USA > New York > A geographical history of the state of New York: embracing its history, government, physical features, climate, geology, mineralogy, botany, zoology, education, internal improvements, &c., with a separate map of each county > Part 5
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2d, Abdominal, those having belly fins and ventrals. This order includes the shad, herring, salmon, trout, catfish, pipe fish, dace, shiner, carp, pike, pickerel, minnow, &c.
This, and the four succeeding orders, have soft rayed fins.
3d, Jugular, having shoulder fins, and ventrals attached to the bones of the shoulder. It includes the cod, haddock, hake, halibut, flatfish, flounder, turbot, sole, lumpfish, &c.
4th, Apodal, without fins. This order includes the eel and conger.
5th, Lophobranchi, those having tufted gills. This order is small, comprising two species of pipe fish and the Hudson river sea horse.
6th, Plectognathi, those having the gills concealed under the
44
STATE OF NEW YORK.
skin. The balloon fish, puffer, and globe fish are examples of this order.
Sub-class II. CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. These are divided into three orders, viz.
1st. Eleutheropomi, those having free gills. This order is rep- resented in the state only by the sturgeon.
2d, Plagiostoma, those having the gills attached. This includes the shark and ray tribes.
3d, Cyclostomi, those having circular openings on each side of the neck tor respiration. This includes the lamprey, frequently called lamper eel.
FOSSIL FISHES. Twenty-five species of these have been enume- rated by the Messrs. Redfield. A number of them are extinct species.
The following catalogue contains the names of all the fishes as yet discovered in the waters of this state :
Sub-class I. Bony Fishes.
Order I. PECTINIBRANCHI. Four spined stickleback,
Many spined
S Hair finned blepharis, or
[Spine rayed.] Family 1. Percida. Perch family.
Family 3. Scienide. Sheepshead family.
S Rostrate argyreiose or
American yellow perch,
Rough
Rough headed "
Silvery Corvina,
Bristly dory,
Sharp nosed
Branded 66
Banded seriole,
Slender
Sharpfinned “
Blue fish,
Striped sea bass,
Ruddy
King fish, Big drum,
Spotted lampugus, Long finned harvest fish,
Little white
Banded “
Short finned
White lake
Banded Corvina, Speckled redmouth,
Family 7. Teuthidæ.
Black Huron or black bass,
Surgeon.
Champlain pickering,
Squirrel fish,
Dotted silverside,
Grey
Tesselated darter,
Groper,
Black sea bass,
Striped mullet,
Growler,
Sand porgee,
Rock
Black do.
Aculeated gilthead,
Common pond fish,
¿ Scup.
Coachman,
S Banded Ephippus, or
Six banded chasmodes,
Unarmed Uranoscone,
American butter fish,
Northern Barracuta,
Thick lipped eel pout,
Cirrous Lepisoma. Family 2. Triglide. Gurnard family. Web fingered gurnard,
Razor fish. Family 6. Scombride. Mackerel tribe.
Bordered Sea wolf,
Red
Spring Mackerel, Fall
Variegated goby. Family 11. Lophida.
Banded
Spanish
American angler,
Spinous
Common tunny,
Gibbous mouse fish,
Sea swallow,
Striped bonito,
Smootlı
Common bullhead,
Spotted cybium,
Short nosed malthea,
Brazen
S Silvery hair tail, or
Dotted
Smooth browed "
¿ Ribbon fish.
Bat 66
Greenland 66
Common sword fish,
American sea raven,
New York pilot fish,
Small sea scorpion, Spotted “
Northern crab-eater, Carolina lichia,
Silvery trachinote,
Little star gazer.
S Spinous or
Spotted do.
American Aspidophore, Spotted wrymouth,
Two spined stickleback, New York 6€
¿ Spinous dory, Black pilot, Southern caranx, Yellow
White
Fresh water bass,
Rhomboidal "
Spotted "
Obscure do. 66
S Big porgee, or
Family 10. Gobidæ. Goby family,
Black eared “
Family 5. Chetodontida.
