USA > Rhode Island > The lands of Rhode Island : as they were known to Caunounicus and Miantunnomu when Roger Williams came in 1636 : an Indian map of the principal locations known to the Nahigansets, and elaborate historical notes > Part 6
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Rhode Island is not alone in this matter of torturing Indian names. I will give a specimen for Maine. "This is Wytopitlock-seemingly simple enough, but in everyday affairs a name strangely twisted and tortured. Wytopitlock is a little postoffice in Reed plantation, Aroos- took county, and the postmaster up there has kept a record of some of the more remarkable attempts at spelling its name. Here are a few : Whitplock, Winter Pitlock, Widow Padlock, Witter Petlock, Witter Pelog, Whytlock, Wytlock, Witter Pictlock, Wylapittock, Wypticlock, Witeopitelock, Wittipetlock, Psytolock, Pwytopetlock, Anytopetlock, Flytopetlock, Wytopills, Wyte Pedlock, White Oak Padlock, Wytporetock, Witipidlock, Westapitlock, Whetlock, Wyto- pillock, Westapitlock, Whetlock, Wytopillock. Mitaplock. Wadopit- locs, Peadlook and Weetopedlock. The place is commonly known among the woodsmen as 'Pitlock."
.
A recent writer thus states the difficulty in these times of attempt- ing to define Indian names : "The Abenaki designations are generally descriptive of the character of the localities to which they were ap- plied-eloquently so, in fact-but the significance of many of them
1
57
RHODE ISLAND INDIANS
. is not accurately known at this day even to those few persons who have made a careful study of the language, for the corruption of terms, which began even before Henry David Thoreau came to Maine 50 years ago has obscured their original form, in many cases past recognition, and hence the meanings, except where obvious to the scholar and investigator, are often in doubt."
The orthography of the Indian language is wholly the work of the English, and chiefly of the first settlers; but the recorders of deeds and town records have been the great violators. A fine illus- tration of this fact can be seen by an examination of the 18th volume of the Providence Early Records. The time covered was 1682-1722. I will give a few specimens of common English names from the index of this volume and the numbers of varieties: Jencks, ten varieties, specimen Juincks; Hawkins, seven varieties, specimen Haukncess; Crawford, twelve varieties, specimen Crufrd; Ballou, seven varieties, specimen Bellow; Aldrich, six varieties, specimen Allderedge; Abbot, six varieties, specimen Abut: Fenner, seven varieties, specimen Fenr. When a recorder, in English, makes such work in spelling English names, what can be expected when he comes to transcribing? The application of names, all being the same to different localities, must have been the work of Englishmen. as, for instance, Causumset : Pocasset ; Namquit ; Aquidneset, etc., etc. The varieties of orthography, together with a variety in locality, must render etymology extremely difficult and recalls the remark of Dean Trench, "How perilous it is to etymologize at random". This recalls my attempt to locate on the Indian map the locality "Nar- raqueseade" ( Prov. Early Rec. 18, p. 323). In despair I applied to the editor of the volume ( Edward Field ), who referred to the original document .0397, and informed me that the transcriber was at fault, the words being "narrow passage". AAccuracy on my own part is extremely difficult under such conditions.
There are a great many Indian words as now used which grew from intercourse between the English and the Indian. The name Lily, a flower, is one of them. No Indian name was known in the 17th century, but one appears at the end of the 19th century. Roger Williams knew no such word in 1643; John Eliot knew no such word in 1663; nor did Joli Cotton in 1685, but Josiah Cotton, who was
58 -59
RHODE ISLAND INDIANS.
a son of the latter, early in the 18th century gave the word Kossepeshon as meaning a rose or a lily. A recent compiler applies the name specifically to each, a rose and a lily. It cannot be true. By referring to Eliot's Indian Bible, the first verse of the Song of Solomon, chapter 2 reads, "Nen Shavone rose kat oonouhkoiyene lilie". The King James version reads, "I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the Valleys". Cotton (John) assisted Elliot. If the Indian dialect contained the word Kossepeshon, and it meant what George T. Paine said it meant, why did they not use it? There can be but little faith in the derivation and meaning of alleged Indian names as it was given at the end of the 19th century.
1
1
( ++ Awamp;).
