1608]

66

HUDSON AND HIS

HALF-MOON."

77

the noble harbor at its mouth was reserved for the Dutch, eighty-five years later.

This enterprising people, having thrown off the Spanish yoke, established a commercial republic. Though their coun try contained not a single forest, they built more ships than all the rest of Europe; and, while yet battling for liberty, they traded with the most distant parts of the world. An association for traffic and colonization was formed in 1608, under the name of the East India Company; and Henry Hudson, who had previously made two voyages to the new world in behalf of English merchants, was taken into their employ. He embarked in 1609; and, after following the coast from Maine to Virginia, and discovering Delaware Bay, he turned to the north, and entered the passage between Long Island and Sandy Hook, the northeastern extremity of New Jersey. On the 11th of September, he sailed through the Narrows, and found himself in one of the finest harbors in the world. He entered the river since called by his name, and ascended it a few miles beyond where Albany now stands.

THE HALF-MOON ASCENDING THE HUDSON.

(By the courtesy of George H. Moore, Esq., of the N. Y. Historical Society.)

BO? For whom was this honor reserved? What was the condition of the Dutch at this time? In 1608, what was formed? Whom did they employ? When did he sail?

The natives, as elsewhere, were struck with amazement at sight of the new comers. When they beheld Hudson's ship, the Half-moon, approaching from the sea, they knew not what to make of the monster. As it came nearer, it seemed to be a floating house; and at last they found it to be an immense canoe filled with beings of a different race, whose commander, dressed in scarlet, they took to be the Manitou himself. Runners were sent with the news to all the surrounding tribes.

The Indians awaited the approach of the strangers on the southern point of the island now cccupied by New York city, and received them with respect and friendship. Hudson landed with his crew, and ordered a calabash of rum to be brought. After drinking himself, he offered it to the chiefs. The first smelled the liquor, but passed it on; so did the next; and it went untasted till it reached the last of the party. Unwilling to offend the Manitou, he drank it off. His wondering companions beheld him reel and fall to the earth; but when they saw that he recovered without injury and heard him describe his sensations, they all desired to feel the same excitement. Drinking of the "fire-water", they also became intoxicated; and in this state Hudson left them. The spot was afterwards called by the Indians Manhattan, or "the place of drunkenness".

At this time, Manhattan Island and the valley of the Hudson were covered with giant trees draped with luxuriant grape-vines. Reptiles crawled amid the decayed boughs and foliage of former centuries. The spotted deer laved his sides in the noble river, or hid in dense thickets which the sun-light never penetrated. The fiercer inhabitants of the forest made their lairs in unexplored recesses, undisturbed save by the proud Algonquin, sole lord of these vast solitudes.

112. Hudson returned to England. On a subsequent voyage he discovered the bay that bears his name. In vain he explored that inland sea for a northwest passage to India, in

Give an account of his voyage. What was his vessel called? What did the natives think of it Describe Hudson's meeting with the Indians. What name did they give to the island, and what does it signify? Describe the valley of the Hudson at this time.

1610]

MANHATTAN ISLAND SETTLED.

79

the existence of which he firmly believed. Continuing the search too long, he found himself compelled to winter in this frozen region. Their severe hardships led his men to revolt; and Hudson, with his son and eight others, was put in a small boat and left to perish on the vast body of water which his enterprise had discovered.

113. In 1610 and the following years, a number of trading vessels were sent out by Dutch merchants. Valuable furs were obtained from the Indians, and the traffic proved highly profitable. Some huts were soon erected on the lower part of Manhattan Island, and in 1614 a fort was built for their defence. The settlement was called New Amsterdam, and the name of New Netherlands was given to the surrounding region. In the year last mentioned, Adrian Block sailed up the East River into the Sound and circumnavigated Long Island. This same discoverer, having lost his ship by fire at New Amsterdam, built the first vessel ever constructed at that port. A settlement was commenced at Albany, then called Fort Orange, in 1615.

114. In 1616, a Dutch navigator named Schout'-en first rounded the southern extremity of the Western Continent, which he named from his native place Cape Horn.

CHAPTER VI.

LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS,

115. THE Plymouth company, to which King James granted the tract between the 41st and the 45th parallel of north latitude, made several attempts to colonize their territory, but without success. One party spent a winter at the

112. What discovery did Hudson afterwards make? What was he trying to find? What became of this great discoverer? 113. In 1610, what was done? What was the chief article obtained? What were erected on Manhattan Island? What name was given to the settlement? What, to the surrounding region? What is said of Adrian Block! When was Albany founded? 114. When and by whom was Cape Horn first rounded? 115. What part of the new world had been granted to the Plymouth company? What Is said of their attempts to colonize it? Where did one party spend the winter? What

mouth of the Kennebec, but suffered so much from cold that they were glad to return in the spring. In 1614, Capt. John Smith, the illustrious founder of Jamestown, explored the coast from the Penobscot to Cape Cod, made a map of the country, and gave it the name of New England.

116. In 1620, James I. granted an immense tract, extending from 40 to 48 degrees north latitude and from ocean to ocean, to a commercial company consisting of forty persons. So great were the privileges thus granted that the English parliament questioned the king's right to give them; and, while they were warmly debating the subject and the monopolists were quarrelling among themselves, the first permanent settlement in New England was made, without any charter, by the Puritans or "Pilgrim Fathers".

117. The Puritans were first known in England as a separate sect about 1550. They were distinguished by a stern abhorrence of gayety and amusements, a profound love of civil and religious liberty, and firmness in adhering to what they conceived to be the teachings of Scripture. Persecution drove them from their country; and, among those who sought in Holland the right of worshipping God according to their own conscience, was a congregation under John Robinson.

In 1617, part of Robinson's flock, after living eight years in Leyden [li'-den], formed the design of emigrating to America. Two vessels, the Mayflower and Speedwell, were in 1620 got ready for the voyage; but the commander of the latter, declaring it unfit for crossing the ocean, returned to port, leaving the Mayflower to go on alone with 100 emigrants. They intended to settle near the Hudson River, but were carried to the coast of Massachusetts after a long voyage of sixty-three days. A party was sent out in a small boat to find a place suitable for landing. After encountering vari

became of them? In 1614, what was done by Captain Smith? 116. What grant was made by James I. in 1620? What question arose concerning it? Meanwhile who had settled in New England? 117. When were the Puritans first known in England? By what were they distinguished? What had driven many of them from their country? What congregation is mentioned in particular? What design did they form? Name the vessels that were prepared for the voyage. What became of the Speedwell? Where did they intend to settle? Where were they carried? What befell the party sent out

1620]

SICKNESS AND SUFFERING.

ous dangers, losing their rudder and sail, and suffering from the extreme cold, which froze the spray upon their persons, they at last reached a harbor on the eastern coast of Massachusetts, which they called Plymouth [plim'-uth], after the port from which they had sailed [see Map, p. 84]. On the 11th of December (the 21st according to the New Style,see note, p. 155), 1620, the whole party landed on Plymouth rock, and near the shore was commenced the first town in New England.

118. Days of suffering came; but the Pilgrims met every hardship with a firm trust in God, thinking the civil and religious liberty they enjoyed a sufficient recompense. During the month of December, six of the colonists died from exposure, and many others fell sick. John Carver, who had been chosen governor before they landed, lost his son; shortly afterwards he himself slept in the same grave, and his widow was soon laid beside her husband and child. At one time, every person in the settlement except seven, was on a sick-bed.

Towards the end of March, when hope began to revive with the milder weather, Sam'-o-set, a Wampanoag Indian, entered the village of huts, exclaiming, "Welcome, Englishmen!" He had learned a little English from previous voyagers, and told the colonists that they might occupy the land where they had settled, as a pestilence had recently destroyed its former inhabitants. In a few days Mas-sas'-so-it, a Wampanoag chief, visited Plymouth. By the aid of an Indian who had been to England, and was able to act as interpreter, a treaty was made with the Wampanoags, who promised not to molest the whites, and acknowledged the supremacy of King James.

119. The Nar-ra-gan'-setts, a neighboring tribe, were enemies of the Wampanoags, and did not like the arrival of the

to find a landing-place? Where and when did they finally land? [See Map, p. 84. What is the latitude of Plymouth? What direction is it from Cape Cod?] 118. What ensued? How did the Pilgrims meet their hardships? What took place in December? What befell Governor Carver's family? When did hope begin to revive? Who visited them at this time? What did he tell them? Who soon after visited Plymouth? What did the Wampanoags promise? 119. What is said of the Narragansetts? How did their