they will in future receive at cost from the moment that these regulations be approved and declared to be in force, it being understood that the forementioned term of five years, as regards this emolument, is to be recovered from the day on which the possession of the house-lots and pieces of land, (solares y suertes de tierras,) which are to be distributed to each poblador in the manner hereafter mentioned, be given; and the previous time, from the period of their enrolment, must be regulated according to the terms of the respective contracts, and, in order to avoid this expense, measures will be taken to have the new pobladores collocated, and put into possession immediately on their arrival.

3d. To each poblador, and to the community of the pueblo, there shall be given, under condition of repayment in horses and mules fit to be given and received, and in the payment of the other large and small cattle, at the just prices which are to be fixed by tariff, and of the tools and implements at cost as it is ordained, two mares, two cows and one calf, two sheep and two goats, all breeding animals, and one yoke of oxen or steers, one plough-share or point, one hoe, one coa, (a kind of wooden spade with a steel point,) one axe and one sickle, one woodknife, one musket, one leather shield, two horses, and one cargo mule. To the community there shall likewise be given the males corresponding to the total number of cattle of different kinds distributed amongst all the inhabitants, one seed jackass, another common one and three she asses, one boar and three sows, one forge with its corresponding anvil and other necessary tools, six crowbars, six iron spades or shovels, and the necessary tools for carpenter and cast work.

4th. The house-lots to be granted to the new pobladores are to be designated by government, in the situations, and of the extent, corresponding to the locality on which the new pueblos are to be established, so that a square and streets be formed agreeably to the provisions of the laws of the kingdom; and, conformably to the same, competent common lands (egidos) shall be designated for the pueblo and pasture grounds, with the sowing lands that may be necessary for municipal purposes, (proprios.)

5th. Each suerte of land, whether capable of irrigation or dependent on the seasons, (de riego de temporal,) shall consist of two hundred varas in length and two hundred in breadth, this being the area generally occupied in the sowing of one fanega of Indian corn. The distribution which is to effected of these house-lots and pieces of land to the new colonists must be made in the name of the King, our master, by the government, with equality, and a proportion to the ground which admits the benefit of being watered; so that, after making the necessary demarcation, and reserving vacant the fourth part of the number which may result, counting with the number of pobladores, should there be suffi cient, each one shall have two suertes of irrigable land, and other two of dry ground, delivered to him: and of the royal lands, (realengas,) as many as may be considered necessary shall be separated for the proprios of the pueblo; and the remainder of these, as well as of the house-lots, shall be granted, in the name of his Majesty, by the governor, to those who may hereafter come to colonize, and particularly to those soldiers who, having fulfilled the term of their engagement, or on account of advanced age, may have retired from service; and likewise to the families of those who may die; but those persons must work at their own ex

pense, out of the funds which each of them ought to possess, and will not be entitled to receive from the royal revenue either salary, rations, or cattle, this privilege being limited to those who leave their own country for the purpose of settling this country.

6th. The houses built on the lots granted and designated to the new pobladores, and the parcels of land comprehended in their respective gifts, shall be perpetually hereditary to their sons and descendants, or to their daughters who marry useful colonists who have received no grants of land for themselves, provided the whole of them comply with the obligations to be expressed in these instructions; and in order that the sons of possessors of these gifts observe the obedience and respect which they owe to their parents, these shall be freely authorized, in the case of having two or more sons, to choose which of them they please, being a layman, to succeed to the house and suertes of the town; and they may likewise dispose of them amongst their children, but not so as to divide a single suerte, because each and all of these are to remain indivisible and inalienable forever.

7th. Neither can the pobladores, nor their heirs, impose on the house or parcel of land granted to them, either tax, entail, reversion, mortgage, (cento, vinculo, fianza, hipoteca,) or any other burden, although it be for pious purposes; and should any one do so, in violation of this just prohibition, he shall irremissibly be deprived of his property, and his grant shall ipso facto be given to another colonist who may be useful and obedient.

