"The Forks of the Delaware" is the ancient name by which not only the site of the present town of Easton, but the whole territory included between the Lehigh and Delaware rivers, and bounded on the northwest by the Kittatinny or Blue mountain, was originally designated. This beautiful tract was occupied by a part of the Delaware nation. Above the Kittatinny, along the Delaware river, were the Monsey or Minsi tribes, who gave the name of the Minisinks to that region; and it also appears, by the early records of Bucks co., that a clan of the Shawanees had a village and hunting grounds on the river east of where Stroudsburg now is.

The Indian title to the lands in the Forks was extinguished, or was alleged to have been extinguished, by what is known as the walking purchase, or the Indian walk-a transaction which reflected no credit upon the proprietary government, and which stood prominent in the catalogue of wrongs that led the Delawares, Shawanees, and Monseys to join the French in 1755. William Penn and his agents, ignorant of the topography of the wilderness in the interior, had, in their early purchases, been in the habit of defining the boundaries of land by well-known streams or highlands, as far as their knowledge extended, while for the interior boundaries of the tracts such vague terms were used as these: “to run two days' journey with an horse up into the country as the said river doth go” -"northwesterly back into the woods to make up two full days' journey as far as a man can go in two days from the said station," &c.

One tract after another had thus been purchased by Penn and his agents, until all of what is now Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties had been included. Some of the tracts were

accurately defined by natural boundaries-of many others, they were left to be determined by riding or walking at some future time. Such, however, was the benevolent policy of Penn, that he preferred to purchase land three times over, and pay for it to as many different claimants, than to fight for it, or to expose his colony to the tomahawk and scalping-knife, by encouraging settlements on lands not clearly and indisputably relinquished by all Indians whatsoever. There is no evidence that any of these boundaries had ever been rode or walked out: if they had been, the boundaries of some would have extended far beyond the Lehigh hills or the South mountain, or even the Kittatinny; but such evidently was not the expectation of the Indians, and accordingly, after the great natural features of the interior had become better known, as well as the ideas and wishes of the Indians,

"On the 17th of September, 1718, a deed of release was given by sundry Delaware Indian chiefs-viz., Sassoonah, Meetashechay, Ghettypeneeman, Pokehais, Ayamackan, Opekasset, and Pepawmamam-for all the lands situate between the two rivers, Delaware and Susquehanna, from Duck creek to the mountains on this side Lechay, with an acknowledgment that they had seen and heard divers deeds of sale read unto them, under the hands and seals of former kings and chiefs of the Delaware Indians, their ancestors and predecessors, who were owners of said lands, by which they had granted the said lands to William Penn, for which they were satisfied and content-which, for a further consideration of goods delivered them, they then confirmed. This deed is recorded, May 13th, 1728, in book A. vol. 6, p. 59.

"It is therefore to be observed, that the undefined limits of all the preceding deeds, (westward, two days' journey with a horse, &c.,) which would have extended far beyond the Lehigh hills, are here restricted to those hills, which, so far as related to the purchasers from the Delawares, were the boundaries of the purchased lands. The settlers, notwithstanding, encroached on the Indian lands beyond this boundary, which occasioned great anxiety and uneasiness among the Delawares. The complaints of the aged Sassoonan were eloquent and pathetic. Violence had

ensued, and blood had flowed. Preparations had been made, and alliances were forming for war; but by prudence and skill the danger was turned aside."-Smith's Laws.

On the Delaware the Lehigh hills were well known, but on the Schuylkill the settlers had confounded them with the Kittatinny mountain, and had built their cabins at Tulpehocken and Oley. Sassoonan complained of this in 1728; and in 1732 Thomas Penn purchased the Tulpehocken lands, now forming Berks co. Now, if it was necessary to purchase these lands on account of the treaty of 1718, it was equally necessary to purchase those at the forks; for there was as good a deed for including the Tulpehocken lands by a "ride of two days on a horse," as those of the forks by a walk of one day and a half. The "Enquiry into the causes of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians," published at London in 1759, says:

"While they [the Delawares] were paid for their lands on Tulpehocken, they were very unjustly, and in a manner forcibly, dispossessed of their lands in the Forks of the Delaware. At this very time, [1733,] William Allen, one of the principal gentlemen in Pennsylvania, and a great dealer in lands purchased of the proprietaries, was selling the land in the Minisinks, which had never been purchased of the Indians: nay, was near 40 miles above the Lehigh hills, which was so solemnly agreed upon, [by the treaty of 1718,] to be the boundary between the English and the Indians. Gov. Penn, the founder, had devised to his grandson William, and his heirs, 10,000 acres of land, to be set out in proper and beneficial places, in this province, by his trustees. These 10,000 acres Mr. Allen purchased of William Penn the grandson, and by virtue of a warrant or order of the trustees to Jacob Taylor, surveyor-general, to survey the said 10,000 acres, he had part of that land located or laid out in the Minisinks, because it was good land, though it was not yet purchased of the Indians. Had he contented himself with securing the right, and suffered the lands to remain in the possession of the Indians till it had been duly purchased and paid for, no ill consequences would have ensued. But, (probably supposing the matter might be easily accommodated with them in some future treaty,) no sooner had he the land surveyed to him than he began to sell it to those who would immediately settle it. By his deeds to Ñ. Depuis, 1733, and recorded in the rolls office of Bucks, it appears that one of the tracts he granted included a Shawanee town, and that another was an island belonging to the same tribe of Indians, and from them called the Shawanee island.

