The North Carolina Standard

A BRIEF RELATION OF NEW YORK,
with the places thereunto adjoining, formerly
called the New Netherlands, &c.

That tract of Land formerly called The New
Netherlands, doth contain all that Land which
lieth in the North-parts of America betwixt New
England and Mary-Land in Virginia, the length
of which Northward to the Country, as it hath
not been fully discovered, so it is not certainly
known. The breadth of it is about two hundred
miles: The principal Rivers within this tract, are
Hudson's River, Raritan River and Delaware-Bay
River. The chief Islands are the Manhattans-
Island, Long-Island & Staten-Island.

And first to begin with the Manahatan's Island
so called by the Indians, it lieth within land be-
twixt the degrees of 41 and 42 of North latitude,
and is about 14 miles long and two broad. It is
bounded with Long Island on the South, with Sta-
ten-Island on the West, on the north with the
Main Land: and with Connecticut Colony on the
East side of it, only a part of the Main Land be-
longing to New York Colony, where several
Towns & Villages are settled, being about thirty
miles in breadth, doth intercept the Manhatans
Island & the Colony of Connecticut before men-
tioned.

New York is settled upon the West end of the
aforesaid Island, having the small arm of the sea,
which divides it from Long-Island on the South
side of it, which runs away Eastward to New
England, & is navigable, though dangerous.
For about ten miles from New York is a place
called Hell-Gate, which being a narrow passage,
there runneth a violent stream both upon flood &
ebb, & in the middle lieth some Islands of Rocks,
which the Current sets so violently upon, that it
threatens present Shipwrack, & upon the flood is
a large Whirlpool, which continually sends forth
a hideous roaring, enough to affright any stran-
ger from passing further, & to wait for some Cha-
ron to conduct him through; yet to those that are
well acquainted little or no danger; yet a place of
great defence against an enemy coming in that
way, which a small fortification wou'd absolutely
prevent & necessitate them to come in at the West
end of Long-Island by Sandy Hook where Staten
Island doth force them within Command of
the Fort at New York which is one of the best
Pieces of Defence in the North-parts of America.

New York is built most of brick & stone, &
covered with red & black tile, & the Land being
high, it gives it at a distance a pleasing aspect to
the spectators. The inhabitants consist more of
English Dutch & have a considerable Trade
with the Indians for Bevers, Otter, Raccoon
skins, with other Furs; as also for Bear, Deer &
Elk skins; & are supplied with Venison & Fowl
in the winter & Fish in the Summer by the In-
dians—which they buy at an easie rate; and hav-
ing the Country round about them they are con-
tinually furnished with all such provisions as is
needful for the life of man, not only by the Eng-
lish & Dutch within their own but likewise by
the adjacent Colonies.

The commodities vented from thence is Furs
& skins, before mentioned; as likewise Tobacco
made within the Colony as good as is usually
made in Mary-Land. Also Horses, Beef, Pork
Oyl, Pease wheat & the like.

Long-Island, the west end of which lies South-
ward of New York, runs Eastward above one
hundred miles, & it is in some places eight, in
some twelve, in some fourteen miles broad: it is
inhabited from one end to the other. On the
West end is four or five Dutch Towns, the rest
being all English to the number of twelve, be-
sides villages & Farm houses. The Island is
most of it of a very good soyle & very natural for
all sorts of English Grain: which they sowe &
have very good increase of, besides all other
Fruits & Herbs common in England, as also To-
bacco, Hemp, Flax, Pumpkins, Melons, &c.

The Fruits natural to the Island, are Mulber-
ries, Persimmons, Grapes great & small, Huckleber-
ries, Cranberries Plums of several sorts, Rasber-
ries & Strawberries, of which last is such abund-
ace in June that the Fields & Woods are died
red: Which the Country-people perceiving in-
stantly arm themselves with bottles of Wine,
Cream & sugar, & in stead of a Coat of Male
every one takes a Female upon his horse behind
him, & so rushing violently into the fields, never
leave till they have disrob'd them of their red col-
ours & turned them into the old habit.

