USA > New Jersey > Scheyichbi and the strand : or, early days along the Delaware ; with an account of recent events at Sea Grove ; containing sketches of the romantic adventures of the pioneer colonists ; the wonderful origin of American society and civilization > Part 3
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Whaling was undertaken by Heyes in Godyn's Baai, but the experi- ment was a failure, and, in September, 1631, the Walvis sailed for Hol- land. Gillis Hossett remained at Swaanendael to superintend that colony, and, by more thorough explorations of the new manors and their resources, prepare the way for future settlements.
Pioneer explorations must have been magnificent in those days. As Hossett sailed over the waters of the Delaware he saw a roadstead and harbor, where all the commerce of Europe could ride secure ; the low shores on either side reminded him and his companions of Holland, as they offered every facility for the construction of canals, in broad
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
marshes, which could easily be redeemed from the sea, and turned into fertile fields. But, unlike Holland, Cape May had dense forests of varied timber near the shores, for the countless hulls of navies, such as the world had never seen, and beyond, yet near, interminable swamps where the giant cedars towered,-an arsenal of imperishable planks and spars to equip every craft, though each of them were more huge than ever sailed the Texel, or startled the dreams of shipwrights beside the Zuyder Zee. The waters swarmed with fish : the whale, the por- poise, the sturgeon, and the cod abounded; besides, there were black fish, blue fish, "green" fish, "silver" fish, and "variegated" fish ; there were mackerel, gar-fish, drum, bass, perch, herrings, flounders, turbots, soles, eels, anchovies, mullets, porgies, smelts, and shiners, all affording "an ocean full" of excellent food; then there was also the flying-fish, and scores of other varieties more curious than eatable.
There is no historic evidence that Gillis Hossett or the mariner Peter Heyes tarried to catch all these kinds of fish; if not, it was their own fault; the fish were there, and one summer, just two and a quarter cen- turies later, Secretary Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, caught them all except the whale, the sturgeon, the porpoise, and the cod-fish, in the waters near Cape May; moreover, any visitor of Sea Grove may have the same pleasure. The whale rarely visits the Dela- ware now; the porpoise still rolls lazily against the tide, but the stur- geon are comparatively few; yet if any transient dweller by the sea despises the capture of the smaller fry, and aspires to wage war upon veritable monsters of the deep, he can, by taking passage for deep water on the yacht of the Sea Grove Association, not only enjoy a trip over genuine ocean billows, but may, if favored by St. Peter, return with " a string" of sharks, and an appetite like that of the marine out- law he captures.
At the time of Godyn's purchases, the marshes of Cape May were much more extensive, and the sounds and thoroughfares larger. The explorer found the inland waters of Cape May abounding with fine oysters, clams, crabs, and other shell-fish, as at present. The marshes around the sounds, and the savannas or slashes between the sandy beaches, were the haunts of countless water-fowl, some remarkable for their large size and notable appearance, while many of various kinds were estimable as game birds and known to the natives then as deli- cious delicacies, as well as to the sportsman and bon vivant of the present. In their proper season the Canada geese were immensely numerous, and their habitual resorts were also frequented by more than two dozen varieties of duck and plover, in flocks or pairs, by tens of thousands; among them was the world-renowned " canvas-back" (Anas valisneria). The meadows, marshes, and shores were overrun by snipe and loons, woodcock, rail, curlew, bitterns, herons, sand-pipers, and tern. Eagles, cormorants, hawks, gulls, and other fish-loving varieties of birds
19
UPLAND BIRDS OF CAPE MAY.
hovered over the waves and the quiet waters for prey, or, pirate-like, plundered others of the scaly prize. On the uplands the variety of birds was vastly greater-quite too numerous to mention outside of scientific catalogue. The bald eagle, and ten or a dozen kind of hawks, half as many owls, and eight or ten kinds of fly-catchers exercised their capacity upon their varied and proper game ; while the turkey-buzzard, with the help of several kinds of crows, was the common scavenger of the land.
Master Evelyn, William Penn, and others mention wild turkeys of the Delaware country which weighed from forty-five to fifty pounds. Grouse, partridges, pigeons, doves, and robins were abundant. Of birds of song there was no lack. There were fourteen kinds of warblers; there were thrushes, larks, vieros, finches, sparrows, orioles, bobolinks, blackbirds, blue jays, cuckoos, and mocking birds, with hosts of others more or less musical. Of birds remarkable for plumage there were many fine species. The great blue, white, and snowy herons, and some of the ducks, were very handsome. The snowy owl, well named, was a choice specimen, while red birds, yellow birds, blue birds, scarlet birds, indigo birds, golden birds, and numerous party-colored birds, lent animation to the woods.
