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This map charts the journey of Holt S. Hallett as he searched for a suitable route for a railway to transport British goods from Burma to Thailand and China. He wrote the book ‘A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States’ about his expedition.

A map of Siam (Thailand) and parts of Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Laos, focusing on the river networks, and the mountain ranges which are represented by hachures: short lines/dashes that give a sense of the shape and steepness of terrain.

A map to aid in the navigation of the rivers leading to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). Details include bathymetry (water depth), currents, and a side view (or ‘elevation’) of hills to use as a landmark. Tides are described in written remarks.

Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula feature on this map of the Indian Ocean. Enganno Island, west of southern Sumatra, has a label that translates as ‘inhabited by very pernicious savages’. An inset map depicts the Madura Strait between Java and Madura.

Map of the Siamese city of Ayutthaya (‘Iudiad’) represented pictorially, surrounded by rivers and with a grid-like layout of roads, rivers and buildings. The city existed from 1350 until 1767 when it was destroyed by an invading Burmese force.