TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 187. 1842.

515

river, but he or she had continued to reside within the limits of thecountry ceded by the Choctaw Indians to the United States , by saidtreaty of twenty-seventh September, in the year eighteen hundred andthirty, it shall be the duty of said commissioners, if all and each of theabove requisites shall be made clearly to appear to their satisfaction,and the Secretary of War shall concur therein, to proceed to ascertainthe quantity of land to which said Indian, by virtue of the fourteentharticle of said treaty, is entitled to, which, when ascertained, shall belocated for said Indian, according to sectional lines, so as to embracethe improvement, or a part of it, owned by said Indian at the date ofsaid treaty; and it shall be the duty of the President of the UnitedStates to issue a patent to said Indian for said land, if he or she beliving, and if not, to his or her heirs and legal representatives; and inlike manner shall the commissioners aforesaid ascertain the quantity ofland granted by said article to each child of said Indian, according tothe limitations contained in said article, and locate said quantity, forsaid children, contiguous to and adjoining the improvement of the pa-rent of such child or children; and the President shall issue a patentfor each tract of land thus located, to said Indian child, if living, andif not, to the heirs and legal representatives of such Indian child. Butif the United States shall have disposed of any tract of land, to whichany Indian was entitled, under the provisions of said fourteenth articleof said treaty, so that it is now impossible to give said Indian the quan-tity to which he was entitled, including his improvements, as aforesaid,or any part of it, or to his children, on the adjoining lands, the saidcommissioners shall thereupon estimate the quantity to which each In-dian is entitled, and allow him or her, for the same, a quantity of landequal to that allowed, to be taken out of any of the public lands in theStates of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas , subject toentry at private sale; and certificates to that effect shall be delivered,under the direction of the Secretary of War, through such agent as hemay select, not more than one half of which shall be delivered to saidIndian until after his removal to the Choctaw territory west of the Mis-sissippi river. The said commissioners shall also ascertain the Choc-taws, if any, who relinquished or offered to relinquish any reservationsto which he was entitled under the nineteenth article of the said treaty,or whose reservations under that article had been sold by the UnitedStates ; and shall also determine the quantity to which such claimantwas entitled; and the quantity of land which should be allowed him onextinguishment of such claim, at the rate of two fifths of an acre forevery acre of the land to which said claimant was entitled, said landhaving been estimated under this article at fifty cents per acre : Pro-vided, nevertheless, That no claim shall be considered or allowed bysaid commissioners, for or in the name or behalf of any Indian claimantwhose name does not appear upon the lists or registers of claimantsmade by Major Armstrong, special agent for that purpose, in conjunc-tion with the three chiefs of the three Choctaw districts, and returnedto the Department of War in January, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and who does not appear from those registers to be entitled to areservation under said nineteenth article.

Sec. 4. And he it further enacted, That the said commissioners, with-in two years from the time of their entering upon the duties of theiroffices, and as often as shall be required by the President of the UnitedStates , shall report to him their proceedings in the premises, with a fulland perfect list of names of all the Choctaws whom they shall havedetermined to be entitled to reservations under this act; the quantity ofland to which each shall be so entitled, the number of claims which canbe located according to the provisions of the fourth section of this act,and such as cannot be located according to the provisions of the fourth

Quantity dueto each child ofsaid Indian tobe ascertainedin like manner,&c.

If U. S. havedisposed of landto which anyIndian was en-titled, &c., thecommissionersshall allowother land.

Certificates forthe land, howto be given.

Commission-ers shall ascer-tain the Choc-taws who relin-quished reserva-tions under the19th article,&c.and determine,&c.

Proviso,

Commission-ers to reporttheir proceed-ings, &c. to thePresident,when-