Under the Dutch 39 



upon, Stuyvesant was rid of his unruly settlers and they of 

 him; for the following month, Colonel Nicolls appeared off 

 New Amsterdam and the whole colony became the property 

 of James, Duke of York and Albany. 



In Chapter VII. of Irving's Knickerbocker s History of New 

 York is an interesting and amusing account of the habits and 

 customs of the "Yanokies, " who trespassed over the border 

 of the Dutch colony and occupied, or squatted upon, the Dutch 

 land. 



One of these "moss-troopers, " as Irving elsewhere calls the 

 New England land-grabbers, was Thomas Pell of Onckway, 

 or Fairfield, in Connecticut. He had taken part in the Civil 

 War in England on the side of the Parliament, but, before the 

 Restoration, moved to France and then to America. Accord- 

 ing to his own statement, he purchased in 1654 from the 

 Indians, "for a valuable consideration," title to the lands 

 lying eastward of the Aqueanouncke, or Hutchinson's River; 

 though we shall see later that he claimed to the Bronx and 

 East rivers. This purchase, according to Bolton, was within 

 the bounds of the Dutch purchase of 1640, to the eastward of 

 Keskeskeck. The purchase included Minneford's Island, 

 Hunter's Island, and Hart Island. This purchase afterwards 

 became the Manor of Pelham (see Chapter III.). The south- 

 ern portion, including the islands, is now a part of the Borough. 

 Pell's purchase gave great uneasiness to the Dutch. 



There were constant and continuous bickerings between the 

 New Englanders and the Dutch concerning the boundary line 

 between their respective colonies. Adrien Block had explored 

 the shores as far eastward as the island which bears his name 

 (1614). If exploration and discovery give claim, the Dutch 

 certainly had priority; for though the English navigators, 

 Cabot, John Smith, and others, are supposed to have sailed 