Allums
LOWATUCKGUT
Burrellville
14 Woonsocket
2 North Smithfield 15 East Providence
3 Cumberland
16 Coventry J
17 Warwick
18 Barrington
19 Warren
20 Bristol
21 West Greenwich
22 East Greenwich 23 Exeter
24 North Kingstown
25 Huprinten
13 Pawtucket
1
6
Vine
Sugar
28 Westerly
29
Charle:towy '
Pas
guntur
SHOGONAUG
Wawalona
Absoluta Swamp
.MI
Murquetopang
Mostra
Imapaug
setamecbur
Toora
IMPinsulk
XCE
PAQUA BACK
-0
TICUT
Mata,contonG
-
Pecanaset
rodous
CANSET
SHAWOMET
Prebe's Neck
----
I
10
Ituxet
July 1676
MACHEK
PASCONUQUIS
76
CAUSUMSET
20
JEWuten
Monto
achuret
M.71714
KESIKOMUCK
ACOULDNESIA
Pac
-
FONTS
PURCHASE
34
WYAPUMSCUT
PIQUE
it's
I
23
Murder of Marito nome
) L
UMTORD'S
-
SHANNUCK PURCHASE
-
WINNERS ComeCUT
WESTOTUCK
Wudyas ki
PURCHASE
NAMCOOK
30
35
32
26
CHIPACHUAR
WINATOMPIC
GYANTON'S
PUALFIALE
löschung
shannach
27
Bagelauthat
Navigano
Head of the Plugituch
Chickamug
LEWIS'
PURCHASE
Chamewauke
QUACarava
AVO
MATY
SI .....
PUKLEN
anitale
with Present Political Divisions Indicated
by SIDNEY S. RIDER Providence Rhode Island 1903
Entered according To Act of Congress in the year 1903 by Sidney S. Rider in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington
P. 59a.
n
WUNNASH
Massnaglacanet
5 Smithfield
6 Lincoln
7 Toster
I now Ween
SUAMOGUTY
2
9 Johnston
3
10 Cranston
11 North Providence
MAMANTAPIT
12 Providence
1
- INyanchele pama shipsh
Amalecon
WeSQUAD
Juinsnaket
Hipsschuch
-
Malateconit
PAWTUCKET
SEACLNCKE
of
Gy Tiverton
35 Little Compton
IHTICUT
Vonagan
Capomeset
SECASACUT
SETVAT
NTI
Conso
CONGAMATEY
A
Wesconang
-
ASCOCA(NOXSUA
WECHENAMA
CAPANAGANŞET NASTUKÉT
SCATACOKE
Z
Metaubsect
N
POTOWOOML
Pojack
chil
SAWGOQUE
35.300 - ACRE PURCHASE
21
. G
CHIPACHOONG
Aspananfuck
BLY'S PURCHALE Pensacaco
24
Aqui
CUINENAH
You
Tunipas
winches
Ashunsunk
Pettaquanscot
con
mamy!
Coajdet
Saucutucket
yangon
Tomaque
PURCHASE
nungdoch
LANDS
WATCH
T
repnach. .
Naugatuck
Tishratuck
Macounsacol
PINABAUQUE
Minesamuel. SUONOCONTAUG
MAP OF THE COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND
giving the INDIAN NAMES OF LOCATIONS AND THE LOCATIONS OF GREAT EVENTS IN INDIAN HISTORY
WAGIATUCHET.
ALittle Nuhiganset River
MISOU
NIA
NIANTIC
-
1
QUINUNL CUT
-
--
ug
BASSOQUTOQUAG
newaluck
Nonequesset
QUAMATUCUMPIE
QUANATUMPIC!
Matuoket
Acnaast
Asausrace
PUNCATEST
? Fight
NAHLGANSET
enise
POCASSE
Wutuppa Ponds
H
93494IM
ÖrQuidnoch
COWESET
Chipsna
Manipicona tet
VAMET
Matapoiscy
AQUŁEDRUCK
queednuck
Namquit
LANDS
Absolonomiscut
The - . Cawncawnja
.
PROVIDE
WACHAMOGVOT
Capture Anawon
SQUANNAKONK
Tumrow
POMICA
MOSHAN Pachatel
PANOAG
26 Richmond 27 South Kingstown
NIPMUY
IVA BAQUASSET
PASSCOGUL
Jo Jamestown JI Portsmouth
32 Middletown
33 Newport
Wana squatucket
8 Scituate
CANANGOGUM
LANDS
Nismosahet
SENECHATACONET
LANDS
Anticburrough Gute) .
