138 FOREST COMMISSIONER'S REPORT. 



front and between the east and west bounds of the same. This 

 seems to have been the construction given by the purchasers of 

 this property as shown by their conveyances. 



The exact hmits of this grant are difficult to ascertain. Its 

 construction was before the Maine court in Roberts vs. Richards, 

 reported Vol. 84, Me., page i, in which it was held that Round 

 Porcupine was not within the limits of this grant, but was to the 

 east thereof. The court based its decision largely on the contem- 

 poraneous and subsequent acts of the parties to the grant, saying, 

 'Tt is idle to undertake to ascertain v/hat islands lay on the fore 

 part of said two front leagues two centuries ago, by making it 

 depend upon the precise curvature of the banks of the river 

 where it now empties into the sea." 



From the report of Commissioner Thompson, and the specifi- 

 cation of islands in the deed by Gregoire, it is certain that Bart- 

 lett's Island on the west lies in front of this grant, and the above 

 decision locates Round Porcupine outside its eastern limits. 



Accordingly, of islands and ledges within these known limits 

 not conveyed — Maine has conveyed a few islands within these 

 Hmits such as Black, N. W. of Bartletts ; Folly, between Bartlett 

 and Mt. Desert ; The Twinies east of Thomas Island — I have 

 made an entry on my index cards of "Within the Gregoire 

 Grant." Some twenty-three islands and ledges are included. 

 These, including Mt. Desert and others mentioned in the 

 Gregoire Grant, do not appear in the index at the Land Office 

 of Islands Granted as ever having been conveyed. 



Waldo Patent. 



A very full description of this grant is to be found in William- 

 son's History of Belfast, where a chapter is devoted to it. The 

 author says : 



"Before surrendering their charter, the Plymouth Council 

 made several grants of land within the State of Maine which, 

 through all subsequent revolutions of government, have been 

 generally respected and upheld. One of these subordinate grants 

 was the Muscongus Patent, called from the river of that name." 



In 1629 the Council of Plymouth granted to John Beauchamp 

 and Thomas Leverett a tract 30 miles square on the west side of 

 Penobscot Bay extending from the Penobscot River to the Mus- 

 congus — now Medomac — River. Williamson says of its limits : 



