waking up to find my comrade had already dressed himself and
breakfasted upon peaches. We walked out awhile in the fine, pure
morning air, along the margin of the clear running water of the sea,
which is driven up this river at every tide. As it was Sunday, in
order to avoid scandal and for other reasons, we did not wish to
absent ourselves from church. We therefore went, and found there truly
a wild worldly world. I say wild, not only because the people are
wild, as they call it in Europe, but because almost all the people who
go there to live, or who are born there, partake somewhat of the
nature of the country, that is, peculiar to the land where they live.
We heard a minister preach, who had come from the up-river country,
from Fort Orange, where his residence is, an old man, named Domine
Schaets,[98] of Amsterdam. He was, it appears, a Voetian, and had come
down for the purpose of approving, examining, ordaining and collating
a student; to perform which office the neighboring ministers come
here, as to the capital, and in order that the collation may be
approved by the governor, who, at this time, was not at home, but was
at Pemequick, in the northerly parts of New England.[99] This student,
named Tessemaker, from Utrecht, I believe, was a Voetian, and had
found some obstacles in his way, because the other ministers were all
Cocceians, namely: Do. Niewenhuisen, of [New] Amsterdam, the one of
Long Island, and Do. Gaesbeck, of Esopus, whose son is sheriff of this
city. He was to minister at the South River, near the governor there,
or in the principal place, as he himself told us. The governor was
expected home every day, and then Tessemaker supposed he would be
dispatched.
[Footnote 98: Rev. Gideon Schaets was settled as pastor at
Rensselaerswyck in 1652, later at Beverwyck and Albany, continuing in
service there till he died in 1694, aged 86. Peter Tesschenmaker had
come up from Dutch Guiana, and had supplied the pulpits at Esopus and
at Newcastle on the South River (Delaware River), for about a year in
each place. The history of his formal call, examination, ordination in
October, 1679, and appointment, is set forth in _Ecclesiastical
Records of New York_, I. 724-735. The only three other Dutch Reformed
ministers in the Province at this time were those named below: Rev.
Wilhelmus van Nieuwenhuysen of New York (1672--d. 1681), Rev. Casparus
van Zuuren of Flushing, Brooklyn, and Flatlands (1677-1685), and Rev.
Laurentius Gaasbeeck of Esopus (1678--d. February, 1680).]
[Footnote 99: Pemaquid, on the coast of Maine, where this governor had
built a fort in 1677, on territory embraced in the Duke of York's
patent. The governor was Sir Edmund Andros (1674-1681). He visited
Pemaquid in the autumn of 1679. He was of course nowise subordinate to
the governor of Jamaica.]
The governor is the greatest man in New Netherland, and acknowledges
no superior in all America, except the viceroy, who resides upon
Jamaica.
This Schaets, then, preached. He had a defect in the left eye, and
used such strange gestures and language that I think I never in all my
life have heard any thing more miserable; indeed, I can compare him
with no one better than with one D. van Ecke, lately the minister at
Armuyden, in Zeeland, more in life, conversation and gestures than in
person. As it is not strange in these countries to have men as
ministers who drink, we could imagine nothing else than that he had
been drinking a little this morning. His text was, "Come unto me all
ye," etc., but he was so rough that even the roughest and most godless
of our sailors were astonished.
The church being in the fort, we had an opportunity to look through
the latter, as we had come too early for preaching. It is not large;
it has four points or batteries; it has no moat outside, but is
enclosed with a double row of palisades. It is built from the
foundation with quarry stone. The parapet is of earth. It is well
provided with cannon, for the most part of iron, though there were
some small brass pieces, all bearing the mark or arms of the
Netherlanders. The garrison is small. There is a well of fine water
dug in the fort by the English, contrary to the opinion of the Dutch,
who supposed the fort was built upon rock, and had therefore never
attempted any such thing. There is, indeed, some indication of stone
there, for along the edge of the water below the fort there is a very
large rock extending apparently under the fort, which is built upon
the point formed by the two rivers, namely, the East River, which is
the water running between the Mahatans and Long Island, and the North
River, which runs straight up to Fort Orange. In front of the fort, on
the Long Island side, there is a small island called Noten Island (Nut
Island),[100] around the point of which vessels must go in sailing out
or in, whereby they are compelled to pass close by the point of the
fort, where they can be flanked by several of the batteries. It has
only one gate, and that is on the land side, opening upon a broad
plain or street, called the Broadway or Beaverway. Over this gate are
the arms of the Duke of York. During the time of the Dutch there were
two gates, namely, another on the water side; but the English have
closed it, and made a battery there, with a false gate. In front of
the church is inscribed the name of Governor Kyft, who caused the same
to be built in the year 1642.[101] It has a shingled roof, and upon
the gable towards the water there is a small wooden tower, with a bell
in it, but no clock. There is a sun-dial on three sides. The front of
the fort stretches east and west, and consequently the sides run north
and south.
