are cultivated in the coarsest manner, without knowledge or care, and
they are, therefore, not properly raised, and do not amount to much as
regards the production, and still less as to their use. Some have
begun to plant orchards, which all bear very well, but are not
properly cultivated. The fruit is for the greater part pressed, and
makes good cider, of which the largest portion becomes soured and
spoiled through their ignorance or negligence, either from not putting
it into good casks, or from not taking proper care of the liquor
afterwards. Sheep they have none, although they have what is requisite
for them if they chose. It is matter of conjecture whether you will
find any milk or butter even in summer; we have not found any there at
this season of the year. They bestow all their time and care in
producing tobacco; each cask or hogshead, as they call it, of which
pays two English shillings on exportation, and on its arrival in
England, two pence a pound, besides the fees for weighing and other
expenses here, and freight and other charges beyond sea. When,
therefore, tobacco only brings four or five pence, there is little or
nothing left for the owner.
The lives of the planters in Maryland and Virginia are very godless
and profane. They listen neither to God nor his commandments, and have
neither church nor cloister. Sometimes there is some one who is called
a minister, who does not as elsewhere, serve in one place, for in all
Virginia and Maryland there is not a city or a village[254]--but
travels for profit, and for that purpose visits the plantations
through the country, and there addresses the people; but I know of no
public assemblages being held in these places; you hear often that
these ministers are worse than anybody else, yea, are an abomination.
[Footnote 254: No cities, of course, but some villages.]
When the ships arrive with goods, and especially with liquors, such as
wine and brandy, they attract everybody, that is, masters, to them,
who then indulge so abominably together, that they keep nothing for
the rest of the year, yea, do not go away as long as there is any
left, or bring anything home with them which might be useful to them
in their subsequent necessities. It must therefore go hard with the
household, and it is a wonder if there be a single drop left for the
future. They squander so much in this way, that they keep no tobacco
to buy a shoe or a stocking for their children, which sometimes causes
great misery. While they take so little care for provisions, and are
otherwise so reckless, the Lord sometimes punishes them with insects,
flies, and worms, or with intemperate seasons, causing great famine,
as happened a few years ago in the time of the last Dutch war with the
English,[255] when the Lord sent so many weevils that all their grain
was eaten up as well as almost all the other productions of the field,
by reason of which such a great famine was caused that many persons
died of starvation, and a mother killed her own child and ate it, and
then went to her neighbors, calling upon them to come and see what she
had done, and showing them the remains of her child, whereupon she was
arrested and condemned to be hung. When she sat or stood on the
scaffold, she cried out to the people, in the presence of the
governor, that she was now going to God, where she would render an
account, and would declare before him that what she had done she did
in the mere delirium of hunger, for which the governor alone should
bear the guilt; inasmuch as this famine was caused by the weevils, a
visitation from God, because he, the governor, undertook in the
preceding summer an expedition against the Dutch residing on the South
River, who maintained themselves in such a good posture of defense,
that he could accomplish but little; when he went to the Hoere-kill on
the west side of that river, not far from the sea, where also he was
not able to do much; but as the people subsisted there only by
cultivating wheat, and had at this time a fine and abundant harvest in
the fields--and from such harvests the people of Maryland generally,
and under such circumstances as these particularly, were fed--he set
fire to it, and all their other fruits, whether of the trees or the
field; whereby he committed two great sins at the same time, namely,
against God and his goodness, and against his neighbors, the Dutch,
who lost it, and the English who needed it; and had caused more misery
to the English in his own country, than to the Dutch in the enemy's
country. This wretched woman protesting these words substantially
against the governor, before Heaven and in the hearing of every one,
was then swung up.
[Footnote 255: The war of 1672-1674. But the attack on the Hoere-kill
(Whorekill, now Lewes, Delaware) was not an act of war against the
Dutch, but an attack by Marylanders on inhabitants who were under the
jurisdiction of the Duke of York, in a territory disputed between him
and Lord Baltimore.]
In addition to what the tobacco itself pays on exportation, which
produces a very large sum, every hundred acres of land, whether
cultivated or not, has to pay one hundred pounds of tobacco a year,
and every person between sixteen and sixty years of age must pay three
shillings a year. All animals are free of taxation, and so are all
productions except tobacco.
