We have already remarked that it is incorrect to call this stream a
river, as both ends of it run into the sea. It is nothing but salt
water, an arm of the sea, embracing Long Island. It begins at the
Little Bay of the North River, before the city of New York, pouring
its waters with those of the North River into the sea, between Sandy
Hook and Coney Island. In its mouth before the city, and between the
city and Red Hook, on Long Island, lies Noten Island[403] opposite the
fort, the first place the Hollanders ever occupied in this bay. It is
now only a farm with a house and a place upon it where the governor
keeps a parcel of sheep. From the city, or from this island, the river
runs easterly to Correlaers Hoeck and the Wale Bocht, where it is so
narrow they can readily hear one another calling across it. A little
west of Correlaers Hoeck, a reef of rocks stretches out towards the
Wale Bocht, half way over, on which at low tide there is only three or
four feet of water, more or less. The river then runs up northerly to
Hellgate, where there is an island, in front of which on the south
side are two rocks, covered at high water, and close to the island,
besides others which can be easily seen. Hellgate is nothing more than
a bend of the river, which, coming up north, turns thence straight to
the east. It is narrow here, and in the middle of the bend or elbow
lie several large rocks. On either side it is wider, consequently the
current is much stronger in the narrow part; and as it is a bend the
water is checked, and made to eddy, and then, striking these rocks, it
must make its way to one side or the other, or to both; but it cannot
make its way to both, because it is a crooked bay, and therefore it
pursues its course until it is stopped on the opposite side of the
bay, to which it is driven, so much the more because it encounters
these rocks on the way. Now between the rocks there is no current, and
behind them it is still; and as the current for the most part is
forced from one side, it finds liberty behind these rocks, where it
makes a whirlpool. You must therefore be careful not to approach this
whirlpool, especially with small vessels, as you will be in danger of
being drawn under. It makes such a whirlpit and whistling that you can
hear it for a quarter of an hour's distance, but this is when the tide
is ebbing, and only, and mostly, when it is running the strongest. The
river continues from thence easterly, forming several islands,
generally on the left-hand side, although there are some in a large
bay on the right. When you have passed the large bay of Flushing,
which is about eight miles from Hellgate, or rather, as soon as you
get round the point, and begin to see an opening, you must keep well
to the northeast, in order to sail clear of a long ledge of rocks,
some of which stick out of the water like the Lizard in the Channel
near Falmouth. After you have passed this you sail easterly along the
shore without anything in the way. There are islands here and there,
near the land, but they are not large. The end of Long Island, which
is one hundred and forty-four miles long, runs off low and sandy.
Continuing east you pass Plum Island, which is about four miles in
length. Behind the bay of Long Island called the Cromme Gouwe[404]
there are several small islands, Gardiner's Island and others. At the
east point of Plum Island there is a reef, or some small rocks, but
keeping on to the eastward, you sail far enough from them. From Plum
Island to Adriaen Blocx Island[405] the course is east a distance of
twenty or twenty-two miles. This island is eight miles long. Thence to
Maertens Wingaert the distance is fifty-two to fifty-six miles further
east, and Blockx Island is hardly out of sight when you see Maertens
Wingaert. Between Plum Island and Blockx Island you leave Fisher's
Island to the north, nearest Plum Island; and between Blockx Island
and Maertens Wingaert you leave on the coast Rhode Island, which does
not lie within the coast, as the chart indicates, but outside, and
lies nearest Maertens Wingaert. With Maertens Wingaert begin the
Elizabeth Islands, which consist of six or seven islands lying in a
row, close to each other, towards the coast. The width between
Maertens Wingaert and the Elizabeth Islands is eight miles. There is a
fine sound or strait for sailing between them, although Maertens
Wingaert is somewhat longer. This island is about twenty-eight miles
in length towards the east. A little within the east point of it a
reef of rocks stretches out three miles from the shore, so that it is
best to keep nearest the Elizabeth Islands, although there is room
enough between Maertens Wingaert and the reef to sail through with
large ships, as there is three and two and a half fathoms of water at
low tide. At the westerly point of the Elizabeth Islands there are
several rocks, one large and several small ones, called after their
fashion, the Sow and Pigs. There is a beautiful bay, and anchorage
ground on the east end of Maertens Wingaert.[406] From this point of
Maertens Wingaert the course is east-southeast about twenty miles, to
Nantocket upon the west point of which there is a good bay with
anchorage ground. The land is low and sandy; it is fourteen or sixteen
miles long. There are several shoals outside in the sea, and also
inside between the island and the main land, but they do not run out
beyond the east point. When you have the east point to the
west-southwest of you, steer straight north to Cape Cod, about
twenty-eight miles; but you must here time the tides, which run strong
east and west; the flood to the west, and the ebb to the east. The
flood tide pulls to the shoals, and the ebb tide on the contrary sets
eastwardly to the sea. Cape Cod is a clean coast, where there are no
islands, rocks or banks, and therefore all such laid down on the
charts of the great reef of Malebarre and otherwise are false. Indeed,
within four, eight and twelve miles, there is sixty to sixty-five
fathoms of water. This cape or coast is about twenty-eight miles long
due north; and from thence to Cape Ann it is also due north, but to
Boston it is northwest. There are many small islands before Boston,
well on to fifty, I believe, between which you sail on to the city. A
high one, or the highest, is the first that you meet. It is twelve
miles from the city, and has a lighthouse[407] upon it which you can
see from a great distance, for it is in other respects naked and bare.
