Colonel De Kay informed them that the Governor alone had power to make such an appointment and that as there was not time to communicate with him, it would be best for the Indians to select a man. They chose the colonel and he was then chained to them for an hour or more as a token of their being united again in the bonds of friendship. Speeches were made by the Indians and they solemnly pledged themselves to be true "as long as the sun and moon endured," and promised to send in runners at once if they learned of any plots against the English. They also agreed to join in fighting the enemy and asked that aid be given them in case of attack by the French. This was freely promised and while the Colonel was still chained to the Indians they gave him the Belt of Wampum to be sent to the Governor. The Indians, according to the record, "again rejoiced with three huzzahs and departed very much pleased." The Belt of Wampum, so states the books of the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London, was taken to the Colonial Council in New York by Colonel DeKay a fortnight later and delivered to the Council, which in turn sent it to the Governor, who recommended that one be given in return to the Indians. This was the only occasion on record when the ceremony of the Covenant Chain was enacted in Orange County. [Illustration: James Edward Wells.] On April 18, 1748, an act was passed by the General Assembly providing that "for the time to come, all elections of representatives of the County of Orange to serve in the present or any future General Assembly shall begin and be first opened at the court house in Orange Town, or at the court house or some other convenient place in the town of Goshen." About this time settlers who had dealings with the sheriff began to find considerable fault with the manner in which mileage charges were computed. On April 8, 1748, an act was passed providing that for all writs and process papers served on inhabitants on the north side of the mountain range called the Highlands, mileage should be computed by the sheriff from the court house in Goshen, and for all papers served on the south side from the court house in Orange Town. The preamble to this act fully explained the situation. It stated: "Whereas the County of Orange is very extensive in length, and by reason of a ridge of mountains across the same, and for the better accommodation of inhabitants, it was found necessary to have two court houses, the one at Goshen on the north, and the other at Orange Town on the south thereof; yet by the sheriff having his residence sometimes at the one and sometimes at the other extreme of the said county, the computation of his fees for mileage in the service of writs hath hitherto been made from the place of the sheriff's abode, which has been found to be very inconvenient and burdensome to the parties concerned." Military Matters.