[Footnote 100: Governor's Island.]
[Footnote 101: The inscription, on a stone extant till 1835, is here
quoted almost literally. It ran, "Anno Domini 1642, W. Kieft, director
general, has caused the commonalty to build this temple." Willem Kieft
was director-general of New Netherland from 1638 to 1647. A plan of
town and fort may be seen at p. 420 of _Narratives of New Netherland_,
in this series.]
After we had returned to the house and dined, my comrade not wishing
to go to church, sat about writing letters, as there was a ship, of
which Andre Bon was master, about to leave in a few days for London;
but in order that we should not be both absent from church, and as the
usual minister[102] was to preach in the afternoon, I went alone to
hear him. He was a thick, corpulent person with a red and bloated
face, and of very slabbering speech. His text was, the elders who
serve well, etc., because the elders and deacons were that day
renewed, and I saw them admitted. After preaching, the good old people
with whom we lodged, who, indeed, if they were not the best on all the
Manathans, were at least among the best, especially the wife, begged
we would go with their son Gerrit to one of their daughters, who lived
in a delightful place, and kept a tavern, where we would be able to
taste the beer of New Netherland, inasmuch as it was also a
brewery.[103] Some of their friends passing by requested Gerrit and us
to accompany them, and so we went for the purpose of seeing what was
to be seen; but when we arrived there, we found ourselves much
deceived. On account of its being to some extent a pleasant spot, it
was resorted to on Sundays by all sorts of revellers, and was a low
pot-house. Our company immediately found acquaintances there and
joined them, but it being repugnant to our feelings to be there, we
walked into the orchard to seek pleasure in contemplating the innocent
objects of nature. Among other trees we observed a mulberry tree, the
leaves of which were as large as a plate. The wife showed us pears
larger than the fist, picked from a three year's graft which had borne
forty of them. A great storm of rain coming up in the evening
compelled us to go into the house, where we did not remain long with
the others, but took our leave of them, against their wishes. We
retraced our steps in the dark, exploring a way over which we had gone
only once in our life, through a salt meadow and over water, upon the
trunk of a tree. We nevertheless reached home, having left the others
in their revels. While in their company we conversed with the first
male born of Europeans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigne. His
parents were from Valenciennes and he was now about sixty-five years
of age. He was a brewer and a neighbor of our old people.[104] When we
had come back we said to our old woman what it was fitting should be
said to her, regarding her daughter and her employment, in order to
free our minds, though she herself was quite innocent in respect to
it.
[Footnote 102: Nieuwenhuysen. The text is in I Timothy v. 17, "Let the
elders that rule well, be accounted worthy of double honor."]
[Footnote 103: Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Hellekers's wife by her
former husband, was married to Arie or Adrian Corneliszen, who had a
license to sell wines and other liquors, and lived a little out of
town, beyond the Fresh Water.]
[Footnote 104: Jean Vigne had in previous years been four times one of
the schepens, or municipal councillors, of New Amsterdam. If he was
born in New Netherland in or about 1614, there must have been at least
one European woman in the colony at an earlier date than has been
supposed, namely, back in the years of the first Dutch trading along
that coast. But many things concerning the earliest years of New
Netherland must remain in uncertainty until the publication of a
certain group of documents of that period, evidently important, which
were sold in 1910 by Muller of Amsterdam and are now in private
possession in New York, and withheld from public knowledge.]
A ketch came in from sea this evening, of which David Jochemsen was
the master. She left England three weeks before us, and was the same
one we saw the day we came in. The captain said he recollected to have
seen us, but observing us tacking several times, he did not dare
follow us, for fear of being misled.
