stream, at the point now occupied by the city of Hartford.

About the same time, Lord Warwick, assuming that a legitimate grant of
the region had been made to him by the king of England, conveyed to
Lords Say, Brook and others, all the territory running southwest from
Narragansett river, to the distance of one hundred and twenty miles
along the coast, and reaching back, through the whole breadth of the
country, from the Western Ocean to the South Sea. The geography of
these regions was then very imperfectly known. No one had any
conception of the vast distance between the Atlantic Ocean and the
shores of the Pacific. The trading post, which the Dutch had
established on the Connecticut, was called Fort Hope.

As soon as it was known, at Plymouth and Boston, that the Dutch had
taken formal possession of the valley of the Connecticut, Governor
Winslow hastened to confer with the Massachusetts Governor respecting
their duties. As it was doubtful whether the region of the Connecticut
was embraced within either of their patents, they decided not to
interfere. But through diplomatic policy they assigned a different
reason for their refusal.

"In regard," said Governor Winthrop,

"that the place was not fit for plantation, there being
three or four thousand warlike Indians, and the river not to
be gone into but by small pinnaces, having a bar affording
but six feet at high water, and for that no vessel can get
in for seven months in the year, partly by reason of the
ice, and then the violent stream, we thought not fit to
meddle with it."[4]