,',..,V '

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

HISTORY

STATE OF NEW-YORK

INCLUDING ITS

aboriginal antt CTolontal Annals

JOHN V. N. YATES,
SECRETART OP STATE, AND MEMBER OP THE NEW-TORK HISTORICAL.
SOCIETV; AND-
JOSEPH W. MOULTON,
COUNSELLOR AT LAW, AND MEMBER OP THE NEW-TORS
HISTORICAL SOCIETV,

VOL, I  PART I.

NEW-YORK :
PUBLISHED BY A. T, GOODRICH.
1824.

7.-S

Southern District of 'New-York^ si.
BE IT REMEMBERED, Tint on the eleventh day of Jaouaiy. 1825, in the forty-nintii
year of the Independence of the United States of America, Joseph W. Moultoo, of the
said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as pro
prietor, for himself and John Van Ness Yates, in the words following, to wit :—
" History of the State of New- York, including its Aboriginal and Colonial Annals. By
John V. N. Yates, Secretary of State, and Member of the New- York Historical Society; and
Joseph W. Moulton, Counsellor at Law, and Member of the New- York Historical Society.
Vol I. Part. I." *
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the en
couragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors
and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned " And also to an Act en-
, titled, " An Act supplementary to an Act entitled, an Act for the encouragement of Learning,
by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such
copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of
designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." JAMES DILL,
Clerk of the Southern District of New- York.

SEYMOUR, PRINTER, JOHN-STREET.

PART I
ANTE-COLONIAL ANNALS.

CONTENTS.

See Recapitulation, i 56. p. 311. An Index will be placed at the end
of the volume.

NOTES AND AUTHORITIES. PaktI.

ID" References leading to a minute investigation of any topic, are in the
body of the work : but in general, those (except manuscript communica
tions, &c.) which merely support the text, and notes not intimately con
nected with it, are placed at the end. In quoting from authors, conden
sation and brevity have been aimed at ; and their language has therefore
been rejected or modified, but preserved when it was best adapted to con
vey their meaning. In the future progress of this work, recourse will be
had to a valuable collection of manuscripts. Besides those in the office of the
Secretary of State, and the invaluable mass of original materials preserved
through the liberal exertions of the New-York Historical Society, others,
some of which were written by certain distinguished individuals deceased,
directly upon our Colonial History, will be introduced. The materials
for the present part of the History, embracing a period anterior to the
existence of our written records, have been principally compiled from a.
great variety of publications in different languages. In so arduous an un
dertaking, precaution and vigilance, however scrutinising, could hardly gua
rantee to research an exemption from errors ; and criticism might no doubt
detect many : but whatever they are, the author of. the present part feels
himself bound in justice to say, that they are not imputable to his associate,
whose talents, in the intervals of his official duties, have been directed to
a period of the history which, under the influence of his genius, will appear
far more interesting than these ante-colonial annals.

(1.) As to the compass see Goguet's Hist, of Inventions. Robertson's
Amer. B. I. Rees's Cyclo.
(2.) Roscoe's Sismondi, Vol. I. ch. 2.
(3.) lb.
(4.) See Rob. Amer., B. I.
(5.) Clavigero's Hist, of Amer.
(7.) Hume's Eng. Vol. III. p. 428.
(7. ) See a communication made to the N. Y . Hist. Soc. of a relic of anj?
cient days, dug up in Troy, and discovered far below the surface. In the
neighbourhood of Neversink hills, New-Jersey, Maryland, &c. and near the
Hudson River, evidences of human beings having existed there in ancient
days, have been brought to light by excavations from 10 to 40 feet deep;
Vol. I. A

11 NOTES.
Dr. Ackerly's Geology of Hudson River, p. 18 to 22, 59, 60, 65, &c. Dr.
Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer.
(8.) Dr. Mitchill, in his Geol. of N. Amer., published in Cuvier's The
ory of the Earth, Vol. I. Arches. Amer.
(9.) Memoirs on the Antiquities of the western parts of N. Y.
(10.) See Atwater's Ant. in Vol. I. Archae. Amer.
(11.) See Discourse on the benefits of Civil Hist, by H. Williamson.
M.D. LL.D., Vol. II. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 23, 28. Rees' Cycle art.
Antiquity. (12.) lb.
(13.) lb.
(14.) Hunter's Manners and Customs of the eastern tribes, p. 314. But
the Creeks and others in their vicinity believed all nations descended from
two brothers, one of whom (their ancestor) was red, the other white. . Ex
tract of jom-nal of Rev. Mr. BoJziua, one of the ministers of the transport of
Saltzburgers, who emigrated to Georgia in 1733-4, under commissary
Van Reck, p. 34, 38. The Caddos (or Caddoques, residing 35 miles west of
the main branch of the Red River,) and half a dozen other smaller nations,
. who claim the honor of a like descent, believe that when all the world was
drowned by a flood, that inundated .the whole country, the great spirit pla
ced on an eminence near their lake one family of Caddoques, who alone were
saved ; from that family all the Indians originated. President's Message
communicating to Congress Lewis & Clark's Discoveries 1806, p. 48.
(15.) Anon, in Nat. Intell. and Comm. from John E. Wool, Inspector
Gen. of U. S. Army, N. D.
(16.) Heckewelder in Vol. I. Phil. Hist. & Lit. Trans, p. 242-3.
(17.) The Osages universally believed that the founder of their nation
was a snail, that the heat of the sun ripened him into a man, who married a
young beaver, the daughter of an old one, who had disputed proprietary
right to the Osage possessions ; that from this union sprung the Wasbasha
or Osages, who (until the profits of the fur trade overcame their scruples)
had a pious reverence for their ancestors, and exempted the beaver from
the chase, because in killing that animal, they killed a brother of the Osage.
Lewis & Clarke's Travels, p. 8, 9.
(18.) J. T. Kirkland, President of Harvard University, in Vol. IV.
Mass. Hist. Coll. p. 100.
(19.) McCulloh in Researches on America, Bait. 1817. Port Folio for
June, 1816.
(20.) Mr. John D. Hunter in " Manners and Customs of several Indian
tribes located westof the Mississippi," p. 315. Phila. 1823.
(21.) See Dr. Mitchill, Vol. I. Archse. Amer. 347.
(22.) Mr. Atwater in ib. 203.
(23.) By Mr. Clifford of Kentucky, ib. 347-9.
(24.) Mr. Stoddard says (in Hist, view of Louisa.) the Ietans or Alitans
in that quarter, bear a resemblance. About sixty visited Nachinotohes in

NOTES. HI
1 807. Their women were comparatively handsome, and the hair of many
of the men was of a sandy complexion. Their customs and manners indi
cate a different origin than their neighbours.
During the present year (1824) an account appeared in the Franklin
(Missouri) Intelligencer, republished in the New- York Observer, (June
¦26) that a nation of Indians called the Nabijos, residing between the Spanish
settlements of New-Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, were far advanced in
the arts of civilized life. They reside in stone houses, cultivate agriculture,
manufacture cotton, woollen, leather, and other artices, in, an ingenious man
ner. The account does not mention from whom the Nabijos descended, or
from whom they derived their knowledge and skill. Possibly they may be a
remnant of the ancient Mexican people, who may have fled to the place of
their present abode when the Spaniards invaded their country.
(25.) Stoddard's Louisiana. Vancouver's travels.
(26.) The wolf tribe of certain Indians, now called Pawnee, are said to
follow the custom of immolating human victims. A boy, ten years old
whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to the Great Star, was humanely
purchased by Mr. Manuel Liea, on his return from the trading posts on the
Upper Missouri. They did put to death, by transfixing on a sharp pole, as
an offering to the object of their adoration, the child of a Paddo woman,
who, being a captive, devoted to that sanguinary and horrible death, esca
ped on horseback, leaving her new-born offspring behind. Dr. Mitchill in
Vol. I. Archas. Amer. p. 348. But see Morse's Report, p. 248.
(27.) See Southy's Madoc, a poem. 2 vols.
(29.) Robertson, Lord Lyttleton, & Belknap.
(28 & 30.) 1. Hist, of Wales by Caradoc of Llancarvan, Glamorgan
shire, in the British language, translated into English by Humphry Llwyd
and published by Dr. David Powel, 1584.
2. 'Hakluyt's Coll. of Voyages in 1589, deriving his account of Madog
from Gutton Owen. As to his authenticity, see Forster's Northern Voya
ges, p. 189, note. Belknap, Amer. Biog. Vol. I. p. 408 &65.
3. A brief descrip. of the whole world, fifth edit. Lond. printed for John
Marriott, 1620.
4. Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels into Africa and Asia, &c. London,
1638. 5. Hornibus De Originius Americanis.
6. Enquiry into the truth of the traditions &c. by John Williams, LL.D.
Lond. 1791. Further observations by do. Lond. 1792.
(31.) See Pinkerton's Coll. of Voyages, Vol. XII. p. 157.
(32.) Dr. Campbell in his Naval History of Great Britain, Vol. I. p.
257, 2d ed. as cited by Dr. Williams, who also refers to Hist. & Memoirs of
the Royal Academy of Paris for 1784. Month. Review, Vol. LXXVIII. p,
616. Warrington's Hist, of Wales. Broughton, Purcbas, and Davys
revived the story.

IV

NOTES.

(33.) For the narrative of Madoc's Expedition, see authorities cited *
the above from note 27 inclusive.
(34.) Hakluyt Collec.
(35.) Hornius De Originibus, &c.
(36.) Herbert.
(37.) See Williams.
(38.) Ib.
(39.) Ib. Enquiry, p. 32, 39.
(40.) Ib.
(41.) See Memoirs, fac. by Mr. Clinton .Atwater in Vol. I. Archse-'
Amer. (42 ) See Atwater ib. and H. Williamson's Hist. N. Caro. Vol. I. p- 6,
7, 8, 213, 216.
(43.) In Enquiry touching the Diversity of Language and Religion, &£.
Lond. 1674.
(44.) Johannis De Laet Antwerpiani Notae ad Dissertationem Hugoms
Grotii de Origine gentium Americanarum et observationis, etc.
(45.) On the Origin of the Americans, published Palentia, 1607,repub
lished Madrid, 1720.
(46.) Natural! and MoraU Historie of the East and West Indies, fee1.
English transl. Lond. 16,04.
(47.) De Origine gentium Americanarum.
(48. ) See Originibus Americanis, Lib. I. chap. 2.
(49.) We learn from Charlevoix that the Eries (or Cat Indians) an in*
digenous nation of the Malay race, formerly inhabited the lands south of
Lake Erie. The Iroquois of the Tartar stock (says Dr. Mitchill) extermi
nated them, and appropriated their country to a hunting ground.
(50.). Dr. Mitchill.
(51.) 'Dissertation sur l'origine des Ameriquains. Journal d'un voyage
fait par ordre du Roi dans L' Amerique septentrionale, &c. A Paris
1744. Parle Pere Chaiievpix.
(52.) See his Histoire et description Generale de la Nouvelle France,
&c. Tomes 1—4. A Paris, 1744. Tom. III. He was also known as the
author of the History of Japan and St. Domingo.
(53.) It is added in the above report, that it has been related of them by
an elderly gentleman of Natchitoches, who some years ago traded with
them, that about thirty years previous, (to 1806,) apart of them crossed the
river Grand to Chewawa, the residence of the (Spanish) Governor General
of what is called the five internal provinces, there lay in ambush for an op
portunity, and made prisoner of the Governor's daughter, a young lady,
going in her coach to mass, and carried her off. The Governor caused a
messenger to go among them, with a proffered ransom of 1 000 dollars. But
the young lady refused to return with him to her father, and sent the follow
ing message : that the Indians had disfigured her face by tattooing it accor-

NOTES'. V
ding to their fancy and ideas of beauty, and a young man of them had taken
her for his wife, by whom she believed herself pregnant; that she had become
reconciled to her mode of life, was well treated by her husband, and should
under all these circumstances be more unhappy by returning than by re
maining where she was. She is still living in the Indian nation with her
husband*, by whom she has three children.
IT (*) Omitted in the text. P. 67. Charlevoix's Journal, &c. Edwards's
West Indies, B. l,c. 2. & appex. Forster's Northern Voyages. Intro.
Forster's Observations made during a voyage round the World. Bel
knap's Amer. Biog. in Preliminary Dissert.
(54.) Intro, to Descrip. of Monumens in Amer.
j55.) Hist, of Mexico. Abbe C. was a native of Vera Cruz, thirty
years resident of New-Spain, and master of the Mexican language.
(56.) Ib.
(57.) Ib.
(58.) They are the authors of "Le Philosophe Deuceur," a miserable
little performance, as is observed in a note in Clavigero's Hist of Amer.
in Dissertation. Bernard Romain's concise Hist, of East & West Florida,
&c. N. Y. 1776. 12mo. Voltaire's (Euvres, torn. XVI.
(59.) Analectic Magazine.
(60.) Mithridates, order Allgemeine Sprachenkunde, &c. or the General
Science of Languages, with the Lord's praye'r in nearly 500. 4 vols.
hound in 6 vols, octavo, Berlin, 1806 — 1817.
(61.) M. Portalis, Commissary of France, representing that govern.-
ment, (on the accession of Napoleon to the Consulate) in the Council of
Prizes at Paris. Code des Prises, Tome II. cited in Wheaton on Cap
tures. (62.) Abbe Raynal and Voltaire, in some of their works predict, that
as Rome was swallowed up in Europe, so Europe will be in America.
(63.) Pliny in Nat. Hist. Lib. VI. Anacharsis, Vol. II.
(64.) Mn. Lib. VI. 795. " Jacet extra," etc.
(65.) See Herbert's Travels.
(66.) See Jer. Belknap's tract. Belk. Amer. Biog. Vol. I. Prel. Diss.
Robertson's Amer. Vol. I. Irving's Knickerbocker, Vol. I.
(67.) Ib.
(68.) Ib. and Jenk's Antiquarian Address.
(69.) See Robertson's Amer. B. II.
(70.) Voltaire's Letters on the English nation. Williams's new Obser-
' vations. (71.) Ib.
(72.) Rob. Amer. B. II.
(73.) Herbert.
(74.) Dr. Mitchill.
(75.) Professor Ebelin||plist. Amer. (in German.)
(76.) Am. Biog. Vol. I. p. 56.
(77.) Ib.
£78.) And the birth of the British navy, " The Great Henry' having

VI NOTES.
been the first war ship built at the public expense. See Hume, VoUI'-
p. 428.
(79.) Third vol. Hume's Eng. p. 427. Some assert that Henry accept
ed the offer, and that Columbus' brother was detained on his return with an
invitation for Columbus, ib. Hence England was fairly entitled, in pre
ference to Spain, to the advantages of the discovery. (Pinkerton's Collec
tions, Vol. XII. p. 158.) But Bacon says Columbus sailed before his bro
ther laid the propositions before Henry, having, on his way to England,
been detained by pirates. Hist, of the reign of Henry VII. p. 18 9, Lon.
1629, by Right. Hon. Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount of St, Albans. .
(80.) Hakluyt.
(81.) Salmon in Modern Hist.
(82.) Salmon Mod. Hist. Vol. XXX. p. 392, and see Hackluyt, Vol.
III. p. 173.
(83.) Hakluyt Coll. of Voyages, &c. printed 1600, Vol. III. p. 60. See
the biographical sketch of Hakluyt and the character of his Collections in
Belknap's Amer. Biog. Vol. I. p. 408. " Hakluyt was a man of indefat
igable diligence and great integrity, much in favour of Queen Elizabeth's
ministry, and largely conversant with seamen. He published the 1st vol.
in 1589, and afterwards added two others, and reprinted the first in 1599 &
1600. He was born in Herefordshire, 1553, and died 1616, and his manu
scripts fell into the hands of Mr. Purchas. He had been Prebendary, of
Westminster, and lectured on Geog. in Oxford College.
(84.) Hakluyt, Vol.111, p. 5.
(85.) Ib.
(86.) Hackluyt, Vol. III. p. 10.
(87.) Smith, from Entic. See Smith's New- Jersey, p. 7.
(88.) Prince, cited in Benjamin Trumbull's Plea of Connecticut, title.
p. 68.
(89.) Hakluyt.
(90.) See Professor Ebeling's Hist. Amer.
(91.) The Pope's Bull is preserved by Purchas and Harris.
(92.) Account of European settlements in America, Vol. II. London
1760. (93. Ib.
(94.) J. Long's Voy. and Trav. p. 2. See VI. N. Amer. Review (n.
s.) p. 49, 50. '
(95.) In 1502 or 1512.
(96.) Acct. of European Sett, in Amer.
(97.) Sullivan's Hist, of the Dist. of Maine, p. 47, 48.
(98.) Abbe Raynal's Hist, of East and West Indies.
(99.) Charlevoiv, Forster, Belknap.
(100.) Hakluyt, X. N. Amer. Review, (n. sj p. 189. Vol. I Belknap's
Amer. Biog. 160-3. «¦> v

NOTES. VU
(101.) See Campbell's Pleasures of Hope, Robert Emmet's last
speech. (102.) Herrera. Purchas. See Hugh Williamson's North Caro. p.
12, 14. Trumbull's Plea of Connecticut, title, p. 68. North Amer. Rev.
p. 220. (103.) Acct. of Europ. sett, in Amer. Vol. II.
(104.) See ib.
(105.) Coligna, according to Mezeray, but Chastillon in Acct. of Eu
rop. Sett, in Amer. See Williamson's N. Caro.
(106.) Or Gorgeus in Acct. of Europ. Sett.
(107.) Task, B. II. line 206.
(108.) Walter Scott.
( 1 09. ) Beattie's Minstrel.
(110.) See the Lady of the Lake, Lay of the Last Minstrel:
" Breathes then the man with soul so dead,
" Who never to himself hath said,
" This is my own my native land?" &c.
(111.) Emerald Isle, by Ch. Phillips, Esq. See p. 52, 59, 63.
" Erin, dear by every tie," &c.
(112.) Hakluyt. Stith's Hist. Virginia.
(113.) Acct. of Europ. Sett, in Amer. Abbe Raynal's Brit. Sett in
Amer. (114.) See ib. and the Virginia Historians.
(115.) See Examination of Connecticut Claim, Phila. 1774.
(116.) Prince in Chronology, p. 4.
(117.) Hutchinson. Bloame.
(118.) See Abbe Raynal's Brit. Sett, in Amer. A. Holmes' Address be
fore Antiquarian Society, 1814. Trumbull's Plea, &c. p. 69. Belk. Amer.
Biog. Smith's Virginia.
(118.) The right of the Governor & Co. of Connecticut to lands within
their charter west of N. Y. anon, Hartford, 1773. Plea in vindication of
Connecticut, title by Benj. Trumble, New Haven, 1774, p. 4. Douglass'
Summary, Vol. I. .p. 115. See Neil, Vol. I. Hutchinson, Vol. I.
(120.) Acct: of Europ. Sett, in Amer. Vol. II. Card. Richelieu was
made prime minister 1629, Rees' Cyclo. Gen. Biog. Hist, of France.
(121.) Ib.
(122.) Collec. of Dutch E. India Co. translated from the Dutch, Lon
don, 1703.
(123.) Receuil des Voyages, &c. Tom. I. p. 55. trans. Pink. Collec.
Vol. I. p. 81.
(124.) Ib. and Anquetil's Univ. Hist. Vol. VIII. Acct. of Europ. Sett.
in Amer.
(125.) Acct: of Europ. Sett, in Amer. Pinkerton in Collect. Vol. I.
p. 538, says the idea of a northern passage was suggested in England (Bris.
tol) as early as 1527. We have seen that it arose in the days of the Cabot
thirty years previously.

VlUf NOTE'S.
(126.) Purchas, Vol. IV. p. 567. I. Belk. Am. Biog. 394.
(127.) Purchas in " Purchas his Pilgrimage," &c. (B. 8, c. 3, { 6,) says
that on this voyage " they met, as both Hudson and Iuet have testified, a
mermaid in the sea, seen by Thomas Hils and Robert Rainer." In " Pur
chas his Pilgrims," (Part IV. 575, and see I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 86,) con
taining the journal of the voyage written by Hudson, is this memorandum —
"June 15, lat. 75° 7', this morning one of our company looking overboard,
saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more
came up, and by that time she was come close to the ship side, looking
earnestly on the men. A little after a sea came and overturned her. From
the naval upward her back and breasts were like a woman ; (as they say
that saw her;) her body as big as one of us ; her skin very white ; and
long hair hanging down behind, of colour black. In her going down they
saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise, and speckled like a
mackerel. Their names that saw her were Thomas Hilles and Robert
Rayner." Whether the superstition of seamen in those days might not tranform in
fancy a sea otter into a mermaid, may be a question.
But it is singular that two years after in the island of St. Johns a simi
lar creature was said to have been seen. The account of her was circum
stantially minute, and is given in a very old and scarce book in the N. Y.
Hist. Library. It is in the conclusion of " A Discourse and Discovery of
Newfoundland," by Captain Richard Whitbowne, London, 1622. See also
Voyages to New England, London, 1674, and Holley & Bigelow's Amer.
Month. Magazine, Vol. II. p. 48.
(128.) That Hudson was in the Dutch East India service, and discover
ed in 1609, see Prince in Chronology, P. I. p. 23, who cites Harris. Pro
fessor Ebeling in Hist, of Amer. (viz. N. Y.) in ch. I. speaks of writers who
were almost contemporaneous, who declare this. Chalmers in Polit. Annals
(p. 595,) says historians have disregarded the only satisfactory evidence —
but though the discovery was under the Dutch, he doubts whether the states
were admitted into the community of nations, or so far recognised as inde
pendent, as to derive title by the discovery. See Post. See Belk. Amer.
Biog. Vol. I. p. 396-7. Bosnian's Maryland, so Biog Brit. art. Hudson.
Charlevoix, Forster, and others affirm he was in employ of Dutch. I.
Holmes' Amer. Annals, 137 n. Vol. V, Aikin's, Morgan's and Johnson's
Gen. Biog.
(129.) Oldmixon, (author of British Empire in America,) one whom
Smith cites, was the the weakest, most idle, and erroneous of historians.
See his gross and palpable blunders pointed out in Stith's Virginia, p. 33,
112. Col. Beverly's Hist of Virg. (Lond. 1722,) in preface. Belk. Am!
Biog. art. Hudson.
(130..) De Laet. Nieuw Wereldt. In the translation of portions of
De Laet's work we have been assisted by the Rev. John B. Romeyn of N.
Y. and those of Vander Donk's by Mr. Peter D. Vroom, of Raritan.

NOTES. IX
(131.) Thomson's Seasons.
Yageaho. Indian tradition. The following are the Indian accounts of a
remarkable, strange, and ferocious animal (or beast) which the natives say
existed in the northern parts of New-York about two centuries ago ; and
the manner in which it was conquered and killed.* The Jagisho (the Indian
name of the animal as it is pronounced in German) or Yagesho, (as it would
sound after the English pronunciation,) was an animal much superior to the
largest bear, remarkably long-bodied, broad down by its shoulders, but thin
or narrow just at its hind legs, (or where the body terminated.) It had a
large head and fearful look. Its legs were short and thick. Its paws (to
the toes of which were nails or claws, nearly as long as an Indian's finger)
spread very wide. It was almost bare of hair, except the head and on ths
hinder parts of its legs, in which places the hair was. very long. For this
reason the Indians gave it the name of" Naked Bear." Several of these
animals had been destroyed by the Indians, but the one of which the follow
ing account is given, had escaped them, and for years had from time to time
destroyed many Indians, particularly women and children when they were
out in the woods gathering nuts, digging roots, or at work in the fields.
Hunters, when overtaken by this animal, had no way of escaping, except
where a river or lake was at hand, by plunging into the same, and swim
ming out or down the stream to a great distance. When this was the case,
and the beast was not able to pursue further, then he would set up such a
roaring noise, that every Indian hearing it would tremble. This animal
preyed on every beast it could lay hold of. It would catch and kill the lar
gest bears, and devour them. While bears were plenty, the Indians had
not so much to dread from him, but that when this was not the case, it
would run about the woods, searching for the track or scent of hunters, and
follow them up. The women were so afraid of going out to work, that
the men assembled to deliberate on the manner (or plan) of killing him.
At or near a lake* whence the water flowed two ways (or has two different
outlets,) one on the northerly and the other on the southerly end,f this
beast had its residence, of which the Indians were well informed. A reso
lute party, well provided with bows, arrows, and spears, made toward the
lake. On a high perpendicular rock they stationed themselves, climbing
up this rock by means of Indian ladders, and then drawing these after them.
After being well fixed, and having taken up a number of stones, they began
to imitate the voices and cries of the various beasts of the woods, and even
that of children, in order to decoy him thither. Having spent some days
without success, a detached party took a stroll to some distance from the
rock. Before they had reached the rock again this beast had got the scent
of them, and was in full pursuit of them, yet they reached the rock before
he arrived. When he came to the rock he was in great anger, sprung
* S. of Mr. Heckewelder, dated 1 SOI .
t Toil lake they called " Hoosrink." (Hoss is a kettle ; Hoosiiok, at the kiltie.)
Vol. I. B

X NOTES.
against the same with his mouth wide open, grimming and seizing the same
as if be would tear it to pieces. He had several times sprung nearly up.
During all this time numbers of arrows and stones were discharged at him .
and until he dropped down and expired. His head being cut off, it was car
ried in triumph to their village (or settlement) on the North River, and
there set up on a pole for view ; and the report spreading among the neigh
bouring tribes, numbers came to view the same, and to exalt the victorious
for this warlike deed. The Mahicanni claim the honour of this act.
(132.) The authorities upon which this story rests, and upon which we
rely, are Purchas, Forster, Pinkerton, (in Collec.,) Belknap, (in Biog.)
Hudson himself, (so far as his abstract goes,) Abacuck Pricket's narrative,
(one of the survivers,) and Thomas Wydouze, (one of those that shared.
Hudson's fate, but whose brief account was found in his desk,) and some
other authorities. The last three are reprinted in Vol. I. of N. Y. Hi6t.
Coll. p. 146 to 188. Purchas derived part of his account from the MSS. of
Hakluyt from the information of Diggs,'one of the company who engaged
Hudson, Forster, in part from Pricket, partly from Fox, a contemporary
of the latter, &c. All the accounts are compared and arranged in a man
ner which aims to preserve the verity, connexion, and interest of the story.
(133.) Purchas his Pilgrimage, &c. B. VIII. c. 3, { 6. Aikin's, Mor
gan's, and Johnson's Gen. Biog. Vol. V.
(134.) Hudson's Journal.
(135.) Purchas' ib.
(136.) Wydouse's note dated at Iceland, May 30, 1610. He was the
mathematician who accompanied Hudson and shared bis fate.
(137.) Seeib.
(138) Pricket. Purchas. Wydouse
(139.) Wydouse.
(140.) Pricket. Hudson's Journal.
(141.) Says Pricket, an eye-witness.''
(142.) Some were of one mind, some of another. Some " wished them
selves at home," others not caring where, so that they were out of theice."
There was one who told the master that "if hee had an hundred pounds, hee
would give four-score and ten to be at home ;" but the carpenter made an
swer that " if he had an hundred, he would not'give ten upon any such con
dition, but would thinke it to be as good money as ever he had any, and to
bring it as well home, by the leave of God." — Pricket.
(143.) According to his journal, but "Nova Britannia" was the name
which Aikin, Morgan, and Johnson, (in Gen. Biog. Vol. V.) say was "iven
to the coast of Labrador.
(144.) Pricket.
(145.) Ib.
(146.) Viz. Thomas Wydhouse."
(147.) Dr. Forster says the young shoots, called in America the buds
af the spruce fir, {Pinus Mariana and Pinus Camdetisis) are also a remedy

NOTES. XI
for the scurvy. Purchas, speaking of the supposed Tacamahaca tree, says,
" the tree blossomed in December, with leaves greene and yellow of an aro-
maticall savour, and being boyled, yeelded an oyly substance, which proved
an excellent salve, and the decoction being drunke, proved a wholesome
potion, whereby they were cured of scorbute, sciaticas, cramps, convulsions,
and other diseases, which the coldnesse of the clymates bred in them."
(148.) Tliis man's name was Colburn.
(149.) If we are to give creditto Pricket, " for the devil (says he) out
of this so wrought with Green, that hee did the master what mischiefe hee
could in seeking to discredit him, and to thrust him and many other honest
men out of the ship in the end."
(150.) Which Forster thinks was a kind of tang, or rock-weed, perhaps
the Fucus Saceharinus.
(151.) One Abacuck Pricket (a servant of Sir Dudley Diggs,
whom the mutineers had saved, in hope to procure his master to worke their
pardon,) was left to keepe the shallop, where he sate in a gowne, sicke and
lame, at the sterne, upon whom, at the instant of the ambush, the leader of
all the savages leapt from a rocke,*ftnd with a strange kinde of weapon,
(such as they use in Java) indented, broad, andsharpe, of bright Steele, riv
eted into a handle of moose tooth, gave him divers cruell wounds, before he
could from under his gowne draw a small Scottish dagger, wherewith at
one thrust into his side, hee killed this savage, and brought him off with the
boate." — Purchas.
(152.) Purchas.
(153.) John Weymouth.
(154.) Capt. Taylor.'
(155.) Txhe statement of Habakuk Pricket that Hudson's ship had been
heaved off Digg's Island by a high tide from the westward, induced a belief
that in the western coast of Hudson's Bay there was a strait through which
the tide came. Humanity demandd that if the unfortunate Hudson and
his companions were alive, they should be rescued from the dreadful state
of misery into which they had been plunged by the most hardened of vil
lains. The society, therefore, fitted two ships, named the Resolution and
the Discovery,* (the latter being the one Hudson commanded. Habakuk
Pricket was in this expedition. They reached Diggs's Island, staid eight
days, wintered in the Bay, made discoveries, and gave names to several
islands, and returned to England in the Autumn of 1613, without effecting
either object of their search. (Forster, 344-7.
The Discovery performed five voyages to the north, the two last in 1615
and 1616, were under the command of Robert Bylot, who was one of the
survivers of Hudson, and were all under the same society, composed of
Smith, Diggs, Wolstenhome, Alderman Jones, and others. The ill success
of these voyages discouraged this enlerprising society, and for a long time
extinguished the British spirit of northern adventure.
* The very natnes also of Cook' ships in bis last unfortunate voyage

HISTORY

THE STATE OF NEW-YORK.

PART I.
§1.
America became distinguished as the New World, at that
auspicious period in the annals of modern Europe, which suc
ceeded the knowledge of paper, printing, and the compass. The
dark ages had vanished. Ere the dawn of this event in those
countries which now hold in Europe the balance of power,
and maintain the dominion of letters ; literature and science
had displayed, in those vast regions which submitted to the yoke
of Islamism, a brilliant light, from the ninth to the fourteenth
century. The diversified character of this splendid era, and
its remote influence upon the revival of European learning
and the discovery of America, do not fall within the scope of
our design, or we might show, that under the auspices of
Haroun al Raschid, celebrated for his protection of letters,
and of Al Mafnoun,* the true father of Arabic literature, who
esteemed the literary relics of his conquered countries, as the
most precious tribute that could be brought to the foot of his
throne, and whose court appeared more like a learned acade
my, than the centre of government, Bagdad became the capital
of letters, as well as of the caliphs, and the sciences pervaded
the very extremities of their wide-spread empire. We might
* As to Arabian literature, see Historical View of the Literature of the
South of Europe, by J. C. L. Sismonde de Sismondi, translated by Tho
mas Roscoe, Esq. Lond. 1 823 and 4. Vol. I. ch. 2.
Vol. I. 2

10 First Discoverers. [Part I.
show, that paper, originally from China, the want of which
kept Europe in ignorance, from the seventh to the tenth cen
tury, was manufactured in Arabia, in the beginning of the
eighth; that the compass, the invention of which has been
given to the Italians and the French (1) in the thirteenth or
beginning of the fourteenth century, was known to the Ara
bians in the eleventh. (2)
Spain, a provincial part of Arabian dominion, was espe
cially the seat of Arabian learning. Cordova, Grenada, Se
ville, and all the cities of the Peninsula, rivalled each other in
the magnificence of their schools, academies, colleges, and
libraries. The town of Stativa (now San Philippo) was re
nowned from the twelfth century, for its beautiful manufac
tures of paper. In the fourteenth, the invention passed to
Trevisa and Padua. The knowledge of the compass was also
early introduced into Spain. Indeed, the geographer of Nu
bia, who wrote in the twelfth century, speaks of it as an in
strument universally employed. (3)
Although the sun of science rose in the East, and first illu
mined Spain through the cloud that enshrouded Europe;
although that power, preceded by Portugal, took the lead in
the discoveries of the fifteenth century ; yet for Italy, whose
cities had been pre-eminent in maritime enterprise, from the
period of the crusades, (4) was reserved the glorious distinc
tion of appearing most efficient in the revival of that peculiar
learning, and the birth of that personal enterprise, which were
to meliorate the condition of surrounding kingdoms, and be
come the pioneer to an unexampled exploration into this con
tinent. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, Dante, by an
effort of his mighty genius, erected the first monument to the
revival of European literature. Petrarch* followed, and
their writings imparted to their age the first impulse to the

(1)> (2),. (3), &c. refer to Notes at the end of the volume.
¦*• As to Italian literature, see Roscoe's Sismondi, vol. II. Dobson's Life
oi Petrarch.

§ 1.] First Discoverers. I]
resuscitation of the classics. In the middle of the succeeding
century, the ruin of the Eastern empire by the Turks*
caused the expulsion from its capital of Greeks, eminent
for learning and accomplishments. Italy, their asylum, now
became the seat of science, as well as of the Muses. Emanci
pated from the terrors of reckless power ; possessing, in the
newly discovered art of printing, f an unexampled facility for
the dissemination of knowledge ; receiving a patronage ia the
munificence of the Medici, J unsurpassed for liberality, except
during the golden era of Arabic literature ; the votaries of
science now presented Italy, in the sublime light of a country
where the genius of the world had^revisited the tombs of her
favourite children, to impart to mankind, by the inspiration of
her pilgrimage, the benefits of their long-forgotten labours.
Europe consequently beheld a new race of men, vigorous in
philosophy ; enthusiastic in the cultivation of the fine arts ;
comprehensive in national policy ; inventive, daring, and ex
cursive in enterprise. But her most splendid and powerful
kingdoms were compelled to seek in Italy that adventurous
genius, which could direct their energies into those unexplored
paths, which led to national opulence and grandeur. Italy,
therefore, enjoyed the proud satisfaction of ranking among her
sons, and of surrendering to the service of Spain, Christopher
Colon (or Columbus) and Vespucci Amerigo ; to England, the
Cabots -t and to France, Verrazano. Christopher Columbus
was. a Genoese ; Vespucius Americus and John de Verrazzano
were Florentines ; and John and Sebastian Cabota, Vene
tians. The discoveries of these celebrated men were made within a
period of thirty-two years. The first voyage of Columbus
was in 1492 ; Americus and the Cabots, in 1497 ; and Verra
zano, in 1524. In 1502, the discovery also of Florida by a Spa
niard, became the foundation of the claim of Spain to Virgi-

* See Hume's England, vol. Ill-, p. 4&8.
f In 1440.
| See Roscoe's Lorenzo de Medici.

12 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
nia ; though the prior bull of Pope Alexander VII. (in 1493)
dividing the new world between Portugal and Spain, formed
the basis of the claims of the latter to North America.
Resulting from these discoveries, particularly from those
of the southern portion of this continent by Columbus, and
almost simultaneously of the northern by the Cabots, four
questions have been agitated by the learned world, with more
or less warmth, extravagance, and pertinacity, as national
interest, national vanity, or literary pride predominated :
First, By what means was America originally peopled f
Secondly, Was America known to Europe before Colum
bus ?
Thirdly, Who first explored the North American coasts,
and discovered those and the harbours of New-York ?
Fourthly, What principle of international law should inter
changeably govern the powers of Europe in their partition of
this continent, and regulate them in respect to the rights of its
original proprietors or native occupants ?
Conclusive answers to the first three are desiderata. The
last was settled partially from necessity, by the majority of
the partitioning powers. Adopting these questions, more for
the purposes of a general division of the present part of the
history, than of minute discussion, we shall, in the course of
their examination, embrace topics not strictly applicable to
the general inquiry. The second and third questions will in
some measure fall within the first. The first and second will
be examined principally to illustrate the inquiry, whence ori
ginated the artificial remains of antiquity and the aborigines
of this State. The third and fourth will embrace a retrospect
tion of those early voyages to the harbours and coasts of this
State, the policy that prompted them, and the principles of
European policy which evolved a disputed claim to the first
discovery of this State, a conflicting European title to its ter
ritory, and local colonial disputes respecting its boundary and
jurisdictional limits.

§2.] Various Hypotheses. — Antiquities of New-York. 18
First. By what means was America originally peopled ?
The controversy from the discussion of this question, which
for nearly three centuries has elicited the talents of writers in
almost every tongue and nation, is too diffuse to admit, in its
present application, more than a condensed sketch of the va
rious hypotheses of the learned. The question involves a
problem, the solution of which (if solvable) must become the
result of a more profound philosophy than has yet been dis
played upon it. And still, analysis might be tasked for a Lin-
nse&n classification of the multifarious theories which have
confounded the subject. Some authors have deduced the an
cestors of the Americans from Europe, and fancied that they
had discovered them among the Grecians, the Romans, the
Spaniards, the Irish, the Welsh, the Courlanders, or the Rus
sians. Others have traced them to Asia, alternately to the
Israelites, Canaanites, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Persians, Tar
tars, East Indians, Chinese, Japanese ; each of which nations
has had its advocates among philosophers and historians. A
third species of writers look to Africa as the original cradle of
the American race, and make them the descendants of the
Egyptians, Carthaginians, or Numidians ; while a fourth be
lieve the Americans to have been descendants of all the na
tions in the world. (5)
Before we enter into any investigation of these theories, a
delineation of the antiquities of this state, and sketches of the
traditions of its aboriginal people, might become an interest
ing preliminary in the development of the main question.
With regard to the former, we shall confine ourselves to that
class of our antiquities which comprise the monumental re
mains of a people who once were, but are not.
In Pompey, Onondaga county, are vestiges of a town, the
area of which includes more than five hundred acres. It was
protected by three circular or elliptical forts, eight miles distant

14 Origin of the Aborigines, and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
from each other. They formed a triangle that enclosed the
town. From certain indications, this town seems to have been
stormed and taken on the line of the north side * In Camillus,
in the same county, are the remains of two forts, one covering
about three acres, on a very high hill. It had one eastern
.gate, and a communication at the west, towards a spring
iibout ten rods from the fort. Its shape was elliptical. The
'ditch was deep, and the eastern wall ten feet high. The other
fort is almost half a mile distant, on lower ground, constructed
like the other, and about half as large. Shells of testaceous
animals, numerous fragments of pottery, pieces of brick, and
other signs of an ancient settlement, were found by the first
European settlers.f
The remnant of the ancient Indian defence on the east bank
of Seneca river, six miles south of Cross and Salt lakes, and
forty miles south of the fort of Oswego, was discovered as
early as 1791, and described in the New-York Magazine of
1792, together with a delineation of ill-shapen figures, sup
posed to have been hieroglyphicak. and engraved as with a
chisel, on a flat stone, five feet in length, three and a half feet
in breadth, and six inches thick ; evidently a sepulchral mo
nument. The principal fortification was described to be two
hundred and twenty yards in length, and fifty-five yards in
breadth. The bank and corresponding ditch were remarka
bly entire ; as were two apertures, opposite each other in the
middle of the parallelogram, one opening to the water, and
the other facing the forest. About half a mile south of the
greater work, was a large half-moon, supposed to have been
an outwork, but attended with this singularity, that the extre
mities of the crescent were from the larger fort. The banks
and ditch, both of this and the first fortress, were covered
with trees that exhibited extremity of age.

* See Memoir on the Antiquities of the western parts of New- York. By
De Witt Clinton, President of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
New-York. 1.817.
f See Memoir, &c. ih.

§ 2 .] Antiquities of New- York. 1 &
Tfie flat stone before mentioned was found over a small ele
vation in the great fort. Upon removing it, one of the visiting
party dug up with his cane a piece of earthen vessel, which, from
the convexity of the fragment, he supposed might contain two
gallons : it was well burned, of a red Colour, and had its upper
edge indented, as with the finger, in its impressionable state.
These remains were considered as unequalled, perhaps even
by the celebrated vestiges at Muskingum.*
Eastward these fortifications haye been traced eighteen
miles east of Manlius Square, and in Oxford, Chenango
county, on the east bank of Chenango, are the remains of an
other fort, remarkable for its great antiquity ; northward, as
far as Sandy Creek, about fourteen miles from Sacket's Har
bour, near which one covers fifty acres, and contains nume
rous fragments of pottery. Westward, they are discovered in
great number. There is a large one in the town of Onondaga,
one in Scipio, two near Auburn, three near Canandaigua, and
several between Seneca and Cayuga lakes.
In Ridgeway, Genesee county, several ancient fortifications
and burial places have been discovered. f
The late Reverend Samuel Kirkland, J during his missionary
tour in 1788 to the Senecas' country, visited and described
several Of these remains west of the Genesee river. The first,
from his description, he found about two miles west of Allen's
residence, which was on an extensive flat, at a deserted Indian
village near the junction of a creek (probably Allen's creek)
with the Genesee, eight miles north of the old Indian village
of Kanawageas, and five north of the magic spring, so deno-

* New- York Magazine, or Literary Repository, vol. IV. p. 23. See a
view of those of Muskingum, in ib. vol. II. p. 555.
f See Memoir, &c. by De Witt Clinton.
\ Whose manuscripts are loaned to us through the favour of his son.
President Kirkland, of Harvard University. They comprise much histo
rical incident in relation to the Six Nations; the late Rev. Mr. Kirkland
having for more than thirty years performed missionary tours to the Onei-
das and others of the Iroquois Confederacy, in behalf of the Society of
Scotland, and Corporation of Harvard University.

1G Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
minated by the Indians.* That ancient Indian fort enclosed
about six acres, and had six gates. The ditch appeared to be
eight feet wide, and in some places six feet deep, and drawn
in a circular form on three sides. The fourth side was defended
by nature with a high bank, at the foot of which is a fine
stream of water. The bank had probably been secured by a
stockade, as there appeared to have been a deep covered way
in the middle of it down to the water. Some of the trees on the
bank and in the ditch appeared to Mr. Kirkland to have been of
the age of two hundred years. About half a mile south of this,
and upon a greater eminence, he traced the ruins of another
old fortified, town, of less dimensions than the other, but with
a deeper ditch, and in a situation more lofty and defensible.
Having examined these fortifications, Mr. Kirkland returned
to Kanawageas, and thence renewed his tour westward until
he encamped for the night at a place called Jodika, (i. e. Ra
coon,) on the river Tanawande, about twenty-six miles from
Kanawageas. Six miles from this pjace of encampment, he
rode to the open fields, and arrived at a place called by
the Senecas, Tegataineaaghgwe, which imports a double-for
tified town, or a town with a fort at each end. Here he walked
about half a mile with one of the Seneca chiefs, to view one
of the vestiges of this double-fortified town. They were the
remains of two forts. The first which he visited, as above,
contained about four acres of ground. The other to which he
proceeded, distant from this about two miles, and situated at
the other extremity of the ancient town, enclosed twice that
quantity of ground. The ditch around the former, which he
particularly examined, was about five or six feet deep. A
small stream of water, and a high bank, circumscribed

* Its water was said to petrify almost every thing that obstructed its current.
A pagan tradition prevailed, of an evil spirit having resided here in former
limes, bellowing witn a horrid noise, and ejecting bails of liquid fire. The
spring emptied into the Genesee, and its fountain was about three miles
north of Kanawageas. Rev. Mr. K.'s MS- As to Allen's residence, see
Seaver's Narrative of the Life of a Female Captive, &c. printed at Canandai-
gua, 1824, by J. D. Bemis k Co. ch. 8. Allen's creek, formerly « Gin-i*-

§ 2.] Antiquities of New-York. 17
nearly one-third of the enclosed ground. There were the
traces of six gates or avenues round the ditch, and near the
centre a way was dug to the water. The ground on the opposite
side of the water was in some places nearly as high as that on
which the fort was built, which might render this covered way
to the water necessary. A considerable number of large
thrifty oaks had grown up within the enclosed ground, both in
and upon the ditch ; some of them appeared to be at least two
hundred years old, or more. The ground is of a hard gravelly
kind, intermixed with loam, and more plentifully at the brow
of the hill. In some places at the bottom of the ditch, Mr.
Kirkland ran his cane a foot or more into the ground, from
which circumstance he concluded that the ditch was much
deeper in its original state than it then appeared to him. Near
the northern fortification, which was situated on high ground,
he found the remains of a funeral pile, where the slain were
buried in a great battle, which will be spoken of hereafter.
The earth was raised about six feet above the common sur
face, and betwixt twenty and thirty feet diameter. The bones
appeared on the whole surface of the raised earth, and stuck
out in many places on the sides. Pursuing his course towards
Buffalo creek, (his ultimate destination,) Mr. Kirkland disco
vered the vestiges of another ancient fortified town. He does
not in his manuscript delineate them ; but from the course he de
scribed, they might be easily ascertained. "Upon theseheights,
near the ancient fortified town, the roads part ; we left the
¦ path leading to Niagara on our right, and went a course
nearly south-west for Buffalo creek. After leaving these
heights, which afforded an extensive prospect, we travelled
over a fine tract of land for about six or seven miles ; then came
to a barren white oak shrub plain, and one very remarkable
spot of near two hundred acres, and passed a steep hill on our
right in some placesjnear fifty feet perpendicular, at the bottom of
which is a small lake, affording another instance of pagan su
perstition. The old Indians affirm, that formerly a demon in
the form of a dragon resided in this lake, and had frequently
been seen to disgorge balls of liquid fire ; and that to appease
Vol. I. S

18 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I-
his wrath, many a sacrifice of tobacco had been made at that
lake by the fathers. The barren spot above mentioned is covered
with small white stone, that appears like lime and clay ; in
some spots, for a considerable distance, there is no appearance
of earth. Notwithstanding its extreme poverty, there are
many trees of moderate size. At the extremity of this barren
plain, we came again to the Tanawande river, and forded
it about two miles above the Indian town called by that name.
This village contains fourteen houses, or huts. Their chief
is called Gashagaate, nicknamed the Black Chief. On the
south side of the Tanawande creek, at a small distance, are
to be, seen the vestiges of another ancient fortified town.
Mr. Kirkland further remarks, that there are vestiges of an
cient fortified towns in various parts throughout the extensive
territory of the Six Nations, and by Indian report in various
other parts ; particularly one on a branch of the Delaware
river, which from the size and age of some of the trees that
have grown upon the banks and in the ditches, appears to
have existed nearly one thousand years.*
On the south side of Lake Erie, are a series of old fortifi
cations, from Cattaragus creek to the Pennsylvania line, a dis
tance of fifty miles. Some are from two to four miles apart,
others half a mile only. Some contain five acres. The walls
or breastworks are of earth, and are generally on ground
where there are appearances of creeks having once flowed
into the lake, or where there was a bay. Hence it is in
ferred that these works were on the former margin of Lake
Erie, whence it has retreated from two to five miles north
ward. Further south, there is said to be another chain paral
lel with the first, about equidistant from the lake. Here the
country exhibits two table grounds, formed by the recession of
the lake. The one nearest the lake is lower, and is secondary.
The primary alluvial ground was formed by the first retreat of
the water, and then it is supposed the most southern line of fortifi
cations was erected. In process of time, the lake receded further
to the north, leaving the other section of table land, on which the

¦' Mr. Kirkland's MS.

§ 2. J Antiquities of Neiu-York. 19
other tier of works was made. The soil on each is different,
the inferior being adapted for grass, the superior for grain ;
and the timber varies in a correspondent manner. On the
south of Lake Ontario, are two alluvial formations, of which
the most recent is north of the ridge road. No forts have
been discovered on it, although many have been observed
south of the mountain ridge. The non-existence of forts on
the secondary or primary alluvial formations of Lake Onta
rio, is a strong circumstance, from which the remote antiquity
of those on the highlands to the south may be deduced ; be
cause, if they had been erected after the first or last retreat of
the lake, they would undoubtedly have been made on them as
most convenient, and best adapted for all military, civil, and
domestic purposes.*
These remains of art may be viewed as connecting links of
a great chain, which extends beyond the confines of our state,
and becomes more magnificent and curious as we recede from
the northern lakes, pass through Ohio into the great vale of
the Mississippi, thence to the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas
into New Mexico and South America. In this vast range of
more than three thousand miles, these monuments of ancient
skill gradually become more remarkable for their number,
magnitude, and interesting variety, until we are lost in admira
tion and astonishment, to find, as Baron Humboldt informs
us,f in a world which we call new, ancient institutions, religious
ideas, and forms of edifices, similar to those of Asia, which
there seem to go back to the dawn of civilization.
Over the great secondary region of the Ohio, are the ruins
of what once were forts, cemetaries, temples, altars, camps,
towns, villages, race-grounds and other places of amusement,
habitations of chieftains, videttes, watch-towers, and monu
ments.

* See Memoir, &c. by De Witt Clinton.
f Des. of the Monuments in Amer. in Intro; See Abbe Clavigero's
Hist, of Mexico; also, Description of the ruins of an ancient City in South
America, and a critical research into the Hist, of Amer. — by Doct. Cab
rera, Lond. 1822.

'20 Origin of the Aborigines cmd-ancient Ruins. [Part 1.
It is, says Mr. Atwater,* nothing but one vast cemetery of
the beings of past ages. Man and his works, the mammoth,
tropical animals, the cassia tree and other tropical plants, are
here reposing together in the same formation. By what ca
tastrophe they were overwhelmed and buried in the same strata,
it would be impossible to say, unless it was by that of the ge
neral deluge.
In the valley of the Mississippi, the monuments of buried
nations are unsurpassed in magnitude and melancholy gran
deur by any in North America. Here cities have been traced,
similar to those of ancient Mexico, once containing hundreds
of thousands of souls. Here are to be seen thousands of tu
muli, some a hundred feet high, others many hundred feet in
circumference, the places of their sepulchre, their worship, and
perhaps of their defence.f Similar mounds are scattered
throughout the continent, from the shores of tke Pacific into
the interior of our state, as far as Black river, and from the
lakes to South America. £
There is one class of antiquities which present themselves
on digging from thirty to fifty feet below the surface of the
ground. (7) They occur in the form of firebrands, split wood,
ashes, coals, and occasionally tools aud utensils, buried to
these depths by the alluvion. They have been observed (as

* See Atwater's Antiquities of the West, in vol. I. Archreologia Ameri
cana, p. 121. and Pref. p. 5.
f The flying Scythian when asked by his victorious pursuer, where he
would pitch battle ? replied, upon the burial places of his ancestors. These
were the common ancestors also of the authors of the above works, accord
ing to one of the hypotheses hereafter mentioned.
t For particular accounts of these antiquities, see vol. I. Archse. Amer.
or Transactions of the Amer. Antiquarian Soc. Worcester, 1822. Hum
boldt's Monuments, Clavigero's Mexico, &c. Bullock's Mexico, Lond
1824. p. 296. 326. Mexican Pyramids. See 7 v. N. Am. Rev. (new series)
1 4. Brackenridge's Views of Louisiana. Drake's Picture of Cincinnati.
Jefferson's Notes on Virg. Bishop Madison, in vol. VI. Transac. of Amen
Philo. Soc. Dr. M'Culloh's Researches on Amer. Bait. 1817. Henry's
Travels. Description of the Ruins of an ancient City in South America
Mounds in Indiana, vol. VI. North Am. Rev. 137.

§,2.] Authors of the Antiquities. 21
Dr. Mitchill says he was informed) in Rhode Island, New-
Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, and elsewhere.
When facts of this description, so curious for the inquisitive
geologist and historian, shall have been collected and metho
dised, light may possibly be shed upon the remote Pelasgians,
and upon the traditionary Atlantides.(8)
Philosophers and antiquaries concur in opinion, that these
remains of art evince the remote existence of nations far more
civilised than the indigenes of the present race ; than, at least,
of any known tribes of North America.
The antiquities of this state are, in the opinion of Mr. Clin-
ton,(9) demonstrative evidence of the existence of a vast
population settled in towns, defended by forts, cultivating
. agriculture, and more advanced in civilization than the nations
which have inhabited the same countries since the European
discovery. It is in reference to the stupendous and curious works of
art, and not to mere mounds, that this coincidence in opinion
appears. Mounds may indicate a race different indeed from
the present, without evidencing any extraordinary advance
ment in improvement. Serving as sepulchres and altars,
whereon the officiating priests could be seen by the surround
ing worshippers, they might be traced from Wales, across the
Russian empire, to our continent, and from the shores of the
Pacific to the eastern end of lake Ontario. (10) They pre
sent, says Dr. Clarke after describing those of Russia,* " the
simplest and sublimest monuments which any generation could
raise over the bodies of their progenitors, calculated for almost
endless duration, and speaking a language more impressive
than the most studied epitaph upon Parian marble. When
beheld in a distant evening's horizon, skirted by the rays of
the setting sun, and touching, as it were, the clouds which hang
over them, imagination pictures the spirits of heroes of re
moter periods descending to irradiate the warrior's grave.
These are the sepulchres of the ancient world, common to al-
* Clarke's Travels in Russia, Tartary, and Turkey.

22 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
most every habitable country. If there exists any thing of
former times, which may afford monuments of antideluvian
manners, it is this mode of burial. They seem to mark the
progress of population in the first ages after the dispersion,
rising wherever the posterity of Noah came. Whether under
the form of a mound in Scandinavia and Russia, a barrow in
England, a cairn in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or those
heaps which the modern Greeks and Turks call tepe, or in the
more artificial shape of a pyramid inJEgypt, they had univer
sally the same origin."
§3.
The inquiries now arise : — Who erected these Works ? •
Whence originated these wonderful people ? Were they the
primitive ancestors of the indigenes of our state ? What is
the story of their first migration and settlements ; their pro
gress from rudeness to comparative refinement; their retro
gression into barbarism ? What terrible disasters precipitated
their ruin, exterminated their national existence, and blotted
out their name, perhaps for ever ? In reply — while there are
a few remnants of tradition to guide inquiry, and volumes of
conjectures to bewilder, not one authentic record remains of
even the name of any of these populous and powerful na
tions. In the revolutions of other people, in the downfall of other
empires, relics are found, spots visited, architectural ruins
traced, which history, or poetry, or mythological fable has
identified with the fame and fate of the nation, or of some
hero, statesman, philosopher, poet, orator, or artist, who was
its ornament, and who reflected glory upon the age in which
he flourished.
The classic remains of Greece and Italy, the venerable re
lics of Carthagenian and Egyptian antiquity, the spot where
Ilium towered, and the ground over which were strewed the
ruins of Asia Minor, are associated with reminiscences pain
fully pleasing, but memorably instructive and impressive—

§2.] Authors of the Antiquities — Traditions. 23
" The places where Demosthenes and Cicero spoke, where
Homer and Virgil sang, and where Plato and Aristotle taught,"
are now indeed the mementos only of the perishable nature of
human glory. But even these are beheld with a melancholy
satisfaction, because they are identified as the hallowed spots
which genius and science had thus consecrated. " A market
for cattle is erected on the site of the ancient Roman forum ;
the semi-barbarous girls of Albania, instead of the Muses and
Graces, surround the once sacred fountain of Castalia ; and
banditti prowl among the laurel groves and deified heights of
Parnassus."* History and the Muse associate, however, with
these degrading truths the most delightful recollections. The
pain of the contrast becomes relieved by an effort of the ima
gination ; and sympathy subdues the feelings to an intense but
salutary train of reflections.
But who can trace amid the ruins of the temples, and
groves, and fortifications, and once flourishing seats of the abo
rigines, the rise, progress, and decline of a single nation, tribe,
or once celebrated individual, as distinguishable from the com
mon mass of millions, who have been swallowed into the abyss
of successive ages ? Where are their sages, their heroes, their
politicians, their orators, their poets, their artists, their histo
rians ? All, all are covered by a pall, and invested with a
sleep, more impenetrable and profound than the total darkness
and deep slumber of the middle ages !
Whatever has survived in the shape^of tradition, deserves to
be recorded.
If, in the course of our history it will appear, that through
out the eventful revolutions of this state, during the Dutch,
English, and independent administrations of its affairs, prin
ciples of justice pervaded the treaties that extinguished the
title of the former native proprietors to the soil we occupy,
still we owe to their memory a debt of gratitude, and to their
few and degraded descendants an act of justice, which should
* See Dis. before the N. Y. Alpha of (the Phi Beta Kappa, by De Witt
Clinton, LL.D. p. 7, and authorities there cited.

24 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
prompt us to keep alive the traditions and just celebrity of the
former, before our own intercourse introduced the causes that
have led us to feel too much contempt for the latter.
A concise history, therefore, of the celebrated Iroquois con
federacy, and of the Lenni Lenape (or Delawares,) so far as
they owned, flourished, or declined, within the ancient territo
rial boundaries of the state, will hereafter embrace an inter
esting epocha. Their traditions, respecting their ancestral
origin and the monumental remains of antique art, form the se
cond portion of the preliminary matter to the main question.

§4.
The nations of the old continents have their fabulous gene
alogical traditions, analogous to which are those of our abo
riginal descendants. All barbarous or semi-savage nations
whose origin was obscure in fact, or has been rendered so by
lapse of time, have ever manifested this fabulous inclination.
It is the refuge of national pride, or it may be founded in
those constituents of human nature which delight to revel
in mystery, which are curious to pry into the secrets of ex
istence, to discover, if possible, an intimate relationship be
tween what is visible and invisible, and to enjoy at least, as
an equivalent for disappointed curiosity, the conscious pride of
superior penetration over vulgar perception. In giving to
genealogical fiction the impress of a celestial or heroic an
tiquity, state policy has sometimes consulted national vanity,
mystical priesthood has often Wrought upon blind superstition,
and ignorance has combined with both to render credulity in
vulnerable. The Chinese.extended their chronology 6f princes to the
great Fo-hi, centuries before the flood. (11) Like the Trojan
iEneas, he was made the son of a goddess. While walking
on the bank of a river, she was encircled by a rainbow, and
after twelve years she gave birth to that head of the Chinese
race. But Confucius acknowledges that for want of evi-

§ 4.] Traditions. 2.5
dence, he could give no certain account of his nation beyond
three thousand years. This carries their history near the
birth of Noah. He has used around number, which is not quite
correct ; for Noah was born 2500 years before the age of
Confucius, and there are reasons for believing that about
one hundred and fifty years after the flood, he removed
from Persia to China, of which he became the first patriarch
or emperor. (12) All pretensions to anterior antiquity
originate iu national' vanity. The Egyptians also pre
tended to a divine race of princes, who were succeeded by a
race of mortals. Herodotus was informed by their priests,
that from the age of Menes, the first of mortal kings, to Sethos,
who died about 2480 years ago, there had been a regular
succession of princes, who reigned in all about eleven thou
sand three hundred and six years ; and during this long dy
nasty the sun rose twice in the west and set in the east ! Yet
those priests could not tell when or by whom their pyramids
were built, nor give any credible account of Sesostris, one of
the greatest of their kings ! The Hindoos outstrip all nations
in this race of antiquity. They pretend that their sacred
book, containing the institutes of civil and religious duties,
was received from the Supreme Being himself, by a subordi
nate divine being, about one thousand nine hundred and sixty
millions of years ago! From another divine being of the
same rank, there descended two races of kings, called children
of the sun and children of the moon, who reigned in different
parts of India about three millions of years. An ancient his
torian, whose ancestors were the Goths who had been driven
from their country by the Huns when they passed from Asia
into Europe, speaking of the Huns, says, — that a certain
Gothic king, removing from Scandinavia into Sarmatia in
Asia, discovered that among his subjects were many witches.
He banished them into a wilderness at a considerable distance.
Evil spirits that inhabited the desert fell in love with those
witches, by whom they had children : and these were the an
cestors of the Huns. (13)
Vol,. I. 4

26 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part 1.
Some nations pride themselves in being Autochthoni. The
Grecians boasted that they sprung from the earth. The In- •
dians of the nine Mandan villages, whom Lewis and Clark
visited,* deduce their origin from a subterraneous -village
near a subterraneous lake, through which, they believe, the
good only will return and rejoin their subterranean ancestors.
Their progenitors, they say, saw the light of this world through
the apertures of a grape-vine, whose roots reached to their
nether abode. The boldest, climbing up the vine, were struck
with the beauty of this upper world, plucked some grapes and
descended. The whole nation then resolved to exchange
their dreary habitation for a brighter. Accordingly, about
half of them had ascended, when a corpulent woman, who
was clambering up the vine, broke it by her weight, and thus
shut out the light and the way from the rest of the nation.
Those who had gained the earth, settled where the Mandan
villages are located. Instances of similar absurdity might be
multiplied.f The whole human family, and every living
thing, according to some Indian traditions, sprang like vege
tables out of the earth, many hundred snows ago. (14) In
this opinion, (which is as old as Epicurus and Lucretius, that
men sprung like seedless plants, being engendered by moisture
and heat,) the French advocates of one of the hypotheses
hereafter mentioned as to the origin of the aborigines, might
find encouragement. Even Lord Monboddo, in his attempt
to identify his progenitors with monkeys, might have received
the sanction of some of the western Indians. J
The national pride which animated the Grecians, affected
to despise any genealogy except that which made their
heroes the offspring of the gods, or their first parents the
children of the earth. A similar pride burned in the bosom of
the celebrated warrior, great natural statesman and orator,
* See Lewis and Clark's Travels, p. 138, 9".
f See Lewis and Clark's Travels, and Hunter's Narrative. Hecke-
welder's ditto.
t See Hunter's Narrative of Manners and Customs of the Western
Tribes, p. 3 14-.

§4.] Traditions. 27
Tecumseh, on an occasion which afforded an admirable in
stance of the sublimity which sometimes distinguished his
eloquence. At the council of 1811, held with the Indians,
at Vincennes, by General Harrison, the chiefs of some tribes
attended, to complain of a purchase of lands which had
been made from the Kickapoos. The harshness of lan
guage used by Tecumseh, in the course of the conference,
caused it to be broken up in confusion. In the progress of
the long talks which took place, Tecumseh, having finish
ed one of his speeches, looked around, but seeing every
one seated, while no seat was prepared for him, a momen
tary frown passed over his countenance. Instantly Gene
ral Harrison ordered that a chair should be given him.
Some person presented one, and, bowing, said : " Warrior,
your father, General Harrison, offers you a seat." Tecum-
seh's dark eye flashed. " My father ! (he exclaimed indig
nantly, extending his arm towards the heavens) the Great
Spirit is my father, and the earth is my mother ; she feeds
and clothes me, and I recline upon her bosom." (15)
We have thus introduced (with a .digression by way of re
lief to the tedium of detail,) these foreign traditions, with st
view to couple certain similar fables prevailing among the
indigenes of our State, and from their extravagance and in
consistency, we may infer that all traditions pretending lo
unveil the secrets of remote ages, are the illusions of fable,
founded perhaps partially upon facts, which, in the progress of
time have been perverted by national pride, misinterpreted by
ignorance, and exaggerated by superstition.
The Indians who inhabited and owned this State, entertain
ed traditions somewhat similar to those of the Chinese, Hin
doos, Egyptians, and the other nations. They deduced the
appearance of the submerged earth and creation of animals,
from the operations of a descended goddess, beautiful in hea
ven, whither she returned after the accomplishment of her
embassy. But like the Huns', their primeval ancestors were
the offspring of an unnatural intermixture ; and their descen
dants possess at this day a Gothic belief in witches- The

28 Origin of the Aborigines and aneient Ruins. [Part I.
tradition is related by Vander Donck,* one of the earliest
of our Dutch historians, and corroborated by CharIevoix,t
one of the earliest French writers who touched upon the sub
ject of our aboriginal history.
It sometimes happens, says Dr. Vander Donck, that when
we are engaged in earnest conversation with the oldest and
best informed of the Indians, they ask our opinion of the first
cause and origin of man ; and when we relate to them, in
broken language, and in the best manner we can, the creation
of Adam, they cannot or will not understand or comprehend
that it has any relation to their nation, or the negroes, on ac
count of the great difference of colour ; and according to their
opinion, the world was not created in the manner related
in the first aud second chapters of Genesis. They say : —
" Before the world existed, and before mountains, men, and
animals were created, God was with the woman : when or
whence they came, we know not. All was water, or at least
water covered all things. No eye could have discovered
aught else, had there been an eye to see. The before-men
tioned beautiful woman, Or goddess, (as they say) on a certain
time gently descended from heaven until she came to the wa
ter. She was pregnant, and had the appearance as if she
would bring forth more than one. She did not sink deep
into the water, but immediately where she settled down, some
land appeared, upon which she rested and continued sitting.
The land grew by degrees, and increased around her, so that
in time land was discovered about where she sat, like that
which would appear when the water falls and recedes from a
bar upon which there had been three or four feet water, and
upon which a person had sat till the water receded, and he
remained sitting upon dry land. So round about this de
scended goddess the land became longer and broader, and

* Beschryvinge van Nieuw Nederlant, &c. bescreven door Adriaen
vander Donck. Beyder Rechten Docloor, die teghenwoordigh noch in
Nieuw Nederlant is. T Aemsteldam. 1655.
f TTistoire et description general* de la Nouvelle France. &c:

S, 4.] Traditions. 29
its extent was soon beyond the sight of the eye. Then
grass and herbs began to appear ; also fruitful and unfruitful
trees, and in a short time all things proceeded and grew as
they now are. Whether t at world, an account of which you
have given us, and from which you originally came, was
brought forth at the same time, we cannot say. But when
this was thus finished, the exalted personage fell in labour,
and was delivered of three kinds of fruits, to wit : the first
was like a deer in every respect as it now appears ; the second
had the appearance of a bear ; the third was in all things
similar to a wolf. The woman nursed these fruits until they
obtained their full growth ; after which she remained a long
time upon earth, cohabiting with these animals severalh7,
brought forth various others several times, always more than
one at a birth, and from these sprang all the men and animals
of the various kinds and species to be seen at this day.
In time, as well from natural instinct as suitableness, each as
sociated with its own kind and species, and so continued to
do. When all things were properly disposed and placed in
a condition to subsist and continue of themselves, this univer
sal mother, having accomplished her designs, joyfully ascend
ed into heaven, where she will henceforth continue and dwell,
delighting and rejoicing in preserving that love which the
Supreme Lord bears her, which she endeavours to retain, and
in which she obtains perfect joy and satisfaction : wherefore
God also loves her supremely, and esteems her above all
things. In the meantime, men, and all the animals here be
low, by mutual cohabitation produced many different species,
which increased and multiplied exceedingly, as well as all
other things that were created, and as they now appear.
Hence it is, that all men, of whatever description, at the pre
sent day, partake of the nature and properties of one of those
first created animals : for they are either timorous and inno
cent likethe deer; revengeful, cruel, and in combat erect, nim
ble, and strong-fisted,* like the bear ; or blood-thirsty, subtle
* i Tfraeckgierigh, wreed, oprecht en voor de vuysV Vander Donck".
See Bingley's Animal Biography, Vol. I. Art. Com. Bear.

JO Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
and deceitful like the wolf. That the resemblance is not more
apparent than it is, is to be ascribed to the cunning of men who
know how to dissemble. This (they say) is all that we have
heard of our forefathers, and what we esteem to be true : but
had they known the art of writing as ye do, possibly they would
have left us more particular and further information : that art
they were unacquainted with."
The Mandan villagers, mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, may
have derived their tradition from that which prevailed among
the Delawares and Iroquois as late as the middle of the last
century; or the latter may have had it from the former. This
tradition bears some allusion to that which Vander Donck re
lated nearly a century anterior.
In 1743 the Rev. Mr. Pyrlaeus (a resident among the Six
Nations, " a man of great truth," says Mr. Heckewelder,*)
took down from the mouth of a respectable Mohawk chief,
named Sganarady, this aceount of their original existence : —
They had dwelt in the earth -where no sun shone. Though
they followed hunting, they ate mice, which they caught with
their hands. Ganawagahha (one of them) having accidentally
found a hole to get out of the earth, he went out, and walking
about he found a deer, which he took back ; and in conse
quence of the meat tasting very good, and the favourable de
scription he gave of the country above, their mother conclud
ed it best for them all to go out ; accordingly they did so,
except the ground-hog, who would remain.
Mr. Heckewelder asks, if the ground-hog might not have
been the name of one of their tribes, who was made the
subject of this fable ?f Reverting to the Mandan account,
it is possible that portion of the subterranean people, who
were shut out from the upper world in consequence of the cor
pulency of the old woman, (who might have been the mother
here alluded to,) was the ground-hog and tribe of the illustrious
Iroquois !

* Hist, and Lit. Trans. Phila.
f 1 vol. Phila. Hist, and Lit. Trans, p. «44.

§ 4. J Traditions. 31
This piece of Indian mythology prevailed also among
the Delawares ; and however ridiculous these stories are, the
belief of the Indians in them (says Mr. Heckewelder) cannot
be shaken.* They consider the earth as their universal mo
ther. They believe that they were created within its bosom,
where for a long time they had their abode before they came
to live on its surface. They say the great and good Spirit
had prepared till things for their reception, but like an infirnt
in the womb of its natural mother, their first stage of existence
was wisely ordained to be within the earth. This might ap
pear to bear an analogy between the Mosaic account of the
general and individual creation. The Minsi or Wolf tribe,
of the Delawares, have the tradition, that in the beginning
they dwelt in the earth under a lake, and one of them disco
vering the hole, (leading through this upper crust) they left
their dark abode, for a place where they could enjoy the light
of heaven, and have deer (game) in abundance. (16)
These natives view all beings, endowed with the power of
volition and self-motion, in a manner as one great society, of
which they are head ; but between whom and themselves there
may have been, in the beginning, a relationship ; hence, for
merly, the rattlesnake was called their grandfather.f
The names of their tribes are those of animals. The Tor
toise or Turtle tribe, among the Lenape, claims a superiority
and ascendency over the others, because their relation, the
great Tortoise, a fabled monster, the Atlas of their mythology,
bears, according to their traditions, this great island^ on his
* Heckewelder, 1 vol. Phila. Hist, and Lit. Trans, p. 244.
f lb. ch. 34-
J That is, the American continent, which they believe to be surrounded
(as it probably is) by water. Red Jacket, in his speeches, calls it an island.
In one'of his speeches, in reply to that of General Washington welcoming
the Six Nations at Philadelphia in 1 792 — " We, your brothers," (addressing
Colonel Timothy Pickering, then United States commissioner, who con
ducted treaties with these natiops,) " of the Five Nations, believe that the
great Spirit let this island drop down from above. We also believe in
his superintendency over this whole island.-" — MS. See the Hindoo
mythology.

32 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
back, and is also esteemed as superior because he is, amphibi
ous. This idea of relationship with the animal creation pre*
vails also among the western Osages. (17)

§ 5.

Having thus noticed these fabulous traditions of the
first creation of man and foundation of nations, we will intro
duce some of a more recent reference, possessing a degree of
authenticity entitling them to more consideration than the for
mer. These relate to the immediate ancestors of our Indians,
whence they came, who were the inhabitants of the state
previous to their arrival, and who probably constructed the
works of art which we have described.*
The Lenni Lenape, according to the traditions handed
down to them by their ancestors, resided many hundred years
ago in a very distant country in the western part of the Ame
rican continent. They determined on migrating to the east
ward, and accordingly set out in a body. After a long jour
ney, and many nights' encampment, (that is, halts of one year
at a place,) they arrived on the Narasesi Sipu, (Mississippi,)!
where they fell in with the Mengwe (the Iroquois or Five Na-

* The first tradition we derive from the Rev. John Heckewelder, who
resided more than forty years among those Indians. Their history he has
given with undoubted fidelity of relation on his own part, and with a just
claim to authenticity, except so far as the relaters (the Delawares) in speak
ing of their political connexions with the Five Nations, might be presumed
to have been biassed by an irreconcileable hostility towards the alleged au
thors of their national misfortunes and degradation — the Delawares having,
by force or artifice, been compelled or induced for a loog time to assume
the character of women, or, in the Indian phrase, " to put on petticoats," as
will appear in the history of our Indians hereafter. — Hist. Account of the
Indian Nations, in Vol. I. Hist, and Lit. Trans. Phila. 1319. (reviewed vol.
IX. N. Amer. Rev. p. 155. 179.) Heckewelder's Narrative of his Mission
among the Delawares and Mohegan Indians, Phila. 1820. and his MS. com
munications to Doct. Miller, presented by him to the New- York Historical
Society. f River of fish : namizs, a fish ; sipu, a river.

§ 5.] Traditions. 33
tions) who had also emigrated from a distant country, and
had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. Their ob
ject was similar to that of the Delawares ; they were proceed
ing eastward until they should find a country that pleased
them. The territory east of the Mississippi was inhabited by
a very powerful nation, who had many large towns built on
the great rivers flowing through their land. . These were the
Alligewi, from whose name those of the Alleghany river* and
mountains have been derived. This famous people are said
to have been remarkably tall and stout ; and there is one tra
dition that giants were among them, people of a much larger
size than the tallest of the Lenape. They built regular forti
fications and entrenchments, whence they would sally, but
they were generally repulsed. Mr. Heckewelder has seen
many of these fortifications, two of which are remarkable, viz,
— ^ohe near the mouth of the Huron flowing into Lake St.
Clair ; the other on the Huron east of Sandusky, six or eight
miles from. Lake Erie.
The Lenape, on their arrival, requested permission to settle
in their country. The Alligewi refused, but gave them leave
to pass through and seek a settlement further eastward. —
They had no sooner commenced crossing the Namsesi Sipu,
than the Alligewi perceiving their vast numbers, furiously at
tacked them, and threatened them all with destruction if they
dared to persist in coming over. Fired at this treachery, the
Lenape now .consulted about giving them a trial of their
strength and courage. The Mengwe, who had remained spec
tators at a distance, now offered to join them, on condition that,
after conquering the country, they should be. entitled to share
it with them. Their proposal was accepted, and the resolu
tion was taken by the two nations to conquer or die. The
Lenape and Mengwe now declared war against the Alligewi,
and great battles were fought, in which many warriors fell on
both sides. The enemy fortified their large towns-and erect-

* Viz. the Ohio, as the Iroquois named it; or La Belle Riviere, (the
Beautiful river,) by the French-; a branch of it retains its ancient name.
Vol. I. «

34 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Rums. «, [Part I.
ed fortifications, especially on large rivers and near lakes, where
they were successively attacked, and sometimes stormed by the
allies. An engagement took place, in which hundreds fell,
who were afterwards buried* in holes or laid together in heaps
and covered with earth. No quarter was given ; so that
the Alligewi, finding their destruction inevitable if they per-
persisted in their obstinacy, abandoned the country to the con
querors, and fled down the Mississippi, whence they never re
turned. The war had lasted many years and was very des
tructive. The conquerors now divided the country. The
Mengwe made choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great
lakes and on their tributary streams, and the Lenape took pos
session of the country south.- For a long period of time,
some say many hundred years, the two nations resided peace
ably in this country, and increased very rapidly. Some of
their most enterprising huntsmen and warriors crossed the
mountains, and falling on streams running eastward, followed
them down to the great Bay river (Susquehannah,) thence into
th» Bay itself (the Chesapeake) ; as they pursued their travels
near the Salt-water lake (Atlantic,) they discovered the Great
river (Delaware) ; thence exploring eastward, through the
Scheyichbi country (New-Jersey,) they arrived at another great
stream (the Hudson river.) Returning to their nation with flatter
ing representations of the country, and assurances that no enemy
was to be dreaded, they concluded this to be the country des
tined for them by the great Spirit. They accordingly began
to emigrate thither at first in small bodies, and at last settled
on the four great rivers, Delaware, Hudson, Susquehannah,
and Potomac, making the Delaware, to which they gave the
name of Lenapewihittuck*the centre of their possessions. The
whole of their nation did not reach this country. Some re
mained beyond the Mississippi, and others on this side. The
largest body, supposed to have been one half of the whole,

* Viz. the river or stream of the Lenape. Hittuck meaning, in the
Delaware language, a rapid stream ; sipo or sipu is the proper name for a

river.

