USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 4
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37
NEW NETHERLAND.
When he awoke, next morning, Hudson found a heavy CHAP. II. 1609. Sept. 15.
mist overhanging the river and its shores, and concealing the~ summits of the mountains. But it soon cleared up, and he was about to proceed on his course, when the two savages whom he held as hostages, made their escape through the port-holes of the vessel, and swam on shore. The moment he was under weigh, they hailed the crew and expressed their indignation 'at the treatment they had been subjected to, by uttering loud cries of scorn and anger. Towards night the Half-Moon came in view of other mountains, which lay from the river's side, and anchored, it is supposed, near the present site of Cattskill landing. Here were found " very loving peo- ple and very old men," by whom the Europeans were well used.
Next morning a large number of the inhabitants of the Sept. country came off to the ship, bringing Indian corn, pumpkins, 16. and tobacco, in return for which they obtained some trinkets. Having been occupied most of the day in taking in a supply of water, the Half-Moon did not start again till towards night ; but she made no more than five miles, when the river becoming shoal, she cast anchor. Being now in the neighborhood of the present town of Castleton, Hudson went on shore in an Sept. Indian canoe, at the invitation of an old man, " the governor 18. of the country," who was chief over forty men and seventeen women, and who occupied a house made of the bark of trees, exceedingly smooth, and well finished within and without. Here he found large quantities of Indian corn and beans, sufficient to load three ships, besides what were still growing in the fields.
On arriving at the house, two mats were spread to sit on ; eatables were immediately brought in well-made red wooden bowls, and men were dispatched with bows and arrows for game, who soon returned with pigeons. A fat dog was killed, and skinned with shells which were got out of the water, and every sort of good cheer furnished. The Indians invited Hud- son to remain all night, and were much disappointed when they discovered his determination to return on board. Imagining that it proceeded from the fear of their bows and arrows, they broke these in pieces and threw them into the fire. The land here
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HISTORY OF
BOOK was observed to be of the finest kind for tillage, bearing trees 1. fit for shipbuilding ; pumpkins, grapes, plums, and other 1609. 6 fruit. The Indians still crowded on board, exchanging furs and other articles of native produce for beads, knives, hatchets, or whatever trifles the sailors could spare them. The weather continuing fair, anchor was again weighed, and the Half-Moon Sept. ran two leagues higher up. The navigation of the river now 19. becoming considerably obstructed, a boat was sent forward for the purpose of exploring the channel. It ascended several miles. The channel was found narrow, and the depth of the water variable.
Sept. 21.
Distrusting the savages all along, Hudson determined now to try an experiment, which, by throwing them off their guard, would elicit any treachery which might be latent in their dis- positions. He accordingly invited several of their chiefs into the cabin, and gave them plenty of brandy to drink, so as to make them intoxicated. The result was that one got drunk, and fell sound asleep, to the great astonishment of his com- panions, who " could not tell how to take it." They all took suddenly to their canoes and hurried ashore, leaving their stupified countryman behind them. Their anxiety for his wel- fare soon induced them, however, to return with a quantity of beads which they gave him, to enable him, perhaps, to bribe or exorcise "the foul fiend" which had possession of him. The savage slept soundly all night, and was quite recovered from the effects of his debauch, when his friends came to see him next day. So rejoiced were these people at finding their chief restored, as it were, to life, that they returned on board in crowds again in the afternoon, bringing tobacco and more beads, which they presented to Hudson, to whom they made an oration, showing him the country round about. They then sent one of their company on land, who presently returned with a great platter of dressed venison, which they caused Hudson to eat with them ; after which they made him profound rever- ence and departed, all, save the old man, who, having had a taste of the fatal beverage, preferred to remain on board.
Such was the introduction among the Indians, by the first European that came among them, of that poison, which, combined with other causes, has since operated to deprive
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NEW NETHERLAND.
their descendants of almost a foothold in their native land, and CHAP caused, within a few centuries, the almost entire extinction of the Red race.1
11. 1609.
The Half-Moon had now evidently ascended as high as she could go. She had reached a little below the present city of Albany, and Hudson having satisfied himself, by dispatching a boat some seven or eight leagues higher up, that he had gained the head of the ship navigation, prepared to retrace his course. The downward was not more expeditious than Sept. the upward voyage. The prevalent winds were southerly, 23. and the ship could therefore make but little headway. The time, however, passed agreeably in making excursions on shore, where good ground for corn and other garden herbs was found, with great store of goodly oaks, walnut, and ches- nut trees, yew trees, and trees of sweet wood in great abun- dance ; great store of slate for houses, and other good stones. The crew amused themselves, at other times, in receiving visits from the natives, who continued to crowd the ship in numbers.
