two brothers and three sisters, one of whom lives now at Amsterdam.
They are all of a Dutch mother, after whose death their father married
an English woman, who is the most artful and despicable creature that
can be found. He is a very godless person, and his wife, by her
wickedness, has compelled all these children to leave their father's
house and live elsewhere. Ephraim, the oldest, having gone into
business, settled at Newcastle, his oldest sister keeping house for
him. He had for a long time sought in marriage at New York, a daughter
of the late governor of the island of Carsou [Curacao], in the
Caribbean Sea, belonging to the Dutch West India Company, whose name
was Johan van Rodenburgh.[266] She lived with her mother on the
Manhatan, who, after the death of her husband, Rodenburgh, married one
Joannes van Burgh, by whom she had several children. Her daughter,
Elizabeth van Rodenburgh, being of a quiet turn of mind, and quite
sickly, had great inclination to remain single. Ephraim, however,
finally succeeded in his suit, and married her at New York. He brought
her with him to Newcastle on the South River, and we accompanied them
on the journey. Ephraim had been a bad, artful fellow in his youth,
and lived in all godless ways, but the Lord seized his heart, whereby
he began to repent, and saw that he must live otherwise, the Lord
compelling him. He found, however, no ground or strength, but having a
good conception of spiritual matters or religion, as far as could be
the case in such a man, he saw nothing but untruth, falsehood, and
deception in all that was done in relation to God and godly things,
and great hypocrisy in the best persons with whom he was acquainted.
Convinced of this, and seeing no better result, he remained in
suspense, although he professed the doctrines of the Reformed, and was
a member of their church. Seeing our life, and hearing us speak, he
has begun to see the difference, and discover the truth received in
the heart. He has examined himself in several things, and corrected
them, and was disposed to do more, as we had persuaded him. May the
Lord bestow upon him His true grace, who puts it in our hearts to
beseech this for him with confidence. We commit all to Him.
[Footnote 266: _Lucas_ Rodenburgh was vice-director of Curacao from
1644 to 1655.]
His wife, Elizabeth van Rodenburgh, has the quietest disposition we
have observed in America. She is politely educated. She has had
through her entire youth a sleeping sickness of which she seems now to
be free. She has withdrawn herself much from the idle company of
youth, seeking God in quiet and solitude. She professes the Reformed
religion, is a member of that church, and searches for the truth which
she has found nowhere except in the word and preaching, which she
therefore much attended upon and loved, but which never satisfied her,
as she felt a want and yearning after something more. She was so
pleased at our being near her, and lodged at her house, she could not
abstain from frequently declaring so, receiving all that we said to
her with gratitude, desiring always to be near us; and following the
example of her husband, she corrected many things, with the hope and
promise of persevering if the Lord would be pleased so to give her
grace. We were indeed comforted with these two persons, who have done
much for us out of sincere love. The Lord pities them, and will keep
His promise to this house.
Margaret Hermans possesses a good disposition, although a little wild,
according to the nature of the country. She complained that she was
like a wild and desolate vine, trained up in a wild and desolate
country; that she had always felt an inclination to know more of God
quietly, and to serve Him, hoping the Lord would be merciful to her.
She treated us with great affection, and received thankfully and
acceptably what we said to her. We did not see her on our return, as
she had gone to attend upon her father; and we therefore have not
conversed much with her. The Lord will do with her as it pleases Him.
As to Mr. Pieter Aldrix he is a man of Groningen. He came to this
country in the year '63 or '64, for the Lord Burgomasters of
Amsterdam, as chief of their cargoes and storehouse in respect of the
trade with the Indians, and thus was at the head of their office on
the South River. Whether he had been in this country before or not, I
do not know.[267] He did not occupy his place long, for the English
shortly afterwards took the country and deprived him of all he had;
yet he has remained here, gaining his livelihood by various means as
well as he can, and seems to have gradually succeeded. He had a ketch
made for the purpose of trading to the [West India] Islands, and
elsewhere. He has a large family of children, and others. He sought to
render us as much service as he could, but for the things of grace he
is not inclined. He is a mundane, but is not vicious. The Lord can use
him as it pleases Him.
[Footnote 267: Peter Alrichs came over in 1657.]
These are the persons at Newcastle with whom we have some
acquaintance, and such the hope they have given us. We have promised
them to continue it, and write to them, and send them such books as we
might deem necessary for them.
