“ They might provide for a division among the several Indians which should vest an absolute title in each, beyond the power of the tribe or the government to disturb without the personal consent of the individual; or they might provide for an individualizing of the right of occupancy, giving to each person a sole right of occupancy in a particular tract, a right guaranteed against invasion by any individual, but still within the power of the tribe as a tribe to convey by treaty. ”

“ The earlier treaty provided in language similar to that now under consideration for the assignment of portions of the tribal reservation to individual members in severalty and for the issue by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs of certificates for the assigned tracts, 'specifying the names of the individuals to whom they have been assigned respectively, and that said tracts are set apart for the perpetual and exclusive use and benefit of such assignees and their heirs.' Assignments were made and certificates issued under that treaty and thereafter the treaty of 1867 was negotiated. ”

“ In January, 1882, a considerable number of the assignees, some being chiefs who had participated in the negotiation of the treaty and whose names were signed to it, memorialized Congress as follows (Sen. Mic. Doc., No. 31, 47th Cong., 1st Sess.) :
'We, the undersigned, members of the Omaha tribe of Indians, have taken out certificates of allotment of land, or entered upon claims within the limits of the Omaha reserve. We have worked upon our respective lands from three to ten years; each farm has from five to fifty acres under cultivation ”

“ The article directly provides for a change in tenture-an 'assignment or division' in severalty of communal property. Nothing is said about passing the fee held by the United States, and there is no provision for patents. ”