them or their assigns, Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province of New York having passed to others for the same Lands, before it was known here that the Royal Grant was obtained and the Lands are now in possession of the New York Patentees or their assigns. These are all the different modes by which the Inhabitants have derived any legal Titles to their Lands within the Limits of this Province, whence it appears that all their lawful titles to Lands in Fee, except in cases of old Dutch Grants unconfirmed, originated from the Crown either mediately thro' the Duke of York before his Accession to the Throne, or immediately by Grants under the

Great Seal of Great Britain or of this Province.

Purchases from the Indian Natives, as of their aboriginal right have never been held to be a legal Title in this Province, the Maxim obtaining here; as in England that the King is the Fountain of all real property, and that from this source all real Titles are to be derived. Quesliu?i JVo. 4

What Rivers are there and of what Extent & Convenience in point of Commerce? 1 This tract, otherwise called " The Oblong,'' lies along the eastern line of Putnam and Dutchess counties, extending from the north line of Cortland Manor to about the south bounds of Livingston Manor in Columbia co., as laid down in Le Rouge's Map of the Prov. of N. Y. also in Sauthier'n Map of New York, 1776, 1779. Further particulars regarding the ;