In sailing by this island, you keep it on the west side; on the other
side there is an island with many rocks upon and around it, and when
you pass by it you must be careful, as a shoal pushes out from it,
which you must sail round. You have then an island in front, in the
shape of a battery, which also you leave on the larboard, and then you
come in sight of the island upon which the fort stands, and where the
flag is flown when ships are entering.[408] That, too, lies to the
larboard, and you pass close enough to it for them to hail the ship,
what you are, from whence you came, and where you are bound, etc. When
you are there you see the city lying directly before you; and so you
sail into the bay before the town, and cast anchor. There is a high
hill in the city,[409] also with a lighthouse upon it, by which you
can hold your course in entering.
[Footnote 403: Governor's Island.]
[Footnote 404: "The crooked bay," _i.e._, Peconic Bay.]
[Footnote 405: Block Island, discovered by Adrian Block. The
journalist is wrong as to Rhode Island not lying within the coast.]
[Footnote 406: Vineyard Haven.]
[Footnote 407: It can hardly have been more than a beacon. The first
lighthouse was built in pursuance of an act of 1715, the preamble of
which begins, "Whereas we want of a lighthouse at the entrance of the
harbour of Boston hath been a great discouragement to navigation,"
etc. The new lighthouse was to be erected "on the southermost point of
Great Brewster, called Beacon Island."]
[Footnote 408: George's Island; next, Castle Island, with the "castle"
first built in 1635.]
[Footnote 409: Beacon Hill.]
_24th, Monday._ We walked with our captain into the town, for his
house stood a little one side of it, and the first house he took us to
was a tavern. From there, he conducted us to the governor, who dwelt
in only a common house, and that not the most costly. He is an old
man, quiet and grave.[410] He was dressed in black silk, but not
sumptuously. Paddechal explained the reasons of our visit. The
governor inquired who we were, and where from, and where we were
going. Paddechal told him we were Hollanders, and had come on with him
from New York, in order to depart from here for England. He asked
further our names, which we wrote down for him. He then presented us a
small cup of wine, and with that we finished. We went then to the
house of one John Tayller, or merchant tailor,[411] to whom William
van Cleyf had recommended us; but we did not find him. We wanted to
obtain a place where we could be at home, and especially to ascertain
if there were any Dutchmen. They told us of a silversmith who was a
Dutchman, and at whose house the Dutch usually went to lodge. We went
in search of him, but he was not at home. At noon we found this
merchant tailor, who appeared to be a good sort of a person. He spoke
tolerably good French, and informed us there was a ship up for England
immediately, and another in about three weeks. The first was too soon
for us, and we therefore thought it best to wait for the other. We
also found the silversmith, who bade us welcome. His name was Willem
Ros, from Wesel. He had married an Englishwoman, and carried on his
business here. He told us we might come and lodge with him, if we
wished, which we determined to do; for to lie again in our last
night's nest was not agreeable to us. We exchanged some of our money,
and obtained six shillings and sixpence each for our ducatoons, and
ten shillings each for the ducats. We went accordingly to lodge at the
goldsmith's, whom my comrade knew well, though he did not recollect my
comrade.[412] We were better off at his house, for although his wife
was an Englishwoman, she was quite a good housekeeper.
