Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680
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Title: Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680
Author: Jasper Danckaerts
Editor: Bartlett Burleigh James
J. Franklin Jameson
Release date: October 30, 2007 [eBook #23258]
Most recently updated: January 3, 2021
Language: English
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Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent spellings of proper names and non-English
words have been retained as they appear in the original.
Obvious printer errors have been corrected.
Original Narratives
of Early American History
JOURNAL OF JASPER DANCKAERTS
1679-1680
Edited by
BARTLETT BURLEIGH JAMES, B.D., PH.D.
of the Maryland Historical Society
and
J. FRANKLIN JAMESON, PH.D., LL.D.
Director of the Department of Historical Research in the Carnegie
Institutions of Washington
With a Facsimile and Two Maps
Charles Scribner's Sons
New York
Copyright, 1913, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
[Illustration: NEW YORK FROM BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, 1679
From the original drawing by Jasper Danckaerts in the possession of
the Long Island Historical Society]
CONTENTS
JOURNAL OF JASPER DANCKAERTS
EDITED BY BARTLETT BURLEIGH JAMES AND J. FRANKLIN JAMESON
PAGE
NOTE A ix
INTRODUCTION xiii
NOTE B xxv
VOYAGE TO NEW NETHERLAND 3
Preparations for the Voyage 3
Delays in Starting 5
On the Way to Texel; a Narrow Escape 8
On Board the _Charles_ 10
They set Sail and run Aground 13
Description of Texel 15
Progress of the Voyage 18
At Falmouth; the Diarist at Church 25
A Visit to Pendennis Castle 28
The Market at Penryn 30
Again on Board; a Word about the Cat 32
Land is Seen; Sandy Hook 33
Indians come Aboard; Arrival at New York 35
Observations upon the Sea and the Voyage 37
Comments upon the Passengers and Crew 39
TRAVELS IN NEW NETHERLAND 43
In New York; Ministers of New Netherland 43
Fort Amsterdam is described 45
The First Male born of Europeans in New Netherland 47
A Visit to Long Island; through Brooklyn 50
At Gowanus; the Najack Indians 53
With Jacques Cortelyou at New Utrecht 57
Danckaerts makes a Sketch 58
A Visit with Jan Theunissen at Flatlands 60
Through Flatbush, Brooklyn, and Back in New York 62
Manhattan Island Explored; Broadway; the Bowery; New Harlem 64
The Labadists make some Calls; Danckaerts acts the Barber 67
On Staten Island 69
At Oude Dorp and Nieuwe Dorp 72
Some Plantations on the Island 74
A Visit from Jasper, the Indian 76
The Travellers meet Ephraim Herrman 80
In Communipaw and Bergen 82
Further Experiences 86
Preparations for the Journey Southward; the Duke's Laws 89
JOURNEY TO THE SOUTHWARD 93
The Stop at Woodbridge 93
At Piscataway; the Falls of the Delaware 94
Matinnaconk Island and Burlington 97
Tacony; Tinicum Island described 100
The Suit of Madame de la Grange against Madame Papegoia 101
A Visit from Some Quakers 104
The Episode of Anna Salters 105
The Journey Continued 107
At Fort Christina; the Stay in Newcastle 109
Indented Servants 111
St. Augustine's Manor 112
Entry into Maryland; Bohemia Manor; Augustine Herrman's Map 114
Plantations visited 116
The Journey to Virginia abandoned; Other Visits 120
The Travellers lose their Way 124
They stop with Mr. Frisby; Wild Geese 126
Transportation of Goods to and from Maryland 128
More Plantations visited 129
Again in Newcastle 131
The Grant of Maryland 132
The Tobacco Industry 133
Life in Maryland 135
The Attack on the Hoere Kill 136
Religion in Maryland 137
The Labadists hear Domine Tesschenmaker; Christina Kill 138
Property Arrangements of Augustine Herrman 141
Preparations for the Return to New Netherland 142
Description of Newcastle 143
Mr. Moll and his Wife 144
Some Account of the Herrmans; Peter Alrichs 145
At Upland 147
At Wicacoa and Burlington 148
On the Island of Peter Alrichs 149
The Delaware River described 150
The Settlement at Hoere Kill; New Sweden 152
East New Jersey and West New Jersey established 154
The Journey to Millstone Creek; Difficulties in crossing 156
A Visit with Some Indians 159
A Night with Cornelis van Langevelt near Nassau 160
Millstone Creek described 161
At Amboy; the Frenchman Le Chaudronnier 162
Governor Carteret and the Settlement of Piscataway
and Woodbridge 164
End of the Journey to the Southward 165
IN NEW YORK 166
Visits to Governor Andros and Mayor Rombouts 167
Danckaerts follows Sluyter to Najack 169
Translations made by Danckaerts 170
The Party for Aquackanonck 171
Milford; Sandford; Captain Berry's Plantation 173
Conversation with Hans, the Indian 174
Aquackanonck is reached 175
Another Night with the Indians 177
At Gowanus; the _Canticoy_ of the Indians 179
Affairs at Esopus; Small Pox among the Indians 181
Proclamation of Governor Andros; the Start for Nevesink 182
Trip to Nevesink abandoned 184
Another Call on the Governor 185
The Travellers dispose of their Stock 186
The Governor grants Permission to go to Albany 187
The Trials and Conversion of Theunis Idenszen 190
The Journey to Albany is begun 196
The Kaaterskill Falls; Arrival at Albany 198
The Falls at Cohoes 199
Sluyter becomes ill; Visit to Schenectady 201
The Story of Aletta, the Indian 201
The Story of Wouter, Aletta's Nephew 205
Interview with Aletta and Wouter 210
Wouter goes with the Labadists 211
Schenectady is described 213
A Visit with Madame van Rensselaer at Rensselaerswyck 214
A Visit to Fort Orange; Albany described 216
The Child of Luxury 217
At Claverack; Danckaerts sketches the Catskills 219
At Esopus 220
Back in New York; Preparations for Boston 222
A Visit to Theunis Idenszen 223
North River and the Country through which it flows 224
On the Way to Long Island; Visit from Domine van Zuuren 228
In Najack; More about Theunis 229
Another Meeting with the Governor 230
The Experiences of Marie Renard 231
Visit with Ephraim Herrman 233
Further Arrangements for the Boston Trip; Ascension Day 234
A Trip to Walebocht 235
The Boston Trip again postponed; Some Visitors 237
Leave is taken of Governor Andros 238
Military Tactics; Relations between Andros and Carteret 239
Trade with Barbados 244
Trade Observations 246
Conduct of Governor Andros 248
The Labadists take leave of their Friends 250
VOYAGE FROM NEW NETHERLAND 252
The Start for Boston 252
Martha's Vineyard; a Narrow Escape 253
Boston is reached 255
Description of East River 256
Elizabeth Islands; the Sow and Pigs; Cape Cod 258
A Call on Governor Bradstreet 259
No Word of Wouter; Passage engaged for London 260
John Eliot and the Indian Bible 263
A Visit to Cambridge; Harvard College 266
In Charlestown 268
Suspicions concerning the Travellers 269
A Second Visit to John Eliot at Roxbury 270
A Sham-fight in Boston 271
Beginning of the Voyage Home 272
The Diarist's Account of New England 273
His Description of Boston 275
Progress of the Voyage 276
A Reward for the First Sight of Land 278
The Orkney Islands are sighted 280
Fear of the Turks 281
On the Dogger Bank 284
Anchor at Yarmouth 286
The Landing at London; Whitehall; St. James's Park 288
The Duke of Monmouth is seen; London Tower 289
Witchcraft in Boston; at Church in London 290
A Glimpse of the Duke of York and Prince Karl 291
At Gravesend; the River of Chatham 292
At Harwich; Dispute with the Skipper 293
At Rotterdam, Delft, and the Hague 295
In Amsterdam; a Bible is bought for Ephraim Herrman 296
The End of the Journey 297
INDEX 299
MAPS AND FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION
NEW YORK FROM BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, 1679. From the original drawing
by Jasper Danckaerts in the possession of the Long Island
Historical Society _Frontispiece_
PAGE
THE NORTHEAST PORTION OF AUGUSTINE HERRMAN'S MAP OF MARYLAND,
1673. From Mr. P.L. Phillips's facsimile 98
PART OF THE MAP OF NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND IN MONTANUS'S
"NIEUWE WEERELD," 1671. From a copy in the New York
Public Library 160
NOTE A
The present translation is substantially that of Mr. Henry C. Murphy,
as presented in his edition of 1867 (see the Introduction, _post_).
Mr. Murphy was an excellent Dutch scholar. Careful comparisons have
been made, at various points, between his translation and the original
manuscript, of which the Long Island Historical Society, its present
possessor, kindly permitted an examination to be made. These
comparisons, made partly by the general editor of the series and
partly by Mr. S. G. Nissensen of New York (to whom cordial thanks are
rendered), showed that Mr. Murphy's translation was in the main
excellent. Some revision and correction of it has been effected by Mr.
Nissensen and by the general editor. In particular the spelling of the
proper names has been brought into accord with that of the original
manuscript, except that certain familiar names, after being once given
in the original spelling, have thereafter been put into their modern
forms.
