Book XIII: Henry Hudson and the New Netherlands. (A. D. 1609-1626.)
[280]The extracts relating to Henry Hudson are reprinted from a very valuable book, containing many original documents in regard to him, and entitled ‘Henry Hudson the Navigator. The original documents in which his career is recorded . . . with an Introduction by G. M. Asher, Ll.D.’ London, Hakluyt Society, 1859, pp. 77-93, 174-179, 117-123. The same narratives may be found in Purchas's Pilgrims, vol. III. There is a Life of Henry Hudson by Henry R. Cleveland in Sparks's ‘American Biography,’ vol. x. Brodhead's ‘History of New York’ and O'Callaghan's ‘History of New Netherlands’ also contain much information concerning him. To show the result of Hudson's discoveries, I give also a series of extracts from early Dutch chronicles, describing in quaint language the first founding of the New Netherlands. It is translated from Wassenaer's ‘Historie van Europa’ (Amsterdam, 1621-1632), and is taken from O'Callaghan's ‘Documentary History of the State of New York,’ vol. III. pp. 27-28, 42-44.
[281]
I.—Discovery of the Hudson River.
[Hudson sailed from Amsterdam, on his third voyage, March 25, 1609. these extracts are from the diary of Robert Juet, one of his men, beginning on the day when they saw sandy hook, at the entrance of what is now New York harbor, Sept. 2, 1609.]Then the sun arose, and we steered away north again, and saw the land from the west by north, to the north-west by north, all like broken islands;1 and our soundings were eleven and ten fathoms.2 Then we luffed3 in for the shore, and fair by the shore we had seven fathoms. The course along the land we found to be north-east by north from the land which we had first sight of, until we came to a great lake of water, as we could judge it to be, being drowned land,4 which made it to rise like islands, which was in length ten leagues. The mouth of that land hath many shoals, and the sea breaketh on them as it is cast out of the mouth of it. And from that lake or [282] bay, the land Iieth north by east, and we had a great stream out of the bay; and from thence our sounding was ten fathoms two leagues from the land . . . . The 3d [September] the morning misty until ten of the clock; then it cleared, and the wind came to the south south-east: so we weighed, and stood to the northward. The land is very pleasant and high, and bold to fall withal.5 At three of the clock in the afternoon we came to three great rivers. So we stood along to the northernmost, thinking to have gone into it; but we found it to have a very shoal bar before it, for we had but ten foot water. Then we cast about to the southward, and found two fathoms, three fathoms, and three and a quarter, till we came to the souther side of them; then we had five and six fathoms, and anchored. So we sent in our boat to sound; and they found no less water than four, five, six, and seven fathoms, and returned in an hour and a half. So we weighed and went in, and rode in five fathoms, ooze ground, and saw salmons and mullets, and rays very great. The height6 is 40° 30′. The 4th, in the morning, as soon as the day was light, we saw that it was good riding7 farther up. So we sent our boat to sound, and found that it was a very good harbor, and four and five fathoms two cables' length from the shore. Then we weighed, and went in with our ship. Then our boat went on8 land with our net to fish, and caught ten great mullets of a foot and a half long apiece, and a ray as great as four [283] men could haul into the ship. So we trimmed our boat, and rode still all day. At night, the wind blew hard at the north-west, and our anchor came home;9 and we drove on shore, but took no hurt, thanked be God! for the ground is soft sand and ooze. This day the people of the country came aboard of us, seeming very glad of our coming, and brought green tobacco, and gave us of it for knives and beads. They go in deerskins, loose, well dressed. They have yellow copper. They desire clothes, and are very civil. They have great stores of maize or Indian wheat, whereof they make good bread. The country is full of great and tall oaks. The 5th in the morning, as soon as the day was light, the wind ceased, and the flood10 came. So we heaved off our ship again into five fathoms water, and sent our boat to sound the bay; and we found that there was three fathoms [depth] hard by the souther shore. Our men went on land there, and saw great store of men, women, and children, who gave them tobacco at their coming on land. So they went up into the woods, and saw great store of very goodly oaks, and some currants. For one of them came aboard, and brought some dried, and gave me some, which were sweet and good. This day many of the people came aboard, some in mantles of feathers, and some in skins of divers sorts of good furs. Some women also came to us with hemp. They had red copper tobacco-pipes; and other things of copper they did wear about their necks. At night they went on land again: so we rode very quiet, but durst not trust them. [284] The 6th in the morning was fair weather; and our master sent John Colman with four other men in our boat, over to the north side to sound the other river, being four leagues from us. They found by the way shoal water, two fathoms, but at the north of the river eighteen and twenty fathoms, and very good riding for ships, and a narrow river to the westward between two islands. The lands, they told us, were as pleasant with grass and flowers and goodly trees as ever they had seen, and