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Cornell University Library 1993.NEW NETHERLAND IN 1627.
LETTER FROM
1SAACK DE RASIERES TO SAMUEL BLOMMAERT,
FOUND IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT THE HAGUE*
AND
TRANSMITTED BY DR. M. F. A. G. CAMPBELL TO THE
N. Y. HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL DUTCH
BY J. ROMEYN BRODHEAD.
SECOND SERIES, VOL. it
29Royal Library, the Hague, June 10, 1848-
J. Romeyjv Brodhead, Esq.,
U. S. Legation, London.
Dear Sir :—Allow me, as a proof of my lasting and growing sympathies for
the American Union, and in it for New York, (our old Nieuw Nederlandt,) to
send you the enclosed statement of its situation at a brief period after it became
our West India Colony.
The priority of its date over Van der Donck’s description, may give to it an
historical value which doubtless will induce you to judge it worthy of being joined
to so many more valuable documents gathered by you in Europe.
The person to whom the writer, IsaacJc de Rasieres, addresses his note, Mr.
Elommaert, was a member of the West India Company for Amsterdam; and
from the whole, I judge de Rasieres was an inferior officer of that same company,
sent over in “ het wapen van Amsterdamin order to keep his chiefs well in-
formed of the real state of the colony. Unhappily, from the Cahier, (of 16 pages,
in folio,) the two interior ones (pages 7-10) are wanting, and vainly I tried to find
them out wherever they might be. The piece itself being an original, was joined
with others, most of them regarding our West India Colonies in Brazil, in a par-
cel newly bought for this Royal Library; thus explaining the fact that it was not
shown to you during your investigations at the Hague.
Be so kind, sir, as to offer this copy to the Historical Society of New York, in
my name, not quite unknown to them, since you kindly mentioned it in your Re-
port of October, 1841, about the historical investigations performed by you in the
Netherlands. I am sure I could not choose a more worthy interpreter of my
sentiments, nor one more agreeable to the Society than the former Historical
Agent of New York. This piece will increase the number of the documents in
the period between 1614 and 1640, the scarcity of which, you deplored in your
Report.
From the general dispersion of our West India Colonial Archives, it can hardly
fail to happen, I think, and especially considering my actual position as Second
Librarian, that from time to time new documents about New Netherland will occur
to my attention, on public or private sale ; and I hardly need to assure you, sir,
that I will be attentive to their appearance, and if possible lay hand on them, and
make them follow, in original or copy, de Rasieres’ statement.
Accept, dear sir, the assurances of my perfect consideration, and believe me,
as ever,
Your truly obedient servant,
M. F. A. G. CAMPBELL.NOTE.
While engaged in making researches as Agent of the State of
New York, in the Archives at the Hague, in 1841, it occurred to
me that the MSS. Department of the Royal Library there, might
contain something relating to our history; and with the assistance
of Mr. Campbell, one of the Deputy Librarians, a careful examina-
tion was accordingly made in that Repository. But with the excep-
tion of the fragment of one manuscript, a copy of which is now in
the Secretary of State’s office at Albany, [Hoi. Doc. vol. III. p. 90,]
nothing was then found. It seems, however, that a parcel of MSS.
has recently been purchased for the Library, and among these, Mr.
Campbell’s kind research has detected the letter a copy of which
he has made for the New York Historical Society.
In the following translation, I have endeavored to render, as literal-
ly as possible, the original of a document, the high value of which
will be readily appreciated, when it is considered that it is the ear-
liest description we have of the Colony of New Netherland and its
neighborhood, from an eye witness.
Wassenaer, it is true, in his “ Historische Yerhaelf—a very rare
work, which I have lately had the good fortune to meet with, in Lon-
don—gives several very interesting particulars respecting New
Netherland, as early as 1623 and 1624; and we all know that De
Laet published in 1625 an account of the discoveries of Hudson
and the other early navigators to our coast, whose journals, he dis-
tinctly states, he had before him when he wrote. But the earliest
detailed description of the Island of New York, by a person who visited
it himself in 1626, is now for the first time brought to light.
It will be remembered that among the documents found in the
Archives at the Hague, is a letter of Mr. P. Schagen, to the States
General, dated at Amsterdam, November 5, 1626, [Hoi. Doc. Yol.
