84 THE FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND INDIANS. [1737-1763. 



consisted in the fraudulent interpretation of Indian 

 deeds of conveyance, and in the granting out of 

 lands without any conveyance at all. The most 

 notorious of these transactions, and the one most 

 lamentable in its results, was commenced in the 

 year 1737, and was known by the name of the 

 walking 'purchase. An old, forgotten deed was 

 raked out of the dust of the previous century ; a 

 deed which was in itself of doubtful validity, and 

 which had been virtually cancelled by a subsequent 

 agreement. On this rotten title the proprietors 

 laid claim to a valuable tract of land on the right 

 bank of the Delaware. Its western boundary was 

 to be defined by a line drawn from a certain point 

 on Neshaminey Creek, in a north-westerly direction, 

 as far as a man could walk in a day and a half. 

 From the end of the walk, a line drawn eastward 

 to the river Delaware was to form the northern 

 limit of the purchase. The proprietors sought out 

 the most active men who could be heard of, and 

 put them in training for the walk ; at the same time 

 laying out a smooth road along the intended course, 

 that no obstructions might mar their speed. By 

 this means an incredible distance was accomplished 

 within the limited time. And now it only remained 

 to adjust the northern boundary. Instead of run- 

 ning the line directly to the Delaware, according 

 to the evident meaning of the deed, the proprietors 

 inclined it so far to the north as to form an acute 

 angle with the river, and enclose many hundred 

 thousand acres of valuable land, which would 

 otherwise have remained in the hands of the Iiidi- 