very sweet smells came from them. So they went in two leagues, and saw an open sea, and returned; and, as they came back, they were set upon by two canoes, the one having twelve, the other fourteen men. The night came on, and it began to rain, so that their match11 went out; and they had one man slain in the fight,—which was an Englishman named John Colman,—with an arrow shot into his throat, and two more hurt. It grew so dark, that they could not find the ship that night, but labored to and fro on their oars. They had so great a stream, that their grapnel12 would not hold them. The 7th was fair, and by ten of the clock they returned aboard the ship, and brought our dead man with them, whom we carried on land, and buried, and named the point after his name, Colman's Point. Then we hoisted in our boat, and raised her side with wasteboards for defence of our men. So we rode still all night, having good regard to our watch. The 8th was very fair weather: we rode still very quietly. The people came aboard us, and brought [285] tobacco and Indian wheat, to exchange for knives and beads, and offered us no violence. So we, fitting up our boat, did mark13 them to see if they would make any show14 of the death of our man; which they did not. The 9th, fair weather. In the morning two great canoes came aboard, full of men,—the one with their bows and arrows, and the other in show of buying of knives, to betray us; but we perceived their intent. We took two of them to have kept them, and put red coats on them, and would not suffer the other to come near us. So they went on land; and two other came aboard in a canoe. We took the one, and let the other go; but he which we had taken got up, and leaped overboard. Then we weighed, and went off into the channel of the river, and anchored there all night. . . . The 12th, very fair and hot. In the afternoon, at two of the clock, we weighed, the wind being variable between the north and north-west. So we turned into the river two leagues, and anchored. This morning, at our first ride in the river, there came eight and twenty canoes full of men, women, and children, to betray us; but we saw their intent, and suffered none of them to come aboard of us. At twelve of the clock they departed. They brought with them oysters and beans, whereof we bought some. They have great tobaccopipes of yellow copper, and pots of earth to dress their meat in . . . The 15th, in the morning, was misty, until the sun arose; then it cleared. So we weighed with the wind at south, and ran up into the river twenty leagues, [286] passing by high mountains. We had a very good depth, as six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, and thirteen fathoms, and great store of salmons in the river. This morning our two savages got out of a port, and swam away. After we were under sail, they called to us in scorn. At night we came to other mountains, which lie from the river's side. There we found very loving people, and very old men, where we were well used. Our boat went to fish, and caught great store of very good fish. The 20th, in the morning, was fair weather. Our master's mate, with four men more, went up with our boat to sound the river, and found, two leagues above us, but two fathoms water, and the channel very narrow, and, above that place, seven or eight fathoms. Toward night they returned; and we rode still all night. The one and twentieth was fair weather, and the wind all southerly. We determined yet once more to go farther up into the river to try what depth and breadth it did bear; but much people resorted aboard, so we went not this day. Our carpenter went on land, and made a fore-yard. And our master and his mate determined to try some of the chief men of the country, whether they had any treachery in them. So they took them down into the cabin, and gave them so much wine and aqua vitae15 that they were all merry. And one of them had his wife with him, which sat so modestly as any of our countrywomen would do in a strange place. In the end, one of them was drunk, which had been aboard of our ship all the time that we had been there; and that was strange to them; for they could [287] not tell how to take it. The canoes and folk went all on shore; but some of them came again, and brought strops16 of beads,—some had six, seven, eight, nine, ten,—and gave him: so he slept all night quietly. The two and twentieth was fair weather. In the morning our master's mate and four more of the company went up with our boat to sound the river higher up. The people of the country came not aboard till noon; but when they came, and saw the savages well, they were glad. So at three of the clock in the afternoon, they came aboard, and brought tobacco and more beads, and gave them to our master, and made an oration, and showed him all the country round about. Then they sent one of their company on land, who presently returned, and brought a great platter full of venison, dressed by themselves; and they caused him to eat with them: then they made him reverence, and departed, all save the old man that lay aboard. This night, at ten of the clock, our boat returned in a shower of rain, from sounding of the river, and found it to be at an end for shipping to go in; for they had been up eight or nine leagues, and found but seven foot water, and inconstant soundings. The four and twentieth was fair weather, the wind at the north-west. We weighed [anchor], and went down the river seven or eight leagues; and at half ebb we came aground on a bank of ooze in the