42 FOREST COMMISSIONER S REPORT. 



SO that the inhabitants under them could feel assured that they 

 were not liable to be disturbed in the enjoyment of their posses- 

 sions, by new claims continually arising, after they had once 

 supposed all to be. settled. 



The whole territory covered by these Indian grants, so far as 

 they have been adjudged valid, and constitute the basis of the 

 titles under which the ])resent possessors hold their lands, 

 appears by the inventory of 1820, to contain about 491,000 acres. 

 This inventory, however, falls below the true quantity, which, 

 from such data as could be obtained, is supposed to be not far 

 from 540,000 acres, including however some smaller parcels 

 intermixed with them, as before mentioned. 



It will be seen from the foregoing sketch of the grants from 

 the crown, and Council of Plymouth, and the claims under 

 Indian deeds, that, out of the territory purchased of Gorges, 

 by Massachusetts, in 1674, and the additional territory included 

 in the charter of William and Mary, in 1691, about 2,500,000 

 acres were covered by previous grants, the titles under a part 

 of which were then admitted, and the remainder have been since 

 adjudged to be good ; and which, of course, never passed into 

 the hands of the colony, as proprietors of the soil. These lands, 

 with but trifling exceptions, occupy the whole of the present 

 county of York, all the sea-coast of Cumberland, the whole of 

 Lincoln and Waldo, the greatest part of Kennebeck, and 

 upwards of 200,000 acres in Somerset, embracing the whole of 

 that part of the country which was settled prior to the war of 

 1756, and much the largest part of that which was settled before 

 the revolution. The province therefore derived no benefit 

 whatever from any sales of the lands for nearly 100 years from 

 the first purchase, and very little for many years afterwards. 



Besides grants and Indian deeds before mentioned, wjiich 

 have been acknowledged to be valid, as conveying the titles to 

 the soil of so large a portion of the State, there were several 

 made under the authority of the crown of France, in the eastern 

 ])art of the State, while it remained in her possession. The 

 records of these however were all removed at the final evacua- 

 tion of the country by the French, and no claim has since been 

 made to any title under them, except in one instance. After 

 the revolution, while the grateful feelings of the American peo- 



