which were committed under pretence of coming to put Christians on their guard. Finally, the Indians took the field and attacked the bou- weries at Pavonia. Two ships of war and a privateer were here Digitized by Microsoft® Introductory 17 at the time, and saved considerable cattle and grain. Probably it was not possible to prevent the destruction of four bouweries on Pavonia which were burnt; not by open violence, but by stealthy creeping through the bush with fire in hand, and in this way igniting the roofs which are all either of reed or straw; one covered with plank was preserved at the time. Whoever will wade through the mass of Dutch docu- ments brought to the light of day through the industry of John Romeyn Brodhead may find an old paper called "A Representation of the New Netherlands, etc." It is a report written for their High Mightinesses, the States-General, forty years after the discovery of the Hudson. In it there is a statement that all fruits which will grow in Netherland will also thrive in New Netherland, without requiring as much care as must be given in the former. All garden fruits succeed likewise very well there, but are drier, sweeter, and better flavoured than in Netherland. As a proof of this we may properly instance melons 4and citrons or watermelons, which readily grow, in New Nether- land, in the fields, if the briars and weeds be only kept from them, whereas in Netherland they require particular attention in gardens. The same optimistic writer says in regard to the varieties of grapes to be found in New Netherland: Some are white, some blue, some very fleshy and fit only to make raisins of; some again juicy, some very large, others on the contrary small ; their juice is very pleasant and some of it white like French or Rhenish wines; that of others again very deep red, like Tent; some even paler. The vines run up far into the trees and are shaded by their leaves so that the grapes are slow in ripening and a little sour, but were cultivation and knowledge applied here doubtless as fine wines could be made here as in any other wine-growing countries. Digitized by Microsoft® 1 8 The Hudson River Either this writer, or another of his tribe, was over- joyed to report that " indigo silvestris grows spontane- ously here without any human aid or cultivation." Experiments with this plant were made in the extensive gardens of Rensselaerwyk and promised great things. We find added to that report a statement that madder would " undoubtedly ' ' thrive well ; " even better than in Zealand in regard to the land and other circumstances. " O, those old gardens and plantations, in which were planted wheat and apple trees, madder and indigo and great expectations; that yielded now a crop of fruit and now a harvest of disappointment! Those early comers into the American Wonderland planted more than their gardens by the shores of Hudson's River. The succeeding pages will be in part a record of their struggle and their achievement. Digitized by Microsoft® Chapter II Two Cities on One Site THERE are two wonderful cities at the mouth of the Hudson River. One is insistent, almost overwhelming in its presentation of present- day achievement. Its sky-line is a boldly serrated ridge of stupendous masonry, softened here and there by the smoke from a hundred thousand chimneys. Its shore-line is broken into leagues of wharves that harbour an almost unbroken fleet of vessels. From a thousand miles of streets the aura of its multitudinous life seems to rise, and the hum of its traffic and the murmur of its striving never ceases. On the river the scene changes in detail, but not iri' character. The boats cross and recross each other's courses like mammoth shuttles, weaving a pattern of a marvellous tapestry, and the eye is bewildered in trying to follow their intricate paths or wearies with their tmresting procession. Hidden by this metropolis of to-day, of which the eye takes cognisance, there is a quaint little city, vis- ible only to the imagination, contracted, unalterable, and peopled with ghosts. 19 Digitized by Microsoft® 20 The Hudson River It is the city of the Knickerbockers, where the apo- cryphal burghers that Irving created were supposed to have puffed lazily upon their long pipes till the smoke obscured Communipaw, on the opposite shore. It is the city that hid behind palisades for fear of Indian neighbours; that fretted and prospered under Dutch and English governors ; that in place of stock exchanges and produce exchanges raised live stock and farm produce: the little city that entertained the first re- presentative Congress in the Colonies and inaugurated the first President of