USA > Delaware > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 3
USA > New Jersey > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 3
USA > Pennsylvania > Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey and Delaware, 1630-1707 > Part 3
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The 8th of December, we sailed into the river before our destroyed house, well on our guard. The Indians came to the edge of the shore, near the yacht, but dared not come in. At length, one ventured to come aboard the yacht, whom we presented with a cloth dress, and told him we desired to make peace. Then immediately more came running aboard, ex- pecting to obtain a dress also, whom we presented with some trinkets, and told the one to whom we had given the cloth garment, that we had given it to him because he had most confidence in us-that he was the first one who came in the yacht, and should they come the next day with their chief called Sakimas, we would then make a firm peace, which they call rancontyn marenit. An Indian remained on board of the yacht at night, whom we asked why they had slain our people, and how it happened. He then showed us the place where our people had set up a column, to which was fastened a piece of tin, whereon the arms of Holland1 were painted. One
' Hollandische-Thuyn, literally, Holland yard, or enclosure, referring to the emblem of the Seven United Provinces, which shows the Dutch lion defending
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1632]
of their chiefs took this off for the purpose of making tobacco- pipes, not knowing that he was doing amiss. Those in com- mand at the house made such an ado about it, that the Ind- ians, not knowing how it was, went away and slew the chief who had done it, and brought a token of the dead to the house to those in command, who told them that they wished they had not done it, that they should have brought him to them, as they wished to have forbidden him to do the like again. They then went away, and the friends of the mur- dered chief incited their friends as they are a people like the Italians, who are very revengeful-to set about the work of vengeance. Observing our people out of the house, each one at his work, that there was not more than one inside, who was lying sick, and a large mastiff, who was chained-had he been loose they would not have dared to approach the house-and the man who had command, standing near the house, three of the bravest Indians, who were to do the deed, bringing a lot of beaver-skins with them to exchange, asked to enter the house. The man in charge went in with them to make the barter; which being done, he went down from the loft where the stores lay, and in descending the stairs, one of the Indians seized an axe, and cleft the head of our agent who was in charge so that he fell down dead. They also relieved the sick man of life; and shot into the dog, who was chained fast, and whom they most feared, twenty-five arrows before they could despatch him. They then proceeded towards the rest of the men, who were at their work, and going among them with pretensions of friendship, struck them down.1 Thus was our young colony destroyed, causing us serious loss.
The 9th, the Indians came to us with their chiefs, and sitting in a ring, made peace. Gave them some presents of duffels,' bullets, hatchets, and various Nuremberg trinkets. They promised to make a present to us, as they had been out a-hunting. They then departed again with great joy of us, that we had not remembered what they had done to us, which
Dutch territory, represented by a lion rampant inside a stockade, the lion holding in his right paw a sword and in his left paw a bundle of seven arrows, with the motto: Eendracht maakt Macht (In Unity is Strength).
1 The colonists were all killed save one Theunis Willemsen.
" A kind of coarse cloth.
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we suffered to pass, because we saw no chance of revenging it, as they dwelt in no fixed place. We began to make prepara- tions to send our sloops to sea, and to set up a kettle for whale-oil, and to erect a lodging-hut of boards.
Anno 1633. The 1st of January, at about eight o'clock in the morning, I sailed with the yacht, the Squirrel, up the South River, to see whether I could obtain any beans from the Indians, as our stock-fish was consumed, and the porridge, now doubled, began to grow short. Towards evening we stopped, as it was calm, and the ice, which the tide brought down, opposed us, and we cast anchor in eight fathoms. Saw a whale at the mouth of the South River.
The 2d, in the morning, fine and pleasant, saw two large whales near the yacht. Wished much that we could have had the shallops, with the harpooners, which were lying at Swan- endael. We weighed anchor with the tide, and by evening came a good mile before Reed Island,1 where we cast anchor, and saw fires on the land. Supposed that they were made by Indians out a-hunting; but an hour afterwards a canoe came alongside. They said that they were a-hunting, but would not come aboard, from which we drew unfavorable conclu- sions; but they answered they would come aboard early in the morning.
The 4th, after we had chopped some wood, as it began to freeze, weighed anchor with the tide, made sail, and entered about a cannon-shot past Red Hook,' where we anchored before a kill, because it began to freeze; so that in case the ice should stop us, we could haul in there to secure the yacht.