_25th, Monday._ We went on board the ship this morning in order to
obtain our travelling bag and clothes for the purpose of having them
washed, but when we came on board we could not get ashore again,
before the afternoon, when the passengers' goods were to be delivered.
All our goods which were between decks, were taken ashore and carried
to the public storehouse, where they had to be examined; but some time
elapsed before it was done in consequence of the examiners being
elsewhere. At length, however, one Abraham Lennoy,[105] a good fellow
apparently, befriended us. He examined our chest only, without
touching our bedding or any thing else. I showed him a list of the tin
which we had in the upper part of our chest, and he examined it and
also the tin, and turned up a little more what was in the chest, and
with that left off, without looking at it closely. He demanded four
English shillings for the tin, remarking at the same time, that he had
observed some other small articles, but would not examine them
closely, though he had not seen either the box or the pieces of linen.
This being finished we sent our goods in a cart to our lodgings,
paying for the two heavy chests and straw beds, and other goods from
the public storehouse, to the Smit's Valey[106] (which is about as
far as from the Elve to Wilken's house),[107] sixteen stuivers of
zeawan, equal to three stuivers and a half in the money of
Holland.[108] This finished the day and we retired to rest.
[Footnote 105: Abraham de la Noy was a schoolmaster. See _post_, p.
63, note 2. Probably the writer means Peter de la Noy, who was clerk
under the collector of the port. Later he was one of the chief
supporters of Leisler.]
[Footnote 106: The Smith's Flats, a tract of low-lying land along the
East River, outside the palisade of the town, and extending from
present Wall Street to Beekman.]
[Footnote 107: Perhaps a reminiscence from the days (1671-1675) when
the Labadists lived on the Elbe, at Altona.]
[Footnote 108: The stiver of Holland money was equivalent to two
cents. Six white beads of wampum to the stiver was the rate
established by authority in 1673.]
_26th, Tuesday._ We remained at home for the purpose of writing, but
in the afternoon finding that many goods had been discharged from the
ship, we went to look after our little package, which also came. I
declared it, and it was examined. I had to pay 24 guilders in zeawan
or five guilders in the coin of Holland. I brought it to the house and
looked the things all over, rejoicing that we were finally rid of that
miserable set and the ship, the freight only remaining to be paid,
which was fixed at four guilders in coin. We went first to Margaret in
relation to the freight, who said she had nothing more to do with it,
and that we must speak to her husband about it, which it was not
convenient to do that evening, and we therefore let it go, waiting for
an opportunity to speak to her and her husband with the captain and
perhaps also Mr. Jan.
_27th, Wednesday._ Nothing occurred to-day except that I went to
assist Gerrit in bringing his goods home, and declaring them, which we
did. We heard that one of the wicked and godless sailors had broken
his leg; and in this we saw and acknowledged the Lord and His
righteousness. We visited Jean Vigne in order, as he was one of the
oldest inhabitants, to obtain from him information on various matters
relating to the country.
_28th, Thursday._ We remained at home to-day. I performed some little
errands. Monsr. de La Grange[109] called upon us, dressed up like a
great fop, as he was. My comrade did not fail to speak to him
seriously on the subject. He requested us to go with him immediately
to his house, as I at length did. His house was not far from our
lodgings on the front of the city. He had a small shop, as almost all
the people here have, who gain their living by trade, namely, in
tobacco and liquors, thread and pins and other knick-knacks. His wife
welcomed me, and instantly requested that we would come to their house
and stay there as long as we were here, for which I thanked them. They
had lost a child by the small pox, and they had been sick with the
same disease. He said he intended to go to the South River[110] within
three weeks, and hearing we were inclined to travel, he desired our
company, being willing to take us everywhere and to give us every
information. I thanked him, but gave him no assurances, telling him we
would see what the Lord would will of us.
[Footnote 109: Arnoldus de la Grange and his wife Cornelia (Fonteyn),
resident at this time in New York, removed soon after to Newcastle, on
the Delaware River, where he had various tracts of land and where he
in 1681 erected a windmill. In 1684-1685 he was concerned in the
purchase from Augustine Herrman of land in Bohemia Manor for the
Labadist settlement, and later is found as a member of their
community.]