[Footnote 410: Simon Bradstreet, elected in May, 1679, was governor of
Massachusetts till 1686--the last governor under the old charter. He
had come out in 1630, and was now seventy years old.]
[Footnote 411: Original, "Jan Tayller of [Dutch for _or_] Marchand
Tayller." No John Taylor of Boston answering to the description has
been identified.]
[Footnote 412: Sluyter was from Wesel, on the Rhine. Though it was a
German town, many of its inhabitants were Dutch (like Peter Minuit)
and Walloon.]
_25th, Tuesday._ We went in search of Mr. Paddechal this morning and
paid him for our passage here, twenty shillings New England currency,
for each of us. We wanted to obtain our goods, but they were all too
busy then, and promised they would send them to us in the city the
next day. We inquired after Mr. John Pigon, to whom Mr. Robert
Sanders, of Albany, promised to send Wouter the Indian, with a letter,
but he had received neither the letter nor the Indian; so that we must
offer up our poor Indian to the pleasure of the Lord. We also went to
look after the ship, in which we were going to leave for London. We
understood the name of the captain was Jan Foy. The ship was called
the _Dolphin_, and mounted sixteen guns.[413] Several passengers were
engaged. There was a surgeon in the service of the ship from
Rotterdam, named Johan Owins, who had been to Surinam[414] and
afterwards to the island of Fayal,[415] from whence he had come here,
and now wished to go home. There was also a sailor on board the ship
who spoke Dutch, or was a Dutchman. The carpenter was a Norwegian who
lived at Flushing.
[Footnote 413: Captain John Foy appears in the records of the court of
assistants, as still master of the _Dolphin_, in 1691.]
[Footnote 414: A Dutch settlement in Guiana, owned at this time by the
province of Zeeland; the present Dutch Guiana.]
[Footnote 415: In the Azores.]
_26th, Wednesday._ We strove hard to get our goods home, for we were
fearful, inasmuch as our trunk was on deck, and it had rained, and a
sea now and then had washed over it, that it might be wet and ruined;
but we did not succeed, and Paddechal in this exhibited again his
inconsiderateness, and little regard for his promise. We resolved to
take it out the next day, go as it would.
_27th, Thursday._ We went to the Exchange in order to find the
merchant tailor, and also the skipper, which we did. We agreed for our
passage at the usual price of six pounds sterling for each person,
with the choice of paying here or in England; but as we would have
less loss on our money here, we determined to pay here. After 'change
was over there was preaching,[416] to which we had intended to go; but
as we had got our goods home, after much trouble, and found several
articles wet and liable to be spoiled, we had to stay and dry them.
[Footnote 416: The Thursday Lecture.]
_28th, Friday._ One of the best ministers in the place being very
sick, a day of fasting and prayer was observed in a church near by our
house. We went into the church, where, in the first place, a minister
made a prayer in the pulpit, of full two hours in length; after which
an old minister delivered a sermon an hour long, and after that a
prayer was made, and some verses sung out of the Psalms. In the
afternoon, three or four hours were consumed with nothing except
prayers, three ministers relieving each other alternately; when one
was tired, another went up into the pulpit.[417] There was no more
devotion than in other churches, and even less than at New York; no
respect, no reverence; in a word, nothing but the name of
Independents; and that was all.
[Footnote 417: This fast is not noted in the elaborate list in Mr.
Love's _Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England_. The Old South
Church had a fast on June 29, O.S., but this was June 28, N.S.]
_29th, Saturday._ To-day a captain arrived from New York, named Lucas,
who had sailed from there last Friday. He said no ships had arrived
there from Europe, and that matters remained as we left them. There
was a report that another governor was coming to New York, and it was
said he was a man who was much liked in Boston; that many complaints
had been made against the other one, such as oppressing the people,
imposing high duties when his instructions provided they should not be
more than two per cent., I believe, rendering a false account, in
which he had charged a dock as having been made at a cost of
twenty-eight pounds sterling which had not cost a cent, as the
citizens had constructed it themselves, etc.[418] This will perhaps
cause some change in these parts and relieve the people. Lucas brought
with him the sister and brother-in-law of Ephraim's wife, recently
married, but we had never spoken to them.[419]
[Footnote 418: There was an official inquiry into these charges. See
accusation and defense in _N.Y. Col. Doc._, III. 302, 308.]
