The East Patent Boxmds " Bounded South, by the division Line between New York and Connecticut, East, by the other division Line between New York and Connecticut, and so along said Line untill it meets with the Patent of Adolf Philipse,* and so along his southern bounds till it meets with the Mannor of Cortlandt, and from thence by a Line that shall run upon a direct course untill it meets with the first easterly Line of twenty miles of the said Mannor of Cortlandt, aiid from thence along the said Line Westerly till it meets with the Patent granted to R. Walter and others,' thence southerly along the said Patent, untill it meets with the bounds of the Township of Bedford, and thence round along said bounds until it meets with the Patent granted to Coll. Heathcote and others, and* thence along the bounds of said Patent unto the Colony Line where it began."

No attempt was made to settle this tract till about the year 1744, when parties from Stamford and its neighborhood acquired portions of land within its limits.

The area of these three great Patents, the " West," the " Middle," and the " East," was very much greater than is commonly supposed. The Patents themselves only give their respective areas in what those instruments term " profitable land," that is, land that could be easily cultivated. But as the greater part of northern and central Westchester abounded in high semimountainous ridges, rocky heights, and great forests, characteristics which to a large extent it still retains, the " profitable land " really bore but a small proportion to what was then deemed the unprofitable land. How very extensive these great patents really