Besides all these, the humming bird, bright flashing gem of the air, bred at Cape May. Since the advent of white men upon the coast some varieties of birds have almost or quite disappeared, yet no locality in the United States surpasses Sea Grove and its vicinity in advantages for the naturalist. The distinguished American ornithologist, Wilson, resided during different seasons in the neighborhood of Cape May. At such times he was the guest of the elder Thomas Beesley, of Bees- ley's Point, and his visits are yet remembered by some of the oldest people. Thomas Beesley declares, in a too brief note to one of his scientific contributions, that the interest awakened there by Wilson in the study of ornithology has never ceased. To that interest and a lively intelligence are to be credited the catalogue of birds and beasts which Thomas Beesley has added to the natural science of his native county, and the fact that "Beesley's Point" has become one of the important centres of scientific interest in South Jersey. It is a legend that birds choose for their habitat the most favorable and pleasant lands-the fairest scenes. Upon this point Thomas Beesley, in a note to his catalogue of Cape May birds, quotes a citizen of Cape May as saying, " If birds in their choice of a residence are gifted in deter- mining what is the fairest and what is best, there can be no question but that the County of Cape May is among the most attractive portions of the earth; for here they congregate in as great a variety and abund- ance as upon any other portion of at least the civilized globe."
The intermediate latitude of Cape May and its consequent equable climate, with an uncommon distribution of ocean, sound, lake, river,
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
swamp, thicket, wood, marsh, and meadow, afford varied attractions to the denizens of the air. Birds of the north and of the south, with many a feathered beauty "to the manor born," there congregate and dwell, or visit the scene on flashing wing with tumultuous song one after another, as the passing year rolls its changing glories through the sky. To the plodding pot-hunter the birds of Cape May supply -his dinner; to the sportsman, choice and abundant game; to the naturalist, an unequaled field of study ; to the artist, forms and hues of beauty ; to the invalid, cheer and diversion; to all, a song; to the thoughtful and pious soul, most-bright examples of nature's handi- work, a joyous testimony to the universal providence of God!
The pioneers of Cape May were very practical persons, men who would turn away from the finest display of plumage and the sweetest song to capture a good fat goose or pursue the woodland creatures for their skins; hunting for fur-bearing animals in South Jersey over two centuries ago, they could hardly go amiss. The bison or buffalo, the black bear, the panther, the wolf, the catamount, and the deer, were the largest of the wild beasts of Cape May; of the smaller species there were opossums, raccoons, foxes, minks, otters, and, most valuable of all, the beaver. Some half-dozen kinds of squirrels filled the trees, muskrats infested the streams, rabbits were plenty, and the skunks, in bad odor, were numerous, waiting a change of fashion to give value to their handsome pelt. Twenty years ago a half-dozen black bears in an autumn would perchance be killed in the Cape May County swamps, a few deer would also be taken; the beaver is probably extinct; the opossum, the raccoon, the rabbit, the pclecat, the squirrel, the otter, and an occasional fox are the remaining animals of Cape May.
The agents of the Dutch patroons gave little attention to the flowers which adorned the lands they bought, yet a botanist would have gathered them with delight. The same causes which make Cape May the resort of the ornithologist and ichthyologist have rendered all South Jersey a vast botanical garden famous on both sides of the Atlantic, some of its plants being peculiar and local. In 1748 and 1749 Peter Kalm, botanist to the King of Sweden, made a collection in South Jersey, the sight of which made Linnaeus forget an attack of gout; the Kalmia, a species of laurel, was so called by Linnæus in honor of Kalm. As recent authorities in the botany of South Jersey, Maurice Beesley, M.D., Samuel Ashmead, and Mary Treat, of Vine- land, have been extensively quoted.
§ The aboriginal Indian was a savage and a pagan; the mistake of most Christian colonists was to consider themselves saints, and the red man a natural devil. The valleys of the Delaware and Schuylkill were inhabited at the time of the Dutch settlements by the tribe of Lenni Lenape, a name which signified "the original people." The Lenni Lenape were divided into Mantaunaks or Delawares, and
21
LENNI LENAPE SEWAN.
