CHAP. 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 Communipaw.

THE delectable accounts given by the great Hudfon, and Master Juet, of the country they had discovered, excited not a little talk and fpeculation among the good people of Holland.-Letters patent were granted by government to an affociation of Merchants, called the Weft-India company, for the exclufive trade on Hudson river, on which they erected a trading houfe called Fort Aurania, or Orange, from whence did fpring the great city of Albany. But I forbear to dwell on the various commercial and colonizing enterprises which took place; among which was that of Mynheer Adrian Block, who difcovered and gave a name to Block Island, fince famous for its cheese and shall barely confine myself to that, which gave birth to this renowned city.

It was fome three or four years after the return of the immortal Hendrick, that a crew of honeft, low dutch colonists fet fail from the city of Amsterdam, for the fhores of America. It is an irreparable lofs to

to hiftory, and a great proof of the darkness

of the age, and the lamentable neglect of the noble art of book-making, fince fo induftrioufly cultivated by knowing fea-captains, and learned fupercargoes, that an expedition fo interesting and important in its refults, fhould be paffed over in utter filence. To my great great grandfather am I again indebted 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 fhould rife to be great men in the land.

The fhip in which thefe illuftrious adventurers fet fail 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 fweet tempered lady, when not in liquor. It was in truth a moft gallant veffel, of the most approved Dutch conftruction, and made by the ableft ship carpenters of Amfterdam, who it is well known, always model their fhips 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 ftern poft, to the tafforel. Like the beauteous model who was declared to be the greatest belle in Amfterdam, it was full in the bows, with a pair of enormous cat-heads, a copper bottom, and withal, a most prodigious poop!

a

The architect, who was fomewhat of a religious man, far from decorating the ship with pagan idols, fuch as Jupiter, Neptune, or Hercules, (which heathenifh abominations, I have no doubt, occafion the misfortunes and fhipwreck of many a noble veffel,) he, I fay, 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 hofe, and a pipe that reached to the end of the bow-fprit. Thus gallantly furnished, the ftaunch ship floated fideways, like a majestic goofe, out of the harbour of the great city of Amfterdam, and all the bells, that were not otherwise engaged, rung a triple bob-major on the joyful occafion.

My great great grandfather remarks, that the voyage was uncommonly profperous, for, being un→ der the especial care of the ever-revered St. Nicholas, the Goede Vrouw feemed to be endowed with qualities unknown to common veffels. Thus she made as much lee-way as head-way, could get along very nearly as faft with the wind a-head, as when it was a-poop-and was particularly great in a calm; in confequence of which fingular 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.*

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

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 ftupid admiration at the Goede Vrouw. A boat was immediately dispatched to enter into a treaty with them, and approaching the fhore, hailed them through a trumpet, in the most friendly terms; but fo horribly confounded were thefe poor favages at the tremendous and uncouth found of the low Dutch language, that they one and all took to their heels, fcampered over the Bergen hills, nor did they stop until they had buried themselves, head and ears, in the marshes, on the other fide, where they all miferably perished to a man-and their bones being collected, and decently covered by the Tammany Society of that day, formed that fingular mound called Rattle-snakehill, which rifes 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 fprang afhore in triumph, took poffeffion of the foil as conquerors in the name of their High Mightineffes the lords ftates general, and marching fearlessly forward, carried the village of Communipaw by storm notwithstanding that it was vigorously defended by fome half a score of old fquaws, and poppoofes. On looking about them they were fo tranf ported with the excellencies of the place, that they had very little doubt, the bleffed St. Nicholas, had

guided them thither, as the very spot whereon to settle their colony. The foftnefs of the foil was wonderfully adapted to the driving of piles; the swamps and marches around them afforded ample opportunities for the conftructing of dykes and dams; the fhallowness of the shore was peculiarly favourable to the building of docks-in a word, this fpot abounded with: all the requifites 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. Ac-. cordingly 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 fettlement, which they called by the Indian name Communipaw.

As all the world is doubtlefs perfectly acquainted with Communipaw, it may seem somewhat fuperfluous to treat of it in the prefent work; but my readers will please to recollect, that notwithstanding it is my chief defire to fatisfy the prefent age, yet I write likewise for posterity, and have to confult the understanding and curiofity of fome 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 -funk and forgotten in its own mud-its inhabitants. turned into oysters, and even its fituation à fertile

*"Men by inaction degenerate into Oysters." Kaines.