"About this time the proprietor published proposals for a lottery of 100,000 acres to be laid out anywhere within the province, except on manors, lands already settled, &c. There was no exception of lands unpurchased of the Indians, but rather an express provision for those who had unjustly seated themselves there, since by drawing prizes they might lay them on the lands on which they were already seated. By virtue of many of these tickets, tracts laid out in the Forks were quickly taken up and settled. These transactions provoked the Indians."

Among the old deeds which were, or ought to have been, rendered obsolete, by the general deed of 1718, was one made to Thomas Holme, Penn's agent and surveyor-general, by several Delaware chiefs, in 1686, for a tract of land, (hereafter described,) of which one of the boundaries was to be ascertained by walking. The original, however, of this deed never could be found, and a musty copy, of which it was very difficult to prove the authenticity, was therefore produced from among the proprietaries' papers in England; and this copy, fifty years after it was madeafter William Penn, Thomas Holme, and the signing chiefs were dead— after all the great natural features of the country had become wellknown, and no necessity existed any longer for walking out boundariesand after it was known that these vague boundaries had all been concluded by the treaty of 1718, in which the Lehigh hills were made the extreme boundary of the white settlements-this copy was produced, and made the basis of a confirmatory deed, described in Smith's Laws as follows:

Aug. 25, 1737. We, Teshakomen, alias Tishekunk, and Nootamis, alias Nutimus, two of the sachemas or chiefs of the Delaware Indians, having almost three years ago, at Durham, begun

a treaty with our honorable brethren, John and Thomas Penn, and from thence another meeting was appointed to be at Pennsbury the next spring following, to which we repaired, with Lappawinzoe, and several others of the Delaware Indians, at which treaty several deeds were produced and showed to us by our said brethren, concerning several tracts of land, which our forefathers had, more than fifty years ago, bargained and sold unto our good friend and brother William Penn, the father of the said John and Thomas Penn, and in particular one deed from Maykeerickkisho, Sayhoppy, and Taughhaughsey, the chiefs or kings of the northern Indians on Delaware, who for, &c., did grant, &c., all those lands lying and being in the province of Pennsylvania, beginning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner spruce-tree by the river Delaware, (Makeerikkitton,) and from thence running along the ledge or foot of the mountains west-northwest to a corner white-oak, marked with the letter P., standing by the Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwickey, and from thence extending westward to Neshamony cr.; from which said line, the said tract or tracts thereby granted doth extend itself back into the woods, as far as a man can go in one day and a half, and bounded on the westerly side with the creek called Neshamony, or the most westerly branch thereof, and from thence by a lineto the utmost extent of the said one day and a half's journey, and from thence

to the aforesaid river Delaware, and from thence down the several courses of the said river to the first-mentioned spruce-tree, &c. But, some of our old men being absent, we requested more time to consult with our people; which request being granted, we have, after more than two years from the treaty at Pennsbury, now come to Philadelphia, together with our chief sachem, Monockykichan, and several of our old men. They then acknowledge that they were satisfied that the above-described tract was granted by the persons above-mentioned, and agree to release to the proprietors all right to that tract, and desire it may be walked, travelled, or gone over, by persons appointed for that purpose.

[Signed-Monockykichan, Lappawinzoe, Teshakomen, Nootamis; and witnessed by twelve other Indians, in token of full and free consent, besides other witnesses. Recorded May 8, 1741, in book G., vol. i., p. 282.

