gan

should be called after his name!—and it continues to be called Hudson river unto this very day.

CHAPTER II.

Containing an account of a mighty Ark which floated under the protection of St. Nicholas, from Holland to Gibbet Island the descent of the strange Animals therefrom-a great victory, and a description of the ancient village of Communipan.

THE delectable accounts given by the great Hudson and Master Juet, of the country they had discovered, ex-. cited not a little talk and speculation among the good people of Holland. Letters patent were granted by government to an association of merchants, called the West-India Company, for the exclusive trade on Hudson river, on which they erected a trading house called Fort Aurania, or Orange, from whence did spring the great city of Albany. But I forbear to dwell on the various commercial and colonizing enterprizes which took place; among which was that of Mynheer Adrian Block, who discovered and gave a name to Block Island, since famous for its cheese and shall barely confine myself to that, which gave birth to this renowned city.

It was some three or four years after the return of the immortal Hendrick, that a crew of honest, low Dutch colonists set sail from the city of Amsterdam, for the shores of America. It is an irreparable loss to history, and a great proof of the darkness of the age, and the lamentable neglect of the noble art of book-making, since so industriously cultivated by knowing sea-captains, and learned supercargoes, that an expedition so interesting and important in its results, should be passed over in utter silence. To my great great grandfather am I again indebt

ed for the few facts, I am enabled to give concerning it; he having once more embarked for this country, with a full determination, as he said, of ending his days here; and of begetting a race of Knickerbockers, that should rise to be great men in the land.

The ship in which these illustrious adventurers set sail was called the Goede Vrouw, or Good Woman, in compliment to the wife of the president of the West-India Company, who was allowed by every body (except her husband) to be a sweet tempered lady, when not in liquor. It was in truth a most gallant vessel, of the most approved Dutch construction, and made by the ablest ship-carpenters of Amsterdam, who, it is well known, always model their ships after the fair forms of their country-women. Accordingly it had one hundred feet in the beam, one hundred feet in the keel, and one hundred feet from the bottom of the stern post to the tafferel. Like the beau

teous model, who was declared to be the greatest belle in Amsterdam, it was full in the bows, with a pair of enormous cat-heads, a copper bottom, and withal, a most prodigious poop!

The architect, who was somewhat of a religious man, far from decorating the ship with pagan idols, such as Jupiter, Neptune or Hercules, (which heathenish abominations, I have no doubt, occasion the misfortunes and shipwreck of many a noble vessel,) he, I say, on the contrary, did laudably erect for a head, a goodly image of St. Nicholas, equipped with a low broad brimmed hat, a huge pair of Flemish trunk hose, and a pipe that reached to the end of the bowsprit. Thus gallantly furnished, the staunch ship floated sideways, like a majestic goose, out of the harbour of the great city of Amsterdam, and all the bells, that were not otherwise engaged, rung a triple bob-major on the joyful occcasion.

My great great grandfather remarks, that the voyage was uncommonly prosperous, for, being under the espe

cial care of the ever-revered St. Nicholas, the Goede Vrouw seemed to be endowed with qualities unknown to common vessels. Thus she made as much lee-way as headway, could get along very nearly as fast with the wind a head, as when it was a-poop-and was particularly great in a calm; in consequence of which singular advantages, she made out to accomplish her voyage in a very few months, and came to anchor at the mouth of the Hudson, a little to the east of Gibbet island. *

Here lifting up their eyes, they beheld, on what is at present called the Jersey shore, a small Indian village, pleasantly embowered in a grove of spreading elms, and the natives all collected on the beach, gazing in stupid admiration at the Goede Vrouw. A boat was immediately despatched to enter into a treaty with them, and approaching the shore, hailed them through a trumpet in the most friendly terms; but so horribly confounded were these poor savages at the tremendous and uncouth sound of the low Dutch language, that they one and all took to their heels, scampered over the Bergen hills, nor did they stop, until they had buried themselves, head and ears, in the marshes on the other side, where they all miserably perished to a man, and their bones being collected, and decently covered by the Tammany Society of that day, formed that singular mound called Rattle-snake-hill, which rises out of the centre of the salt marshes, a little to the east of the Newark Causeway.

Animated by this unlooked-for victory, our valiant heroes sprang ashore in triumph, took possession of the soil as conquerors, in the name of their High Mightinesses the lords states-general, and marching fearlessly forward, carried the village of Communipaw by storm, notwithstanding that it was vigorously defended by some half a score

* So called, because one Joseph Andrews, a pirate and murderer, was hanged in chains on that island, the 23d May, 1769.

of old squaws and poppooses. On looking about them they were so transported with the excellencies of the place, that they had very little doubt the blessed St. Nicholas had guided them thither, as the very spot whereon to settle their colony. The softness of the soil was wonderfully adapted to the driving of piles; the swamps and marshes around them afforded ample opportunities for the constructing of dykes and dams; the shallowness of the shore was peculiarly favourable to the building of docks-in a word, this spot abounded with all the requisites for the foundation of a great Dutch city. On making a faithful report therefore, to the crew of the Goede Vrouw, they one and all determined that this was the destined end of their voyage. Accordingly they descended from the Goede Vrouw, men, women, and children, in goodly groups, as did the animals of yore from the ark, and formed themselves into a thriving settlement, which they called by the Indian name Communipaw.

As all the world is doubtless perfectly acquainted with Communipaw, it may seem somewhat superfluous to treat of it in the present work; but my readers will please to recollect, that notwithstanding it is my chief desire to satisfy the present age, yet I write likewise for posterity, and have to consult the understanding and curiosity of some half a score of centuries yet to come; by which time perhaps, were it not for this invaluable history, the great Communipaw, like Babylon, Carthage, Nineveh, and other great cities, might be perfectly extinct-sunk and forgotten in its own mud-its inhabitants turned into oysters, and even its situation, a fertile subject of learned controversy and hardheaded investigation among indefatigable historians. Let me then piously rescue from oblivion, the humble reliques of a place, which was the egg from whence was hatched the mighty city of New-York!

* "Men by inaction degenerate into oysters."-Kaimes.

Communipaw is at present but a small village, pleasantly situated among rural scenery, on that beauteous part of the Jersey shore which was known in ancient legends by the name of Pavonia, † and commands a grand prospect of the superb bay of New-York. It is within but half an hour's sail of the latter place provided you have a fair wind, and may be distinctly seen from the city. Nay, it is a well known fact, which I can testify from my own experience, that on a clear, still summer evening, you `may hear from the battery of New-York, the opstreperous peals of the broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw, who, like most other negroes, are famous for their risible powers. This is peculiarly the case on Sunday evenings; when, it is remarked by an ingenious and observant philosopher, who has made great discoveries in the neighbourhood of this city, that they always laugh loudest; which he attributes to the circumstance of their having their holyday clothes on.

These negroes in fact, like the monks in the dark ages, engross all the knowledge of the place, and being infinitely more adventurous and more knowing than their masters, carry on all the foreign trade, making frequent voyages to town in canoes loaded with oysters, buttermilk, and cabbages. They are great astrologers, predicting the different changes of weather almost as accurately as an almanac; they are moreover exquisite performers on three stringed fiddles:-in whistling, they almost boast the farfamed powers of Orpheus his lyre, for not a horse or an ox in the place, when at the plough or before the waggon, will budge a foot until he hears the well known whistle of his black driver and companion:-and from their amazing skill at casting up accounts upon their fingers, they are regarded with as much veneration as were the

+ Pavoni, in the ancient maps, is given to a tract of country extending from about Hoboken to Amboy. H