casionally to the Indians at Shinecock. He continned at Montauk Point about 10 years. On the 29th of August, 1759, he was ordained by the Suffolk Presbytery. He next engaged in a mission to the Oneidas, and continued with them till he accompanied Mr Whittaker to Europe, and was the first Indian preacher who visited England. The houses in which he preached were thronged. Between February 16, 1766, and July 22, 1767, he preached in various parts of the kingdom, and between three and four hundred sermons. On his return from Europe, he remained a while at Mohegan, whence he removed, in 1786, to the Stockbridge Indians at Brothertown, Oneida County. Many of the Mohegans and several of the Montauk tribe accompanied him to that place, where he died, in July, 1792. While in England he preached in the crowded chapels of London, and even occupied the pulpit of Whitfield with acceptance. The house in which he formerly lived, and the church in which he preached, are, or were lately, standing at Montville, New London County, Connecticut. PAUL CUFFEE, another Indian preacher, a man of singular eloquence, and of very considerable powers of mind, formerly labored among the Indians at Montauk and Shinecock; and although not a person of much education, was a useful and respectable man. He was buried nearly a mile west of Canoe Place, where the Indian meeting-house then stood; and over whose grave a neat marble slab has been placed, upon which is the following inscription : Erected by the Missionary Society of New-York, in memory of the Rev. Paul Cuffee, an Indian of the cess. Humble, pious, and indefatigable in testifying the gospel of the grace of God, he finished his course with joy on the 7th day of March, 1812, aged 55 years and 3 days." In Johnson's " Wonder Working Providence," a book as rare as it is singular, it is stated that when the English first com menced the settlement of Long Island, the Indians annoyed them much by the multitude of dogs they kept, which ordinarily were young wolves brought up tame, and continuing of a very ravenous nature. In 1643, one year before the Dutch war with the Indians north of the Sound, the Governor made a treaty with Pennowits, Sachem of the Matinecock Indians; and in 1646 made a treaty also with Tackapausa, Sachem of the Marsapeague tribe, and with the representatives of five others. Thus the Dutch on the west, and the English on the east end of the island, maintained a firm and constant friendship with the natives near them; the consequences of which were the most happy on both sides. THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT. The hope of discovering a north-west passage to India, which had long been a favorite project of the maritime powers of Europe, and as yet hardly abandoned, was the propelling motive of several voyages undertaken by Henry Hudson in the first part of the seventeenth century. Two of these voyages were made in the years 1607 and 1608, in the service of an English association, which, being at length discouraged by ill success, finally abandoned the enterprise. On his third voyage in the service of the Dutch East India Company, Hudson, with a picked crew of twenty men, partly English and partly Dutch, ran down the coast from Newfoundland to 35° 4' N. lat., to ascertain whether a passage to the Pacific might not be found through the continent of North America. Retracing his route, he entered Delaware Bay on the 28th of Angust, 1609, but declined to explore it on account of the intricacy of the channel. Following the eastern shore of New Jersey, he anchored his ship, the "Half-Moon," on the 3d of September, 1609, within the beach at Sandy Hook; and after exploring the river to Albany, again put to sea, and arrived in Europe the 7th of November, 1609. Although disappointed in the main object of the voyage, the Dutch Company believed they might establish a profitable trade in furs with the natives upon the Hudson River; and repeated voyages were afterwards made, that excited the ambition of private adventurers, which the Company endeavored to prevent by obtaining a decree of the States General in their favor, thereby securing a monopoly to themselves. This took place 27th March, 1614. In the service of this Company Adrian Block and Hendrick Christiance sailed, in the year 1614, and arriving here, erected a fort and a few dwellings upon Manhattan Island or its neighborhood by consent of the natives. The former of these navigators first sailed through Hell Gate, and passing the Sound in his way to Boston, gave name to Block Island, and discovered Long Island to be entirely surrounded by water. An alliance was immediately formed between the Dutch and Indians as an indispensable pre-requisite to the safety of the infant settlement, and to ensure to themselves the full benefit of an established trade. Yet, as the main object of the Company was the commercial advantages to be derived from the fur trade, little was done for some years in the way of colonization and settlement of the country. In 1621 the great West India Company was formed in Holland, sustained by the wealth and power of the " States General." The former licensed trading Company was merged in this, which gave great additional means and facilities for peopling the country with emigrants from Holland. And to this circumstance may be ascribed the