The greatest part of the Island is very full of
Timber, as Oaks white & red, Walnut-trees, Ches-
nut trees, which yield store of mast for swine, &
are often therewith sufficiently fatted with Cak-
Corn: as also Maples, Cedars, Saxifrage, Birch,
Holly, Hazel, with many sorts more.

The Herbs which the Country naturally afford,
are Purslain, white Orange, Agrimony, Violets,
Penneroyal, Alicampane, besides Sarsaparilla very
common, with many more. Yea, in May you
shall see the Woods & Fields so curiously be-
decke with Roses, & an innumerable multitude of
delightful flowers, not only pleasing the eye, but
smell, that you may behold nature contending with
Art, & striving to equal, if not excel many Gar-
dens in England: nay, did we know the vertue
of all those Plants & Herbs growing there (which
time may more discover) many are of opinion &
the natives do affirm, that there is no disease com-
mon to the Country, but may be cured without
materials from other Nations.

There is several Navigable Rivers & Bays
which puts into the North-side of Long-Island.
but upon the South-Side which joyns to the Sea,
it is so fortified with bars of sands & sholes that it
is a sufficient defence against any enemy, yet the
South-side is not without Brooks & Riverets which
empty themselves into the Sea, yea you shall
scarce travel a mile but you shall meet with one
of them, whose Christal streams run so swift, that
they purge themselves of such stinking mud &
filth, which the standing or low paced streams of
most brooks & rivers westward of this Colony
leave lying, & are by the Suns exhalation dissi-
pated, the air corrupted, & many Fevers & other
distempers occasioned, not incident to this Colony:
Neither do the Brooks & Riverets premised, give
way to the Frost in Winter, or draught in Sum-
mer, but keep their course throughout the year,

These rivers are very well furnished with Fish,
as Basse, Sheeps-heads, Plaice, Perch, Trouts,
Eels, Turtles, & divers others.

The Island is plentifully stored with all sorts
of English Cattle, Horses, Hogs, Sheep, Goats,
&c. No place in the North of America better,
which they can both raise & maintain by reason
of the large & spacious meadows or marshes
wherewith it is furnished, the Island likewise pro-
ducing excellent English grass, the seeds of
which was brought out of England, which they
sometimes mow twice a year.

For wild Beasts there is Deer, Bear, Wolves,
Foxes, Racoons, Otters, Musquashes & Skunks.

Wild Fowl there is great store of, as Turkies, Heath-
Hens, Quails, Partridges, Pidgeons, Cranes,
Geese of several sorts, Brants, Ducks, Widgeons,
Teal, & divers others: There is also the Red-bird,
with divers sorts of singing birds, whose chirping
notes salute the ears of Travellers with an har-
monious discord. And in every pond & brook
green silken Frogs, who warbling forth their un-
tuned tunes strive to bear a part in this musick.

Towards the middle of Long-Island lyeth a
plain sixteen miles long & four broad upon which
plain grows very fine grass that makes exceeding
good hay & is very good pasture for Sheep or
other Cattle: where you shall find neither stick
nor stone to hinder the horse-heels or endanger
them in their Races, & once a year the best hors-
es in the Island are brought hither to try their
swiitness, & the swiftest rewarded with a silver
cup, two being annually procured for that pur-
pose. There are two or three other small plains
of about a mile square which are no small benefit
to those Towns which enjoy them.

Upon the South side of Long-Island in the
winter, lie store Whales & Grampasses, which
the Inhabitants begin with small boats to make a
trade Catching to them no small benefit. Also
an innumerable multitude of Seals, which make
an excellent oyle: they lie all the Winter upon
some broken Marshes & Beaches, or bars of sand
before-mentioned, & might be easily got were there
some skilful men could undertake it.

To say something of the Indians, there is now
but few upon the Island & those few now ways
hurtful but rather serviceable to the English, &
it is to be admired how strangely they have de-
creased by the Hand of God since the English first
settling of these parts; for since my time, when
there were six towns, they are reduced to two
small villages, & it has been generally observed
that where the English come to settle, a Divine
Hand makes way for them, by removing or cut-
ting off the Indians, either by wars one with the
other, or by some raging mortal disease.

