European colonization, in the few areas where it is climatically feasible, has been the principal means of introducing not only a new crop but a whole series of new ideas which can contribute to the advancement in the scale of civilization of the peoples for whom we have become trustees. It is now generally accepted that throughout Tropical Africa we are in the position of trustees. In the words of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League, we are entrusted with the guidance of "peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world." The field of work covered by the phrase "public health" is a gigantic one, especially in Tropical Africa. In addition to certain diseases peculiar to the tropics, we find practically all the diseases common to temperate climates. Some of the latter appear to have been introduced as a result of European contact, and with regard to these it sometimes happens that, being new, there is no acquired resistance on the part of the populations affected. As an instance, I was told in my recent tour in West Africa that an African who gets tuberculosis rarely, if ever, recovers. The special tropical diseases, such as malaria, sleeping sickness, and the like, appear in both endemic and epidemic forms. It sometimes happens that an infectious disease will suddenly flare up and spread in tropical conditions with terrible results. The task of combating these epidemics is a gigantic one, and the field for research as well as treatment and cure is still large. I cannot overestimate the importance or value of research workers of all kinds in Africa. I include in this field and in the field of " public health" the animal as well as human diseases. The scourges of rinderpest, pleuro-pneumonia, East Coast fever, red-water fever, and trypanosomiasis require the services of an increasing number of veterinary research officers and veterinary staff throughout Tropical Africa. We have been so far able to do little in the way of developing the immense potential resources of Tropical Africa in animal foods. I am told there are something like 6,000,000 head of cattle within 200 miles of the Uganda railway system, but at present there is no export of meat, and the first small shipment of East African butter reached England this summer. In Northern Nigeria there are approximately 3,000,000 cattle cut off from the coast by a wide belt of tsetse-ridden country. The development of animal husbandry is still in its infancy, as it is only in the European highlands of East Africa and among a few natives in Uganda and Tanganyika that the plough has been introduced. Elsewhere the land is cultivated by means of exclusively human labour with the hoe. Finally there is transport. In many parts of Africa the principal means of transporting produce is still the human carrier. The human carrier is the most expensive and wasteful form of transport, as each individual is limited to an average load of approximately 60 lbs., with a speed of 15 to 18 miles a day. During my recent tour in West Africa I was at great pains to collect some figures regarding the comparative costs of different forms of transport. In the populous cotton-growing area round Zaria in Northern Nigeria head transport costs from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per ton mile, motor transport Is. per ton mile, and animal transport 9d. per ton mile, but the railway is carrying cotton and ground-nuts at approximately 1ld. per ton mile. There can be no doubt that in the conditions of Tropical Africa, where roads are difficult to construct and even more difficult to maintain, the railway is by far the cheapest, as well as by far the most expeditious form of transport. We are only at the beginning of the construction of our arterial system of railways. In the bulk of our African possessions such railways as do exist not only pay directly but their indirect effect in bringing about production is sensational. When the railway from Baro to Kano was first constructed it was estimated that two trains a week would be all that would be required to carry the produce. When I was in Kano in February this year the average number of goods trains leaving Kano was eight per day, and the tremendous expansion of the cultivation of ground-nuts round Kano is due entirely to the coming of the railway. The export of ground-nuts from Nigeria has risen from nil in 1910 to 120,000 tons last year. Similarly the expansion of cotton cultivation in Uganda is the direct outcome of the Uganda Railway and the feeder roads and water transport provided as auxiliaries to that railway. Railways without roads are of little value, but I have definitely come to the conclusion that in the conditions of Tropical Africa roads are no substitute for railways. Tropical rains alone prevent the use of roads except during the dry seasons of the year. Cheap transport is the life-blood of commerce, and everywhere I have been in Africa I have met the same demand by European and native alike for the provision of more roads and more railways. An example of the comparative stagnation of a naturally rich and populous country where the transport facilities are at present inadequate is provided by Nyasaland, where, in consequence of the incompleteness of Lake Nyasa's communication with the sea, some thousands of the most progressive natives leave the country every year in search of opportunity in more developed parts of Africa. As in the other questions that I have discussed, the right solution of the many transport problems which arise in Africa can only be brought about by scientific study, and we should do well to watch all new developments in the means of transport, in new fuels, and such-like matters which have a bearing upon any undertaking. It is quite clear that we cannot develop either the land or the people unless we have easier and quicker means of access which modern rapid transport alone can give, but every line of railway we open, every road we construct, adds to the pressure of the impact of our coming, and I feel that in addition to research into all these practical sciences we shall require in ever-increasing degree the scientific observation of the sociological