The 5th, we weighed anchor in the morning, and sailed before the little fort named Fort Nassau,' where formerly some families of the West India Company had dwelt. Some Indians had begun to gather there and wished to barter furs,
1 Evidently the present Reedy Island.
' Red Hook, near Mantes, now Mantua Creek, New Jersey. "Mantaes hoeck . . . about a long half league below the destroyed " Fort Nassau (Andreas Hudde, in 1662).
' Fort Nassau, built by the Dutch in 1623 and occupied by them at intervals until the building of Fort Casimir, 1651, was on the Delaware River near the south side of the mouth of the present Big Timber Creek, Gloucester County, New Jersey.
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1633]
but I desired to trade for their Turkish beans,1 because we had no goods to exchange for peltries, and our stores had been given away at Swanendael for the purpose of making the peace, so that there were not more than two pieces of cloth left of our goods, and two kettles, for which we wanted corn. As far as we could observe, the Indians were very scrupulous.' They told us that we ought to haul into the Timmer Kill.' There was a squaw of the Sankitans," who cautioned us not to go entirely into the kill, as she knew that they intended to make an attack upon us. When we told her that if she would relate to us everything in regard to the attack, we would give her a cloth garment, as we did, she confessed to us that in Count Ernest's River" they had seized a shallop with Eng- lishmen and killed the Englishmen.
The 6th, we weighed anchor, and came before the Timmer Kill, where we made everything ready, to see what the Indians would do. While lying there, a crowd of Indians came march- ing up, bringing beaver-skins with them, and boarding the yacht forty-two or forty-three strong. A portion of them began to play tunes with reeds, in order that they might not cause in us any suspicion, but we kept ourselves strictly upon our guard, as there were only seven of us in the yacht, and there were forty-two or forty-three of the Indians. When we found the traffic at its height, we ordered them to go ashore immediately, or we would shoot them all. Their sachem took an armful of beaver-skins which he wanted to present to us in order to tempt us, but we desired them not, and gave him for answer that they must make their way to the shore, as we knew that they had evil designs in their heads, that Manetoe (that is, the Devil, whom they call Manetoe) had told us so. They went ashore again, and their villainy was frustrated, God be praised and thanked! If one is a little on his guard against this people, there is, with God's help, no difficulty with the Indians. But, as far as I can observe, those that are in the Company's sloops give the Indians too much liberty, and so accidents occur which otherwise, with friendship, might
" Indian corn. · Shy.
"The present Big Timber Creek, in Gloucester County, New Jersey.
"Or Sankikans. Delaware Indians, living at the falls at Trenton, and above.
.Not identified.
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be prevented. These Indians were from Red Hook, otherwise called Mantes, and had a number of English jackets 1 on, which gave me more cause of suspicion, as those were not clothing for them, or trading goods. When they were all on land again, there soon came three or four others, who desired that we would trade for their goods; but we answered them that we did not want any beaver skins, but wished corn for food.
The 7th, the chief, whom they call sackima, of the Arme- wanninge, another but neighboring nation, came to us. His name was Zee Pentor, and to him we interpreted our advent- ure. He said he had heard that they had been on board of our boat strong. He requested us to return soon to the Timmer Kill with the yacht, whereat I was suspicious. I told my in- terpreter to ask him why he was not willing to bring the corn here. He answered that where we were lying, it was too muddy and low to get on board, and it was too cold to go through the mud. So we said to him that we would go to the fort again, where it was hard and dry to come aboard, with which he was well content, and was again conveyed to the shore, saying that when we arrived at the fort, he would come aboard again.
The 8th, weighed anchor early in the morning, and came to again before the fort, which we saw was full of Indians, and more and more constantly coming. This gave us no favorable impression, because of the great numbers of the Indians. When they had all assembled in the fort, a canoe-which is a boat hollowed out of a tree came at last from the fort to board us, in which were nine chiefs, sachems from nine different places. I saw among them the one who had intended to de- stroy us; he had thrown off the English clothes, and put on those made of skins, of which I immediately warned my inter- preter. The nine seated themselves in a circle and called us to them, saying they saw that we were afraid of them, but that they came to make a lasting peace with us, whereupon they made us a present of ten beaver-skins, which one of them gave us, with a ceremony with each skin, saying in whose name he presented it; that it was for a perpetual peace with us, and that we must banish all evil thoughts from us, for they had 1 Kaesjacken, probably intended for "cassocks."
