p. 2132N  No. 905.    We may, however, briefly observe here,
that according to the best authorities in international law the
occupation of a new country which is sufficient to give to the
occupying nation a title to it depends very largely upon the
nature of the country and the beneficial uses which it may be
made to subserve. In the case of a fruitful region capable of
supporting a numerous population, it might not be allowable for
a nation first discovering it to maintain a claim over vast
areas which it did not actually occupy and attempt to improve ;
but where a remote and desolate region has been discovered
yielding only a single or few products, and all capable of being
beneficially secured by the discovering nation, a claim to these
products asserted and actually exercised, is all the occupation
of which the region is susceptible and is sufficient to confer
the right of property ; and that whatever authority it may be
reasonably necessary to exercise upon the adjoining seas in
order to protect such, in