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and counsel on both sides have, with infinite labor, col-
lected a great volume of evidence on this part of the case,
and discussed it at much length.
In early times Virginia granted lands high up on the
island; and Maryland, without expressly denying the right
of Virginia, made grants of her own in the same region.
The lines of these grants are so imperfectly defined by the
surveys that it is not at all easy to tell where they are, and
some of them are believed to lie afoul of others. The oc-
cupancy, like the titles, was mixed and doubtful. The
inhabitants did not know which province they belonged
to; at least that was a subject on which there were divers
opinions.
A line running nearly across the middle of the island
was at first claimed by Virginia asbeing the old boundary;
but a subsequent personal examination and a more careful
reconsideration of the evidence brought the counsel them-
selves to the opinion that a claim by that line could not be
supported. They insisted, however, and do still insist,
that another line, which runs about three quarters of a
mile above that from Sassafras Hammock to Horse Ham-
mock, was and is the true division. There is some evidence
that this was once thought to be the boundary.
Two grants, one by Maryland and one by Virginia, each
calling for the divisional line between the States, without
describing where the divisional line was, were so located
on the ground that they met on the line in question. It
is inferred from this that a line had been previously run
at that place, which was understood to be the division be-
tween the provinces or the States. But this argument a
priori is all that supports the theory of a State line there.
If it ever was actually run it cannot now be told by whom,
when, for what purpose, by what authority, or precisely
where. All the evidence relating to it is very doubtful.
It dates dack to what may be called the prehistoric times
of the island. Some witnesses affirm and others deny, on
the authority of their forefathers, that this was the divid-
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