THE PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY.
Value of the Territory Discovered.--Fate of Hudson.--The
Conspiracy.--Aspect of Manhattan Island.--The Trail which
has Widened into Broadway.--The Opening Commerce.--The Fur
Trade.--Visit of the English Man of War.--Exploring the
Sound.--Commercial Enterprise Receives a New
Stimulus.--Erection of Forts.--Character of the Fur Trade.
The Half Moon was detained in England eight months, and did not reach
Amsterdam until the summer of 1610. The Dutch Directors, though
disappointed in not finding in the region they had explored the much
hoped-for Northwest Passage to the Indies, were somewhat elated by the
magnificent discoveries which had been made. The territory they
claimed, by virtue of these discoveries, extended from the mouth of
the Delaware on the South, to Cape Cod on the Northeast. The grand
river of Canada, the St. Lawrence, was deemed its northern frontier.
Its western boundaries were unexplored and unknown.
This was indeed a princely territory to be owned by any power. The
climate was as favorable as any to be found upon the globe. The soil
was fertile, the landscape being picturesquely diversified by
mountains and valleys. Vast forests, of the most valuable timber,
covered immense portions. Wild fruits and nuts in great variety were
found in profusion. The territory was watered by several truly
magnificent rivers. The region was filled with game; and furs, of the
richest kind and apparently in exhaustless quantities, could be
purchased of the natives, at an almost nominal price.
It may be worthy of notice, that Sir Henry Hudson never revisited the
pleasant region which he had discovered, and which he had pronounced
to be 'as beautiful a land as the foot of man can tread upon.' In the
summer of 1610, Hudson entered the service of a London company and
sailed from the Thames in the "Discovery," in search of either a
Northwest or Northeast passage to the Indies. Passing Iceland,
appropriately so called, he gazed with astonishment upon Hecla in full
eruption, throwing its fiery flood and molten stones into the air.
Doubling the Cape of Greenland, he entered Davis's Straits. Through
these he passed into the gloomy waters beyond.
After spending a dismal winter, in the endurance of great privation,
exposed to severe Arctic storms, his mutinous crew abandoned him, in
the midst of fields of ice, to perish miserably. The following artless
account of this tragedy, which is taken from the lips of one of the
mutineers, will be read with interest. The ship was surrounded with
ice and the crew in a starving condition.
"They had been detained at anchor in the ice," says Pricket,
"about a week, when the first signs of the mutiny appeared.
Green, and Wilson the boatswain, came in the night to me, as
I was lying in my berth very lame and told me that they and
several of the crew had resolved to seize Hudson and set him
adrift in the boat, with all on board who were disabled by
sickness; that there were but a few days' provisions left;
that the master appeared entirely irresolute, which way to
go; that for themselves they had eaten nothing for three
days. Their only hope therefore was in taking command of the
ship, and escaping from these regions as quickly as
possible.
"I remonstrated with them in the most earnest manner,
entreating them to abandon such a wicked intention. But all
I could say had no effect. It was decided that the plot
should be put into execution at daylight. In the meantime
Green went into Hudson's cabin to keep him company, and to
prevent his suspicions from being excited. They had
determined to put the carpenter and John King into the boat
with Hudson and the sick, having some grudge against them
for their attachment to the master. King and the carpenter
had slept on deck this night, but about daybreak, King was
observed to go down into the hold with the cook, who was
going for water. Some of the mutineers ran and shut down the
hatch over them, while Green and another engaged the
attention of the carpenter, so that he did not observe what
was going on.
"Hudson now came from the cabin and was immediately seized
by Thomas and Bennet, the cook, who had come up from the
hold, while Wilson ran behind and bound his arms. He asked
them what they meant, and they told him that he would know
when he was in the shallop. Hudson called upon the carpenter
to help him, telling him that he was bound. But he could
render him no assistance being surrounded by mutineers. The
boat was now hauled along side, and the sick and lame were
called up from their berths. I crawled upon the deck as well
as I could and Hudson, seeing me, called to me to come to
the hatchway and speak to him.
"I entreated the men, on my knees, for the love of God, to
remember their duty. But they only told me to go back to my
berth, and would not allow me to have any communication with
Hudson. After the captain was put in the boat, the carpenter
was set at liberty; but he refused to remain in the ship
unless they forced him. So they told him he might go in the
boat and allowed him to take his chest with him. Before he
got into the boat, he told me that he believed they would
soon be taken on board again, as there was no one left who
knew enough to bring the ship home. He thought that the boat
would be kept in tow. We then took leave of each other, with
tears in our eyes, and the carpenter went into the boat,
taking a musket and some powder and shot, an iron pot, a
small quantity of meal, and other provisions.
