"Pierre de Rigault de Vaudreuil, governor, and Edme Gatien Salmon, commissary ordonnateur of the province of Louisiana:

"Seen the petition to us presented on the 16th day of June, of this present year, by the inhabitants of the parish of the Immaculate Conception, of Kaskaskia, dependence of the Illinois, tending to be confirmed in the possession of a common which they have had a long time for the pasturage of their cattle, in the point called La Pointe de Bois, which runs to the entrance of the river Kaskaskia, we, by virtue of the power to us granted by his majesty, have confirmed and do confirm to the said inhabitants the possession of the said commons, on the following conditions:

"First. — That the concessions heretofore granted either by the India Company, either by our predecessors or by us in the prairie of Kaskaskia, on the side of the point which runs to the entrance of the river, shall terminate at the land granted to a man named Cavalier, and in consequence, all concessions that may have been made on the said point from the land of the said Cavalier forward on the side of the entrance of the said river shall be null and of no effect. In consequence of which, the said point, as it is above  p295 designated, shall remain in common, without altering its nature; nevertheless reserving to us the power, whenever the case may require it, of granting the said commons to the inhabitants established and who may establish, and this on the representations which may be made to us by the commandants and sub‑delegates at the said place.

"Secondly. — On the road commonly called at the square line, between the large and small line, shall be rendered practicable and maintained for the passage of the carts and cattle going into the common, and this by each of the proprietors, as well of the great as of the small line, whose lands border on the roads of the square line unto the river, as also the one on the side of the point running to the Mississippi, and to the Kaskaskia river, they shall be made and maintained at the expense of the community, to the end that the cultivated lands be not injured by the cattle.

"Thirdly. — To facilitate to the inhabitants the means of making their autumnal harvest and prevent its being damaged by cattle, we forbid all persons to leave their cattle to range upon cultivated lands; they are, notwithstanding, permitted to graze them upon their own proper lands on having them diligently watched.

"Fourthly. — Willing that the wood which is on the land granted belong to the proprietors of the said lands, we forbid all persons to cut down hay, elsewhere, than on their own lands, and as to the wood which may be found in the commons, to cut down for  p296 their own use, either for building or for fire-wood, and this shall be the present regulation, to be read, published, and set up, to the end that no person may be ignorant thereof.

"Given at New Orleans, the 14th day of August, 1743.

(Signed) Vaudreuil.

(Signed) Salmon."