own privat property containing including
two islands near 800 acres. On this, and
near it, most of the Indians under his
superintendency, live; which, with the
goodness of this land being a fine fer-
tile soil, was a weighty consideratio-
n of making this the place of settle-
ment, there are also a large number
of children here fit for schooling, so
that with much conveniency, a large
school might be made up, but to
balance these advantages we consider-
ed the land was private property, and
if we made improvements, such as bu-
ilding a house and barn, and clear-
ing land, when we left it they would
all belong to cornplanter, and not to
the nation, also, if the Indians were to
clear land and fence lots, they would
not belong to the nation.
This