c. 1628.
Mr. Blommaert:
As I feel myself much bound to your service, and in return know not how
otherwise to recompense you than by this slight memoir, (wherein I have
in part comprised as much as was in my power concerning the situation of
New Netherland and its neighbors, and should in many things have been
able to treat of or write the same more in detail, and better than I
have now done, but that my things and notes, which would have been of
service to me herein, have been taken away from me), I will beg you to
be pleased to receive this, on account of my bounden service, etc.
On the 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I arrived with the
ship, _The Arms of Amsterdam_, before the bay of the great Mauritius
River,[130] sailing into it about a musket shot from Godyn’s Point,[131]
into Coenraet’s Bay[132] (because there the greatest depth is, since
from the east point there stretches out a sand bank on which there is
only from 9 to 14 feet of water); then sailed on, northeast and
north-northeast, to about half way from the low sand bank called Godyn’s
Point to the Hamels-Hoofden,[133] the mouth of the river, where we found
at half ebb 16, 17, 18 feet water, and which is a sandy reef a musket
shot broad, stretching for the most part northeast and southwest, quite
across, and, according to my opinion, having been formed there by the
stream, inasmuch as the flood runs into the bay from the sea,
east-southeast; the depth at Godyn’s Point is caused by the tide flowing
out along there with such rapidity.
Between the Hamels-Hoofden the width is about a cannon’s shot of 2,000
[yards]; the depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms. They are tolerably high points,
and well wooded. The west point is an island, inhabited by from eighty
to ninety savages, who support themselves by planting maize. The east
point is a very large island,[134] full 24 leagues long, stretching east
by south and east-southeast along the sea-coast, from the river to the
east end of the Fisher’s Hook.[135] In some places it is from three to
four leagues broad, and it has several creeks and bays, where many
savages dwell, who support themselves by planting maize and making
sewan,[136] and who are called Siwanoys and Shinnecocks.[137] It is also
full of oaks, elms, walnut and fir trees, also wild cedar and chestnut
trees. The tribes are held in subjection by, and are tributary to, the
Pyquans, hereafter named.[138] The land is in many places good, and fit
for plowing and sowing. It has many fine valleys, where there is good
grass. Their form of government is like that of their neighbors, which
is described hereafter.
The Hamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a league width in the
river, and also on the west side there is an inlet, where another river
runs up about twenty leagues,[139] to the north-northeast, emptying into
the Mauritius River in the highlands, thus making the northwest land
opposite to the Manhattas an island eighteen leagues long. It is
inhabited by the old Manhattans; they are about two hundred to three
hundred strong, women and men, under different chiefs, whom they call
_Sackimas_. This island is more mountainous than the other land on the
southeast side of the river, which opposite to the Manhattas is about a
league and a half in breadth. At the side of the before-mentioned little
river, which we call “Achter Col,” there is a great deal of waste reedy
land; the rest is full of trees, and in some places there is good soil,
where the savages plant their maize, upon which they live, as well as by
hunting. The other side of the same small river, according to
conjecture, is about 20 to 23 leagues broad to the South River,[140] in
the neighborhood of the Sancicans, in so far as I have been able to make
it out from the mouths of the savages; but as they live in a state of
constant enmity with those tribes, the paths across are but little used,
wherefore I have not been able to learn the exact distance; so that when
we wish to send letters overland, they (the natives) take their way
across the bay, and have the letters carried forward by others, unless
one amongst them may happen to be on friendly terms, and who might
venture to go there.
The island of the Manhattas extends two leagues in length along the
Mauritius River, from the point where the Fort “New Amsterdam” is
building. It is about seven leagues in circumference, full of trees, and
in the middle rocky to the extent of about two leagues in circuit. The
north side has good land in two places, where two farmers, each with
four horses, would have enough to do without much clearing at first. The
grass is good in the forest and valleys, but when made into hay is not
so nutritious for the cattle as here,[141] in consequence of its wild
state, but it yearly improves by cultivation. On the east side there
rises a large level field, of from 70 to 80 morgens of land,[142]
through which runs a very fine fresh stream; so that that land can be
plowed without much clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four
of which lie along the River Hellgate,[143] stretching to the south side
of the island, have at least 60 morgens of land ready to be sown with
winter seed, which at the most will have been plowed eight times. But as
the greater part must have some manure, inasmuch as it is so exhausted
by the wild herbage, I am afraid that all will not be sown; and the more
so, as the managers of the farms are hired men. The two hindermost
farms, Nos. 1 and 2, are the best; the other farms have also good land,
but not so much, and more sandy; so that they are best suited for rye
and buckwheat.
