Not to rest merely on instances drawn from the language of those of English birth who first settled or traded on the coast of the present United States, there are in the immediate vicinity of the region in question a range of eminences the highest of which is no more than 1,206 feet above the level of the sea.  These, on the authority of a distinguished officer of Her Britannic Majesty’s navy,[37] are named the “highlands of Bic,” and have long been thus known by all the navigators of the St. Lawrence who use the English tongue.

[Footnote 37:  Captain Byfield.]

To sum up the results of the field operations of the commissioners: 

(1) The meridian has been traced by astronomic observations from the monument, established by the consent of both nations in 1798, at the source of the St. Croix to a point 4 miles beyond the left bank of the St. John in the neighborhood of the Grand Falls.  In the course of this not only has no highland dividing waters which run into the St. Lawrence from those which run into the Atlantic been reached, but no common source or reservoir of two streams running in opposite directions.[38] No place has, therefore, been found which by any construction proposed or attempted to be put on the words of the treaty of 1783 can be considered as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia.  This point must, in consequence, lie in the further prolongation of the meridian line to the north.

[Footnote 38:  The levelings carried along this meridian line by means of spirit levels, alluded to in the note at bottom of page 121, passed Mars Hill at a depression of 12 feet below the level of the base of the monument which stands (except at seasons of extreme drought) in the water at the source of the St. Croix.]

(2) The streams whose title to the name of the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River is in dispute have been explored, and the line of the highlands has been traced from their sources to the point at which the lines respectively claimed by the two nations diverge from each other.

(3) The line claimed by Messrs. Featherstonhaugh and Mudge, on the part of Great Britain, has been in a great measure explored.

(4) The line of highlands claimed by the United States has, with some small exceptions, been thoroughly examined, and its prolongation as far as the north shore of the Bay of Chaleurs reconnoitered.  The parts of the line which have not been actually reached have been seen from a distance, and streams flowing from them crossed and leveled.  From the former indication it is probable that the average height of those parts exceeds that of the neighboring parts of the line.  From the heights of the streams it is certain that the lowest gaps in the unexplored portion of the line can not be less elevated than 1,000 feet above the level of the sea.