coloured maps, to which Sir John Farquharson referred. The coloured map will very shortly be completed south of a line, speaking roughly, running from Ipswich to Cardigan. A considerable number of sheets are already published, but so far the sale has not been very great. It may be that the public do not know of them. I would like to remark on one or two points raised. Sir John Farquharson referred to the dead weight of the town surveys; in the past that has been a dead weight on the Survey, and I am bound to say, if the revision and resurvey of towns had continued, it would have prevented the Survey doing much other valuable work. At present we are not severely pressed in that way; Carlisle and Cardiff are nearly completed, and Aberdeen and Dundee are both in progress. As regards Ireland, the difficulty in the resurvey is very great. The fourth division, to which Sir John Farquharson referred, has not been formed owing to the calls on the Ordnance Survey due to the present war. As soon as it is over, and we get fully established again, I hope the fourth Irish division will be formed. On the other hand, the revision of Great Britain has so far progressed, that it has been possible to transfer one division from England to Ireland. As regards hill engraving, I may say that the measures taken by Sir John Farquharson have been extended, and I hope that, without any loss of quality, the 1-inch hill map will be completed by 1902, or very soon afterwards. As far as I am concerned, there is no intention of sacrificing quality in any way. It may be of interest to indicate what the Survey has done since Sir John Farquharson's time. As far as the large scale is concerned, practically the whole of England is within the twenty-years limit; that is, no appreciable number of counties have surveys over twenty years old. Scotland is not quite so satisfactory, but the few counties with older surveys are being taken up. The 1-inch revised map of Great Britain was completed last year. We are getting on with the 1-inch revised map of Ireland as fast as possible; the work has been extremely heavy. The present is based on an old survey, and the alterations are extremely heavy; the field work, drawing, and engraving have been very slow, but a quarter of the country has been done. The work is being pushed on as rapidly as possible. In England the 1-inch hills have been already alluded to; we have prepared revised hill sheets for a third of Scotland, and I hope in a year the whole of Scotland will be published. As the revision of the 1-inch map of Ireland is completed, so will the revised maps with hills be completed; it will go on pari passu. The revised 4-mile map is being engraved as fast as is consistent with good work. I hope within a year's time it will be practically completed. Engraving the 4-mile Scotland has been commenced, and that will go on as rapidly as possible. Ireland will follow. It has not been possible to do anything with the 10-mile map yet, as it has been thought better to concentrate our efforts on the 1-inch and 4-inch scales. There is one other work I should refer to; it has been heavy-that is, the work for the War Office. Ordnance Survey officers and men have been sent to South Africa for survey work, in addition to others for ordinary Corps work, and the result is we are extremely short. In other ways we have been drawn upon, by men of the reserves and volunteers being called out for army service, and we have had very heavy demands by the War Office for maps; so far we have been able to meet them. I don't think I have anything more to say, except that there is every intention on the part of the Ordnance Survey that its reputation for accuracy and good work shall be maintained.

Sir CHARLES WILSON: I wish to express my concurrence in Sir John Farquharson's excellent epitome of the work of the Survey to the present time, and to say how perfectly I concur in his estimate of the services rendered by General Cooke to the Survey, which have never been sufficiently appreciated. I should also wish to mention what Sir John has not been able to allude to himself, that he

conducted the affairs of the Survey during his period of office in an admirable way. He had many difficulties to contend with, and I think he steered through all of them in a most successful manner. One difficulty the Survey has had to contend with in any new departure has been that of getting people in the different departments of the Government to understand what maps are and what their uses may be. As long ago as 1883, when I had charge of the Irish Survey, I was struck by the great expense to which landed proprietors in Ireland were put in selling their property. They often had to have 25-inch surveys made for the purposes of the court, and had to pay the whole of the cost themselves. I then advised the commencement of a 25-inch survey of Ireland, and was strongly supported by the boundary commissioner, Sir John Ball Green, and by the authorities of the law courts, but the Government would have nothing to do with a large-scale survey in Ireland. When I was appointed director-general I again took up the question, and with very great difficulty was able to persuade the Treasury that a 25-inch survey was absolutely necessary to enable the terms of the Land Acts for Ireland to be carried out. Exactly the same difficulty occurred afterwards with regard to the revision. It is impossible to get officials to recognize the absolute necessity of having accurate maps. At first only a small sum was allowed for revision; but gradually, when questions were asked in Parliament, the vote was increased, and at last continuous revision was authorized. I am glad that such excellent progress has been made in the revision. I am quite sure, from what I know of the present director-general, that the reputation of the Survey will not suffer in his hands, and that he will meet any new departure or any questions that may arise in the best possible way.

Lord BELHAVEN: Sir John Farquharson said the Local Government Board did not make much use of the Ordnance Survey maps, but certainly those who work under them use the Ordnance Survey maps on every possible occasion. For instance, the County Council to which I belong: we have to pay for them ourselves.