Sea weed blenny,
Radiated shanny,
Spineless perch,
Yellow finned "
Family 8. Atherinide.
Yellow pike perch,
Banded pristipoma,
Black triple tail. Family 4. Sparidæ. Porgee family.
Stender Family 9. Mugilidæ. Mullet family.
Sheepshead,
Bottle headed dolphin,
Black sheepshead,
Small black
Lake sheepshead,
§ Blunt nosed shiner, or
Lafayette, Weakfish,
Dory,
Hair finned
Spotted caranx,
¿ Hair finned dory,
Common toad fish, Two spined toad fislı. Family 12. Labrida.
Northern sebastes,
S Common bergall, or ¿ Cunner,
S New York tautaug, or ¿ Black fish.
¿ Three tailed porgee, Moon fish,
Toad fish family.
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ZOOLOGY.
Ofder îl. ABDOMINAL. Spotted pipe fish,
[Soft rayed fishes.)
Famlly 1. Silurida. Catfish family.
Oceanic catfish, Milbert's arius,
Great lake catfish, S Common or ¿ Horn pout-minister, Brown catfish, Black Family 2. Cyprinida. Carp family.
Family 5. Salmonida. Salmon Family,
Brook trout,
Red bellied " Lake
Mackinaw Salmon,
Common sea "
American smelt,
Spotted Troutlet,
Argentine, Lake white fish,
Common shad salmon,
Otsego Family 6. Clupide. Herring family.
Common carp, Gold
Variegated Bream,
New York chubsucker,
Brilliant
Long finned
Little
New York
Gibbous
Satin striped
Beaked
Round backed
Common sucker,
Oneida 11
Horncd
Pale
Mullet
Black
Large scaled
Spotted shadine,
Spotted thread herring,
River moon eye,
Lake
Redfin,
Roach dace,
Shining
Black headed "
Silvery
Banded
Pigmy
Bay shiner,
Corporaalen, Sheepshead lebias;
Striped killlfish; Barred
American cod,
Big .€
Power
Tom
Haddock,
Curved
Champlain
American hake,
Lineated
Family 3. Esocide. Pickerel family.
Muskellunge, Common pickerel;
Varied
Green
Federation pike,
Coal fish,
Long finned
Massachusetts -
Thread Long tailed unicorn fish,
Dusky balistes. Family 3. Ostraceonido.
Dromedary, Yale's trunk fish.
Sub-class II. Cartilaginous Fishes.
Order I. ELEUTHEROPOMA.Mackerel porbeagle,
Family Sturionidæ.
Lake sturgeon, Short nosed 56
Sharp
Order. II. PLAGIOSTOMA.
-
Family 1. Squalida. Shark Family. Threshing shark,
Small blue
Clear nosed ray, Spotted sting Prickly
Broad sting ray; Cow nose
Hedge hog " "
Whip
Smooth skate,
Sea devil.
Order III. CYCLOSTOM!,
Family Petronyzidæ, American sea lamprey i Bluish
Small lamprey,
Dusky
Ground
3*
Rusty fla' fish,
Toothed,
Oblong Flounder, Long toothed "
Spotted Turbot, New York sole. Famlly 3. Cyclopterida.
Lump fish.
Family 4. Echineida: White talled remora, Indian -
Common
Order IV. APODALI
Common herring,
Striped
Green
American shad,
American Alewife,
New York ophidium,
Mossbonker,
Autumnal Herring,
Banded
Order V. LOPHIOBRANCHÍ:
Family 1. Syngnathida Banded pipe fish, Green
Hudson river sea horse:
Buffalo bony pike,
Flat nosed "
Order VI. PLECTOGNATH !.
Order III. JUGULAR.
Family 1. Gadida. Cod family.
Unspotted
Warty
Halry -
Common puffer;
Plain burbot,
Small globe fish,
Spotted
Compressed“
New York Pollack,
File fish family.
Banded Garfish, Bill fish,
American Codling,
New York flying fish,
Single bearded 66
Double
Family 4. Fistularida. Halibut, Pipe fish family. New York flat fish, Pigmy
American pipe fish.
