sold all my Patent right to the aforesaid nine men, and they are to pay me, or whomsoever I shall appoint them, the sum of Thirty pounds in merchantable pay, in the Massachusetts, under which Government they now Inhabit, and two Beaver Hats; and I am to bear one twentieth part of the charges of the purchase; and to have a twentieth part of all lands and privileges, and to have hich of the necks abovesaid that I will, myself paying r it only, the Purchasers are to pay what the Sachem is to have for Masquetuck, though I take the other neck. And, in witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this second day of July, [which was then the fifth month according to the style,] 1659.

Although there was a verbal agreement made by the Sachems, to sell Thomas Mayhew a large part of the island, yet it was not formally concluded until a number of families had moved and settled there, at which time it was conveyed by the Sachems to the associates, by the following instrument, which is the first to be found on the records of the island:

These presents witness, May the tenth, sixteen hundred and sixty, that we, Wanackmamack and Nickanoose, head Sachems of Nantucket island, do give, grant, bargain, and sell, unto Mr. Thomas Mayhew of Martin's Vineyard, Tristram Coffin, seniors, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greanleaf, Thomas Barnard, John Swain, and William Pile, all the Land, Meadow, Marshes, Timber and Wood,

and all appurtenances thereunto belonging, and being and lying from the west end of the island of Nantucket, unto the Pond, called by the Indians, Waqutuquab, and from the head of that Pond, upon a straight line, unto the Pond situated by Monomoy Harbour or Creek, now called Wheeler's Creek, and so from the northeast corner of the said Pond to the Sea, that is to say, all the right that we, the aforesaid Sachems, have in the said tract of Land, provided that none of the Indian Inhabitants, in or about the wood land, or whatsoever Indians, within the last purchase of land, from the head of the Pond to Monomoy Harbour, shall be removed without full satisfaction. And we, the aforesaid Sachems, do give, grant, bargain, and sell, the one half of the remainder of the Meadows and Marshes upon all other parts of the Islands. And also, that the English people shall have what grass they shall need for to mow, out of the remainder of the Meadows and Marshes on the island, so long as the English remain upon the Island, and also free liberty for Timber and Wood, upon any part of the island within the jurisdiction. And also, we, the aforesaid Sachems, do fully grant free liberty to the English for the feeding all sorts of Cattle on any part of the island, after Indian harvest is ended until planting time, or until the first day of May, from year to year for ever, for and in consideration of twelve pounds already paid, and fourteen pounds to be paid within three months after the date hereof.

To have and to hold the aforesaid purchase of land, and other appurtenances, as aforementioned, to them, Mr. Thomas Macy, Tristram Coffin, Thomas Mayhew, and the rest, aforementioned, and their heirs and assigns, for ever.

In witness whereof, we, the said Sachems, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the day and year above

written.

The sign of WANACKMAMACK, [ S. ]

The sign of NICKanoose.

[ S. ]

Signed, sealed and delivered, in the presence of us,

PETER FOLGER,

FELIX KUTTASHAMAQUAT,

EDWARD STARBUCK.

I do witness this deed to be a true deed, according to the interpretation of Felix the interpreter; also, I heard Wanackmamack, but two weeks ago, say that the sale, made by Nickanoose and he, should be good, and that they would do so, whatever comes of it.

Witness my hand, this 17th of first month, 1664. PETER FOLGER.

Witness,

MARY STARBUCK,

The mark of JOHN (I. C.) COFFIn.

Wanackmamack and Nickanoose acknowledged the above written to be their act and deed, in the presence of the General Court, this 12th of June, 1677, as attest. MATTHEW MAYHEW,

Secretary to the Gen. Court.

The island was now fairly purchased of the original patentee, and a greater part of it of the natives. It was owned by an association, most of whom resided at Salisbury, in the county of Essex, in Massachusetts. The purchasers immediately began to make their arrangements

to move thither with their families, and to improve the land. Accordingly, in the year 1659, the first family settled in the place, of which family a more particular account will hereafter be given.

The Island of Nantucket is situated about 30 miles south of the main or continent; 60 miles S. E. from New Bedford; 100 miles S. S. E. from Boston; and 382 miles E. N. E. from Philadelphia. . It lies in north latitude 41° 15' 22'; in west longitude 70° 7′ 56′′. It contains nearly 30,000 acres of land, and is about 14 miles long, east and west, and 3 broad, on an average, north and south. The principal harbor is on the north side, in the bottom or bend of an extensive bay, which is formed by two projecting points, one at the N. E. and the other at the N. W. part of the island; both of which extend in a northwesterly direction. The most western of these points is called Smith's Point, the other Sandy or Great Point; on the latter stands a light-house. The harbor is nearly landlocked by two points of beach, about three quarters of a mile apart, one on the east called Coetue, the other on the west, called Brant Point. Within these points, and on the west side, are the wharves and town. Nearly two miles from the shore, to the northward of the harbor, is a bar, which all vessels, coming in or out, are under the necessity of passing. Vessels drawing nine feet of water may, with good pilots, pass over this bar and into the harbor. When a vessel comes to the bar drawing too great a draft of water to admit of her passing it with safety, lighters are sent, into which her cargo is discharged till she is sufficiently lightened.

The many shoals to the eastward of the island, and the great South Shoal to the southward, render the navigation

difficult and compel those not acquainted to keep a safe distance at sea. Although there are no ledges of rocks, nor rocky shores, around the island, yet it is not unfrequent, especially in the winter, that vessels lose their way and are wrecked on some part. Such misfortunes, though causing much destruction of property, are not frequently attended with loss of lives.

The channel or sound, between the island and continent, is safe for vessels drawing sixteen feet of water; a greater depth would subject them to danger.

On the north of Smith's Point, before mentioned, which projects several miles in a northwesterly direction, is Tuckernuck, an island containing about 1,000 acres of land, and inhabited by a few families. This island was once covered with wood, but is now bare except about a hundred acres, from which sheep and cattle have, for a few years, been excluded, and which are now occupied by thriving forest trees. There are two other islands a little to the north and west of Tuckernuck, one called Muskeeket, the other Gravelly Island; both are small and sandy, and without inhabitants.

The Island of Nantucket is generally of a sandy soil, and would not rate above a middling quality, compared with the adjacent continent, although, when first settled by the English, the soil was good and produced equal to any part of the country. In proof of this, the following account of the luxuriancy of the soil, though many years after the island was settled, will show, in some degree, the great contrast between that time and the present. Ebenezer Barnard, a man of strict veracity, in the year 1729, tilled five acres in the general cornfield, at that time on the north side of the island, between the Long Pond, so