"Hudson's son and six of the men were also put into the
boat. The sails were then hoisted and they stood eastward,
with a fair wind, dragging the shallop from the stern. In a
few hours, being clear of the ice, they cut the rope by
which the boat was towed, and soon after lost sight of her
forever."
The imagination recoils from following the victims thus abandoned,
through the long days and nights of lingering death, from hunger and
from cold. To God alone has the fearful tragedy been revealed.
The glowing accounts which Sir Henry Hudson had given of the river he
had discovered, and particularly of the rich furs there to be
obtained, induced the merchants of Amsterdam in the year 1616 to fit
out a trading expedition to that region. A vessel was at once
dispatched, freighted with a variety of goods to be exchanged for
furs. The enterprise was eminently successful and gradually more
minute information was obtained respecting the territory surrounding
the spacious bay into which the Hudson river empties its flood.
The island of Manhattan, upon which the city of New York is now built,
consisted then of a series of forest-crowned hills, interspersed with
crystal streamlets and many small but beautiful lakes. These solitary
sheets of water abounded with fish, and water-fowl of varied plumage.
They were fringed with forests, bluffs, and moss-covered rocks. The
upper part of the island was rough, being much broken by storm-washed
crags and wild ravines, with many lovely dells interspersed, fertile
in the extreme, blooming with flowers, and in the season, red with
delicious strawberries. There were also wild grapes and nuts of
various kinds, in great abundance.
The lower part of the island was much more level. There were
considerable sections where the forest had entirely disappeared. The
extended fields, inviting the plough, waved with luxuriant grass. It
was truly a delightful region. The climate was salubrious; the
atmosphere in cloudless transparency rivalled the famed skies of
Italy.
Where the gloomy prison of the Tombs now stands, there was a lake of
crystal water, overhung by towering trees. Its silence and solitude
were disturbed only by the cry of the water-fowl which disported upon
its surface, while its depths sparkled with the spotted trout. The
lake emptied into the Hudson river by a brook which rippled over its
pebbly bed, along the present line of Canal street. This beautiful
lake was fed by large springs and was sufficiently deep to float any
ship in the navy. Indeed it was some time before its bottom could be
reached by any sounding line.
There was a gentle eminence or ridge, forming as it were the backbone
of the island, along which there was a narrow trail trodden by the
moccasined feet of the Indian, in single file for countless
generations. Here is now found the renowned Broadway, one of the
busiest thoroughfares upon the surface of the globe.
On the corner of Grand street and Broadway, there was a well-wooded
hill, from whose commanding height one obtained an enchanting view of
the whole island with its surrounding waters. Amidst these solitudes
there were many valleys in whose peaceful bosoms the weary of other
lands seemed to be invited to take refuge.
Indeed it is doubtful whether the whole continent of North America
presented any region more attractive. The salubrity of its clime, the
beauty of the scenery, the abundance and purity of the waters, the
spacious harbor, the luxuriance of the soil and the unexplored rivers
opening communication with vast and unknown regions of the interior,
all combined in giving to the place charms which could not be exceeded
by any other position on the continent.
The success of the first trading vessel was so great that, within
three years, five other ships were sent to the "Mauritius river" as
the Hudson was first named. There was thus opened a very brisk traffic
with the Indians which was alike beneficial to both parties. Soon one
or two small forts were erected and garrisoned on the river for the
protection of the traders. Manhattan island, so favorably situated at
the mouth of the river, ere long became the headquarters of this
commerce. Four log houses were built, it is said, upon the present
site of 39, Broadway.
Here a small company of traders established themselves in the silence
and solitude of the wilderness. Their trading boats ran up the river,
and along the coast, visiting every creek and inlet in the pursuit of
furs. The natives, finding this market thus suddenly opening before
them, and finding that their furs, heretofore almost valueless, would
purchase for them treasures of civilization of almost priceless worth,
redoubled their zeal in hunting and trapping.
