akes. Thus it was,
that an estate, lying within five-and-twenty miles of the city of New
York, and in which we happen to have a small interest at this hour, was
clipped of its fair proportions, in consequence of losing some miles
that run over obtrusively into another colony; and, within a short
distance of the spot where we are writing, a "patent" has been squeezed
entirely out of existence, between the claims of two older grants.

No such calamity befell "Willoughby's Patent," however. The land was
found, with all its "marked or _blazed_ trees," its "heaps of
stones," "large butternut corners," and "dead oaks." In a word,
everything was as it should be; even to the quality of the soil, the
beaver-pond, and the quantity. As respects the last, the colony never
gave "struck measure;" a thousand acres on paper, seldom falling short
of eleven or twelve hundred in soil. In the present instance, the six
thousand two hundred and forty-six acres of "Willoughby's Patent," were
subsequently ascertained to contain just seven thousand and ninety-two
acres of solid ground.

Our limits and plan will not permit us to give more than a sketch of
the proceedings of the captain, in taking possession; though we feel
certain that a minute account of the progress of such a settlement
would possess a sort of Robinson Crusoe-like interest, that might repay
the reader. As usual, the adventurers commenced their operations in the
spring. Mrs. Willoughby, and the children, were left with their
friends, in Albany; while the captain and his party pioneered their way
to the patent, in the best manner they could. This party consisted of
Nick, who went in the capacity of hunter, an office of a good deal of
dignity, and of the last importance, to a set of adventurers on an
expedition of this nature. Then there were eight axe-men, a house-
carpenter, a mason, and a mill-wright. These, with Captain Willoughby,
and an invalid sergeant, of the name of Joyce, composed the party.

Our adventurers made most of their journey by water. After finding
their way to the head of the Canaideraga, mistaking it for the Otsego,
they felled trees, hollowed them into canoes, embarked, and, aided by a
yoke of oxen that were driven along the shore, they wormed their way,
through the Oaks, into the Susquehanna, descending that river until
they reached the Unadilla, which stream they ascended until they came
to the small river, known in the parlance of the country, by the