Colonel Boone receives a large grant of land from the Spanish Government of Upper Louisiana--He subsequently loses it by neglecting to secure the formal title--His law suits in his new home--Character of the people--Sketch of the history of Missouri--Colonel Boone's hunting--He pays his debts by the sale of furs--Hunting excursions continued--In danger from the Indians--Taken sick in his hunting camp--His relatives settled in his neighborhood--Colonel Boone applies to Congress to recover his land--The Legislature of Kentucky supports his claim--Death of Mrs. Boone--Results of the application to Congress--He receives one-eleventh part of his just claim--He ceases to hunt--Occupations of his declining years--Mr. Harding paints his portrait. In consideration of his official services as Syndic, ten thousand arpents[58] of excellent land were given to Colonel Boone by the Government. Under the special law, in order to make his title good, he should have obtained a confirmation of his grant from the immediate representative of the Crown, then residing in New Orleans. But his friend, the Commandant at St. Louis, undertook to dispense with his residence on the land which was another condition to a sound title, and Boone probably supposed that "all would be right" without attending to any of the formalities, and neglected to take the necessary steps for holding his land securely. It is probable that he foresaw that Missouri would soon become a part of the United States, and expected justice from that quarter. But in this he was disappointed, for when that event took place, the commissioners of the United States appointed to decide on confirmed claims felt constrained by their instructions and rejected Colonel Boone's claims for want of legal formalities. Thus was the noble pioneer a second time deprived of the recompense of his inestimable services by his inattention to the precautions necessary for securing his rights. This second misfortune came upon him some time after the period of which we are now writing. Meantime Colonel Boone found his residence in Missouri agreeable, and in every respect congenial to his habits and tastes. His duties as Syndic were light; and he was allowed ample time for the cultivation of his land, and for occasional tours of hunting, in which he so greatly delighted. Trapping beaver was another of his favorite pursuits, and in this new country he found abundance of this as well as other species of game. A greater part of the people of Missouri were emigrants from the United States, pioneers of the West, who had already resisted Indian aggressions, and were welcomed by the French and Spanish settlers as a clear accession to their military strength, A brief notice of the history of this State, showing how the different kinds of population came there, will be not inappropriate in this place.