USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 9
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* The minister here referred to was the Rev. William Nieuenhuisen.
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also the tin, and turned up a little more what was in the chest, and with that left off, without looking at it closely. He demanded four English shillings for the tin, remarking at the same time that he had observed some other small arti- cles, but would not examine them closely, though he had not seen either the box or the pieces of linen. This being finished, we sent our goods in a cart to our lodgings, paying for the two heavy chests and straw beds and other goods from the public store-house to the Smit's valey, sixteen stivers of zeawan, equal to three stivers and a half in the money of Holland. This finished the day. and we retired to rest.
"26th, Tuesday. We remained at home for the purpose of writing, but in the afternoon, finding that many goods had been discharged from the ship, we went to look after our little package, which also came. I declared it and it was examined. I had to pay twenty-four guilders in zeawan, or five guilders in the coin of Holland. I brought it to the house and looked the things all over, rejoicing that we were finally rid of that miserable set and the ship, the freight only remaining to be paid, which was fixed at four guilders in coin. We went first to Margaret in relation to the freight, who said she had nothing more to do with it, and that we must speak to her husband about it, which it was not convenient to do that evening, and we therefore let it go, waiting for an opportunity to speak to her and her husband with the captain, and perhaps also Mr. Jan. * *
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" As soon as we had dined we sent off our letters, and this being all accom- plished, we started at two o clock for Long Island. This island is called Long Island, not so much because it is longer than it is broad, but particularly be- cause it is the longest island in this region, or even along the whole coast of New Netherland, Virginia, and New England. It is one hundred and forty. four miles in length, and from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles wide, though there are several bays and points along it, and consequently it is much broader in some places than others. On the west is Staten Island, from which it is separated about a mile, and the great bay over which you see the Nevesincke. With Staten Island it makes the passage through which all vessels pass in sailing from or to the Mahatans, although they can go through the Kil Van Kol, which is on the other side of Staten Island. The ends of these islands opposite each other are quite high land, and they are therefore called the Hoofden (Headlands), from a comparison with the Hoofden of the channel between England and France in Europe. On the north is the island of Ma- hatans and a part of the mainland. On the east is the sea, which shoots up to New England, and in which there are various islands. On the south is the great ocean. The onter shore of this island has before it several small islands and broken land, such as Coney Island," a low, sandy island of about three hours' circuit, its westerly point forming with Sandy Hook on the other side the entrance from the sea. It is oblong in shape, and is grown over with bushes. Nobody lives upon it, but it is used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen, hogs and others, which are able to obtain there sufficient to cat the whole winter, and to shelter themselves from the cold in the thickets .. This island is not so cold as Long Island of the Mahatans, or others, like some
* 't Conijnen Eylant, Rabbit's Island.
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islands on the coast, in consequence of their having more sea-breeze, and of the saltness of the sea breaking upon the shoals, rocks, and reefs with which the coast is beset. There is also the Bear's Island * and others, separated from Long Island by creeks and marshes overflown at high water. There are also on this sea-coast various miry places like the Vlaeck t and others, as well as some sand bays and hard and rocky shores. Long Island stretches into the sea for the most part east by south and east-south-east. None of its land is very high, for you must be nearly opposite Sandy Hook before you can see it. There is a hill or ridge running lengthwise through the island, nearest the north side and west end of the island. The south side and east end are more flat. The water by which it is separated from the Mahatans is improperly called the East River, for it is nothing else than an arm of the sea, beginning in the bay on the west and ending in the sea on the east. After forming in this passage several islands, this water is as broad before the city as the Y before Amsterdam, but the ebb and flood tides are stronger. There is a ferry for the purpose of crossing over it which is farmed out by the year and yields a good income, as it is a considerable thoroughfare, this island being one of the most populous places in this vicinity. A considerable number of Indians live upon it, who gain their subsistence by hunting and fishing, and they, as well as others, must carry their articles to market over this ferry or boat them over, as it is free to every one to use his own boat, if he have one, or to borrow or hire one for the purpose. The fare over the ferry is three stivers t in zeawan for each person.
"Here we three crossed over, my comrade Gerrit, our guide, and myself, in a row-boat, as it happened, which, in good weather and tide, carries a sail. When we came over we found there Jan Teunissen, our fellow-passenger, who had promised us so much good. He was going over to the city to deliver his letters and transact other business. He told us he would return home in the evening and we would find him there. We went on up the hill along open roads and a little woods, through the first village, called Breukelen, which has a small and ugly little church standing in the middle of the road.§ Having passed through here, we struck off to the right in order to go to Gouanes. We went up on several plantations, where Gerrit was acquainted with most all of the people, who made us very welcome, sharing with us bountifully what- ever they had, whether it was milk, cider, fruit, or tobacco, and especially and first and most of all, miserable rum or brandy which had been brought from Barbadoes and other islands, and which is called by the Dutch " kill devil." All these people are very fond of it, and most of them extravagantly so, although
* 't Beeren Eylant. Now called Barren Island.
t The Wieringen shoals in the Zuyder Zee are probably meant.
