USA > New York > New York City > A history of New-York : from the beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
H 2
90
A HISTORY.
agers a welcome at the hands of their fellow-crea- tures. As they stood gazing with entranced attention on the scene before them, a red man, crowned with feathers, issued from one of these glens, and after contemplating in silent wonder the gallant ship, as she sat like a stately swan swimming on a silver lake, sounded the war-whoop, and bounded into the woods like a wild deer, to the utter astonishment of the phlegmatic Dutchmen, who had never heard such a noise, or witnessed such a caper, in their whole lives.
Of the transactions of our adventurers with the savages, and how the latter smoked copper pipes, and ate dried currants ; how they brought great store of tobacco and oysters ; how they shot one of the ship's crew, and how he was buried, I shall say nothing ; being that I consider them unimportant to my history. After tarrying a few days in the bay, in order to re- fresh themselves after their sea-faring, our voyagers weighed anchor, to explore a mighty river which emptied into the bay. This river, it is said, was known among the savages by the name of the Shate- muck; though we are assured, in an excellent little history published in 1674, by John Josselyn, Gent, that it was called the Mohegan," and master Richard Bloome, who wrote some time afterwards, asserts the same-so that I very much incline in favour of the opinion of these two honest gentlemen. Be this
* This river is likewise laid down in Ogilvy's map as Man- nattan-Noordt-Montaigne and Mauritius river.
-
91
OF NEW-YORK.
as it may, up this river did the adventurous Hendrick proceed, little doubting but it would turn out to be the much-looked-for passage to China !
The journal goes on to make mention of divers interviews between the crew and the natives, in the voyage up the river ; but as they would be imperti- nent to my history, I shall pass over them in silence, except the following dry joke, played off by the old commodore and his school-fellow, Robert Juet, which does such vast credit to their experimental philosophy, that I cannot refrain from inserting it. " Our master and his mate determined to try some of the chiefe men of the country, whether they had any treacherie in them. So they tooke them downe into the cabin and gave them so much wine and aqua vitæ, that they were all merrie ; and one of them had his wife with him, which sate so modestly, as any of our countrey women would do in a strange place. In the end, one of them was drunke, which had been aboarde of our ship all the time that we had been there, and that was strange to them, for they could not tell how to take it."*
Having satisfied himself by this ingenious experi- ment, that the natives were an honest, social race of jolly roysters, who had no objection to a drinking bout, and were very merry in their cups, the old commodore chuckled hugely to himself, and thrusting a double quid of tobacco in his cheek, directed mas- ter Juet to have it carefully recorded, for the satis-
* Juet's Journ. Purch. Pil.
92
A HISTORY
faction of all the natural philosophers of the universi- ty of Leyden-which done, he proceeded on his voy- age, with great self-complacency. After sailing, how- ever, above a hundred miles up the river, he found the watery world around him began to grow more shallow and confined, the current more rapid, and perfectly fresh-phenomena not uncommon in the ascent of rivers, but which puzzled the honest Dutch- men prodigiously. A consultation was therefore called, and having deliberated full six hours, they were brought to a determination, by the ship's run- ning aground-whereupon they unanimously con- cluded, that there was but little chance of getting to China in this direction. A boat, however, was des- patched to explore higher up the river, which, on its return, confirmed the opinion-upon this the ship was warped off and put about, with great difficulty, being like most of her sex, exceedingly hard to gov- ern ; and the adventurous Hudson, according to the account of my great-great-grandfather, returned down the river-with a prodigious flea in his ear !
Being satisfied that there was little likelihood of getting to China, unless, like the blind man, he return- ed from whence he sat out, and took a fresh start, he forthwith recrossed the sea to Holland, where he was received with great welcome by the honourable East India Company, who were very much rejoiced to see him come back safe-with their ship; and at a large and respectable meeting of the first merchants and burgomasters of Amsterdam, it was unanimously
93
OF NEW-YORK.
determined, that as a munificent reward for the emi- nent services he had performed, and the important dis- covery he had made, the great river Mohegan should be called after his name !- and it continues to be called Hudson river unto this very day.
94
A HISTORY
CHAPTER II.
Containing an account of a mighty Ark, which float ed, under the protection of St. Nicholas, from Hol- land to Gibbet Island-the descent of the strange Animals therefrom-a great victory, and a descrip- tion of the ancient village of Communipaw.
