at one view how great a prejudice to the settlement of the

Prov ce the present uncertain tenure must

occasion, for several other persons who have obtained His Maj*y s sign manual for large Tracts are

desirous of taking them up on the sides of Lake Champlain, and have already gone so far, as to make actual surveys of the Lands, but are now discouraged from proceeding farther, lest after a great expense incurred they might be turned out of possession.

I was in

hopes that I should have been able

to have sent over to your Lordpp 8 by this opportunity an actual survey of the Lake taken by a skill ful

hand, in which all the French claims were to be distinguished, with the number of acres which

each of them contained, and likewise the grants made to the Officers and Soldiers, under the great seal of this Prov ce in consequence of His Maj'y s Proclamation which would have showed at one view

how far they interfere with each other.

The Deputy Surveyor of Canada, who attended me the

whole time I was employed in fixing the line of division between the Provinces, promised to furnish me with an exact draught of all the Seigneuries on the Lake, time enough to transmit to your Lordpp s

by the Packet, but I have not heard from him since my return hither. ]Vol. l.J

As this is a matter of very

FRENCH SEIGNIORIES ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

great importance to a considerable