$ 5.J Traditiont. 3&
settled on the Atlantic ; and the other half was subdivided into
two parts as above, one of which, the strongest as they sup
pose, remained beyond the Mississippi, and retreated into the
interior of the country on learning the reception of those who
crossed ; probably supposing them destroyed. The Dela
wares, on the Atlantic shores, divided themselves into three
tribes, viz. — the Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf. The Turtle call
ing themselves Unamis, and the Turkey, Unalachtgo, se
lected ground nearest the sea, between the coast and the
high mountains. As they multiplied, their settlements ex
tended from the Mohicannittuck (river of the Mohicans, viz.
the Hudson) beyond the Potomac. Many of their fami
lies, scattered throughout the country, erected towns and
villages, having each a chief who looked up to the head
chiefs, or great council of the nation. The Wolf tribe,
called Minsi, (which has been corrupted into Mousey s,) who
lived in the rear of the two other tribes, were the most warlike
of the Lenape, and found a bulwark for their protection, by
watching the motions of the Mengwe. The Minsi reached from
Minisink, where they had their council seat apd fire, quite up
to the Hudson on the east, and on the west and south-west far
beyond the Susquehannah. Their northern boundaries were
supposed originally to have been the beads of the Susquehan
nah and Delaware ; their southern, the Muskanecun hills, so
denominated, in Jersey, or those of Lehigh, Coghnewago, 8ic.
in Pennsylvania.
From these tribes, composing the body of the Delawares,
emanated others, who adopted or received various names, taken
from natural objects or local peculiarities, and who yet looked
up to the parent tribe with affection, and of whom they were
proud to be called the grand-children. This was the case
with the Mahicanni, or Mohicans, in the east, a people who
by intermarriages had become a detached body, mixing two
languages together, and forming out of the two a dialect of
their own. Choosing to live by themselves, they had crossed
the Hudson River, naming it Mahicannituck River, after their
assumed name, and spread themselves over all that country

36 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Paet I.
which now composes the eastern . states. New tribes aeair*
sprung fr, m tftem, which assumed distinct names, still ac-
knowredgirfg the parent stock to be their grandfather. The
Delawafes at last thought proper to enlarge their council-
house for their Mahicanni grand-children, that they might
come to their fire, that is to say, be benefited by their advice,
in order also to keep alive their family connexions, anil-
maintain a league with each other. In a similar manner, a
body of the Lenape, called Nanticokes, together with their
offspring, proceeded south as far as Maryland and Virgi
nia. The council-house was extended for their benefit to the
Potomac. Meanwhile the Mengwe, who had first settled on the great
lakes, had always kept a number of canoes in readiness to
save themselves, in case the Alligewi should return, and
their number also increasing, they had in time proceeded"
further, and settled below the lakes along the River St. Law
rence, so that they became, on the north side, neighbours of
the Lenape tribes.*
This contiguity, as might be expected, soon originated a
mutual jealousy, which induced a train of events that ulti
mately ruined the Lenape, but paved the way for the victo
rious progress of the confederacy of the celebrated five na
tions. A sketch of those events will be given hereafter.
The Rev. Mr. Beatty, in his, mission from New-York in
1766, f to the western Indians, received from a person whom he
credited, the following tradition, which he had heard from some
old men among the Delaware tribe. That of old time their
people were divided by a river, and one part tarried behind ;
that they knew not for certainty how they came first to this
continent, but gave this account, viz. that a king of their na
tion, when they formerly lived far to the west, left his kingdom
to his two sons ; that the one son making war upon the other,

* Heckewelder. Vol. I. Phila. Hist. & Lit. Tr ch. I.
f See his Journal of two months tour with a view of promoting religion,
&c. By Ch. Beatty, A. M. Lond. 1768.

§ 5] Traditions. 37
the latter thereupon determined to depart, and seek some new
habitation ; that accordingly he set out, accompanied by a
number of people, and after wandering to and fro for the space
of forty years, they at length came to the Delaware River,
where they settled three hundred and seventy years ago.
The way they kept an account of this was by putting a black
bead of wampum every year, since, on a belt which they used
for that purpose. The king of the country whence they ca ne,
some years ago, when the French possessed Fort Ducuesne,
(Pittsburgh) sent out some of his people to discover, if possi
ble, that part of their nation which departed to seek a new
country, who, after seeking six years, cnme to the Pickt town
on the Oubache river, met a Delaware Indian, whose language
they understood, and by him were conducted to the Delaware
towns, where they tarried one year and returned. Their
country extended a great way towards the' setting sun. Mr.
Beatty's informant, who had, it seems, been years among the
Indians, also said, that among the Delawares he observed
their women to follow exactly the custom of the Jewish wo
men, as prescribed in the Mosaic law ; and that the Delawares
observed the feast of first-fruits, or the green corn feast.
Mr. Williams,* commenting on the above tradition,^ asks,
Does it not refer to the passage of the Israelites over Jordan
into the land of Canaan, under the conduct of Joshua ? The
account of their wandering to and fro, may arise from a con
fused tradition of the travels of the Israelites in the wilderness.
Or it may imply, he thinks, the unsettled state of North
Wales; the departure of Madoc, and his travels before he
finally settled. He adds, that these Jewish customs pre
vailed among the Carthaginians, Phoenicians, and Tartars.
He thinks the Tartars are descendants of the ten tribes ; that at
remote periods some of them may have been driven on our
northern coasts ; that even while hunting on the ice, they
might have been, in consequence of a sudden thaw, thus car
ried to the American coasts. f
* Inquiry into Madoc's expedition, pp. 45. 53.
+ Ib. p. 53.

38 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Paet I.
The Mengwe (or five nations) have a tradition that they
came from the west, but from what part their progenitors emi
grated they know not. The late Rey. Samuel Kirkland says
(in the manuscript Journal of his missionary tour into this
State in 1788) he found by inquiry that a tradition prevailed
among the Indians in general, " that all Indians came from
the west." §6. i
The old fortifications in our State were erected previous to
European intercourse. The appearances of former cultiva
tion, for instance, in Pompey : and the great number of bu
rial places, evince a once skilful and numerous population.
Similar appearances would probably remain for ages, if the
present white population were entirely swept away. The
Indians are ignorant by whom they were made. Respect
ing the fort in Oxford, they have a tradition that the family
of the Antones, which is supposed to belong to the Tuscarora
nation, are the seventh generation from the inhabitants of this
fort ; but of its origin they know nothing. In the Indian Re
servation, near Buffalo, are extensive clearings, of which the
Senecas can give ho account. Whether the people whom the
Iroquois assisted to extirpate when they migrated to their pre
sent country, or whether inhabitants anterior to them, or whe
ther the Eries, whom they extirpated after the European
settlement, or their predecessors, erected these works, are ques
tions which are considered to be involved in impenetrable
mystery.* The party of gentlemen who discovered, in 1791, certain
ancient remains before described, f made every inquiry con
cerning those singular constructions among the surrounding
Onondagoes and other nations, but so far from, receiving any

* Mr. Clinton's Memoir on Western Antiquities, &c.
f See p. 17.

§6.] Traditions. — Authors of the Ruins. 39
information, traditionary or otherwise, they ascertained that
the natives had never noticed the ruins.
The Reverend Mr. Kirkland, in reference to the two first
remains of fortified towns, which he found on the Genessee
Flatt, north of the magic spring and west of the deserted vil
lage,* observes (in his manuscript journal) that from the best
information he could get from the Indian historians, these forts
were made previous to the Senecas being admitted into the
confederacy of the Mohawks, Onondagoes, Oneidas and Cay-
ugas, and when the former were at war with the Mississau-
gas, and other Indians around the great lakes. This (he con
tinues) must have taken place nearly three hundred years ago,
if not more, according to many concurring accounts which he
obtained from several Indians of different tribes. With regard to
the double-fortified town, and the funeral pile, (where the slain
were buried after a great battle) which he discovered on the
open plain on arriving at the river Tanawande, f he observes,
that Indian tradition says these works were raised and this
battle was fought betwixt the Senekas and western Indians in
the pure Indian style, and with Indian weapons, long before
their knowledge and use of fire-arms or their acqaintance with
the Europeans. They used in fighting at that time bows and
arrows, the spear or javelin pointed with bone, and the war
club or death-mall. When the former were expended, they
came into close engagement and used the latter. Their war
rior's dress or coat of mail for this method of fighting, was a
short jacket made of willow sticks or moose wood, laced
tight round the body. The head was covered with a cap of
the same kind, but commonly woven double, for the better se
curity of that part against a stroke from the death-mall or
war-club. In this great battle the Senecas affirm that their
ancestors won the victory. Some say their ancestors had
told them, there were eight hundred of their enemies slain ;

* Seep. 15. t Seep. 16.

40 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Rums. [Part I.
others include the killed on both sk'es in that number.—
Be this us it may, all their historians agree that t.'e battle
was fought where this heap of slain are buried, before the ar
rival of the Europeans, some say three, some four, others five
lives or ages, reckoning a life or age one hundred winters, or
colds.* Compare this tradition with that heretofore relatedf of the
first migration and successful victory of the ancestors of these
people over the Alligewi, that extraordinary race who had
fortified their towns in the vicinity of the lakes, who suffered
the horrors of a sanguinary and protracted invasion, during
which great battles were fought, their fortified places stormed,
and hundreds fell in an engagement and were laid together in
heaps : is it improbable that the Alligewi were the real con
structors of these works ; that the Senecas (a part of the
Mengwe) in alliance with the Lenape, stormed this, as well as
other fortified towns ; won this, as. well as other victories, and,
succeeded in driving from their country the remnant of the
Alligewi, who fled down the Mississippi, whence they never
returned ?
The probability in favour of this, as a fair deduction from
comparison, is somewhat strengthened by a tradition of the
Seneca Indians, which has recently been published, and its
authenticity sanctioned by Captain Jones, one of the public
agents and interpreters for the Six Nations. J This tradition
relates, that before and after that remote period, when the an
cestors of the Senecas sprung into existence, the country, es
pecially about the lakes, was thickly inhabited by a race of
civil, enterprising, and^ industrious people, who were totally
destroyed, and whose improvements were takep possession of
by the Senecas.

* Bey. S. Klrkland's MS. Journal for 1788.
f See p. 33.
| See Appendix to a'Narrative of the Life of a Female Captive, &c. By
James E, Seaver. Printed atCanandaigua, by J. D. Bemis &. Co. 18°4
p. 159. 157.

§ 6-] Traditions.— Authors of the Ruins. 41
As to their origin, and the mode in which their civilized prede
cessors were destroyed, the tradition will appear to vary from
those above given, but to correspond with others formerly men
tioned respecting their^ origin. They say their nation broke
out of the earth from a large mountain (called Gerundewagh)
at the head of Canandaigua lake. Thence they derive their
name, " Ge-nun-de-wah," (sometimes pronounced Ge-nun-de-
wah-gauh, or Great Hill ;) and they are denominated " The
Great Hill People," which is the true interpretation of the word
Seneca. This mountain they still venerate as the place of
their birth ; it was for a long time a favourite spp^, where they
met in council to hold long talks ; to offer up prayers to the
Great Spirit, on account of its being their birth-place, where
also by the providential destruction of a monstrous serpent,
according to their tradition, their forefathers were delivered
from threatened extermination. This sqrpent had totally de
stroyed the civilized race of people, of whose improvements the
Senecas had taken possession. They also in turn provoked
the serpent ; and the monster, coiling around the great hill
fort, so that his head and tail met at its gate, infected the at
mosphere with his breath, and swallowed the inhabitants as
they rushed out. A poisoned arrow at length proved fatal to
him. He rolled down the hill, sweeping away all the timber
in his descent, and amidst his contortions, disgorged the heads
of those he had swallowed. These, rolling into the lake be
low, became in time reduced to a petrified state. According*
ly, stones in the shape of Indian heads are there to be seen at
this day, in great numbers. The Senecas also ascribe to the
unknown influence of this monster the prevalent confusion of
their language, which in those early days was uniformly the
same throughout the whole country.*

* See Appendix to Seaver's Narrative, &c. p. 52,
Vol. I. 6

were

42 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.

§ 7. <
But their uncertainty as to the time when these fortifications
„ erected, as they pretend, by their ancestors, and the total
absence of such a tradition among the other tribes on the con
tinent, may well justify the suspicion which President Kirk
land (18) has expressed, that this story originated in national
vanity, for which he says the Senecas are pre-eminently dis
tinguished. He seems to think they were erected by the an
cestors of the improved nations of South America, in the pro
gress of their migrations from the north and north-west. In
his opinion he is by no means singular. Many support the
opinion, that the western states of the Union were the original
country of the Mexicans and Toltecas. From a comparison
of the bodies and envelopes found in the Copperas cave in
Tennessee,* and from other circumstances, the inference has
been drawn that the western country was once their seat ; that
they were a copper-coloured people, who, it has been supposed,
owed their knowledge and refinement to certain aboriginal
whites, f Three South American nations ascribe their civili
zation and religion to three white men, who appeared among
them. | Abbe Molina§ says, there is a tribe of Indians in
Baroa, in Chili, whose complexions are a clear white and
red. Baron Humboldt || remarks, that in the forest of Guiana,
especially near the sources of the river Oronoco, are several
tribes of a whitish complexion. An exterminating war ap
pears to have taken placelT between the barbarous natives, per-
* See Descrip. in vol. I. Arch«. Amer.
f Dr. M'Culloh's Researches, &c. 214, &c. Ch. Cullen, Esq. in his
Transl. of Clavigera's Mexico. Med. Repos. vol III. Dr. Mease's Na
ture and Art, vol. XIV. p. 199. Atwater's Antiquities, in vol. I. Archie.
Amer. Clavigero's Hist. &c.
I M'Culloh's Researches on Amer. p. 212, 213.
5 Hist. Chili, vol. II. book 1. ch. 1.
|| Political Essays.
IT M'Culloh, 216

§ 7>] White Indians.

43

haps under some Attila or Genseric, and their more refined and
civilized neighbours, ending in nearly the total destruction of
the latter, the few survivors of whom fled to happier climes ;
and to these aboriginal whites perhaps the Mexicans, &c. were
indebted for their knowledge and refinement.*
The traditions of other Indians ascribe the construction of
these works to whites. Indians north-west of Ohio and others
say, that they had understood from their old men, that it had
been a tradition among their several nations, that the western
country, and particularly Ohio and Kentucky, had once been
inhabited by white people, but they were exterminated. The
last battle was fought at the falls of Ohio. Thelndians drove
the aborigines into a small island, (Sandy Island,) below the
rapids, where the whole were cut to pieces. Kentuckee, in In
dian, signifies river of blood. Some of the remains of the ancient
tribe of the Sacs expressed to a gentleman at St. Louis, their
astonishment that any person should live in Kentucky. The
country, they said, had been the scene of much blood, and was
filled with tne manes of the butchered inhabitants who were
white people. (19)
Numerous traditions of nations west of the Mississippi,
though varying as to the motive or uses that occasioned the
construction of their tumuli and fortifications, concur in their
great antiquity, and most of them in their having been the
work of a people which had altogether ceased to exist, before
those hunting grounds came into possession of the ancestors
of the present occupants. (20)
But who were these whites ? May it be presumed that the
Alleghanians (Alligewi) and Mexicans were the same people
by intermixture, and that the former erected these works be
fore the Lenape and Iroquois came and destroyed them. (21)
Many of the supposed fortifications were temples, particu
larly that of Circle-ville in Ohio, where human sacrifices
were one of the rites, and where female victims, as in India,
* M'Culloh, 216.

44 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
were immolated with the males. Their similitude with those
of Mexico, as described by Humboldt, has also been
traced. (22) Bones of victims in heaps, shells used in sa
cred rites as in India, and idols of baked clay, consisting of
three heads, similar to the triad of India, have also been
found. (23)
But if the Alleghanians may be thus identified with the
Mexicans, who were the whites that instructed the latter?
Were the nations of our state descendants in reality of those
victorious Tartars, (if they may be so denominated,) who
formed their alliance on the banks of the Mississippi, waged
the exterminating war against the Alligewi, and succeeded in
expelling them, according to the tradition before recited?
Were, then, those fugitives who escaped down the Mississippi,
and never returned, the white instructors of the Mexicans ?
And if conjecture might be extended to the supposition that
they were, still the inquiry arises, who were these whites, these
Alligewi, these instructors of the Mexicans, these authors of
our antiquities ? Whence came they ? Were they from Eu
rope, or from Asia — were their conquerors from either of those
continents ? Were the former the first people who had emi
grated, or had they succeeded others whom they in their turn
had extirpated ? The main question therefore recurs, by
what means was America originally peopled ?
We shall attempt little more than a classification of authors,
and the peculiar theory which each has erected, following in
order such as maintain a European ancestry ; European or
Asiatic ; Asiatic only ; ante or postdeluvian ; African ; an
cient Atlantic; and lastly, such as believe that the abori
gines are strictly such.
The remote voyages of the Scandinavians, which are al
leged to have reached the coast of New-York, will be reserved
until the examination of the third question. The antiquary of

$ 8. J Welsh Indians. 4 ft
America will probably find, says Dr. Mitchill,* that the
Scandinavians emigrated about the tenth century of the Chris
tian era, if not earlier. And they may be considered not
merely as having discovered this continent, but to have ex
plored its northern climes to a great extent, and to have peo
pled them three or four hundred years at least before Colum
bus was born.
In a topographical description of the western territory of
North America,f including the account J of the discovery and
settlement of Kentucky, published 1784, it is asserted that the
ancient remains in Kentucky, (which seem to prove that this
country was formerly inhabited by a nation further advanced
in the arts of life than the Indians) are usually attributed to
the Welsh, who are supposed to have formerly inhabited1 here ;
but having been expelled by the natives, were forced to take
refuge near the sources of the Missouri. This, says the au
thor, is confirmed of late years by the western settlers having
received frequent accounts of a nation inhabiting at a great
distance up the Missouri, in manners and appearance resem
bling the other Indians, but speaking Welsh, and retaining
some ceremonies of the Christian worship ; and at length this
is universally believed among them to be a fact. Capt. Abm.
Chaplain, of Kentucky, a gentleman whose veracity the author
says may be entirely depended upon, assured him, that in the
late war, being with his company in garrison at Kaskaskia, some
Indians came there, and speaking in the Welsh dialect, were
perfectly understood and conversed with by two Welshmen in
bis company, and that they informed them of the situation of
their nation as above mentioned.^
* In Archae. Amer.
f By George Imlay, London, printed 1793.
j By John Filson, p. 377-8.
{ Mr. Rankin, a clergyman of Kentucky, communicated to a gentleman
in England, 1792, the assurance of the existence of such a tribe some hun
dreds of miles westward of Kentucky ; that about 200 miles of the distance
was a tract of waste hunting ground, through which it was dangerous to
pass, in consequence of the depredations of the wild Indians. See Wil
liams's Further Observations.

46 Origin of the Aborigines and mcient Ruins. [Part h
John Sevier, late governor of Tennessee,* says, that in
1782 he was on a campaign against the Cherokees. Observ
ing on his route traces of very ancient fortifications, he after
wards took occasion, on the exchange of prisoners, to inquire
into their origin, of Oconostoto,* who for sixty years had been a
ruling chief of the Cherokee nation ; and particularly as to the
origin of the remarkable fortification on the bank of High-
wassee river? The venerable chief replied, It was banded
down by their forefathers, that these w.orks were made by
white people, who had formerly inhabited the country. When
the Cherokees lived in the country now South Carolina, wars
existed between them, and were only ended when the whites
consented to abandon the country. Accordingly, they de
scended the Tennessee to the Ohio, then to the big river (Mis
sissippi), then up the muddy river (Missouri), to a very great
distance. They are now on some of its branches, but are no
longer white people; they have become Indians, and look
like the other red people of the country. " I then asked him,''
continues Governor Sevier, " if he had ever heard any of his
ancestors say to what nation of people the whites belonged ?
He answered, ' I have heard my grandfather and other old
people say, that they were a people called Welsh ; that they
had crossed the great, water, and landed near the mouth of
Alabama river, and were finally driven to the heads of its wa
ters, and even to Highwasse river, by the Mexican Spaniards.'
Oconostoto also observed, that an old woman in his nation
had some part of an old book given her by an Indian living
high up the Missouri, and thought he was one of the Welsh tribe.
" Unfortunately," observes Governor S., " before I had an op
portunity of seeing the book, her house and its contents were
destroyed by fire. I have conversed with several persons who
saw and examined it, but it was so worn and disfigured, that
nothing intelligible remained." Many years ago, Governor

* In a letter, dated October 9, 1810, and published by Major Stoddard,
in his Sketches historical and descriptive of Louisiana. Philadelphia, 1812.
p. 483. '

§ 8.5 Welsh Indians. 47
S. was informed by a Frenchman, a great explorer of the
country west of the Mississippi, that he had been high up the
Missouri, and traded several months with the Welsh tribes,
who spoke much of the Welsh dialect; and although their
customs were savage and wild, yet many of them, particular
ly the females, were fair and white. They often told him they
had sprung from a white nation of people ; that they had yet
some small scraps of books remaining among them, but in
such tattered and mutilated order, that they were unintelligi
ble.* Captain Stewart gave an account of his capture by the
Indians, about the year 1764 ;f of his redemption by a Spa
niard from Mexico ; of his expedition with him 700 miles up
the Red river, where they came to a nation on the river Post,
remarkably white, whose hair was of a reddish colour. (24) A
Welshman in company, understanding their language, which
differed very little from the Welsh, announced the next morn
ing his determination to remain. Captain Stewart proceeded
with him to the chief men of the town, who said their forefa
thers landed on the east side of the Mississippi, and on the
Spaniards possessing Mexico, they fled to that part of the coun
try. In corroboration, they produced rolls of parchment,
carefully tied up in otter-skins, on which were large charac
ters, written with blue ink, which to the Welshman, who was
ignorant of letters, was unintelligible. They were a bold,
hardy, intrepid, warlike people, and their women were beau
tiful, when compared with other Indians.

* A similar account was rendered in London, 1792, by two Cherokee
chiefs, then there. One of them said the Welsh Indians were the Padou-
cas. Their books, religiously preserved in skins, were considered by them
as mysteries, containing an account of whence they came. (See Wil
liams's Further Observations.) Others who have been among the Welsh
Indians, relate, that they say Wales was the place of their ancestry, but
they knew not where Wales was. Visiters also have supposed that among
their manuscripts or books, was a Welsh Bible, of great antiquity. .(See
the relations as published by Mr. Beatty, and Williams's Further Obser
vations.) t Beatty's Missionary Tour from New- York westward, 1766.

48 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part 1.^
The earliest account which we have, appears to be that of
the Rev. Morgan Jones, who, having as chaplain accompanied
Major General Bennet on an expedition to Port Royal, South
Carolina, in 1660,, was afterwards taken prisoner with his
companions, by the Tuscarora Indians ; and being condemn
ed to die, he made an exclamation upon his wretched fate in
his native Welsh'language. This was instantly understood by
a sachem of the Doeg tribe, who interceded and saved them.*
Mr. Jones proceeded to their town near Cape Atros, (Hatte-
ras,) conversed familiarly, and preached for months in the
same language. When his narrative, dated March 10,
1685-6, was transmitted through Dr Lloyd of Pennsylvania,
to his friend in Great Britain for publication, f Mr.' Jones was
a resident of New- York.
To the account of Governor Sevier, Mr. Stoddard super
adds two relations : one in confirmation of Griffith's statement
of his discovery of the Welsh tribes ;J and the other, that about
a lake, near the head of the Missouri, was a nation not the
least tawny, but rather of a yellowish complexion, who wore

* In 1675, the Doegs were a small tribe, who lived on the Maryland
side of the Potomac. (Vol. I. H. Williamson's North Carolina, p. 222.)
Were they of the Tuscarora nation, who afterwards fled from Carolina and
became incorporated as the sixth of our confederated Indian nations? . See
Stoddard, p. 482. Mr. Williams considers the Tuscaroras and the Dela
wares the same as the Doegs. Query? (See Williams's Inquiry and Fur
ther Observations.) Are the Dog-rib Indians, recently described by Mr.
Herriot (in Travels, Lond. 1807, p. 300) as possessing striking peculiari- .
ties, the original Doegs ?
f See Owen's British Remains. See Gentlemen's Magazine, vol. X.
for 1740, cited by Williams.
| Griffith was a Welshman, taken prisoner by the Shawnees. He ac
companied a party of them to the source of the Missouri, and among the
Shining Mountains arrived at a village of white Indians, whose language
was Welsh. His account was published originally by Judge Toulman
(Henry Toulman, one of the Judges of the Mississippi) in 1804; re-pub
lished by Dr. Barton, (vol. I. of his Philadelphia Medical and Physical
Journal, p. 79, 89. A. D. 1805,) who seems to admit grounds for believing
the existence of the Welsh tribes, but doubts the legitimacy of the conchr-
sion. that is, the authenticity of Madoc's voyage to this continent.

„-] § 80 Welsh Indians.

49

their beards, great numbers of whom had red hair. Vancou
ver found a people in the vicinity of the Columbia, whose lan
guage differed from that of their neighbours, and whose fea
tures resembled the northern Europeans. Lewis and Clark,
though they pursued a different branch of the Missouri than
the one which is supposed to lead to the Welsh Indians, disco
vered some straggling Indians near the mouth of the Columbia,
similar to those mentioned by Vancouver. (25)
At what precise spot they are located, if indeed they have
any tribal existence, as is doubted by some,* would be diffi
cult to say, as the various accounts of their alleged existence
appear somewhat irreconcilable. Writers have located them
in different places, from the Red river to the shining moun
tains. Charlevoix, it is said, found a white people round a
lake near the head waters of the Missouri. In the map at
tached to Du Pratz's Louisiana,-}- are placed the " White
Panis," at the head of a branch of the Arkansas ; " Panis
Mahas, or White Panis," at the head of the south branch of
the Missouri ; and between those is marked the country of
the Padoucas.J
The Padoucas, the Panis, and the Cansez were formerly
intermixed.^ Sir John Caldwell, one of the numerous per
sons who are said to have confirmed, from various sources,
the existence of the Welsh Indians,^ says they are the Panis,
or, as the English pronounce it, the Pawnees, (26) that their
country lay about the head of the river Osages, the southern
branch of the Mississippi, and extended far westward to a
chain of mountains, from the top of one of which the Pacific
* See Brackenridge, in his Views of Louisiana, in chapter on antiqui-
ties. #
f See also Cox's Description of Louisiana, vol. II. p. 252. Bossu's
Account of Louisiana, vol. II. p. 182. Carver's Travels, p. 118, 119, 386.
Hennepin says, in his Travels, he came to a tribe of white Indians. But
he is not generally entitled to credit.
t. So also see Charlevoix's Map in his New France;
i See William's observations- Charlevoix Vol. ~.
|| William's further observations.
Vol. I, . 7

50 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
Ocean] could plainly be seen. The Panis were whiter and
more civilized than any other Indian tribes. We learn from
the documents accompanying President Jefferson's message to
Congress in 1806|;* that the Pania Pique (in Arkansas)
were formerly known by the name of the. White Panias, and
are of the same family with the Panias of the River Platte.
According to that communication, the Padoucas, a once
powerful nation, has apparently disappeared. Inquiry for
them had proved of little avail. In 1724 they resided in
villages at the head of the Kansas (or Cansez) River,, and
could at that time bring more than two thousand men into the
field.f Oppressed by the Missourians, they removed to the
upper part of; River Platte, where they had but little inter
course with the whites. The northern branch of that river
is still called the Paducas fort. It is conjectured that being
still more oppressed, they divided into small wandering
bands, which assumed the names of the sub-divisions if the
Paducas nation ; and are known to us at present under the
appellation of Wetepahatoes,; Kiawas, Kanenavish, Katteka,
Dotame, &c. who still inhabit the country to which the Par
doucas are said to have removed.
This was the people whom one of the Cherokee Chiefs
said, in London 1792, were Welsh. Are they the wretched'
remnant of Welsh, whom the venerable Oconostoto informed
Governor Sevier were forced from the eastern to the western re
gions of the Mississippi ; who were afterwards driven to the
upper part of the River Platte, dispersed into separate tribes,
and like the Jews, incorporated and yet distinct among others ?
Were some of those wanderers seen by Vancouver near the
mouth of Columbia River, and afterwards by Lewis and
Clarke ?
Doctor Morse, in the report J of his tour among the western
Indians, performed in behalf of the government in 1820, men-
* Communicating discoveries made by Lewis and Clark, Sibley and
Dunbar. See Reports of the latter persons'.
f See Du Pratz's Louisana p. 74, and map.
| Printed New-Haven 1822. p. 145. 252,

$ 8.] Welsh Indians.

ol

tions, upon the information of Father Reichard of Detroit, a
report that prevailed at Fort Chartres among the old people
in 1781, that Mandan Indians had visited that post, and
could converse intelligibly with some Welsh soldiers then in
the British army. Dr. Morse suggests the information as
a hint to any person who may have an opportunity of ascer
taining whether there is any affinity between. the Mandan and
Welsh languages. The Mandans reside on the Missouri^ a
few miles east of Mandan Fort. Their population is stated to
be 1250.*
We now superadd the following account which we receiv
ed from General Morgan Lewis. His father, Francis Lewis,
(one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) while
on a military expedition, in the French war, was captured,
and at Oswego assigned over with more than thirty others by
Montcalm, the acting French Commander, to certain Indians,
as their share of the prisoners. Among the Indians was a
chief whose language resembled the Gaelic (a dialect of the
Celtic) with which Mr. Lewis, who was a native of Wales,
was thoroughly acquainted. On hearing him converse, Mr.
Lewis understood him sufficiently to discover that his lan
guage was of that ancient dialect, although modified by usage
and lapse of time. He then addressed the chief in Welsh,
and was understood. The chief selected Mr. Lewis from the
rest of the prisoners, accompanied and guarded him person
ally to Montreal, arid insisted with the French Commander
upon his liberation, on the ground that he was his captive,,
to be disposed of as he pleased. Mr. Lewis, however, was
Sent to England in a cartel for the exchange of prisoners; and
after his return, frequently mentioned the cause of his escape
from the fate of the other prisoners, (who were put to death)
and during his life he often repeated the anecdote.
Thus for more than a century and a half the existence of
Welsh tribes within the interior of our country (to the supe
rior skill of whose ancestors, some have attributed the erec-

* lb. see Lewis and Clark's visit to the Mandan villages, p. 26. ante.

52 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
tion of our ancient fortifications, temples, and works of art
has been asserted by various persons at different times and
places, under circumstances so seemingly precluding the idea
of preconcert, interest, or prejudice, as to render the assertion
that Indians have been discovered on this Continent, whose
language was understood by Welshmen, better supported
than are many historical facts to which the world has yielded
implicit credence. Many of the sources of information, as
given by writers upon this subject,* remain unnoticed.
Dr. Williams in his researches, concluded that the Dela
wares and Tuscaroras,f as well as certain tribes west of the
Mississippi, were descendants of the Welsh. But the lan
guage and traditions of the former, so far as they are under
stood, prove that he was mistaken. If he had heard of the
Alligewi, he might with some plausibility have conjectured
that the Welsh were that extraordinary people, whom the
ancestors of the Delawares and Iroquois expelled from the
northern country, according to the tradition heretofore given.
The Padoucas and Panis, who were once numerous and
formidable, were of whitish complexion ; but if their language
was Welsh, the fact might probably have been placed beyond
controversy many years ago.
In conclusion, is it improbable that soon after the Spanish
discovery of South America, or in the early visits of the Eu
ropeans, (as early as the commencement of the sixteenth century
into Florida) some straggling Welshmen might have visited Flo
rida or Alabama, and (like many resident traders since) inter
married with the natives ? From a solitary instance, a nume
rous Welsh offspring would be reared in the succession of ge
nerations, during three hundred years. The Welshmen who ac
companied Captain Stewart sixty years ago, chose to stay with
* See Inquiry into the truth of a tradition concerning the discovery of
America, by Prince Madog. ab. owen Guynedd, about anno 1170. By
John Williams, LL.D. Lond. 1791. Further observations, &c. by do.
Lond. 1792. Beattey's Jour. Lond. 1768. Stoddard's Louisiana. London
Gentlemen's Magazine for 1740, 1791.
f See note ante, p. 48.

§ 9.] Welsh Indians. 5l>
the Indians. He may have contributed to preserve the lan
guage among them in modern purity, and thus rendered it
intelligible to modern visiters. In some of their accounts, it is
stated that the Welsh Indians knew their forefathers were
Welsh. One statement relates that their ancestors were from
Wales, but they did not know where Wales was. Suppose
they were thus ignorant, even this circumstance might not be
conclusive in favour of a very ancient settlement. It will be
recollected that the Buccaneers of St. Domingo had in thirty
years forgotten all traces of Christianity. If, however, we
are to sustain a more ancient derivation : if, for instance, we
would trace the ancestors of these Welsh Indians to the twelfth!
century ; we must presume that the Welsh language, a$
spoken within the last century, has remained much like thaft
which was used in Wales five centuries before ; and that the
difference between a savage and civilized condition, has nqt
within that period contributed to render the dialect in its cha
racter and pronunciation so discordant, as to prevent its being
mutually understood by modern Welsh and Welsh Indians
To sustain this presumption, we must further presume that
the Welsh tongue has strangely escaped a mutability
which has attended the English,* and every other living
European language within a few hundred years. 'i
' *.' !
But from the assumed establishment of the fact of the ex
istence of Welsh Indians, a strong probability has been de
duced in favour of Madoc's voyage to this continent, and his
colonial settlement in the twelfth century. Whether true or
fictitious, Prince Madoc's adventures have been the theme of
modern (27) as well as ancient song, and the historian, tra
veller, and antiquary, (28) as well as the bard, have concur
red in supporting as authentic, what others (29) have consi-
* See Johnson's Histroy of the English language. Also an English
Almanac for the year 1386, in the New-York Historical Library.

54 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Rums [Part I.
dered a fable. We, shall not enter into the controversy, but
dismiss it with a few observations.
The basis of all the statements (30) which have appeared,
seems to depend upon the authenticity of ancient records or
collections made from time to time, and kept in the abbeys of
Conway in Carnarvonshire, North Wales, and Strat Flur (or
St ata Florida) South Wales. The best copy of these regis
ters was taken, it has been said, by Gutton Owen, a bard in
the reign of Edward IV. 1480, and is alluded to byother
Welsh bards in their odes. They were the historians of their
times. Their odes were written prior to any notion of a wes
tern world. Madoc's voyages were little known except by
the native Welsh, who were ignorant whither he went. But
their tradition having existed for ages before the reign of Eli
zabeth, could not have been a fiction invented to support the'
English against the Spanish claims of prior discovery. (31)
It is asserted by respectable authority (32) that there are
authentic records in the British tongue as to Madoc's expedi
tion, wherever he did go, prior to the discovery of Columbus.
Admitting that he left Wales, the supposition that he went to
America is at best but posthumous and conjectural. (33) What
part of America he came to, must also be purely matter of
speculation. Accordingly, many analogies between Welsh
and local languages, particularly in names, have been fancied.
The address of Montezuma, the mighty emperor of Mexico,
to his subjects, (1520) that " our forefathers came from a
farre countrey, and their king and captaine who brought them
hither returned again to his naturall countrey, saying that he
would send such as should rule and govern us, if by chance he
himself returned not," &c. ; (34) the vestiges of Christianity ;
the honour paid to the cross in Acuzamil, according to Fran-;
cis Lopez de Gbmera; have all formed intended coincidences
to a determinate conclusion in behalf of this adventurer. One
writer (35) concludes that Madoc fell in with Virginia or
New-England, and there settled. Another, that he landed
near where Columbus discovered the country, or on some

§ 9.] Prince Madoc — Indian Freemasonry. 55
part of Florida. (36) The Virginians and Guahutemallians,*
,/from ancient times are said by a third, (37) to have worship
ped one Madoc as a hero. The monuments in the country
are said to prove that Madoc had been in those parts. Peter
Martyr, who appears to have been in the Spanish Court when
Columbus returned, is supposed to have afforded decisive evi
dence that when Columbus landed on the coast, some nations
in America honoured the memory of one Madoc, under the
names of Matec Zungam and Mat Jugam, that is, Madoc the
Cambrian. (J8) We have seen that Madoc's colony must have
landed, according to the tradition of Oconostoto, at the mouth
of the Alabama. Dr. Williams (39) had, previously to the ac
count of that tradition, concluded, from a review of all the
evidences before him and a comparison of circumstances, that
Madoc landed on some part of New-England or Virginia,
and in process of time his colony extended itself southward to
Mexico, and their descendants spread over a great part of
America ; that those foreign ancestors of the Mexican chiefs,
of whom the Spanish writers often speak in their accounts of
Gortez's adventures, were ancient Britons. (40)
Those signs of freemasonry which modern travellers have
found, are also thought to be of Welsh origin. Travel
lers describef certain private societies among the Indians,
which apparently resemble our lodges of freemasons. Their
rules of government and admission of members are said
to be nearly the same. No one can be received as a member
of the fraternity except by ballot, and a concurrence of the
whole is necessary to a choice. They have different degrees
in the order. The ceremonies of initiation, and the mode of
passing from one degree to another, would create astonishment
in the mind of an enlightened spectator. Is not this1 practice
of European origin ? In the early periods of English his-

* Or Guatemalans. — See Dr. Cabrera's hypothesis hereafter. Accord
ing tjor him, Votan was the first populator in Mexico, and the object of sin
idolatrous veneration.
f Says Major Stoddard in Hist. Sketch of Louisiana.

56 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part L
tory the knowledge of freemasonry was mostly confined to
the Druids ; and Wales was more fruitful of this description
of men than any other part of Europe. They were almost
the only men of learning in those days : they executed the
functions of priests, historians, and legislators. Those in
Wales, in particular, animated their countrymen to a noble
defence of their liberties, and afforded so much trouble to the
First Edward, that he ordered them to be barbarously massa
cred. This ferocious tyranny was carried into effect about
the year 1282. Few only of the bards survived to weep over
the. miseries of their country.
But a similar institution, it is said, prevails among our Iro
quois Indians. These have never been suspected to be of
Welsh extraction. Still they may have derived the signs
from those who were. We receive the information from Go
vernor Clinton, to whom it was communicated by a respecta
ble Indian preacher, who received the signs of the mystery
from a Menonie chief. The institution, therefore, must be
prevalent among the Menoninies as well as other Indians. In
this secret institution among the Indians, the members are
very select. Among the Iroquois, the society consists of five
Oneidas, two Cayugas, two St. Regis, six Senecas. They
are said to have secret signs, and pretend that the institution
has existed from eternity. The period of their meetings is
unknown ; but they assemble once in three years, as deputies
under pretence of other business.
If the Welsh Indians could be identified as descendants of
Madoc's colony, or if the Alligewi could be ascertained to
have been Welsh, the discovered traces of civilization, Chris
tianity, and the arts, might partly be refesred to their instru
mentality. But the pre-existence of inhabitants when Madoc
is supposed to have arrived, the crowded population (for in
stance in Ohio 700,000, as Mr. Atwater has conjectured,*)
which formerly swarmed over this continent, preclude the

* Vol. 1. Archse. Amer.

§ 10. j Prince Madoc. 57
pjresumption that Madoc's colony (322 years only before Co
lumbus) were the first settlers, or that they and their descen
dants were the sole constructors of all the mounds, temples,
and fortifications that appear to have been erected. They
may have contributed to swell the tide of population from the
north of Europe : this is the opinion of De Laet, Horneus,
and Mitchill, and may have aided in constructing the fortifica
tions and wbrks which bear so strong a resemblance to those
of their own country. But limited must be the views that
would circumscribe the origin of myriads who have swarmed
over this continent, to the narrow confines of Wales.
§ 10.
It is certain that our aneient forts in New- York resemble
the old British and Danish.* Pennant, in his Tour through
Wales, describes a strong British post on the summit of a hill
in Wales, of a circular form, with a great foss and dike, and a
small artificial mound within the precinct. A similar entrench
ment he describes in his Tour in Scotland.* Beyond our
State, particularly in Ohio, places of former worship, burial,
and defence, have also, by comparison with the descriptions
and drawings in Pennant's Tour, been assimilated to those of
England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wal.es.f The Danes de
scended from the Scythians, and made settlements and con
quests on the British isles even since the days of Julius Caesar.
According to Pliny, the name of Scythian was common to
all nations living in the north of Asia and Europe. (41) The
Scythians, therefore, from whom the Tartars were descended,
in all probability first peopled the British isles. The fact that
our wprks are in all respects like those of Britain, and that
similar works may be found all the way from this part of

* Gov. Clinton, in Memoirs on West. Antiq. of N. Y. See Pennant's
Tour in Scotland, in Pinkerton's Collections.
f See Atwater, Vol. I. Archa?. Amer.
Vol I. 8

58 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
America to Tartary, • furnishes some proof that the Tartars
Were the authors of ours also. (42)
Edward Brerewood (43) claims the Tartars as the only
parent people of the aborigines. John De Laet (44) a Flemish
writer, Gregorio Garcia, (45) a Dominican, and father Jo
seph De Acosta, (46) a Spanish Jesuit, concur in ascribing
the American aboriginal population to the north of Asia and
of Europe. The first makes the Scythians, Tartars, and Sa-
moiedes, the principal hive ; but traces portions of the Ameri
can family from the northwest of Europe, the islands near the
western coasts of Africa, particularly the Canaries, and partly
from Wales, under Prince Madoc. The two other authors
suppose that these emigrants may have also come from those
regions lying south of the straits of Magellan. Grotius (47)
and Hornius (48) trace them from Norway, by way of Green
land; but the latter refers also to the Swedes, the Welsh, and
others. '
Dr. Mitchill* says, that the suggestion of Mr. Clinton, of
tbe Danish origin of some of die 'old forts in^Onondaga and
adjacent, was to him a new window of light. It led him to
follow, with the reverend pastor Van Troil, the European emi
grants, during the horrible commotions of the ninth and tenth
centuries, to Iceland ; trace them, with the reverend Mr.
Crantz, to Greenland; and at last find the Scandinavians on
the banks of the St. Lawrence. Madoc, Prince of Wales,
and his Cambrian followers, appeared among these bands of
adventurers. And thus the north-eastern lands of North
America were visited by the hyperborean tribes from the
north-westernmost climates of Europe ; and the north-western
climes of North America had received inhabitants of the same
race from the north-eastern regions of Asia.
The hypothesis of this learned philosopher is, that America,
as well as Asia, had its Tartars in the north and its Malays in
the south. He aims to prove, from a comparison of the fea
tures, manners, and dress, distinguishable in the North Ameri-

* Vol. I. Archse. Amer. p. 341.

^ 59.] Tartars, Scadinavians, Malays, tyc. 59
can nations of the higher latitudes, with those of the Sa-
moiedes and Tartars of Asia, that they are of the same race ;
and, from the physiognomy, manufactures, and customs of the
North American tribes of the middle ancVJower latitudes, and
of the South Americans, that they are nearljKakin to the Ma
lay* race of Austral Asia and Polynesia ; and thsnt.the north
western climes of Europe contributed, as the north-eastern re
gions of Asia had, to the original population of this continent.
This derivation of the Northern Americans from Asiatic
and Norwegian ancestry, and the Southern from that of South
ern Asia, is also ably maintained by Doctor Williamson ;f
and the theory has attracted the concurrence of some modern
philosophers in Europe.J
In conformity to this interesting hypothesis, the antiquary
is instructed to trace the swarms from the great hive of na
tions existing to the eastward and westward of the Caspian
Sea, in a manner very different from that which some writers
of Europe have pursued, as the barbarians descended upon
the more warm and productive countries of the south. " He
will follow the hordes journeying by land eastward, and he
will trace the fearless boatman venturing over sea westward,
until the Tartar and the Samoied meet each other at the anti
podes. He will find this antipodal region to lie south of lakes
Ontario and Erie ; and thereon pursue the vestiges, nf their
combats, Jheir-cnnflicts, -and their untold story, to Onondaga,
* See Blumenbach's Division of the Human Species, Malays, &c. ia
Vol. X. (newser.) N.Am. Rev. p. 405, 7. See Dr. Mitchill's Private
Museum. f Observations on the Climate and Aborigines of America, on Complex
ion, &c. by Hugh Williamson, LL.D. N. Y. 1811. p. 102, &c. 128, &c.
See also his Hist, of North Caro. Vol. I, p. 6, 7, 8, 213, 216. See Abbe:
Molina, Hist. Chili, Vol. II. B- 1- Ch. 1. See Atwater, in Vol. I. Archas.
Amer. See also Humboldt, who supports the southern similarity with Ma
lory. Humboldt is said to have written in German, an essay on the origin
of the native tribes of America.
J Compte De Lacepede, President of the Academy of Arts at Paris.
" Histoire naturelle de l'Homme," &c. See Dr. Mitchill's Dissertation,
translated at Geneve, and appended by a learned commentary, 1817, Bibhor
Eeque Universelle.

60 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
the great head-quarters of the victorious Iroquois. The Danes,
or Finns, and Welshmen, performing their migrations gra
dually to the southwest, will appear to have penetrated to the
country situate south of lake Ontario, and to have fortified
themselves there. The Tartars or Samoieds, travelling, by
dfegrees, from Alaska to the southeast, probably found them
there. In their course, these Asian colonists probably exter
minated the Malays (49) who had penetrated along the Ohio
and its streams, Or drove them to the caverns abounding in
saltpetre and copperas in Kentucky and Tennessee, where their
bodies,* accompanied with the clothes and ornaments of their
peculiar manufacture, have been repeatedly disinterred and
examined. Having achieved this conquest, the Tartars and
their descendants had probably a much more difficult task to
perform :-,this was, to subdue the more ferocious and warlike
European colonists, who had already been intrenched and for
tified in the country before them. There is evidence enough,
that long and bloody wars were waged among the tribes.-j-
In these, the Scandinavians and Esquimaux seem to have been
overpowered in New- York. The survivors of the defeat and
ruin retreated to Labrador, where they have continued secure
and protected by barrenness and cold. How memorable a
spot has been Onondaga ! — where men of the Malay race from
the southwest, and of the Tartar blood from the northwest,
and of the Gothic stock- from the northeast, have successively
contended for supremacy and rule, and which may be consi
dered as having been possessed by each before the French,
Dutch, or English, hadever visited or known the country !"(50)
Father Charlevoix (51) allows that America might have re
ceived its first inhabitants from Tartary and Hyrcania ; and that
more than one nation had a Scythian or Tartarian origin.
After enumerating a great number of writers, (52) and ex-

* See account of Indian Mummies, found in the Mammoth Cave of Ken
tucky, Vol. I. Archae. Amer. and specimens of their peculiar manufacture,
&c. in Dr. Mitchill's Collection.
t See Mr. Clinton's Memoir, Mr. Atwater's Antiquities, and others be-
fore cited.

§ 10.] "European and Asiatic Tartars. 61
amining particularly Acosta, L'Escarbet, Brerewood, and
Grotius, he concludes in his opinion, that the ancient Celta?
and Gauls, who sent colonies to the uttermost bounds of Asia
and Europe, and whose origin may be undeniably carried
back to the sons of Japhet, made their way into America by
the Azores ; and in reply to the objection, if raised, that the ,
Azores were not inhabited in the fifteenth century, he replies,
that the first discoverers of those islands abandoned them to
make settlements in others of greater extent and fertility, and
on an immense continent, whence they are not far distant.
The Esquimaux, and other nations of North America, re
semble so much those of the north of Asia and Europe, and
so little the other natives of the new world, that it may be
presumed they descended from the former.
That there are genuine descendants from the ancient
Scythians, or from their offspring the Tartars, of the north of
Asia or Europe, might be placed beyond any reasonable
doubt, if similitude in feature, manners, and customs, were to
decide the question. One western nation in particular, among
whom has been discovered a language of signs supposed to
savour of Asiatic origin,* possess all the migratory habits
and customs of the roying Tartars. These are the Hietans
or Comanches.f Having no fixed residence, they alternately
occupy the immense space of country from the Trinity and
Braces, crossing the Red river to the heads of Arkansas and
Missouri to river Grand ; beyond it about Santa Fe, and over
the dividing ridge on the waters of the Western Ocean. They
have a native language by speech, which no others can under
stand ; but. they have a language by signs that all Indians un
derstand. These roving Tartars occasionally display a rapidity
* Jenk's Antiquarian Address, p. 24. Wm. Dunbar's communication
in pt. 1. vol. VI. Transac. of Amer. Philo. Soc. Philadelphia. See Long's
Expedition up the Missouri, for particulars of their language of signs.
f See Reports accompanying the President's Message to Congress, 1806.
Communicating the Discoveries of Lewis and Clark, Sibley and Dunbar.
This account is in John Sibley's communication to Gen. Dearborn, then
Secretary of War.

62 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
in hostile incursions and retreat, and a romance in achieve
ment, which would do credit to the barbarous gallantry of
their Asiatic brethren. (53) $11.
The question recurs, were the five nations and Delawares,
(the native Indians of this state, who, according to their
tradition, migrated from the west,) of a Tartar stock, , and
were the Alligewi, whom they expelled, , the north-western
Europeans, who had preceded them in their migration to this
state ? Pennant, (in his Arctic Zoology,) says, that the five
nations and others in the interior of America, who are tall of
body, robust in make, and of oblong faces, are derived from
a variety among the Tartars, viz. from the fine stock of
Tschutski, and these again from that fine race' of Tartars, the
Kaba,rdenski, or inhabitants of Kabarda. Mr. Du Ponceau
observes,* that it has been ascertained, that one nation at
least, on the eastern continent of Asia, the Sedentary Tschuts-
cki, speak an American language, a dialect of that (viz. the
Karalit) which begins in Greenland, crosses the American
continent, (on both coasts of which it is found among the
people called Esquimaux,) is spoken at Norton Sound, and
the mouth of the Anadir, and thence northward along the
coast, to the peninsula called Tschutschkoi Noss, or the
promontory of the Tschutscki. The inquiry may be more
satisfactorily elucidated, when, (in our history of these In
dians,) we shall contrast some of their prominent manners and
customs with those of their supposed parent stock. From
what has been said,, there is strong ground for conjecturing,
that their ancestors were Tartars originally, from the north of
Asia, who by intermitted stages, were for years emigrating to
the northern lakes and banks of the Mississippi ; and after a
long and destructive conflict, succeeded in conquering those

* See Notes on Eliot's Indian Grammar, vol. IX. Mass. Hist. Coll. 2d
Series, p. 233n. 312— IV.

$11.] European and Asiatic Tartars. 63
European emigrants, who had fortified themselves throughout
the country, from the Mississippi into New-York. But
whether the ancestors of these victors or vanquished were the
first people of America, or what country was the original
cradle of the American family, are problems of much more
difficult solution, than the Asiatic and European identity of
these races of aborigines.
In addition to authors named, who support a European or
Asiatic origin, or one from both regions, we might add to the
list of those who think that the north-eastern Asia might have
been the route of the first people, the names of Robertson,
Pennant, Barton, and others.*
The vicinity of the two continents of Asia and America,
says Dr. Robertson, renders it highly probable that the
human race first passed that way from Asia. In latitude 66°
north, the two coasts are thirteen leagues only asunder ; • about
midway between which are two islands, less than twenty miles
distant from either shore. Here the Asiatics could find no dif
ficulty in passing to the opposite coast, which was in sight of
their own. They might have crossed on sledges, or on foot
in the winter, when the strait is entirely frozen over, according
to the accounts of Captain Cook and several of his inferior
officers. It isremarkablethatin every peculiarity in person and
disposition which characterize the Americans, they have some
resemblance to the rude tribes scattered over the north-east of
Asia, but almost none to the nations settled in the northern
extremities of Europe.
Mr. Pennant observes that the inhabitants of the New
World do not consist of the offspring of a single nation : dif
ferent people at several different periods arrived there, and it
is impossible to say that any one is now to be found on the
spot of its colonization. It is impossible, with the lights
which we have so recently received, to admit that America
could receive the bulk of its inhabitants from any other

* Robertson's Hist. Amer. Pennant's Arc. Zool. Barton's New Views.
See Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews.

64 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part L
place than Eastern Asia. Mr. Pennant describes striking
similarities between the ancient Scythians, or Tartars of Asia,
and the American tribes. These and other peculiarities will
be noticed in our account of the Iroquois and Delawares,
the ancient proprietors of the territory of New- York. Mr.
Pennant mentions, for instances, the practice of scalping
among the Scythians \. their lingering ferocity towards their
captives ; the Tartarian mode of burial ; the practice of prick
ing their faces and marking the punctures with charcoal, as
observed by the Tungusi, the most numerous nation in Si*
beria ; the Asiatic canoes and paddles ; and the features and
bodily form of the Tartar nations, as striking similitudes to
those of the American nations.*
In the reserved dispositions, as well as pefsons and colour
of the North American Indians, a strong resemblance has
been observed to those of the Malays of the Oriental
Archipelago, that is, the Tartar tribes of Upper Asia ; like these
they also shave their head, leaving only a lock of hair. The
practice of those refined Tartars, the Chinese, of binding the
feet in infancy, also prevails among the Indians, but for the
purpose only, as is said, of turning the toes inward'. "We
might adduce," says the Quarterly Review,f " the picture
language of the Mexicans, as corresponding with the ancient
picture-language of China, and the Quipos of Peru with the
knotted and partly coloured cords, which the Chinese history
informs us were in use in the early period of the empire ; we
might compare the high cheek bones, and the elongated eye
of the two people, and produce other resemblances as so
many corroborating proofs of a common origin."
In fact, it has beert supposed that M. de HumboldtJ has de
monstrated the identities of the Mexicans and Tartarian na-

* Pennant's Arc Zool.
f No. LVII. p. 13. See specimens of this picture language in Dr.
Mitchill's private museum.
I Whose essay, in Cerman, on the origin of thg native tribes of America,
is hardly vet known here.

^ 11 •] Europe and Asiatic Tartars. 65
tions, by a comparison of the zodiac of those people respec
tively. " The very learned and sagacious comparison," says
Professor Vater,* " which he has made between the divisions
of time of the Mexicans, and the tribes of eastern Asia re
spectively, shows a visible analogy throughout their modes of
computing time, which can by no means be ascribed to coin
cidence, especially where so many other circumstances lead
us to assume a connexion between the nations. The Mexi
cans, Japanese, Thebesians, and various other nations of in
ner Asia, have undeniably the same system in the division of
their great cycle, and in the names which they give to the
years of which it is composed. This argument is also con
firmed by the still farther discovery, that a great number of the
names whereby the Mexicans designate the twenty days of their
month, are precisely the signs of the zodiac, as it has been re
ceived from time immemorial by the tribes of eastern Asia."f
Doctor Barton, and other respectable writers who have
examined the subject, arrange themselves on the same side of
the question. After a brief description of several North
American and Asiatic tribes, Dr. Barton subjoins comparative
Vocabularies of their languages, and from the similarity be
tween some of them; the superior population of the more
western regions of North America, which abound with a
greater number of mounds, &c. than the eastern parts ; and
from the general tradition of the aborigines, he concludes that
the march of population was originally from Asia to America.
Accordingly, the first inhabitants passed from Asia across
die islands that lie between the extremities of Asia and Ame
rica, but at different times and from various parts : Tartary,
China, Japan, or Kamschatka : the inhabitants of these coun
tries resembling each other in colour., feature, shape, J and
in many other particulars..
* In vol. IV. Mithridates, cited vol. VII. N. Am. Rev. (new series.)
p. 15.
f See ibid.
j New Travels among the Indians, by William Fisher, Esq. Philadelphia,
1812.
Vol. I. 9

1 66 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I-

§ 12.
Tii what manner the popUlators of this continent mightJiave
passed from Asia, or from Europe, may be conceived as easi
ly as the transit of people after the deluge, to the extremities
of those continents, and to that of Africa.*
Asia and America are supposed to have been united at the
north,f and afterwards separated by one of those catastro
phes which at times convulse the surface of the globe.
Charlevoix thought the two continents still united far to the
north. But they are separated, as we formerly observed, by-
islands at so short a distance,! that the strait when not frozen
over, may be passed by canoes with far less hazard than the
fearless Esquimaux sometimes dares in venturing upon the
mountain wave.§
So between the north-east of America, and north-west of
Europe, the difficulties, though greater than those above-
mentioned, were by no means appalling to northern navigators.
They must have been far less so anciently than in modern
days, if we credit, with Hakluyt and others, || the former-
existence of an island (larger than Ireland, but now sunk,)
situated between Greenland and Iceland, in the days of
Zeno. Even from the British Isles, or Coast of France to

* As to the migration of the human race after the deluge, see preface
to D'Anville's ancient geography.
i f And according to Acosta and Feijoo, as cited by Clavigero, the first
emigrants came across at that point. Buftbn also thought the two con
tinents united by oriental Tartary.
| See account of Kamschatka, published by order of the Empress of Rus
sia, Robertson's Amer. Life' of Catherine, Empress of Russia.
{ See the modern northern voyages. Indians not only of the north, but
of the" South Sea Islands, and West-Indies are daring navigators. They
seem to pursue their course from one place to another, with nearly the
same unerring precision, which marks their straight forward way through
a vast wilderness, wherein civilized people would become bewildered and
lost. || See H's Collections. Forster's Northern Voyages.

§ 13.] Tartars and other nations. 67
Newfoundland, the passage is not very long or difficult,
A passage may with ease be effected from the coast of Africa
to Brazil — Canaries to the Western Islands — thence to the
Antilles. Neither is it very long or difficult from China to
Japan — Japan or the Philippines to the Mariannes — thence
to Mexico.
America has been peopled as the other parts of the world
have been : independently of pre-design — ^unforeseen accident,
tempests, and shipwreck have certainly contributed to people
every habitable part of the world.* § 13.
This is also the opinion of Governor Clinton. "The
probability]- is, that America was peopled from various quar
ters of the old world, and that its predominant race is the
Scythian or Tartarian. Malte Brun, the great French
geographer, in his Precis de la Geographie Universelle, fcc,
speaks of the vast colonial System of the Carthaginians ; of
Phoenician navigation, of that of the Arabians and the Ma
lays, to the Moluccas and to America ; and it is almost certain,
that the squadrons of the Japanese and the Malays traversed
the great Southern Ocean, now filled with their colonies.
Diodorus Siculus says, that the Phoenicians sailed far into
the Atlantic Ocean. Herodotus states, that Africa was
circumnavigated by vessels despatched by Necho; king of
Egypt, under the conduct of Phoenicians. Hanno, according
to Pliny, during the most flourishing times of Carthage, sailed
round from Gades to the utmost extent of Arabia, and wrote
an account of this voyage, called the Periplus. That vessels
from the old world, have been driven by tempests on the
coast of America, is certain, and that they have gone there at
early periods for various purposes, is highly probable. A
communication can be had between America and the old
world, without any considerable navigation. They are in

f Gov. C. in MS. view pf this question, with which he has favoured us.

68 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I,
one place divided by a strait, and where the distance enlarges,
access can be easily had by intervening islands. Grotius
says, that the Peruvians were a Chinese colony, that the
Spaniards found at the entry of the Pacific Ocean, after
coming through the straits of Magellan, the wrecks of Chinese
vessels. Captain Shaler, our intelligent consul-general at
Algiers, is well assured that a Chinese junk was wrecked
on the north-west coast of America ; some of the money of
that country was found on board. Forster supposes that the
fair South Sea race came from the Malays, and the blacks
from the Moluccas.
. It is mentioned in the General History of the Canaries,.
that in 17T0, a small vessel laden with corn, and bound from
Lancerotte to Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, was driven to sea
while none of the crew were on board. The motion of the
waters from east to west, carried it to America, where it went
on shore at La Guaira, near Caraccas.
In 1682 and 1684, American savages, of the race of the
Esquimaux, were driven out to sea in their leather canoes
during a storm, and, left to the guidance of the currents,
reached the Orcades. Pliny says, that certain Indians were
driven by tempests on the coast of Germany, and presented
to Quintus, Metellus, by the King of the Suevi. Thirty
persons, (according* to Lettres edifiantes et curieuses ecrites
des Missions etrangeres, torn. 15.) of both sexes in two
canoes, arrived in the isle of Samal, one of the Philippines
who had been driven by storms from an island three hundred
leagues distant, and had been at sea seventy days. Captain
Cook in his last voyage, found in the island of Walevo, two
hundred leagues distant from the Society Islands, some of the
natives who had been driven thither by a storm, in a canoe.
Tupaya, an Otaheitan, had, according to Captain Cook,
sailed four hundred leagues from home, or about twenty
degrees of longitude. Captain Porter states, that the Mar
quesas frequently sail out in their boats on a venture, without
knowing the destination.
When a mutiny took place on board of the ship Bounty,

§13.] Transit of the first people. 69
Lieut. Bligh commander, he and eighteen men were put into
an open boat on the 28th of April, 1788, and on the 29th of
May, arrived at New-Holland, distant nearly four thousand
miles'. But the Quarterly Review (No. 52,) mentions an
occurrence still more extraordinary. "A native of Ulea,
one of the numerous islets forming the great group of the
Carolinas, was, with three companions, driven by a violent
storm but of their course, and drifted about in the open sea
eight months. Being expert fishermen, they lived on the
produce of the sea, and when the rain fell, laid 'in fresh water.
One of them being an expert diver, got water in a cocoa-nut
shell from the bottom of the sea where it is not salt."
These facts show how the different races of men may have
been spread over the globe, and indicate that. America has
derived its population from different sources in different
ways, and at different times ; by long voyages, and by short
excursions, by tempests, by voyages of commerce and dis
covery, and by the other various causes which govern the
conduct, and affect the destiny of man."
In further coincidence with this opinion of a Scythian or
Tartarian origin, and that the several quarters of the globe have
contributed to people this continent in various ways, and at
different times ; we might superadd other writers, distinguish
ed for their learning and research., America/ according to
one of them,* was inhabited before the deluge. f After this
event, men and animals penetrated into the country by sea
and land, through accident and design. The Scythians from
the north were the first founders ; the Phoenicians and Cartha
ginians followed next _ across the Atlantic ; and the Chinese,
the Pacific ; people of other nations succeeded, or were dri
ven hither by tempest. Some Jews and Christians by like
means, might have been brought hither. Another migration
of the Phoenicians is supposed by this writer to have taken

* Georgi Horni de Originibus Americanis, 1652. (Printed at Hague.) '
f The tradition of the deluge is prevalent among some of the Indian na
tions ; remarkably so among the Caddos. See note. ,0

70 Origin of ihe Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
place during the three years' voyage, made by the Tynan fleet,
in the service of king Solomon, and on the authority of Jo-
sephus ; he says that the port of its embarkation lay in the
Mediterranean. The fleet, he continues, went in quest of
elephants' teeth, &c. to the western coast of 'Africa, that is
Tarshish ; then to Ophir* for gold, which is Haiti, or the
Island of Hispemiola. He superadds migrations since the
Christian era.
Caleb Atwater, Esq. whose contributions of facts to the
collections of the American Antiquarian Society have been
curious and valuable, supposes that the first settlers sprang
from one common origin, as early as the days of Abraham
and Lot; that their improvements were originally rude, such
as were comn^on to those early ages ; their progress in arts
slow, but apparently improving as they advanced from the
north to the south.f The works described in those collecfions
are offered as evidence of a race widely different from any
now known. J
The hypothesis of an Israelitish origin, or that the Ameri
can Indians are descendants of the long-lost tribes of Israel, has
been ably assumed by Adair,§ supported b}' Boudinot,||

* Dr. Robertson (Hist. Am. B. I. p. 3. 12mo.) thioks that Tarshish and
Ophir were ports in India or Africa.
f In Archael. Amer. Vol. I. See p. 223, as to the progress in arts, in
workmanship of gold, silver, copper, bricks, iron, pottersware.
J See Review in Vol. III. (new series) North American Review, p. 225.
} History of American Indians. Lond. 1775.
|| Star in the West, or an attempt to discover the long-lost ten tribes of
Israel. Trenton N. J. 1816. This is an improvement upon Adair, as Mr.
Boudinot acknowledges, p. 211. See Rob. Ingram's accounts often tribes
being in America originally, published by R. Manassah Ben Israel. Print
ed Colchester, Ehg. 1792. A reverend writer in Vermont has also publish
ed a work on this hypothesis, and is said to be engaged in preparing ano
ther edition,. See also Campbell on Western Antiquities. Port Folio,
June 1816. See the custom (given in Lewis and Clark's Travels, Vol.1, p.
366, 382.) of the Shoshonees uncovering their feet, likened to the Mosaic.
Asiatic Researches, Vol. II. p. 76, as to Jews discovered in China, called
Afghans. See Jenk's Antiquarian Address.

$ 14.] Israelitish. 71
and denied by Jarvis,* on the assumption that there is
no affinity between the Indian and Hebrew tongues.
One writer has gone so far as to trace the primogenitors of
the American Indians to the descendants of the murderer
Cain. His essay is ingenious, and contains a full quotation
and explanation of scripture references. He insists, however,
upon the former union of the Asiatic and American conti
nents, f
It has been further urged that the progressive movements
of the human family were uniformly eastward and northward
from the Euphrates. The inhabitants of Asia being the de
scendants of Shem, did not move to the westward in any num-'
bers. The aborigines, therefore, belonged to a stock of
those who moved eastward from the Euphrates, and crossing
at Behring Straits, came to our western country from the
north-west. Some of the Mexicans declare that their ances
tors came from the north-west.
At the deluge, arts had arrived to great improvement and
refinement. A respectable portion of this knowledge was
preserved from the wreck; and communicated by the sons of
Noah. From the descendants of Shem, the first settlers of
Asia, that is, the Israelites, (or what is synonymous, the ten
tribes) we derive the commencement of all that knowledge,
which served to keep the vast continent of Asia from total
barbarism. The Israelites carried captive by Salmaneser,
in the time of Hoshea, became, in a great measure, incorporat
ed with the neighbouring nations; and from this source, or in
this channel, we deduce many of the customs which prevailed,
and continue to prevail in Asia, and which have been frequent
ly recognised among the Tartars, the aborigines of the
western country, and the present race of Indians.}
* Discourse in No. 3. N. Y. Hist. Collec; and reviewed in Vol. XI.
N. Am. Rev. p. 103.
f In Vol. I. (old) Am. Mag. p. 196. 246, &c.
t See Campbell on the Antiquities of the western part of our country.
See Port Folio, June 1816. As to the migration of the human race after
the deluge, see the translator's preface to D'Anville's Ancient Geography

72 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. -[Part I.

§ .14.
Mr. Jefferson was of opinion that emigrants might have easily
passed from the north-east of. Asia, or north-west of Europe
into America ; but he considered the red Americans more an
cient than those of Asia, upon the assumption that radical
changes of language among the former have taken place
in greater numbers, than they have among the latter.*
Some philosophers, cbnsidering this continent coexistent
with that of Asia, are not more willing to yield to the lat-
.ter any claim to remote antiquity over the former, than they
are to Europe a pretension to physical superiority, so arro
gantly maintained by De Pauw and Buffon, but so^ably re
futed by Mr. Jefferson and the Abbe Clavigero.
We heretofore observed that Baron Humboldt (54) was
astonished to find in the New World, so called, institutions,
religious ideas, and edifices, flourishing in the fifteenth cen
tury, which in Asia indicated the dawn of civilization. Abbe
• Clavigero (55) thought the first American people descended
from different families after the confusion of tongues, and that
the language and customs of the Asiatics will in vain be ex
amined for the origin of the people of the New World. It is
his belief that there has been an equinoctial union of America
and Africa, as well as a former connexion at the north with
Asia and Europe. § 15
Siguenza (whose opinion was adopted by Bishop Huet)
supposed that the Mexicans belonged to the posterity of
Naphtuhim, and that their ancestors left Egypt not long after
the confusion of tongues, and travelled towards America.
This is a conjecture which Abbe Clavigero considers well sup
ported, but not sufficiently sustained to be pronounced a truth.

* Notes on Virginia. See Dr. Jarvis's Discourse, note C. in Vol. III.
N. Y, Hist. Coll, p. 227—228.

§ 15.] Romans — Africans — Votan. 73
The ruins of an ancient city near Palenque, in the province
of Chiapa, and kingdom of Guatemala, in Spanish America,
are described as exhibiting the remains of magnificent edifices,
temples, towers, aqueducts, statues, hieroglyphics, and un
known characters. This city (since called the Palencian city)
was first discovered by Captain Antonio Del Rio, in 1787.
He says in his report,* that the town appears, to have been se
ven or eight leagues in length, and at least half a league in
breadth ; that from a Romish similarity in location, in that of
a subterranean stone aqueduct, and from certain figures in
Stucco, he thought that an intercourse once existed between
the original natives and Romans. The Palencian edifices are
of very remote antiquity, havingbeen buried for many ages in
the impenetrable thickets covering the mountains, and un
known to the historians of the new world.
Among the few historical American works that escaped the
flames of the Spanish conquerors, (who destroyed most of the
memorials of the natives^ was an ancient narrative, which is
said to have fallen into the hands of the bishop of Chiapa, who
refers to it in his Diocesan Constitution, printed at Rome
1702. This was the narrative of Votan, which, it is conjec
tured by DoGt. Cabrera, of New Guatemala,! may still be ex
tant. r A copy (as Doct. C. believes) of the original, in hiero
glyphics, (taken soon after the conquest) was communicated
to him in a memoir from a learned friend.
From an interpretation of this copy of the hieroglyphic nar
rative' of Votan, he is made to say, that he conducted seven
families from Valum Votan to this continent, and assigned
lands to them ; that he is the third of the Votans ; that having
determined to travel till he arrived at the root of heaven, in

* See Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City, &c. from the MS.
of Don Antonio del Rio, and Teatro Critic6 Americano, or Critical In
vestigation,' &c. into the history of the Americans, by Doct. Paul Felix Ca
brera. Lond. 1822.
f Ib. Descrip. of Ruins, Sic.
Vol. I. 10

74 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I-
order to discover his relations, the Culebreas,* and make
himself known to them, he made four voyages toChivim;
that he arrived in Spain, and went to Rome ; that he saw the
great house of God building, &c.
According to Doctor Cabrera's hypothesis, the figures and
deities of the Palencian city, and particularly the hierogly
phics, are Egyptian. A maritime communication existed be
tween the American and African continents, in the very remo
test ages of antiquity. The grandfather of Votan wais a Hi-
vite, originally of Tripoli, in Syria, (of a nation famous for
having produced Cadmus) and was the first populator of the
New World. That Votan, his grandson, made four voyages
to the old continent, and landed at Tripoli. The earliest in
habitants consequently came from the east to America,
proceeded from its eastern part to the northward, and again
descended. At any rate, this, according to Dr. Cabrera, is
the solution of the grand historical problem, so far as it re
gards the first peopling of the countries bordering on the
Gulf of Mexico, and islands adjacent. He admits, that from
various accidents since the introduction of the art of naviga
tion, it is probable that many other families, besides those
conducted hither by Votan, may have been conveyed to diffe
rent parts of America and formed settlements.
Among the ruins of the Palencian city, were found several
figures and idols. Agreeably to the Doctor's interpretation
of these figures, Votan is represented thereon as on both con
tinents, with an historical event, the memory of which he was
desirous of transmitting to future ages. His voyages to, and
return from, the old continent, are also depicted. One of the
idols, bearing a mitre or cap, with bulls' horns, and found in
the temple of the city, is the Osiris, and another, the Isis of the
Egyptians. These transmarine deities were known also to
the Greeks., Romans, and Phoenicians.

* How striking are these incidents, compared with those related of Ma
doc ! See p. 54, and note 33. Are the words Valum VotaD, Culebras,
Chivim, &c. of Welsh etymology ?

