That the river tribes at the time of Penn's treaties (1680-1700) could not sell their lands without the permission of the Iroquois has never been established. Mr. Gallatin states that William Penn "always purchased the right of possession from the Delawares, and that of sovereignty from the Five Nations."[195] This may have been the case in some later treaties of the colony, but certainly there is no intimation of it in the celebrated "First Indian Deed" to Penn, July 15th, 1682.[196] Furthermore, in the Release which the Iroquois did give of their Pennsylvania lands in 1736, the boundaries are defined as "Westward to the Setting of the Sun, and Eastward to the furthest springs of the Waters running into the said River," _i. e._, the Susquehannah;[197] and to do away with any doubt that the tract thus defined included all the land in this part to which they had a claim, the Release goes on to recite that "our true intent and meaning was and is to release all our Right, Claim and Pretensions whatsoever to all and every the Lands lying within the Bounds and Limits of the Government of Pennsylvania, Beginning Eastward on the River Delaware, as far Northward as the s^{d} Ridge or Chain of Endless Mountains." In other words, although the Six Nations advanced no claim to land east of the Susquehanna watershed, the Proprietors chose to include the Delaware watershed so as to avoid any future complication. It seems to me this Release does away with any "right of sovereignty" of the Iroquois over the Delaware Valley south of the mountains, and brands Canassatego's remarks above quoted as braggart falsehoods. As for land east of the Delaware river, Mr. Ruttenber correctly observes: "The Iroquois never questioned the sales made by the Lenapes or Minsis east of that river. * * The findings of Gallatin in this particular are confirmed by all the title deeds in New York and New Jersey."[198] It was only to the Susquehannock lands, purchased by Penn in 1699, that the confirmation of the Iroquois was required.[199] The close of this condition of subjection was in 1756. In that year Sir William Johnson formally "took off the petticoat" from the Lenape, and "handed them the war belt."[200] The year subsequent they made the public declaration that "they would not acknowledge but the Senecas as their superiors."[201] Even their supremacy was soon rejected. At the Treaty of Fort Pitt, October, 1778, Captain White Eyes, when reminded by the Senecas that the petticoats were still on his people, scornfully repudiated the imputation, and made good his words by leading a war party against them the following year. The Iroquois, however, released their hold unwillingly, and it was not until 1794, shortly before the Treaty of Greenville, that their delegates came forward and "officially declared that the Lenape were no longer women, but _men_," and the famous chief, Joseph Brant, placed in their hands the war club.[202] § 2. _Historic Migrations of the Lenape_.