1 32 On Land Stn^'ct/s in the United Stales. 



of bargain and sale either with the crown, or with those who had 

 been regularly invested with a title. 



Speculations in this, as in most of the business concerns of life, 

 were entered into for the purpose of gain. Companies of individu- 

 als were formed to whom, for a trifling consideration, grants or letters 

 patent of large tracts in particular situations were issued, and these 

 were divided into smaller parcels, and retailed out at an advance upon 

 the original purchase. 



In this state of things is discovered the commencement of the 

 present system of land surveying as practiced in the United States. 

 The extreme cheapness of lands, called for the most economical and 

 expeditious mode of executing the surveys ; and their abundance 

 rendered the proprietors less scrupulous as to the accuracy with 

 which the measurements were effected. They consecpently availed 

 themselves of the most convenient means, viz. of the compass or 

 circumferentor for the measurement of angles, and the chain of 

 Gunter for the measurement of lines. The services of men proper- 

 ly skilled in the art of surveying were seldom to be obtained, and 

 reliance was necessarially placed upon many whose knowledge of 

 the subject was extremely imperfect. The instruments likewise 

 with which they were provided were often of an inferior kind, and 

 as tHe surveys were not generally made in conformity with any es- 

 tablished and properly arranged system, but according to the option 

 or to suit the wishes or interests of the individuals concerned, great 

 irregularity and much confusion and discrepancy were the conse- 

 quence. 



In process of time however, improvements were gradually intro- 

 duced into this department. These may be briefly stated to consist 

 in the increased facilities aflbrded for the acquisition of knowledge 

 upon the subject, by the publication of treatises of a more practical 

 and scientific character, and the introduction and use of improved 

 instruments, with a more enlarged and liberal view of the impor- 

 tance of adhering to a more regular and systematic mode of pro- 

 ceeding than had previously been adopted. 



The influence of the general spread of intelligence as evidenced 

 in the progress towards a higher degree of perfection in our civil 

 Institutions, and in the various branches of the sciences and the arts, 

 has not, it is to be regretted, been as conspicuous in this department 

 as in most others. It is not easy to account for this, for the subject 

 is certainly one of great intrinsic importance, and the demand for 