$ 15.] Votan 75
In order to sustain his conclusion, the Doctor is forced to
(
enter upon a" train of bold conjecture. The speeches of Mon
tezuma, (who has already been claimed as the descendant of
Madoc by his advocates) to Cortes, on his submission to tl^e
dominion of Charles V. and his address to his chiefs and ca
ciques, are supposed to refer to the arrival and departure Of
Votan. In the range of his conjectures, while attempting to trace
the affinity of Votan's grandfather with the ancient Hivites,
their migration to Egypt, and the antiquity of Votan's voy
age, and those of his grandson, the Doctor enters learnedly
into ancient mythology, and lays much stress upon the opi
nion of the benedictine Calmet, in his commentary on the Old
Testament, and upon Hornius, as cited by Calmet.
Accordingly, on the ingress of the Hebrews into Palestine,
and in consequence of the Hebrew wars, the Canaanites, who
were expelled by Joshua and the judges, fled into Egypt,
pursued their course to the remotest regions of Africa, having
occupied its coasts gradually, as they were oppressed by the
Hebrew wars, (though many of the Hivites abandoned their
dwellings before Joshua entered Palestine ;) that these colo
nies existed prior to the Trojan war, (the era of which is 240
years after the death of Joshua) because Greeks returning
thence, found that every part of the coast of Africa where they
landed, had been already peopled by the Phoenicians ; that
on this point, Greek and Latin writers agree, according to the
testimony of Bochart, in his work entitled Canaan, and of
Hornius, on the origin of the people of America, lib. 2, cap.
3, 4, quoted by Calmet. Hence the foundation of the first
colony in America, by the grandfather of Votan. Hornius,
supported by the authority of Strabo, affirms, as certain, that
voyages from Africa and Spain into the Atlantic Ocean, were
both frequent and celebrated, adding, from Strabo, that Eu-
doxius, sailing from the Arabian gulf to Ethiopia and India,
found the prow of a ship that had been wrecked, which, from
having the head of a horse carved on it, he knew belonged to
a Phoenician bark, and some Gaditani merchants declared it

76 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part t
to have been a fishing vessel. Laertius relates nearly the same
circumstance. Hornius. says, that in very remote ages^three
voyages were made to America, the first by the Atlantes, or
descendants of Atlas, who gave his name to the ocean, and the
islands, Atlantides : this name Plato appears to have learned
from the Egyptian priests, the general custodes of antiquity.
The second voyage, mentioned by Hornius, is given on the
authority of Diodorus Siculus, lib. 5, cap. 19, where he says,
the Phoenicians, having passed the columns of Hercules, and
impelled by the violence of the winds, abandoned themselves
to its fury ; and after experiencing many tempests, were dri
ven upon an island in the Atlantic Ocean, distant many days
sail to the westward of the coast of Lybia. This island, upon
which were large buildings, had a fertile soil, and navigable
rivers. The report of this discovery • soon spread among the
Carthaginians and Romans, the former being harassed by
the wars of the latter, and the people of Mauritania, sent a
colony to that island with great secrecy, that, in the event of
being overcome by their enemies, they might possess a place
of retreat.
But according to Doct. Cabrera, Votan's ancestors must
have emigrated prior to this second voyage of the Phoenicians,
for the latter found houses, 8ic. and anterior to the Punic
wars. The other voyage in the Atlantic, spoken of by Calmet,
was anterior to the preceding, and is that attributed to Her
cules, who is the supposed author of the Gaditanian columns,
and whom Galleo ranks as contemporary with Moses, and
chief of the Canaanites, who left Palestine on the invasion of
Joshua. The Hivites founded the kingdom of Tyre. Sallust
affirms, that the soldiers of Hercules Tyrius, and their wives, .
spoke the African language. Diodorus asserts, that one Her
cules navigated the whole circuit of the earth, and built the
city of Alecta in Septimania. From what Doct. Cabrera
considers an irrefragable body of evidence, founded upon the
coincidence of the memorials of writers of the old continent,

§ 16.] Votan. 77
with the tradition, as introduced in Montezuma's two discour
ses, that the Mexicans came originally from the east ; the
narrative of Votan ; • the incidents commemorated by a
discovered medal; the report of Captain Del Rio, and
the figures of the ultramarine deities, sketched by him in
the temple of the Palencian city, the Doctor concludes, that
Hercules Tyrius was the progenitor of Votan, Septimania,
beyond a doubt, the island Atlantis, or Hispaniola ; the city
of Alecta was Valum Votan, the capital of that island whence
Votan embarked his first colony to people the continent of
America, and whence he departed for the countries on the old
hemisphere. Votan, the grandson of, Hercules, and author of the narra
tive, was the third of his race, and flourished between three
and four hundred years before the Christian era. The Ro
mans and Carthaginians derived their first knowledge of
America from Votan himself, on his return to the old conti
nent, and his visit to Rome ; and the first Carthaginian colony
was sent previous to the first Punic war, and after the inform
ation thus communicated.
This hypothesis is not, it seems, founded upon that of an
ancient union of the two continents. §16.
So formidable, however, have been the interposing difficul
ties, as viewed by the learned, in arriving at any certainty
when and whence came the first people of America, and how
and when animals first appeared there,* that many suppose,
(for instance, Acosta, Grotius, BufVon, and Abbe Clavigero,)
that this continent was once connected with the old continents,
and by some great convulsion, the communications have been
destroyed. There cannot be any doubt that our planet has

¦* See Barton's Views. Rees's New Cyclop.

78 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
been subject to great vicissitudes since the deluge. Lands
over which ships once sailed, are now the seats of cultivation;
lands which were formerly cultivated, are now covered by wa
ter. Earthquakes have swallowed some lands, subterraneous
fires have thrown up others. Rivers have formed new soil
with their mud ; the sea has retreated from shores and length
ened the land ; or advancing, diminished it, or separated terri
tories which were united, and formed new straits and gulfs.
Pliny, Seneca, Diodorus, and Strabo, report a great many
instances of such vicissitudes. According to them, Spain and
Africa were united, and by a violent irruption of the ocean
upon the land between the mountains Abyla and Calpe, that
communication was broken, and the Mediterranean sea formed.
Sicily had been united to the continent with Naples, and Eubea,
(the Black sea,) to Boeotia. The people of Ceylon have a tra
dition that an irruption of the sea separated their island from
the peninsula of India ; so those of Malabar, with respect to the
isles of Malvidia; and by the Malayans with respect to Suma
tra. (56) It is certain, says the Count de Buffon, that in Ceylon
the earth has lost by the sea thirty or forty leagues, while Ton-
gres, a place of the low countries, has gained thirty leagues of
land from the sea. The northern part of Egypt owes its exis
tence to the inundation of the Nile. The earth which this river
has brought from the inland countries of Africa, and deposited
in its inundations, has formed a soil of more than twenty-five
cubits of depth.* In like manner, adds the above author, the
province of the Yellow river in China, and that of Louisiana,
have been formed from the mud of rivers. The peninsula of
Yucatan, in America, no doubt was once the bed of the sea.
In the channel of the Bahama, indications appear of a former
existing union of Cuba with Florida. In the strait which sep
arates America from Asia, are many islands, which probably
were the mountains belonging to that tract of land, which we
suppose to have been swallowed by earthquakes, a probability

* Ali Bey maintains (in his travels) that the great African desert was
ice an ocean.

once an ocean

§16] Union of Continents. 79
strengthened by the knowledge we have of the multitude of
volcanos in the peninsula of Kamschatka. The sinking of
that land, and the separation of the two continents, however, is
imagined to have been ocasioned by those great and extraor
dinary earthquakes mentioned in the history of the Americans,
which formed an era almost as memorable as that of the de
luge. (57) Abbe Clavigero is pursuaded that there was an
ancient union between the equinoctial countries of America
and those of Africa, and a united continuation of the north
ern countries of America with those of Europe or Asia; the
latter affording a passage for beasts of cold climes, the former
for quadrupeds and reptiles peculiar to hot climes. He also
believes Jhat there was formerly a great tract of. land, which
united the now most eastern part of Brazil to the most western
part of Africa, and that all that space of land may have been
sunk by some violent earthquakes, leaving only some traces of
it in the isles of Cape de Verd, Fernando de Norona, Ascen
sion, St. Matthew, and others, and themany sand-banks disco
vered by different navigators, and particularly by De Bauche,
who sounded that sea with particular care and exactness.
Those islands and sand-banks may probably have been the
highest parts of that sunken continent. It is also the belief of
Abbe Clavigero, that the most westerly part of America was
formerly united by means of a smaller continent to the most
easterly part of Tartary, and perhaps America was united also
by Greenland with the northern countries of Europe. Dr.
Foster entertained an opinion, which however he afterwards
questioned, that Friesland, (larger according to Hakkuet than
Ireland) to which the Venetian Zenos in the beginning of the
fourteenth century proceeded, and theiice adventured at sea for
years in the service of Sichmi, the enterprising chief of the
island, was situated between Iceland and Greenland, and has
since been swallowed by the sea in a great earthquake. Dr.
Belknap* coincided in this opinion, and thought the sunken

* American Biog. V. I. p. 74.

80 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
land of Buss, was a part of the ancient Friesland, or some is
land in its neighbourhood. The opinion of Foster was founded
on the probability that all the high-islands in the middle of the
sea are of volcanic origin, as it is evident,* with respect to
Iceland and fhe Faro islands in the north sea : the Azores.
Teneriffe, Madeira, the Cape de Verds, St. Helena, and Ascen
sion, in the Atlantic ; the Society Islands, Otaheite, Easter,
the Marquesas, and other islands in the Pacific.
Abbe Molina* observes that the Chilians say their ancestors
came from the north or the west. That they came from the
west he thinks is. not so extravagant an opinion as at first view
might appear.
The discoveries of the English navigators in the South sea,
have established, that between America and the southern point
of Asia, there is a chain of innumerable islands, the probable
remains of some vast tract of land, which in that quarter, once
united the two continents, and rendered the communication
between Asia and the opposite shore of America easy. Whence
it is very possible, as Abbe Molina concludes, that while North
America has been peopled from the north-west, the south has
received its inhabitants from the southern parts of Asia; the
natives of this part of the new world being of a mild charac
ter, much resembling that of the southern Asiatics, and little
tinctured with the ferocity of the Tartars: like the language
of the Oriental Indians, theirs is also harmonious, and abounds
in vowels.*
Mr. Haydenf in his Geological Essays, supposes that strong
evidence exists, that a general current prevailed over the whole
of this (American) continent, flowing from the north-east to
the south-west.
According to the geology of a distinguished professor in
natural philosophy in this State, J the basins of lakes Erie,
* History Chili, Vol. lit B. 1. ch. 1,
j H. H. Hayden, Esq. Geolog. Essays, reviewed in vol. 3. new series,
N. Am. Rev. p. 150.
| Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, Geolog. Observ. p. 326, published with Cu-
vici'.i Theory of the Earth. See also Professor Eaton's late Geological

§16.] Former Union of Continents — Geology of New- York. 81
Ontario, and other reservoirs of the great inland seas, were once
filled with salt water. The numerous remains of marine ani
mals adjacent to the lakes, the lithophytous and testaceous
relics abounding in the western and northern counties of this
state, are adduced as proofs of the recession of the ancient
oceanic waters of the primitive globe, that once rolled over
this region. The first and principal of those ancient barriers
or dams, which appeared, according to this theory, on the sub
sidence of the ocean, was that which has been traced from Up
per Canada into New-York, to the head waters of the Hudson,
to the north end of lake George, to the little falls on the Mo
hawk, to the eastern sources of the Susquehanna, through
New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, until it
becomes confounded withthe Alleghany ridge ; thence we pur
sue the barrier or mound, until the Cumberland mountain
divides the Tennessee river from the Cumberland river, and
shows its abrupt termination at the Ohio, between the spaces
where those two rivers unite with the Ohio: From this point a
vast gap, or prairie, extends towards the hills that skirt the
Illinois river and mountains west of Cape Girardeau in, Mis
souri, beyond the Mississippi; furnishing the only remaining
vestiges of the ancient barrier.*
This grand rampart, in the course of ages, was broken at
various places: a breach was formed, for instance, at the north
eastern extremity of lake Ontario, where the thousand islands
and neighbouring scenery bear evidence of the mighty rush of
the waters, as they prostrated (by the probable agency of an
earthquake) the opposing mound, and lowered Ontario one hun
dred and sixty feet, to the level of^its outlet. The country was left
bare ! from the heights of the ridge road, which runs from
Queenston and Lewiston heights, to the Genessee river: the

Surveys. Mr. Clinton's Introductory. Discourse before the New-York
Literary and Philosophical Society, and note G. Also his address to the
Historical Society.
* Even the summit of Michillimackinac contains the shells of bivalve mol-
luscas, and must consequently have been covered with water.
Voi,. I. 11

82 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. £Part I.
intermediate country exhibited to view all- the organic remains
which had been formed in the bottom of that sea. Another
breach was made in the succession of ages at the northern ex
tremity of lake George, in consequence of which, the barrier
near its outlet was demolished, and the lake diminished to its
present size. Another was near the cataracts of Hudson river,
called Glen's and Hadley's falls. Another at the upper falls
of the Mohawk, where the rocks formed at some remote period,
a mound, which opposed the progress of the water eastward,
and where the upper country wears the face of a drained tract,
and the lower, the traces of rounded primitive rocks, inter
spersed with alluvial deposites. Other breaches are supposed
to have been made by the Delaware through the mountain
above Easton; by the Lehigh through the Blue Mountain ;
by the waters of the river Schuylkill ; by the Susquehanna; by
the Potomac through the Blue Ridge, or South Mountain, so
called ; by James river: and the widest breach of all was be
tween the Cumberland mountain and the Missouri hills, at or
near Cape Girardeau. Over this wide tract, the barrier was
either high enough to enclose the waters, or it has yielded to
their impulse over a broader space than in any other. By the
flood which effected the demolition of this dam, the vast tract
behind it was drained : lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan were
formed, and dry land appeared around, while the ruins of sand
and soil were carried down the valley of the Mississippi and
deposited on the alluvion bottom there.
Since the removal of the briny waters through so many pas
sages, the streams fed by the rains and springs retiring to their
channels, wrought other alterations. Travelling down the in
clined plain from their several sources to the new level of the
lakes, they gave a configuration of a more modern date to the
regions through which they pass. Among these are the falls
and rapids in Black and Onondaga rivers ; the fall in Salmon
river; the rapids in Seneca; the cataract in Genesee; and the
grand cataract of Niagara.
The great chasm formed by the last, discloses) much of the

> 17-] Former Union of Continents. S3
mineralogy of the region which assists us in forming correct
opinions concerning the geology of this section of the globe.*
Accordingly from the fragile nature of the strataf that sup
port the mighty and immeasurable torrent, and from its vo
lume and attrition for ages, its position is supposed to have
receded seven miles from that which it once occupied between
Lewiston and Queenston's heights, to its present scite.f
From the foregoing limited view of the wonderful geognos-
tic changes which, in the slow revolution of ages, have taken
place upon the surface of the globe, and even within the limits
of our own State, the traces of which, to the eye of an ob
server, become every where apparent and numerous, we may
conclude that the hypothesis of a former union of this conti
nent with the old continents, is by no means improbable.
§ 17.
The presumption of such a union forms also the basis of an
elaborate inquiry by Dr. McCulloh.§ He supports the proba
bility of the ancient existence of the Atlantis of Plato, and the
identity of the Antilles and Hesperides of the Spanish author
Oviedo. In maintainance of his theory of the lost Atlantis,
he refers to authors, || by whose views or details it is supported,
and to traditions and geological observations tending to show

* See Dr. Mitchill's Geology, Eaton's Geological and Canal Surveys
and Descriptions of Niagara falls by Volney, Weld, McKennen, arid
Mitchill. North Am. Rev. Vol. VI. new series, p. 227-28-30-38, Vol.
XV. p. 225, 227.
f The upper of which is limestone rocks, disposed horizontally, or (as
Dr. Mitchill says, since his recent western tour, the present year, 1824)
with a slight inclination or dip towards the westward, so as to incline the
waters to run on the west.
\ But see Vol. VI. North American Review, new series, p. 231.
? Researches on America, Bait. 1817. See Vol. IX. (new series.) Mass.
Histor. Coll. Mr. Duponceau's notes, &c. p. 5.
|| For instance, Asiatic Researches, Vol. III. p. 300, Vol. VIII. p. 375.
Whitehurst's Works, General Vallencey referred to in notes to Southey's
Madoc. Vol. I. p. 237-8. Pennant in Introduction to Arctic. Zoology.

84 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
that the intermediate islands between this and other continents
are the shattered remains of those which once existed, and that
a continent stood where the Pacific now rolls its ten thousand
miles waste of waters.
The curious characters inscribed on the rock lying opposite
to Dighton, (near Taunton in Massachusetts, ) have been the sub
ject of much learned speculation. Mr. Mathieu, of France,
thinks them hieroglyphics, and ascribes them to the inhabi
tants of the Atlantic island of Plato. He not only pretends to give
the sense of the inscription, but also to prove that the tongues
spoken by the Mexicans, Peruvians, and other occidental peo
ple, as well as the Greek itself, with all its dialects and ramifi
cations, were but derivatives from the language of the prima-
tive Atlantides.*
He says the Chinese system of numeration, and the signs
employed in it, are the same as those found upon this rock,
which appear to have been written anno mundi 1902. The
numeration system of the Romans was similar, and they de
rived it from the Pelasgi, who were originally from Atlantis.
The same system was communicated to the Chinese by that
very In, son of Indios, King of Atlantis, who is named in the
inscription of Dighton, as chief of the ' expedition which had
arrived there for the purpose of concluding a treaty of com
merce and amity with the Americans. In became the founder
of a distinguished family in China, and was living in the time
of Yao, in the year 2296, being 48 years after the utter sub
mersion of the island of Atlantis in the ogygian deluge ; that

* Dr. Mitchill in Vol. I. Archas. Amer. p. 349. See Mr. Mathieu's Spe:
'..illation aHarge on this inscription in Vol. I. Amer. Month. Mag. p. 260,
published by Bigelow $f Holley. See Mr. Kendall in travels in the U. S.
Vol. II. chap. 53, and also his philosophical account of the rock in Vol. III.
part 1 . Memoirs of the Amer. Acad, of arts and science, Cambridge, 1 809, p.
165. See Judge Winthrop's description of this inscription in Vol. I. of d<v
Judge Davis's explanation of the same in Vol. II. p. 197 ib. Cotton Ma
ther's view of same in Transactions of the Royal Society in London. And
see North Amer. Review, Vol. I. (new series) p. 227, and also Col. Duane%
speculations on this subject.

§17.] Atlantides  Dighton Rock. 85
is to say,, about 1800 years before the christian era. This
island in its day was what Great Britain is in ours. The At
lantides, according to this their modern historiographer traded
with the four quarters of the globe, and established factories
and colonies^*
From a personal examination of this rock during the pre-
sent,year,f and a comparison of the characters of the inscrip
tion, so far as they were visible, with those delineated on a
copy taken and reduced by pentegraph to one-sixth part, by
judge Winthrop, and another of a similar size by Dr. Baylies,
(a resident in the vicinity) and from the positive resemblance
of some of these characters to those described by Dr. Clark
in his travels, as having been found in Cyprus, we are inclined
to believe that the Dighton inscription is of Phoenician origin.
It is a connected chain of hieroglyphics and rude letters of the
ancient alphabet. It is probable that all the figures given by
ClarkJ might be traced on this rock, either in a separate or
combined state. The following however are quite apparent, viz i
those which Dr. Clark describes, which resemble very much
the letters and figures P. W. X. 7. 9. and those of the trian^
gle and trident. The trident (the synonymy of Neptune, until
the improved designation placed a human head before it) was
plainly visible. On the rock are also the rude delineation of
letters like A. M. O. and several figured images. The bird, the
ancient symbol of navigation, has been found at the base of
the inscription. Its head is directed upwards, and a circle (the
emblem of eternity) or it may indicate here the full period of a
voyage, is placed near it, and the whole may possibly have
been designed as the account of a voyage performed in
some remote age. The slime and mud covering this part of
the inscription, prevented us from observing the bird and cir
cle. But the gentleman§ who accompanied us to the rock,

* Mr. Mathieu. See Bigelow and Holley's American Monthly Maga
zine, Vol. I. p. 261-2.
f In October 1824.
\ See Travels, &c. Vol. II. p. 180-1.
§ Hon. Francis Baylies.

86 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part 1.
said he had formerly discovered them : they had also been seen
by Dr. Baylies, and delineated by him on his map of the in
scription. The copy taken by Mr. Kendall* seems to have
been imperfect ; and the opinion which some visiters have ex
pressed, that the inscription was the work of the native indians,
if at least of any known race, seems to be very questionable.
If it had been so, is it not probable that similar inscriptions
would have been found throughout the country ? The present
one stands alone. The natives could not render any account
of its origin, when the Europeans discovered the country. It
is probably the most remarkable relick of antiquity in North ,
America, and it ought to be secured, so that it may be perpe
tuated. It seems to indicate a single visit to these shores, like
that mentioned by Hornius, on the authority of Diodorus,f ,
when the Phoenicians, driven by a tempest, came to an island,
distant many days' sail westward, and found navigable rivers,
a fertile soil, and many houses. If a thorough comparison
could be instituted between this writing-rock, as it has been
denominated, and those Phoenician inscriptions which Dr. Bel-
lermann| says have been found in Cyprus, Crete, Malta, Gaulos,
Sicily, Athens, Palmyra, and Africa, then a more satisfactory,.
and perhaps a certain result, wouhi be obtained. At present,
it stands like other vestiges of a remote people, covered with
mystery and hieroglyphics.
§ 18.
One class of writers maintain, that the Americans are strictly
the aborigines of the soil, not emigrants from other parts of
the world. (58) They are few in number, and were limited in
their views on this subject, according to the opinion of Dr. Bar-
ton,§ who says they have indeed examined it in a very super
ficial manner. ||
* In his Travels, &c. and in Vol. III. Mem. of Amer. Academy of Arts, &c.
f See ante, p. 76
X See North American Review, Vol. I. (new series) p. 227 and p. 6.
$ In his New Views, p. vi.
|| See further on this historical problem ; " Essai sur cette question quand

$ 18-3 Indian Language. 87
From this brief and imperfect review of an historical problem,
which occupies volumes, it might be imagined that any attempt
to settle definitively the parentage of the first emigrants, would
be futile and preposterous. Still the herculean labour is not
relinquished. It is thought that the secret is to be brought to
light, not merely from a comparison between oriental and occi
dental manners, customs, and personal identity, but from lan
guages. The former have been already sufficiently contrasted
by writers, to evince the fraternity at least between some
tribes and nations of western Indians and the Asiatics. Lan
guage however is the alchymy which is to transfuse all former
dross speculation into pure and positive certainty.
M. Julius Von Klaproth, it is said, (59) found a chain of na
tions and idioms from the north-west coast of America, along
Canada, the United States, Louisiana, Floridas, great and little
Antilles, the Caribee Islands, and Guiana, as far as the Ama
zons, where the languages are derived from an original lan
guage, having great affinity with that of the Samoiedes and
Kamptchadales. The people along this tract, in figure and
mode of life, have a striking similarity to the free nations in
northern Asia. Dr. Barton,* Messrs. Heckewelder, and Du-
ponceau,-J- (and others who will be enumerated, when we speak
of the language of our native Indians) have investigated the

et comment L'Amerique a-t-ejle ete peuplee D'Hommes et D'Animaux ?
a Paris, 1765, 5 torn, par E. B. d'E.-(d'Engil.) Professor Vater's Inquiry
on the origin of the American population. Abbe H. Gregorie's Enquiry
concerning negroes, &c. translated by D. B. Warden. AbbS G. on the
origin of the human species in different parts of the world. Professor Smith
(of Princeton,) on the complexion of the human species, &c. Dr. H. Wil
liamson's observations on climate, complexion, aborigines, &c. On the
origin and variety of the human species, colour, &c. See also Vol. VIII.
North American Review, (new series) p. 29-30, Vol. X. ib. p. 404-9, where
in the theories of Blumenbach, Smith, Laurence, and Dr. Prichard, on the
physical history of man, are referred to.
* New Views.
f In Vol. I. Literary and Historical Transactions of the Philadelphia
Philosophical Society. Heckewelder and Duponceau, (reviewed vol. IX.
~Vorth American Review, p. 1 79, see 1 55.) According to them, there are in

S8 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
structure of the Lenni Lenape and Iroquois languages. But
their exertions, particularly those of the latter gentlemen, have
probed the idioms of other Indian languages, with the aim to
discover a radical similitude between them and foreign idioms.
Mr. Duponceau finds that the American languages in general,
are rich in words and grammatical forms ; and in their compli
cated construction, the greatest order, method, and regularity
prevail. The forms, which he calls poly synthetic, appear in all
those languages, from Greenland to Cape Horn, and these
forms, he thinks, (though his learned inquiries had not been
terminated) differ essentially from those of the ancient and
modern languages of the old hemisphere.
The Adelungs and Vater, distinguished German philologists,
have embraced in their profound inquiry into the structure of
language, a more correct and condensed body of information
concerning the original tongues of the two Americas, than was
ever compiled and arranged before.
Professor Vater commenced the masterly task of exhibiting
an original and radical language, prevading the whole nations
from Chili to the remotest distance of North America, display
ing a unity, an object over which are diffused an .abundance
of forms, but through the whole preserves its peculiar charac
ter, and must have originated in a remote period, when an
original people existed, whose ingenuity and judgment ena
bled them to strike out such intricate formations of language
as could not be effaced by thousands of years, nor by the in
fluence of zones and climates.
The Mithridates, (60) the productions of the Adelungs and
Vater, is pronounced the most astonishing philological collection
that the world has ever seen. It contains an epitome of all the
existing knowledge of the ancient and modern languages of

North America, four radical Indian languages only, viz : Karalit or Esqui
maux, the Iroquois, the Lenape, and the Floridian. See John Pickering,
Esq. on the Massachusetts' language, Vol IX. (2d series) Massachusetts' His
tory, collec. p. 228, &c. His Essay on the uniform orthography of the In
dian languages of North America.

§ 19.] Conclusion. 89
the whole earth. This work gives an extensive comparison of
all the Asiatic, African, and American languages. Its authors
present it to the world as the commencement of a structure,
which out of the ruins of dilacerated human tribes, seeks mate
rials for a union of the whole human race.*
§ 19.
Thus, we have attempted to classify the writers upon this
interesting question, connected with our State antiquities and
aborigines. We have followed them alternately to Europe, to
Europe and Asia, to Asia alone, to Africa, to the Atlantic of
Plato. We have found, that while some were satisfied with
peopling America from one country, others have thought it
derived its aboriginal inhabitants from the various quarters
of the globe. A third class could not be reconciled until they
brought forth Atalanta from her long slumber under the
waves of the ocean, and constituted her, if not the ancestor,
at least the antediluvian contemporary with Asia. In the
opinion of some, America has been peopled within a few cen
turies before Columbus; of others, before the deluge ; and of
others, immediately on the dispersion of mankind after that
event. What more could be' said? The whole ground is pre-oc-
cupied. A new hypothesis essentially varying from all the pre
ceding, would be as great a wonder, as that which has been the
mysterious subject of inquiry. That America had received
emigrants from other parts of the globe before Columbus, we

* Dr. Mitchill, in Vol. I. Archae. Amer. Peter S. Duponceau, Esq. Vol,
I. Hist, and Lit. Trans. &c. Phila. d.19. Rev. Mr. Schaeffer. See Dr.
Murray's learned and scarce work on the etymology and affinity of lan
guages, tracing-strong resemblance between all languages. See Adelung's
Surveys of the known languages and their dialects, reviewed m Vol. V.
(new series) North American Review p. 128. See Vocabulary and gram-
mer of the Inca Tongue, by Father Diego Gonzalez. 1607. (A rare book,
recently received by Dr. Mitchill.)
Vol. I. '12

90 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part 1
have no doubt: and were we disposed to theorize, without
possessing that indubitable evidence from- authentic history,
observation, and analysis, which would be necessary in order
to sustain a bold hypothesis, we should say, that in the re
motest ages of the world, this continent was connected with
the old continents by others which have sunk. Between the
north-west of this, and the north-east of Asia, the mountain
ous remains of this union, are the islands that are discovera
ble in the strait which now divides them. Between the north
east of this, and the north-west of Europe, Greenland, the
submerged island of Friesland and. Iceland, were parts of the
connexion with the European continent. Between the ieast-
ern part of Brazil, and the western part of Africa, and between
the most western part of America, and the most eastern part
of Tartary, (or southern Asia in the range of those number
less islands that seem to have been the highlands of a con
necting continent,) territorial unions existed between this con
tinent and those of Africa and Asia. In obedience to the
will of the Creator, the earth was filled with living creatures,
and in the progress of multiplication and dispersion anterior to
the deluge, no reason can be assigned, why this vast continent
should have been exempted from the operation of this general
law. The deluge (which is traditionary on this continent)
impaired, but did not destroy all these connexions. The
earth was again replenished, and this continent remained suf
ficiently connected to receive once more the vivifying influ
ence of this second birth of men and animals. In the slow
round of age after age, the chemical combination and effects
of the elements, the constant agitation and conflict of the
fluids and solids, the tremendous agency of volcanoes and
earthquakes, have combined to complete the destruction of
those connexions which the deluge had impaired. In the
meantime, however, men and animals had spread over the surface
of this continent, and they gradually became naturalized in
habit, to the varieties and changes of its climate, and to the
resou ces which were found to sustain life. Accessions to this
original population, were made in the succession of ages since

•§ 19.] Conclusion. 91
the separation, by the various means which we may imagine
have contributed to display animal life in every habitable
part of the world. Navigation, in some ages, has been in a
higher stage of improvement than in others. The com
mercial enterprise of some nations far transcended that of
others. An ancient knowledge of the magnet may have
occasioned its adaptation to maritime purposes, in those
remote ages of the world, of the events of which we have
neither profane nor sacred record. But independently of
this conjectural assistance, the spirit of bold and fearless
adventure may have occasionally impelled men to trust
themselves from land, or men less fearless, may have been
driven to sea by storms, and in either case, they may have
accidentally arrived on this continent. In this manner, indivi
duals from different parts of the world, and even from the
middle latitudes of the old continents, may have be.en convey
ed to this, and, consequently, have introduced the peculiar
traits of their respective national characteristics. Neverthe
less, since the separation, the facilities of intercourse in mod
ern ages, having remained at the north from Asia, far superior
to those elsewhere, the predominant race of the aborigines has
consequently been Asiatic, of the Tartar and Malay stocks.
These may have, in a great measure, supplanted those races
that had preceded them previously to the destruction of the
former connexions of this continent with the others, and whose
monuments of art and civilization are to be traced in our
most ancient ruins. But the minor classes of population,
having proceeded in modern ages from various other coun
tries, and particularly from the north of Europe, (where the
facilities of communication remained next in excellence to those
from Asia,) heterogeneous races have met and commingled,
fought and incorporated, confounding their individual nation
alities, and thereby introducing the confusion which still pre
vails among the native tribes, in colour, shape, language,
manners, customs, traditions, religious ideas, knowledge, and
manual skill. General deductions' from individual indica
tions have been made, and hence has arisen the various and

92 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I
contradictory hypotheses upon the peopling of America.
Although the probability is, that the Asiatic stock preponder
ates, yet formidable migrations have no doubt, in different
ages, been made from the north of Europe. It will appear
under the third division of the present part, that the Scadinavi-
ans probably visited the north-eastern coasts of this continent,
and for a long time contended for supremacy with the natives,
whom by way of contempt they denominated, Skraelings.
What extent of dominion they acquired, how long they re
mained, or what portion of their countrymen intermixed with
the natives, and continued among them after the northern voy
agers had ceased to visit the country, are altogether uncertain.
It may be, that their superior warlike skill had enabled them to
achieve an easy conquest, and to sustain their ascendency un
til the Asian population overwhelmed them. To them, and
others, perhaps, from the more central borders of Europe,
may be ascribed the erection of those works that bear the im
press of European skill and civilization. Among these, may
have been the whites, whom Indian tradition describes as havr
jng occupied the states north-east of the Ohio.
But whether the northern Alligewi, that extraordinary peor
pie, whom the Asian Tartars (the ancestors of the natives of
this State) met and vanquished, were of the Scandinavian
origin — Danish, Swedish or Norwegian, or of any other
European descent, is a question which it is impossible to de
termine. It is not improbable that they erected many of the
fortifications in the vicinity of our lakes, as well as those east
of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and that many of these
works may be referred to the period of the tenth or eleventh
century. They may have been European Tartars from the
Scandinavian or Norman stock, and advanced in the arts, as
far as the authors of similar works in England, Scotland, and
Wales. They maybave penetrated into the north-eastern part
of this country from the north-west of Europe, in the age, and
perhaps about the periods, when the prowess and superior mi
litary skill of the Danes and Normans, secured to Canute, and
to the Conqueror, the throne of England. They may have

§20.] Past and Prospective Revolutions. 9;{
been the whites, whom Indian tradition describes as the former
residents of the north-eastern country ; who were conquered
and expelled ; whose scattered remnants have occasionally
been seen and described by travellers ; and who, some have
imagined, were of Welsh extraction. But that these were the
first people of America, or that America was first peopled in
the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth centuries, would be an impro
bable proposition.
Philologists, antiquaries, and moral philosophers, may iden
tify portions of the present American family, with their Asiatic,
European, or African kindred. But to identify the whole with
any particular primitive stock, except the common ancestors
of all mankind, we believe would be impossible, though it
may continue to be attempted, and not essentially important,
if it were possible. After so many ages have elapsed, so many
intermixtures taken place, and so little history, even of a tra
ditionary kind is before us, the investigation may still exhibit
the depth of research, but can hardly repay its labour.
§ 20.
We have not, in our review, entered into the details or ar
guments of writers. Enough, however, has appeared, in the
course of this inquiry, to evince a probability that this conti
nent has been shaken by terrible revolutions. Events which
have agitated the moral, political, and physical foundations of
Asia, Africa, and Europe, have here also been displayed with a
frightful fidelity of resemblance and effect. In the antiquities
of this continent what a range for investigation is presented !
What a field for speculation ! What wonders for contempla
tion ! They blend the revolutions of, perhaps, an alternate se
ries of dark ages— the fate of millions, who have successively
swarmed over this hemisphere, and, possibly, the fate of conti
nents once connected with this, but now reposing under the
mighty wave of the Atlantic and the Pacific.
But while contemplating the past, a phenomenon is passing
before us, gradually productive of a living revolution as com-

94 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
plete, and as silent, as those that lie concealed in the dark
ages of our aboriginal story. We refer to the rapid and un
obtrusive disappearance of the Indian nations from the face of
this continent. We refer to this event, not because it is a sub
ject of regret to behold arts, science, religion, political liber
ty ; all the endearments which concentrate within the magic
circle of domestic felicity, under the benign influence of civili
zation ; all the enjoyments and advantages which expand the
domestic into the broad circle of social happiness, uniting mil
lions in one great family compact, and elevating and dignifying
the character of man as a rational being : not because these
are the exchanges for the cheerless wild, and the sterility and
dreariness of savage life — but we refer to it, as a phenomenon
worthy the contemplation of the philosopher and philanthro
pist. Impressive and affecting as is the illustration of the fact, be
yond the confines of our State, we need not pass our own na
tive Indians, in order to perceive the probable fate that awaits
those beyond the Mississippi. There, tribes, discordant and
alien to each other, seem to be flocking and crowding together
in tremulous suspense, as if, on the approach of civilized man,
they had a presage of some portentous doom — a superstitious
impression, perhaps, of the approach of their evil Manitto, who
comes to sweep them to the tumuli of their fathers. Neither
need we travel beyond the regions of Onondaga, the former
seat of our native highlanders and mountaineers, the capital
-of the confederated Iroquois, to read the instability of national
potency, and the evanescent tenure of human glory. Yes,
within the boundaries of this State, are indications of event
ful revolutions in ages past, exhibiting the melancholy and pro
phetic earnest of those which may in some remote period be
reacted, with all the tragical consequences, which, we may
presume, resulted from storming, sacking, and devastating that
once populous town, whose ruins have been traced in Pom-
¦pey.* * See ante, p. 13. 60.

§20.] Past and Prospective Revolutions. 95
The Lenni Lenape,* and Mengwe.f are dispersed from the
ancient seats and sepulchres of their forefathers. The territo
ries of the former, (including those of their subdivided tribes
or descendants) once extended from the Potomac to the north
east bounds of New-England, along the eastern shores of the
Hudson, until they met their rivals, the Iroquois, on the green
mountains, beyond the Iroquois Lake (Champlain,) at the
north-eastern boundaries of Irocoisia.| The middle, western,
and northern portions of our State, including that part of Ver
mont, which was a part of New- York until the revolution, was
the proper residence of the Iroquois. But less than a century
ago, their territorial dominion, (taking in that of their confe
derate, subject, or tributary allies) embraced an empire, which
might be compared to that of ancient Rome in the height of
her imperial prosperity. Stretching from the junction of the
Outawais and St. Lawrence, their line extended through Ca
nada, westward to the north of Lake Huron, southward (inclu
ding Michigan) to the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi,
(and, in fact, they claimed, by conquest, nearly to the mouths
of this river) thence across Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, to
the sources of the Susquehanna and the Hudson. This for
midable and renowned confederacy, who were the favourite
allies of our Dutch and English colonial governments, who
were the dread of the French in Canada, who carried the ter
ror of their arms from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to that of
Mexico, and at whose name, nations quaked, and tribes fled,
are now nearly reduced to a thousand warriors.^ Some rem-
* Delawares.
f Or Mengwa or Minguas, (confederated six nations) as denominated by
the Delawares ; hence, Mingoes, by the whites ; Maqua, so called by the
Mahiccani ; Iroquois, by the French; and Irokesen, as altered by the Dutch.
See hereafter Indian history.
X The name of the country, proper, of the Iroquois.
5 It will appear hereafter (in the history of those Indians) that one of the
Canada nations or tribes of Indians, actually broke up and fled from the
mere terror which the Iroquois' name had spread abroad, (See Charlevoix,
Nouvelle France, &c.) and Colden (Hist. Five Nations) tells us what pa
nic the name of Mohawk struck into the New-England Indian's.

96 Origin^of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
nants of their nations are in Canada, or with those of the un
fortunate Lenape, and are found here and there in the western
country. They have melted away, or have mingled their des
tiny with that which awaits the western Indians. With regard
to the latter, the tide of migration, which once set so irresisti
bly from the west, has long been checked by civilization, and
is rapidly receding from the shock, of its wave, as it rushes
upon their confines. By and by they will have passed the
Rocky Mountains, and in a few centuries, scarcely a remnant
will be seen, unless along the beach of the Pacific, the utmost
boundaries to which they can flee, where, as they gaze upon the
illimitable expanse, and turn back to the country of their an
cestors, they will mingle, with the resounding surge, the death-
song of departed nations.
Whence is this revolution ? From what causes is it in com
plete operation ? Is it, that an invisible decree has fixed the
date of their existence, and marked the periods of their recesr
sion and final extinction? Or does the tree of civilization,
when planted in their, territory, become as contaminating as
the poison of the fabled Bohon Upas ? Whatever the cause
may be, they are passing away in a manner probably differ
ent from that of the authors of the ruins which we have con
templated, but not less fatally effectual.
But while nation after nation has disappeared within a few
years, and tribe after tribe is imperceptibly vanishing before
us ; while their patrimony has become our inheritance, let
their descendants become the objects of our commiseration and
our care. Let us at least avoid any cruelty or injustice to
wards them ; or, perhaps, the peribd may come, and its arri
val be prematurely accelerated, (if there is any reality in na
tional virtue and reward, national crime aud amenability)
when the bones of their ancestors, which lie bleaching beneath
our feet, will become to us dragon's teeth and armed men. !
" Policy," says an eloquent French civilian, (61)" may have
its plans and its mysteries, but reason ought to preserve her
influence and dignity. Equity is the virtue of empires — mo
deration is the wi?dom of great nations, as well as of great

§ 20.] Past and Pjvspective Revolutions. Ml
men." While we should continue to recognise, in our public
treaties and intercourse, these Indian nations as independent,
let principles like those remain the maxims of our policy ; and
whether in peace or war, let us practically apply towards
them, as'well as civilized nations, that most excellent definition
of the law of nations, " Do in peace ¦ the greatest possible
good ; in war, the least possible evil."
While such principles distinguish our national policy, it may
be our turn to reign for ages masters of the ascendant, and
reap the reward of that equity which is the virtue of empires,
until the period (which the annals of other nations inform
us may follow upon a long course of public prosperity) shall
arrive, when, by national degeneracy and criminality, we shall
have become ripened for ruin. Then, having passed the pe
riods of our rise, our progress, and our decline, the instru
ments of our punishment may be found among the future bar
barians of the northern hives, (if not of Asia and Europe) per
haps of this continent, in those boundless regions beyond the
latitude of our own Caspian and Euxine seas, where hordes
scarcely less numerous and formidable than those which pour
ed upon degenerate Rome, will have been gathering for ages,
equally fierce and daring ; restless from inclemency of cli
mate, famine, love of change, and war ; disciplined for ra
pine ; roused by the prospect of plunder, and attracted by the
polished improvements and submissive effeminacy, which lux
ury and vice will have induced : they may mark their victo
rious and sanguinary descent upon our country with havoc
and desolation, prostrate temples and edifices, sacked and ra
vaged cities, wasted kingdoms ; sparing nothing, except such
works of art and fortifications, of defence, as those which form
so interesting a portion of our antiquities, the materials of
which would resist not only the incursions of barbarians, but
the ravages of time.
Then will recommence the dark ages of this continent.
During the succeeding reign of barbarism and of ignorance,
the monuments of our civilization will slumber in* forgetful.
Vol. I 13

98 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
ness, until the full circle of revolution will have been comple
ted, and the sun of science shall have arisen to dispel the
gloom, and civilization reappeared and resumed her ancient
dominion. Then the future antiquary will pass over our State,
view the remains of cities^ temples, sepulchres, fortifications,.
mark the manifest vestiges of an unknown people, far more
advanced in arts than the immediate pre-occupants of the soil,
and as he approaches those works which will appear to him,
from their broken culverts, shattered locks, and decayed
banks, to have been artificial rivers, he will pause to contem
plate this wonder. He will explore their extent ; he will per
ceive their design ; and, with intense interest and solicitude
exclaim : What eclipse of reason could have given birth to
the wild fancy of unitingthe great Caspian and Mediterranean
seas of North America with the Atlantic Ocean ? What pene
trating genius could have perceived its possibility ? What
comprehensive intellect could have embraced the plan, and
traced its bearings, and proved its practicability ? What da
ring spirit could have grappled with the gigantic difficulties
which must have arisen in the nature of so bold a scheme,
from an honest belief in its insurmountability and ruinous ex
penditure ? What kindred spirits arose to foster the mighty
project ? What enterprising and opulent people were found to
give impulse to so stupendous a work ? In what age did they
flourish — in what disastrous era were their liberties annihila
ted i Thus will he view those venerable remains, which will
appear to him shrouded in impenetrable mystery, until at
length he will perhaps discover, in the enclosure of some
prostrate marble column, or amidst the rubbish of some half-
buried ruins of ancient edifices, the means of unravelling the
mystery, and of holding up to the admiration and emulation
of new ages, the illustrious genius of our State and age.
Is this the vision of morbid fancy, or is it a prophetic in
scription, which past experience has written upon the fabric of
society, to admonish nations of their duty or their destiny ?
It is an inscription which, in Africa, may be traced on the
spot where Marins ruminated over the ruins of Carthage,

§ 20.] Past and Prospective Revolutions. 99
and be read in hieroglyphics upon the pyramids of Egypt. It is
an inscription which, in Europe, was written in characters of
blood by the Goths, Vandals, Franks, Huns, Saxons, through
out the extended empires they subverted; and after their bar
barous dominion of ten ages had ^passed, it was an inscrip
tion which their civilized successors could decipher on the
fallen columns of ancient Roman and Grecian magnificence.
It is an inscription which in Asia may be traced to ancient
Scythia, followed up in the wasteful ravages of their Tartar
descendants, and in the wide-spread desolation of the Ara
bians. In almost every instance it will appear to, bave been
written upon civilization, the arts, the sciences, opulence, and
splendour. And no where is it to be discerned at this mo
ment in more legible characters, than in the countries con
quered by the last-mentioned people.
From the ninth to the fourteenth century, while Europe
was in utter darkness, civilization lighted up the dominions
of Arabia. The sciences and arts, enriched by the treasures
of Greece, Persia, and Chaldea, and by the literary relics of
the subject provinces of Syria, Armenia, and Egypt ; arose to
the highest pitch of perfection, under the patronage of her
caliphs.* Now superstition and ignorance, moral darkness
and political dismay, brood over those extensive dominions.
" The rich countries of Fez and Morocco,f illustrious for
five centuries, by the number of their academies, their universi
ties, and their libraries, are now only deserts of burning sand,
which the human tyrant disputes with the beast of prey. The
smiling and fertile shores of Mauritania, where commerce,
arts, and agriculture attained their highest prosperity, are
now the retreats of corsairs, who spread horror over the seas,
and who only relax from their labours in shameful debauche-

* See page 9. ante.
f Says Sismondi, in his glowing picture and eloquent description of the
past and present literature, and' condition of those regions, where Islamism
reigned and still reigns. See Vol I. ch. 2. ib. Roscoe's elegant transla
tion.

100 Origin of the Aborigines and ancient Ruins. [Part I.
ries, until the,, plague periodically comes to select its victims
from amongst them, and to avenge offended humanity.
Egypt has by degrees been swallowed up by the sands, which
formerly fertilized it. Syria and Palestine are desolated by
the wandering Bedouins, If ss terrible still than the Pacha who
opposes them. Bagdad, formerly, the residence of luxury, of
power, and of knowledge, is a heap of ruins. In this immense
extent of territory, twice or thrice as large as Europe, no
thing is found but ignorance, slavery, terror, and death. The
prodigious literary riches of the Arabians no longer exist in
any of the countries where the Arabians and the Mussulmans
rule. What have been preserved are in the hands of, their
enemies, in the convents of the monks, or in the royal libra
ries of Europe. And yet these vast countries have not been
conquered. It is not the stranger who has despoiled them of
their riches, who has annihilated their population, and de
stroyed their laws, their manners, and their national spirit.
The poison was their own ; it was administered by themselves,
and the result has been their own destruction.
" Who may say that Europe itself, whither the empire of let
ters and of science, has been transported, which sheds so bril
liant a light, which forms so correct a judgment of the past,
and which compares so well the successive reigns of the litera
ture and manners of antiquity, shall not, in a few ages, be
come as wild and deserted as the hills of Mauritania, the sands
of Egypt, and the valleys of Anatolia ?"
And who may say that when Europe shall have paid the
deep retributive debt, which she owes to the wrongs of Africa
and the East Indies, or when, from whatever causes she shall
have transcended the period of her decline, that America,
(now in the youth of her existence, yet the home of the exile,
the asylum of the oppressed, and perhaps the last intrenchment
of liberty,) may not be the country in which the European name
is destined to become merged, as that of Rome had been lost
in Europe ! (62) Who may say that when our country also
shall have passed onward to its full maturity of magnificence
and of crime ; when, perhaps, after the fondest visions of the

§ 20.] Past and Prospective Revolutions. 101
sages and patriots of old shall have been realised, in the per
fect accomplishment of the political experiment of a govern
ment, founded like ours, strengthening as it expands, and
adapted to embrace in one vast compact, a population whose
territory shall be laved by the two oceans ; when having attain
ed a prosperity too unexampled, and too intoxicating to be
enduring, national degeneracy shall have prepared the way ;
then the revolutionary wheel, having slowly passed its round
of ages, from the Antipodes through desolated Europe, may
at last appear in our hemisphere, distant at first, like a por
tending speck, more apparent and appalling as it approaches,
until its awful recognition will be seen and felt in the wreck
and crush of kingdoms ! Who can say, therefore, that the fatal
and monitory inscription which the Scythians, the Tartars, and
the Scandinavians, as they successively poured in upon this
continent from the north of Asia and of Europe, have written
in our own State and country upon the monuments in ruins, of
a people now unknown, may not also be inscribed upon those
grand works, upon which the genius and resources of our State
have been profusely lavished, which constitute so much of our
national pride, and which we fondly but vainly hope will give
an imperishable celebrity to our name and national era !

102

§81.
Secondly, Was America known to Europe before Columbus ?
In the review of the preceding question, an answer to the
second, viz. : Was America known to Europe before Colum
bus ? has been anticipated in a great measure.
If a minute inquiry into the origin of the peopling of Ameri
ca, or the remote causes and events which antedated and in
fluenced its discovery by Columbus, had been consistent with
the limited scope of this work, there also might have been
investigated the maritime skill and sagacity, commerce and
enterprise of the ancients ; there also might have been dis
cussed the relative merits of the pretensions which almost
every nation has set up, (since Columbus disclosed a new
world,) to the honour of before discovering, or the credit of
originally peopling it.
The system which placed the sun in the centre, was taught
in ancient schools of philosophy. This theory naturally led
to the supposition of antipodes. The opinion of their ex
istence had partisans in the time of St. Augustine, for that
father opposed it. Its truth was condemned in the eighth
century : hence it must have been believed by some, even in
that dark age. Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Anaxago-
ras accounted for a solar eclipse: Aristotle explained a
lunar one. The spherical figure of the earth was not only
probably known to the ancients, but they may have had faint
ideas of this, as a part of the Indian continent. (63) They
doubtless appear to have entertained some idea of a western
continent. The sunken Atlantis of Plato, has formed the
subject of one of the learned hypotheses, explanatory of the
origin of the aborigines of this portion of that vast island*
* See ante p. 76. 83.

§ 21.] Ancient Navigation — Compass, tyc. . 103
The attractive properties of the magnet were anciently
known ; and for aught we can say, navigation might, in re
mote ages, have had all the facilities which we possess.
Bishop Huet in his history of the commerce and navigation
of the ancients,* presents in a condensed form, sufficient
evidence of that bold and adventurous spirit, which might
have ventured at times into the trackless ocean. He main
tains that the Cape of Good Hope was frequented and
doubled in the days of Solomon, and that the isle of Fortu-
natus might have been America, to which Carthagenian ships
in the days of Hanno were driven by a tempest.
We have already suggested that the compass was known
in the Arabian dominions, (of which Spain was a provincial
part,) in the eleventh century.f Whether the coetaneous
Scandinavians, or Madoc in the following century, or ZenoJ
in the fourteenth, had its guidance, is problematical. Re
verting to an anterior period, while the legends of Arthur,
Malgo, and the friar of Lynne may be ranked with the mon
sters of fable, and the indefinite allusion to a spot in Africa
or elsewhere, by Virgil, (64) in foretelling the extent of
Csesarrs dominions, and the still more unlocated prediction
of Seneca, in his Maedean tragedy, of the discovery of a
new country, and some other visions of a similar incertitude
may be considered pictures of fancy, as destitute of "a local
habitation" as Plato's commonwealth, Moore's Eiitopia, Har
rington's Oceana, or Bacon's new Atlantis : nevertheless there
are other accounts, (some of which have fallen under the first
question,) indiscriminately proscribed by some as fabulous,
which merit serious deliberation.

* Translated from the French, Lond. 1717. See also Belknap's
American Biography, Prel. Diss. Anarcharses, vol. II. Edward's West
Indies, vol. I. Clarke's Progress of Maritime Science.
f Ante p. 10, and Note 2.
I See Hackluyt's Collection of Voyages. Dr. Forster's Northern
Voyages. Belknap's American Biography.

104 Knowledge of America before Columbus, [Part L*

§ 22.
But an elaborate disquisition upon cosmogony,* would not
be less unprofitable or inappropriate than a minute examina
tion into the truth and particulars of, all the ancient voyages,
designed or accidental, which, it has been conjectured, led to
this continent : even those of an European description, sup
posed to have been made prior to Columbus, we shall not no
tice, except they have some bearing upon our local history.
That of Madoc was spoken of under the first question. The
Scandinavian voyages were also referred to, and will be exa
mined under the third inquiry. Without attempting, therefore,
to identify America, as the land to which Aristotle and Theo-
phrastus (65) (two thousand years ago,) asserted that some mer
chants passing Gibraltar, -had been tempest-driven far west,
or to trace the discovery made by a part of the Phoenician
fleet that circumnavigated Africa (66) according to Herodo
tus, or follow that of Carthage, which, Pliny says, extended to
the Canary Islands ; or inquire whether this continent was first
discovered by the Chinese, as Vossius declares : (67) by the Cu-
thite or Amonian family whose maritime adventures constitute,
as Bryant advances, (68) so much of ancient mythology;
passing by also the German navigator Martin Behaim,f and
the Venetian voyager Zeno,| both of whom have had their
advocates: let us [turn to Columbus, and see whether at the
period in which he flourished, the revival of learning had suf
ficiently prepared the age for the discovery he projected, by a
disclosure of such facts as, if known, might justly have strip
ped him of the glory of its origination.

* See Washington Irving's Knickerbocker, the first two chapters.
f Whose discovery is advocated by Mr. Otto, but see Jer. Belknap's
tract as to this pretension, and also Vol. I. Belk. Amer. Biog. p. 127, Vol.
!JCIV. North American Review, p. 37.
J See Foster's Northern Voyages, &c. Vol. I Belk. Amer. Biog. p. 67

§ 23.] f Columbus and his Contemporaries. 105
It may be remarked that these various pretensions have been
made since his time. They would probably have slumbered
till this day, unless some daring adventurer like him, should
have given similar occasion to put them forth.
§ 23.
The knowledge of the magnet and its power to impart to
the needle its polar virtues, was known in Italy at the com
mencement of the fourteenth century.* Still for a century
maritime adventure was cautiously hazarded. No idea of a
western continent appears to have been prevalent. The torrid
zone was still looked upon as a fiery and impassable barrier to
modern discovery. (69) Although the project of Columbus
resulted from just reasoning upon the figure of theearth, and his
discovery, though differing from the one he sought, was the
offspring of wise design and fortunate accident ; yet the same
ignorance and bigotry which had condemed Virgilius,-Bishop
of Cologn, for asserting the antipodes, and which had spared
his life only on a solemn renunciation, started a like objection
to the proposals of Columbus, grounded upon St. Augustine's
book, wherein he expressed his doubt of the existence of the
antipodes, and the possibility of going from one hemisphere to
another. To contradict the writings of this holy father were
little less than heresy.f Columbus therefore had to contend
with bigotry and ignorance, to combat cowardly selfishness
and that ignoble prejudice which elevates itself to the hypercri-
tic's importance, and points to the novelty of a theory, as con
clusive against its verity. The same superstitious incredulity
and illiberality of conception, which at other times virulently
opposed Descartes for doubting the truth of Aristotle's philo
sophy, once the favourite of the learned ; (70) which censo
riously condemned Newton for questioning Descartes ; which in
flicted the inquisition upon Galileo for demonstrating the

* See note 2.
f See Herrere, Robertson, and Belknap's Life of Columbus.
Vol. I. 14

106 Knowledge of America before Columbus. [PartI.
earth's motion ; which treated Locke harshly even for his es
say on the human understanding ; (71) was the predominant
characteristic of the times in which Columbus was treated as
an insane projector, until by the triumphant result of his experi
ment, he overcame prejudice, ignorance, and superstition, and
unfolded to the world a new era in its history.
§ 24.
Although he was not probably ignorant of the vague ideas
of the ancients, and certainly had reason to believe, that by
sailing westward he should meet new countries, a supposed
part of India ; (72) although he was aware of the Portu
guese adventures, and knew that they had crossed the line
(1471) twenty-one years before he sailed, yet the rejection of
his plans alternately by his native city, by Portugal, and for
several years by Spain, exhibit the incredulity of the age, and
present him in the true light of an original discoverer.
Original and comprehensive in his views, Columbus improved
upon the limited experience, and rejected the visionary theories
of his predecessors ; and while he astonished Europe by crown
ing with success the unique singularity of his plans, he dis
played to the eye of philanthropy, a character which happily
blended that fervor of inventive genius which dares to trans
cend the confines of long established error, with that decision
which deliberates maturely, but adheres confidently to its con
clusions; that caution bordering on timidity, which vigilantly
guards against every adventitious obstacle, with that energy
of perseverance, which in the pursuit of a determinate object,
is undismayed by temporary disappointment, peril, or muti
ny, and constantly rises superior to all opposition, under
a strong and noble consciousness of pre-eminent merit and
unimpeachable rectitude, which can look envy and malig-,'
nity in the face with cool composure, and smile disdainfully
upon ingratitude and chains !
The narrative and incidents of his voyages, and his biogra
phy, are too familiarly known and too remotely connected with

§ 24.] Columbus. 107
the history of this State, to require or justify a recapitulation.
Poetry* has combined with history! in commemorating his
fame to immortality. Although this and subsequent Spanish
discoveries were the basis of the Spanish claim, supported by
the Pope's gift of the discovered continent, (which of course
embraced the territory of this State,) yet for the reasons above
assigned, we shall hasten by this, as, well as the discovery o.
Americus Vespucius,| to whom the honour of giving name to
the whole continent has been bestowed, with less merit than
even Madoc is entitled to, if we are to credit Herbert, and
others who are his advocates. But whether this country should
be called Colonia, Columbia, Madocia or Nova Brittania, (73)
or its northern section, Sebastiana, Cabotia, or Fredonia, (74)
is an inquiry, which at this day would be fruitless to institute.
A task indeed would it be. to induce mankind to stand sponsor
to a national baptism. § 25.
The discovery of America dispelled the delusions of specu
lative theory and bigoted prejudice, kindled an enthusiasm
which had scarcely example or limits, and originated in
modern history, another age of chivalrous crusade, not like
that which precipitated Europe upon Asia Minor, but a cru
sade upon a different element, prosecuted with different views
and attended with different results, except by that of the me
lancholy waste of life which ultimately followed in their train.
But while it is highly probable that America had been visit-
* Columbiad, by Joel Barlow.
f See life of Colon by his son, in Pinkerton's collections, Robertson's
America. See Belknap's Americann Biography Columbus.
J See Viaggi d' Amerigo Vespucci, &c. reviewed in Vol. III. (new series)
North American Review, p. 318, where the biography and discoveries of
Vespucci are traced, his merits vindicated, and those of Columbus, Cabots,
&c. canvassed in a manner new and masterly. " America," was it seems,
applied at first, to that part of the continent only Which is now denominated
Brazil.

108 Knowledge of America before Columbus. [Part I.
ed by Europeans before Columbus, yet such was the state of
knowledge in his day, that he richly merits the honour of ori
ginality. » Neither can that honour be tarnished by the abuses
which followed his discovery, whether directed towards him
self or towards the unoffending natives of this continent. His
was the glory of projecting an achievement which required a
character precisely like his to plan and to execute, and which
found in a female only, a capacity which could appreciate,
and a liberality which would patronise one of the noblest de
signs that human intellect ever conceived. The spirit of mari
time adventure which the successfulresult of this design awak
ened, will be developed in the examination of the next ques
tion, viz:

§ 26.] 109

§ 26.
Thirdly, What Europeans first explored the North American
coasts, and discovered those and the harbours of New-Yorkl
In the examination of the two prior questions, it will have
appeared probable, that the North American coasts were visit
ed by adventurers from ancient Europe, many centuries before
they were known to modern Europeans. We reserved our in
tended notice of* the Scandinavian voyages for present in
quiry, because it is said they extended to our coasts. Dur
ing the eventful transfers of the territorial sovereignty of this
State within the two last centuries, from the Iroquois and Le
nape to the Dutch, from the Dutch to the English, and prior to
their recognition of our independence, it will be seen that Spain
and France, as well as England and Holland, alternately
claimed this territory, upon a principle which will be particu
larly developed in the examination of the fourth question.
The voyages conducted under the auspices of each of those
powers, will therefore be noticed. In the course of the exami
nation, we shall .also occasionally refer chronologically to
contemporaneous discoveries or events which transpired in
North America, not only to illustrate those conflicting pre
tensions, and the principle upon which they were predicated,
but also to unfold the grounds of the boundary disputes of
our State while a colony, with the surrounding states, and the
causes of the wars and revolutions in which New-York has
been involved in consequence of those claims and disputes.
By the coasts and harbours of New-York, we shall under
stand its frontiers and sea-board boundaries as they were de
fined or controverted during our proprietary and colonial
governments, or as they are how settled. Consequently, they

110 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
will partly comprise at the north, Lake Champlain, the rivers
Sorelle and St. Lawrence; eastwardly, parts of Vermont, Mas
sachusetts, and Connecticut, as far as the river of that name,
and as far as Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Elizabeth's isl
and, No Man's Land, *Pemaquid, and the territories and
islands adjacent, belonging to the Duke of York agreeably
to the English eastern colonial boundary :* or from Cape May
to Cape Henlopen, according to the Dutch claim ; or from
Connecticut river to the Delaware, according to their pos
session : westerly; including New-Jersey and part of Pennsyl
vania, until its western confines reached Lake Erie, Niagara,
and Lake Ontario.
The discovery of the coasts of this State has been the sub
ject of controversy, especially between the English and Dutch
writers of the seventeenth century. In many points they con
tradict each other. Even among the more modern writers of
England, some declare that their nation lays a just claim to
the discovery, not so much from motives of vanity,, as from
the desire to defend the British right of possession. (75) Ac
cording to the latter, Sebastian Cabot, sailed along the
coast of New- York as early as the year 1497.
$27.
But, whether any of the navigators who explored the North
American coasts in the sixteenth century, discovered those of
New- York, will become the inquiry after we shall bave examined
the title of the Danes, Norwegians, or Swedes, to the honour,
without having acquired the profits of an anterior discovery.
If, indeed, the Scandinavian voyagers penetrated as far as

* The former haying once comprised " Duke's County," the latter
(Pemaquid, he.) " The County of Cornwall," according to " an Act to
divide this province and dependences into shires and countyes," passed jhy
the first legislature that ever assembled in this colony, viz. in 1683. (See
Vol. II. New- York Revised Laws of 1813. Appex. No. III.) These coun
ties were subsequently surrendered to Massachusetts, (ib.)

V 27.] Scandinavians. m
Montauk Point, or any of the islands in that vicinity, they
clearly visited our coast several centuries before any
southern European nation had discovered America. If so, the
English had no better claim to our territory than the Dutch,
whom they dispossessed ; nor the latter, so much right as the
Swedes, whose settlement, made in the reign of Gustavus
Adolphus, on the Delaware river, was broken up by the Dutch
during the administration of their governor, Peter Stuyvesant.*
In a late dissertation,! written by Johannes Henry Scrhb'-
der,J of the university of Upsal, a learned effort is made to
prove that the Scandinavians in the eleventh century extend
ed their discoveries to the coasts of North America, from the
40 or 41st to the49 or 50th degree of latitude ; consequently,
that they coasted Long Island, Martha's Vineyard or Nan
tucket, to Newfoundland.
The learned men in the south of Europe, it would seem
from this dissertation, do not appear to have been aware of
the value ot the records existing in the north, notwithstanding
the publication of Torfoeus more than a century ago, viz. his
Vinlandia and Gronlandia Antiqua.§
As early as the middle of the ninth century, the island of
Iceland was known to the Norrman, (people of the north, Nor
wegians, Swedes, Danes, or, in one word, Scandinavians) un
der the name of Snaland. Gardar Svafarson, a Swede, cir
cumnavigated the island, and gave it the name of Gardars-
holm. He was followed by Floke, a Norwegian, who gave it
its present name, Iceland (Island.) In order to avoid oppres
sion under the reign of Harald, (surnamed Harfager, that is,
with handsome hair) king of Norway, a colony, of the no-

* As will appear in our History of the Colony of New-Netherlands here
after. t Om Skandinavernes Fordna Upptackts-resor Till Nord Amerika, af
Job. Henr. Schroder. Upsala, 1818. For the translation of such parts of
it as are comprised within the following abstract, we are indebted to the
Swedish consul, resident in New-York, Henry Gahn, Esq.
\ Philos. Doctor et Art. Liberal. Magister in Academia Upsaliensi His-
tor. Litt. Docens, etc.
} This rare work is in the library of Harvard University.

112 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
blest and best men of that country emigrated to Iceland, under
their leader, Ingolf, who there established himself in the year
874. Here begin;the Islandic written records, and from this
period, the voyages and maritime excursions of the Scandina
vians can -be traced with tolerable precision.
About a century after the colony of Iceland was establish
ed, Eric Raude, a Norwegian, in the year 981 sailed from
that island towards the north, and discovered Greenland, where
the climate was then so mild, and the fields so verdant, that it
consequently acquired that name.
From those colonies, about the middle of the eleventh cen
tury, these voyages of discovery begin to be mentioned, as
occasioned by the zeal of the celebrated Olof Tryggvason, who
then appeared in Norway as the noble champion of Christian-
Bjorn Herjulfson, a native of Iceland, a relation of its co
lonizing founder, Ingolf, and an adventurous navigator and
shipowner, had proceeded to Norway, and passed some time
there. On his return to Iceland, he ascertained that his fa
ther, Herjulf B'ardarson, had, in the preceding spring, sailed
for Greenland, where he had established himself at the place
still called after him, Herjulfsnas* (Herjulf s Point.) Bjorn
Herjulfson, and his associates, immediately resolved to follow
in quest of Herjulf, notwithstanding the reputed dangers of
such a voyage. Accordingly, they left Iceland, and after a
navigation of three days, when no land was in sight, the wind
changed to the north, with foggy weather, and blew a heavy
gale, so that, for several successive 'days, they did not know
their course. At last, one day, when the weather cleared
and the storm abated, so that they could hoist their sails, they
discovered, towards evening, land, which, they were sure,
could not be Greenland, the land-mark of which, (as is related
by Sturlesonrf ) was known to them by its high snowy moun-
* In the map prefixed to Forster's Northern Voyages, it is ' Herjolfs.
nceffs.'' t Qn whose fidelity Mr. Schroder places implicit reliance. He is often
referred to in this dissertation, and appears to have been the father of histo
ry in the north.

$ 27. ] . New- York a part of ancient Finland. 113
tains. They approached nearer, and discovered a country
without mountains, covered with trees, and with here and there
small hills.
They did not venture to land, but they now departed, lean
ing the country on their left side, (ba-bord) and after a naviga
tion of two days, they again saw landj^vhich they found to be
flat, and covered with trees. Without landing, they conti
nued their course with a southwest wind (utsynningsbyr, in
Islandic) for three days, when they discovered land again,
which was high, with barren cliffs, and icy mountains. This
they coasted, and found it to be an island. The wind continu
ing the same, they now steered their course to sea, when, after
a further navigation of four days, attended by some gales and
heavy weather, they at last discovered, and made to the south-
easternmost point of Greenland, which was the place of resi
dence of Bjorn Herjulfson's father.
From this account of the voyage, as thus related by Stur-
leson, the author of this dissertation, infers, that Bjorn Her
julfson discovered some parts of the coast of North America.
He considers that the direction of the wind, as related by
Sturleson, is conclusive, that the unknown coast was that of
North America. A violent north wind drove them to a coun
try far distant, and they left it on their left side; when they re
turned back to Greenland, with a wind from the south-west.
The fame of these adventurers induced Leifr Erison, an
enterprising youth of distinguished courage among the
Greenland colonists, to undertake and perform a voyage in the
same direction. He had already derived experience from se
veral voyages to Norway, having been engaged in convey
ing to Greenland several of its missionary settlers. In the
present novel and hazardous adventure, he associated thirty-
five able and bold men like himself, and having purchased
Bjorn's ship, he set sail with his comrades. The voyage
was prosperous. They found the country Bjorn had disco
vered. Sturleson does not relate the number of days they
employed in their voyage thither. ' They first approached a
Vol. I. 15

114 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. \Va.v.t I.
hilly country, which they called ' Helluland,' (land of hills)
thence they put to sea, and sailed till they next arrived at ano
ther of a less forbidding aspect than the first. Consulting
their safety, they anchored some distance from the coast, and
sent their boat ashore. The country was flat, low, woody,
contained plenty of roots, and a white sand. They named it
' Markland.' Again they continued their course', with a wind
from the north-east, without seeing land for two days, when
they arrived at an island, which, according to Sturleson, lay
northward from the main land. Here they landed, and the
weather being pleasant, they made an excursion into the coun
try. These Norrman were surprised when they found dew on
the grass, which was very sweet. They did not remain long,
but again entered into their ship, and sailed into a Sound,
which, according to Sturleson, lay between the island arid a
point, which projected northward from' the main land, and
passing in, they steered westward, until they found the water
so low, that. -they went aground, andlay till flood tide. Then
they towed their vessel through the stream into an inlet,
which led into a lake, in order to remain, there in safety,
as they determined to pass the winter here. They according
ly took their things on shore, built temporary huts, and
afterwards erected a commodious house. They found abun
dance of fish, especially fine salmon. They were rega
led with excellent fruit. The climate was so mild, that the
grass on the ground decayed very little, as there was not much
frost during the winter. The days and nights were far
more equal than those to which these Norrman had been ac
customed in the north.
Here the author of the dissertation observes, that a diver
sity of commentary upon this passage of Sturleson has pre
vailed among the learned. M. Schroder, however, prefers to
follow Schroning, who shows, in his history of Norway, and
upon the authority of the statement, as given by the learned
Vidalin, that during the shortest day, the sun rose at half-past
seven, and set at half-past four, and, of course, that the day
was nine hours long ; consequently, that this country should

§ 27.] New-York a part -of ancient Finland. 115
be looked for in the forty-first degree of north latitude. It is
probably impossible, says Mr. Schroder, to come nearer to a
fixed conclusion. That the Scandinavians actually discover
ed North America, (he observes in another part of his disser
tation) is confirmed by an Islandic record, which describes
that between Greenland and Finland, (the name, which, we
shall presently find, was given to that part of the country thus
discovered by these last-mentioned adventurers) was an im
mense inlet from the sea, which, without any effort of fancy,
is obviously the Strait of Davis and the Bay of Baffin. Vin-
land, he continues, must be sought between the fortieth and
fiftieth degree of north latitude. The probability is, that these
discoveries extended from the fiftieth or forty-niuth degree,
down to the fortyrfirst, or from Labrador by Newfoundland,
to the coast of Virginia, (as the country comprising the New-
England states, New-York, and the states south of it, was de
nominated in the days of Elizabeth.*) The most northern
region of their discovery, was the ' Helluland' of these ad
venturers. The southern, their ' Vinland,' as Leifr Erison
called the country where he took up his abode for the winter,
agreeably to the account of Sturleson, to which we shall recur
after superadding to Mr. Schroder's observations, one or two
of our own. If, as he concludes, the se discoverers penetrated
to the fortieth or forty-first degree, some part of the territory,
comprised within the colonial, or present boundaries of New-
York, must consequently have been that where they located
for the winter. Or, if we include its territory under the more
comprehensive term of ancient Virginia, New- York, as a part
of it, must, therefore have been apart of ancient Vinland. We
would not feel ourselves at liberty to undertake to fix the pre
cise spot of their wintering haven. If we should, we might,
in the bold flight of a licensed fancy franging through the vis
ta of eight centuries, perhaps follow Erison and his brave
companions, as they passed into the Long Island ' Sound,' to
some harbour westward of its northern extremity ; or we
might trace them along the eastern ' white sandy' beach of that

See post, p. 125.

116 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
island, until they should reach the main land, (now a part of
Monmouth county, in New-Jersiey) when, determining to
winter, and discovering from the inlet at Sandy Hook, that
the land they had coasted was an 'island,' lying 'north
from the main land,' they proceeded round the point (Sandy
Hook) 'which projected northward from the main land,'
steered ' westward from it' into Amboy Bay, and wintered on
the banks of that or some other bay in the vicinity of Sta-
ten Island.*
From this retrospection of mere fancy, we will revert to
something more tenable — the- authentic account of Leifr Eri
son in his winter quarters, as continued by Sturleson. Here,.
having erected a house, Erison divided his party into two di
visions, one of whom were to explore the country, the other to
remain at their habitation. The exploring party returned
every evening. In their excursions, they found the grape in
abundance, and from this, they gave to the country the name
of ' Vinland* (the land of the Vine) by which it ha? ever since
been known iu the Islandic records.
On the approach of spring, they began to think of return
ing. Having laden their ship with the natural productions
of the country, among which were the maize, or wild wheat,
and a wood, (' masur') indigenous to these regions, they
put to sea, and with a fair wind, and without any accident,
arrived in sight of the high land of Greenland. They do not
say that on their return, they visited any part of the continent,
but steered directly to Greenland. From this fact, it would
appear that these northern navigators dared to venture into
the open ocean, and by no means confined themselves in their
voyages to the coasts. Leifer returned to the residence of his
father in Greenland. His renown spread far and wide, and ex
cited new and similar adventures among the Greenland colonists.
Thorwaldr Errison, a brother of Leifr Errison, adventured
next. He selected thirty associates, and had the use of his
brother's ship. They arrived safely in Vinland, and passed
* Newark Bay appears most like a "lake." Varrazano, when he
ou che d Sandy Hook, speaks of a " lake" in that vicinity. See hereafter.

$27.] New-York a part of Ancient Vinland. 117
the winter, living principally on fish. In the spring they ex
plored the country.
They proceeded in their long-boat to examine the coast,
and found it beautiful, and covered with wood. The beach
was all along of white sand, such as Leifr Errison dad seen
in his voyage.* Near the shore were a great many islands
and small islets, and very shallow water. They found no
traces of man or beast ; but on an island further westward
they discovered a barn, or shelter, for protecting the harvest
This was the only indication of human art which they found.
Their excursions during this summer were made in the boat,
and extended along the coast in a westerly direction. It seems
they again wintered ; for the account states that the next sum
mer they determined to bend their course to the northward
and eastward, and for that purpose they prepared the ship in
stead of the boat. They had not yet seen any of the inhabi
tants. Having renewed "their examination, they came to a
place where they landed, which appeared so beautiful, that
Thorwaldr determined to establish a colony there. They had
scarcely returned to their ship, when they saw three boats
coming towards them, each containing three natives. These
were the " Skrcelingar," as Sturleson calls them : a word of
contempt, denoting a. weak and pigmy race of people ; though
some authors think it only refers to the inferiority of their
iveapons. Under that denomination the Esquimaux were not
unknown to the Greenland colonists. In those days that race
may have spread over the regions of ancient Vinland, and
subsequently receded northward. f As the natives, before
mentioned, approached the ship, Thorwaldr instead of per
mitting them to advance in peace, commenced so furious an
attack upon them, that one only escaped in his canoe to the
shore. After this inglorious adventure^ its heroes again landed.
The war-cry of the natives soon resounded in their ears ; for
they had rushed on in numbers to renew the combat, and to

* At this day the coasts are described as similar.
f See ante, p. 60.

118 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
avenge this outrage, but the aggressors .. fled to their ship,
put themselves on the defensive, and effectually repelled the
assailants. One of their arrows, however, proved mortal to
Thorwaldr. He, in his dying moments, advised his compa
nions to return to the place of their former rendezvous, and
join their comrades, (a part of the company which it seem*-
had remained where they first arrived, not having embarked
in these exploring expeditions.)
This advice was followed. After wintering once more, the
survivors returned to Greenland in the following spring, .and
related, as Sturleson says, to the astonished Greenlanders, the
wonderful sto-ry of their adventures.
Thorstein Errison (third brother to Leifr Errison) next
undertook a voyage towards Vinland, which proved a most
unfortunate one ; for he and his associates were driven by
storm to the Western part of Greenland, where most of his
company, and lastly he himself fell victims to sickness.
The melancholy issue of this attempt, did not discourage
the renewal of these south-western maritime adventures.
Thorfin Karlsefne (an amazing rich man, ,says Sturleson,)
had recently arrived in Greenland from Norway, and marri
ed Gudrid, the widow of the unfortunate Thorstein Errison.
His fate did hot deter the husband of his widow from casting
his eye towards Vinland, which was now viewed by the Green
land colonists, as their promised land, where wealth and
fame awaited their adventurous enterprise. Thorfin Karlsefne,
his wife, and more than fifty companions, among whom were
five women, prepared for embarkation. He was joined by
other adventurers, so that when he set sail, he was the leader
of three ships and one hundred and forty persons.
Torfceus describes minutely this expedition. Its leader
had greater objects in view than his predecessors. He de
signed to establish a colony, and for this purpose his fol
lowers were more numerous than those of any prior adven
turer, and they were supplied with cattle of various kinds.
The preliminary condition of 'their colonising association.