Danckaerts's descriptions of his Atlantic voyages to America and back,
especially the former, are excessively long, and at times tedious. It
has been found possible to omit some portions of these without
impairing the interest or value of the narrative or excluding any
useful information.
Of the three illustrations, the frontispiece is a photographic
reproduction of one of Danckaerts's pen-and-ink sketches accompanying
the diary. It has never before been photographically reproduced,
though lithographed in Mr. Murphy's book. It represents New York from
the southeast, as seen in 1680 from Brooklyn Heights, and is obviously
of great interest, being topographically accurate, and drawn with no
slight degree of skill. Thanks are due to the Long Island Historical
Society for permission to reproduce it, and to the society's
secretary, Miss Emma J. Toedteberg.
That portion of the journal which relates to the Delaware River and
northeastern Maryland is illustrated by a photographic reproduction
of the northeast corner of the celebrated map of Maryland which
Augustine Herrman made for Lord Baltimore, and which was published in
1673 (see _infra_, p. 114 and p. 297, note 2). The portion reproduced
extends from the falls of the Delaware as far down the eastern shore
of Chesapeake Bay as our travellers went. It is photographed from the
photolithographic copy made from the unique original in the British
Museum by Mr. P. Lee Phillips, and published by him in 1912, but is
reduced to dimensions about two-thirds of those of the original.
To illustrate the North River journey of the diarist, and the other
parts of his narrative centring around New York, a section is
presented of the map of 1671 entitled "Novi Belgii, quod nunc Novi
Jorck vocatur, Novaeque Angliae et Partis Virginiae Accuratissima et
Novissima Delineatio" (Most Accurate and Newest Delineation of New
Belgium, now called New York, of New England, and of Part of
Virginia). This map appeared both in Montanus's _Nieuwe en Onbekende
Weereld_ (Amsterdam, 1671) and in Ogilby's _America_ (London, 1671).
It is N.J. Visscher's map of 1655 or 1656 (for which see the volume in
this series entitled _Narratives of Early Pennsylvania_, etc.,
introductory note, and map opposite p. 170), with slight alterations
made in order to adapt it more closely to the date 1671.
For the names of the two Labadist agents, Mr. Murphy adopted the forms
Dankers and Sluyter. These he apparently took from references to them
by others, for the journal, except once in the case of Sluyter, gives
only the assumed names, Schilders and Vorstman, by which alone they
were at first known in America. Domine Selyns of New York, in his
letter to Willem a Brakel,[1] gives their true names. For the proper
spelling of the diarist's name, it should seem that we should rely on
his own signature to his note prefixed to his copy of Eliot's Indian
Old Testament.[2] There the spelling is Danckaerts, and such is the
form used by the family, still or till lately extant in Zeeland. But
the form Dankers occurs often in contemporary references.
[Footnote 1: Murphy, _Anthology of New Netherland_, p. 95.]
[Footnote 2: See _infra_, p. 264, note 2.]
The case of his companion presents no difficulty. The register of
students at the University of Leyden, _Album Studiosorum Academiae
Lugduno-Batavae_ (Hague, 1875), gives, under date of 1666, "Petrus
Sluyter Vesaliensis, 21, T," _i.e._, Peter Sluyter of Wesel, 21 years
old, student of theology, which no doubt is our traveller, known to
have studied theology and, from Labadist sources relating to Herford,
to have come originally from Wesel. Our traveller's will, dated
January 20, 1722, the original of which is preserved in the court
house of Cecil County at Elkton, Maryland, is signed in autograph,
"Petrus Sluyter alias Vorsman," and it seems that this must be
regarded as authoritative. The Maryland family descended from the
Labadist leader's brother used the same spelling. Schluter is found in
some contemporary sources, Schluyter and Sluter in others,[3] while on
the title-page of a book translated by our traveller from French into
Dutch, and printed at Herford in 1672,[4] presumably under his eye,
the spelling is Sluiter. But his signature should be conclusive.
[Footnote 3: _a._ Paul Hackenberg's letter, see p. 291, note 2,
_post_; Willem a Brakel, _Trouwhertige Waerschouwinge_ (Leeuwarden,
1683), p. 63; _Album Acad. Lugd.-Bat._, 1650, "Henricus Schluterus,"
the brother. _b._ Brakel in Murphy's _Anthology_, p. 95. _c._ Letter
from Herford in Schotel, _Anna Maria van Schurman_ (Hertogenbosch,
1853), app., p. 40.]
[Footnote 4: _Verklaringe van de Suiverheid des Geloofs en der Leere
van Jean de Labadie._]
The annotations in this volume are by the general editor of the
series.
J.F.J.
INTRODUCTION
In the year 1864 Mr. Henry C. Murphy, then corresponding secretary of
the Long Island Historical Society, had the good fortune to find in an
old book-store in Amsterdam a manuscript whose bearings upon the
history of the middle group of American colonies made it, when
translated and made accessible as a publication in the Memoirs of the
Long Island Historical Society,[5] an historical document of much
interest and value. The Journal of two members of the Labadist sect
who came over to this country in order to find a location for the
establishment of a community has served to throw a flood of light upon
what otherwise might have been a lost chapter in the history of
Maryland. For so meagre are the sources of ready availability for a
knowledge of the Labadist colony which was effected in Maryland that
without this account the story of the first communal sect in America
might have failed of adequate recording.
[Footnote 5: Volume I. _Journal of a Voyage to New York and a Tour in
Several of the American Colonies in 1679-80, by Jasper Dankers and
Peter Sluyter of Wiewerd in Friesland_ (Brooklyn, 1867).]
But while the Journal of Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter, the two
envoys--or of Jasper Danckaerts, who did the actual writing--is of
especial interest in relation to an incident in the early settlement
of Maryland, the gauge of its value may be applied as well in other
directions. This extended narrative, often discursive and
circumstantial, contains much that is suggestive upon the beginnings
of the middle group of states, and, indeed, the narrative bears upon
facts of importance in connection with Massachusetts as well.
The original manuscript of the Labadist narrators is now in the
possession of the Long Island Historical Society. It was bought by the
Society at the Murphy sale in 1884. It is written in a fine, good hand
on paper of about 8-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches. The pages are numbered with
three successive numberings: (A) 1-72, (B) 1-16, 25-192, 217-231, (C)
1-47, the first section corresponding to the voyage to America; the
second, to the travels in the middle colonies; the third, to the
experiences of the journalist and his companion in New England and on
the voyage home. In the second division there is no gap between pages
16 and 25, but after page 192 there is a considerable hiatus. In
narrative, this extends over a few days only, June 13-19, but the
omitted portion probably also contained a description of the city of
New York and the beginning of an account of the Indians. The remaining
pages of this section, pages 216-231, proceed with this account,
treating of the weapons of the Indians, their treaties with the
whites, their intelligence, their burial customs, their virtues and
vices, their knowledge of God and their worship, and finally of the
beaver and his habits. As the journalist could have had no original
contributions to make with regard to the American aborigines, his
observations upon this subject have no especial value, and have been
omitted.
The manuscript when found was accompanied with six sheets of
pen-and-ink drawings. The text appears to be a carefully transcribed
copy, plainly written in a different handwriting from that of the
drawings. The latter, as the marks upon them show, are the original
sketches made upon the spot. All are reproduced in Mr. Murphy's
edition of the journal. The first shows the figure of an Indian woman
and four fishes, two of them rare and two common. The second drawing
shows the entrance to New York Bay at Sandy Hook as seen from the
house of Jacques Cortelyou at Nayack (Fort Hamilton). The third is a
detailed and exceedingly interesting view of New York as it was in
1679, taken from Brooklyn Heights; it is reproduced in the present
volume. The fourth and fifth give views of New York from the east and
from the north, while the sixth plate presents a map of the Delaware
River from the Falls at the present site of Trenton down to
Burlington.
The manuscript of the narrative reproduced in this volume is
accompanied by a similar manuscript for a second voyage made in 1683,
April 12-July 27, entered upon 16 pages of foolscap, and then copied
upon 48 pages of quarto size, the former in a different and much more
difficult hand than the journal of 1679-1680, the copy in a
handwriting similar to that of the latter. Twelve pages of the 48 are
verses, and the remainder do not carry the traveller beyond the
completion of his voyage. As this second narrative includes nothing
bearing directly upon the experiences of the chronicler after his
arrival upon the shores of the New World, it has not seemed worth
while to translate it and bring it into the present volume. It is much
to be regretted that the continuation was never written, or has not
been preserved, since it would record the actual settlement of the
Labadist community in northeastern Maryland. With the fragment was
found an interesting manuscript map of the Delaware River, which gives
Philadelphia as in existence, and therefore belongs to the period of
the second voyage.
