or 
leader. The follower stands at the starting stake, 
and places his end of the chain in contact with 
it. or rather holds it in his hand over it, while 
the leader proceeds with the other end of the 
chain in the desired direction, until it becomes 
nearly stretched or extended, when the follower 
gives the word halt, and the leader stops. The 
chain is now lifted from the ground and stretched, 
when the follower places its end carefully to his 
-mark; and having observed that the chain is in 
the right direction, and not deflected by bushes 
or other obstacles, he gives the word down, and 
the leader places the chain upon the ground, 
keeping it tightly stretched. The follower hav- 
| ing observed that all is right, calls out mark, 
_ when the leader sticks one of his arrows into the 
_ ground close to his end of the chain, and the first 
chain is completed. The bearers then both pro- 
| ceed onwards, and at this time the chain should 
_ be shightly strained, so as to take off its bearing 
_ against the ground, otherwise it will be liable to 
_ get entangled with weeds, or to wear out, at any 
CHAIN. 
rate to become elongated. The follower must 
_ look at some mark to guide the proper direction 
_of the measurement, and will accordingly order 
_ his leader to the right or left to preserve that 
- jine. 
He must likewise take care to so direct 
the movements of his leader, that the chain in 
its progress may not rub against the arrow that 
has been left in the ground; for if that gets 
knocked down or displaced, the operation must 
commence again. Having proceeded in this man- 
' ner until the follower arrives at the arrow that 
was left, he again halts his leader, adjusts the 
chain, and orders a second mark to be made; and 
that done, he takes up the first arrow and re- 
tains it, and so of others in succession, until the 
whole 10 arrows of the leader are exhausted and 
have come into his possession. The chain re- 
| maining stretched on the ground, the leader now 
comes back to the follower to take up the arrows 
he has picked up, and the follower registers this 
operation by an entry in his book, or what is 
more common in the measurement of long lines, 
by making a knot in a string that he has previ- 
ously attached to his button-hole for that pur- 
pose, each knot standing for 10 chains. In this 
way errors seldom arise; but some surveyors, to 
guard against them, and insure the certainty of 
not having an entire line to measure over again 
from mistakes, use the precaution of driving a 
permanent peg or stake at every 10 or 20 chains, 
or other stated regular distances. 
Simple as the common measuring chain may 
appear to be, it is nevertheless a beautiful con- 
trivance of the celdébrated mathematician, Ed- 
mund Gunter, who lived in London in the 17th 
century, and is most admirably suited to the pur- 
poses for which it is intended. It is 22 yards, or 
66 feet, long, and is divided into 100 equal links, 
so that links are decimal fractions of a chain. 
The acre contains 4,840 square yards, and the 
chain being 22 yards long, if its length be squared, 
it produces 484 square yards, or the tenth of an 
acre ; consequently 10 square chains are an acre, 
and as each chain contains 100 links, so an acre 
will always be equal to 100,000 square links. In 
setting down or recording measurements taken 
with the chain, the number of links are placed 
as decimals after the number of chains, so that a 
piece of land containing 16,543 square chains and 
75 links would be set down as 16543°75, and on 
taking away the decimal point, the ntmnber would 
be altered to 1,654,375, which would express the 
total number of square links contained in the 
land. But if the measure of a piece of land 
taken in square links is divided by 100,000, or 
the number of links in an acre, or, which is the 
same thing, if the 5 right hand numbers are 
pointed off as decimals, (which is the same as 
dividing by 100,000,) the figures will at once ex- 
press the acres and fractions without further cal- 
culation. Thus cutting off the five decimals gives 
16°54375, or 16 acres, and the decimal °54375. 
The acre consists of 4 roods, therefore if this 
decimal be multiplied by 4, it will become 217,500 
links; and now, if 5 slashes be again pointed 
off, it shows that the fraction is worth 2 roods 
and °17500; and again multiplying this fraction 
by 40, the number of perches in a rood, we shall 
obtain 300,000, and now pointing off 5 dediiaails, 
leaves 3 perches without a fraction, and shows 
that such a piece of land would contain exactly 
16 acres, 2 roods and 3 perches. This example 
shows at once the process that must be resorted 
to for converting quantities taken in chains and 
links into acres, roods and perches, while the re- 
mainder, if any, will be square links. 
In using the chain, it must be borne in mind 
that the handles at its two ends count into its 
length ; and for the facility of counting the links 
small brass indices are attached at certain points 
among the links. Thus the 10th link from each 
end has a single point or brass finger attached 
to it; 20 links from each end has an index with 
2 points ; 30 links one with 3; 40 links one with 
4; and 50 links, or the aaglilills of the chain pon 
aad end, is marked by a small round brass-plate ; 
so that by looking for these marks the distance 
from either end is given upon inspection, and a 
portion only of the next 10 links has to pe 
counted. Many persons, for the sake of having | 
a light chain to carry, purchase those that are 
‘made of thin wire; but they can never be ee | 
pended upon, because the strength of the wire 
should be such as to permit the chain to be. 
stretched without any fear of any of the links - | 
opening or expanding, an inconvenience to which | 
even the strongest chains are liable. No chain 
should, therefore, be used many days in succes- | 
sion spine an examination ; and this is one use 
of the offset staves, which are 6 feet 7:2 long, and 
are divided into 10 equal parts of the same length 
as links; and the surveyor should have a small | 
hammer for beating or closing up the links and | 
thus adjusting his chain, for upon its accuracy 