§27.] New-York a part of Ancient Vinland. 119
was, that the promised land should be divided equally between
them.: They arrived safe at Vinland, and took quarters in the
house which Leifr Errison had long before erected. The
cattle in their range found excellent pasturage. The country
afforded, for the sustenance of the adventurers, fine fruit, in
cluding grapes, and a supply of various kinds of fish. Dur
ing the succeeding winter the natives ( Skrcelingarne) did not
present themselves. They approached towards the ensuing
summer peacefully, and for traffic. They gave furs and pel
try for such trifles as the adventurers would part with, espa-
cially for red cloth, which the former fancifully bound round
their heads. They manife'sted an inclination for the posses
sion of weapons. These Thorstein would not permit his fol
lowers to dispose of. He substituted, however, the .sale of
milk, with which the natives were highly gratified. Appre
hensive and cautious, he now surrounded their habitation with
palisadoes, in order to guard against surprise. Thus they
passed the summer. On the approach of winter the natives
in great numbers came to them and traded peaceably. One
of them being detected in the act of stealing a weapon, was
killed. This interrupted their amicable intercourse. Its in
fraction was followed by a mutual combat, in which the na
tives were put to flight. Under these circumstances a longer
residence was deemed unsafe.
, The Norrman finally abandoned the country. They ship
ped a rich cargo of skins, wood, (masur wood, a kind of
beech then thought valuable) and other natural products of
the country. According to the Saga (record) of Erik Raude,
giving a more particular account of this expedition, (as may
be seen by reference to Torfceus) it appears that Thorfin
Karlsefne and his followers had resided three years in Vin
land, and that on their departure they carried to Greenland
three native children, who were baptized and instructed iu
Christianity. These Vinland voyages were now talked of, says Sturleson,
as very profitable. Hitherto they had been a family secret
among the connexions of Leifr Errison.

120 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
His sister, "Freydisa Eriksdotter, (that is, Erick's daugh
ter,) now planned an expedition for Vinland. With this view
she entered into an agreement with " Helge and. Finnhoge,"
who were brothers, and natives of Iceland. They had just
arrived from Norway with a ship of their own. The two
contracting' parties mutually agreed to take an equal number
of followers ; that number should be thirty men able to bear
arms, besides women, so as to place both parties on a par,
and that each should embark in a separate ship. According*
ly they sailed and arrived safely at Vinland. Freydisa
however had secretly brought five persons in her train, more
than the stipulated number. This deceitful violation of her
agreement became the foundation of great hatred, especially
as it took place at a period when the sacredness of promises,
and when personal bravery were held in the highest repute.
The distrust and coolness which were now manifested, broke
out in hostility, and ended in scenes of violence. This atro
cious woman at last persuaded her husband, (whose name
was Thorwaldr, who had accompanied her from Greenland,
and who in other respects made a very inconspicuous figure
in this expedition,) secretly to murder the two Norrman and
their companions, and to seize their ship. The deed was
executed. Freydisa and her husband returned to Greenland
with rich cargoes. She spread a report that the two brothers
had remained in Vinland. She rewarded her followers very
liberally, in order to induce them to corroborate her false
story. Rumour of the outrage however spread abroad, and
and at length excited general astonishment and disgust.
With this tragical narrative the accounts as given < by
Sturleson, end. He adds that Thorfin Karlsefne (the rich,)
after his return from Vinland, remained some time in Green
land ; then fitted out his ship with a rich cargo for Norway,
where having sold it, he returned and resided in Iceland.
Here he was held in great respect, and became the founder of
a numerous posterity : among whom, (Sturleson superadds,)
the traditions of these Vinland expeditions were best pre
served.

§27.] New-York a part of Aniient Finland. 121
Subsequently to the period of the last expedition, Vinland
does not appear to have been often visited. It is true that
the Eyrbyggia-Sagan, (a record of Iceland,) mentions, that
towards the latter part of the reign of Olof the Pious, one
" Gunleif Gunlaugson" was overtaken on the west coast of
Ireland by a violent and long-continued storm, which drove
him to a distant and unknown country, where be and his
comrades narrowly escaped death from the natives. This
unknown land was probably the same extensive coast which
had previously been visited by the Scandinavians. This is,
probable, from the circumstance that the record further states,
that those weather-beaten adventurers found there an Icelander,
who was in great repute among the natives. The Saga
(record) further states very circumstantially, that they were
driven by a violent storm from east and north-east to a
country lying to the south-west, which could not, with any
probability, be considered any other than America.
The Landnama Sagan (another Islandic record) relates
the voyage of ' Jon Biskop' (John the Bishop) to Vinland,
in order to propagate the Christian religion, where he sealed
his faith and his zeal by suffering martyrdom. The same
pious zeal also induced the first Bishop proper, of Greenland,
named Erik, to undertake a similar voyage in the year 1121.
These voyages to Vinland, therefore, continued a long
time, although their particulars have not been transmitted.
How long they lasted, historians have not related. Sturle-
son's accounts do not extend them beyond the eleventh centu
ry ; but by other chroniclers, they can be traced to the
twelfth century. An ancient writer, ' Ordericus Vitalise'*
mentions Vinland among the ultra-marine possessions of
Norway, towards the close of the eleventh century. Mr.
Schroder accounts for this interruption by the political revolu
tion in the north of Europe, and also from the change of
climate, increasing the obstructions of the navigation by
* Histor. Ecclesiast. 1. xiii. &<*
Vol. I. 16

122 European Discourses and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
everlasting ice. The colonies of Iceland and Greenland*
being neglected by the mother country, could not withstand
the hostilities of the North American ' Schrcelingar,' who ap
peared in great numbers to subsequent adventurers.
Mr. Schroder multiplies authorities and coincidences, prov
ing the identity of Vinland and North America. He refers to
an historical record, as deserving particular notice, which is
given by ' Adanius Bremensis,' in ' De Situ Dana,'' and is
cited in Torfmus. With regard to those remains of antiquity,
which, says Mr. Schroder, are enveloped in darkness, notwith
standing the researches of Volney, Smith, Barton, and those
of the learned societies of New- York, he says, that the monu
mental remains, or tumuli, as described by the Swedish
traveller and naturalist Kalm,f bear a striking resemblance
to those of the ancient Scandinavians.
Here we might pause to remark, that if the fortifications,
whose ruins we have described under the inquiry respecting
the origin of the antiquities of New-York,J were indeed
erected by these Norrman during their visits and settlements
on our coast in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; it might
justify the conclusion, that the Alligewi, whom the ancestors
of our present indigines conquered and expelled, who were
the reputed authors of these works, who were of a fair com
plexion, and an extraordinary people, were of a Scandinavian
descent.^ Mr. Schroder combats the idea of the Esquimaux being
the remains of the Scandinavian colonists. He says there is
nohistorical ground for supposing, as Mallet and Pontoppi-
dan do, that they were ; nor, as the great linguist Ol. Rud-
beck supposed, that in the language of the Ameriean Virgi-

* For particulars respecting which, ' Schroning's^History of Norway,' is
frequently referred to.
f See his travels in Pinkerton's Collections, Vol. XIII.
\ See ante p. 13, 14, &c.
? See ante p. 33-37, &c.

$ 27.] JSlew-York apart of Ancient Finland. 123
man* Indians, were to be found affinities with the northern
languages of Europe. Besides, continues Mr. Schroder, by
late accounts, the Esquimaux resemble in language, bodily
shape, and feature, the ' Tschuder' and ' Samojeder,' and of
course show a direct relationship between the north-eastern
tribes of Asia, and those of the north-west of America.f
Although we feel disposed to unite in opinion with Mr.
Schroder, Dr. Forster, Dr. Belknap, and others,| that our
country was discovered by these northern navigators several
centuries before Columbus; and further, that New- York might
have been a part of ancient Virfland, yet we are not willing to
subscribe to another conclusion which Mr- Schroder draws,
and which tends to the prejudice of the great modern Euro
pean discoverer of this continent.
He says, that the report of this beautiful, newly-discovered
country spread far and wide throughout the north of Europe,
and nothing seems to have prevented it from having, in a con
fused manner, reached further to the south. The Scandina
vians, at an early period, were acquainted with the maritime
route to the Mediterranean through ' Niorva-sund,' (that is,
* Gibraltar' s-sund,' or Straits of Gibraltar.) According to
Benjamin Tudelensis, in his ' Itinerarium,'§ Alexandria was

* A general terra — See hereafter.
t See ante p. 62.
{ See a confirmation of the above opinion in Forster's Northern Voyages.
Dr. Forster also supposes that in the fourteenth century Vinland was vi
sited by one of the Zenos, in consequence of the report of a fisherman who
had been driven there, and who found Latin books, which Dr. F. supposes
were a part of the library of Eric, Bishop of Greenland, who went thither
in the twelfth century, to convert his countrymen.
' See also Belknap's Amer. Biog. Vol. I. pp. 47—57. 69, 70. 83. 84. on
the authority of Pontoppidan's History of Norway, Crantz's History of
Greenland, and Forster's Northern Voyages — who further rely upon the
Icelandic manuscripts as collected by Thorfoeus, Bremen, Arngrim Jonas,
and other writers. Dr. Williamson (in Hist. North Carolina) also credits
these accounts. — See further the Historical Introduction in Hans Egede'S
Description of Greenland.
* Printed Leyden, 1633.

124 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part L
visited by the Swedes and Danes ; and very early commercial
relations existed between the cities of the Mediterranean and
the Hans Towns of the north. The rumour of the discove
ries of the Scandinavians might have therefore reached the
Italian cities. To corroborate this inference, Mr. Schroder
alludes to the early maps of Andr. Bianco and Fr. Picigano,
of the date of 1436, which were found in the library of St.
Mark's, in Venice. On these maps are delineated, far away
in the Atlantic, and in the latitude of Gibraltar, a large island,
" Antillia;" and north of it, a smaller island, " Isola de la
Man Satanaoeio ;" (which islands, N. Bauche, in the Memoirs
of the French National Institute, considers the Azores, not
America.) But Mr. Schroder is of opinion, that the authors
of those maps in laying down these islands, founded their
data upon confused traditions, which, through the commercial
relations with the north, had reached Italy.
In reply to this conclusion of Mr. Schroder, if it is designed
to tolerate the supposition that the " beautiful country of
Vinland" was known to the Italians in the days of Columbus,
we would put one question : Is it probable, upon the admission
of such a supposition, that they would have rejected the pro
posals of their countryman, and by compelling him to apply
to the court of Spain, thus have voluntarily transferred to a
foreign kingdom the glory and advantages which they might
have secured to themselves ?
. Neither is there any reason, as Dr. Belknap justly re
marks, (76) to suppose that Columbus had arty knowledge of
the Norman discoveries ; which, long before his time, were
forgotten, and would perhaps never have been recollected, if
he had not, by the astonishing exertions of his genius, and
his persevering industry, effected a discovery of this conti
nent, in a climate more friendly to the views of commercial
adventurers. Even Greenland itself, in the fifteenth century, was known
to the Danes and Normans only by the name of lost Green
land ; and they did not recover their knowledge of it until
after the English had ascertained its existence by their voy-

$ 28.'] Cabots.— Henry VII. 125
ages to discover a north-west passage to the Pacific Ocean,
and the Dutch had coasted it in pursuit of whales. (77)

§28
Having submitted to the scrutinizing judgment of the reader
this pretension in behalf of the northern powers of Europe,
we will now invite his attention to modern European voyages
to our coasts, subsequently to the discovery of Columbus.
His success gave impulse to the ardour of states and indivi
duals. Monarchs now sought dominion, subjects gain. Un
der the auspices of Henry the Seventh (the era of whose reign
became distinguished for the discovery of both the Indies,) (78)
the Cabots are said to have explored our coasts five years
after Columbus had discovered the West Indies. We have
observed, that by virtue of the discoveries of the former, Eng
land laid claim to our territory, which, a century afterwards,
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, became a part of Virginia;
and on the division, by her successor, of the territory now
comprising New-England and the Middle and Southern States,
into north and south Virginia, this State fell within the limits
of the northern, and partly within the southern division:
King James having, by his patent, in 1606, to the North and
South Companies, dovetailed or lapped the patented rights of
both, and, by a policy peculiar to himself, at the same time
prohibited either company from settling within one hundred
miles of each other.
Disappointed in not having realized the glory and advan
tages which the proposals that Columbus had made prior to
his entering into the service of Isabella might have secured to
Henry, had not the messenger of the former been detained by
pirates ; (79) naturally avaricious, and jealous of the rising
greatness of Spain ; and hearing in his court this discovery so
greatly talked of, " inasmuch that all men with great admira
tion affirmed it to be a thing more divine than human, to saile
by the west into the east where spices growe, by a way that
was never knowen before ;" (80) hearing also of the *' mighty

126 European Discoveries and' Claims to New-York. [Part I.
reputation (81) of the Venetian pilot, (John Cabot) who had
made a great many voyages in the service of the court of Eng
land, or of English merchants, Henry the Seventh recognised
the spirit of enthusiastic adventure which had thus been awa
kened, and amidst the internal i tranquillity of his dominions,
resolved to give to this spirit an impulse and a direction which
should redound to the glory of his reign, and the augmentation
of his revenue. Whether he was flattered by the promises
made by Cabot, that he would " find out an island endued
with rich commodities ;" whether the idea of seeking a north
west passage to Cathay and thence to India, prevailed thus
early in England,* (as is said by Hakluyt, Salmon, and For
ster, f) or whatever particular discovery was in view, Henry
undoubtedly expected (as appears from the language of his
commission to John Cabot and his sons Sebastian, Lewis, and
Sanctius) that his predominant passion for gain would be abun
dantly gratified.
John Cabot had been a Venetian merchant. He emigrated
to England in pursuit of wealth, and subsequently became re
nowned for his maritime skill. Sebastian, though claimed by
some English writers, (82) as a native of Bristol, appears from
his own narrative, preserved by Hakluyt, (83) to have been a
native of Venice, and in his infancy to have been taken to
England by his father, where he resided in Bristol when thus
Commissioned. The letters patent, commissioning the Cabots, was dated
March 5th, 1495. It authorized them to sail to all countries
and seas, to the east, west, or north ; (84) " to seeke out, disco
ver and finde whatsoever isles, countreys, regions, or provin
ces of the heathen and infidels, whatsoever they be, and in
what part of the world soever they be, which, before this time,
have been unknowen to all Christians ; to set up our banners

* But see Vol. I. Pinkerton's Collections, p. 538. — Account of Europ.
Settl. in Amer. Vol. II. p. 286.
t And see also Vol. X. N. 'Am. Rev. p. 138, 9. Vol. IV. ib. 62, 63.
Vol. XII. Pinkerton's Collec. 158.

§ 28.] Cabots. 127
and ensignes in every village, town, castle, isle, or mainland
of them newly found. That the said John, and his sonnes, or
their heires and assigns, may subdue, occupy and possesse all
such towns, cities, castles, and isles, which they can subdue,
Sic. as our Vassals and lieutenants, getting unto us the rule, ti
tle, and jurisdiction of the same ; yet, so that they beholden to
pay one-fifth of the capital gain or neet profits of all such voy
ages, and reserve to themselves, in exclusion of other subjects
unless by them licensed, the right of visiting such parts which
may be discovered. "(8 5)
It seems that two years elapsed, either in preparation, or
from causes not explained by Hakluyt, before the Cabots sail
ed. In the thirteenth year of Henry's reign, it appears that
he granted a license to John Cabot to take five English ships,
" in any haven or havens of the realme, being of the burden of
200 tunnes or under, with all necessary furniture," and take
such masters and mariners as were willing to go.
Accordingly, in the beginning of May 1497, John Cabot,
who was profoundly* skilled in navigation and sciences,* and his
son Sebastian, then about 20 years of age, accompanied also,
it is suggested, by Sanctius,f set sail from Bristol in one or two
ships, with several smaller ones, carrying merchandise, which
London merchants had sent out on adventure. On the twen
ty-fourth of June, they discovered land, which they called Pri
ma Vista,f " that is, (says Hakluyt) First Seene, because, I
suppose, it was that part whereof they had first sight from
sea.:' This is thought to have been Newfoundland, and it is
suggested that he might have, gone into the Gulf of St. Law-
rence.§ The island, lying out before the land, he called

* Forster's Northern Voyages.
r Hakluyt, vol. Ill, p. 173, says, Sebastian and Sanctius (the last born in
England) were those who discovered Newfoundland, where is a fair haven>
still known by the Sanctius haven.
| Which is generally supposed to be that part of Newfoundland, now cal
led Bonavista. See vol. X. N. Amer. Rev. p. 139.
} See Forster's N. Voy. Belk. Amer. Biog. " Cabot." Prince's Chro
nological Hist. &c.

128 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartI,
the island of St. John, because it was discovered, as Hakluyt-
supposes, on the day of John the Baptist. Here the natives
were found clothed in "skins of beasts, and in their " warres,
they used bowes and arrowes, pikes, darts, woodden clubs, and
slings." Having taken three savages on board, the Cabots
thence proceeded as far north as sixty-seven and a half de
grees, and being impeded by ice, and impelled by the mutiny
of their ship master and mariners, they sailed along the
coast, till they arrived in the thirty-eighth degree, where, find
ing their victuals failing, they returned to England.* During
this voyage, and among the regions they visited, they found
" white beares and stagges, farre greater than ours ;" seals,
salmons, and abundance of that fish which the savages call
" bacealaos." They also saw great plenty of copper among
the inhabitants. ¦(-
The three savages " from Newfound island," were presented
by Cabot to King Henry. They were clothed in beast skins,
" eat raw flesh, and spake such speach that no man could un
derstand them, and in their demeanour, like to brute beastes."
(86) The king kept them some time, and they were seen two
years afterwards in Westminster Hall, dressed like English
men, but silent.
In memory of this discovery, Sebastian Cabot made a chart
of the American coast, with his picture, and an inscription. J
This map contained a concise account of his discovery of
North America. (87) It was hung up in his majesty's private
gallery in Whitehall, as a valuable testimonial of the title of
the British crown to all North America.(S8)

* Hakluyt. Salmon, in Mod. Hist. Vol. XXX. says, Cabot discovered
all' the north-east coast from Cape Florida, in 25 deg. north lat. to 67J.
Hakluyt, Vol.HI. says in another place, they went down till .they found Cuba
on the left, and thence to England ; and in another place, that they sailed
along the coast, from 56 deg. of lat. to Florida. But query ? See Forbes's
Florida, reviewed, Vol. IV. (n. s.) N. Am. Rev. 62, 63.
f Hakluyt. •
X With this title ; Efligies Seb. Caboti, filii Jo. Caboti, Venetian!, .Mi-,
lifts aurati, &c.

$28.] Cabots. , 129
After their return, they found great tumult in England, and
preparations for war in Scotland, and no further consideration
was paid to this voyage. Sebastian, having lost his father, went
to Spain, entered the royal service, sailed to Brazil, discover
ed the Rio de la Plata, (89) and after this, made other voy
ages, and at "length retired from a sea life. He continued high
in public fame and private esteeni, and lived to receive from
the sixth Edward an annuity for life.* His brothers, Lewis
and Sanctius, settled in foreign countries, and also obtained
eminence and distinction. f
Although English writers, in opposition to those of Hol
land,, maintain that Sebastian Cabot sailed along the coast of
New- York, yet the existing accounts, collected by Hakluyt,
furnish not the least evidence of such a fact, unless it be in the
supposition which they might warrant, that Cabot, on his re
turn from the North American waters to the southern, in about
the latitude of Virginia, might have also touched the extreme
coast of Long Island. (90)
The spirit of English adventure now slept. Henry was in
dispute with the Scotch. Projects of discovery in his time,
had in view mines of gold and silver. The Cabots found
none among the Indians to gratify the avarice of their royal
employer, and he did not choose to expend his treasures for the
distant prospect of commercial benefits to his subjects. Jeal
ous, severe, and avaricious, and sinking deeper as he advan
ced in years in these unpopular vices, until his subjects, weary
of his existence, rejoiced at its termination ;J this monarch
made it his sole interest to foster productive commerce
amidst foreign war anr> domestic insurrection; and northern
maritime adventure therefore received no further encourage
ment during his long reign. That period, however, was also

t Viz : " One hundred and three score and five pounds, thirteen shillngs
and four pence sterling," in the 2d year of Edward's reign, January, 1549,
(Hakluyt, Vol. III. p. 10.) Fifty-two years after his discovery !
f See Forster, Prince, Belknap, Pinkerton's Collections, and Hakluyt.
I See Hume, Vol. III. p. 427, 428, 429.
Vol. I. 17

130 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
distinguished for the blind submission of crowned heads to
the supremacy of the see of Rome. The pope's grant, (91)
giving away the new world to Spain and Portugal, four years
previously to Cabot's discovery, operated upon the public
mind a century afterwards, and might have influenced Henry,
under an apprehension on his part, that further northern in
terference might offend particularly Spain, whose friend
ship he was solicitous to secure. §29.
In the mean time, the Spaniards and Portuguese pursued
the advantages of their discoveries, and while they kept the
northern continent in reversion, (though some of their subjects
actually visited it,)* they consulted their peculiar character in
the immediate objects of their adventurous pursuits. The
Spaniard, (92) proud, lazyand magnificent, sought, and even
tually found, an ample field for his indulgence ; a soft climate '
to favour his love of ease, and a profusion of gold and sil
ver to procure him all the. luxuries which his pride demand
ed, but which his indolence denied. The Portuguese, indi
gent at home, and enterprising, rather than industrious abroad
ultimately obtained gold and diamonds as the Spaniard had,
wanted them as he did, but possessed them in a more useful
though a less ostentatious manner.(93) -
It has been said, indeed, that the Spaniards visited the
Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers before any other Europe
ans. Vander Donckf observes, that there are persons who
suppose that the Spaniards, many years ago* were in this
country, but finding it too cold, they returned, leaving the
beans and Turkish wheat, or Indian corn, found here when the
Dutch arrived. This, continues Vander Donck, is not pro-

* Viz : Gaspar de Cortelreal, a Portuguese, who explored and named
the coast of Labrador in 1 500 ; and the Spaniards Velasco in 1506, and
Gomez in 1525. See Vol. VI. N. Am. Rev. (n. s.) 49, 50.'
t Adrian Vander Donck, " Beschry vinge Van Nieuw-Nederlant," #c
Printed Amst. 1656.

§29.] Spaniards — Hudson and St. Lawrence. 131
bable, nor is it confirmed by the Indians. The beans and
corn, they say, were sent to them by the southern Indians,
who had obtained the same from the people who lived still
south of them. This may be true, for Castillians long since
settled in Florida ; or perhaps corn may have been cultivated
by the Indians earlier in those warm countries. But before
its introduction here, the Indians say that they used to eat the
bark of trees and roots for bread.
As to the St. Lawrence, it is said, when the Spaniards first
discovered the northern region, as they sailed past Cape Ro-
siers, at the entrance of the St. Lawrence, the mountains (of
Notre Dame) were covered with snow. . Such a prospect in
the summer season, gave them a very unfavourable opinion of
the country, and they were deterred from going up the river,
supposing the land too barren to recompense their present la
bours, or afford any future advantages. The same impres
sions induced them to call it Capo di Nada, or Cape Nothing,
by which name it is described in their charts, and whence is
derived, by corruption of language, the name of Canada.(94)
It is true that the Spaniards claimed Florida, (which had in
early day as extensive and undefined a" signification as Vir
ginia afterwards had)* by virtue of a discovery at the com
mencement of the sixteenth century.(95) Ponce de Leon (or
John de Ponce) a wealthy and aged inhabitant of Porto Rico,
its first discoverer and governor, went in search of a fountain,
(then reported to be in one of the Bahama islands) supposed
to possess the marvellous power of restoring youth and vigour
to aged persons who should bathe in its waters. Having dis
covered Florida, and disappointed, of course, in his main ob
ject, he resolved to recompense the want of youth by gratify
ing the avarice of age ; and, accordingly, in the year 1513,
having obtained the appointment of governor of Florida, he
arrived on the coast with a considerable number of men ; but
a furious attack of the Indians compelled him to flee, with his

* By the charter from Philip Il.to Menendez.Florida extended from New
foundland to the. river of Palms, as far as lat. 25 deg. or 22 deg. See its ex
tent, as stated by De Laet and Sanson. See Vol. IV. (n. s.) N. A. Re. p. 74-

132 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Partj
remnant of survivors, to Cuba. On these adventures, Spain
grounded her claim to Florida.
Lucas d'Aillon, (br Luke Vasquez of Aillon) in 1520, went
from Hispahiola on a kidnapping voyage, landed at St. Hele
na in South Carolina, was received hospitably by the natives,*
and, as a requital, invited a large number on board, and set
Sail with them. Some pined away, refusing all food. A
great many perished in one of the vessels, which foundered,
and the residue were forced into slavery. Vasquez went again
five years afterwards. One of his ships was cast away ; two
hundred of his men were cut offby the natives, and he fled, or
died, in Florida. Pairiphilo de Narvaes, also in 1 528, sailed
to Florida, with a force of four hundred foot and forty horse.
They traversed and conquered the country without much resis
tance, travelled 280 leagues, built boats, embarked, were ship
wrecked, and almost the whole perished by that disaster and
subsequent famine. Afterwards, and about the time when St.
Lawrence was discovered by the French, Sotos' celebrated.and
disastrous expedition was made to the Mississippi, as will be.
mentioned hereafter.*
The exterminating cruelty of the Spaniards towards the
South Americans made a deep and wide-spread impression.
No wonder any attempt in North America should be repelled
(as it_ had been unsuccessfully in the south,) with indignation
and fury. The Spaniards sought gold and slaves. The na
tives, while living, were sometimes thrown to the dogs to be
devoured; millions were butchered, and thousands reduced to
slavery, or forced to the mines.f Spain is now suffering the
vengeance which her national crimes merited. Since her dis
coveries she has been on the decline. The very gold that en-,
riched her became the means of her impoverishment, because
it unnerved, her industry. Reduced from the p.oud eminence

* See Forbe's Floridas, reviewed, V ol. IV. (n. s.) N.Am. Rev. p. 63,
&c. 'Williamson's North Caorlina, Vol. I, p. 12, 14.
f See Pinkerton's Collections. The subversion of the empire of the In-
eas ; the fate of Montezuma, &c. and all the sickening horrors which Peru,
Chili, and Mexico have witnessed-

4 30.] Henry VIII. and Francis I. 133
she once enjoyed, to a secondary and degraded rank in the
balance of Europe, she is a living lesson to the world, not only
in national morals, but political economy ; which proves that
with nations as well as individuals " prosperous vice is but
triumphant woe ;" that what is gained without labour, may be
squandered without regret; and that productive industry alone
constitutes the solid wealth of a nation ; the only certain means
of augmenting its population, and securing a durable prospe
rity. It has been well remarked, " that it is as natural for
a people to flock into a busy and wealthy country, where em
ployment is had, and which, by any accident, may be thinly
populated, as it is for the dense air to rush into those parts
where it is rarified."(96) But Spain, now stripped of the very
mines that supplied her with gold, (unlike England and Hol
land amidst their freedom and industry) pursued a policy
which has reduced her numbers, unnerved her people, plunged
them into political despotism and religious intolerance,,and pav
ed the way, perhaps, for the extinction of her national existence
§ 30.
While the subjects of Spain thus made ineffectual efforts to
colonise and explore North America, Henry the Eighth of
England, and Francis First of France, arose to question the
infallibility, and. deny the unlimited supremacy of the Pope.
The former defied, and the latter disregarded, the monstrous
usurpation of the papal see, who dared not only to fetter the
conscience, but, in imitation of his Satanic majesty, to dis
pose of kingdoms and worlds. Although Henry, denying the
right of the partition of the new world between Spain and
Portugal, sent two ships, it issaid, in 1527, (four years after
Francis despatched Varrazano) to make discoveries, one of
which was cast away on Newfoundland, and the other arrived
at St. John's Bay ;(97) yet he was too much engrossed in the
gratification of his passions, to lay the foundation of transat
lantic empires. Neither did Edward and Mary attend much
to foreign o jeers. But Francis I. who is denominated by the
historiographer of France, (Sieur de Mezeray) the Great

134 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I.
King, the father and restorer of learning and liberal sciences,
clement in peace and victorious in war, was as ready as his
contemporary, Henry the Eighth, to question the Pope's grant
and partition. In reply to the Spanish and Portuguese pre
tension, he said (98) he should be very glad to see the clause in
Adam's will, which made this continent their inheritance ex
clusively. He was one of the most active, hut ambitious and head
strong, princes of his age ;* and although, during his long
reign,f he was involved in war and misfortunes,, he was deter
mined not to overlook the commercial interest of his people,
by suffering Spain, Portugal, or England, to appropriate to
themselves all the advantages of the great discovery. Under
the patronage of this king, sailed John de Varrazano and
James Cartier. J § 31.
A correct knowledge of the voyage of Varrazano, made
twenty-seven years after that of Cabot, becomes important,.
inasmuch as he is supposed by some to have been the first dis
coverer of the bay of New- York and river Hudson. By vir
tue of this and subsequent French discoveries, France claim
ed a considerable part of this continent, and Henry the IV. in
1603 gave to des Monts all the American lands from the for
tieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude ; a grant
which included this State, but which James I. of England
disregarded in 1606, when be created by patent the North and
South Virginia Companies. §

* See Somerville's Letters onFrance, reviewed, Vol. X, (n. s.) N. Am.
Rev. 50, 52.,
f Commencing in 1515, and ending by .his death in 1547. (Mezeray's
France.) | Or G iovanni de Verazzani, (as his Italian name has been rendered) aud
Jacques Cartier, sometimes Quartier, (as his French name is given.)
G See both Charters, in Hazard's Collections, Vol. I, p. 46, 51, and ap
pended to Stith's Virginia. Williamsburg, 1747.

$31.] Varrazano. 135
In 1523, Francis, having thus determined to excite the emu
lation of his subjects in commerce, as he had in science and
the fine arts, ordered Varrazano to set sail with four vessels for
the discovery of that country, of which so much was spoken
at the time in France. The account of the first voyage is
not preserved. Historians give no particulars. Varrazano,
in his letter addressed to his majesty, detailing the discoveries
we shall presently mention, dated Dieppe, July 8, 1524, pre
supposes that the king had previously been informed of, this
first voyage. It seems that Varrazano, with his four ships,
had encountered storms in the north, been driven with two
ships, the Norman and Dolphin, to land in Britain, whence
he determined, in the latter vessel, to prosecute the discoveries
already began. According to this letter, (which is preserved
by Ramusio* and Hakluyt,f ) having proceeded to Madeira
with fifty men, and provisions for eight months, he departed on
the 17th day of January, 1524, from the rocks (the Deserters)
east of Madeira, and proceeded westwardly. After encoun
tering a tempest, which put him in imminent danger of ship
wreck, he found himself near a low country. He approached
it within a quarter of a league, and from the fires along the
coast, concluded that it was thickly peopled. Turning to the
south fifty leagues, without finding a harbour, and perceiving
the land ranging still southwardly, he retraced his course, and
arrived in latitude 34°, (near Wilmington, North Carolina.)
Here theship was anchored off the coast. "Great store of peo
ple (says Varrazano) came to the sea side, and seeing us ap
proach, they fled away, and sometimes would stand still and
looke backe, beholding us with great admiration ; but after
wards, being animated and assured, with signes that we made
them, some of them came hard to the sea side, seeming to re-
joyce very much at the sight of us, and marvelling greatly at
our apparel, shape and whitenesse ; shewed us by sundry
* In his Great Collection^.
f Hakluyt's Voyages, &c. Vol. IL p. 295, 300. Lond. 1600. Also in col.
I. ?sr. Y. Hist. Collec. p. 45. 60.

1.36 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
signes where we might most commodiousiy come a land with
onr bqate, offering us also of their victuals to eat." Encour
aged by this kind welcome, our adventurers made. a" ; short
abode" on shore, taking note of the peculiarities of the natives
and of the country. "".
It is difficult to determine the southern latitude which he
had reached.* In consequence of his describing the coast as
full of palm trees, it has been conjecturedf that he sailed as far
as the southern part of Georgia, to the north of which the re
gion of palm trees is not found.
Having concluded his short visit in the latitude to which he
ha*d retrograded, he resumed his northern course. After
coasting some time without perceiving any harbour by which
he could enter, he was compelled for the sake of fresh water,
to send off his boat. The shore was lined with savages, whose
countenances betrayed at the same time the effects of surprise,
admiration, joy, and fear. But, " making signes of friendship,
and shewing that, they were c tent we should come aland, "J
twenty-five men with presents were dispatched with the boat;
but it could not, in consequence of the roughness of the waves
and surge, approach the beach without danger, or the men in
it dared not advance towards the savages. One sailor, how
ever, bolder than his comrat.es, seizing a few of the articles
designed as presents, plunged into the water, and advanced
within three or four yards of the shore, when the appearance
of the savage array striking him with panic, he suddenly threw
to them the presents, hastened about, and struggled to regain
the boat : but a heavy sea now rushed, towards the shore, and
dashed him full length almost dead upon the beach. His

.* Lescarbot says he discovered the country from -30 to 40 degrees N.
latitude. Dr. Williamson (Hist. N. Caro. Vol.I. p. 15.) says he touched
the contineht at 30th deg. and called the country Mocosa, taking possession
of it in the name of the king of France, and left it near the&Oth degree.
But neither of these cite any authority.
f By Dr. Miller, in Discourse, &c. Vol. I.— N. Y. Hist. Co)!, p, 23, 24
| Observes Varrazano.

"$31.] Varrasano — Interview with Natives. 137
X »
strength was so much exhausted that he could not maintain
any foot-hold, and the next return of the waves would have
carried him off, had not the savages, seeing his deplorable
condition, ran to his assistance, and caught him in their arms.
Shortly recovering his senses, he was greatly frightened, and
began to cry with all his might. The savages, in order to
comfort him, cried still louder, and ran about to cheer him,
and to give him courage. They finally seated him at the
foot of a little hill, and turned his face towards the sun.
Then having lighted a large fire near him, they stripped him
entirely naked. He could then no longer doubt but that their
iptention was to roast him and eat him.* Those on board
thought so too, and while they intensely watched all this ma
nagement, they could sigh only for the fate of the victim.
But the poor sailor began to hope that his life might be spar
ed when he saw them dry his clothes, and only carry him near
enough to the fire to warm him. In truth, he trembled in
every part, of his body, but more from fear than cold. The
savages on their part testified their kindness by caresses, which
half restored bis confidence. They could not cease admiring
the whiteness of his skin.f Finally, they restored to him his
clothes. After recovering his strength, and staying with them
a while, he began to manifest great impatience to rejoin his
companions. Accordingly, these guileless people conducted
him to the shore, held him some time in a close embrace,
" with great love clapping him fast about," in order to evince

* Or sacrifice him to the sun — as Charlevoix (in Nouvelle France, Sic)
has rendered it. But this appears to be a gratuitous conjecture of his own.
t And also, as Charlevoix says, " his beard and spots (poil) that they saw
on his body, where they had none themselves, which astonished them still
more." This is another gratuitous assertion of Charlevoix, not found in
Varrazano's Letter. As to the declaration of writers, that the natives have
no beards, we think we shall show (in our aboriginal history) this to be a
mistake which has arisen from the circumstance of Indians appearing to
have none, but which is consequential of their practice from early youth of
plucking it out from the roots.
Vol. I. . 18

138 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part f.
their regret at parting, and to show that they had nothing-
equivocal or sinister in view. They then retired to a little
distance, leaving him at liberty ; and when they saw him
swimming, they mounted on a little eminence, from which
they kept their eyes fixed upon him until he reached the boat,
and returned to the ship.*
Departing thence, Varrazano followed the shore fifty leagues
and anchored. Twenty men in the boat went ashore : entered
the country six miles, and found that the people had fled to
the woods affrighted. " They saw only one old woman, with a
young maid of 18 or 20 yeeres old, which seeing our com
pany (says Varrazano) hid themselves in the grasse for feare ;
the olde woman carried two infants on her shoulders, and be
hind her necke a child of eight yeeres old. The young wo
man was laden likewise with as many ; but when our men
came unto them, the women cried out ; the olde woman made
signes that the men were fledde into the woods. As soone as
they saw us to "quiet them, and to win their favour, our men
gave them such victuals as they had with them, to eate, which
the olde woman received thankfully, but the young woman
disdained them all, and threw them disdainfully on the ground.
They took^a. child from the olde woman to bring into France ;
and going about to take the young woman, which was very
beautiful and of tall stature, they could not possibly, for the
great outcries that she made, bring her to the sea ; and espe
cially having great woods to passe thorow, and being farre
from the ship, we purposed to leave her behind, bearing away
the child onely." j
After remaining three days in this country, and riding on
the coast for want of harbours, they pursued their route.
Previously to their arrival at the place which we shall pre
sently describe, they had coasted along shore between a north-
. ern and eastern direction one hundred leagues, without making
a harbour, when they arrived at a very pleasant place, situat-

* See Varrazano's Letter in Hackluyt. and N. Y. Hist. Coll. ib.

§31.] Varrazano at or near Sandy Hook ? 139
ed among certain little steep hills, from amidst which " there
ramie downe into the sea an exceeding great streme of water,
which, within the mouth was very deepe, and from the sea to
the mouth of the same, with the tide, which they found to rise
8 foote, any great ship laden might passe up."* Here they
rode safely at anchor, and sent up their boat. The natives
expressing their admiration, and showing them where they
might come safely to land with their boat, they entered up the
river half a league, " where it made a most pleasant lake,f
about three leagues in compasse, on which they (the natives)
rowed from one side to the other to the number of thirty of
their small boats, wherein weere many people, which passed
from one shore to the other to come and see them." A sud
den rise of wind compelled them to return to the vessel and
put to sea. Here possibly they might have touched at Sandy
Hook, and taken the bay within it for a lake. Thence, weigh
ing anchor, they " sayled toward the east, for so the coast
trended, and so alwayes for fifty leagues being in the sight/
thereof, they discovered an island in forme of a triangle, distant
from the main land ten leagues, about the bignesse of the island
of Rhodes ; it was full of hills, covered with trees, well peo-s
p'led, for they saw fires all along the coast ; they gave it the
name of his majesty's (Francis 1st.) mother, but not staying
there by reason of the weather being contrary."
Here perhaps they may have coasted Long Island, until
they reached Block Island, Nantucket, or Martha's Vineyard.
There is certainly no such triangular island ten leagues from
the entrance of Sandy Hook ; and the described direction
which they took renders their entry into New-York bay and river
at this juncture altogether improbable, as will be insisted upon
more at large hereafter.
From this island they came to another land fifteen leagues
distant, where they met the " goodliest people, and of the fair-

* Varrazano.
t The Scandinavians also speak of a lake in their visits to these coasts-.
See ante, p. 114, 116.

140 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
est conditions that tfoey had found in their voyage : exceeding
us in bigness — of the colour of brasse, some inclining to white-
nesse, black and quick eyed, -of sweete and pleasant counte
nance, imitating much the old fashion." Among them they
saw many pieces of wrought copper, which were esteemed
more than gold, which for the colour the natives made no ac
count of. Among the presents that were given to them, bells,
crystal of azure colour, and other toys to hang at their ears
qr about their necks, were most esteemed by them. They did
not desire cloth of silk or of gold or other sort, neither did
they care for things made of steel or iron, " which we often
shewed them (continues Varrazano) in our armour, which they
made no wonder at ; and in beholding them they onely asked
the arte of making them ; the like they did at our glasses,.
which, when they beheld, they suddenly Iaught, and gave them
us again." They were very liberal in giving what they had.
They and their visiters became great friends. One day the
latter entered the haven with their ship, having before rode a
league off at sea by reason of contrary wind. Here the na
tives visited them in great numbers, and showed by signs
where they might safely ride in the haven. " After we were
come to an anker, (Varrazano continues) we bestowed fifteen
dayes in providing ourselves many necessary things-, whither
every day the people repaired to see our ship, bringing their
wives with them, whereof they were very jelous ; and they
themselves entring a board the ship, and staying there a good
space, caused their wives to stay in their boats ; and for all
the entreatie we could make, oflring to give them divers things,
we could never dbtaine that they would suffer them to come
aboarde our ship. Oftentimes one of the two kings (of these
people) comming with his queene and many gentlemen for
their pleasure to see us, they all stayed on shore two hundred
paces from us till they sent a message that they were coming.
The queene and her maids staied in a very light boat at an
island a quarter of a league off, while the king abode a long
space in the ship, uttering divers conceits with gestures, view
ing with great admiration the shippe, demanding the property

§31.] Varrazano at New-York1? 141
of every thing particularly." Sometimes the sailors staid two
or three days oil a little island near the ship, for necessaries.
They were often five or six leagues within the land, which
they found pleasant, and adapted for any husbandry of corn,
wine, or oil. There were plains twenty-five or thirty leagues
in breadth, which were open, and without any impediment.
They entered the woods, and found them ': so great and thicke
that any army, were it never so great, might have hid it selfe
therein, the trees whereof are okes, cipresse trees, and other
sortes unknowen in Europe." They found " Pome appel,
damson trees and nut trees, and other sorts of fruit," differing
from those of their own country. The natives fed upon pulse
" that grew in the country with better order of husbandry than
in the others. They observed in their sowing the course of
the moone, and the rising of certaine starres, and divers other
customs spoken of by 'antiquity. They dwell together in
great numbers, some twenty-five or thirty persons in one
house. They are very pitifull and charitable towards their
neighbours, they make great lamentations in their adversitie,
and in their miserie, the kinred reckon up all their felicitie.
At their departure out of life, they use mourning mixt with
singing, which continu<'th for a long space."
This harbour, where Varrazano found these kind people,
and where he remained more than two weeks, is thus described
by him : " This land is situate in the paralele of Rome in 41
degrees and 2 terces, but somewhat more cold by accidentall
causes and not of nature. The mouth of -the haven lieth open
to the south halfe a league broad, and being entred within it
betweene the east and the north, it stretcheth twelve leagues,
where it wareth broader and broader, and maketh agulfe, about
twenty leagues in compasse, wherein 9refive small islands, very
fruitful and pleasant, full of hie and broad trees, among the
which islandes any great navie may ride safe without any feare
of tempest or other danger. Afterwards turning towards the
south, in the entring into the haven, on both sides there are
most pleasant hils, with many rivers of most cleare water fall
ing into the sea. In the middest of this entrance, there is a

142 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
rocke of free stone, growing by nature, apt to build any castle
or fortresse there, for the keeping of the haven."
, Dr. Belknap says, that the harbour which Varrazano enter
ed, "by his description, must be that of New-York."* Other
writers have intimated a similar conclusion, without, however,
pretending to examine the subject.-]- Dr. Miller,| (in his dis
course designed to commemorate the discovery of New-York
by Henry Hudson) observes : " If we suppose Staten Island
and Manhattan Island to be included in the number five, of
which he (Varrazano) speaks, and also the whole of the wa
ters in which these islands are embosomed, to belong to the
' gulf,' which he represents as ' twenty leagues in compass,'
the description will be found a tolerably accurate one, and to
apply with more probability to the harbour of New-York
than any other."
But surely Staten and Manhattan islands cannot fall within
the description of small ones, of which Varrazano speaks.
Besides, Manhattan Island is, to all appearance, so much a
part of the mainland, that it would hardly have been discov
ered as an island, especially when it was " full of hie and broad
trees ;" neither could he have mistaken our east and north ri
vers, running parallel with that island, for a gulf " twenty
leagues in compass," the entrance into which, in the progress
of its disembogation, " grew broader and broader." Neither
would the topography of the surrounding regions authorise
us to say, that there were at that time " plains, twenty-five or
thirty leagues, broad, open, and without any impediment ;"
and still more conclusive, there is no triangular island, (as de
scribed by Varrazano) ten or fifteen leagues off the entrance at
Sandy Hook, or the Narrows. " The mouth of the haven"
here, is more than half *>. league broad. The distance from
Sandy Hook to New-York Bay is not "twelve leagues." It

* Amer. Biog. vol. I. p. 33.
f Professor Ebeling. Dr. Barton.
| Discourse, 1809, before Hist. Soc. by Samuel Miller, D. D. Vol. I. N.
Y. H. C. p. 24.

§ 31.] Varrazano. 143
does not " wear broader and broader, making a gulf twenty
leagues in circumference ;" neither, retrograding south, are
" there many rivers falling into the sea."
We believe, that although Varrazano may have touched at
Sandy Hook, coasted Long Island, and visited some one of
our former islands in its north-eastern vicinity, and in the lati
tude mentioned by him, yet he never entered our bay or river.
It appears to usr that his description may apply with tolerable
precision to Newport, in Rhode Island. There are the small
islands, the gulf, the safe mooring for a navy, the outlets to the
sea of manyrivers, whether we include those of Taunton, Lees,
Coles, Palmer's and Seakonk or Pawtucket, emptying into the
gulf or sea, or the east passage, and other outlets to the ocean.
Having left this place in May, Varrazano says, in the con
clusion of his northern voyage, that he visited the land in
times past, discovered by the Britains, in the 50th degree.
This was Newfoundland.* Having thus coasted 700 leagues
of new country, and being refitted with water and wood, he
returned to France, and arrived at Dieppe in July, whence he
addressed his letter to the king. A short time after his return
to France, he fitted out a new armament. All we know of
this voyage (says Charlevoix) is, that he never has been heard
of.-f- A report has been published, J that Varrazano, having
set foot in a strait, where he wanted to erect a fort, the sava
ges fell upon him and his people, massacred and eat them.
Ramusio says this was in sight of, the rest of the crew, who
had remained on board the ship, and were unable to rescue
their companions.^

* The degree is given pursuant to his letter, though it has been else
where stated that he attained the 56th degree, about the coast of Labrador,
and gave the country the name of New France. See Dr. Miller's Disc.
Vol. I. N.Y. H. Coll. p. 26, and Belk. Am. Biog. Vol. I, p. 159, cited. ,
f Charlevoix. Hist. Nouv. Fr.
| In " les Fastes Chronologiques de la Decouverte du Nouvau monde,"
sous l'annee, 1525. Charlevoix does not credit the report.
* IN. Y- Hist. Coll. 27. Forster's North. Voyages, 436 cited.

144 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
In the only voyage of his, of which we have an authentic
account, we dwell with most pleasure upon the characteristic
simplicity, friendship, and humanityiof the natives. We have
detailed these instances in their favour, because they occurred
at a period, when the warm native fountain of good feeling
and disinterested charity, had not been frozen by the chilly
approach and death-like contact of civilized man. We have
dwelt upon these incidents as the most interesting portion of
Varrazano's adventures. They present t human nature
in an amiable point of view, when unsophisticated by
metaphysical subtlety, undisguised by art, or, even when
unadorned by the refinements, the pageantry, the pride
and circumstance of civilization. The.y illustrate the posi
tion, winch we believe is true, that the natives of this conti
nent, before they had been exasparated by the encroachments
and provocations of Europeans, when the former were confi
ding, and unsuspicious, without any foresight of the terrible dis
asters which their interviews with the latter were destined to
become the tragical prelude, entertained uniform feelings of
kindness, of hospitality, and of benevolence.
When the Scandinavians came to our coasts, they were cor
dially welcomed, until their own aggressions provoked an in
terminable hostility.* When Columbus visited the new world,
the natives viewed him as a supernatural being, and treated
him with the veneration, inseparable from a delusion, which
Colon was willing to countenance. When Vespucius Ameri
cus landed, he also was treated as a superior being. When
the Cabots coasted this continent, when Cartier first visited
the St. Lawrence, when the French first settled in Florida as
friends, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and after him the Cap
tain employed by Sir Walter Raleigh, first landed in Virgi
nia, when Hudson discovered and explored our bay and river,
when the pilgrims colonized New-England, the generous re
ception which they all met from the natives, should stand a
* See ante, p. 117.

§ 31.] Varrazano. 145
monumental rebuke to the shameful prejudices too prevalent
among ourselves, since we supplanted their descendants on
the soil which their fathers left them as a patrimony. We will
cite proofs of two instances which took place thirty-seven
years apart, but which are given as a general illustration of
our position. In the first report of Sir Walter Raleigh's ex
pedition, it is said by his captain, and those in the employ, in
1584, that they were entertained with as much bounty as they
could possibly devise. They found the people most gentle,
loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as
live after the manner of the golden age.*
The second proof may be found in the prefatory remarks to
the first sermon ever preached in New-England. It bears date
not long after the landing of the pilgrims, (viz. Dec. 1621)
and was made by one of them.f Speaking of the Indians, he
says : " To us they have been like lambs, so kind, so submis
sive and trusty, as a man may truly say many Christians are
not so kind and sincere. When we first came into this coun
try, we were few, and many of us were sick, and many died
by reason of the cold and wet, it being the depth of winter,
and we having no houses nor shelter, yet, when there were
not six able persons among us, and that they came daily to us
by hundreds with their sachems or kings, and might," in one
hour, have made a despatch of us, &c. yet they never offered
us the least injury. The greatest commander of the country,
called Massasoit, cometh often to visit us, though he lives fif
ty miles from us, often sends us presents,'' &c.
Similar proofs might be multiplied, and it might also be
shown that the cruelty of the natives towards the white visi
tants, when traced, will be discovered, in almost every case, to
have been provoked by oppression or aggression. It is true,
that Varrazano, in his letter,} speaks of the natives in the

* See Hakluyt.
f Printed in England 1622, reprinted in Boston 1815
\ See vol. I. N. Y.Hist. Coll. p. 58, 59.
Vol. I. 19

146 European Discourses and Claims to New-York. [PaetL
northern regions, as disinclined to any intercourse, or amica
ble traffic. " They would come to the sea shore upon certaine
craggy rocks, and we, standing in our boats, they let downe
with a rope what it pleased them to give us, crying continu
ally that we should not approach to the land, demanding im
mediately the exchange ; and when we had nothing left to
exchange with them, when we departed from them, the people
shewed all signes of discourtesie and disdaine, as were possible
for any creature to invent. We were; in despight of them,
two or three leagues within the land, being twenty-five armed
men of us : And when we went on shore, they shot at us with
their bowes, making great outcries, and afterwards fled into
the woods." But the fact is, they had known or heard of the
visits of white people before. The Spaniards are said to have
early explored the northern regions. "Wherever they moved
in anger (says Kotzebue) desolation tracked their progress, —
wherever they paused in amity, affliction mourned their friend
ship."* The French also had early engaged in the cod-
fishery on the grand banks, and, with the people of other na
tions, erected houses at Newfoundland as early, it is said, as
1518 f But earlier still, it will be remembered, that the Ca
bots had been there ; and although they were treated in a ve
ry different manner from Varrazano, yet the Jwo savages
Whom they took to the court of Henry the VII. were proba
bly never returned to their kindred and friends, as they un
questionably had been promised. ForsterJ ascribes the inve
teracy of the Esquimaux to the previous kidnapping of some
of their countrymen. We have seen, even when Varrazano
was on the coast of Maryland, how deaf to the agonies of be
reaved parents the whites could be. From causes like these,
arose, no doubt, the unsocial hostility of the northern natives,
to Which may be reasonably attributed the subsequent fate of

* Pizarro, in Peru.
f Anti-Colonial Hist. Vol. VI. N. Am. Rev. p. 46. (n. s.)
X Northern Voyages

§ 32.] Varrazano. 147
Varrazano, and perhaps that of Hudson, whose tragical story
will be related hereafter.
In other parts of the continent, when we scrutinize the con
duct of the whites, we shall find they early treated the natives
as beings destitute of those feelings, which the God of na
ture has implanted in the "breast of man, which revolt at ag
gravated injustice, and which, therefore, could never submit
quietly to those systems of fraud, wanton attack, kidnapping,
and murder, that disgraced the first visits and conquests up
on this continent, and induced, by degrees, that deep-toned
hatred, which subsequently distinguished the natives as barba

rians.

§ 32.
The unhappy fate of Varrazano was the cause, that during
many years neither the king or nation thought any more of
America. At length, ten years afterwards, Philip Chabot^
Admiral of France, by representing the advantages and policy
of giving encouragement and protection to their northern fish
ery and fur trade, induced Francis to undertake the establish
ment of a French colony in the New World, whence the Spa
niards derived so great wealth. He introduced James Cartier
to the king as worthy of his trust and patronage. Accordingly
he was commissioned and set sail from St. Malo with two ves
sels, sixty tons each, on the 20th April, 1534, with one hun
dred and twenty-two men. (99) He proceeded further than
Varrazano. After arriving at Bonavista, he coasted Newfound
land, entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the Strait of Bellisle>
found its harbours cold and inhospitable, passed over tothe south
westerly side of the Gulf, and discovered Baye de Chaleur, so
named by him from its contrast with those he had visited. Having
thus discovered and named this bay, as well as the Gulf of St-
Lawrence, he proceeded northwardly, and discovered the river
of that name. (100) When Cartier landed in Canada, the na
tives evinced every expression of joy and friendly welcome-
At one time three hundred men, women, and children, " came

148 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
to us, (says Carrier,*) very friendly, rubbing our arms with
their own hands, then would they lift them up toward heaven,
showing many signs of gladness ; and in such wise were we
assured one of another, that we very familiarly began to traffic,
of whatsoever they had, till they had nothing but their naked
bodies, for they gave us all whatsoever they had, and that even
of but small value. We perceived that this people might very
easily be converted to our religion."
So confiding were these primitively simple and unsuspecting
people, that one of their chiefs suffered Cartier to take two of
his sons to France.f '¦
Next year, (1535) with an equipment of three ships, and
accompanied by several young men of distinction, who had
entered as volunteers, he returned, discovered the great river
of Canada, sailed to the island of- Hochelaga, the capital of
the whole country, which he named Montreal,f wintered in a
little harbour near the west end of the Isle of Orleans, which
he called Port de St. Croix, and returned next summer, carry
ing home some of the natives.^
Cartier during this visit, again met people throughout the
country equally inclined to friendly intercourse. At St. Croix
in the island of Orleans he was received by an Indian King
by the name of Donnacana, and his little Ogouhana, with all
the pomp of royalty peculiar and suitable to the state of a
savage chief. || At Hochelaga "all the women and the mai-

* See "A shorte and briefe narration of the two navigations and discoveries
to the north-west parts, called New France. First translated out of French
into Italian by Ramutius, and Englished by John Florio,1580 — and Remarks
on Indians, in a letter to Edinburgh Reviewers, published London, 1 822.
f Vol. I. Belknap's American Biography, p. 162-;3.
X Hakluyt. See Belknap, Vol. I. p. 170.
i Hakluyt, Vol. III. See Belknap, Vol. I. p. 162, 177, 179, (among the
natives whom he took to France were the two young Indians, who went with
him on his first return, and now Donnacana also. They were never brought
back from France.
|| See Sullivan's District of Maine, and authorities cited by him. Wil
liams's History of Vermont, Vol. I. p. 252. Vol. I. Belknap's American Bio
graphy, p. 165-7, 173.

$ 32. Cartier—St. Lawrence River^Iroquois, 149
dens (says Cartier,*) gathered together, part of which had
their arms full of young children, and as many as could come
to rub our faces, our arms, and what part of the body they
could touch, showing us the best countenance that possibly
was, desiring us with their signs, that it would please us to
touch their children."
In 1540 he made a third voyage, built a fort, and began a
settlement the next year four leagues above St. Croix, and the
year after broke up and sailed to Newfoundland. Roverval
met Cartier, proceeded up the St. Lawrence four leagues
above the island of Orleans, built, wintered, and also returned
the next year with his colony.-]-
Thus the St. Lawrence was discovered ( 1 535) by the French}
seventy-four years before the discovery of Lake Champlain
and Hudson river .^ This river, which receives its chief sup
ply of water from the great lakes, and connected with Ontario,
forms the north-western boundary of our State, rises from lake
Nipissin, north-east of lake Superior, about 2000 miles from
Quebec, is 90 miles broad at its entrance, and navigable 500
miles, and more from the sea. Hochelega, where the city of
Montreal (formerly Ville Marie, ||) now stands, was owned by
our Iroquois Confederacy when the French settled in Canada,
at the commencement of the seventeenth century. If these
were the people whom Cartier met, how changed their charac
ter and condition. This is not the place to explain the causes
of this change. If Hochelega was arrested from these native
proprietors, Montreal has ^suffered a terrible retribution.
For it will appear that the Iroquois subsequently made a fero
cious irruption into this island, sacked, ravaged, burned,
massacred, and inflicted a shock upon Canada, from which she
* " A short and brief narration," &c. ib. And see Belknap, Vol. I. p.
179, 170 and 182.
t Hakluyt. See Belknap, Vol. I. p. 178, &c.
X Seearefep. 130, as to the Spanish claim to prior discovery.
§ See hereafter.
|| Long's Voyages and Travels p. 2. Spafford's Gazetteer of New-York.
art. St. Lawrence.

150 European Discoveries ana Claims to New-York. Part I.
recovered not for a long time. After all, where is the people
whose mild and hospitable character would not be irritated into
frenzy on beholding the obtrusive settlement and violent dispos
session of their country by foreigners; on beholding the path
way 'of strangers over the graves of their fathers ; the en
croachment of men of different complexion, language, and
manners, proudly disdaining to intermix, too scornful to meet
on terms of equality, and arrogantly demanding a soil to which
they were aliens ! Where is the people who under such cir
cumstances would not meet their invaders and spoilers with
the instruments of death in one hand, and a fire-brand in the
other; swear, with Warsaw's last champion, by the dread name
of their country, "for her to live, and with her to die;" and " if
forced to retire before superior discipline, dispute every inch of
ground, raze every house, burn every blade of grass, and make
the last entrenchment of liberty their grave!" (101)
' Almost simultaneous with the discovery of the St. Lawrence,
was that of the Mississippi. Four years after the former, viz.
1 539, the Spaniards under Ferdinand de Soto sailed from
Cuba in quest of gold, landed at Florida with six hundred men
and two hundred horses, traversed the country nearly fourteen
hundred miles from the sea, discovered the Mississippi twelve
hundred miles from the mouth of it, built brigantines, and sail
ed down the river, after spending three years. Soto having
died upon the Red river in 1542, the remnant of his broken
army escaped the year after from the Mississippi to Cuba.(102)
§ 33.
Gold and the labour of the enslaved natives being the in
centives to Spanish adventure, no attempt was renewed upon
North America until the controversy in France, between the
Huguenots and Catholics, precipitated a French settlement in
Florida (afterwards Virginia,) and roused the Spaniards to
new acts of atrocity. Their cruelty to the natives having ope
rated to defeat every attempt to settle among them, their pre
dominant passion for gold had drawn their attention elsewhere.

§33.], French Policy. 151
In France during the succeeding reigns of Henry the second
and Francis the second, nothing more appears to have been
done towards North America. The civil wars that with little
intermission harassed and divided that kingdom, from Henry
the second to Lewis the fourteenth, diverted both prince and
people from their commercial interests, to those of parties in
religion and government. (103) The politics of the house of
Valois, (though France was perhaps never governed by princes
of so ingenious and refined a turn,) were wholly of a machia-
villian kind. They tended to distract, to unsettle, to try danger
ous schemes, and to raise storms only to display skill in direct
ing them. The parties then in France solely contended what
power should be conceded to, or extorted from the king, with
out considering the means by which their country might be
made a great kingdom. Therefore, which way soever the ba
lance inclined, whether to the king or to the nobles, to the
catholics or .to the protestants, it was immaterial to the real
happiness of that nation. The parties only gamed out of a
common stock, neither could be enriched. But their dissen-
tions made all of them poor and weak, nor until the beginning
of the seventeenth century, in the time of Cardinal Richlieu,
can we designate the true era of French policy. (104)
It was amidst these dissentions, and during the successorship
to Francis' the second in the reign of Charles the ninth,* that
Admiral Coligna, (105) the celebrated leader of the protestants.
a great commander, an able statesman, and too comprehen
sive in his views not to see the advantages of a settlement in
America, turned to this country as an asylum in case of ne
cessity for a persecuted sect. He procured two vessels to be
fitted out for discoveries upon the coast of Florida, which in
two months arrived near the river Albemarle. The hatred of
the Indians to the Spaniards secured the French a friendly re
ception, and in 1 564 the Admiral fitted out five or six ships
with as many hundred men to begin a colony. They accord-
* Who commenced king anno 1560. Mezeray.

152 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartL
ingly built fort Charles, and called the whole country Carolina.
The Spaniards afterwards attacked this colony, and put near
ly the whole to the sword ; others they hung, and put up this
inscription, " They were hung as Lutherans, not as Frenchmen."
They committed also great outrages upon the natives, and by
this unprovoked cruelty prepared themselves for the vengeance
that soon followed. For though the Admiral and his party
were destroyed in the infamous massacre of St. Bartholomew,
and though the design of colonising, died with him ; yet M. de
Guerges, (106) a private gentleman, fitted out four ships purely
to revenge the murder of his countrymen and friends. The
Indians eagerly joined them in the siege of the Spanish forts,
which they took, and put the garrison to the sword, hanging
fifteen, and setting up this inscription, " They were hung as trai
tors, robbers, and murderers, not as Spaniards or mariners."
Satisfied with the action, the adventurers returned, and happily
for the English, the French court, blinded by their bigotry,
did not understand the advantages which might have been de
rived from giving America to the protestants, as the English
afterwards did to the dissenters as a place of refuge. Had they
taken this step, the English would have made no settlements,
or if any, small in extent and precarious in tenure.*
The twenty-two years' succeeding reign of Henry III.
of Francef passed away, during which France did' not under
take any more North American voyages for ultramarine set
tlement.

* Thus Carolina was the first of these United States that had been coloniz
ed either by Spaniards, French, or English, yet it remained unsettled till the
reign of Charles II. (1663) Acct. Europ. Sett, in America, Vol. II. Wil
liamson's North Carolina, Vol. I.
f Who succeeded Charles IX. and reigned from 1574 to 1589, when
Henry IV. ascended the throne. — Mexeray.

$ 34.] Causes of Colonization and European Poliey. 153

§ 34.
The causes why a century elapsed after the discovery of
the Cabots, before any plan of colonization proved successful
in North America, may be found in the agitated state of Eu
rope at the commencement and during the progress of the Re
formation;* the operation upon the public mind of the Pope's
grant ; the superior golden attractions of South America and
the East Indies ; the peculiar dispositions and policy of kings,
and the aversion of subjects to exchange the certain comforts of
civilization for the difficulties of a wilderness.
But a secret cause was in slow operation, more powerful
than gold or the gains of commerce, Which was to colonize
America. It was religious persecution, engendered by reli
gious fanaticism. This, combined with the prior impulse
which was to be given to maritime adventure by three illus
trious contemporaries, Henry IV. of France, Queen Elizabeth
of England, and Prince Maurice of Holland, at the close of
the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century was to
produce a simultaneous effect, which was to secure, as it did
secure, the permanent settlement of North America.
At that era the people of Europe were unacquainted with
those artificial wants which the subsequent influx of wealth
and of luxury superinduced upon their simplicity of man
ners. The means of comfortable subsistence were within
the range of ordinary industry, and few comparatively felt an
inclination to brave the dangers of the seas, and submit to the
incidental privations of an uncultivated and distant region,
merely for the prospect of acquiring wealth. Men thus situ
ated must be goaded by a keen sense of intolerable oppres
sion, to feel an inducement to bid adieu to the home of their .
birth, and seek quiet in the barbarous wilds of a new world.
If it happen now and then that some signal tyranny, " the vio-

* See Robertson's Charles V.
Vol. I. 20

154 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartI.
lation of Lucretia, the death of Virginia, the oppression of
Tell," excite discontent and rouse to mutiny ; if men thus
exasperated, prefer even to incur the dangers of an open civil
war, rather than quit their distracted country for a distant land
of tranquillity ; how powerful must be the excitement, impe
rious the necessity, or seductive the inducement, that could
prevail upon them, at other times, to abandon for ever the cha
rities Of kindred and home, the pleasures of long cultivated
friendship; the customs, the institutions, the very errors of their
country; and those numerous memorials around which their
prejudices, and prepossessions had been accustomed to rally
and to linger ! Even in modern days, where is the emigrant
or the exile, whether induced by interest or forced by oppres
sion, to leave the land of his forefathers, who does not look
back to the seats of his youth with an inextinguishable attach
ment? If an Englishman, he will still exclaim with Cowper : ( 1 07)
England, with all thy faults, I love thee still —
My country !
If he came from the
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
The land of mountain and of flood, (108)
So famed for song and beauty's charms ;
So patient in toil, serene amidst alarms,
Inflexible in faith, invincible in arms ; (109)
he will remember with melancholy pleasure the periods when
he deemed the tie that bound him to the land of his nativity as
indissoluble as that which Sir Walter Scott (110) seems to pre
dict will rivet him for life, when, in this beautiful apostrophe,
he exclaims — O Caledonia ! stem and wild,
Meet nurse for a poetic child ;
¦. Land of my sires, what mortal hand
"Can e'er,untie the filial band
That knits me to thy rugged strand !

§ 34.] Causes of Colonization and European Polky. 155
Or if an Irishman, he will still lament over the miseries of
his devoted country, and recall with cherishing fondness the
variegated endearments associated with his early recollections
of the green Emerald Isle. (Ill), 4
Such is the strong impulse of feeling which . consti
tutes the love of country, that it requires a combination of
extraordinary circumstances, in order to bring about the
colonization of a country situated as ours was at the period
before mentioned. But enthusiasm is the parent of great
results ; and in what cause soever it be enlisted, whether in that
of error or of truth ; in war, in politics, in religion, or the trans
actions of social life, the most signal consequences follow.
Hence that bigotry wbich was excited by the collision of reli
gious opinions in Europe ; and that fanaticism which had de
populated America at the south, were destined eventually to
repeople it in the north.* Although the religious wars that dis
turbed England and France did not have an immediate effect
upon the first settlement of our State, yet at later periods they
had; and it will hereafter appear that some of our most .dis
tinguished patriots (for instance the venerable John Jay) were
-descendants of emigrants who had been persecuted in their na
tive land ; that the very pilgrims, the founders of New-Eng
land, (who were the ancestors also of many of the citizens of
our State) having been driven from their country and taken
refuge in Holland, the common asylum of political and reli
gious liberty at that time, removed to Leyden during the year
in which Hudson discovered our river, and afterwards embark
ed for the purpose of settling upon its banks, but from certain
causes, which will be hereafter unfolded, were diverted. to the
rock of New Plymouth.

See Abbe Reynal's British Settlements in America, Vol. I.

i5& European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.

v'v, § 35.
The first attempt at an effectual colonization by the Eng
lish, took place at the close of the ever-meHiorable reign of
Queen Elizabeth. This princess cherished every project
Which could strengthen her navy» extend her commerce, give
eclat to her imperious ambition, or range to her proud, lofty,
heroic spirit. Spain, whose claim to North America had not
yet slumbered, she neither dreaded or flattered. About the
close' of the sixteenth century, she gave a powerful impetus to
the enterprising spirit of her subjects, assisted the Dutch re
public in achieving its emancipation, and scattered the invin
cible armada, which Philip had prepared for her humiliation.
The earlier events of her reign, had predisposed the nation to
bold adventure. Though she encouraged maritime skill and
science more than polite literature, yet the latter kept pace with
the former. The study of foreign works laid the foundation
of the English classics ; and just, indeed, is the renown of that
reign, in which the fame of a Spenser, a Sydney, and a
Shakespeare, is associated with that of a Raleigh, a Drake,
and a Hawkins.
Under these celebrated commanders, several squadrons
had been equipped by Elizabeth, to cruise upon the Spanish
coasts and islands of America. They returned with accounts
so flattering, of the fertility and riches of Florida, that many
of her enterprising subjects appeared very zealous in promo
ting settlements in that part of the world.
The first letters patent granted by the queen, " for inhabit
ing and planting our people in America," was in 1578, to Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, who was reputed for naval skill, and for a
high and resolute spirit. (112) Five years passed without ef
fecting any profitable result, when, in 1583, Sir Humphrey
took solemn possession of Newfoundland, and perished oniiis
return to England.

§ 35.] Queen Elisabeth— Sir Walter Raleigh. 157
The crisis, though favourable for colonization, still seemed
to require some master-spirit to give to it a suitable impulse
and an enduring effect. This master-spirit appeared in the
person of Sir Walter Raleigh, the most extraordinary genius
of his own, or perhaps any other, times : a penetrating states
man, an accomplished courtier, a deep scholar, a fine writer, a
great soldier, and one of the ablest seamen in the world.
This great genius conceived a project to make his nation par
take of the prodigious riches, which, for nearly a century, had
flown from the western hemisphere into the eastern. He cast
his eye on the eastern coast of North America. The talent
he had for subduing the mind, by representing all his propo
sals in a striking light, soon procured him associates both at
court, and among the merchants. High in the favour of his
queen, the company that was formed in consequence of his
magnificent promises, obtained (the year after the disaster of
Sir Walter's half brother, Sir Humphrey) in March 1584,
the absolute disposal of all the discoveries that should be
made between 33° and 40° of north latitude ; and with
out any further encouragement, they fitted out two ships
in April following, that entered Pampico Sound, and
afterwards anchored in Roanoke Bay, now a part of Caro
lina, took possession thereof in the name of Queen Eli
zabeth, and called the country Virginia, after her. Every
thing that these successful navigators reported on their return
to Europe, concerning the temperature of the climate, the fer
tility of the soil, and the disposition of the inhabitants, en
couraged the society to proceed. ( 113) But though several at
tempts were renewed at great expense, yet the fall and disgrace
of Raleigh, whose genius withal was of a fiery and eccentric
nature, suspended further enterprise, and the colony having
lost its founder, was forgotten for twelve years, when, in 1602,
transatlantic adventure was renewed by Bartholomew Gos-
nold, and a new spirit of colonial enterprise consequently in
fused among the English. ,

158 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.

§ 36. '
The first house erected, and the first soil cultivated by, any
modern ^Europeans within the colonial limits of New- York,*
and indeed the first particular examination of any part of
New-England, were by Bartholomew Gosnold, one year before
the death of Queen Elizabeth. One hundred and ninety-five
years afterwards, (viz. in 1797) Dr. Belknapf discovered
the cellar of the store-house which had been built by Gos
nold on one of the Elizabeth islands, J and some vestiges of it
were found by a party of gentlemen,, who recently visited the
spot.§ Bartholomew Gosnold was an intrepid mariner of the west
of England. He had sailed to Virginia in one of Sir Walter
Raleighs ships, and became convinced that a shorter route
than that by the Canaries, might be^pursued from England to
America. It is not known by whose encouragement, and un
der whose patronage, he fitted out the present expedition. It
might have been the project of his own enterprising genius,
and carried into effect at his own expense- But as he had.
been in Raleigh's employment ; as Martin Pring, who was
with him in the present voyage, afterwards pursued the same
direction, by permission of Sir Walter and his associates,
(who, it seems, had the exclusive right of planting Virginia)
and as Rosier, also one of Gosnold's company, afterwards
wrote an account of the present voyage, || and presented it to
Sir Walter, it may be concluded as probable, that Gosnold

* See ante, p. 110,
f See his Amer. Biog. V. II. p. 113, 114.
X See description of these islands and Duke's county, Vol. III. (2d se
ries,) Mass. Hist. Collections.
} See Vol. V. North Am. Rev. p. 315.
|| See Gosnold's Voyage in Purchase, Vol. V. and in Vol. II. (contain
ing the most accurate account of it) Belknap's Amer. Biqg. See ante-
f olonial Hist, of New-England. Vol. VI. N. Am. Rev. p. 36. (n. s.)

§36.] Queen Elizabeth — Gosnold. 159
sailed under his auspices. For it appears, that his design
was to lay the foundation of a colony in America, and for that
purpose he no doubt received the approbation, if not the pa
tronage, of Sir Walter, with whose patented rights he must
have been acquainted.
Accordingly, with this design, Gosnold associated with him
self, a company of thirty-two men, eight of whom were ma
riners, and in a small bark sailed from Falmouth, in Corn
wall, on the 27th March, 1602. To test the practicability of
a nearer route than by the Canaries and Mexico, he boldly
steered his course in as direct a way, and as far to the north as
winds and current would permit ; and after a passage of se
ven weeks, he enjoyed the satisfaction of having his prior
conviction confirmed, and consequently the honour of being
the first Englishman, who, by deviating from the usual circu-
cuitous route, greatly lessened the distance, and therefore
diminished the dangers, of a passage to America. He arri
ved in sight of Massachusetts Bay, discovered and named
Cape Cod, passed Nantucket, and landed upon the island,
whichhasbeen denominated NoMan'sLand. When Gosnold
first arrived, (May 14th) on the continent, he met a shallop of
European fabric, in which were eight savages, one of whom
was dressed in European elothes, from which circumstances,
it was concluded, that some unfortunate fisherman of Biscay
had been wrecked on the coast. The fishery and fur trade
had been busily carried on by different nations ; and even the
English, notwithstanding the failure of Sir Walter Raleigh's
spirited exertions to colonise Virginia, had continued this kind
of northern adventure, in common with other nations. At
any rate, there is no reason to Suppose that any European had
been here before Gosnold, with views similar to those which
had induced him hither.
On his arrival at No Man's Land, he landed. This is a
small island, the most eastern of those now known as Eliza
beth islands. It is five leagues from that which Gosnold na
med Elizabeth, four from that which is now known as the
Vineyard, and its Indian name, according to Dr. Belknap, is

160 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartT.
Nenimissetti Its modern name of No Man's Land, arose
from its being deserted, or uninhabited. Having landed, Gos
nold explored the island, and found it five miles in circumfer
ence. It is now four, having since diminished by the effect of
the tides that set in and out of the bay. Gosnold found it un
inhabited, full of woods, berries, deer, and vines. From the
abundance of the last, he named the island Martha's Vine
yard. According to Hubbard,* who cites Captain Brierton,
one of the company, they took- up their station in Martha's
Vineyard, planted grain and peas in the middle of May, which
vegetated with wonderful rapidity. It is possible, however,
that he may refer to the large island which afterwards acquired
that name. For according to the journal, f they remained
but two days, and then passed round Gay Head, naming it
Dover Cliff,| and anchored in Vineyard Sound, probably near
Menemsha Bite. , Still, as the large island was inhabited, and
the small one not, perhaps Gosnold might have subsequently
visited the latter, to learn the result of his experiment. When
the name of Martha's Vineyard was transferred from the small
to the large island, Dr. Belknap says he cannot explain, un
less it might arise from the fact, that the latter was called by
old writers, Martin's Vineyard ; and as the former was unin
habited, and the latter was always peopled, and had also
vines, § the two names of Martha and Martin, became confound
ed, and the first was gradually^applied to the Vineyard. It
will appear that Pring, whose name was Martin, again visited
these islands after this first voyage had terminated, and it may

* In Hist, of New-Eng. Vol. V. Mass. Hist. Collections.
f Gabriel Archer is mentioned as the journalist by Belknap, to whom we
are principally indebted for the facts here detailed.
X Which is supposed to be the eastern head of a small island, which was
called by the natives Onky Tonky, "but now corrupted into Uncle Tommy.
The rocky ledge is called Rattlesnake Neck.
5 The ancient Vinelanders found the grape long before Gosnold, see p.
115, 116, ante.

