400 TRINIDAD. 



lands should be issued on sale. The mode of dividing and selling 

 such lands in the United States might be adopted here, with 

 suitable localised modifications. It is described thus by Birk- 

 beck : " The tract of country which is to be disposed of is 

 surveyed and laid out in sections of a square mile, containing 640 

 acres ; and these are subdivided into quarters, and, in particular 

 situations, into half- quarters. The counties are also laid out in 

 townships of six miles square in some instances, and in others of 

 eight. The townships are numbered in ranges, from north to 

 south, and the ranges from west to east : and lastly, the sections. 

 in each township are marked numerically. All these lines are 

 well defined in the woods, by marks on the trees. This done, at 

 a period of which public notice is given, the lands in question are 

 put up to auction, except the sixteenth section, which is near the 

 centre in every township, which is reserved for the support of 

 schools, and for the maintenance of the poor. There are, also, 

 sundry reserves of entire townships, as funds for the support of 

 seminaries, on a more extensive scale ; and sometimes for other 

 purposes of general interest. The lots which remain unsold are, 

 from time to time, open to the public, at the price of two dollars 

 per acre, one-fourth to be paid down, and the remaining three- 

 fourths to be paid by instalments, in five years ; at which time, if 

 the payments are not completed, the lands revert to the State, 

 and the prior advances are forfeited. When a purchaser has 

 made his selection of one, or any number of vacant quarters, he 

 repairs to the Land office, pays eighty dollars, or as many times 

 that sum, as he purchases quarters, and receives a certificate which 

 is the basis of the complete title which will be given him, when he 

 pays all. The sections thus sold are marked immediately on the 

 general plan, which is always open at the Land office, for public 

 inspection, with the letters A. P., t. e., advance paid." 



The island being already divided into counties, it would only 

 become necessary to lay out wards. The sections or lots might 

 contain 640 acres, arid be divided into halves, quarters, half- 

 quarters, and smaller lots of six acres. The sale might be 

 advertised for six months previously, not in the " Royal 

 Gazette," but in the different island newspapers, and notices 

 posted in the locality to be disposed of. It should take place in 

 the month of December, in order to afford to the purchaser an 

 opportunity of clearing his land and building his cottage during 



