INDIAN DEED for Lands to WM. PENN, 1683.

I, KEKELAPPAN, of Opasiskunk, for me, my Heirs and Assignes, do hereby give and grant unto William Penn, Proprietary & Govenr. of ye Province of Pennsilvania, &c., his Heirs & Assignes, that half of all my Lands betwixt Susquahanna & Delaware, which lyeth on ye Susquahanna side; And do hereby further promise to sell unto him at ye next Spring, at my return from hunting, ye other half of my Land, at as reasonable Rates as other Indians have been used to sell in this River. In witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand & Seal at Philadelphia ye 10th 7ber, 1683.

Witnesses present.

LASSE COCK,

ESSEPENAICKE,

His mark.

PHILIP TH. LEHNMANN.

[The foregoing four deeds are all on paper.]

KEKERAPPAN.
His mark.

I, MACHALOHA, Owner of ye Lands Delaware River, Chesapeek Bay, & up to ye Falls of Sussquahana River, do hereby declare to have [sold] and do sell unto William Penn Proprietary & Goven" of ye [Province] of Pennsilvania & ye Territories [thereunto belongsaid Land on ye aforementioned river (part of ye pay thereof I acknowledge to have

ing

ye remainder

ye no man overn' special by him & quietly. In & Seal at

ha

mark

[Original much rat-eaten and defaced, a portion lost. See Smith's Laws, Vol. II. p. 110.]

PROCLAMATION OF WM. PENN, 1683.

By me Wm. Penn, Proprietary & Govrn" of ye Province of Pensilvania & ye territories thereto belonging.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas ye Govern" of the New Jersey hath requested me yt ye order by him & ye Councill of ye said Coloney made concerning ye illegal Disposal of Lands, whin ye sd Colony by Thomas Mathews, might be made public in this province th'no Injury & Loss might come to such as unadvisedly are inclinable to purchase any part or tract of him, these are to give notice & to warn all ye Inhabitants of this Province & territories thereof to forbear dealing wth buying of ye sa Thomas Matthews any Lands so taken up as they tender ye security of their concerns & will answer it at their peril, given at Philadelphia ye 18th 5th mo 1683.

[From a rough draught or copy.]

WM. PENN TO HENRY SAVELL, 1683.*

MY WORTHY FRIEND,

Permitt a man yt has not troubled thee a long time to doe it now a little with ye news of this new world ye by it at least I may continue & preserve my claims to an old & very oblidging acquaintance I thank God I am come well to America & which is more, like it well but y' is no news, for a rude place & an unpolisht man cant but agree together.

The Land is good, Sand & Loom sometimes strong, ye air serene as in Languedock, the waters cool & sweet. One great navigable River ye Easterne bounds of or Province & three or four smaller, running into that, the woods yeild, us Cyprus Cedar Blk Walnut Sarsafrax Oak White, Blk, Red Spanish Chesnut and Swamp, ye hardest & most lasting Poplar ye, best in ye world, I have here a canoe of one tree y' fetches 4 Tunn of Bricks also Ash & many y' in England wee have not. The woods also yields us Grapes, Plumbs, Peaches, Strawberrys & Chesnutts in abundance. I have laid out a town, a

This appears to be a copy, and a very fair one, in the hand writing of

W. P.

S. H.

mile long & two Deep, on each side of wch is a navigable River ye least of which is as broad as ye Thames at Woolwich as I remember, from 3 fathom to 8. The winter is sometimes 3 months usually but two one in three years sharp, I suppose we have 80 houses in our town & about 300 farmers near it to help us with provisions & ye Merchants & Mechanics to accomodate them with goods.

The Natives are proper & shapely, very swift, their language lofty. They speak little, but fervently & with Elegancy, I have never seen more naturall sagacity, considering them wout ye help I was going to say ye spoyle of tradition. The worst is that they are ye wors for ye Christians who have propagated their views and yeilded them tradition for ye wors & not for ye better things, they believe a Diety & Immortality without ye help of Metaphisicks & some of them admirably sober, though ye Dutch & Sweed and English have by Brandy and Rum almost Debaucht y all and when Drunk ye most wretched of spectacles, often burning & sometimes murdering one another, at which times ye Christians are not without danger as well as fear. Tho' for gain they will run the hazard both of y' and ye Law, they make their worshipp to consist of two parts, sacrifices wh they offer of their first fruits with marvelous fervency and labour of body sweating as if in a bath, the other is their Canticoes as they call them wch is performed by round Dances, sometimes words, then songs, then shouts two being in ye midle yt begin and direct ye chorus this they performe with equal fervency but great appearances of joy.

In this I admire them, nobody shall want wt another has, yett they have propriety, but freely communicable, they want or care for little no Bills of Exchange, nor Bills of Lading, no Chancery suits nor Exchequer Acct. have they to perplex themselves with, they are soon satisfyed and their pleasure feeds them, I mean hunting & fishing I have made two purchases, and have had two presents of land from them.

Things here go on very prosperously & with God's help & ye King's & my Noble Friends favor I doubt not in 7 years to equall plantations 40 years older; as in a Town (ye life of a Province) I have already outdone some.

I doo earnestly Recomend the Bearer Capt. Markham my Kinsman, an Ingenious person & my Agent at Court for the compleatm' of my affairs Pray give him Access & Measures, favour our beginings and lett not this distance rob me of ye continuance of thy favour and friendshipp I have pardon to ask for a poor p'sent of our own growth lett ye heart y' makes ye offering vallue it with Thee, wch said, lett me take my leave with all good wishes for thy prosperity and continue ye character of w' I am without all Reserve.

My worthy Friend,
Thy very thankful, faithful, Friend,

Philadelphia, 30th 5 mo., 1683.