THE delectable accounts given by the great Hud- son, and master Juet, of the country they had dis- covered, excited not a little talk and speculation among the good people of Holland. Letters-patent were granted by government to an association of merchants, called the West India Company, for the exclusive trade on Hudson river, on which they erected a trading house called Fort Aurania, or Orange, from whence did spring the great city of Al- bany. But I forbear to dwell on the various com- mercial and colonizing enterprises, which took place; among which was that of Mynheer Adrian Block, who discovered and gave a name to Block Island since famous for its cheese-and shall barely confine inyself to that which gave birth to this renowned city.
It was some three or four years after the return of the immortal Hendrick, that a crew of honest, Low Dutch colonists set sail from the city of Amsterdam, for the shores of America. It is an irreparable loss to history, and a great proof of the darkness of the age, and the lamentable neglect of the noble art of
95
OF NEW-YORK.
book-making, since so industriously cultivated by knowing sca-captains, and learned supercargoes, that an expedition so interesting and important in its re- sults, should be passed over in utter silence. To my great-great-grandfather am I again indebted for the few facts I am enabled to give concerning it-he having once more embarked for this country, with a full determination, as he said, of ending his days here -and of begetting a race of Knickerbockers, that should rise to be great men in the land.
The ship in which these illustrious adventurers set sail was called the Goede Vrouw, or good woman, in compliment to the wife of the President of the West India Company, who was allowed by every body (except her husband) to be a sweet tempered lady-when not in liquor. It was in truth a most gallant vessel, of the most approved Dutch construc- tion, and made by the ablest ship-carpenters of Am- sterdam, who, it is well known, always model their ships after the fair forms of their countrywomen. Accordingly, it had one hundred feet in the beam, one hundred feet in the keel, and one hundred feet from the bottom of the stern-post to the tafferel. Like the beauteous model, who was declared to be the greatest belle in Amsterdam, it was full in the bows, with a pair of enormous cat-hcads, a copper bottom, and withal, a most prodigious poop !
The architect, who was somewhat of a religious man, far from decorating the ship with pagan idols such as Jupiter, Neptune, or Hercules, (which hea- thenish abominations, I have no doubt, occasion the
96
A HISTORY
misfortunes and shipwreck of many a noble vessel,) he, I say, on the contrary, did laudably erect for a head, a goodly image of St. Nicholas, equipped with a low, broad-brimmed hat, a huge pair of Flemish trunk hose, and a pipe that reached to the end of the bowsprit. Thus gallantly furnished, the staunch ship floated sideways, like a majestic goose, out of the harbour of the great city of Amsterdam, and all the bells, that were not otherwise engaged, rang a triple bobmajor on the joyful occasion.
My great-great-grandfather remarks, that the voy- age was uncommonly prosperous, for, being under the especial care of the ever-revered St. Nicholas, the Goede Vrouw seemed to be endowed with qual- ities unknown to common vessels. Thus she made as much lee-way as head-way, could get along very nearly as fast with the wind a-head, as when it was a-poop-and was particularly great in a calm ; in consequence of which singular advantages, she made out to accomplish her voyage in a very few months, and came to anchor at the mouth of the Hudson, a little to the east of Gibbet Island.
Here lifting up their eyes, they beheld, on what is at present called the Jersey shore, a small Indian vil- lage, pleasantly embowered in a grove of spreading elms, and the natives all collected on the beach, gazing in stupid admiration at the Goede Vrouw. A boat was immediately despatched to enter into a treaty with them, and approaching the shore, hailed them through a trumpet, in the most friendly terms ; but so horribly confounded were these poor savages
97
OF NEW-YORK.
·
at the tremendous and uncouth sound of the Low Dutch language, that they one and all took to their heels, and scampered over the Bergen hills ; nor did they stop until they had buried themselves, head and ears, in the marshes on the other side, where they all miserably perished to a man-and their bones being collected and decently covered by the Tammany So- ciety of that day, formed that singular mound called RATTLESNAKE HILL, which rises out of the centre of the salt marshes, a little to the east of the Newark Causeway.
