racter in this State is well known, and we have no reason to believe the character of the Indians of Orange was materially different. If you know one, you know the general character of those who compose his wigwam, and knowing these you know that of his tribe. They are all alike-dirty, slothful and indolent, trustworthy and confiding in their friendships, while fierce and revengeful under other circumstances. Their good will and enmity are alike easily purchased. All have the war dance before starting upon and after returning from the war-path; and bury the dead standing, with their war instruments. Their known rule of warfare is an indiscriminate massacre of men, women and children; cruel to their captives, whom they usually slay with the tomahawk or burn up at the stake. They believe in a future state of rewards and punishments, and sacrifice to a Good Spirit—an unknown god.

We have the testimony of Hendrick Hudson that the Indians above the Highlands were kind and friendly to him. and his crew, and the more so the further he proceeded up the river. This, we presume, related to those on both sides of the river, though below the Highlands they were of a more hostile character. We have understood, as coming from some of the early settlers, who first located in Westchester and Dutchess and afterwards removed here, as many of them did, the impression there was very general, that the Indians on that side were less hostile and more friendly to the white settlers than those on the west; and this was given as a reason for settling there, which accounts in some measure, for the earlier settlement of that side of the river. We infer, from the absence of all written accounts of any thing very peculiar or different in the habits and customs of the Indians of the County from others in the State, and from the poverty of tradition in this respect, that there were no such peculiar differences, but were similar and identical with those of the heathen Indian at Onondaga and Buffalo, before modified and changed by white association. We have recently seen the proposals of Dr. Arnell, in 1818, to publish a history of the County, and in them he proposed to treat of Indian character, habits and manners. The Dr. perhaps had seen some of them, at least he lived half a century nearer the fountain of information, and may have learned many things of small and particular interest in relation to them from some of the early settlers then living, of which he would have told us, but which now lie buried with him in the grave, never to be disintered. In conclusion, we are of opinion that it is a point

out of which very little could have been made at any time, much less at the present, because of the similarity between the Indians of Orange and those of the State, whom all of this generation have heard of and read about, Under this impression, and that nothing of great interest could be found in the County and brought out to public view, we have not very deeply nor extensively enquired on the subject. If we have been mistaken in opinion, and shall be judged remiss in the execution of this part of our paper, we have honestly assigned our reasons in justification of our course, and shall only be satisfied of our error when some future writer shall produce the facts necessary to convict us, and spread them before the public; when we shall be among the first to make acknowledgements of our error, based on an ignorance of the subject.

SETTLEMENT OF ORANGE COUNTY.

There is, perhaps, no County in the State as early settled as Orange, about which so little has been written and made public in any way. The history rests in the memory of the inhabitants, and the difficulty is in procuring the items and arranging them together in one sensible and connected form. This we shall not attempt to accomplish at present, for the reason stated hereafter, as the subject is wholly new and unexplored, and the materials not well arranged for the readers' benefit. Not only has the history of the County never been written, but we do not know where to go and lay our hand upon the written statement of the early settlement of any one district or neighborhood in a town, much less of a town, except one relating to Minisink, which we lay before the reader, and is of very interesting character for early information. We think the learned and well-informed among those who have preceded us in the County were direlict in this particular. As it is, all the facts with uncertain dates lie in a confused mass, and we have no certain relief or guide to direct our steps in threading our way through the doubt and uncertainty by which the subject is surrounded. Dr. Arnell, of Goshen, now deceased, many years since proposed to write and publish a history of the County, and why he did not we do not know. This gentleman was an old settler, grew up with the inhabitants and improvements of the County, well informed of its early settlement and historical incidents, and withal of a literary turn of mind, and would no doubt have written not only an accurate but interesting work. His failure to accomplish his design we now experience as a great loss in the execution of our paper, as it is to the County at large. With him, and those who have died since his time, were treasured up many facts of a local and general character which are now lost beyond the hope of recovery-the grave has sealed them up. There being no early statements nor extended records of those particulars upon which we could fall back and draw with safety and historic certainty, we are compelled to write the article from the best materials in our possession, under the strongest lights which shine upon us. These are general information derived from tradition

and the testimony of living witnesses which do not reach back in many instances with the certainty of day and date to the early settlement of the County.

