It is first mentioned (Jan. 21, 1647) in a grant by Governor Kieft to settlers of "a certaine tract of land situate on the south side of Long Island called Canarsie with all the meadows belonging." The name signifies "at or about the fence" -- or, in other words, "the fenced-in place." The Dutch cultivated part of the lands in this tract with the consent of the Indians prior to any purchase being made, and they doubtless fenced in the crops of both white and red cultivators. This name, therefore, seems to have been applied generally to the fencedin area, the center of which was the present Canarsie, to which the natives clung, and stipulated in their sale of April 16, 1665, that "the purchasers once for always a fence shall set at Canarissen for the protection of the Indians cultivation." Bounds of such a cultivated area may be indicated

AND MONOGRAPHS

INDIAN PATHS

by the old lanes which surround Canarsie, such as Varkens Hook road, Hobson lane, and the Mill road.

Canarsie neck is marked on old maps as "Canarsee Planting Land" (pi. xx). The native settlement seems to have been near Beach Park, where numerous objects of native manufacture have been found by D. B. Austin and others.

The most important native station, however, was that known as Keskaechquerem or Keskaechqueren (104), a name which indicates a place of meeting for some public purpose. The importance of Keskaechquerem as a meeting place for the natives coming from all directions would indicate its situation at some point where the main lines of travel converge. The station on Canarsie neck does not appear favorably in this regard. It seems to have been more of a place for the cultivation of crops and the manufacture of wampum. The most natural position for a place of meeting in this locality is Flatlands (104), a place where a known station existed, which is situated at the junction of paths