build a house on, and make a settlement, extending about nine miles in length along the banks: the chief smiled, and looking very cheerfully at Sir William, {89} told him, if he really dreamed it he should have it; but that he would never dream again with him, for he had only got a laced coat, whereas Sir William was now entitled to a large bed, on which his ancestors had frequently slept. Sir William took possession of the land by virtue of an Indian deed signed by the chiefs, and gave them some rum to finish the business.[1] It is now a considerable estate, but since the war the Americans have deprived him of it, with all the buildings, &c. which are very valuable. It lies on the opposite shore to the German Flats, but the land is by no means equal in goodness with the soil there. Perhaps no part of America produces land better calculated for cultivation than the German Flats.
During the American war, the best Loyalist troops were collected from the Mohawk River, and it was agreed on all hands that for steadiness, bravery and allegiance, they were not to be excelled. Government has done its utmost to reward many of them for their services, by giving them land in Canada and Nova Scotia; and to those whom poverty obliged to solicit them, implements of husbandry. They are now in a very flourishing state, and there is no doubt but they will prove valuable friends and supporters of Great Britain on any future emergency.
During the severe weather, I had a narrow escape from
a contrivance of the Indian who was occasionally with me, and whom I employed in hunting, and making marten
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- ↑ This was the grant made to Sir William Johnson in 1760, of sixty-six thousand acres, now within Little Falls Township on the Mohawk River. The grant was confirmed by the crown in 1769, and Johnson Hall, a large portion of which is still standing, was built thereupon. See vol. i of this series, p. 88, note 48.—Ed.