Returning now to our boat, it left about ten o'clock for a place a
little higher up the river where they had to take in some wheat, and
where we were to go on foot, with the Quaker's wife. We reached it
about noon, and found the boat laden, and lying high up on the land,
so that we had to wait until the tide was half flood. We saw there a
piece of meadow or marsh, which a Dutch woman had dyked in, and which
they assured us had yielded an hundred for one, of wheat,
notwithstanding the hogs had done it great damage. The boat getting
afloat, we left about three o'clock, and moved up with the tide. The
weather was pleasant and still, with a slight breeze sometimes from
the west, of which we availed ourselves; but it did not continue long,
and we had to rely upon our oars. We arrived at Upland about seven
o'clock in the evening, and it was there only half flood, so much
later does the tide make there than at Newcastle. The Quaker received
us kindly, gave us supper, and counselled with us as to how we should
proceed further. We were shown a better place to sleep than we had
when we were here before.
_27th, Wednesday._ It rained some during the night and it was very
misty early in the morning. Before the tide served to leave, we agreed
with this man who had brought us up, to send us in his boat to
Burlington, with two boys to manage it, paying him twenty guilders for
the boat, and three guilders a day to each of the boys for three days,
amounting in the whole to thirty-eight guilders; but one of the boys
wishing too much, he determined to take us up himself. A good wind
coming out of the south, we breakfasted and dined in one meal, and
left about ten o'clock, with a favorable wind and tide, though at
times the wind was quite sharp. We sailed by Tinakonk again, but did
not land there. It began at noon to rain very hard, and continued so
the whole day, and also blew quite hard. We ran aground on the lee
shore upon a very shallow and muddy place, from which we got off with
difficulty. On account of this and other accidents, if we had had the
boys it would have been bad for us. We arrived at Wykakoe,[268] a
Swedish village on the west side of the river, in the evening at dusk,
where we went, all wet, into the house of one Otto, who had three
children lying sick with the small-pox. We dried ourselves here
partly. He gave us supper and took us to sleep all together in a warm
stove room, which they use to dry their malt in and other articles. It
was very warm there, and our clothes in the morning were entirely dry.
[Footnote 268: Wicacoa was in the southeastern part of the present
area of Philadelphia, where Gloria Dei Church, still standing, was
erected by the Swedes in 1697.]
_28th, Thursday._ It was flood at daylight when we left, but had not
gone far before I discovered I had left one of my gloves behind,
whereupon we ran the boat ashore, and I went back and found it. My
comrade was more unfortunate, for after we had proceeded full two
hours, and when we were going to breakfast on what our female friend
had given us, he found he had left his knife and fork; but we had gone
too far to lose the time to go back for them. The weather was foggy,
but when the sun had risen a little, it cleared away and became
pleasant and calm. We therefore advanced rapidly, rowing with the
tide, and reached Takany of which we have before spoken, about ten
o'clock, and where we landed a person who had come up with us. We
continued on, and as the tide just commenced rising there we had a
constant flood tide with us to Burlington, where we arrived about two
o'clock. We were put ashore on an island of Peter Aldrix[269] who had
given us a letter of recommendation to a person living there, and
working for him. We paid Robert Wade who and his wife are the best
Quakers we have found. They have always treated us kindly. He went
immediately over to Burlington where he did not stop long, and took
the ebb tide and rowed with it down the river. It was not high tide
for an hour and a half after we arrived at the island, and there is,
therefore, a difference of eleven hours or more in the same tide from
Newcastle.
[Footnote 269: A manuscript map of the upper Delaware, which
accompanies the journal, shows a plantation of Peter Alrichs on the
right bank, opposite Matinnaconk Island and Burlington, and near the
present Bristol, Pennsylvania.]
The man who lived on this island was named Beerent ----, and came from
Groningen. He was at a loss to know how to get us on further. Horses,
absolutely, he could not furnish us; and there was no Indian about to
act as a guide, as they had all gone out hunting in the woods, and
none of them had been at his house for three weeks. To accompany us
himself to Achter Kol or the Raritans, and return, could not be
accomplished in less than four days, and he would have to leave his
house meantime in charge of an Indian woman from Virginia, who had
left her husband, an Englishman, and with two children, one of which
had the small-pox, was living with him; and she could be of no use to
any one, whether Indians or other persons who might come there. We
were compelled again to wait upon the providence of the Lord.
