Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/780

 776 DELAWAEE EIVEE DELAWAEES and Cape Henlopen (lat. 38 47' and Ion. 75 5' 30"), which are about 15m. apart. It is about 60 m. long to the entrance of Delaware river, of which it is a broad estuary, and from 25 to 30 m. in greatest breadth, contracting toward the north to a width of less than 5 m. The main channel admits the largest vessels to the head of the bay and into the river, having from 35 to 75 ft. of water ; but the course is made tor- tuous by the numerous shoals which nearly fill the central portion. The United States gov- ernment has constructed an extensive break- water at Cape Henlopen, forming a safe and capacious harbor, with a depth of from 4 to 6 fathoms. (See BEEAKWATEE.) DELAWARE RIVER (Indian name, MaTcerisUt- tori), a river of the United States, formed by two small streams called the Oquago, or Co- quago, and the Popacton, which rise on the western declivity of the Catskill mountains, in Delaware co., N. Y., and unite on the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania, near the N. E. angle of the latter. Flowing S. E., it separates those states for about 70 m., until it reaches Kittatinny (or Shawangunk) mountain, near Port Jervis, N". Y. At this place it makes a sharp turn to the S. W., and forms the dividing line between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At the N. extremity of Northampton co., Pa., it passes through a de- file formed by perpendicular rocks on either side 1,000 or 1,200 ft. high, known as the Del- aware Water Gap. A few miles below Easton it turns again to the S. E., and after passing Trenton meets tide water 132 m. from the sea. The stream, turning again to the S. W., now becomes much wider, and acquires sufficient depth for the passage of steamboats. Phila- delphia, on the right bank, is the head of navi- gation for the largest ships. On the other side of the river, in New Jersey, are the towns of Burlington and Camden, the latter being just opposite Philadelphia. The channel is here about 1 m. wide, and divided by a small island. A number of other islands, none of them of great extent, occur in various parts of the stream. Bridges span it at Trenton and seve- ral other points. About 40 m. below Phila- delphia the river discharges itself into Dela- ware bay, after a total course of 300 m. In the lower part it separates New Jersey from Delaware. Its chief tributaries are the Le- high and Schuylkill in Pennsylvania. The Delaware drains about 11,000 sq. m. of terri- tory. The Delaware and Hudson and the Morris canals connect the stream with the Hudson. The Erie railway runs in the valley of the Delaware for a distance of nearly 90 m. The shad fisheries in the lower part of the river are very profitable. DELAWARES, a tribe of the Algonquin fam- ily of North American Indians, dwelling when they were first known by the whites in de- tached bands under separate sachems, on the Delaware river, and calling themselves Ee- nappi (the collective term for men), or as now written Lenape or Lenno Lenape. The Dutch began to trade with them, in 1616, and main- tained a friendly intercourse with the various clans, the most important being the Sankhi- cans at the falls of the river. In 1632 the Dutch settlement of Swanendael was utterly destroyed by them, but trade was soon resumed. The Swedes'on settling on the river were well received, and made attempts to Christianize the Indians, Luther's catechism being trans- lated into their language by Campanius, and printed in Stockholm. The Delawares claim to have come from the west with the Minquas or Conestogas, after having driven from the Ohio the Allegewi (perhaps the Alkansas or Arkansas of the Illinois traditions). The Minquas soon reduced the Delawares to a state of vassalage, and when they were con- quered by the Five Nations, the latter termed the Delawares women. At a later period the Delawares claimed to be the source of all the Algonquin tribes, and were styled grandfathers by many of them. They formed three clans or families, the Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf. The Dutch and Swedes bought lands of the Ee- nappi, who had to strike inland for game to supply furs. The English after the con- quest of New Netherlands kept up the trade, and Penn with his followers, occupying the land in still greater numbers, bought large tracts ; all the Indians within his limits were at the time estimated at 6,000, with ten tribes of whom he made treaties. The Delawares complained bitterly that they were grossly defrauded in the interpretation of the treaty, called the "walking treaty," and showed a reluctance to remove ; but in 1742 the Penn- sylvania authority called upon the Six Nations, who haughtily ordered the Delawares, as wo- men, to retire. The Dutch, penetrating to the Minnisink country, had already induced the Indians there to retire to the Susquehannas, where they became known as Minsees or Mun- sees, or joined that tribe. The Nanticokes of Maryland, a kindred tribe, also centred there. From a gentle, peaceful tribe, the Delawares, now thrown together in presence of war- ring nations, became warlike and energetic, and assumed a mastery. In a war with the Cherokees they reached the Ohio; and by consent of the Wyandots and Kickapoos, who certainly had no rights, part of the Delawares settled there and remained till 1773. In 1741 the Moravians began to labor among the Dela- wares near Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pa., and soon had a little church of converts. When the French attempted to gain the valley of the Ohio, they won some of the Five Nations, and through them the Delawares. Many took up arms and fought under the French flag at Braddock's defeat and elsewhere; but the Senecas, again joining the English, turned on the Delawares and Munsees, and attacked one of their towns on the Susquehanna. Part of the tribe, guided by the Moravians, had always held to the English ; others made peace at