Orders and Instructions to be observed in examining, describing, representing, and reporting any Country, District, or particular Spot of Ground, that Officers or Engineers may, at any Time, be ordered to Reconnoitre and Report.

1st. As the Encamptments, Marches and every possible Movement proper for an Army to make in the Field, entirely depend on a just and thorough Knowledge of the Country, the greatest Care and Exactness should be observed in examining minutely the Face of the Country, and from Time to Time to make proper Memorandums of every Variety of the Ground; whether the Face of the Ground is Flat and Level, or interrupted with Hollows and deep Vales, always mentioning the Nature of the Soil in either, whether Dry or Wet, Clay or Sand, Rocky, Stony, or Smooth, in Tillage or in Grass; if enclosed, the Nature of the Fences and Largeness of the Enclosures; where Woody, the Nature of the Wood, whether Thick and Impassable, Copse, or grown Timber, and Open; the Extent of the Wood, or if cut, by few or many Roads.

If there are any Bogs or Mosses, to be particularly exact in expressing the Nature of either, both as to their Size and Extent from North to South, and from East to West; if Deep and Impassable, or capable of being traversed, with very little Labour, by Foot or Horse. Where there are Meadows, to observe the above Directions in describing them.

In all Places where the Country is cut by Valleys or Hollows, to be as explicit as possible in conveying a perfect Idea of the Bottom and Banks of the said Valleys, viz

“Half a Mile N.E. of --------, is a deep narrow Valley, (or the Road crosses a deep narrow Vale), which lies S.W. and N.E. about Four Miles in Length, with little or no Difference in Bottom and Banks, from one End to another. The Breadth of the Bottom is about 200 Yards, and the Ground Firm, Plain, Rugged, Swampy, so as to be scarce Passable.