124 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

The earliest, most intimate, and most continuous
relations of the Dutch settlers were with the In-
dians. These people were divided into a number
of independent tribes or nations. The valley of
the North River was shared by the Mohawks, who
inhabited the region along the west side of its
upper waters, and the Mohegans, or Mahicans, as
the Dutch called them, who lived on either side of
the banks of its lower reaches, with various smaller
tribes scattered between. The warlike Man-
hattans occupied the island called by their name,
while the Mohegans raised their wigwams also on
the eastern shore of the upper river opposite the
Mohawks, and ranged over the land reaching to
the Connecticut River.

The Mohawks, with the Oneidas, the Onondagas,
the Cayugas, and the Senecas, formed the famous
Five Nations, generally known as the Iroquois.
Their territory was bounded on the north by Lake
Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, on the east
by Lake Champlain and the North River, on the
west by Lake Erie and the Niagara River, and on
the south by the region occupied by the Lenni
Lenape, or Delaware tribes. But their power
extended far beyond these limits over dependent
tribes. They were in a constant state of warfare