* Less'than half a cent in our money.
§ Breukelen, now Brooklyn, was so called from the village of that name in the province of Utrecht. The church here referred to was built in 1666, and was the first one in Brooklyn. When It was taken down does not appear. " A second church," says Furman, in his Votes relating to Brooklyn, 76 .* " was erected, on the site of that built in 1666, which second church continued standing until about 1810, when a new and substantial church was erected on Joral- emon street, and the old one taken down. This old church was a very gloomy-looking build- ing, with small windows, and stood in the middle of the highway. about a mile from Brook- lyn ferry." Of this second church a view is given in the Brooklyn Manual of 1863.
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it is very dear and has a bad taste. It is impossible to tell how many peach- trees we passed, all laden with fruit to breaking down, and many of them actually broken down. We came to a place surrounded with such trees, from which so many had fallen off that the ground could not be discerned, and you could not put your foot down without trampling them, and notwithstanding such large quantities had fallen off, the trees still were as full as they could bear. The hogs and other animals mostly feed on them. This place belongs to the oldest European woman in the country. We went immediately into her house, where she lived with her children. We found her sitting by the fire, smoking tobacco incessantly, one pipe after another. We inquired after her age, which the children told us was a hundred years. She was from Luyck (Liege), and still spoke good Waalsche (old French) with us. She could reason very well sometimes, and at other times she could not. She showed us several large apples, as good fruit of that country, and different from that of Europe. She had been about fifty years now in the country, and had above seventy chil- dren and grandchildren. She saw the third generation after her. Her mother had attended women in childbed in her one hundred and sixth year, and was one hundred and eleven or twelve years old when she died. We tasted here, for. the first time, smoked twaelft * (twelfth), a fish so called because it is caught in season next after the elftt (eleventh). It was salted a little and then smoked, and althougir it was now a year old, it was still perfectly good, and in flavor not inferior to smoked salmon. We drank here, also, the first new cider, which was very fine.
" We proceeded on to Gouanes. a place so called, where we arrived in the evening at one of the best friends of Gerrit, named Symon. He was very glad to see us, and so was his wife. He took us into the house, and entertained us exceedingly well. We found a good fire, half-way up the chimney, of clear oak and hickory, of which they made not the least scruple of burning profusely. We let it penetrate us thoroughly. There had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a pail-full of Gouanes oysters, which are the best in the country. They are fully as good as those of England, and better than those we eat at Fahnouth. "I had to try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of them not less than a foot long, and they grow sometimes ten, twelve, and six- teen together, and are then like a piece of rock. Others are young and small. In consequence of the great quantities of them, everybody keeps the shells for the purpose of burning them into lime. They pickle the oysters in small casks, and send them to Barbadoes and the other islands. We had for supper a roasted haunch of venison, which he had bought of the Indians for three guilders and a half of seewant, that is, fifteen stnivers of Dutch money (fifteen cents), and which weighed thirty pounds. The meat was exceedingly tender and good, and also quite fat. It had a slight spicy flavor. We were also served with wild turkey, which was also fat and of a good flavor ; and a wild goose, but that was rather dry. Every thing we had was the natural production of the country. We saw here, lying in a heap, a whole hill of watermelons, which were as large as pumpkins, and which Symon was going to take to the city to sell. They were very good, though there is a difference between them and those of the
* The striped bass.
