THE AUSTIN PAPERS. 403 within the grant. As I have not leisure to write them all, be pleased to make known through the public prints: 1st. That I shall comply with the condition of the grant, and effect the settlement to the full extent, and in the same manner contemplated by my late father. 2d. That I shall explore the country, and then select the most judicious points for our settlement. 3d. That a port has been established by the proper authority, in the Bay of St. Bernard, which will at once secure great facilities to commerce. • 4th. That I am authorized to introduce and settle on the grant, three hundred families; and they are permitted to carry with them all the property, effects and supplies they think proper. 5th. That every facility will be given calculated to aid the settlers, and they will be secured in grants of land proportionate to the numbers of each family, and the force or means they possess of carry- ing on useful and agricultural pursuits. Liberal grants of land will also be made to mechanics of all de- scriptions who will become settlers; but no settler will be receive<l, or grant made to any individual, who does not produce satisfactory evidence of good character and industrious habits; and the settlers will supply themselves with certificates to this effect from some court, magistrate, mayor, justice, notary, or other public officer. The objects of this settlement are entirely agricultural. The rich- ness of the soil, healthfulness of the climate, contiguity to the sea, and ·other natural advantages, promising a reward to our labors, which few spots on the globe could furnish to an equal extent. I shall return to Natchitoches in Louisiana, by the 25th Sept. and after a visit to Herculaneum, in the state of :Missouri, shall proceed with the settlers to the points of location. All persons desiring information, will address me at "Hercula- neum, Missouri," and their letters shall be answered immediately on my reaching that place.-As the communications will be numerous, it is expected that the applicants for information will pay the post- age on their letters. . I will publish on my return, the point at which the settlers had best convene, and in the mean time, those who may come on should not descend the Mississippi river below the mouth of Red river, nor go farther into the interior than Natchitoches. Persons wishing to become settlers will forward me to Hercula- neum, their. names, occupation, number and description of their families and the number of work hands they would employ. Mechanics will be particular in describing their trades, and the number of persons, including apprentices, attached to their families.
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