was composed of blacks, reared Digitized by Microsoft® ii6 The Hudsop River in the family and belonging to him; for negro slavery still existed in the State. All his communications with them were in Dutch. They were obedient to his orders, though they occa- sionally had much previous discussion of the wisdom of them, and were sometimes positive in maintaining an opposite opinion. This was especially the case with an old grey-headed negro, who had sailed with the captain's father when the captain was a mere boy, and who was very crabbed and conceited on points of sea- manship. I observed that the captain generally let him have his own way. What a time of intense delight was that first sail through the Highlands. I sat on the deck as we slowly tided along at the foot of those stern mountains, and gazed with wonder and ad- miration at cliffs impending far above me, crowned with forests, with eagles sailing and screaming around them; or listened to the unseen stream dashing down precipices ; or beheld rock, and, tree, and cloud, and sky reflected in the glassy stream of the river. And then how solemn and thrilling the scene as we an- chored at night at the foot of these mountains, clothed with overhanging forests; and everything grew dark and mysterious; and I heard the plaintive note of the whip-poor-will from the mountain-side, or was startled now and then by the sudden leap and heavy splash of the sturgeon. In 1840 N. P. Willis wrote: The passage through the Highlands at West Point still bears the old name of Wey Gat or Wind-gate ; and one of the prettiest moving dioramas conceivable, is the working through the gorge of the myriad sailing craft of the river. The sloops which ply the Hudson, by the way, are remarkable for their picturesque beauty, and for the enormous quantity of sail they carry on in all weathers, and nothing is more beautiful than the little fleets of from six to a dozen, all scudding or tacking together, like so many white sea birds on the wing. Up they come, with a dash- ing breeze, under Anthony's Nose, and the sugar loaf, and giving the rocky toe of West Point a wide berth, all down helm and round into the bay: when — just as the peak of Crow Nest slides Digitized by Microsoft® The Passing of the White Wings 117 its shadow over the mainsail — slap comes the wind aback and the whole fleet is in a flutter. The channel is narrow and ser- pentine, the wind baffling, and small room to beat: but the craft are worked merrily and well; and dodging about as if to escape some invisible imp of the air they gain point after point till at last they get the Dunderbarrck behind them and fall once more into the regular current of the wind. There have been not a few of the old river captains whose activity led them into new fields when forced to abandon the occupation of their earlier days. Some of them may be found in directors' chairs in transportation companies and financial institutions. It took a large amount of hard horse sense to run a river schooner successfully in the old days of frequent crises and sharp competition, and the man who could cope with the shippers and the market men, keep the weather gage of rivals and more than hold his own with wind and tide, was very apt to be a valuable man in any active business. In most cases it was the old schooner and sloop skippers that became captains of steam craft, and afterwards were frequently counted among the mag- nates of the river. Many of the older river steamboats bear the names of men who "followed the river, man and boy" for many years, and were better known at most of the landing places than the Governor of the State or the member of Assembly from the district. Digitized by Microsoft® V Chapter IX Fiilton and the Hudson River Steamboat ROBERT FULTON, whose name is indissolubly connected with the history of navigation and no less intimately associated with the story of the Hudson River, was born in America before the War for Independence. According to the most approved precedents, he showed in early boyhood a promise of inventive ability, in combination with a taste for art; the latter culti- vated under the direction of the noted painter, Benja- min West. While in London, engaged in his chosen work, he became interested in canals and wrote a trea- tise on Canal Navigation. This was published, the au- thor at the same time obtaining patents on a double inclined plane designed to take the place of locks in small canals.