word _path_
(Greek theta), and _dh_ the sound of _th_ in the English word _those_
(Greek delta).
11. Unless the letter _h_ is employed to modify the sound of the
letter preceding it, it shall always be aspirated; it should,
therefore, never have an apostrophe in names beginning with it.
12. The _i_ semi-vowel shall be represented by an y, pronounced as in
_yole_.
13. The semi-vowel _w_ is to be pronounced as in the English word
_Williams_.
14. The double sounds _dj_, _tch_, _ts_ shall be written with the
letters which represent the sounds of which they are composed.
Example: _Matshim_.
15. The _ñ_, n with a _tilde_, is to be pronounced like _gn_ in
_seigneur_.
16. The letters _x_, _c_, and _q_ are not to be employed as
duplicates, but the letter q may serve to represent the Arabian _qaf_,
and the _aïn_ could be represented by a double dot.
The idea is to indicate, by means of the characters above given as
near as possible the local pronunciation without attempting a complete
reproduction of all sounds heard.
GERMAN SYSTEM.
_Rules adopted in 1888 by the Imperial German Hydrographic Office, for
the orthography and pronunciation of foreign geographic names._
The names from nations who use the Roman or German alphabet are to be
rendered in the native form, excepting such for which a German
orthography has been generally adopted, as Kopenhagen, Neapel, Genna,
etc. Other foreign names which are generally known and whose
orthography has been generally adopted, as Zanzibar, not _Sansibar_;
Zulu, not _Sulu_, will not be changed.
The letters are pronounced as follows:
a, as _a_ in _Vater_.
å, between _a_ and _o_ (_Åland's Inseln_).
e, as in _Eden_.
i, as in _Ida_.
o, as in _Brot_.
u, as in _nur_.
ä, (æ, Ae) retain their German sounds.
ö, (oe, Oe) retain their German sounds.
ü, (ue, Ue) retain their German sounds.
ai, as in _Kaiser_.
au, as in _auch_.
ao, not quite as _one_ sound.
ei, as in _Ei_.
b, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, x and z retain their
German sounds.
f, retains its German sound; also for _ph_, but the latter will not
be used.
c, always soft (as _z_). For the sound of _k_, _c_ is not to be
used.
j [with umlaut], for the English _j_ (_dj_).
q, will not be used; it is replaced by _k_; respectively by _ku_.
ch, as _tsch_.
sh, as _sch_.
y, is only used for the consonantal sound, not for _i_.
gh, oriental guttural sound (_Dagh_, _Ghazi_).
kh, oriental guttural sound (_Khan_).
v, is always soft; not to be used to give the sound of _f_.
When a vowel is to be pronounced clear and open the following
consonant will be doubled: (_Tanna_, _Mekka_, _Bonny_). To lengthen a
vowel sound, it will not be doubled, but if the vowel is repeated each
will be pronounced separately (_Nuuluha_, _Oosima_).
But one accent (') will be used to indicate if particularly necessary,
that is, in exceptional cases, the syllable on which stress is to be
laid (_Matupí_).
RUSSIAN-ENGLISH.
[Illustration: table of conversion of Russian letters to English
letters]
ENGLISH-RUSSIAN.
[Illustration: table of conversion of English letters to Russian
letters]
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The National Geographic Magazine, Vol.
II., No. 4, August, 1890, by Various
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