HOUSE AND GARDEN 
March, 
1911 
203 
ocean side of this bay, noted for the 
weird dunes of shifting sand, every¬ 
where in evidence. Rivers and 
streams abound and there are sev¬ 
eral considerable lakes—in fact, 
almost all types of scenery and for¬ 
mation are represented. In much ofi 
the surface the soil is of exceeding 
fertility, while the long considered 
desert area is now being proved 
especially adapted to certain kinds 
of crops, and the great beds of 
marine shells are at hand to render 
all fertile. 
Perhaps this variety of attractions 
drew the early explorers to Long 
Island. At any rate it is believed 
that this was their first place of land¬ 
ing. Some have it that John de 
Verazzano touched here in 1524. 
But from Hendrick Hudson’s ac¬ 
count of his discovery, it is quite 
probable that Coney Island was the 
first landing place, and that the 
Canarsee Indians were the savages 
whom he savv in 1609. 
When the tide of colonization be¬ 
gan to turn upon this land in 1620 
the Indians were found peaceable 
enough. They appeared to be of a 
less virile stamp than the Pequots 
or other tribes on the mainland, and 
perhaps on account of their geo¬ 
graphical position, became less war¬ 
like. They were probably all of the Delaware nation, however. 
An interesting account of Indian habits is found among the 
writings of an early Long Island minister, the Rev. Mr. Denton, 
who states that they lived by hunting, fishing and agriculture— 
chiefly corn-planting, in which the squaws were the husbandmen. 
They were nomadic and lived in tents, settling here and there as 
fancy directed. Their recreations were "foot-ball and cards, at 
which they will play away all they have excepting a flap to cover 
their nakedness.” So prone are they to get intoxicated that "if 
there be so many in their company that there is not sufficient to 
make them all drunk, they usually select so many out of their 
company proportionable to the quantity of drink, and the rest 
must be spectators.” 
They never gave the white man much trouble, and by 1783 
had practically disappeared. 
Though the Indian’s career was so short after the white man’s 
advent, his presence will be forever remembered in the place 
In former days this beach was patrolled by the whalers. When the 
alarm was given, the whaleboats were launched from the shore 
names which his language has given 
us—and which designate many 
beautiful spots on the island that he 
called "Land of Shells” — Seawan- 
hacky. Most of his locations were 
named from their physical char¬ 
acteristics — Amagansett, “near the 
drinking place”; Mahchongitchuge, 
a Montauk swamp “where rushes 
grow”; Ronkonkoma, “boundary 
fishing place”; Haupauge, “flooded 
land” ; Setauket, “land at the mouth 
of the stream.” Most of these 
characteristics aptly fit the towns 
today. 
Into a land of so many physical 
attractions and inhabited by the 
peaceful savages who have been de¬ 
scribed above, gradually moved the 
settlers. Probably the first came 
from New Amsterdam in search of 
wider and newer lands, but the 
Connecticut and Massachusetts col¬ 
onies later supplied many more, and 
many came direct from over the 
sea. From 1619 to 1648 settle¬ 
ments grew to towns, among them 
Brooklyn, Gravesend, Newtown, 
Flushing, Llempstead, Southamp¬ 
ton, Easthampton and Southold. 
But there were many difficulties in 
their path. In the first place the 
jealousy and conflicting claims of 
the Dutch and English retarded 
growth. Lord Sterling claimed the island from Cabot’s discov¬ 
ery and the King’s grant; the Dutch insisted that Hudson’s land¬ 
ing made it theirs. In the meantime, the English were buying 
land from the Indians under the consent of Lord Sterling's agent 
while the Dutch governor granted the same section to his own 
countrymen. Stuyvesant ruled with an iron hand over Graves¬ 
end, Newtown, Flushing, Jamaica and Hempstead, where the Eng¬ 
lish were forced to become Dutch subjects. Later when the 
English captured this territory in 1664 the “Duke’s Laws” went 
into effect, with clauses against witchcraft, decreeing punishment 
of death for anyone who should "deny the true God or his attri¬ 
butes.” 
Between the two grindstones of Duke’s Laws and Stuyvesant's 
Edicts, it would seem that the Quakers would have had little 
chance to become successful colonists. Their search for religious 
freedom discovered little peace, yet they helped to build up the 
land notwithstanding persecutions. In Flushing their sufferings 
There is an interesting contrast between the quiet coves and harbors 
of the North Shore and the wave-washed beaches of the South 
Where John Howard Payne spent his boyhood. This 
interesting Easthampton house inspired “Home, 
Sweet Home” 
A relic of the days of persecution — the old Quaker 
meeting-house at Manhasset 