Muncees, Munseys, or Mincees; the last lived above the Sankitan, Stankekan, or Sanhickan falls, near Trenton, and toward the Hudson. The Lenni Lenape were a superior tribe; they came from beyond the Mississippi, and conquered their way to the Atlantic. Subsequently, by the terms of a treaty made with the Hodensaunee Konoshion, or Iroquois Confederation, they abandoned war, becoming "women," that is to say, non-combatants, and, as the Indian matrons were, referees and peacemakers. Hendrick Aupaumut, chief of the Muheconuck, Mohican, or Mohegan tribe, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in his report of his mission as the embassador of the United States to the Western tribes (Mem. Hist. Soc. Pa., vol. II.), calls the Delawares "Grandfathers," and adds that the British and Five Nations depended upon them to make peace, as "this nation had the greatest influence with the South- ern, Western, and Northern nations;" also that the Lenni Lenape, since about 1600, had been grandfathers or "wise ones," to whom the tribes looked as judges in arbitration.
The general traits of American Indians, aside from the usages of war, characterized the Lenni Lenape; one notable habit of theirs was peculiar to such tribes as inhabited the shores of New Jersey and New York, or lived elsewhere near localities like Cape May. The Indians used no salt, but preserved their fish and meats by drying and smoking; at the shore they boiled, strung, and dried clams, which were used to season their insipid fare. The manufacture of this Indian delicacy left behind an immense quantity of shells, those of the common clam, the Venus mercenaria, which the Indians called Pequonuck or Quahaug. These shells, in a broken state, are to be found in great heaps on the shores of the sounds and water-courses in the vicinity of Sea Grove. The fragmentary condition of the shells distinguishes the shell heaps of Indian creation from the beds and mounds of shells which owe their origin to natural causes, or to the bivalve-consuming propensities of white men. The Indian resorted to the shore of the Atlantic, not alone for health and comfort, but to make money. Near Sea Grove, as on the shores of Sewan-hacky (Sewan-land), Long Island, New York, an aboriginal "mint" was kept in operation, and the circulating medium of exchange there issued was current at a fixed value all over the continent. This Indian money was called variously sewan, suckauhock, wampum, wampompeague, peague, etc., and was coined in the form of beads, from shells, and strung on strings some- what after the manner of Chinese "cash."
There were two kinds of sewan. The black-" the gold of the In- dians"-was made from the black portion of the clam-shells, and called suckauhock. It was rated at double the value of the white, called wampum, which was made from the stem of the periwinkle (Littorinæ); hence the shell heaps the Indians have left along the shore of Cape May contain mostly the white part of clam-shells, broken in small
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
pieces to secure the black and valuable portions. Aside from the color of the wampum, it was criticised by the natives as to its form and finish, and the usages of aboriginal commerce required that the beads should be uniform in size and shape, and bored in the centre. To test sewan, the Indians drew the strings of beads deftly across their noses; if they found them smooth, uniform, and well strung, they passed at par; the worn or imperfect were discounted or rejected. The sewan was used not only as currency, but as jewelry and material for orna- mentation. "The Dutch, at Albany," says Kalm, " made and sold a great deal of sewan in their extensive trade with the Five Nations. There were at one time sixty or seventy shops in Albany where sewan was made, and the Iroquois called the town Laaphanachking,-i.e., "the place of stringing wampum." Sewan was also made in other places, " by poor people," and the Indians suffered the inconvenience of "an inflated currency" after a time. The New Netherlands accepted sewan in trade themselves, good wampum being in some colonies as current as silver; it was voted "to goe six a penny in New Haven in 1640." Sewan, or wampum, was the currency of New Netherlands in 1641; afterwards the contributions to the churches were paid in it. At New Amsterdam " four beads of good black, well-strung wampum, or eight of the white," were reckoned as one stuyver,-a Dutch coin about a cent in value. In 1650, "there being at present no other specie," sewan was made lawfully current, at the rate of three black or six white beads of "commercial sewan," or four black and six white of the "base strung," for one stuyver, the rate ordered "to goe" in Nieu Haven. By this the drain of " specie" into New England was checked.
The Indian had no banks, and was innocent of " corners," " bonuses," " divvies," brokerages, commissions, margins, "puts and calls," and " irregularities," yet he was a financier in his way, and managed " ex- change" for his own benefit. In heavy transactions, sewan, either suckauhock or wampum, was counted by the fathom, measured by the spread arms of an Indian. Commissary Hudde, of Fort Nassau, in 1648, complained that the Cape May tribe made barter "rather too much against them," as " the Indians always take the largest and tallest among them to trade with us," by which means the long-armed "tel- lers" compassed a long price for their clansmen's beaver-skins.