Prior to the discovery of the Journal of Danckaerts it was indeed
traditionally known that a sect of Labadists in the first half of the
seventeenth century had located a colony on the estates of Augustine
Herrman in Maryland. There were fragmentary references to these people
in the early records of the state and in historical manuscripts, with
isolated notices in contemporary writers. Yet this information would
of itself have been too meagre for a critical valuation of the
Labadists in the early history of Maryland. The publication of the
manuscript secured by Mr. Murphy stimulated interest in the subject,
and at various times monographic contributions appeared upon one or
another phase of the Labadist settlement. Notable were those of
General James Grant Wilson, whose paper on "An Old Maryland Manor" was
published by the Maryland Historical Society in 1890, and his paper on
"Augustine Herrman, Bohemian," by the New Jersey Historical Society in
the same year, and of Reverend Charles Payson Mallary, whose monograph
on the _Ancient Families of Bohemia Manor_, a publication of the
Delaware Historical Society in 1888, disclosed the wide genealogical
interest pertaining to the Labadist settlement. Thus there was built
up a body of substantial information with regard to the environment
and the relations of the Labadist colony in the New World. In 1899 was
published, in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and
Political Science, _The Labadist Colony in Maryland_, by the writer of
the present introduction. This monograph was largely based upon fresh
sources obtained from Europe, including contemporary works by Labadie,
his associates and his antagonists, as well as studies of the subject
by Dutch and German scholars. The literature of Labadism in the New
World, which, in a manner, has been an outgrowth from the journal of
the Labadist envoys, is now ample for all serviceable purposes.
The journal of the Labadists, while primarily of value as elucidating
an obscure episode in the religious history of the New World, has
worth as a human narrative bearing upon incidents and personages and
social conditions in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and
Boston. Thus the student of social, economic, institutional, or
geographical conditions in the early period of the settlements upon
the Atlantic seaboard will find in this journal much of suggestive and
pertinent contribution. Danckaerts viewed his surroundings through the
eyes of a fanatical self-satisfaction. For this reason his criticisms
or strictures upon persons and conditions are to be received with much
discount. But he was an intelligent man, and a keen-eyed and assiduous
note-taker; and the variety and fecundity of his material is not a
little due to the trivial and relatively unimportant details which are
embodied in the narrative.
The two agents came to North America in search of a suitable place to
establish a colony of their sect. Two distinct sets of forces drew
them toward Maryland. One of these was the religious toleration which,
from the beginning, was established in that province. There is no
warrant in the journal for a presumption that this was an inducing
cause for their location within the domain of Lord Baltimore. There is
much, however, in their antecedent history, and the pressure of
persecution to which the Labadists were subjected, to make it
exceedingly probable that this policy in the government of Maryland
formed a circumstance in the selection that was made. The journalists,
who travelled under pseudonyms for the express purpose of keeping
their mission secret, might have established their colony in New York
had it not been under the rule of Governor Andros, a Catholic, and
therefore a subject of particular antipathy to the Labadists.
But the practical weave of circumstance that tended to attract the
Labadists to Maryland centred in the fact that, as stated in their
narrative, they met in New York one Ephraim Herrman, a young trader
from Maryland and Delaware, then recently married. This was the son of
Augustine Herrman, "first founder and seater of Bohemia Manor."
Augustine Herrman was a Bohemian adventurer, born in Prague, who,
after a career of much vicissitude, made his way to New Netherland. He
became a force at New Amsterdam, and was an original member of the
council of nine men instituted by Governor Stuyvesant in 1647. His
connection with Maryland matters dates from his appointment by
Governor Stuyvesant as a special commissioner, along with Resolved
Waldron, to negotiate with Governor Fendall of Maryland concerning the
eastern boundary of Lord Baltimore's province.[6] This mission
effected, Herrman entered into negotiations with Lord Baltimore for
the drafting of a map of Maryland and Virginia, which would be
valuable to his lordship in bringing to a settlement the boundary
dispute pending between the two colonies, and in other ways.[7] In
this manner Herrman became invested with not less than 24,000 acres of
the most desirable lands of what is now Cecil County, Maryland, and
Newcastle County, Delaware, which he divided into several tracts under
the names Bohemia Manor, St. Augustine Manor, Little Bohemia, and the
Three Bohemia Sisters. It is of interest to note that among the acts
passed by the Maryland Assembly is one dated 1666, which provides for
the naturalization of "Augustine Herman of Prague, in the Kingdom of
Bohemia, Ephraim Georgius and Casparus, Sonns to the said Augustine,
Anna Margarita, Judith and Francina, his daughters," this being the
first act of naturalization passed by any of the colonies.[8]
[Footnote 6: Journal of the Dutch Embassy to Maryland, 1659, by
Augustine Herrman, in _Narratives of Early Maryland_, in this series,
pp. 309-333.]
[Footnote 7: A copy of this map is in the British Museum. No other is
known.]
[Footnote 8: _Maryland Archives_, II. 144.]
It was upon Bohemia Manor that the Labadists located their colony.
Danckaerts and Sluyter, under the guidance of Ephraim Herrman, made
their way to Delaware and Maryland. Upon meeting them the elder
Herrman was at first so favorably impressed that he consented to deed
to them a considerable tract, in pursuance of his ambition to colonize
and develop his estates. On June 19, 1680, the Labadists, having
accomplished their mission, set sail for Boston, to which fact are due
such interesting recitals as that of their visit to John Eliot, the
so-called apostle to the Indians, and their visit to and description
of Harvard College. On the 23d day of July the Labadists set sail for
Europe.
In 1683 the two Labadists returned again to Maryland, bringing with
them the nucleus of a colony. In the meanwhile Augustine Herrman had
repented of his bargain, and it was only by recourse to law that the
Labadists compelled him to live up to its terms. The deed he executed,
dated August 11, 1684, was to Peter Sluyter (alias Vorstman), Jasper
Dankers (alias Schilders), of Friesland, Petrus Bayard, of New York,
and John Moll and Arnold de la Grange.[9] The tract conveyed embraced
four necks of land eastwardly from the first creek that empties into
Bohemia River, and extended at the north or northeast to near the old
St. Augustine or Manor Church. It contained 3,750 acres. Those
engaging with Sluyter and Danckaerts in the transaction were all
professed converts to the Labadist faith. It may be noted in passing
that the Petrus Bayard named in the conveyance, and who for some time
was an active member of the Labadist community, was an ancestor of the
late Thomas F. Bayard, ambassador at the Court of St. James.
[Footnote 9: Baltimore County Land Records.]
When fairly settled upon Bohemia Manor, the Labadists undertook
communal modes of life and industry, such as characterized them at the
European centre of the church, which was Wieuwerd, in Friesland. They
cultivated tobacco extensively, and engaged in the culture of corn,
flax, and hemp, and in cattle-raising. Their expressed zeal for the
conversion of the Indians did not take any practical form. At its most
flourishing period the colony did not number as many as a hundred
persons, and in the year 1698 a division of the tract occurred.
Sluyter, who was the active head of the colony, reserved for himself
one of the necks of land and became wealthy. He died in 1722. Some
form of organization had been maintained among the Labadists even
after the division of the land, but five years after the death of
Sluyter the Labadists had ceased to exist as a community. The division
in 1698 which marked the disintegration of the community occurred at
about the same time as a similar division of the estates of the mother
church at Wieuwerd. There the disintegration came about through
consultative action; in Maryland, by the logic of events.
The founder of the system of religion which came to be known as
Labadism, Jean de Labadie, was born in France, at Bourg near Bordeaux,
on February 13, 1610. His father was a French noble and a soldier of
fortune, who rose to be governor of Guienne. His parents entered him
at the Jesuit College, where he completed his novitiate and took the
first vows, and in 1635 he was ordained as a priest. Early
manifestations of an erratic temperament, a mystical habit of mind,
and physical frailty, led to his severance from the Society of Jesus.
He entered upon a preaching mission, and, coming under the attention
of Pere Gondran, second general of the Congregation of the Oratory at
Paris, he received a call to that city, and, according to his own
statement, the entire body of the Sorbonne united in the call.
Labadie soon acquired a fame that went beyond the borders of France,
for oratorical ability and theological precision. His former
associates, the Jesuits, originated stories against his morality and
sought to bring him into trouble with the authorities. The attacks to
which he was subjected led him to adopt a broad though wholly
fanatical scheme of reforms for the Church.[10] During the lifetime of
Cardinal Richelieu, who befriended him, he was safe from attack, but
upon the succession of Cardinal Mazarin the Jesuits obtained an order
of the court for his arrest, the execution of which was prevented by
the death of the king. In the year 1645 he was cited to appear at
court along with his friend, the Bishop of Amiens, and was sentenced
to perpetual imprisonment, which sentence was modified on an appeal
made by the assembly of the clergy of France then in session. He was,
however, ordered to renounce his opinions and to refrain from
preaching for a period of years. In one of his treatises he states
that during a second forced retirement he obtained and read a copy of
Calvin's _Institutes_. This had a determining influence upon his after
career.[11] He summed up the result of his solitary reflections in the
words, "This is the last time that Rome shall persecute me in her
communion. Up to the present I have endeavored to help and to heal
her, remaining within her jurisdiction; but now it is full time for me
to denounce her and to testify against her."
[Footnote 10: _Declaration de la Foi_, pp. 84, 122, 123.]
[Footnote 11: _Traite de la Solitude Chretienne._]
At Montauban in 1650 Labadie abjured his former faith and was later
ordained a Protestant minister. According to Mollerus[12] the
acquisition of the widely famous preacher was heralded as the greatest
Protestant triumph since the days of Calvin. Banished from France in
1657, Labadie preached for two years at Orange (then independent) and
for seven years at Geneva, whence he was called to the pastorate of
the Walloon Reformed Church in Middelburg, Zeeland. At Middelburg he
became embroiled with the ecclesiastical and civil authorities,
because of controversial writings and because, filled with zeal to
reform the Reformed Church in the Netherlands and to awaken it from
its formalism, he carried his own congregation into positions and
practices manifestly tending toward schism. Driven out of Middelburg,
he established a church at Veere, which he styled the Evangelical. The
States of Zeeland kept the troublesome preacher on the move, and
Labadie journeyed to Amsterdam, where he had an opportunity to
establish a communal society, of which the chief ornament was Anna
Maria van Schurman of Utrecht, famed as the most learned woman of her
day.[13]
[Footnote 12: _Cimbria Litterata_, III. 37.]