They live principally by Hunting, Fowling &
Fishing: their Wives being the Husbandmen to
till the Land, & plant their corn.

The meat they live most upon is Fish, Fowl,
& Venison; they eat likewise Polecats, Skunks,
Racoon, Possum, Turtles, & the like.

They build small moveable Tents, which they
remove two or three times a year, having their
principal quarters where they plant their corn:
their Hunting quarters, & their Fishing quarters:

Their recreations are chiefly Foot-ball & Cards,
at which they will play away all they have ex-
cepting a flap to cover their nakedness: They are
great lovers of strong drink, yet do not care for
drinking, unless they have enough to make them-
themselves drunk: & if there be so many in their
Company, that there is not sufficient to make them
all drunk, they usually select so many out of their
Company proportionable to the quantity of drink,
& the rest must be spectators. And if any one
chance to be drunk before he hath finished his pro-
portion (which is ordinarily a quart of Brandy,
Rum or Strong-waters) the rest will pour the rest
of his part down his throat.

They often kill one another at these drunken
matches which the friends of the murdered person
do revenge upon the murderer unless he purchase
his life with money, which they sometimes do:
This money is made of a Periwinkle shell of
which there is black & white, made much like
unto beads & put upon strings.

For their worship which is diabolical, it is per-
formed usually but once or twice a year, unless
upon some extraordinary occasion, as upon mak-
ing war or the like; their usual time is about
Michaelmas, when their corn is first ripe, the
day being appointed by their chief Priest or Pa-
waw, most of them go a hunting for venison:
When they are all congregated, their priest tells
them if he want money, their God will accept of
no other offering, which the people believing, ev-
ery one gives money according to their ability
The priest takes the money, & putting it into
some dishes sets them upon the top of their low
flat-roofed houses, & falls to invocating their God
to come & receive it, which with many loud hal-
lows & outcries, knocking the ground with sticks,
& beating themselves, is performed by the priests
and seconded by the people.

After they have thus a while wearied themselves
the priest & his Conspiration brings in a devil
amongst them, in the shape sometimes of a fowl.
sometimes of a beast, & sometimes of a man, at
which the people being amazed, not daring to stir,
he improves the opportunity, steps out, & makes
sure of the money, & then returns to lay the spirit,
who in the mean time is sometimes gone, & takes
some of the Company along with him: but if any
English at such times do come amongst them, it
puts a period to their proceeding, & they will de-
sire their absence, telling them their God will
not come whilst they are there.

In their wars they fight no pitched fields: but
when they have notice of an enemies approach,
they endeavor to secure there wives & children
upon some Island, or in some thick swamp, &
then with their guns & hatchet they way-lay their
enemies, some lying behind one, some another &
it is a great fight where seven or eight is slain.
When any Indian dies amongst them, they bu-
ry him upright, sitting upon a seat, with his Gun,
money, & such goods as he has with him, that he
may be furnished in the other world, which they
conceive is Westward, where they shall have
great store of Game for Hunting, & live easie
lives. At his Burial his nearest relations attend
the Hearse with their faces painted black, & do
visit the grave once or twice a day, where they
send forth sad lamentations so long till time hath
wore the blackness off their faces, & afterwards
every year once they view the grave, make a new
mourning for him, trimming up the Grave, not
suffering of a Grass to grow by it: they fence
their graves with a hedge, & cover the tops with
mats, to shelter them from the rain.

Any Indian being dead, his name dies with
him, no person daring ever after to mention his
name, it being not only a breach of their Law.
but an abuse to his friends & relations present, as
if it were done on purpose to renew their grief:
And any other person whatsoever that is named
after that name doth immediately change his
name & takes a new one, their names are not pro-
per set names as amongst Christians, but every
one invents a name to himself, which he likes best.
Some calling themselves Rattle-snake, Skunk,
Bucks-horn, or the like: And if a person die, that
his name is some word which is used in speech,
they likewise change that word, & invent some
new one which makes a great change & altera-
tion in their language.

