12. SETTLEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS.-Towns and villages, Indian towns and wigwams, houses and cabins, fields, fences, and other improvements; groves, mill-seats, forges, and factories.

13. SPRINGS.-Whether fresh, saline, or mineral, with the course of the streams flowing from them.

14. MINERALS AND COAL BEDS.-Note all coal banks or beds, with a particular description of the same, as to quality, extent, and diggings therefor; and designate the localities by the smallest legal subdivisions. A recent law of Congress makes the strict observance of this requirement essential.

15. ROADS AND TRAILS.-Whence and whither, with their directions.

16. RAPIDS, CASCADES, CATARACTS, or falls of water, with the height of their fall in feet.

17. PRECIPICES, CAVES, RAVINES, sink-holes, stone quarries, ledges of rocks, with the kind of stone they afford.

18. NATURAL CURIOSITIES.-Interesting fossils, petrifactions, organic remains, etc.; also all ancient works of art, such as mounds, fortifications, embankments, ditches, etc.

19. LAND SURFACE.-Whether level, broken, or hilly1st, 2d, or 3d rate on each mile-1st rate to indicate extra quality, 2d rate good average, and 3d rate inferior quality. 20. TIMBER.-Name the several kinds of timber and undergrowth in the order in which they predominate, on each mile of line.

21. DATES.-State the month and day of the month in a separate line, immediately following the notes of each day's work.

22. GENERAL DESCRIPTION.-In subdivisional work the deputy must subjoin at the conclusion of the ordinary notes taken on line a general description of the township in the aggregate, as regards the face of the country, its soil and geological features, timber, minerals, water, etc.; and should add any further description or information touch

ing any matter or thing connected with the survey which he may be able to afford and may deem useful or necessary to be known.

23. NAMES OF SURVEYING PARTY.-The field book should also contain a list of the names of the persons employed in running, measuring, and marking the lines embraced in said notes, stating the respective capacities in which they severally acted.

24. VERIFICATION OF DEPUTY SURVEYOR.-The deputy must append to each separate book of field notes his affidavit that all the lines described therein have been run and all corners established and perpetuated in strict conformity with instructions and the laws of the United States, and that the foregoing are the true and original field notes of such survey.

25. VERIFICATION OF ASSISTANTS.-The chain men, axman, and compassmen must also attest under oath that they assisted said deputy surveyor in executing said surveys, and that to the best of their knowledge and belief the work has in all particulars been performed strictly according to the instructions furnished by the SurveyorGeneral.

26. APPROVAL AND CERTIFICATE OF SURVEYOR-GENERAL. -To each of the original field books the Surveyor-General will attach his official approval, and to the copies of the field notes transmitted to the General Land Office, he will affix his official certificate that they have been correctly copied from the originals on file in his office.

For a more full understanding of the manner of keeping the field book, and the forms requisite to be used, reference is made to the specimens which accompany these instructions. By giving due attention to these specimens and instructions, the surveyor will be enabled to fulfill all the requirements of law in this regard.

MEANDERING.

Large lakes, navigable rivers and bayous, are by law of Congress made public highways, and as the government surveys progress they are meandered and segregated from the public lands. Large ponds and water-courses not navigable are in some cases also meandered.

At those points where the lines of the public surveys intersect meanderable streams and bodies of water, "meander corners" are established at the time of running such lines. By the process of meandering, these corners are connected by ascertained courses and distances along the margin of the water, and the configuration of lakes, bayous, rivers, etc. is thereby obtained.

In meandering water-courses, where a distance is more than ten chains between stations, even chains only should be taken; but if the distance is less than ten chains, and it is found convenient to employ chains and links, the number of links should be a multiple of ten, thereby saving time and labor in testing the closing both in the field and in the Surveyor-General's office.

Standing with the face looking down stream, the bank on the right hand is termed the "right bank,” and that on the left hand the "left bank." These terms are to be uniformly used to distinguish the two banks of a river or

stream.

To meander a river the deputy will commence at a meander corner on the township line and proceed to course the sinuosities of the river bank, measuring the distance on each course, to the next meander corner on the same or another boundary of the township, entering the courses and distances in their proper places in the field book, and in the order in which they are taken, and noting the intersections with all intermediate meander

corners.

1. NAVIGABLE RIVERS.-All navigable rivers are to be

meandered on both banks, and care must be taken, in time of high water, not to mistake the margins of bayous or the borders of overflowed marshes or "bottoms" for the true river bank. Sufficient courses must be taken to follow closely the windings of the river and embrace all the land to its margin.

All streams of water emptying into the river, with the width at their mouth, the height of falls and cascades and the length of rapids, must be noted; and the banks, current, and bottom of the stream meandered, should be described in the field book.

2. RIVERS NOT NAVIGABLE.-Rivers not embraced in the class denominated "navigable" under the statute, but which are well-defined natural arteries of internal communication, and have a uniform width, will only be meandered on one bank. For the sake of uniformity, the surveyor will traverse the right bank when not impracticable; but where serious obstacles are met with, rendering it difficult to course along the right bank, he may cross to the left bank and continue the meanders as far as necessary; but all changes from one bank to the other will be made at the point of intersection of some line of the public surveys with the stream being meandered.

The subdividing deputies will be required to establish meander corners on both banks of such meanderable streams at the intersection of all section lines, and the distances across the river will be noted in the field book.

3. WIDE "FLATS."-Where wide, irregular expansions occur in rivers that are not navigable, and such expansions are permanent bodies of water, the area of which is more than forty acres, and embraces more than onehalf of a legal subdivision of forty acres, they should be meandered on both banks.

4. ISLANDS IN RIVERS.-The precise relative position of islands in a township made fractional by the river in which the same are situated, must be determined trigo

nometrically. Sighting to a flag or other object on the island from a special and carefully measured base line connected with the surveyed lines, and on or near the river bank, form connections between the meander corners on the river and points in direct line on the shores of the island, at which points establish meander corners, and calculate the distance across. The operation must be particularly and fully described in the field notes.

5. LAKES, PONDS, ETC.-Lakes embracing an area of less than forty acres will not be meandered. Long, narrow, or irregular lakes of larger extent, but which embrace less than one-half of the smallest legal subdivision, will not be meandered. Shallow lakes or bayous, likely in time to dry up or be greatly reduced by evaporation, drainage, or other cause, will not be meandered however extensive they may be, but such lakes should be described, and the facilities for draining or prospect of becoming dry from natural causes stated.

Posts will be established by the subdividing deputy, at the intersections of all the public lines with these lakes, the same as if they were to be meandered.

To meander a lake, pond, or bayou, commence at a meander corner on the township line, and proceed as directed in meandering a navigable river. Where the body of water lies entirely within the township boundaries, the deputy should commence at a meander corner established in subdividing, and from thence course around the entire pond or lake, noting the intersection with all the meander corners previously established.

To meander a pond lying entirely within the boundaries of a section, run and measure two lines to such pond from the nearest opposite section or quarter section corners, giving the courses thereof, and at each of the points where these lines intersect the margin of the pond, establish a "witness point" by fixing a post in the ground, and taking bearings and distances to adjacent trees, or if no trees are found, raising a mound.