It remains to be mentioned that those persons who profess the Roman
Catholic religion have great, indeed, all freedom in Maryland, because
the governor makes profession of that faith, and consequently there
are priests and other ecclesiastics who travel and disperse themselves
everywhere, and neglect nothing which serves for their profit and
purpose. The priests of Canada take care of this region, and hold
correspondence with those here, as is supposed, as well as with those
who reside among the Indians. It is said there is not an Indian fort
between Canada and Maryland, where there is not a Jesuit who teaches
and advises the Indians, who begin to listen to them too much; so much
so, that some people in Virginia and Maryland as well as in New
Netherland, have been apprehensive lest there might be an outbreak,
hearing what has happened in Europe,[256] as well as among their
neighbors at Boston; but they hope the result of the troubles there
will determine many things elsewhere. The Lord grant a happy issue
there and here, as well as in other parts of the world, for the help
of His own elect, and the glory of His name.
[Footnote 256: The reference is to the Popish Plot in England; in
respect to Boston, it is probably to King Philip's War, 1675-1676, and
the hostilities along the Maine coast in 1677, though there is no
reason to attribute these to French or Jesuit instigation. Yet
possibly the great fire of August 8-9, 1679, is meant; see p. 269,
note 1, _infra_.]
We will now leave Maryland, and come back to Sandhoeck [Newcastle], on
the South River, where, in the house of our friend Ephraim Hermans,
the Lord had brought us, and our friends received and lodged us with
affectionate hearts.
_16th, Saturday._ Mr. Moll, who is the president [of the court] and
one of the principal men here in the South, having finished his
business in the court which was now ended, had intended to ride this
morning to a plantation which he had recently purchased on Christina
Kill, and would have been pleased to have had us accompany him, and
look at the lands about there, which he said were very good; but as
the hard and rainy weather of yesterday had not yet cleared up, he
put off the journey until Monday, in hopes he would then have our
company, when he would provide a horse for each of us, and Ephraim
would also go with us. Meanwhile we went to see whether there would be
any means of returning to the Manathans notwithstanding the ice,
either by land or sea. If we should return by water, we should be able
to see the lower parts of this river, the Hoere-kill and others; but
no opportunity presented itself, because it was so late in the year,
there being no navigating in consequence of every one being afraid of
the ice.
_17th, Sunday._ We had an opportunity to-day to hear Domine
Tessemaker, which we did, but never heard worse preaching, and I,
therefore, had little desire to go again in the afternoon, though I
was misled by the ringing of the bell. He is a man who wishes to
effect some _etablissement_ or reform here, but he will not accomplish
much in that respect, as he not only has no grace therefor, but there
seems to be something in his life which will hereafter manifest itself
more. For the present we can say with truth that he is a perfect
worldling.[257] It seems that in these spiritually, as well as
physically, waste places, there is nevertheless a craving of the
people to accept anything that bears even the name of food, in order
to content rather than satisfy themselves therewith. Nevertheless the
Lord will take pity upon these his lands, as we hope, for it appears
indeed that the seed of the elect is here, especially among those of
European descent.
[Footnote 257: Domine Petrus Tesschenmaker remained in charge of the
church in Newcastle till 1682. After brief sojourns in New York and on
Staten Island, he was called to the church in Schenectady. There he
served from 1685 to 1690, when he was killed in the Indian massacre of
that year.]
_18th, Monday._ We four, namely, Mr. Moll, Ephraim, my comrade and
myself, after we had breakfasted, started about nine o'clock, on
horseback, from Newcastle for Christina Kill. We observed the land
through which we rode was sometimes only common soil, until we reached
a plantation which Mr. Moll and Ephraim owned together, lying on a
branch of that creek, and which was a good piece of land. Ephraim
having finished the business for which he had come here, of having
planks sawed for boarding a new clap-board house he had built, left
us and rode back to Newcastle, and we continued on after we had looked
at a grist-mill which the Swedes had constructed upon one of the
branches of the creek, a considerable distance along another of them.