middle of the river, and sat17 there till the flood. Then we went on land, and gathered good store of chestnuts.18 At ten of the clock we came off into deep water, and anchored. . . . [288] The six and twentieth was fair weather, and the wind at south a stiff gale. We rode still. In the morning, our carpenter went on land with our master's mate, and four more of our company, to cut wood. This morning, two canoes came up the river from the place where we first found loving people; and in one of them was the old man that had lain aboard of us at the other place. He brought another old man with him, which brought more strops of beads, and gave them to our master, and showed him all the country thereabout as though it were at his command. So he made the two old men dine with him, and the old man's wife; for they brought two old women, and two young maidens of the age of sixteen or seventeen years, with them, who behaved themselves very modestly. Our master gave one of the old men a knife; and they gave him and us tobacco. And at one of the clock they departed down the river, making signs that we should come down to them; for we were within two leagues of the place where they dwelt. . . . The 1st of October, fair weather, the wind variable between the west and the north. In the morning we weighed at seven of the clock with the ebb, and got down below the mountains, which was seven leagues. Then it fell calm, and the flood was come, and we anchored at twelve of the clock. The people of the mountains came aboard us, wondering at our ship and weapons. We bought some small skins of them for trifles. This afternoon, one canoe kept hanging under our stern with one man in it, which we could not keep from thence, who got up by our rudder to the cabin-window, and stole out my pillow, two shirts, and [289] two bandoleers. Our master's mate shot at him, and struck him on the breast, and killed him. Whereupon all the rest fled away, some in their canoes, and so leaped out of them into the water. We manned our boat, and got our things again. Then one of them
 |
| Indians on board the half-moon. |
Ii.—Indian traditions of Henry Hudson's arrival.
[the following narrative was written in 1800, by Rev. John Heckewelder, for many years a missionary among the Indians; the traditions having been told to him, as he says, forty years earlier, that is, about 1761, a century and a half after the coming of Hudson.]The following account of the first arrival of Europeans at New York Island is verbatim as it was related to me by aged and respected Delawares, Monseys, and Mahicanni (otherwise called Mohegans, Mahicandus), near forty years ago. It is copied from notes and manuscripts taken on the spot. They say,— A long time ago, when there was no such thing [291] known to the Indians as people with a white skin,— their expression,—some Indians who had been out a-fishing, and where the sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large, swimming or floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. They, immediately returning to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they had seen, and pressed them to go out with them, and discover what it might be. These together hurried out, and saw, to their great surprise, the phenomenon, but could not agree what it might be; some concluding it to be an uncommon large fish or other animal, while others were of opinion it must be some very large house. It was at length agreed among those who were spectators, that as this phenomenon moved towards the land,— whether or not it was an animal, or any thing that had life in it,—it would be well to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard. Accordingly, they sent runners and watermen off to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that these might send off in every direction for the warriors to come in. These arriving in numbers, and themselves viewing the strange appearance, and that it was actually moving towards them,—the entrance of the river or bay, concluded it to be a large canoe or house, in which the Mannitto(great or supreme Being) himself was, and that he probably was coming to visit them. By this time the chiefs of the different tribes were assembled on York Island, and were deliberating on the manner they should receive their Mannittoon his arrival. Every step had been taken to be well provided with [292] plenty of meat for a sacrifice. The women were required to prepare the best of victuals; idols or images were examined, and put in order; and a great dance was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Mannitto,but might, with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute towards appeasing him, in case he was angry with them. The conjurers were also set to work to determine what the meaning of this phenomenon was, and what the result would be. Both to these, and to the chiefs and wise men of the nation, men, women, and children were looking up for advice and protection. Between hope and fear, and in confusion, a dance commenced. While in this situation, fresh runners arrive, declaring it a house of various colors, and crowded with living creatures. It now appears to be certain that it is the great Mannittobringing them some kind of game, such as they had not before; but other runners, soon after arriving, declare it a large house of various colors, full of people, yet of quite a different color than they—the Indians—are of; that they were also dressed in a different manner from them, and that one in particular appeared altogether