[Footnote 13: Her _Eukleria seu Melioris Partis Electio_ (Altona,
1673) is perhaps the chief authority for the history of the Labadists
from this point on.]
The church at Amsterdam grew and prospered, and overtures were
received from many sectaries, including the Society of Friends, all of
which Labadie declined to consider. It may here be remarked that
similar overtures made by representatives of the Society of Friends to
the colony later established in Maryland were likewise unfruitful.
Certain disorders arising, the civil authorities placed such
restrictions upon the church at Amsterdam that another removal became
expedient. At this juncture, in 1670, an invitation was received from
the Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Frederick V., Elector
Palatine and King of Bohemia, and granddaughter of King James I. of
England. Elizabeth[14] was Protestant abbess of Herford in Westphalia,
and placed quarters in that town at the disposal of the Labadists, but
on account of certain religious excesses and the suspicions aroused in
the minds of townspeople and neighbors, the Imperial Diet caused the
Labadists to remove. Some of them tarried for a while at Bremen but
the majority sought refuge immediately at Altona, then under the King
of Denmark, in 1672. At this place, in February, 1674, Labadie died.
His death evoked estimates of his work and worth from high
ecclesiastical sources, and much of this was of a laudatory nature.
The Dutch historians are disposed to regard Labadie's chief work the
leavening of the old lump by the many hundreds of his converts
inspired with his evangelical zeal, who remained in connection with
the Reformed Church.[15]
[Footnote 14: For this princess, see Guhrauer's article in the
_Historisches Taschenbuch_ for 1850, and Miss Elizabeth Godfrey's _A
Sister of Prince Rupert_.]
[Footnote 15: H. van Berkum, _De Labadie en de Labadisten_ (Sneek,
1851), II. 170 _et seq._ The history of the sect can be followed in
Van Berkum, in the first volume of Ritschl's _Geschichte des
Pietismus_ (Bonn, 1880), and in Ypeij and Dermout, _Geschiedenis der
Nederlandsche Hervormde Kerk_ (Breda, 1827), vol. III.]
The next removal of the Labadists was to Wieuwerd in Friesland, the
northernmost of the Dutch provinces, where they were established under
the lead of Pierre Yvon on an estate called Thetinga or Waltha House,
which was tendered to them by three ladies devotedly attached to their
teachings, the three youngest daughters of the great diplomatist
Francis Aarsen, Lord of Sommelsdyk. Here the communal sect attained
its full measure of strength, declined, and died. For more than half a
century Wieuwerd was the seat of the new church and from it feeble
colonies were established at various centres. From Wieuwerd proceeded
the colonists who settled in Maryland, and from Wieuwerd proceeded the
voice of authority that controlled these colonists. The final
disruption of the Labadists at Wieuwerd was due largely to the
inevitable difficulties that have beset and destroyed almost every
experiment in the establishment of an industrial community upon a
footing of religion.
The system of faith and practice which came to fruition at Wieuwerd
and was transplanted to the New World, did not have the catholicity
necessary for adaptation to the conditions of an undeveloped country.
Labadism, theologically, belonged to the school of Calvin; in its
spirit it was in line with the vein of mysticism which is met
throughout the history of the Christian Church. In general respects
the theology of Labadism was that of the Reformed Church of the
Netherlands. Like so many other adventitious but zealous movements,
Labadism centred in its millennial hopes. These, however, were rather
an expression of the spirit of pietism which pervaded the doctrines
of the church than a fundamental positive proposition. Labadism,
theologically, recognized a scheme of covenants extending from Adam to
Christ. The symbols of the last covenant were baptism and the Lord's
Supper. The church was to be a community of the elect kept separate
from the world by its pure teachings.
The Labadists taught rigidly the doctrine of the separation of the
believer from the unbeliever, and to this is attributable the communal
mode of life they adopted. The rule of the sect made it necessary for
a husband and wife to separate if either were not of the elect church,
which came to be synonymous with the church of the Labadists. In
compliance with this rule, a number of the converts to the faith in
Maryland separated from wives or husbands. This was the case with
Petrus Bayard, who later returned to his wife, and with Ephraim
Herrman.
The Labadists came close to the Friends in their doctrine of the law
of the spirit as being the only law to which they were to yield final
subjection. They conceived this law to nullify the ceremonial system
of the Old Testament, and even to reduce to a place of incidental
importance specific moral injunctions. Sabbath observance was not
fundamental, and while the reading of the Bible was a medium of
communication by God's spirit, its importance was secondary to the
immediate movements of the spirit. The works of the Labadists disclose
a high form of faith and aspiration, but vitiated by many visionary
and impracticable features, in Maryland by the mercenary instincts of
their leader, Sluyter. Nor was the general state of religion in
Maryland at the time of their experiment such as to foster a
profoundly pietistical community. Some of the members of the Labadist
community acquired prominence in Maryland affairs, and their company
of thrifty and industrious persons, bent upon illustrating the virtues
of religion, must have done good, however far they may have fallen
short of their ideals; but of the personality of most of them we know
little or nothing.[16]
[Footnote 16: An interesting description of the life of the community
on Bohemia Manor is given in _An Account of the Life, Travels, and
Christian Experiences in the Work of the Ministry by Samuel Bownas_
(London, 1756).]
While the Journal of the Labadists has particular bearing upon
Maryland by reason of the location within its bounds of the colony of
the sectaries, the recital brings into the range of vivid and intimate
knowledge some of the leading characters in the contemporary life of
several of the sister colonies, and it has been recognized as a
valuable aid to students of the early period of New York.
There are no material remains of the Labadists in this country. They
did not affect either the institutions or the spirit of their times,
nor leave memorials behind them. That Augustine Herrman's sentiments
towards the strange visitants and settlers upon his estate became
radically altered, before his death in 1686, is indicated by a codicil
in his will in which he directs that certain of his neighbors
administer his estate in the place of his son Ephraim, giving as his
reason his son's alliance with the Labadists.
The Labadists abroad exerted an appreciable influence upon the life of
their times, and did much to infuse a spirit of evangelical
earnestness into the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, which, at the
rise of Labadism, was formal and pedantic in its modes of worship and
given to theological disputation. Labadie has importance in the
history of that church, and is accorded honor in its records. The
futility of the sect in the New World was due not wholly to its
communal form of organization, but is to be attributed as well to the
fact that the Labadists migrated in obedience to no high and lofty
impulse, but because in their nomadic passage from place to place,
under the pressure of religious and civil proscription, due in most
cases to acts of insubordination, there seemed no place remaining for
them except the shores of the New World. No history of communism can
be complete that does not include the experiment entered upon by Jean
de Labadie and his followers in the Old World, and by the Labadist
colonists in America. It is unfortunate that more complete information
with regard to the actual economic value of the Labadist community
cannot be had, but such information could not greatly differ from the
facts that are well known as to the economic and industrial character
of the Maryland population in general.
BARTLETT B. JAMES.
NOTE B
Since Dr. James's introduction was written, I have come upon some
facts of interest respecting the two Labadist travellers which were
not known to Mr. Murphy, who indeed had practically nothing to say
regarding their previous life.
Jasper Danckaerts was born at Flushing in Zeeland May 7, 1639, the son
of Pieter Danckaerts and Janneke Schilders--which explains his using
Schilders as a pseudonym during his American expedition. He became a
cooper in the service of the East India Company at Middelburg.[17] A
curious book in which Pierre Yvon, pastor of the Labadist church after
Labadie's death, describes the death-bed conduct and speeches of
members of the sect, gives us glimpses of the diarist's family
life.[18] They may enable us to look more kindly upon that censorious
writer. Under date of May, 1676, the pastor commemorates the death of
"our sister Susanna Spykershof, wife of our brother Dankers. She came
to us at Zonderen" (Sonderen, a temporary stopping-place near Herford)
"with her husband, leaving without difficulty her birth-place and
dwelling-place Middelburg and all her acquaintances.... The trials and
dangers they underwent were common to the two.... Both were at the
same time, at Altona, accepted as members of the body of Christ [the
Labadist church].... She loved her husband tenderly, but when God
called him elsewhere, to the service of His work and children, she
embraced His will therein with much love; which was especially
edifying in her, since before this, when she was living in the world,
she was wont to be in great anxiety whenever he was away from home on
their own concerns. At Bremen, when a portion of our community was
there, then at Altona, and here in Friesland, God visited her with
great sufferings," and she died at the age of thirty-three, soon after
the death of their youngest child.[19]
[Footnote 17: F. Nagtglas, _Levensberichten van Zeeuwen_ (Middelburg,
1890), I. 146.]
