his life he received but little from the sparse population that was located there.

After the patent was divided, as above stated, Philip Philipse became heir by will to one-third of the patent, and during his life his estate enhanced in value, and he had agents to collect the rents of his large landed estate. He, like his predecessor, allowed those tenants denominated squatters, who inhabited the mountainous portion of the patent, to remain there rent free, thinking they would have to struggle hard enough to gain a livelihood without exacting any dues from them.

A squatter, whose name was Nazareth Austin, located on the south part of the patent, now known as Canopus Hollow, one of the roughest parts of it. Amongst his neighbors he usually went by the name of Ned. The patent was originally covered with forests, and Ned was there some years before the patentee discovered where he had squatted. Ned then had made some progress in clearing a little spot to plant some corn and potatoes between the rocks and stones, which literally covered the earth. He had erected a log hut, raised a yoke of steers, two cows, and a dozen sheep, and was so situated as to keep soul and body together. Horton pond, which is now known as Canopus lake, was but a little way from Ned's hut, and there he would resort evenings, and sometimes on rainy days, to spear the pickerel and bass which abounded in the water. Ned's family consisted only of his wife and daughter, and Pompey, the dog; they were the only inmates of his cabin. The few neighbors that lived near him, like all settlers, were fond of the chase

and spent much time in hunting. Ned having no sons, his daughter Jane would sometimes accompany them through the forests in quest of game and wild animals, which then inhabited those mountains. The wolves, sometimes, during the long severe winters, when driven by hunger, would come out of the mountains and make great havoc amongst the squatter's sheep and cattle, which was attended with a loss more or less severe to them. The squatters, too, were very eager to destroy the wolves more than any of the beasts of the forests, for the county had offered for every wolf's head five shillings English currency.

During one very cold winter the wolves became more troublesome than usual in the neighborhood, and some one would lose a sheep or other stock almost every night, and the settlers at length came to the conclusion to try to rid themselves of the wolves which infested the neighborhood. If a light snow had fallen during the night it was easy to track them to their dens. Such an opportunity soon presented itself to the squatters. A light snow had fallen, and the wolves had again committed depredations, carrying off and destroying several sheep. The squatters lost no time in pursuing them, and Ned, with several of his neighbors, including even his daughter, were eager in the pursuit. They followed the track with the help of Pompey, the dog, and soon found where a wolf had entered his den. It was a precipitous ledge of overhanging rocks, with an apartment underneath sufficiently wide for the wolves to enter. At the mouth were discovered partial remains of the head and legs of sheep and calves. The company concluded that

there must be a number in the cave, but how to force them from it was a difficult task. Ned had lost several sheep by the wild beasts. He made several flambeaux

out of birchen bark and pitch, which he obtained from the pine trees which the forests abounded in, and cautiously ventured into the mouth of the cave. The ingress was wide enough for him to proceed with gun in hand, with Pompey close at his heels. The wolves, seeing the approach of Ned, retreated out of the cave from the opposite side of the ledge. But Jane, who had been watching the movements with a double-barrel rifle, brought two out of three of them to the ground. "Bravo," cried Ned; "daughter, we will have the bounty now," and he soon had their heads hanging in his cabin.

Ned, during the winter season, spent his time principally in hunting, and in the spring he would take his wolves' heads to Poughkeepsie, to obtain the bounty, and when he received the money he would divide with his wife and daughter, and this was the only money that his family received. It was carefully treasured up, for the farm supplied Ned's family with the means of subsistence. Although it was mostly covered with rocks and large forest trees, Ned, with the help of his wife and daughter, felled the lofty pine, the sturdy oak, and removed large stones and piled them into heaps, and reared walls around the little clearings they had made. At length Ned had a dozen or more acres enclosed where he could keep his sheep from straying out into the gloomy forest.

In this manner Ned's daughter grew up accustomed to labor, helping her father on his farm, and during

her leisure hours she would take her rifle and Pompey and go to the forests in quest of game, and oftentimes the sharp crack of her rifle would stop the bounding moose and start the elk, which then were inhabitants of those mountains. At other times she would amuse herself in fishing in her little boat in the Canopus lake, taking the trout and the pickerel which abounded in the waters. Sometimes she would shoot the eider duck, for large flocks were often seen sporting on the surface of the lake. She could also manage the steers equal with her father. In this manner she grew up to womanhood, away almost from civilization. But Ned's wife was a woman of different tastes, and in her youth she had enjoyed polished society, and had received advantages of education, and although living there in the rude wilderness, where civilized man hardly entered, yet her appearance bespoke that she had seen better days. Her daughter Jane was her only hope, and it grieved her to think that she was shut up there in the wilderness secluded from the world, with no society but squatters to associate with, and no school but her father's cabin to educate her. During the winter season, when the weather was too cold to help her father cultivate his little plantation, or hunt in the forest, or fish in the lake, Jane would sit in their little cabin receiving the teachings of her mother, who had brought with her from Europe a neat library, which she had carefully preserved when she settled in this country with a colony of French Huguenots. Here in their log cabin she had taught her daughter the first rudiments of education, and all the useful branches of learning that she was capable of. Ned's pioneer life

had formed habits of necessity in his family, like all the first settlers of a new country, and although his daughter had been accustomed to this mode of living, yet the instruction she received from her mother gave her a polish which otherwise she could not receive, for education then in this country was confined to the few.

As the country became settled, the lands on the patent enhanced in value, and Philipse had come to the conclusion to make every man who was located on the patent pay rent or leave. Accordingly an agent was sent to accompany his son, a young man of twentytwo years of age, to ferret out the squatters. The old Philipse homestead then was at Carmel, on the south side of the lake. The agent and young Philipse set out on horseback, for the country then was too rough for wheel carriages, and they occupied several weeks in finding the number of inhabitants on their vast domains.

At length they came through Canopus Hollow, the roughest portion of the patent. It was in the month of December and the wintry winds were sweeping through the valley of Canopus, and they were cold and fatigued with the journey. It was late in the day when an opening was seen in the forests, and a log cabin was presented to their view. They rode up to the door and knocked for admission, when Ned opened the door and asked what they wanted. The agent replied that he was the authorized agent of the great Highland Patent, and he was sent out to look up the number of settlers that were upon it. He said the patentees had come to the conclusion that every man that was located on the patent should pay rent or