Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/78

 42 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. It appears, from the researches of the Hon. Silas Wood, that there were not less than thirteen distinct tribes on Long Island, over which the Montauks, who inhabited the eastern- most part of the island, exercised some kind of authority, though they had been themselves tributaries of the Pequods before the subjugation of these by the English. The two ex- tremities of the island were settled about the same time, the eastern by the English, and the western by the Dutch. The original records of the towns examined by Mr. Wood show, that the lands were in both districts always purchased from the Indians in possession. It was only in 1665, after the British had taken possession of New York and the whole of the island had been annexed to that government, that it was ordained, that no purchase from the Indians without the Gover- nor's license, executed in his presence, should be valid.* The Indians appear to have been at times, or at least with a single exception, on friendly terms with the English ; and although there is some discrepancy in the accounts, it is probable that the hostilities, which had previously existed between those In- dians and the Dutch, had ceased prior to the year 1655.f The several tribes of Long Island spoke kindred dialects, of which we have two specimens ; Mr. Wood's short vocabulary of the Montauks, from a manuscript in the possession of the late John Lyon Gardner ; and that of a tribe called Unchagogs (by Mr. Wood), taken in 1792, by Mr. Jefferson, and in the possession of the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Jef- ferson states that the dialect differs a little from those of the Shinicooks of South Hampton, or of the Montauks ; and that these three tribes barely understood each other. The language appears to me to differ farther in its vocabulary from those of New England, than any of these from each other. Although a reservation of land was made for those Indians, there remain only some Montauks ; and the language is said to be extinct. In the absence of the Dutch records, during the fifty years of their dominion, (1610-1664,) w T e have been obliged to resort to the transient notices of the English or American wri- ters. A certain fact asserted by all of them, confirmed by eye- witnesses, and acknowledged by the Indians, is that the Mohicans or River Indians including the Wappings, had been subjugated f Wood's Account of the Settlement of Long Island,
 * Smith's History of New York, p. 54.