I. p. 155,] in which he reports the arrival of the ship “ Arms of
Amsterdam,” which sailed from the North River on the 23d of Sep-
tember, and brought the intelligence of the purchase of Manhattan
Island from the Indians, for the sum of aboul twenty-four dollars.
The writer of the following letter, Isaack de Rasieres, went out
passenger in this very ship, which arrived in New Netherland, as
he tells us, on the 27th of July, 1626 ; and as the purchase of the342
NOTE.
Island of Manhattan was made before the 23d of September follow-
ing, when the “ Arms of Amsterdam” returned to Holland, it is
quite probable he was himself one of the witnesses of that interest-
ing event.
De Rasieres, (whose name has been variously and incorrectly
spelled in our published Documents,) seems to have been a French
Protestant, whose ancestors, seeking refuge from persecution, settled
themselves on the river Waal, in Guelderland, and were hence
called “Walloons.” He was probably a protgg# of Mr. Samuel
Blommaert, one of the leading Directors of the West India Compa-
ny, to whom, as a mark of his gratitude, he addressed his interest-
ing letter. On his arrival at New Netherland, De Rasieres
became “ Opper Koopman,” or chief commissary under Director
Minuit, and also acted as Secretary of the Colony. In this capa-
city he conducted a correspondence with Governor Bradford of
New Plymouth, in March, 1627 ; and in the following October, he
was himself despatched on an embassy to that colony, where he was
honorably received by Bradford, who speaks of him as the Dutch
“ Upper Commies, or chief merchant, and second to the Governor ;
a man of fair and genteel behavior,”—adding that he “ soon
after fell into disgrace among them by reason of their factions.”
This is all we know of De Rasieres ; and without any precise
information as to the cause of the seizure of his “ things and notes”
which he mentions in the beginning of his letter, we cannot but re-
gret a circumstance but for which, as he himself tells us, we should
perhaps have been gratified by a still more ample and detailed ac-
count than the one he has now left us, of the early days of New
Netherland.
De Rasieres’ letter has no date ;—but it was evidently written
from memory—and after his return to Holland—probably about the
close of 1627. Unfortunately, it is defective; and, judging from
the part immediately following the hiatus, we may reasonably infer
that the missing portion would have been of the highest interest to
us. It is quite probable that De Rasieres gave some particulars of
the purchase of the Island, as well as of the political and commer-
cial situation of the infant colony, and of the topography of the
country between Manhattan and Narragansett Bay. But still, quite
enough remains to us to induce lively congratulation that a happy
chance has now placed so precious a fragment within our reaoh.
J. ROMEYN BRODHEAD,
London, 17th August, 1848.TRANSLATION
OP
AN ORIGINAL LETTER FROM ISAACK DE RASIERES TO SAMUEL BLOM-
MAERT, FOUND IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT THE HAGUE.
Mr. Blommaert :
As I feel myself much bound to your service, and in return
know not how otherwise to recompense you than by this
short memoir, (wherein I have in part comprised as much
as was in my power concerning the situation of New Ne-
therland and its neighbors, and should in many things have
been able to treat of or write the same more in detail, and
better than I have now done, but that my things and notes,
which would have been of service to me herein, have been
taken away from me,) I will beg you to be pleased to re-
ceive this, on account of my bounden service, &c.
On the 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I
arrived with the ship “The Arms of Amsterdam,” before
the Bay of the great Mauritse River,* * * § sailing into it about
a musket shot from Godyn’s Point,f into Coenraet’s Bay;J
(where the greatest depth is, because from the East point
there stretches out a sand bank on which there is only from
9 to 14 feet water,) then sailed on North-East, and North-
North-East, to about half way from the low sand bank
called Godyn’s Point, to the Hamel’s-Hoofden,§ the mouth
of the river, where we found, at half ebb, 16, 17, 18 feet wa-
ter, and which is a sandy reef a musket shot broad, stretch-
ing for the most part North-East and South-West, quite
across, according to my opinion, and to have been formed there
by the stream, inasmuch as the flood runs into the bay from
* The North River;—so called, after Prince Maurice of Orange.
+ Sandy Hook;—so named after Samuel Godyn, one of the Directors of the
West India Company at Amsterdam.
t The Lower Bay of New York ; also called Port May, or Godyn’s Bay.
