[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] Hudson's mate was placed in command, having under him a portion of the crew of the " Half-Moon." These early private undertakings were mainly in connection with the fur trade, which offered especial advantages on the shores of the Hudson, where at that period fur-bearing animals, notably the beaver and otter, were very nu-merous. So abundant, indeed, was the beaver in this part of the country that for a long period of years beaver-skins formed one of the principal items in every cargo sent to Europe. A representation of the beaver was the principal feature of the official seal of New Netherland. In 1612 a memorable voyage was made to Hudson's River by Henry Christiansen and Adrian Block, two Hol-landers, in a vessel which they owned jointly. They returned with a goodly cargo of furs, carrying with them to the home country two sons of Indian chiefs, by one of whom Christiansen, several years sub-sequently, was murdered on a Hudson River island. In 1613, with two vessels, the " Fortune " and the " Tiger," they came back. Chris-tiansen, commanding the " Fortune," decided to pass the winter on Manhattan Island, and built several houses of branches and bark. Upon the spot where his little settlement stood (now 39 Broadway) the Macomb mansion, occupied by Washington for a time while