H., or as
New Hampshire had claimed, the point at the _mouth_ of the river,
robbed Massachusetts of a strip of territory fourteen miles wide the
whole length of the Colony, which New Hampshire had never before
claimed, but which her shrewd and unscrupulous Agent now extorted trom
the ignorance of English Councillors.
Hazen began his survey March 21, 1741. The English instructions required
a course due west, and Governor Belcher and his Council ordered ten
degrees for the then variation of the needle, which was not quite
enough, so that the line actually ran slightly north of due west, and
saved to Massachusetts at the west end of the line (in Williamstown)
about 1 deg. and 50 min. After the party left the Connecticut river on
April 6, they slept on snow at a depth of two or three feet every night
till they crossed the Hoosac river in Williamstown on April 12. "It
clouded over before Night and rained sometime before day which caused us
to stretch Our blankets and lye under them on ye bare Ground, which was
the first bare ground we laid on after we left Northfield.
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