[Footnote 18: _Getrouw Verhael van den Staet en de laetste Woorden en
Dispositien sommiger Personen die God tot sich genomen heeft, uyt de
Gereformeerde en van de Werelt afgesonderde Gemeynte, voor desen
gegadert tot Herfort en Altena, en tegenwoordig tot Wiewert Vrieslant_
(second ed., in New York Public Library, Amsterdam, 1683), pp. 30-32.
The original French, _Fidelle Narre des Etats et des Dernieres
Paroles_ (Amsterdam, 1681), and an English version (_ibid._, 1685),
are in the British Museum.]
[Footnote 19: See p. 130, note 1, _infra_.]
When Cornelis van Sommelsdyk went out to Surinam as governor in 1683,
a body of Labadists sought an asylum there. A little later Danckaerts,
after his second voyage to New York, went out with reinforcements to
their settlement of La Providence in Dutch Guiana, which soon proved a
failure.[20] In 1684 he was naturalized by a Maryland act,[21] but
this does not prove that he was then in the province or long remained
there. Thereafter he seems to have lived mostly at Wieuwerd, but he
died at Middelburg between 1702 and 1704. He left behind him an
elaborate manuscript, which he was just about to publish at the time
of his death, entitled "Triumf des Hebreeuwsche Bibels" (triumph of
the Hebrew Bible over secular chronology) in which he styles himself
"Jasper Danckaerts, lover of wisdom, of sacred emblems, history, and
theology, at Middelburg in Zeeland." The antiquary from whose book
this fact is derived says also, "In 1874 I bought at a book-stall in
Middelburg a very neatly written translation of the Psalms, with
musical notes, prepared by Danckaerts mostly during his American
journey, dated at Wieuwerd, and perhaps revised by Anna Maria van
Schurman."[22] This manuscript is now in the library of the Zeeland
Academy of Sciences at Middelburg. I am greatly indebted to Mr. W.O.
Swaving, librarian of that society, who has kindly furnished me with a
copy of the preface to this manuscript, as also of Danckaerts's note
on his Indian Bible.[23]
[Footnote 20: Some writers put the Surinam venture before the voyage
of 1679, and it is noticeable that Danckaerts says he has been in the
West Indies; p. 61, _infra_. But the little "book of saints" which has
just been mentioned says, of a Juffrouw Huyghens, who died in January,
1680, a lady very zealous for the conversion of the Indians, that she
said that "if any of us went out thither, she would wish to be one of
the first." Evidently no such expedition or migration had yet taken
place in 1680; van Sommelsdyk's going out as governor gave the
opportunity, he being a brother of their patronesses.]
[Footnote 21: _Maryland Archives_, XIII. 126, also naturalizing
Sluyter, Bayard, and de la Grange.]
[Footnote 22: F. Nagtglas, _Levensberichten van Zeeuwen_, I. 146; J.
Kok, _Vaderlandsche Woordenboek_, XI. (1708) 41.]
[Footnote 23: See p. 264, note 2, _infra_.]
The manuscript is entitled "De CL Psalmen Davids op Nieus volgens de
Nederduitschen Text in Nederduits Sangh-Rym gebracht door J.D.,
Liefhebber der Poesie tot Wiwert in Vrieslant," _i.e._, "The 150
Psalms of David, translated afresh into Dutch verse in accordance with
the Dutch text, by J.D., lover of poetry, at Wieuwerd in Friesland."
Explaining the deficiencies of the metrical version by Petrus
Dathenus, the writer sets forth his wish to make a better translation
(from French into Dutch), and narrates how the opportunity at last
arrived "when I found myself called upon for the second time to make a
journey to New Netherland in the year 1682-1683. And although such
journeys by water and land seem to offer little good opportunity for
composition, beyond the keeping of a good journal, yet I began with a
good will, and by God's grace pursued and happily finished it....
After returning home and revising and correcting it, it was thought
advisable to submit it for further revision to the Juffrouw N.N.,[24]
which was done, and after two years I received it back with
corrections," copied it again, kept it still longer, but then in view
of the publication of Hendrick Ghysen's version (1690) found it
useless to publish. In the next winter, however, he put it into its
present form, for his own use and that of any who might be edified by
it. The preface is dated at Wieuwerd, January 8, 1691, and signed
Jasper Danckaerts.
[Footnote 24: Meaning Anna Maria van Schurman.]
With Sluiter we are perhaps somewhat less concerned, but he was a more
important figure in the Labadist church. We have seen (Note A) that he
came originally from Wesel, was born in 1645, and was studying
theology at Leyden in 1666. With his brother Hendrik, who was also
educated in theology and had preached at Wesel, he had joined the sect
at Herford. His sister Elizabeth had already joined them at Amsterdam.
The brother withdrew, the sister remained, and figures in Yvon's
hagiology, having died at Altona in 1674, _aet._ 23.[25] Hendrik and
Peter were "speaking brothers" in the church. Some editions of the
Declaration issued at Herford[26] bear on the title-page, along with
the names of Labadie, Yvon, and Dulignon as pastors, those of Hendrik
and Peter Sluyter as preachers. Paul Hackenberg found him one of the
chief disputants at the time of his visit.[27]
[Footnote 25: Schotel, _Anna Maria van Schurman_, app., p. 40;
Schurman, _Eukleria_, II. 38; _Getrouw Verhael_, pp. 16-24.]
[Footnote 26: See p. 265, note 1, _infra_.]
[Footnote 27: See pp. 168, note 1, and 291, note 2, _infra_.]
It seems almost certain that it was Sluyter of whom William Penn
speaks, in his account of his visit to Wieuwerd in 1677, when he had
conferences with the Labadists marked on his part by appreciation of
the affinity between them and the Friends. "With these two," he says,
meaning Anna Maria van Schurman and one of the three ladies van
Sommelsdyk, to whom the estate of Wieuwerd had belonged, "we had the
Company of the Two Pastors [Yvon and Dulignon] and a Doctor of
Physick.... After him the Doctor of Physick, that had been bred for a
Priest [Quaker dialect for any minister], but voluntarily refused that
Calling, exprest himself after this Manner: I can also bear my
Testimony in the Presence of God, that tho' I lived in as much
Reputation at the University, as any of my Colleagues or Companions,
and was well reputed for Sobriety and Honesty, yet I never felt such a
Living Sense of God, as when I heard the Servant of the Lord J. de
Labadie: Adding, The first Day I heard him, ... it was to me as the
Day of my Salvation;... Upon which I forsook the University, and
resolved to be one of this Family."[28] This corresponds with what we
know of "Dr. Vorstman."
[Footnote 28: _Works of William Penn_ (London, 1726), I. 90, 91. See
also p. 202, note 1, _post_. Sluyter is also mentioned as a leading
disputant and exhorter by the neighboring minister, Willem a Brakel,
in his _Trouwhertige Waerschouwinge voor de Labadisten_ (Leeuwarden,
1683), p. 63.]
Sluyter's later life, to his death in 1722, is sufficiently set forth
by Dr. James. It need only be added that in 1692 Lord Nottingham, then
Secretary of State, writes from Whitehall to Governor Copley of
Maryland that "the King being informed that Mr. Vorsman, Moll,
Danckers, De la Grange, Bayert, and some others ... do live peaceably
and religiously together upon a plantation on Bohemia River, and the
said persons being in some Respect strangers may at one time or other
stand in need of your particular protection and favour," His Majesty
directs that such protection and favor be accorded;[29] also that in
1693 and 1695 governors Copley and Nicholson give "Peter Sluyter
_alias_ Vorsman" license to marry persons, as he "hath made it appear
to me that he is an Orthodox Protestant Minister, ordained according
to the Maxims of the Reformed Churches in Holland."[30]
J.F.J.
[Footnote 29: _Maryland Archives_, XX. 163.]
[Footnote 30: _Ibid._, pp. 398, 399.]
JOURNAL OF JASPER DANCKAERTS,
1679-1680
JOURNAL OF OUR VOYAGE TO NEW NETHERLAND
_Begun in the Name of the Lord and for his Glory, the 8th of
June,_ 1679, _and undertaken in the small Flute-ship, the_
Charles _of New York, of which Thomas Singelton was Master;
but the superior Authority over both Ship and Cargo was in
Margriete Flips,[31] who was the Owner of both, and with
whom we agreed for our Passage from Amsterdam to New York,
in New Netherland, at seventy-five Guilders for each Person,
payable in Holland. We had ourselves registered, to wit: I,
J. Schilders, and my good friend, P. Vorstman._
[Footnote 31: Margaret Filipse. See _post_, p. 5, note 1.]