red, which must be the Mannitto himself. They are soon hailed from the vessel, though in a language they do not understand; yet they shout—or yell—in their way. Many are for running off to the woods, but are pressed by others to stay in order not to give offence to their visitors, who could find them out, and might destroy them. The house—or large canoe, as some will have it—stops, and a smaller canoe comes ashore with the red man and some others in it: [293] some stay by this canoe to guard it. The chiefs and wise men (or councillors) have composed a large circle, unto which the red-clothed man with two others approach. He salutes them with friendly countenance; and they return the salute, after their manner. They are lost in admiration, both as to the color of the skin of these whites, as also to their manner of dress, yet most as to the habit of him who wore the red clothes, which shone with something they could not account for. He must be the great Mannitto(supreme Being), they think; but why should he have a white skin? A large hockhack20 is brought forward by one of the (supposed) Mannitto'sservants, and from this a substance is poured out into a small cup (or glass), and handed to the Mannitto.The (expected) Mannitto drinks, has the glass filled again, and hands it to the chief next to him to drink. The chief receives the glass, but only smelleth at it, and passes it on to the next chief, who does the same. The glass thus passes through the circle without its contents being tasted by any one, and is on the point of being returned again to the red-clothed man, when one of their number, a spirited man and great warrior, jumps up, harangues the assembly on the impropriety of returning the glass with the contents in it; that the same was handed them by the Mannittoin order that they should drink it, as he himself had done before them; that this would please him, but to return what he had given to them might provoke him, and be the cause of their being destroyed by him; and that since he believed it for the good of the nation that the contents offered them [294] should be drunk, and as no one was willing to drink it, he would, let the consequences be what it would; and that it was better for one man to die than a whole nation to be destroyed. He then took the glass, and, bidding the assembly farewell, drank it off. Every eye was fixed on their resolute companion, to see what an effect this would have upon him; and he soon beginning to stagger about, and at last dropping to the ground, they bemoan him. He falls into a sleep, and they view him as expiring. He awakes again, jumps up, and declares that he never felt himself before so happy as after he had drank the cup; wishes for more. His wish is' granted; and the whole assembly soon join him, and become intoxicated. After this general intoxication had ceased,—during which time the whites had confined themselves to their vessel,—the man with the red clothes returned again to them, and distributed presents among them; to wit, beads, axes, hoes, stockings, &c. They say that they had become familiar to each other, and were made to understand by signs that they now would return home, but would visit them next year again, when they would bring them more presents, and stay with them a while; but that, as they could not live without eating, they should then want a little land of them to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs to put in their broth. That the vessel arrived the season following, and they were much rejoiced at seeing each other; but that the whites laughed at them, [the Indians,] seeing they knew not the use of the axes, hoes, &c., they had given them; they having had these hanging to their breasts as ornaments; [295] and the stockings they had made use of as tobacco-pouches. The whites now put handles (or helves) in the former, and cut trees down before their eyes, and dug the ground, and showed them the use of their stockings. Here–say they—a general laugh ensued among them [the Indians] that they had remained for so long a time ignorant of the use of so valuable implements; and had borne with the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks for such a length of time. They took every white man they saw for a Mannitto, yet inferior and attendant to the supreme Mannitto;to wit, to the one which wore the red and laced clothes. Familiarity daily increasing between them and the whites, the latter now proposed to stay with them, asking them only for so much land as the hide of a bullock would cover (or encompass), which hide was brought forward, and spread on the ground before them. That they readily granted this request; whereupon the whites took a knife, and, beginning at one place on this hide, cut it into a rope not thicker than the finger of a little child, so that, by the time this hide was cut up, there was a great heap. That this rope was drawn out to a great distance, and then brought around again, so that both ends might meet. That they carefully avoided its breaking, and that upon the whole it encompassed a large piece of ground. That they [the Indians] were surprised at the superior wit of the whites, but did not wish to contend with them about a little land, as they had enough. That they and the whites lived for a long time contentedly together, although these asked from time to [296] time more land of them; and, proceeding higher up the Mahicanittuk（Hudson River), they believed they would soon want all their country, and which at this time was already the case.