CHE PATSE
Mutu
equationcent
NAMKUG
MAKON'A
ACQUIDNÉCK
Quacut
VS30
WAPEWASICK
Supower
weskontr
MANISSES
4 Glocester
/ COQUASSYc
WANSKULA
FOFASOVS.
THE ACQUISITION OF THE INDIANS LANDS, NOW FORMING THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, 1636-1672,
WHEN, HOW AND CHIEFLY BY WHOM ACQUIRED WITH .
A FEW NOTES
.
THE ACQUISITIONS OF THE INDIAN LANDS
The whole body of the lands now forming the State of Rhode Island, were, in 1636, owned by the Indians then dwelling upon them. They were acquired by the English settlers here first, by direct pur- chase from the Chief Sachems of these Indian Tribes who were led to sign deeds of the lands; the deeds being always written by the purchaser. The table which follows shows these purchases from 1636 to 1672, giving the localities under the Indian names, how ac- quired, and who acquired them. But there were large acquisitions of lands which came in other ways. These also have been included in the table, as for instance the Charter of 1663. This charter con- firmed the titles in all the deeds of lands given by Chief Sachems. The charter also gave jurisdiction to the colony of Rhode Island of a strip of land three miles wide and extending the entire lengtli of Narragansett Bay. upon the eastern side. Much of this land had been purchased by Newport men, and for that reason, they obtained this jurisdiction. Both Plymouth and the Massachusetts colonies resisted this grant with so much force that it did not become operative until 1746, and then, under a decree of the English King. George the Second. The charter also affirmed the validity of the submission of the Chief Sachems and these lands to the jurisdiction of the English King. This submission was obtained by Samuel Gorton in 1643, and saved Rhode Island from destruction.
The "confirmation" deeds obtained by William Harris in 1659 are also included in the table for the reason that these deeds practically extended the bounds of the first purchase made by Roger Williams in 1636, so as to include all lands north of Shawomet to the present line of Massachusetts and a considerable territory south of the south- ern line of Shawomet. and west along the present Connecticut line.
For a more elaborate account of these deeds and the results which succeeded them, see Rhode Island Historical Tract, Sec. Ser. No. 4, pp. 72-80.
(61)
62
ACQUISITIONS FROM THE INDIANS
-
YEAR.
INDIAN LOCATIONS.
HOW' · ACQUIRED.
BY WHOM ACQUIRED.
NOTES.
1636 1637
Moshausuck Chibachcwesa
Deed Decd
Roger Williams .. Roger Williams and Gov. John Winthrop. Roger Williams ...
The Islands Pindence and Patience. Named "Hope" by Williams,
1637-8 Aquedneck
Deed
Coddington and his Friends
" The Great Island."
1641 1642
Cuucumsqussuck
Deed
Deed Deed
1646
Loquasquissuck
1654 1654
Sckesacut.
Deed
proprictors. Clenichts and Holden Ezekiel Holiman.
First purchase.
Aquidneset.
Potowomut and Deed
Richard Smith.
Second purchasc.
1656
Aquedneset
Aquopimokuck Deed
Dced
Dced
Deed Deed
Benedict Arnold.
Now known as Goat Island. Now Coaster's Island. Now Hog Island. . Known as Boston
1659
Wyapumscut and Deed
Atherton Partners ...
Mascacowagc.
These lands werc in the South of East Greenwich, and the Northern part of North Kingston.
1659
Naneqnoxet
and Deed
Thomas Holden and Probably in North Samuel Gorton .... Kingston, the latter Fox Island.
1659
Coweset.
Deed The Town of Provi- Purchase advised by Williams.
dence ..
1659
The three coll- firmatio'n and the men of Paw- deeds tuxet ". ". Men of Providence For an account of this transaction see R. I Hist. Tract, Sec. No. 4, pp. 72-80.
1650
Pettaquamscht .
Deed
Wilbur-Hull-Porter Second purchase. -Mumford-Wilson.
1660 1660
Third purchase. Deedcertificdbyother Sachems in 166).
166]
Pettaquisont
Deed Wilbur -- Hull-Porter Third purchase, each
1662
Westotucket
Deed Gardner-Stauton ....
time extended. Caused long trouble, see Potter's Narra- gansett 67.
1663 1664
The Charter ..
Deed
Knight aud Hall
These four localities were the Fast, South West and North bound.
