1783 to be the middle of that river, up to its source, but literally, as well as figuratively, we are at sea as to its location from that point to the open ocean. It is the purpose of this paper to give some account of the circumstances which gave rise to such a curious omission; the incidents which led to a diplomatic correspondence and convention relating to the matter, in 1892, between the two governments interested; and the attempt which was made during the two or three years following the convention to determine and mark the missing boundary. The present controversy really had its beginning nearly three hundred years ago. Up to the end of the 16th century, not much attention had been given by European colonists to the northeastern coast of America, although it had been visited by Cabot before the beginning of that century. The coast was tolerably well known, however, and it had been explored to some extent by both English and French, who were alive to the importance of the extensive fishing and other interests which it represented. In 1603, the King of France (Henry IV.) made the famous grant to De Monts of all the territory in America between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude, thus furnishing a beautiful example of the definition of a most uncertain quantity in a most certain and exact manner, an example which later boundary-line makers might wisely have followed. The Atlantic coast-line covered by this extensive charter, extends from a point considerably below Long Island to another point on Cape Breton Island and includes all of Nova Scotia. In the spring of 1604, De Monts sailed for his new domain, to which the name Acadia had been given, carrying with him Champlain as pilot. After landing on the southern coast of what is now known as Nova Scotia, he sailed around Cape Sable to the northward, entered the Bay of Fundy, discovered and named the St. John River, and afterward entered Passamaquoddy Bay, and ascended a large river which came into the bay from the north. A little distance above its mouth, he found a small island, near the middle of the stream, which at that point is nearly a mile and a half wide. As this island appeared easy of defence against the natives, he determined to make a settlement there, and proceeded to the erection of buildings, fortifications, _etc._ A few miles above the island, the river was divided into two branches nearly at right angles to the main stream, and the whole so resembled a cross, that the name “St. Croix” was given to the new settlement, and the same name came, afterward, to be applied to the river. The subsequent unhappy fate of this first attempt to plant the civilization of Europe upon the northern coast of America is so well known that further reference is unnecessary. This most interesting spot is now partly occupied by the United States Government as a lighthouse reservation, about one-third of the island having been purchased for that purpose. The St.