$ 36] Gosnold. 161
be that the large island was named after him. Hubbard*
says the name of Martha's Vineyard was bestowed in conse
quence of its fruitfulness ; that the island, Capowake, (its In
dian name) was called Martha, or commonly, 'Martyne's
Vineyard.'f Its Indian name was Capawock, as given by old
writers, but according to Gookin, it was Nope. It probably
had two names. J It might afford relief to the dryness of this
investigation, if >we should interrupt it for the present, and here
superadd to the Indian names of this island, the Indian tradition
respecting its aboriginal discovery, and that of some of the
neighboi ring islands.
The tradition respecting Martha's vineyard is this:§ The
first Ind an who came to the vineyard, was brought thither with
his dq&, on a cake of ice. When he came to Gay Head, he
found a very large man, whose name was Moshup. He had
a wife and five children, four sons and one daughter, and lived
in the den. He used to catch whales, anoUhen pluck up trees,
and make a fire and roast them. The coals of the trees, and
the bones of the whales, were to be seen, (according to the
tradition at the time when it was related, viz.) a century ago.
After he was tired of staying here, he told his children to go
and play ball on a beach that joined No Man's Land to Gay
Head. He then made a mark with his toe across the beach
at each end, and so deep that the water followed and cut
away the beach, so that his children were in fear of drown
ing. They took their sister up and held her out of the water.
He told them to act as if they were going to kill whales, and
they were all turned into killers, (a fish so called.) The sister
was dressed in large stripes. He gave them a strict charge
always to be kind to her. His wife mourned the loss of her
children so exceedingly, that he threw her away. She fell

* Hist. New-Eng. ib. p. 68.
f The Dutch called it "Marten Vingers," according to De Laet,
' Njeuwe Werelat,' B. 3. ch. 8. but, according to Judge Benson, it was
" Martin Wyngaard's Island."
X See Vol. m. Mass! Hist. Coll. 1st series, p. 154, 201.
» See Vol. I. Massachusetts Historical Collection, p. 139.
Von. I. 21

162 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I.
upon Seconet, near the rocks, where she lived some time, ex
acting contribution of all who passed by water. After a while
she was changed into a stone. The entire shape remained for
several years. But after the English came, some of them
broke off the arms, head, &tc. but the most of the body re
mains to this day. Maushup went away nobody knows whither.
He had no conversation with the Indians, but was kind to them,
by sending whales, Sic. ashore to them to eat. But after they
grew thick around liim, he left them. ,
Among the Indians of Nantucket island a tradition pre
vailed, that an eagle having seized and carried off in his ta
lons a papoos, the parents followed him in their canoe till they
came to Nantucket, where they found the bones of their child
dropped by the eagle.*
The more particular tradition of the aboriginal discovery
of Nantucket is this :f A great many moons ago, a bird of
extraordinary size often visited the south shore of Cape Cod,
and carried thence southward, a great number of small chil
dren. Maushop, the Indian giant, who lived in those parts,
enraged at this havoc, once waded into the sea in pursuit of
the bird, till he had crossed the sound and reached Nantucket,
which had been unknown to the aborigines. There he found
the bones of the children in a heap Under a large tree. Desir
ous of smoking, he ransacked the island for tobacco, but finding
none, filled his pipe with poke, (a weed.) Ever since,/ogs have
been frequent at Nantucket and on the Cape. In allusion to
their tradition, the natives upon observing fogs arise, exclaim,
" there comes old Maushop's smoke. "J
We will now return to Gosnold, who had, as we observed,
anchored in Vineyard Sound after doubling and naming Gay

* Notes on Nantucket, in Vol. III. Mass. Hist. Coll. (new series,) p. 35.
f In Memorabilia of Yarmouth, Vol. V. (first series,) Mass. Hist. Coll.
p. 56.
X Another tradition states that Nantucket was formed out of the ashes
whiih Maushop knocked out of his pipe. See Vol. I. Memoirs of Boston
Academy of Arts and Sciences.

§ 36] Gosnold — First attempt to Colonise New-York. 163
Head. Leaving his mooring, he passed round the ledge of
rocks known by the name of the Sow and Pigs, which extend
a mile into the sea, entered the mouth of Buzzards Bay, and
finally landed upon Cuttyhunk, the most western of the Eliza
beth islands. Finding it covered with vines J rich in foilage,
romantic in scenery, and secure and protected from its insular
situation, he determined to make it his abiding place. Its
Indian name is contracted from " Poo-cut-oh-hunk," which sig
nifies a thing that lies out of water. But Gosnold gave to it
the name of Elizabeth in honour of the queen.
Upon exploring the island for the purpose of selecting a
suitable site for building, this young colony made choice of a
snug little rocky islet, the Indian name of which was Nau-
shaun : its area was about one acre, and it was situated at
the west end of the north side of Cuttyhunk, in the centre of
a pond of fresh water, three quarters of a mile long, and of
an unequal breadth. Three weeks were employed in clearing
the islet, digging and stoning a cellar, erecting a house, for
tifying it with palisades, and covering it with sedge which
grew on the sides of the pond. While about one-third of them
were thus engaged, Gosnold crossed the .bay and discovered
the mouth of two rivers ; one of them is that, near which, is
Hap's Hill, the other, on the shores of which stands New-
Bedford. On his first approach to the main land, he was met
by "men, women, and children, who, with all courteous
kindness entertained him, giving him skins of wild beasts, to
bacco, turtles, hemp, atificial strings coloured, (wampum,) and
such like things as they had about them." Thus cordially
welcomed by a people whose manners indicated the primitive
sincerity and simplicity of the olden time, and in a country
which displayed the most enchanting scenery, Gosnold might
have fancied he had arrived at that land which the visions of
poetry had painted as the seat of the blessed. The calmness
and mildness of the weather at this peculiar season ; the serenity
of the North American sky ; thes alubrity of the sea breeze,
us it met and. mingled with the fragrance of the meadow and

164 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
the wood, the silent majesty of the ocean "reposing in her
dark strength," yet gilded by the sun-beams as they flitted
across its bosom ; the surrounding grandeur of the forest ; the
luxuriance of vegetation ; the harmony which made " spring
vocal :" constituted altogether a scene so delightfully new,
picturesque, and romantic, blending in the contemplation of a
reflecting observer, so much natural beauty with moral sub
limity, as to vindicate the most extravagant anticipations of
happiness which Gosnold might have indulged ; while survey
ing the scene he brought to mind, that hither he had arrived to
lay the foundation of a colony j which might be the germ of a
powerful empire. With such views he recrossed the bay and
rejoined his associates, after an absence of five days, and with
such views, he afterwards, as it will appear, revisited his native
country. Previously to his return to his little islet in Cuttyhunk, a
chief of the neighbouring country with his retinue of fifty
men, had arrived there on a visit. They were dressed in their
fieculiar style, and some of their ornaments were copper. For
he purpose of making an imposing display, or of impressing
upon their minds, a conviction that the leader of the white men
was a very great man, Gosnold was received by his friends
with studied pomp and ceremony. The Indians were feasted,
and so highly pleased that the chief permitted some of his men
to remain and aid the colonists in digging sassafras, with which
and with furs, they designed to load their vessel for England.
Gosnold's intention was to remain with twenty men, and
send his mate Gilbert, with twelve men to England with the
vessel and cargo, to obtain supplies for the infant colony. But
upon examining their stock of provisions, it was ascertained,
that after victualling the vessel, six weeks provision only could
be spared for those who should remain. Indications of hos
tility from the Indians, also startled them ; some jealousy pre
vailed respecting the distribution of the proceeds of the cargo,
and the intention of those who were to have the care of it, and
the result was, that after a further consultaion of five days, they

j 36.] Gosnold. 165
concluded unanimously to abandon for that time the project
of colonisation, and return to England.
Conformably to this prudent determination, they departed
from Cuttyhunk on the eighteenth day of June, and, after a
short and pleasant passage of five weeks, they arrived at Ex-
mouth, in England.
This voyage, however trifling it might at first appear, was ve
ry important when viewed in connexion with its incidental con
sequences. Its rapidity and success made a strong impression
upon the English merchants. The new route marked out by
the intrepid Gosnold, shortened the distance to Virginia nearly
one half. The enthusiastic admiration of the country which he
and his associates expressed, was also calculated to revive a
colonising spirit among their countrymen. The former had
indeed visited it in the spring, and departed in the summer,
and it is no wonder that they represented the country as the
Garden of Eden. Gosnold was indefatigable in his exertions
in conjunction with Captain John Smith, to promote the esta
blishment of a colony ; and although he does not appear ever
to have revisited the little rocky islet of Naushaun in Cutty
hunk, upon which the first house was erected within the for
mer limits of New-York, yet he embarked with Captain Smith
in his first expedition to South Virginia, was a member of the
Colonial Council, and there died in the year 1607.
§ 37.
Among those who were distinguished for the zeal with which
they encouraged the renewal of adventures to North America,
Richard Hackluyt* was conspicuous. He compiled those va
luable collections which have been ever since a standard au
thority ; which were designed to promote the colonization of
North America ; and which, no doubt, in connexion with the

*¦ See Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 189, n. Vol. I. Belk. Am. Biog.
p. 408.

166 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I.
personal influence and exertions of their author, contributed to
produce that result in a very great degree. He accordingly,
a Vr the return of Gosnold, persuaded the municipal authority
and merchants of the wealthy city of Bristol, to equip two ves
sels, to take the route which Gosnold had so fortunately prescri
bed. Having obtained permission from Sir Walter Raleigh and
his associates, two small vessels were equipped, one of fifty tons,
called the Speedwell, the other a bark of twenty-six tons,
named the Discoverer. The command of the ship was given
to Martin Pring (or Prinne) ; the bark was commanded by
William Brown. Robert Salterne, who had been with Gos
nold, was supercargo and- principal agent. The design of
this equipment was to make new discoveries, ascertain whe
ther the flattering accounts given of North Virginia were ex
aggerated, and to bring home a cargo of sassafras and furs.
Pring sailed in April 1603, a few days after the demise of the
queen. His voyage was prosperous. He revisited the islands
to which he and Gosnold had been the year before, and from
his christian name that of Martin's Vineyard was probably
derived. After his arrival on the coast, in June, Pring enter
ed the harbour of Edgartown, in Martha's Vineyard, which he
called Whitson Bay, and anchored under shelter of Cappa-
quiddick Neck, to which he gave the name of Mount Alworth.
Here he spent several weeks collecting sassafras. Martha's
Vineyard then contained sassafras, vines, cedar, oak, ash,
beech, birch, cherry, hazel, walnut, maple, holly, and wild
plum. The land animals were " stags and fallow deer in
abundance, bears, wolves, foxes, lusemes, porcupines, and
dogs with sharp and long noses." The waters and shores
abounded with fish and shell-fish of various kinds, and aqua
tic birds.
Although this company had no design of making a settle
ment, yet they erected a temporary hut, and enclosed it with
a barricade, in which they kept guard day and night, while
others were in the woods gathering sassafras. The Indians
often visited them. They were adorned with plates of cop-'
per. Their bows, arrows, and quivers, were neatly made.

$ 37.] Pring. .167
They lived on fish ; but the English gave them pulse, and
trinkets. Their birchen canoes were considered great curio
sities ; and one of them, seventeen feet long and four broad,
was taken to Bristol as a sample of their ingenuity. They
were excessively delighted with music : and would dance in a
ring around an English youth who played upon the guitar.*
The Indians repeatedly visited them in parties from ten to
a hundred. An amicable disposition prevailed on both sides,
and no instance of actual aggression is recorded. But in the
end of July, the bark with sassafras sailed to England. The
Indians perceiving their force thus diminished, advanced one
day in a hostile manner to the barricade. There were one
hundred and forty, armed with bows and arrows. They de
manded the four men who were on guard with muskets, to
come out. Captain Pring, with two men only on board the
ship, perceiving the danger of the guard, secured his ship,
and fired one of his great guns as a signal for the labourers
who had been engaged in the woods* and were reposing after
their fatigue, relying upon the protection of their two mastiffs,
which the English had brought over. The Indians had early-
manifested great terror from the bark of these dogs. They
mow awoke their masters, who, hearing a second gun, seized
their arms, and hastened to the relief of the guard. The In
dians observing their approach, affected to turn the whole af
fair into a jest, and went off laughing. In a few nays, how-
.ever, they set fire to the woods where the sassafras grew.
These alarming incidents hastened the departure of the ship.
Even when it was'ready to sail, the Indians, in an unexampled
number, amounting to about two hundred, came to the shore,

' Is there, indeed, whom music cannot melt ?
Alas, how is that rugged heart forlorn.
He need not woo the Muse, he is her scorn ;
The sophist's robe of cobweb he shall twine,
Mope o'er the schoolman's peevish page, and mourn
And delve for life in Mammon's dirty mine ;
Sneak with the scoundrel fox, or grunt with glutton swine.";

168 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I •
ostensibly for the purpose of inviting Pring to remain. He
very prudently declined the invitation ; sailed off on the 9th
of August; and, after a passage as short as that of Gosnold
on his return the year before, Pring arrived in England, and
fully confirmed the glowing description which had previously
been given of the beauties of the North Virginia regions.*
This account was still further confirmed by Captain George
Weymouth, in his unsuccessful voyage to the north in 1605.f
His voyage is memorable only, says Dr. Belknap, for the dis
covery of Penobscot River, (not Hudson River, as Beverly,
in the preface to his History of Virginia, supposes) and for
his kidnapping five natives, whom he carried to England. J
Weymouth visited an island of six miles in compass, on
which he caused grain to be sown. From this he could dis
cern the continent and very high mountains ; and coasting
among the islands adjoining the main, he found an excellent
harbour. The island upon which grain was sown, Stith, in
his History of Virginia,^ is inclined to believe was Block
Island; and the river he explored either Narraganset or Con
necticut. But Dr. Belknap has designated the route with
more precision and accuracy. §38.
The importance of these voyages, however, was exhibited
in their effect upon the dormant spirit of colonisation, upon
the revival of which, schemes for that purpose became popu
lar. Upon the accession of king James to the throne of Eng
land, several merchants and others associated, and as former
patents had expired, were forfeited, or disregarded, by that
vain, weak, and bigoted king, he was easily flattered to yield
* See authorities ante, cited under Gosnold's voyage.
f See Vol. I. Belk. Am. Biog. Art. " Gorges," for an account of voy
ages before the arrival of the Pilgrims, as well as that of the latter. Also
Vol. II. p. 151, &c.
X See Vol. II. Belk. Am. Biog. p. 135, &c.
4 Page 33.

§ 39.] Progress of English Colinisation. 169
the sanction of his royal authority, by granting, in 1606, a
new patent to two monopolies, who were afterwards denomi
nated the South and North Virginia Companies.
Notwithstanding the connexion which these early events
have with our history, inasmuch as this State was a part of
the territory thus chartered, we shall barely dwell upon a few
general facts, and for particulars, refer to the Virginia histo
rians, Smith,* Stith,f Beverly| and Burk§.
If ever any design had an ominous beginning, and seemed
to forbid any attempts for its continuance, it was that of the
first settlement of Virginia. Nearly half of the first colony
was destroyed by the savages, and the rest exhausted and
worn down by fatigue and famine, deserted the country and
returned home in despair. The second colony was cut off to
a man, in a manner unknown ; but they were supposed to
have been destroyed by the Indians. The third, met very
nearly the same dismal fate ; and the fourth, quarreling among
themselves, neglected their agriculture to hunt for gold, and
provoking the Indians by their insolent and unguarded beha
viour, lost several of their people ; the remains of which
were returning in 1610", in a famishing and desperate condi
tion to England, when just in the mouth of the Chesapeak
Bay, they met Lord Delawar, the successful founder of Vir
ginia, who, regardless of his life, and inattentive to his fortune,
had entered upon this long and dangerous voyage, and ac
cepted this barren province, which had nothing of a govern
ment but its cares and anxieties, merely for the service of his
country and the interest of posterity.(114)
Indeed, so precarious was the dominion which our English
ancestors held upon Virginia territory, that while Hudson was
exploring our river, they were struggling for existence with

* See his history in Pinkerton's Collections.
f " Whose word is equal to a record," says Mr. Jefferson, in MS. letter
in possession of N. Y. Hist. Society, addressed to Doct. Miller, 1800.
$ Col. Beverly, author of the anonymous work.
& Late history of Virginia.
Vol. I. '.. 22

170 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
an effort scarcely calculated to surmount its difficulties. » For
the very year afterwards, the planters were reduced by an
irruption of the natives, from 500 to 80 men, who, abandon
ing the country, were met on their way to England by Lord
Delawar as before mentioned. Such were the formidable
obstacles which they were obliged to encounter, that even so
late as 1622, when bur Dutch progenitors had quietly seated
themselves in this Slate, and the pilgrims had made a tranquil
settlement in New-England, the English in Virginia suffered
a massacre in one day, of three hundred and forty-seven of
their colonists. §40
On the death of Elizabeth, the crown of England passed
from the family of Tudor to that of Stuart. James made
peace with Spain. Tranquillity being restored, the* com
mencement of the seventeenth century was peculiarly auspi
cious for foreign enterprise. Although the Spanish. claim on
the restoration of peace, was revived and insisted upon, yet
it seems that even James did not incline to regafd it more
than his subjects. Indeed, so late as 1609, while Hudson was
exploring our river, the validity of the Pope's gift of the
territory through which it ran, was seriously agitated, but
it was treated by writers of that day, as the unsubstantial
fabric of a vision.
In a work published, London 1609, entitled, " Nova Britan
nia. Offering most excellent fruites by planting in Virginia."
These pretensions are thus discussed : " Of late a challeng is
laid to all, by vertue of a donation from Alexander the first,
Pope of Rome, wherein (they say) is given al the West Indies,
including Florida and Virginia, with al America, and what
soever Hands adjacent. But what is this to us ? They are
blind indeed that stumble here ; it is much like that gresjt do
nation of Constantine, whereby the Pope himself doth hold
and claime the cittie of Rome, and all the western empire, a
thing that so crosseth all histories of truth and sound antiqui
ties that by the apt resemblance of those two donations, the

^40.] King James I. Spanish pretensions. 171
whole west empire from a temporall prince to the Pope, and
the whole West Indies, from the Pope to a temporall Prince,
I doe verily guesse they be neere of Kinne, they are so like
«ach other ; the one an old tale vaine and fabulous, the other
a new toy most idle and ridiculous. When the flatterers of
Cambises, King of Persia, could find no law to warrant his
immoderate lust, and incestuous marrige with his owne daugh
ter, yet they told him of another law which they had found,
whereby the kings of Persia might doe What they listed : if in
these cases, likewise, there be a law that the Pope may do what
he list, let them that list obey him, for we believe not in him."
He then proceeds to point out the advantages of the settle
ment, and vehemently urges his countrymen to go forward
notwithstanding the pretensions of " one Prince Christian,
whose people within the memory of man, began first to creepe
upon the face of those Territories, and now by meanes of their
remnants settled here and there, doe therefore imagine the
world to be theirs, shouldring out all other nations."
Sir Walter Raleigh's patent (the first being limited to six
years) was vacated by his attainder. Other grants that were made
prior to 1606, were disregarded by James. (115) It is said(116)
that the patent of 1606 was obtained through the solicitation
of Chief Justice John Popham and others, and that Sir John
Gilbert revived the claim of his brother Sir Humphrey. It
granted to the South Virginia (or London) Company, viz.
Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Summers, Richard Hackluyt,*
and Edward Maria Wingfield, Esq. adventurers of the city of
London and their associates, to settle between 34 and 41 de
grees of north latitude ; to the North Virginia Company, viz.
Thomas Hanham, Raleigh Gilbert, William Parker, and
George Popham, of the cities of Bristol and Exeter, and
town of Plymouth in the county of Devon, between 38 and
45 degrees of the same latitude. Each company should have
fifty miles each way along the continent, from the place of
their settlement, (thus precluding the actual contact of settle-
* Author of "Collections of Voyages, &c,"

172 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I
ments within one hundred miles) and one hundred miles back
into the country.f
Thus New- York was partitioned, so that both patents in
cluded it. All colonising enterprise having slept from 1590, till
Bartholomew Gosnold awakened it in 1602, though some fee
ble, ill-directed, and unavailing efforts in the mean time were
made to discover the lost colony jn Virginia, yet the first
effectual settlement in North America may be placed about
two years previous to the discovery of Hudson river. It was
conducted under the South Virginia Company, sustained by
thjft intrepid and daring adventurer, acute and sagacious ob
server, the founder of James Town, Captain John Smith, and
preserved through the friendship of Pocahontes.
At the north the fisheries seemed first to attract the Eng
lish as well as the French. The planting of a colony was
not it seems contemplated by the North Virginia Company,
but the establishment only of little factories for traffic and
fishing. (117) In fact, had not religion become the incen
tive as well as consolation for the hardships of northern co
lonisation, England might never have had colonies there.
Under the auspices of Chief Justice Popham, ineffectual at
tempts at an establishment were made, and in 1607 Captain
George Popham as president, and Captain Rawly Gilbert as
admiral, arrived at Sagadehock, (on Kennebeck river). In
the winter Captain Popham died, and Captain Rawley Gilbert
succeeded him as president. In the spring Chief Justice Popham
sent two ships with supplies, but before they sailed the chief
justice died, and before they arrived Sir John Gilbert (sur
viving brother of Sir Humphrey) died, leaving his younger
brother Rawley his heir. These melancholy events, combin
ed with the hardships incidental to the enterprise, hastened
the departure of the adventurers, and the abandonment of the
country.* * Prince in chronology.
f See Salmon Mod. Hist. Vol. XXX, p. 430. Hazard's Coll. Vol. I. p. 50
Beverly's " Hist, of Virginia," 2d. edit. 1722. p. 13, 14. Stith's Virginia,
32, 35, &c. and appendix, Purchas' Pilgrims: and see as to effect of this
division, Belk. Am. Biog. Vol. I. 400—401.

§40.] English Policy and Progress of Colonisation, llii
With the exception of a few adventurers, who came over
from time to time in the summer, built temporary huts for
trading with the savages and then departed, these northern
patented regions remained unvisited till 1620, except by the
ever-toiling John Smith in 1614, and by Captain Argal from
Virginia. The former pronounced the country of Massachu
setts a paradise ; was. prevented from attempting a settlement
only by the want of " means to transport a colony ;" and
though he had sailed on a fishing and whaling Voyage, yet,
from the observations he made of the coasts, islands, and har
bour (in his range from Penobscot to Cape Cod) he formed the
first map of the country, and gave it the name of New-Eng-
land.(HS) The latter (Argal) sailed under the South Virgi
nia government, while England was at peace with France and
Spain (as will be hereafter particularized), proceeded to Aca
dia^ destroyed a French establishment a little north of Cape
Cod, invaded and conquered the little quiet settlement of the
Dutch on the Hudson, and returned to Virginia with their
spoils, and his own inglorious laurels.
In truth, until eleven years after the discovery of our river
by Hudson, no permanent colony was located in New-Eng
land. The vigorous operation of religious intolerance, which
produced the emigration of the pilgrims, (whose memorable
voyage was intended to have been made to this river, as will
appear hereafter) revived the project of settling this part
of America, among the North Virginia Company. They
had no new or distinct grant from 1606. Their patent be
came vacated, and in November (3d) 1620, King James* by
a new patent, incorporated the Duke of Lenox, the Marquisses
of Buckingham and Hamilton, the Earls of Arundel and
Warwick, Sir Ferdiflando Gorges, and thirty-four others, by
the name of the Great Council, established at Plymouth, in
the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and
governing of New-England ; granting them the country from
'the 40° to 48° N. latitude inclusively, and in length of and
within, all the breadth aforesaid throughout the main
lands, from sea to sea : Provided, the same be not actually
possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or state.

174 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
This charter or patent, is the great civil basis on Which all sub
sequent patents,, in the subdivision of New-England, were
founded. (119) It embraced this State, though then in the
possession of the Dutch, and conflicted with the claims of
France-uot merely to this State, but to the northern territories
that we're afterwards conceded to her. These charters will
also appear important in the disputes which New-York has
had in the settlement of its boundaries.
The patent or charter of 1606 for South Virginia, was
vacated at the desire of the patentees, and in 1609, renewed
and enlarged, by which the London company was incorpora
ted by the name of " The Treasurer and Company of Adven
turers and Planters of the city of London, for the first Colo
ny in Virginia." This was again enlarged by that of March
12, 1611-12.*
$ 41-
We heretofore observed that the impulse to North American
adventure arose from the policy of kingHeniy IV., Queen Eli
zabeth, and Prince Maurice ; that France claimed ,this State in
collision with England ; and that the claims of both were oppos
ed to that of Spain and of their revolted provinces the Republic
of Holland. The time of Cardinal Richelieu, in the subsequent
reign of Louis XIV. is considered (120) the true era of French
policy. This celebrated minister, while he pacified all at
home, and strove, , even at the expense of liberty, to exalt the
royal authority upon the ruins of the power of the nobility,
and to rnodel a system of general policy1" in external affairs,
which should raise France and her monarch to an exalted
height of grandeur; did not, amongst his numerous and ex
tensive cares, forget those of commerce, and what serves most
effectually to support commerce, colonies, and establishments
abroad. But the circumstances of the time, and his genius
and ambition, that embraced so many objects, did not leave

* These three charters are in Stith's Hist, of Virg. Appx. and in Vol.. I,
Hazard's Collections, p. 50, 58, 72.

^ 41.] Henry IV. — French Claims to New-York. 175
him leisure to perfect what he began. It was reserved for
Colbert, who has been pronounced a great, wise, and honest
minister, one of the ablest that ever served any prince or ho
noured any country, (121) to bring that plan to perfection, to
carry it in a great measure into execution, and to leave things
in such order that it was not difficult, when favourable circum
stances offered, to make France one of the first commercial
powers in Europe ; and her colonies the most powerful, their
nature considered, of any in America.
Notwithstanding this may be viewed as the true era of the
commercial policy of France, (the civil wars that had so dis
tracted her from her true interests having subsided) still the
emulation her subjects caught from the enterprising examples
of other states at the close of the sixteenth and beginning of the
seventeenth century, could not escape the favourable observa
tion of so great a prince as Henry the Fourth,* to whose libe
ral and enlightened policy France was indebted for a long pe
riod of her prosperity.
It was under Henry* (surnomme Le Grand) that De La
Roche, in 1598, obtained his commission to conquer Canada.
It was from Henry that the family Des Monts received, in
4603, (the first year of king James and last of Elizabeth) a
grant which included this State, and comprehended all the
American lands from the 40° to the 46° north latitude.f It
was two years before he fell by the dagger of an assassin,
that Quebec was founded, (1608) and one year before, that
Champlain, its founder (1609) explored the northern coast of
our State, and made a contemporaneous discovery of Lake
Champlain during the time Hudson was discovering our. bay
and river at its southern extremity.
De La Roche having obtained from Henry the Great the
commission to conquer Canada and other countries not pos
sessed by any Christian Prince, sailed with a colony of con
victs from the prisons, and landed forty on the Isle of Sable.
The survivors,, twelve only, were taken off seven years after.

* Who reigned from 1589 to 1608.— Mezeray.
f See patent in Hazard, Vol. I. p. 46. 51. Rtith's Virg. Appx.

176 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartL
and Henry pardoned them, giving each fifty crowns as a re
compense for their sufferings.*
Five years after De La Roche had sailed, Pierre du Gast,
Sieur de Monts (or Ments) having obtained from Henry a pa
tent for planting of L'Acadia and Canada, from latitude 40"
to 46°, which embraced Nassau Riverf and the whole of our
present State, the same year Champlain sailed up the great
Canada river and returned. Next year, (1604) De Morits
sailed from France, 'taking Champlain and Champdore for,
pilots, and Pourtrincourt, who intended a settlement in Ameri
ca. They discovered and began plantations at Port Royal,
St. John's, and St. Croix, in the Bay of Fuuda. Pourtrin
court introduced two Jesuits in 1607. Champlain, by order
of De Monts, sailed up the river of Canada, and fortified
Quebec, the name of a strait in the river. In 1 609, Champa
lainf (having discovered the lake that afterwards took his
name) returned to France, leaving Captain Pierre to command
at Quebec. The next near he revisited and reassumed his
command. J
Our northern lake, which Champlain first explored, and'
which is now connected, by one of the Grand Canals of this
State, with the river which Hudson discovered the same year,
was then within the limits of Irocoisia,^ and for many years
after, and long before it assumed the name of its discoverer,
was called Iroquois Lake, < or Lacus Irocoisia.\\ The river,
* See Purchas's Pilgrims. Forster's North. Voyages.
f Nassau — afterwards Delaware River — afterwards, by the Dutch, call
ed Sou|h river, in contradistinction to the Nortbriver (or Hudson.) Vol. III.
N. YfHist. Coll. p. 385. Ebeling, Amer. N. Y. ch. I.
X PurChas.
} The country proper of the Iroquois or Five Nations. Seep. 95. ante.
Irocoisia was bounded on the east by the range of Green Mountains, on the
west by the great lakes. See authorities next quotation.
|| Or Lacus Irocoisi. (MapNovi Belgii,&c. Ogilby's Amer. A. D. 167!,
p. 168, 9. Lacus Irocoiensis in Nova Belgicaet Anglia in XI. Geographic
Blaviana;, A. D. 1662. Lac Champlain ou mere de Iroquois, Johannes
Van Keulen's Atlas, pub. Amst. 1720. The Iroquois or Five Nations
called this lake Corlaer, in honour of one of our colonial citizens, who pe
rished upon it, who was distinguished, as William Penn was, for humanity
and justice, and was equally revered by the Indians. See hereafter.

5 41.] Champlain. 177
from this lake to the St. Lawrence, was also called Iroquois
river, afterwards Richelieu, (in honour of that celebrated
prime minister) and now, Sorel. St. Lawrence itself was
also the Iroquois river ; and Ontario, one of its sources, was
the Iroquois lake.
After Quebec was founded, its founder and his countrymen
made it their policy to cultivate the friendship of the neigh
bouring Algonquins and Les Montagnez, and these their in
terest to promote an alliance with the former, for the purpose
of vigorously prosecuting a, war against their common enemy,
the Iroquois. Accordingly, in t609, a party of them, inclu
ding Hurons, prepared to march against that people, and
they persuaded Samuel Champlain to accompany them. He
wished to secure their devoted friendship, arid he imagined
that, in alliance with their power, he could prostrate that of the
Iroquois, and of all tribes who should attempt to oppose his
designs. The secret of his policy, according to Charlevoix,*
was to humble the Iroquois, in order to unite, by a good peace,
all the nations of Canada in alliance with the French. He
did not foresee that the former, who for a long time had, sin
gle-handed, kept in awe the Indians three hundred miles
around them, would be aided eventually by Europeans in ano
ther quarter, jealous of the encroaching power of the French.
It was not his fault, therefore, that circumstances, which he
could not have anticipated, subsequently concurred to frus
trate his plan.
Having yielded his consent to join the expedition, he em
barked with his new allies at Quebec, and sailed into the Iro
quois river (now Sorel) until the rapids near Chambly pre
vented his vessel from proceeding. His allies had not appri
sed him of this impediment : on the contrary, they had studi
ously concealed it as well as other obstacles. His vessel re
turned ; but he, and two Frenchmen who would not desert him,
determined to proceed, notwithstanding the difficulties of the
navigation, and the duplicity of their allies in concealing
* Histoire Nouvelle France, torn. I,
Vol. T. 23

178 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I,
those difficulties. They transported their canoes beyond the
rapids, and encamped for the night. As was customary, they
sentaspy to range in the vicinity, who in a short time returned,
and informed them that he saw no enemy. Without placing
any guard, they prepared for repose. Champlain, surprised to
find them so stupidly incautious and confident of their safety,
endeavoured to prevail with them to keep watch. All the reply
they made was, that people who were fatigued all day, had
need of sleep at night. Afterwards, when they thought that they
were approaching nearer towards the enemy, they were induced
to be more guarded, to travel at night only, and keep no fires in
the day time. Champlain was charmed with the variegated and
beautiful aspect of the country. The islands were filled with deer
and other animals, which supplied the army with abundance
of game, and the river and lake afforded abundance of fish.
In the progress of their route, he derived much knowledge of
the Indian character, as it was displayed in this warlike excur
sion. He was particularly amused to perceive the blind con
fidence which the Indians paid to their soothsayer or sorcerer,
who, in the time of one of their encampments, went through
with his terrific ceremony. For several days they inquired
of Champlain if he had not seen the Iroquois in a dream.
His answer being that he had not, caused great disquietude
among them. At last, to relieve them from their embarrass
ment, or get rid of their importunity, he told them he had, in
a dream, seen the Iroquois drowning in a lake, but that he did
not rely altogether upon the dream. The allies judged differ
ently, for they now no longer doubted a victory. Having en
tered upon the great lake, which now bears the name of Cham
plain, in honour of its discoverer, he and his allies traversed
it until they approached towards the junction of the outlet of
Lake St. Sacrament (now Lake George*) with Lake Cham
plain, at or near Ticonderoga.* The design of the allies was
to pass the rapids between those, two lakes, to make an irrup-

* See Spafford's Gazetteer, 2d ed. articles " Lake George." " Ticondc-
rogu\'n This In'dianname signifies the meeting of the waters. Judge Benson.

$41.] Champlain — Battle with the Iroquois. 179
tion into the mountainous regions and valleys of the Iroquois
beyond the small lake, and, by surprise, to strike them at one
of their villages. The latter saved them the necessity of
journeying so far, for they suddenly made their appearance at
ten o'clock at night, and by mere accident met the former on
the Great Lake. The surprise of both parties was equalled
only by their joy, which were expressed in shouts ; and as it
was not their practice to fight upon the water,* unless when
they were too far from land to retreat, they mutually hurried
to the shore.
Here, then, in the vicinity of Ticonderoga, (a spot after
wards celebrated in the achievements of the French and revor
lutionary wars,) the two war parties pitched for battle. The
allies immediately laboured to entrench themselves behind fal
len trees, and soon sent a messenger to the Iroquois, to learn
whether- they would fight immediately. The latter replied,
that the night was too dark, they could not see themselves,
and the former must await the approach of day. The allies
consented, and after taking necessary precaution, slept. At
break of day, Champlain placed his two Frenchmen and some
savages in the wood, to attack the enemy in flank. These
consisted of two hundred choice and resolute men, who con
sidered victory as certain and easy over the Algonquins and
Hurons, whom, the former did not expect, would have dared
to take the field. The allies were equal to them in num
ber, but displayed a part only of their warriors. They, as
well as the enemy, were armed with bows and arrows only,
but they founded their hopes of conquest upon the fire-arms
of the French ; and they pointed out to Champlain, and ad
vised him to fire upon the three chiefs who we're distinguished
by feathers or tails of birds larger than those of their follow
ers. The allies first made a sortie from their entrenchment,

* A tradition, which will be mentioned in our aboriginal history, has
been preserved,' of a terrible sea-fight upon Lake Erie, between the Iro
quois, or confederated Five Nations, and their enemies, (some centuries^
bawever, before that of Commodore Perry.)

180 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part f.
and ran two hundred feet in front of the enemy, then stopped^
divided into two bands to the right and left; leaving the centre
position for Champlain, who advanced and placed himself at
their head. His sudden appearance and arms were new to
the Iroquois, whose astonishment became extreme. But what
was their dismay, when, after the first report of his arque-
buse, from the spot where he had posted four men, the Iro
quois saw two of their chiefs fall dead, and the third danger
ously wounded ! The allies now shouted for joy, and discharged
a few ineffective arrows. Champlain recharged, and the oth
er Frenchmen successfully fought the Iroquois, who were soon
seen in disorder and flight. They were pursued warmly.
Maay were killed, and some taken prisoners. The fugitives,
in their precipitance, abandoned their maize. This was a sea
sonable relief to the victors, for they had been reduced to
great need. They, fed, and passed two hours on the field of
battle in dancing and singing. Not one had been killed,
although several were wounded. They prepared to return
homeward, for among these people, the vanquishers always re
treat as well as the vanquished, and often in as much disorder
and precipitation as if they were pursued by a victorious ene
my. In their way back, they tortured one of their prisoners*
whose miseries Champlain humanely ended. He returned to
Quebec, and. embarked (in September) for France. The
next year be returned, and subsequently made several expedi
tions against the Iroquois.* In some of these he was success
ful, in others not.
Thus Champlain first gave to our Indians the knowledge of
that tremendous means of destruction, gunpowder. This
they hurled back with a fearful success upon the northern in
vaders of their country. For within a very few years after
Champlain first fought them, they suddenly appeared in arms,
in the very heart of the French colony. The acquisition of
fire-arms enabled them also to rise victorious over neighbour-
* See Voyages du Sieurde Champlain. Paris. 1613, Charlevoix, torn, I.
APariB. 1744. p. 141, &c.

§42.] Hudson and Champlain. 131
ing Indian nations, to extend in less than a century afterwards
their territorial dominion two thousand miles, and to waste
the lives of more than two millions of people !*
While the first battle between them and Champlain was ra
ging, near the source of Hudson river, Hudson, in the same
season of the same year, was engaged in discovering and ex
ploring that river ; and on his return in September, was enga
ged in a desultory sea-fight with the natives. He introduced,
however, to the Iroquois, the knowledge of a plague, which
has since proved to them as destructive as the fire-arms with
which they then became acquainted, and which they afterwards
directed against the French, and against remote Indian na
tions. It will appear probable that Hudson first introduced
among them the intoxicating liquor, which the latter have
so often denounced as the poison which the white people gave
thern. §42.
At the period of the memorable event to which we have
thus occasionally alluded, and to the development of which
we are slowly approaching, we find that the sovereigns of
England and France laid equal claims to the territory com
prising our colony and state : Acadia, extending from lati
tude 40° to 48°, and South and North Virginia, first (1606)
from latitude 34° to 45°, and by the last charter, (1620) (upon
which the title of all New-England is based) from 34° to 48°,
(thus taking in the whole of Acadia.) At this period also,
Spain kept up a pretended paramount title to the whole. Our
State, thus claimed by France and England, and by the lat
ter, so partitioned that both the North and South Company's
title entered into it, while they were not, by the charter, permit
ted to come within 100 miles of each other, seemed to be pla
ced beyond the pale of settlement by those nations ; at the
' La Hontan, in 1684, puts the number at two millions ! See ante, p. 95.

132 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part 1.
same time, its superiority over the northern and southern re
gions, in climate, fertility, and central proximity to the com
mercial powers of Europe, rendered it the most inviting to
enterprise. No wonder that the Dutch, with a characteristic
sagacity, vigilance, and industry, availed themselves, after the
discovery made under their auspices, of the advantages it
promised by a settlement on the Hudson.
It will appear thai the Dutch claimed from latitude 38 to
42° by the ocean, all adjacent islands, and northerly to the
river of Canada. It will appear that they founded their
claim, 1 . As subjects of the king of Spain, the first discover
er. 2. By virtuefif the relinquishment on the part of Spain
to the united provinces as free and independent, of all the pos
sessions in the new world, then occupied by the citizens of that
republic, whereby New-Netherlands (now New-York) Cura-
coa, Brazille, Bonaire,* &c. became the inheritance of the
Dutch nation.f 3. By virtue of the first discovery of the
Delaware and New- York Bay and river by Henry Hudson,
and the first actual possession and settlement thereupon.
We now advance towards those events in the contempora
neous period we have contemplated, which, if not the most il
lustrious in the annals of those times, will appear to our State
at least the most interesting. While every republic in Eu
rope is extinct, we at least can look back with pleasure to the
existence of one, under which our State sprang into existence,
and the free principles of which, cherished by the first foun
ders of this colony for half a century, may have remotely in
fluenced the establishment of our present free government.
We recollect, with pleasure, the patriotic Stadtholder of Hol
land, the celebrated Maurice, who, in his devotion as a patriot,
his skill and policy as a statesman, his energy and heroism

* Buen-aire.
f See negotiations upon the disputed title between the lord proprietor of
Maryland and the Dutch government of New-Netherlands, to the territo
ries on the Delaware, called by the Dutch the colony of New-Amstell, in
3d vol. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 368.

> 43.] Maurice — Hudson— Dutch Republic. 183
as a soldier, and his attainments as a scholar, is justly enti
tled to be ranked with his illustrious contemporaries, Henry
the Great and Queen Elizabeth. The discovery of New-York
by Henry Hudson, which took place during his administra
tion, and in the very year that Spain treated with the United
Provinces on the basis of their freedom and independence, was
an event which comparatively passed unnoticed in Europe,
but which, in its consequences, has proved of vastly more im
portance than the termination of the race of English mon-
archs in the death of Elizabeth ; the assassination of Henry
the Great, and the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, which
at that time excited infinitely more attention, and greatly af
fected the political relations of Europe.*
That gallant and enterprising people, under whose auspices
this discovery was made, will ever receive from us the tribute of
gratitude to which they were pre-eminently entitled. True,
they were indebted to England for a navigator, whose skill
and courage conducted the discovery ; but it will be remem
bered that England, as well as Spain and France, were, in
this particular, compelled to bow to the superior genius of
Italy. The Dutch provinces had just emerged from a long, bloody,
but brilliant contest for liberty, and for conscience. Occupy
ing a territory less than the limits of this State embrace, she
attained a political rank among her neighbours, at once com
manding and distinguished.
" After having beaten down and broken for ever the colos
sal power of the Spanish monarch,f the Dutch republic con
tinued for nearly a century to hold the balance of European
politics with a strong and steady hand ; and when the rest of
the continent crouched under the menaces, or was bought by

* See Vol. III. N. Y. Hist. Coll. 37.
f See a well merited eulogium on our Dutch progenitors by Gulian C.
Verplanck, Esq. in an Anniversary Disc, before the N. Y. Hist. Soc, Dec
N. Y. 1.818, from p. 59 to 72.

184 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
the gold of France, she stood alone and undaunted, defend
ing the liberties of the world with a perseverance and self-de
votion never surpassed by any nation. During the same pe
riod, she had served the cause of freedom and reason in anor
ther and much more effectual manner, by breaking down the
old aristocratic contempt for the mercantile character ; and
her merchants, while they amazed the world by an exhibition
of the wonderful effects of capital and credit, directed by sa
gacity and enterprise, and operating on a vaster scale, than
had ever before been seen, shamed the poor prejudices of their
age out of countenance by a high-minded and punctilious
honesty. It was about this same remarkable period of her
history, that Holland produced many of the most illustri
ous men of modern Europe," in arms, in philosophy, in
literature and the fine , arts, in jurisprudence and political
economy. The internal administration of her affairs was con
ducted by an industry, economy, and wisdom, which elevated
the republic to a glorious prosperity.* Such is the country to
which we are indebted for the first discovery of our State, and
to which we may revert with pride and gratitude, as our first
colonial parent.
§44.
To develop the political relation which gave to the repub
lic of Holland the pretended territorial claim of the monarchy
ef Spain ; to explain the causes that induced the employment
of Hudson by a recently established Dutch East India Com-
jpad; to trace the character of the first trafiicking visits made
to the river Hudson, under a privileged trading company, and
unfold the nature of our first proprietary government during
half a century, under the privileged Dutch West India Com
pany, it may not be unimportant, as a preliminary step, 'to

* See Mr. Verplanck's Address.

» 44"J Dutch Republic, 185
take a hurried sketch of the origin, policy, and condition of
the republic.
During the ascendency of the Dukes of Burgundy, who,
m the fifteenth century, enjoyed dominions worthy of the re
gal title, Netherlands (the seventeen provinces) became the
great mart of commerce in the west of Europe, and was dis
tinguished by opulence and the arts. With the heiress of
Burgundy, they passed by marriage to the house of Austria.
Charles V. in 1549, with the consent of the states of the pro
vinces provided, by irrevocable edict, for the regular succes
sion of the reigning prince. Philip of Austria, and Charles
his son, being natives, treated the people with affection, and
allowed the states a participation in supreme authority. Philip
II. born in Spain, departing on the abdication of his father,
from his generous sentiments, and from the mildness of his
predecessors, occasioned an insurrecti6n by his cruel and ar
bitrary conduct. In attempting to restrain its progress, and
that of the reformation, he precipitated the country into a
civil war. Seven of the provinces, Holland, Zealand, Utrecht,
Friesland, Groningen, Over-Yssel, and Guelderland, having
revolted from Philip in 1566, carried on a sanguinary, but in
termitted, contest for thirteen years before they confederated.
The1, Prince of Orange had early retired into Holland, and
devoted the energies of his patriotism in their behalf. In
1579] the deputies of these states assembled at Utrecht, and
united in a confederacy on conditions which rendered their
union indissoluble. It was founded upon the infraction of
the pacification of Ghent, which had been solemnly acceded to
by Philip, and upon a recent invasion of certain towns in
Guelderland. It was not intended to divide them from the
nineteen provinces, or to renounce the pacification, but to pre
serve the liberty thereby stipulated, by vigorous operations
and united councils. This was the basis of that common
wealth, which became the renowned United Provinces.
The articles of their union, sketched out by the patriot
Prince of Orange, • were universally approved, and many c^-
Vol. I. 24

186 European Discoveries and Glaims to New-York. [Part I.
ties, towns, and distinguished persons, soon subscribed the al
liance. Two years afterwards, (1581) they took the last de
cisive Step, declared that Philip had forfeited the sovereignty
of the Netherlands, conferred it on the brother of Henry Ill-
next year solemnly acknowledged him Duke of Brabant, and
thus, by the aid of the French king, so secured, and by the
succours of Elizabeth, who was also interested to diminish .
the Spanish power, they prosecuted the war vigorously, but
with various success. This infant republic bore on her first
eoin, the emblematic motto, " Incertum quo fata fer ant." The
device was, a ship labouring amidst waves without sails or
oars. The impolicy of the Duke of Brabant precipitated the
misfortunes of his troops. He returned to France in shame,
and died 1685. Frederick William, acknowledged Stadthol-
der of Holland and Zealand, was shot by an assassin, supposed
to have been suborned by Spain. Maurice, one of three sons,
at eighteen was invested by the States with his father's titles.
Queen Elizabeth, at their request, appointed a governor for
his minority, who, being recalled in 1 587, left young Maurice
at the helm of state, which he directed for thirty-eight years,*
with a spirit, skill, and effect, that ranked him among the first
as a statesman and scholar, arid the most renowned champion
of his age. To the vigour and enterprise of youth, he united
the caution and vigilance of age and experience. Not satisfied
with an independent state, and a defensive war, the confed
eracy pursued the Spaniards into the remotest recesses of their
extensive territories, and grew rich, powerful, and terrible,
by the spoils of their former masters. The Portugeuse, in
the meridian of their prosperity, had become merged in
Spain. They had been struck down by one of those fatal
blows, which, given at a critical moment, decides the fate of
kingdoms. Possessing empire and commerce in Africa, Ara
bia, India, the isles of Asia and South America, they lost their
liberty, being absorbed in the Spanish dominion, in conse
quence of the death of John Sebastian, one of their greatest
\  "*¦"¦ • ', .n. . i
* He died in 1625.

§ 44.] Dutch Republic. IS";
princes, who lost his life in an expedition against the Moors.
'On these extensive possessions, the Dutch fell, wrested their
fortresses in the East Indies, and turned their arms upon Bra
zil. Before the revolt, the subjects of the low countries, by the
policy of Charles V. and Philip II. were prohibited from
trading to the Indies, except in Spanish fleets and under
Spanish covert. Yet many who had made these voyages,
became skilful pilots, and were sensible of the gains of that
trade. After the union a greater confluence of people coming
into the united provinces than could manage their stock, or
find employment at land, multitudes turned their enterprise
to the sea ; and having lost the trade of Spain and the
Streights, fell not only into that of England, France, and the
northern seas, but ventured upon that of the East Indies ; at
first with small forces and success, but in course of time, and
by the institution of the East India Company, this came to
be pursued so generally and advantageously by the provinces,
that they made themselves masters of most of those colonies
and forts of the Portuguese, who had thus become a part of
Spain. The Dutch seamen grew well acquainted with those
vast seas and coasts, and Holland became the great magazine
of all the commodities of those eastern regions. In the West
Indies their attempts (except that upon the Portuguese posses
sions of Brazil) were neither so frequent nor prosperous, the
Spanish plantations there being too numerous and strong;
but by the multitude of their shipping, set out with public or
private commissions, they infested the seas, and began to
threaten the Spanish Indian fleets and attempt their coasts,
which touched Spain in the most sensitive part, and gave her
court the strongest motive for peace which she solicited.
Fearful also of the loss of her maritime forces, after the signal
victory m 1608 over her fleet, under Don Juan Alvarez
D'Avila at Gibraltar, by the republican fleet under James
Heermskirk, she became more urgent, and Holland, after pro
tracted negotiations, was induced, through the mediation of
England and France, to conclude with Spain and the Arch

188 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartI.-
Duke Albert (1609) a truce for twelve years, but on no other
basis than as a free and independent republic. Ou the ex
piration of the truce (1621) the war was renewed. Atlengtb;
by the treaty of Munster, (1648) Spain acknowledged the in
dependence of the States General. Other powers had also
gradually done so from the first alliance of the states with
Elizabeth in 1598.*
The Spanish Colossus having been prostrated by the republic
of Holland, she held the balance of European power, sustained
single-handed the liberties of the world, displayed prodigies
of valour and commercial enterprise, and continued in the
course and progress of her greatness, to shine like a comet,
until (in 1672) she suddenly fell like a meteor. Paradoxical
as it appeared, she flourished most in the midst of bloody and
expensive wars, and declined fastest in profound peace; and
fell when the genius of her native subjects had been wholly di
verted from arms to traffic and the- arts of peace.f
The theory and practice of this confederacy had been brief
ly this: The union of the seven sovereign states first chose
their deputies for composing three colleges, called first, The
States General ; second, The Council of State ; third, The
Chamber of Accounts. Each of the seven republics retained
its own states, consisting of nobles and burgesses, and styled
"noble and great mightinesses." Each republic was inde
pendent of the others, but neither could contract foreign al
liances or declare war without the concurrence of the others.
Each town was, with respect to its province, what the province
was with respect to the aggregate body of the republic, that
is, free and uncontrolled in its local government, but depend-

* Anquetil Sum. of Univ. Hist. Vol. VIII. p. 377, 382. Bees's New Clyc,
arts. Holland, Netherlands. Account of Europ. Settlements in America,
Vol. I. Temple's Obser. on United Provinces. Mezeray's France, 909,
932. Grotius. Pinkerton's Geog. Vol. I. Mod. Un. Hist. Vok XXVII.
XXVIII. Corps Diplomat. Vol. V. p. 282. Vol. III. p. 516.
f Account of Europ. settlements in America, Vol. II. p. 17, Sir Wm.
Temple's Observations on the United Provinces, seventh edit. London,
1705, p. 361.

§ 44.] Dutch Republic. 189
ent on the provincial council in every thing that concerned
the common interests. The sovereign power effectually lay in
the States General, styled " high and mighty lords," and
" high mightinesses," consisting of deputies from each pro
vince, chosen from the noblesse, who were termed the "Eques
trian Order," and from the burghers.
Each province sent as many deputies as it pleased, but this
made no difference, as all matters were carried not by votes
of persons, but provinces. Some provinces sent deputies for
one year, some more, others for life. The provinces of Hol
land sent one of their nobles who was perpetual ; two depu
ties chosen out of their eight chief towns* and one out of the
North Holland, and with these, two of their provincial Council
of State; and their pensioner, who was the Grand Pensionary of
Holland, that presided formerly in the provincial states, and
Council of Deputies of that country. The States General was
convoked by the Council of State, but as they usually con
sisted originally of eight hundred persons, the ordinary coun
cil, called the States General, was at length formed, and sat
constantly at the Hague, representing the sovereignty of the
union, forming a sort of congress, giving audiences and des
patches, to foreign ministers, or appointing and receiving
them ; enjoining the right of war and peace, naming the
greffier, or secretary of state, and all the staff officers ; but it
was in fact a representation only of the States General, (the
assembling of which came wholly to be disused) and seldom
exceeded twenty-six deputies : subordinate and responsible to
those were the council of state, admiralty, and treasury. The
council of state consisting of twelve deputies, presided each a
week in turn, met daily at the Hague, directed domestic af
fairs, especially subsidies^ fortifications, finances, and other
matters of police. In the States General every province pre
sided its week's turn, The president^proposed all matters,
made the greffier read all papers, put the question, called the
voices of the provinces, and formed the conclusion. Or if
he refused to conclude according to the plurality, he resigned,
and the next week's president concluded for him. But in case

190 European Discoveries ana Claims to New-York. Part I,
of peace and war, foreign alliances, raising or coining money,
determining the privileges of each province, or member of the
union, a plurality was not enough, all must have concurred.
And as the Council of States General formed a sort of con
gress only representing the sovereignty ; therefore, in case
of choice, &c. of ambassadors, the states of each province
through their deputies were consulted, and in other important
matters the Council of State was also consulted. Originally,
when a deputy did not conceive himself sufficiently authorised
by his province for the decision of any affair, he was obliged
to go and communicate it to his constituents, and receive new
powers. This greatly protracted their proceedings.
The Stadtholder was originally a kind of dictator, appoint
ed from the necessity of the times to conduct the emancipation
of the state. When that necessity vanished, the office was of
dubious authority, until in 1672, when William III. procured
it to be declared hereditary. The duties and powers of this
officer were to watch over the police, attend to the preserva
tion of the power, previleges, and rights of each province,
give his aid to the law, and protect the established and re
formed religion. Neither the Stadtholder, Governor, or any
military person, could sit in the States General. The Stadt
holder was allowed to attend the assembly and bring forward
propositions. All favours were granted in his name, but
with the consent of the states. He alone was commander of
land and naval forces.* \ §45.
It was as early as 1594, while the provinces were convulsed
by war, while battles were fought, towns taken and pillaged,
the open country ravaged, and the storm raged with various
and doubtful success — it was during this period, while the
renowned Maurice commanded with so much bravery, skill,
and address, that commerce assumed its greatest activity, and

* Authorities, ante.-p. 188.

§ 45.] Dutch Companies and Voyages. 191
the appetites for trade and adventure became the keenest
and sharpest. It was this very year, when Philip expected,
by a stroke of policy, to enforce their submission, when after
he had long excluded (except in Spanish vessels) his Ne-
therland subjects from the commerce of the east, that having
now laid an embargo upon their ships,' seized their effects,
imprisoned their persons under pretence they came from the
enemy's country, exposed them to the rigour of the inquisition,
and sometimes kept them in his service, that some merchants,
to avoid these multiplied oppressions, formed a private com
pany and determined to open a north-west passage to India,
from which they had been so unjustly excluded by Charles V.
as well as Philip ; whose restrictive policy they would have still
put up with, without any thought of extending, by a forced trade,
their navigation beyond the Baltic and Mediterranean, had
It not been for the Spanish severity thus exercised.
Their first enterprise resulted in events unforeseen and acci
dental ; for it laid the basis of the power and splendour of
Holland in the east and in the west. It led to subsequent
voyages and the formation of new companies, the establish
ment of that of the East Indies, and consequently the eastern
Dutch empire, the main pillar of their glory and prosperity ;
and as it prepared the way for the employment of Henry-
Hudson and the establishment of the West India Company,
it was the remote foundation of thie colonisation of this State,
by the frugal, diligent, and enterprising citizens of the Dutch
republic. These merchants, thus animated with a desire to make
trade flourish, submitted propositions through Balthasar Mau-
oheron of Zealand (the head of the society) to the states and
Prince Maurice, high admiral, for liberty to explore the north
passage, and received a commission.
The "first voyage of the Dutch and Zealanders by the north,
along the coasts of Norway, Muscovy, and Tartary, in order
to seek a passage to Cathay and China," was conducted under
command of William Barentz and James Heermskirk. The
latter was the same naval hero, who, twelve years after

J 92 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York, [Part h
acquired so great a reputation in the celebrated naval combat
in the bay and under the cannon of Gibraltar.* Having now
sailed northward, the vessels separated,- and that under Ba-
rentz went farthest. They penetrated along Novaya Zemlia,
gave name to the Bay of Loms,f sailed towards Admiralty
Isle, arrived at Swatthock, or the Black Cape, in 75° 29', and
afterwards at William's Isle, at the distance of eight leagues, in
lat. 75° 55', sailed to and named the Isle of Crosses (on ac
count of two great crosses discovered thereon) thence to Cape
Nassau, in 76" 30', they proceeded as far as 77° 45 till they
were stopped by ice, then penetrated to-the most northern
point of Novaya Zemlia and Orange Isles, and thereupon re
turned home, and reported that there were hopes of finding a
passage by the Strait of Nassau.
The States General and Prince of Orange, now equipped
seven vessels in 1595, under the same commanders, for the
purpose of sounding this passage for discovery and for trade.
Six were laden with merchandise. Merchants sent goods free
of exports or custom duties. The seventh was a yacht to re
turn with news. The prince ordered them to pass the Wei-
gats, and sail towards Cathay and China. They left the Texel
in June, were gone four months, visited the Samoiedes, lost
two men by bears, endeavoured to penetrate the sea of Tar
tary, were impeded by ice, and returned. The same year,
certain merchants at Amsterdam (including some of the first
private company) formed another, called " The Company of
Foreign Countries." Having, it is said, learned from a Hol
lander (who had been in Portugal, and there obtained his
knowledge) the condition of the East Indies, and a passage
thither, they sent four vessels to India, by way of the Cape,
which, after an absence of two years and four months, return
ed richly laden.
Before their return, the second northern voyage had ended
as above, and a third was contemplated. Their high mighti-

* See ante, p. 187.
f On account of the birds seen there, which appeared very heavy. Lom,
in Dutchj signifies heavy.

§ 45.] Dutch Companies and Voyages. 193
nesses were unwilling to countenance the attempt, but decreed
that if there were individual cities or corporations willing to
bear the expense, they might, and if successful, the states would
make a stipulated recompense. The council of the city of
Amsterdam not being discouraged, ordered two vessels to
be equipped at the commencement of 1 596, under the same com
manders, with the addition of J. C. Ryp. They went as far
as eighty degrees, which was further than had been explored,
to the northern part of Norway ; wintered in Nova Zembla
in lat. 75° 58' were exposed to imminent perils, and suffered
incredibly from ice, inclemency of weather, ferocity of bears,
and failure of provisions. Having remained till June 1597,
finding it impossible to disentangle their ship, which had been
frozen in and blocked up by ice, and having prepared their
shallop and schuyt (two little open vessels) tiiey put to sea,
coasted Russia and Lapland, and at Cola obtained a passage
to Holland*
After this, the four ships having returned from the Indies
richly laden, so animated the " Company of Foreign Coun
tries," and other companies that sprung up, that the next year,
(1598)andduring three years after, the voyages were repeated,
until the competition between the different companies, arising
from their sending goods to the same market, and thus les
sening their value, threatened to injure the trade, and therefore
the States General called a meeting of the directors of all the
companies, obliged them to unite in one body, and confirmed
them by patent as the East India Company for twenty-one years,
March 20th, 1602.-J- Their joint stock was six millions, six
hundred thousand livres, and they sent fourteen great ships in
June following. From this till 1 609 several fleets of East
lndiamen sailed.
* See these three northern voyages at large in Vol, I. Pinkerton's Col
lections, p. 81 to 127, newly translated from " Receuil des Voyages, qui
ont servi a l'establissment et aux progrez de la Compagnie des Indes ori-
entales." They are also in " Collections of Voyages undertaken by the
Dutch East India Company, translated from the Dutch. London. 1703.
| The patent when expired, was renewed for like term.
Vol. I. 25

194 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartL
Such was the flourishing condition of the company, that
from 1605 to 1609 inclusive, its dividends for those years
were 15, 75, 40, 20, and 25 per cent, and after the truce had
been proclaimed this year, (1609) its dividend the next was 50
per cent, and voyages became so common that in two years
only (viz. in 1613 and 1614) nearly twenty-seven ships at
several times were fitted out. (122)
Notwithanding the ^failure of the first northern voyage,
(1595) yet the navigation it described was, as we before sug
gested, the first instigation given to the United Provinces to
go in quest of those rich regions in the east, of which they
afterwards acquired the possession. (123) Subsequent causes
combined till the whole resulted in extending their commerce
to the four quarters of the world, in consequence of the crea
tion of three companies, each a republic within itself,
having its own laws, revenue, officers, marine and landed
forces. 1. The East India Company, whose formidable
empire was not the least brilliant ornament that adorned
the history of the seventeenth century. Its commerce extend
ed over Asia, and its representatives in India appeared in
the pomp Of oriental magnificence. 2. The West India
Company who traded to America and Africa, and founded
colonies. 3. The Surinam Company which, though the
least considerable, carried on a pretty general trade into every
quarter. Its centre was the city of Amsterdam.
But their East India establishments and colonisation in
America were events which, while they laid the foundation of
the glory and prosperity jof the republic, resulted from acci
dent, certainly from no premeditated place or design. This
we have already seen was the fact with regard to the first,
and we shall see, in the course which Hudson's voyage took,
that it was so with respect to the second, so far as the
discovery and colonisation of New York contributed to that
glory and prosperity.
These events are classed with those astonishing incidents, that
result at times from causes which apparently are the most
inadequate to produce them. In fact, whether in navigation,

<§ 46. ]» North Passage to India. 195
the arts, or experimental philosophy, few discoveries have
been the direct result of efforts founded in reasoning a priori.
The first hints were accidental, arid discoveries far different
from those sought, voluntarily presented themselves, while
others eluded research or baffled experiment. (124) The
voyages to discover a northern passage, have uniformly af
forded the most memorable illustration of the truth of this ob
servation. § 46.
Although the three northern voyages by the Dutch had
failed, still the passage was considered practicable. New
routes were suggested,* and faith in the project continued to
prevail in Holland as well as in other countries in Europe,
but in the former, no new experiment was made- until the ap
pearance of Henry Hudson, with the experience of two
voyages in the English service, and with the reputation of a
navigator of comprehensive views and dauntless perseve
rance. A northern passage had indeed been the favourite problem
from the days of the Cabots. Under the patronage of kings,
or the liberality of capitalists, or from the impulse of private
adventure, this project had been over and over attempted, but
it had invariably terminated in a manner different from what
had been anticipated by either the employers or the employ
ed. After that of the Cabots in 1497, Gaspard Cortesius (or de
Cortereal) in 1500, made an unsuccessful voyage, the next year
another, and perished. His brother Michael afterwards
shared a like fate. Cabot in 1506 was again impeded by ice.
Varrazano, after his voyage of 1 524, landed at Cape Britain,
and, with his crew, was devoured by savages. Sebastian
Gomesius took the same route in 1525, and all the honour he

* For instance by the learned Isaac Pontanus. See Receuil des Voy
age, &c. Tom. I. p. 254. Vol. I. Pinkerton's Collections 127.

196 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [IJart I.
acquired was to bring away a few savages. t Sir Hugh Wil-
loughby in 1553 sailed from England, penetrated to seventy-
two degrees, where he and his crew perished. Three years
after, Stephen Burrough discovered Galgorevia, Novaya
Zemblia, &c. but the cold forced him back. Martin Fro-
bisher, Arthur Pet, Charles Jackman, and John Davis of the
same nation made similar attempts. After Davis's third and last
voyage, (1587) and after the three Dutch voyages had failed,
the King of Denmark, induced by the fame of northern dis
coveries by other powers, ordered a voyage to be made. Eng
lish navigators being thought most skilful and experienced,
he appointed in 1605 John Knight and James Hall to com
mand the expedition. Captain Hall was in the Danish service
from 1605 to 1607. In his last voyage, the crew mutinied,
and he was obliged to go to Iceland. One account says he
was afterwards killed by a Greenlander. Capt. Knight did
not enter the Danish service, but that of the Russia and
East India Companies, (1606) and was, with part of his
crew, massacred by the savage Esquimaux.*
In 1607, a London company having associated for a simi
lar purpose, had the honour of first introducing to the world
the man, whose fame afterwards transcended that of all his
predecessors in this noble but dangerous enterprise : a man,
whose name has been geographically commemorated to pos
terity by a strait, bay, river, and city.
In England, among those whose knowledge and spirit made
them competent judges and lovers of such undertakings, the
rational hopes of this grand discovery, notwithstanding so
many disappointments, seemed to grow greater by every attempt,
and to spring up out of every failure. (125) The voyages of
Captain James Lancaster in 1591, 2 and 3, to India by Good
Hope, had shown the possibility, but the difficulties also, of the
passage. Lancaster sailed again to the East Indies in 1601,

* See Pinkerton's Collec. Vol. I. Forster's Northern Voyages, 317,320
Receuil des Voy. &c.

§. 46.] Henry Hudson. 197
in a fleet belonging to the newly established English East In
dia Company, and returned in 1603, with great riches. Sir
Henry Middleton and Sir Edward Michebown returned safe in
1606, each of them also with a very richly laden fleet. It might
have been imagined that these successful expeditions would
have stifled the passion for a passage to the north ; but they did
not, neither could all the former failures produce that effect.
The passage was still deemed discoverable under a man of skill
and resolution. Accordingly, a society of wealthy and reso
lute men in London, aware of the advantages which would
result from the discovery, with surprising liberality, furnished
the means necessary for three expeditions.* This society was
composed of Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Dudley Digges, Master
John Wolstenhome, Alderman Jones, and others. To the
command of these expeditions was appointed Henry Hudson.
It was resolved to search for a passage by three different
routes, north, northeast, and northwest. These routes were
explored by Hudsonf in three voyages, two of which were
performed in 1607 and 8, (before his discovery of New-York)
and the last in 1610. The journals of these voyages are ex
tant. f That of the first was written partly by him, and part
ly by one of his company. Those of the second and the
last (until his disastrous fate) by himself.
§ 47.
Of Henry Hudson's parentage, connexions, and education,
biography is almost silent. He was a native of England, a

* Forster's North. Voy's. p. 323-4, who says the names of the gentlemen
who employed Hudson, have not been transmitted. In this he seems to
have been mistaken. Their sirnames he mentions after the conclusion to
his account of the voyages they set on foot, p. 352-7, and they are given at
large in Purchas his Pilgrimage, b. 8, c. 3, $ 6.
•j- See Forster, p. 323, 352-7. Belk. Am. Biog. Vol. I. p. 394-5, &c.
X In Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol III. pi 567, 610. Lond. 1625, and iu
Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 61 to 150. Dr. Forster, p. 323-4, says Hud
son's journals have not been transmitted^ In this he appears to be mis
taken.

198 European Discourses and Claims to Neiv-York. [PartI.
navigator of enlarged views and long experience, of a bold
and penetrative capacity, unwearied in assiduity, and invinci
ble in intrepidity. He early entered the school of maritime
experiment, and he ranked with the most distinguished seamen
who flourished at the period when he did. He was intimate
with the famous Captain John Smith ; and in courageous ad
venture, patience under privation, presence of mind amid pe
ril, and unshaken constancy in perseverance, his character
strongly assimilated to that of this distinguished founder of a
Virginia colony. He had a family, and kept a house in Lon
don ; but who was the woman that shared his glory and
mourned his fate, is not known. His only son, a youth, was ,
with him during all the voyages of which we have any record,
and he perished with him in his last. But so little has been
preserved illustrative of his private life and condition, that
we are left to contemplate Ithe brilliant career of his public
usefulness alone. He seems to have been one of those origi
nals who have at times suddenly appeared before the world in
the vigour and maturity of unpretending merit, to whom,
therefore, the meed of public admiration has been proportion-
ably awarded. Like Demosthenes, Shakespeare, Franklin,
and a long list of orators, statesmen, poets, and philosophers,
who derived no claims from birth ; or, rather, like individuals
of his own profession, Cook, Anson, Drake, Hawkins, Nelson,
and others, who received no (adventitious aid towards the at
tainment of eminent distinction, from the aristocracy of famiS
ly or of wealth, but self-taught, self-elevated, and self-sustain
ed, Hudson was the sole architect of his celebrity, and we
shall see how dazzling was his career.
His first voyage was in 1607. The company having fitted
out a ship, Hudson and his crew, after they were prepared to
sail, pursuant to the then custom of seamen, went to church,
and partook of the sacrament. (126.)
With eleven persons, among whom was John Colman, who,
it will appear, lost his life after entering the waters of our
State in 1609, Hudson sailed from Gravesend on the first of
May, proceeded to the eastern coast of Greenland, north lat.

§47.] Henry Hudson. 199
70°, and with great intrepidity endeavoured to approach the
pole. He designed to explore the whole coast of Greenland,
supposing it to be an island, and pass round it to the north
west, or else directly under the pole, but he was obstructed by
extensive fields of ice. Although these insuperable bar
riers prevented him from proceeding beyond the 82d°, yet he
shaped his course once more towards Greenland, in hopes to
find a passage, and return by Davis' Straits, but the ice prevented.
He was doubtless the first navigator who advanced beyond
80° northward.* To him is awarded the honour of discover
ing Spitzbergen, and more of the coast of Greenland than was
previously known to Europeans. He arrived in the Thames
on the 15th day of August. In this voyage was evinced the
daring spirit and unshaken fortitude of Hudson. Although
he did not succeed in securing to the company the prime ob
ject of their wishes, yet his voyage opened the whale fishery
to the commercial spirit of the English, and the members of
the association were not deterred from resolving upon another
effort.* Accordingly, the next year the same association prepared
another expedition. Hudson's crew now consisted of four
teen. Among these was his mate, Robert lvet,f (who after-
Wards accompanied him in his discovery of our bay and river,
and who will appear unfortunately among the mutineers,
whose story will be told in the fourth and last voyage of this
renowned discoverer.)
On the 22d April, (1608) they set sail from St. Katherines,

* See ante p. 193.
f See Journal in Samuel Purchas his Pilgrimes, Vol. III. p. 567. N. Y.
Hist. Coll. V. I. p. 61, and see Purchas his Pilgrimage, b. 8, c'3, } 6. Fors
ter, 326, 7. Belk. V. I.
f In the orthography of the original journal, and old writers, the name
stands " Iuet." u in those days was put for v, as in haue for luxve. Wash
ington Irving (in Knickerbocker) and some others (see Vol. I. N. Y. Hist.
Coll. 2#9 n.) render it Juet. Ivet seems most correct, and Forster, and
some others, have so understood it.

200 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
and on the 20th of May, were in 64° 52'. They advanced
no higher than 75° 30'. After several vain attempts to pass
between Spitzbergen and Noya Zembla, they found the sea
son so far spent, and the winds so contrary, that they were un
able to penetrate the Strait of, Weygats, or Lumley's inlet,
but returned to Gravesend on the 26th of August.* The
most remarkable incident of this voyage was the appearance,
by the side of the ship, of a mermaid in a high northern lati
tude. (127)

§47.
On the failure of this expensive voyage of four months, the
company suspended their patronage in favour of northern ad
venture. Hudson, whose element was the seas, whose pride
was to brave their dangers, whose ambition was the glory of
achieving what so many had lost their lives in attempting, was
too impatient to await the revival of that liberal spirit which
had so eminently distinguished this association. He went to
Holland ; he entered into the service of the celebrated Dutch
East India Company.
At a time when it became the interest of the British nation
to press their claim to a territory, which France, their heredi
tary, and Spain their covert, enemy, contended for, but which
the citizens' of Holland had not only settled, amidst perils too
formidable for their friends and allies, the English, to encoun
ter, but had secured, by a pacific and prudent polyy towards
the natives, then it became necessary for English writers to
give every possible colour of right, in vindication of a dor
mant claim, which the lapse of time, and the peaceable posses
sion of the Netherlanders, it may appear hereafter, ought to
have silenced for ever. We speak not now of the conven-

* See a journal in Purchas, and 1 N. Y. Hist. Coll. 81, 102. Belknap
(Vol. I. Amer. Biog.) appears to have mistaken dates.

§ 48.] Henry Hudson. 201
tional principles of international law, or the force and effect
of an undefined first discovery, as displayed in the vague
pretensions which those principles were brought to sanc
tion. These will be referred to at that period of our
colonial history, in which it will appear that after an oc
cupancy of half a century by the Dutch, this colony was
wrested from them by the English. It is the time of the dis
covery, and the agency of Hudson in effecting it, to which our
attention is to be confined. With regard to those particulars,
it seems that some writers of the period to which we have just
referred, bave placed Hudson in English service, and his dis
covery one year before it took place. In order to effect this,
they must have overlooked the journal of the voyage as pub
lished by Purchas,* sixteen years after the discovery, and
which places it in 1609. This authority was decisive, and
rendered others superfluous, but contemporaneous writers also
support the fact, and that Hudson was then in the employment
of the Dutch. (128) Consequently, the period of the disco
very, as given by William Smith, Esq. in his history of this
province, was one year too early. (129.)
On his arrival in Holland, Hudson, whom the Dutch wri-
tersf denominated the bold Englishman, the expert pilot, the
famous navigator, made proposals to the East India Company
to renew his researches after a passage to India. Discour
aged by the fruitlessness of former attempts,! and persuaded
by the representations of their colleague, Balthazar Mouche-

* See the detailed journal in Purchas his Pilgrimes, V.III, p. 581, 595
(So in Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 102, 146.) See notice of " Purchas his
Pilgrimes," and " Purchas his Pilgrimage," at the close of Vol. I. Belk.
Am. Biog, p. 409, and see s408. Purchas received the manuscripts of his
" painful friend" Hakluyt, whodied 1616. These are the most authentic
collections extant.
f Lambrechtsen in " Korl Beschryving, &c. l[an Meuw-Nederland.n
Collect, of Vpy. by D. E. In. Co. from the Dutch. Lond. 1703. p. 68.
{ In referring no doubt to the first three Dutch voyages. See ante.
Moucheron was one who patronized the first.
VoL. I. 26

202 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part!
ion,* (who long before had traded at the north,f) that it
would prove an useless expenditure of money, many of the
directors, particularly of Zealand, would have rejected the
proposition. The Amsterdam directors were nevertheless in
flexible in their resolution to accept the overture ; and accord
ingly, a small ship, called the Half-moon, was equipped, and
the command intrusted to Henry Hudson. In this small ves
sel, with a crew of twenty Englishmen and Hollanders, that
daring man undertook once more to encounter the storms, ice.
and other inclemencies of the northern seas. J He departed
from Amsterdam on the fourth, and left the Texel on the sixth
of, April, 1609.§
* See N. O. Lambi-echtsen of Rittham, member of the Equestrian Or
der of the Neth. Leon. Prest. of Zealand's Soc. of Sciences, who ap
pears to have had access to the Dutch records in Holland, and published his
short description of the discovery, Sic. Middleburgh. 1818. Translated,
and in MS. by Mr. Vander Kemp.
f And who (says Lembrechtsen in Vander Kemp's translation in MS.
note) was not only one of the first founders of the East Ind. Society, but
one of the first trading merchants to Muscovy. His name is perpetuated
in the Moucheron river, on which is Archangel.
| She is called the Halve Maen, (crescent) whereof captain and cargo
(skipper en Kooprnan) was Henrick Hutson (New Neth. Verloogh, p. 11,
14. Printed 1650, cited in Kort Verhael, p. 17.) Adriaen Vander Donck
(in " Beschryvinge Van Nieuw-Nederlant," &c. Print. Amst. 1655) also,
as well as Lambrechtsen, calls her the Half-Moon ; but in a note to MS.
translation of Lamb, by Mr. Vander Kemp, it is said that this yacht is na
med in the Not. of the Departm. of XVII. the Good Hope more correctly
De Laet, Lambrechtsen, Forster, &c. calls her a Yacht. In Collec. of D.
E. In. Co's. Voy's. she is called a Fly Boat, and manned with 20 men. So
in Biog. Brit. art. Hudson, 1 Holme's Annals, 137 n. But Lambrechtsen
says she was manned with 16 Englishmen and Hollanders. Abm. Yates,
jr. (in MS. det. in N. Y. Hist. Lib.) says 18, half and half. She must have
been small, or she could not have explored our river as far as it will appear
she did.
4 Or 25th and 27th March (old style) according to the journal of " the
third voyage of Master. Henry Hudson toward Nova Zembla, and at his
returne, his passing from Farre Islands to Newfoundland, and along to for-
tie-foure degrees and ten minutes, and thence to Cape Cod, and so to thir-
tie-three degrees ; and along the coast to the northward, to fortie-two de
grees and an halfe, and up the river neere to fortie-three degrees. Written
bff Robert Ivet, of Lime-house."

