1(154.] niSTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 65 



in great abundance. The sachems sat by themselves ; tlie other 

 Indians all fed heartily and were satisfied."' 



This proceeding, copied nearly entire from Campanius, is 

 highly characteristic of such transactions with the Indians. 

 Other treaties with the aborigines may have been held within 

 our limits, but this is the only one, the recorded proceedings of 

 which have come down to us. It is conclusive that the Swedes 

 had purchased from the Indians the lands then occupied by 

 them ; and the fact that one of the principal chiefs, Naaman, who 

 was a party to this transaction, resided on the creek that bears 

 his name, renders it almost equally conclusive that the former 

 purchase of the Swedes had been made from "the right owners," 

 the pretension set up by the Dutch to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



The treaty thus so solemnly made between the Swedes and 

 Indians, we are informed by Campanius, " has ever since been 

 faithfully observed by both sides. '"- 



A private letter from Governor Rysingh to Count , con- 

 nected with the home government, dated at Fort Christina on 

 the 11th of July, 16o4,' furnishes some facts worthy of notice. 

 He estimates the ground (under cultivation it is supposed) as 

 ''four times more than when we arrived." It was also much 

 better peopled, "for then," he says, "we found only 70 persons, 

 and now, including Hollanders and others, there are 368 persons." 

 This estimate of the population on the river is certainly only in- 

 tended to embrace actual settlers, for as long ago as 1645, Hudde 

 estimated the force with which Printz could man his forts, at from 

 80 to 90.^ 



He takes the credit of everything that had been done to him- 

 self. Captain Shute and Pappegoya ; but for the particulars and 

 for all " that relates to the actual state of the country and 

 colony,"" the minister to whom the letter was addressed is referred 

 to an official communication that had been sent to him and the 

 College of Commerce. Unfortunately this document is not ex- 

 tant. Among the wants of the governor was that of a wife, and 

 though " sufficiently* plain offers" had been made him by the 

 English who had been here, he relied with more confidence " for 

 this object" upon the minister, "than any other person in the 

 world," and desired that he would send him "a good one/' 



Christina, to whose dominions the land we live in belonged, 

 now, at the age of twenty-nine years, abdicated the throne of 

 Sweden in favor of her cousin, Charles Gustavus. 



The war between England and Holland having been concluded, 



' Campanius, 77. ^ Page 78. 



3 A MS. copy of this letter is in the possession of the American Philosophical 

 Society. It was first published in Haz. Ann. which see, 153. 

 * Huddes Rep. 429. 



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