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1633]
now thrown away all evil. I wanted to make presents to them through the interpreter, to each one an axe, adze, and pair of knives, but they refused them, declaring that they had not made us presents in order to receive others in return, but for the purpose of a firm peace, which we took for truth.
The 8th of January, we wished to give them something for their wives, but they said we must give it to them on shore. As it was late, they went ashore again, and said they would come the next day with corn, and they sent aboard that evening seven or eight youth, which showed a good peace with them.
The 9th, they came aboard again in the morning, and brought Indian corn of different colors, for which we ex- changed duffels, kettles, and axes. We also obtained some beaver-skins, all in good feeling. There came that day about fifty of them into the yacht, but we kept ourselves constantly on our guard.
The 10th, in the morning, traded for some beaver and corn; and in the afternoon drifted off with the ebb tide, and in the evening went aground on the shoal near Jaques Island,1 where we remained one tide.
The 11th, weighed anchor in the morning, and by evening arrived about a league and a half above Minqua's Kill,' where we anchored, and saw a whale there that evening, which spouted six or seven times. We were surprised to see a whale seven or eight leagues up into fresh water.
The 12th, weighed anchor again, and arrived at the mouth of the river; in the evening we came to anchor where the thicket is.
The 13th, weighed anchor with the ebb, and at noon came to the ship at Swanendael, where our men were rejoiced to see us. We found that they had shot two whales, but they fur- nished little oil.
The 18th, the goods were placed in our yacht, and we sailed again up the South River. By evening arrived between Minqua's Kill and Reed Island, where we came to anchor. It
' Jaques or Jacob's (James's) Island, as given on Lindstrom's map of 1655, was probably Chester Island.
" Minquas Kill, now Christina Creek, which flows into Delaware River at Wilmington, Delaware. .
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA [1633
began to freeze. We anchored here because the tide was running down.
The 19th, weighed anchor with the tide, and came within a league of Jaques Island. As it began to freeze, and it was difficult to go on, it became necessary to haul into a kill which was near us. Found it a fine creek, where the water was two fathoms deep at high tide; but the current was strong, and [the creek] not above thirty feet wide. The ice began to trouble us some by the rubbing of the current. We quickly cut a number of trees, and fastened them in the ground, before and behind, in order to lie clear of the ice. This is a fine country, in which many vines grow wild, so that we gave it the name of Wyngært's Kill.' Went out daily, while here, to shoot. Shot many wild turkeys, weighing from thirty to thirty-six pounds. Their great size and very fine flavor are surprising. We were frozen up in this kill from the 19th to the 3rd of February. During this time, perceived no Indians, though we saw here and there, at times, great fires on the land, but we saw neither men nor canoes, because the river was closed by the ice.
The 3d of February, we hauled out of the kill, as the river was open again, and sailed to Fort Nassau, where we had left the Indians before, but found no one there now, and saw no Indians. It began to freeze again, and we hauled into a kill over against the fort, as we were apprehensive, if we should be frozen in there, we might be in danger. When we had lain in this kill eight days to avoid the ice flow, there came a canoe, in which sat an old Indian with a squaw, who brought with them some maize and beans, of which we bought a quan- tity. We could not understand from the Indian how it was that we saw no Indians. It seemed as if he were unwilling to tell us; he always looked frightened as if he were fleeing, ran frequently ashore, looked to and fro, so that we could perceive there must be something. They hauled the next day out of the kill, and passed between the cakes of ice and the shore, which we could not do with our yacht.
The 11th, full fifty Indians came over the river from the
1 Wyngaert's Kill, if Jaques Island is correctly identified as Chester Island, was evidently Chester Creek, within one Dutch or three English miles of Jaques Island.