§ Hamel’s Hoofden ;—the narrows, between Staten and Long Islands. These
“ Hoofden,” or headlands, were named after Hendrick Hamel, one of the Di-
rectors of the West India Company.344
DE RASIERES* LETTER.
the sea, East-South-East; the depth at Godyn’s Point is caus-
ed by the ebb flowing out along there with such rapidity.
Between the H amels-Hoofden the width is about a can-
non’s shot of 2,000 [yards.] The depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms.
They are tolerably high points, and well wooded. The
West point is an island, inhabited by from 80 to 90 savages,
who support themselves by planting maize. The East
point is a very large island, full 24 miles* long, stretching
East by South and East-South-East along the sea-coast,
from the river to the East end of the Fisher’s Point, f In
some places it is from 3 to 4 miles broad, and it has several
creeks and bays, where many savages dwell, who support
themselves by planting maize and making sewan, and
who are called Souwenos and Sinnecox. It is also full of
oaks, elms, walnut and fir trees, also wild cedar and ches-
nut trees. The tribes are held in subjection by, and are
tributary to, the Pijquans, hereafter named. The land is
in many places good, and fit for ploughing and sowing. It
has many fine valleys, where there is good grass. Their
form of government, as well as that of their neighbors, is
described hereafter.
The Hamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a mile
width in the river, and also on the West side there is an
inlet, where another river runs up about 20 miles, to the
North-North-East, emptying into the Mauritse River in the
highlands, thus making the North-West land opposite to
the Manhatas, an island 48 miles long. It is inhabited by
the old Manhatans; [Manhatesen :] they are about 200 to
300 strong, women and men, under different chiefs, whom
they call “Saekimas.” This island is more mountainous
than the other land on the South-East side of the river,
which opposite to the Manhatas is about a mile and a half
in breadth. At the side of the before-mentioned little river,
which we call “Achter Col,”J there is a great deal of
waste reedy land; the rest is full of trees, and in some
places there is good soil, where the savages plant their
maize, upon which they live, as well as by, hunting. The
other side of the same small river, according to conjecture,
is about 20 to 23 miles broad to the South river, in the
neighborhood of the Sancicans, as wrell as I have been able
to make it out from the mouths of the savages; but as
they live in a state of constant enmity with those tribes,
* Dutch miles. A Dutch mile is equal to about three English miles.
t Visscher’s Hoeck—Montauk Point.
t The Kills.DE RASIERES* LETTER.
345
the passage is seldom made; wherefore I have not been
able to learn the exact distance ; so that when we wish to
send letters over land, they (the natives) take their way
across the bay, and have the letters carried forward fay
others, unless one amongst them may happen to be on
friendly terms, and who might venture to go there.
The Island of the Manhatas extends two miles* * * § in length
along the Mauritse river, from the point where the Fort
“ New Amsterdam” is building. It is about seven miles in
circumference, full of trees, and in the middle rocky to the
extent of about two miles in circuit. The North side has
good land in two places, where two farmers, each with four
horses, would have enough to do without much clearing
or grubbing at first. The grass is good in the forest and
valleys, but when made into hay is not so nutritious for
the cattle as [the hay] here, [in Holland,] in consequence
of its wild state, but it yearly improves by cultivation. On
the East side there rises a large level field, of from 70 to
80 morgensf of land, through which runs a very fine fresh
stream; J so that that land can be ploughed without much
clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four of
which lie along the River Hellgate, stretching to the South
side of the island, have at least 60 morgens of land ready
to be sown with winter seed, which at the most will have
been ploughed eight times. But as the greater part must
have some manure, inasmuch as it is so exhausted by the
wild herbage, I am afraid that all will not be sown; and
the more so, as the cultivators are hired. The two hinder-
most farms, Nos. 1 and 2, are the best; the other farms
have also good land, but not so much, and more wild; so
that they are best suited for rye and buckwheat.
The small fort, New Amsterdam, commenced to be built,
is situated on a point opposite to Noten Island ;§ [the chan-
nel between] is a gun shot wide, and is full six or seven
fathoms deep in the middle. This point might, with little
trouble, be made a small island, by cutting through Blom-
maert’s valley, so as to afford a haven winter and summer,
for sloops and ships; and the whole of this little island
ought, from its nature, to be a Royal Fort, so that it could
be approached by land only on one side; inasmuch as it is
a triangle isolated by the two rivers. Three angles are
* So in the original; but evidently an error of the writer.
t A morgen is about two acres.