We discovered here and there pieces of good land, but they were not
large, and were along the creek. The greater portion of the country
was only common land. Evening coming on, we rode back to the
plantation of a Mr. Man, lying upon a neck of land called
Cheese-and-bread Island, which is a good piece of ground, and up to
which the creek is navigable for large boats or barks.[258] This man
is a great friend of Mr. Moll. We were, therefore, very welcome, and
slept there this night.
[Footnote 258: Bread and Cheese Island lay up Christina Creek, some
ten miles west of present Wilmington, Delaware, and at the junction of
Red Clay Creek and White Clay Creek. The planter was Abraham Mann, who
in 1683 was sheriff and member of assembly for Newcastle County.]
_19th, Tuesday._ After breakfast we rode out in company with Mr. Man,
to look at several pieces of land which they very highly recommended
to us, but it was because, as they said, they wished to have good
neighbors, though sometimes neighbors did not amount to much. It was
now in the afternoon, and we rode towards home, over a plain where the
deer ran out of the road in herds. Coming to the large creek, which is
properly called Christina Kill, we found Mr. Moll had not correctly
calculated the tide, for he supposed it would be low water or
thereabouts, whereas the water was so high that it was not advisable
to ride through it with horses, and we would have to wait until the
water had fallen sufficiently for that purpose. While we were waiting,
and it began to get towards evening, an Indian came on the opposite
side of the creek, who knew Mr. Moll, and lived near there at that
time, and had perhaps heard us speak. He said that we should have to
wait there too long; but if we would ride a little lower down, he had
a canoe in which he would carry us over, and we might swim the horses
across. We rode there at once, and found him and his canoe. We
unsaddled the horses, and he swam them over one by one, being in the
canoe and holding them by the bridle. When we were over, we quickly
saddled them and rode them as fast as they could run, so that they
might not be cold and benumbed. It was entirely dark, and we remarked
to each other the providence of the Lord in this Indian coming there;
for otherwise we should not have known how to find the way through the
woods in consequence of the great darkness. It was bad enough as it
was, on a path that both the horses and Mr. Moll were acquainted with,
for we could scarcely see each other sometimes. We reached Newcastle
happily about eight o'clock in the evening, much rejoiced, and
thanking Mr. Moll.
_20th, Wednesday._ While we were in Maryland, and were crossing over
the Sassafras River, we saw a small English ship lying there, which
they told us would leave about the English Christmas.[259] We now
learned from Mr. Moll, that he was going to write by her, and was
willing if we wrote, to allow our letters to go to London under cover
of his; and also that he should soon go to Maryland to attend the
court now about to be held there. We determined, therefore, not to
permit the opportunity to pass by of writing home.
[Footnote 259: Our travellers used the new style, current in Holland
(though not in Friesland), the English and their colonists the old.
Christmas of old style was January 4 of new.]
_21st, Thursday._ We finished our letters to-day. We perceived it
would be in vain to wait for a chance to go to the Manathans by sea,
and there would be no opportunity to go up the river. We, therefore,
finally concluded to hire a canoe and a person to take us up the
river; and accordingly agreed with one Jan Boeyer,[260] for fifty
guilders in _zeewan_, and a dollar for the canoe a day, to leave the
next day if it were possible. Whereupon, Ephraim and his wife, who had
done their best herein, as well as other friends, set about writing
letters for us to take to the Manathans. Meantime, Ephraim received
news that his father was near his end, and had to be handled by one or
two men to turn him in bed, and that he desired once more to speak to
him.
[Footnote 260: Jan Boeyer was constable of Newcastle the next year.]
_22d, Friday._ It had frozen some this morning, and Jan Boeyer
manifested little disposition to go up the river, declaring that with
such a frost as this, the river above was all frozen up; and though
there was no probability of it, we had to wait. Ephraim and Mr. Moll
left together for Maryland to see Ephraim's father, who wanted to
speak to him, as we heard, in relation to the land or manor which he
possessed there; for while he had given portions to all his other
children, namely, one son and three daughters, he had made Ephraim,
his oldest son, heir of his rank and manor, according to the English
law, as _fils de commys_,[261] that is, Ephraim could enjoy the
property during his life, and hire or sell it for that period, but
upon his death, it must go to his oldest son, and so descend from heir
to heir. Mr. Moll was the witness of this, and had the papers in his
care. It seemed that the father wished to make some change because we
had been there, and he had offered us a part of the land.[262] We,
therefore, think we shall hear what he shall have done in the matter.
