ABSTRACT
Having completed the construction of the itinerary,
it remained to subject all these lines of route to the in-
variable data of which geography is already possessed.
I first sought among these data for points common to
M. Caillié's march: they are unfortunately very few in
number. How then could I flatter myself, whatever trou-
ble I might take, with whatever care I might combine
all the data, hazarding nothing without some authority
to support it, that I should produce any thing beyond a
mere essay ? If it should be hereafter confirmed by the
observations of travellers furnished with astronomical in-
struments, the only merits of this work will consist in
fortunate combinations ; if it should be falsified by future
discoveries, still it will have called for the criticism of
geographers, and will consequently not have been useless
to science. In submitting to the reader results differing
from those hitherto admitted, I wish to warn him against
an error, too common, especially in map-making, that
of giving the preference to the more recent publications,
and to place confidence in them in proportion as they
are so. I am far from desirous of usurping this species
of interest, to the prejudice of geographical works in
general estimation.