Hudson had thus made about thirty miles, occasionally in- terrupted by the shallowness of the channel, and was lying at anchor opposite the spot where a city bearing his own name Sept now stands, when two canoes put off from the place where the 26. intoxication scene had occurred, on board one of which was the old man who had been made the subject of the strange experi- ment. He brought another old man with him, who presented Hudson with a string of beads, and pointed to the surrounding country, as though it were at his command. Hudson en- tertained them at dinner, with four of their women, and in the afternoon dismissed them with presents. He thence con-
1 It is a remarkable fact, says Moulton, that a tradition prevails at this day among the Iroquois, that a scene of intoxication occurred with a party of the natives on the arrival of the first ship. As a singular coincidence, also, a simi- lar tradition prevails among the descendants of the Delawares. While Hudson, unconscious of its ulterior effects, was thus introducing the Indians to an ac- quaintance with the pernicious " fire water," on the banks of the North River, Champlain was giving the same people, about the same time, on the banks of Lake Iroquois, their first knowledge of gunpowder, an agent equally active, per- haps, in causing their final ruin. Fatal first gifts of the civilized Christian to the untutored heathen !
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HISTORY OF
BOOK tinued his voyage down the river, occasionally trading with or 1. entertaining the people, and at length having arrived at the 1609.
Sept. 'northern entrance of the passage through the Highlands, 29. anchored on the first of October at the mouth of the Haver- straw Bay, in the vicinity of Stony Point.
Oct. I. The vessel was no sooner perceived from the shore to be stationary, than a party of the mountain Indians came off in their canoes to visit it, apparently filled with wonder at every thing it contained. While the attention of the crew was now taken up with their visitors on deck, one of the savages man- aged to run his canoe under the stern, and climbing up by the rudder, found his way, by the window, into the cabin, from which he abstracted a pillow and a few articles of wearing apparel, with which he made off. The mate detected him in his retreat, fired at, and killed him. Hereupon all the other savages departed with the utmost precipitation, some taking to their canoes, others to the water. The boat was manned and dispatched after the stolen goods, which were easily recov- ered ; but as the men were returning to the vessel, one of the Indians in the water seized hold of the boat, with the intent, as was supposed, to upset it. The cook seized a sword, and lopped off the hand of the unfortunate wretch, who sunk to rise no more. The ship was then weighed, and dropped down about five miles.
Oct. 2. On the following day they descended about seven leagues farther, and came to anchor. Here they were visited by a canoe, on board of which was one of the savages who had made his escape from the vessel as she was going up. Fearing treach- ery, Hudson would not allow either him or his companions on board. Two other canoes, filled with armed warriors, now came under the stern, and commenced an attack with arrows. They were repulsed with a loss of three men. More than a hundred savages now pushed off from the nearest point of land, but one of the ship's cannon having been brought to bear on these, killed two of the party, and the rest fled, thereupon, to the woods. But the savages were not yet discouraged. Nine or ten of the boldest of the warriors, probably incited by the two who had made their escape from the Half-Moon on her way up, threw themselves into a canoe, and made for the
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NEW NETHERLAND.
vessel, but these fared no better than those who preceded CHAP. them. A cannon shot drove a hole through their canoe, and killed one of the men. This was followed by a discharge of 1609. musketry, which killed three or four more, and put an end to the battle. The Half-Moon now descended some five miles farther down, probably near Hoboken, and thus got beyond the reach of all'enemies.
Hudson had now thoroughly explored the river, from its mouth to the head of navigation, and had secured for his em- ployers possessions which would reward them beyond meas- ure for the expense they had incurred. For himself he had won an immortality, which was destined to hand down his name to the latest age. Happy at the result, he left "thie Oct. 4. great mouth of the Great River," and put to sea, with all sails set, to communicate to those in Holland, in whose service he was, the tidings of his valuable discovery. "We continued our course towards England," concludes the journal of this voyage, written by the mate, " without seeing any land by the way all the rest of this October, and on the seventh of No- vember, stilo novo, being Saturday, by the grace of God we safely arrived in the range of Dartmouth, in Devonshire, in the year 1609."]