About three o'clock in the afternoon a young Indian arrived with whom
we agreed to act as our guide, for a duffels coat which would cost
twenty-four guilders in _zeewant_, that is, about five guilders in the
money of Holland; but he had a fowling-piece with him which he desired
first to take and have repaired at Burlington, and would then come
back. He accordingly crossed over, but we waited for him in vain, as
he did not return. The greatest difficulty with him was, that we could
not speak the Indian language, and he could not speak a word of
anything else. He not coming, we asked Beerent if he would not
undertake the task, which, after some debate, he consented to do. He
arranged his affairs accordingly, and prepared himself by making a
pair of shoes or foot-soles of deer skin, which are very comfortable,
and protect the feet. That was done in half an hour. We were to give
him thirty guilders in _zeewant_, with which he was satisfied.
_29th, Friday._ We breakfasted, and left about ten o'clock in a canoe,
which set us on the west side of the river, along which a foot-path
runs a part of the way, in an east-northeast direction, and then
through the woods north-northeast. We followed this path until we came
to a plantation, newly begun by a Quaker, where we rested and
refreshed ourselves. We agreed with this man, who came in the house
while we were there, that he should put us over the river for three
guilders in _zeewant_. We crossed over about one o'clock, and pursued
a foot-path along the river, which led us to a cart-road, and
following that we came to the new grist-mill at the falls, which, in
consequence of the great flow of water, stood in danger of being
washed away.[270] Crossing here, we began our journey in the Lord's
name, for there are no houses from this point to Peskatteway, an
English village on the Raritans. We had now gone twelve or thirteen
miles from Peter Aldrix's island, and it was about two o'clock in the
afternoon.
[Footnote 270: See p. 96, note 1.]
We must here make some general observations in relation to the South
River. The Dutch, who first discovered and took possession of it, so
named it, undoubtedly because it empties into the sea in the most
southerly part of New Netherland, to wit, in latitude 39 deg. north, being
one degree and twenty minutes, or more, further south than the mouth
of the North River. It runs up from the sea northwesterly, making a
fine, large bay, much better than that of the North River, or Godyn's
Bay.[271] It is not only of greater length, which is about forty
miles, with a breadth of six or seven miles; but it has a fine bottom
of sand, and gravel reefs all along the banks. The water is purer up
above. From the inside or middle of the bay, its course to the narrow
part, or river, is mostly south [north] or bent gradually from
northwest to north, with here and there a small bay, and it continues
running so, from twenty to twenty-four miles, or more, to Newcastle,
where it bends to the east to northeast, with several bays on both
sides, to Upland and Tinakonk, a distance of twenty-four miles. At
Tinakonk, it runs about east or east-northeast, but having passed that
island it bears off again, north to northeast; also, with several bays
to Wykakoe about twenty miles, and continuing so to Takany, sixteen
miles. From Takany to Burlington, it runs again more easterly and
east-northeast twenty miles, thence due east six miles, where there is
a round bay turning north to north-northwest to the falls four miles,
so that from the falls to the sea coast it is about eighty English
miles, or twenty Dutch miles, from Newcastle each way. It has numerous
fine navigable creeks on both sides of it, which are like small rivers
running far inland, but how far is not yet known; nor is it known how
far the South River extends above the falls, as they have not explored
above them. This river is generally very clear. I do not know that
there is anything above to be avoided, except occasionally a muddy
point on the margins. Heavy ships, drawing ten, twelve, and fourteen
feet water, go up the river as far as Burlington, and higher; but in
the great bend where it runs to the falls, it can be navigated close
to the falls by boats, drawing five and six feet and more. The land on
the east side is generally lower than on the west, and is not so good.
