s another cause which tended in a great degree to augment the
expenses of this division in proportion to the progress of the work,
which it was not within the power of human agency to control, and which
we should not omit to mention here.

The severe drought which prevailed throughout this region of country
during the month of August and the greater part of September caused the
fires which are annually set to the fallen timber upon newly cleared
lands to spread far and wide into the growing forest, and so rapid was
its progress and so serious its ravages as to compel the inhabitants
in many cases to fly for the preservation of life. Some check was
experienced in the duties along the meridian line from the flames that
actually embraced it, but a far more serious one from the dense smoke
which filled the atmosphere almost incessantly for six weeks, and so
obstructed the view as to render it impossible to fix the stations in
advance with the requisite precision.

While the party charged with the astronomical operations was thus
deprived of the opportunity of making scarcely any progress for six
weeks, the expense of maintaining it could not in any way be diminished,
because there was a daily hope that such a change in the weather might
occur as would have removed this difficulty.

In order to make amends as far as practicable for so much time
unavoidably lost, this division continued to prosecute its field duties
north of the forty-seventh degree of latitude until several weeks after
the severities of winter had commenced, with no other protection than
their tents, the commissioner in charge of it believing that the
expectations of the Government and of the country generally would but be
fulfilled by the investigations in relation to this important line being
pushed to the utmost attainable point. But for this it would have been
impossible to have reached the St. John River the late season.

There remains to be surveyed along this meridian line, in order to reach
the northwest angle of Nova Scotia as claimed by the United States,
about 64 miles, to accomplish which will require another season of
active field duty.

2. In the estimate for the work of the divisions of A. Talcott and J.
Renwick it was assumed that the length of the boundary remaining on the
line claimed by the United States was 320 miles, and upon the lines
claimed by Great Britain 170 miles.

Of the latter, about one-half was undertaken by Major Graham