"In 1756," says Dr. Beesley, " Jacob Spicer, of Cape May, advertised to barter goods for all kinds of produce and commodities, and, among the rest, particularly designated wampum (suckauhock). He offered a reward of five pounds to the person that should manufacture the most wampum. He succeeded in procuring a quantity of the wampum, and, before sending it off to Albany and a market, weighed a shot-bag full of silver coin, and the same shot-bag full of wampum, and found the latter (by weight) most valuable by ten per cent." After the fall of Oswego he chronicles the decline of the wampum traffic. The Narra-
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DE VRIES'S FIRST VOYAGE TO THE DELAWARE.
gansetts and Pequods, who were able to produce sewan on their shores, kept themselves rich and powerful by the possession and use of it. The Cape May Indians held similar advantages, and the accumulated refuse of their work shows that they were not neglectful of their op- portunities.
Such, two and a half centuries ago, were the people, such the sur- roundings, among which lay the assumed territories of the High and Mighty Dutch West India Company, and the intended manors of the would-be patroons, Godyn and Blommaert.
§ The unfair advantage Godyn, Blommaert, and a few others had conspired to take of the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions gave great offense, and partisan feeling became bitter against the patroons and those who defended their claims. Director-General Minuit, who was cognizant of the operations of the patroons, was recalled from his office, but Minuit had simply carried out the laws and orders of the company. Sensible of the injustice done him, Minuit transferred his authority to the Manhattan Council, and sailed for Holland to vindi- cate himself, in March, 1632, bearing with him not only his own trou- bles, but sad news for the patroons and the friends of the colonists at Swaanendael.
The first accounts from Swaanendael received by the patroons, some time after the Walvis left that colony, reported that all had been well, and that the colony was pleasantly prosperous. The ill luck of the Walvis had discouraged the proprietors somewhat, but Godyn was still sanguine about the whale fishery, and, in February, 1632, it was agreed that a ship and yacht should be fitted out, with De Vries himself as patroon and commander, to fish in the South Bay during the winter of 1633. This ship and the yacht Squirrel were accordingly fitted out for a whaling voyage, and were ready to sail the last of May. On the 24th of May, just before De Vries got off, news was received at Amsterdam, having been brought by Director-General Minuit, by the way of Ports- mouth, that Swaanendael had been destroyed by the Indians.
De Vries, though distressed by the news, put to sea, but an unskill- ful pilot ran his ship on the sands off Dunkirk; she with difficulty got into Portsmouth the 25th of May. The ship was made seaworthy, and sailed the Ist of August, in company with the great ship "New Netherland, of six or eight hundred tunnes," which had been built at Manhattan, in 1631, and was then returning from her first voyage to Holland.
De Vries arrived on December 5th, in the offing of Godyn's Baai. As he neared the coast he saw no beacon kindled to give warning of his approach ; he heard no resounding and reassuring gun; no signal waved to denote his looked-for arrival, and give the sign for joyous welcome. An ominous silence brooded everywhere,-only the waves dashed mournfully, and the tall cedars soughed in the blast of Decem-
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
ber, as if they chanted a requiem. No Indians appearing, a well-armed boat was sent into the Horekill the next day, to open communication. Finding none of the savages about, the boat pushed on, and landed at Swaanendael, where discoveries were soon made which justified the worst apprehensions of De Vries. The colony had disappeared,- buildings, gardens, plantations, fishing-stations, whale-boats, all were gone. Only ashes and fire-blasted ruins remained, surrounded by the wolf-gnawed and bleaching bones of his comrades and servants.
In despondency De Vries returned to his yacht, and a gun was fired to call in the Indians. The next morning a smoke was seen arising from near the ruins of Swaanendael. The boat went into the creek, and a few of the savages were seen prowling about. They were shy, and the crew of the boat distrustful. The yacht gave more protection from treacherous arrows than the open boat, and so De Vries ran her into the creek. The Indians soon came to the shore, but for some · time none could be persuaded to come on board. Finally one venture- some fellow made bold to dare the vengeance of the Swannekins, and came alone among the Dutch. De Vries gave him a "cloth dress," and sent word by him to his chief that he wished to make a peace. The Indians at once became more familiar, and that night one of them stayed on board, and was induced to give the particulars of the tragic fate of the colony.
According to the story of the Indian on the yacht, Gillis Hossett had considered it requisite to post the arms of Holland, painted on a sheet of tin, by attaching them to a pillar he set up, the site of which the Indian pointed out. An Indian, attracted by the sheen of the metal, " not thinking he was doing amiss," carefully removed the shield for his own purpose. Hossett took much to heart the insult to the Bata- vian Republic, and angrily denounced the tribe for the offense of a person, as if it were some mighty matter. It was a great fuss to make about a bit of tin, but the Indians took it for earnest, and soon pre- sented Hossett the scalp of the culprit, to his avowed astonishment, chagrin, and disgust.
