Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. I
in the following
by improvement might not be made profitable. Others guard against this exception to their Grant, by adding to the quantity of Land expressed in the Grant these words Be it more or less, or some such words, and by virtue of these they not only claim a small quantity more than is expressed in "the patent, but claim twice as much, and often ten times as much, and sometimes above one that
hundred times the quantity of Land that is expressed in the Grant, but as I said before, generally no quantity of Land is expressed in the Large Grants There being no previous Survey to the Grants, their Boundaries are generally expressed with much uncertainty, by the Indian names of Brooks, Rivulets, Hills, Ponds, Falls of water &c which were and still are known to very few Christians, and which adds to this uncertainty is, that such names as are in these Grants taken to be the proper
name of a Brook, Hill, or Fall of water &c in the
Indian Language signifies only a Large Brook or broad Brook, or small Br k or high Hill, or only a Hill or' fall of water in general, so that the Indians shew many places by the same name Brooks and Rivers have different names withe the Indians, at different places and often change their names, they taking their names often from the abode of some Indian near the place where it is so called.
This
has given room to some to explain and enlarge their Grants according to their own inclinations by putting the names mentioned in their grants to what place or part of the Country they please, of