Mr. Rittenhouse continued in commission, for the establishing of this line, until its entire completion: but his non-attendance with the other commissioners in the actual running of the line, in the year 1787, was prevented by his being then engaged in fixing the territorial boundary between the states of Massachusetts and New-York. In the letter, last quoted, is this paragraph:—“Dr. Ewing and myself were absent seven weeks, on the line between New-York and Massachusetts, in which time we happily completed it, to the satisfaction of all parties; and, with this business, I have bid adieu, forever, to all running of lines.” Footnote 175: Dr. Rush has been led into a mere mistake of the date on this occasion; probably, by an hasty perusal of the confirmatory law, of Sept. 29, 1789. He states, in his eulogium, that it was the year 1786, in which Mr. Rittenhouse “was employed in fixing the northern line which divides Pennsylvania from New-York: his services on that business were originally employed in 1774, He did, indeed, again act as a commissioner, in the year 1786, and it was on the 16th day of June, in that year, that Mr. Ellicott was commissioned to complete, in conjunction with Mr. Rittenhouse, what the latter had begun to execute eleven years and an half before the last mentioned date. Footnote 176: “In order to carry on the parallel of latitude with as much expedition and economy as possible,” says Mr. Ellicott, “we dispensed with the method of tracing a line on the arc of a great circle, and correcting into the parallel; as pursued by Messrs. Mason and Dixon, in determining the boundary between this state” (Pennsylvania,) “and the state of Maryland, and which we followed in completing their line in the year 1784. We commenced our operations by running a guide-line, West, with a surveying compass, from the point mentioned on the Delaware” (the one which was fixed by Dr. Rittenhouse and Capt. Holland, in the year 1774,) 20¼ miles; and there corrected by the following zenith lines” (laid down in the sequel,) “taken, at its western termination, by a most excellent Sector, constructed and executed by Dr. Rittenhouse.” ----- The following letter, addressed by Mr. Rittenhouse to his wife, while he was engaged in this service, will not only furnish the reader with some idea of the manner in which the commissioners, with their attendants, were obliged to live in the wilderness, and the nature of their accommodations; but it will also present him with an interesting little story, illustrative of the manners and condition, in our day, of some of that unfortunate race of men, who were once the independent lords of that vast territory, over which the descendants of a grant transatlantic people now exercise all the rights of sovereignty and ownership. This letter is dated the 6th of August, 1786.