“At some remote period the ancestors of the Lenape dwelt probably in Labrador. They journeyed south and west to the St. Lawrence, near Lake Ontario. Next they dwelt for some generations in the pine and hemlock regions of New York, fighting often with the Snake people and the Talega, agricultural nations, living in fortified towns in Ohio and Indiana. They drove out the former but the latter remained in the Upper Ohio and its branches. The Lenape, now settled on the streams in Indiana, wished to remove to the East to join the Mohegans and others of their kin who had moved there directly from northern New York. So they united with the Hurons to drive out the Talega from the Upper Ohio, which was not fully accomplished for many centuries, some Cherokees lingering there as late as 1730.” The Indians almost universally believed the dry land they knew to be a part of a great island surrounded by waters whose limits were unknown and beyond which was the home of the Light and Sun. The Delawares believed that the whole was supported by a fabled turtle, whose movements caused earthquakes, and who had been their first preserver; their legend in that respect being as follows: Back in the far distant past there was a great overflow of water, submerging the earth, and but few people survived. They took refuge on the back of a turtle. Presently a loon flew by, which they asked to dive and bring up the land. Trying, but failing in the immediate vicinity, he tried afar off and returned with a small quantity of earth in his bill. The turtle, guided by the loon, swam to the place where the earth was found and the survivors there settled and repeopled the land. It will probably be a matter of some surprise to most of you to learn that there is authority for believing that New Jersey was a wilderness, uninhabited by human beings until the year 1396, when King Wolomenap (Hollow Man) led his people into the Delaware Valley where they settled and overran New Jersey.