[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] On the other hand, the company was earning magnificent sums in prize money from its captures of the enemy's merchant ships, and was drawing handsome revenues from the newly conquered dominions in South America and the West Indies. The contempt in which New Netherland came to bo hold because of its unproductive-ness is strikingly illustrated by the selections of men to manage its a flairs. Van Twiller, who succeeded Minuit, was a mere coarse buf-foon; and Kieft, who followed Van Twiller, was a cruel and vulgar THE EARLIEST SETTLERS JS1 despot, who from the first regarded his position as that of sovereign lord of the country, and proceeded to rule it by his arbitrary will, dis-pensing with a council., It is sufficient to contrast these selections of rulers for New Netherland with the choice of Prince Maurice of Nas-sau for governor of the Province of Brazil, to appreciate the compar-atively low and scornful estimation placed upon the North American realms in the inner councils of the West India Company after due experience in their attempted exploitation.