Having no conception of the principles of civilized law, and no idea of the binding effect of contracts, they seldom realized that the mere act of signing over their lands to t he whites was a necessarily permanent release of them. They were incapable of comprehending any other idea of ownership than actual physical possession, and in cases where lands were not occupied promptly after sale they assumed that no change had transpired, and thus frequently the same territory would be formally sold two or three times over. IieMdes, they considered that it was their natural right at all times to forcibly seize lands that had been sold, expel the settlers, and then resell them. The boundaries of sub-tribal jurisdiction were necessarily indefinite, and consequently deeds of sale by the Indians of one locality would frequently cover portions of lands conveyed by those of another, which led to much confusion.
The military power of the Indians of Westchester County was destroyed forever as a result of the war of K;4:>>-4.') with the Dutch. But it was not until after the close of the seventeenth century that the last vestiges of their legal ownership of lands in the county disappeared. In succeeding chapters of this History their relation to the progress of events and to the gradual development of the county during the period of their organized continuance in it will receive due notice, and it is not necessary in the present connection to anticipate that portion of •Moultnifs Hist, of >>w Vork, .111