1665 1672
Devil's Foot Rock
It was the King's
purchase .
1672
Conockonoquit.
Deed John Greene, Thomas Province. Waterman and Known as the Fone's others . purchase. Rose Island. Peleg Sanford.
1657 1658 1658 1658 1658 1659
Nontusiunk or Nom- SushinC
Dced
Benedict Arnold.
Woonachasct, Chiswenock
Dced
Richard Smith.
Namcook
Dced
Atherton Partners
Neck.
Now called Gould's Island.
1657 1657
Quimunicht
Pettaquaniscut
William Coddington Now Conanicut- and Benedict Arnold. First purchase. Dutch Island. Wilbur-Hull-Porter -Mumford-Wilson. Benedict Arnold. ...
Aquidneset.
Thomas Gould.
Richard Smith. John Greene. . Samuel Gorton and cleven other 111ch ... The thirteen first Purchase agreed, but deed not signed ..
1642
Occupassnctuxet. Showomet.
Potowomut and Deed ..
Sowanoxct.
Potowomnut.
Deed Richard Smith .. .. .
Misquamicut
Deed Vaughn - Stanton -
Fairfield and others.
-. Mumford-Wilson.
Quamatucumpic Chipachnack Quowatchaug Winnotompic.
Deed
The Nar'g's't Country
By the King's Commission The Colony of Rhode Island
An Island.
Gift.
63
RHODE ISLAND INDIANS
In this table, under the year 1637, but with no date attached, is in- cluded an island given by Miantinomi to Roger Williams. When it was given we do not know. It first appears in history in 1658 (R. I. Col. Rec. 1, 383). But Miantinomi having been murdered in 1643, must have given the island at some carlier date.
The Moshausick purchase was made individually by Roger Wil- liams and the deed runs to Mr. Williams. At the time when the pur- chase was made there was no man of any pecuniary resource what- ever in his company. Two years later several such men had joined the settlement, and Mr. Williams deeded his purchase to the thirteen men known as the First Proprietors.
The first agreement to a transfer of land by these Sachems to Wil- liams was verbal. This verbal transfer covered only "the lands and meadows upon the two fresh rivers called Mooshansuck and Wan- asquatucket". The written deed made different and slightly more extended bounds. It established and confirmed the bounds of these lands "from the river and fields of Pawtuckqut. the Great Hill of Notaquonckanet on the Norwest, and the ( Indian ) town of Mausha- pog on the west. The first appearance in any written record of the name Notaquonckanet is in this deed which was written by Roger Williams. There were no limits expressed or fixed by the deed either to width of the meadows or lands conveyed, nor to the extent up streams so far as the two fresh rivers Mooshausuck and Wanasqua- ticket are concerned. No lands, on what is now the Blackstone River, were conveyed save the fields of Pawtuckqut, and the name Pawtuxet River did not appear until the William Arnold copy of the deed was laid before the Town Meeting early in the year 1658. For these reasons, and for one other material reason, the plantations of the first planters were laid along the banks of these "two fresh rivers". The great material reason referred to was the destruction. by the Indians. of the forests which for ages had covered these banks. The Indians kept them destroyed, and the lands cleared in uncon- scious preparation for the coming civilization.
The lands upon the great hill Notaquonckanet were not covered by the deed. The hill itself was a bound. The lower lands were gradually acquired by the extension of plantations. These exten- sions gave great dissatisfaction to the minor Sachems at Pawtuck-
-
64
ACQUISITIONS FROM THE INDIANS
qut, at Notaquonckanet, and at Maushapog. These minor chiefs came constantly complaining. These complaints led the Great Sa- chems together with Roger Williams to make other, and more speci- fic bounds. This was done by Miantinomi personally and hence the new limits were fixed not later than 1642. These new bounds were peculiar natural objects to which English names were subsequently given. These names were Sugar Loaf Hill, north from Pawtucket and on the right bank of the river, Bewit's Brow, Observation Rock, Absolute Swamp, Ox Ford. and Hipses Rock. ( Prov. Early Record 2, 73). The last mentioned bound was directly west from the west- ern base of Notaquonckanet Hill and not more than a fourth of a mile away. This act by Miantinomi was retroactive in its effect upon the lands covered by the deed. It extended the meadows of the Mooshausuck to a point beyond the Blackstone including the fields on both banks at Pawtucket, and it covered all lands upon the sum- mit of Notaquonckanet as far west as Hipses Rock. Thus these lands now being made a park came into possession of the first proprietors of the Plantation of Providence by the act of Miantinomi at some time near 1642.