[Footnote 419: The bridegroom was Captain Theunis de Key (b. 1659),
son of Jacob Theuniszen van Tuyl of New York. The bride was Helena van
Brugh, half-sister of Elizabeth Rodenburg, being the daughter of the
latter's mother Catharina Roelofs by her second husband, Johannes
Pieterszen van Brugh of Haarlem and later of New York.]
_30th, Sunday._ We went to church, but there was only one minister in
the pulpit, who made a prayer an hour long, and preached the same
length of time, when some verses were sung. We expected something
particular in the afternoon, but there was nothing more than usual.
JULY _1st, Monday._ We wrote to De la Grange, at New York, concerning
our letters from Europe, and also to Robert Sanders, at Albany, in
relation to Wouter.
_2d, Tuesday._ We had a conversation with the captain at the Exchange.
He intended to sail round Ireland, which suited us very well, for
although it was said the Hollanders were at peace with the Turks,
there were many English vessels taken by them daily, and under such
circumstances we ran some danger of being plundered, fighting with
them, and perhaps being carried into Barbary. It was therefore better
to go around, although it would be late. We went on board the ship
with the captain, in order to look through her. She pleased us very
much, as she was larger than the _Charles_, in which we came over. We
bespoke a berth in the gunner's room, on the starboard side. The ship
was said to be a good sailer, and the captain to be one of the most
discreet navigators of this country. All that was agreeable to us. In
the evening Ephraim's wife's sister and her husband called upon us,
but they were not much in a state to be spoken to, in regard to what
was most necessary for them, nor was there much opportunity.
_3d, Wednesday._ Our captain said he would leave a week from to-day.
Nothing further occurred.
_4th, Thursday._ Nothing transpired.
_5th, Friday._ In the afternoon Thomas [Theunis] De Key and his wife,
half-sister of Elizabeth Roodenburgh, came to visit us, but we
conversed little about religious matters, following the providence of
the Lord.
_6th, Saturday._ Nothing occurred.
_7th, Sunday._ We heard preaching in three churches, by persons who
seemed to possess zeal, but no just knowledge of Christianity. The
auditors were very worldly and inattentive. The best of the ministers
whom we have yet heard is a very old man, named Mr. John Eliot,[420]
who has charge of the instruction of the Indians in the Christian
religion. He has translated the Bible into their language. After we
had already made inquiries of the booksellers for this Bible, and
there was none to be obtained in Boston, and they told us if one was
to be had, it would be from Mr. Eliot, we determined to go on Monday
to the village where he resided, and was the minister, called
Rocsberry [Roxbury]. Our landlord had promised to take us, but was not
able to do so, in consequence of his having too much business. We
therefore thought we would go alone and do what we wanted.
[Footnote 420: Rev. John Eliot (1604-1690), the Apostle to the
Indians, came over to Massachusetts in 1631 and in 1632 was ordained
as "teacher" of the church of Roxbury. He soon engaged in efforts to
Christianize the Indians, and in 1646 began to preach to them in their
own tongue. He formed a community and church of "praying Indians" at
Natick, and others elsewhere. His translation of the Bible into the
dialect of the Massachusetts Indians was completed in 1658. The first
edition of the New Testament, printed at Cambridge, was issued in
1661, the whole Bible (Old Testament of 1663, New Testament of 1661
imprint, and metrical version of the Psalms) in 1663.]
JULY _8th, Monday._ We went accordingly, about six o'clock in the
morning, to Rocxberry, which is three-quarters of an hour from the
city, in order that we might get home early, inasmuch as our captain
had informed us, he would come in the afternoon for our money, and in
order that Mr. Eliot might not be gone from home. On arriving at his
house, he was not there, and we therefore went to look around the
village and the vicinity. We found it justly called Rocxberry, for it
was very rocky, and had hills entirely of rocks. Returning to his
house we spoke to him, and he received us politely. As he could speak
neither Dutch nor French, and we spoke but little English, we were
unable to converse very well; however, partly in Latin, partly in
English, we managed to understand each other. He was seventy-seven
years old,[421] and had been forty-eight years in these parts. He had
learned very well the language of the Indians, who lived about there.
