tuous Ladies, and comparable but among themselues, haue offered me rescue and protection in my greatest dangers; even in forraine parts I haue felt reliefe from that sex.-The beau teous Lady Tragabigzanda, when I was a slaue to the Turkes, did all she could to secure me" (i. e. make me secure). "When I overcame the Bashaw of Nalbrits, in Tartaria, the charitable Lady Callamata supplied my necessities. In the vtmost of many extremities, that blessed Pokahontas, the great Kings daughter of Virginia, oft saved my life. When I escaped the crueltie of Pirats and most furious stormes, a long time alone in a small Boat at Sea, and driven ashore in France, the good Lady Madam Chanoyes bountifully assisted me." CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON, AND THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. CHAPTER I. ACCOUNT OF HENRY HUDSON-HIS VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF A NORTHERLY VERY little is known of the early life of Henry Hudson, one of the boldest and most renowned discoverers of his day. He was a Londoner, and a friend of the famous Captain John Smith-with whom, it would seem, he often conferred upon the engrossing topic of discovery and exploration in the New World. His first known expedition was one recorded by himself, undertaken at the instance of "certaine worshipfull merchants of London," as he says, "for to discover a passage by the North Pole to Japan and China."* For this gigantic undertaking, which to this day has baffled the entire exertion of the British empire, his only equipment was a little vessel, manned by ten mariners. With these, and with his little son John, after all had solemnly partaken of the sacrament, he set sail from Gravesend, on the 1st of May, 1607, to explore the fearful recesses of the Arctic Zone. Compared with the hardihood of such an undertaking, all modern enterprise sinks into insignificance. On the 13th of June he made the coast of Greenland, where "Diuers Voyages and Northerne Discoueries of that worthy irrecouerable Discouerer, Master Henry Hudson." he saw "a very high mount, like a round castle," which he named the Mount of God's Mercy. This coast he explored for a considerable distance and to a high latitude, "considering," he says, "wee found Lande contrarie to that our cards" (charts) "made mention of. * * * And for aught we could see, it is like to be a good land, and worth the seeing." He then stood to the north and east, in so high a latitude, that the sun was continually above the horizon, and in seventy-eight degrees fell in with Spitzbergen. About this island he hovered for some time, opposed by contrary winds, and entangled among huge masses of ice, hopelessly endeavoring to work his way to the northward. Convinced that, from the lateness of the season, it would be impossible to achieve his purpose, he sailed westward, vainly attempting to pass to the north of Greenland, and thence returned on the 15th of September to the Thames, having attained a higher latitude (eighty-two degrees) than any navigator who had preceded him. The next year (April 22d, 1608,) he again sailed, with his son and thirteen others, to seek a passage to India by the north of Nova Zembla. He kept east and north until he gained so high a latitude that at midnight, the sun was five degrees and a half above the horizon, on the northern meridian. He reached Nova Zembla, which, he says, "is to a mans eye a pleasant Land; much mayne high Land with no Snow on it, looking in some places greene, and Deere feeding thereon. *** This place vpon Nova Zembla is another than that which the Hollanders call Costing Surch, discouered by Oliver Brownell," who, many years before, sailing northward, "moved by the hope of gain," had suffered shipwreck in these dreary seas. son, as before, strove with much patience and fortitude plish his purpose; but constant head winds and floatprevented his little ship from proceeding, and after considerable survey in these desolate regions, he re (August 26th,) to England. On this voyage, like bus, he chronicles the appearance of a couple of mer maids, giving the evidence of two of his hands for authority. On a certain day, he relates, "one of our company looking over boord, saw a mermaid; and calling vp some of the companie to see her, one more came vp, and by that time shee was close to the ship's side, looking earnestly on the men: a little after a sea came and overturned her. From the Nauill upwards, her backe and breasts were like a woman's (as they say that saw her); her body as big as one of vs; her skinne very white; and longe haire hanging downe behind, of colour blacke; in her going down they saw her tayle, which was like the tayle of a porposse, and speckled like a macrell. Their names that saw her werc Thomas Hilles and Robert Rayner. The "worshipfull merchants," his employers, by this time, it would seem, began to relinquish their hopes of reaching India by the North Pole; for they refused any longer to fit out even such slender expeditions as he had already com manded. He therefore carried his services to the Dutch East India Company, where the reputation of "the bold Englishman" (as he was called) insured him a favorable reception. They gave him the command of a little vessel, called the Half Moon, with a crew of twenty men. Among these was Robert Juet, who had sailed with him as mate during his last voyage, and who wrote an account of the present expedition. He sailed from Amsterdam on the 25th of March, 1609, and doubled the North cape, still intent on finding his way round the north of Asia. But continual fogs, ice, and head winds retarded his course, and he finally put up his helm, and ran to the Faroe Isles. Thence he steered south-west, through a succession of gales and foul weather, in search of a certain island, and by the 2d of July, found himself on the Great Bank of Newfoundland. A fleet of French vessels were fishing there, and his company had excellent luck in the same occupation. He then ran to the coast of North America, and entered Penobscot Bay. The Indians came off in a friendly and confiding manner, bringing beaver-skins and other furs for traffic. and an amica ble intercourse was for some time maintained. A tree was cut down and shaped, to replace the foremast, which had been, "in a great storme, spent ouer-boord." The departure of the vessel was disgraced by one of those atrocities so common in the early dealings of the whites with the unhappy aborigines. "In the morning," says Juet, "wee manned our scute with foure Muskets and sixe men, and took one of their shallops," (canoes) "and brought it aboord. Then we manned our boat and scute with twelue men and Muskets, and two stone Peeces or Murderers," (very appropriately) "and draue the salvages from their houses and took the spoyle of them, as they would haue done of vs." There seems to have been no excuse for this villanous robbery, except a vague suspicion of secret enmity existing among the unfortunate natives. Hudson had been told by his friend, Captain Smith, that by going a little south of Virginia, he would find a passage to the Pacific;(!) and as his men were weary of cruising in the inclemency of high latitudes, he sailed south-west along the coast. A boat's crew landed on Cape Cod, (discovered by Gosnold in 1602,) and found "goodly grapes and rose-trees" growing on the shore. The savages whom they met were friendly and confiding. They smoked tobacco in pipes of clay, with copper stems. The vessel coasted along shore until the middle of August, when she arrived off Chesapeake Bay. A colony had been established up this inlet, and Captain Smith, the friend of Hudson, was there at the time, engaged in his memorable adventures with the Indians; but on account of contrary winds, the voyagers sailed by, and proceeded as far south as latitude thirty-six degrees. No passage to India was discovered; and the commander, changing his course, ran northward, and discovered Delaware Bay, which he partially surveyed. The vessel met with much heavy weather, and one day, says Juet, "a great Sea broke into our fore corse and split it; so we were forced to take it from the yard and mend it; we lay under a trie with our mayne corse all night. This night our Cat ranne crying from one side of the ship to the |