New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-04
MAPS. AVID THE NAMES.

Our worst anticipations have been fulfilled,
and something more. The Manchurian war
has resulted in a confusion OF nomenclature,
worse conrounded than even In a pessimistic
mood We feared. Chinese names have been
Japanned, Corean names have been Russian
tied. and inconsistency has run riot. We have
been daily confronted with Feng-Wang-Cheng
divided into syllables. and with Wafangtien I'M
divided. though assuredly if Feng Wang -Cheng
Is correct. we should write Wa-Fang-Tien. and
If Wafangtien is the true form. then we should
adopt Fengwangcheng. For the thousand cases
Of such Inconsistency il is easy 10 blame CORE
spondents and editors. though IL may not he
a just as IL IS easy Certainly the professional
geographers are not entitled 10 cast the first
stone. The most hurried stop press dis
patches in the morning papers are as accurate
and as consistent In their use OF names as the
most carefully drawn and engraved maps OF
the standard aliases.
Note for example, how such n work deals
with names not only in Manchurla, but else
where. The work before us. one OF the best ex-
tant, puts down Jaipur and Bhurtpur for our
oldtime Jeypore and Bhurtpore-that ''pur" has
so smart an air OF superior learning!-yet it
leaves Cawnpore and Lahore unchanged. It
transforms Bangalore into Bangalur, but spares
Mysore 1t insists upon putting the German X
in what we used TO spell Congo but does not
change Africa 10 Afrika. Why not7 II changes
the familiar KOwloon into haulun. but lets
Rancoon remain as Of old. IL alters CAMERON
10 Kamerun hut fails TO turn KarOo into Karu.
The map is published by those who insist upon
the old spelling of colour" aud honour" yet
II makes "Mush" of Moush and "Batum" OF
Batoum.
Nor is the work more consistent when II turns
from alien lands 10 Europe itself CracOw is
,g,n Tor
now and Moscow remain unchanged Courland
and Cronstadt are printed Kurland and KrOn-
stadt. but Crimea and Carpathian retain their
ancient forms On one mp we find Kattegat
and Cattegat side by side. CobentZ is Koblenz.
but Cologne is not turned into K6ln. Aix-la-
Chapelle is Germanized into Aachen, but Lor-
Iaine is not changed 10 Lothringen. Elsewhere
are the Bay OF St Michael and the Bale de Ia
Seine; the Black Forest and the Bayerischer
Wald; the Carnic Alps and the Puster Thai;
the Carpathian Mountains. the Vukan Gebirge,
the Majevica Planina, the Hegy Allya, the Keil-
berg. the Joachmsthal, the Glein Alpe. the
Korse Vaara and the Jaila Daghi Remember,
il is not a polyglot. but an English atlasl The
town of Ouessant is on the island of Ushant!
The Riviera 81 Ponente fronts upon the Ii
curian Sea A single map bears the Mouth Of
the Seine the Embre du Rhone and the
Fmhre de Ia Loire There are also the Colo
de Rosas the Collie du Lion and the Gulf
OF Cadiz; not 10 mention also Lubbock Bay,
Stettiner Half and the Greifswalder Bodden.
There are Frankfurt-an-der- Oder and Grabow-
on-the- Oder. There ere Barwalde-in-the-Neu-
mark and EMBELLISHMENTS. There
are the Lake OF Bracciano and the Lago oil
Varano; there are Cape Tuzla. Capo del Faro
and Serves Burun.
We submit that such eclecticism run mad is
worse than anything our newspapers have ever
done If at half-past j in the morning the
night editor should take time to refer TO the at
lases for the approved spelling of every outland-
ish name that comes 10 him, the result would
be about eleven times worse than the present
state Of affairs. We wish there might be some
Improvement Perhaps there will be. We shall
keep on working for Il. But II II comes. II will
more probably begin with the newspapers and
extend thence 10 the aliases and gazetteers than
I'm the reverse order.