USA > New York > New York City > Dutch New York (early history of the Dutch in New York) > Part 24
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The great event of the year was the annual cattle fair, or kermis, instituted, in 1641, by Director Kieft as follows :
Be it known hereby to all persons that the Director and Council of New Netherland have ordained that hence- forth there shall be held annually at Fort Amsterdam a
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Cattle Fair on the 15th of October and a fair for Hogs on the Ist of November. Whosoever hath anything to sell, or to buy, can regulate himself accordingly.
This, however, became of more importance under Stuyvesant's rule, for in 1648 the stranger and inhab- itant were
given and granted a Weekly Market-day, to wit Monday, and annually a Free Market for ten consecutive days, which shall begin on the first Monday after Bartholo- mew's day, New style, corresponding to the legal Amster- dam Fair, on which weekly and annual days the Neigh- bour and Stranger, as well as the Inhabitant, are allowed and permitted to supply the purchaser from a Booth, by the ell, weight and measure, wholesale and retail, accord- ing to the demand and circumstances of each, in con- formity to the weight, ell and measure as aforesaid, and no other.
Eleven years later (1659), special privileges were granted in order to attract a large attendance.
The Schout Burgomasters and Schepens make known that they establish for the accommodation of the public, a market for store and fat cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, bucks and such like, and to that end they mean to erect stalls and other conveniences for those who bring such animals to market. This market will be opened the 20th day of October and close the last day of November pre- cisely in each year; during such time it shall remain a free cattle-market and no stranger shall during that time be liable to arrest or citation, but shall be permitted to attend to his business without molestation or hindrance.
It will be observed that the New Amsterdam Fair was modeled on the Fair or Kermis of Amsterdam. Whenever the red cross - the sign of liberty and law-
KERMIS TENIERS
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SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES
lessness - was set up outside the towns of the Low Countries, every one knew that the kermis had begun and that he might "keep kermis." The decorated town-gates opened earlier than usual, and crowds passed through to give themselves up to the general joy.
Whence comes the word kermis? Some say it is derived from the German word messen, to measure, because the merchandise bought at these yearly mar- kets was to a very great extent measured by length or sold by measure. Others declare that the word must not be read kermis, but market mis, consisting of two Latin words of the Middle Ages, mercada, merchandise, and missabicum, a part of the country where a poten- tiary was sent to have it under his domain or super- vision; so that the word markt, or merkt mis, would mean nothing else than a solemn yearly trading. A third, and perhaps the right, explanation is that kermis, also called kermesse and year messe, means yearly, free, or simple Mass, - in other words, the church Mass. The deity, however, some writers object, was not God, but one's stomach. It was remembered with great pleasure that while milk pap was eaten, wine was drunk like water. The kermis dish, a cake or pasty cased with mustard and sugar, surrounded with large piles of bis- cuits, capers, and raisins, was eaten in nearly every family. In some villages the kermis ox was led around, decorated with wreaths of flowers. Every villager would buy his part when the ox passed his door. After all the parts had been sold, the animal was slaughtered and divided. There also were many booths where cakes were baked, and where the young people regaled themselves with hot cakes smeared with treacle or molasses, and with spiced cakes, speculation (a small batter cake in various designs), tea-cakes, and saffron
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cakes. The waffle booth was also a special feature, and at every kermis there was an old woman with oil- fritters. In the inns the favorite tipple was wine with sugar or white brandy with sugar, which was ladled out of a cup with a spoon, and passed around in the company. A typical kermis scene faces page 316.
Both church and government complained :
" The taverns, inns streets roads were witnesses of lawlessness and the committing of punishable illdeeds. There is no class in society which is not under the evil influences of the Kermis. It looks as if the Kermis causes a general change in everybody. Before and after it people are entirely different from what they appear to be while it lasts. Curiosity is the general motive power. Everybody goes about. All houses are open. Every- body is welcome. It is as if the olden time hospitality is reviving. The days are short, and the nights are for amusements. The highest classes lower themselves, severity unbinds itself, modesty blushes less, and the tenderest ears, without being hurt, listen to the grossest equivocal expressions.
Another wrote:
In the evening there are play houses open for the lowest class of people. Sometimes quite a respectable class of people will go to these houses to see how the lower classes behave, and sit and watch them, dance, with an even face, pipe in mouth, and a look of general respectability, that one would rather think they were sitting in a church instead of running after the lowest pleasures.
