128 



hereby granted, doth extend itself back into the woods as far as a 

 man can go in one day and an half ; and bounded on the westerly 

 side by the creek called Neshamony, or the most westerly bi'anch 

 thereof, as far as the said branch doth extend ; and from thence by a 



line (blank in the deed) to the utmost extent of the one day and 



an half's journey; and from thence (blank in the deed) to the 



aforesaid river Delaware; and from thence down the several courses 

 of the said river to the said first mentioned sprnce-tree," &c. 



The spruce-ti'ee referred to in both of these grants is said to have 

 stood on the river bank, 140 perches above the mouth of Baker's, 

 now known as Knowles' creek, and about 10 miles above the falls at 

 Trenton. The white-oak mentioned as a corner in the line from the 

 spruce-tree to Neshamony, according to traditionary account, was on 

 land now of Moses Hampton, about a mile north-eastward from the 

 Friends' meeting-house at Wrightstown. 



After the grant of August, 1686, numerous white settlers estab- 

 lished themselves on the lower part of the purchase; the settlements 

 gradually extended northward as far as Durham, in the upper part of 

 Bucks county, where a furnace was erected, and some of the scatter- 

 ing frontier establishments of the white people reached as far as to 

 the Lehigh hills. The country in the forks of the Delaware, be- 

 tween the Lehigh hills and the Blue mountain was then favourite 

 ground with the Indians, and was the chief place of abode for many 

 of them. Becoming uneasy at the near approach of the white settle- 

 ments they naturally desired to have a limit placed upon these en- 

 croachments, and accordingly a treaty was begun at Durham in 

 1734, which was continued at Pennsbury in May, 1735, and con- 

 cluded at Philadelphia, Aug. 25, 1737, at which the limits of the 

 tract, as described in the deed alleged to have been made for the pur- 

 chase in 1686, were confirmed, and at which it was agreed that the 

 walk which was to determine the extent of the territory to the north- 

 ward should be performed. It seems to have been expected by the 

 Indians that this walk would not extend beyond the Lehigh hills, 

 about 40 miles from the place where it was to begin; nor would it 

 have reached beyond them, if performed after the manner in which 

 some similar measurements are said to have been made in the time of 

 William Penn, — the walkers proceeding leisurely, and sometimes sit- 

 ting down to eat, drink, and smoke their pipes. But those who suc- 

 ceeded William Penn were not governed by those principles of gene- 

 rosity and justice which ever characterized his intercourse with the 

 aboriginal proprietors of the soil, and which procured for him such 



