De Villemont et al. v. United States et al.
is the place called for in the request and order or warrant of survey.
But the petitioners have wholly failed to show by testimony that there existed a Cypress swamp above the place called Island of, or Point, Chicot, which was to constitute the upper boundary of the tract of land intended to be granted. In the absence of this proof, it is manifest that no precise locality is given to the tract of land claimed by the petitioners. To give identity and locality to the tract of land intended to be granted, it is evident that an actual official survey, made by the surveyor-general of the province, one of his deputies, or a private person appointed for that purpose, was essential. This, however, was never done. The tract of land claimed by the petitioners has never been identified and severed from the royal domain, and upon this ground alone the claim is null and void.
For the reasons upon which this opinion is founded, I refer to, the decision at the present term in the case of The Heirs of Elisha Winter v. The United States, [ante, p. 344,] and the authorities there cited.
The petition must be dismissed, and the petitioners pay all costs.
From this decree the petitioners appealed to the supreme court, where, at the December term, 1851, the case was argued by Mr. Taylor for the appellants, and Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Crittenden, attorney-general, for the United States, and Mr. Pike for Horace F. Walworth. It is reported in 13 Howard's S.C. Rep. 261; and there was delivered the following opinion of the supreme court:—
By CATRON, J.—The heirs of Don Carlos de Villemont filed their petition in the district court of Arkansas to have a confirmation of a grant for two leagues of land front by one league in depth, lying on the right descending bank of the Mississippi at a place called the Island del Chicot, distant twenty-five leagues below the mouth of the Arkansas River; the Cypress swamp of the island being called for as the upper boundary of said tract.
