Handbook for translators of Spanish historical ... - University Library

HAN0300K FOR TRANSLATORS OF SPANISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
there were many values for weights or measures of the
same denomination in various provinces or states of Latin-
American countries.'^ "Thus, toward the latter part of the
XVIII century, the word lihra was applied to 391 different
units of weight; and \inder the name of pie . 292 different
units of length were designated.""
By the Mexican colonization law of Janiiary 4, 1823,
the vara was declared to be the unit of land measure. The
vara was, therefore, the \init of measure in land surveys
in Texas as long as Texas was part of the Mexican republic.
The Republic of Texas also adopted the vara as the unit of
measure, though an arbitrary length was assigned to it.
It is not definitely known how the length of 33 l/3
inches came to be adopted for the vara in Texas. It is
known, however, that John P. Borden, a surveyor for the
Austin colony , was made the first commissioner of the
General Land Office. Since he had been using the 33 l/3
inch vara in the Austin colony, it is probable that he
established that vara officially for Texas. All Texas
lands surveyed since 1837 were surveyed with the 33 l/3
inch vara, or were intended to be so surveyed. The 33 l/3
vara, however, is a Texas product, used only in Texas.
To be able to determine the length of the Spanish vara
used in land surveys in Texas, or anywhere else in the
New World, it is essential to know whether the surveyor
used the Castilian vara or the vara used in any other
province in Spain, since they varied in length. Officially,
the vara used in Texas was the "Mexican vara,"
which was composed of three geometric feet (32.808 in.).
Actually, however, the surveyor probably used the vara with
which he was familiar. If he came to Texas from Castile,
he used the Castilian vara (32.90957 in.); if he came from
Mexico, he used the Mexican vara; if he came from Alicante,
he used the Alicante vara (35.90544 inches).
The metric system, developed in France in 1790, was
adopted by many countries before 1868, when Spain accepted
it. The metric system has the meter and the gram as its
bases. Later on the liter was established as the unit of
volume. For all practical purposes, the meter may be
Valentin Balbin, Sistema de Medietas _y Pesas de la Repu"blica
Argentina, p. 103.
°Karlos Kabezon, La Unifikacion de las Medidas, p. 16.
-70-