W. P.

WM. PENN TO THOMAS TAYLOR. 1683.

DR. FRIEND T. T.

PHILADELPHIA, 31-5th mo. 1683.

With dear Love in ye lasting truth I salute thee & thy dr. Wife & Bro. & Sister Barry & Friends as free. Kindly I take thy two Letters & desire thy loving correspondence, being a man yt I hold in much esteem & yt hath got no small place in my heart ye inclosed is to P. Loyd, I leave it wth a flying seal yt thou mayst read it, & not be uneasy in ye Delivery of it. I only do touch, but deeply too, as well as briefly, on things, let me know his resentm'. He 'loveth thee, & thou must in Gods way improve it. The seed is low in him, & he is for going into ye Wilderness; & looking at our coming out yt sing Salvation & Strength to our God, who for his Dominion setting up, he fears for us; Well 'tis an honest mind; but with thee I hope y' truth shall raign, & Truth's Authority rule, for God is a making ye place of his feet Glorious, ye Earth this lower orbe; but it must be after his Truth's fashion & not Egypts. Christ was liberal, keeps open house, eat wth Publicans, and by ye spiteful Professors slandered, & as a Friend to Wine-bibbers & Publicans. I am more private here y" in England, being perpetual the Crowd of ye Great at Court, Council & Parliam' Inns of Court, &c., for ye service of y' truth, & I hope this will not hurt me; but ye Lord y brought & y sent me I believe will keep me. Oh let all y' know ye Lord, be earnest wth him, y' we may be kept & carried on to his Praise. For ye story of ye La Balt; 'tis as false as yt I am a dead Jesuit (for so all over England I was reported, not without a jealousy whence it came too). I told him in England y' Jn° Fenwick offered me 1000 to get of ye Duke his interest in New Castle & those parts; but y' I refused to endeavour it, because Langhorn to whom I mentioned it, said ye Baltimore claims it as belonging to him;" weh is all; but yt ye Duke did offer it, or I said so, is as true as y' his Father offered to go to Tryal wth ye Duke by Consent, & y Duke refused, w ye Duke told me before 5 of his Commissioners (Lord Hyde one) y' he offered to buy it by Consent, & ye old L. B. would not, saying it was not fitt for him to go to Law wth ye King's Brother; yet I hear y' L Balt. hath been free wth his Discourse up & down his Province, weh ye Duke will rebuke, I doubt not. why also did I refuse, because I was in Treaty about your yea & nay going for an Oath. I had his promise at ye same time, & treated him at y George & Vulture for yt very reason, where he challenged wth me to have speak so, but hath not performed. Again, I finding this place necessary to my Province, and yt ye Presence of y L Balt. was agt Law civil & common, I endeavoured to gett it, & have it, & will keep it if I can. But ye Pr is good or bad at charging; for he charges my suppositions as concessions: If thou hast a Title to ye lower Countries, they are not ye farther off, because I have y"; &

But

if ye 40th Degree N. Latitude be higher yn common fame giveth it, wt wilt thou let me have it at Mile, and so pro rata, & I will wave ye King's Letter. I say, those Ifs be turnsout, & makes me confess both to be his; & was so silly as to write to me to give it under my hand; A Calumny to imagine I would not signe wt I say, as much as it was ridiculous to make me so to confess wthout any If, & yet ye contest continues. But he will be sorely disappointed in ye end, for these mean arts cannot hold long; like ye Story of Hopper : 1st he doth an unfriendly Act, & yn groundeth it upon a Fiction, refusing to name his author at New Castle (tho' in his Letter he promised it) In fine I love Plainness & Integrity; for yt God will

bless.

For my Letter to those at ye Head of ye Bay, 'twas as informed, I writt conditionally, if in my Province; he did not so at Marcus Hook in my Province; w" he forwarned ye Inhabitants, not to pay me Quitrent, though ye Line was not run. Nor yet in his late Proclamation, w he putt Whorekill into it yt is in mine & ye Duke giveth Possession, at a time too of Treaty, before a Demand had been regularly made or denyed: Besides he needed not have said Whorekills, if of his province, for East ford side of ye Province had been enough, & voyd of Offense. But if Whorekill must be in yt on purpose to sett ye People together by the ears; a Child may sec this. And whether this be to prove his reasonable peaceable Behaviour & desire of a good issue, let my Enemies ymselves judge, if they will not be false to their own understandings. But, Alas! Dr. friend, when a man can abuse kindness, say, I was proud at N. C. yt was humbler & freer wth him y" ever, & makes Capt. Markam & Alderick's way of civility, wthout my consent or knowledge, a reason why he should render y suffering of my Friends in Maryland in a matter of conscience to yt what I have more to say, but yt I have no hope of such an one. I add, yt w he refused under colour of Illness to setting each apart wth our Counsell, treat by Memorials signed by us (a thing he knew honest and wise, wherein neither could be abused) he went away so infected, & reported everywhere on occasion, yt we had ended ye matter. But for my Secretary who, to do ye man right, never spoak to me whilst at New Castle, but was tho infirm, alwaies in company wth him and & his People. He also charged Sawyer & Coursey wth saying something of my Secretary, yt he should drop reflecting both upon ye Ld. Balt. & myself, & w both were taxt with it by my Commissioners, they denyed it, & Sawyer swore yt his Lord should put none of his Tricks upon him. This is some of ye true History of things, & thus they will be found to all ingenious Inquirers. Sound P. L. if Sawyer's way be designed ye Liberty he uses to geer his L & his officers, to extol others & inform, or his way of jesting; for he is like to be in these parts. So dr Tho: in Love yt dyeth not, Farewell.

For yt of having ill men in ye Govermt they are not of my choosing but ye Peoples; 'tis ye freedom of ye Constitutions & ye fewness of