[Footnote 110: Delaware River.]
_29th, Friday._ We finished our letters, and intended to go to-day
over to Long Island. At noon a person came to us in our chamber and
requested that we would be pleased to go to their minister, who was in
the next house, as he was desirous of seeing and conversing with us,
having already heard much good of us. We excused ourselves on the
ground that we were busy writing, endeavoring to finish our letters,
in order, if it were possible, to go over to Long Island in the
afternoon, with which he went away.
As soon as we had dined we sent off our letters; and this being all
accomplished, we started at two o'clock for Long Island. This island
is called Long Island, not so much because it is longer than it is
broad, but particularly because it is the longest island in this
region, or even along the whole coast of New Netherland, Virginia and
New England. It is one hundred and forty-four miles in length, and
from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles wide, though there are several
bays and points along it, and, consequently, it is much broader in
some places than others. On the west is Staten Island, from which it
is separated about a mile, and the great bay over which you see the
Nevesincke. With Staten Island it makes the passage through which all
vessels pass in sailing from or to the Mahatans, although they can go
through the Kil van Kol, which is on the other side of Staten Island.
The ends of these islands opposite each other are quite high land,
and they are, therefore, called the Hoofden (Headlands), from a
comparison with the Hoofden of the channel between England and France,
in Europe. On the north is the island of Mahatans and a part of the
mainland. On the east is the sea, which shoots up to New England, and
in which there are various islands. On the south is the great ocean.
The outer shore of this island has before it several small islands and
broken land, such as Coninen [Coney] Island, a low sandy island of
about three hours' circuit, its westerly point forming with Sandy
Hook, on the other side, the entrance from the sea. It is oblong in
shape, and is grown over with bushes. Nobody lives upon it, but it is
used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen, hogs and others,
which are able to obtain there sufficient to eat the whole winter, and
to shelter themselves from the cold in the thickets. This island is
not so cold as Long Island or the Mahatans, or others, like some other
islands on the coast, in consequence of their having more sea breeze,
and of the saltness of the sea breaking upon the shoals, rocks and
reefs, with which the coast is beset. There is also the Bear's Island
and others, separated from Long Island by creeks and marshes overflown
at high water.[111] There are also on this sea coast various miry
places, like the Vlaeck, and others as well as some sand bays and hard
and rocky shores. Long Island stretches into the sea for the most part
east by south and east-southeast. None of its land is very high, for
you must be nearly opposite Sandy Hook before you can see it. There is
a hill or ridge running lengthwise through the island, nearest the
north side and west end of the island. The south side and east end are
more flat. The water by which it is separated from the Mahatans, is
improperly called the East River, for it is nothing else than an arm
of the sea, beginning in the bay on the west and ending in the sea on
the east. After forming in this passage several islands, this water is
as broad before the city as the Y before Amsterdam, but the ebb and
flood tides are stronger. There is a ferry for the purpose of crossing
over it, which is farmed out by the year, and yields a good income, as
it is a considerable thoroughfare, this island being one of the most
populous places in this vicinity. A considerable number of Indians
live upon it, who gain their subsistence by hunting and fishing, and
they, as well as others, must carry their articles to market over this
ferry, or boat them over, as it is free to every one to use his own
boat, if he have one, or to borrow or hire one for the purpose. The
fare over the ferry is three stuivers in _zeewan_[112] for each
person.
[Footnote 111: Beeren Eylandt, afterward called Barren Island, lay
east of Coney Island, between it and Jamaica Bay. Vlaeck means "the
flat."]
[Footnote 112: Less than half a cent.]
