any timber except such pine timber as may have been heretofore estimated by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and without reference to improvements which may be located thereon.

§ 530. Appraisement of lands. [10]. The appraisement as herein provided shall be made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes shall each have a representative to be appointed by the respective executives to co-operate with the said Commission.

ALLOTMENT OF LANDS

§ 531. Allotment of lands.-[11]. There shall be allotted to each member of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes, as soon as practicable after the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of his enrollment as herein provided, land equal in value to three hundred and twenty acres of the average allottable land of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, and to each Choctaw and Chickasaw freedman, as soon as practicable after the approval by the Secretary of the Interior of his enrollment, land equal in value to forty acres of the average allottable land of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations; to conform, as nearly as may be, to the areas and boundaries established by the government survey, which land may be selected by each allottee so as to include his improvements. For the purpose of making allotments and designating homesteads hereunder, the forty-acre or quarter-quarter subdivisions established by the government survey may be dealt with as if further subdivided into four equal parts in the usual manner, thus making the smallest legal subdivision ten acres, or a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a section.1

§ 532. Homestead inalienable during lifetime of allottee. [12]. Each member of said tribes shall, at the time.

1 In re Joins, 191 U. S. 93, 24 Sup. Ct. 27, 48 L. Ed. 110; Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834.

of the selection of his allotment, designate as a homestead out of said allotment land equal in value to one hundred and sixty acres of the average allottable land of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, as nearly as may be, which shall be inalienable during the lifetime of the allottee, not exceeding twenty-one years from the date of certificate of allotment, and separate certificate and patent shall issue for said homestead.2

§ 533. Allotment of freedmen inalienable during lifetime of allottee.-[13]. The allotment of each Choctaw and Chickasaw freedman shall be inalienable during the lifetime of the allottee, not exceeding twenty-one years from the date of certificate of allotment."

§ 534. Disposition of surplus tribal lands.—[14]. When allotments as herein provided have been made to all citizens and freedmen, the residue of lands not herein reserved or otherwise disposed of, if any there be, shall be sold at public auction under rules and regulations and on terms to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and so much of the proceeds as may be necessary for equalizing allotments shall be used for that purpose, and the balance shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Choctaws and Chickasaws and distributed per capita as other funds of the tribes.*

§ 535. Allotted lands-Restrictions on.-[15]. Lands allotted to members and freedmen shall not be affected or encumbered by any deed, debt, or obligation of any character contracted prior to the time at which said land may be

2 Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; Hayes v. Barringer, 168 Fed. 221, 93 C. C. A. 507; In re Lands of Five Civilized Tribes (D. C.) 199 Fed. 811; Hancock v. Mutual Trust Co., 24 Okl. 391, 103 Pac. 566; Hoteyabi v. Vaughn, 32 Okl. 807, 124 Pac. 63.

3 In re Lands of Five Civilized Tribes (D. C.) 199 Fed. 811.

4 In re Davis' Estate, 32 Okl. 209, 122 Pac. 547; In re Lands of Five Civilized Tribes (D. C.) 199 Fed. 811.

alienated under this act, nor shall said lands be sold except as herein provided."

§ 536. Surplus allotments-Alienation of permitted.— [16]. All lands allotted to the members of said tribes, except such land as is set aside to each for a homestead as herein provided, shall be alienable after issuance of patent as follows: One-fourth in acreage in one year, one-fourth in acreage in three years, and the balance in five years; in each case from date of patent: Provided, that such land shall not be alienable by the allottee or his heirs at any time. before the expiration of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribal governments for less than its appraised value.

§ 537. Allotments-How selected.-[17]. If, for any reason, an allotment should not be selected or a homestead designated by, or on behalf of, any member or freedman, it shall be the duty of said Commission to make said selection and designation.

§ 538. Procedure in making allotments.-[18]. In the making of allotments and in the designation of homesteads for members of said tribes, under the provisions of this agreement, said Commission shall not be required to divide lands into tracts of less than the smallest legal subdivision provided for in paragraph eleven hereof.

§ 539. Excessive holdings prohibited.—[19].