A small Indian settlement sprang up upon the spot. Quite large cargoes
of furs were collected during the winter and shipped to Holland in the
spring. The Dutch merchants seem to have been influenced by a high
sentiment of honor. The most amicable relations existed between them
and the Indians. Henry Christiænsen was the superintendent of this
feeble colony. He was a prudent and just man, and, for some time, the
lucrative traffic in peltry continued without interruption. The Dutch
merchants were exposed to no rivalry, for no European vessels but
theirs had, as yet, visited the Mauritius river.
But nothing in this world ever long continues tranquil. The storm ever
succeeds the calm. In November, of the year 1613, Captain Argal, an
Englishman, in a war vessel, looked in upon the little defenceless
trading hamlet, at the mouth of the Hudson, and claiming the territory
as belonging to England, compelled Christiænsen to avow fealty to the
English crown, and to pay tribute, in token of his dependence upon
that power. Christiænsen could make no resistance. One broadside from
the British ship would lay his huts in ruins, and expose all the
treasures collected there to confiscation. He could only submit to the
extortion and send a narrative of the event to the home government.
The merchants in Holland were much alarmed by these proceedings. They
presented a petition to the States-General, praying that those who
discovered new territory, on the North American continent, or
elsewhere, might enjoy the exclusive right of trading with the
inhabitants of those regions during six consecutive voyages.
This request was granted, limiting the number of voyages however to
four instead of six. In the meantime the Dutch merchants erected and
garrisoned two small forts to protect themselves from such piratic
excursions as that of captain Argal. In the year 1614 five vessels
arrived at Manhattan to transport to Europe the furs which had been
purchased. Just as Captain Block was preparing to return, his ship,
the Tiger, which was riding at anchor just off the southern point of
Manhattan island, took fire, and was burned to the water's edge.
[Illustration]
He was a very energetic man, not easily dismayed by misfortune. The
island abounded with admirable timber for ship building. He
immediately commenced the construction of another vessel. This yacht
was forty-four and a half feet long, and eleven and a half feet wide.
The natives watched the growth of the stupendous structure with
astonishment. In the most friendly manner they rendered efficient aid
in drawing the heavy timber from the forest to the shipyard. They also
brought in abundant food for the supply of the strangers.
Early in the spring of 1614 the "Restless" was launched. Immediately
Captain Block entered upon an exploring tour through what is now
called the East River. He gave the whole river the name of the
Hellegat, from a branch of the river Scheldt in East Flanders. The
unpropitious name still adheres to the tumultuous point of whirling
eddies where the waters of the sound unite with those of the river.
Coasting along the narrow portion of the sound, he named the land upon
his right, which he did not then know to be an island, Metoac or the
Land of Shells. We should rather say he accepted that name from the
Indians. On this cruise he discovered the mouths of the Housatonic and
of the Connecticut. He ascended this latter stream, which he called
Fresh River, several leagues. Indian villages were picturesquely
scattered along the shores, and the birch canoes of the Indians were
swiftly paddled over the mirrored waters. All else was silence and
solitude. The gloom of the forest overshadowed the banks and the
numerous water-fowl were undisturbed upon the stream. The natives were
friendly but timid. They were overawed by the presence of the gigantic
structure which had invaded their solitude.
Continuing his cruise to the eastward he reached the main ocean, and
thus found that the land upon his left was an island, now known as
Long Island. Still pressing forward he discovered the great
Narragansett Bay, which he thoroughly explored, and then continued his
course to Cape Cod, which, it will be remembered, Sir Henry Hudson had
already discovered, and which he had called New Holland.
Intelligence was promptly transmitted to Holland of these discoveries
and the United Company, under whose auspices the discoveries had been
made, adopted vigorous measures to secure, from the States-General,
the exclusive right to trade with the natives of those wide realms. A
very emphatic ordinance was passed, granting this request, on the 27th
of March, 1614.
This ordinance stimulated to a high degree the spirit of commercial
enterprise. The province was called New Netherland, and embraced the
territory within the 40th and 45th degrees of north latitude. All
persons, excepting the United "New Netherland Company," were
prohibited from trading within those limits, under penalty of the
confiscation of both vessels and cargoes, and also a fine of fifty
thousand Dutch ducats.
The Company immediately erected a trading-house, at the head of
navigation of the Hudson river, which as we have mentioned, was then
called Prince Maurice's River. This house was on an island, called
Castle Island, a little below the present city of Albany, and was
thirty-six feet long and twenty-six feet wide, and was strongly built
of logs. As protection from European buccaneers rather than from the
friendly Indians, it was surrounded by a strong stockade, fifty feet
square. This was encircled by a moat eighteen feet wide. The whole was
defended by several cannon and was garrisoned by twelve soldiers.