Under the Puritanical rule of Stuyvesant, when the kermis reached its height as a yearly market and fes- tival, there was naturally not quite the same lawless- ness. The mountebanks, the quack doctors, and the vagabonds were doubtless absent; but nevertheless the
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little town was gay enough. The kermis took place during the most delightful season of the year, when Manhattan Island enjoyed, as now, its most golden days of sunshine and its invigorating sea-breezes. Market-boats and boats of all kinds were riding at an- chor and sailing or being rowed from shore to shore, while the Strand from Whitehall to Broad Street was filled with booths and tents gayly decorated with flowers, greenery, and flags. The clatter of the rom- mel-pot, the beat of the drum, the sound of the trumpet, and the cry of the vender were heard on every side. The prize cattle were greatly in evidence; but the stalls offered many other attractions to the citizens and visitors from both shores of the Hudson, from Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey, and Con- necticut. Some of them displayed clothing, cloth, linen, silk, velvets, braids, buttons, furs, laces, ribbons, gloves, neckcloths, and caps; others, watches, necklaces, and other trinkets; others, razors, scents, pomatums, and all toilet articles. There were also toy booths to at- tract the children; gingerbread booths, cake and pastry booths, booths for waffles and oil-fritters; booths where all the native and imported cheeses were displayed. Here too could be seen capons, quails, pigeons, ducks, chickens, wild and tame, turkeys, oysters, lobsters, crabs, and fresh and dried fish. Then there were all the vegetables in season, and dried grains for man and beast.
Puppet shows, peep shows, masqueraders, fools, and jesters were not lacking to contribute to the general merriment. The strong man, the juggler, and the con- jurer gave exhibitions of their skill, and the trained bear and his leader were also in evidence. In two respects the New Amsterdam kermis differed from that of the old country, - the presence of the negro
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and the Indian. The one gave exhibitions of his pro- ficiency in song and dance; the other brought his na- tive wares - beads, birch-bark, baskets, blankets, and other wares - and showed his skill as acrobat, juggler, or fortune-teller.
CHAPTER XIV
MERCHANTS AND TRADE
T HE Atlantic voyage of that day was an ardu- ous undertaking. The early colonists had to endure many and often unnecessary hard- ships. The author of Wassenaer's Historie van Europa (1621-1632) says that New Netherlands is usually reached in seven or eight weeks from Amsterdam. The course lies towards the Canary Islands, thence to the Indian Islands, then towards the mainland of Vir- ginia, steering right across, leaving in fourteen days the Bahamas on the left, and the Bermudas on the right hand.
The livestock received better treatment than the human cattle, as we learn from a description (1625) of Pieter Hulst's transport of one hundred and three head of cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep
in two ships of one hundred and forty lasts, in such a manner that they should be well foddered and attended to. Each animal had its own stall with a floor of three feet of sand; fixed as comfortably as any stall here. Each animal had its respective servant who attended to it and knew its wants so as to preserve its health, together with all suitable forage, such as oats, hay and straw, etc. What is most remarkable is, that nobody in the two ships can discover where the water is stowed for these cattle. As it was necessary to have another [ship] on that ac- count, the above parties caused a deck to be constructed on board. Beneath this were stowed in each ship three
321
21
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hundred tons of fresh water which was pumped up and thus distributed among the cattle. On this deck lay the ballast and thereupon stood the horses and steers, and thus there was no waste. He added the third ship, so that, should the voyage continue longer, nothing may be want- ing to the success of the expedition.
People might take passage in the Company's ships by swearing to the Articles and paying six stivers per diem for provisions and passage; and such as desired to eat in the cabin, twelve stivers, and had to give as- sistance like others in cases offensive and defensive.
The price of the passage naturally varied in accord- ance with the character of the accommodation. In 1638, we find the following account :
Michiel Jansen, wife and two children fl. 140 I6
Tonis Dirksen, wife, child and two servants I4I I4
Jan Michiels and little boy 50 0
Many disputes over passage money had to be settled by the court. In 1656, Captain Jansen of the St. Jacob sued to recover board and passage money from Martin Arentsen, but the latter proved that he worked as a carpenter and seaman for his passage. The captain also sued Adam Roelantsen for payment for passage of himself and son; but lost again, as it was proved that the father was promised his passage on condition of working as a seaman; and the son was allowed his board because he said prayers. On May 16, 1668, Johannes Luyck sued Gabriel Thomsen for the balance of the passage money of himself and sister from Hol- land. The defendant replied that he paid for freight of himself and sister one hundred and twenty florins in silver, and agreed to pay forty guilders more in case they should be entertained in the cabin, which he had not enjoyed, and therefore the said one hundred and
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MERCHANTS AND TRADE
twenty was full payment. It was finally mutually agreed that Thomsen should pay one hundred and sixty florins in beavers, and receive the one hundred and twenty florins in silver coin back.
