1 ■
2 KOtlCE BEGABDING THE MAP.
3 T INTENDED in this place to have given an aooomt of tht node adoptad
4 *■ by Mr. Macartney in the construction of his map, and to have shiini in
5 detail what part of niv {geographical information was borrowed from hint, awf
6 on what points his opinion and mine disagreed ; but, on consideration, I
7 think it better to give tiie most important part of Mr. Macartney's memoir in
8 an Appandti^ and to it I beg leave to veftr my readers 1m will them ftid>
9 hmdm tiie aurtter 'to whidi I piinc^paBy alhid^ good aooounts of the (ham,
10 the livon of die Funjaub and other interesting aobjecta. I have atiU, ho«w
11 ever, some observations to o£fer. Mr. Macartney's design in forming his map
12 was to embody all the information he had himself collected, and to leave the
13 task of comparing it with the <jjnaions of other geographers, to those who had
14 txu)ite lebure and better opportunities of consulting printed authorities. It is
15 not* tfaerefiir^ to be ondentood when he diffiaa flom hit pfedeoeNOca, that
16 ho had annMiwwod and revened thdr deeiaiona* but menly that die aooomrta
17 he had received differed £n» those already in the poaiewion of the- pnUic^
18 Of the value of hia accounts, it may be well to say a few words. The foun-
19 dation of the whole rests on the lines formed by the route of the mission,
20 where the bearings and distances were taken by three different geutlenxen,
21 each of whom had a purambulator of his own. The latitude of the hahing
22 places was also ascertained by observatioo* aa waadieloiigitude of the principal
23 •pointa on the route*
24 Mr. Macartney h«e hunaelf exphbod (Appendix D.) manner in which
25 be kid down the country beyond thoae bgr meana of native inftmiation.
26 It is obvious tliat tliis part cannot be so accurate as the former, and can
27 scarcely hope to go beyond an approximation to the tnith ; but it dii^^JLt to
28 hi imic li more exact, as well as more liili, tixan any thing we alrcxuiy possess
29 on the subject. The surveyed line is advanced many hundred milea beyond
30 what it waa when the lait m^» waa roade^ and the number of rontea collected
31 fim the people of the country give a great adnbtage over the alender mate-
32 rials before obtained : nothiilg indeed gives a higher idea of the genius of
33 Miyor Rennell than a comparison of the matcrialH he possessed with his suc-
34 cess in setthng the geography of the countries iu questioti. A good deal
35 floigfat be said to prove that the new informa^on is not to he disr^arded
36 Digitized by Google