Long tailed =
American houndfish, Basking shark, Spinous dog fish, Nurse, Hammer head shark, § American angel fish, or ¿ Sea devil, Common saw fish. Family 2. Raiada. Ray family.
Short head fish, Family 2. Balistida:
Orange
file fish,
Cusk,
Spotted $6
Family 2. Planide. Flatfish family.
Family 1. Anguillida Eel family,
Common eel,
Blue
Sea
Brit,
Bullhead
American conger,
American sand launce;
Blender
New York sliiner, Black nosed dace, Spawn cater,
Saury, Western Mudfish. Family 7. Sauride. Bony Pikes.
Transparent minnow, Barred
Family 1.
Gymnodontid@
Balloon fish family.
Spot-striped balloon fish,
Colored mud lamprey, Plain
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STATE OF NEW YORK.
Class VII. Crustacea.
The class Crustacea embraces those animals having a covering of a dense calcareous substance, adapted to their form, which they usu- ally shed every year, and which is replaced by an exudation from the surface of the animal's body. Ten orders of this class of animals are supposed to exist in the state, though the existence of two of the ten is not determined with certainty.
Order 1st, Decapoda, those having ten feet, is the most numerous and best known. It embraces the various species of crab, lobster, fresh-water lobster, and most of the prawns or shrimps. There are in all twenty-seven species of this order.
Order 2d, Stomapoda, those having the feet converging towards the jaws, is less numerous, containing but three species. It embra- ces the opossum shrimp and the squill.
Order 3d, Amphipoda, those having feet connected with both divi- sions of the body, comprising the sand flea, beach flea, and fresh-wa- ter shrimp. It has but four species.
Order 4th, Læmipoda, has but two species, the whale louse and the sea measuring worm.
Order 5th, Isopoda, is considerably numerous, containing fours teen species. Seven of these are parasitic animals which obtain a subsistence by attachment to other animals. Among them are the salt and fresh-water barnacle ; two species of sow bug ; the pill bug ; and a genus resembling the trilobite.
Order 6th, Pæcilopoda, contains five species, and embraces the horsefoot, or king crab, so abundant on the sea coast ; and parasites peculiar to the shark, the rock bass, and the alewife.
Orders 7th and 8th, Phyllopoda and Lophyropa, are not certainly known to exist in the state.
Orders 9th and 10th, Branchiopoda and Ostrapoda, have but one species each, and those not known, except to the zoologist.
Class VIII. Mollusca.
Mollusca is the name given to the class of animals whose bodies are encased in shells, Many of these are known by the name of shell fish.
There are six orders, embracing a large number of genera and spe- cies, in the state.
The 1st order is Cephalopoda, those having the head surrounded by feet. The cuttle fish, or squid, and the syphon formed spirula, be- long to this order.
The 2d order is Pteropoda, having fins on each side of the mouth, and without feet. To this order belongs the clio, the food of the whale.
The 3d order is Gasteropoda, having the feet under the body. The mollusca, belonging to this order, are very numerous in the state, and are arranged into eight sections or subdivisions, according to the structure of their gills or breathing apparatus.
It comprises, in addition to many species known only to the natu- ralist, the family of slugs or snails, the animals inhabiting the turbi- nated shells, and those which yield the famous Tyrian purple dye.
The 4th order, Acephala, those having no distinct head, is divided
47
ZOOLOGY.
into three sections, and comprises by far the greater number of shell fish with which we are familiar.
In the 2d section, Lamellibranchia, those having leaf-like gills, of a semicircular form, we find the oyster, scallop, bloody clam, mussel, and the fresh-water elam and mussel.
In the third section, Conchifera, those having single and distinct shells, we find the quahog, or common round clam, and the long clam.
The 5th and 6th orders, Cirrhopoda, those having filamentous or thread-like feet, and Tunicata, those covered with a leathery or membranous tunic instead of a shell, contain no species of general interest.
The researches of the state geologists have brought to light numer- ous genera and species of fossil mollusca, imbedded in the lime and sand stones of the state. The most remarkable and common of these are the various species of trilobite, the encrinite, the pentamerus, &c.
