Manners and Customs in Colonial Days 105 



two nearly equal parts, derived its name from the presence 

 of mills upon its banks. The date of their erection is uncer- 

 tain; but in the will of Colonel Lewis Morris, first of the name, 

 of the date of February 7, 1690, he bequeaths to his wife, 

 Mary Morris, "the lands thereof cont'g about 2000 acres best 

 m or 1, tog'r with all houses, barns, mills, etc." 



In 1666, Governor Nicolls granted "certain saw-mills to 

 Thomas Delaval, John Verveelen, and Daniel Turner, &c, 

 lying over against Vercher's or Hogg Island, in the Sound, 

 where a passage hath been made to ford over from this island 

 to the maine." These mills must have been on the Bronx 

 Kills and operated by the tide. A mill was also erected on 

 Cromwell's Creek in 1760, by General Lewis Morris, the Signer, 

 on the western limits of his land. All of these mills were 

 sources of considerable income to their owners, as timber was 

 plentiful, and the grain crops of the farmers had to be ground. 



The general population has been described as poor. Of 

 money, there was little; what business was transacted was by 

 means of barter, until later days. During the Dutch days, 

 sewant, or wampum, adopted from the Indians, was the usual 

 currency. This was made from the shell of the periwinkle, 

 which abounded in great quantities on the shores of Long 

 Island ; this made the white sewant. A more valuable sewant, 

 called black, was made from the quahaug, or hard clam. In 

 either case, the shells were broken or ground away until they 

 became small beads; four of them made a stuyver, or two, 

 a cent. When strung, a fathom of them was worth four 

 guilders, or $1.66. The wampum was usually measured in 

 spans; and when the Indians sold their pelts, they selected for 

 their traders those who could stretch farthest from little 

 finger to thumb. This currency was capable of being easily 

 counterfeited, and strings of it were manufactured in Holland 