X The " Kolk—modernice “ The Collect V’
§ Governor's Island.346
DE RASIERES* LETTER.
indicated by nature; the most northern is opposite to, and
commands, within the range of a cannon shot, the great
Mauritse river and the land; the southernmost commands,
on the water level, the channel between Noten Island and
the , Fort, together with the Hellegat; the third point, op-
posite to Blommaert’s valley, commands the low-land; the
middle, which ought to be left as a land mark, is the
height of a hillock above the surrounding land, and should
always serve as a Battery, which might command the
three points, if the streets should be arranged accordingly.
Up the river the East side is high, full of trees, and in
some places there is a little good land, where formerly ma-
ny people have dwelt, but who for the most part have died
or have been driven away by the Wappenos.
These tribes of savages have all a government. The
men in general are rather tall, well proportioned in their
limbs, and of an orange color, like the Brazilians; very in-
veterate against those whom they hate; cruel by nature,
and so inclined to freedom that they cannot by any means
be brought to work; they support themselves by hunting,
and when the spring comes, by fishing. In April, May
and June, they follow the course of these, [the fish,] which
they catch with a drag-net they themselves knit very neatly,
of the wild hemp, from which the women and old men spin
the thread. The kinds of fish which they principally take
at this time are shad, but smaller than those in this country
ordinarily are, and quite as fat, and very bony; the largest
fish is a sort of white salmon, which is of very good flavor,
and quite as large ; it has white scales; the heads are so
full of fat that in some there are two or three spoonsfull,
so that there is good eating for one who is fond of picking
heads. It seems that this fish makes them lascivious, for it
is often observed that those who have taken any when they
have gone fishing, have given it to the women on their re-
turn, who look for it anxiously. #	#	#	*	*	*	*
As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is
an oblong bead that they make from cockle shells, which
they find on the sea-shore, and they consider it as valuable
as we do money here, so much so that one can buy every
thing they have for it; they string it, and wear it round the
neck and hands; they also make bands of it, which the wo-
men wear on the head in front of the hair, and the men about
the body; and they are as particular about the stringing
and sorting as we can be here about pearls. They are
very fond of a game they call “ senneea,” played with someI)E RASIERES* LETTER;
84'?
found rushes, similar to the Spanish feather-grass, which
they understand how to shuffle and deal as though they
were playing with cards; and they win from each other
all that they possess, even to the lappet with which they
cover their private parts, and so they depart from the rest
quite naked. They are very much addicted to promiscu-
ous intercourse. Their clothing is [so simple as to leave
the body,] almost naked. In the winter time they almost
all wear a dressed deer skin; some have a bear’s skin
about the body; some a coat of seal-skin; some a covering
made of turkey feathers, which they understand how to
knit together very oddly, -with thin strings. They also use a
good deal of duffle cloth, which they trade from us, and which
serves for their blanket by night, and their dress by day;
The women are fine looking* of middle stature, well pro-
portioned, and pretty in the face ; with long and black hair,
and black eyes set off with fine eyebrows; they are of the
same color as the men. They smear their bodies and hair
with grease, which makes them smell very rankly; they
are very much given to promiscuous intercourse.
They have a custom amongst them at marrying, namely:
when there is one who resolves to take a particular person for
his wife, he collects a fathom or two of sewan, and comes
to the nearest friends of the person whom he desires, to
whom he declares his object in her presence, and if they
are satisfied with the person, he agrees with her how much
sewan he shall give her for a bridal present; that being
done, he gives her besides, all the Dutch beads he has,
which they call “ Machampe,” and also all sorts of gew-
gaws. If she be a young virgin, he must wait six weeks
yet before he can sleep with her, during which time she
bewails or laments over her virginity, which they call
“ Collatismcirrenitten all this time she sits with a blanket
over her head, without looking at any one, or any one look-
ing at her. This period being elapsed, her bridegroom
comes to her ; he in the mean time has been supporting him-
self by hunting, and what he has taken he brings there
with him; they then eat together with the friends, and sing
and dance together, which they call “ Kintikaen” That
being done* the wife must provide the food for herself and
her husband, as far as breadstuff’s are concerned, and
[should it fall short,] she must buy what is wanting with
her sewan.
