A superb description of maps, by Beryl Markham, one of the 20th century’s most intrepid travellers and pilots.Â
A map in the hands of a pilot is a testimony of man’s faith in other men; it is a symbol of confidence and trust. Â It is not like a printed page that bears mere words, ambiguous and artful, and whose most believing reader – even whose author, perhaps – must allow in his mind a recess for doubt.
A map says to you, ‘Read me carefully, follow me closely, doubt me not.’Â It says, ‘I am the earth in the palm of your hand. Â Without me, you are alone and lost.’
The earth in the palm of your hand, how about that?
Source: Beryl Markham, West with the Night (London: Virago Press, 2015), p. 254
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