peter
> There are still things that puzzle me about the island. For
example,
> we had it established that the island is a condominium, and that
the
> Bidasoa is a boundary river between marker no. 1 and the mouth of
the
> river (where it meets the second condominium), i.e. with a normal
> thalweg boundary. But I have never seen the implicit outcome of
this
> situation, that is, that the island is a condominial enclave in
> either French or Spanish internal water, mentioned or depicted
> anywhere.
probably because it is so negligible in practical terms it never
comes up
tho maybe it hasnt even been noticed by anyone except us
> And an odd situation like this would merit such a
> mentioning somewhere, I think. Descheemaeker's hand-drawn map, on
the
> other hand, suggests that the Thalweg boundary is interrupted by
the
> island, and that there is a small bit of condominial water around
the
> island (up to the Thalwegs of the two river branches) as well.
he might have just been winging it over this difficulty
i mean freelancing or fudging the boundary here
to what he thought people would rationalize it into
> But as
> this situation isn't mentioned anywhere in texts that I've read
> either, the first situation (the island being a dry condominium
> surrounded by French or Spanish - I'd go for Spanish - internal
> waters) is the more probable one.
right
the texts are what matter imo too
not descheemaeker
> Another possibility would be that just before and after the island,
> the border would leave the Thalweg and head for the extremities of
> the island.
again
this is neat
but unsupported by facts
> This would account for the highly ceremonial character of
> the island, which is sometimes considered to be a boundary marker
in
> it's entirety. But this is another wild guess without any back-up
in
> writing (that I know of) at all.
>
> Peter S.
i still think the whole island would have to be a clave but only for
the half of the year when it is in the care of the party on the far
side of the thalweg
whichever party that is
& i know it is a fickle thalweg to boot
& a changeable or even a creeping island
etc
but the text must be presumed to be correct
until something better comes along
or anyway
thats how it seems to me this morning
from islamorada