Page:History of the Municipalities of Hudson County (1924), Vol. 1.djvu/20

 with, &c. * * * They have great store of maize or Indian wheat whereof they make good bread. * * * The country is full of great and tall oaks.” On the 4th of September four sailors under charge of one John Coleman were sent to the north side to sound the other river (the Narrows). Rowing through this they entered what we now know as New York bay and passed through the Kills (between Staten Island and Bergen Point) to where they “saw a great river reaching out to the North West” (Newark Bay). On their return, in the vicinity of where Fort Hamilton now stands, they “were met by two canoes with twelve or fourteen savages,” who attacked them. They were driven off by the little crew, but at the cost of their captain’s life. These Indians were doubtless of the fierce Manhattoes, who were found to be not so friendly as those on the Jersey shore, for as De Laet writes in 1625, “almost all those on the west side (of the river) are enemies of those on the east side, and cultivate more intercourse and friendship with our country- men than the other.” This experience taught Hudson to be cautious and watchful. He remained in the lower bay exploring the country and trading with the Indians until the 10th of September, when, weighing anchor, he slowly sailed up along the Jersey shore and on the 13th began the ascent of the river that bears his name. As he saw the great stream of water stretching out to the northward, he felt more convinced than ever that the object of his voyage had been accomplished. May we not imagine the emotions of this bold navigator, as with mind intent upon the discovery of the North-West passage, he saw before him that broad expanse of water, and, as he supposed, found himself upon the threshold of a discovery that would revolutionize the trade of the then known world. As he passed through the Narrows, he saw stretching out before him the glittering road that was to lead to fame and fortune. Surrounded by the wooded hills of Long and Staten islands, with the rocky shores of New Jersey rising in the distance, the magnificent bay and river reached off to the northeast as if beckoning him on to the long sought for goal. But his belief was soon to be shattered, for having continued to the northward, he found the river “became so narrow and of so little depth that they found it necessary to return. * * * Higher up it becomes so shallow that small skiffs can with difficulty sail there, and one sees in the distance several lofty hills from whence most of the water in the river flows. * * * From all that they could learn there had never been any ships or Christians in that quarter before, and were the first to dis- cover the river” (taken from De Laet’s report). Sundry claims have been made of previous discoveries, but all are based on an indefinite similarity of description that could be justly applied to other localities. Adrien Van der Donck, who wrote in 1650, states as follows: “That the country was found and discovered by the Netherlanders is evident and clear from the fact that the Indians or natives of the land, many of whom are still living and with whom I have conversed, declare freely that before the arrival of the Low Land ship, the ‘Half Moon,’ in the year 1609, they (the natives) did not know that there were any other people in the world than those who were like themselves, much less any people who differed so much in appearance from them as we did. Some of them supposed the ship to be a strange fish or monster.” Lambretchen says that “John and Sebastian Cabot, while seeking a passage through the North-West, probably did see the shores of America, although they did not visit them,” and Robertson asserts that “the Hollanders having