The proprietors immediately advertised for the most expert walkers in the province, and the walk was performed near the end of Sept. 1737, in presence of Mr. Eastburn, surveyor-general, and Timothy Smith, sheriff of Bucks co. The following account of the walk, given by an eye-witness, is contained in the "Enquiry into the Causes," &c.:

"At the time of the walk I was a dweller at Newtown, and a near neighbor to James Yeates. My situation gave him an easy opportunity of acquainting me with the time of setting out, as it did me of hearing the different sentiments of the neighborhood concerning the walk; some alleging it was to be made by the river, others that it was to be gone upon a straight line from somewhere in Wrightstown, opposite to a spruce-tree on the river's bank, said to be a boundary to a former purchase. When the walkers started I was a little behind, but was informed they proceeded from a chestnut-tree near the turning out of the road from Durham road to John Chapman's; and, being on horseback, overtook them before they reached Buckingham, and kept company for some distance beyond the Blue mountains, though not quite to the end of the journey. Two Indians attended, whom I considered as deputies appointed by the Delaware nation, to see the walk honestly performed. One of them repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction therewith. The first day of the walk, before we reached Durham cr., where we dined in the meadows of one Wilson, an Indian trader, the Indian said the walk was to have been made up the river, and complaining of the unfitness of his shoe-packs for travelling, said he expected Thomas Penn would have made him a present of some shoes. After this, some of us that had horses walked, and let the Indians ride by turns; yet in the afternoon of the same day, and some hours before sunset, the Indians left us, having often called to Marshall that afternoon, and forbid him to run. At parting they appeared dissatisfied, and said they would go no further with us; for as they saw the walkers would pass all the good land, they did not care how far or where we went to. It was said we travelled twelve hours the first day, and it being in the latter end of Sept., or beginning of Oct., to complete the time were obliged to walk in the twilight. Timothy Smith, then sheriff of Bucks, held his watch for some minutes before we stopped, and the walkers having a piece of rising ground to ascend, he called out to them, telling the minutes behind, and bid them pull up; which they did so briskly, that immediately upon his saying the time was out, Marshall clasped his arms about a sapling to support himself. Thereupon, the sheriff asking him what was the matter, he said he was almost gone, and that, if he had proceeded a few poles further, he must have fallen. We lodged in the woods that night, and heard the shouting of the Indians at a cantico, which they were said to hold that evening, in a town hard by. Next morning the Indians were sent to, to know if they would accompany us any further; but they declined it, although I believe some of them came to us before we started, and drank a dram in the company, and then straggled off about their hunting, or some other amusement. In our return we came through this Indian town or plantation, Timothy Smith and myself riding forty yards, more or

less, before the company; and as we approached within about 150 paces of the town, the woods being open, we saw an Indian take a gun in his hand, and advancing towards us some distance, placed himself behind a log that laid by our way. Timothy observing his motions, and being somewhat surprised, as I apprehended, looked at me, and asked what I thought that Indian meant. I said I hoped no harm, and that I thought it best to keep on; which the Indian seeing, he arose and walked before us to the settlement. I think Smith was surprised, as I well remem. ber I was, through a consciousness that the Indians were dissatisfied with the walk-a thing the whole company seemed to be sensible of, and upon the way, in our return home, frequently expressed themselves to that purpose. And indeed, the unfairness practised in the walk, both in regard to the way where, and the manner how it was performed, and the dissatisfaction of the Indians concerning it, were the common subjects of conversation in our neighborhood, for some considerable time after it was done. When the walk was performed I was a young man, in the prime of life. The novelty of the thing inclined me to be a spectator, and as I had been brought up most of my time in Burlington, the whole transaction to me was a series of occurrences almost entirely new; and which, therefore, I apprehend, made the more strong and lasting impres sion on my memory. THOMAS FURNISS."

Moses Marshall, the son of Edward, who performed the walk, gave to Mr. John Watson the following account of it, as he had often received it from his father:

That in the year 1733 notice was given in the public papers, that the remaining day and a half's walk was to be made, and offering 500 acres of land, anywhere in the purchase, and £5 in money, to the person who should attend, and walk the farthest in the given time. By previous agreement the governor was to select three white persons, and the Indians a like number of their own nation. The persons employed by the governor were Edward Marshall, James Yeates, and Solomon Jennings. One of the Indians was called Combush, but he has forgotten the names of the other two.

That about the 20th of Sept., (or when the days and nights are equal,) in the year aforesaid, they met before sunrise, at the old chestnut-tree below Wrightstown meeting-house, together with a great number of persons as spectators. The walkers all stood with one hand against the tree, until the sun rose, and then started. In two hours and a half they arrived at Red hill, in Bedminster, where Jennings and two of the Indians gave out. The other Indian (Combush) continued with them to near where the road forks, at Easton, where he laid down a short time to rest; but on getting up was unable to proceed further. Marshall and Yeates proceeded on, and arrived, at sundown, on the north side of the Blue mountain. They started again next morning, at sunrise. While crossing a stream of water, at the foot of the mountain, Yeates became faint, and fell. Marshall turned back, and supported him until others came to his relief; and then continued the walk alone, and arrived at noon on a spur of the Second or Broad mountain, estimated to be 86 miles* from the place of starting, at the chestnut-tree below Wrightstown meeting-house.