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1633]
fort upon the ice, with pieces of canoes, directly to our yacht, into which they could step from the shore, and spoke to us. They were Minquas,1 who dwell north of the English of Vir- ginia [colony]. They came on a warlike expedition, and six hundred more were to come. They are friendly to us, but it would not do to trust them too far, as they do anything for plun- der. I determined, as the flood-tide began to make, that we must haul into the mouth of the kill, so that they could not come upon us on foot and master us, which would never do. Hauling out of the kill about five-and-twenty paces, we could not get any further, because there was not water enough. I told the master of the yacht that he must direct the crew to throw some ballast overboard, but he could not induce them to do it. I then went to them, and asked them whether they would rather trust to the mercy of these barbarians, or throw away the ballast. They answered that while we were in the river, our lives were at the mercy of the ice. I replied that God, who had so long aided us, would help us. Finally, I said that I had three flasks of brandy in my locker, and would give them one of them, if they would throw the ballast over- board, and we would all help to do it. When the yacht got afloat, we were driven by the current and with the ice and the ebb tide, which was almost spent, a thousand paces below the kill, between two high pieces of ice, which had fallen on the shore; this happened at nightfall. They all raised a great shout, when they saw that we were driven nearer to the river. In the morning, at daybreak, they saw that we were lying between the two pieces of ice, with the bowsprit over the shore, and came running to the yacht. We stood, eight of us, on our arms.
The 12th, we kept them off, as they sought to come into the yacht by the bowsprit, while we were lying, bow on land, between the two pieces of ice. At length the water rose, so that the yacht and the ice floated, and we were to be driven at God's mercy with the ice, which was our great enemy, while the land was our enemy on account of the Indians. We were finally driven up the river, where there was a dry sand-bar
1 The regular habitat of these Indians was about the heads of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and in the lower part of the Susquehanna River Valley and beyond to Lake Erie. See post, pp. 70, 103.
-
[1633
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NARRATIVES OF EARLY PENNSYLVANIA
running almost to the middle of the river. We were afraid we should be driven upon it by the ice, when God provided two canoes to float by us, which we immediately hauled be- fore the bow, one on each side, and broke the ice with them. Then setting the foresail, as there was a good wind, in order to sail up the river with the tide, we passed, by the aid of God, the Vogel-Sant,1 which was our great peril at this place, and arrived at the beautiful island when the tide began to run, and we managed to get to the shore, with the side to the shore lengthwise with the bow. At last, the water began to fall rapidly, and we found that there was a sand-bank along the shore. We immediately set about making the mast fast to [some] good stout trees on land, by means of a rope, and to protect ourselves against arrows. The next day, the 13th, three Indians of the Armewamen came before the yacht. They told us that they were fugitives that the Minquas had killed some of their people, and they had escaped. They had been plundered of all their corn, their houses had been burnt, and they had escaped in great want, compelled to be content with what they could find in the woods, and came to spy out in what way the Minquas had gone away-the main body of their people lying about five or six hours' journey distant, with their wives and children. They told us also, that the Minquas had killed about ninety men of the Sankiekans; that they would come to us the next day, when the sun was in the southeast, as they were suffering great hunger, and that the Minquas had all left and gone from us, back to their country.
The 14th, at night, it began to rain hard, and the wind was from the southwest, which makes it warm there. In the morning we had high-water, which caused the yacht to float finely. We loosened the rope from the tree, to which it had been made fast, in order to prevent the yacht from falling over, because the shore was so shallow there, and let her drift into the river, as the ice was already very soft, like snow. We resolved not to wait for the Indians, as they had been driven away, and could not assist us in those things for which we had
1 Probably Egg Island, or Reedy Island. It may be identified with the island referred to in the grant of the Dutch Governor Kieft, in 1646, to Planck and others for a tract of land on the west side of the Delaware River "almost over against the little island "T Vogelssant."
1
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DAVID DE VRIES'S NOTES .
1633]
come, so that it was a hopeless voyage for us. Going down the river, we arrived below the Minqua's Kill, where we took in some stone for ballast, which we could not obtain elsewhere in the morning. This is a very fine river, and the land all beautifully level, full of groves of oak, hickory, ash, and chestnut trees, and also vines which grow upon the trees. The river has a great plenty of fish, the same as those in our fatherland, perch, roach, pike, sturgeon, and similar fish. Along the sea-coast are codfish, the different kinds of fish which are in our fatherland, and others. After we had taken in some bal- last, we went further down the river, and came to its mouth. We fished with our seines, and caught in one draught as many as thirty men could eat of perch, roach, and pike.