On the eighth of June, 1679, we left home[32] at four o'clock in the
morning, taking leave of those with whom God had joined us fast in
spirit, they committing us, and we them, with tenderness of heart,
unto the gracious protection of the Highest. Although for a time
separated in body, we remained most closely united in soul, which is,
always and everywhere, but one and the same. We went on foot to
Oost[erend], expecting there to take the canal boat, which we did, at
six or half past six o'clock, after waiting an hour. We took leave
finally of those of our beloved and very worthy friends who had
accompanied us, and thus far made it a pleasant journey for us. Our
hearts had been strengthened in discoursing, on the road, of God and
his will concerning us, and of the disposition and readiness of our
hearts, as we then felt, to bear it whatever it might be, although we
foresaw that it would be mortifying enough for us. We arrived at
B[olsward] about eight o'clock, where we discovered the reason why
there were so few people in the boat and tavern, for by the ringing of
the bells we understood that it was a holiday, namely, Ascension
Day,[33] which suited us very well, as we thus had an opportunity of
being alone in the tavern, and eating out of our knapsack a little
breakfast, while waiting for the canal boat to leave. We were greatly
pleased, while we were in the tavern, to see several persons there,
representatives of the schout,[34] who were going the rounds in all
the taverns of the city, to see whether there were any drunkards or
whether any other disorderly conduct subject to the penalty of any
fine was being practised. When the time arrived, we stepped on board
the canal boat, where we found few people: but these passed the whole
way in tattling, principally about a certain miser who had died and
cheated his friends, leaving them more than they themselves had hoped
to find. As our own thoughts were otherwise employed, this talk was
very annoying to us. We reached W[orkum][35] before the hour fixed for
departure from there, so we went to the Amsterdam packet, on board of
which there were different kinds of people, but all wicked. Among them
was a family consisting of father, mother and children, who even after
the manner of the world were not spoken of much better. They had two
daughters of a very easy disposition. We had the good fortune to have
the cabin to ourselves, where we could be perfectly accommodated. We
left Workum at twelve o'clock with a strong head wind, but it soon
became calm, so that it was six o'clock before we passed
Enckhuysen.[36] We came to anchor before Amsterdam about eleven
o'clock at night.
[Footnote 32: The manor-house of Thetinga, at Wieuwerd in Friesland,
about seven miles southwest of Leeuwarden. By walking to Oosterend and
a little beyond one found, as the canals then lay, a canal route to
the Zuider Zee. The diarist, it will be observed, refrains from naming
the place, and gives only the beginnings of the place-names mentioned
just below.]
[Footnote 33: The chronology needs explanation. Thursday, June 8,
1679, new style (which was the style our travellers observed), was May
29, old style, and May 29, old style, was Ascension Day, the keepers
of old style observing Easter this year on (their) April 20, though
the keepers of new style observed it on (their) April 2. The new style
had been adopted by the province of Holland in 1582, immediately upon
its promulgation by Pope Gregory XIII., but in Friesland and the other
provinces of the Dutch Republic the old style continued to prevail
until 1700.]
[Footnote 34: The chief executive officer of a Dutch town.]
[Footnote 35: A port on the west coast of Friesland, where they took
the packet to cross the Zuider Zee to Amsterdam.]
[Footnote 36: An important commercial town in North Holland, on the
chief point they would pass on the west side of the Zuider Zee.]
_9th, Friday._ We stepped ashore early and went first to look after
our ship, the _Charles_, which we found lying in the stream. When we
went aboard, we found some passengers already on the ship. We inquired
when they intended to sail. The mate, who like the captain was a
Quaker, answered, "to-morrow," that is, Saturday. We went immediately
to the house to which our chest had been directed, taking another with
us. We lodged there as long as we were at Amsterdam. The proprietor
made no objection to deliver us the chest which had arrived before us,
upon our receipts which we had brought. This done, we went to
Margaret's,[37] to whom we spoke of ourselves, voyage, and purpose,
and who showed us some attention. All this was accomplished before
noon-time, when we went to our lodgings to brace ourselves up. The
house being full of people the whole time, it was very difficult for
us, though we obtained a room, to be tolerably alone during the day;
but as the people who carry on this business desire to have much money
spent, and as it was not for us to do so, we went out a great deal
into different parts of the city, and returned there in the evening,
where we slept together.
[Footnote 37: Margaret Philipse. Frederick Philipse (1626-1702), who
in 1674 was listed as the richest man in New York, and later owned the
great Philipse manor and was for twenty years a member of the
governor's council, had in 1662 married Margaret, widow of Pieter
Rudolph de Vries, herself a well-to-do and enterprising merchant. She
was the daughter of Adolf Hardenbroek of Bergen, and died before 1692.
It is not necessary to accept _in toto_ the diarist's estimate of
her.]
_10th, Saturday._ We performed some errands, and also spoke again to
Margaret, inquiring of her when the ship would leave. She answered she
had given orders to have everything in readiness to sail to-day, but
she herself was of opinion it would not be before Monday. We offered
her the money to pay for our passage, but she refused to receive it at
that time, saying she was tired and could not be troubled with it that
day, about which we passed a little joke with her, and she asked us if
we were not of such and such people, who lived at such a place, to
which we most of the time answered, yes.[38]
[Footnote 38: _I.e._, if they were not Labadists of Wieuwerd.]
In the afternoon we took on board our chest and what we deemed
necessary for the voyage, by means of an ordinary row-boat. We reached
the boom without the least questioning, as the officers of the customs
were employed with a lighter inspecting some wine of which they needs
must taste. Coming on board, we selected our berth, put our
bed-clothes in it, and requested the mate to keep the berth for us,
which was next to the large hatchway, according to Margaret's orders.
We then returned to our lodgings.
_11th, Sunday._ Not being able to do anything in the city, we
determined to cross over the Y[39] to Buiksloot, where we went to hear
the preaching, which was wretched. It was by an old minister and
according to the doctrines of Voetius. His text was of the seed sown
among thorns. We had hitherto eaten out of our provision basket
without refreshment, and we therefore took the opportunity now to
refresh ourselves a little. We went at noon to Niewendam and heard a
sermon by a person who had recently come there. He gave a short
exposition of his opinions, from which we clearly saw that he was a
Cocceian;[40] and he seemed zealous, but not serious or earnest
enough. We recrossed the river in the evening and went to our
lodgings.
[Footnote 39: The Y (now spelled Ij) is the river or inlet on which
Amsterdam is situated. Buiksloot and Nieuwendam are suburban places on
its north side.]
[Footnote 40: The Voetians and the Cocceians were at this time the
leading theological parties in the Reformed Church of the Netherlands.
Gysbertus Voetius (1589-1676), professor of theology at Utrecht, was
the pietistic, rigidly orthodox Calvinist; at first favorable to
Labadie as to a man of earnest zeal to increase piety in the church,
he turned against him as Labadie developed into separatism. Johannes
Cocceius (1603-1669), professor at Leiden and one of the chief
exponents of the "federal" theology (theology of covenants),
represented a school more liberal in tendency and freer in exegesis,
though still closely Biblical. Our travellers approved neither group.]
_12th, Monday._ This whole day we were in expectation of the ship's
leaving, and therefore went out continually to see about it; but it
was to no purpose. I went again to inquire at the house of Margaret,
but could obtain no assurance. Our lodging house was the while
constantly full of drunkards, and we did all that we could to avoid
them.
_13th, Tuesday._ The ship still lying in the stream: we expected she
would sail; but at the appointed time, nothing coming of it, we went
on board and found there more passengers than before. We inquired
again of the new mate when they had determined to leave, but we could
obtain no information. The mates advised us to go to the Texel[41] and
wait there for the ship, and this, for other reasons, we concluded to
do. I saw to-day a certain cooper who had visited us several times at
A[ltona][42] and who conducted himself very commonly _chez la famme
reforme_,[43] and I believe comes also to the assembly of Mr. B. He
looked at me, but made no recognition, and passed along. This is the
only one of my acquaintance whom I have seen at Amsterdam.
[Footnote 41: A large island at the mouth of the Zuider Zee. Ships
outgoing to America would pass between it and the Helder, or extreme
north point of North Holland.]
[Footnote 42: The Labadists had dwelt at Altona, in Holstein, then
Danish, from 1672 to their removal to Wieuwerd in 1675. Labadie died
there.]
[Footnote 43: No doubt the allusion is to Antoinette Bourignon and her
conventicles. Mlle. Bourignon (1616-1680), born in Lille, France, was
a mystical enthusiast of tendencies not dissimilar from those of
Labadie. Like him she wrote much, had temporarily a great vogue, and
removed with her followers from place to place--Amsterdam, Schleswig,
Holstein, Hamburg, East Friesland, Friesland. Their congregation was
at Hamburg when the Labadists were at Altona, close by, and was now at
Franeker, not far from Wieuwerd. Efforts had at first been made toward
union, but by this time there was open opposition between the two
sects. The "assembly of Mr. B." means the conventicle maintained at
Amsterdam by a merchant named Bardowitz or Bardewisch. He had been one
of the foremost followers of Labadie, had interpreted his discourses
into Dutch for those who did not understand French, and when Labadie
retired to Herford in 1670 had been left in charge of that portion of
the congregation which remained in Amsterdam. There he for many years,
without pretending to be a minister, held a conventicle of separatists
in his own house.]
_14th, Wednesday._ Having resolved to go to Texel to-day, whether the
ship left or not, we prepared ourselves for the journey. We took
dinner with our host and paid him for our lodging there. About seven
o'clock we went in the Texel barge, where we found many passengers,
but it was ten o'clock at night before we got off. After leaving the
piles we had a strong head wind, which gradually increased to blow so
hard that we could scarcely keep before it, fearing to sail into
others.
_15th, Thursday._ We passed Enckuisen early in the morning, and had
then to proceed against the wind with hard weather. We kept tacking
with great assiduity till about midday, when the tide compelled us to
stop, and we came to anchor under the Vlieter.[44] The boat being
full of drinking people, there had been no rest the whole night. My
good friend[45] was sea-sick, and particularly suffered from the
toothache, but felt better after taking a little of his usual
medicine. The wind subsiding somewhat, and the tide having fallen,
some of our passengers were put on board a ship-of-war, which was
riding at anchor under the Vlieter, and then we proceeded on our
course to Texel. Tacking until in the evening, as far as the Oude
Schilt,[46] we came near being run down, which happened in this way.
