The Great Arc (20 page)
Authors: John Keay
India: British xix, xx, 2, 21–3, 42–3, 82–4, 141–2, 169–70
map of xxiv–xxv
mapping of 14, 23, 28, 59
Indian Mutiny 135, 169–70
Irish Survey 102–3, 107, 135
isostasy 73
Java 10
Jervis, Thomas 147
Jhansi 98
Jinji 51
Jones, Sir William 39–40, 42, 46, 76
Jumna, river 43, 45, 98, 115, 116, 128, 140
K2 168–9
Kaliana 154–5
Kangchenjunga 162–4, 168
Karakoram xvii, 168–9
Karnataka 51, 55
Kashmir xvii, 168–9
Kater, Henry 58, 68, 69, 72
Kathmandu 35, 42, 115, 159
Kaveri delta 60, 61, 82
Kedarnath 115, 124
Keelan, Henry 134–5, 144
Kerala 66
Kirke, Lt Henry 144–5
Kistna river 1, 4–5, 6
Kistna-Godavari region 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9. 57, 78, 80, 84, 93, 96, 99
Kumaon 49, 116, 123–4, 159, 173
Kumbakonam 61
Kummerboo 67–8
Lambton, William xix–xx, 117, 122, 170
accuracy of 43–4, 49–50, 55, 56–7, 59, 64
ageing of 75, 77–8
appearance 19–20
arrival in India 19–20
birth of 18
death of 89–90, 93
domestic circumstances 32, 67–8, 78
fame of xx, 75, 85
fieldwork 30–4, 52–63, 72, 117, 129
grave of 16–18
Great Arc as brain-child of xix, xx, 9, 14, 18, 23–4, 27–8, 49
health of 58, 78–9
honours 76
military career 18–19, 22
personality 16, 19–20, 64–5, 66, 77–8
portrait of 78
relations with Everest 12, 75, 77
relations with staff 68–9, 85, 94
reports of 32, 66, 72, 73, 156, 173
scholarly monographs 20, 32
as Superintendent of Survey 3, 11, 16
withdrawal from Survey 77
Lambton, William junior 68
La Place, Pierre 76
Lapland 26
latitude 26–7, 28
Lawrence, Sir Henry 155
length, standards of 71–2
levelling 34–5
Lewis, Meriwether xix
Livingstone, David 171
Logan (Survey member) 144
longitude 9, 71, 155
longitudinal triangulations 58–9, 82, 84, 159–60
Louis XVI, King 22
Lucknow 45
Macartney mission to China 37
Mackenzie, Col. Colin 23–5, 27, 28, 43, 55–6, 170
Madras 20–1, 23, 32, 42, 52, 53, 67, 74, 117
base-line 28, 30, 33–5
Observatory 68, 70–1
Makalu 165
Malabar coast 23, 58, 59
malaria 6, 13–14, 45, 57–8, 80, 95, 105, 146, 159
Mangalore 58
map-making 14, 23, 28, 82–3, 142
map corrections 59, 70
Marathas 42, 83, 84
Marina Beach 33
Markham, Sir Clements 156, 159, 173
Masherbrum 168
Maskelyne, Sir Nevil 65
masts 132–3
Mathura (Muttra) 128, 129
Mauritius 31
measuring chains 29–31, 71–2, 103, 151, 153
measuring rods 30, 122–3
see also
compensation bars
meridians 9, 14, 15, 28, 117
Metcalfe, Sir Charles 89
monsoon 4, 70, 88–9, 97
Mont Blanc 39, 49
Montgomerie, Capt. T.G. 168–9
Moon, Sir Penderel 66
Morton, Dr 90
Mulheran, Owen 153
Mullapunnaletta 55
Musi river 4
Mussoorie 109, 111–12, 116, 127
Muzaffarapur 164
Mysore 42, 74
Mysore Survey 5, 23–4, 27, 28, 43, 55–6, 129
Mysore Wars 19, 20, 22–3, 27, 42–3
Nagpur 17, 74, 90, 92–3, 94, 95–6
Nanda Devi 125–6, 162, 163, 164
Napoleonic wars 10, 67, 76
Narmada river 97, 98
Narnicul 52
Nepal 35, 41–2, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 116, 125, 159, 169
New Brunswick 18–19, 23, 24
Newton, Sir Isaac 71
Nicholson, James 165
night surveying 87–9, 97, 105
North-East Longitudinal series 160–2, 165