? 48.] Henry Hudson. 203
In a month he doubled the coast of Norway, and arrived
May 5th, at the height of the north Cape of Finmark, in 71°
46', entered the White Sea, coasted Nova Zembla, where the
ice and fogs preventing him from passing the strait of Wey-
gats to the east. He then tacked towards Greenland. Hav-
ng, in consequence of the usual barrier, (ice) failed in reach
ing the object of his search, he formed a design of visiting
America, in hopes of making some discoveries that might
prove an indemnification for his failure in the north, and at
the same time gratify his love for novel adventure. Some of
his sailors having been in the East India service, could not
endure the extreme cold, and being of different-nations, quar
relled with each other. Hudson, therefore, proposed two
things to them : First, to go towards the coasts of America
in the latitude of 40 degrees, trusting to some maps sent him
from Virginia by Captain Smith,* who had marked down a
sea, affording a passage round about his plantations into the
south sea — a direction, which, had it proved as true as experi
ence showed it to be false, would have been very advantageous,
and greatly shortened the way to the East Indies. The alter
native proposed by Hudson, was to find a passage through
the strait of Davis, which was generally approved. So in
May they sailed that way, and the last of the month arrived
at one of the islands of Faro (" Farre,") where they staid
twenty-four hours to take in fresh water. f
They then steered in search of Buss Island, discovered by
one of Frobisher's ships, (1578) but could not discover it in
the latitude laid down, and (June 3) at length they shaped
their course towards Newfoundland. After being in jeopardy
from ice, and the incessant violence of the winds, they finally
* According to " A Collection of Voyages, undertaken by the Dutch
East Ind. Com. translated from the Dutch. Lond. 1703," p. 68, 70. The
three prior northern Dutch voyages, as herein related, accord with those in
Pink. Coll. and it. is probable the compiler may have had access to the re
cords of the E. In. Co. and a sight of the acct. Hudson sent them after
his return.
t lb. and Journal..

•204 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I;
lost their foremast in a very great storm, and in a few days
after having sailed under a jury-mast, their foresail also was
split. They had run down as far as 44° 53', when meeting
another gale from the southeast (22d) they steered for New
foundland. Three days afterwards, they descried a sail
standing to the east, which they cbased, but could not over
take ; and in the beginning of July, arrived off the banks of
Newfoundland. Here they found a great fleet of French
men fishing on the banks, but passed them in silence. Being
soon after becalmed, they successfully fished near the bank
among the cods and shoals of herring. Standing westward
during the night, (9th) they spoke a Frenchmen, which la}r
fishing at Sable Island bank. Clearing the banks and conti
nuing westward, they discovered the Nova Scotia coast, and
at last arrived off Penobscot Bay on the 17th July. The
next day they received a visit from some of the savages, who
expressed joy at their arrival.*
Having rode still in consequence of misty weather, they
went the day after. into a good harbour in this bay, (44° 1')
and remained a week.f The harbour in which they rode, is
described as lying north and south a mile. The river ran up
a great way, but though they anchored near the shore in four
fathoms, there were but two hard by them. Hudson's first
objects were to cut and prepare a new foremast and mend the
tattered sails. These they went about at once, and in four
days had the mast erected and rigged. In the mean time the
people of the country flocked on board, and showed " great
friendship, but they could not be trusted." The crew fre
quently went out to fish, and caught great numbers of lob
sters and codfish. Two French shallops arrived, filled with

* " We gave them trifles, and they eate and dranke with us, and told us
that there were gold, silver and copper mynes hard by us ; that the French
men doe trade with them, which is very likely, for one of them spake some
words of French." — Journal.
f Dr. Miller thinks the place of their arrival was at or near Portland m
the state of Maine. Discourse, &c. 1 N. Y. Hist. Coll. 30.

"^ 48.] Henry Hudson. 205
the country people, who offered no harm, Hudson's men be
ing on their guard. They had brought furs, with which they
had proposed to traffic. From Hudson's first entrance into
the harbour, it seems that strong suspicions of the integrity of
the people were entertained. After the mast was erected, such
were the fears of being betrayed, that Hudson and his crew
kept vigilant night-watch, and observed closely where the
shallops were laid. The next morning, that is, the day be
fore they departed, they manned their scute with six men, took
one of the shallops, and brought it on board. This was the
first aggression. " Then we manned our boat* and scute
with twelve men and muskets, and two stone pieces or mur
derers, and drave the salvages from their houses, and tooke
the spoyle of them as they would have done of us."f This
was dastardly. Whatever might have been the suspicions
that drew forth the conclusion to the account of this outrage,
it detracts from the high character of our maritime hero, that he
should have tolerated so mean an act. Even if a prior ag
gression had actually been committed, if petty thefts and tres
passes had provoked this suspicion, and led to this revenge, we
could have wished that the noble adventurer had yet been too
much superior to the former to have countenanced the latter.
After this act, they departed as far as the mouth of the har
bour, and next day (July 26) set sail. J The English, though
not the most robust, were inclined to go further. According
ly, they continued along the main,§ passed Newburyport,
were off and on two days between Cape Cod and Nantucket,
grounded on St. George's bank, (Aug. I ) and three days af
ter, (4th) anchored at the north end of the headland of the

- Says Ivet, in the journal.
t See 1 N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 30, I1C. But Hudson had a turbulent, mu
tinous set of sailors. It is said (Coll. of Voy's. of E. In. Co. ante) their
conduct caused many quarrels with the savages, and perhaps, in the exas
peration of their feelings Hudson could not control his men.
| Journal.
* Coll. of Voy's. by E. I. Co. ib.

20Q European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
cape, where, " hearing the voice of men call, and thinking
they were some Christians left on the land," they sent their
boat, but found they were savages rejoicing to see them. They
brought one on board, used him kindly, and replaced him on
shore.* After attempting to get to the westward of this headland,
(the body of which lay 41° 45') they bore to the southeast of
it, and descried the next day the south point of Cape Cod.
This headland was found to be that which Gosnold discover
ed (1602) seven years before. On the 6th, they were among
Nantucket and Bowbell shoals, and two days (7th and 8th)
they continued in sight of Nantucket, and came in view of
Martha's Vineyard.
Thus Hudson explored the coast of Cape Cod, and the
country north of it. This industrious navigator (says Lam
brechtsen) although born in England, felt too sensibly his re
lation to the Holland East India Company, who had employ
ed him in discoveries, to have hesitated a moment to give the
name of his adopted father-land to this newly discovered
country. He called it New Holland. f But not wishing to
fix his permanent residence on this spot, Hudson preferred the

* " Our master gave him three or foure glasse buttons, and sent him on
land with our shallop againe ; and at our boat's comming from the shoare,
be leapt and danced, and held up his hands, and pointed us to a river on the
other side, for we had made signes that we came to fish there." The na
tives are said to have had green tobacco and pipes, the bowls of which
were of earth, and the pipes of red copper. " The land is very sweet."
Journal. f Lambr. Kort Beschryving. De Laet in Nieuw Wereldt, b. 3, ch. 7,
says, that when Hudson made land in 41 deg. 43 min. he supposed it an isl
and, and named it Nieuwe-Hollandt, but he afterwards found it was Cape
Co4- Judge Benson, in his memoir, read before the N. Y. Hist. Soc. says,
the Dutch afterwards distinguished it zsStaaten Hoeck, State's Point ; and
also by its French name, Cape Blanc, translated Wilte Hoeck, While Point.
But it will appear that this, as well as that part of the West Indies (as De
Laet calls the whole country in 1625, including) from Cape Cod to Cape
Cornelius, or Cape Henlopen, were embraced nndcr the general name of
New-Netherlands.

§ 48.] Henry Hudson, 207
sea, taking a southwest course till he discovered aflat coast at
37° 35', which he then followed in an opposite direction. In
fact, having pursued his course south and west for ten days
(from 8 to 18th Aug.) making remarks on the soundings and
currents, taking retrograde movements as he came into the
gulf stream, he at last arrived at the entrance of Chesapeake
Bay on the 18th,* in the heat of August. " This (observes
the journal) is the entrance into the King's river in Virginia,
where our Englishmen are." Here, two years before, had
commenced the first effectual English colony in North Ame
rica. A feeble attempt at that time had also been made in
the north, but after wintering, the survivors had returned
(160S) to England, in despair of any colonization in that fri
gid region. f But hither the South Virginia Company had
sent out (1607) two ships and a bark, under the command of
Captain Christopher Newport, with 100 persons, among whom
came Bartholomew Gosnold, the heroic John Smith, the real
founder of the colony, and its two first presidents, Wingfield
and Ratcliffe. Of this settlement, Hudson, it seems, was
aware, from the description in the journal, as he crosses the
" barre of Virginia," but for eight days he kept off, and with
little intermission, experienced severe gales. The farthest he
proceeded in these southern waters, was 35° 41', when (24th)
he was far from the land. But on the 26th, he found himself
again near the land whence he had started. He might have
landed and visited the Virginia colony, but it does not appear
from the journal that he did so. J

• Journal, but see 1 N. Y. H. Coll. 31.
f See ante.
X If he had gone on shore, he must have enjoyed an interval of blended
pleasure and melancholy, in the novel gratification of mingling with his own
countrymen in the new world, and listening to the strange vicissitude inci
dent to their first settlement. He would have found intermission from fa
tigue, and the intense heat of this month in the presence and shelter of his
friend Smith, (who had contributed to induce him hither) at a village which
he had just founded in the forest. He would have heard in detail, the story
of his captivity, escapes, and sufferings. He would have exulted with kin -

208 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
Pressing forward to the single object of his coasting visit,
and aware that he was in foreign service, he chose to seek, in
the satisfaction arising from a vigilant discharge of duty, and
in the glory of discovering countries, an equivalent for the
delights of social intercourse. He merely sent his boat and
sounded the coast.* From the vicinity of the Chesapeake,
he coasted Northampton and Accomac, approached occasion
ally into shallow water as he passed Maryland, and on the
28th of August, discovered the great bay, since called Dela
ware, (lat. 39° 5'.) In this bay he examined the soundings,
currents, and the aspect of the land, but it does not appear
that he went on shore. Finding shoal water and sand in the
inlet, he was forced to stand towards the southeast, and in the
evening he anchored in eight fathoms water.f

dred feeling in the intrepidity, address, and triumphs of his friend, amidst
the distractions of a famished colony, the conspiracies of personal enemies,
and the ferocious attacks and insidious policy of the emperor of the coun
try, Powhattan. He would have heard that the colony this very year
had again escaped extirpation, through the heroic friendship of that empe
ror's daughter, the matchless Pocahontas. He would have met hi-s mari
time friends mourning the separation of their fleet, and the anticipated loss
of Sir Thomas Gates and Vice-Admiral Newport, with 150 men, women,
and children, who had not been heard of since the time Hudson was passing
the stormy coast of Nova Scotia, and replacing his mast in Penobscot Bay,
((July.) He might, perhaps, have attended the first English wedding ever
consummated in North America ! As to the dispersion of the English fleet,
and the shipwreck of part of it, see Vol. I. Ch. J. Marshall's Life of Wash
ington, 435, 449. Prince's Chronological Hist, of New-England, Vol. I.
printed Boston, 1736. Smith's History in Pinkerton's Coll. Beverly's
Hist. Virg. 23, Coll. Beverly says, ib. p. 19, in 1609, the first English
marriage in North America took place in Virginia.
* De Laet says, that in 37 deg. 15 min. he came to a black coast, along
which was a bank, which, on account of its sandy appearance, Hudson na
med Dry Cape, " Drooghe Caep.""
t Vander Donck, (description of New-Nelh.) speaking of the south
river (that is, the Delaware) says : This is the place where the ship Half-
moon first took possession, where we erected our fortress, and traded several
years withont molestation or intervention of any, until some Swedes,
through improper ways, interfered. See description of this bay and river
in De Laet Nieuwe-Wereldt, b. 3, ch. 11. He calls the bay "Nieuw
Port May."

§ 49.] Hudson within Sandy Hook. 209
During the subsequent week, he pursued his northward
course, passing along a low marshy coast, skirted with broken
islands,* and at last (Sept. 2d) espied the Highlands of Ne-
versink.f $ 49.
Two hundred and fifteen years ago, viz. on the 3d day of
September, 1609, the first European discoverer of whom we
have any knowledge, entered the southern waters of New-
York. Henry Hudson, having now passed the Long Branch,
sent his boat up to sound, and in the afternoon brought the
Half-moon within Sandy Hook, and anchored her (40" 30')
in five fathoms water. The next morning, perceiving that
there were safe anchorage and a very good harbour, he pro
ceeded further, and moored his ship within Sandy Hook Bay
(or Horse-Shoe Harbour) at the distance of two cables' length
from the shore.
From this time, he passed one month in exploring the ex
tent of his great discovery. He occupied one week at San
dy Hook, and in his progress towards New- York Bay and
river. Having, on the first day of his arrival, observed " sal
mon, mullet, and rays," after mooring in the bay, (4th) he

* At 40 deg. 18 min. between Barndegat and Godinspunt, * good an
chorage and opportunity of exploring the country and trading with the na
tives presented, but Hudson's curiosity was not thus to be satisfied. Lam
brechtsen. f In approaching Sandy Hook, " Harbour Hill," on Long Island, and
" Neversink,n on the Jersey shore, may beseen at the distance of 24 or 25
miles. The first is 319, and the second 281 feet above tide-water. The
altitude was taken by Capt. Partridge and Dr. Mitchill, in 1818. Har
bour Hill had been laid down as 404, and Neversink 600 feet. Hence from
a wrong calculation of distance from shore, shipwrecks had been the conse
quence. These hills are supposed to be of alluvial formation. See Dr.
Mitchill's Geology of N. Amer. in Cuvier's Theory, p. 383. Dr. Akerly's
Essay on the Geology of Hudson river, p. 15, 64.
Vor,. I. 27

210 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PaetL
sent his men ashore with their net.* According to tradi
tion, they first landed on Coney Island,f opposite Gravesend,
(Long Island) and now a part of Kings county, in this State.
Here they found the soil chiefly of white sand, and on it vast
numbers of plum trees loaded with fruit, and many of them
surrounded and covered with grape vines of different kinds.
They saw great quantities of snipes and other birds. J
While the ship lay at anchor, the natives from the Jersey-
shore came on board, rejoiced at the sight of their new visi
tors, and brought green tobacco, which they gave for tri
fles. They wore loose deer skins well dressed. A severe
gale arising in the night, the ship was driven on shore, , but
the next morning (5th) on return of the flood tide, the ground
being soft sand and ooze, she was got off without being in
jured. This day the boat proceeded to sound the bay, and it?
crew went on land. The shores were lined with men,
women, and children.^ The visiters ventured some distance
into the woods of Monmouth county, New-Jersey, but were
treated kindly. Among the presents they received, were sweet
dried cUrrants,|| some of which the natives also brought on
board, for many of them this day visited the ship, dressed in
furs, some with mantles of feathers, and around their necks
were copper ornaments. Their pipeswere of the same mate
rial. They were suspected, though friendly.
Hudson, discovering that the bay was the entrance to what

* « They caught teto great mullet, a foot and a half long, and a ray, as
great as four men could haul into the ship." Journal.
f Dr. Miller in Dis. 1 N. Y. H. Coll. 31. The Rev. Mr. Abeel's acct.
(MS. extract, being a part of historical manuscripts, which Dr. Miller pre
sejnted to the N. Y. Hist. Soc.)
tlb. S Journal.
|| These are supposed to have been whortleberrries, or other wild kind.
which the Indians were accustomed to dry. (Dr. M. ib. p. 31 n. 1

5> 49.] Hudson within Sandy Hook. 211
appeared twelve miles distant from where he lay, to be an ex
tensive river, sent his boat with five men, who passed and
sounded through the Narrows, and discovered the kills be
tween Staten Island and Bergen Neck. The lands they ob
served were covered with grass, flowers, and trees, as fine as
they ever saw, and the air was filled with fragrance. They
proceeded six miles into the bay of New-York, and then turned
back. In this expedition was John Colman, an Englishman,
who had accompanied Hudson, and shared his perils in his
first bold attempt to penetrate the polar circle. While the boat
was returning, the men were attacked by two canoes contain*
ing 26 Indians. Colman was shot with an arrow in the neck,
and two others wounded. The Indians, perhaps, met them
unexpectedly, were surprised and frightened, shot at them, and
made off as fast as they could ; for it does not appear that they
attempted to take the two unwounded men and their boat, as
they might no doubt have done then, or afterwards ; for the
night came on, the rain fell, their match became extinguished,
they lost their way, and the boat wandered to and fro until
the next day. After their arrival at the ship, with their slain
comrade, he was interred at Sandy Hook, and the point na
med Colman's Point.
The boat was hoisted into the ship, and every precaution
taken to guard against attack. It was expected that this first
instance of hostility would have broken off all intercourse with
the natives ; but on the second day after the death of Colman,
they brought Indian wheat (corn) and tobacco, traded freely,
and offered no violence. The next day they repeated their
visits, but armed with bows and arrows, and in greater num
bers, with apparently hostile intention. They were not suffer
ed to board, except two who were kept, and red coats put upon
them. The rest returned, when a canoe came out with two
only, one of whom was also taken with a view of keeping
him with the others, probably as hostages for the good be
haviour of their friends. The last one, however, jumped up
and leaped overboard. Thereupon, Hudson weighed anchor,
f>Hd went off into the channel of the narrows for the night.

212 European Discoveries andClaims to New-York. [Part L
Next day he went over towards the east sand bank, sound
ed, found it shallow and again anchored. On the eleventh,
having spent a week south of the Narrows, Hudson passed
through them into the New- York Bay, and finding it an ex
cellent harbour for all winds, he remained until the afternoon
of the next day. Here the people of the country came on
board, " making great show of love, giving tobacco and In
dian wheat, but we could not trust them."*
On the morning of the 12th, they rode up into the mouth
of the "great river." Twenty eight canoes full of men,
women and children, now came out, but as they were suspect
ed of treacherous intentions, they were not permitted to come
on board. Some of their oysters and beans were purchased.
" Copper tobacco pipes, and pots of earth to cook their meat
in," were observed among them. At noon they depart
ed, and the ship in the afternoon went into the river two
leagues and anchored. Hudson now prepared to explore the
North river. It does not appear that he turned his attention
at all to the East river. As his main object throughout his
voyage had been a north-west passage to China, if this was
still in view, he might have deemed it useless to explore a
river that bore eastward.
We shall refer more particularly to the East river, the Long
Island sound, Connecticut river, the coasts and islands in their
vicinity, and the south river or Delaware, in our history of the
progress of the Dutch settlements, during which, Adrian Block,
Godyn, Cornelius Jacobszoon May, and others, in their voy
ages left their names to several islands, capes, and waters,
some of which still retain the same.
The great river into which Hudson entered for the purpose
of exploring, is now distinguished by the names of Hudson
and the North river. The former was early attached to it,
for although the Hollanders during the period in which they
held the reigns of government here, applied to it other names.

Journal.

§ 49. J Names -of Hudson River. 213
such as De Groote rivier, on account of its magnitude ; Mau
ritius river, in honour of their Stadtholder Prince Maurice,
who, as we heretofore related, flourished when it was discover
er! and settled ; Manhattan river, from a neighbouring Indian
tribe; Noordt rivier, in contradistinction to Zuydt rivier, (or
i-onth river, known also as the Nassau or Delaware river,)
and" De Groote Noordt neviervan Nieuw Nederlandt," as De
Laet emphatically calls it,* yet it was known by the Holland
ers and others at that period, by the name which is now in
honour of its discoverer invariably applied to it, except when
it is intended to discriminate between this and the East river :
then it is called North river. Hudson did not give his name
to it; lie denominated it the "great river." It was also early
known by the appellation of Riviere des Montagnes,\ or river
of mountains, in consequence of the highlands through which
it ran. This has been thought to have been of Spanish
origin ;J but Professor Ebeling^ says, that it may be a cor
ruption of Manat-hans. It was also called in early times,
particularly by the New-England people, Mohegan river, \\
by reason of its being inhabited by a tribe so called, whose
real name was Mohicans or Mohiccanni, descendants from the
Lenni Lenape or Delawares. Its Indian name was sometimes

* And makes it the head of the 9th chap, of B. 3. in his Nieuw Wereldt.
f And " Rio de Montaigne.''1 according- to De Laet.
X See N. Y. Hist. Coll. Vol. I. p. 37 n. Judge Benson (in his memoir
&c.) says, there is no trace of the Spaniards having landed in our vicinity.
But he suggests as a matter of conjecture, that some of the early Spanish
ravagers, (perhaps those who gave the name of Campobello to an island
in the Bay of Fundy, Tremont to the peninsula of Boston, from the three
eminences in it, and cape Mallebarre to the south-east point of the peninsu
la of cape Cod,) may possibly have approached so near as to discern dis
tinctly the opening of the Narrows, and concluding it to be the entrance
into a river, and perceiving Neversink and Staten-Island to be the only
land on the coast apparently mountainous, they gave the name of the River
of the mountains, and passed on. See ante p. 130.
? History of America (in German.)
|| See Josselyn's account of Voyages to New-England, p. 245. London
1674. Douglass Seminary, &c Vol. II. p. 256.

214 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I.
Shatemuck* which may have been a corruption of its true
Delaware or Mohicanni name, which was Mahakaneghtuc.\
But the Iroquois name seems most harmonious, it was Coho-
hatatea.\ Having alluded to Indians bordering on this river, it may
not be irrelevant, as illustrative of Hudson's discovery and his
progress up the river, to mention the tribes with whom he had
intercourse, by the names under which they were afterwards
known. The colonial relations with the river Indians, as they
were called, and their history, will be hereafter sketched.
§ 50.
Before we accompany, therefore, our discoverer to the head
of navigation in this river, we will take a topographical
glance at the great bay through which he passed, the islands
in its vicinity, and the Indians who then inhabited these
shores, as well as those of the river Hudson.
The Bay of New-York is strictly that which forms the
harbour of New-York ; bounded by Long and Staten Islands;
communicating with the East and North rivers, with Newark
Bay through the kills, and the Atlantic through the Narrows.
But the Great Bay, as it was in former times emphatically
denominated, embosomed the waters and islands as far as
Sandy Hook and the Jersey shore. The Great Bay of New

* Judge Benson, (in his memoir, &c.) says the name of the Hudsou was
Sha-te-muc. He derived it in 1785, from a German settler within the
limits of the Livingston manor, who was well apquainted with the Indian lan
guage, and had learned the name from the Indians in that vicinity, and par
ticularly from the Wiccapee Indians in the Highlands. Shatemuck is also
mentioned as the name by Washington Irving in his Knickerbocker
Vol. I.
t Mahicannittuck or Mahicannihittuck, the river of the Mahicanni. The
Wickapy Indians (whom Judge Benson mentions, see note above) were
of Delaware descent, had crossed the river and intermixed with the Mahi
canni. See Rev. Mr, Heckewelder's MS. Commu. post.
X See Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 44. 37. and Heckewelder in Vol. I,
r>biU\. Lit. and Philo, Trans. See Ogilby's map in Hist, of Amer. 1671 .

§50.] New-York Bay and Islands. 215
Netherland, so called by Vander Donck, or by way of emi
nence, the Great Bay, was bounded* on the south by the
Ocean, east by Long Island, north partly by the mouth of the
Hudson, and partly by the shore of New-Jersey, and west
wholly by this shore. Newark Bay, from its relative situa
tion to the Great Bay, the Dutch called Het achter Cul,
literally the Black Bay ; Cul, borrowed from the French
Cul de sac, was also in use with the Dutch to signify a bay.
Achter Cul was corrupted to Arthur Cut's Bay. The pas
sage from this into the Great Bay they called Het Kill van het
cul, (the kill of the cul) which was finally expressed by the
kills. A reef in the bay, (now Robin's Reef) not far from
the mouth of the Kills, they called Robyn's rift, that is, Seal
reef, Robyn being the name of seal, which frequented the
bay. The passage from the bay and the river to the sound
was also occasionally distinguished by them as the Great Bay,
denoted from its relative situation to the other rivers and
inlets to the East river. The island at the commencement
of it they called Nooten Island, Nut Island, corrupted to Nut-
ten Island, the name by which it was known until within the
last half century, when at times it was referred to as the
Governor's Island, being reserved from the beginning for the
use of the Governor, and this is now its name exclusively.
Staaten Island retains its name with a slight orthographical
variation. f
De Laetf calls the bay, as named by the Dutch, Porto
May, and he seems to have applied the name indiscriminate
ly to signify the Great Bay, or the bay in its restricted and
present limits.
When Hudson arrived, the Great Bay, in its more compre-

* Egbert Benson, Esq. in his Memoir read before the New- York Society
in 1816.r Judge Benson, ib. Long Island is the translation from its Dutch name.
A legal name was given by an act of Assembly in 1693. viz. Island of Nas
sau, ib.
X In Nieuw Werldt, b. IH. ch. 9 and H .

216 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. Part I.
hensive designation, embraced ten islands, if we may in
clude those of the vicinity of Long Island, viz. Schryer and
Coney Islands ; Staten and Manhattan Islands, and those
which were formerly visible within the bay or harbour of
New- York.
Coney Island, whereon Hudson may have first landed, is
derived from Conyn, a Dutch surname.* Sandy Hook,
within which Hudson anchored and landed, and which he
named Coleman's Point, was afterwards generally called by
the Dutch Sandt Punt, was mentioned also as Sandt Hoeck,
and for some time called by the English Sandy Point. Pass
ing, however, through the Narrows, (called Hoofden by the
Dutch, being their name for forelands, or literally head-lands)
Hudson arrived and anchored in the bay of New- York, as it is
now understood. If we include Red Hook as an island,
(and it is laid down on charts as surrounded by water so late
as the revolution) there were six islands in this bay when
Hudson visited it. Nutten or Governor's Island we have
already spoken of. De Laet says, that about half a mile with
in the Hook,f or corner of the river next to the east coast lies
" Noten Eyland," half a mile in area, and containing many fine
nut trees, and over against this, on the west shore of the bay,
are four other small islands. J Two of them only, viz. Ellis
and Bedlow, are now visible except at very low water, when
the rocks of the others, viz. Oyster Island and Robins Reef,
are discoverable. Oyster Island is in the Oyster Banks, at
a small distance south west of Bedlow's Island. § Robin's Reef
we described. Ellis and Governor's Islands are the nearest
of the islands to New-York, or Manhattan Island. This
* Or as it is the same as Rabbit, it may have indicated the existence of
that animal, says Judge Benson, to whom we arc indebted for the Dutch
names of Sandy Hook, and Coney Island, and the Narrows.
t Red Hook.
X De Laet Nieuw Werldt.
i This is named on Katzer's map of New- York. 1766-7. " Bedlow's or
Kennedy Island," and Ellis Island was then " Bucking Island."
|| From the first on Ellis to the west battery, or Castle Clinton, the dis
tance is 2049 yards. From Castle William on Governor's Island to the
same is 1217. See Randel's map of New- York.

§ 50.] Mw- York Bay and Islands. 217
island, when Hudson visited it, particularly that part of it now
covered by the city,- presented a wild and rough aspect : a
thick forest covered those parts of it where vegetation could
find support ; its beach was broken, sandy, or rocky, and
full of inlets ; its interior presented hills of stony or sandy
alluvion, masses of rock, ponds, swamps, and marshes.
The triumph of art over this barren wild, within two
hundred and fifteen years, is too apparent to require de
scription.* The Indian name of this island, and the people
who occupied that and the neighbouring country, when Hud
son appeared, will be mentioned in our description of the bay
and river Indians, which here follows :
De Laet, who published his "Nieuwe Wereldt,"f (or descrip
tion of the West Indies, as the country was so denominated,)
sixteen years after Hudson's discovery, gives a brief account
of it, which he perhaps derived from that which Hudson trans
mitted to the directors of the East India Company after his
return. He says that Hudson upon going on shore, after first
coming to anchor in the bay, within Sandy Hook, found the
natives standing along the shore, ranged according to the re
spective situations which they occupied, and singing. This
corresponds with the brevity of the journal, which mentions,
that on landing, the shores were lined with men, women, and
children. The natives are described by De Laet as " mani
festing all friendship" when Hudson first landed. They were
clothed in skins of elks, foxes, and other animals. Their

* For further description of the Bay and Islands,see Spaflbrd's Gazetteer,2d
edit. Randel'smapofN. Y. Smith's Hist, of New- York. The geology
of this region of the country — See Dr. Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer. (in
Cuvier's Theory) p. 386, 389. Dr. Akerly's Geology of the Hudson, as
to N. Y. Island, p. 47, and the other islands and shores, p. 45, 22, 64, 65,
25,26, 14,68.
f Nieuwe Werledt ofte Beschryvigle van West Indien, &c. Door
Joannes De Laet. Tot Leyden, D. A. 1625, see B. 3. ch. 7. 10. A Latin
edition was afterwards published, viz. Novus orbis seu Descriptionis Indiae
occidentalis. Authore Joanne De Laet. Antwerp. Lugd. Batav. 1633
folio.
Vol,. I. 28

218 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
canoes were made out of trees— their arms were bows and
arrows, with sharp points of stone fixed to them, and fastened
by hard pitch— they had no houses, but slept under the blue
heavens, some on mats made of brush or bullrushes, some
upon leaves of trees — they had good tobacco, and copper
tobacco pipes. After their first acquaintance they frequently
visited Hudson's ship.
In an account in manuscript* by the late Rev. Mr. Abeel,
(translated, as it seems, from De Laet,) he says, in reference
to Hudson's visit to the New- York bay and mouth of the river,
that on the point where New- York is now built, he found living
a very tiostile people, who would not deal or trade with him.
But those living on the western shore from the Kills upward,
(that is, along what are now the Bergen shores, Communipa,
Powles' Hook, and Hoboken,) came daily on board the ves
sel while she lay at anchor in the river, bringing with them to
barter, furs, the largest and finest oysters, indian corn, beans,
pumpkins, squashes, grapes, and some apples ; all which they
exchanged for trifHes : Here Hudson landed.
Although it is not improbable (as will appear hereafter,)
that he should have landed at Manhattan Island, at or near the
Battery, (which is in 40^ 42',) yet there is no corroborative
proof to be found in the journal, that the people were actually
hostile. It will appear that on his return Hudson was attack
ed by people near the north end of the island, and perhaps
the above account, giving a general view of the voyage, has
confounded that circumstance with the incidents of his first
entry. In his slow progress from Sandy Hook into the mouth
of the river, it is very probable that he went ashore several
times, but whether the remarkable scene which we shall by
and by describe, and which was displayed in his first interview
with the natives, took place at Coney Island, or behind the
" low sandy point," (Sandy Hook) where De Laet says he
landed, or upon Manhattan Island, or at Albany, will remain
a subject of speculation. It may be impossible to locate the
spot, and it might not be very important if we could. The in-
* In New- York Historical library, MSS.

§ 50.] New-York Bay and River Indians. 219
quiry will now be, who were the Indians with whom Hudson
had his intercourse during the first week of his visit, and pre
viously to the continuation of his voyage up the river.
De Laet* says that on the west side within the Sandy Hook,
between the point of sand along the bay, and along the west
ern shore, the Sanhikans reside. They were deadly enemies
of the Manatthans, and a better people than they, who were
a wicked nation, for, says De Laet, they have always con
ducted towards the Dutch in a cruel -and inimical manner. It
appears that the former extended some distance beyond the
Hook and Bay, for De Laet, in speaking of the South river,f
(now Delaware,) says, that on this river live various Indians,
as " Sauwanoos, Sanhicans, Minquaas, Capitanasses, Gacheos,
Sennecaas, Canomakers, Naratekons, Konekotays, Matanac-
kouses, Armeomecks," all of the same condition and habits
as those before described. Those living on the land east of
the bay, viz. Long Island, De Laet names Matouwacks.
Another Dutch author, J who wrote twenty-six years after De
Laet, confirms the statement by saying that the Indians called
by the name of Sankikani when the Dutch arrived, lived on
the New- York bay, on the Jersey shore, opposite Mahattan's
Island, and thence some distance up the river, lining the shore.
They were deadly enemies of the Mahattans, though a much
less ferocious and sanguinary people.
The Rev. John Heckewelder, in a manuscript communica
tion, § says that the Sankhicanni derive their name from " Sank-
hican," which signifies "Fire-works;" therefore " Sank-hi-can-
ni," explains the word or name, " The Fire workers," or the

* Nieuw Wereldt, B. 3. ch. 9. De Laet in " Novus Orbis,'" etc. says, the
Indians on the Hudson, especially the Sankikani, prayed to the devil, whom
they called Menutto, vel, Menetto. (See hereafter Indian history.) The
Sankikani were the infessissimi hostes of the fierce Manhittau
f Book 3, chapter 11.
X Joost Hartger, who published his work at Amsterdam, 1651.
§ In possession of the New- York Hist. Soc. and addressed to Dr. Miller,
1801. Mr. Heckewelder, says that the above account is collected from
good authority, and may be relied on.

220 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
Fire work people. They and the Wabinga, (or Wapinga,)
sprung from the Delawares and Munsies ; but both living op
posite the Mahicanni, on the North or Hudson river,- inter
married with the Mahicanni; so that after some length of
time their language had, or betrayed more of the Mahicanni,
than of the Delaware. The settlements of the Wapingi were the
lowermost of the two. They lived up the Pachsajeck, (i. e.
a valley,) now called Passaick, and on the banks of the Hudson
near Thuphanne, now called Tappan. The Sankhicanni
lived higher up the river, and extended their settlements to
wards where Albany now is. The Dutch, in consequence of
the highlands which the former people occupied, soon gave
them the name of " Hocklunders," (i. e. Highlanders.) In the
course of time, those two tribes were under the necessity of
leaving their country, when they went over to the Mahicanni,
with the exception of a few families, who again joined the
Delawares, but for fear of being soon again driven from their
settlements by the whites, went first to Susquehannah, and next
to the Ohio.
Charles Thompson, Esq. Secretary to the first American
Congress, observes* that the Wapinga sometimes called river
Indians, sometimes Mohickanders, (a branch of the Delawares,
or Lenape,) had their dwellings between the west branch of
Delaware and Hudson river, from the Kettatinney ridge down
to the Rariton. Dr. Barton, f in speaking of this account,
says, that the Wapinga, whom Mr. Thompson identifies with
the River Indians, or Mohicanders, (who were sometimes, as
Mr. T. says, called Wapinga,) were not Mahiccans, but a
branch of the Delawares. Mr. Heckewelder, also saysj the
name of the tribe, called Wabingi, is derived from the opossum.
This animal, in the language of the Delawares, is called
Waping : the Unamis, say " Oping ;" " Wapingi" signifieth
* In note 5, appendix to Mr. Jefferson's notes on Virginia.
¦j- In M.S. Communication to Dr. Miller, in 1800, and among the ma
nuscripts of the New- York Historical Society.
X In M. S. Coram, ib.
} Hist, of America, ia German, (Mew-York, p. 30.)

$50.] New- York Bay and river Indians. 221
" the Opossummani." They were one of the tribes which con
stituted the Delaware Confederacy. Professor Ebeling, ob
serves that the Esopus Indians, who, (as will appear in our
history of New Netherlands,) gave the Dutch so much trou
ble by their hostility, were supposed to be Wappinges, or
Wampingees. At a still later period it will appear, that the
Wappingers, as the English called them, occupied that part of
the east side of the Hudson, near a hill called Anthony's Nose,
in the highlands, which embraced what was called Philips's
upper patent in Dutches County, including Pollipel's island.
Although formerly numerous, they bad in 1767 dwindled to
227 persons. Their occupation was principally planting
and hunting. The highlands afforded fine hunting ground,
and the surrounding soil was excellent for planting. Their
story involves much interest, and will be detailed in the pro
gress of our history. It was their fate, though a similar fate
with others, to be compelled to abandon their once pleasant
Wickapy, (which was the name of the lands where the tribe
chiefly resided,) and to seek refuge in remote, and to them,
strange places.*
From these various accounts we may conclude that the
Sankhicanni and Wabingi were the same people, spreading
on the western shores of New-Jersey, and along the western
side of the Hudson river beyond the highlands. When Hud
son arrived, they were denominated Sanhikans. In the pro
gress of settlement by the whites, they changed their habita
tions until they were diminished to the small remnant of
Wickapy Wappingers, who had crossed the Hudson and in
termixed, as Mr. Heckewelder observes, with the Mahicanni,
and who finally disappeared from the banks of the river.
This conclusion corresponds with that of Governor Clinton,
whof says, that those Indians on the west bank of Hudson's

* See narrative of the controversy between the Wappinger tribe of In
dians, and the claimants under the original patent of land in Philip's upper
patent. Hartford, printed 1768.
t In discourse before N. Y. Hist. Soc. See N. Y. H. Coll. p. 41.

222 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartI*
river, from its mouth to the Kaat's Kill mountains, were some
times denominated Wabinga, and sometimes Sankikani, and
they and the Mohegans, whose original name was Muhheka-
new, went by the general appellation of river Indians, or,
according to the Dutch, Mohickanders. The Mohegans were
settled on that part of the east shore of the river below Albany.*
Who they were, and what Indians resided on the west banks
of the Hudson beyond the Catskill mountains, or north of
the confines of the Wabingi, will be mentioned after we shall
have described those who lived opposite the Sankhicani,
upon Long Island, Staten, and Manhattan islands.
According to Mr. Thompson,f the Mahicon or Mahattan,
another branch of the Delawares, occupied Staten Island,
York Island, Long Island, and a part of Connecticut, and
New-York, between Connecticut river and Hudson river from
the Highlands, which is a continuation of the Kittatinney
ridge, down to the Sound. This nation, in alliance with the
Shawanese on the Susquehannah, carried on a long and
bloody war with the Iroquois confederacy, who lived north
of them between the Kittatinny mountains or Highlands, and
Lake Ontario. This war was carried on with the greatest
fury when Captain Smith landed in Virgina. The Mingos
(Iroquois) had penetrated to the mouth of the Susquehannah,
where in 1608, Captain Smith in one of his excursions up
the bay, met their canoes and warriors.
Mr. HeckewelderJ relates, that from the best accounts he
could obtain, the Indians which inhabited Long Island, were
Delawares, and those which inhabited York Island either De
lawares, or the tribe called Monseys, or as they call them
selves, " Minsi," derived, they say, from the word " Minissi,''-
which signifieth a Peninsula. Those of Long Island, how
ever, were early known by the denomination of Matuwakes.

* In discourse before N. Y. Hist. Soc. See N. Y. H. Coll. p. 41
f In note 5. Appx. to Jefferson's notes on Virg.
t In MS. Commu. ib.

§ 50.] New-York Bay and River Indians. 223
according to De Laet and Professor Ebeling. The remnants
of this tribe are now hardly to be found.* So with regard
to Staten and Manhattan islands, the tribes who occupied
them, were, in the opinion of Governor Clinton,f the Mohic-
cons, Mahatons or Manhattans. These will appear to have
been the names of the same people, and originating from the
Lenape or Delaware stock.
The earliest notice we have of the island which is now
adorned by a beautiful and opulent city, is to be found in
Hudson's journal. Mana-hata is therein mentioned, in refer
ence to the hostile people whom he encountered on his return
from his exploring of the river, and who resided on this island.
De Laet,J as we before observed, calls those wicked people
Manatthans, and names the river Manhaties, as we shall re
mark hereafter. He subsequently^ speaks of Indians residing
on the east side of the Hudson river, by the name of Manki-
kani. This name, however, it will be seen, was intended to
distinguish another and distinct people. Hartger|| calls the
Indians and the island, Mahattan. Bloame,1T names the island
Manhadces or Manahanent, and Josselyn,1T Manadces. In
¦ some of the early transactions of the colony, it is spelled Mon-
hattoes, Munhatos and Manhattoes. Professor Ebeling says,
that at the mouth of the river lived the Manhattans or Mana-
ihanes, (or as the Englishmen commonly called it, Manhados)
who kept up violent animosities with their neighbours, and
were at first most hostile towards the Dutch, but suffered them
selves to be persuaded afterwards to sell them the island, or
at least that part of it where New- York now stands. Manhat
tan is now the name, and it was, when correctly adopted, so

* See sketch of the first settlements of Long Island by Silas Wood, Esq.
published Brooklyn. 1824.
f See his Discourse, ib. 2. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 41.
X In Nieuw Wereldt, 1625.
I InNovusorbis. 1623.
|| In 1651. ante.
IT In N. Amer. 1687, cited in Vol. I. Knickerbocker, N. Y. p. 96.

224 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part.I,
given by the Dutch*, and by them it not only distinguished
the Indians, the island, and the river, but it was a general name
of their plantations. Thus to go and come, to and from the
Manhattans, meant to go and come to and from the whole
province, and not merely to and from that particular town
which was built upon the island, which was not named the
Manhattan, but New Amsterdam. f
Mr. Heckewelderf observes, that hitherto all his labours
had been fruitless, in inquiring about a nation or tribe of In
dians, called the "Manhattos" or " Manathones ;" Indians both
of the Mahicanni and Delaware nations assured him, that they
never had heard of any Indian tribe by that name. He says
he is convinced that it was the Delawares or Munseys, (which
last was a branch of the Delawares) who inhabited that part
of the country where New- York now is. York Island is called
by the Delawares to this day, Manahattani or Manahach-
tanink. The Delaware word for " Island," is " Manatey :"
the Monsey word for the same is Manachtey. Further, Me-
neen or Manahn, to drink ; or Menachtin, to drink — Manach-
toak, they are drinking. He further says, the river (Hudson)
according to Indian accounts, ever bore the name Mahicannit-
tuck or Mahicannihittuck, the Mohican river, the same as the
river Delaware, bore the name Lennapewihittuck, Indian river,
and both these rivers retain to this day their ancient names.
But the old Mahicani had told him frequently, that their prin
cipal settlements were up the river, and in the vicinity of where
Albany now is, and much higher.
Doctor Barton also has given as his belief,^ that the Man-
hattce were a branch of the Munsis, not of the Mahiccans. It
may be suggested in corroboration, that although the Minsi,
as well as Mahicanni will appear to have been branches from

* Vander Donck adopts that name.
f See controversy with the Lord proprietary of Maryland. Vol. III.
N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 375.
X Iu MS. Communications ante. He took his notes from (he Indians
nearly forty years before his communications
i MS, Commu. ante.

i 50-] New-York Bay and River Indians. 225
the Lenape or Delaware stock, yet the former being the most
warlike,* and the Manhattans being uniformly represented as
fierce, it is not improbable that they were the same people.
The Delawaresf owned and were spread over the whole
country, from York Island to the Potomac. They say " they
were very numerous, had a great many towns, some on the
above-named river, some at or near the mouth of the Susque
hannah and about this Bay : a number on the Lennopewihit-
tuck, (or river Delaware) and a great many in " Scheyichb',"
(or that part of the country named the Jerseys.) The Minsi
always composed the frontiers, dwelling in a circle-like form
from Long Island, to and beyond Minnis'mk. There were more
inferior tribes, which had sprung from the three main branch
es (of the Delawares,f ) namely : the Unamis, the Unalacht-
go, and the Minsij and which generally chose to dwell by
themselves adjoining them, but that though they had a number
of chiefs, they had one, greater than the rest, and who govern
ed them all. That at a place named " Chichohacki," (now
Trenton,^) on Lennapewihittuck, a large Indian town, had
been for many years together, where their great chief had re
sided. That when the Europeans first arrived at York Island,
the great Unami chief of the Turtle tribe resided southward,
across a large stream or bay, where Amboy now is. That
from this town a very long sand bar (Sandy Hook) extended
far out into the sea. That at Amboy, and all the way up and
down these large rivers and bays, and on the great islands,
they had their towns when the Europeans first arrived ; and

* See ante p. 35.
\ Mr. Heckewelder, MS. ib.
X See ante p. 35, 36.
} The Delawares say " Chichohacki" is a place on the east side of the
Delaware River above Philadelphia, at or near a great bend, where the
white people have since built a town, which they call Trenton. Their old
town was on a high bluff, which was always tumbling down ; wherefore the
town was called Chichohacki , which is, the tumbling banks, or falling
banks.
Vol. I. 29

226 European Discoveries and Clainis to New-York. [Part I.
that it was their forefathers who first discovered the Europeans
on their arrival, and who met them on York Island after they
landed." Having designated the natives, who occupied the islands in
the vicinity of New- York, and the western shores of the river,
when Hudson discovered it, we will now proceed to consider
the Indians who lined its eastern bank.
On the east shore of Hudson river, the Mahicanni resided
at the time it was discovered. The Mankikani and Mahikans
of De Laet, the Mahiccanders* Mohickanders,\ and Nahi-
kanders\ of the Dutch, the Manhikans, Mahikans, or Mohe
gans, according to Professor Ebeling, and the Mohegans, or
Muhhekanew, (the original name of Mohegans.^) Accord-
to the English, || the Mohiccans, Mahiccon,*^ and lastly, Ma-
hiccans and Mah'canni,** were all one people, originally a
branch of the Delaware nation.** The Mahhiccans and De
lawares both say they were once one people. They were cer
tainly once a branch of the Delawares, says Dr. Barton, though
not comprehended by them in making up their nation. It is
also evident they were one, from the similarity of their lan
guage, which, he says,f f agrees as nearly as that of the Mun-
ses and the Delawares, who are undoubtedly one. He adds
that the Mahiccans are also the same as the Mankikani, whom
De Laet places on the east bank of the river. De Laet in
his map of Nova Anglia Novum Belgium et Virginia,f J calls
them Mahicans. Mr. Thompson,§§ was incorrect in speaking

-* Joost Hartger's work, printed Amsterdam, 1651.
f Barton.
X Benson in Memoir.
S Gov- Clinton Dis. 2 N. Y: H. Col 41.
|| See Edwards on the Mohegan language.
U Ch. Thompson, Esq.
** According to Dr. Barton and Mr. Heckewelder.
ff In MS. comm. in N. Y. Hist. Library MS. case
XX In Novus Orbis.
M Note inappx. to Jeff. Notes on Virg. p. 347.

§50.] New-York Bay and River Indians, 22?
of the Mohickanders and Mahiccon as two distinct tribes.*
Mr. Heckewelderf says, that he is unacquainted with the ori
gin of the name of Mahicanni. J Still they acknowledge
their descent from the Delawares, (or properly speaking, the
Lenni Lenajie) and are proud in calling these their " grand
fathers," who were, they say, the head of a great family, ex
tending very far to the north, east, south, and west. The fact
is, the Delawaresjcall all nations (except the Mengwa, as they,
or the " Maqua," as the Mahicanni term the Five Nations or
Iroquois, and except theWyandots or Hurons) this side of the
Mississippi, and even beyond it : all the southern nations,
all the eastern, and those of the Canadas, (except as above)
" Noochwissak," that is, " my grandchildren ;" and these all
acknowledge the Delawares their " Mochomes," that is, " their
grandfather." The Delawares would hear with as much sur
prise the inquiry, whether they sprung from, or their nation
bad its origin in any of, those nations, as we should to hear
asked, whether a father had sprung from his son.§
The best information (continues Mr. Heckewelder§) which
I could procure of the extent of country the Mahicanni inhar
bited, was from an aged and intelligent man of this nation*
whose grandfather had been a noted chief. His report was
as follows, to wit : " When I was a boy, my grandfather used
to speak much of old times : how it had been before the white
people came into this country, (that is, the State of New- York,
in which the relator was bora,) and what changes took place
since, from time to time. The western boundary line of the
Mahicanni, was the river Mdhicannittuck, which the white
people now call ' North River.' Our towns and settlements
extended on the east side of this river from Thuphane or
Tuphanne, (a Delaware word for cold stream, from which the
whites have derived the name Tappan,) to the extent of tide

* See Dr. Barton's New Views 31, 32.
f MS. Comm. to Dr. Miller, 1801 in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Library.
X See Edwards on Mohegan language.
tj Mr. Heckewelder's MS. ib.

228 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I*.
water up this river ; here was the uppermost town. From
thence our towns were scattered throughout the country on
the smaller rivers and creeks. Our nearest neighbours on
the east were the Wampano. These inhabited the Connecti
cut river* downwards, and had their largest town where the
sea runs a great way into the land, and where the white peo
ple have since built a town, which they call New-Haven.
These (the Wampano) were in possession of an island, which
the white people call Rhode Island. Adjoining the Wam
pano, east, were the Munahecanni j next to these the Paam-
nakto ; then the Patachtinnau ; then the Wawiachtenno, and
the Machtitschwannau. These latter lived at or near a place
on the sea, where there were a number of islands together,
through which a strong current ran, wherefore they were
Called by this name, which signifieth the same. All these na
tions were with the Mahicanni like one, and assisted their
grandfather the Delawares in carrying on the war against
their common enemy the Maqua, until the white people had
come into their country. Our grandfather (the Delawares)
owned and inhabited all the country from the extent of tide
water above Gaschtenickf (Albany) to the extent of tide wa
ter, in a river far to the south, where a place was called
Pathamook or Pate-ham-mok.^. Clean across this extent of
country, (namely from Albany to the Potomac) our grandfa
ther had a long house, with a door at each end, one door be
ing at Pate-ham-mok, and the other at Gaschtenick ; which
doors were always open to all the nations united with them.
To this house the nations from ever so far off used to resort,
and smoke the pipe of peace with their grandfather. The
white people coming from over the great water, unfortunately
landed at each end of this long house of our grandfathers, and

* Connecticoota (meaning Long river) was the Indian name. — Judge
Benson in Memoir, &c.
¦f The Mahicanni word or name for Albany.
X Which is the real Delaware word, and signifies an arrival of persons-
i>y water. This is now the Potomac.

j 50 ] New-York Bay and River Indians. 229
it was not long before they began to pull the same down at
both ends. Our grandfather still kept repairing the same,
though obliged to make it from time to time shorter, until at
length the white people, who had by this time grown very
powerful, assisted the common enemy, the Maqua, in erecting
a strong house on the ruins of their grandfathers."
The above figurative relation of this aged and intelligent
Mohiccan, and which (observes Mr. Heckewelder*) was up
wards of fifty years sincef communicated to him by his grand-^
father, while living in the country now the State of New-York,
uiay.be considered as original. It likewise corresponds ex
actly with the relations of aged Delawares : and is in sub
stance, after our manner of expression, thus to be understood :
viz.; — The Delawares were the head of all nations. Their in
habited territory comprehended all the country between. Poto
mac and the head of tide-water on the North river. AU na
tions, except the Mingoes and their ' accomplices,' were unit
ed with them, and had free access to them ; or in their own
words, according to their figurative manner of expressing
themselves, the united nations had one house, one fire, and one
canoe. The Europeans arriving in the country, and taking
possession of the same both on the North river and Potomac,
(shut up the road, or) barred the friendly intercourse of the
nations in alliance with each other. ' Yet the Delawares up
held their national character, and remained sovereigns, until
the Europeans artfully sided with their enemy, the Mingoes,
for the purpose of obtaining their (the Delawares) lands.
Thus succeeding, the Delawares lost this part of their terri
tory. Their national character suffered, while their enemy
was raised to a station to which they were not entitled, and
which had always been considered the birthright of the Dela-
wares.J

* MS. comm. ib.
I But now (1824) seventy-three years ago and upwards.
I MS. ib.

230 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I
In accordance with this communication from Mr. Hecke
welder, is another, though a more brief one, from Doctot'
Barton.* The Mahiccans occupied, he says, the east side of
the Hudson, from a site opposite to Albany down to the Tap-
pan sea. They were chiefly confined to the Hudson shore,
or within ten or fifteen miles east of it.*
These then were the people that swarmed the eastern banks
of the river when Hudson sailed by their settlements, from the
borders of the Manhattans to the tide-water beyond Albany.
They were so much more numerous than other Indians on the
same river, that they in particular were subsequently denomi
nated the River Indians, and the river itself the Mohegan ri
ver, and Mahicannetuck river.f It may hereafter appear
probable that they had in former times reached to the head
waters of the Hudson, until they met their rivals in the vici
nity of Lacus Irocoisia, (Champlain) or near the Green
Mountains west of that lake.f There is no doubt they once
owned and occupied the Saratoga tract, now including a
county of that name in this State. | Sketches of their history

* MS. with N. Y. Hist. Soc. ib.
j- See ante, p. 35. 95.
f From the translation of the Saratoga purchase, (among the manuscripts
of the New-York Historical Society) it appears that the " Mahikend" In
dians were present at the court-house in Albany, 26th July, 1683, at the
purchase of the lands at Saratoga, and saw the Mohawks receive payment,
and being required to say whether they had any claim or pretension on the
lands, and if they had, they must speak then, and for ever after hold their
peace, they then declared that they desisted from all right and ownership
which they formerly had to the same, referring to the discretion of the pur
chasers to give them something as an acknowledgment or not, as it. was,
their land of old, before the Mohawks conquered (or won) the same from
them. They also (the chiefs, sachems, &c.) signed a quit-claim or memo
randum, declaring, in the name of the whole nation who might have any
pretension to the same, that they would, so far as respects their nation, clear
them from all demands. Whereupon the purchasers gave them seven
duffels garments, as a memorial of the aforesaid purchase, two half casks of
beer, and two kegs of wine.— Albany Records, C. fol. 290. The Mohawk
Indians declare the lands at OniscatJvx to be their property, won by tht
word-

^ 50.] New-York Bay and River Indians. 231
will be given in those of the aborigines of this State. Perhaps
no nation of our native Indians have been more scattered
abroad than these. Few of their descendants now occupy
any portion of their original country New-York, and Connec
ticut. Many of them will be found to have removed from
the borders of this river into the eastern parts of Connecticut,
and to Stockbridge in Massachusetts. Some settled on lands
which the Oneidas gave them, after the former had lost their
own ; others on the Muskingum river, where most of them
were massacred in 1782. A few of them have been met at
the mouth of the Wabash, or have settled on the banks of, the
Mississippi ; and some families emigrated to the north side of
Lake Erie on the river Thames, or the river La French.
From the preceding sketch of the Bay and River Indians,
it appears not improbable, that in 1609, 1. The Mohawks
occupied the western shores of the river, from the head ef na
vigation to the Catskill Mountains. 2. The Wabingi and
Sankikani thence to Amboy bay. 3. The " Matouwacks"
the south-western shores of Long Island. 4. The fierde
Manhattan, Staten and Manhattan Islands, and as far perhaps
on the east shore of the river as Tappan bay. 5. The Mahi
canni from the confines of the last to the tide-water of the
river, or as far as Troy and Lansingburgh.
All, excepting the first, will appear to have been from the
Lenape stock ; but the Mohawks were one of the Five Na
tions or Iroquois confederacy, and the enemies of those who
lived on the east side of the river. The historical sketch of
this Confederacy will be given in another part of our history.
We shall then trace* this celebrated league to its foundation,
designate the chiefs who were active in promoting it, thc-
tribes which successively united, and the memorable incidents
of their progress and decline. It will appear, that like the

* From original (MS.) materials, among which are some rare specimens
of Indian eloquence, particularly of the celebrated orator, Red Jacket, or,
as his Seneca name is pronounced, Saio-gauh-waut-hauh, (that is, Keeper
awake.)

232 European Discoveries and Claims to New York. [Part I.
Delawares, " The Iroquois represented their confederacy un
der the figure of a long house, of which the Mohawks were
the eastern, and the Senecas the western door. The Mo
hawk's possessions were in the region of Albany; and accord
ing to Hutchinson, in his history of Massachusetts, they were
the terror of the tribes inhabiting the country which is now
New-England. Proceeding westward, the tribes occupied
the country in this order : Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas,
Senekas." Col. Timothy Pickering,* (who acted as commis
sioner in behalf of the United States in several of the public
treaties held with those nations, including one at Philadel
phia, where General Washington first received and welcomed
the deputies of those nations,-]-) remarks, that " the Iroquois
appear to have been distinguished for their policy as well as
bravery. "To conceal their own strength or weakness, they
carried their arms into the countries of their enemies. They
conquered, or in their figurative style, put petticoats on the
Delawares, who lived in Jersey, and the lower parts of Penn
sylvania, and becoming masters of the latter country, sold it
piece-meal, from time to time, to the proprietaries. The last
sale was to the State in 1784, which extinguished their title to
all that remained of their lands within the original limits of
Pennsylvania. In 1794, or at some previous interviews with
the Six Nations, the interpreters informed me that there were
warriors then living, who had marched the long journey
through the woods, and attacked the Cherokees in their own
country, although the latter, judging from their present
strength, must then have been very far more numerous than
the Six Nations. They showed me a native Cherokee among
the Senekas, who had been taken prisoner when a child, and
lravingbeen adopted by some family, was then one of the Sen-
eka chiefs."

* From whose valuable communication (dated from Salem, Sept. 4, 1824,
and transmitted through the medium of another, from the Hon. Francis
Baylies of Massachusetts) the above extracts are made.
f Gen. Washington's paternal address to the Six Nations vrtll appear
eharacteristic.

§ 5Q.] New-York Bay and River Indians. 233
We have given this brief extract from Col. Pickering's
communication, in order to intimate, in a few words, what will
appear more at large hereafter, how eventful must have been
the annals of a confederacy which succeeded in humbling so
extensive 'and formidable a nation as the Delawares, and
which extended their arms from the lakes to the Cherokee
country.* That they conquered the Delawares and Mahicanni, has
been the popular belief, and that they forced them to become
women, in their figurative style, is certainly sanctioned by high
authority, f But that they compelled the Delawares, by force
of arms, to assume that neutral character, is denied by Mr.
Heckewelder. J That the Mohawks conquered the Mahicanni,
and reduced them to that condition by force of arms, although
apparently not improbable from the transaction of the Sara
toga purchase,^ is still made questionable by a communica
tion || from Col. Brandt, the celebrated Indian warrior, which,
with this important and interesting inquiry, will be reserved
until we speak more particularly of these aboriginal owners
of the soil of New- York.
It may be further remarked, that other names of tribes on
the banks of the river were early given by the Dutch, but
they were subdivisions merely of the parent nations before
mentioned. For instance, the " Tappaa.ns" were located, ac
cording to De Laet, " on lowlands on the western shore,
where the river in the midst was dry, and both sides deep wa
ter." He alludes, no doubt, to the flats in the vicinity of
Tappan landing. From the name of this tribe, the Dutch
gave to the Tappan Bay the name of " Tappaanse Zee."
Vander Donck, in his map of " Nova Belgica, sive Nieuw-Ned-

* See ante, p. $5.
f See Gov. Clinton's address, V. II. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 03, 65, 71.
X In MS. ib. also in Vol. I. Phila. Lit. and Hist. Trans, of Hist. Soc.
i Ante, in note, p. 230,
j| MS. N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Vol. I. '-K>

234 European Discoveries- and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
erlandt,"* in 1656, and Ogilby, in his map in 1671,t entitled
" Novi Belgii, quod nunc Novi Jorck vocatur," (naming the
tribes from the Jersey shore to " New Albania," the same as
on Vander Donck's map, from which the former seems to have
been copied, with the exceptions of some Anglicisms) call the
above tribe " Tappans ;" the next, on the same side of the
river, " Waranawan-Kongs ;" onward, " Wappinges," which
tribe is placed as extending on both sides of the river, and
were, as we heretofore ascertained, peculiarly the Highland
ers ; and lastly, the " Mackwaas" axe located near Fort
" Orangie," and " Colonye Renselaer's Wyck."
So on the eastern side of the river, northward of the
"Manhattans," are placed the " Pachami," some distance
from the borders of the river; next, "Waoranecks," and
lastly, above theWappings Kill the '* Wappinges," before na
med. From this location of the Pachami, they have been
supposed to have been the Haverstraw Indians. But earlier
than Vander Donck, viz. in 1651, Hartger,f after naming
the " Tappauns," says, that above Brickkiln, on the east side
of the river, opposite Fisherman's Course, a nation lives, cal
led Pachami. Further up, another, called Waoranecks (or
Waorancki) at a place called Esopus ; a little further on the
west side another, called Waranawankongs. Above Kinder-
hook and Sturgeon Point, and over against Fisher's Point on
the east side of the river, live the nation called " Mahiccans,"
and on the west shore, near Fort " Auranie," live a nation,
called by the Dutch, Maquaas or Mohawks, who extended as
far down as " Skatskill" mountains, and were enemies to the
Mahiccans. De Laet,§ who wrote earlier than either, says,
that on the east shore of " Fisher's Rack," a nation resider
called Pachami. This rack, or course, brings the voyager to

* Beschryvinge Van Nieuw-Nederlandti Amst. 1655. Another edition,
1666. f Hist. Amer.
X Joost Hartger's book, printed Amst. 1651.
f Nieuw WereWt. Leyden, 1625.

$'50 .] New-York Bay and River Indians. 235
another strait, where, on the west side, there is a sharp out
stretching point, with some sand, and over against it a flat
lowland, bend, or "bocht," in the river, where are other In
dians, called " Waoranecks." The place is called Esopus. A
small distance upward, on the western side, live the " Wara-
nawankongs," where is a streamlet. The river here is not so
deep as before, and there are many small islands in it. After
this, is another rack, which is called " Kleverack," where is
more depth on the western shore, but on the eastern much
sand. The names and locations of these Esopus and other tribes,
will appear important in the annals of our New Netherlands.
We shall then recur to them, as well as the racks, that is, the
divisions, courses, or reaches, into which the Dutch divided
this river. It may not be irrelative at this time to take a
slight view of those divisions or racks. Judge Benson,* says
the number of racks, or reaches into which the Dutch divided
the river, were thirteen. He describes three only,f as the
distances denoted by the others cannot now be ascertained.
Following De Laet, we will as near as possible endeavour to
trace the reaches, and ascertain, more precisely the residence
of the tribes above named. The firstj reach was to Tappan.
The second says De Laet, stretched north-west, upward to a
narrow called " Haverstroo."§ Then follows " Seyl-makers
Rack," (Sail-maker's reach through Haverstraw Bay,) after
wards a crooked rack, the form of a half moon, called by us,
says De Laet, the Kocks Rack, (Cook's reach, from Haver
straw into the Horse Shoe,) afterwards " Hoge Rack," from
Anthony's nose,|| inclusive to West Point. And the Fox's

* In memoir read before N. Y. Hist. Society. '
f Viz. Martelaer's Rack, Lange Rack, and Het Klauver Rack, which
will be noted presently.
X Horse Reach. Judge B.
5 That is literally " Oat Straw,'1'' the name of arable land above Vredi-
deka Hook. Ib.
|| "Antonie's Neus,n named after Antonie de Hooge, Secretary of the Co
lony of Rensselaerwyck. Judge Benson. Hpc enie. .

236 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
rack to the Klinckers-JercA (hill,) (from West Point* to the
head of the highlands,) afterwards the Fisher's rack,\ (on the
east shore of which reside the Pachami as before described,
that is, from the vicinity of Fishkill Creek to Esopus,) which
course brings the voyager _ to another strait, (at and from
Esopus to Red Hook, landing where the Woranecks resided as
before described,) a small distance above which, where there
is a streamlet, less depth in the river and many islands, (that
is from Red Hook to the Livingston's manor-house,) com
mences another course, called ". Kleverack,"% where is more
depth on the west shore, and on the east side much sand ;
viz. from Livingston's manor-house to the city of Hudson, and
thence towards Columbia Ville) onward (continues De Laet,)
we have "backer rack," and " Jan Playsiers-rack," and the
" Vasterack," until we go up to the Hinnen-hoeck. All these
" racken," are affected by sands and shallows, and the in
habitants on their shores are thereby incommoded. So on
the east shore, even into the middle of the river are similar
inconveniences. Then follows Herten-rach to Kinderhoeck.
Here and thence the river is only five fathoms deep at the most,
and the greater part two and three fathoms. Past Kinder-

* The short reach passing West Point is " Martelaer's Rack,n the Mar
tyr's Rack. Among the Dutch, martelaer signified figuratively, contending
or struggling, as well as suffering. Those who have to contend and struggle
to get through this reach, will comprehend the meaning. Judge Benson.
f. Judge Benson describes "Lange Rack,''' the Long Reach,as that which
extended from Pollepet Island to the tshort turn in the river, the Krom El-
leboog ; whence, from' retaining the first part, and translating the second,
has arisen Crom Elbow. The Island was named Pollepel from its resem
blance to the convex side and circular form of the bowl of a ladle. Lepel
in Dutch, is a spoon; apollepel is a ladle; and particularly the one with a
short handle for beating the butter for the wafel. The hill (1 529 feet high)
oh the left as we leave the Highlands, is called Boter Bergh, (Butter Hill,)
from its supposed resemblance to a roll of butter.
X Het KlauverRack, the Clover Reach, is the reach at Hudson. The
Bluffs, or terminations of the hills there, were called by the Dutch the
Klauvers (the Clovers) from their resemblance, it is said, to the clover ; bat
whether to the leaf or the flower, is not decided. Ib.

§ 51.] Indians — Racks of Hudson River. 23?
hook are some small islands in the river of which one is called
" Beeren EyUndt," there we come into a district which we
call, (says De Laet) " Ouwe Ree," and yet further on, lies
the " Steurhoeck," (Sturgeons point,) and next " Visschers-
hoeck," (fisherman's hook,) over against which two points on
the east side of the river, the " Mahikans" reside. On this
side lies a long broken island, through which are many little
streams, so that it consists of many islands, This island
stretches nearly to the island where the fort was erected in
1614.* To this the flood of the river reaches, and to this
plaice the ships or shipping come up : further up the river is dry,
so that there hardly sloops can sail, and from afar certain high
hills are seen whence the waters of this river proceed. (130)
§,51.
We are now prepared to trace Hudson's voyage to the
head of navigation, and to designate by name the natives
with whom he had intercourse. We have already followed
his "Jacht, the Halve Mane,"^ in her slow progress from Sandy
Hook into the mouth of the river, where she was anchored
on the 12th of September.
Vander Donck delineates upon his map, entitled " Nova
Belgica, sive Nieuw Nederlandt,' " Sanhican," upon the
shores of Ne\y-Jersey, Westward of " Staton Eyl," and oppo
site " Port May of Godyn's Bay," (now Sandy Hook Bay
and Amboy, or Rariton Bay). Ogilby, in his map "Novi
Belgii, quod nunc Novi Jorck vacatur" copies Vander Donck
in the location of the Indian nations, from this bay to " Fort
Orangie," or Nova-Albania. .
When Hudson arrived at Sandy Hook, he observed the
waters swarming with fish. He sent his boat manned to ob-

* That is, Fort "Orangie," or Fort Orange, which is said to have been the
first Dutch settlement in this state. "The Fort (says De Laet) was founded
on one of the small islands on the west shore of the river, where a nation of
Indians, De Laet called Maxlcwaes, live." This was Kasteel (Castle) Island.
f DeLaet,

238 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
tain a supply. His men may have gone to Coney Island,
where Hudson, by tradition, was first received. If so, the
Matouwacks, who inhabited the south-western shores of Long
Island, were they who first welcomed the discoverer. The
death of Colman, at the entrance into New- York Bay,
might be attributed to the fierce Manhattans, a branch of the
warlike Minsi, a. tribe of the ancient and renowned Lenape.
The same people also approached Hudson's ship in a hostile
attitude. Two of them were received on board, detained,
clothed in red coats, and taken along in the ship.
Hudson having finished his interviews and traffic with the
Manhattans and Sankhicanni in the Bay of New-York and
mouth of the river, weighed anchor on the thirteenth, aud taking
advantage of the flood-tide in the forenoon, pijoceeded a few
miles and anchored off Manhattenville, when the visits of the
natives to his ship were renewed. In the afternoon, with a
light wind and flood tide, he sailed as far as Phillipsburgh,
(or Yonkers) and anchored for the night.
On the fourteenth he proceeded through Tappan and Ha-
verstraw Bay, (the river being described* as a mile wide) and
on arriving between Stony and Ver Plank's Point, he came to
what appeared to him " a streight between two points, which
trended north-east by north one league ;" passing the same
and reaching Peekskill, he observed " very hieh lands" on
both sides of the river, and proceeding through the Horse
race, " north-west a league and a halfe deepe water," he ar
rived in the direction of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery,
between Bare Mountain and Anthony's Nose. Whence di
recting his course " north-west by north two leagues," where
" the land grew very high and mountainous,"-)- he anchored
for the ensuing night opposite West Point.
During these two days of his progress, Hudspn found
much to admire in the diversified physiognomy of this wild

* In the Journal.
* Journal. " The river is full of fish. /?>

§'51.] Hudson's Voyage up the River Hudson. 239
region. It appears from his journal that he was not inatten
tive to the rapid and astonishing elevation of a district of
country which, in the course of less than sixty miles, increases
from a few feet above the water level* to the lofty height of
fifteen hundred feet.-|- Sailing leisurely, he had full oppor
tunity to contrast the appearances of the opposite shores.
On the left he had the sublime prospect of the pallisado rocks,
whose dark columnar front, like a towering battlement, with
here and there a projection like the salient angle of a bastion,
presented perpendicular elevations from three to five hundred
feet, and ranging more than thirty miles uninterrupted, (ex
cept by the valley of the Nyac) it at last exhibited an alti
tude of nearly seven hundred feet, J and then vanished from his
sight, in the remote, but still more elevated range of the High
Tourn and Tourn Mountain.^ On the right he beheld a
comparatively low but undulating border, which, in the luxu
riance of autumnal foilage, afforded a striking contrast and a
pleasing relief, as he turned from the sublimity and barrenness
of the opposite cliffs.
Onward he perceived the river in its first course of thirty
miles, very gradually widening until it suddenly presented
the broad expanse of a bay.|| Then as he passed into ano-
ther,1T and viewed the insuperable barrier of mountains that
lay before him, he considered his discovery terminated, until
in searching for a passage he found one which proved to be the
continuation of a river, now serpentining in its course, deepen
ing and narrowing, until it brought hirn to the remarkable
point already mentioned.

* At Bergen Point.
f At the head of the Highlands.
X Iu the south peak of Hook Mountain, (or Vredideka Hook.)
i The latter 1067 feet. See Dr. Samuel Akerly's Geology of the Hud
son River, N, Y. 1820.
|| " Tappaanse Zee."
If Haverstraw.