Rebuked, humbled, thrown off, hurt in feeling, the jealous, vindictive sons of the forest returned to their wigwams, but not to live in peace. The Indians had a custom like that of the Jews, in "the avenger of blood." If a relative were slain, it was an obligation to avenge his fall unless " atonement" were made by the offender. This could be done by his paying, after the manner of the ancient Greeks, "blood-money," to " cover the graves of the dead."
" If a brother bleed, On just atonement we remit the deed ; A sire the slaughter of his son forgives,
The price of blood discharged, the murderer lives."
(POPE : Iliad, ix.)
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THE FATE OF SWAANENDAEL.
The Indian who had been killed at Swaanendael was a sachem,- vengeance could not be allowed to sleep. The aggrieved Indians held Hossett accountable as the cause of the murder, still he could at any time have purchased exemption for a few guilders' worth of goods; this he unwisely neglected to do, and was accordingly condemned to die, and the colony that harbored him was to share his fate.
One day Hossett was sick and remained in the house, but one of his men, a housekeeper, being with him, when a lurking war party of Indians came near the place. In the yard a large bull-dog, or Dutch mastiff, was chained ; had he been loose, they would not have dared approach the house. Suddenly three Indians presented themselves, and offered a small lot of beaver-skins for sale. Learning that no others were near, they set upon Hossett and his servant and killed them at once. With the dog, " which they feared most," they had more trouble, and the Indian related with wonder and admiration that the brave guardian of the threshold never ceased to fight, and died only when pierced by twenty-five arrows. But for his chain, as they knew, the Dutch mastiff would have taught the bloody savages the difference between a dog of his breed and keep and one of their own skulking, mangy little curs. The men of the colony were at work in the adjacent gardens and cornfields; they were approached in a friendly manner, and a treacherous attack made upon them. Whatever of courage they manifested, whatever of desperate heroism (for the Dutch were brave), is unknown, as it was unavailing ; one by one rap- idly they fell, far from their beloved "Faderlandt," among barbarous foes, perishing victims to the folly of their Governor and the revenge- ful passions of cruel savages.
Shocked, saddened, disappointed, and involved in financial loss, De Vries was not discouraged, and made no useless attempt at revenge. The Indians were glad to make a formal treaty of peace with De Vries, which was brought about by his tact and coolness the following day. Receiving various presents, the bewildered Nanticokes departed in great joy to hunt for beaver-skins to trade with the prudent and reti- cent Hollander. Such is the awful story of the first bloodshed in the settlement of Delaware, and thus were the possessions of the Dutch " sealed with blood, and dearly enough bought." To De Vries the honor is due, that from that time war between the races was unknown, and bloodshed extremely rare in all the country round about Swaan- endael.
Mindful of the plans and interests of his partners, De Vries tried the whale fishery; he had anticipated "royal work," but, from the imper- fection of their gear, the Dutchmen were not very successful. To eke out his supplies, De Vries, in his yacht, the Squirrel, with seven men made a trip up the Poutaxit, as the Indians called Zuydt, South, Godyn's, or Delaware Bay; and above into the Lenape-ittuck, Mack-
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
erish-kitton, or Arasapha, as the red men had named the Zuydt, South, Godyn's, Prince Hendrick's, or Delaware River. It was New Year time, and the Dutch hoped to " buy some beans of the Indians." The bay and river were full of floating ice; working his yacht through this, De Vries came, on the 5th of January, to Fort Nassau, finding none but Indians.
The natives advised De Vries to go up the Timmer Kill, or Timber Kill, for his supplies ; but a Sankitan, or Stankekan squaw warned the Dutch to keep out of the creeks, or the river Indians would murder them, as they had recently killed the crew of an English shallop, in "Count Ernest's River." Avoiding the creeks, therefore, De Vries went on up to Red Hook, or Mantes. There some forty Indians came on board, offering to barter beaver skins, and "playing on reeds to allay suspicion." Unaware that the Dutch were informed of their murder of the English crew, some of them wore the jackets of the men they had butchered. De Vries told them their " Maneto". had revealed their treacherous plans to him, and, driving them all on shore, returned to Fort Nassau. There several chiefs came on board the yacht, some of whom had worn the jackets at Red Hook, but now they were dressed in robes of fur. The Indians sat down in a solemn circle on the deck, and stated they had come to make a long peace ; a long ceremony, during which ten beaver-skins were presented, one after another, by the Indians, ratified the formal compact. For the skins presented in their ceremonies the Indians refused any compensation whatever. De Vries, however, bought other beaver-skins, and, procur- ing a small supply of corn and beans, sailed for his ship, and was on board the 13th of the month.
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