We asked him for an Indian Bible. He said in the late Indian war, all
the Bibles and Testaments were carried away, and burnt or destroyed,
so that he had not been able to save any for himself; but a new
edition was in press, which he hoped would be much better than the
first one, though that was not to be despised. We inquired whether any
part of the old and new edition could be obtained by purchase, and
whether there was any grammar of their language in English. Thereupon
he went and brought us one of the Old Testaments in the Indian
language, and also almost the whole of the New Testament, made up with
some sheets of the new edition of the New Testament, so that we had
the Old and New Testaments complete.[422] He also brought us two or
three small specimens of the grammar. We asked him what we should pay
him for them; but he desired nothing. Thereupon we presented him our
_Declaration_ in Latin,[423] and informed him about the persons and
conditions of the church whose declaration it was, and about Madam
Schurman[424] and others, with which he was delighted, and could not
restrain himself from praising God the Lord, that had raised up men,
and reformers, and begun the reformation in Holland. He deplored the
decline of the church in New England, and especially in Boston, so
that he did not know what would be the final result. We inquired how
it stood with the Indians, and whether any good fruit had followed his
work. Yes, much, he said, if we meant true conversion of the heart;
for they had in various countries, instances of conversion, as they
called it, and had seen it amounted to nothing at all; that they must
not endeavor, like scribes and Pharisees, to make Jewish proselytes,
but true Christians. He could thank God, he continued, and God be
praised for it, there were Indians whom he knew, who were truly
converted of heart to God, and whose profession, he believed, was
sincere. It seemed as if he were disposed to know us further, and we
therefore said to him, if he had any desire to write to our sort of
people, he could use the names which stood on the title-page of the
_Declaration_, and that we hoped to come and converse with him again.
He accompanied us as far as the jurisdiction of Roxbury extended,
where we parted from him.
[Footnote 421: Eliot was not quite seventy-six.]
[Footnote 422: The first edition of the whole Bible seems to have been
1040 copies, of the separate New Testament, 500. Many copies were lost
or destroyed in the Indian war of 1675-1676; but 16 copies now
existing of the New Testament, and 39 of the Bible, in this first
edition, are listed in Mr. Wilberforce Eames's bibliography. In 1677
Eliot began to prepare a revised edition of the whole work. It was
published in 1685. The printing of the New Testament portion was begun
in 1680 and finished in the autumn or winter of 1681; the printing of
the Old Testament was not begun until 1682.
Wonderful to relate, the identical copy of the Old Testament (edition
of 1663, and metrical Psalms) which Eliot presented to Danckaerts and
Sluyter is still in existence, in the library of the Zeeland Academy
of Sciences at Middelburg in the Netherlands. It lacks the title-page,
but in its place contains the following manuscript note. See the
_Proceedings_ of the Massachusetts Historical Society, XIII. 307-310,
and the Dutch pamphlet there named.
"All the Bibles of the Christian Indians were burned or destroyed by
these heathen savages. This one alone was saved; and from it a new
edition, with improvements, and an entirely new translation of the New
Testament, was undertaken. I saw at Roccsberri, about an hour's ride
from Boston, this Old Testament printed, and some sheets of the New.
The printing-office was at Cambridge, three hours' ride from Boston,
where also there was a college of students, whether of savages or of
other nations. The Psalms of David are added in the same metre.
"At Roccsberri dwelt Mr. Hailot, a very godly preacher there. He was
at this time about seventy years old. His son was a preacher at
Boston. This good old man was one of the first Independent preachers
to settle in these parts, seeking freedom. He was the principal
translator and director of the printing of both the first and second
editions of this Indian Bible. Out of special zeal and love he gave me
this copy of the first edition, for which I was, and shall continue,
grateful to him. This was in June, 1680.
"Jasper Danckaerts."]