Class IX. Insects.
No full account of the insects of this state has yet appeared. The naturalists of the adjacent states, of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have described most of those, which are inhabitants of the state-and relying upon their descriptions, we shall mention some of those best known.
The order Coleoptera, beetles, is very numerous. In Pennsylva- nia more than 1500 species have been discovered. The boring bee- tle, hammering beetle, tumble bug, ground beetle, horn bug, goldsmith beetle, and some others of brilliant colors, are the most common.
The order Orthoptera, includes the cockroaches, crickets and grass- hoppers, of which there are many species. The katydid, so well known by the peculiar sound produced by its wing covers, belongs to the latter family.
The order Homoptera comprises the locusts ; one species of these is remarkable for remaining seventeen years in the grub state.
The order Hemiptera, bugs, comprises many of those insects inju- rious to vegetation, particularly the May bug, the lady bug, the apple tree blight, &c.
The order Lepidoptera, butterflies, are very numerous, probably numbering not less than 1000 species. Among those that fly dur- ing the day, those best known are, the small yellow winged butterfly, and the large yellow and black butter-fly. The variety, and beauty of their colors, attract universal attention. Some of the nocturnal spe- cies are very large.
The order Arachnida, spiders, though now usually considered as a separate class, may come in here with propriety. There are proba- bly between one and two hundred species of these in the state. Some of them are very large, and possessed of great beauty. The long legs, the clawed spider, the tick, mite, louse, &c, also belong to this order.
The worms of the state, and its animalcules, have not yet been made subjects of general investigation.
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CIVIL HISTORY OF NEW YORK.
DUTCH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT.
THE bay of New York was first discovered in 1524, by Jean de Verrazano, a Florentine in the service of France. It does not appear, however, that Francis I. the monarch under whom this discovery was made, ever took advantage of it, or laid claim to the territory adjacent, in consequence of Verrazano's explor- ation.
On the 4th of Sept. 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, in the service of the States General of Holland, again discovered it, and ascended the river, which now bears his name, to a point a little below the present city of Albany. His ship, or yacht, was of about eighty tons burthen, and was called the Half Moon.
Landing in England on his return, he despatched an account of his adventures to the Dutch East India Company, with the request, that they would furnish him with the means of making another voyage. The English Government, however, deter- mining to secure his services, forbade his sailing again in the service of Holland.
Shortly after, he received the command of a ship, with direc- tions to explore the Northern coast of America, in the hope of finding a North West passage. Having discovered and entered the bay which now bears his name, his crew mutinied, and put- ting him with some of his men into a small boat, abandoned them to their fate. Whether they perished by the waves, by hunger, or by the inclemency of the climate, is unknown.
The country thus discovered by Hudson, was inhabited by numerous roving tribes of Indians, of whom the Maquaas or Mohawks were the most formidable and warlike. The Man- hattans, who inhabited the island on which New York is situa- ted, were also a fierce and warlike nation. Between thirty and forty of these tribes occupied Long Island and the country wa- tered by the Hudson and Delaware rivers and their branches.
In 1610, a ship was sent by some merchants in Amsterdam, to trade with the Indians of Hudson river, for furs, &c. Other voyages were made during the succeeding years. In 1613, one
49
DUTCH ADMINISTRATION.
or two small trading forts were erected on the river ; and four houses were built on Manhattan Island, under the superintend- ence of Hendrick Corstiaensen, who visited with his trading boats every creek, inlet and bay in the vicinity, for the purpose of securing for his employers, the furs and produce of the country.
On the 29th of March, 1614, the States General of the United Netherlands passed an ordinance, granting to all original discov- erers of lands in North America, the exclusive privilege of making four voyages to such lands as they had discovered, for the purposes of trade. Under this ordinance, five ships were despatched, by a company of merchants, the same year. The command of these vesse s v as giv n to Adriaen Blok, Hendrick Corstiaensen and Cornelis Jacobsen Mey. They explored ex- tensively the coast near New York.
