[E.B. O'Callaghan (ed.) (1856)] It was subsequently ascertained that a portion of the records, sold at Amsterdam, was in the possession of the original buyer, a person residing at the Hague. I purchased permission of him to make an examination of this portion, which was accordingly effected. Nothing, however, relating to our history was found; and the mortify-ing conviction is now forced upon us, that the papers of the West India Company relating to New Netherland — which, until the year 1821, were easily attainable by the State, and whose destruction has left such a chasm in the original materials for the illustration of our annals — are now irrecoverably lost! " ' The application to the authorities of the city of Amsterdam, for permission to examine their archives, was at once acceded to in the most courteous manner, and prompt arrange-ments were made to facilitate my investigations of the records in the Stad-Huys. Quite a number of interesting documents, relating to the City's Colony on the South river, were found and copied. " ' Examinations were also made of the valuable collections of manuscripts and pamphlets in the Royal library at the Hague; and the most courteous attention was shown by the esti-mable librarian, Mr. J. W. Holtrop. " ' The result of my researches, in the various repositories in the Netherlands just referred to, is the procurement of sixteen volumes of transcripts, containing upwards of four thousand pages.