The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1870-11-23

{ time that this work Was performed, 70
have every part done as chezply and IA,
pidlv s. possible, Without rejecting at
I all upon their sagsoity, II does seem a lit
1 tie strange that no more precSuticn should
I have been taken in this regard There was
an aetual instance. quite lately. Of piece
Of valuable land near Houolalu. almost
entirely Rnenclosei. bounded on is differ
eut sides BY eight other lots, all bu; one,
awards by the L2nd Commission Upon
these nine different lots were employed no
les than sly different surveyors, no one
. Of whom seems to have had any reference
10 the notes Of any of the Others. There
Was generally in those days no chance TO
do 80. As may well be imagined, here
Is 5 delightful mare Of overlapping lines:
Of clustered rather than Of united cor
ners; and Of strips Of land left OuJ by
both parties goreS, as they are called
Fortunately, the majority Of surveyors
being somewhat timii on such matters,
the latter are altogether the NEST ire
quent, slthough, in fact, they give rise TO
nearly a much dispute a. the overlsps,
a. each considers his neighbor the agsres-
sor on what neither can establish title
10. \ very frequent instance Of this &C
eurs IN the case Of extinct Gissogis water
courSesl. the boundaries Of lands adjacent
TO which were often measured on the
banks instead Of in the middle Of the
stream. with no specification as TO which
Of the two, whether bank or middle. was
intended
Another great oversight, and one Of
which every one Is complaining, was the
general lack Of auy exact definition Of
what Is called the initial point Of the sur
vev. The common tormula, Beginning
st the North Tor any other corner. and
running" &c, is about equivalent to be
ginning anywhere in general, and running
nowhere in particular. Luckily-for the
credit Of the urveyors-though II occa-
sions fearful amount of experimenting,
most of the lots IN this country are Of
so Irregular shape that, on the doctrine Of
eh2nces If on no other, there Is generally
but one way In which 3 given-shaped. aud
given-sized piece Of land can he made to
III in amongst numerous neigbbOrs with
out palpable trespa>S, and that way Of
course must be the right way. So there
IS. therefore, s. possibility Of locating lines
by taking time for It. Il Is hoped that
the Government survey Of the Islands
viii furnish a sufficient number Of definite
" established points 70 be used As points
Of reference. And while abiding to this
Government survey, we may remark that
toe necessary instruments have been or
dsred, and active operations viii be com
menced during the coming year aS soon
As the season and other circumstances
VIII permit
Given an established point. the next
matter Is 10 run from II IN given aud IN
miStakable direction. and this brings Us 10
the most serious obstacle 70 correct land
measurement on these Islands, viz: the
local variation Of the compass. Not the
general variation nor the change in
the same from year 10 year, both Of which
can be easily aseertained sud due allow
aace made therefor; but the deviatiOns Of
the needle caused by local Influences in
the soil, sre what perplex every careful
surveyor who endeayors to run out old
lines. Most Of the original surveyors seem I
70 have taken little notice Of them. or At
least to have left no record Of such notice.
They are generally within q range Of
three degrees, though SIX ard even nine
degrees Of local variation have been OBJ
served Were this variation only occur
ring At occasional stations, the matter
would be simpEfsd, but in fact, different
small districts, and different ridges and
valleys, seem TO have magnetic meridiaus
Of their own. The general reader may
perhaps best understand the effect Of this /
by comparing It to the difference between (
seer az . Ill -oh - u . lllJFlu- CLlAQ i
and steering toward fixed point Of land Z
For all new surveys there are Two effee- I
tual remedies to this difficulty. As there
are many intelligent and educated per
sons IN different parts Of the Islands who 4
OCCASIONALLY use q compass and chain. We I
may be parioned for mentioning these.
The first Is; Having first established an
initial point by otieT definite data, then
sight to some distant and perfectly unmis-
taxable object and note the exact angle
between line to that object and the first
sile Of the survey. Then note the success
sive angles made by each succeeding lire
run with the previous line. This may Be
done with the common compass as well as
with better instruments. The second and
better way Is TO refer every line 10 a trls
instead Of q magnetic meridian This Is
most accurately done BY running from an
meridian line, laid out By a.
Observations If the Solar
Compass Is all that It Is claimed to be. It