For this reason they are obliged to watch the season for
sowing. At the end of March they begin to break up the
SEtrONf) SERIES, VOL. II.	30348	DE EASIERES* LETTER.
earth with adzes, [hoes ?] which they trade from us for the
skins of beavers or otters, or for sewan. They make heaps
like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the
others, which they sow or plant in April, with maize in
each heap five or six grains; in the middle of May, when
the maize is the height of a finger or more, they plant in
each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then grow
up with and against the maize, which serves for props, for
the maize grows on stalks similar to the sugar cane. It is
a grain to which much labor must be given, with weeding
and earthing-up, or it does not thrive ; and to this the wo-
men must attend very closely. The men wTould not once
look to it, for it would compromise their dignity too much,
until they are very old and cannot follow the chase. Those
stalks which are low and bear no ears, they pluck up in
August, and suck out the sap, which is as sweet as if it
were sugar cane. When they wish to make use of the
grain for bread or porridge, which they call “ Sappaen”
they first boil it and then beat it flat upon a stone; then
they put it into a wooden mortar, which they know how to
hollow out by fire, and then they have a stone pestle, which
they know how to make themselves, with which they pound
it small, and sift it through a small basket, which they un-
derstand how to weave, of the rushes before-mentioned*
The finest meal they mix with lukewarm water, and knead
it into dough, then they make round fiat little cakes of it,
of the thickness of an inch or a little more, which they bury
in hot ashes, and so bake into bread; and when these are
baked they have some clean fresh water by them in which
they wash them while hot, one after another, and it is good
bread, but heavy. The coarsest meal they boil into a por-
ridge, as is before-mentioned, and it is good eating when
there is butter over it, but a food which is very soon di-
gested. The grain being dried, they put it into baskets wo-
ven of rushes or wild hemp, and so bury it in the earth, they
let it lie there, and go with their husbands and children in
October, to hunt deer, and leave at home with their maize
the old people who cannot follow, until December; they
then return home, and the flesh which they have not been
able to eat while fresh, they dry on the way, and bring it
back with them. They come home as fat as moles.
When a woman here addicts herself to fornication, and
the husband comes to know it, he thrashes her soundly, and
if he wishes to get rid of her, he summons the Sackima
with her friends, before whom he accuses her; and if sheDE RASIERES* LETTER.
349
be found guilty the Sackima commands one who cuts off
her hair in order that she may be held up before the world
as a whore, which they call poerochque; and then the hus-
band takes from her every thing that she has, and drives
her out of the house ; if there be children, they remain with
her, for they are fond of them beyond measure. They
reckon consanguinity to the eighth degree, and revenge an
injury from generation to generation, unless it be atoned
for; and even then there is mischief enough, for they are
very revengeful.
And when a man is unfaithful, the wife accuses him be-
fore the Sackima, which most frequently happens when the
wife has a preference for another man. The husband
being found guilty, the wife is permitted to draw off his
right shoe and left stocking; (which they make of deer or
elk skins, which they know how to prepare very easy and
soft, and wear in the winter time ; ) she then tears off the
lappet that covers his private parts, gives him a kick behind,
and so drives him out of the house ; and there “ Adam” then
scampers off.
It would seem that they are very libidinous—in this re-
spect very unfaithful to each other ; whence it results that
they breed but few children, so that it is a wonder when a
woman has three or four children, particularly by any
one man whose name can be certainly known. They
must not have intercourse with those of their own family
within the third degree, or it would be considered an abomi-
nable thing.
Their political government is popular. They have a chief
“ Sackima” whom they choose by election, who generally is
he who is richest in sewan, though of less consideration in
other respects. When any stranger comes, they bring him
to the Sackima. On first meeting they do not speak—-they
smoke a pipe of tobacco ; that being done, the Sackima
asks: whence do you come ? the stranger then states that,
and further what he has to say, before all who are present
or choose to come. That being done, the Sackima announces
his opinion to the people, and if they agree thereto, they
give altogether a sigh—k‘ he /”—and if they do not approve,
they keep silence, and come all to the Sackima, and each
discusses his opinion ’till they agree ; that being done, they
come altogether again to the stranger, to whom the Sacki-
ma then announces what they have determined, with the
reasons moving them thereto.
