"for maps are from the nature of them a very slight evidence, geographers often lay them down upon incorrect surveys, copying th
e mistakes of one another; and if the surveys be correct, the maps taken from them, tho' they may show the true position of a country, the situation of islands and towns, and the course of rivers, yet can never determine the limits of a territory, which depend entirely upon authentic proof; and the proofs in that case, upon which the maps should be founded to give them any weight, would be themselves a better evidence, and therefore ought, to be produced in a dispute of this nature, in which the rights of king doms are concerned." (memorial of the british commissaries, jan. 11, 1751, dispute concerning the limits of nova scotia or acadia, 1750-1751, quoted as document no. 1430, joint appendix, canada-newfoundland boundary dispute in the labrador peninsula, vol. viii, p. 3755; quoted also by mr. ward chipman in his supplemental argument in behalf of great britain, in the st. croix river arbitration, june 30, 1798, moore, international adjudications, ii, 27.)