Ulster was settled at an earlier period than Orange, and the settlement of that County had a large and controlling influence on the after population of this. The settlement in Ulster was made at the mouth of the Wallkill or Paltz River, at or near the present village of Kingston, formerly Esopus, by Huguenots originally from France, who left their native country before or during the reign of the infamous Louis XIV. These men were compelled to flee for personal safety, and some fled to Germany and to Holland, and others to England and to Switzerland.

As the early settlement of Ulster and Orange and other parts of the State are deeply indebted to these persecuted, pious and hardy adventurers, we cannot perform a more agreeable or grateful task than to honor their memory by a few remarks, while we may impart some historical information to our young readers.

Though France had been a Catholic country for centuries, yet after the Reformation, Protestants or Calvinists grew up in great numbers all over the kingdom. These she persecuted in various ways from time to time. In 1572, in the reign of Charles 9th, on the 26th of August, the memorable massacre of St. Bartholemew took place, and 70,000 of them were butchered with circumstances of unparalleled cruelty. On this occasion many of the principal Protestants of the kingdom were fraudulently invited up to Paris under a solemn oath of safety, to witness the marriage of the king of Navarre with the sister of the king of France. The Queen Dowager of Navarre, a Protestant, was poisoned by a pain of gloves before the marriage took place. Coligni, Admiral of France, was murdered in his own house, then thrown out of the window. The whole city was ravaged by the bigoted and cruel murderers, whilst the massacre extended and spread through the whole kingdom. The scenes transacted were too horrible, numerous and revolting to tell orenumerate. In 1598 Henry 4th passed the famous Edict of Nantz, which secured to the Protestants of France free exercise of religious belief, and joy and rejoicing spread over the land as if visited by some heavenly messenger. Things remained in this con dition till 1685, when Louis 14th, of infamous memory, revoked the Edict of Nantz, and sat in most vigorous operation the renovated machinery of former persecutions. Churches were demolished, citizens insulted by the soldiery, and after

the loss of many most valuable lives, 50,000 were driven into exile. They fled, as before remarked, to England, Switzerland, Germany and Holland. In Holland they made extensive settlements, built churches, and had among them some of the most distinguished preachers, of whom the eloquent Saurin was one. The Huguenots of whom we speak are a part of this persecuted people, who fled to Holland and afterwards continued their wanderings till they came to these shores. This emigration of Huguenots to this country took place in the latter part of the 17th century, and arriving, passed up the Hudson and established themselves at the mouth of the Wallkill. After a time some of these, or others from the settlement, passed down the Valley of Mamakating as far as the Delaware River, and there made settlements on the Neversink River, in the Minisink country. Others in like manner proceeded up the Valley of the Wallkill, and from time to time made settlements along the whole course of the stream, including parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Dutch, when they came, thought no lands worth settling unless they were flat and rich, and these were of that description. Emigrants from the settlements on the Neversink River pushed their fortunes into New Jersey and settled the town of Wantage, in the County of Sussex. An old family by the name of Decker were the pioneers in that direction, which is now very numerous, and from them Deckertown has its name. The old settlers along the Valley of the Wallkill, in Orange, as occasion required from time to time pushed their children east and west, further and further from the stream, till the Dutch may be considered as the first sparse population of the towns of Montgomery, Crawford, Deerpark and Minisink. In this process of settlement they passed over the town of Wallkill,

In confirmation of our remarks, we make an extract from an editorial article in the first No. of the Ulster Huguenot, printed at Kingston, written by a gentleman well acquainted with the history of these early emigrants and persecuted

men:

"The Ulster Huguenots were a fragment of that resolute Christian band of 50,000 who fled from France in the 17th century, to escape the rack and wheel of a persecution for conscience-sake, to which no parallel is found in history. The Edict of Nantz had promised them safety; and though they were for a time apparently restored to that liberty which they so deeply prized, yet their grievances at length became insupportable, and they were compelled to fly for their safety-some repairing to Switzerland, others to Germany-to Holland and to England. The eyes of many of these sufferers were soon turned towards the New World. They looked here for rest from