Blok discovered and named Block Island, south of Rhode Island, and also the East river, to which he gave the name of Hellegat, from the Hellegat river in East Flanders.
Captain Mey proceeding southward, discovered and named Capes May and Henlopen, or Hindlopen. On the return of these ships, a Capt. Hendrickson was left on the coast, to prosecute discoveries.
The tract of country extending from the Connecticut to the Delaware river, received the name of New Netherlands ; and the exclusive right to trade there for three years from that date, Oct. 11, 1614, was granted to the discoverers by the States General.
The discoverers, upon the passage of this grant, formed themselves into a company, called the United New Netherlands Company. This company erected, the same year, a fort and a trading house at an island, near the head of navigation on the Hudson, just below the present city of Albany, and garrisoned it with ten or twelve men. Another fort was erected at the southern point of Manhattan Island ; and men were despatched in every direction among the Indian tribes, to induce them to trade with the company.
In 1618, a flood in the North river, or Mauritius, as it was called, injured the company's fort at Castle Island, near Albany, so much that it was deemed best to remove it to another posi- tion. Accordingly, a site was chosen on the Normanskill, or creek, a few miles below. Here they made a treaty with the Five Nations. The charter granted to the New Netherlands Company, by the States General, having expired this year, (1618,) they petitioned for its renewal, but in vain. Private traders, principally the former partners of that company, con- tinued, however, to visit the country for the purposes of traffic.
50
. STATE OF NEW YORK.
At this period the attention of the Puritans, who afterwards settled at Plymouth, was attracted to this fertile and beautiful country. Having in vain applied to England, for grants of ter- ritory in the New World, they intimated, in the beginning of the year 1620, to the prominent individuals concerned in the trade to the New Netherlands, their desire to emigrate thither. This intimation was readily and willingly received by these traders, and a petition presented by them to the States General, for their approval of the project. War existing, however, between the States General and Spain, that body thought best, not to approve this proposition,
In June, 1621, was passed the charter of the Dutch West India Company, an armed Mercantile Association, which was designed to extend the fame and power of the Netherlands ; and to render them formidable upon the seas to Spain, their old and sanguinary enemy. This charter, though not particularly favorable to freedom, was as liberal in its provisions, as that of any other commercial association of that period.
The West India Company having been fully organized, sent out a ship called the New Netherlands, on the 20th of June, 1623, to their newly acquired possessions, under the direction of Capt. Mey already noticed, and Adriaen Joriszen Tienpont. The former of these, proceeded immediately to the Delaware, then called the South, or Prince Hendrick's river, and there established a fort, near the present town of Glouces- ter, which he named fort Nassau. The same year a fortified post, called Fort Orange, was erected within the limits of the present city of Albany, a few miles above that erected in 1618, on the Normanskill.
DIRECTOR MINUIT'S ADMINISTRATION.
In 1624, Peter Minuit, of Wesel, in Westphalia, having been appointed director of New Netherlands, arrived in the country, bringing with him several families of Walloons, inhabitants of the frontier between Belgium and France.
These settled on a bay of Long Island, near Manhattan Isl- and, called from them Wahlebocht, or the bay of the foreigners, a name since corrupted into Wallabout. Here Sarah de Ra- pelje, the first child of European parentage, whose birth occur- red in the colony, was born in June, 1625.
The government of this newly established colony was vested in the director, and a council of five, who possessed supreme executive, legislative and judicial authority in the colony. The only other important officer of the government was the Schout Fiscal, who filled both the offices of Sheriff and Attor- ney General. Under the superintendence of these authorities, the trade of the colony prospered.
51
DUTCH ADMINISTRATION.
In 1626, Staten Island was purchased of the Indians ; and in the same year, the island of Manhattan was bought for the sum of twenty-four dollars. The fort, upon this latter island, received the title of Fort Amsterdam, and the colony that of New Amsterdam.
An affray occurred between some of Minuit's farm servants and an Indian, in which the latter was killed. No attempts were made to punish the murderers; and this outrage after- wards led to serious consequences. The exports of the colony this year amounted to about $19,000.