‘Observations on the Theory of Walls’ (Lambton) 20
Olliver, Joseph: career with Survey 69, 136–7
commands Calcutta series 104–6, 109, 136, 159, 160
fieldwork 11–12, 14, 99, 127–8, 144
relations with Everest 69, 99–100, 104, 137, 150, 156
relations with Lambton 68–9, 85
‘On the Height of India’s Mountains’ (Humboldt) 124, 173
‘On the Height of the Himalaya Mountains’ (Colebrooke) 46–7, 173
Ordnance Survey 24, 30, 102, 103
Pakistan 156, 168
Panch Pandol 4, 10–11, 12
Peyton, John 144, 165
Phillimore, Reginald 165–6, 173
Pilibhit 45, 47
Pindari wars 83
Pir Ghalib, shrine of 135
Playfair, John 57, 75, 174
plumb lines 28, 72–3, 88, 121, 138
Polo, Marco 38
Pondicherry 21, 65, 67–8
Poona (Pune) 84
Prinsep, James 107–8, 174
Ptolemy 38
Purnia 41, 48
Quarterly Review
47–9, 114–15, 124, 173
Rajarajeshwara temple 61–2
Ramnagar 147, 148
Ranipur 98
Rapti river 44
ray-tracing 129–30
refraction 33–4, 37, 46, 48, 59, 86–7, 88, 118, 147
Rennel, Major James 38–9, 40
Renny-Tailyour, Thomas 135, 144
Ridge, The Delhi 135–6
Ross, Dr Ronald 6
Rossenrode, William: career with Survey 69, 99
fieldwork 104, 105, 109, 127–8, 144, 147–8
relations with Everest 69, 93, 100–1, 128, 135–6, 150, 156
relations with Lambton 69, 85
Rossenrode, William junior 164
route surveys 43
Roy, William 24, 26, 30, 61, 75, 122
Royal Astronomical Society 102
Royal Geographical Society 47, 156, 167
Royal Institution 172
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich 9
Royal Military Calendar
19
Royal Society 76, 102
Russia 154, 157
Saharanpur 117, 120–1, 123, 127
St Thomas’s Mount 30, 33
Sanchi (Vidisha) 98
Sarangapalle 5, 6, 10
Savendroog 55
scorpions 98–9
Sebastian, K.J. 16–17
Shah Jehan 131
Sholapur 86
Sickdhar, Radhanath 144, 165–6
Sikander Jah, Nizam of Hyderabad 2
Sikkim 159
Sironj 97, 104, 127, 130, 147, 153, 159
base-line 98, 99, 101, 123, 144, 150–2
observatory 154–5
Siwalik hills 116, 127, 128, 137–8, 140, 143, 147
Sleeman, Col. William 148–9
Sonakhoda 162
spherical excess 25, 27, 56, 76
Sravana Belgola 55, 56
Srirangapatnam 22, 53
Surkananda 120, 123
Survey of India xvii–xix, 14, 102, 141–2, 174
see also
Great Trigonometrical Survey
Tagore, Rabindranath 131
Taj Mahal 81, 131
Tamil Nadu 31, 51, 60, 61
Tanjore (Thanjavur) 60, 61, 66
Tapti river 97
temples 61–2
Tenerife peak 39
terai
45, 159–60
theodolites 29–30, 58, 118, 133
see also
Great Theodolite
thermometers 31, 119–20
Thuillier, Captain H.E.L. 166–7, 168
Tibet 38, 40, 46, 115, 116, 154
tigers 11, 44, 93, 98, 105, 137
Tipu Sultan 22, 42
Tirunelveli 60, 70
topographical surveys 23, 55, 83, 158
towers 106–7, 138–9, 144, 147, 156, 159
Travancore, Raja of 66
triangulation 7–9, 10, 86
and curvature of earth 25–6
height calculations 24–5, 33
secondary 8–9
Trichy (Tiruchirapalli) 51, 63
Uttar Pradesh 43
Vigne, Godfrey Thomas 114, 173
Vijayawada 4
Voysey, Dr Henry: death 14, 93
fever 12–14, 93
fieldwork 5, 11–12, 89, 98
joins Survey 73–4, 75
resignation 93, 97
Warren, John 20, 55, 67, 68, 69, 70, 76
Waugh, Andrew Scott: on Garhwal/Kumaon surveys 124
and Himalayan peaks 162–7
