PATROONS AND LORDS OF THE MANOR 37

certain merchandise, they agreed to "transfer, cede*
convey and deliver for the benefit of the Honor-
able Mr. Michiel Paauw" as true and lawful free-
hold, the land at- Hobocan Hackingh, opposite
Manhattan, so that "he or his heirs may take pos-
session of the aforesaid land, live on it in peace,
inhabit, own and use it... without that they, the
conveying party shall have or retain the least pre-
tension, right, power or authority either concern-
ing ownership or sovereignty; but herewith they
desist, abandon, withdraw and renounce in behalf
of aforesaid now and forever totally and finally."

It must have been a pathetic and yet a divert-
ing spectacle when the simple red men thus swore
away their title to the broad acres of their fathers
for a consideration of beads, shells, blankets, and
trinkets; but, when they listened to the subtleties
of Dutch law as expounded by the Dogberrys at
Fort Amsterdam, they may have been persuaded
that their simple minds could never contend with
such masters of language and that they were on
the whole fortunate to secure something in ex-
change for their land, which they were bound to
lose in any event.

It has been the custom to ascribe to the Dutch
and Quakers the system of paying for lands taken