When any person is sick, after the means used
by his friends, every one pretending skill in Phys-
ick, that proving ineffectual they send for a Pa-
waw or Priest, who sitting down by the sick per-
son without the least enquiry after the distemper.
waits for a gift which he proportions his work
accordingly to: that being received, he first be-
gins with a low voice to call upon his God, call-
ing sometimes upon one sometimes on another
raising his voice higher & higher, beating his
naked breasts & sides, till the sweat runneth down
& his breath is almost gone, then that little which
is remaining, he evaporates upon the face of the
sick person three or four times together & so
takes his leave.

Their marriages are performed without any
ceremony, the match being first made by money
The sum being agreed upon & given to the wo-
man it makes a consummation of their marriage,
if I may so call it: After that he keeps her dur-
ing his pleasure, & upon the least dislike turns
her away & takes another: It is no offence for
their married women to lie with another man pro-
vided she acquaint her husband, or some of her
nearest Relations with it, but if not it is accounted
such a fault that they sometimes punish it with
death: An Indian may have two wives or more
if he please, but it is not so much in use as it was
since the English came amongst them they being
ready in some measure to imitate the English in
things both good & bad: Any maid before she is
married doth lie with whom she please for money
without any scandal, or the least aspersions to be
cast upon her it being so customary, & their laws
tolerating of it. They are extraordinary charit-
able one to another, one having nothing to spare,
but he freely imparts it to his friends & whatso-
ever they get by gaming or any other way, they
share one to another leaving themselves common-
ly the least share.

At their Cantico's or dancing matches, where
all persons that come are freely entertained, it be-
ing a Festival time: Their custom is when they
dance, every one but the Dancers to have a short
stick in their hands & to knock the ground &
sing altogether, whilst they that dance sometimes
act war-like postures, & then they come in paint-
ed for War with their faces black & red, or some
all black, some all red, with some streaks of white
under their eyes, & so jump & leap up & down
without any order, uttering many expressions of
their intended valour. For other dances they on-
ly shew what Antick tricks their ignorance will
lead them to, swinging of their bodies & faces af-
ter a strange manner, sometimes jumping into the
fire, sometimes catching up a Firebrand, & biting
off a live coal, with many such tricks, that will
affright, if not please an English man to look upon
them, resembling rather a company of infernal
furies than men. When their King or Sachem
sits in Council he hath a company of armed men
to guard his person, great respect being shewn
him by the People, which is principally mani-
fested by their silence: After he hath declared the
cause of their convention he demands their opin-
ion, ordering who shall begin: The person order-
ed to speak, after he hath declared his mind tells
them he hath done: no man ever interrupting any
person in his speech, nor offering to speak though
he make never so many or long stops, till he says
he hath no more to say: the Council having all
declared their opinions, the King after some pause
gives the definitive sentence, which is commonly
seconded with a shout from the people, every one
seeming to applaud & manifest their assent to
what is determined: If any person is condemned
to die, which is seldom, unless for Murder or In-
cest, the King himself goes in person for
you must understand they have no prisons, tho the
guilty person flies into the Woods.) when they go
in quest of him, & having found him, tho King
shoots first, though at never such a distance, &
then happy is the man can shoot him down, & cut off his
head
which they commonly wear,
who for his pains is made some Captain or other
military officer.

Their Clothing is a yard and a half of broad
Cloth, which is made for the Indian Trade, which
they hang upon their shoulders; & half a yard of
the same cloth, which being put betwixt their
legs, & brought up before & behind & tied with
a Girdle about their middle, hangs with a flap on
each side: They wear no Hats, but commonly
wear about their Heads a Snake's skin, or a belt
of their money, or a kind of a Ruff made with
Deer's hair & died of a scarlet colour, which they
esteem very rich.

They grease their bodies & hair very often, &
paint their faces with several colours as black.
white, red, yellow, blue, &c. which they take
great pride in, every one being painted in a seve-
ral manner: Thus much for the Customs of the
Indians.

