No. Xll. 



Papers 6n Various Subjects connected with the Survey of the 

 Coast of the United States. By F. R. Hassler. — Commu- 

 nicated Sd March, 1830. 



CIRCULAR LETTER. 



Treasury Department, 



25th March, 1807. 



Sir, 



The President of the United States being authorised 

 by an Act of the last Session to cause the whole of the 

 coast of the said States, together with the adjacent shoals and 

 soundings to be surveyed, it is his intention that the work 

 should be executed with as much correctness as can be ob- 

 tained within a reasonable time ; and he has directed me to 

 apply to you, requesting that you would have the goodness 

 to suggest the outlines of such a plan as may, in your opinion, 

 unite correctness and practicability. 



As each nautical survey of the shoals and soundings, pre- 

 supposes a knowledge of the position of certain points of 

 the coast, it seems to me that the work should consist of 

 three distinct parts, viz. : 



1. The ascertainment, by a series of astronomical obser- 

 vations, of the true position of a few remarkable points on 