Sth. The new colonists shall enjoy, for the purpose of maintaining their cattle, the common privilege of the water and pasturage, fire-wood and timber, of the common forest and pasture-lands, to be designated according to law to each new pueblo; and, besides, each one shall privately enjoy the pasture of his own lands, but with the condition that as they have to possess and breed all kinds of large and small cattle, and it not being possible that each one can dedicate himself to the taking care of the small stock consigned to them-as by so doing they would be unable to attend to agriculture and the public works-for the present, the small cattle, the sheep and goats of the community, must feed together, and the shepherd must be paid by such community; and with respect to collecting together the large cattle, and bringing them to the corral, such as mares and asses, as may be required, this must be done by two of the pobladores, whom they must appoint amongst themselves, or as they may see fit, to look after this business; and thus the cattle of different kinds will be taken care of, and freed from the risk of running wild, at the same time that agriculture and the other works of the community will be attended to; and each individual must take care to mark his respective small cattle and brand the large, for which purpose the records of the necessary branding irons will be made without any charge; but it is ordained that henceforward no colonist is to possess more than fifty head of the same kind of cattle, so that the utility produced by cattle be distributed amongst the whole of them, and that the true riches of the pueblo be not monopolized by a few inhabitants.

9th. The new colonists shall be free and exempt from paying tithes, or any other tax, on the fruits and produce of the lands and cattle given to them, provided that within a year from the day on which the houselots and parcels of land be designated to them they build a house, in the

best way they can, and live therein, open the necessary trenches for watering their lands, placing at the boundaries, instead of landmarks, some fruit trees, or wild ones of some utility, at the rate of ten to each suerte; and likewise open the principal drain or trench, form a dam, and the other necessary public works, for the benefit of cultivation, which the community is bound particularly to attend to; and said community will see that the government buildings (casas reales) be completed within the fourth year, and during the third a storehouse sufficiently capacious for a public granary, in which must be kept the produce of the public sowing, which, at the rate of one almud (the twelfth of a fanega) of Indian corn per inhabitant, must be made from said third year to the fifth, inclusive, in the lands designated for municipal purposes, (proprios)—all the labor of which, until harvesting the crop and putting it in the granary, must be done by the community for whose benefit alone it must serve; and for the management and augmentation thereof, the necessary laws to be observed will, in due time, be made.

10th. After the expiration of the five years, they will pay the tithes to his Majesty, for him to dispose of agreeably to his royal pleasure, as belonging solely to him, not only on account of the absolute royal patronage which he possesses in these dominions, but also because they are the produce of uncultivated and abandoned lands, which are about to become fruitful at the cost of the large outlays and expenses of the royal treasury. At the expiration of the said term of five years, the new pobladores and their descendants will pay, in acknowledgment of the direct and supreme dominion which belongs to the sovereign, one-half of a fanega of Indian corn for each irrigable suerte of land; and for their own benefit, they shall be collectively under the direct obligation of attending to the repair of the principal trench, dam, auxiliary drains, and other public works of their pueblos, including that of the church.

11th. When the hogs and asses shall have multiplied, and the sufficient number of seed asses for covering the mares become adopted, and it be found practicable to distribute these two kinds of animals amongst the pobladores, it must be done with all possible equality, so that of the first kind each one may receive one boar and one sow, and of the second one ass, which the owners will mark and brand.

12th. Within the five years stipulated, the new pobladores shall be obliged to possess two yoke of oxen, two ploughs, two points or ploughshares for tilling the ground, two hoes, and the other necessary implements of agriculture; and by the end of the first three years their houses must be entirely finished, and furnished each with six hens and one cock; and it is expressly forbidden that any one shall, during the forementioned period of five years, alienate, by means of sale, exchange, or other pretext, or kill any of the cattle granted to them, or the respective increase thereof, excepting sheep and goats, which, at the end of four years, it is necessary to dispose of, or else they would die; and therefore they may, at their discretion, dispose of as many of these animals as arrive at that age, but not of any younger ones, under the penalty that whoever shall violate this order, made for his own benefit and for the increase of his prosperity, shall forfeit ipso facto the amount of the rations granted to him for one year; and whoever shall receive one or more head of such cattle during the same time, in whatever state or condition they may be, shall be obliged to return them.