It shall

be unlawful after ninety days after the date of the final ratification of this agreement for any member of the Choctaw

5 Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; Hayes v. Barringer, 168 Fed. 221, 93 C. C. A. 507; Frame v. Bivens (C. C.) 189 Fed. 785; Taylor v. Anderson (C. C.) 197 Fed. 383; Williams v. Johnson, 32 Okl. 247, 122 Pac. 485; In re Davis' Estate, 32 Okl. 209, 122 Pac. 547; Redwine v. Ansley, 32 Okl. 317, 122 Pac. 679; Harper v. Kelly, 29 Okl. 809, 120 Pac. 293; Howard v. Farrar, 28 Okl. 490, 114 Pac. 695; Simmons v. Whittington, 27 Okl. 356, 112 Pac. 1018: Lewis v. Clements, 21 Okl. 167, 95 Pac. 769; Taylor v. Parker, 33 Okl. 199, 126 Pac. 573; Keel v. Ingersoll, 27 Okl. 117, 111 Pac. 214.

6 In re Lands Five Civilized Tribes (D. C.) 199 Fed. 811; Tiger v. Western Inv. Co., 221 U. S. 286, 31 Sup. Ct. 578, 55 L. Ed. 738. See note to preceding section.

or Chickasaw Tribes to enclose or hold possession of in any manner, by himself or through another, directly or indirectly, more lands in value than that of three hundred and twenty acres of average allottable lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, as provided by the terms of this agreement, either for himself or for his wife, or for each of his minor children if members of said tribes; and any member of said tribes found in such possession of lands, or having the same in any manner enclosed after the expiration of ninety days after the date of the final ratification of this agreement, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 540. Excessive holdings prohibited.—[20]. It shall be unlawful after ninety days after the date of the final ratification of this agreement for any Choctaw or Chickasaw freedman to enclose or hold possession of in any manner, by himself or through another, directly or indirectly, more than so much land as shall be equal in value to forty acres of the average allottable lands of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes as provided by the terms of this agreement, either for himself or for his wife, or for each of his minor children, if they be Choctaw or Chickasaw freedmen; and any freedman found in such possession of lands, or having the same in any manner enclosed after the expiration of ninety days after the date of the final ratification of this agreement, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 541. Excessive holding-Penalty for.-[21]. Any person convicted of violating any of the provisions of sections 19 and 20 of this agreement shall be punished by a fine not less than one hundred dollars, and shall stand committed until such fine and costs are paid (such commitment not to exceed one day for every two dollars of said fine and costs) and shall forfeit possession of any property in question, and each day on which such offense is committed or continues to exist, shall be deemed a separate offense. And the United States district attorneys for the districts in which said nations are situated are required to see that the provisions of

said sections are strictly enforced, and they shall immediately after the expiration of ninety days after the date of the final ratification of this agreement proceed to dispossess all persons of such excessive holdings of lands, and to prosecute them for so unlawfully holding the same. And the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall have authority to make investigation of all violations of sections 19 and 20 of this agreement, and make report thereon to the United States district attorneys.

§ 542. Persons living September 25, 1902, but who die before selection entitled to allotments.-[22]. If any person whose name appears upon the rolls, prepared as herein provided, shall have died subsequent to the ratification of this agreement and before receiving his allotment of land the lands to which such person would have been entitled if living shall be allotted in his name, and shall, together with his proportionate share of other tribal property, descend to his heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution as provided in chapter forty-nine of Mansfield's Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas: Provided, that the allotment thus to be made shall be selected by a duly appointed administrator or executor. If, however, such administrator or executor be not duly and expeditiously appointed, or fails to act promptly when appointed, or for any other cause such selection be not so made within a reasonable and practicable time, the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall designate the lands thus to be allotted."

§ 543. Allotment certificates conclusive evidence of title. -[23]. Allotment certificates issued by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes shall be conclusive evidence of the right of any allottee to the tract of land described therein; and the United States Indian agent at the Union Agen

7 Mullen v. United States, 224 U. S. 448, 32 Sup. Ct. 494, 56 L. Ed. 834; In re Lands Five Civilized Tribes (D. C.) 199 Fed. 811; Hancock v. Mutual Trust Co., 24 Okl. 391, 103 Pac. 566; Hoteyabi v. Vaughn, 32 Okl. 807, 124 Pac. 63.