Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn in Kings County on Long-Island

Notes Geographical and Historical, Relating to the Town of Brooklyn in Kings County on Long-Island is an essay by Gabriel Furman. Furman was an American attorney, historian and politician from New York. Excerpt: «This town is situated in Kings County, on the west end of Long-Island, in the State of New-York. It is bounded north by the City and County of New-York; east by the township of Bushwick; south by the township of Flatbush and New Utrecht; and west by New-York Bay; and contains the village of Brooklyn, which is about a mile square. This town formerly composed part of a powerful Indian Sachemdom; and with the other parts of the Island bore the Indian name of Matowcas. This part of the Island, as far as Jamaica was inhabited by the Canarsee tribe of Indians. The old Dutch inhabitants in this county have a tradition, that the Canarsee Indians were subject to the Mohawks, as all the Iroquois were called; and paid them an annual tribute of dried clams and wampum. When the Dutch settled here, they persuaded the Canarsees to keep back the tribute; in consequence of which a party of the Mohawks came down and killed their tributaries wherever they met them.»