40 FOREST COMMISSIONERS REPORT. 



settled by mutual compromise, under a resolution of Massa- 

 chusetts, passed in 1811 ; the Commonwealth agreeing, in order 

 to relieve and quiet actual settlers, to indemnify the claimants, 

 in certain specified cases, by grants of an equivalent in other 

 unoccupied lands. 



The amount of the lands of which the titles, derived from the 

 foregoing grants and patents, have been holden to be good, or 

 which have been established to the possessor, appears from the 

 inventory of 1820, to be about 1,758,545 acres, including how- 

 ever some small parcels, derived from Indian deeds, of lands 

 bordering on and intermixed with some of them ; and including 

 also some part of the part of the larger parcels under Indian 

 deeds between the Kennebeck and Pemaquid, and south of the 

 Plymouth patent. It is known however, that of the inventories 

 returned by the several towns in 1820, many were deficient; 

 and a computation of the amount of this deficiency, in each 

 county, is given in the recapitulation of table I of this chapter. 

 The proportion of this computed deficiency, which belongs to 

 the towns included under the grants before mentioned, cannot 

 be accurately ascertained ; but is supposed to be rather over 

 179,000 acres; which, added to the quantity actually returned, 

 makes about 1,965,000 acres, to which neither the sale to Massa- 

 chusetts by Gorges, nor the charter of William and Mary, ever 

 actually gave the right of soil, but only the jurisdiction. 



Besides this, there were other tracts, the right to the soil of 

 which had passed away, and therefore need not be here noticed. 



RETROSPECT OE HISTORY. 



From a retrospect of the history of that period, it will appear 

 that, antecedent to the establishment of the title of Massachu- 

 setts by the charter of William and Mary, that colony had found 

 it expedient to encourage the purchase of lands, from the 

 Indians, at least so far as to allow of some degree of validity 

 to their deeds, especially when accompanied with actual pos- 

 session and continued occupancy. 



The Indian d'eeds which have been allowed to be valid, and 

 under which lands are still holden, are stated by Governor Sulli- 

 van, whose professional researches gave him the most extensive 

 means of ascertaining correctly, to be the following. 



