were as Warriors, tó.submit to. That they had
fallen under the Iroquois power, prior to the settlement
of the English colonies, is* evident. No
battles between them are recorded to have taken
place, after the earliest plantations were made,
but the rupture was still -open When the Dutch
built fort Orange,' on the Hudson, for they used
their utmost influence to bring about a -permanent
pacification in the noted con^ocatiön of thé
two parties, which assembled' on the waters-Of
the Tawasentha, near that fort, about ! 6 Ö0. It
is believed that tbis treaty of amity Was faithfully
kept, ever afterwards; by both Delawares
and Iroquois. And it improbable that the Delaware
tale of peace-makers, which halbeen alluded
to* as calculated to-Sooth their pride, was
based on this general convocation.
.• Mohegans, Munsees, | 'Manhatiam, .Métöücs, and
other affiliated tribes., and bands of Algonquin
lineage, inhabited the^ banks ©f thé' Hudson
and the islands, hay and seaboard of,New York,
including Long Island, during the early periods
of the rise of the Iroquois confederacy.
We may take thé opening of the 16th-century,
as the period to examinefthe state of this * quegs
tion. ’ Materials for the earlier eras of it, exist- in
the publications of Van Der Donck and other
Dutch writers, which are to be found in the libraries
of Holland. The manuscript records of
Beaverwyck and New Amsterdam, abound also
in minor and illustrative particulars. Much has,
doubtless, been lost by the sale of the papers of
the Dutch West-India Company in Holland in
18^0. The documents rescued by Mr. Brodhead,
the historical" dgepf of New York, and now deposited
in the secretary of state’s office, at
Albany* ihay be profitably.; examined. Other
sources of information, such as the early missionary
journals1 of the- period, may throw further
light on thevperiod. •
The Mohawks, who, in the symbolic language
Of the natives; .stood at the eastern door of the
-Confederacy, Were fee chief agents in carrying
the Iroquois conquests towards the sea coast
From their two most southerly positions, the
anciént towns of Origonewantel, the Mohawk
river, and Tawasentha, on the Hudson, they
pushed their conquests to the bay and islands of
New York. The tribes, on- both hanks of the
Hudson; shrank before their war cry. They invaded
the little independent tribes of the Meto-
acs on Long Island. They put the Connecticut
and Massachusetts tribes in terror. They laid
the Manhattans and their allies under the annual
tribute of a quantity of shells suitable for Wampum^
the most valuable article in the ex:-
changes of the natives— the. coin, in fact,
of the new world. The period is one óf much
interest. We have the record of many battles
and ambuscades, on the Hudson and its waters.
The Mohegfpls|finally retired over the highlands
east of therm into the valley of the Housatonic.
The Munsees and NanticokCs retired to the Delaware
river, and reunited with their kindred, the