[Footnote 423: The Labadists' declaration of their orthodoxy and of
their reasons for separating themselves from the national (Dutch
Reformed) church was first issued in French, in 1669. Two editions of
a Dutch translation were published: the first, "translated from the
French by N.N.," at Amsterdam in 1671; the second, "translated from
the French by P. Sluiter," at Herford in 1672, both by the same
printer. Of the former, there is a copy in the library of Haverford
College; of the latter, in the New York Public Library. Two editions
in German are also known (Herford, 1671, 1672). The Latin, here
referred to, is entitled "Protestatio Sincera Purae et Verae
Reformatae Doctrinae Generalisque Orthodoxiae Johannis de Labadie,"
and is to be found in the book _Veritas sui Vindex, seu Solemnis Fidei
Declaratio Joh. de Labadie, Petri Yvon, Petri du Lignon, Pastorum_,
etc. [the Dutch and German have also the names of "Henry and Peter
Sluiter, preachers," on the title-page] (Herford, 1672).]
[Footnote 424: Anna Maria van Schurman (1607-1678), a woman of
prodigious learning, held in the highest esteem by literary
contemporaries in Holland as well as other lands. She renounced her
literary associations to affiliate herself with Jean de Labadie and
his followers, shared their fortunes at Amsterdam, Herford, Altona,
and Wieuwerd, where William Penn visited her in 1677; and died among
them at Wieuwerd in 1678.]
_9th, Tuesday._ We started out to go to Cambridge, lying to the
northeast of Boston, in order to see their college and printing
office. We left about six o'clock in the morning, and were set across
the river at Charlestown. We followed a road which we supposed was the
right one, but went full half an hour out of the way, and would have
gone still further, had not a negro who met us, and of whom we
inquired, disabused us of our mistake. We went back to the right road,
which is a very pleasant one. We reached Cambridge about eight
o'clock. It is not a large village, and the houses stand very much
apart. The college building is the most conspicuous among them. We
went to it, expecting to see something unusual, as it is the only
college, or would-be academy of the Protestants in all America, but we
found ourselves mistaken. In approaching the house we neither heard
nor saw anything mentionable; but, going to the other side of the
building, we heard noise enough in an upper room to lead my comrade to
say, "I believe they are engaged in disputation." We entered and went
up stairs, when a person met us, and requested us to walk in, which we
did. We found there eight or ten young fellows, sitting around,
smoking tobacco, with the smoke of which the room was so full, that
you could hardly see; and the whole house smelt so strong of it that
when I was going up stairs I said, "It certainly must be also a
tavern."[425] We excused ourselves, that we could speak English only a
little, but understood Dutch or French well, which they did not.
However, we spoke as well as we could. We inquired how many professors
there were, and they replied not one, that there was not enough money
to support one. We asked how many students there were. They said at
first, thirty, and then came down to twenty; I afterwards understood
there are probably not ten. They knew hardly a word of Latin, not one
of them, so that my comrade could not converse with them. They took us
to the library where there was nothing particular. We looked over it a
little. They presented us with a glass of wine. This is all we
ascertained there. The minister of the place goes there morning and
evening to make prayer, and has charge over them; besides him, the
students are under tutors or masters.[426] Our visit was soon over,
and we left them to go and look at the land about there. We found the
place beautifully situated on a large plain, more than eight miles
square, with a fine stream in the middle of it, capable of bearing
heavily laden vessels. As regards the fertility of the soil, we
consider the poorest in New York superior to the best here. As we were
tired, we took a mouthful to eat, and left. We passed by the printing
office, but there was nobody in it; the paper sash however being
broken, we looked in, and saw two presses with six or eight cases of
type. There is not much work done there. Our printing office is well
worth two of it, and even more.[427] We went back to Charlestown,
where, after waiting a little, we crossed over about three o'clock. On
our way home our skipper, John Foy, met us; we spoke to him, and in
our respective names, paid him the money for our passage, six pounds
each. He wished to give us a bill of it, but we told him it was
unnecessary, as we were people of good confidence. I spoke to my
comrade, and we went out with him, and presented him with a glass of
wine. His mate came to him there, who looked more like a merchant than
a seaman, a young man and no sailor. We inquired how long our
departure would be delayed, and, as we understood him, it would be the
last of the coming week. That was annoying to us. Indeed, we have
found the English the same everywhere, doing nothing but lying and
cheating, if it but serves their interest. Being in the house again,
Ephraim's brother-in-law, Mr. De Key, and his wife made us a visit.