The names given by the Dutch to their trading- vessels are significant of their tastes, reverences, be- liefs, occupations, and trades. The farm, garden, and forest are remembered in the Milkmaid, Oak Tree, Cedar, Rose Bush, Blossom, Brindled Cow, Spotted Cow, Sparrow Hawk, Black Eagle, Falconer, Hunts- man, White Raven, Otter, Water Dog, Cat, Bear, White Horse, Blue Cock, Sunflower, Pear Tree, Rose of Guelderland, Sieve, Woodyard, and Mill. The sea and its denizens and dangers prompt the Golden Shark, Mermaid, Neptune, Whale, Sea Mew, Sea Bear, Mack- erel, Herring, Sea Horse, Brown Fish, Shark, Sea Flower, Gilded Shell, Pearl, Fortune, Supply, Expe- dition, Farewell, Hope, Providence, Glad Tidings, Broken Heart, Welcome, Happy Return, Morning Star, Seven Stars, and Watchful Buoy. The Bible and religion are manifest in Peace, Love, Contentment, Amity, Concord, Justice, Faith, Hope of a Better Life, Abraham's Sacrifice, Gideon, Angel Gabriel, Flying Angel, King David, King Solomon, Star of Bethle- hem, Three Kings, Virgin, St. Peter, St. James, St. Martin, Purmerland Church, and Quaker. Trade and civic pride are honored with the Bourse of Amsterdam, Nevis Factor, Netherland Indian, Balance, Good Beer, New Netherland Fortune, Arms of Norway, Arms of New Netherland, Arms of Amsterdam, Arms of Rens- selaerswyck and Real. Home affections give us the Bride and Bachelor's Delight. Rulers and national heroes and politics appear in the Princess, Prince Mau- rice, Lady Maria, Prince William, Young Prince of Denmark, Ruyter, Society, and Union.
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Then we have the Flying Deer, Blind Ass, Golden Hind, Ostrich, Gilded Fox, Diamond, Cat and Parrot, Canary, Unicorn, Fire of Troy, White Horseman, Har- lequin, Orange Tree, Sphera Mundi, and many other quaint names.
The Dutch had scarcely got rid of their sea legs here before beginning to build vessels for the coast trade. Seventeen ships had already been built in New Nether- land by 1639.
After escaping the dangers of the seas, including tempests, famine caused by calms and contrary winds, and capture by Barbary corsairs or pirates, fervent in- deed were the thanksgivings offered up on arrival in Godyn's Bay (Sandy Hook). The Labadists give us a lively impression of the scenes on arrival. After anchoring inside Sandy Hook, they tell us that in the morning the anchor was raised and they sailed between Staten Island and Long Island through the Hoofden (Narrows). The woods, hills, dales, green fields and plantations, houses and dwellings struck them as cheer- ful and sweet. "As soon as you pass through the Hoofden the city presents a pretty sight. The fort lies on a point between the two rivers; and, as soon as they see a ship coming, they raise a flag on the high flag-staff." It was about three o'clock when they arrived; and people came from shore in all sorts of craft, " each inquiring and searching after his own and his own profit."
Various ordinances were passed regulating shipping. In 1638, it was ordered that no sailors should remain on shore at night without permission, and there was to be no intercourse between shore and ship between sunset and sunrise. The anchorage ground was the roadstead between Capske Point (South Ferry and the guideboard near the City Tavern (head of Coenties
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Slip) ; ships anchoring elsewhere were to be fined fifty guilders. They were not allowed to be discharged between sunset and sunrise, and had to give twelve hours' notice of sailing (1647). They were not al- lowed to be boarded before they had anchored or had been entered. Goods might be sold on board by whole- sale or retail (1648). They had to be inspected on arrival and departure. Goods were to be discharged on shore and received on board during sunshine ( 1656). In 1653, the Farmer of the Customs was empowered to visit departing ships. The following typical bill of lading was
Recorded from Capt. William Morris ye 19th day of February, 1696:
shipped by the Peace of God in good order and well conditioned by Mr. William Morris in and upon ye good ship called the Beaver, wherof is Master under God for this Present Voyage Robert Sinclair and now riding att anchor in the River of New Yorke and by God's Peace bound for London
to say two hogsheads of sugar, one bundle of whale bone containing one hundred pounds on the Draper account & Resque of William Morris being marked and Numbered. God send the good ship to her desired Porte in safety. Amen.
