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Show 6 EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. reluctantly complied with ; difficulties created delay, and many years passed away, before the real quantity of land claimed, could be ascertained with any precision ; and even at this time, when twelve years have elapsed, many of the larger claims are undeter-mined. After the opening of the land offices in Louisiana, the cr>mmission-ers found a number of .claims for land held by actual settlemer~t, without apy title from the Spanish government. The United States government recognized these claims, and where-ever it was practicable. six hundred and torty acres were surveyed, and appropriated to each claim. Another species of cbi"m presented itself in the shape of purchases from the Jndians. As thjs rnoJe of procuring land was so repugnant to the policy of the United States, the commissioner:; did not, perhaps, in every instance, make due allowance for the different principles upon which the former and present government, that bcld Louisiana, had proceeded respecting the Indian tribes. Those claims were, however, in rr~st instances finally confirmed. The land of Louisiana is giinerally surveyed in the form of a pa• rallelogram, forty arpents deep, from front to rear: this mode, which commenced on the banks of the Mississippi, was pursued in all other parts of the country. In some of the larger claims, this principle was .-departed from, bblt in the common tracts, only a few deviations are to be found. Tbe arpent of Paris*, was the universal measure of land, and by it were all grants and sales made. The acre is not yet, and perllaps, in re pect to land held under the ancient titles, never will be introduced into use, in Louisiana. In lands that may be purchased from the United States, the tenure will always be, and the form of the tracts, in most in'Jtances, the same with all other lands, iu every part of tbe U niteu States, derived from similar purchase. The following is the mode established by Jaw, for the ~urveying nnd selling of public lands. I have annexed the form of a regular and an irregular township, to illustrate the true intent and meaning of the terms section, and its fractions, and the manner of numbering, by which the position of any part is known. In Louisiana, innumerable instances occur, where, in the same township, there are private claims, the Jin~s of which run in all directions ; and public land, the lines of which are run by the true meridian; this constitutes an irregular township. Thi:- ~dmiX'ture of thl~ different modes of surveying tbe contiguous land held under the various tenures, as before mentioned, takes place in all parts of the *It is gene1·ally, even at t~1is ti~e_, by the arpent, and not by the aCJ"c, that !runsfe1·s of La~Hl are made Ill Lomsaaw~. a111.l as 11, is custom will probauly co!ltlllue, che _relat~ve area o u?,ht_to IJe l<nown by emigrants. Ihe followaug i01·rnula coulams the elcmsuts to reduce the one into the .1/.r. .flc. .!11·. othct· , viz. 605 aa·pcnts make 512 acres, staled thus; If 605 ': 512 : : IVO, ami r~vPt' ely, if the J'f:Juctiou is froru acres to a1·pen~ The O'I"}Je1lt "s used ulso _ a~ a _measure of letJglu, IJeing 180 feet, or ao toisc!\ .Fre,wh, equal to 192 feet English or Aruet·icau feet, nearly, I I 111 ~~rs· . . 11 w ~ s t . . . ·. r~ I . ~ • • J. ~ ~ f·. ~ ~0 . ~ - ~ .., ~ ~~ ~ i ... 1 ~ 1 .1 1..'\ ~ - L ·- • . -- -- I I . ~f;,. 'l'. ·'·'A r:>T I (,g 7 'J' i 7 II' I,/) / (I f71 \12 !!!. IJ?!Zv ] (j [/11 t.~ 1,1) 1211, ~/ 22 ,JO 12928 27 &~~ 37 iJ2 .l' ."t1 'i • '111'1 . I • 11 111 ~.nges Et~ .st I I - ., ;.",,' \..a... ........- , |