It was in vain that I urged on him the well known fact that nothing encourages men in a long journey so much as knowing the exact distance they have travelled and what extent of country they have still left to traverse.

It was in vain that I assured him he would, from his inexperience in calculating distances in the bush, soon get confused in his reckoning; and that the men, finding out his error, would lose all trust and confidence in him, whence would spring want of discipline and disorders of various kinds; he knew that I much valued this chart and had apparently taken it into his head that I wished to disencumber myself of it and to entail the duty of carrying it on him.
He at length proposed to me to allow him to cut the chart up, in which case he said he would carry on the part he wanted and leave the rest.

I would not however part with so valuable a document, for it contained my route up to that point, and the public utility of the expedition mainly depended on the preservation of it.

He next requested me to make a copy of it for him; this I assured him under existing circumstances it was utterly impossible for me to do with sufficient accuracy to answer the intended purpose, and I therefore would not attempt it.

He then applied to Mr.Smith, who coincided in my opinion; but ever willing to oblige he made as accurate a copy as he could, which I in vain represented to Mr.
Walker he would find utterly useless.