The small fort, New Amsterdam, commenced to be built, is situated on a
point opposite to Noten Island;[144] [the channel between] is a gun-shot
wide, and is full six or seven fathoms deep in the middle. This point
might, with little trouble, be made a small island, by cutting a canal
through Blommaert’s Valley, so as to afford a haven winter and summer,
for sloops and ships; and the whole of this little island ought, from
its nature, to be made a superb fort, to be approached by land only on
one side (since it is a triangle), thus protecting them both.[145] The
river marks out, naturally, three angles; the most northern faces and
commands, within the range of a cannon shot, the great Mauritius River
and the land; the southernmost commands, on the water level, the channel
between Noten Island and the fort, together with the Hellgate; the third
point, opposite to Blommaert’s Valley, commands the lowland. The middle
part, which ought to be left as a market-place, is a hillock, higher
than the surrounding land, and should always serve as a battery, which
might command the three points, if the streets should be arranged
accordingly.
Up the river the east side is high, full of trees, and in some places
there is a little good land, where formerly many people have dwelt, but
who for the most part have died or have been driven away by the
Wappenos.[146]
These tribes of savages all have a government. The men in general are
rather tall, well proportioned in their limbs, and of an orange color,
like the Brazilians; very inveterate against those whom they hate; cruel
by nature, and so inclined to freedom that they cannot by any means be
brought to work. They support themselves by hunting, and when the spring
comes, by fishing. In April, May and June, they follow the course of
these,[147] which they catch with a drag-net they themselves knit very
neatly, of the wild hemp, from which the women and old men spin the
thread. The kinds of fish which they principally take at this time are
shad, but smaller than those in this country ordinarily are, though
quite as fat, and very bony; the largest fish is a sort of white salmon,
which is of very good flavor, and quite as large; it has white scales;
the heads are so full of fat that in some there are two or three
spoonfuls, so that there is good eating for one who is fond of picking
heads. It seems that this fish makes them lascivious, for it is often
observed that those who have caught any when they have gone fishing,
have given them, on their return, to the women, who look for them
anxiously. Our people give the same report; it is the same with them
when they eat a great deal at one time, as can be shown by the shirts.
As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is an oblong bead that
they make from cockle-shells, which they find on the sea-shore, and they
consider it as valuable as we do money here, since one can buy with it
everything they have. They string it, and wear it around the neck and
hands; they also make bands of it, which the women wear on the forehead
under the hair, and the men around the body; and they are as particular
about the stringing and sorting as we can be here about pearls. They are
very fond of a game they call _Senneca_, played with some round rushes,
similar to the Spanish feather-grass, which they understand how to
shuffle and deal as though they were playing with cards; and they win
from each other all that they possess, even to the lappet with which
they cover their private parts, and so they separate from each other
quite naked. They are very much addicted to promiscuous intercourse.
Their clothing is simple as to leave the body almost naked. In the
winter time they usually wear a dressed deer skin; some have a bear’s
skin about the body, some a coat of scales, some a covering made of
turkey feathers which they understand how to knit together very oddly,
with small strings. They also use a good deal of duffel cloth, which
they buy from us, and which serves for their blanket by night, and their
dress by day.
The women are fine looking, of middle stature, well proportioned, and
with finely cut features, with long and black hair, and black eyes set
off with fine eyebrows. They are of the same color as the men. They
smear their bodies and hair with grease, which makes them smell very
rankly. They are very much given to promiscuous intercourse.
They have a marriage custom amongst them, namely, when there is one who
resolves to take a particular person for his wife, he collects a fathom
or two of sewan, and comes to the nearest friends of the person whom he
desires, to whom he declares his object in her presence, and if they are
satisfied with him, he agrees with them how much sewan he shall give her
for a bridal present. That being done, he then gives her all the Dutch
beads he has, which they call _Machampe_, and also all sorts of
trinkets. If she be a young virgin, he must wait six weeks more before
he can sleep with her, during which time she bewails or laments over her
virginity, which they call _Collatismarrenitten_. All this time she sits
with a blanket over her head, without wishing to look at anyone, or
anyone being permitted to look at her. This period being elapsed, her
bridegroom comes to her. He in the meantime has been supporting himself
by hunting, and what he has taken he brings there with him; they then
eat together with the friends, and sing and dance together, which they
call _Kintikaen_. That being done, the wife must provide the food for
herself and her husband, as far as breadstuffs are concerned, and
[should they fall short] she must buy what is wanting with her sewan.