Iii.—The last voyage of Henry Hudson, and how he was set adrift in the ice by his men.
[Hudson had discovered the bay which bears his name, and spent all winter amid the ice, remaining into the spring, until his provisions were about out, and his crew grew mutinous. One of the crew, Abacuk or Habaccuk Prickett, thus describes what followed.]Being thus in the ice, on Saturday, the one and twentieth of June,21 at night, Wilson the boatswain, and Henry Greene, came to me, lying in my cabin, lame, and told me that they and the rest of their associates would shift22 the company, and turn the master and all the sick men into the shallop, and let them shift for themselves; for there was not fourteen days victuals left for all the company. At that poor allowance they were at, and that there they lay, the master not caring to go one way or other; and that they had not eaten any thing these three days, and therefore were resolute, either to mend or end; and what they had begun they would go through with it, or die. When I heard this, I told them I marvelled to hear so much from them, considering that they were married men, and had wives and children; and that, for their sakes, they should not commit so foul a thing in the sight of God and man as that would be: for why [297] should they banish themselves from their native country? Henry Greene bade me hold my peace, for he knew the worst, which was, to be hanged when he came home; and therefore, of the two, he would rather be hanged at home than starved abroad; and, for the good — will they bare me, they would have me stay in the ship. I gave them thanks, and told them I came into her, not to forsake her, yet not to hurt myself and others by any such deed. Henry Greene told me then that I must take my fortune in the shallop. ‘If there be no remedy,’ said I, ‘the will of God be done.’ Away went Henry Greene in a rage, swearing to cut his throat that went about to disturb them, and left Wilson by me, with whom I had some talk, but to no good; for he was so persuaded that there was no remedy now but to go on while it was hot,23 lest their party should fail them, and the mischief they intended to others should light on themselves. Henry Greene came again, and demanded of him what I said. Wilson answered, ‘He is in his old song, still patient.’ Then I spake to Henry Greene to stay three days, in which time I would so deal with the master that all should be well. So I dealt with him to forbear but two days, nay, twelve hours. ‘There is no way, then,’ say they, ‘but out of hand.’24 Then I told them, that, if they would stay till Monday, I would join with them to share all the victuals in the ship, and would justify it when I came home: but this would not serve their terms. Wherefore I told them it was some worse matter they had in hand than they made show of, and [298] that it was blood and revenge he25 sought, or else he would not at such a time of night undertake such a deed. Henry Greene, with that, taketh my Bible, which lay before me, and sware that he would do no man harm, and what he did was for the good of the voyage, and for nothing else; and that all the rest should do the like. The like did Wilson swear. Henry Greene went his way; and presently came Juet,26 who, because he was an ancient man, I hoped to have found some reason in him. But he was worse than Henry Greene; for he sware plainly that he would justify this deed when he came home. After him came John Thomas and Michael Perce, as birds of one feather; but, because they are not living, I will let them go, as then I did. Then came Moter and Bennet, of whom I demanded if they were well advised what they had taken in hand. They answered they were, and therefore them to take their oath. Now, because I am much condemned for this oath, as one of them that plotted with them, and that by an oath I should bind them together to perform what they had begun, I thought good here to set down to the view of all, how well their oath and deeds agreed. And thus it was: ‘You shall swear truth to God, your prince, and country: you shall do nothing but to the glory of God, and the good of the action in hand, and harm to no man.’ This was the oath without adding or diminishing. I looked for more of these companions, although these were too many; but there came no more. It was dark, and they in a readiness to put [299] this deed of darkness in execution. I called to Henry Greene and Wilson, and prayed them not to go in hand with it in the dark, but to stay till the morning. Now every man, I hope, would go to his rest; but wickedness sleepeth not. For Henry Greene keepeth the master company all night, and gave me bread which his cabinmate gave him; and others [were] as watchful as he. Then I asked Henry Greene whom he would put out with the master. He said, the carpenter, John King, and the sick men. I said they should not do well to part with the carpenter, what need soever they should have. Why the carpenter was in no more regard amongst them was, first, for that he and John King were condemned for wrong done in the victual.27 But the chiefest cause was for that the master loved him, and made him his mate, upon his return out of our wintering place, thereby displacing Robert Billet; whereat they did grudge, because he could neither write nor read. ‘And therefore,’ said they, ‘the master and his ignorant mate would carry the ship whither the master pleased;’ the master forbidding any man to keep