Turning a map into grayscale might work IF:
1 You resize it so that it has the correct resolution
2 You paint all water in the correct red color (255, 0, 0)
3 You ensure that every land pixel in province.bmp corresponds to a grayscale pixel in the topology map AND that every water pixel in province.bmp corresponds to a red pixel in topology.bmp.
Also remember that the brighter the dot the higher the elevation. Pure black is actually below the waterline.