up his residence permanently at Quebec, and for twenty years was the controlling mind in the land-surveying operations in Canada. The systems of surveys devised by him and his deputies for the Province of Quebec were extended into the Upper Province when it was set apart in 1792.

Major Holland's native tongue may have been Dutch, but he was proﬁcient in French, probably more so than in English. His letters, reports and memorials, although written in the stilted style of the period, show that he was an educated gentleman of reﬁned and artistic tastes, who was on intimate terms with members of the British aristocracy, with the Provincial Governors and the commanders of the forces in British North America.

During the French War he came into intimate contact with many prominent military men. He was at Ticonderoga, Fort William Henry, Louisburg and Quebec. He spent months in reconnoitering through the forests, surrounded by stealthy enemies. He charted the unknown coasts in advance in order that the vessels of the navy might carry out their programme. and in attacks on fortresses he took his place in the line. This was probably the most romantic period of his life, followed by his eleven years of professional work as surveyor and engineer on the coast. During this period Canada was making slow pro- gress, but the other British Provinces—Massachusetts, New York, New Hamp- shire, New Jersey, Maryland—were growing rapidly in wealth and in population. Major Holland witnessed this growth and the spirit of insubordination that accompanied it. He and his family were subjected to indignities at the hands of the rebels, but eventually escaped. After the Revolution Holland was fully employed in prosecuting surveys of lands for the U.E. Loyalists and later for British and American settlers. No one could have been in closer touch with the early settlement of the two Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada than the Surveyor-General and, knowing his characteristic devotion to duty, it is not surprising that after several years of military service in the forests of North America, with its privations and hardships, followed by many years on coast surveying, his health was undermined by the responsibilities and duties that rested upon him as Surveyor-General after 1780.