facts of our development; mere humanity and enthusiasm are not sufficient. We have to study the problems we ourselves are creating with a considerable degree of objective detachment and make certain that in our natural zeal for material development we are not disrupting more than we are creating. Here again it is Kenya that is leading the way, and the Kenya Government have asked that a portion of the loan to be spent on transport development in East Africa shall be ear-marked for the closer scientific study of what is rather loosely called "the native problem." I think I have said enough to show that both our opportunities and our responsibilities in our African Empire are very great. We can only solve our problems by applying to them the energies of our best brains working in a spirit of objective detachment, studying failures and successes with a view to building up gradually a body of knowledge and experience which will render mistakes few and successes great. In this task we shall have to rely not only upon the continued efforts of those officials and unofficials who are actually working in Africa, but also on the men of science over a whole range of human experience such as are meeting under the auspices of the British Association. There is no finer field for scientific investigation and endeavour than our tropical dependencies, and I should regard myself as fortunate if I were able on this occasion to arouse your interest in matters of great importance not only to the Empire but to the advancement of human welfare. NEW WAR OFFICE MAPS OF AFRICA AND ASIA T WO important series of maps, one of Africa and one of Asia, are, and have been for the last few years, in course of publication by the Section of the General Staff. These maps are the series covering Africa Geographical on the scale of 1/2,000,000, or about 32 miles to I inch; and the series covering Asia, on the scale of 1/4,000,000. The preparation of each series was due to the initiative of the Royal Geographical Society. The Society compiled in manuscript seven sheets of the African map, and one of the Asian map, during the War; after the War the work was taken over by the War Office, and much progress has now been made. Each series is, in fact, sufficiently advanced to make it desirable to draw the attention of Fellows of the Society to what is, in reality, a notable addition to the fundamental outfit of the geographer. The designer of a series of maps is faced at the outset of his labours with the necessity of making up his mind about the most suitable scale for the purpose in view. Nowadays it is becoming increasingly common, in the construction of maps of large portions of this world's surface, to adopt a scale which is a multiple or sub-multiple of the million scale. And this custom has certain conveniences. We are all getting accustomed to scales in " millions," and maps on these scales may be made to fit into the framework provided by the standard International Map ("Carte du Monde "), on the 1/1,000,000 scale, and they may be said to help the latter undertaking; for in the compilation on the smaller scales one can get a pretty shrewd idea of the amount of reliable material available for the standard map. The next decision which must be made by the designer of a series of maps is the more difficult one of the projection to be adopted, and in this matter there are these two general alternatives: Either the sheets may be made to fit together exactly, so that each will join on to its neighbours without any gaps, the projection being constructed for the whole series, which is treated as one map; or we may construct each sheet independently of its neighbours, so that we cannot, with minute accuracy, fit together even a small group of sheets, but each individual sheet will have very small errors. case we may very well adopt a polyconic projection, especially that modification In this latter of it which has been chosen for the "Carte du Monde," and this projection has, as a fact, been selected for the African series in question. In the "Carte du Monde" the largest error of linear scale is 1/1270, a negligible quantity. But the weak point of the projection is discovered when it is intended to fit a group of sheets together. We can fit an indefinite number together bounded by the same meridians (6° apart), or by the same parallels (4° apart). But if we try to fit together a group of, say, four sheets, two sheets in depth and two in breadth, this is what happens. Fit two together bounded by the same parallels, say the two southern sheets; then fit the southern parallels of the northern sheets on to the northern parallels of the southern sheets; these will fit accurately because the parallels are of the same length and have the same curvature. But now we shall find a gap between the inner meridians of the northern sheets; the meridians will diverge from the centre of the group. M. Ch. Lallemand has shown that, in the case of the "Carte du Monde," the divergence, or angular hiatus, amounts to 25' as a maximum, an amount which cannot be said to cause serious inconvenience. With a scale of 1/2,000,000, and sheets of the same size of paper but embracing twice the extent in latitude and longitude that the sheets of the 1/1,000,000 do, the maximum linear error is still small, viz. 1/315, and this is quite unobjectionable. But a small calculation will show that the maximum angular hiatus now amounts to about IOI', and the fitting of the sheets together is beginning to be more than a little awkward, especially near the Equator. If the sheets are fitted together, as described, with an angular hiatus of 101' the linear hiatus on the northern parallel will be about 12 cms. in the worst case; whereas with the "Carte du Monde" this maximum gap is only 3 mm. We have, in fact, reached, or perhaps more than reached, the limit of applicability of this system, when we make use of it for the 1/ 2 Million scale. But it is difficult to suggest a better projection for maps of Africa on the scale in question. The map of Asia is on the 4-million scale, and the polyconic projection was wisely abandoned, and a projection was chosen to cover the whole continent. The projection adopted was the conical orthomorphic with two standard parallels. The whole map extends in latitude from the equator to 80° N., and in longitude from 30° E. to 180° E.