The 20th, we weighed our anchor, and with a northwest wind sailed out of the bay, which is ten leagues long, and so wide, that in the middle of it you can hardly see from one shore to the other. It is full of shoals between which are channels, from six to seven fathoms deep, but the deepest channel is on the west side. In order to run up by soundings, as you come from sea to Cape Hinloopen, which lies in thirty- eight degrees and twenty minutes, the shoal of the bank, which stretches from Cape Hinloopen over the bay, reaches Cape May, and when you have passed this a league and a half, and come into the river, so that Cape Hinloopen is south of you, run in then northwest along the west shore, and you will be out of danger of the banks, and keep the west side, where you should keep sounding, but do not get nearer to it than a depth of two fathoms, if the ship be a large one, and this will take you directly to the South River. When you come to the mouth of the river, where it is full two leagues wide, there is a shoal before it, on which, at low tide, there is not more than six or seven feet of water. This you must keep to starboard, and you will see a bushy point ahead on the west side, along which you must hold your course; that is the right channel, the water being three and a half fathoms at low tide, but in- side, in the river, it is six or seven fathoms. The tide rises and falls here from five to six feet. By evening, we arrived again at the ship, in which there was great rejoicing to see us, as we had been gone over a month. They did not imagine that we had been frozen up in the river, as no pilot or astrologer
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could conceive, that in a latitude from the thirty-eighth and a half to the thirty-ninth, such rapid running rivers could freeze. Some maintain that it is because it lies so far west; others adduce other reasons; but I will tell how it can be, from experience and what I have seen, and that is thus: inland, stretching towards the north, there are high moun- tains, covered with snow, and the north and northwest winds blow over the land from these cold mountains, with a pure, clear air, which causes extreme cold and frost, such as is felt in Provence and Italy, which I have often experienced when I was at Genoa, when the wind blew over the land from the high mountains, making it as cold as it was in Holland. I have found by experience in all countries, during winter, that when the wind blows from the land, the hardest frost makes. It is so in New Netherland also, for as soon as the wind is southwest, it is so warm that one may stand naked in the woods, and put on a shirt.
The 5th of March, determined to make a voyage to the English in Virginia, as we had failed to obtain corn in the South River, in consequence of the war among the Indians, as before related, by which we were placed in such danger, and the grain of the Indians was destroyed; and as we thought that we should not be able to find a sufficient store of it at Fort Amsterdam, on the great [North] river, to serve us on our return voyage to Holland, we therefore deemed it advis- able to sail to the English in Virginia. Although there had never been any one there from this quarter, I said, as I had escaped the danger in the South River, I would be the first one of our nation to venture to the English in Virginia, from these parts, as the distance is not more than thirty leagues from the South River or Cape Hinloopen.1 .
[Anno 1643, October.] The 12th, at daylight, the wind from the southeast straight on a leeshore, and it began to blow hard. We were in twelve fathoms water. When it was day, the skipper
1 De Vries sailed out of Delaware Bay, March 6, 1633, for Virginia, as he proposed above, and was hospitably received by Sir John Harvey, Governor of Virginia. Returning to Swanendael March 29 he found that his people had caught seven whales, but had obtained only thirty-two cartels of oil. The expe- dition then departed for New Amsterdam and finally arrived in Holland by midsummer. The remaining paragraphs are from the narrative of 1643-1644.
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1043)
asked me if I knew where I was. I told him we must run into eight or nine fathoms, when we should be able to distinguish the land; but he was afraid of the shore, as he had never been here. Finally ran into shallower water, when he asked me if I knew the country. I said, Yes; and I saw that we were by Cape May, before the South River. He then inquired of me whether we could not sail straight in. I said, No; that it was all over full of shoals, that we must enter at the southwest side. He then threw the lead, and had four fathoms, at which he was startled. I told him he must lay down the lead; that we must now depend on my knowledge to get in; that it was all a shoal there. We then came by Cape Hinloopen in deep water, when I told him he might throw the lead, and he would find eight to nine fathoms, as he ran into the South Bay, close by the shore. We sailed in by the shore, and he said: "I was in this same place over seven weeks, and there were Ind- ians here on land, and a-fishing, and I went ashore with my skiff and spoke Spanish to them, but they could not under- stand me. It was so full of shoals, I ran again out to sea and proceeded to New England." Then I said to the skipper: "Had you known the Indian language as I know it, you would not have sailed to New England. This land is called Swanen- dael, and these Indians destroyed a colony in the year 1630, which I began. Had you been able to speak to them, they would have taken you up the river to the Swedes, or to our people, who would have informed you that you had passed by the Virginias." I sailed up the bay west by north along the west shore; at evening came before the river by the wild thicket, where we anchored in four fathoms, hard bottom, and in the morning weighed anchor.
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