All travellers who stop over a night come to the Sackima,350
PE RASIERES’ LETTER.
if they have no acquaintances there, and are treated with
as much sewan as is allowed for that purpose; therefore
the Sackimas generally have three or four wives, each of
whom has to furnish her own seed.
The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and
causing blood to flow.
When any are—[here four pages, at least, are missing in
the original manuscript.]
Coming out of the river Nassau,* * * § you sail east-and-by-
north about fourteen miles, along the coast, a half a mile
from the shore, and you then come to 44 Frenchman’s Point,”’)*
at a small river where those of PatucxetJ have a house
made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet,§, where they
keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the
trade and possession. Where also they have built a shallop,
in order to go and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup’s
Bay|| and thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape
Mallabaer, and in order to avoid the length of the way; which
I have prevented for this year by selling them fifty fathoms
of sewan,T1 because the seeking after sewan by them is pre-
judicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover
the trade in furs ; which if they wmre to find out, it would
be a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare
to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that
people, they will be obliged to use other means; if they do
that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands,
what will they do when they do get a notion of it ?
From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through
the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to
New Plymouth, the principal place in the county Patucxet,
so called in their 44 Octroye” from His Majesty in England.
New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape
Cod, or Mallabaer, east and west from the said [north] point
of the cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather.
Directly before the commenced town lies a sand bank, about
twenty places broad, whereon the sea breaks violently with
* Narraganset Bay.
t De Rasieres dates his letter to Gov. Bradford, of 4th October, 1627, from
“ aboard the barque Nassau,” off this point. [See Coll. N. Y. His. Soc. Vol. I.
new series, p. 362.]
t The Indian name for New Plymouth.
§ See Bradford’s description of Manomet, in Prince, p. 67.; and see also Coll.
N. Y. His. Soc. Vol. I., new series, p. 357-358.
|] The western entrance to Narragansett Bay.
1T See also Bradford’s account of this transaction in Coll. N. Y. His. Soc. Vol,
I., new series, p. 357.DE RASIERES* LETTER.
351
an easterly and north-easterly wind. On the north side
there lies a small island where one must run close along,
in order to come before the town; then the ships run behind
that bank and lie in a very good road-stead. The bay is
very full of fish, [chiefly] of cod, so that the GoVernor before
named,* has told me that when the people have a desire for
fish, they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom
they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in
three or four hours time as much fish as the whole com-
munity require for a whole day—and they muster about
fifty families.
At the south side of the town there flows down a small
river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, wThieh takes
its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there
empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of
May, there come so many herring from the sea which want
to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river
the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with
a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides
with trellice work, through which the water has its course,
but which they can also close with slides. *
At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like
an eel pot, with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding
door, and with trellice work at the sides, so that between
the two [dams] there is a square pool, into which the fish
aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up
above, where they deposite their spawn, that at one tide
there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in
the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that
no more wrater comes in ; then the water runs out through
the lower trellices, and they draw out the fish with baskets,
each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them
to it, depositing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these
they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein
as though it were the best manure in the world. And if
they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so
that such is the nature of the soil.
New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east
towards the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon
shot of 800 [yards] long, leading down the hill; with a
{street] crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet
and southwards to the land. The houses are constructed of
hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the
* Probably in the portion of this letter which is unfortunately missing.$53
DR RABiERES’ LETTER.
sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court yards
are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a
sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three
wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the
Governor’s house, before which is a square enclosure upon
which four patereros [steen-stucken] are mounted, so as to
flank along the streets. Upon the hill they have a large
square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn plank, stay-
ed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six can-
nons, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and
command the surrounding country. The lower part they
Use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the
Usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each
with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain’s door;
they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order,
three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of
drum. Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe ; beside
him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak
on, and on the left hand the captain with his side arms, and
oloak on, and with a small cane in his hand,—and so they
march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him.
Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day.
Their government is after the English form. The Gov-
ernor has his council, which is chosen every year by the
entire community, by election or prolongation of term. In in-
heritances they place all the children in one degree, only the
eldest son has an acknowledgment for his seniority of birth.