Animated by this unlooked-for victory, our valiant heroes sprang ashore in triumph, took possession of the soil as conquerors in the name of their High Mightinesses the Lords States General ; and march- ing fearlessly forward, carried the village of COMMU- NIPAW by storm, notwithstanding that it was vigor- ously defended by some half-a-score of old squaws and poppooses. On looking about them, they were so transported with the excellencies of the place, that they had very little doubt the blessed St. Nicholas had guided them thither, as the very spot whereon to settle their colony. The softness of the soil was wonderfully adapted to the driving of piles; the swamps and marshes around them afforded ample opportunities for the constructing of dikes and dams ; the shallowness of the shore was peculiarly favour- able to the building of docks-in a word, this spot abounded with all the requisites for the foundation of a great Dutch city. On making a faithful report, therefore, to the crew of the Goede Vrouw, they one Vor. I. I
98
A HISTORY
and all determined that this was the destined end of their voyage. Accordingly they descended from the Goede Vrouw, men, women, and children, in goodly groups, as did the animals of yore from the ark, and formed themselves into a thriving settlement, which they called by the Indian name COMMUNIPAW.
As all the world is doubtless perfectly acquainted with Communipaw, it may seem somewhat super- fluous to treat of it in the present work; but my readers will please to recollect, that notwithstanding it is my chief desire to satisfy the present age, yet I write likewise for posterity, and have to consult the understanding and curiosity of some half a score of centuries yet to come ; by which time, perhaps, were it not for this invaluable history, the great Communi- paw, like Babylon, Carthage, Nineveh, and other great cities, might be perfectly extinct-sunk and forgotten in its own mud-its inhabitants turned into oysters,* and even its situation a fertile subject of learned controversy and hard-headed investigation among indefatigable historians. Let me then piously rescue from oblivion the humble relics of a place, which was the egg from whence was hatched the mighty city of New-York !
Communipaw is at present but a small village pleasantly situated, among rural scenery, on that beauteous part of the Jersey shore which was known in ancient legends by the name of Pavonia,t and
* Men by inaction degenerate into oysters .- Kaimes.
¿ Pavonia, in the ancient maps, is given to a tract of country extending from about Hoboken to Amboy.
99
OF NEW-YORK.
commands a grand prospect of the superb bay of New-York. It is within but half an hour's sail of the latter place, provided you have a fair wind, and may be distinctly seen from the city. Nay, it is a well-known fact, which I can testify from my own experience, that on a clear still summer evening, you' may hear, from the Battery of New-York, the ob- streperous peals of broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw, who, like most other negroes, are famous for their risible powers. This is peculiarly the case on Sunday evenings, when, it is remarked by an ingenious and observant philos- opher, who has made great discoveries in the neigh- bourhood of this city, that they always laugh loudest -- which he attributes to the circumstance of their having their holiday clothes on.
These negroes, in fact, like the monks in the dark ages, engross all the knowledge of the place, and be- ing infinitely more adventurous and more knowing than their masters, carry on all the foreign trade ; making frequent voyages to town in canoes loaded with oysters, buttermilk, and cabbages. They are great astrologers, predicting the different changes of weather almost as accurately as an almanac-they are moreover exquisite performers on three-stringed fiddles : in whistling, they almost boast the far-famed powers of Orpheus's lyre, for not a horse or an ox in the place, when at the plough or before the wagon, will budge a foot until he hears the well-known whistle of his black driver and companion .- And from their amazing skill at casting up accounts upon
100
A HISTORY
their fingers, they are regarded with as much venera- tion as were the disciples of Pythagoras of yore, when initiated into the sacred quaternary of num- bers.
As to the honest burghers of Communipaw, like wise men and sound philosophers, they never look beyond their pipes, nor trouble their heads about any affairs out of their immediate neighbourhood ; so that they live in profound and enviable ignorance of all the troubles, anxieties, and revolutions, of this dis- tracted planet. I am even told that many among them do verily believe that Holland, of which they have heard so much from tradition, is situated some- where on Long Island-that Spiking-devil and the Narrows are the two ends of the world-that the country is still under the dominion of their High Mightinesses, and that the city of New-York still goes by the name of Nieuw Amsterdam. They meet every Saturday afternoon at the only tavern in the place, which bears as a sign, a square-headed likeness of the Prince of Orange, where they smoke a silent pipe, by way of promoting social conviviality, and invariably drink a mug of cider to the success of Admiral Van Tromp, who they imagine is still sweeping the British channel, with a broom at his mast-head.
