Van Couwenhoven made a report to the Governor and Council that, on the 15th of March, 1664, an Indian named Hiekemick came to his house and told him that the Esopus and Wappinger Indians were ready for an insurrection, and that the English at Westchester had promised that they would first conquer Long Island and then the Manhattans, but that the Indians must help them. The Indians said that they were willing, but the thrifty New Englanders asked, "When you have done it, how much land shall we have then?" The land at Esopus wa.s promised if the English would help them kill the Dutch. The .Indians made another visit to Westchester and tried to consummate the bargain, but were answered, " It cannot be done at present, as our Sachem (evidently meaning Lieutenant Wheeler) has made an agreement with Stuyvesant for a year." After some unsuccessful palaver the Indians left, saying, "It is better to make peace with the Dutch ; the English are only fooling us."

But the inhabitants of Westchester did not feel satisfied under the Dutch rule, and in the following August I of 1664 informed the commissioners of Her Majesty's affairs in New England of their arrest by the Dutch and the hardships they had to endure in the hold of a

1 N. Y. Col. Docs., 67.

^ 2>. Y. Col. Docs., xiii. 43; Laws of Xew Nethcrland, page 198. 3N. Y. rol. Docs., xi. 550. I ■'Idem, 527, 529. 5 Holland Docs., ii. page 219.