Herald Of The Times

ABORIGINES.—At the time of its first settlement by the whites, Long Island was occupied by thirteen tribes of Indians, viz:—the Canarsee, the Rockaway, the Merrick, the Marsapeague, the Secatogue, and the Patchogue, on the south side—the Matinecock, the Nissaquake, the Setaucket; and the Corchaug on the north side—the Shinnecock, the Manhanset, and the Montauk, from the Canonicus place or Montauk point. Of these the Montauks were the most numerous and warlike, and exercised a kind of sovereignty over the others, all of whom they had overrun and reduced to tributaries.

These tribes, we believe, are now extinct, with the exception of the Montauks, 15 or 20 of whom reside on a promontory at the east part of the island called Montauk point. They subsist by fishing and cultivating a little land—are extremely indolent, and of a melancholy and desponding turn of mind, no doubt induced by the contemplation of their former strength and their present weakness, and the evidently near approach of their final extinction; reflections well calculated to awaken sad thoughts and pensive musings in their desolate situation.

In the history of the ascendency and declension of these tribes, the pen of the sentimentalist might find ample materials for an interesting romance.

[L. I. Farmer.