Within two leagues of New York lieth Staten
Island, it bears from New York West something
southerly. It is about twenty miles long, & five
broad, it is most of it very good land, full
of Timber and produceth all such commodities as
Long Island doth, besides Tin & store of Iron ore
& the Calamine stone is said likewise to be found
there: There is but one Town upon it consisting
of English & French; but it is capable of enter-
taining more inhabitants: betwixt this & Long
Island is a large Bay, & is the coming in for all
ships and vessels out of the Sea: On the North
side of this Island After-Skull River puts into the
Main Land on the West side, whereof is two or
three Towns, but on the East-side but one. There
is very great Marshes or Meadows on both sides
of it, excellent good land, & good convenience for
the setting of several towns; there grows black
Walnut & Locust as there doth in Virginia with
mighty tall streight Timber, as good as any in
the North of America: It produceth any Com-
modity that Long Island doth.

Hudson's River runs by New-York northward
into the Country, towards the Head of which is
seated New-Albany a place of great Trade with
the Indians. Betwixt which & New York, being
above one hundred miles, is as good Corn-land as
the world affords, enough to entertain hundreds
of Families, which in the time of the Dutch Gov-
ernment of those parts could not be settled: For
the Indians, excepting one place called the Esopus
which was kept by a Garrison, but since the re-
ducement of these parts under his Majesties obedi-
ence, & a patent granted to his Royal Highness
the Duke of York—which is about sixty years since
by the care and diligence of the Honourable Coll.
Nicholls sent thither Deputy to his Highness
we have put a League of Peace and Friendship—concluded betwixt that Colony & the
Indians—that they have not once resisted or disturbed
any Christians there, since the settling or peaceable
possession of any Lands with that Government.
hath peaceably reapt & enjoyed the fruits of
but every man hath sate under his own Vine &
their own labors, which God continue.
ed about 18 or 20 miles runs in Raritan River
Westward of Alter-Kull River before mention-
Northward in the Countrey, some score of miles,
both sides of which River is adorn'd with spacious
stor'd with wilde Beasts, as Deer & Elks, & an
the Woodland is likewise very good for Corn &
Medows, enough to maintain thousands of Cattle,
innumerable multitude of Fowl, as in other parts
of the Countrcy: This River is thought very
capable for the erecting of several Towns & Vil-
lages on each side of it, no place in the North of
America having better convenience for the main-
at the mouth of it. Next this River Westward
food: upon this River is no town settled, but one
laining of all sorts of Cattel or winter & summer
is a place called Newcastles, where is two or three
Towns & Villages settled upon the Sea-side. but
sixty miles, all which is a rich Champain Coun-
none betwixt that & Delaware Bay, which is about
trey, free from stones, & indifferent level; store of
excellent good timber, & very well watered, hav.
ing brooks or rivers ordinarily, one or more in
every miles travel. The Countrey is full of Deer,
Elks, Bear, & other Creatures, as in other parts.
of the Countrey, where you shall meet with no
inhabitant in this journey, but few Indians, where
there is stately Oaks whose broad-branched-tops
serve for no other use but to keep off the Suns heat
from the wilde Beasts of the Wilderness where
is grass as high as a man's middle that serves for
no other end except to maintain the Elks & Deer,
who never devour a hundredth part of it, then to
be burnt every Spring to make way for new.
How many poor people in the world would think
themselves happy, had they an Acre or two of
land, whilst here is hundreds, nay thousands of
Acres, that would invite inhabitants.
Delaware bay the mouth of the River, lyeth a-
bout the Mid-way betwixt New York & the Capes
of Virginia. It is a very pleasant river & Coun
trey, but very few inhabitants, & them being most
Swedes, Dutch & Finns; about sixty miles up
the River is the principal Town call'd New-Castle,
which is about forty miles from Mary-Land, &
very good way to travel. either with horse or foot,
the people are settled all along the West side six-
ty miles above New-Castle; the land is good for
all sorts of English grain. & wanteth nothing but
good people to populate it, it being capable of
entertaining many hundred families.
Some may admire, that these great & Rich Tracts
of land, lying so adjoyning to New England &
Virginia, should be no better inhabited, & that
the richness of the soyl, the healthfulness of the
Climate & the like, should be no better a motive
