PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TITCO. 885
|ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
22 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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By 30th November enough points had been fixed to enable topography to be begun, and Sergeant Archer then started mapping the strip 0° 40' to 0° 50′ S., immediately north of the former work of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission.
Lance-Corporal Powell got back from Entebbe on 12th December, and on 30th December Sergeant Thomas, the non-commissioned officer sent to replace C. S M. Higman, reached Mombasa; and, travelling with commendable rapidity, arrived at Mbarara on the 18th January; so that by the 24th December we had our full available strength of three topographers at work on the map.
had in the meantime asked for a fourth topographer to be sent out, as it was evident that, as soon as the triangulation had got sufficiently ahead, there would be work for at least that number. Accordingly, Sapper Old reached Mbarara on the 17th March, and began mapping on the 21st. He was most unfortunately sent out without any of the instruments that had been demanded for him. Had it not been for the lucky chance that Mr. Haldane, the District Commissioner at Mbarara, possessed a clinometer, and kindly lent it to us, Sapper Old would have been able to do no topography at all until the receipt of his own instruments some three months later. As it was he carried on his work under some handicap, as the provision that it was possible to make for hin locally was not in all respects satisfactory.
Mapping was carried on successfully, and without hindrances other than those incidental to African work. In the southern strip, on which Sergeant Archer was employed, there was rough mountainous country, in which large features, of almost equal height, and often covered with dense bushi, made vision difficult. North-west of Mbarara Sergeant Thomas and Lance-Corporal Powell had work in a district that had many small features covered with thick scrub and sparsely inhabited. East and north-east of Mbarara the large, waterless, and thinly-inhabited district of Nsara made food supply and transport arrangements a matter for some thought. In this part streams are almost non-existent, and what water there is is obtained from holes. As the supply of filter-candles with the Survey party gave out, and there was some delay in their replacement, conditions were, for a time, rather unpleasant.
By the end of April, 1912, mapping had advanced so far north as to make it advisable to move our base from Mbarara, and early in May I made arrangements for the construction of a camp in the Kitagwenda District, in Toro, about mid-way between Mbarara and Fort Portal, and near the main road. Arrangements were made for the transport of stores and material there as required, and for the topo- graphers, on completion of the work they were then doing, to go to the new camp.
On the 27th May I received notice from the Chief Secretary that the Secretary of State had given orders that the cost of the Survey was not to exceed the amount then allotted (£3,238), and that when that sum had been spent the work was to stop, and the remainder to be left untouched. This decision was a great blow to the Survey party. I had been aware for some time that there would be difficulties in getting the full amount of money required, and had made every effort to obtain it. But I never seriously contemplated for a moment that this work that had been under- taken would not be carried through; nor that the small amount of money required to finish it would not be granted.
To the Survey party it appeared peculiarly unfortunate that the decision not to finish the work should have been arrived at at this time, because the party was in excellent organisation and training; the latest arrival (Sapper Old) had had his first experience, and was now in condition to put in his best work; the more difficult part of the country had been finished and the easier lay ahead; and everyone concerned was imbued with a keen desire to bring the work to a successful conclusion.
The orders, however, left no choice; and I therefore made arrangements for the topographers to work up to the last possible moment, which I estimated to be about the end of June, in the hope that they might be able to complete the Mbarara sheet. This, however, they were not able to do, in spite of hard work and excellent progress on the part of all; partly on account of illness and partly owing to the dense fog over the country.
Concentration at Mbarara was effected early in July, and the non-commissioned officers left Mombasa for England on 14th August; Captain Prittie and Mr. Marshall leaving Mbarara for England about the end of July.
The net result of the work of the Survey party was the mapping of 3,446 square miles of country, which nearly completes the Mbarara Sheet (ie., up to the Equator), the quality of the work being well up to the standard of previous topographical surveys in Uganda. Besides this, beaconing and trigonometrical work were carried to 10' north of the Equator.
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To complete the Survey of the Western Province there remains an area of 3,411 square miles to be mapped, of which 142 square miles lie south of the Equator.
II. TECHNICAL.
Scheme of Survey. The area to be surveyed lay between the 30th and 31st meridians of longitude, and extended from 0° 50′ south to 1° 0′ north, being nearly 2 square degrees, and amounting to 6,857 square miles. On the west was the country mapped by the Anglo-Congolese Boundary Commission under Colonel Bright; on the east and north that surveyed by the Topographical Survey of Uganda under Captain Macfie, Royal Engineers, and on the south the work of the Anglo-German Commis- sion. Along the area lay the chain of triangulation of the Survey of the 30th Meridian Arc, a geodetic survey carried out in 1908-9.
It was desirable, of course, to connect the present topographical work with that of previous surveys; and an obvious opportunity presented itself of basing the topo- graphical work on the Geodetic Are Survey and checking and controlling it by that survey throughout, In fact, it was a case in point of the practical use of scientific work; as, by utilising the geodetic work, the Topographical Survey would be saved the time and expense involved in the measurement of bases, and the observation of latitudes and azimuths.
The plan was, therefore, adopted of
(1) Laying out a main chain of triangles (using quadrilaterals when possible) from south to north, based on the Are Survey side, Kiara-Karamrani, and tied to the Are Survey points wherever possible by making the topo- graphical stations coincide with them.
(2) Carrying chains of triangles east and west, based on this main chain, and
tying on the previous topographical work.
(3) Filling the intervals between these chains with intersected (ie., unvisited)
points.
This plan was carried out as arranged. Owing to the smaller range of the 5-inch theodolites used, it took as a rule two topographical quadrilaterals to traverse the same range of latitude as was covered by one of the geodetic survey. Thus, start- ing from Kiara-Karamrani, a quadrilateral was observed with Kyangenyi and Oruvare as the two northern points. The range of hills north of this formed an obstacle difficult to get over with well proportioned triangles, so the chain was stepped off to the east, to the stations Rusozi and Nyamitsindo. Here two triangles (not a quadrilateral) had to be observed, the ray Rusozi-Karamrani being inter- rupted.*
From Oruvare and Rusozi a quadrilateral was carried north, with Singiro, an Arc station, as its north-west point; from this another was observed north to Muzizi and Bwengara. The next quadilateral would have included Kabuga, also an Arc station, as its north-west point; but orders to stop work were received just before this could be visited.
Had the Survey heen completed the main chain would have been carried on in the same way to Oruha (Arc station); and there is every probability that it would have been possible, by taking advantage of the clear weather, to have observed a triangle containing one Arc and one Survey side, and so obtained an exact check on the side lengths and azimuths of the topographical work. This would have made an interest- ing comparison between the geodetic and topographical surveys, besides forming a valuable control on the latter.
The secondary chains of triangles were also carried as arranged east and west, and at the end of each at least one station of the Western Province Survey was made to coincide with one of a former topographical survey. On the west, main stations of the Anglo-Congolese Boundary Cominission were available, but on the east the only points that were conveniently situated in the district traversed were the two inter- sected points, Kyanika and Dunoni. These were occupied and marked by the present survey, and will serve for a rough comparison. †
It was our intention also to tie our work similarly to the Uganda Survey (Mr. Allen's) triangulation, in the north of Toro.
A centre point quadrilateral could have been observed here, but having due regard to the nature
of the work on which we were engaged, and it being necessary at the time to get on, it was considered that the results obtained would not justify the time and expense involved in going back to erect a central beacon and observing again at the other stationë.
†These two points are shown in error on the Uganda Survey map as triangulation stations.