account or reckoning, having taken from all men whatsoever served for that purpose. Well, I obtained of Henry Greene and Wilson that the carpenter should stay, by whose means I hoped, after they had satisfied themselves, that the master and the poor man might be taken into the ship again. Or I hoped that some one or other would give some notice, either to the carpenter, John King, or the master; for so it might have come to pass by some of them that were the most forward. . . . . [300] In the mean time, Henry Greene and another went to the carpenter, and held him with a talk till the master28 came out of his cabin, which he soon did; then came John Thomas and Bennet—before him, while Wilson bound his arms behind him. He asked them what they meant. They told him he should know when he was in the shallop. Now Juet, while this was a-doing, came to John King into the hold, who was provided for him; for he had got a sword of his own, and kept him at a bay, and might have killed him; but others came to help him: and so he came up to the master. The master called to the carpenter, and told him that he was bound; but I heard no answer he made. Now Arnold Lodlo and Michael Bute railed at them, and told them their knavery would show itself. Then was the shallop hauled up to the ship-side; and the poor, sick, and lame men were called upon to get them out of their cabins into the shallop. The master called to me, who came out of my cabin as well as I could, to the hatchway, to speak with him, where, on my knees, I besought them, for the love of God, to remember themselves, and to do as they would be done unto. They bade me keep myself well, and get me into my cabin, not suffering the master to speak with me. But when I came into my cabin again, he called to me at the horn29 which gave light into my cabin, and told me that Juet would overthrow us all. ‘Nay,’ said I, ‘it is that villain Henry Greene;’ and I spake it not softly. Now was the carpenter at liberty, who asked them if they would be hanged when they came home. And as [301] for himself, he said he would not stay in the ship, unless they would force him. They bade him go then; for they would not stay him. ‘I will,’ said he, ‘so I may have my chest with me, and all that is in it.’ They said he should; and presently they put it into the shallop. Then he came down to me to take his leave of me, who persuaded him to stay, which if he did, he might so work that all should be well. He said he did not think but they would be glad to take them in again; for he was so persuaded by the master, that there was not one in all the ship could tell how to carry her home. ‘But,’ saith he, ‘if we must part,’— which we will not willingly do, for they would follow the ship,—he prayed me, if we came to the capes before them,30 that I would leave some token that we had been there, near to the place where the fowls bred, and he would do the like for us; and so, with tears, we parted. Now were the sick men driven out of their cabins into the shallop. But John Thomas was Francis Clement's friend, and Bennet was the cooper's: so there were words between them and Henry Greene,— one saying that they should go, and the other swearing that they should not go, but such as were in the shallop should return. When Henry Greene heard that, he was compelled to give place, and to put out Arnold Lodlo and Michael Bute, which with much ado they did. In the mean time, there were some of them that plied their work as if the ship had been entered by force, and they had free leave to pillage, breaking up chests, and rifling all places. One of them came by me, who [302] asked me what they should do. I answered, he should make an end of what he had begun; for I saw him do nothing but shark31 up and down. Now were all the poor men in the shallop, whose names are as followeth: Henry Hudson, John Hudson, Arnold Lodlo, Sidrack Faner, Philip Staffe, Thomas Woodhouse or Wydhouse, Adam Moore, Henry King, Michael Bute. The carpenter got of them a piece,32 and powder and shot, and some pikes, an iron pot, with some meal, and other things. They stood out of the ice, the shallop being fast to the stern of the ship; and so, when they were nigh out, for I cannot say they were clean out, they33 cut her head fast from the stern of our ship, then out with their topsails, and towards the east they stood in a clear sea. In the end, they took in their topsails, righted their helm, and lay under their foresail till they had ransacked and searched all places in the ship. In the hold, they found one of the vessels of meal whole, and the other half spent; for we had but two. We found also two firkins of butter, some twenty-seven pieces of pork, half a bushel of peas; but in the master's cabin we found two hundred of biscuit cakes, a peck of meal, of beer to the quantity of a butt, one with another. Now it was said that the shallop was come within sight, they let fall the mainsail, and out with their topsails, and fly as from an enemy. Then I prayed them yet to remember themselves; but William Wilson—more than the rest—would hear of no such matter. [303]
[This is all that is known of the fate of Henry Hudson. These events are supposed to have occurred near the south-east corner of James Bay. The narrative goes on to describe the terrible hardships endured by the mutinous crew, during which, Robert Juet and others died of starvation. The survivors reached Plymouth, England, in September, 1611.]