For this reason they are obliged to watch the season for sowing. At the
end of March they begin to break up the earth with mattocks, which they
buy from us for the skins of beavers or otters, or for sewan. They make
heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the others,
which they sow or plant in April with maize, in each heap five or six
grains; in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of a finger
or more, they plant in each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then
grow up with and against the maize, which serves for props, for the
maize grows on stalks similar to the sugar-cane. It is a grain to which
much labor must be given, with weeding and earthing-up, or it does not
thrive; and to this the women must attend very closely. The men would
not once look to it, for it would compromise their dignity too much,
unless they are very old and cannot follow the chase. Those stalks which
are low and bear no ears, they pluck up in August, and suck out the sap,
which is as sweet as if it were sugar-cane. When they wish to make use
of the grain for bread or porridge, which they call _Sappaen_, they
first boil it and then beat it flat upon a stone; then they put it into
a wooden mortar, which they know how to hollow out by fire, and then
they have a stone pestle, which they know how to make themselves, with
which they pound it small, and sift it through a small basket, which
they understand how to weave of the rushes before mentioned. The finest
meal they mix with lukewarm water, and knead it into dough; then they
make round flat little cakes of it, of the thickness of an inch or a
little more, which they bury in hot ashes, and so bake into bread; and
when these are baked they have some clean fresh water by them in which
they wash them while hot, one after another; and it is good bread, but
heavy. The coarsest meal they boil into a porridge, as is before
mentioned, and it is good eating when there is butter over it, but a
food which is very soon digested. The grain being dried, they put it
into baskets woven of rushes or wild hemp, and bury it in the earth,
where they let it lie, and go with their husbands and children in
October to hunt deer, leaving at home with their maize the old people
who cannot follow. In December they return home, and the flesh which
they have not been able to eat while fresh, they smoke on the way, and
bring it back with them. They come home as fat as moles.
When a woman here addicts herself to fornication, and the husband comes
to know it, he thrashes her soundly, and if he wishes to get rid of her,
he summons the Sackima with her friends, before whom he accuses her. And
if she be found guilty, the Sackima commands one to cut off her hair in
order that she may be held up before the world as a whore, which they
call _poerochque_; and then the husband takes from her everything that
she has, and drives her out of the house. If there be children, they
remain with her, for they are fond of them beyond measure. They reckon
consanguinity to the eighth degree, and revenge an injury from
generation to generation unless it be atoned for; and even then there is
mischief enough, for they are very revengeful.
And when a man is unfaithful, the wife accuses him before the Sackima,
which most frequently happens when the wife has a preference for another
man. The husband being found guilty, the wife is permitted to draw off
his right shoe and left stocking (which they make of deer or elk skins,
which they know how to prepare very broad and soft, and wear in the
winter time); she then tears off the lappet that covers his private
parts, gives him a kick behind, and so drives him out of the house; and
then “Adam” scampers off.
It would seem that they are very libidinous—in this respect very
unfaithful to each other; whence it results that they breed but few
children, so that it is a wonder when a woman has three or four
children, particularly by any one man whose name can be certainly known.
They must not have intercourse with those of their own family within the
third degree, or it would be considered an abominable thing.
Their political government is democratic. They have a chief Sackima whom
they choose by election, who generally is he who is richest in sewan,
though of less consideration in other respects. When any stranger comes,
they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting they do not speak; they
smoke a pipe of tobacco. That being done, the Sackima asks, “Whence do
you come?” The stranger then states that, and further what he has to
say, before all who are present or choose to come. That being done, the
Sackima announces his opinion to the people, and if they agree thereto,
they give all together a sigh, “_He!_” and if they do not approve, they
keep silence, and all come close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his
opinion till they agree. That being done, they come all together again
to the stranger, to whom the Sackima then announces what they have
determined, with the reasons moving them thereto.
All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have no
acquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as much
sewan as is allowed for that purpose. Therefore, the Sackimas generally
have three or four wives, each of whom has to furnish her own seed-corn.
The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and causing blood
to flow. When any are
[At least four pages of the letter are missing. In them, De Rasieres
probably mentioned the occasion of his trip to Plymouth in September and
October, 1627, and described the country along the way.]
Coming out of the river Nassau,[148] you sail east-and-by-north about
fourteen leagues, along the coast, a half league from the shore, and you
then come to “Frenchman’s Point” at a small river where those of Patuxet
have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet,[149] where they
keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and
possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to go and look
after the trade in sewan, in Sloup’s Bay[150] and thereabouts, because
they are afraid to pass Cape Malabar,[151] and in order to avoid the
length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling them
fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is
prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the
trade in furs;[152] which if they were to find out, it would be a great
trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we
will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use
other means. If they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the
case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it?
From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods,
passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth,[153]
the principal place in the district Patuxet, so called in their patent
from His Majesty in England.
New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Malabar,
east and west from the said point[154] of the cape, which can be easily
seen in clear weather. Directly before the commenced town lies a
sand-bank,[155] about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks
violently with an easterly and east-northeasterly wind. On the north
side there lies a small island[156] where one must run close along, in
order to come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and
lie in a very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish, of cod, so
that the Governor before named has told me that when the people have a
desire for fish they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they
remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in three or four hours’
time as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day—and
they muster about fifty families.