first successful attempts of the Dutch to plant colonies in America. In 1623 and 1624 the Company fitted out two ships for New Amsterdam, as New-York was then called, in one of which came Peter Minuit, the first director general or governor of the New Netherlands. Although the history of this interesting era is very defective, in consequence of a want of documentary evidence, yet enough has been preserved to exhibit the manner in which the settlement of the country gradually progressed from the first rude beginnings to the establishment of regular government, and a commerce of considerable extent and importance. The West India Company had by their charter an exclusive right to trade to America for twenty-four years, and the governor held his commission by their appointment. The Dutch made a purchase of land upon the island called Manhattan in 1623, and gave to the settlement the name of New Amsterdam, and to the country generally New Netherlands; by which appellations they continued to be known till the conquest by the English. King James, about the same time, granted a patent to the London Company, under which they laid claim to New-York. The Dutch and English both claimed Long Island upon the ground of prior discovery of the country, it having been a principle generally adopted by the European powers, or a part of the convential law of nations, that new discoveries should enure to the nation under whose authority, or by whose citizens they were made. And it was alleged by the English, that Sebastian Cabot had, while in their service, discovered the whole of North America from thirty to fifty-eight degrees of north latitude; that many voyages had been made to different parts of the coast by English navigators previous to the year 1606; and that King James had, by letters patent, in that year granted all that part of the continent between 34 and 45 degrees of north latitude to Sir Thomas Gates and others, with permission to divide themselves into two companies; the first to be called the London Company, and the other the Plymouth Company. In consequence of these conflicting claims of territory, both powers endeavored to strengthen their authority by encouraging and extending their settlements upon this continent. The English, however, mostly confined their operations to New England, while the Dutch claimed New-York and New Jersey, and even the country as far east as Connecticut River. Wonter Van Twiller, the first Dutch governor (so called) of the New Netherlands, assumed the administration in the year 1629, and continued in authority till 1638. Authentic history presents little account of the administration of this gentleman; but a work of exquisite humor, in which fiction builds upon the ground-work of truth, has fully amplified his renown; and the name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, his panegyrist, will for ever remind posterity of the imperturbable gravity and unutterable ponderings of "Walter the Doubter." During his administration, settlements began to be made in King's County, and near its close, or very soon after, in the eastern part of Suffolk, particularly Southampton and Southold. The respective settlements under the Dutch and English in the several towns, were nearly cotemporaneous, and were all considerably advanced within the period of forty years; although there does not appear to have been any union or combination among them till the formation of Ridings at the conquest in 1664. In the Dutch towns the lands were chiefly, if not universally, purchased in the first instance from the natives by the governor, and by him granted out to individuals or companies; but in the English towns within the Dutch territory, the lands were procured by the first settlers immediately from the Sachems and head men of the several Indian tribes; and in the territory independent of the Dutch, the lands were bought from the natives, (originally with the consent of the agent of the Earl of Stirling,) and afterwards by their own free contract with the natives. In the case of grants to companies from the Dutch governor, the lands were subsequently divided among the individual inhabitants by lot; and in all other cases of purchase, individuals were deemed entitled to a quantity of land in proportion to the amount paid by each toward the purchase thereof, or the expense of the patent by which it was confirmed. And long after the settlements of the several English towns, in the distribution of the common lands of the town, the number of acres apportioned to each individual was in exact ratio with the sum contributed to the original purchase, or to the expenses incident to obtaining of patents, or other charges of a public nature. Thus, in the town of Hempstead the portions allotted to the individual inhabitants differed from ten to two hundred acres. In a few instances large and valuable tracts were purchased by associations of individuals for themselves, and have remained private property ever since. Such is the case with the lands of Montauk and Shinecock. A few towns have at the present time large quantities of common lands, which are only improved as a common pasturage, or for cutting the grass. The town of Jamaica possesses a considerable tract of common meadows, which are rented out for the benefit of the town, or cut by the inhabitants themselves; |