Here we three crossed over, my comrade, Gerrit, our guide, and myself,
in a row-boat, as it happened, which, in good weather and tide,
carries a sail. When we came over we found there Jan Teunissen, our
fellow passenger, who had promised us so much good. He was going over
to the city, to deliver his letters and transact other business. He
told us he would return home in the evening, and we would find him
there. We went on, up the hill, along open roads and a little woods,
through the first village, called Breukelen, which has a small and
ugly little church standing in the middle of the road.[113] Having
passed through here, we struck off to the right, in order to go to
Gouanes. We went upon several plantations where Gerrit was acquainted
with almost all of the people, who made us very welcome, sharing with
us bountifully whatever they had, whether it was milk, cider, fruit or
tobacco, and especially, and first and most of all, miserable rum or
brandy which had been brought from Barbados and other islands, and
which is called by the Dutch _kill-devil_. All these people are very
fond of it, and most of them extravagantly so, although it is very
dear and has a bad taste. It is impossible to tell how many peach
trees we passed, all laden with fruit to breaking down, and many of
them actually broken down. We came to a place surrounded with such
trees from which so many had fallen off that the ground could not be
discerned, and you could not put your foot down without trampling
them; and, notwithstanding such large quantities had fallen off, the
trees still were as full as they could bear. The hogs and other
animals mostly feed on them. This place belongs to the oldest European
woman in the country. We went immediately into her house, where she
lived with her children. We found her sitting by the fire, smoking
tobacco incessantly, one pipe after another. We enquired after her
age, which the children told us was an hundred years. She was from
Luyck [Liege], and still spoke good Wals.[114] She could reason very
well sometimes, and at other times she could not. She showed us
several large apples, as good fruit of that country, and different
from that of Europe. She had been about fifty years now in the
country, and had above seventy children and grandchildren. She saw the
third generation after her. Her mother had attended women in child-bed
in her one hundred and sixth year, and was one hundred and eleven or
twelve years old when she died. We tasted here, for the first time,
smoked _twaelft_ [twelfth], a fish so called because it is caught in
season next after the _elft_ [eleventh].[115] It was salted a little
and then smoked, and, although it was now a year old, it was still
perfectly good, and in flavor not inferior to smoked salmon. We drank
here, also, the first new cider, which was very fine.
[Footnote 113: The second church building in Brooklyn, erected in
1666, and standing till 1766. It stood in the middle of what is now
Fulton Street, near Lawrence Street. Gowanus was a distinct hamlet to
the southward from Breukelen.]
[Footnote 114: French of the Walloon variety. See p. 70, note 1,
_post_.]
[Footnote 115: Striped bass and shad, respectively. In reality the
word _elft_ has nothing to do with _eleven_, for _elft_ = Fr. _alose_
or Eng. _allice_.]
We proceeded on to Gouanes, a place so called, where we arrived in the
evening at one of the best friends of Gerrit, named Symon.[116] He was
very glad to see us, and so was his wife. He took us into the house,
and entertained us exceedingly well. We found a good fire, half-way up
the chimney, of clear oak and hickory, which they made not the least
scruple of burning profusely. We let it penetrate us thoroughly. There
had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a pail-full of Gouanes
oysters, which are the best in the country. They are fully as good as
those of England, and better than those we ate at Falmouth. I had to
try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of them not less
than a foot long, and they grow sometimes ten, twelve and sixteen
together, and are then like a piece of rock. Others are young and
small. In consequence of the great quantities of them, everybody keeps
the shells for the purpose of burning them into lime. They pickle the
oysters in small casks, and send them to Barbados and the other
islands. We had for supper a roasted haunch of venison, which he had
bought of the Indians for three guilders and a half of _seewant_, that
is, fifteen stivers of Dutch money,[117] and which weighed thirty
pounds. The meat was exceedingly tender and good, and also quite fat.
It had a slight spicy flavor. We were also served with wild turkey,
which was also fat and of a good flavor; and a wild goose, but that
was rather dry. Everything we had was the natural production of the
country. We saw here, lying in a heap, a whole hill of water-melons,
which were as large as pumpkins, and which Symon was going to take to
the city to sell. They were very good, though there is a difference
between them and those of the Caribbee Islands; but this may be owing
to its being late in the season, and these were the last pulling. It
was very late at night when we went to rest in a kermis bed, as it is
called,[118] in the corner of the hearth, along side of a good fire.
[Footnote 116: This settler was Simon Aertsen De Hart, who came to New
Netherland in 1664 and settled at Gowanus Cove. The house in which he
entertained the travellers was till lately still standing, near
Thirty-ninth Street, west of Third Avenue, Brooklyn, but was destroyed
to make room for the terminal buildings of the Thirty-ninth Street
ferry. A picture of it as it appeared in 1867 is plate XII. in Mr.
Murphy's edition of this journal.]
[Footnote 117: Thirty cents.]
[Footnote 118: Shake-down, bed on the floor.]