to induce people from both places to populate it.
To which I answer, that whilstit was under
the Dutch Government, which hath been till
within these six years, there was little encour-
agement for any English. both in respect of their
safety from the Indians. the Dutch being almost
always in danger of them; & their Beaver-trade.
not admitting of a War. which would have been
destructive to their trade. which was the main
thing prosecuted by the Dutch. And secondly
the Dutch gave such bad Titles to Lands. togeth.
er with their exacting of the Tenths of all which
men produced off their Land, that did much hin-
der the popularity of it, together with that gener-
al dislike the English have of living under an-
other Government: but since the reducement of
it there is several Towns of a considerable great-
ness begun & settled by people out of New-Eng
land, & every day more & more come to view &
settle.
To give some satisfaction to people that shall
be desirous to transport themselves thither,(the
Countrey being capable of entertaining many
thousands) how & after what manner people live,
& how land may be procured, &c. I shall an-
swer, that the usual way is for a Company of peo-
ple to joyn together either enough to make a
Town, or a lesser number; These go with the
consent of the Governor to view a Tract of Land,
there being choice enough, & finding a place con-
venient for a town, they return to the Governor,
who upon their desire admits them into the Colo-
ny, & gives them a Grant or Patent for the said
Land, for themselves & associates. Those per-
sons being thus qualified, settle the place, & take
in what inhabitants to themselves they shall see
cause to admit of till their Town be full; these
associates thus taken in have equal priviledges
with themselves, & they make a division of the
Land suitable to every man's occasions, no man
being debarr'd of such quantities as he hath oc-
casion for. the rest they let lie in Common till
they have occasion for a new division, never di-
viding their Pasture-land at all, which lies in
common to the whole Town. The best Commo-
dities for any to carry with them is Clothing. the
Countrey being full of all sorts of Cattel, which
they may furnish themselves withal at an easie
rate, for all sorts of English Goods, as likewise
Instruments of Husbandry & Building, with nails,
Hinges, Glass & the like; For the manner how
they get a livelihood, it is principally by Corn &
Cattel, which will there fetch them any Commo-
dities; likewise they have store of Flax which
they make every one Cloth of for their own wear-
ing, as also woollen Cloth, & Linsey- Woolsey, &
had they more Tradesmen amongst them, they
would in a little time live without the help of any
other Countrey for their Clothing: For Trades-
men there is none but live happily there, as Car-
penters, Blacksmiths, Masons, Tailors, Weavers,
Shoemakers, Tanners, Blacksmiths, & so any
other Trade; them that have no Trade betake
themselves to Husbandry, get land of their own
& live exceeding well.
Thus have I briefly given you a relation of
New-York with the places thereunto adjoyning;
In which, if I have err'd, it is principally in not
giving it its due commendation, for besides those
earthly blessings when it is stor'd, Heaven hath
not been wanting to open his Treasure, in send-
ing down seasonable showres upon the Earth,
blessing it with a sweet & pleasant air, & a con-
tinuation of such Influences as tend to the Health
both of Man & Beast. And the Climate hath
such an affinity. with that of England, that it
breeds ordinarily no alteration to those which re-
move thither; that the name of seasoning which
is common to some other Countreys hath never
there been known; That I may say & say truly
that if there be any terrestrial happiness to be had
by people of all ranks, especially of an inferior
rank, it must certainly be here: here any one
may furnish himself with land, & live rent-free, yea,
with such a quantity of land, that he may weary
himself in the walking over his fields of Corn, &
all sorts of Grain: & let his stock of Cattle
amount to some hundreds, he needs not fear their
want of pasture in the Summer or Fodder in the
Winter, the Woods affording sufficient supply.
For the Summer-season, when you have grass as
high as a man's knees, nay, as high as his waist,
interlaced with Pea-vines & other weeds that Cat-
tle much delight in, as much as a man can press
through: And these woods also every mile or
half-mile are furnished with fresh ponds, brooks,
or rivers, where all sorts of Cattle, during the
heat of the day, do quench their thirst & cool
themselves; these brooks & rivers being environ-
cd of each side with several sorts of trees &
Grape-vines, the Vines, arbor-like, interchanging