Hudson, immediately on his arrival here, forwarded infor- mation of his return, and an account of his discoveries, to the directors of the East India Company in Amsterdam, and offered, at the same time, to make another voyage to the North- west in the month of March following, provided they furnished, besides the men's wages, the sum of fifteen hundred guilders, in cash, to purchase necessaries in addition to what were already on board. He proposed, further, that six or seven of the present crew should be changed, but that the number of hands should consist altogether of twenty. His plan was to sail from Dartmouth on the first of March; to spend the
1 The journal of Hudson's voyage up the North River will be found in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Trans. i., 102. Moulton furnishes, in the first part of his Hist. of New York, a minute running commentary on this journal, marking, as he goes along, the progress from day to day of the famous " Half-Moon." From these, and from the interesting sketch which Mr. Sparks has given of the voyage in his valuable life of Hudson, [Americ. Biog. x., 187,] the above particulars have been compiled.
6
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HISTORY OF
BOOK month of April and half of May killing whales and other sea I. ~ animals near the island of Panar ; thence to sail to the North- 1609. west, where he would remain till the middle of September, and finally to return to Holland by the northeast of Scotland. These proposals, owing to contrary winds, did not reach the directors, who were ignorant for a considerable time of Hud- son's arrival in England. When the news at length reached them, they ordered him to return immediately with his vessel 10 Holland. These orders he would have instantly obeyed, had he, as well as the English portion of his crew, not been forbidden by the authorities in England, who were exceedingly jealous of the maritime enterprises of the Dutch, to leave his 1610. native country, or to enter into the service of any foreign Jan. power. It was supposed that the English were desirous them- selves to send him with some ships to Virginia, farther to explore that part of America.1 The Half-Moon returned to Holland, after a detention in England of eight months ; but Hudson's July connection with the Dutch East India Company ceased shortly 15 after his arrival in England. He re-entered the service of the London Company, by whom he had been originally em- ployed, and perished at sea, after having discovered the bay in the northwest seas which still bears his name.
1 Van Meteren, X., 206.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
CHAPTER III.
Boundaries of the Dutch discoveries-Rivers therein-Appearance and condi- tion of the country-The trees-Fruits-Plants-Wild animals-Birds --- Aquatic fowls-Fish-Reptiles-Natives of the country-Enumeration of the various tribes-Their physical appearance-Mode of hunting-Agriculture- Food -Clothing - Ornaments-Dwellings-Furniture-Villages-Cannes- Indian women-Marriage-Polygamy-Travail-Political arrangements among the Indians -- Wars-Weapons-Treatment of prisoners-Treaties Df peace-Circulating medium-Burial of the dead-Religious opinions-Manit- tous-Immortality of the soul-Superstitions-Opinions of the creation- Medicine men-Method of treating disease-Amusements-Gambling- Feeble means of resistance against the superior powers of the white men.
THE territory on the continent of North America, now thrown CHAP. open to the enterprise of the Dutch nation, was embraced be- III. tween the extreme points on the sea coast at which Hudson, 1609. in the progress of his voyage, had cast anchor. It was bound- Bounda- ed on the south by the Great Bay, since known as the Dela- ries. ware ; and on the northeast by New Holland, otherwise Cape Cod ; and thus stretched from the thirty-eighth to the forty- first or second degree of north latitude. The great River of Canada formed its northern frontier, while its western limits were both unexplored and unknown.1 Four large or principal
1 Vander Donck, writing in 1649 of New Netherland, says-" It is situate on the north side of America, in the latitude of 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 degrees, or thereabouts, along the sea coast. It is bounded on the northeast by New England; on the southwest by Virginia. The coast tends mostly e.w. and N.E., and is sandy alongside the ocean. To the north stretches the River of Canada, a great distance behind. The northwest region is still partly unexplored. In the beginning, hefore any mention was made of the English, after our people had first discovered and explored the most northerly parts of New Netherland, and had been some distance away on that side of Cape Cod, as we find it described, they erected an escutcheon on Cape Cod, and took possession. The boundaries, accord- ing as we understand, extend hence to Cape Hindlopen, four miles south of Cape Cornelis, in the latitude of eight and thirty degrees. .The South Bay and South River, called by many the second great river of New Netherland, lies in the latitude of 38º 53'. It has two heights or capes ; the northern called Cape Mey, the southern Cape Cornelis ; and the bay itself is called now Port May ; now Godyn Bay. These names were given
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HISTORY OF
BOOK rivers flowed within these limits into the sea; namely, the 1. Great South River, in the latitude of 38° 53'; the North 1609. River, called also Rio Montanjes, or the Great River of the
Rivers. Mountains, in latitude 40° ; the Hellegat, or East River, by which name was distinguished an inlet or arm of the sea to the east of the Island of Manhattans, and a river of fresh water, which flowed into the last-mentioned inlet, but of which farther mention will be hereafter made.
