IN the March number of the Journal Professor Tanaka Kitiro, of the Imperial Kyushu University, described an original, ingenious, and interest? ing method of hill shading. I use the word natural here, in the sense that he does, to differentiate imitations of nature from pure convention. First of all let me add to what the Editor of the Journal has already said about the way in which the light falls upon Professor Kitiro's example. In his mathematical analysis, as in his illustration, Professor Kitiro thinks of the sun as the important factor in determining the direction of light. The sun does not shine through the second button of the user's waistcoat. What gives the impression to the map user is a light which falls upon the map from the direction opposite to himself. As most maps are oriented towards the north it is from the north (or, on a table, from the north-west) that the light falls, and it is this light which should be the guiding factor in placing the shadow. The method is one of inclined contours which can be drawn with precision and require from the draughtsman neither imagination nor aesthetic sense. It illustrates steepness of slope, which is exactly what hill shaders have always been at. Like them, Professor Kitiro gives no precise data, nor does he add to his impression of slope one of the relative importance, or mass, of his mountain features. Whilst then the method is ingenious, it does not absolve us from the necessity of adding something which will give the precise as well as the impressionistic effect, nor does it make it less important to emphasize relative height and size. To bring the matter down to a strict parallel with our new i-inch sheets, his method would do away with the hachure plate and with the shadow plate, but would not affect the contours or the layers. Now let us study those instructive illustrations opposite p. 213 of the March number. Does Fujisan show us its real importance ? To those who have seen it, and who are drawing upon old memories, perhaps. To the rest, I think not. The very simplicity and regularity of its shape defeat the treatment. The smaller, more irregular features around assume undue importance. Has the inclined contour done more than hachuring plus shadow would have ? I do not think so. The relative size and importance of features suffer from the effect of lines all over the map. I give illustrations of the country round Perth. There is a charming diversity about the Perth countryside for a cartographer's purpose. It has town and hills, water, wood, and communications. It has served as a background for more than one cartographic experiment. Now I admit that in this experiment we have not followed Professor Kitiro's instructions to the letter. Our parallel construction lines (drawn from north-east to south-west?so as to put the source of light north-west) were 40 to the inch because we had such a plate available. The ideal number according to Professor Kitiro is 53, when working on a 2-inch scale and 50 feet contour interval. With the data which we found it convenient to employ for test purposes our sun's altitude becomes 52? 51' instead of the 45 ? recommended. The general effect can be seen well