The ownership of land depended upon conceded original occupation or upon conquest. If obtained by conquest, all original rights became vested in the conquerors, and if it was re-conquered, these returned to the original owner. They had but little idea of title to land. They valued only its occupation and use. The game that filled the forests and the fish that swarmed in the waters gave a value that they well appreciated, and they also prized their cultivable tracts.

There is much uncertainty regarding the subdivisions of the tribes in any given district, and if the question of their location were left to the statements and maps of the early European settlers, it well might be abandoned as hopeless. Fortunately, the title-deeds given to the settlers supply considerable information, which, though not })erfect, enables us to locate the sub-tribes with tolerable accuracy. Yet the boundaries of such tracts as were sold by the aborigines were designated with much uncertainty by the Indian names of rivers, brooks and rivulets, hills, ponds and meadows, which are sometimes difficult to locate. Treaties made between the settlers and the Indians assist us in the undertaking.

The island upon which the city of New York has been built was occupied by the Manhattans. Their territory also extended along the Mahicanituk, or Hudson River, northward to the Neperhan, or Saw- Mill River, and eastward to the Aquehung, or Bronx River. Between the Neperhan and the Pocantico were the Weckquaesgeeks. The Sint Sinks occupied the land between the Pocantico and the Kitchawan, or Croton River. North of the Croton were the Kitchawancs, whose lands extended to Anthony's Nose and the Highlands, and eastward across the northern portion of Westchester County. East of the Manhattans, occupying the territory along the