Mr. HUGH LEONARD: I may be permitted to say that I think, if the Survey Department took a little more trouble in making known what maps they have for sale, there would be a much larger sale of their maps than there is now. I have been connected with maps for many years, and was not aware that there is a coloured 1-inch map published until to-day. We have had a great deal of information given to us with which I was not acquainted, and I think if any reasonable means were taken to let the public know what is going on, the sale would be increased, and the maps would thus be made more useful to the country, which has to pay for them in the end.

Mr. DOUGLAS FRESHFIELD: Having represented the Royal Geographical Society eight years ago, when the Council made representations regarding the Ordnance Survey maps, I think that we, who belong to the Society, may congratulate ourselves on the very great extent to which the recommendations I was authorized on behalf of the Society to make have been carried out. In the important matter of the use of colour in maps, it appears that great progress has been made. We have heard that there is a very small sale for coloured maps; this arises from want of knowledge by the public. I am convinced that the Ordnance Survey Department are now doing everything they can under the conditions in which they live; they have the same enemy that Lord Salisbury lately mentioned -the Treasury, and the Treasury is encouraged in its traditional policy by the extreme apathy and want of knowledge of the use of maps, which is not confined to the Government. departments, as one of the speakers suggested, but extends through the whole

nation.

Dr. A. J. HERBERTSON: In the first place, I would suggest that it should be No. VI.-JUNE, 1900.]

2 R

compulsory for every head post-office to have an Ordnance map of the district framed and hung up on the walls. In the second place, it would be desirable if the Ordnance Survey could issue maps to schools at a cheap rate, in the way the American Government has arranged, where the maps are sold to teachers for school purposes at the cost of printing and paper; I think that would contribute to the popularization of maps, and would very much help all schoolmasters, who find the expense of buying maps very heavy.

Sir JOHN FARQUHARSON: I had something to say to you about the sales of Ordnance maps, but I began to think the paper was very long, and perhaps you would be getting tired of it. Roughly, it was that the Survey had had the sales in charge since 1897. Formerly it was in the hands of three agents, as you knowStanford for England, Menzies for Scotland, and Hodges and Figgis for Ireland; but the Ordnance Survey took it up in 1897, and the results of that change have been distinctly successful. The value of the increase of sales was, after two years, about thirty-three per cent. But another branch, that of sales through the postoffice, has distinctly failed. I believe the reason to be, as is stated in the paper, that the Postmaster-General offers inadequate remuneration for the complicated work the postmasters have to do. I think that you can get the Ordnance maps at a post-office in a fairly large town, if there is no local agent there for the sale of the maps; but the postmasters have to write such complicated forms that very often they make mistakes, and it is as troublesome to the Southampton people as it is to the postmasters themselves. Then, I think, the postmasters are only paid the fraction of a penny, in the same way as with money orders, and the result is that the postmasters don't care for the work. As to making the maps known, I think you will find that in places where visitors go, the local bookseller has a local map of his own that he wants to sell, and if you ask for a map of the district you will seldom be shown an Ordnance map, but a rough map that he has had compiled himself.

The PRESIDENT: The meeting will wish to pass a vote of thanks to Sir John Farquharson for reading his paper, and for his kindness in bringing these interesting foreign survey maps here, which he will allow to remain for a few days, so that a number of people who are interested in them can examine them in detail. The most interesting part of the paper to us, and all those who care for the spread of geographical knowledge, is the paragraph on the sale of maps. It is much to be deplored that the system of sale through the local post-offices has failed, owing to the obstruction and the want of interest in the matter at the General Post-office. Of course, if the postmasters were properly remunerated, the sales by that means, I cannot doubt, would be very large indeed. Since I was examined by the departmental committee of the Board of Agriculture, I have had a register kept of the number of people who come to examine the Ordnance Survey maps in this room. It is very large comparatively; it goes on increasing year by year, and I have very little doubt that most of those who come here afterwards buy the maps. It would not be of much avail, I think, to advertise very largely, as the advertisements would not be seen. I don't see any means of making the existence of coloured maps better known than those used by the different agents of the Survey Department. I now ask you to pass a vote of thanks to Sir John Farquharson for his very interesting paper, ard for kindly showing us these foreign maps.

