someone had snapped a picture of a topographical survey map that had large black dots on it that ran in an irregular line along the top and left hand side ; if i hadnt seen a national geographic illustrated map of china just before i accepted the beida appointment i never would have recognized what part of the world i was looking at , and if i hadnt taken the long way back from the roundup with ma i wouldnt have had the slightest inkling about what the dots represented .