The two deeds obtained by the Arnolds, the first by Benedict Ar- nold in 1644, of the Shawomet lands as far as the Pawtuxet river extended, and the second, obtained by William Arnold. of the Me- shanticut lands in 1645, are not included in the table for the reason that they were secretly obtained from inferior Sachems and secretly taken with the Sachems to Boston, and there recorded. The purpose of the Arnolds was to throw the Rhode Island lands under the juris- diction of Massachusets, when these deeds would vest the lands 'n the Arnolds. But since this event did not take place the lands never vested in the Arnolds.
I now come to the third source of acquisition, to wit, by the exter- mination of the Narragansett Tribe by the war waged against the tribe by the outside colonies, Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connec- ticut, 1675-1676, and waged solely for the puropse of seizing the In- cian lands and grasping the jurisdiction. This tribe before the war numbered. according to Brinley ( Mass, Hist. Soc. Pub. ist Ser. 5. 216), thirty thousand, and it could put into the field five thousand armed men. Callendar gives the total number in 1730 as being 985.
65
RHODE ISLAND INDIANS
. With the close of the day, the 2d of July, 1676, not one Narragansett Sachem was left living, and all their lands both title and jurisdiction had fallen to the Colony of Rhode Island. Indian wars ended on the 12th of the month of August following by the death of King Philip. On the 27th of October. 1676, the Rhode Island General As- senibly met and assumed jurisdiction over these lands, then of un- known extent. Connecticut and the other colonies were equally de- termined to acquire them. At the May session, 1677, the General Assembly passed unanimously a resolution to vindicate their juris- diction unto the Narragansett Country, from the intrusions of the Connecticut Colony ( R. 1. Col. Rec. 2, 567). During the nine months, - October. 1675. to July, 1676, Connecticut troops had ten times in- vaded the southern lands of Rhode Island, burning and destroying everything with the Anchor and Hope upon it. These expeditions had "driven or forced the inhabitants out of their habitations with the loss of all, or the most parts of their estates ; they were necessi- tated to fly up to this island ( Aquidneck ) for relief." (Col. Rec. 2, 573). It was the rankest of violations of the Rhode Island and Con- necticut charters that it is possible to imagine, but Connecticut was determined to seize all the lands west of the bay. (Col. Rec. 2. 567).
There are other deeds to individuals from individual Indians which are not included in the preceding table. They are not original in the acquisition of the lands of Rhode Island and the jurisdiction thereof.
In exactly thirty-six years from the arrival of William Harris, and William Arnold, and William Carpenter at Providence, at which time the Narragansetts owned all the lands in the State. as now ex- isting, these Indians had lost not only every acre of land, but their lives as well. It is to the everlasting honor of the inhabitants of Rhode Island that force was never used by them in the acquisitions of these lands. Wars had been waged by the Connecticut, Ply- motith, and Massachusetts Colonies against the Narragansetts for the sole purpose of acquiring their Rhode Island lands, and while the tribe was destroyed. the lands fell at once under the charter into the Colony of Rhode Island. But there was another way used by the English settlers in obtaining lands from the Indians; it was which might be called the elasticity of the Deeds. No sooner had an Englishman obtained a title than he began stretching his acres
.
66-67
RHODE ISLAND INDIANS.
in every direction. An illustration exists in the case of Hipses Rock. It was the most western bound of Providence, under the first purchase and set by Miantinomi himself; but in a very few months, after it had been fixed. the English were trading lands with each other a mile west from it. The most curious attempt at a transfer and delivery of these lands of the Indians took place at Pettaquamscut in the spring of 1662. It was by "Turf and Twig". The Atherton partners performed the farce, using a young Sachem. Scuttape. This ignorant Indian was told to act for himself. his brother, and two cousins, having no authority from either, in trans- ferring all the Rhode Island Indian lands to these Atherton partners. "He did it, but the transfer never materialized ( Fones' Records. 71). This symbolic transfer came from the most ancient European na- tions. The buyer, in the presence of witnesses, extended his cloak and the seller threw into it a clod of the land which he had sold. From this came the "turf and twig farce". It was brought into England by the Saxons, who considered the delivery of turf neces- sary to establish the title to land. The English added the verge, or rod, or branch. to it and thus came the turf and twig. What mean- ing could all this pantomime at Pettacumscut have had with the two hundred Indians then present ?