In the ensuing year, 1627, amicable correspondence was opened between the Dutch authorities at New Amsterdam, and the Pilgrim settlers at Plymouth. In this correspondence the English authority was set up by the Plymouth colonists over the region watered by the Connecticut, and denied by the Dutch.
Up to the year 1629, no colonies, properly so called, can be said to have been established in the New Netherlands. The settlements were simply trading establishments, in which the traffic in furs was the principal employment ; and the soil was hardly cultivated in sufficient quantities to supply the wants of the traders.
In Sept. 1628, Admiral Heyn, who had charge of the West India Company's fleet, captured the Spanish Plate ships, con- taining gold, silver, &c. to the value of five millions of dollars. The directors of the company, elated by such unexpected good fortune, were disposed to yield to any measure apparently cal- culated to increase their wealth; and at the meeting of the company's council (commonly known as the XIX,) on the 7th of June, 1626, a measure was adopted, the effects of which are yet felt in the state.
This measure was, the passage of a grant to certain individ- uals, of extensive seignories, or tracts of land, with feudal rights, giving them power over the lives and persons of their subjects. Certain restrictions and limitations were made in this grant, which was called " The Freedoms and Exceptions, granted by the Assembly of the XIX, of the Priviliged West India Company, to all such as shall plant any colonies in New Netherlands."
Under this grant Samuel Godyn and Samuel Bloemmaert pur- chased, soon after, a tract of land, thirty-two miles long, and two miles wide, on the south-west side of Delaware Bay; and on the 18th of April, 1630, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a pearl mer- chant of Amsterdam, secured a tract on the west side of the North river, embracing the site of the present city of Albany.
By subsequent purchase, in this year and in 1637, Mr. Van
52
STATE OF NEW YORK.
Rensselaer became proprietor of a tract of land, twenty-four miles long, and forty-eight broad, now composing the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and part of the county of Columbia.
In 1630, Godyn and Bloemmaert also secured a tract, on the opposite shore of the Delaware Bay, making a territory of sixty= four miles in circumference. Another of the company's direct- ors, Michael Paauw, purchased Staten Island, Jersey City and Ahasimus, now called Harsimus, with the lands adjacent.
This colony was called Pavonia: that on the Delaware, Zwanendal, or the valley of swans, and Mr. Van Rensselaer's; Rensselaerwyck.
Active exertions were forthwith made to colonize these vast estates. Colonies were sent to Rensselaerwyck and Zwanen- dal ; and fortifications erected. Anxious, however, to partici- pate in the very profitable trade in furs and peltries, the Pa- troons, in the opinion of the other directors, soon transcended the limits prescribed, in the bill of Freedoms and Exceptions. Hence difficulties arose between the two parties, which mate- rially embarrassed the prosperity of the infant colonies. Minuit the director, was recalled, partly probably from the machina- tions of Wouter Van Twiller, who, in the capacity of agent of the company, had visited the colony two years before, (1632.)
On his way home in March, 1632, Director Minuit was forced, by stress of weather, to put into the port of Plymouth, England. The vessel was immediately seized, on her arrival, on a charge of having traded and obtained her cargo in countries subject to Her Brittanic Majesty. Considerable diplomatic correspondence ensued between the State officers of England and the Nether- lands ; and finally, the object of the English government, (the assertion of their title,) having been attained, the vessel was released.
During this period the dispute between the Patroons and the colony continued. In the latter part of the year, the Indians in the neighborhood of the Delaware Bay, considering themselves injured, came suddenly upon the colony of Zwanendal, and butchered in cold blood all the colonists, thirty-four persons in number. The next year, Captain de Vries, the founder of the colony, returned from Holland, and, finding himself unable to punish the treachery of the Indians, made a peace with them.
DIRECTOR VAN TWILLER'S ADMINISTRATION.
In April, 1633, Wouter Van Twiller, a relation of the Pa- troon Van Rensselaer, having been appointed director of the settlement, arrived at New Amsterdam. About this time also Rev. Everardus Bogardus, the first minister, and Adam Roe- landsen, the first schoolmaster, arrived in the colony. Van
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