It continues very flat, deep into the country, as you go far down. On
the west side the land is tolerably high, immediately off from the
river, and is generally good all the way down. Both sides being low,
this river is better to navigate than the North River, for that has
very high banks, which being frightfully steep and rocky, it is
subject to great whirlwinds and squalls, which, coming suddenly over
the hills, fall upon the river, which is no small inconvenience. The
water which comes over the falls is pure and clear, and is quite blue,
but running lower down, it gradually becomes muddy, but is entirely
clear again at Takany, and reasonably so at Wikakoe; further on it
becomes thick, but it is always good. As to the salubrity of the
climate of which we did not say anything when we spoke of Maryland, it
is certain that Virginia being the lowest on the sea, is the most
unhealthy where they [die] by thousands sometimes of the epidemical
disease of the country. In Maryland, which lies higher up from the sea
than Virginia, it is more healthy, although it is subject to the
epidemic. Therefore, all those who come into the country, must undergo
this sickness without escape. Even the children who are born there are
not excepted, as those who live there and have experienced it told us
when we were there. And although their manner of life is the cause of
much irregularity in their health, there is nevertheless something in
the atmosphere which produces disease: but this will become gradually
better, as the country is measurably populated, and thereby becomes
more cleared, as experience shows is true of all the lands in America
which have been unhealthy. The uppermost parts of Maryland are more
healthy than those lowest down. The South River is more salubrious
than Maryland, as it lies higher. It partakes however somewhat of the
nature of Maryland, especially below, but with great difference, which
every year increases. The higher the more healthy; although at the
Hoerekil, which is near the sea, it is as healthy as anywhere, because
it is well populated. In the upper part of the river it is as healthy
as it can be anywhere, and for myself, I believe that New Netherland
has not a place in it which is not healthier than any part of old
Netherlands in the United Provinces, and is becoming every day more
salubrious, especially if they live here as they do in Holland. The
North River is entirely healthy, for it lies much higher up than the
South River, that is further to the north, and although it is nearer
the sea than where they live in Maryland and on the South River, it is
nevertheless more wholesome, which shows that it is not the air of the
sea which causes the insalubrity, but other reasons which I will not
consider at present.
[Footnote 271: New York Bay; so named from Samuel Godyn, one of the
earliest patentees of New Netherland.]
As the Hollanders were the first discoverers of this river, they were
also the first residents, settling themselves down in small numbers at
the Hoerekil and thereabouts, and at Santhoeck, though the most people
and the capital of the country were at the Manhatans, under the rule
and authority of the West India Company.[272] The Indians killed many
of them because they did not live well with them, especially with
their women, from which circumstance this kill derives its name.
Others fled to the Manhatans, but afterwards returned, and have since
continued in possession of the river, although in small numbers and
with little strength. Meanwhile some Swedish soldiers, who had been in
the service of the West India Company, went to Sweden, and there made
known the fact that the country was so large the Hollanders could not
possess it all, especially the river called the South River, lying
next to Virginia, their old friends, and that it was only necessary to
go there with a small number of people to take possession of it, as no
one in that country was powerful enough to prevent it. They
accordingly ordered a levy to be made of men, half of them under the
name of soldiers, and half of boors, and sent them under a certain
commander to settle on the west side of the river, well knowing where
the best and healthiest climate was, namely, up the river, and being
thus near their friends, the English. Whether these good friends, here
or in Europe, have not assisted them in this matter, is not known.
They thus established themselves there, the Hollanders either being
not strong enough or too negligent to prevent them, whilst the West
India Company began gradually to fail, and did not hinder them. The
Swedes therefore remained, having constructed small fortresses here
and there, where they had settled and had Swedish governors.
[Footnote 272: The settlement at the Whorekill was Swanendael, founded
by David de Vries and other Dutch patroons in 1631. See his Notes in
_Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware_, in
this series. The origin of New Sweden was quite different from what is
stated in the text. It sprang from commercial companies formed in
Sweden, allied with Dutch merchants.]
The Hollanders did not abandon this river, but they, as well as the
Swedes, sought to advance their settlements; but although the whole
country belonged to them, they were nevertheless unable to possess it,
the company either having too much to do elsewhere, or not ability
sufficient, or sending over too few people. They always however had
their forts, without hindrance or molestation from the Swedes, or
being brought under their dominion. This continued during the time the
burgomasters of the city of Amsterdam had this territory under their
protection, up to the year 1664, when Governor Stuyvesant went there
with a large force, planted himself before the fortress of Christina
on Christina Kill, cannonaded it and compelled them to surrender it
with all their government to him, in the name of the city of
Amsterdam.[273] In that year the whole country was reduced under the
dominion of the crown of England, which put an end to the rule of the
Hollanders, who had then recently conquered the Swedes.
[Footnote 273: The conquest of New Sweden by the Dutch under
Stuyvesant took place in 1655; narratives of it are in the volume just
named and in _Narratives of New Netherland_, in this series. The
surrender was of course not demanded in the name of the city of
Amsterdam but in that of the Dutch republic, the United Provinces. The
Dutch West India Company in 1656 sold a part of the territory to the
city of Amsterdam.]