This port, far away in the loneliness of the wilderness, was called
Fort Nassau. Jacob Elkins was placed in command. Now that the majestic
Hudson is whitened with the sails of every variety of vessels and
barges, while steamers go rushing by, swarming with multitudes, which
can scarcely be counted, of the seekers of wealth or pleasures, and
railroad trains sweep thundering over the hills and through the
valleys, and the landscape is adorned with populous cities and
beautiful villas, it is difficult to form a conception of the silence
and solitude of those regions but about two hundred and fifty years
ago, when the tread of the moccasoned Indian fell noiseless upon the
leafy trail, and when the birch canoe alone was silently paddled from
cove to cove.
In addition to the fort in the vicinity of Albany, another was erected
at the southern extremity of Manhattan Island at the mouth of the
Hudson. Here the company established its headquarters and immediately
entered into a very honorable and lucrative traffic with the Indians,
for their valuable furs. The leaders of the Company were men of
integrity, and the Indians were all pleased with the traffic, for they
were ever treated with consideration, and received for their furs,
which they easily obtained, articles which were of priceless value to
them.
The vagabond white men, who were lingering about the frontiers of
civilization, inflicting innumerable and nameless outrages upon the
natives, were rigorously excluded from these regions. Thus the
relations existing between the Indians and their European visitors
were friendly in the highest degree. Both parties were alike benefited
by this traffic; the Indian certainly not less than the European, for
he was receiving into his lowly wigwam the products of the highest
civilization.
Indian tribes scattered far and wide through the primitive and
illimitable forest, plied all their energies with new diligence, in
taking game. They climbed the loftiest mountains and penetrated the
most distant streams with their snares. Some came trudging to the
forts on foot, with large packs of peltries upon their backs. Others
came in their birch canoes, loaded to the gunwales, having set their
traps along leagues of the river's coast and of distant streams.
Once a year the ships of the company came laden with the most useful
articles for traffic with the Indians, and, in return, transported
back to Europe the furs which had been collected. Such were the
blessings which peace and friendship conferred upon all. There seemed
to be no temptation to outrage. The intelligent Hollanders were well
aware that it was for their interest to secure the confidence of the
Indian by treating him justly. And the Indian was not at all disposed
to incur the resentment of strangers from whom he was receiving such
great benefits.
The little yacht "Restless," of which we have spoken, on one of her
exploring tours, visited Delaware Bay, and ascended that beautiful
sheet of water as far as the Schuylkill River. Runners were also sent
back from the forts, to follow the narrow trails far into the woods,
to open communication with new tribes, to examine the country, and to
obtain a more intimate acquaintance with the manners and customs of
the Indians.
In the spring of 1617 a very high freshet, accompanied by the breaking
up of the ice, so injured Fort Nassau that the traders were compelled
to abandon it. A new and very advantageous situation was selected, at
the mouth of the Tawasentha Creek, subsequently called Norman's Kill.
This name is said to have been derived from a native of Denmark,
called the Norman, who settled there in 1630.
In this vicinity there was a very celebrated confederation of Indian
tribes called the Five Nations. These tribes were the Mohawks,
Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. They were frequently known by
the generic name of the Iroquois. When the Dutch arrived, the Iroquois
were at war with the Canadian Indians, who, though composed of
different tribes, were known by the general name of the Algonquins.
The Iroquois had been worsted in several conflicts. This led them
eagerly to seek alliance with the white men, who, with their wonderful
instruments of war, seemed to wield the energies of thunder and
lightning.
The Algonquins had, some years before, formed an alliance with the
French in Canada. The Iroquois now entered into an alliance with the
Dutch. It was a very important movement, and the treaty look place,
with many surroundings of barbaric pomp, on the banks of the Norman's
Kill.
Ambassadors from each of the five tribes graced the occasion. Leading
chiefs of several other tribes were also invited to be present, to
witness the imposing ceremony. The garrison furnished for the pageant
the waving of silken banners and the exhilarating music of its band.
The Indian chiefs attended with their decorated weapons, and they were
arrayed in the richest costume of war paint, fringed garments, and
nodding plumes.