At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of fresh
water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes
in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and
the beginning of May, there come so many shad from the sea which want to
ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English
have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which
slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, through which
the water has its course, but which they can also close with slides.
At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel-pot, with
wings, where in the middle is also a sliding door, and with trellice
work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is a square
pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in
order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide
there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in the rear
at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that no more water
comes in; then the water runs out through the lower trellices, and they
draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he
cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hill three or four
fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly
therein as though it were the best manure in the world. And if they do
not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so that such is the
nature of the soil.
New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the
sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 feet long,
leading down the hill; with a [street] crossing in the middle,
northwards to the rivulet and southwards to the land.[157] The houses
are constructed of clapboards, with gardens also enclosed behind and at
the sides with clapboards, so that their houses and courtyards are
arranged in very good order, with a stockade against sudden attack; and
at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the center,
on the cross street, stands the Governor’s house, before which is a
square stockade upon which four patereros are mounted, so as to enfilade
the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat
roof, built of thick sawn planks stayed with oak beams, upon the top of
which they have six cannon, which shoot iron balls of four and five
pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for
their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They
assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of
the captain’s door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in
order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum.
Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe; beside him on the right hand,
comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand, the captain
with his side-arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and
so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus
they are constantly on their guard night and day.
Their government is after the English form. The Governor has his
Council, which is chosen every year by the entire community, by election
or prolongation of term. In inheritances they place all the children in
one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgment[158] for his
seniority of birth. They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon
the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and
enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst
them. They speak very angrily when they hear from the savages that we
live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. Their
farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and
consequently not so suitable for the plow. They apportion their land
according as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousand
guilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out;[159]
whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to anyone.
(Only if the King should choose to send a governor-general, they would
be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign overlord.) The maize seed
which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the
Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it in
sloops to the north for the trade in skins among the savages; they
reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver’s skins; the
profits are divided according to what each has contributed, and they are
credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute
yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder
they purchase what next they require, and which the Governor takes care
to provide every year. They have better sustenance than ourselves,
because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are
also many birds, such as geese, herons and cranes, and other
small-legged birds, which are in great abundance there in the winter.
The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same customs as already
above described, only they are better conducted than ours, because the
English give them the example of better ordinances and a better life;
and who also, to a certain degree, give them laws, in consequence of the
respect they from the very first have established amongst them.
The savages utilize their youth in labor better than the savages round
about us: the young girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting.
They teach them to endure privation in the field in a singular way, to
wit:
When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his
father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded into a
wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left there by
night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He
must support himself there a whole winter with what the scanty earth
furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come
again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feed him up again
until May. He must then go out again every morning with the person who
is ordered to take him in hand. He must go into the forest to seek wild
herbs and roots, which they know to be the most poisonous and bitter;
these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he
must drink, and immediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him
from death or vomiting. And if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the
dose until he can support it, and until his constitution becomes
accustomed to it so that he can retain it.
Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singing and
dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand it all
well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him.
In that district there are no lions or bears, but there are the same
kinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers, otters, foxes,
lynxes, seals and fish, as in our district of country. The savages say
that far in the interior there are certain beasts of the size of oxen,
having but one horn, which are very fierce. The English have used great
diligence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein, although
they have seen the flesh and hides of them which were brought to them by
the savages. There are also very large elks there, which the English
have indeed seen.
The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear are not large, so
that the animal itself must be small; they are of a mouse-gray color,
short in the hair and long in the claws.
The bears are some of them large and some small; but the largest are not
so large as the middle-sized ones which come from Greenland. Their fur
is long and black and their claws large. The savages esteem the flesh
and grease as a great dainty.
Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call “maize
thieves,” because they do so much damage to the maize. They fly in large
flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place where they alight,
just as if cattle had lain there. Sometimes we take them by surprise and
fire amongst them with hail-shot, immediately that we have made them
rise, so that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very
pleasant to see.
There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have very long legs,
and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we generally take savages with
us when we go to hunt them; for even when one has deprived them of the
power of flying, they yet run so fast that we cannot catch them unless
their legs are hit also.
In the autumn and in the spring there come a great many geese, which are
very good, and easy to shoot, inasmuch as they congregate together in
such large flocks. There are two kinds of partridges; the one sort are
quite as small as quails and the other like the ordinary kind here.
There are also hares, but few in number, and not larger than a
middle-sized rabbit; and they principally frequent where the land is
rocky.
This, sir, is what I have been able to communicate to you from memory,
respecting New Netherland and its neighborhood, in discharge of my
bounden duty. I beg that the same may so be favorably received by you,
and I beg to recommend myself for such further service as you may be
pleased to command me in, wherever you may find me.
In everything your faithful servant,