84 University of California Publications in History

 The fourth project provided for the recognition of the United
States' ownership of West Florida in exchange for the establish-
ment of a western line running from a point on the Gulf between
the Calcasieu and Mermento rivers, between Los Adaes and Natchi-
toches, and then directly north. But the idea of a line drawn
straight north on a map regardless of natural features was dis-
couraged. The fifth plan would have seen the cession of both Flori-
das, and the establishment of a line beginning at the Bayou La
Fourche (for all practical purposes a western mouth of the Missis-
sippi), going up the Mississippi to the Missouri, and up that stream
to its head. In this plan the lack of information on titles, accepted
limits, and settlements on the North Pacific prevented the specifi-
cation of a line beyond the headwaters of the Missouri. The sixth
plan was much the same, but substituted the Arkansas for the
Missouri; and further ignorance or confusion of geography was
frankly expressed with respect to the location of the head of that
river, and its probable proximity to New Mexico. The seventh
scheme was simply one of settling the claims as satisfactorily as
possible, leaving the boundaries undrawn, that being considered
preferable to an unadvantageous treaty from which no appeal
could be had.
 The eighth plan, "that proposed by the Americans, who wish us
 to cede to them the two Floridas, leaving the limits of Louisiana
 at the Colorado river," was the one described by Pizarro in his
 Memorias as the one embodied in the treaty. It shows a geographi-
 cal confusion that is easier for us today to understand the Span-
 iard's falling into than it was for Erving when the question arose
 in 1818. It is clear beyond doubt, from the Exposicin and from
 marginal notes on Onis' treaty plan of April 8,1817, that in refer-
 ring to the "Colorado" River the writer had in mind the Red River
 of Natchitoches, which at times was designated by the other Span-
 ish term of nearly the same meaning, Coloradoo." It is equally
 clear that in the negotiations of 1805, when Monroe and Pinckney
 proposed the "Colorado" as a boundary, they meant the Colorado
 of western Texas, flowing into Matagorda Bay. Until Onis and
 Adams discussed the matter in the winter of 1817 and 1818 the
 officials of the two countries apparently were unaware of the
 misunderstanding.
 As has been stated, the third plan recommended in the Exposi-