[Footnote 261: For _fideicommissum_.]
[Footnote 262: Augustine Herrman did not die till 1686. In 1684 he
executed his final deed of conveyance to Peter Sluyter _alias_
Vorsman, Jasper Danckaerts _alias_ Schilders, Petrus Bayard of New
York (nephew of Governor Stuyvesant and ancestor of all the Bayards of
Delaware), John Moll, and Arnoldus de La Grange, conveying the
"Labadie Tract" of some 3750 acres on the north side of Bohemia River.
Moll and de La Grange immediately released their interest in the land
to Danckaerts and Sluyter, Bayard did so in 1688, and Danckaerts in
1693, from Holland, conveyed to Sluyter all his rights. Augustine
Herrman at his death conveyed the rest of Bohemia Manor to his son
Ephraim as an entailed estate. But evidently he had by that time
repented of his dealings with the Labadists, for a codicil to his will
appoints trustees to carry it out because "my eldest Sonn Ephraim
Herman ... hath Engaged himself deeply unto the labady faction and
religion, seeking to perswade and Entice his Brother Casparus and
sisters to Incline thereunto alsoe, whereby itt is upon Good ground
suspected that they will prove no True Executors of This my Last Will
of Entailement ... but will Endeavour to disanull and make it voide,
that the said Estates may redound to the Labady Communality." MS., Md.
Hist. Soc.]
Although it had frozen hard, yet when the sun rose high about nine
o'clock, it was ordinarily pleasant and handy weather, but there was
no decision on the part of our skipper to leave. In the meantime we
had the house with Ephraim's wife alone, and, therefore, more freedom
and opportunity to speak to her of God, and godly things, which she
well received. We expect something good from her as well as from
Ephraim.
_23d, Saturday._ The weather was milder, and there was some fog which
cleared away as the sun rose. We went to see Jan Boeyer again, but he
had no intention to make the journey. We heard it was not so much on
account of the ice, as of the small-pox, which prevailed very much up
the river, and which he had never had. There was no use of striving
with him, and we determined, therefore, to hire somebody else, if we
could find any person. Mr. Peter Aldrix made inquiry for us, but to no
purpose, and we had to wait and depend upon God's providence. We
heard, however, of some people who had arrived in a canoe from
Christina Kill, and that even in that creek there was no ice yet, or
up the river.
_24th, Sunday._ Domine Tessemaker being at Apoquemene, there was no
preaching to-day at Newcastle but some reading. We went, however, to
the church, in order not to give offense. Much of the reading we could
not bear, but we hope others were more edified than we expected to be.
It was very fine weather and it annoyed us that we had to wait so.
This evening there arrived a canoe with Swedes, who had come from half
way below the falls, and of whom we inquired whether there were any
ice up the river. They said there was not, and they were going back
the next day. We endeavored to make an agreement with them to carry
us, but they asked entirely too much, namely, an anker[263] of rum,
which would amount to about 120 guilders in _zeewan_: whereupon we
rebuked them for their exorbitancy. The Swedes and Finns,
particularly, have this fault, and generally towards strangers; but as
it seemed to me they had drunk a little too much, we let the matter
rest in the hope they would talk more reasonably to-morrow.
[Footnote 263: About ten gallons.]
_25th, Monday._ The weather being good, we spoke again to our Swedes,
but they continued obstinate; and also to Jan Boeyer, but nothing
could be done with him either. While we were standing on the shore
talking with them about leaving, I saw coming down the river a boat
which looked very much like that of the Quaker of Upland,[264] as
indeed it was. He landed at Newcastle and was going to Ephraim's
house, where he had some business to transact, intending to leave the
next day. We asked him if he was willing to take us with him, and he
said he would do so with pleasure. We were rejoiced, observing the
providence of the Lord who took such fatherly care of us. There stood
Jan Boeyer and the Swedes cheated by their own covetousness. Robert
Wade and his wife lodged at Ephraim's, which assured us our journey
would be commenced the next day.
