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The system uses physical features of the geography along with directions and distances to define a piece of land. It is sumetimes referred to as a Boundary Survey. Once a particular survey was completed, and given political recognition it could also be referred to in later surveys.
The system is used to define larger pieces of property (e.g. farms) and political subdivisions (e.g. town boundaries). When a finer degree of detail is needed within the established boundaries, a map or Plat Survey is used. A typical discription would be: "From the point on the north bank of Muddy Creek one mile above the junction of Muddy and Indian Creeks, north for 15 rods yards, then northwest to the large standing rock, west to the large oak tree, south to Muddy Creek, then down the center of the creek to the starting point."
This system was imported to the original colonies that formed the United States. It is also used in some states that were split from them but in which land was allocated before 1785. These include West Virginia, Kentucky, Maine, and Vermont.
The system might refer to landmarks such as the large oak tree which could become obsolete. Streams might dry up or change course. Once a such a survey is in place, tradition establishes the boundaries, and we might come to depend on roads, walls, markers or stakes to determine the real boundaries. Court cases are sometimes required to settle the matter.
These kind of problems caused the United States to largely replace this system. Beginning with the Land Ordinance of 1785, it began a transition to the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) used in the central and western states. The eastern, or original states, continue to use the metes and bounds surveys of their founders.