Communipaw, in short, is one of the numerous little villages in the vicinity of this most beautiful of cities, which are so many strong-holds and fastnesses, whither the primitive manners of our Dutch fore- fathers have retreated, and where they are cherished
101
OF. NEW-YORK.
with devout and scrupulous strictness. The dress of - the original settlers is handed down inviolate, from father to son-the identical broad-brimmed hat, broad-skirted coat, and broad-bottomed breeches continue from generation to generation ; and several gigantic knee-buckles of massy silver, are still in wear, that made gallant display in the days of the patriarchs of Communipaw. The language likewise continues unadulterated by barbarous innovations ; and so critically correct is the village schoolmaster in his dialect, that his reading of a Low Dutch psalm Las much the same effect on the nerves as the filing « $ a handsaw.
12
102
A HISTORY
CHAPTER III.
In which is set forth the true art of making a bargain -together with the miraculous escupe of a great Metropolis in a fog-and the biography of certain Heroes of Communipaw.
HAVING, in the trifling digression which concluded the last chapter, discharged the filial duty which the city of New-York owed to Communipaw, as being the mother settlement ; and having given a faithful picture of it as it stands at present, I return with a soothing sentiment of self-approbation, to dwell upon its early history. The crew of the Goede Vrouw being soon reinforced by fresh importations from Holland, the settlement went jollily on, increasing in magnitude and prosperity. The neighbouring Indians in a short time became accustomed to the uncouth sound of the Dutch language, and an intercourse gradually took place between them. and the new comers. The Indians were much given to long talks, and the Dutch to long silence-in this particular, therefore, they accommodated each other completely. The chiefs would make long speeches about the big bull, the wabash, and the great spirit, to which the others would listen very attentively, smoke their pipes, and grunt yah myn-her-whereat the poor savages were wondrously delighted. They instructed the new settlers in the best art of curing and smok- ing tobacco, while the latter, in return, made them
103
OF NEW-YORK.
drunk with true Hollands-and then learned them the art of making bargains.
A brisk trade for furs was soon opened : the Dutch traders were scrupulously honest in their dealings, and purchased by weight, establishing it as an inva-, riable table of avoirdupois, that the hand of a Dutch- man weighed one pound, and his foot two pounds. It is true, the simple Indians were often puzzled by the great disproportion between bulk and weight, for let them place a bundle of furs, never so large, in one scale, and a Dutchman put his hand or foot in the other, the bundle was sure to kick the beam-never was a package of furs known to weigh more than two pounds in the market of Communipaw !
This is a singular fact -- but I have it direct from my great-great-grandfather, who had risen to con- siderable importance in the colony, being promoted to the office of weighmaster, on account of the un- common heaviness of his foot.
-The Dutch possessions in this part of the globe began now to assume a very thriving appearance, and were comprehended under the general title of Nieuw Nederlandts, on account, as the sage Vander Donck observes, of their great resemblance to the Dutch Netherlands-which indeed was truly re- markable, excepting that the former were rugged and mountainous, and the latter level and marshy. About this time the tranquillity of the Dutch colonists was doomed to suffer a temporary interruption. In 1614, Captain Sir Samuel Argal, sailing under a commission from Dale, governor of Virginia, visited the Dutch
104
A HISTORY
settlements on Hudson River, and demanded their submission to the English crown and Virginian do- minion .- To this arrogant demand, as they were in no condition to resist it, they submitted for the time like discreet and reasonable men.
It does not appear that the valiant Argal molested the settlement of Communipaw; on the contrary, I am told that when his vessel first hove in sight, the worthy burghers were seized with such a panic, that they fell to smoking their pipes with astonishing ve- hemence; insomuch that they quickly raised a cloud, which, combining with the surrounding woods and marshes, completely enveloped and concealed their beloved village, and overhung the fair regions of Pa vonia ;- so that the terrible Captain Argal passed on, . totally unsuspicious that a sturdy little Dutch settle- ment lay snugly couched in the mud, under cover of all this pestilent vapo'ir In commemoration of this fortunate escape, the worthy inhabitants have con- tinued to smoke, almost without intermission, unto this very day; which is said to be the cause of the remarkable fog that often hangs over Communipaw of a clear afternoon.