as assistant to Everest 135, 144, 146, 151, 152, 154
Mount Everest named by 166–8, 169, 172
personality 163
as Surveyor-General 124, 160
Webb, William 128, 166
assistant to Colebrook 45, 46
and Himalayan peaks 46–7, 48, 49, 115, 117–18, 119–20, 124–5, 163
Garhwal-Kumaon survey 116, 123, 124, 173
Wellesley, Arthur, Duke of Wellington 19–20, 22–4, 28, 42, 76, 102
Wellesley, Richard, Earl/Marquess of Mornington 19, 28, 42, 67, 102
Western Ghats 57, 58
Wing, Emma 171
Yellapuram 12, 13, 14, 78
THE GREAT ARC
J
OHN
K
EAY
is the author of four acclaimed histories:
The Honourable Company
, about the East India Company;
Last Post
, about imperial disengagement in the Far East; the two-volume
Explorers of the Western Himalayas
; and
India: A History.
His other books on India include
India Discovered
and
Into India.
John Keay is married with four children, lives in Scotland and is co-editor with Julia Keay of the
Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland.
From the reviews of
The Great Arc
:
‘[A] jewel of a book. The tale is brilliantly told, often very funny and at times very moving … a wonderful book by one of our best writers about India past and present’
ROBERT FOX
,
The Oldie
‘Wonderfully rich … With boisterous erudition and a dry, sophisticated wit, John Keay confirms his pre-eminence as an analyst of the sub-continent in a delightfully detailed work’
ANDREW MACKENZIE
,
Scotland on Sunday
‘Enthralling’
Sunday Times
‘If the science of the survey is made accessible and comprehensible (never have logarithms been so fascinating), the human element of the story is enough to make anyone’s jaw drop … This wonderful book – surely Keay’s most compelling, and one of the most remarkable works of non-fiction to be published this year – is a fitting monument not just to [George] Everest, but also to the Great Arc itself.
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE
,
Sunday Times
‘Keay has trod the same ground as Everest and his colleagues, and it shows: the book is peopled with swaggering, explosive characters, set against a background of telling detail, but it is his own observations that have the breath of life. Call it a mathematics handbook, a study in geography, or a travel book: it is a triumph’
ANDREW TAYLOR
,
Literary Review
‘More extraordinary than any fiction … an achievement worthy of the enormous undertaking it so lucidly describes’
CHARLOTTE CORY
,
Mail on Sunday
‘A wonderful and fascinating book whose author is a master not only of storytelling but of the arcane technicalities of trigonometry and practical map-making’
LAWRENCE JAMES
,
The Times
‘An enthralling narrative’
MICHAEL EMERY
,
Birmingham Post
‘The Great Arc
displays all of Keay’s many qualities as a researcher, traveller and writer – particularly his pleasure in depicting eccentricity’
ANDREW ROBINSON
,
Times Higher Educational Supplement
‘A well-researched and beautifully written book which compels the reader to race through its pages … should be compulsory reading on every Geomatics course’
DAVID J. POWELL
,
Surveying World