HISTORY OF THE POINT AND EARLY CONDITION 

 OF ITS VEGETATION. 



Casual visitors to Montauk are charmed by the wildness of the place, 

 the desolate moor-like Downs, the depths of the kettleholes,some destitute 

 of woody vegetation, others dark and even mysterious in their wooded 

 interior. The feeling that the vegetation has always been so, and that 

 from the earliest times the Indians, whose relics are common enough on 

 the Point, must have roamed through a region such as our modern pe- 

 destrian sees, is natural enough. 



While this may not be wholly true, it appears from a study of the 

 records* of the earliest settlers that there has always been, within historic 

 times at least, a distinct separation of grassland and woodland. While 

 not necessarily of the same extent today as when the Indians of Montauk 

 agreed with the settlers of Easthampton, on May 22, 1658, as to the use 

 of the Point, there can be little doubt that some forest land, certainly the 

 Hither Woods, and great areas of grassland, such as characterize it today, 

 covered large areas. 



In this first written agreement between Wyandanch, the chief of the 

 Montauk Indians, and the settlers of Easthampton, it is stated that the 

 latter had granted to them the privilege of "pasturing their cattle on 

 Montaukett (the old name) for seven years." At the end of that-period, 

 and after his death, his daughter, Sunk-squa, made the following agree- 

 ment with Easthampton on October 4, 1665. 



" I. The bounds of the town east to the Fort-pond, and all the rest to 

 the end of the island, to belong to the Indians; but not to be disposed of to 

 any other than the people of the town. 



"2. The inhabitants forever to have full and free liberty at any time to 

 cut ^rass on said lands, and for feeding of cattle, but not till the corn, planted 

 by the Indians, shall be taken off. 



"3. If cattle trespass on the Indians, by reason of not keeping up the 

 fence, the town to make satisfaction; and if Indian dogs do damage to 

 cattle, they to make satisfaction. 



* I am glad to make acknowledgment here for the use of the admirable collections of 

 the Long Island Historical Society, which have been diligently searched for authentic 

 records of the early condition of the vegetation, not only of Montauk, but of other parts 

 of Long Island. To Miss Emma Toedteberg, the librarian, I am particularly grateful for 

 making many helpful suggestions in the course of this part of the work. 



