26 The Story of The Bronx 



"Great Kil" is the Hudson; and "the high hill by the flat" 

 is, probably, the hill at the north end of the island; the "flat" 

 refers to the plains of Harlem. The boundaries of this tract, 

 especially to the northward, are rather indefinite; but the 

 tract later became the lower portion of Westchester County, 

 and later still, the Borough. The transfer was made "in 

 consideration of a certain lot of merchandise," which the 

 sachems acknowledged to have received. 



The prevailing idea is that the European colonists, with the 

 exception of Penn, simply took the lands from the Indians and 

 occupied them. On the contrary, the general custom was to 

 purchase the land from the Indians ; and this was the invariable 

 rule in Dutch New Netherland and English New York. In 

 searching titles to-day in the older States, the basis will 

 always be found in the Indian title. To our modern notions, 

 the recompense to the Indians seems inadequate; but to a 

 people whose idea of value was based upon belts of wampum 

 made of shells, the iron pots, blankets, trinkets, and what 

 not, were probably of inestimable value. At the same time, 

 Dutch thrift is proverbial; and they made good bargains. 



The flats of Haerlem had already been occupied as bou- 

 weries, or farms, by the Dutch settlers, and it is probable that 

 some of the boers, or farmers, crossed the river and occupied 

 the new land "upon the Maine." In the year 1640, a second 

 purchase was made of the lands to the eastward of Keskes- 

 keck; and in 1641, Jonas Bronk, or Brunk, made a purchase 

 of five hundred acres of land between the Harlem and Aqua- 

 hung rivers. The latter soon lost its Indian name and became 

 known after the proprietor as Bronk's River; to-day, the 

 Bronx, a natural derivative from "Bronk's," which has 

 given its name to the Borough. 



Bronk, Bronck, or Brunk was a Dane, or Swede, who had 