The first of these rivers derived its name from its geographi- cal position, being the southern boundary of the Dutch terri- tory. It opened for a considerable distance, before it reached its embouchure, into a capacious bay, twenty-six miles long, and twenty-four miles broad, which received the waters of fourteen navigable tributaries. This river was considered by many equal to the great River Amazon.
The North River, called by the Indians the Cohotatea, ran a considerable, but yet unexplored, distance in a northerly direction, into the interior, receiving in its course the Maquaas or Mohawk, and other valuable streams, and carrying a flood tide over one hundred and fifty miles from the sea. It was esteemed by its first discoverers, both in point of trade and for the fertility of its banks, the finest river in North America. The other rivers were of equal value and importance, affording a ready communication inland with the native tribes in all directions.
The country thus watered was, however, a wide and uncul-
to the places at the first discovery, before they had others. The discovery occurred at the same time that the North River was discovered, by the same ship and people, who entered the south bay before they made the north bay, as the whole hereof is to be read in its length and breadth in 'The New World' of John de Laet." Vertoogh van N. N., kap. i. v. vii, viii. Heylen in his Cosmography says N. N. extended from 381º to 41º 15'. The princi- pal materials of this chapter are taken from Vander Donck's work above named ; from the Beschryvinge van Nieuw Nederlandt, by the same anthor, an able translation of which, by the Hon. Mr. Johnson, is published in the N. Y. Hist. Soc. Trans. vol. i. new series ; from Colden's Hist. of the Five Nations ; Gallatin's Synopsis of the Indian Tribes ; Trumbull's Hist. of Con- necticut ; Murray's British America ; Wood's Sketch of Long Island ; Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania ; Jarvis' Discourse on the Religion of the Indian Tribes, in N. Y. Hist. Col. iii., and Memoir on Mohegan Indians, in Mass. Col ix. 77.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
tivated wilderness, where nature luxuriated in pristine wildness CHAP. and wealth. The soil along the sea side was light and sandy, III. mixed with clay. In the interior fine level land, well watered, intersected with high hills and lofty mountains of reddish sand- stone, was everywhere to be found. The surface of the low country. lands was generally a black loam, mixed in some places with a strong clay, about a foot and a half deep on an average ; in others, with gravel and stones. Near the rivers, and in the valleys, were extensive bottoms, affording every encourage- ment for industrious settlers and planters. Throughout the whole country vegetation was rapid, and all the natural pro- ductions luxuriant, owing to the constant decomposition of vegetable matter-plants, wild grass, and the deciduous foli- age-which annually dying, furnished an ever renewing sup- ply of rich manure. A primeval forest covered the face of the earth. Oaks of all kinds, some from sixty to seventy feet Trees. high without a knot ; hickory, walnut, butternut, chesnut, beech, buttonwood, birch, ash, elm, pine, (both yellow and white,) maple, cedar, willow, whitewood, poplar, hemlock, spruce, tamarack, sassafras, linden, alder, and thorn, were found growing all around. Wild fruit was equally abundant, Fruits. consisting of acorns, (some of which were very sweet,) ches- nuts, beech nuts, walnuts, butternuts, hazelnuts, mulberries, cher- ries, currants, plums, gooseberries, medlars, bilberries, black- berries, raspberries, cranberries, and strawberries, the latter in such abundance that people lay down in the fields and ate them tosatiety. Pignuts, artichokes, wild leeks and onions, wild peas, and other wild fruit also abounded. The entire land, both forest and bottom land, was, moreover, covered with vines, climbing up the loftiest trees or creeping along the lowly valleys, and bearing loads of grapes ; some white, some blue ; some large, some small ; some very juicy and others not so good, yet all promising, if properly cultivated, an ample return to the vine- dresser. Innumerable medicinal plants were also to be found. Plants, Maidens'-hair, hartstongue, angelica, polypodium, mullein, sweetflag, sassafras, bayberry, crowfoot, plantain, marshmal- low, marjoram, cranesbill, wild indigo, mezereon, sarsaparilla, violet, dragonsblood, touch-me-not, blessed thistle, agremony, snakeroot, coriander, pleurisyroot, spikenard, Solomon's seal,
1609.