Upon the departure of the enemy, our magnani- mous ancestors took full six months to recover their wind, having been exceedingly discomposed by the consternation and hurry of affairs. They then called a council of safety to smoke over the state of the province. After six months more of mature delibe- ration, during which nearly five hundred words were spoken, and almost as much tobacco was smoked as
105
OF NEW-YORK.
would have served a certain modern general through a whole winter's campaign of hard drinking, it was determined to fit out an armament of canoes, and des- patch them on a voyage of discovery; to search if, peradventure, some more sure and formidable position might not be found, where the colony would be less subject to vexatious visitations.
This perilous enterprise was intrusted to the su- perintendence of Mynheers Oloffe Van Kortlandt, Abraham Hardenbroeck, Jacobus Van Zandt, and Winant Ten Broeck-four indubitably great men, but of whose history, although I have made diligent inquiry, I can learn but little, previous to their leav- ing Holland. Nor need this occasion much surprise; for adventurers, like prophets, though they make great noise abroad, have seldom much celebrity in their own countries ; but this much is certain, that the overflowings and offscourings of a country are invariably composed of the richest parts of the soil. And here I cannot help remarking how convenient it would be to many of our great men and great fam- ilies of doubtful origin, could they have the privilege of the heroes of yore, who, whenever their origin was involved in obscurity, modestly announced them- selves descended from a god-and who never visited a foreign country but what they told some cock-and- bull stories about their being kings and princes at home. This venal trespass on the truth, though it has occasionally been played off by some pseudo marquis, baronet, and other illustrious foreigner, in our land of good-natured credulity, has been com-
106
A HISTORY
pletely discountenanced in this sceptical matter-of- fact age-and I even question whether any tender virgin, who was accidentally and unaccountably en- riched with a bantling, would save her character at parlour firesides and evening tea-parties by ascribing the phenomenon to a swan, a shower of gold, or a river-god.
Thus being denied the benefit of mythology and classic fable, I should have been completely at a loss as to the early biography of my heroes, had not a gleam of light been thrown upon their origin from their names.
By this simple means, have I been enabled to gather some particulars concerning the adventurers in question. Van Kortlandt, for instance, was one of those peripatetic philosophers who tax Providence for a livelihood, and, like Diogenes, enjoy a free and unencumbered estate in sunshine. He was usually arrayed in garments suitable to his fortune, being cu- riously fringed and fangled by the hand of time ; and was helmeted with an old fragment of a hat, which had acquired the shape of a sugar-loaf; and so far did he carry his contempt for the adventitious dis- tinction of dress, that it is said the remnant of a shirt, which covered his back, and dangled like a pocket handkerchief out of a hole in his breeches, was never washed, except by the bountiful showers of heaven. In this garb was he usually to be seen, sunning himself at noon-day, with a herd of philoso- phers of the same sect, on the side of the great canal of Amsterdam. Like your nobility of Europe, he
1
107
OF NEW-YORK.
took his name of Kortlundt (or lackland) from his landed estate, which lay somewhere in terra incog nita.
Of the next of our worthies, might I have had the benefit of mythological assistance, the want of which I have just lamented, I should have made honourable mention, as boasting equally illustrious pedigree with the proudest hero of antiquity. His name of Van Zandt, which being freely translated, signifies, from the dirt, meaning, beyond a doubt, that like Triptole- mus, Themis, the Cyclops and the Titans, he sprang from dame Terra, or the earth ! This supposition is strongly corroborated by his size, for it is well known that all the progeny of mother earth were of a gi- gantic stature ; and Van Zandt, we are told, was a tall raw-boned man, above six feet high-with an astonishing hard head. Nor is this origin of the il- lustrious Van Zandt a whit more improbable or re- pugnant to belief than what is related and universally admitted of certain of our greatest, or rather richest men ; who, we are told with the utmost gravity, did originally spring from a dunghill !
Of the third hero, but a faint description has reached to this time, which mentions that he was a sturdy, obstinate, burly, bustling little man ; and from being usually equipped with an old pair of buckskins, was familiarly dubbed Harden Broeck, or Tough Breeches.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.