t The shad
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Caribly islands ; but this may be owing to its being late in the season, as these were the last pulling. It was very late at night when we went to rest in a Kermis bed. as it is called, in the corner of the hearth, alongside of a good fire. "30th, Saturday. Early this morning the husband and wife set off for the city with their marketing ; and we, having explored the land in the vicinity, left after breakfast. We went a part of the way through a woods and fine, new- made land, and so along the shore to the west end of the island, called Najack .* As we proceeded along the shore, we found, among other curiosities, a highly- marbled stone, very hard, in which we saw Muscovy glass lying in layers between the clefts, and how it was struck or cut out. We broke off a small piece with some difficulty, and picked out a little glass in the splits. Continuing onward from there, we came to the plantation of the Najack Indians, which was planted with maize, or Turkish wheat. We soon heard a noise of pounding, like thrash- ing, and went to the place whence it proceeded, and found there an old Indian woman busily employed beating Turkish beans out of the pods by means of a stick, which she did with astonishing force and dexterity. Gerrit inquired of her, in the Indian language, which he spoke perfectly well, how old she was, and she answered eighty years; at which we were still more astonished that so old a woman should still have so much strength and courage to work as she did. We went from thence to her habitation, where we found the whole troop together, consisting of seven or eight families, and twenty or twenty-two persons, I should think. Their house was low and long, about sixty feet long and fourteen or fifteen feet wide. The bottom was earth, the sides and roof were made of reed and the bark of chestnut-trees ; the posts, or columns, were limbs of trees stuck in the ground, and all fastened together. The top, or ridge of the roof, was open about half a foot wide, from one end to the other, in order to let the smoke escape, in place of a chimney. On the sides, or walls of the house, the roof was so low that you could hardly stand under it. The entrances, or doors, which were at both ends, were so small that they had to stoop down and squeeze themselves to get through them. The doors were made of reed, or flat bark. In the whole building there was no lime, stone, iron, or lead. They build their fire in the middle of the floor, according to the number of families which live in it, so that from one end to the other each of them boils its own pot, and eats when it likes, not only the families by themselves, but each Indian alone, accord- ing as he is hungry, at all hours, morning, noon, and night. By each fire are the cooking utensils, consisting of a pot, a bowl, or calabash, and a spoon also made of a calabash. These are all that relate to cooking. They lie upon mats, with their feet towards the fire on each side of it. They do not sit much upon any thing raised up, but, for the most part, sit on the ground, or squat on their ankles. . Their other household articles consist of a calabash of water, out of which they drink, a small basket in which to carry and keep their maize and small beans, and a knife. The implements are, for tillage, a small, sharp stone, and nothing more ; for hunting, a gun and pouch for powder and lead ; for fish- ing, a canoe without mast or sail, and without a nail in any part of it. though it is sometimes full forty feet in length, fish-hooks and lines, and scoop to pad- dle with in place of oars. I do not know whether there are not some others of a trifling nature. All who live in one house are generally of one stock or de.
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* Fort Hamilton, which is surrounded, in a great measure, by a marsh, and hence is here called an island.
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scent, as father and mother, with their offspring. Their bread is maize, pounded in a block by a stone, but not fine. This is mixed with water, and made into a cake, which they bake under the hot ashes. They gave us a small piece when we entered, and although the grains were not ripe, and it was half-baked and coarse grains, we nevertheless had to eat it, or, at least, not throw it away before them, which they would have regarded as a great sin, or a great affront. We chewed a little of it with long teeth, and managed to hide it so they did not see it. We had also to drink out of their calabashes the water which was their drink, and which was very good. We saw here the Indians who came on board the ship when we arrived. They were all very joyful at the visit of our Gerrit, who was an old acquaintance of theirs, and had heretofore long resided there. We presented them with two jews-harps, which much pleased them, and they immediately commenced to play upon them, which they could do tolerably well. Some of their patroons (chiefs), some of whom spoke good Dutch, and are also their medicine-men and surgeons as well as their teachers, were busy mak- ing shoes of deer-leather, which they understand how to make soft by continu- ally working it in their hands. They had dogs, fowls, and hogs, which they learn by degrees from the Europeans how to manage better. They had, also, peach-trees, which were well laden. Towards the last, we asked them for some peaches, and they answered : 'Go and pick them,' which showed their polite- ness. However, in order not to offend them, we went off and pulled some. Although they are such a poor, miserable people, they are, nevertheless, licen- tious and proud, and given to knavery and scoffing. Seeing a very old woman among them, we inquired how old she was, when some young fellows, laughing and jeering, answered twenty years, while it was evident to us she was not less than a hundred. We observed here the manner in which they travel with their children, a woman having one which she carried on her back. The little thing clung tight around her neck like a cat, where it was kept secure by means of a piece of daffels, their usual garment. Its head, back, and buttocks, were en- tirely tiat. How that happened to be so we will relate hereafter, as we now only make mention of what we saw.
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" 4th, Wednesday. We slept for the night in our old place. In the morn- ing the horses were harnessed to the wagon for the purpose of carrying us to the city, and bringing back some medicines which had arrived for him (Jaques) from Holland in our ship. We breakfasted to our full, and rode first to the bay, where we had left our traveling-bag. Seeing there was nothing to be accomplished with our Jan Theunissen, all his great promises having vanished without the least result, though they had cost us dearly enough, we let that rest quiet, and taking our leave, rode on to 't Vlacke Bos, a village situated about an hour and a half's distance from there, upon the same plain, which is very large. This village seems to have' better farms than the bay, and yields full as much revenue. Riding through it, we came to the woods and hills, which are very stony and uncomfortable to ride over. We rode over them, and passed through the village of Breukelen to the ferry, and leaving the wagon there, we crossed over the river and arrived at home at noon, where we were able to rést a little, and where our old people were glad to see us. We sent back to Jaques half of our tincture calimanaris, and half of our balsam sulphur.
NEWBERRY
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eous, and some other things. He had been of service to us in several respects, as he promised to be, and that with perfect willingness.