He says they walked from sunrise to sunset without stopping, provisions and refreshments having been previously provided, at different places along the road and line that had been run and marked for them to walk by, to the top of the Blue mountain; and persons also attended on horseback, by relays, with liquors of several kinds. When they arrived at the Blue mountain they found a great number of Indians collected, expecting the walk would there end; but when they found it was to go half a day further, they were very angry, and said they were cheated-Penn had got all their good land-but that in the spring every Indian was to bring him a buckskin, and they would have their land again, and Penn might go to the devil with his poor land. An old Indian said, "No sit down to smoke-no shoot a squirrel; but lun, lun, lun all day long!" He says his father never received any reward for the walk, although the governor frequently promised to have the 500 acres of land run out for him, and to which he was justly entitled.

The extreme anxiety of the proprietaries, as well as their motives, for extending the walk as far as possible, may be best appreciated by a glance at the map, and the peculiar course of the Delaware above the Kittatinny mountain. If the walk had terminated at the Kittatinny, the line from the end of the walk, to intersect the Delaware, if drawn at right angles, (as the surveyor Eastburn and the land speculators claimed that it should be,) would have intersected the Delaware at the Water-gap, and would not have included the Minisink lands-a prominent object of the specula

* It is only about 60 or 65 miles to the Pokono or Broad mountain, from Wrightstown meeting house.

tors. The line, as actually drawn by Mr. Eastburn, intersected the Delaware somewhere near Shoholo cr., in Pike co. Overreaching, both in its literal and figurative sense, is the term most applicable to the whole transaction. Nevertheless, in Dec. 1756, a committee of councils, appointed to inquire into the facts, presented an elaborate report to Gov. Denny, drawn up by Lynford Lardner, Esq., in which they make out, to their own satisfaction, that the "Indian walk" was a fair and honorable transaction.* It must be conceded, however, that one ground of complaint on the part of the Indians-viz.: that the walk should have been along the course of the river-was not well founded; since the deed (if of any validity) evidently required the walk to be in the interior.

When the settlers began to move upon the lands at the Forks, which they did soon after the walk, Nutimus and others, who signed the release of 1737, were neither willing to quit the lands, nor to permit the new settlers to remain in quiet possession. They remonstrated freely, and declared their intention to maintain possession by force of arms. In the year 1741, therefore, a message was sent to the Six Nations, who, it was well known, held the Delawares under a species of vassalage, to request them to come down and force the Delawares to quit the Forks. They accordingly came to Philadelphia in the summer of 1742, to the number of 230.

"The governor informed the deputies of the conduct of their cousins, a branch of the Delawares, who gave the province some disturbance about the lands the proprietors purchased of them, and for which their ancestors had received a valuable consideration about fifty-five years ago, (alluding to the deed of 1686, confirmed by the deed of 1737.) That they continued their former disturbances, and had the insolence to write letters to some of the magistrates of this government, wherein they had abused the worthy proprietaries, and treated them with the utmost rudeness and ill manners; that being loth, out of regard to the Six Nations, to punish the Dela. wares as they deserved, he had sent two messages to inform them the Six Nation deputies were expected here, and should be acquainted with their behavior. That as the Six Nations, on all occasions, apply to this government to remove all white people that are settled on lands before they are purchased from them, and as the government use their endeavors to turn such people off, so now he expects from them that they will cause these Indians to remove from the lands in the forks of Delaware, and not give any further disturbance to the persons who are now in posses

sion.

"The deeds and letters were then read, and the draught exhibited.

"Canassatego, in the name of the deputies, told the governor, "That they saw the Delawares had been an unruly people, and were altogether in the wrong; that they had concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over the river Delaware, and quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they had received pay for them, and it is gone through their guts long ago." Then addressing himself to the Delawares in a violent and singular strain of invective, he said, they deserved to be taken by the hair of the head, and shaked severely, till they recovered their senses, and became sober; and he had seen with his eyes a deed signed by nine of their ancestors about fifty years ago, for this very land, (1686,) and a release signed not many years since, (1737,) by some of themselves, and chiefs, yet living, (Sassoonan and Nutimus were present,) to the number of fifteen and upwards. "But how came you, continued he to the Delawares, "to take upon you to sell lands at all? We conquered you; we made women of you. You know you are women, and can no more sell land than women; nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, since you would abuse it. This land that you claim is gone through your guts: you have been furnished with clothes, meat, and drink, by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again like children as you are. But what makes you sell lands in the dark? Did you ever tell us that you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even the value of a pipe shank, from you for it? You have told us a blind story, that you sent a messenger to us, to inform us of the sale; but he never came among us, nor we ever heard any thing about it. This is acting in the dark, and very different from the conduct our Six Nations observe in the sales of land. On such occasion they give public notice, and invite all the Indians of their united na.

See Hazard's Register, vol. vi., p. 337. Also, in vol. v., p. 339, see Nicolas Scull's account of the walk.