13th. At the expiration of said five years-the female breeding animals of every kind, excepting swine and asses, of which each poblador is only obliged to possess one sow and one ass, male or female, being preserved, the yokes of oxen or steers designated for their agricultural purposes being provided, and they being furnished with a cargo mule and necessary horses-they shall be at liberty to sell their bulls, steers, foals or horses, asses, sheep, castrated goats, and pigs and sows; it being forbidden to kill cows, (except old or barren, and consequently unproductive ones,) sheep or she-goats which are not above three years old, and to sell mares or useful breeding females, until each poblador be possessed of fifteen mares and one stallion, fifteen cows and one bull, twelve sheep and one ram, and ten she goats with one buck.

14th. No poblador or resident shall sell a foal horse or mule, or exchange the same, except amongst each other, after they are provided with the necessary number; for the remainder must be dedicated solely to the purpose of remounting the cavalry of the presidio troops, and will be paid for at the just prices to be established, excepting all particularly fine horses or mules of said pueblos, under the penalty of twenty dollars, to be forfeited by whosoever may violate this order. For every animal disposed of in any other manner than what is here stipulated, the half to be given to the informer, and the other half to be applied to municipal expenses, (gasta de republica.)

15th. The Indian corn, beans, chick peas, and lentils, produced by the pueblo, after the residents have separated what may be necessary for their own subsistence and for seed, must be bought and paid for in ready money at the prices established, or which may hereafter be established, for provisioning the presidio; and from the amount of the same there must be deducted from the amount of each poblador such provident sums as may be considered proper towards refunding the royal revenue the advances made in money, horses, cattle, implements, seeds, and other articles, so that within the first five years the total amount must be paid. 16th. Each poblador and resident head of a family to whom house-lots or parcels of land may have been, or in future shall be granted, and their successors, shall be obliged to hold themselves equipped with two horses, a saddle complete, a musket, and the other arms already mentioned, which are to be furnished them at first cost, for the defence of their respective districts, and in order that they may (without abandoning this first obligation) repair to where the governor may, in cases of urgency, order them.

17th. The corresponding titles to house-lots, lands, and waters, granted to the new pobladores, or which may hereafter be granted to other residents, shall be made out by the governor, or commissary whom he may appoint for this purpose-records of which, and of the respective branding irons, must be kept in the general book of colonization, to be made and kept in the government archives, as a heading to which a copy of these instructions shall be placed.

18th. And whereas it is expedient for the good government and police of the pueblos, the administration of justice, the direction of publie works, the distribution of water privileges, and the carrying into effect the orders given in these instructions, that they should be furnished with ordinary alcaldes and other municipal officers, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, the governor shall appoint such for the first two

years; and for the following ones, they shall appoint some ones from amongst themselves to the municipal offices which may have been established, which elections are to be forwarded to the governor for his approbation, who, if he sees fit, may continue said appointment for the three following years.

APPENDIX No. 3.

In conformity with the opinion of the assessor of the commandancia general, I have determined in a decree of this date that, notwithstanding the provisions made in the 81st article of the ordinance of the intendentes, the captains of presidios are authorized to grant and distribute house-lots and lands to the soldiers and citizens who may solicit them to fix their residences on.

And considering the extent of four common leagues, measured from the centre of the presidio square, viz: two leagues in every direction, to be sufficient for the new pueblos to be formed under the protection of said presidios, I have likewise determined, in order to avoid doubts and disputes in future, that said captains restrict themselves henceforward to the quantity of house-lots and lands within the four leagues already men tioned, without exceeding in any manner said limits, leaving free and open the exclusive jurisdiction belonging to the intendentes of the royal hacienda, respecting the sale, composition, and distribution of the remainder of the land in the respective districts.

And that this order may be punctually observed and carried into effect, you will circulate it to the captains and commandants of the presidios of your province, informing me of having done so.

God preserve you many years.
CHIHUAHUA, March 22, 1791.

Señor Don JOSEPH ANTONIO ROMEN.

PEDRO DE NAVA.

APPENDIX No. 4.

Decree of the 18th August, 1824, respecting colonization.

The sovereign general constituent Congress of the United Mexican States has been pleased to decree

1st. The Mexican nation promises to those foreigners who may come to establish themselves in its territory security in their persons and property, provided they subject themselves to the laws of the country.

2d. The objects of this law are those national lands which are neither private property nor belong to any corporation or pueblo, and can therefore be colonized.

3d. To this end the Congress of the States will form, as soon as possible, the laws and regulations of colonization of their respective demar cation, with entire conformity to the constitutive act, the general consti tution, and the rules established in this law.