His most important crop was maize, and upon this he relied, very largely, for his subsistence in winter. It was roasted while young, and when matured and dry was ground into meal by stone pestles and mortars, and when this was moistened with water and baked upon heated stones.the product was called nookhik," from which have come " nocake and " hoe-cake." The grain was preserved after harvest by being buried in the dryest places under a thatch of coarse grass and boughs. Next in importance to maize was the sieva bean. It was extensively raised and boiled alone or with the green-corn. The latter dish was called " succotash." The boiling was accomplished in bowls of steatite, or in vessels of rude pottery. In addition to these, pumpkins were grown. These were readily baked before the fire. Wild fruits and nuts, in their seasons, also contributed to his support and enjoyment. Tobacco was also grown here, but we cannot learn how extensively. With their requirements for food thus met, the Indians here were not destitute of the means of comfortable clothing. The country abounded with fur-bearing animals. Beavers were very numerous. The names of Beaver Meadows, scattered throughout the county, and that of Beaver Dam River, in the upper portion, attest this. Van der Donck, the patron of Yonkers, wrote, in 1656, that eighty thousand of these were annually killed in this quarter of the country. In November, 1624, among the cargo of the first laden vessel from New to Old Amsterdam were 7246 beaver-skins, 675 skins of otters, 48 of mink, 36 wild-cat and various other sorts. In Wassenares' " History of the New Netherlands," it is narrated : " The tribes are in the habit of clothing themselves with otter-skins, the fur inside, the smooth side without ; which, however, they paint so beautifully that at a distance it resembles lace.