Appear- ance of the
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HISTORY OF
BOOK ginseng, motherwort, consumption root, and pennyroyal ; with 1. the uses of which, as well as of various others, which the 1609. country furnished, the natives were perfectly familiar in the cure of diseases or of wounds, received either in battle from other tribes, or from the wild animals of the forest. Numer- Animals. ous species of these, panthers, bears, buffaloes, elks, deer, wolves, wildcats, foxes, raccoons, beavers, otters, fishers, minks, hares, muskrats, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, groundhogs, drummers, &c., furnished the natives, whose principal support was derived from the chase, with clothing and food at one and Birds. the same time. The wild birds were as numerous as the wild animals. Eagles, falcons, sparrowhawks, sailinghawks, kites, ravens, castrills, crows, catowls, turkyes, partridges, pheasants, woodcocks, snipes, quails, cranes, herons, pigeons, landrun- ners, woodpeckers, thrushes, blackbirds, and a small but curi- ous bird, called the West India bee or humming-bird, are those mentioned by the earliest writers, while they admit that they do not enumerate all the species of the winged tribe which were to be found in the country in those days. The waters Water fowl were as prolific of game as the air. Here were swans, geese, pelicans, ducks, teal, widgeons, brant, coots, divers, and eel- Fish. shovellers. Fish of the finest qualities filled the rivers, the bays, and the sea, also, with life. Those in the fresh water were salmon, sturgeon, striped bass, drums, shad, carp, perch, pike, trout, thickheads, suckers, sunfish, catfish, eel, lampreys, divers, mullets, or frost-fish; those of the sea, codfish, shell- fish, weekfish, halibut, herring, mackerel, thornback, floun- ders, plaice, bream, blackfish, seal, lobster, oysters, crabs, peri- Reptiles. winkle, clams, turtles, and porpoises. Snakes were among " the creeping things of the earth," but all harmless, except the rattlesnake, many of which, however, were not to be met with.
Indians.
The richness of the soil and the abundance of game, favored particularly the maintenance and increase of the savage race which occupied the country at the period of Hudson's visit. These people, though belonging to the common stock of the Algonkin-Lenape family, were cut up and divided into a num- ber of separate and independent tribes or nations. To the east dwelt the Pequods and the Wampanoags, while the North River was divided between the terrible Maquaas or Mohawks,
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NEW NETHERLAND.
who occupied its upper waters, and imposed tribute on the CHAP. surrounding tribes,1 the Mahicanders or River Indians, who lined its banks on either side to its mouth, and the Matou- wacks or Montauks of Sewan-hacky or Long Island, who ex- ercised jurisdiction over thirteen minor tribes thereabout.
Beginning then with the Mohawks; these occupied the country on the west bank of the Cohotatea or Hudson River, from the head of the navigation back, some seventy miles. Opposite to them, to the east, the wigwams of the Mohegans stretched beyond the mountains to the Connecticut. South of this nation were settled the Waraonckins on the east, and the Waranancongyns on the west, in the vicinity of Esopus, where they were afterwards known as the Wappingi or Wap- pingers.
The east side of Tappaans bay was inhabited by the Pacha- mis, the Tankitekes, and the Wicquaeskeeks ; the last men- tioned of whom occupied a tract of land between the North and East Rivers, on the banks of two smaller streams, called the Sintsinck and the Armonck, a few miles north of the fierce Manhattœ or Manhattans, "a cruel nation," who held their council fires on an extensive island immediately south, which, retaining their name, was afterwards called MANHATTANS.2
1 I have been told by old men in New England, who remember the time when the Mohawks made war on their Indians, that as soon as a single Mo- hawk was discovered in the country, their Indians raised a cry from hill to hill, A Mohawk ! a Mohawk ! upon which they all fled, like sheep before wolves, without attempting to make the least resistance, whatever odds were on their side. The poor New England Indians immediately ran to the Christian houses, and the Mohawks often pursued them so closely, thal they entered along with them, and knocked their brains out in the presence of the people of the house ; but if the family had time to shut the door, they never attempted to force it, and on no occasion did any injury to the Christians. All the nations round them have, for many years, entirely submitted to them, and pay a yearly tribute lo them in wampum. They dare neither make war nor peace without the consent of the Mohawks. Two old men commonly go ahout, every year or two, to receive this tribute ; and I have often had opportunity to observe what anxiety the poor Indians were under, while these two old men remained in that part of the country where I was. An old Mohawk sachem, in a poor blanket and a dirty shirt, may be seen issuing his orders, with as arbitrary an authority as a Roman dictator .- Colden's Five Nations, 3, 4.
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