It was under a belief of his superiority over the chiefs of the other tribes, that the first settlers were anxious to have their purchase deeds signed by that chief, as well as by the sachem of the tribe of whom the land was purchased. The confirmation deed of Hempstead in 1657, the deed for Lloyd's neck, and others, are executed in this manner, and in some of the original deeds the Montauk chief is styled the sachem of Long-Island. The superiority ascribed to the chief of that tribe after the settlement of the country, might have arisen in part from the distinction conferred on him or recognized by the commissioners of the united colonies. In 1651 it is stated in some of our early records, that they constituted one who is supposed to have been the Montauk chief, grand sachem of the Long-Island Indians. It is probable that the commissioners only recognized or confirmed an authority with which they found him invested. It is evident from the early writers of New-England, that the *Pequots, who occupied the country around New-London, and was the most warlike tribe in Connecticut, had subdued the Montauks with their tributaries, and that at the time of the first settlement of New-England, the Long-Island Indians were in subjection to the Pequots, and paid them a tribute. The victory over the Montauks involved the subjection of all the tribes that were under them, and the conquest of the Pequots must have embraced all the tribes on the island east of the Canarse territory. In 1637, the New-England colonies made war on the Pequots, to avenge the murders and other hostile aggressions which they had committed on the whites, and subdued and dispersed the whole tribe. The Long-Island Indians who had been subject to the Pequots, immediately repaired to the English to make their peace with them Winthrop, in his journal, states that on the reduction of the Pequots in 1637, "sachems from Long-Island came voluntarily and brought a tribute to us of twenty fathom of wampum each of them " From this time they seem to have considered themselves to be in subjection to the English, and to have paid them tribute, perhaps the same they had paid the Pequots. In 1644 they applied to the commissioners for some evidence of their rela The Pequots were a very warlike and potent people about 40 years since, (1624), at which time they were in their meridian. Their chief sachem held dominion over divers petty sagamores, as over part of Long-Island, over the Mohegans, and over the sagamores of Quinapak, yea over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut river, and over some of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuck country about Quinabaug," GOOKIN'S HISTORY. tion to them, and the commissioners gave them a certificate in writing, in effect promising them security from injury by the English, and all others in friendship with them; at which time they assured the commissioners" that they had been tributaries to the English ever since the Pequot war, and that they had never injured the English or Dutch, but had been friendly to both," which implied that they had been subject to the Pequots and followed their fate. In 1650, the commissioners sent Captain Mason to LongIsland to require payment of the tribute due from the Indians there, and to settle a way in which it might be punctually discharged in future. In 1656, the Montauk chief visited the commissioners at Boston, and in answer to an inquiry whether he had paid the tribute due from him stated that he had paid it at Hartford for the space of ten years, and that it was in arrear for the four last years, which they remitted in consideration of his distressed condition by the late war in which he had been engaged with the Narragansetts.* In 1653, Ninnigrate, the chief of the Nehantic Indians, who were either a tribe of the Narragansetts or closely connected with them, made war on the Long-Island Indians, which lasted several years, and reduced them to great extremity. He invaded the territory of the Montauks, and would have extirpated the whole tribe, if they had not found protection in the humanity of the people of East Hampton. They were obliged to abandon their villages, and to flee for refuge to East Hampton, where they were kindly received, sustained, and protected. The continued to reside in that town for several years, before they deemed it safe to return to Montauk. In 1655, Mr. Thomas James, the minister of East Hampton, and others, wrote to the commissioners and informed them that the Indians on the island must submit themselves and their country to the Narragansetts, unless they should speedily have some assistance. It is not easy, at this distance of time, to perceive the justice of the imposition of this tribute imposed on the Montauks, who, with a few exceptions of individuals of mischievous disposition, appear to have been uniformly friendly and faithful to the English. In 160 the Pequots remonstrated against the tribute exacted of them, and inquired why it was imposed, and how long it was to continue, and whether their children unborn were to be subject to it. In answer to these inquiries the commissioners stated that it was imposed in 1635 for the murders they had committed, and which they had agreed to pay. They agreed, however, to remit all that was in arrear, and that it should only continue ten years longer, during which time it was exacted. It is not probable that the tribute was continued longer on the Montauks than on the Pequots, and the only cause of its imposition seems to have been their former subjection to that tribe, and that it probably ceased to be exacted in relation to both tribes after 1660. The commissioners sent military supplies to the towns of East Hampton and South Hampton, and to the Indians. They stationed an armed vessel in the sound under the command of Captain John Youngs, with orders to stave Ninnigrate's canoes, and to destroy his forces if he attempted to pass over to the island. The commissioners also gave orders, that in case the enemy should pursue the Indians within two miles of any of the settlements, the inhabitants should immediately repair to their assistance. During the same season they sent a small force against Ninnigrate, which was rendered ineffectual by the mismanagement of the officer who was entrusted with the command. In 1656, Massachusetts declined further aid in suppressing the war of Ninnigrate against the Montauks, and the whole burden of their defence devolved on the colonies of Connecticut and New-Haven. They generously continued Captain Youngs with his vessel on the same station that year at their sole expense, and the war seems not to have ceased until the end of the year 1656, or perhaps some time in 1657. In one of their enterprizes, the Narragansetts, among others, took the daughter of Wyandance, the chief sachem, prisoner, who was ransomed by the aid of Lyon Gardiner, the first proprietor of Gardiner's Island, in gratitude for which, the chief, in 1659, presented him with a deed for the territory which now forms the town of Smith Town* * Lyon Gardiner was a Scotchman, and had served as a Lieutenant in the British army in the low countries; he came over in 1635, and erected the fort at Saybrook, under