236 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
on the East Side of which, whichever it is, I would have my friends placed. Since I 
have consulted Champlain, I find they may safely go as far as the River Deck- 
wessit ; I must therefore alter the Terms of the proposed boundaries, which I 
will do in a separate paper. This is, that if it is necessary to make an imme- 
diate grant & a survey it may be [done, but] if you should think it proper to 
make [an order] in Council that the Surveyor General shall [reserve] those 
Townships on the East Side of [the river] St. Croix, & suspend the Execution 
[of this] order, till it is determined which [river is the] St. Croix, I should like 
it as well. And this probably will not lose much time: as I with my next 
packet send home the [map] of the Bay with my observations [upon it]* I 
shall at the same time communicate to the grantees my thoughts upon this 
subject ; and it is probable that about the end of July next, I shall have cer- 
tain advices which may remove my doubts. In the meantime, if it is necessary 
for your Survr to proceed to a Survey he may regard the enclosed paper. I 
am with great truth & regard, Sr. your most obedt. humble Serv. 
FRA. BERNARD. 
His Excellency Gov Wilmot. 
The “enclosed paper” gives detailed instructions for laying out 
80,000 acres between the Digdeguash and the Magaguadavic. 
This letter of Governor Bernard’s is of great interest for several 
reasons, and of no small importance to our ‘present subject. It shows 
that its author used, (and apparently was the very first to use) the only 
true method of determining the position of the St. Croix, its identifica- 
tion through the works of Champlain. But with Champlain’s work 
before him and the comparatively accurate map of Mitchel, it seems 
at first sight surprising that he did not determine the position of the 
St. Croix correctly, but made the mistake of identifying it with the 
Digdeguash. This, however, is the less remarkable when we note that 
he used the 1632 edition, in which not only is the map of the St. Croix 
very crude, but in which the map of St. Croix island and surroundings, 
(which permitted the identification of the St. Croix by the commission 
in 1798) does not occur. From the description alone his mistake was 
not unnatural, the more especially in view of the great weight he gives 
in his argument to the way the rivers are laid down upon the maps of 
the time, which were so erroneous as to mislead him utterly. It is not 
easy for us, with our superior knowledge, to understand the blindness 
of those who have no accurate knowledge of a country and must depend 
upon such maps as they have. This letter settles for us the authorship 
of the remarks upon Mitchel’s map given herewith (Map No. 17) and 
they show that Governor Bernard’s interest in finding the St. Croix 
was not so much official as personal. 

? No doubt the very map in the Public Record Office here reproduced 
(map No. 17). 
