Page:History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen.djvu/27

Rh returned, but there was not the old feeling of security. On January 18, 1656, the Director-General (or Governor as we shall call him hereafter) issued an Ordinance commanding all settlers to "concentrate themselves by the next spring in the form of towns, villages and hamlets so that they may be more effectually protected, maintained and defended against all assaults and attacks of the barbarians." To enable them to restore their holdings, another Ordinance exempted them from tithes and taxes for six years on condition that they obey the concentration order by establishing villages of at least twelve families.

The Dutch did not like to live in fear, and they did not like to live huddled. They were a sociable people but they wholly lacked the timid herd instinct. It was impossible for them to look over the rich valleys and bottom lands and remain content in close settlements. They had stout bodies and stout weapons—two arguments generally recognized as excellent for acquiring title to coveted domain. Yet despite the bitterness of two Indian wars, they still preferred more commonplace methods of real estate transaction. In January 30, 1658, Governor Stuyvesant and the Council of New Netherland acquired by purchase from the Indians a tract of land lying along the west side of the North River. This territory was signed over for the red men by the Indian chiefs Therincques, Wawapehack, Seghkor, Koghkenningh, Bomokan, Memiwockan, Sames and Wewenatokwee (which presumably was a casual approximation to their real names by the honest Dutch scribes and notaries) to "the noble Lord Director-General Pieter Stuyvesant and Councill of New