240 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
In the deep' solitude of this grand and romantic spot, while
" One still
And solemn desert, in primeval garb,
Hung round his lonely bark."*
Hudson cast anchor for the night.
Without violating any rule of probability, we may imagine,
that he here enjoyed one of the most picturesque, magnificent,
and impressive scenes which he had ever contemplated. His
was the first European ship which had been encompassed by
the " Mateawan,J,\ Mountains. Ignorant of the topography of
the region which he had boldly penetrated, he was surprised
to find that the further he went, the mountains rose to a loftier
elevation and seemed to continue in interminable perspective.
He perceived the narrow stream upon which he had now en
tered, abruptly struggling round the angles of the hills, through
broken rocks, under overhanging precipices, or along the base
of perpendiculariron-bound summits, whose opposite sides indi*
cated a former union, which some convulsion of nature had
separated. A mind less habituated to firm resolve, or less
familiarized to scenes of novelty and peril, would have been
impressed with some emotions of fear, as well as awe, when
the setting sun left the shadows of the mountains, to deep
en into those of night ; when the still, solemn, overpow
ering gloom became interrupted only by the scream of the
catamount, as it leaped from the forest to the jetting brow,
glanced for a moment at the ship, as its port-lights glimmered
on the water, and then plunged into the thicket ; or by the shrill
screech of "each wild throat, in this incumbrance of horrific
woods;" (131) or perhaps by the tremendous roar of the
traditionary Ydgesho, which, about this period, conveyed dis
may to the hearts of the highland Wabingi, occasionally threw
into consternation their happy settlement of Wickapy, roused

* Descriptive Poems by John D. McKennon, N. Y. 1802.
f Indian name of the Highlands. See their description in Spafford's Ga.
zetteer of N. Y. 2ded. 1824.

v) 51.] Hudson explores the river. 241
the stern Mahicanni to plan, around their council fire, the de
struction of the monster,* or to seek exemption from his fero
cious irruptions by imploring the interposition of their evil
Manitto. But Hudson had seen, if not the monsters of the forest,
those of the deep. He had seen nature in her appalling array
of tempest and ice, as displayed in the arctic regions. The
scene now before him was more adapted to gratify his love
for the romantic, than to intimidate his firmness. How de
lighted therefore must he have been, when the full-orbed moon
rose from behind the mountains, and opened to full view
thisgrand circus of hills. At their base lay the ship embosom
ed in a tremulous gleam of light. The surrounding rocks
glistened with the reflected moon-beams, or presented interstices
of shade and cavern, whither the grim, gaunt wolf hastened
with stealthy tread, when, prowling along the bank, his glare
first fell upon the alarming wonder. The forest was hushed,
and its tenants mute. The mountain sides sparkled with gems
and dew drops. Here a perpendicular presented — there a de
clivity; here terrace rose upon terrace — -there rocks upon
rocks; dark shadows extended down the sides of the more
elevated ranges, from whose tops the clouds emerging, sailed
over the open area of the vast natural amphitheatre, threw
their shadows on the plains below ; or crossing the ship, which
lay beneath like a speck upon a bright mirror ; intercepted
the light of the moon, while
" Now through the passing clouds she seemed to stoop,
Now up the pure cerulean rode sublime."t
To contemplate a night-scene of such mingled magnificence

* This interesting tradition from the MS. communications of Mr. Hecke
welder, will be found in the note to which the figure (131) refers. With
regard to the Mammoth, see Dr. Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer. According
to him, the Walkill region is filled with organic remains, and is peculiarly
the land of the Mammoth.
f Thomson's Seasons.
Vol. I. 31

242 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
and beauty, and to enjoy the refreshing night-breeze of the sea
son, we may presume that Hudson passed some time before
he retired to his cabin. /
The next morning the Weather was misty until the sun
arose, when the sky became clear, and the wild grandeur of
the surrounding highland scenery was once more disclosed
to Hudson's view.
Just as he weighed anchor to sail, the two Manhattse, whom
he had taken near Staten Island, and who had manifested an
unconquerable restlessness in their captivity, made their escape
out of a port of the ship, and swam away. After she was
under sailj the fugitives hailed her in a very scornful manner.
It will appear in the sequel, that they were not to be thus
satisfied without rseekrng^aiT opportunity -of revenging this in
fringement on their liberty.
Having the day before sailed thirty-six miles, Hudson this
day (15th) went fifty more, which by accurate measurement
from West Point, would bring him to Catskill landing. In the
morning, " passing by the high mountaines" of our highlands,
lying between Peekskill and Newburgh,* sailing by the op
posite counties of Dutchess and Ulster, and finding in his
course good depth of water, such as six to thirteen fathoms,
" and great store of salmons in the river,"f Hudson came at

* Hudson had now passed into the natural valley of the river. Its flow
into the Highlands where salt and fresh water meet, is considered by some
geologists as an arm of the sea. The country north of the Highlands is sup
posed to have been the bottom of a lake, the southern barrier of which
was the Highlands, and the passage through them to have been caused
by the shock of an earthquake. See Dr. Mitchill's Geology of North
Amer. in Cuvier's Theory p. 367, 9, 385. Dr. Akerly's Geol. of the Hud
son, p. 9, 10, 11, 39, 40, 58, 66, 67, 68. Eaton's Geol. Surveys, and that of
Erie Canal. 1824. p. 152, 253.
| Whether this river abounded in salmon has been made a question. See
Intro. Dis. before Lit. & Phil. Soc. of N. Y. May 1814, by De Witt Clin
ton, LL.D. note 27, p. 117. Dr. Mitchill, Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 33,
&42.

§ 51.] Hudson voyage up the river. 243
night, " to other mountaines which lie from the river side."*
Here he beheld the most elevated range on the Hudson river,
and here he found, as he says, " very loving people, and very
old men, by whom he and his crew were well used. They sent
their boat off and caught a great quantity of excellent fish.
In the morning, it being fair though very warm weather,
(Sep. 16,) they renewed their fishing excursion, but they
were less successful than they had been, in consequence of
canoes having been there all night. This morning the natives
flocked on board, supplied them for trifles, with Indian corn,
pumpkins, and tobacco. f They rode still all day, filled their

* Journal. These were the"" Kaatsbergs," or CatskillMountains, one of
which, viz. The Round Top, is 3804 feet above tide-water, the highest on
the Hudson River. The same above the base of the range 3105. High
Peak above tide-water 3718, above the base 3019. The altitude of the base
of the Catskill range is 699 feet. (Capt. Partridge took the altitude in
1818.) f The following reception Hudson and a part of his crew met with on land
ing in lat. 42° ,1 5'. (According to De Laet in Nieuw Wereldt. ) He went on
shore in one of their canoes with an old man, who was the chief of 40 men
and 17 women. These he saw in, a house made of bark of trees, exceeding
ly smooth and well finished within and without. He found a great quantity
of Indian corn and beans. Indeed, near the house there lay drying, of these
articles enough to load three ships, besides what were then growing in the
fields. On coming to the house, two mats were spread to sit on, eatables were
immediately brought in red wooden bowls well made, two men were sent
off with their bows and arrows, and soon returned with two pigeons. They
also killed a fat dog, and skinned it with shells which they had got out of the
water. They expected their visiters would remain during the.night ; but
the latter determined to return on board. The natives were exceedingly
kind and good tempered ; for when they discovered Hudspn's determination
to proceed onj board, they imagining it proceeded from fear of their bows
and arrows, broke them to pieces, and threw them into the fire.)
The land was observed to be of the finest kind for tillage. It bore trees
fit for building vessels, &c. Pumpkins, grapes, plums, and^other fruit, were
growing here at the time. The latitude given by De Laet would bring
Hudson in the vicinity of Catskill, where he remained some time, andhad
free and amicable intercourse with the natives, and found " very loyjng peo
ple and very old men," but perhaps the interview was on the 1 8 th near Cas-
tleton, where the Gov. of the country gave so "good che.er." These natives
were the Wabingi, or the Mohawks.

244 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
casks with fresh water, and " at night weighed and went two
leagues higher, and had shoald water ; so they anchored til
day."* This would bring them near the shoals or marsh in
the river, f between Athens, and directly opposite that and the
city that now bears the name of Hudson. In the visiorls of the
wildest fancy, which often gives to " airy nothing a local habi
tation and a name," Hudson never could have dreamed, that
here, where his onward course was suddenly arrested, as it
were, to give a pause for destiny to link her strange associa
tions, a " city of Hudson," in less than two centuries, was to
unite with the river on whose banks it was to be erected, and
orm in unison with the names of a strait and bay, where their
discoverer should perish, a chaplet of imperishable glory to
his name and fame and memory.
In the morning, (17th) Hudson, availing himself of its cool
ness and freshness, (the weather having been uniformly hot,
though usually very fair,) set sail soon after sunrise, and " ran
up sixe leagues higher, and found shoalds in the middle of the
channell, and small ilands, but seven fathoms water on both
sides. Toward night we borrowed so neere the shoare, that
we grounded ; so we layed out our small anchor, and heaved
off againe. Then we borrowed on the banke in the channell,
and came aground againe ; while the floud ran we heaved off
again, and anchored all night."
We have made this extract in the words of the journal.
And the correctness of our interpretation will be directed to
settle a point which has been controverted, viz. How far
Hudson actually sailed with the ship " Half Moon ?" Dr.
Millerf says, " Hudson appears to have sailed up the river a
little above where the city of Hudson now stands ; and be
yond that point he himself never ascended ;" that not consi-

* Journal.
| 117 miles from N. Y.
X In a discourse designed to commemorate the discovery of New- York
by Henry Hudson ; by Samuel Miller, DD. &c. Vol. I. N. Y. Hist. p. 84.

§ 51. J Hudson's Vdyage up the River 245"
dering it safe to proceed further with his ship he sent his boat,
which, after going eight or nine leagues beyond where the
ship lay at anchor, and evidently as far as where the city of
Albany stands, returned with report of irregular and unfavour
able soundings.
The Half Moon was a small ship, a yacht, a mere fly boat,*
without any cargo and so light, (judging from the facility
with which she was brought off wherever she run aground,
once from the shore at Sandy Hook, twice near her present
position, and yet heaved off, in the last case, by a light an
chor ;) that it is probable she was of a less burthen than ma
ny of the steamboats and sloops, that now ply between New-
York, Albany, and Troy. She may not have much exceeded
the yacht which De Laet describes, as having been built by
" Schipper Block." He says,f in speaking of the abundance
of ship timber on the banks of the river, that divers sloops and
petty vessels were built, particularly in 1614, when " Schip
per Adriaen Block, having had by accident his ship burned,
built a ijacht'* thirty-eight feet long in keel, forty-four and a
half feet over the deck, from head to stern, eleven and a half
feet wide, with which he sailed through ' Hellegat' into the
Great Bay* and examined all the places about it, and also pro
ceeded to Cape Cod, met ' Hendrick Christiansz' ship, and
left his boat on that coast to be further used." But according
loDe»Laet, as heretofore quoted, | even the shipping came to
the island where Fort Orange was erected, though some dis
tance beyond it the river was so shallow, that sloops could
hardly go up. Consequently Hudson's yacht, or fly-boat,
might have gone as far as Albany.
Besides, the Hudson River, in the course of two hundred
and fifteen years, has undoubtedly lessened in depth. The

* See ante p. 222. 237.
f Nieuw Wereldt, B. 3 ch. 10.
t Ante?. 237.

246 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [PartL
opening and settling of a new country diminishes the sources
of supply at the, fountain heads of rivers,, by widening the
range for the action of the sun, producing consequently, more
absorption and evaporation. Geologists, in their observations,
have thought that they could trace in the rear of Lansing*-
burgh and Troy the indications of a former channel of this
river, which ran at the base of the picturesque range of hills
in the rear of those places. The flats ajong the river between
Albany and Troy, at Greenbush and below, are supposed to
have been submerged. And at the early settlement of our State,
the very island on which our Dutch ancestors first made a
stand a little below Albany, was then so liable to be unindat-
ed, that they were obliged to remove their fortification and
settlement. From the shoal opposite the city of Hudson, to Castleton, the
distance is about the same as that mentioned in the journal, (6
leagues). In this course, particularly between New Baltimore
and Castleton are several " shoals in the middle of the channel
and small islands." The shoalest water between New Balti
more and Castleton is now from three and a half to seven
feet, between that and Albany four and a half to five and six-
tenths feet. At and between Coemans and Albany are now
two bars. Taking the minimum three and a half feet, and
allowing three feet flood tide, this will give six and a half
feet depth. But when we take into the calculation, that these
bars have within half a century only, greatly increased by ac
cession of alluvion, notwithstanding the artificial means to
keep them clear, that the river has receded from its ancient
elevation probably three or four feet; we shall not be surpris
ed that Hudson's light ship (perhaps about fifty or sixty tons
burthen, and drawing five or six feet water) actually came,
according to the distance in his journal, to Albany or the

* Genet's Report to the Legislature of N. Y. See Map of the Hudson*

§'51.] Hudson's Voyage up the River. 247
island just below, where the Hollanders were probably in
duced, by Hudson's report, to make their first settlement, and
that his boat proceeded at least as far as Troy, Lansingburgh,
and Waterford.
We now return to the journal, and in our conclusion, say
he went that day (17th) somewhere near Castleton, that the
shore where the ship grounded, and the bank in the channel,
where she stuck till flood tide, were in that vicinity, where a
bar then existed, which may have since changed its position
while others have formed. Having cleared the bars, Hudson
anchored. The next morning (18th) the weather continued
fair and calm, and he remained during the day. A very
friendly intercourse with the natives appears to have been had.
One of the chiefs of the country added another proof to the
many proofs already cited,* of that genuine hospitality which
distinguished almost invariably the native of the forest in his
first interviews with Europeans. f
On the ninteenth of September Hudson weighed anchor,
and proceeded six miles higher up. Here it seems is the fur-
therest point to which the ship proceeded. If the shoals (all
of which the ship had cleared) which now form the first bar,
a few miles below. Albany, then existed, the six miles would
have brought her near the upper part of the city. If the
distance be computed from the vicinity of Castleton, then
Hudson would have advanced about midway of the island,
(opposite Norman's Kill) a little below Albany, and in either
case he would have been in view of the spot where the city
has been erected. In coincidence with the opinion that he
came as far as Albany, are the additional statements of Pro-

* See ante ^. 144.
| " In the afternoon our master's mate went on land with an old savage,
a Governour of the countrey, who carried him to his house, and made him
good cheeTe.n—rJoumal. This was either one of the Mahicanni on the
east shore, or one of the Mohawks on the west.

248 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I.
fessor Ebeling, President Lambrechtsen, Dr. Belknap, and
several others.*
Here Hudson moored his vessel nearly four days. The
kindness with which the natives welcomed him, and the sin
cerity of their friendship* tested by an experiment, which we
shall presently describe, dissipated former suspicions.
He had arrived about noon. The natives flocked on board,
brought their wealth, such as grapes, pumpkins, together with
otter and beaver skins,f for which hatchets, beads, knives,
and other trifles, were given.
Next morning, (20th) the mate, with four men, went up

* Doct. Belknap (Am. Biog. art. Hudson) says that from an enumeration
of the computed distances in each day's run, Hudson sailed 53 leagues, and
that it is evident that he penetrated as far as Albany. But in this compu
tation he does not seem to have been correct. The given leagues in the
journal appear to have been less; but on their accuracy as to distances no
reliance can be placed. If it could be, Hudson, according to Dr. B. would
have gone as far as the city of Troy and villages of Waterford and Lansing
burgh' — Troy being but 6, Lansingburgh 9, and Waterford 10 miles from
Albany ; which last city is 144 miles only from New- York, by accurate
measurement, according to Goodrich's map, and lies in lat. 42° 29'. Lam
brechtsen, President of the Zecland Society of Sciences, who is presumed
to have been acquainted with the records, if any existed on this subject in
Holland, says in his short description of the first discovery of New Nether
lands, &c. translated in MS. by Mr. Vanderkemp, that this river was
sailed up to the 43° N. latitude. Professor Ebeling (in his History of
America, viz. New- York,) gives the same degree, and says the yacht could
go no further for want of depth of water. But in the collections of the
Dutch East India voyages, (translated, from the Dutch, London, 1703) it is
asserted that Hudson sailed to the 42° 40', about 50 leagues. This supports
the statement of Abraham Yates, jun., who, (in a manuscript letter now in
the N. Y. Historical Library, directed to Jedediah Morse, dated May 1,
1 793,) says thai Hudson proceeded to the 42° 40', and his boat, to where the
river divides itself into four branches. Mr. Yates was at that date Mayor
bf the city of Albany, and was well acquainted with the traditional and his
torical accounts of the first discovery and settlements. If he was correct,
Hudson came as far as the present Canal lock and Albany basin, and his
boat proceeded to Waterford and Lansingburgh.
t Albany was long celebrated for the beavers caught in its neighbour
hood. Tf was once called Beaver-wyck.

§51.] Hudson at Albany. 249
six miles, found but six feet water, the channel very narrow,
and towards night returned.
Theyprobably visited the shoals between Albany and Troy,
of which there are now several, and the channel at two places
particularly is narrow, shallow, and crooked.
The next day, (21st) they determined again to examine the
depth and breadth of the river ; but they did not leave the
ship, in consequence of multitudes flocking on board to sur
vey the wonder.
The prejudices they imbibed in Europe, or in their coasting
voyage, against a people whom Europeans denominated sa
vages, had given a tone of suspicion to their intercourse. In
order to discover whether " any of the chiefe men of the
country here had any treacherie in them, our master and
mate" resorted to the following singular expedient: They
took them into the cabin, and gave them so much " wine and
aqua vita, 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 doe in a strange place."* The de
nouement to this ludicrous pantomime was, that one of them
became intoxicated. On beholding him stagger and fall, the
natives became dumb from utter astonishment. They could
say by their looks and gestures only, that it " was strange to
them, for they could not tell how to take it."-}- They all hur
ried ashore in their canoes. Some time after, a few of them
came again, brought stropes of beads for the intoxicated man,
(perhaps to enable him to propitiate the good will of those
who could exercise so strange a power over him.) He slept
all night quietly. In the morning, (Sept. 22) the mate and
four others, embarked in the boat to sound the river higher up.
than they had been. The natives did not venture to renew
their visit to the ship till noon, when some of them came, and

* Journal. f Journal.
Vol. I. 32

250 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part.L
finding their chief well, were highly gratified. In the after
noon, they repeated their visit, brought tobacco and beads,
u and gave them to our master, and made an oration, and
showed him all the country round about."* Not contented
with this proof of their gratitude, and this oratorical expres-
sion of their friendship, in a language which they did not
seem to be aware that Hudson could not interpret, they sent
off one of their attendants, who presently brought a great
" platter" of venison, dressed in their own style, and " caused
him to eate with them : then they made him reverence, and
departed all," except the old chief, who, having got a taste
of the fatal beverage, chose to remain a little longer on
board. This poison, (which, combined with other causes, has
since operated to deprive the descendants of these unsuspect
ing people of the fine regions, which the native orator, in the
boldness of a free spirit, and with so much pride and pleasure,
then displayed to Hudson,) was now introduced among our
Iroquois Indians by the first European who had ever entered
their Cahohatatea,f visited their Schenectadea,\ or passed their
Tioghsahronde Cohohatatea.§
These people were of the Mohawk nation, then one of the-
most formidable of the Iroquois confederacy, afterwards the
victorious enemies of the Mahicanni, and the terror of the
New-England Indians,|| but now not distinctly known within

* Journal.
| The Iroquois name of the North or Hudson River.
X Iroquois name for Albany, signifying the place the Iroquois arrived at
by travelling through the pine-trees. (I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 44.) It will
appear in our Colonial History, that this place has had the names of Fort
Orange, Beaverwyck, William's Stadt, Fuyck or Hoop-net, Albany, New-
Albania, besides that of Schenectadea, and the .Mahicanni name of Gaschte-
nick. i That is, the North River when spoken of in relation to the Norman's
Kill, (off which perhaps Hudson first anchored while he remained these
four days near Albany,) or to the water-vliet-kiU, the Mohock, or other
streams, discharging into the river. (I. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 44.)
|| See ante p. 232.

^51.] Hudson at Albany. 251
the limits of this State. They occupied the spot which now
exhibits more than two thousand edifices and fourteen thou
sand inhabitants, displaying the bustle of commercial enter
prise, the splendour of private opulence, and the stateliness
of official authority. At the present period, scarcely a de
scendant of that powerful tribe is seen in this region, unless,
indeed, as an occasional wanderer, to revisit the seats- of his
ancestors, to view the strange transition that has occurred
since their interview with Hudson, and perhaps to gaze, as he
approaches the legislative and judicial capitol, upon an emblem
on its cupola, the prototype of which he may possibly think
had been sometimes concealed from the eyes of his forefa
thers. While Hudson, unconscious of the ulterior effects of the
pernicious evil, thus introduced the knowledge of it, at the
central part of our State, Champlain, we have heretofore seen,
was exploring our northern waters during the same season,
and gave to the same people their first knowledge of the
effects of gunpowder.*
It is a remarkable fact, 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.f
As a singular coincidence, also a similar tradition, most satis
factorily authenticated, prevails among the descendants of the
ancient Lenni Lenape, (or Delaweres) one of the branches of
which, was the Mahicanni who resided opposite Albany when
Hudson arrived ; and other branches of whom, were the Mon-
seys and Delawares, who at that time occupied Manhattan and
Staten Islands, and the Jersey shore.
The tradition is sanctioned by the names of Doctor Barton
and the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, and confirmed by the earli
est Dutch historiansj of New Netherlands. It differs from

* See ante p. 177, 180.
f Doct. Miller Disc. V. I. N. Y. H. Coll. p. 35.
X This account is taken from the MSS. in possession of the N. Y. Hist
Society, and the relation of Mr. Heckewelder agrees with that since pub-

252 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
the foregoing description in one important particular. The
scene of it is laid on York or Manhattan Island.
The following is the tradition. " A long time ago, before
men with a white skin had ever been seen, some Indians, fish
ing at a place where the sea widens, espied something at a
distance moving upon the water. They hurried ashore, col
lected their neighbours, who together returned and viewed in
tensely this astonishing phenomenon. What it could bef
baffled all conjecture. Some supposed it a large fish or ani
mal, others that it was a very big house floating on the sea.
Perceiving it moving towards land, the spectators concluded
that it would be proper to send runners in different directions
to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they might send
off for the immediate attendance of their warriors. These
arriving in numbers to behold the sight, and perceiving that
it was actually moving towards them, (i. e. coming into the
river or bay,) they conjectured that it must be a remarkable
large house, in which the Manitto (or Great Spirit) was com
ing to visit them. They were much afraid, and yet under no
apprehension that the Great Spirit would injure them. They
worshipped him. The chiefs now assembled at York Island,
and consulted in what manner they should receive their
Manitto : meat was prepared for a sacrifice. The women
were directed to prepare the best of victuals. Idols or images
were examined and put in order. A grand dance they thought
would be pleasing, and in addition to the sacrifice, might ap
pease him if angry. The conjurors were also set to work to
determine what this phenomenon portended, and what the
result would be. To these, men, women and children, look
ed up for advice and protection. Utterly at a loss what to
do, and distracted alternately by hope and fear, in this con
fusion a grand dance commenced. Meantime fresh runners

lished by him in Vol. I. of Hist, and Lit. Transactions of Amer. Philo. Soci
ety, Phila. 1819. A MS- extract from Dr. Barton's Journal un N. Y. H.
Soc. Library) is to the same purport.

45-1.] Hiidson. Tradition of first interview. 253
arrived, declaring it to be a great house of various colours,
and full of living creatures. It now appeared certain that it
was their Manitto, probably bringing some new kind of game.
Others arriving, declared it positively to be full of people of
different colour and dress from theirs, arid that one in particu
lar appeared altogether red.* This then must be the Manitto.
They were lost iu admiration, could not imagine what the
vessel was, whence it came, or what all this portended. They
are now hailed from the vessel in a language they could not
understand. They answer by a shout or yell in their way.
The house, (or large canoe, as some render it) stops. A
smaller canoe comes on shore with the red man in it, some stay
by his canoe to guard it. The chiefs and wise men form a cir
cle, into which the red man and two attendants approach.
He salutes them with friendly countenance, and they return
the salute after their manner. They are amazed at their
colour and dress, particularly with him who, glittering in red,
wore something (perhaps lace and buttons) they could not
comprehend. He must be the great Manitto they thought,
but why should he have a white skin ? A large elegant Hock-
hack (gourd, i. e. bottle, decanter, &c.) is brought by one
of the Supposed Manitto's servants, from which a substance is
poured into a small cup or glass, and handed to the Manitto.
He drinks, has the glass refilled and handed to the chief near
him. He takes it, smells it, and passes it to the next who does
the same. The glass in this manner is passed round the
circle, and is about to be returned to the red clothed man,
when one of them, a great warrior, harangues them on the
impropriety of returning the cup unemptied. It was handed
to them, he said, by the Manitto, to drink out of as he had. To
follow his example would please him — to reject it might pro
voke his wrath. And if no one else would, he would drink it

* It will be recollected, that Hudson clothed in red the savages he took
on board near Sandy Hook Bay. This shows that he had red clothes on
board, and when ho or his mate landed, he might have been thus clothed.

254 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part!.
himself, let what would follow, for it were better for one even
to die, than a whole nation to be destroyed. He then took
the glass, smelled at it, again addressed them, bidding adieu,
and drank the contents. AH eyes were now fixed (on the first
Indian in New- York who had tasted the poison which has
since effected so signal a revolution in the condition of the
native Americans.) He soon began to stagger. The women
cried, supposing him in fits. He rolled on the ground. They
bemoan his fate. They thought him dying. He fell asleep.
They at first thought he had expired, but soon perceived he
still breathed. He awoke, jumped up, and declared he never
felt more happy. He asked for more, and the whole assem
bly imitating him, became intoxicated. After this intoxication
ceased, they say, that while it lasted the whites confined them
selves to their vessel, the man with red clothes returned,
and distributed beads, axes, hoes, and stockings. They soon
became familiar, and conversed by signs. The whites made
them understand that they would now return home, but the
next year they would visit them again with presents, and stay
with them awhile; but that as they could not live without
eating, they should then want a little land to sow seeds, in
order to raise herbs to put into their broth. Accordingly a
vessel arrived the season following, when they were much
rejoiced to see each other;* but the whites laughed when
they saw the axes and hoes hanging as ornaments to their
breasts, and the stockings used as tobacco pouches. The
whites now put handles (or helves) in the former, and cut
down trees before their eyes, and dug the ground, and show
ed them the use of the stockings. Here they say a general
laughter ensued, to think they had remained ignorant of the
use of these things, and had borne so long such heavy metal
suspended around their necks. Familiarity daily increasing
between them and the whites, the latter now proposed to stay

* It is certain that the Dutch sent one ship the year after Hudson's dis
covery, and it is highly probable that a part of the crew who had been with
him, returned with this vessel.

^51.] Hudson. Tradition of first interview. #55
with them, asking them only for so much land as the hide of
a bullock spread before them would cover or encompass.
They granted the request. The whites took a knife, and
beginning at one place on this hide, cut it up to a rope not
thicker than the finger of a little child. They then took the
rope and drew it gently along in a circular form, and took in
a large piece of ground ; the Indians were surprised at their
superior wit, but they did not contend with them for a little
ground, as they had enough.* They lived contentedly togeth
er for a long time, but the new comers from time to time
asked for more land, which was readily obtained. And thus
they gradually proceeded higher up the Mahicannittuck,
(Hudson river) until they began to believe they would want
all their country, which proved eventually the case."
The name (says Barton) which these Indians gave to the
whites who surprised them so much, was Woapsid Lennappe,
which signifies the white people. But in process of time,
when a number of disagreeable events had taken place between
the natives and new-comers, the former laid aside the original
appellation, and called them Schwonnack, " the salt people,"
because they came across the saltwater ; and this is the ge
neral name of the whites to this day.
That this remarkable tradition has a reference to one of the
first visits which the Europeans paid to the country in the
neighbourhood of the city of New- York, there is very little
reason to doubt. We are left to conjecture (says Dr. Barton)
at what time the visit was made, and by what nation, and of
course to whom the Indians are indebted for the first introduc
tion of spiritous liquors among them.
But Vander Donckf (who wrote about forty-three years after
the above scene took place) in his chapter, headed by the inqui-

* These Dutchmen (says Mr. Heckewelder) turned their classical
knowledge of Queen Dido to a profitable account.
i Adriaen Vander Donck. " Beschry vingejVan Nieuw Nederlant," &c-
printed Amst. 1655. (Printed 46 years after the above arrival and inter
view took place.) His work passed through two editions..

256 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
ry, " why this country was called New-Netherlands ?" answers,
by assigning, among other reasons, that it was first discovered
by the people of Netherland. In proof of which, he says,
that the Indians or natives, many of whom were then living, say
from their own knowledge and recollection, that before the arri
val of the ship Half-moon in 1609, they did not know there
were any more people in the world, than of the same kind
with themselves, much less people Who differ so widely from
each other as our nation and theirs ; so that when they first
discovered our ship, .they did not know what to make of it.
They were in great fear, and knew not whether if might not
be an apparition ; but whether from heaven or hell they could
not divine. Others supposed it to be a great sea monster,
and that those on it had more the appearance of devils than
human beings, at least a strange report circulated through the
country, and caused* a great consternation among the Indians,
as many of them have frequently told me, (says Vander Donck.)
We therefore receive this as a sufficient proof, that the people
of Netherlands were the first discoverers or possessors of New
Netherlands, for there are Indians who recollect a hundred years,
so that if there had been any before us, they would certain
ly know something of it, either personally, or from the rela
tion of theirancestors.
The New Neth. Verlooghj printed 1650, (41 years after the
discovery by Hudson) and cited in the Kort Verhael,\ relates
the first discovery and reception of Hudson, thus : In 1609, the
privileged East India Company (though its view was direct
ed elsewhere at her expense by the ship, the Halve moon
(crescent) whereof captain and cargo (skipper en koopman)
was Henrick Hutson, discovered first the country which our-
people call New Netherl. insomuch that even now inhabitants

* P. 11 to 14. f P. 17.

§51.] Hudson — Tradition of fifat Interview. 257
of the country remember it, and witness, that when the Dutch
ships came hither first, and were seen by them, they did not
know whether they came from heaven, or were devils. Others
thought them to be sea-monsters, or fishes.* They knew
before nothing of other sort of men ; a strange tale thereof
run through their country now. "f
Whether the preceding interview actually occurred on Man
hattan Island, opposite to which, by short removes, Hudson
lay about two days, and is said to have landed ; whether it
took place on Coney Island, or at the foot of Sandy Hook
Bay, where the journal describes the people in great numbers,
men, women, and children, ranged on the beach to receive
their new visitors, and where one account describes them as
singing ; or whether it happened at the place where Hndson's
ship was last moored, and where the chief and his followers
became so "merrie," according to the journal, are inquiries
that it would be impossible satisfactorily to answer.
Mr. Heckewelder received the tradition about sixty-five
years ago, and took it down verbatim, as it was related to him
by aged and respected Delawares, Monseys, and Mahicanni.
Dr. Barton says the story is told in the same way by all the
Indians of the tribes of Delawares, the " Monces," and Mo-
hiccahs ; and in relating the incidents, they laugh at their own
ignorance. But what still further shows (says Dr. B.) that
considerable dependence may be placed upon the tradition, is
this, that to this day, the Delawares, the Monseys, and Mo-
hiccans, call New-York Manahachtanienks, that is, the place
at which we were drunk, being the name they bestowed on the
place, immediately after the incident related. Mr. Heckewel
der also says, that the Delawares call this place Mannahatta-

* It is related that a similar perplexity and consternation seized the minds
of the Indians bordering on Detroit River, at the time the Lake Erie steam
boat " WauMn-the- Water" made her first appearance in that river, advan
cing against wind and tide, and sendiDg forth volumes of flames and smoke.
f MS. in N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Vol.L 33

258 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. {Part I.
nink and Mannahachtanink to this day. They have frequent
ly told him that it derived its name from this general intoxica
tion, and that the word comprehended in its meaning, the island
or place of general intoxication. The Mahicanni,* (otherwise
Mohiggans by the English, and Mahicanders by the low
Dutch) call the place by the same name, but think it was given
in consequence of a kind of wood which grew there, and of
which the Indians used to make their bows and arrows. This
wood they call Gaivaak.* f Unless Hudson, after the interview,
(if it took place at Manhattan Island) might have heard the ex
clamation, " Mannahattanink," or afterwards heard it from the
Indians (perhaps from those he took with him up the river, and
who escaped at West Point) during his month's visit in our
waters, we should incline to believe, that the Mahicanni were
most correct in the origin of the name. For Hudson, on his
return, (Oct. 2d) while opposite the island, refers to " that
side of the river that is called Manna-hata." It might be sug
gested that Varrazano, 85 years before, or some other Euro
pean visiter, had been there, and had the interview, as given
in the foregoing tradition ; but there is no proof to support
such suggestion. Indeed, all the accounts contradict it, inas
much as they say the next year, the visit was renewed. This cor
responds with the fact, that the next year after the discovery, the
Dutch sent out a vessel, in which it is probable some of the Dutch
sailors who had accompanied Hudson, returned as pilots and
for traffic. " The universal name the Monseys have for New-
York (says Mr. H.) is Laaphawachking, that is, the place of
stringing wampum beads. They say this name was given in
consequence of the distribution of beads among them by Eu
ropeans, and that after the European vessel returned, wherever
one looked, the Indians were seen stringing beads and wam
pum the whites gave them."
After this digression upon an interesting traditional fact, the
occurrence of which, though perhaps not strictly susceptible

* Mr. Heckewelder.

§¦52.] Hudson — Tradition of first Interview. 25<>
of location at any particular spot of Hudson's visit, has
nevertheless reference to his arrival, we shall return to his
progress while in this river.
The boat which had been dispatched in the morning(22d) was
absent until ten o'clock at night, when, during a shower of rain,
it returned,, the men having found the greatest depth of water se
ven feet only, and" unconstant soundings." The exact distance
they had gone was not known. The journalist says„ they
had been seven or eight leagues ; consequently, they went at
least as far as Troy, Lansingburgh, and Waterford, and per
haps beyond. They had no doubt passed the sprouts of
the Mohawk, and may have gone northerly towards Stillwater.
Had they followed the Mohawk to the Cohoes, so great a
curiosity would probably have been mentioned. Hudson
now made preparations to retrace his voyage. Before we re
sume his journal, we will inquire what proportions of the ri
ver, its branches, and the territory through which they flow
ed, remained undiscovered by him, and by others for a long
time afterwards. §52. /
An exact knowledge of the northern sources of the Hudson,
and its branches, has hardly yet been acquired, in consequence
of the wild condition of the region which embraces them.
But this knowledge is far more accurate and extensive, than
that which prevailed at the respective periods, when De Laet
published his " Nieuw Wereldt," Vander Donck described
" Nieuw Nederlant," Smith wrote his brief "History of the
province of New-York," or still later when the Swedish na
turalist Kalm,* visited and described the river.
DeLaet, whom we before quoted, in mentioning to the courses
of the river, as far as the islandf on which the fort was erect-

* See his Travels in 1749 in Vol. XIII. Pinkerton's Collections, 575,;&c
and 737 of those of the Rev. And. Burnaby in 1759 in ib.
t Near Albanv

260 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I-
ed in 1614, to which, he said, the shipping came, but further
up the river sloops could scarcely sail in consequence of its
shallowness, observes, that from afar, certain high hills were
seen, from which the waters of the river proceeded, and " to
all appearance it reaches to the great river St. Lawrence, in
Canada ; for our skippers testify, that to this fort Indians
come from St. Lawrence, and even from Quebec and " Ta-
dousac." Vander Donck, was somewhat better informed on
this subject, but it seems that he also derived his informa
tion from fjje natives.
In his day,* it will appear that the Dutch settlements were
confined mainly to the borders of this river, and that the ex
istence of the northern sources of the Hudson, and the great
interior lakes, was the subject matter of vague description,
fonnded upon the reports of Indians, and upon the flights of
birds. It will appear that the French were probably the first
European discoverers of the north-western interior of our
States and of the great chain of lakes. For while the Dutch
were confined to some favourite spots, such as Manhattan,
Fort Orange, and hardly extended their geographical know
ledge beyond the beautiful Kills, as Vander Donck names
them, of the little and great Esopus, Kats-Kill, Slaper haven,
Colendonck's Kill, or Sagh-Kill, and Wappinghs Kill, the
French will appear to have had establishments in the territory
of the Iroquois as early as 1655, and missionaries among the
Onondagas, according to Charlevoix as early as 1654. But
still earlier, it will appear, that Champlain had a knowledge
at least of Lake Ontario, if not of the falls of Niagara, f and

* About Anno 1655, when the first edition of his work was published.
r Niagara Falls. The period of the, first discovery and the description
of these falls, may be ascertained by consulting Vol. VI. (new series) North
Amer. Review, p. 116; Spafford's Gazetteer of N. Y. 2d Ed. 1824; Dr.
Mitchill's Geol. of N. Amer. in Cuvier's Theory, Eaton's Geological Sur
veys, and various books of travels. Mr. Spafford says the height of the fall
on the American side is 164 ^eet: on the Canada side 150; the results of
several careful admeasurements.' " I have been sometimes asked (says Co
lonel Timothy Pickering inMS. communication, seean/e p. 232 n.) whatwas

§ 52.] Unexplored sources and branches of the Hudson. 261
the lakes south-west of them. This inquiry, however, will
be reserved until the accounts of the progressive discoveries
and settlements of the State will be given ; in which, we may
then refer to the travels of Champlain in the country of our
Iroquois; those also of La Salle, who, in 1678, first formed
the design of traversing the country from Lake Frontenac
(Ontario) to the Gulf of Mexico,* those of Father Henne
pin in the same direction between 1679 and 1682,-j- arid those
of Baron La Hontan,f who performed pilgrimage between
168S and 1694, among those " naked philosophers," the Iro
quois, proceeded as far as Huron, and published his professed
ly faithful account of the affairs between the English, French,
and " Iroquese," in 1703.$ But to return to the sources and

the Indian pronunciation of Niagara. By the eastern tribes it was Nerau-
gau-raw, or rather Ne-Sg-au-roh, The second syllable was short, with
the accent upon it. The sound of the last syllable was indefinite, much as
we pronounce the last syllable of the word America. I account for the
sound of i as e in Niagara, and the broad sound of a, to its having been writ
ten by the Low Dutch of Albany, and the French in Canada,, In writing
the Indian names in my treaty of 1794, 1 took some pains to get their Indian
sounds, and to express these by such a combination of letters as would have
been given them had the names been English. Kon-on-dai-gua for instance,
the place where the treaty was held ; the accent being on the syllable dal-
The Senekas called the falls or river not Ne-og-au-koh, but Ne-auh-gaw,
the second syllable auh gutterally, with the accent upon it, and the last syl
lable long.
* See his expedition, Vol. II. N. Y. Hist. Collec. 221. Vol. I. Archa;.
Amer. 116.
f Who says he began his discoveries with M. La Salle, though he mo
destly observes that he had made the same discovery two years before.
His book (see New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, London,
1699) establishes his claim to the epithet of "great liar,'1 with which the
Canadians, according to Kalm, distinguished him.
t In New Voyages to N. America, translated from the French. London
1703. } See further Atwater in West. Antiquities Vol. I. Archse. Amer. p. 116.
Schoolcraft's Journal reviewed, Vol. VI. (n. s.) N. Amer. Review, 225, &x.
Gov. Clinton's Memoir on West. Antiq. of N. Y.

262 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
branches of the Hudson. Vander Donck says, that " 44 miles
(i..e. Dutch miles) from the sea shore, the " Noordt rivier," 'is
divided into two branches, one of which runs with four streams
to the great falls of the Macquas Kill, called Chahoos ; the
other half, which is called and really is the river, is navigable
for small vessels several miles further up, and as the Indians
inform us (continues Vander Donck) extends very far, and has
its source in a very great lake, which is also the source of the
river Canada. This, he continues, would seem to be the lake
of the ' Iracoys,' aslarge as the Mediterranean sea, nearly 40
(Dutch) miles wide, and where no eye, although in the midst
of the lake, can discover the extent. And it hath also many
large vallies, with cane and marsh lands, so wide and exten
sive as to be beyond the reach of the eye, and in the summer
season they say, many water fowls frequent it to breed. When
the Indians pass over the lake, they know how to avail them
selves of their acquaintance with the islands in it, and sail by
days' journeys from one island to another, sometimes to three
or four, without which expedient they could not arrive at the
place intended, but this we assert upon the information of the
Indians.* Others say, that with small vessels it may be navi
gated through the lake to the river of Canada ; but that appears
to me (Vander Donck continues) very improbable. The other
branch of the North river runs, as has been said, with four
branches to the great falls of the Macquas Kill, ' called by the
Indians Chahoes, but our nation call it the great falls. Above
the falls, the river is some hundred yards wide, and the fall of
the water is conjectured to be 1 50 or 200 feet, and the water
pours over a smooth precipice, as if it fell from a straight
wall. The bottom is a firm blue rock, and just below the
falls are some round rocks, resembling heaps of hay or turf,
some of eight, sixteen, and thirty feet high, of a romantic and

* It is obvious that Vander Donck's informants confounded Lake Erie Or
some western lake with that of Lacus Irocoisia, (Champlain,) or that he mis
understood them.

§ 52.] Sources and Branches of the Hudson. 263
pleasing appearance ; and if poets frequented the place, they
would invent many wonderful and agreeable fables respecting
it, for which purpose it seems to be well calculated. Hence
the water<rushes foaming, dashing, and twirling, among the
rocks for the distance of one, or one and an half musket shots,
when it begins to be composed and to flow gently. Above the
falls, the water is broad and navigable, and is called the Mac
quas Kill. It extends quite through the land of the Macquas
and Senekas, and proceeds from a lake at a distance of at least
sixty (Dutch) miles, to which it continues navigable ; it Wash
es very many beautiful lands, and abounds with fish. When
the Indians travel by water to trade, they descend this kill
with their canoes constructed of the bark of trees, and when
they arrive at the falls, they must carry their boats a consider--
able distance by land, otherwise they would be driven down
the current and be wrecked, as it happened to an Indian in our
time."*

* " It chanced that an Indian, with whom I myself (says Vander Donck)
was well acquainted, accompanied by his wife! and child, with about sixty
beaver skins, was descending the river in the spring, when the stream is
most rapid, intending to trade with the Netherlanders. Not being careful
to come too in time, not regarding the current enough, and relying too
much upon his own powers, before he was aware, was carried down by the
stream, and notwithstanding he exerted himself to the utmost when it was
too late, the rapid precipitated him with his bark canoe, his wife and child,
his beaver'skins and other packages which he had with him, from the top to
the bottom of the falls. His wife and child were killed, most of his goods
lost, and his canoe dashed in pieces'; but he saved his life, and I have fre
quently conversed with hini since, and heard him relate the story." Van
der Donck further says, in his description of the "Noordt Rivier," that " it
abounds with fish, such as sturgeon, bass, dertien, sheep-head, &c. Here I
cannot omit (he says) to relate, although something out of the way, that in
the spring of 1647, when the water in the river was fresh almost to the bay,
occasioned by the abundance of the water coming down the river, (the fresh
water in ordinary tides extending only about twenty or twenty-four miles*
from the sea-shore,) two whales of a reasonable size swam up the river more
than 40 miles,* returned, and stranded about ten or twelve miles* from Hip
v Dutch miles.

264 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part!*
From Vander Donck, we learn how limited and inaccurate
was the information upon this subject, more than forty years
after the foundation of New-Netherlands. The knowledge
of the lakes, we perceive, was founded on rumour. The
grand cataracts of Niagara and Genessee, the several falls on
the upper Hudson,* with all the romantic, picturesque, and
magnificent scenery around them, were so far from being
known or noticed, that the Cohoes, then within a few miles of
" Fort Orangie," were conjectured to descend 150 or 200 feet.
Even Sinith,f who wrote a century after Vander Donck,-is
also erroneous in some particulars of his description. The
sources of the river, however, had not then been discovered.
We know, says he, in general, that the source is in the moun
tainous, uninhabited country, between lakes Ontario and
Champlain. But the Saucondauga river, which, in his description, is
supposed to be the Hudson, may be considered as a distinct

sea shore, where others also the same year stranded and afterwards esca
ped. The other remained stranded not far from the great Cahbe's falls,
about forty-three miles from* the sea shore.f The fish was very
fat ; for notwithstanding that the inhabitants of Rensselaerwyck boiled
of it a large quantity of train oil, ,the river (the current of which
was at the time very rapid) for three weeks afterwards continued very-
oily and covered with grease. Yea, sometimes while the fish was de
caying, the stench infected the air so much, that to the leeward it might
have been perceived at the distance of two milts. Icarinot.say (con
tinues Vander Donck, sagely,) what could have induced this fish to ascend
the river so high, being>at that time upwards of forty miles from all salt or
brack water, and out of his usual course, except it might be that he was al
lured by the numerous shoals of fishes which he met with." Peter Kalm in
his travels observes that though the region of porpoises seldom extends high
er than salt water, (beyond which is that of sturgeons,) yet it has sometimes
happened that porpoises have gone up as far as Albany.
* See Dr. Mitchill's Geology in Cuvier p. 353. 365. Spafford's Gazetteer.
¦]• Hist, of the province of N. Y.from its first discovery to 1732. Publish
ed Londqn, 1757.
t Dutch miles,
t That is, on Whale Island, opposite the upper part of the city ot Troy. See Spafford's Ga
zetteer of N. V. 1824.

§ 52. J Sources and Branches of the Hudson. 265
river or a branch of the Hudson. Its course from its source,*
is first southerly, and then northerly and easterly, until it
falls into the Hudson, a few miles south-westerly from
the south end of Lake George.f From this junction, the
course of the Hudson is first south, somewhat east six or eight
miles; then northerly and easterly eight or ten miles, and then
generally south about 12° or 15° west to the bay at NeW-
York. Several miles north of where it receives the Sau-
condauga, it is divided into two nearly equal branches,
the one called the northeast, and the other the north branch.
His supposition also, that the Hudson is navigable for bat-
teaux from Albany to Lake George, except two portages of
half a mile each, is incorrect, and contrary to the note on the
same sentence, in which it is said : " In the passage from Al
bany to Fort Edward, the whole land carriage is about 12
or 13 miles." The Hudson passes a few miles west of the
south end of Lake George. The norjtheast branch in its
course, approaches nearer to the lake.}
This branch is called Scaroon river, flowing from Scaroon
lake, which is about eight miles long and one broad, twelve
miles west of the north end of Lake George, and is partly in
Essex and partly in Warren county. Saucondauga rises in
Johnsburgh, Warren county, and in the wilds of Hamilton
county, in a great many ponds and streams little known. But
the northern branch, which, from its being the longest and
principal branch, is considered as entitled to the name of Hud
son, hasits limit in latitude 44° 05' in the mountainous region
west of Lake Champlain, and in the same region of lakes,
which are not only the sources of the other branches above
named, but those of Grass and other rivers of the St. Law-

* According to Samuel Jones, Esq. in his remarks on Smith's History of
N. Y. III. N. Y. Hist. Coll. p. 357.
| Spafford says about 8 miles S. W. of the south end of Ii. George.
J According to Samuel Jones's Remarks, ib. But see Spafford's Gazet
teer, art. Hudson River, &c.
Vol. I. 34

266 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part L
rence, and of the Saranac of Lake Champlain. The country
is yet wild and little known ; but the Hudson (or northern
branch) pursues a southerly course about sixty miles, where it
meets the Scaroon, eight miles north west of Caldwell, at
the south end of Lake George ; twelve miles further,the Sau-
condauga; thence continues south and eastward, passes Glen's
Falls, and at Sandy Hill makes a short bend to the south,
bearing a little west, which course it pursues to the Atlantic.
Us whole course to Sandy Hill has been reckoned 100 miles ;
descending Baker's Falls, and afterwards passing several
others, it receives, between Waterford and Troy, (which last is
44 miles from Sandy Hill) its great western branch, the Mo
hawk, which rises in the northeast of Oneida county, and pur
sues its winding channel of about 135 miles to the Hudson.*
The whole course of this noble river, from its northern limits
to Albany, is about 150 miles, and thence to the Narrows 150
more, making, in its whole length, 300 miles. The extent of
one half of the river, therefore, was explored by its discove
rer, whose return we shall now proceed to trace from Alba
ny to Europe. § 53.
Hudson, on the report of those whom he had sent to ex
plore the river, found that it would be useless to proceed with
his ship any further, or to delay his return. He had passed
several days in a profitable traffic, and a friendly intercourse
with the natives, among whom were probably those from each
side of the river, the Mahicanni as well as the Mohawks. At
noon of the 23d September, he therefore went down six miles
to a shoal. Having but little wind, the tide laid his ship on
the bar until the flood came, when she crossed it, and was an
chored for the night.
The next day, after proceeding seven or eight leagues, she
grounded on a bank of ooze in the middle of the river,

* See Spafford's Gazetteer of N. Y. 1824.

<} 33.] Hudson's Return. 267
where she was detained till the ensuing morning, when the
flood at ten o'clock enabled Hudson to anchor her in deep
water. Thus the ship once more was interrupted in her
passage, opposite the spot where a city* now commemorates
the name of Hudson.
Here he remained, by reason of adverse winds, four days.
On the day of his arrival, " they went on land and gathered good
store of chestnuts," but whether on the east or west side of the
river, is not mentioned. But the day following they went on land
" to walk on the west side of the river, and found good ground
for corne, and other garden herbs, with good store of goodly
oakes, and walnut trees, and chestnut trees, ewe trees, and trees
of sweet wood, in great abundance, and great store of slate
for houses, and other good stones."\ Nothing is said of any
inhabitants, while they were thus visiting the site, which is
now that of the village of Athens. But next morning (26th,)
after the carpenter, mate, and four of the company, had gone
on shore to cut wood, while the vessel lay at anchor, two
canoes came up the river, from the place where they first found
"loving people," (Catskill landing,f ) and in one of them was
the old Chief whom Hudson had caused to be made intoxica
ted, (at Albany). He had followed our strange visitors thirty
miles, to the base of the Catskill mountains, with the double
view of again testifying to Hudson the sincerity of his friend
ship, and of gratifying the love of the marvellous, by relating
his own adventures to the mountaineers, and drawing them
from their retreat to witness the floating phenomenon. The
old Chief now introduced with him, " an old man Who brought
more stropes of beads, and gave them to our master, and
shewed him all the countrey thereabout, as though it were at
his command !"f They tarried, greatly pleased with the unac
countable curiosities they discovered on board. Hudson
" made the two old men dine with him, and the old man's wife:
for they brought two old women, and two young maidens of
* Thirty miles below Albany ; a distance comprising the nine or ten
leagues which the ship had advanced in the two days,
¦f Journal,

268 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part!.
the age of sixteene or seventeene yeeres. with them, who behav
ed themselves very modestly."*
After dinner, and upon exchange of presents, the guests re
tired, inviting Hudson by signs, " to come down to them;
for the ship was within two leagues of the place where they
dwelt."t At last (27th Sept.) the wind changing to the north, they
weighed, set their foretopsail, but the " ship would not flat,
and ran on the ozie bank at half ebbe :" remaining till half
flood, they set their foresail and maintopsail and proceeded
down the river. As they passed the Catskill landing, the old
man came off, " and would have them anchor and go on land
and eate with him; but the wind being fair, they would not
yield to his request, so hee left them, being very sorrowfull for
their departure." Arriving in the afternoon in the vicinity of Red
Hook, the wind came ahead, they anchored, and a part of the
crew went to fish. They took in one hour " four or five and twen-
tie Mullets, Breames, Bases, and Barbils." The two succeeding
days they advanced slowly till they anchored a few miles be
low Poughkeepsie, " at the lower end of the long Reach ; for"
it is sixe leagues long." Here one canoe came off, but the
natives would not come on board. The canoe, however, after
dinner, returned with other men, three of whom came on board,
bringing Indian wheat, which was bought, as usual, for trifles.
The afternoon (29th) Hudson arrived at the bead of the high
lands, " or the northermost of the mountains," and anchored
for the night, in or near the Bay of Newburgh, or near New
Windsor, not venturing, in consequence of violent contrary
winds, to enter the highlands, "which had many points, a nar
row channel, and many eddey winds." The following day
(30th) he had an opportunity of making observations on the
country, and was particular in observing, that "this is a very
pleasant place to build a towne on. The Road is very neere,
and very good for all winds, save an east north-east wind ."

* These visiters were either of the nation to which the old Mohawk chief
belonged , or of the Wabingi.
t Catskill.

§ 53.] Hudson's return. 2bi>
In this conjecture he was not mistaken. The flourishing
appearance of Newburgh and the villages in its vicinity,
haye long since verified the prophetic anticipation of Hudson's
remark. Could he now reappear, what would be his as?
tonishment in beholding upon the borders of the river he dis-:
covered, not a few towns placed here and there at eligible
positions, but four cities, (of which one is the largest on the
continent) more than fifty villages, a multitude of seats the
seclusions of letters and of opulence, and hundreds of farm
houses the abodes of comfort and contentment : all present
ing, in coup d'ceil, the association of cultivation, luxury, ele
gance, refinement, and freedom ! What would be his exulta*
tion, to find that Liberty had followed him across the Atlan
tic, and selected, as one of her choicest retreats, the banks and
highland scenery of this beautiful river. That since that yeav
(1609) when he saw her rise victorious from an unequal con
test, and wave her banners in triumph and defiance over the
imperial diadem of Spain, she had, after a long and glorious
ascendency, been exiled from the Republic of the United Pro
vinces, ejected from the cities of Italy, driven from the Can
tons of Switzerland, and finally expelled from Europe; that
she had fled hither, and by her presence and influence, caused
plenty and contentment to smile around ; changed the steril
into the fertile, the wild into the richly variegated, the roman
tic into the picturesque : that here her altars were erected,
her praises chanted, and her votaries welcomed with cordial
enthusiasm, whether fleeing, from the persecution which their
attachment to her principles had provoked, or appearing here
in the proud character of her invincible champions, to re
ceive the grateful benediction of millions of freemen !*
From a theme of so much interest, let us revert to one
which may seem more humble, but was scarcely less auspicious
than the triumphs of liberty.

* The well-known subject of this last allusion must be reserved for
the bright embellishment of a future page of our History. Then shall
we trace the brilliant career of that hero to whom we are so greatly in
debted for possessing at this day the high privilege of relating the in-

270 European Discoveries and Claims to New- York. [Part I
After remaining in the vicinity of Newburgh, receiving the
visits of the natives, making his observations on the highland
scenery before him, and the mineralogical appearance of some
of the mountains ;* Hudson availed himself of a fair wind
on the first of October, and sailed through the highlands, but
on getting beyond the mountains, (having gone seven leagues)

dependence and happiness which enliven and beautify the borders of Hud
son River. Then shall we pursue the progress of liberty to our shores, and
mingle in her triumphs. Then shall we record one of the most resplendent
victories in the annals of man : not that of patriotism over selfishness, when
roused by the call of country and kindred; not even that of disinterested
philanthropy over the love of ease, and the tranquiiised plenitude of domes
tic and social happiness ; (a philanthropy which, Howard-like, could enter
upon a voyage of universal charity, in behalf not of the infirmities of indi
viduals, but of the liberty of the world when she was making her last strug
gle for existence ;) not such victories, and far less such, as are stained by
the blood of the defenceless, and distinguished only for carnage and desola
tion: but a victory of gratitude in behalf of Republics over the proverbial
prejudices of ancient and modern times ; a triumphant victory which still
resounds from Maine to Louisiana, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and
reverberates from the sea-board to the shores of Europe ! It was the un-
bought, unpurchasable, unsolicited, voluntary, tribute of affection, which
gratitude elicited from the hearts often millions of republican freemen, to
wards General La Fayette, for his signal services in the achievement of
their independence ! How strange is the destiny of man ! we behold that
apostle of Liberty, after an absence of nearly half a century, revisiting the
country where Liberty dwells, receiving the reward of his devotion to her
cause, and welcomed with cordial enthusiasm even on the very spot* which
Hudson so prophetically designated.
* The people of the country came an board, traded some skins, and con
tinued till the middle of the afternoon. They were probably the Wabingi
from the. western shore, and that branch of the Mahicanni from the eastern
shore, which was afterwards denominated Pechami. "The mountaynes
look as if some mineralls were in them, for the trees that grow on them are
all blasted. They (the natives) brought a stone like to emery (used by gla-
siers to cut glass,) it would cut iron or steel ; but bruised and water put to
it, it made a colour like black-lead glistening. It was also good for painter's
colours." — Journal. See a list of animal, vegetable, and mineral produc
tions which Hudson saw in his voyage, in Philosophical Discourses by De
Witt Clinton, LL.D. Note 57, p. 117.
* Newburgh, where General La Fayette stopped on Ms passage Up the Hudson River during
(lie present year, (1824.)

§53.] Hudson's Return. 271
Iris ship< was becalmed, and came to anchor a few miles be
low Peekskill, in the vicinity of Stony Point, and at the mouth
of Haverstraw Bay.
Here the native highlanders* came flocking to the ship,
expressing their wonder aud astonishment to behold a vessel
so superior to their canoes, and weapons so much more terri
ble than their own. Anxious to carry away to their friends
some part of this floating world of wonders, and not satisfied
with the trifles they received in return for skins, one of the
canoes with one man in it lurked about the stern with a
thievish tardiness, notwithstanding he was warned off. Watch
ing an opportunity, he at length crawled up the rudder into
the cabin window, and stole a pillow and a few articles of
wearing apparel. The mate (little anticipating that justice,
though slow is sure, and would follow him even to the arctic
circle) shot at the poor pilferer and killed him. The rest fled
panic struck, and in their precipitance some leaped into the
water. The ship's boat was manned and sent to recover the
articles ; one of those who had leaped into the water got hold
of the boat, for the purpose of overturning it, (as was thought)
but the cook stood ready with his sword, and with one blow
cut off one of his hands, and he was drowned. This was the
first Indian blood shed during the voyage. With this mighty
revenge for a trifling injury, they returned to the ship, weigh
ed anchor and sailed six miles, when it being dark, they an
chored near Teller's Point, off the mouth of Croton River,
near the entrance into Tappan Sea. ' At daybreak (2d Oc
tober) they again sailed with a fair wind twenty-one miles,
till the tide set too strong against them, when they came to
anchor near Fort Washington and Fort Lee at the upper end
of Manhattan Island. The two captive Indians who escaped
at West Point, had, it might appear, made their way on the
west side of the river, rousing on their return the spirits of

* The Wickapy Indians whose principal settlement was in the vicinity of
Anthony's Nose.

272 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
^Sleepy Hollow,* or the more ferocious Manh,attae,f and at the
head of the Manhattan Island, probably in the inlet of Har-
laem river, they had concentrated a force thatirapatiently await
ed the arrival of the rich booty, which they flattered themselves
tiiey should obtain. The ship soon appeared, and was hove
to near the vicinity of their place of ambugh. One of the
savages, who had escaped, came out with many others armed
with bows and arrows. But Hudson discovering no friendly
intention in their approach, suffered none of them to enter the
ship. Thereupon two canoes full of men fell back near the
stern, and discharged a volley of arrows upon the ship. In
retaliation six muskets were fired, and two or three Indians
killed. Meantime the main body of the Indians advanced to
the point of land (at Fort Washington) and discharged then-
arrows as the vessel moved slowly along. A cannon was fired
on board, and two of the Indians fell ; the remainder fled to
the woods. Still resolute in their plan, though discomfited in
its onset, about a dozen of the boldest and most desperate
jumped into a canoe, and advanced to meet the ship. Ano
ther cannon was discharged, their canoe shot through, and
one man killed. The men stationed on the deck also fired and
killed three or four more. This terminated the desultory
sea fight, in which nine fell victims to their temerity. The
assailants " went their way," and the ship after sailing two
'leagues, anchored beyond the reach of danger, in what ap.
peared to be a bay near Weehawken, or Hoboken, opposite
New- York ; here they rode all night, but experienced much
wind and rain. The next day (3d) was very stormy, the
anchor was driven home in a violent gust, and the ship went
aground, buf the Wind suddenly changing drove her on, the
ground being oozie.
On the fourth of October, Hudson left « the great mouth of
the great river," and with all sails set put to sea, and sailed
south east by east.
 '  •  — — — ~ "~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~" '
* Of the Mahicanni nation, a little north west of White Plain* in West-
Chester. See Irving's Sketch Book.
f Who probably extended to Tappan Bay.

§-53.] Hudson's Return. 273
Thus after spending a month of almost uniformly fine
weather, but; suffering the apprehension of shipwreck, in con
sequence of the vessel being three times driven on shore, and
half a dozen times run aground ;after meeting a more friend
ly reception, and realizing a more profitable trade from the
natives on the west side of the river, than from those on the
eastern ; losing one man and killing ten, Hudson completed
a discovery, the benefits and glory of which he could neither
foresee nor appreciate. His character throughout appears to
have been marked with mildness and dignity.
When justly provoked by the first aggression of the Indians
in the death of Colman, he sought no retaliation. The
mate alone was implicated by the death of the Indian, whose
rash curiosity had led him to pilfer some trifles, and the. sub
sequent sacrifice of life was caused in self-defence.
The delay in ascending and descending was principally
occasioned by adverse winds. Hudson was eleven days ex
ploring, and eleven returning.*
After his departure from Sandy Hook, Hudson deemed it
expedient to hold a consultation with his crew, upon the course
which it would be most proper to adopt. The sailors
had sometimes wanted necessaries, and they had often exhibi
ted symptoms of disaffection, in consequence of the length of
the voyage. In fact, they had threatened at one time an open
mutiny, and Hudson had frequently found himself in a deli
cate, if not dangerous, relation to a crew, so heterogeneous
and turbulent. This may have been the reason why he had
not sufficient control over them, to prevent the plundering
expedition at Penobscot Bay, and the effusion of blood on the
river. From the same cause, he now found it policy to con
sult their wishes ; but as might be expected, . they were vari-

* A vessel bearing the name of " Hudson" and propelled by steam, now
performs the voyage in forty hours. The name of Hudson's vessel, " Half
Moon," is that of a spot to which his boat probably reached, and upon
which is the village of Waterford.
Vol. I. 35

274 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. Part I.
ous and discordant. The mate* was in favour of wintering
in Newfoundland, and seeking Davis's passage ; but such a
destination, Hudson strenuously opposed. Although the true
reason which prompted him was the fear that the company
would take another opportunity to mutiny,f yet he urged to
them the probability, that their provisions during the rigour
of a northern winter would become exhausted, without afford
ing the means of replenishment ; that many of the men were
sick, and by taking the proposed direction, they would pro
bably never reach Holland. None, however,;spoke of Holland
but Hudson ; and the general silence induced those who were
really in favour of going thither, to suspect the sincerity of
Hudson's intentions. J The result was, that beheld his course
southeast by east; at noon of the same day was in latitude 39°
30', and continued towards England, without seeing any land
during the residue of the month.<§, The vigilant Hudson re
solved (saysLambrechsten||)to return to Amsterdam, to com
municate his report of the voyage to the directors. The
voyage was prosperous ; but when he approached the English
coast, a mutiny arose among the crew, of which several were
Englishmen. They compelled Hudson to enter Dartmouth,
where, " by the grace of God, they safely arrived" on the
7th day of November, 1609, IT just seven months and a day
after he had left the Texel. From Dartmouth, the rumour of
his discoveries ere long reached the capital.
Hudson soon gave information of his return to the Dutch
East India directors, sending them also a journal of his

* Collection of D. E. Ind. Company Voyages. The mate was a Dutch
man, ib.
f In Vol. V. Aikin's, Morgan's, and Johnson's General Biography, art.
" Hudson," it is said, " a mutinous crew prevented him from endeavouring
to find a western passage through Davis' Strait."
X Coll. ofD. E. Ind. Co. Voy.
i Journal.
|| Short Description, &c.
If Journal.

§ 53 ] Hudson's Return. 275
voyage, and an account of his discoveries.* He also offered
to go again in search of a north-west passage, provided they
would give him five hundred livres in money, more provisions
than he before had, and the same wages. He proposed too
that the provisions which were already in the ship, should not
be taken out, that they should change seven men, but that
the crew should still consist of twenty ; that he would set sail
from Dartmouth on the first of March ; spend the month of
April and half of May in killing whales and other creatures
near the island of Panar ; after that, sail to the north-west,
and stay there till the middle of September, and at last return
to Holland, by the north-east of Scotland, f
The particular transactions between Hudson and the Dutch
East India Company are not given in the accounts of his
voyages ; but it has been said that they declined his propo*
sals, upon which he returned to England, and re-entered the
service of the London Company, who had employed him in
his two first northern voyages. J Smithy says, (probably
grounding his declaration upon that of some Englisb writers,)
" he sold the country, or rather his right to it to the Dutch."
Facts however exist, which concur in rendering each of
these statements improbable, and that, 1st, Hudson never re-

* Coll. of D. E. Ind. Voy. De Laet in " Novus Orbis, seu Descripti-
onis Indise Occidentalis." Lambrechtsen (in short description, &c.) says,
De Laet, one of the Holland directors of the West India Company, who pub
lished, in 1624, a History of the West Indies, preserved a part of Hudson's
journal, and made us further acquainted with the country of New Nether
lands, its inhabitants, climate, and natural productions. This was probably
Hudson's own journal, or particular account. The one which we have, is
ascribed to his mate, and appears to have been written with great fidelity
and care.
f Collec. of Voy. undertaken by Dutch E. Ind. Co. translated &c ib.
p. 68, 70. That Hudson made new proposals is a statement confirmed by
English as well as Dutch writers. See Aikin's, Morgan's, and Johnson's
General Biog. Vol. V. and Biog. Britan. So Dr. Forster in Northern Voy.
d. 333.
{ Dr. Belknap. American Biog. Dr. Forster's Northern Voyage, see
p. 333.5 History of New- York p. 14. (Carey's edition.)

276 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
urned to Holland, 2d, -The East India Company did not
absolutely decline his proposals, 3d, He never sold his dis
coveries to the Dutch.
First, we have seen that the ship arrived at Dartmouth ;
and Lambrechtsen says, that after the Half Moon had been
detained at Dartmouth for some time, it was at length per
mitted to return to the " Fatherland," where it arrived early
in 1610. There is, however, no proof that Hudson visited
Holland, (previous to his entering the English service in the
spring.) Besides the inclemency of the season, other circum
stances concurred to prevent him. It has indeed been said
by several of the more ancient writers,* that Hudson had
made a second voyage from Amsterdam to his discovered river.
This is more improbable than either of the above declara
tions ; for it will appear that on the 7th of April, 1610, he
commenced under the patronage of the London Company, a
voyage to the north, from which he never returned. And if
he went at all, it must have been during the rigour of this
winter, of which we have not even a probability, f
But secondly, after the rumours of Hudson's discovery had
reached the English court at London, and the ears of King
James, to whose views, says Lambrechtsen, nothing was more
averse, than to allow to the Netherlander any advantages
from transmarine colonies, while in imitation of Queen Eliza
beth, he desired to convert the whole to the profits of his own
subjects ; Hudson was consequently considered a person of im
portance, and accordingly about the time he received the an
swer* from the Holland Company, ordering him to sail his ship
to Holland, he and the English part of his sailors were forbidden

* Among others, also William Castle, who wrote a small description of
America, about the year 1640. [Harleian Collection of Voyages, Vol. II.
p. 739. But Professor Ebeling, who quotes this, (in Hist, of Amer.) does
not credit the assertion of this second voyage.
t Smith, in his history of the province of New- York, erroneously, there
fore, asserts that " in 1610 Hudson sailed again from Holland to this coun
try"

§ 53.] Hudson's Return. 277
to accompany it, or again to enter the service of the Dutch ; a
step which the latter considered the most unprecedented and
ungenerous.f Had Hudson been permitted to go, no doubt
the East India Company would have continued him in their
service ; for upon their obtaining such favourable reports of
the countries discovered by him, they considered-}- these a full
compensation for the disappointment of their principal aim —
the passage to India by the north.
Thirdly, that Hudson sold the discovered land to the
Hollanders, is a declaration which some writers have engrafted
upon another still more positively erroneous : namely, that
Hudson was in the English service when he discovered this
river. That assertion does not at least appear susceptible of
any proof, and it is still more questionable when we reflect
that Hudson was in the Dutch service, and at that time no
claim was allowed to a private person for discovered countries.
They were the monopoly of kings or governments. And
we shall hereafter see in what way the States General regarded
this discovery. Besides, the Hollanders at first had no idea
of colonizing or settling the country, but were satisfied with
the advantages of the new branch of commerce which arose in
consequence of the discovery.
It is said* elsewhere, that the Dutch purchased of Hudson
his chart of discoveries on the coast, and sent some ships the

* Says Abm. Yates, jun. in MS. letter 1793, addressed to Jedediah
Morse, and in possession of N. Y. Hist. Soc. Mr. Y. also alludes to Hud
son's proposal or " intention" to sail to the north in March. Lambrechtsen
also says he was forbidden to pursue his voyage towards Amsterdam.
f Lambrechtsen Korte Beschryvinge, &c. Van Meteren (B. XXXI. p.
590, &c. cited by Ebeling and by Lambrechtsen) in Ned. Hist, relates that
the British had not permitted Hudson to go over to Holland himself, to make
report of his voyage. Lambrechtsen also says he was forbidden to pursue
his voyage towards Amsterdam. In what manner they do not say. Per
haps a mandate from the department of state was then deemed enough ; or
the high prerogative writ, ne exeat regno, (since converted to a civil remedy
in Chancery,) was, perhaps, the remedy then made use of.

278 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
next year. They may have done so for the purpose of ob
taining a correct guide and direction for their first trafficking
visits. The chart was his own, but the right of disposing of
newly discovered countries vested in no private individual.f
Whatever claim the Dutch Republic, or their East India
Company under the States General had, existed without such
pretended disposal, and could not be strengthened or weak
ened by it. If Hudson had not been a native of England,
he would have had no right to sell to the Dutch, had he been
in English service ; neither, vice versa, as he was in the Dutch
service, could his birth-place alter their claim, and transfer
the benefits of his discovery to England, any more than Italy
could have claimed North and South America, because Co
lumbus, Americus, Cabots, and Varrazano, were her natives.
"And yet it is said that King James made the nativity of Hud
son one ground of his claim to this State ; but under a prior
alleged discovery by the Cabots, natives of Venice, he de
duced a still paramount title !
The consequences of this splendid discovery will form a
subject for our colonial history. It will be found that the
Hollanders, with characteristic sagacity, in the very next year
seized the advantages of trading to this river, while Hudson,
leaving all to their enterprise and the conflicting claims of the
English, prepared to renew for the fourth time, the grand and
hazardous attempt to secure an object, which seemed to have
become the predominant scope of his ambition.

* Bos. Hist, of the first settlement of Maryland. Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol.
X. p. 293.
f In this point of view is the declaration also considered by Professor
Ebeling, and see also Belknap.

§ 54.] Hudson's last Voyage and Disastrous Fate. 279

4 54.
In the character of a chivalrous adventurer upon the north
ern seas, Hudson will appear for the last time combating, not
like the hero of Cervantes, with phantoms, but with substantial
floating ice islands, living leviathans of the deep, hurricanes
and tempests, famine and savages, but worse than all, with in
gratitude ! " more hideous than the sea monster."
The London society, which had with so remarkable li
berality, fitted out the two first expeditions, prepared for a
third. (132) The former having failed in high latitudes, it
was now determined to seek for a passage westward of Green
land, by examining the inlets of the American continent, par
ticularly those which Davis saw, but durst not enter, on the
western side of his Straits, and through which it was now sup
posed that one might exist in the South Sea. The ship was
named the Discovery, manned with twenty-three men, (133)
and equipped for the voyage.
The company had insisted upon Hudson's taking with him
an able and experienced seaman, whom they designated.
This marked confidence in the capacity of another seemed to
question his own. From disgust, envy, or from motives now
unknown, but assigned at the time in his letter to the company,
Hudson, after his departure (April 17, 1610) from Blackwall,
put this man, at Lee on the river Thames, into a pink bound
to London. After taking this rash step, (so denominated by
writers, without perhaps possessing the means of properly ap
preciating its motive, and to which as an example of dis
obedience, they ascribe a principal cause of his own misfor
tunes,) Hudson continued on his voyage, and reached (May 6)
the Orkneys and northern end of Scotland, which he found
less to the north than had been set down. (134) He saw
Faro Islands on the eighth, came to the east side of Iceland
on the eleventh. Sailed along its southern coast, wit
nessed Mount Hecla casting forth flames; (135) and after en
countering adverse winds and islands of ice, (136) arrived at

280 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
a harbour (30th) (where was a hot spring) on the western
part of ,the island. (137). Hudson was here received hos
pitably by a people poor and miserable. Here he unfortunate
ly first discovered dissentions among his crew. (138) But a
greater misfortune was brooding, of which he was unconscious ;
for here that disorganising spirit was first cherished, which
was to spread in growth and contagion, until it should involve
in destruction nearly the whole company.
On approaching and departing from Iceland, his mate
Ivet, who, it will be remembered, shed the blood of the first
Indian who fell in the exploring voyage upon Hudson River,)
had secretly discouraged the expedition, and endeavoured to
destroy the confidence of the men in Hudson ; alarmed the
timid when encompassed by ice, persuaded others to keep
their muskets charged and swords ready in their cabins, for
there would be blood shed before the voyage ended, and in
one instance openly threatened to turn the head of the ship
homeward. This mutinous disposition became somewhat ap
parent to Hudson, but in hopes of amendment, he then calm
ly endeavoured to pacify it. (139)
On the first of June they left the harbour, sailed westward
(in latitude 66° 34) on the fourth, saw Greenland very clear
ly over the ice, were off Frobisher's Straits on the ninth, and
on the fifteenth descried the land of Desolation (59° 27').
They had been much encumbered by ice, and were now en
dangered by whales. Some of them actually came alongside,
passed around and under the ship. (140) Having doubled
the southern promontory of Greenland, they steered north
west for the American Continent. In their passage across
Davis' Straits they were daily obstructed and endangered by
ice. It had accumulated in the shape of islands and moun
tains, one of which overturned not far from the ship, and
warned them of the hazard of approaching too near. In en
deavouring to avoid one they encountered others, which, the
further they proceeded, appeared more numerous and terrifying.
On their arrival in a bay near the inlet, as is supposed, of the
Great Strait that now bears Hudson's name, and while thus

§ 54.] Henry Hudson. 281
perilously exposed, a storm arose and drove the ice so rapidly
upon the ship, that Hudson was forced to run her into the thick
est of it, and abide the storm which raged furiously around them.
Some of the crew became dismayed and sick. The tempest
at length ceasing, they went to work in order to disentangle
the ship from its dangerous mooring. This they effected, but
soon found that they were encompassed with apparently il
limitable ice fields and ice mountains, of which some grounded
" in six or seven score fathoms of water." They now direct
ed the ship into every clear sea, where any prospect ap
peared of getting out ; still they were forced by the ice in
every direction. After going to the north, north west, west,
and south west, they laid the ship's course to the south as the
last alternative. Yet the more they strove the worse their si
tuation became, until at length they could proceed no further.
Then the stout heart of Hudson sickened. His resolution
and courage for the first time failed. He cast his eye over
the desolate scene which surrounded them. He saw no pros
pect or possibility of escaping. " He was in despaire !" (141)
Although he afterwards acknowledged that he thought he
should have there perished, he did not at that critical moment
entirely lose his accustomed decision and energy. Amidst
the dismayed looks and broken spirits of his worn-out crew}
he assumed a cheerful countenance, and having brought forth
his " card," called the company around him, showed them
that they had entered more than three hundred miles further
than ever any Englishmen had been before them, and he left
it to their own choice to proceed or not. (142) But they
were too much divided in opinion, and distracted by the
prospect before them, to settle upon any destination. The ma
jority cared not whither they went, if they were once extricated
from their present peril. A few, however, regardless of their
duty and of the cause in which they had all embarked, vented
their anger and spleen upon him who was disposed to forget
his own sufferings in the deep sympathy he felt for theirs.
Hudson beheld, with indignant grief, the renewal of that
mutinous disposition which he had witnessed but overlooked
Vol. I. 36

2S2 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
at Iceland. This was not, however, a time to resent or
punish. He listened with smothered feelings to words then
spoken, but not forgotten. He aimed to pacify, not to inflame ;
to soothe, not to rebuke unjustifiable resentment ; to allay their
fears, inspire their hopes, rouse their courage and activity,
until at last the crew ceased their clamour, and all went
earnestly to work to clear the ship and save themselves.
After toiling a long time, they gained room enough tp turn
the vessel. They worked her by little and little through the
ice, and descried the clear sea at a distance. After strug
gling a league or two, they entered it, and joyfully pursued
their course north and north-west. In the end they disco
vered (July 8,) a champaign land, but covered with snow,
which Hudson named " Desire Provoked."
Having entered the strait that bears his name, the residue of
the month (July) was consumed in sailing through it. Hud
son gave various names to capes and islands, having on the
first sight of the mainland, named it Magna Britannia. (143.)
He had afterwards taken shelter from an impending storm in
a harbour among some rocky islands, the appearances of
which were indicative of the effects of an earthquake, and hav
ing escaped the rocks, some of which were barely covered by
the water, he named them Isles of God's Mercies. After thus
entering the strait, he had once been driven back by a violent
tempest ; but at length, after naming and leaving Salisbury's
Foreland, his ship suddenly fell into a great and whirling sea,
from which she also escaped, and finally proceeded (August 4
and 5) through a narrow strait into the great Mediterranean,
which now perpetuates the name of Hudson. To the two
capes or headlands between which he passed, he gave the
names of two of the company who had patronised the enter
prise, (viz. Diggs and Wostenholm) ; as he went through the
narrow strait, he fondly cherished the delusion, that he had
achieved the long-sought passage. As he approached Diggs'
Island, he sent some of his men to ascend its rocky cliffs, to
discover the great ocean, which he fancied laid beyond them.
The exploring party was retarded by a thunder storm, and af-

§ 54.] Henry Hudson. 283
ter wandering a short time, returned to the ship. They had
found plenty of fowl and deer, and advised Hudson to stay a
few days, and replenish his vessel ; but too confidently proud
of his discovery to hearken to this salutary counsel, and little
thinking that he had entered a bay whence he never should re
turn, he pursued his hurried course southward. Keeping the
main land on the left, he came to shoal water, touched the rocks
among the Sleepers, encountered a storm, passed along south
east between the main and Baker's dozen, discovered after
wards an open sea to the south, and passing between two
lands, the southern points of which Were not tWo leagues
apart, he reached to the 53° north lat. took in water and
ballast, and thence proceeded to the southern limit of the bay.
He now turned to retrace his course northward, and to com
pensate, by further discoveries, the chagrin and disappoint
ment he suffered.
On his directing a retrograde movement, murmurings arose
among the crew. The mate and boatswain'' fanned the em
bers of discontent, and Hudson, at length, found'it necessary
to displace them, and substitute others. As this discipline,
however deserved, would tend to inflame the passions of the
officers discarded, and might render Hudson unpopular with
his crew, it was not hastily adopted. On the contrary, he
forbore, until his personal safety required that they no longer
should continue in authority. A court of inquiry was insti-
stituted ; testimony, under oath, was taken. The language
and conduct of the mate at Iceland, at the time they were en
closed in the ice, and since their entrance into the bay, proved
incontestibly that he had endeavoured to dishearten the men, by
enumerating the dangers which they incurred; to weaken their
respect by ridiculing the master, and to discourage the enter
prise by magnifying its folly. The boatswain was also found
guilty. On the 10th of Sept. they were both cashiered, and1
Robert Bylot (or Billet) and William Wilson, were appoint
ed, the former to the office of mate, the latter to that of boat
swain. This measure formed, it is true, another link in the
chain of causes that produced the subsequent disasters of Hud-

284 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
son, but it was exercised as an act of necessity, and in that
conciliatory spirit, which is ever blended with true magnani
mity. Hudson admonished his discarded officers, and promi
sed that if they would conduct themselves honestly, not only to
forget injuries, but to become the means of doing them good.
The remainder of this month, (September) and the follow
ing, passed away in a fruitless and bewildering examination
of the bay. It is remarked by a contemporaneous author,*
that " Hudson, on finding instead of the India passage, that
he was embayed, became distracted, and committed many er
rors, especially in resolving to winter in that desolate region."
This would not seem improbable, when we discover that he
passed away the summer in alternately sailing to the north
and the south, the east and west, when he should have return
ed home upon learning his error, knowing that he had brought
but six months provisions, and finding not more than thrice,
any traces or signs of people. But we follow him to and fro,
now on the rocks, in danger of shipwreck, now buffeting the
storms, then losing his anchor, until it became too late to
leave this " labarynth without end." (144) On the first of
November he moored his ship in a small cove on the
west side of the bay. In ten days afterwards the vessel was
frozen in. It will be found that Hudson here remained until
the middle of June.
His first care was to regulate the distribution of provisions,
and propound rewards to those who should add to the common
stock. In this way, he hoped to preserve the lives of his men
until in the spring, when they should reach Diggs' Island.
Within two weeks after they commenced wintering, the gunner
died. Hudson is charged (145) with uncharitable treatment
towards this man ; of what description, or under what incite
ment, we are not informed.
Having neglected to order a shelter to be made before the
frost and snow had set in, Hudson now directed the carpenter

* Purchas.

