SW_HJ1830_004

all land within the afore-mentioned boundaries to be the property of the Seneca nation; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb the Seneca nation, nor any of the Six Nations, or any of their Indian friends residing thereon, and united with them in the free use and enjoyment thereof; but it shall remain their's until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase. The Seneca nation of Indians, previous to a sale they made in the year 1797, were the proprietors of the greater part of the land west of the Genesee river, in the state of New York. By an indenture, bearing date the fifteenth of Ninth-month, 1797, they sold to Robert Morris, in consideration of one hundred thousand dollars, to be by the said Robert Morris vested in the stock of the bank of the United States, and held in the name of the president of the United States, for the use and behoof of the Seneca nation of Indians, they bargained and sold a large tract of cuintry mentioned in said indenture, to the said Robert Morris, excepting, nevertheless, and always reserving out of this grant and conveyance, all such pieces and parcels of the aforesaid tract, and such privileges thereunto be-longing, as is therein afterwards particularly mentioned, which said pieces or parcels of land so excepted, are, by the parties to the presents clearly understood to remain the property of the said Seneca nation of Indians, in as full and ample a manner as if the said presents had not been executed. Agreeably to the provisions made by the treaty, these reservations were located to the Indians in such places and manner as were desired by the sachems and chiefs. The principal reservations were, the Alle-ghany, the Cattaraugus, the Buffalo, and the Tonnewonta, with several smaller reservations near the Genesee river, containing in all three hundred and twelve square miles, or nearly two hundred thousand acres. The noted Chief Cornplanter, and his family or tribe, resided in Pennsylvania, a little south of the state of New York, on a tract of land secured to him and his heirs forever, by a special act of the state. This Chief (whose Indian name is Ki-on-twogh-ky,) was much esteemed for his wisdom and superior skill, in directing the great coun-cils of the nation; and finer specimens of pathetic eloquence are scarcely to be met with in the annals of history, either amongst savage or civil-ized nations, than are displayed in his speeches to President Washing-ton, in the year 1790, when he, with several other noted chiefs, visited Philadelphia. These speeches, with the President's answers, the famous Chief had recorded in a book, of which the writer obtained a copy in the year 1800. They were printed some years since by the committee