[Footnote 264: Robert Wade. See p. 105.]
_26th, Tuesday._ All the letters having been collected together, which
we were to take with us and deliver, and the Quaker having finished
his business, we breakfasted together, and courteously took leave of
all our acquaintances; but especially with some love, of Madame
Ephraim, named Elizabeth van Rodenburgh. She had shown us much
kindness, and given us good hope that the Lord will not forget her
therein.
We will observe before leaving Sand-hoek, that it has always been the
principal place on the South River, as well in the time of the English
as of the Dutch. It is now called Newcastle by the English. It is
situated on the west side of the river upon a point which extends out
with a sandy beach, affording a good landing place, better than is to
be found elsewhere on that account. It lies a little above the bay
where the river bends and runs south from there, so that you can see
down the river southerly, the greater portion of it, which presents a
beautiful view in perspective, and enables you to see from a distance
the ships which come out of the great bay and sail up the river.
Formerly all ships were accustomed to anchor here, for the purpose of
paying duties or obtaining permits, and to unload when the goods were
carried away by water in boats or barks, or by land in carts. It was
much larger and more populous at that time, and had a small fort
called Nassau; but since the country has belonged to the English,
ships may no longer come here, or they must first declare and unload
their cargoes at New York, which has caused this little place to fall
off very much, and even retarded the settlement of plantations. What
remains of it consists of about fifty houses, almost all of wood. The
fort is demolished, but there is a good block-house, having some small
cannon, erected in the middle of the town, and sufficient to resist
the Indians or an incursion of Christians; but it could not hold out
long. This town is the capital of justice, where the high court of the
South River is held, having three other courts subordinate to it, from
which appeals lie to it, as they do from it to New York, and from New
York to England. These three minor courts are established, one at
Salem, a small village of Quakers newly commenced on the east side of
the river not far from Newcastle[265]; another is at Upland, on the
west side above Newcastle, a Swedish village, and the third is at
Burlington, a new Quaker village on the east side of the river above
Newcastle. Newcastle is about eighty miles from the falls, and the
same distance from the mouth of the river or the sea. The water in the
river at Newcastle at ordinary flood tide is fresh, but when it is
high spring tide, or the wind blows hard from the south or southeast,
it is brackish, and if the wind continues long or it is hard weather
it becomes a little saltish. With a new or full moon it makes high
water at Newcastle at five o'clock. The principal persons whom we have
seen are Mr. Moll and his wife, Ephraim Hermans and his wife, Pieter
Aldrix and his wife, and Domine Tessemaker.
[Footnote 265: Salem, New Jersey, had been founded by John Fenwick in
1675.]
As regards Mr. Moll, he lived in his youth at Amsterdam, in order to
learn business. He afterwards went to Bristol, in England, where he
carried on a reasonably large business which he had begun to do at
Amsterdam. In the war between England and Holland, he lost so much
that he failed, or made an agreement with his creditors. He,
therefore, immigrated to this country, and after trading in Virginia
and Maryland some time, came to Newcastle to live, where he has two or
three plantations, upon which he raises tobacco, more for the purpose
of paying his creditors, as he himself informed me, than because he
seeks this manner of gain and life, intending, as soon as he can
release himself, to go and live upon the land, and support himself by
what God may be pleased to give him. Touching the hope of grace
discoverable in him it is very slight, although he has listened with
attention to all we have said to him, requesting us to continue, and
that he might be favored with a letter from us on the subject, or some
books such as we might deem necessary, and willing, with a full heart,
to do us every service in his power in these quarters or elsewhere, as
he had done many, and endeavored to do still more. The Lord will do
for him as it pleases him.
The wife of Mr. Moll is an English woman, a pious Independent. When he
married her, she lived in a large house where many persons dwelt
together, separate from all other assemblies and the attachments of
the world, seeking nothing except to serve God in peace and
uprightness, and having their own preacher and other ministers. But
with all this she remains a great _mundane_, as to which we have
spoken to her. They have only one son.