for much valuable information pertaining to the early history of Westchester Coiinty that could not elsewhere be obtained. The family records in her possession are improved in their historical worth by her arrangement of them, and by her clear and logical deductions from the facts which they contain. She has taken the utmost interest in the prei>aration of this history aud has contributed to it material that is unique both in its character and importance.

'In the Indian language, Manak^tditnitieuks -- "the place where they all got drunk" -- so called by the Indians, says that indefatigable chronicler John F. Watson, in commemoration of their first meeting with Captain Hudson, when that celebrated man made them acquainted with the peculiar effects of strong drink, which according to the tradition handed down to their descendants by these unsophisticated savages, "produced staggering and happy feeling." -- ^^'ntson's " Xew York in Ihe Olden Tim$."

and the black fire-bricks of the kiln were laid alternating with red or yellow ones to make checks on the gable front." Mrs. Van Cortlandt sketches the houses of the middle class and farmers, which, she says, were of rough stone when they were not of brick. She adds : " The windows were filled in with small panes of glass ; the heavy wooden outside shutters swung upon massive iron hinges. They had usually a crescent cut near the top to admit the early light, and were held back by an iron somewhat in the shape of an S inserted in the stone wall. As ground was cheap, these houses were large in extent and commonly a story and a half in height, the roof sloping steejjly from the ridge pole, and dormer windows broke its uniformity. Double-pitched houses were of later date, as were those in the interior of the county shingled on the sides as well as on the roof.