to the northwest shall be drawn in the following manner: Commencing from the southernmost point of the island called Prince of Wales Island, which point lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and between the 131st degree and the 133d degree of west longitude, the same line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland Channel, as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 56th degree of north latitude; from this last-mentioned point the line of demarkation shall follow the summit of the mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude (of the same meridian), and finally, from the said point of intersection, the said meridian line of the 141st degree, in its prolongation as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit between the Russian and British possessions on the continent of America to the northwest.

"Whenever the summit of the mountains which extend in a direction parallel to the coast from the 56th degree of north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141st degree of west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine leagues from the ocean,

the limit between the British possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, as above mentioned (that is to say, the limit to the possessions ceded by this convention), shall be formed by a line parallel to the winding of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine leagues therefrom."

On all maps from 1825 down to 1884 the boundary line, it was declared, had been shown as, in general terms, parallel to the winding of the coast, and thirty-five miles from it. In 1884, however, an official Canadian map showed a marked deflection in this line at its south end. Instead of passing up Portland Canal this Canadian map showed the boundary as passing up Behm Canal, an arm of the sea some sixty or seventy miles west of Portland Canal, this change having been made on the bare assertion that the words Portland Canal as inserted were an error. By this change the line and an area of American territory about equal in size to the State of Connecticut was transferred to British territory. There are several facts which militate against this claim. In the first place, the British Admirality, when surveying the northern limit of British Columbian possession, in 1868, one

year after the cession of Alaska, surveyed Portland Canal, and not Behm Canal, thus by implication admitting this canal as the boundary line. The region now claimed by British Columbia was at that time occupied by a military post of the United States without objection or protest on the part of British Columbia. Annette Island, in this region, was, by an act of Congress, four years ago, set apart as a reservation for the use of the Metlakatla Indians. Within a year the United States Engineers, by authorization of Congress, have made an official survey of the west bank of Portland Canal, building stone houses at various places, and thus exercising an undoubted act of sovereignty.

Another grab was made at Lynn Canal, the northernmost extension of the Alexander Archipelago, which runs north of Juneau, and is the land outlet for the Yukon trade. The official Canadian map of 1884 carried the boundary line around the head of this canal; another Canadian canal map three years later carried the line across the head of the canal in such manner as to throw its head-waters into British territory; still later, Canadian maps carry the line not across the head of the canal, but cross near its