vers others, and himself also; and desired of the commissioners that he might be righted therein. About a year after the death of Miantonimoh, Ninigret undertook to organize a plan for extirpating the English, and sent a messenger to Wyandance, the Long Island Sachem, to engage him in it. Instead of listening to his message, Wyandance seized upon Ninigret's messenger, bound him, and sent him to Captain Gardiner at Saybrook fort. From thence he was sent under a guard of ten men for Hartford. But they were wind-bound in their passage, and obliged to put into Shelter Island, where an old Sachem lived, the eldest brother of Wyandance. Here they let Ninigret's ambassador escape, and thus Ninigret was informed that his plan was discovered and defeated. After the peace of 1654 between the Montauk Indians and those upon the main, the Long Islanders, pretending to visit Ninekunet at Block Island, slaughtered of his men near thirty persons at midnight, two of whom were of great note. After which Ninigret surprised some of the Long Island Indians upon Gull Island, and killed many of them; and for which massacre the general Court of Connecticut demanded several hundred fathoms of wampum as a satisfaction.

In 1761 the Indians had so diminished on Long Island, as in some places to have entirely disappeared, and in others greatly reduced; and even the once powerful Montauks could only number thirty-eight families, and one hundred and ninety-two souls. These were further reduced, in 1783, by the emigration of a considerable number to Oneida County with the Rev. Sampson Occom.

OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES.

The Indians on Long Island, on the arrival of the white people, were found divided into distinct tribes, or collections of families, having different names, and exercising exclusive and independent authority or control over separate portions of the territory; and these tribes had, moreover, each their chiefs and head men, called Sachems and Sagamores, with a sort of supreme power in the conduct of public affairs, questions of war, treaties, and the payment of tribute. From the Sachems of the

different tribes, and sometimes from a few other head men associated with them, the lands were purchased by the white people, and from whom have descended the title to all the real estate upon the island. Motives of honor, justice, and humanity, as well as true policy, dictated the propriety of such a course by strangers coming to settle in a country already occupied by a people, the undisputed tenants of the soil. The price was was always fixed by the convention of the parties, and good faith, it is believed, was always observed on the part of the white people.

The principal tribes inhabiting the island at that distant period, and occupying distinct and well-defined portions of territory, were thirteen in number, and were the undisputed claimants of the lands, over which they exercised an independent jurisdiction, as follows:

THE CANARSEE TRIBE claimed the whole of the lands now included within the limits of King's County and a part of the town of Jamaica. The principal settlement was probably about Flatlands, where there is a place which yet retains the name of Canarsee, and was, perhaps, the residence of the Sachem. The last of the tribe is known to have died about 40 years ago. The inhabitants, in the infancy of the settlement, had much difficulty with this tribe, and were compelled to erect places of defence, to prevent the consequences of surprise. The immense piles of shells at this place and upon Bergen Island, show their number must at one time have been very considerable.

THE ROCKAWAY TRIBE were scattered over the southern part of the town of Hempstead, which, with a part of Jamaica and the whole of Newtown, were the bounds of their claim. The greater part of the population was at Near Rockaway, and as far west as the present site of the Marine Pavilion. Those Indians who resided at the head of Maspeth Creek in Newtown, were a portion of this tribe, as deeds for land there were uniformly executed by the Rockaway Sachem, which could not have been the case had the Maspeth Indians been a distinct tribe. This tribe had likewise a settlement upon Hog Island, consisting of several hundred acres, situate in the waters of

Rockaway Bay. The banks of shells in different places are very large.

THE MERRIC, MEROKE, OF MERIKOKE TRIBE, as they have been differently denominated, claimed all the territory south of the middle of the island, from Near Rockaway to the west line of Oyster Bay; and were, in all probability, at some former period, a part of the Massapequa, or Marsapeague tribe. A part of the lands in the town of Hempstead were purchased of this tribe. They had a large settlement upon Hicks's Neck, and other Necks between that and the village of Merric.

THE MASSAPEQUA, OR MARSAPEAGUE TRIBE had their principal settlement at the place called Fort Neck; and from thence eastward to the bounds of Islip, and north to the middle of the island; being the usual boundary of all the tribes by a kind of common consent. The only remarkable battle between the whites and Indians was fought with this tribe, when their fort was taken and demolished by a force under the command of Captain John Underhill, about the year 1653.

