[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1872)] Not the last, but the closing record of the English administra tion in reference to them is that by Governor Tryon, in 1774 : " The river tribes have become so scattered and so addicted to wandering, that no certain account of their numbers can be obtained. These tribes — the Montauks and others of Long island, Wappingers of Dutchess county, and the Esopus, Papa-goncks, etc., of Ulster county^-have generally been denomi nated River Indians and consist of about three hundred fighting men. Most of these people at present profess Christianity, and as far as in their power adopt our customs. The greater part of them attended the army during the late war, but not with the same reputation of those who are still deemed hunters." 2 1 Manuscripts of Sir Wm. Johnson, a Colonial History y vni, 451. xxin, 4. 254 THE INDIAN TRIBES CHAPTER X. • THE INDIANS AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION — THE DESTRUCTION OF THE Six NATIONS — THE LAST OF THE MAHICANS. >HE hostility of the Indian tribes of the west to the colonists, in the war of the Revolution, had its origin mainly in the long catalogue of aggressive acts which the colonists themselves had committed, and against which the tribes had adopted a settled and well understood policy, involving resistance to further encroachments upon territory which they regarded as their especial domain.