At first the Company had a monopoly of all trade. In 1626, we read :
People work there as in Holland, one trades, another builds houses, a third farms. Each farmer has his farm and the cows on the land purchased by the Company; but the milk remains to the profit of the Boor; he sells it to those of the people who receive their wages for work every week.
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The volume of the trade of the West India Com- pany from 1624 to 1635 appears in the following " list of returns from the New Netherlands ":
Date
Beavers
Otters
Guilders
I624
4,000
700
27,125
1625
5,295
463
35,825
I626
7,258
857
45,050
I627
7,529
370
56,420
1628
6,95I
734
61,075
I629
5,913
681
62,185
1630
6,04I
1,085
68,012
1632
8,569
546
94,925
4,944
1,115
48,200
1633
8,800
1,383
91,375
1635
14,891
1,413
134,925
725,117
In 1670, Denton says the inhabitants have a con- siderable trade with the Indians, for beavers, otter, raccoon skins, with other furs; and also for deer and elk skins; and are supplied with venison and fowl in the winter, and fish in the summer by the Indians, which they buy at an " easie " rate.
The most profitable trade being with the Indians, the Dutch had to adopt the Indian currency. In 1626, De Rasières says :
As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is an oblong bead that they make from cockle shells, which they find on the seashore, and they consider it as valuable as we do money here, so much so that one can buy everything they have for it; they string it and wear it round the neck and hands; they also make bands of it which the women wear on the head in front of the hair, and the men about the body; and they are as particular about the stringing and sorting as we can be about pearls.
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MERCHANTS AND TRADE
John Josselyn says:
Their beads are their money; of these there are two sorts, blue and white; the first is their gold, the last their silver. These they work out of shells so cunningly, that neither Jew nor devil can counterfeit them.
Sewan, seawant, or zewant, was the name of the native currency ; it was also known as wampum. The white beads were made from the stem of the peri- winkle, and Suckanhock, or black beads, of the heart of the clam shell. The black was double the value of the white. Three black, or six white, beads were equivalent to an English penny. Wampum was some- times measured by the fathom. A string one fathom long varied from five shillings among the New Eng- landers to four guilders of Dutch money ($1.66).
Sewan was jewelry as well as money, and distin- guished the rich Indians from the poor ones. Of great importance was the belt of sewan. This was a sort of wide sash upon which the white, purple, and black beads were arranged in rows and tied with little leather strings. The length, width, and color were regulated by the importance of the matter to be negotiated. Or- dinary belts consisted of twelve rows, each containing one hundred and eighty beads. If a message was sent without the belt, it was considered unworthy of serious consideration : if the belt was returned, the offer was rejected; if kept, it was a token that the offer was accepted, or the offense forgiven.
These shells, indeed, had more virtue among the Indians than pearls, gold and silver had among Europeans. Sea- want was the seal of a contract, the oath of fidelity. It satisfied murders, and all other injuries, purchased peace and entered into the religious as well as civil ceremonies. A string of seawant was delivered by the orator in public
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council, at the close of every distinct proposition made to others, as a ratification of the truth and sincerity of what he said, and the white and black strings of seawant were tied by the pagan priest around the neck of the white dog suspended to a pole and offered as a sacrifice to Thal- oughyawaagon, the upholder of the skies, the god of the Five Nations.
Sewan was chiefly made on Long Island, which was called by the Indians sewan-hacky (the place where sewan was made), and this Indian mint at their doors gave the Dutch an immense advantage over the other colonists.
The Dutch naturally wanted to keep control of the wampum traffic in the Narragansett country. " The seeking after sewan by the Puritans," said De Rasières, is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so do- ing, discover the trade in furs, which, if they were to find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain ; for they already dare to threaten that, if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means. De Rasières sold a large amount of it to the Puritans. Hubbard said :
Whatever were the honey in the mouth of that beast of trade there was a deadly sting in the tail. For it is said they [the Dutch] first brought our people to the knowledge of wampum-peag; and the acquaintance there- with occasioned the Indians of these parts to learn the skill to make it, by which, as by the exchange of money, they purchased store of artillery, both from the English, Dutch and French, which proved a fatal business to those that were concerned in it.