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" 6th, Friday. We remained in the house during the forenoon, but after having dined we went out about two o'clock to explore the island of Manathans. This island runs east and west, or somewhat more northerly ; on the north side of it is the North River, by which it is separated from the main-land on the north ; on the east end it is separated from the main-land by a creek, or rather a branch of the North River, emptying itself into the East River. They can go over this creek at dead low water, upon rocks and reefs, at the place called Spyt den duytel. This creek coming into the East River forms with it the two Barents islands .* At the west end of these two running waters, that is, where they come together to the east of these islands, they make, with the rocks and reefs, such a frightful eddy and whirlpool that it is exceedingly dangerous to pass through them, especially with small boats, of which there are some lost every now and then, and the persons in them drowned; but experience has taught men the way of passing through them with less danger. Large vessels have always less danger, because they are not capable of being carried along quickly. There are two places where such whirling of the stream occurs, which are on account of the danger and frightfulness called the Great and Little Hellgate. After these two streams are united, the island of Manathans is separated on the south from Long Island by the East River, which, beginning at the bay before New York, runs east- wardly, after forming several islands, again into the sea. This island is about seven hours' distance in length, but it is not a full hour broad. The sides are indented with bays, coves, and creeks. It is almost entirely taken up, that is, the land is held by private owners, but not half of it is cultivated. Much of it is good woodland. The west end, on which the city lies, is entirely cleared for more than an hour's distance, though that is the poorest ground ; the best being on the east and north side. There are many brooks of fresh water running through it, pleasant and proper for man and beast to drink, as well as agree- able to behold, affording cool and pleasant resting-places, but especially suita- ble places for the construction of mills, for although there is no overflow of water, yet it can be shut off and so used. A little eastward of Nieu Haerlem there are two ridges of very high rocks, with a considerable space between them, displaying themselves very majestically, and inviting all men to acknowl- edge in them the majesty, grandeur, power, and glory of the Creator, who has impressed such marks upon them. Between them runs the road to Spyt den duytel. The one to the north is most apparent ; the south ridge is covered with earth on its north side, but it can be seen from the water or from the main-land beyond to the south. The soil between these ridges is very good, though a little hilly and stony, and would be very suitable, in my opinion, for planting vineyards, in consequence of its being shut off on both sides from the winds which would most injure them, and is very warm. We found blue grapes along the road, which were very good and sweet, and as good as any I have tasted in the Fatherland.
We went from the city, following the Broadway, over the valey, or the
* Now called Great and Little Barn Islands.
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fresh water .. Upon both sides of this way were many habitations of negroes, mulattoes, and whites. These negroes were formerly the proper slaves of the West India Company, but, in consequence of the frequent changes and con- quests of the country, they have obtained their freedom and settled them- selves down where they have thought proper, and thus on this road, where they have ground enough to l.ve on with their families. We left the village called the Bouwerij, lying on the right hand, and went through the woods to New Harlem, a tolerably large village situated on the south side of the island, directly opposite to the place where the north-east creek and the East River come together, situated about three hours' journey from New Amsterdam, like as old Harlem in Europe is situated about three hours' distance from old Am- sterdam. As our guide, Gerrit, had some business here, and found many acquaintances, we remained over night at the house of one Geresolreert,* scoup (sheriff or constable) of the old place, who had formerly lived in Brazil. and whose heart was still full of it. This house was constantly filled with peo- ple all the time drinking for the most part that execrable rum. He had also the best cider we have tasted. Among the crowd we found a person of quality, an Englishman, named Captain Carteret, whose father is in great favor with the king, and he himself had assisted in several exploits in the king's service. He was administrator or captain-general of the English forces which went, in 1660, to retake St. Kitts, which the French had entirely conquered, and were repulsed. He had also filled some high office in the ship of the Duke of York, with two hundred infantry under his command. The king has given to his father, Sir George Carteret, the entire government of the lands west of the North River, in New Netherland, with power to appoint as governor whom he pleased ; and at this present time there is a governor over it by his appoint- ment, another Carteret, his nephew, I believe, who resides at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey.t From this Carteret in England the Quakers have purchased the privilege of a government of their own over a large tract of territory which they have bought and settled within his dominion ; and it is but little different from their having bought the entire right of government of the whole of his land. This son is a very profligate person. He married a merchant's daughter here, and has so lived with his wife that her father has been con- pelled to take her home again. He runs about among the farmers, and stays where he can find most to drink, and sleeps in barns on the straw. If he conducted himself properly, he could be, not only governor here, but hold higher positions, for he has studied the moralities, and seems to have been of a good understanding; but that is all now drowned. His father, who will not acknowledge him as his son, as before, allows him yearly as much only as is necessary for him to live on.
"7th, Saturday. This morning, about half-past six, we set out from the vil lage in order to go to the end of the island ; but before we left we did not omit
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