Links for Reference

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/business/newfoundland-and-labrador-politician-john-crosbie-paved-way-for-peis-crowbush-cove-golf-course-397549/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadiantourism/3769926703/ https://www.thestar.com/life/travel/2017/08/25/canadas-east-coast-holds-golf-and-history-in-high-esteem.html https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1998/8/3/peis-new-fixed-links

Units of length

The first record of a permanent standarisation of length was around 2900 BCE in Egypt when the length of a royal Egyptian cubit was decreed.^[1] The Egyptian royal cubit was based on the length of the pharaoh's arm, it was measured from the elbow to the tip of the extended finger tips and the measure was preserved by being carved out of black granite.^[2] It measured in length 523 to 525 mm (20.6 to 20.64 inches) and could be subdivided into 28 parts. The smallest unit was a digit, measuring the breadth of a finger, with 28 digits in a cubit, 14 digits in a half cubit, 5 digits in a hand and 4 digits in a palm.^[2][3]

The Egyptian cubit, the Indus Valley units of length referred to above and the Mesopotamian cubit were used in the 3rd millennium BC and are the earliest known units used by ancient peoples to measure length. The units of length used in ancient India included the dhanus, or dhanush (bow), the krosa (cry, or cow-call) and the yojana (stage).

The common cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was divided into the span of the hand or the length between the tip of little finger to the tip of the thumb (one-half cubit), the palm or width of the hand (one sixth), and the digit or width of the middle finger (one twenty-fourth). The Royal Cubit, which was a standard cubit enhanced by an extra palm—thus 7 palms or 28 digits long—was used in constructing buildings and monuments and in surveying in ancient Egypt. The inch, foot, and yard evolved from these units through a complicated transformation not yet fully understood. Some believe they evolved from cubic measures; others believe they were simple proportions or multiples of the cubit. In whichever case, the Greeks and Romans inherited the foot from the Egyptians. The Roman foot (~296 mm) was divided into both 12 unciae (inches) (~24.7 mm) and 16 digits (~18.5 mm). The Romans also introduced the mille passus (1000 paces) or double steps, the pace being equal to five Roman feet (~1480 mm). The Roman mile of 5000 feet (1480 m) was introduced into England during the occupation. Queen Elizabeth I (reigned from 1558 to 1603) changed, by statute, the mile to 5280 feet (~1609 m) or 8 furlongs, a furlong being 40 rod (unit)s (~201 m) of 5.5 yards (~5.03 m) each.

The introduction of the yard (0.9144 m) as a unit of length came later, but its origin is not definitely known. Some believe the origin was the double cubit, others believe that it originated from cubic measure. Whatever its origin, the early yard was divided by the binary method into 2, 4, 8, and 16 parts called the half-yard, span, finger, and nail. The association of the yard with the "gird" or circumference of a person's waist or with the distance from the tip of the nose to the end of the thumb of King Henry I (reigned 1100–1135) are probably standardizing actions, since several yards were in use in Britain. There were also Rods, Poles and Perches for measurements of length. The following table lists the equivalents.

Refs