In Kieft's time (1641) four beads of " good splen- did sewan, usually called Manhattan's sewan," were reckoned equal to one stiver. Gradually inferior wam- pum, rough, loose, and unstrung, began to threaten
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MERCHANTS AND TRADE
" the ruin of the country "; an order was soon made regulating that six loose beads should pass for a stiver, because "there was no coin in circulation and the labourers, boors and other common people having no other money, would be great losers."
In Stuyvesant's time (1650), the currency was again regulated. Wampum was made lawfully current, six white and three black beads of commercial sewan or eight white and four black of the " base strung " for one stiver.
The Governor and Council in the city of New York in 1673 made an order declaring that on account of the scarcity of wampum what had passed at the rate of eight white and four black pairs for a stiver or a penny should pass at the rate of six white and three black pairs for a stiver, and three times so much the value of silver. There was very little "certain coin" in the colony at this period.
There is no doubt that the Indians were originally peaceably disposed towards the Dutch, and that the In- dian wars and massacres were reprisals for outrage and oppression. Many laws were made regulating the trade with the Indians, restricting barter to the trading-posts. In 1647, people were forbidden to go into the interior to trade with the Indians. Woolley tells us the Indians have
swift canoes in which they bring oysters and other fish for the market ; they are so light and portable that a man and his squaw will take them upon their shoulders and carry them by land from one river to another with a wonderful expedition; they will venture with them in a dangerous current, even through Hell gate itself, which lies in an arm of the sea, about ten miles from New York eastward to New England, as dangerous and as accounta- ble as the Norway whirlpool, or maelstrom.
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In September, 1648, it was complained that some people put the natives to work and employ them in their service and then dismiss them without pay. The In- dians threatening to pay themselves or revenge them- selves, the authorities order all employers to pay the Indians " without contradiction " under penalty of a fine.
In 1654, it was forbidden to sell liquor to Indians under a penalty of five hundred guilders. Drunken Indians were to be imprisoned until they told who sold them the liquor. The authorities complain that many Indians are daily seen intoxicated, and being drunk and fuddled, commit many grave acts of violence. Two years later, the penalty was increased by corporal pun- ishment and banishment.
In 1645, it was prohibited to supply Indians with munitions of war on pain of death.
In 1656, it was ordered that nobody was to harbour an Indian overnight below the Fresh Water under a penalty of twenty-five guilders. In 1666, Abram Carpyn lodged nine Indians. It was notorious that he resided in Paulus vander Grift's rear building only for the purpose of selling brandy to the Indians; so he was ordered to leave " or the said little house shall be pulled down."
In 1663, drunken Indians are to be imprisoned until they have paid a fine of £1 Flemish.
The constant complaint of the West India Company was that its own officials as well as the colonists seemed to care nothing for the Company's interests, but assidu- ously devoted their energies to lining their own pockets ; and many efforts were made to stop illicit trade. The laws, however, were shamelessly broken and defied. In 1638, it is complained that indentured servants as well
From an old print
WINTER SCENE OSTADE
33I
MERCHANTS AND TRADE
as freemen are pursuing a private trade in furs and other irregular courses.
In November, 1640, the price of goods in the Com- pany's store was fixed at fifty per cent advance, and people were notified to report if overcharged. In the following February, Commissary Lupold acknowledged having charged too much for the goods sold in the pub- lic store, and was fined, dismissed, and declared unfit to hold any public office. In 1651, an ordinance was is- sued to prevent smuggling.
The Company's proclamation of free competition in trade in 1638 resulted in a rapid increase of coloniza- tion and prosperity. Internal trade and commerce be- ing made free for all, colonists were immediately at- tracted from New England and Virginia. In 1640, the commercial privileges, which the first charter had restricted to the Patroons, were extended to all free colonists, but the Company maintained onerous imposts for its own benefit. The prohibition of manufactures within the province was abolished. In 1645, the Com- pany "resolved to open to private persons the trade which it has exclusively carried on with New Nether- land," and to permit all the inhabitants of the United Provinces to sail with their own ships to New Nether- land, the Virginias, the Swedish, English, and French colonies, but all colonial trade was concentrated in the custom house of Fort Amsterdam.
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