There came a small English ship in from sea, when an English galiot,
lying close in shore, weighed anchor and set sail in order to speak to
her. Coming down close before the wind, they were just going to speak
to the ship, when we lay on their bow in order to wear about. They
were all taken up therewith and took no notice of us, whereupon we
began to shout and scream very hard, but they did not hear us; we not
being able to avoid them, redoubled our cries, every man of us, but
they, coming close by, heard us and hauled off. It was a narrow
escape, as they were within two inches of being right upon us; but as
there was a ship-of-war's boat on our vessel, we were probably in no
great danger of losing our lives, since by means of that we could have
saved ourselves, or they could have caught us up. We landed at the
Oude Schilt about half past nine in the evening, and took lodgings at
the Court of Friesland, one of the principal inns, although we had
been recommended to the Moor's Head, but that did not suit us, because
it was mostly frequented by tipplers. Having taken something to eat,
we retired together to rest in a quiet little chamber which they
prepared for us.
[Footnote 44: The southern extremity of a great shoal near the mouth
of the Zuider Zee, northeast of the island of Wieringen. "Under the
Vlieter" would mean at the east side of this shoal, in the
Tesselstroom or channel to the Texel.]
[Footnote 45: Sluyter.]
[Footnote 46: A village on the east side of the Texel.]
_16th, Friday._ My companion still suffering from the toothache and
also a pain in the stomach, remained in bed till noon, when he found
himself better. We dined with our landlord and then wrote a letter
home, which we posted. We were in momentary expectation of the arrival
of our ship, for which we were constantly on the look out; but as it
continued blowing hard with a contrary wind, we did not discover
anything of her, and, by force, took this time to recruit ourselves a
little.
_17th, Saturday._ Waited for our ship as before, but saw nothing of
her.
_18th, Sunday._ Went to hear preaching this morning at Oude Schilt by
a very poor man, both in body and mind, for he was all awry from top
to bottom, without and within, his face as well as his feet, but
displeasing as he was to look at, he endeavored to please everybody.
His text was, "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God."[47] We
went in the afternoon through Burght,[48] the principal village on the
island, walking along the dunes and sea-shore, where we were amused by
the running about of an incalculable number of rabbits. Being upon the
outside of the strand, we watched for a while the breakers of the
North Sea, which were being driven against the shore by a northwest
wind; then we turned back to Burght and came to a brewer, the only
one, not only in that place, but on the whole island. We drank of his
beer, which in our opinion was better than any we had found on our
journey. Being a Mennonist[49] he would gladly have entertained us
with pleasant conversation, but admonished of the time, we returned to
our lodgings at Oude Schilt.
[Footnote 47: I Peter v. 6.]
[Footnote 48: Near the middle of the island.]
[Footnote 49: Or Mennonite. Their sect, largely Dutch, were followers
of Menno Simons (1492-1559), refraining from military service, oaths,
and public office. It sprang from among the Baptists of the
Reformation period, and had much in common with the Society of Friends
in the period of the present book.]
_19th, Monday._ We looked out again for our ship, going along the dyke
to Oostereindt,[50] a considerable village, but we saw no signs of
her. We therefore left the shore and returned home inland, passing
through another small village, called Seelt.
[Footnote 50: Still another Oosterend, at the east point of the
Texel.]
_20th, Tuesday._ Perceiving nothing of our ship we began to feel very
anxious, for besides being at much expense for our lodgings, we were
sometimes compelled to eat with very godless men. Our lodging house
was the one most frequented by the superior officers of the
ships-of-war, of which there were seven or eight lying there ready to
convoy different fleets to various parts.
We went in the afternoon to the Hoorn, quite a large village west of
the Oude Schilt. When we had passed through it, we found ourselves
near the dunes, over which we crossed to the beacon, walking upon the
shore to the extreme point of the island, from whence we saw the
Helder before us on the other side, and between, the two mouths of
Texelsdiep,[51] observing how the lines agreed with the beacons. Time
running on, we returned to the Hoorn, where we were compelled to drink
once. The landlord of the house was a Papist, who quickly took us to
be Roman ecclesiastics, at which we laughed between us for his so
deceiving himself. He began to open his heart very freely, and would
have told us all his secrets if we had asked him; but we cut off the
conversation, and answered his questions with civility. When we
reached home in the evening, we saw some ships had arrived, and
supposed certainly one of them was ours; but, as it was dark, we were
compelled to wait till next morning.
[Footnote 51: The main channel past the Texel.]
_21st, Wednesday._ As soon as we had taken a little breakfast we went
along the dyke to Oosterent, near which the ships had come to anchor.
As we approached the place, we could no longer doubt ours was there,
which we were the first to discover. We therefore hired a boat
immediately and went on board, when we not only found it was our ship,
but that she was full and overladen. She was so full of passengers of
all kinds, and so stowed, that we saw no chance of finding a place in
which to sleep, and there were scarcely any of our goods to be found.
The berth, which we had selected, had been taken by others, which
there was no use of resisting; but it caused us no regret, as we
thereby secured another near the cables, almost entirely out of the
way, and always removed from the greatest noise. We determined to go
ashore and come back the next day; but after taking our dinner there
and paying our landlord, we returned on board. When we came on the
ship, they began immediately to inquire of us about everything, and we
answered them discreetly and civilly. Among others who thus made
themselves conspicuous, was Jan, whom we did not know, and whose
deportment did not accord with what we had imagined of him; but we
supposed he was one of the passengers, and one of the best, and most
slovenly. He asked my comrade if we were not of such a people,
expressly naming them, who answered him according to his and our
condition.[52] After we had been on board some time, seeing we
obtained no place, I went myself to look after one and observed where
we could make a berth. I spoke to the captain, who had the chests
removed and a berth arranged for us on the larboard side near the
forehatch; but as the cable was lying there so that it could not be
stretched out as long as it ought, and as there was room enough, I
took a little old rope and set to work to lengthen it out, which I
accomplished before evening, so that we could sleep there that night.
Certainly we had reason to thank the Lord that He had given us a berth
in a more quiet place than we ourselves had chosen, which He had of
His will allowed to be taken from us. His providence truly extends
over all things and His foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of men,
and sometimes even of His children.
[Footnote 52: Jan is not otherwise known to us, though apparently he
had, or had had, some connection with the Labadist community which
made his name familiar to their agents.]
_22d, Thursday._ We slept little during the night in consequence of
the clatter of so many godless and detestable men, and the noise of
children and others. We had, however, to content ourselves. I went in
search of our chest, which was stowed away in the bow, but to no
purpose, as it was necessary to creep on hands and knees to get in
there. We remained in the hope it would come to light at
Faelmuyen.[53] The ship was so low between decks, that sitting on the
chest we could not sit upright even between the beams, for it was only
about three feet high. But we were here in the forecastle well
content.
[Footnote 53: Falmouth, England.]
_23d, Friday._ My comrade wrote a letter home. Our captain having
caused the boat to be made ready in order to go with his wife to
another English ship, we requested permission to accompany him ashore.
He roundly refused us; and we had to wait for a boat to pass and hail
it, which we did. Having posted the letter on shore, and refreshed
ourselves somewhat, we started to go on board again. We found our
boat, when our captain and the captain of the English ship came up.
Our skipper asked us if we would accompany them, to whom we civilly
replied, and so went on board with them in the evening. The sailors
had caught some plaice which were for the guests in the cabin. I
assisted in cleaning them.
_24th, Saturday._ The wind was southeast, the same as yesterday, which
made us all very anxious for Margaret to arrive, so that we might not
miss a good wind. Jan and some others of the passengers were much
dissatisfied, and said: "We know very well where she is. She is in
Friesland." Upon this Jan declared, "if this wind blows over our
heads, I will write her a letter which will make her ears tingle," and
used many other rude expressions. He was one of the greatest of
grumblers, and even against her. He revealed himself more freely in a
conversation with my companion, from which we could clearly discover
that he was of the feelings of Boheem,[54] though he denied he had
ever read his books. He also expressed himself profanely and in very
foul language, worse than the foulest sailor or dock-loper would have
done. The wind changed towards evening, and thus this day passed with
murmuring, and we doubted no longer that this was Master John.
[Footnote 54: Jacob Boehme (1575-1624), a pious German shoemaker,
author of many noted mystical writings.]
_25th, Sunday._ It blew very hard from the west so that we had to
lower the topmasts and let drop the sheet anchor. We saw at daylight a
yacht coming down to us before the wind and were rejoiced to find that
Margaret was on board, with some other females. The yacht not coming
well up, our captain sent a boat to her, but they could not reach her
on account of the current. However, the yacht succeeded in coming
along side of us, and Margaret came on board with her little daughter,
and a Westphalian woman, who was a widow, and a girl, both of whom
were in her service, and to go as passengers. They were welcomed by
all, and all of them came and shook us by the hand. Some said they
thought she had been to Friesland. Whereupon she answered: "How do you
know where I have been?"[55] We had nothing to detain us now, except
the wind.