§ 54.] * Henry Hudson. 285
to erect one. ^He refused, because it was out of season, and
did not fall within his duty as the ship's carpenter. Hudson
ferreted him out of the cabin to strike him, and reprehended
him in severe and threatening language. A miserable shelter
was afterwards put up, and the carpenter became one of
Hudson's firmest friends : but two incidents which succeeded
this quarrel, and the death of the gunner, will appear to have
given life and energy to a conspiracy, slow in its progess, but
fatal in its consequences.
During the first three months they subsisted on ptarmigans,
and other sorts of grouse, of which they lulled more than one
hundred dozen. In the spring these birds left them, but others
succeeded, as swans, wild geese, ducks, and teal ; but they
were not easily taken, and after their spring-flights from south
to north were over, then commenced the season of famine.
Those of the company who were not confined by sickness,
now searched the woods, hills, and valleys, for every thing
that had the show of substance, however vile. Frogs the
most loathsome, were not spared. Moss of the ground was
eaten. But what afforded them most relief, were the buds
and branches of a certain tree, which one of the company (146)
had discovered and brought them. They were full of a sub
stance like turpentine. When boiled, a diet drink was made,
and the buds applied hot as a poultice to such as had pains in
their limbs, from which they found relief. This is supposed
to have been the Tacamahaca tree, (populus balsamifera,)
the buds of which containing a glutinous resin, become when
decocted, a powerful antiscorbutic, and when boiled and ap
plied, give relief to pains and swellings. (147)
While in this sad extremity, and after the ice had, in the spring,
began to break out of the bays, they received a visit for the first
time, from an Indian. The appearance at this crisis of one
whom they supposed would become the means of procuring
them a supply of provisions, was welcomed with great joy.
The master treated him with the utmost kindness and attention ;
collected knives, hatchets, a looking-glass, and buttons, and
gave them to him. He received them thankfully, and made

286 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
signs that after he had slept, he would come again ; according
ly he returned with his sled, with two deer skins, and two
beaver skins, but with no provisions. He had faithfully
brought all the articles he had received, laid them on the
skins, and the master gave him back several of them. After
many signs of people to the north and to the south, and that
after so many sleeps he would come again, he went his way,
but never reappeared. It was now the beginning of June.
The ice having cleared from the sound, seven of the men
were detached to take the boat with the net. The first day
they caught five hundred small fish as good as herring and
trout. This unexpected success roused their hopes. The
party went out several days successively, but they were less
fortunate. Hudson perceiving the woods set on fire at the
south and south-west, caused the shallop to be fitted up and
victualed for eight or nine days, leaving directions to have
water, wood, and ballast taken on board, and the ship pre
pared for their departure by the time he should return; he
directed his. shallop towards that part of the bay where he
expected to find the people of the country, and obtain an
abundant supply of provisions ; but he unfortunately came
back worse than he went, for although the natives set fire to
the woods in sight of him, he never could get near them.*
Disappointed and disconsolate, he now prepared all things
in order to leave this dreary spot. He had wasted seven
months here, and in examining this extensive and inhospitable
bay.

* Purchas (inTiis Pilgrimage, b. 8,) in his narrative of this disastrous
voyage, briefly says, that " at the opening of the yeere there came to the
ship's side such abundance of fish of all sorts, that they might therewith have
fraught themselves for their return, if Hudson had not too desperately pur
sued the voyage, neglecting this opportunity of storing themselves with fish,
which he committed to the care of certaine carelesse dissolute villaynes,
which, in his absence conspired against him : in few dayes the fish all for-
sooke them." But we have seen from Pricket (who was one of the survi
vors, and most authentic,) that after the fishing was over, Hudson went out
with most benevolent views. The conspiracy alluded to, will be developed
presently.

§ 54.] Henry Hudson. 287
He first delivered all the bread out of the bread 'room,
amounting to a pound only for each, and also a bill of return
for them to show, "if it pleased God that they came home:
and he wept when hee gave it unto them."* But to mitigate
their wretchedness, the men were once more sent off with the
boat and seine, who, after toiling two days and a half, returned
to the ship with only four score small fish ; a poor relief for
so many hungry persons. The ship, now about the middle
of June, sailed from its wintering haven and anchored at its
mouth. f Thence Hudson proceeded into the great bay. The
bread which he had distributed was already consumed. He
now divided equally all the cheese which remained, amounting
only to three pounds and a half for each person. He was ad
vised to reserve a part of it, because some from hunger would
devour their share at once, as they had their bread. J But as
some of the cheese was bad, he determined that no cause of
complaint should arise, arid therefore distributed the whole
impartially. They now steered north-west, but soon came among the
ice. In this situation they were detained by contrary winds
nearly a week. Here Hudson, it was said, had injudiciously
told one of his men that there would be a breaking up of
chests for bread, ordering him at the same time to bring his
forth. He did so, and thirty cakes in a bag were delivered.
This, if true, must have produced a spirit of discontent, which,
according to the relation of one of the survivors,^ Hudson
neglected to heal. He could not have anticipated, how
ever, that it was the forerunner of an open mutiny, which

* Says Pricket, who was an eye-witness.
f Q. Had they wintered in Hazard's Gulf, or some one of the coves south
and eastward from Belcher Islands ?
X Green (who will be again named) had given his bread to one to keep
and prayed him not to let him have any for a week. His share was to serve
for two weeks ; but before the middle of the first week, he consumed the
whole. Wilson, the boatswain, ate his in one day, and " was sick for his
labour."« 5 Pricket.

288 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
proved, eventually, more destructive to all concerned, than
any perhaps to be found in maritime annals.
We pass by Hudson's dismissal of the man (148) who had
been appointed by the London company, at the commence
ment of tire voyage, to accompany him, as an event which
might have been injudicious and censurable, but certainly not
one which can be considered, as it has been by some, as the
foundation of this mutiny. Fourteen months had elapsed,
and in the interim different causes had transpired which led to
the catastrophe. Hudson had received a young man by the
name of Henry Green, into his house in London as his pro
tege. Born in Kent, and of respectable parentage and con
nexions ; Geeen had, by his extravagant and debauched life,
forfeited their esteem and respect, ' and reduced himself to
penury. Hudson, either from a generous sympathy, (his character
istic) or a hope of contributing by his care, to the redemption-
of Green from utter worthlessness, sought to divert him from
his dissolute habits, and res61ved to take him this voyage, more
as a companion and assistant, for he was an excellent writer,
than as one of the crew. lie was not therefore placed on the
shipping articles. To rouse his ambition, Hudson promised
him wages ; and what was most flattering to his pride, that on
their return, he should be made one of the prince's guards,
Hudson had clothed and fed him, and thus strove to win his
affection and gratitude. Through his intercession, a friend of
Green's mother had solicited her for money to purchase
clothes for the voyage. But so worthless had he made him
self in the eyes of one whose high estimation he should have
prized most, that she could hardly be persuaded to advance
four pounds, and only on condition that the money should
not be delivered to him, but carefully applied to the object
for which it was solicited.
Notwithstanding this disinterested goodness on the part of
Hudson, (such is the force of dissolute habits, and when fixed,
such their paramount ascendency over every noble aspiration.)

§ 34.] Hudson's Retur'n. 289
Green took the first opportunity which presented at Harwick,
to endeavour to run away with one of the sailors.
When Hudson arrived at Iceland, it was before mentioned
that he had the misfortune to witness dissentions among his
crew. Green was the source of them. He had -"violently
assaulted the surgeon, which set the whole crew in a rage,
and with great difficulty the surgeon was persuaded to re
enter the ship.* This outrage, Hudson's partiality for Green
disposed him to extenuate and overlook ; and when, after
leaving Iceland, he heard that his mate had insinuated that
he had brought the young man along as a spy over the rest,
such was Hudson's partiality, or such his high sense of honour,
that spurned so mean a system of imputed espoinnage, that he
was much disposed to return back forty leagues, in order to
send his mate home in one of the fishing vessels.
After the death of the gunner, and the variance between
the master and the carpenter, certain occurrences brought
together the scattered elements of this deadly conspiracy,
because they gave to it a master-spirit in the person of
Henry Green. Among the apparel which the gunner had
left, was a gray cloth gown. It was usual in such cases at sea,
whenever the deceased left any article that the company desired,
to bring it to the main-mast, and sell it to the highest bidder
This gown Green took a fancy to have, and prayed Hudson
to befriend him so much as to let him have it for the price

* " Here (says Pricket) the Surgeon and hee fell out in Dutch, and he
beat him ashore in English, which set all the company in a rage ; so that
wee had much adoe to get the Surgeon aboord. I told the master of it, but
hee bade mee let alone, ' for (said hee) the surgeon had a tongue that would
wrong the best friend he had.' But Robert Ivet would needs burne his fir.-;
ger in the embers, and told the carpenter a long tale, (when hee was drunke)
• that our master had brought in Greene to cracke his credit that should
displease him :' which wordes came to the master's ears, and he would have
gone back to Island, when he was fortie leagues from thence, to have sent
home Robert Ivet in a Fisher-man. But being otherwise persuaded, all wa s
well. So Henry Greene stood upright, and very inward with the master
and was a servicable man every way for manhood : but for religion he would
say, ' he was cleane paper, whereon he might write what he would,'"
Vol. I. 37

290 European Discoveries and Claims lo New-York. Part h
any other would give. Hudson complied with his request.
and refused others who sought it.
The day after the controversy with the carpenter, while
Hudson was still inflamed by his refusal to erect a shelter for
the company, Green accompanied the carpenter on a hunting
excursion. This so incensed Hudson, that he caused the
gown to be delivered to his new mate. Green now challenged
his promise ; but Hudson railed at him, and upbraided him in
a very irritating harshness of manner.
This trifling article, this gown, (like the handkerchief in
Othello, so potent in the hands of ah Iago,) became an instru
ment to a most tragical issue. (149) For from this time to
the denouement of the catastrophe, Green cultivated a most
implacable hatred towards Hudson, and secretly did him
every possible injury. Six months however elapsed ; a winter
of extreme suffering had been witnessed ; rancour of feeling
would have naturally become absorbed in the all-powerful
sympathy, which a community of sickness, of famine, of dis
tress, of despair, would engraft upon callous insensibility. But
if Green's feelings were too indurated to become affected by
such scenes, there Was a still, small voice, which, with a
monitory emphasis, called upon him not to abandon, betray,
and murder his friend, his patron, and benefactor. It was
the voice of gratitude. But even this did not arrest, though
it may have protracted the mad scheme which he had secretly
plotted. There was a time when the bent of his inclination
would have been fortunate for Hudson, had it not been
counteracted. A part of the crew, viz. Green, Wilson, Perce,
Thomas, Moter, Bennet, and Arnold Ladlo,* composed a
fishing party before Hudson had set sail to. seek relief from
the natives. At that time, while engaged in fishing, Green
and Wilson, with some of the others, plotted to take the net
and shallop which the carpenter had fitted up, and shift for
themselves; But Hudson concluding to go in it himself, frus-

* Who appears to have been with Hudson in his, second voyage, and he
remained faithful in this.

§ 54.] Hudson's Return. 291
trated their plan; The seeds of conspiracy were however
sown in a soil already fitted by a long and careful cultivation,
and required only some extra excitement, and the skill of a
bold hand to bring them into rapid vegetation. The infa
mous Green will appear most prominent in activity, as well as
the basest in ingratitude ; and the famished condition of the
company at the time of the catastrophe, will constitute the
immediate excitement to the development of a plot so long in
fermentation. Next was Wilson in the scale of graduated
crime. He had been appointed boatswain in the stead of the
discarded one,' and he also stood stamped with the sin of in
gratitude. Ivet, the discarded mate, although less openly
active, was more insidiously decided, and in the work of
mutiny was more cautious, because more aged. Subordinate
to these were Thomas the gunner, Bennet the Cook, Moter
and Perce, sailors. These were all who took the strange and
unprecedented oath of conspiracy, which will be recited
presently. The unguarded declaration said to have been made by
Hudson to one of his crew, that a general search among the
chests should be made for provisions^ seems to have been the
signal for the ringleaders to commence the tragedy.
Accordingly while at anchor in the ice, (June 21,) Green
and Wilson went at dead of night to Pricket, who lay lame
in his cabin, and disclosed the plot. The latter had been a
servant to Sir Dudley Diggs, (one of the Lnndon company).
The conspirators were determined to save him, in hopes that
through his influence, his master might intercede to obtain a
pardon for the crime they meditated. In vain did Pricket
urge to them the blackness of such a deed, the considerations
of wife and children made miserable, the tie that bound them
to their native soil, severed forever if they persisted. But
their resolution was not to be shaken. Then they were
urged to delay ; but no, their party was firm ; and lest their
courage should flag, and the mischief they intended for
others, light upon themselves, they were determined to put
their plan into immediate execution. Then Pricket prayed
fhem to postpone it for twelve hours ; no, {hey would do the

292 European Disvoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
deed that night. Then he told them, it was blood and revenge
they sought, or they would not at such a time of nigKt under
take such a deed. Green now seized a bible before him, and
swore he would do no man harm, and what he did was for the
good of the voyage, and nothing else. The like oath, he said,
all should take, and went out. Accordingly six others ap
peared alternately, and were those already named. The oath
administered by Pricket was in these words: "You shall
swear truth to God, your Prince and countrie : you shall doe
nothing but to the glory of God, and the good of the action
in hand, and harm to no man." The oath as thus adminis
tered contained nothing in it incompatible with their duty,
although Pricket, on his arrival in Enland, was thought by
some, to have been implicated in the conspiracy for having
administered it. But it must have been singularly misinter^
preted by those who took it, or they were guilty of most un
paralleled hypocrisy and profanity.
The mutineers finally concluded to defer the execution of
their plan till daylight. In the meantime Green kept company
with Hudson, and lago-like, fawned about the devoted victim
of his treachery : others were on the alert about the ship. They
had determined to put the carpenter and Henry King, (cabin
mate of Robert Billet) with Hudson, his son, and the sick,
into the shallop.* They bad proscribed the carpenter and
King on pretence of some injustice done about the victuals ;
but with respect to the carpenter in reality, because Hudson
loved him, and had, after leaving his wintering haven, made
him his rriate instead of Billet; but they finally concluded
that they could not spare the carpenter. It happened this
night that King was up late, and had lain on deck with the
carpenter. He descended to his cabin about break of day.
Soon after the cook went down for water for the kettle. King for
some purpose went into the hold. The conspirators shut down
the hatches. Hudson hearing the noise, or rising early as
usual, came up. Green and another, meantime had held the car-

* There were twenty-two, besides Green, on board, after the loss of tjje
gunner

$ 54.] Henry Hudson. 293
penter in talk till the master came out of his cabin. As he
went on deck, John Thomas, the gunner, (cabin mate of Ivet,)
and Bennet (the cook,) came before Hudson, while Wilson,
(his boastswain,) sprang up behind and bound his arms. He
asked them " what they meant." They replied, " he should
know when he was in the shallop."
Meantime Ivet went into the hold where King was, who
kept him at bay with a sword, and would have killed him, but
numbers coming, he was overpowered. Hudson called to the
carpenter and told him he was bound ; but the latter could
render him no assistance. Now Ladlo and Bute railed at the
conspirators, telling them " their knavery would show itself."
The shallop was hastily hauled up. The sick and lame were
demanded. Hudson now called Pricket ; he came up to speak
with him, but the mutineers interfered; then on his knees he
besought them " for the love of God to remember themselves,
and do as they would be done unto." They bade him begone
into his cabin. After he went back, Hudson called to him
" at the home which gave light into his cabin, and told him
that ' Ivetwould overthrow them all.' " " Nay, replied Pricket,
it is that villain Henry Green."
Hudson now bound, was in the boat; his son John (a youth
who had been with his father in all his voyages,) was thrown
alongside of him. Then were the sick and lame driven out
of their cabins into the shallop, viz : Thomas Woodhouse,
(Wydhouse) who had studied the mathematics, and had gone
out with Hudson as a volunteer, and was now confined by sick
ness ; Sidrack Faner, who was lame; and Michael Bute and
Adam Moore, who had never been well since the loss of the
anchor. Henry King had been forced into the boat, and it was
with the utmost difficulty they gotLadlo (the surgeon,) and Bute
in, both of whom had railed at them 'in the beginning. Last
came the carpenter, (Staff,) who, although invited to remain,
would not stay with such villains, but only requested^ and re
ceived his chest of tools, and got from them, one gun, powder
and shot, some pikes, an iron pot, with some meal and a few
other articles. ,, He first went to take leave of Pricket, (who

294 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part 1.
6ould hardly move by reason of lameness he had contracted
during the coldness of the winter). Pricket urged him
to remain and use his influence to induce them to take back the
rest. But the carpenter believed they would be glad to
receive them, for he was assured by the master, that not one
in the ship could navigate her home. He said the boat
would follow the ship, and requested Pricket if he arrived at
the capes first, to leave some token that he had been there,
near the place where the fowls breed, and he, the carpenter,
would do the like. And so with tears they parted.*
The anchor was now weighed, the sails set, and they steered
out of the ice. The shallop with nine on board, was still fastened
to the stern ; but when the ship was nearly out of the ice, the rope
was cut, and they parted forever. (Sunday, June 21, 1611.)
In the ship were fourteen, seven had taken the oath ; two or
three more were lame ; and among the rest, some were disaffect
ed towards Hudson, though not apparently active ; and others,
constituting a small minority, silently acquiesced. But some of
those who were not active on deck, were busy below ; for they
went to work as if the ship had been taken by force, and they
had free leave to pillage, breaking up chests, and rifling all

* " But see (says the venerable Purchas) what sinceritie can doe in the
most desperate tryals : Philip Staffe an Ipswich man, who, according to his
name, had been a principal staffe and stay to the weaker and more enfee
bled courages of his companions in the whole action, lightning and inlight-
ning their drooping darkened spirits, with sparkes from his owne resolution ;
their best purveyor, with hispeece on shore, and both a skilfull carpenter
and lusty mariner on boord ; when hee could by no perswasions, seasoned
with teares, divert themfrom their devilish designes, notwithstanding they in-
treated him to stay with them, yet chose rather to commit himselfe to God's
mercie in the forlorne shallop, than with such villaioes to accept of likelier
hopes." Clements (the discarded boatswain) and the lame cooper, were, it
seems, on the list of proscription. But Thomas was Clement's friend, and
Bennet the cook, was the cooper's. Green insisted that they should go ;
but the others swore they should not, hut those in the shallop should return
rather. So Green was compelled to give way.

§ 54.] Henry Hudson. 295
places. It is impossible to designate the place where this foul
conspiracy took effect ; but it was off the east shore of the
bay, not very far north from their wintering place, and pro
bably between one and two hundred miles south from Cape
Diggs; for it will appear that more than a month elapsed
before the ship reached the place where justice was prepared
to exact an awful retribution.
Having cut the fast to the boat, they out with topsails,
and sailed eastward into a clear sea. In the end they took
in the topsails, righted helm, and lay under foresail till they
ransacked the ship. In the hold and master's cabin they
found a considerable quantity of provisions. While they
were thus busied, it was proclaimed that the shallop was with
in sight. Then Pricket implored them to relent. But al
though they had thus gained an unexpected accession to then-
stock of provisions, and might at least have taken the boat
in tow till they reached some of the capes, where Hudson and
his companions could have obtained relief, and perhaps the
means to get to Europe in the end, yet the mutineers evidently
had no desire that they should ever live to return home. On
the contrary, they set their sails and hastened away as from an
enemy. At last, approaching too near the east coast, they shifted
towards the west, and arriving near an island, put out
their net, but the rocks prevented them from fishing. But they
gathered large quantities of cockle grass. (150) Here they
lay over night and greater part of next day, but they never
saw the shallop. Whether Hudson, on seeing the ship fly
from him, had shifted his course towards the south western
part of the bay, where he had seen fires enkindled ; whether,
as was preconcerted by the carpenter, he steered to Diggs'
Cape and was massacred ; whether, before he reached it, he
died by famine, (for he had but a small 'stock of provisions)
or perished in the ice, (for the bay was filled with miles of it)
or was swallowed in the waves, (for storms succeeded) are in
quiries which no one could ever satisfy. All that is known is,
that Hudson and his eight companions never were heard of.

596 European Discoveries and Claims to Neu>-York<[PxBa.L
But if a conjecture might be hazarded, it would be, that after
suffering the horrors of famine, they were finally entangled in
the ice and perished.
The mutineers continued in an irregular course till the last
of the following month (July). They were sometimes be
wildered, but directed with most skill by Robert Bylot
(Billet). They were embayed two weeks in ice, t such as
they had never seen for its vast surface : it reached miles into
the bay, and carried by the tides, that set from north-west,
they worked through it with great difficulty, when keeping the
eastern shore to their right, the ship suddenly struck on a rock,
but got off: had she struck again, it was feared she would
have been wrecked. At last they reached the capes, and among
the islands at the mouth of the strait they run on another
rock at an ebb, which came from the east. Here they continued
for hours until the flood, which came from the west, floated the
ship. During their course hitherto, all the confusion and disorder
had prevailed, unavoidably incidental to a condition whence
command and subordination had been banished. They began to
talk among themselves, that England was not a safe place for
them. Green, who became their captain, swore that the ship
should keep the sea until he had the king's hand and seal for
his safety.
Previously to their gunning on the rock the last time, they
had sent off their boat and some men, who killed many birds
near the capes. After the ship was afloat, they pursued their
course, and endeavoured to get some fowl near Cape Diggs.
The boat as it approached the shore, had met seven canoes
turning the eastern point towards them. The savages drew
back, but soon becoming familiar, the parlies exchanged
hostages, and met in tents of the natives ;* where they mani-

* " In which tents they lived by hordes, men, women, and children ;
they are bigge-boned, broad-faced, flat-nosed, and small footed, like the
Tartars ; their apparell of skinnes, but wrought all very handsomely, even
gloves and shooes. The next morning, Green would needs goe on shore
with some of his chiefe companions, and that unarmed, notwithstanding
some advised and intreated him to the contrary." — Purchas.

§ 54.] Henry Hudson. 297
fested great joy, by dancing, leaping, and stroking their
breasts. They offered a variety of things, so that the men re
turned to the ship rejoicing, as if they had met the most kind
and simple people in the worjd. Green, in particular, was
so confident that he became perfectly blinded, and considered
any precaution altogether needless.
The next day (July 20, 1611) the mutineers hurried off,
taking the lame Pricket to guard the articles in the boat.
The ship, meantime, was brought up into the channel, off from
where they landed.
As they approached the shore, the people were on the hills
dancing and leaping.*
The boat was fastened ; Pricket remained in its stern ;
Green, Wilson, and Thomas met the savages on the beach,
as they flocked down the hill, and immediately displayed their
articles of traffic. Perce and Moter ascended a rock topick
sorrel. All were apparently unarmed. While in this situa
tion one savage stepped into the boat, but Pricket, more sus
picious than the rest, ordered him out ; another unobserved
stole behind Pricket as he sat down, stabbed him twice before he
could seize a dagger by his side, and plunged it into the
breast of this chief of the savages. (151) Meantime those on
shore were beset on all sides. Green and Wilson came tum
bling into the boat mortally wounded. Moter rushed from
the rocks, jumped into the sea, and clung to its stern.
Perce with a hatchet fought his way to the head of the boat,
laid one savage dead, pushed off the boat, helped Moter in,
and with his assistance rowed off amidst a shower of arrows
from the shore. Green was now shot dead, and the rest
wounded. Perce fainted before they got to the ship. The
majority of the mutineers died the same day, Wilson cursing
and swearing in the most fearful manner.
Thus perished these infatuated men. One more ringleader
still lived, but he lived only to meet a more lingering, but not

* The 'island is described as rocky and uneven, full of high hills and
craggy clifts.
Vol. I. 38

298 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [Part I.
Jess effectual vengeance than that which had pursued his co
adjutors. Ivet, notwithstanding the glorious distinction in
which he had shared in former voyages, (sullied, indeed, by his
cold-blooded cruelty while on Hudson river) had now thrown
all into the shade, by the infamy attached to his character as
first, if not most prominent, in this fatal mutiny.
The survivors, at the peril of their lives, afterwards went
among the capes, and supplied themselves with fowl, but on
arriving in the bay at the inlet of Hudson's Straits, they
found it necessary to adopt short allowance, and to husband
their stock in such a manner, as to make use of the skins of
the fowls, and even the garbage. They now steered for the
Desolations ; but on the persuasion of Ivet, that by going to
Newfoundland they would find relief from their countrymen,
or from what they had left behind, if they should have de
parted conformably to his advice, they altered their course, but
a southwest wind meeting them not long after, they concluded
to shape their way to Ireland. To give an idea of their suf
ferings, at which humanity shudders, it will suffice to say, that
they were reduced after their meal was gone, to take salt
broth for dinner, and half a fowl for supper. Their distress
increasing, they took the bones of birds they had eaten, fried
them in tallow, and with vinegar ate them with greediness.
The vinegar was now shared ; one pound of candles became
the allowance for a week, and were deemed a great dainty.
They were yet several hundred miles from Ireland. The men
became unable to stand at the helm, but sat and steered. Just
as they had lost all hopes of reaching Ireland, Robert Ivet
died for mere want ; suffering, in the horrid death by famine,
the same dreadful misfortune which he was so instrumental in
inflicting upon Hudson. The men were in despair. The last
fowl was in the steep tub. They cared not which way the
vessel went, and seemed altogether regardless of their fate,
when the sight of land was announced. Columbus could not
have been so overjoyed, when his sailors cried 'Land!' as
were these wretched .survivors. They steered towards the
coast, and in the end raised the joyful cry of ' a sail !' It

§ 54. Henry Hudson. 299
proved a fishing bark, which took them into a harbour in Ire
land, Sept. 6th, 1611 ; (152) and through the generous inter
est of its commander, (153) and the humanity of a stranger,
(154) they were enabled to reach Dartmouth, thence to
Gravesend, (where most of them went ashore) and proceeded
to London, to make report to Sir Thomas Smith, one of the
principal members of the society and owners of the ship,
who, not having heard from them for nearly a year and a half,
had believed them lost.
The sensation produced in London upon the disclosure of
these tragical events, may be conceived to have been very
great. Such indeed was the interest felt in England, that the
London company, prompted by the benevolent motive of
searching for Hudson and his companions, flattered also by the
hope, that the flood-tide described near Diggs' Island as com
ing from the west, might proceed from an unexplored passage
at the western side of the bay, fitted out another expedition
the following year, which, after wintering, returned disap
pointed in both objects of search. (155)
Hudson had become deservedly a favourite with a large
portion of the British public. The English long regretted
the loss of their countryman, whose achievements as a navi
gator had reflected honour on a nation already distinguished
for its illustrious seamen. Hudson's personal qualities and
virtues, displayed during his four voyages, at times which
were calculated to try character, will ever be contemplated
with admiration and pleasure ; but to the citizens of the
State of New- York, the character of this heroic navigator
will be peculiarly the theme of eulogium, and his misfortunes
the subject of regret.
When the internal improvements of this State shall be com
plete, then the great chain of lakes and streams at the west
and the north will become united with the river which Hudson
discovered. When the same grand system of public policy,
which will have brought those improvements to perfection,
shall, at no remote period, meet a corresponding zeal and en
terprise already indicated beyond the confines of this State,
then the philanthropist and the statesman will behold the navi-

300 European Discoveries and Claims to New-York. [F 'art .J.
gable waters of the bay where Hudson perished, brought, by
artificial means, nearly in contact with those of the northern
shores of Lake Superior ; and the majestic. Mississippi, ming
ling her waters with those of the great interior seas, shall unite
in one vast circle with the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, in
Contributing their varied and accumulated treasures to enrich
the borders and swell the proud tide of Hudson river !
From such views and anticipations, Hudson was precluded.
It was reserved for those of the present generation to realize
them, — to recall the memory ofhim, whose daring intrepidity
first opened a vista then so dark, but now so radiant, to the pro
phetic glance of reason, founding its deductions in past expe
rience and actual experiment. But in recalling the memory
of those who have bestowed great benefactions on mankind, it
is to hold up to view their characters for emulation and ap
plause, and at the same time to pay to truth that homage
which shall place the tribute or the censure where it is justly
merited. Hudson was not faultless, but no record imputes to his con
duct any crime or wilful vice. He had at times that irritabi
lity of passion, which is so peculiarly the trait of those whose
lives are passed upon the ocean. But few, who have so con
flicted with its dangers, and at the same time combated the tur
bulent dispositions of mutinous crews, could have preser
ved presence of mind, exercised moderation, and displayed
magnanimity in a more exalted manner, than Hudson. His
faults, whatever they were, are eclipsed by the splendour of
his virtues. When the river which he discovered shall display
upon its banks, in a range of three hundred miles, a free, vi
gorous, and intelligent population, crowded into numerous
additional cities, villages, seats, and farm houses, the merits of
Hudson will be reiterated with increased praise, while his
name shall be>handed down from generation to generation.
Having, under the preceding division of the present part of
the history, closed our investigation into the discoveries and
conflicting claims of England, France, Spain, and Holland,
to the territory now comprehended within this State, we will
proceed to inquire into the principle to which those powers ac
ceded, as the basis of their respective interest.

§ 55.] Foundation of Title to the Domain of N. Y. 301

§55,
Fourthly : What principles of international law should go
vern the European powers in their partition of this continent,
and regulate them with regard to the rights of the original
owners or native occupants.
This inquiry will involve the foundation of title to the do
main of this State, and the nature and extent of Indian title
to the soil.
It has been heretofore remarked, that those principles were
early settled from necessity among the majority of the parti
tioning powers. When the United States' republic succeed
ed Great Britain in sovereignty over the North American pro
vinces, the basis of title to dominion over the realty through
out the continent, rested upon those principles of conventional
international law. The title which Great Britain passed to
the United States upon the recognition of their independence,
consequently depended upon the same principles. But the
title by which this State holds exclusive territorial sovereignty
as an imperium in imperio, is founded upon a discrimination
between the national and state sovereignties, resulting from the
rights granted or reserved by the State, as they were defined
and guaranteed first by the articles of confederation and per
petual union, and afterwards by the constitution of the United
States. Since the exercise of those sovereignties, certain
principles of constitutional adoption or municipal enactment
have been engrafted upon those which constituted the founda
tion of European title, and were designed to illustrate the ex
tent of the broad principle when viewed in its corollaries, or
to define with precision to whom the native could dispose of
his right to the soil, and to whom he could not.
Those principles are declared in two recent, simultaneous,
and concurrent adjudications, by the tribunals of dernier re-

302 Domain of N/ew-York. [Part I.
sort of the United States, and this State.* The opinion in
the first case-|- was pronounced by Chief Justice Marshall, and
the decision in the last,f was predicated upon the opinion de
livered by Chancellor Kent. From the luminous expositions
of those distinguished ornaments of the judiciary, the follow
ing abstract has been condensed.
On the discovery of this continent, the great nations of Eu
rope, eager to appropriate as much of it as possible, and con
ceiving that the character and religion of its inhabitants af
forded an apology for considering them as a people, over
whom the superior genius of Europe might claim an ascen
dency, adopted, as by a common consent, this principle,
First, That discovery gave title to the government, by whose
subjects, or by whose authority, it was made against all otber
European governments, which title might be consummated by
possession. Hence, although a vacant country belongs to in
dividuals who first discover it, and who acknowledge no con
nexion, and owe no allegiance to any government, yet if the
country be discovered and possessed by the emigrants of an
existing acknowledged government, the possession is deemed
taken for the nation, and title must be derived from the sove-

* See also Grotius, Lib. 2. Puffend. Lib. 4. Ruthford, Vol.11. Vat-
tel,B. 1 . & 2. Marten, Law of N. .Montesquieu, Tom. II. Lock on Gov.
Justinian, Lib. 2. Tit. 1. Molloy de jure Mar. Morse's Report on Indian
affairs, p. 67 appendix p. 279, to 284.
f Johnson & Graham's Lessee vs. Mcintosh, 8. Wheaton's Rep. 543,
505, Anno 1823. This cause came before the Supreme Court of the United
States, on a writ of error, to the District Court of Illinois, upon a.case sta
ted. The action was originally brought by ejectment for lands in that
state, claimed by the plaintiffs in error of devisees of a testator claiming
under an, original title by deeds executed in 1773 and 1775, by (and under
which no possession had ever been had from) the Piankeshaw and Illinois
Indians. The defendant claimed under a grant from the United States, to
whom the locus in quo had been previously ceded by those Indian tribes,
though subsequently to the conveyance to the plaintiffs. The judgment be
low for defendant was affirmed in Error.
X Goodell vs. Jackson, 20. Johnson's Rep. 693, in Couit of Errors of N.
V. in which the same case in 20. Johns. 188 was reversed.

4 55.] Foundation of Title to the Soil. 303
reign organ, in whom the power to dispose of vacant territories
is vested by law.
Secondly : Resulting from the above principle as qualified,
was that of the sole right of the discoverer to acquire the soil
from the natives, and establish settlements either by purchase
or conquest. Hence also the exclusive right cannot exist in
government, and at the same time in private individuals ; and
hence also,
Thirdly : The natives were recognised as rightful occu
pants, but their power to dispose of the soil at their own will,
to whomsoever they pleased, was denied by the original fun
damental principle, that discovery gave exclusive title to those
who made it.
Fourthly : The ultimate dominion was asserted, and as a
consequence, a power to grant the soil while yet in the pos
session of the natives. Hence, such dominion was incompat
ible with an absolute and complete title in thelndians. Conse
quently, from the foregoing principle, and its corollaries, theln
dians had no right to sell to any other than the government of
the first discoverer, nor to private citizens, without the sanction
of their government. Hence the Indians were to be consi
dered mere occupants, to be protected indeed while in peace,
in the possession of their lands, but with an incapacity of
transferring the absolute title to others.
Fifthly : The United States have acceded to those princi
ples which were the foundation of European title to property
in America. The Declaration of Independence gave us posses
sion, and the recognition by Great Britain of the same, gave
title to all the lands within the boundary lines described in the
treaty that closed our revolutionary war, subject only to the
Indian right of occupancy, and having become possessed of
all the right that Great Britain had, or which before the se
paration we possessed, but no more ; hence the exclusive
power to extinguish that right, was vested in that government
which might constitutionally exercise it. Therefore each
State before the union, and each State since (within its cir
cumscribed territorial jurisdiction,) possessed and possesses,

304 Domain of New-York. [Part L
by its government, the exclusive right to purchase from the
Indians. Sixthly : That the allodial property in the territory of this
State, Or that which has become exclusively vested in the
United States, is solely in the Government respectively, and
that no foreign grant or title can be recognised by its Courts
of Justice.
Spain, though deriving a grant from the Pope, was com
pelled to rest her title on discovery ; Portugal to the Bra
zils ; France to Canada, Acadia, and Louisiana ; Holland
to the discoveries of Henry Hudson. England, though she
wrested the Dutch possessions on the ground of pre-eminent
right, asserted it on the same principle, tracing her right to
the discovery of the Cabots ; and extending her claim from the
34° to the 48° of north latitude.*
This principle of ultimate domain, founded on discovery,
is recognised in the wars, negotiations, and treaties of the
European nations claiming territory in America. Such were
the contests of France and Spain, as to the territory on the
northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; between France and
Great Britain from their nearly contemporaneous settlements,
till the treaty of Paris 1763, when France ceded and guar
anteed to Great Britain Nova Scotia (or Acadia) and Canada,
with their dependencies. Their respective boundaries became ,
also fixed from the source of the Mississippi through the mid
dle of that river and the lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain to
the sea. The country on the English side, though a great
part occupied by the Indains, was ceded to Great Britain.
She relinquished to France all pretentions to that west of the
Mississippi. Although not in actual possession of a foot of
land, she surrendered all right to acquire the country ; and any
attempt to purchase it from the Indians, would have been
treated as an invasion of the territories of France. By the
same treaty, Spain ceded Florida with its dependencies and all
the country she claimed east or south-east of the Mississippi,

* See ante. p. 173.

§55.] Foundation of Title to the Soil. 305
to Great Britain. By a secret treaty, executed about the
same time, France ceded Louisiana to Spain, and Spain has
since retroceded the same country to France. During these
cessions and retrocessions, a great portion of the country was
in possession of the Indians. This was also the case when
the right of ultimate dominion was asserted by actual settle
ments. The charter to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, renewed in
that to Sir Walter Raleigh ; the charters of James I. suc
cessively vacated, surrendered, annulled, or renewed, to the
north and south Virginia Companies, until that to the Duke
of Lenox and others, in 1620, were all granted while the
country was in occupation of the Indians. Under the last-
mentioned patent, viz. to the Plymouth Company, New-Eng
land has, in a great measure, been settled. They conveyed
to Henry Rosewell and others, in 1627, the territory of Mas
sachusetts, who, in 1628, obtained a charter of incorporation.
Having granted a great part of New-England, the company
made partition of the residue in 1635, and surrendered their
charter to the crown. A patent was granted to Gorges, for
Maine, which was alloted to him in the division of property.
New-Hampshire was granted to Mason. Before the surren
der of the colony, now New- York, in 1664, the King had
granted to the Duke of York, the country of New England
as far as the Delaware bay. The Duke subsequently trans-
fered New-Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.
And yet, during these events, a great proportion of the coun
try was in possession of the Indians. In 1 663 the Crown
granted to Lord Clarendon, and others, the country lying
between the 36th degree of north latitude and river St. Ma-
thes: in 1666 the proprietors obtained anew charter, granting
to them that province, in the King's dominions in North
America, from 36° 30' north latitude to the 29th degree, and
from the Atlantic to the South sea. Thus our whole country,
the soil as well as the right of dominion, was granted while
occupied by the Indians. However extravagant the preten
tion may appear, of converting the discovery of an inhabited
country into conquest ; if the principle has been asserted in
Vol. I. 39

306 Domain of New-YorTe. [Part I-
the first instance, and afterwards sustained ; if a country has
been acquired and held under it ; if the property of the great
mass of the community originates in it, it becomes the law of
the land, and cannot be questioned. Abstracted therefore
from speculative opinion, conquests gives a title that Courts of
Justice, at least of the conqueror, must recognise.
The law of conquest, founded in force, but limited by that
humanity or policy which incorporates the conquered with the
victorious, spares all wanton oppression, and protects title to
property, whether the vanquished became incorporated or go
verned as a distinct society, was incapable of application to
the aborigines of this country. The tribes of Indians were
fierce savages, whose occupation was war, and whose subsis
tence was chjefly from the forest. To leave them in possession
of their country, was to leave the country a wilderness ; to
govern them as a distinct people, was impossible, because they
were as brave and as high-spirited as they were fierce, and
were ready, to repel by arms every attempt on their indepen
dence. To mix with them was impossible. The Europeans
were then compelled either to abandon the country, and all
claim to their discovery, remain exposed to perpetual hazard
of massacre, or enforce their claim by the sword. Wars, in
which the whites were not always aggressors, ensued. Euro
pean policy, numbers, and skill, prevailed. As the white po
pulation advanced, that of the Indians necessarily receded.
The country in the immediate neighbourhood of agricultu
ralists, became unfit for them. The game fled into thicker
and more unbroken forests, and the Indians followed. The
soil to which the crown originally claimed title, being no lon
ger occupied, was parcelled out according to the will of the
sovereign power, and taken possession of by those claiming
under. Hence the absolute title and exclusive right of ex
tinguishing that of the Indian occupants, having been vested
in, and exercised by, government, cannot consequently exist at
the same time in private individuals ; aud hence also such ex
clusive right in government was incompatible with an abso
lute and complete title in the Indians. The concomitant prin-

§ 55.] Foundation of Title to the Soil. 307
ciple, that the Indians were to be considered merely as occu
pants, to be protected indeed while in peace, in the possession
of their lands, but with an incapacity of transferring the ab
solute title to others, however opposed to natural-right, and to
the usages of civilized nations ; yet if it be indispensable to
that system, under which the country has been settled, and be
adapted to the actual condition of the two people, it may per
haps be supported by reason, and certainly cannot be rejected
by courts of justice. The British government, then ours,
whose rights have passed to the United States, asserted a title
to all the lands occupied by the Indians within the chartered
limits of the British colonies. It asserted also a limited sove
reignty over them, and the exclusive right of extinguishing
their title by occupancy. These claims have been established
as far west of the Mississippi by the sword. The title to a
vast portion of the lands we hold, originates in them. It is
not for the courts of this country to question the validity
of this title, or to sustain one which is incompatible with it,
inasmuch as the United States have unequivocally acceded to
that great and broad rule by which its civilized inhabitants
now hold this country. They maintain the principle which
has been received as the foundation of all European title in
America. They hold and assert in themselves the title by
which it was acquired, either by purchase or by conquest.
By the treaty of peace that closed our revolutionary war,
Great Britain relinquished all claim, not only to the govern
ment, but to the " propriety and territorial rights of the Uni
ted States," whose boundaries were fixed in the second article.
By this treaty, the powers of government and the right to the
soil, which had previously been in Great Britain, passed defi
nitely to these States. We had before taken possession of
them by declaring independence ; but neither the declaration
or treaty could give us more than that we before possessed, or
to which Great Britain was before entitled. It has never been
doubted that either the United States, or the several states,
had a clear title to all the lands within the boundary lines de-

308 Domain of New-York. [Part I.
scribed in the treaty, subject only to the Indian right of occu
pancy, and that the exclusive power to extinguish that right
was vested in that government, which might constitutionally
exercise it. Thus Virginia, as early as 1779, passed an act
declaring her exclusive right of pre-emption from the Indians,
of lands within her chartered territory, and that no individual
could purchase without authority from government, thus af
firming the broad principle, that the exclusive right to pur
chase was in government. States, having within their char
tered limits, territory covered with Indians, ceded them gene
rally to the United States, on conditions expressed in their
deeds, which show that the soil, as well as jurisdiction, was
ceded as a productive fund to the government of the Union.
Thus lands in Illinois were within the chartered limits of Vir
ginia, and were ceded with the whole country northwest of
Ohio river to the United States. They were occupied by nu
merous warlike tribes ; but the exclusive right of the United
States to extinguish their title and grant the soil, has not been
doubted. Disputed boundaries settled by treaty of 1795, be
tween the United States and Spain, included territory occu
pied by Indians, claimed by both nations, but ceded to the
United States. The magnificent purchase of Louisiana from
France, was that of a country occupied by numerous inde
pendent tribes of Indians. Yet any attempt of others to in
trude into that country, would be considered an aggression
which would justify war. Our late acquisitions from Spain
are of the same character ; and the prior negotiations recog
nise and elucidate the principle which has been thus received
as the foundation of European title, and that upon which the
dominion to property now rests in this country.
In New- York, prior to the confederacy of the Union, the
same principle as that which was confirmed in Virginia, was
adopted as an article (37th,) of the constitution of 1777, and
re-incorporated in that of 1822, (article 7, Sec. 12.) It
rendered contracts for land with the Indians in this State, void,
unless sanctioned by the legislature. Before and since the
adoption of the constitution of the United States, various

§ 55.] Foundation of Title to the Soil. 309
legislative provisions have been made, relative to the different
Indian tribes and nations within the State. Judicial decisions
have also followed, some of which* were deemed to run
counter to the broad principle as settled in the last casef by
the courts, and were therefore reversed directly or virtually.
But it had been early settled, that possession of Indians did
not invalidate a patent from the State,f and that sales by
Indians were void, made to the whites without legislative
sanction.^ But in the final decision of the Court of Errors, it
was considered, that from the constitutional provisions of the
State, from the object and policy of the act relative to the
different tribes and nations within this State, || declaring such
purchases, (without legislative sanction,) a penal offence; from
the construction in pari materia of the whole code of Indian
statute law, from the special act of 1778 to that of 1801, (re
viving the first without its preamble,) up to that of 1810;
from a review of the history of the six nations, from their first
alliance with the Dutch, until the surrender of the colony to
the English, and from the time when they placed themselves
under the protection of the latter to the present period, having
for more than a century been under their and our protection ;
from the resolutions of Congress and public treaties, all com
bining to elucidate the principle of pre-eminent claim, and
from the whole scope and policy of these constitutional and
legislative provisions originating in the cautious and parental
policy of government to protect the Indians in the possession
of their lands from the frauds and imposition, superior
cunning, and sagacity of the whites ; they were to be deemed

* Goodell vs. Jackson, 20 Johns. 188. Jackson vs. Sharp, 14 Johns.
472. Jackson vs. Brown, 15 Johns. 264. vide etiam Gilbert vs. Wood, 7
Johns. 290.
f Goodell vs. Jackson, 20 Johns. 693.
X Jackson, &c. vs. Hudson, 3 Johns. 370.
} Dana vs. Dana, 14 Johns. 181.
|| Sess. 36, ch. 92, et vide 3 Johns. 375. 9 Johns. 362. 7 Johns. 290.
14 Johns. 181.

310 Domain of New-York. [Part I.
as incapable of aliening, as inopes concillii,; and therefore,
that although they are to be regarded not as citizens, but as
independent allies, or alien communities, still continuing under
the protection of government, and exempt from the civil
municipal laws, which regulate citizens, (though not from the
operation of our criminal code for crimes committed within
our jurisdictional limits, though among themselves ;*) never
theless, all contracts for lands, whether from a tribe or nation
— from Indians or from an individual Indian, whether such
individual be an Indian heir, deriving from a military grant
from government, (which, though presumed from lapse of
time to have issued lawfully, must be construed as a grant to
the Indian and his Indian heirs or assigns,) yet such is their
total incapacity to convey to whites, that all contracts for
lands are not only void,f but reciprocally inoperative,! except
such individual sales as shall first receive, pursuant to the act
of the legislature,^ the approval of the Surveyor General of
the State, to be endorsed on the deed from such Indian. §
Such being the principles of international law as sanctioned
before and since our revolution ; such the municipal regulations
of our general and State governments since, and such the
foundation to the domain of this State ; no title, derived from
the grant of any Indians, unless received mediately from
our government, and none from any foreign government can
be recognised in our courts of justice, so long as all title is
vested in, and must emanate from the United States, or a State,
under whichsoever jurisdiction the land may be a part of its
sovereignty. [|

* By the declaratory act of New- York, of April 12, 1822, Sess., 45, vide
2 Johns, cases, 344.
f 20 Johns. 693, 703, 705, 709-734. "*
{ Vide 19 Johns. 181.
i Sess. 36. ch. 92, sec. 55, et vide 14 Johns. 181, 15 Johns. 264, re
versed in 20 Johns. 693, but not on the point of endorsement by Surveyor
General. U Vide 12 Johns. 365. 81.. 4 Johns. 182.

§ 56.] Recapitulation. 311

§ 56.
Having finished the four divisions of the present part, a
brief recapitulation of the whole will now be given. Under
the form of four questions, which arose incidentally from the
discoveries of Columbus, Americus, Cabots, and Varrazano,*
we introduced, as a preliminary to the first inquiry,-)- a de
scription of those antiquities of New-York, which form, in
connexion with those of the Ohio, Mississippi, and Mexico, a
series of ancient ruins, indicative of a degree of skill superior
to that of any known tribes of North America.-]- In inqui
ring who were the authors of those ancient works, and whe
ther they were the ancestors of the indigines of this State,|
we related, first, their traditions of the first creation and ori
gin of nations, tracing a similitude between theirs and the fa
bulous genealogical traditions of the Egyptians, Chinese, and
Hindoos. § Secondly, their traditions of the migration of
their ancestors into the territory of this State, and their con
quest over its preoccupants. || These, we learn from the tra
dition, were the authors of those works, the ruins of which we
had traced, an extraordinary and civilized people,|| who, ac
cording to other accounts, were whites. Whether they trans
migrated from Asia or Europe, who the ancestors of pur pre
sent race of Indians were, and whence they came also, were
inquiries which rendered a recurrence proper to the main
question, viz : By what means was America originally peo
pled ?1T
In its examination, we briefly reviewed the various hypo
theses of the learned.' After alluding to the Scandinavian
adventurers, who, it will appear under the third division,

{4. T «7. '¦

312 Conclusion. ' [Part I.
may have reached the coasts of New- York, we spoke of the
Welsh Indians^ and presented some facts, (for instance, an in
stitution resembling that of free masonry) tending to strengthen
the conjecture, that Wales may have contributed a portion of
the aboriginal population,* even without the necessity of in
sisting upon the authenticity of the account of Prince Ma
doc's adventures. f To corroborate the probability that Eu
rope as well as Asia supplied emigrants, we stated that the
ancient fortifications of this State resembled the British and
Danish ; that Europe, as well as Asia, had its northern Tar
tars, descendants of the Scythians ; that they may have suc
cessively poured into this continent from the northwest of Eu
rope and the northeast of Asia, and alternately become lords
of the ascendant, making even the territory of this State the
theatre of their warlike and barbarous achievements; and lastly,
that although the Malays of Austral Asia may have penetrated
into the southern part of this continent, its northern section re
ceived the Tartars from the hyperborean regions of Europe and
Asia.J Among these, were the victorious ancestors of the
Iroquois and Lenni Lennape, and the civilized Alligewi,
whom they vanquished and expelled. The former were pro
bably Tartars from Asia, the latter of the Gothiq stock from
Europe.^ We have shown in what manner they may have
transmigrated. || We have corroborated our statement by the
opinions of philosophers, that they, as well as other people,
though in less proportions, may by accident, as well as through
design, have passed to this continent from the various quar
ters of the old world ; and although ihe learned vary in opi
nion as to the period of the original migration, whether before
or since the deluge, whether the aborigines' '¦ first came from
Asia, Europe, or Africa, whether among them were Israelites
of the ten tribes, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Christians ;
yet there is a most respectable concurrence in opinion, that the

5 8. f *8>9- X 4 10 to 13. i HI, 12,
|| » 12, 13.

$ 56.] Recapitulation. 3 IS
majority of thelndians of the present race are the offspring
of Tartars, principally from Asia.*
Other learned writers, viewing the natural obstacles which
now appear, as insuperable to the passage of animals, maintain
that former unions existed between this and the other conti
nents j-j- that those connexions were destroyed by the effects
of volcanoes and earthquakes ; that the now sunken Atlantis
of the ancients was not the dream of their fancy, but an im
mense island, whose inhabitants were the authors of the in
scription upon the Dighton rock of Massachusetts.!
Another class still unsatisfied with prior theories, have di
rected their'philological researches into the structure of Indian
idioms, endeavouring to ascertain their identity by compari
son with the languages of the old world ;§ while lastly, a few,
in order to close all argument, flippantly allege, that the abo
rigines were strictly natives of the soil.
From a review of the whole question, we have formed
our conclusion, without insisting upon its infallibility. On
the contrary, we have offered it as merely hypothetical. ||
We have also made such reflections as were suggested by
a retrospect of those revolutions which have shaken this
continent to its foundation ; and from the experience of the
past, we have deduced a probability, that the most signal revo
lutions may take place in the progress of ages ; that the ter
ritory of this State, which has been even within two centuries,
the theatre for the display of most remarkable changes, may
be destined, in common with the other parts of this continent,
to undergo those of a far more astonishing character. IT
The second division embraced the inquiry whether America
was known to Europe before Columbus.** An answer to this,
the reader will perceive, had been principally anticipated un
der the first division. We however superadded a few remarks
respecting the maritime knowledge and skill of the ancients,

* 12 to 16, and p. 296, n. t ib- ' 17- J U7.
} 4 18. } |( 19. IT { 19, 20. ** ^ 31 to 2,5i
Vol. I. 40

314 Conclusion. [Part I,
and also observed, that although they may have had vague
ideas of a western continent, and though it was probable that
this continent was visited by Europeans many ages before
Columbus, yet the knowledge which prevailed among his
contemporaries, was not such as to deprive him of the ho
nour of originality in projecting a discovery which required
his extraordinary qualifications to accomplish.* ;
The effect of his discovery upon the commercial and ultra
marine relations of European powers, constituted the subject
of our third division ;f under which, however, we have di
rected the attention of readers to those European voyages of
discovery, and those conflicting claims to the North Ameri
can continent, which had" a relation to that portion of it em
braced within the colonial limits of New-York. But under
the question, who first discovered the coasts and harbours of
this State, we gave a preliminary account of the Scandinavi
an or Norrman voyages| in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,.
and having submitted to our readers the probability that New-
York was a part of ancient Vinland,^ we then proceeded to
describe the more modern European voyages to our coasts
and harbours. First, the voyage, five years after Columbus,
of the Cabots, || whose alleged discovery of our coasts, form
ed a prominent ground for the claim of England to this
colony; though the Monarch (Henry VII.) who commissioned
the Cabots, and those who succeeded him upon the English
throne for nearly a century afterwards, did not assert their
claims by actual colonization upon any part of North Ame
rica. From the selfish views of Henry VII. we passed with plea
sure to the more enterprising policy, but with abhorrence to
the characteristic cruelty of the Spaniards,** whose claim to
North America, by virtue of the pope's gift, was insisted upon
with pertinacity, though they pretended also to have first dis
covered Florida, and it has been conjectured that they early
* ib. f * 26- X * 27- « & ft- II * 28. ** 4 29.

§ 66.] Recapitulation. 315
visited the Hudson and the St. Lawrence.* These pre*
tensions, particularly that founded on the pope's gift, were
disregarded by Henry VIII. of England, and Francis I. of
France;f both of whom Sent ships of discovery to North
America. We confined our attention especially to two
voyages under the auspices of the latter monarch, one of
which it has been conjectured, reached the bay of New-York,
and the other it is asserted, discovered the St. Lawrence : viz.
those of Varrazano, J and Cartier.§ The interviews of these
adventurers with the natives, and particularly of Cartier
with our Iroquois, prove, as well as the intercourse of all
the first European visiters, the unsophisticated character,
and friendly and humane conduct of the natives. It has ap
peared, that from the fate of Varrazano, the project of coloni
zation slept in France, until Cartier made his voyages, || and
that the unsuccessful issue of these, combined with the dis
tracted condition of France, suspended North American
colonizing adventure, (except that of the persecuted and un
fortunate admiral Coligna, in the reign of Charles IX.)
until it was revived under the enlightened policy of Henry the
Great.1T From the foregoing events, and others which we have
briefly enumerated, we have deduced the causes why a century
elapsed after the Cabots, before any effectual revival of the
spirit of colonization. We said that a secret cause, (arising
from religious persecution,) was in progressive operation,
which was to secure ultimately the establishment of colonies,
but that a powerful and prior impulse was to arise at the close
of the sixteenth, and commencement of the seventeenth centu
ry, from the enterprising policy of those illustrious contempo
raries Queen Elizabeth, Henry IV., and Prince Maurice.**
The first effectual attempt on the part of the English was
in the reign of Elizabeth, whose patents to Sir Humphry

*0 29. t&30. 1 4 31,32. H 33,
Hi 32. 1T * 33. ** « 34.

316 Conclusion. [Part I.
Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, were followed by several ex
peditions to the northern and southern parts of Virginia.*
The disastrous issue of those enterprises, as well as the mis
fortunes of their patrons, suspended the project of coloniza-
tion,f until Bartholomew Gosnold, one year before the death
of Elizabeth, and seven years before the discovery of the Hud
son river, undertook to plant a colony/ and actually erected
the first house within the limits of the province of New-York.f
We have seen that Gosnold's enterprise was succeeded by that
of Pring and Weymouth in the same direction,^ and that
their combined accounts of the beauty and fertility of the
regions which they had visited, roused the dormant spirit of
the English, many of whom zealously promoted colonies. On
the accession therefore of King James to the throne of Eng
land, new patents were granted to new companies, by virtue
of which fresh colonies were sent to south and north Virginia ;
the former of which enjoyed a precarious existence, the latter
actually abandoned the country. Those patents included the
territory of this state, and interfered with the claims of France
and of Spain, whose pretensions were revived and discussed
even in 1609, while Hudson was engaged in exploring the
!New-York bay and river. f|.
With regard to France, we have seen that though the true
era of French commercial policy has been dated in the reign
of Lewis XIV. yet that the.prior reign of Henry IV. was dis
tinguished for several voyages to North America. The pa
tent granted by the king to Des Monts, embraced this State.
Under them, Samuel Champlain sailed to Canada, founded
Quebec, and in the course of an expedition against our Iro
quois Indians, discovered Lacus Irocoisa (since called by the
name of its discoverer,) fought those Indians in a battle near
Ticonderoga, and thus introduced to them a knowledge of
gunpowder during the same year that Hudson entered the
southern waters of our State, and gave to the same nation of
¦H35, f}35. t«36, H37 |H 38, 40,

§ 56.] Recapitulatida. 317
Indians, the knowledge of another evil, which, combined with
the former, subsequently produced the most destructive effect
among the natives,.*
At the period of the memorable discovery of Henry Hud
son, to the development of which we were slowly approach
ing, we found that the great European powers claimed the ter
ritory within this State. We stated the limits of their con
flicting claims. We stated that the discovery of Henry Hud
son took place in the administration of the celebrated Mau
rice of Holland, and that the Dutch republic (a sketch
of which is given) was our first colonial parent. f We
pointed out the remote causes of the glory of that republic, the
employment of Henry Hudson by the Dutch East India
Company, and the colonization of this State. J We have
shown that all those events resulted incidentally from repeat
ed attempts to explore a north passage to China,J then
a .great object of maritime adventure. § In pursuit of the
same object, a London company first brought to our notice
the daring, skilful, and experienced Hudson, who, in their ser
vice, performed two voyages in 1607 andS.|| then proceeded to
Holland ; and in the service of the Dutch East India Company,
sailed in 1609 in pursuit of the supposed northern passage.
Not more successful in this attempt than he had been in the
two former, he formed a design of visiting the American conti
nent. He coasted it as far as the South Virginia Colony, re-
trogradedlT along the coast, and entered within Sandy Hook.
After passing a week, he proceeded to the mouth of the river,
which now perpetuates his name.** Previously to our de
scription of his exploring passage upon the river, we gave a
slight topdgraphical sketch of the islands and bays which he
had now passed, and their ancient names. We also gave an
account of the bay and river Indians, with whom he had in
terviews during his month's visit, together with the ancient
names and courses of the river.f f

?'41. f 442,44. t 4 45. 4 446. 11*47,
7 4 48. ** 4 49. ft »50.

318 Conclusion. J [Part L
. We then traced Hudson's voyage to the utmost point to
which his yacht sailed ; described some of the scenery as it
probably then appeared to him, and mentioned some incidents
which occurred with the natives.* During his visit near
the spot upon which is the city of Albany, we observed his
amicable reception and traffic with the natives, and described
a remarkable scene, confirmed by tradition, which took place
here, or at some spot in the vicinity of New-York, when
Hudson first arrived. f
After designating the portions of the river to its sources
and branches, which were unexplored by Hudson, and re
marking upon the undiscovered regions of the northern and
western parts of this State ;J we then follow, in our descrip
tion, Hudson's return; his interviews and searfight with the
natives ; his departure from the bay of New- York ; his arri
val in England, and his detention from Holland through the
policy of King James. §
Finally, as Hudson's discovery led to the colonisation of
New- York, his character and misfortunes become to its citi
zens an object of inquisitive solicitude. We have therefore
succinctly narrated his fourth and last disastrous voyage. ||
Having related the discoveries of our coasts and harbours,
which were made under the auspices of England, France,
Spain, and Holland, and stated their conflicting claims in
consequence of those discoveries, we proceeded to the fourth
division of the present part, and unfolded those principles of
international law adopted by those powers, to test the validity
of their respective claims ; which principles constitute the
foundation of title to dominion over the soil of this State.
In these ante-colonial annals we have pursued a compre
hensive range of investigation, compatible perhaps with an
introduction only. Some topics, however, apparently foreign,
will hereafter appear to have been relevant, if not indispen-

§ 56.] Recapitulation. 319
sable, to a complete History of the State. It may also, per
haps, be deemed, by some readers, that in our details we
departed from the dignity of history, which, according1 to
the prescribed rule of criticism, should not stoop to notice any
thing " except What posterity, from some cause or other, would
feel an interest to know." If we should follow this rule in its
utmost latitude, and judge of the taste and feelings of posteri
ty by the standard that regulates those of our own times, we
might record incidents of modern occurrence apparently tri
vial in their character, but which posterity would dwell upon
with the same pleasure that the present generation do upon
occurrences that wear the impress of antiquity, although at
the time they happened, they also passed unheeded. If his
torians, therefore, should regard particularly the taste and
feelings of posterity, they might sometimes offend those of the
present generation. It may be perceived, therefore, that
it would be difficult to limit the dignity of history by any in
variable rule. History was once justly considered as one
of the Muses, and her duty was to impart pleasure as well as
instruction. Viewed in this light, we have endeavoured in
the present work to engraft upon the monotony of chronologi
cal detail, some of the charms of novelty. And we do
not doubt, if we could have added more antiquities, more
traditions, and more incidents of the early times, we should
still have presented an acceptable fund of pleasure to the cu
rious ; themes for contemplation to the philosophic ; and at
the same time preserved in a visible and tangible manner the
fleeting memorials of the olden time, from which the future
poet and novelist will select materials to interweave with the
creations of their fancies.

320 Conclusion. [Part I. '

Divisions of the History. General View of New-York.
In the progress, of our history, we shall adopt four divisions,
embracing, First : An historical sketch of" the native proprietors
of the soil, comprehended within our colonial limits, in
their foreign and domestic relations as a distinct and indepen
dent people; reserving, however, the details of such transactions
as were connected with our colonial or state annals.
Secondly : The history of the colony of New-Netherlands,
until its surrender by the Dutch to the English in 1664.
Thirdly : That of the province of New- York, including the
period of its recapture and temporary repossession by the
Dutch. Fourthly : New-York, since it ceased to be a provincial part
of the British dominions, and assumed its rank as an indepen
dent State.
This State has arisen to its present flourishing condition
within two hundred and ten years. Its rapid transformation
from a wilderness to the most populous member of a great and
happy republic, is a phenomenon in the history of the pro
gress of society.
Embracing an area of about twenty-eight millions of acres,*
the State contains a population, principally descended from
Holland, Great Britain, France and Germany, of one million
and a half. According to the ratio of its increase hith
erto, this number will amount to two millions in six years, and
in thrice that period, will be equal, and in resources superior,
to the English North American Colonies on the day of the
declaration of their independence. If such shall appear to be
the result, curiosity will be awakened to learn the causes why,
during a century after its first settlement, the colony contain-
* For exact number, see Spafford's Gazetteer of N. Y. 2d ed. 1824.

§ 56.] State of New- York. 32 1
ed only about 50,000 inhabitants,* and why, within thirty
years since it became a free State, it has received an accession
of one million, and will probably become, within two centu
ries and a half from its discovery by Henry Hudson, more
populous, iiSpulent, and powerful, than those thirteen colonies
collectively, which, half a century ago, coped with the power
of Great Britain, and constituted the original states of the na
tional confederacy.
But its prospects are not limited to that-criterion. In ag
riculture, its territorial capacity may be calculated to sus
tain five or six millions of people ; but connecting the pro
ductive industry of an improved system of husbandry, with
the energies of commerce and manufactures, we know not
what boundaries can be fixed to the augmentation of the num
bers, power, and resources of the State. Situated in a tem
perate and healthy climate, free from the physical and politi
cal convulsions that have sometimes shaken and desolated the
old world, and agitated portions of the new, it possesses at
tractions and advantages adapted to invite and cherish a dense
population. Its topography displays variegated ranges of
highlands, rich in minerals ; a diversified physiognomy of
fertile dale and champaign ; ornamented by hundreds of
lakes and streams, all naturally adapted to become the me
diums of vast systems of agriculture, manufactures, and com
merce. How remarkably have these advantages been illustrated
by the founders of the State and their descendants, since
their emancipation from a feeble colonial government, and
their adoption of a system, the theory of which was based
upon principles of political and religious liberty, and
its practice upon the purity and wisdom of the judicial
legislature and executive departments. Aware of the

* 50,289 (of whom 7231 were blacks) in 1731. (Records of office of
Secretary of State.)
Vol. I. 41

322 Conclusion. [Part I.
value and nature of such a system, they foresaw that its pros
perity and permanency would depend upon enlightened opin
ion and moral instruction ; consequently, we find already
nearly 8000 common schools, where about 400,000 children
are annually educated ; thirty-six incorporated academies,
and five colleges,* where 4000 youth receive classical and
scientific education. These fountains of learning have been
liberally endowed, and their numbers are rapidly increasing.
By the interest of a school and literature fund of two mil
lions; by an equal sum raised in school districts; by legislative
and private munificence, more than one-fourth of the aggre
gate population are designed to become publicly instructed.
Religion, also, being left free, its benign influence is widely
perceptible. Three thousand churches and places of public
worship, attest the devotion of a people, the aspirations of
whose hearts are poured forth in every varied form which
conscience may dictate to be acceptable to the great Bene
factor of the human family.
While the people are acknowledged as the sole fountain
of political power, they hold the soil they cultivate free from
entails. Untaxed to support by their toil the enormous pa
geantry of overgrown aristocracies, they reap where they sow,
and gather where they reap. With a trifling deduction to
support an indispensable civil list upon principles of economy,
here genius and industry hoard their gains, and regulate their
pursuits, without interference on the part of government.
Accordingly, we find the aspect of society cheerful, intelli
gent, and diversified. The arts, sciences, learned * profes
sions, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, go hand in
hand, and form one harmonious system of employments, ba
lancing each other in the scale of political prosperity and social
happiness. Agriculture engages the attention of three-fourths
of the population, and yet six millions of acres only throughout,

* Including- those oMhe Physicians and Surgeons.

$ 56.] State of New-York. 323
are under improvement. Manufactures and the arts are in
their infancy, yet 10,000 mills, factories, and hydraulic
labour-saving machines, are employed on the streams which
flow through every section of the State, and which afford fa
cilities for an incalculable increase of productive industry.
But commerce, availing itself of this great natural inland na
vigation, improved, as it soon will be, by the addition of more
than four hundred and twenty-five miles of canal, and advan
tageously located in proximity to European markets, and
central position in reference to the Atlantic states of the
republic, has displayed an activity and an energy, that seem
to admit of no proscribed boundaries for their future range
and development. Three hundred thousand tons of ship
ping are said to be employed. A commercial metropolis is dis
played, which, when first laid out as a city, one hundred and
sixty-eight years ago, could not number more than about one
hundred and twenty houses, and one thousand inhabitants, but
during the present year, (1824) it exhibits about twenty-five
thousand buildings, and contains nearly one-tenth of the entire
population of the State, or about one hundred and fifty thou
sand inhabitants ; a city, which yields in tonnage and customs
to the republic, nearly one half of its revenue ; supplies, with
its various fabrics and wares, about seven hundred interior
towns, twice that number of villages, four cities, and fifty-five
counties, within the State ; is the great mart of exchange and
emporium of commerce for the country, emphatically the
London of the continent; and from its recent indications of
amazing prosperity, may, if not thrown back by any calamity,
become in a century, the rival of the most populous and opu
lent commercial city on the globe.*
Where are the bounds to the prosperity of such a people ?
Possessing a property, which, according to a very limited tax
able valuation, amounts to three hundred millions of dollars,
and resources continually developing and improving; possess
ing a territory nearly equal in area to that of England, and
* Between 2000 and 3000 buildings are said to have been erected this
year, (1824.)

324 Conclusion. [Part I.
•susceptible of as high a state of cultivation as that which dis
tinguishes the modern system of agriculture in that kingdom ;
possessing civil, religious, and political priviliges which are
not exceeded by those of any other people ; remote from the
troubles, and aloof from the entangling policy of the transat
lantic world ; fortified at every point ; supplied with the mu
nitions of defensive war ; prepared with one hundred and fifty
thousand well organized militia, to co-operate with the militia
of other states, arid with the national forces, if it should be
come necessary to repel any invasion of their inedpendence ;
where are the bounds to the prosperity of such a people?
Where is the example of a commonwealth, which in two
centuries has realised a more rapid progress in all that endears
and exalts the social compact ? In contemplating the origin,
rise, and growth of ancient empires ; in following nations in
their progress from rudeness to refinement ; or in developing
the resources and condition of any people, who, in so short
a period, struggled through the gradations of poverty, weak~
ness, and political vassalage, to the attainment of opulence,
power, and freedom ; we may ask the question, whether the
annals of the world afford a more illustrious instance than
those of New- York, of a rapid and triumphant transition from
the humiliation and debasement of the former, to the glory
and prosperity of the latter ? Its first settlement was retarded
by the incidental disadvantages of a location remote from the
civilized world, surrounded by the terrors of a jealous, fierce,
and revengeful people ; its advancement will be found to have
been marked by war, domestic factions, and revolution. It
will appear to have been sometimes exposed to famine, sys
tematic invasion, predatory border incursion, massacre, and
threatened extermination ; surrounded by these complicated
impediments, the colony, notwithstanding, advanced towards
maturity with the irrepressible strength of a young and healthy
giant, displaying its physical and moral energies with a rapidity
and an effect the most signal and astonishing. Forty-seven
years ago New-York was almost exclusively in the possession
of a victorious invader. The convention of armed patriots,
who then adopted the Constitution of the State, were forced

§ 56.] State of New-York. 325
to fly from place to place, and when that sacred compact was
finally settled, it was passed by a minority of about one-third
of the members of the Convention, (the majority being absent
on public duty,) and proclaimed almost in sound of the ene
my's cannon. When the colony, exhausted by a deso
lating war, rose to the acknowledged rank of an Independent
State, its entire population was about two hundred thousand
only. The State, we have seen, comprises more than seven
times that number.
Since it emerged into political life, and indeed within the
last ten years, a system of internal improvement has been pro
secuted, bold and comprehensive in its conception, unexpect
edly rapid in its progress, and momentous in its beneficial
bearing upon the prosperity of the present and succeeding
generations. A retrospect of the causes and progress of all this prospe
rity will form the subject of our History. The character of
man will appear in its variegated lights and shades, as display
ed in a savage and civilized, in a rude and refined condition.
To mark the migration, first settlements, gradual in
crease in population and resources of a people whose an
cestors might, perhaps, be traced to every nation of Europe ;
to delineate their manners, customs, habits, and employ
ment ; to develop their genius, and embody the spirit of
the times; to trace the progress of arts, manufactures, com
merce, agriculture, literature, science, and the legal code, dur
ing their separate stages of advancement and improvement;
to hold up for emulation all that has been illustrious in cha
racter and policy, and for censure, all that shall have appear
ed deserving public reprobation; to follow the vicissitudes
and revolutions of the State, signalising those which have
had a permanent influence upon its prosperity, and examining
particularly the causes of that memorable revolution, which
was the foundation of its past and future greatness ; and to de
duce from the whole, an impressive moral, and political lesson,
salutary to the future destination of the people, are the va
rious, complicated, and interesting topics of the future pages
of this History.

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