Iv.—The Dutch settlement of the New Netherlands.
[from early Dutch Chronicles.][1624.] Numerous voyages realize so much profit for adventurers, that they discover other countries, which they afterwards settle and plant. Virginia, a country lying in 42 1/2°34 is one of these. It was first peopled by the French, afterwards by the English, and is today a flourishing colony. The Lords States General35 observing the great abundance of their people, as well as their desire to plant other lands, allowed the West India Company to settle that same country. Many from the United Colonies did formerly, and do still, trade there. Yea, for the greater security of the traders, a castle—Fort Nassau—had been built on an island in 42dg; on the north side of the River Montagne, now called Mauritius.36 But as the natives there were somewhat discontented, and not easily managed, the projectors abandoned it, intending now to plant a colony among the Maikans, a nation lying twenty five miles37 on both sides of the river upwards. This river, or the bay, lies in 40dg;, running well in; being as broad or wide as the Thames, and navigable [304] full fifty miles up, through divers nations, who sometimes manifest themselves with arrows, like enemies, sometimes like friends; but when they had seen the ships once or twice, or traded with our people, they became altogether friendly.... This country, now called New Netherland, is usually reached in seven or eight weeks from here. The course lies towards the Canary Islands, thence to the Indian Islands, then towards the mainland of Virginia, steering right across, leaving in fourteen days the Bahamas on the left, and the Bermudas on the right hand, where the winds are variable with which the land is made .... [1626.] In our preceding treatise, we made mention of New Netherland and its colony, planted by the West India Company, situate in Virginia on the river, called by the French Montagne, and by us Mauritius, and that some families were sent thither, which now increased to two hundred souls; and afterwards some ships,—one with horses, the other with cows, and the third hay. Two months afterwards, a fleet was equipped carrying sheep, hogs, wagons, ploughs, and all other implements of husbandry. These cattle were, on their arrival, first landed on Nut Island, three miles up the river, where they remained a day or two. There being no means of pasturing them there, they were shipped in sloops and boats to the Manhates,38 right opposite said island. Being put out to pasture here, they throve well; but afterwards full twenty in all died. The cause of this was that they had eaten something bad from an uncultivated [305] soil. But they went in the middle of September on new grass, as good and as long as could be desired. The colony was planted at this time on the Manhates, where a fort was staked out by Master Kryn Frederycke, an engineer. It will be of large dimensions. The ship which has returned home this month [November] brings samples of all the different sorts of produce there. The cargo consists of 7,246 beavers, 675 otter-skins, 48 minx, 36 wildcat, and various other sorts; several pieces of oak timber and hickory. The counting-house there is kept in a stone building, thatched with reed: the other houses are of the bark of trees. Each has his own house. The director and koopman39 live together. There are thirty ordinary houses on the east side of the river, which runs nearly north and south. The Honorable Pieter Minuit is director there at present; Jan Lempo, sheriff; Sebastiaen Jansz Crol and Jan Huyck, comforters of the sick, who, whilst awaiting a clergyman, read to the commonalty there on Sundays, from texts of Scripture with the comment. Francois Molemaecker is busy building a horse-mill, over which shall be constructed a spacious room, sufficient to accommodate a large congregation; and then a tower is to be erected, where the bells brought from Porto Rico will be hung. The Council there administered justice in criminal matters as far as imposing fines, but not as far as capital punishment. Should it happen that any one deserves that, he must be sent to Holland with his sentence. . . . There is another there who fills no public office: he is busy about his own affairs. Men [306] work there as in Holland: one trades upwards, southwards, and northwards; another builds houses; the third farms. Each farmer has his farm and the cows on the land purchased by the Company; but the milk remains to the profit of the boor:40 he sells to those of the people who receive their wages for work every
 |
| Settlement on the Hudson River. |
