The Survey of India 1

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IT has been well said that “l'exacte connaissance topographique qui est un facteur de l'avancement des sciences et de leurs applications pratiques, est aussi un élément constitutif du progrès national.”2 India is a country which, ever since the establishment of British dominion in the east, has been prolific of surveys of very various degrees of exactitude, ascending from the rough and rude reconnaissances which were needed for the speedy acquisition of some knowledge of the general geography, to, first, a fairly close representation of all topographical features, and, finally, to an exact delineation of the boundaries of all properties—of private individuals as well as of the State—in the richer and more densely populated portions of the British districts. Commencing at the coast lines, with the primary object of furnishing charts for the guidance of navigators, with a view to the rapidly-increasing traffic between India and Europe, they were extended inland, here and there, as different parts of the country became subject to British influence. Astronomical determinations of the latitude and longitude were employed in the first instance as a general basis for the geography, but not proving satisfactory, they were abandoned at the commencement of the present century, when the Great Trigonometrical Survey was originated, which has been of such value for geodesy, as well as geography. The survey work may be broadly classified as non graphical and graphical, the former trigonometrical and geodetic, the latter delineative of the configuration of the ground and of whatever has been raised on its surface.