They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the
subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they main-
tain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the
tribes which live amongst them. They [the English]
speak very angrily when they hear from the savages
that we should live so barbarously in these respects, and
without punishment. Their farms are not so good as ours,
because they are more stony, and consequently not so suit-
able for the plough. They apportion their land according
as each has means to contribute to the Eighteen Thousand
Guilders which they have promised to those Who had sent
them out; whereby they have their freedom without render-
ing an account to any one; only if the king should choose
to send a Governor General they would be obliged to ac-
knowledge him as sovereign chief. The maize seed wrhieh
they do not require for their own use is delivered over to
the Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn
sends it in sloops to the north for the trade in skins among
the savages; they reckon one bushel of maize against oneDE RASIERES LETTER.
353
pound of beaver’s skin ; in the first place, a division is made,
according to what each has contributed, and they are credit-
ed for the amount in the account of what each has to con-
tribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then
with the remainder they purchase what next they require,
and which the Governor takes care to provide every year.
They have better means of living than ourselves, because
they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There
are also many birds, such as geese, herons, and cranes, and
other small-legged birds, which are in great abundance there
in the winter.
The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same cus-
toms as already above described, only they are better con-
ducted than ours, because the English give them the exam-
ple of better ordinances and a better life ; and who also, to
a certain degree, give them laws, by means of the respect
they from the very first have established amongst them.
The savages [there] practice their youth in labor better
than the savages round about us ; the young girls in sowing
maize, the young men in hunting; they teach them to en-
dure privation in the field in a singular manner, to wit:
When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood,
he is taken by his father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is
conducted blindfolded into a wilderness, in order that he
may not know the way, and is left there by night or other-
wise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife.
He must support himself there a whole winter with what
the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting.
Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of
it, take him home and feed him up again until May. He
must then go out again every morning with the person who>
is ordered to take him in hand ; he must go into the forest
to seek wild herbs and roots, which they know to be the
most poisonous and bitter ; these they bruise in water and
press the juice out of them, which he must drink, and im-
mediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him from
death or vomiting; and if he cannot retain it, he must re-
peat the dose until he can support it, and until his constitu-
tion becomes accustomod to it so that he can retain it.
Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and
women, all singing and dancing, before the Sackima; and?1
if he has been able to stand it all out well, and if he is fat
and sleek, a wife is given to him.
fn that district there are no lions or bears, but there are
the same kinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers,,
otters, foxes, lynxes, seals and fish, as in our district of coun-354
DE EASIER ES* LETTER*
try. The savages say that far in the interior, there are
certain beasts of the size of oxen, having but one horn,
which are very fierce. The English have used great dili-
gence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein,*
although they have seen the flesh and hides of them which
were brought to them by the savages. There are also very
large elks there, which the English have indeed seen.
The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear,
are not large, so that the animal itself must be small $
they are of a mouse-grey colour, short in the hair, and long
in the claws.
The bears are some of them large and some small; but
the largest are not as large as the middle-sized ones which
come from Greenland. Their fur is long and black, and
their claws large. The savages esteem the flesh and grease
as a great dainty.
Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call
maize thieves, because they do so much damage to it. They
fly in large flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place
where they light, just as if cattle had lain there. Some-
times we take them by surprise, and fire amongst them with
hail shot, immediate^ that wre have made them rise, so
that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very
pleasant to see.
There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have
very long legs, and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we
generally take savages with us when we go to hunt them;
for even when one has deprived them of the power of flying,
they yet run so fast that we cannot catch them unless their
legs are hit also.
In the autumn and in the spring there come a great many
geese, which are very good, [to eat,] and easy to shoot, inas-
much as they congregate together in such large flocks.
There are two kinds of partridges ; the one sort are quite
as small as quails, and the other like the ordinary kind here.
There are also hares, but few in number, and not larger
than a middle-sized rabbit; and they principally frequent
where the land is rocky.
This, sir, is what I have been able to communicate to you
from memory, respecting NewNetherland and its neighbor-
hood, in discharge of my bounden duty; I beg that the
same may so be favorably received by you, and I beg to re-
commend myself for such further service as you may be
pleased to command me in, wherever you may find me,
In every thing your faithful servant,
ISAACS BE RASIERES.