lords Say and Seal, Brooke, and others, and had the command of the garrison until the fall of 1639, when he removed to the Island that has since been called after him, which he had purchased of the native proprietors, and was confirmed to him by a deed from James Farret, "deputy of the Right Honorable the Earl of Stirling, Secre tary of the Kingdon of Scotland," bearing date the 10th of March, 1639. Lyon Gardiner's son David, born at Saybrook 29th April, 1636, is supposed to have been the first white child born in the bounds of Connecticut, and his daughter Elizabeth, born on the Island, September 14th, 1641, may have been the first English child born within the territory of New-York. Lieutenant Gardiner carried several families with him to the island, probably for security, as they removed to East Hampton as soon as that town was settled. He seems to have been in high estimation both with the English and Indians. Wyandance, in 1659, presented him a deed for the territory which now forms the town of Smith Town, in gratitude for the favors he had received from him. He removed to East Hampton, in 1655, and was frequently, if not uniformly, chosen to the magistracy of that town till his death in 1663. Gardiner's Island, which at the time of the death of Lyon Gardiner, in 1663, was appraised at 7001 now pays about one sixth part of the taxes of East Hampton. The island contains 3000 acres, of which 600 are refuse, and about the year 1800 maintained on an average yearly: In Winter, 260, and in Summer, 340 head of neat cattle, do. do. 60 40 80 horses, do. do. 60 swine, do. 2200 sheep. These various and successive general wars, with such as may have taken place between separate tribes, must have contributed greatly to reduce their numbers, and to render the whole island much less populous than it would otherwise have been at the time of the first settlement of the country. Of all the tribes that were found on Long-Island, there remain only a few families of Montauks and Shinecocs, with a few scattering ones, at different places on the south side of the island. * Of the state of Society among the Indians. The Indians on Long-Island raised corn and vegetables, and these with the deer, wild fowl, and various kinds of shell fish and other fish that abounded on the Island, must have afforded them easy and ample means of subsistence; yet notwithstanding these advantages, they still continued in the hunter state, and had made no advances in the arts, which are usually first cultivated in the infancy of society. They were not distinguished by their dwellings, their clothing, their domestic utensils, or weapons of war, from the natives [of the interior. Except their canoes, of which those that belonged to the chiefs, were very large, and their arrow-heads, which were curiously wrought out of the hardest stone; the only materials of art among them, seem to have been some rude vessels of earth hardened in the fire, and these are sometimes found in their shell banks. There was at that time commonly raised on the island yearly, 50 acres of wheat yielding about 17 bushels per acre. 35 bushels per acre. 15 do. 10 do. of oats, do. 8 bushels seed per acre. It yielded about 250 tons of English and 100 tons of meadow hay, and employed on an average, winter and summer, about sixteen hands. This island has continued entire in the same family, and the present owner, David Johnson Gardiner, is the eighth owner, and seventh lineal descendant from Lyon Gar diner. The celebrated pirate Kid called at this island on his way to Boston, when he returned from his cruise in 1699, and deposited there a box of gold, silver, and precious stones, under the charge and at the risk of the then owner, an account of which was found among his papers when he was taken up at Boston, and the box was delivered to the commissioners who were appointed to secure his treasures.-See appendix. *At the first settlement of the island, the Montauks were considerably numerous; their numbers were diminished by their war with Ninnigrate, in 1655, and by emigration from time to time to the Indian settlements on the main shore. In 1761 they amounted to thirty-eight families, and to 192 souls; subsequent to that time, the tribe was still further reduced by the emigration of a number with Sampson Occum and other Indians to Brothertown, in 1786. They do not at present exceed half a dozen families, nor amount to more than thirty souls. The Indians on Long Island seem to have abounded in wampum, the Indian substitute for money. It was made out of the shells of different species of shell fish, of the size of beads, and perforated like them. The beads were black or blue, and white, and the black were double the value of the white, and this fact clearly shews that some standard of value is essential to social intercourse in the rudest state of society.* The Dutch and English both, either from necessity or convenience, resorted to the use of this Indian money, and the value of it was fixed either by law or custom. In the early stages of the settlements, three black beads or six white ones passed for a penny. Belts made of wampum were exchanged at the treaties between different tribes, as symbols to perpetuate the memory of the transaction. The same causes that diminished the numbers and prevented the increase of the Indians, contributed to retard their progress in improvement and civilization. The religious notions of the Long-Island Indians, are preserved in a communication of Sampson Occum, an Indian minister, which is published among the collections of the historical society of Massachusetts. They had a plurality of Gods, but believed in one great and good being, who had the control over all the rest. They believed in an evil spirit, and had their conjurers or pawaws. They believed in a future state of existence, and that there would be a distinction according to their behaviour here. They made sacrifices to their Gods, and performed such other acts of worship, as are common among the Indians in general. Their conjurers were said to have intercourse with the evil spirit, and by the Duke's laws of 1665, it was enacted "that no Indian should be suffered to pawaw or perform worship to the devil in any town within the government. The language of the Montauk Indians is supposed to have been the common language of all the Long-Island Indians, and differed but little from that of the Narraganset, the Massachusetts, and other New-England tribes.† *The Indians upon Long-Island seem to have abounded in this article. Winthrop in his journal states, that Massachusetts in 1634, sent the bark Blessing, which appears to have been the first vessel that was built in that colony, to Long-Island; and that the Indians there had "store of the best wampam, white and blue, and canoes that would carry 80 men." It is supposed that there were only two original Indian languages in the United States, north of the Roanoake: the Delaware and the Iroquaois. The languges of the different tribes of New-England, and most of the Indian tribes from the Mississippi to Nova Scotia, are only different dialects of the Delaware language. The structure of the Indian languages is different from that of all known languages, |