24 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1638. 



the falls, near the present site of Trenton. Besides giving the 

 Swedes some show of an equitable title to the country, against 

 the legal claim set up by the Dutch, it enabled the Swedish set- 

 tlers to occupy their lands in a manner much more satisfactory 

 to the natives. 



It is but fair to state, that this purchase by the Swedes was 

 called in question by the Dutch authorities of Manhattan at 

 a subsequent period, on the flimsy testimony of certain Indians 

 procured in a very questionable manner. These Indians denied 

 " that the Swedes or any other nation had bought lands of them 

 as right owners" except a " S7»ff7? patch,'''' embracing Christina 

 fort. These savages, of whom Mattehoorn was one, claimed to 

 be the " great chiefs and proprietors of the lands, both by own- 

 nership and descent, and cqjpointment of the 3Iinquas and river 

 Indians.''^ 



There is still other evidence of this early Swedish purchase. 

 Captain Israel Helm, who was a justice of Upland Court, in- 

 formed the Rev. Mr. Rudman of the purchase, to the extent that 

 has been mentioned, and that the "old people" had informed 

 him that they often had seen there "fixed stakes and marks." 

 " The purchase was formerly stated in writing, under which the 

 Indians placed their marks." This was seen by Mr. Helm when 

 at Stockholm. - 



This digression, to establish the Swedish purchase from the 

 natives, will be excused, as it was the first effort of civilized man 

 to extinguish the Indian title to the district of country that is to 

 claim our particular attention. It will be seen that it embraced 

 Swanendael, for which the Dutch had already acquired the Indian 

 title, and also the lands about the Schuylkill to which, on account 

 of prior purchase, they set up a rather doubtful claim. The lands 

 within the limits of our County, were free from any counter claim 

 on this account ; and it follows, that to the wise polic}' of the 

 Swedes we are really indebted for the extinguishment of the 



1 This denial of the Swedish purchase might be entitled to some weight, had it been 

 procured in a proper manner. It is said to have been elicited at Fort Nassau many 

 years subsequently, (1651,) by Director-general Stuyvesant in per.son. The follow- 

 ing extract from the Dutch, and of course the only account of the transaction, giving 

 the^)«( ansicerK of the Indiiins, will satisfy the reader how little reliance should be 

 placed on an answer obtained at a later hour in the conference, from an unskilled native 

 of the forest, in an ex-parte transaction, at a period too when custom would forbid 

 the absence of intoxicating drinks. 



Question. — " What and how much lands the Swedes had bought from the sachems 

 or chiefs on this river?" 



" Mattahoorn, the Sachem, answered by asking another question. Why was not 

 the sachem of the Swedes present, that they might ask himself, and hear him? The 

 General's reply was that being invited, he was apparently unwilling to come." 



"The chief Mattahoorn answered, «?'o)i(7/^.— that all nations coming to the river, 

 were welcome to them, and tiiat they sold their land indiscriminately to the ftnt who 

 asked it," .see N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 597." 



^ Extract from Rudman's Notes in Clay's Ann. 17. 



