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EVEN before the first white settlers occupied the southern tip of the island of Manhattan elaborate plans were drawn up for colonization by the Dutch. To the directors in Amsterdam, Holland, the outpost represented a financial risk, and it was hoped that little would be left to chance.

So that a semblance of legality would surround the venture undertaken by the West India Company it was considerately provided that: "In case there should be any Indians living on the aforementioned or claiming any title to it, as also to other places, that might serve our purpose, they must not be expelled with violence or threat but be persuaded with kind words, or otherwise should be given something for it to placate them or be allowed to live amongst us, and a contract should be made of such an agreement to be signed by them in their manner, which kind of contract may be very serviceable to the company on other occasions."

When Peter Minuit became the first Director General of New Amsterdam, the "island of hills," or Manhattan, was occupied in the north by a tribe of Indians known as the Weckquaess-geeksands. The southern section was held by the Canarsees, many of whom lived in easy rowing distance across the river in Brooklyn. They fished and hunted freely and engaged in limited planting. There was no shortage of land, and no physical boundaries separated the tribes.

Minuit was instructed to purchase the island and called on Chief Seyseys of the Canarsees, offering trinkets valued at 60 guilders. These were gratefully accepted and the Dutch took possession forthwith in the year 1626, in accordance with the Western concept of ownership. It has been commonly supposed that this purchase price was equivalent to only $24, but more recent authorities have estimated the rate nearer to $2,000.

This was by no means the only transfer of land where an illegal purchase took on legal status with the passage of time and the presence of force, but it is probably the best known. The Canarsee Indians occupied only the lower one-quarter of this once-wooded island, now crowded with soaring skyscrapers. By far the larger part was the property of the Weckquaessgeeksands, but they were never approached when the transaction took place. What consternation there must have been as they saw the Dutch advance and appropriate their hunting grounds! But their bows and arrows were no match for the guns the settlers brought with them.

Furthermore, while it is well known now, it was probably not understood 340 years ago, that according to Indian custom and tradition there is no such thing as individual ownership of the earth, and therefore no Indian was empowered to sell that land of which he was merely a steward. The natives who accepted the tempting baubles so eagerly doubtless believed they were sharing in the use of the land with the friendly visitors from abroad.

On the embattled slopes of old Manhattan today there are no monuments recalling the first inhabitants or their wilderness. Instead one finds the highest priced property footage in the world.