The assembly was large. The belt of peace, gorgeously embroidered with
many-colored beads, on softly-tanned deer skin, was held at one end by
the Iroquois chieftains, and at the other by the prominent men of the
Dutch Company, in their most showy attire. The pipe of peace was
smoked with solemn gravity. The tomahawk was buried, and each party
pledged itself to eternal friendship.
The united nation of the Iroquois, in numbers and valor, had become
quite supreme throughout all this region. All the adjacent tribes
bowed before their supremacy. In Mr. Street's metrical romance,
entitled "Frontenac" he speaks, in pleasing verse, of the prowess and
achievements of these formidable warriors.
"The fierce Adirondacs had fled from their wrath,
The Hurons been swept from their merciless path,
Around, the Ottawas, like leaves, had been strown,
And the lake of the Eries struck silent and lone.
The Lenape, lords once of valley and hill,
Made women, bent low at their conquerors' will.
By the far Mississippi the Illini shrank
When the trail of the Tortoise was seen on the bank.
On the hills of New England the Pequod turned pale
When the howl of the Wolf swelled at night on the gale,
And the Cherokee shook, in his green smiling bowers,
When the foot of the Bear stamped his carpet of flowers."
Thus far the Iroquois possessed only bows and arrows. They were
faithful to their promises, and implicit confidence could be reposed
in their pledge. The Dutch traders, without any fear, penetrated the
wilderness in all directions, and were invariably hospitably received
in the wigwams of the Indians.
In their traffic the Dutch at first exchanged for furs only articles
of ornament or of domestic value. But the bullet was a far more potent
weapon in the chase and in the hunting-field than the arrow. The
Indians very soon perceived the vast advantage they would derive in
their pursuit of game, from the musket, as well as the superiority it
would give them over all their foes. They consequently became very
eager to obtain muskets, powder and ball. They were warm friends of
the Europeans. There seemed to be no probability of their becoming
enemies. Muskets and steel traps enabled them to obtain many more
furs. Thus the Indians were soon furnished with an abundant supply of
fire-arms, and became unerring marksmen.
Year after year the returns from the trading-posts became more
valuable; and the explorations were pushed farther and farther into
the interior. The canoes of the traders penetrated the wide realms
watered by the upper channels of the Delaware. A trading-house was
also erected in the vast forest, upon the Jersey shore of the Hudson
River, where the thronged streets of Jersey City at the present hour
cover the soil.
We have now reached the year 1618, two years before the arrival of the
Pilgrims at Plymouth. Though the energetic Dutch merchants were thus
perseveringly and humanely pushing their commerce, and extending their
trading posts, no attempt had yet been made for any systematic
agricultural colonization.
The Dutch alone had then any accurate knowledge of the Hudson River,
or of the coasts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island. In
1618 the special charter of the Company, conferring upon them the
monopoly of exclusive trade with the Indians, expired. Though the
trade was thus thrown open to any adventurous Dutch merchant, still
the members of the Company enjoyed an immense advantage in having all
the channels perfectly understood by them, and in being in possession
of such important posts.
English fishing vessels visited the coast of Maine, and an
unsuccessful attempt had been made to establish a colony at the mouth
of the Kennebec River. Sir Walter Raleigh had also made a very
vigorous but unavailing effort to establish a colony in Virginia.
Before the year 1600, every vestige of his attempt had disappeared.
Mr. John Romeyn Brodhead, in his valuable history of the State of New
York, speaking of this illustrious man, says:
"The colonists, whom Raleigh sent to the island of Roanoke
in 1585, under Grenville and Lane, returned the next year
dispirited to England. A second expedition, dispatched in
1587, under John White, to found the borough of Raleigh, in
Virginia, stopped short of the unexplored Chesapeake,
whither it was bound, and once more occupied Roanoke. In
1590 the unfortunate emigrants had wholly disappeared; and
with their extinction all immediate attempts to establish an
English colony in Virginia were abandoned. Its name alone
survived.
"After impoverishing himself in unsuccessful efforts to add
an effective American plantation to his native kingdom,
Raleigh, the magnanimous patriot, was consigned, under an
unjust judgment, to lingering imprisonment in the Tower of
London, to be followed, after the lapse of fifteen years, by
a still more iniquitous execution. Yet returning justice has
fully vindicated Raleigh's fame. And nearly two centuries
after his death the State of North Carolina gratefully named
its capital after that extraordinary man, who united in
himself as many kinds of glory as were ever combined in any
individual."