against the Indians. Nevertheless, the fact remains undisputed, that to Hudson belongs the honor of being the first who directed public attention to the Island of Manhattan as an advantageous point for a trading port in the New World.

1609.

by

On the 4th of April, 1609, the great navigator sailed out of the harbor of Amsterdam, and twelve of ye clocke" of the 6th he was two leagues off

the land. He was in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, who had commissioned him to seek a passage to the East Indies by the north side of Nova Zembla. Having, however, found the sea at that part full of ice, he turned the prow of his little vessel, the Half-Moon, westward, and, after a month's cruise, reached the great Bank of Newfoundland on the 2d of July Thence he sailed

southward to the James River, Virginia, and again altering his course-still in pursuit of a new channel to India

he coasted along the shores of New Jersey, and on the 2d of September, 1609, cast anchor inside of Sandy Hook.

The topography of New York Island, as it was first seen by Hudson, was as follows:

"The lower part of it consisted of wood-crowned hills and beautiful grassy valleys, including a chain of swamps and marshes and a deep pond. Northward, it rose into a rocky, high ground. The sole inhabitants were a tribe of dusky Indians,-an off-shoot from the great nation of the Lenni Lenape, who inhabited the vast territory bounded by the Penobscot and Potomac, the Atlantic and Mississippi,-dwelling in the clusters of rude wigwams that dotted here and there the surface of the country. The

rivers that gird the Island were as yet unstirred by the keels of ships, and the bark canoes of the native Manhattans held sole possession of the peaceful waters.

"The face of the country, more particularly described, was gently undulating, presenting every variety of hill and dale, of brook and rivulet. The upper part of the Island was rocky, and covered by a dense forest; the lower part grassy, and rich in wild fruits and flowers. Grapes and strawberries grew in abundance in the fields, and nuts of various kinds were plentiful in the forests, which were also filled with abundance of game. The brooks and ponds were swarming with fish, and the soil was of luxuriant fertility. In the vicinity of the present "Tombs " was a deep, clear, and beautiful pond of fresh water (with a picturesque little island in the middle)—so deep, indeed, that it could have floated the largest ship in our navy,— which was for a long time deemed bottomless by its possessors. This was fed by large springs at the bottom, which kept its waters fresh and flowing, and had its outlet in a little stream that flowed into the East River, near the foot of James street.. Smaller ponds dotted the Island in various places, two of which, lying near each other, in the vicinity of the present corner of the Bowery and Grand street, collected the waters of the high grounds which surrounded them. To the north-west of the Fresh Water Pond, or "Kolck," as it afterwards came to be called, beginning in the vicinity of the present Hudson River Railroad and Freight Depot (formerly St. John's Park), and extending to the northward over an area of some seventy acres, lay an immense marsh, filled with reeds and brambles, and tenanted with frogs and watersnakes. A little rivulet connected this marsh with the Fresh Water Pond, which was also connected-by the stream which formed its outlet-with another strip of marshy land, covering the region now occupied by James,

Cherry, and the adjacent streets.

An unbroken chain of

waters was thus stretched across the Island from James street at the south-east to Canal street at the north-west. An inlet occupied the place of Broad street, a marsh cov

ered the vicinity of Ferry street, Rutgers street formed the center of another marsh, and a long line of meadows and swampy ground stretched to the northward along the eastern shore.

west.

"The highest line of lands lay along Broad way, from the Battery to the northernmost part of the Island, forming its backbone, and sloping gradually to the east and On the corner of Grand street and Broadway was a high hill, commanding a view of the whole Island, and falling off gradually to the Fresh Water Pond. To the south and west, the country, in the intervals of the marshes, was of great beauty-rolling, grassy, fertile, and well watered. A high range of sand hills traversed a part of the Island, from Varick and Charlton to Eighth and Greene streets. To the north of these lay a valley, through which ran a brook, which formed the outlet of

the springy marshes at Washington Square, and emptied into the North River at the foot of Hammersly street." *

Meanwhile, Hudson, having explored the river that bears his name as far as the present city of Albany, set sail on the 4th of October for Europe, bearing the news of the discovery of a new country-the "opening for a new commerce;" for although his patrons were disappointed in not finding a short road to the land of silks, teas, and spices, still, his great discovery was destined to open in future time mines of wealth, more valuable than all the imagined riches of the Celestial Empire.

1610.

At that period, Holland carried on a lucrative trade with the East Indies and Russia. Every year they dispatched nearly one hundred ships to Archangel for furs; but Hudson's glowing accounts of the rich peltry he had seen in the newly-discovered regions, soon turned the attention of the busy Dutch to a country where these articles could be purchased without the taxes of customhouses and other duties. Accordingly, in the year 1610, a few merchants dispatched another vessel, under the command of the Half-Moon's former mate. to traffic in furs with the Indians. This venture met with such success, that, two years after, in 1612, the Fortune and the Tiger, commanded, respectively, by Hendrick Christiaensen and Adrien Block, sailed on a trading voyage to the "Mauritius River," as the Hudson was first named. The following year, also, three more vessels, commanded by Captains De Witt, Volckertsen, and Wey, sailed from Amsterdam and Hoven on a similar adventure. These were the beginnings of the important fur trade, which was, ere long, to be a chief source of wealth to Holland and America. It was now determined to open a regular communication with the

1612,

* Miss M. L. Booth's History of New York.