THE POLITICAL DIVISIONS INTO TOWNS AND COUNTIES WIIICH FOLLOWED 'THE ACQUISITION OF THE INDIAN LANDS.
POLITICAL DIVISIONS INTO TOWNS AND COUNTIES.
At its May session, 1677. the General Assembly declared it would "give unto the inhabitants of this jurisdiction ten thousand acres of land in the Narragansett. or King's Province, to be equally divided among one hundred .( 100) men, such as this Court (the General Assembly) shall approve" ( Col. Rec. 2, 474). It immediately in- corporated the town of East Greenwich, giving Five Thousand Acres, and naming Forty-eight of the men. In 1706 it extended the arca of East Greenwich west to the Connecticut line ( Digest, 1719, 55). Against the incorporation of East Greenwich, a petition was sent to the King. It was apparently signed by Forty-two of the inhabitants of the country south of East Greenwich, but every signature was written by the same hand. Scrambles for the pos- session of these vacant lands, which fell into the possession of Rhode Island through the efforts of those colonies which had determined to destroy, became so incessant that the General Assembly. in October. 1707, ordered them surveyed. This was no sooner accom- plished than a committee was appointed to examine and report on all "squatter" claims-the claims of "mortgage men"-and of the surviving "Atherton partners" (Col. Rec. 4. 36, 50). This work was concluded in October. 1708, and the committee was directed to proceed to sell the lands. There were not far from 150,000 acres. The first sale was made on the 27th May. 1700, and the last one May 10, 1712. These lands all lay south from the southern line of Showomet. or, as we now call the Showomet lands, Coventry, and Warwick. The present town of West Greenwich and a large part of East Greenwich, the western end was carved out of these lands which came to Rhode Island by virtue of the exertions of Con- lecticut. Out of the purchase of Moshassuck, which was extended by the Confirmation Deeds of 1659, obtained by William Harris ( Rhode Island Hist. Tract 4. Sec. Ser. 73-76) came the towns
-
١
70
DIVISIONS INTO TOWNS.
Providence, Pawtucket, North Providence, Cranston, Johnston, Scituate, Foster, Smithfield. Glocester, Burrillville, North Smithfield. Lincoln came through a purchase made by Roger Williams, Gregory Dexter, and two others from Ousamequin (Col. Rec. 1, 31. 34). Cumberland came into Rhode Island by the Decree of the King, George the Second. The Maxon, Lewis, Bly, Shannock and Mum- ford purchases were all made, not from the Indians, but from the colony during the years 1709-1712. Out of these purchases came the political divisions which we now call Hopkinton, Richmond and a large part of Exeter: South Kingston came by the Pettaquam- scut ; Westerly came by the Misquamicut Deeds : North Kingston came by the Pettaquamscut ; the Namcook, the Aquidnesit and the Cawcumsqussuck Deeds; Coventry and Warwick came by the - Showomet Deed. By the charter, 1663, came Barrington, Bristol, Warren, Tiverton and Little Compton. This, I think, covers the ac- quisition of all the Rhode Island lands save only Manisses, which came by the solicitation of its inhabitants and the acceptation by the General Assembly (Col. Rec. 2. 32). A detailed list of the lands sold during the years 1709-1712 by the Colony to sundry individuals was prepared by the late Elisha R. Potter, and published in his Early His- tory of Narragansett ( 214-219). A rudeness of construction and a vagueness in language has often been remarked concerning the Deeds from the Indians. Some Englishman wrote every one of them. No Indian could ever read or understand one of them. The feudal tenure was then the law of England: it was divided, and subdivided, into not fewer than eighty separate and distant tenures. The title by fee simple came a quarter of a century later. Few men in England were then able to own land: and fewer still possessed even an elementary knowledge of the written title to land; the technical, but useless, verbiage of an English Deed would have shattered the mind of an Indian Sachem : it indeed proved too much for the English settlers, and hence arose the vagueness which has been remarked. Mr. Williams has written : "The natives are very exact and punctual in the bounds of their lands, belonging to this or that Prince, or People, even to a river or a brook. I have known them make bargain and sale amongst themselves for a small piece, or quantity of ground." In the light of such a fact, Mr.
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