-from Singapore to the Arctic, from Smyrna to Bering Sea. The errorless parallels are 27° N. and 63° N., so that there is perfect representation along a line through Northern Arabia, Baluchistan, Northern India, Yunnan and Fuchien, and also along a parallel in Northern Siberia, not far from the Arctic Circle-which is, perhaps, treating that inhospitable region a little too kindly. From the nature of the case, since the projection has been designed for the whole map, the sheets fit together perfectly-at the expense, of course, of considerable variation in the scale. The scale error varies from -4 per cent. about the parallel of 45° to +21 per cent. on the Equator; or, putting the scales in fractions, from 1/4,174,000 to 1/3,137,000. In fact, along the Equator, which passes through Sumatra, Borneo, and Celebes, the scale is nearer I to 3 millions than I to 4 millions. This large variation in scale in the habitable region of Asia is, in part, due to the tenderness with which the Arctic regions have been treated, and in part to the choice of an orthomorphic projection. If, for instance, the main part of the projection had been treated as that extending from the Equator to 60° N., and if a simple conical projection with two standard parallels had been chosen, the maximum linear scale error could have been reduced to about 64 per cent. There is, of course, no universally acceptable solution for this sort of problem, but the present writer must admit a preference for small linear scale errors in the habitable parts of the continent. The sheets of the African series are, as has been stated, similar in size and construction to those of the "Carte du Monde"; but there is a slight variation from what might have been expected in the arrangement of the sheet lines, for the Equator bisects a line of sheets, instead of forming the boundary between two lines. These sheets are of a convenient size to handle. The southern sheets of the Asian series are somewhat unwieldy, being about 3 feet long from east to west; the other sheets are of fairly comfortable sizes, but it might have been better to follow the example of the "Carte du Monde." There is an understanding between the British Geographical Section of the General Staff, the French authorities, and the Survey of Egypt, that the whole of Africa shall be mapped on the 1/ 2 million scale; the whole undertaking will comprise thirty-eight sheets, each sheet embracing, in the ordinary case, 8° of latitude by 12° of longitude. Of this total, the Geographical Section, General Staff has completed no fewer than eighteen sheets, the French have published three provisional sheets, and the Survey of Egypt one. The 1/4,000,000 series of Asia, which is being issued by the Geographical Section, General Staff, comprises seventeen sheets, but two of these cover ocean areas only. Of the remainder, nine have already been published, and it is understood that three more are in course of preparation. South of 60°, each sheet of this series embraces 20° of latitude by 30° of longitude. So much for the framework of these two series. As regards their style and character, they are both printed on the "layer" system; that is, they are hyposometrically coloured. The system of tints is, generally speaking, well chosen, and approximates to the international scale of colours. The later sheets have somewhat bluer greens than the earlier ones, and this is an advantage. The tints which represent the very high altitudes on the African series are somewhat crude as compared with the scale of colours printed for guidance in the construction of the "Carte du Monde" and published in the official report, but there is not very much of this high ground in Africa, and the appearance of the sheets is not materially injured. The sheets are generally pleasing to look at and easy to read. It is a treat to study such sheets as Kenya Colony," "Transvaal," or Natal"; you can get more geography out of ten minutes' study of such sheets than by reading volumes of descriptive writing. The same remark applies to the 1/ 4 million series of Asia; take, for instance, the sheet which has the title "Persian Gulf," which really includes Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, Syria, Anatolia, Kurdistan, Northern Arabia, Iraq, and the greater part of Persia. It is an admirable example of clear and accurate cartography, and should be in the possession of every one interested in Eastern problems. A few minor points may be noticed. The writing departs, in some instances, from the conventions laid down for the International Map, especially in the free use of sloping "stump" for small towns instead of the upright "Roman hairline." But of course there was no obligation to use the international convention for either series. The choice of names is always a difficulty; but generally the number of town and village names gives a fair idea of the density of the population; though it is inevitable that some alterations of standard should take place in changing from a densely populated to a forest-clad or semidesert region. It would add greatly to the interest and geographical usefulness of both series if the sea-bed contours were given, and if the seas were provided with layer tints, as laid down for the International Map, The "Gamme officielle " provides for changes of the blue tint at 200, 500, 1000, 3000, and 5000 metres of depth below the surface. Perhaps this improvement might be considered for the next editions. However, these are minor matters. In the main we may say that the Geographical Section of the General Staff has laid geographers under a real obligation by the publication of these two admirable series, giving us clear, accurate, and reliable maps of two continents, based on the best and most recent available information and printed in a way which reflects much credit on that efficient branch of the public service. More than half of each series has now been issued, and we look forward to the speedy publication of the rest. C. F. CLOSE. |