VARIATION OF TUB COMPASS. 387 



been, it could have had no influence in directing the sur- 

 veys, in Jamaica, that preceded it by 30 or 40 years. 



The ascertaining of the true meridian, and, conse- ^hg „^rly sur- 

 quently, of the magnetical variation from it, requires more veyors were 

 scientifical, as well as practical, knowledge, than is often fiJe^^compa^JZ 

 to be met with even at this time ; but, 130 or 140 years 

 back, it was entirely confined to a very few individuals. 

 The magnetical needle was then the only guide and rule 

 to go by, both at sea and at land, and, generally, with* 

 out any reference being had to the true meridian. 



Had the first surveyors ascertained the quantity of va- ^^^^^ certain- 



riation, and allowed for it, in delineating their diagrams ly allowed no- 



that were annexed to the earliest patents in Jamaica, they thing for van- 



^ ' •' ation m their 



would have mentioned the same in such diagrams ; other- drafts. 



wise it could only tend to mislead, not to direct. The 

 same system of surveying would, and must, by law, have 

 been continued; for, (as was stated above, J the number 

 of grants has been annually increased; and the uninter- 

 rupted practice of surveying, which was always daily 

 increasing in proportion to the extending cultivation and 

 ,settlement of the island, could not admit of any change, 

 Avithout a new law having been made by the legislature for 

 that purpose; and then such a change must have been 

 recorded with the laws of the island, and with those that 



regulated the conduct of surveyors. No surveyor, nor 



1 ,,, , / X r u 1 If It had after- 



other person, could have been ignorant or such a change ^ards changed 



having taken place. Since "even the difference of one the legislature 



degree in running a line is very considerable; but that of jJ^^^K/*^^ °** 



six would have totally changed all property, deranged all 



boundaries, thrown w oodlands into plantations, and vice 



versa : and, consequently, would have been so palpable 



and injurious as to have demanded legislative interference 



and correction. But no such change has ever happened, 



nor has the most remote idea of it ever been entertained. 



On the contrary, the magnetical meridian, in all disputes 



at law about boundary lines, is, and always has been, the 



only criterion by which the surveyors^ the court, and 



the jury, di'cide. 



From the year 1700, when Dr. Hal ley's theory was ^^^ ^j^^ly field 



published, it is very easy to trace down the practice of books and do- 



ipurvcying in Jamaiqa, as well as ap to its commencement, ^^^g^^j^^^e 



Whea"^ 



