The sun., 1902-03-09
LARGEST NAP or AFRICA.
II Was Made by the French. and Took
Many Years TO Complete.

II Was Made by the French. and Took
Many Years TO Complete.
The largest map OF the whole OF Africa
vet made is the work of the French, No
other map Of the continent has cost so much
labor as this production. which is the best
compilation Of all the geographic facts
that have been learned about Africa.
So much fresh information comes to
hand every year about Africa that maps
are soon out Of date unless they are fire.
quently revised. For this reason a geogra- =
phcr in the service OF the French Govern
ment is detailed to give all the time neces-
cary TO revising the sheets Of this map.
All mistakes are corrected as soon as they
are discovered, and the map material sup
Piled by later explorers is utilized so that
the map is kept abreast Of all knowledge
Of the continent.
NJ. de Lannoy de Bissy, chief OF the
Engineer Corps Of the French Army spent
a great deal of his time for fifteen years
In the compilation Of this map. He began
the work in 1875 and it was completed in
1890
He used as his sources Of information
nearly 1900 route maps and other maps
Of the continent, his material including
many manuscript originals as we'll as hun
dreds Of maps that had heen published.
Most Of this material was the result Of tho
work Of explorers within the past sixty
years.
No more expressive facts than these can
be given to illustrate the enormous activity
Of African explorations In the second half
Of the nineteenth century. Not even in the
Columbian era was there so much zeal for
geographic exploration. Never before was
80 much learned about any part OF the
world Of the same extent as was learned
OF Africa in that period.
The task before De Bissy was ono OF great
difficulty. Most Of the bases Of his work
were painfully lacking In precision.
The African coasts had been fairly well
outlined, but in the interior the position of
very few localities had been astronomically
determined. In other words the geographic
co6rdinates, as the latitude and longitude
of places are called. had rarely been ascer-
tained with satisfactory approximation to
the truth. The compiler had TO use his
vast amount OF material with the knowledge
that great deal OF it could not be placed on
any map with the accuracy desirable.
There were other perplexlng problems
His map material was drawn on many
different scales. There were many contra
dictions in the hundreds Of maps before
him.
The great volume Of his material was in
itself a source Of embarrassment. He had
sixty maps, for example, Of the mountainous
country Of Abyssinia, and several months
were spent over these maps alone in a
critical determination OF their value for
his purposes and in deducing from their
more or less conflicting testimony the best
approximation TO the truth that he could
attain.
De Bissy's map. In sixty-three sheets.
is on a scale OF l:2 ,Oo0, 900 or about thirty
two statute miles TO the inch. This scale
Is too small to-day to record clearly what we
know Of the geography Of Africa.
The compiler had scarcely half completed
h,s map when no predicted that within
ten years a map on twice the scale or six
teen miles to the inch. would be necessary
for an adequate map OF Africa, There is no
doubt that to-day a map twice the size OF
the French production would be justified:
Il has not yet been supplied, but II must be
within a few years. Meanwhile, De Bssy's
map is still the largest ever made OF the
continent.
The map does great honor 10 the geo.
graphical service Of the French army.
Since 1891 IL has constantly been before
Cant. Rouby, who was charged with the
work of keeping II up In accordance with
new discoveries.
MANY changes have been made in il
since the map left the hand OF the original
compiler. II may be interesting 10 indi-
cate two or three OF these changes as illus
trating the improvements that are con-
tinually being made in our maps OF nearly
every part Of Africa.
When the De Bissy map was first pub
lished the southwest coast OF Victoria
Nyanza was still shown with the rounded
outline that Stanley had given 1t in his
man Then Father Schynse in 1891 made his
survey of this part Of the shore line, reveal
ing the narrow prolongation OF the lake in
the southwest.
His survey was used in the De Bissy
and all other good maps till DR.. Baumann
went To the lake with better instruments
and more scientific methods. Then Father
Sohynse's map was laid on the shelf and
Baumann's map took its plnce. Thus
three different delineations OF this part of
Victoria Nyanza have been before the
public within the past twelve years.
The mspmskors are having about the
same experience with Lake Tanganyika.
After showing the lake as il was repre-
sented by Burton and Stanley, the moro
detailed and accurate survey by Capt.
Hore was made.
This has long been the basis OF all the
IT. l,,s xtstah hat. hn net
few months II has been supplanted by the
more satisfactory survey work OF the
Moore expedition, which will doubtless he
found, before long, on all the new maps.
Those VINO Read 'The sun