a mile belowe that forte, and there sett upp a tent, and carried all theire goodes on shoare, and was in trade with the Salvages. And the Dutch sett up a tent by the said englishe tent, to hinder theire trade as much as they could. And then there came souldiers from both the said dutch forts .with musketts, halfe pikes, swords and other weapons, and beat some Indians, which came to trade with this deponente, and commannded this exaidate and companye to departe from thence, sayinge that that land was theirs, they havinge boughte it of the Salvages. And then the Dutch pulled downe the tente of the Englishe, and sente theire goodes abord, some in a shalloppe, belonginge to the William, and some in a boate, belonginge to the Dutch ; and then the Dutch weighed the anchors of the William, and carrying them abord her. And afterwardes the said shippe goinge downe the said river againe when she came to Manhatton forte, this deponente beinge there on shoare. The Governor commannded him to sende all the beaver and other skinnes on shoare to the fort, which this de- ponente and companye had gott in trucke with the salvages; which this deponente refusinge to doe, the Governor then de- manded a particular of all the skinnes that were abord the said shippe. The principal Towns within this Government [wrote Gover- nor Dongan to the home government], are New York and Albany and Kingston at Esopus. All the rest are country villages, the Buildings in New York and Albany are generally of Stone and brick. In the country the houses are mostly new built, having two or three rooms on a floor. The Dutch are Digitized by Microsoft® 112 The Hudson River great improvers of land. New York and Albany live wholly upon trade with the Indians, England and West Indies. The returns for England are generally Beaver Peltry, Oile and Tobacco when we can have it. To the West Indies wee send Flower, Bread, Pease Pork and sometimes Horses: the return from thence for the most part is Rumm, which pays the king a considerable Excise, and some Molasses which serves the people to make drink and pays noe custom. There are about nine or ten three Mast Vessels of about eighty or a Hundred tons burthen, two or three ketches and Barks of about forty Tun ; and about twenty Sloops of about twenty or five and twenty Tun belonging to the Government — All of which Trade for England Holland and the West Indies, except five or six sloops that use the river Trade to Albany and that way. In 1694 there belonged to the city of New Amster- dam sixty ships, twenty-five sloops, and forty boats. But neither then nor at any time in its history did the number of sail owned on the island begin to indicate the extent of its river trade, or the size of the fleet at its wharves. Through two centuries the river traffic under sail in- creased, with few setbacks. Of course the War for Independence interfered for a while with trade and travel, but they were resumed as soon as the country was once more at peace. Almost the last to disappear when steam superseded sail propulsion were the boats that carried the least perishable kinds of farm produce. But now, except for an occasional Haverstraw brick schooner, or a pleasure boat from Nyack or Piermont, there is hardly a sail to be seen on a summer day from Paulus Hook to Croton. Digitized by Microsoft® The Passing of the White Wings 113 Yes, we acknowledge the progress, the utility, the convenience; but the picture of another Hudson, radiant in the noontide, like a plain of burnished silver between its purple hills, is present to the mind's eye. It is sparkling with sails, white and glistening as pearls upon a baldric. A hundred are in sight, and a hundred PALISADES FROM THE YELLOW ROCKS, TAPPAN ZEE {Frofii a drawing by the author) and a hundred more stretch in endless procession to the shallows of the upper river. They feed the imagi- nation and satisfy the sense of beauty as the mechanical inventions of the marine steamfitter can never do. In the name of sentiment we deplore the passing of the white wings. It is said that the old rivermen measured the river Digitized by Microsoft® 114 The Hudson River by "reaches," counting fourteen of these between New York and the head of navigation. The first extended past the long wall of the Palisades, the " Great Chip rock" of the old deeds. The second reach included the Tappan Zee, and took the voyager as far as Haver- straw, which gave name to the third. Beyond the Haverstraw was