Petty claimed to have made lineal measurements to the extent of more than five times the earth's circumference. The forfeited lands were indicated to him by what was called the Civil Survey, which was merely a register of forfeited lands made independently by commissioners and for the most part before the old proprietors had actually departed. This made the measuring business dangerous as well as troublesome, and Petty employed soldiers 'such as were able to endure travail, ill lodging and diet, as also heats and colds, being also men of activity that could leap hedge and ditch, and could also ruffle with the several rude persons in the country, from whom they might expect often to be crossed and opposed.' He had no difficulty in finding men who, 'having been bred to trades, could write and read sufficiently for the purpose.' The more delicate instruments were obtained from the best London makers, and skilled artificers were found to make the rest. The soldiers had received debentures for their arrears, and the idea was to set them down by regiments and companies alongside of the Adventurers. But it soon became evident that the amount of forfeited land was insufficient to meet the liabilities of the State. Land had to be distributed on account, and debentures, including many fabricated ones, were bought and sold. Very few old soldiers cared to settle down upon small farms, and there were always speculative officers found to buy up the claims of their men and so carve out estates for themselves, Irish tenants and labourers being accepted because the hoped for English immigration did not take place. The Act of Satisfaction forbade officers to buy the privates' debentures, but a class of brokers sprang up and the traffic continued till the Restoration. Great numbers were sold before any distribution of land had been attempted. Petty himself tells us that debentures were freely and openly sold at four or five shillings in the pound, and that a pound so laid out purchased on an average two acres of land. Later on there was a regulation against selling at less than eight shillings in the pound, but of course this was easily evaded. As a transfer of property from Irish to English hands the Cromwellian settlement had some measure of success, but as a scheme of colonisation it totally failed.[274] [Sidenote: Insufficiency of lands assigned to soldiers.] [Sidenote: The Adventurers' lands.] [Sidenote: Clarendon's account of the settlement.]