EXPLORATION OF THE BERMEJO RIVER AND ITS
AFFLUENTS, ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.*

THE expedition started in two boats, each 27 feet long by 7 feet beam by 3 feet deep. One was built at the Ingenio La Esperanza, having been designed and its construction superintended by Mr. Stephen Leach; the other at San Loreno, designed by Mr. R. Smythe, and built by his carpenter. Both boats were made of algarroba timber and cedar planking, being copper-fastened throughout. The first was launched for trial on the represser at La Esperanza, and on March 1 she was duly christened La Esperanza, and again on March 5, on the river San Pedro, about two miles from the junction with the Lavalyen. The other on March 3 was launched in the river San Francisco, about 2 miles below where the San Lorenzo flows into it, and was christened the Bertha. There were, besides, three chalanas, 22 feet long by 7 feet beam by 1 foot 9 inches deep, especially built in Buenos Aires for the expedition, from a design and by the order of his Excellency the Minister of Marine, Commodore Rivadavia, and sent overland by rail as far as the station Pampa Blanca F.C.C.N. (Central Northern Railway), and thence to the river in carts. One, the Ledesma, was launched on the river San Pedro at the same time as the Esperanza; the other two, the Lavalyen and Sora, were launched on the San Francisco at the same time as the Bertha.

On March 4, 1899, the two boats Esperanza and Ledesma left the Ingenio La Esperanza on carts to be launched at the Paso del Piquete, about a mile below the junction of the San Pedro and Lavalyen, which unite to form the San Francisco. As the road through the forest was found too narrow, trees had continually to be cut down to clear the way, making progress very slow, so that by sundown little more than half the distance had been covered, and a halt had to be called for the

* Map, p. 680. The following letter, dated " Esperanza, San Pearo, Provincia Jujuy, Republica Argentina, October 28, 1893," from Mr. Walter Leach, accompanies this paper:-

Thinking that they may be of some interest to you, I am forwarding with this report of an expedition made by myself and various others, whose names appear in the report, and plans of the rivers whose course we followed.

"The idea of the trip originated through a desire to see if these rivers were not navigable, and so facilitate the carriage of the products of these northern provinces. "The report and plans have been drawn up by Captain H. Bolland, master mariner of the British Mercantile Marine, who accompanied the expedition, taking with him all instruments necessary for taking observations, which I think you may be satisfied are correct. through.

A sketch of this river with its curves and length of reaches was kept all

"If you wish for any further particulars, kindly address me here or write my brother Thomas Leach, the Harridge, Rochdale, Lancashire.

"I am, yours faithfully,

"WALTER LEACH."

night. Some of the party remained with the boats; the others pushed on to Piquete, where the first camp of the expedition was formed, lat. 24° 17′ 55′′ S., long. 64° 41′ 40′′ west of Greenwich.

March 5.-At daybreak work was resumed, but progress was very slow. By about 4 p.m. a place was reached where the road passes close to the river San Pedro. It was resolved to launch the boats then and there, which was successfully accomplished. Mr. Walter Leach taking command of the Esperanza, and Mr. Stephen Leach the Ledesma, proceeded with a few men down the San Pedro into the Lavalyen and the San Francisco, and arrived at the Piqueto camp at dusk.

March 6.-At 6 a.m. the camp was broken up and the boats ready to start. The Ledesma, drawing about 10 inches, with Mr. S. Leach and Captain H. Bolland, led the way, followed closely by the Esperanza, drawing about 12 inches, with Mr. W. Leach and Captain L. Zorilla. After grounding several times, a stop was made for breakfast on the shore, and after another pull in the afternoon, Mr. R. Smythe's camp was reached at about 5 p.m. Here was the other contingent of the expedition, with the boats Bertha, Sora, and Lavalyen.

March 7-13 were spent in the Sora camp, a place actually about halfway between the rivers San Lorenzo and Sora on the left bank of the river San Francisco, in front of Bella Vista, lat. 23° 53′ 41′′ S., long. 64° 36′ 0′′ west of Greenwich. The delay here was made to organize the expedition, to fit out the boats with all necessary gear to protect their crews as much as possible from the sun and rain, to load the provisions required for three months, and sufficient ammunition for defending the expedition in case of an Indian raid. Each boat was furnished with a Winchester rifle, a machete, a mosquito net and veil, and plates, cups, etc., for each one of its crew. Also two spades, two axes, two pickaxes, mast and sail, sun and rain awnings, a small tent, oars, rudder, anchor, lamp, and everything requisite to make the trip as comfortable as possible. Distributed amongst the boats were also a set of carpenter's tools, cooking-utensils, canvas, oakum, pitch, nails, screws, tacks, and all necessaries for making repairs. The provisions consisted of salt meat, boiled beef, vegetables, rice, beans, tea, coffee, sugar, yerba, and oatmeal, all in watertight casks or tins. Bread and salt were the only articles in bags and liable to be spoilt. The instruments included a chronometer, sextant, velometer, barometer, thermometer, compass, and theodolite. A medicine-chest was supplied with instruments and medicines, and a very liberal quantity of medical comforts, such as Liebig's extract of meat, cornflour, condensed milk, cocoa, and oatmeal biscuits. Also one large duck-gun, two German Mausers, and several fowling-pieces. Each man carried a large knife and revolver. The boats were numbered in the order in which they had to proceel, as follows: No. 1, chalana Ledesma, draft 14 inches: in this were H. Bolland and L. Zorilla, nautical men, who together piloted