Land Ordinances, 1567, 1695 
177 
imposed by other rulers and leaving it in force and vigor, said punishment 
being the loss of any such lands, and putting it into effect against any 
persons who have not obeyed the said royal provisions, admonitions, and 
ordinances, which are as follows: 
The Measuring Yard. 
The ancient measuring yard is the same as that used by Solomon, which 
consists of five spans [ tercias ], which is not now used; it is to be noted 
that the measuring yard named here for measuring all kinds of land is 
the ordinary common yard, called the Castilian yard, which has four hand- 
breaths, and is that which is used by merchants. 
The Cordel. 
It should be noted that the cordel with which all kinds of land are to be 
measured must be fifty Castilian yards in length, and it must be drawn 
straight and as taut as possible. 
The Sitio de Ganado Mayor. 
A farm site for large cattle-raising [must measure] three thousand 
paces of the measure of Solomon; each pace contains five spans (it is 
understood that this dimension is from east to west) ; and from north to 
south it must also measure three thousand paces. From the centre to any 
of the four sides or edges, it must measure fifteen hundred paces of Solo¬ 
mon; reducing these measures to the common yard, the sitio measures 
five thousand yards from east to west, five thousand from north to 
south, and two thousand five hundred yards from the centre to any 
one of its four sides. 
If such a sitio de ganado mayor is reduced to caballerías, it contains 
forty-one of the latter, with 14,272 yards left over, which make a dwelling 
site of 119 and a scant one-third yards on each of the four sides. Such a 
sitio de ganado mayor, measured with a cordel fifty yards long, must 
measure one hundred cordeles or five thousand yards from east to west 
and the same distance from north to south, and from the centre to any 
one of the sides fifty cordeles, which make 2,500 yards; from the centre 
to any one of its corners it must measure seventy cordeles, which make 
3,500 yards. 
The Sitio de Ganado Menor. 
A farm site for small cattle-raising measures two thousand paces of 
Solomon (each five spans long) from east to west, and two thousand paces 
(also of five spans each) from north to south; from the centre to any one 
of its four sides, one thousand of the same paces of five spans’ length. 
Reduced to common Castilian yards, this sitio de ganado menor mea¬ 
sures from east to west 3,333^3 yards, and the same distance from north 
to south; from the centre to any one of its four sides 1,676^ yards. 