places & crossing these rivers doth shelter from
the scorching beams of Sols fiery influence: Here
those which Fortune hath frown'd upon in Eng-
land, to deny them an inheritance amongst their
Brethren, or such as by their utmost labors can
scarcely procure a living, I say such may procure
here inheritance of lands & possessions, stock
themselves with all sorts of Cattle, enjoy the ben-
efit of them whilst they live, & leave them to the
benefit of their children when they die: here you
need not trouble the Shambles for meats nor Ba-
kers nor Brewers for Beer & Bread, nor run to
a Linnen-Draper or a Haberdasher for a supply, every one making
their own Linnen, & a great part of their woollen-
cloth for their ordinary wearing: And how prodi-
gal, if I may so say, hath Nature been to furnish
the Countrey in the all sorts of wilde Beasts &
Fowle which every one hath an interest in & may
hunt at his pleasure: where besides the pleasure
in Hunting, he may furnish his house with excel-
lent fat Venison. Turkies, Geese, Heath-Hens,
Cranes, Swans, Ducks. Pidgeons & the like: &
wearied with that, he may go a Fishing, where
the Rivers are so furnished, that he may supply
himself with Fish before he can leave off the Re-
creation: Where you may travel by land upon
the same Continent hundreds of miles, & passe
through Towns & Villages. & never hear the
least Complaint for want, nor hear any ask you
for a farthing: then you may lodge in the fields
& woods, travel from one end of the Countrey to
another, with as much security as if you were
lockt within your own Chamber; and if you
chance to meet with an Indian-Town, they shall
give you the best entertainment they have, & up-
on your desire, direct you in your way : But that
which adds happiness to all the rest is the Health-
fulness of the place where many people in twenty
years time never know what sickness is: where
they look upon it as a great mortality if two or
three die of a town in a years time; where be-
sides the sweetness of the Air, the Countrey itself
sends forth such a fragrant smell, that it may be
perceived at Sea before they can make the Land;
where no Air-fog or vapour doth no sooner ap-
pear, but a North-west or Westerly winde doth
immediatly dissolve it. & drive it away : What
shall I say more? you shall scarce see a house. but
the South-side is begirt with Hives of Bees, which
increase after an incredible manner: That I must
needs say, that if there be any terrestrial Canaans
'tis surely here, where all the Land floweth with
milk & Honey. The inhabitants are blest with
Peace & plenty, blessed in their Countrey, blessed
in their Fields, blessed in the Fruit of their bodies.
in the fruit of their grounds. in the increase of
their Cattel, Horses & Sheep, blessed in their
Basket & in their store; In a word, blessed in
whatsoever they take in hand or go about, the
Earth yielding plentiful increase to all their pain-
ful labors.
Were it not to avoid prolixity I could say a
great deal more, & yet say too little, how free are
those parts of the world from that pride & op-
pression, with their miserable effects, which ma-
ny, nay almost all parts of the world are troubled.
with being ignorant of that pomp & bravery
which aspiring Humours are servants to, & striv-
ing after almost every where: Where a Waggon
or Cart gives as good content as a Coach; and a
piece of their home-made Cloth. better than the
finest Lawns or richest Silks: & though their
low-roofed houses may seem to shut their doors
against pride & luxury, yet how do they stand
wide open to let charity in & out either to assist
cach other, or relieve a stranger, & the distance
of place from other Nations, doth secure them
from the envious frowns of ill-affected Neighbours,
& the troubles which usually arise thence.
Now to conclude, its possible some may say
what needs a Relation of a place of so long standing
as New-York hath been? In answer to which
I have said something before, as to satisfie the de-
sires of many that never had any Relation of it.
Secondly, though it hath long been settled yet
but lately reduced to his Majesties obedience, &
by that means but new or unknown to the English:
Else certainly those great number of Furs, that
have been lately transported from thence in Hol-
land had never passed the hands of our English
Furriers: Thirdly, never any relation before was
published to my knowledge & the place being ca-
pable of entertaining so great a number of inhab-
itants, where they may with Gods blessing. &
their own industry, live as happily as any people
in the world. A true Relation was necessary,
not only for the encouragement of many that have
a desire to remove themselves, but for the satisfac-
tion of others that would make a trade thither.
Daniel Denton: London, 1670.