Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/558

 this interval, there were issued one hundred and forty-three patents ranging from one thousand to two thousand acres, sixty-six from two thousand to five thousand, seventeen from five thousand to ten thousand, and two from ten thousand to twenty thousand. In the interval between 1685 and 1695, the average size of the patents was six hundred and one acres. In this interval, there were issued sixty-three patents ranging from one thousand to two thousand acres, twenty-three from two thousand to five thousand, and seven from five thousand to ten thousand. In the interval between 1695 and 1700, the average size of the patents was six hundred and eighty-eight acres. In this interval, there were issued fourteen patents, ranging from one thousand to two thousand acres, thirteen from two thousand to five thousand, seven from five thousand to ten, and there was one for thirteen thousand four hundred acres

. In the course of this whole period of fifty years, the average size of the patents was six hundred and seventy-four acres, a difference of two hundred and twenty-eight as compared with the average size of the patents issued during the first half of the century

. In the Brief Declaration drawn up by the Council for Virginia in 1616, the announcement was made that the Company would soon dispatch to the Colony a surveyor with instructions to draw a plat of the lands which were to be distributed among the different adventurers according to the plan agreed upon. This seems to have been the first reference to persons of this pursuit in the history of Virginia, accepting the term in the sense of one who determines the boundaries of grants. Interpreting it in its largest meaning, there had been, previous to this, several makers of maps in the Colony who may have