and into quarters by a transverse
line. In sales under certain conditions, quarters are sold in equal
subdivisions of forty acres each, at one dollar and twenty-five cents
per acre. Any person, whether a native born citizen, or a foreigner, may
purchase forty acres of the richest soil, and receive an indisputable
title, for fifty dollars.

_Ranges_ are townships counted either east or west from meridians.

_Townships_ are counted either north or south from their respective base
lines.

_Fractions_, are parts of quarter sections intersected by streams or
confirmed claims.

The parts of townships, sections, quarters, &c. made at the lines of
either townships or meridians are called _excesses_ or _deficiencies_.

_Sections_, or miles square are numbered, beginning in the northeast
corner of the township, progressively west to the range line, and then
progressively east to the range line, alternately, terminating at the
southeast corner of the township, from one to thirty-six, as in the
following diagram:

+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 18 | 17 | 16[A]| 15 | 14 | 13 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
| | | | | | |
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| | | | | | |
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
[A] Appropriated for schools in the township.

I have been thus particular in this account of the surveys of public
lands, to exhibit the simplicity of a system, that to strangers,
unacquainted with the method of numbering the sections, and the various
subdivisions, appears perplexing and confused.