THE MATINECOCK TRIBE claimed jurisdiction of the lands east of Newtown as far as the west line of Smithtown, and probably to the west side of Nesaquake River. This was a numerous tribe, and had several large settlements at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, and Cow Harbor; and they possessed, from their local advantages, the means of subsistence very abundantly.

THE NESAQUAKE TRIBE possessed the country east of the river of that name to Stony-Brook, and from the Sound to the middle of the island. The extensive shell-banks near the vil lage of Nesaquake show that it was the site of a considerable settlement, and probably the residence of the Sachem.

THE SEATALCOT, or SETAUKET TRIBE claimed from StonyBrook to the Wading River, and was one of the most powerful tribes in the county. They inhabited the sides of the different creeks, coves, and harbors, and upon Little Neck, (now called Strong's Neck,) which is supposed to have been a royal residence. THE CORCHAUG TRIBE owned the remainder of the territory from the Wading River to Oyster Ponds, and were spread along the north shore of Peconic Bay, and upon the

Necks adjoining the Sound. They probably claimed Robin's Island also.

THE MANHASSET TRIBE possessed Shelter Island, Ram Island, and probably Hog Island. This tribe, although confined to about 10,000 acres, could, as tradition affirms, bring into the field more than 500 fighting-men. The Sachem of this tribe was a brother of Wyandance, Sachem of Montauk.

THE SECATOGUE TRIBE adjoined the Masapequa Tribe on the west, and possessed the country as far east as Patchogue. The farm owned by the Willet's family at Islip is called Secatogue Neck, and was, it is supposed, the chief settlement, and residence of the Sachem.

THE PATCHOGUE TRIBE extended east from that place to Westhampton, and, as some think, as far as Canoe Place. The principal settlements must have been Patchogue, Fireplace, Mastic, Moriches, and Westhampton.

THE SHINECOCK TRIBE claimed the territory from Canoe Place to Easthampton, including Sagg Harbor and the whole south shore of Peconic Bay.

THE MONTAUK TRIBE had jurisdiction over all the remaining lands to Montauk Point, and probably included Gardiner's Island. The Sachem of this tribe was of so much consequence as to have been acknowledged the Grand Sachem of Paumanacke, as Long Island was sometimes called.

The lands in King's County were principally purchased by the governor of the New Netherlands from the natives, and by him disposed of to the settlers; but in all the English towns, purchases were made by the planters directly from the Indians, and for which patents of confirmation were subsequently procured from the governor after the conquest. It is presumed the Indian inhabitants paid little attention to the cultivation of the land, except the raising a small quantity of corn; but depended, in great measure, upon the flesh of the deer and other wild game, and the great abundance of fish, clams, and oysters, which were found on every shore, and in every creek and harbor. Except their canoes, some of which were very large, and their bows and arrows, the only materials of art among them, were some rude vessels of earth hardened in the fire, fragments of which are

sometimes found. The manufacture of wampum, and its use as money, is an evidence that, however siniple or limited the business of any people may be, some sort of circulating medium is indispensable. Governor Winthrop speaks of the superior elegance of the wampum made by the Long Islanders in the year 1634. The Dutch and English, both from necessity and convenience, resorted to this species of exchange, the value of which was adjusted by common consent and general usage.

The religious notions of the Long Island Indians are described in a communication from the Rev. Sampson Occom, an educated Indian minister, and published among the valuable collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

His words are, "They believe in a plurality of Gods, and in one great and good Being, who controls all the rest. They likewise believe in an Evil Spirit, and have their conjurors or pawaws." This ceremony was of so odious a character in the opinion of the white people, that by the Duke's laws in 1665, it was enacted that "no Indian should be suffered to pawaw, or perform worship to the devil, in any town within this go

vernment."

The language of the Montauk Indians is supposed to have been the same with that of all the Long Island Indians, and differing little from the Narragansetts and other New-England tribes.

It has been contended that no more than two original languages ever existed among the American Indians north of the Roanoke, the Delaware and the Iroquois,-the languages of the different tribes from Mississippi to Nova Scotia being, at most, particular dialects of the Delaware language. The structure of the Indian tongue is admitted to be different in many respects from all other known languages, ancient or modern.

SAMPSON OCCOм, the Indian clergyman above named, was born at Mohegan, on the Thames, near Norwich, Connecticut, in the year 1723; and was the first Indian pupil educated by the Rev. Mr Wheelock, at Lebanon, in 1742, at the age of 19 years, were he remained four years. About the year 1755 he went to Montauk, where he opened a school, and officiated ast public teacher of the Indian tribe there and preached also oc