[Footnote 55: We are left to infer that Margaret Philipse also, like
Jan, had some relation to the Labadists, and perhaps that she had just
visited them. But her husband, Frederick Philipse, was a native of the
town of Bolsward, mentioned above, and she may therefore have gone
there.]
_26th, Monday._ The wind began to blow a little from the south, but
calmly. It veered round more and more to the southeast so that we
determined to get under sail. We therefore took a pilot, weighed
anchor, and set sail about ten or eleven o'clock. We sailed smoothly
onward to the Helder. The pilot had a brother who was older, and had
been a pilot longer than he had, and who sailed ahead of us in the
pilot boat, continually sounding the depth of water with the deep
lead. When we were going by the Oude Schilt there came a barge off
with two more women who desired to go with us; but as they could not
reach the ship, the pilot boat went after them and took them on board
of her, where they had to remain until the ship arrived outside. It
was about two o'clock when we came in the channel of the Lant's-diep
or Nieuwe Diep.[56] You run from Oude Schilt strait to the Helder, and
so close to the shore that you can throw a stone upon it, until you
have the capes on this point opposite each other, namely, the two
small ones; for to the westward of these there is a large one which is
not to be regarded. Having the capes thus opposite each other, you are
in the middle of the channel and by the first buoy. The current runs
outside along the shore, east and west, to wit: the ebb tide westerly,
and the flood easterly, and also very strong. The ebb runs until it is
half flood. There are still two other channels, the old one which is
the middle one, and the Spanish Channel stretching to the east. We had
reached the middlemost buoy when it became entirely calm, for which
reason we could hardly steer the ship, and, in the meanwhile, the
current was steadily setting us over to the west bank. Hereupon a
dispute arose between the pilot in our ship and those in the pilot
boat going ahead of us. The one in the ship on throwing the lead and
finding it begin to be shallow, and seeing, moreover, that the current
was driving us more upon the shoal, was of opinion that we should wear
ship, which his brother was not willing to do, saying that she should
stand over further. This continued so long that at last it became
entirely dry, when he wished to tack about; but it could not then be
done in consequence of the current running with so much force upon
shallow ground, and carrying the ship violently against the shoal,
where the current ran obliquely. They got out the boat at the bow of
the ship to row, which would not yield in consequence of the strong
current which also drove the boat as well as the ship; so that, in a
word, we were aground on the west bank of the channel, and although
the water was nearly at its lowest there was still a strong ebb tide.
Immediately there was great clamor and running to and fro both of
seamen and those not acquainted with navigation. Every one was
alarmed, and every one did his best in that respect, the more so,
because there was not far from us the wreck of a ship with her masts
sticking out of water, though it was on the east side of the channel.
Nevertheless, we remained fast, and the ship began to thump hard and
fall entirely on one side. They ran straightway to the pumps, but
found no leak. The pilot remained in good spirits, though put out and
angry with his brother, who had misled us, and who, in consequence of
the strength of the current, and the lightness of the wind, could not
come on board of us. They said we were in no danger, although it
looked very strange, as the current had washed the sand very much from
under the lee of the ship whereby she had fallen much on her side. But
we hoped with the flood tide she would come off again.
[Footnote 56: These are channels leading out around the Helder, the
Nieuwe Diep close to that cape on the inside, the Lands Diep close to
it on the outside. Farther out lay the old channel and the Spaniard's
Channel.]
There were several passengers, not only women, but men, and some of
the bravest, who began to secure the best they had, and were ready and
looking out how they might safely reach the land. But the Lord
possessed us with His grace. Though seeing all this and knowing the
danger, I was not disturbed by it. Margaret proposed throwing some of
the cargo overboard, but the pilot and I dissuaded her from it. The
captain wished to start the tanks of fresh water, but we hindered him.
Of all the men in the ship I saw no one who was so frightened as Jan.
He ran backwards and forwards and hardly knew what he said or did.
This happened about half past three o'clock in the afternoon, and as
we had not yet taken any dinner, and could effect nothing as long as
the ship was fast, the victuals were brought out to be eaten. We sat
before the hut and ate; but we had not finished when I perceived the
ship dragging, as had been predicted. I sprang up quickly and cried
out: "We are afloat; the ship's afloat." Immediately thereupon the
whole ship was in commotion. The victuals were removed, the boat put
to the bow, and every one did his best, rowing as well as he could.
The ship, floating more and more, gave some good pushes and was
brought into four fathoms of water, in the middle of the channel, and
there anchored. My companion and myself thanked God in our hearts, and
all were very much rejoiced. But no sooner was the danger over, which
had somewhat bridled the godlessness of these bad men, than they
returned to their old courses, with cursing and foul language. They
were not affected in the least by what had happened, nor by God's
gracious preservation of us. Truly was His hand visible, for it
remained perfectly calm, so the ship labored very little. It would
otherwise have been all over with us, for our ship not being the
strongest, and being moreover very heavily laden, if the wind had
changed to the east and forced us on a lee shore, she would have soon
gone to pieces; or if we had grounded on the opposite side, which
might easily have happened, there would have been little probability
of her getting off, because the flood tide would have driven us higher
up, especially if it had blown somewhat hard. The flood having run in
and a light breeze springing out of the S.E. and S.S.E., the anchor
was raised and in a short time we came outside, having been there
about six hours. The pilot was paid, and he left the ship; the women
whom he had taken in his boat were put on board and we bade him adieu,
and set our course.
Before we proceed further we will say a word concerning the island of
Texel, where we were about eight days, although the island is well
known. It is said to be twenty-eight miles[57] in circumference, and
is nearly oval in form. The shore, inside along the Texelsdiep, is
dyked; on the outside, along the North Sea, it is beset with dunes.
There are six villages, namely Oosterend, Seelt, the Hoogh, the Burgh,
which is the principal one, and has privileges like a city, such as
that of inflicting capital punishment and others; the Oude Schilt,
which is mostly resorted to by ships, the Hoorn, and also the West
End, which has now fallen into decay. We saw four of them but not the
Hoogh which lay out of the way, and the West End which had fallen
into decay. Inland the country is rough, and some of it high, so that
there are few ditches, except in the low lands for the most part on
the side of Texelsdiep. Otherwise they protect their land with small
dykes of earth. The soil is sandy, which affords very good water in
the high places. The meadow lands are somewhat dry, but yield a fine
grass. The inhabitants gain their livelihood, for the most part, by
raising sheep and making Texel cheese. The sheep are smaller, but
fatter and more hardy than they are in Friesland. They seldom bring
forth two young at a birth, and when they do, one usually is killed in
order that the other may be better nourished. The inhabitants have
cows for their own use. The dyke is not high or thick, but is lined
with _wier_, a kind of sea grass, which they put together and lay
against the dyke somewhat higher than the earth work. Piles are driven
outside to hold this wier against it, and prevent the sea from washing
it away. This dyke is repaired every year by contract. Many fishermen
and pilots live along it, both qualifications generally being in the
same person, as well as the other pursuits pertaining to navigation.
There are about five hundred pilots in all living on the island of
Texel, as can be seen by the numbers which they carry on their sails
or wings.
[Footnote 57: In this translation distances are stated in English
miles.]
The law is that no ship can go in or out without a pilot; and in case
any captain will not take a pilot, he is nevertheless bound to pay the
fees of one, and in case the captain will not pay them, the pilots can
go to Amsterdam and there obtain it at the expense of the captain. And
if the captain take no pilot and an accident happen, the consequences
fall upon him; but I believe this first rule only applies to ships
belonging to Amsterdam or other ports in Holland; and that foreign
ships are more free in that respect, but cannot relieve themselves
from the second. The pilots who bring in ships from the outside bring
them to the Texel roadstead or the Helder, and others take them to
Amsterdam or elsewhere; and those who take them from Amsterdam, go no
further than the Texel road or the Vlie,[58] and other pilots carry
them out to sea. The fee of the pilots is a guilder[59] a foot for
every foot the ship draws, though any sum may be fixed by agreement.
[Footnote 58: The Texel channel being the great western passage out
from the Zuider Zee, the other or eastern passage was the Vlie, lying
on the other side of the great shoal known as the Bree Sand, and
leading out between the islands of Vlieland and Schelling.]
[Footnote 59: A guilder or florin was equivalent to about 40 cents.]
During the whole time we were there we saw few or no fish, though we
supposed this was the place for fish. We remarked further that the
inhabitants of Texel were more polite than the boors of Friesland. A
large portion of them are Romanists. There was no home-brewed beer
tapped in the taverns, but it was all foreign beer, and this I suppose
was for the purpose of saving the excise. They are under the
jurisdiction of West Friesland and the particular government of the
city of Alckmaer,[60] whose weights and measures they use. West of the
Oude Schilt there is a small fortification with four points and two
redoubts on the dyke, and some small batteries; but they afford little
protection to the place, and still less to the harbor. It was closed
and without men, when we were there. When we first came there, the
people, unaccustomed to see such persons, regarded us as some
individuals in particular. The innkeepers took us to be farmers of the
revenue, especially of brandies, and supposed our presence there was
to prevent their smuggling, as they themselves told us. The Roman
Catholics, as they declared, looked upon us as priests; the
Mennonists, as a class of their exhorters; and the ordinary Reformed,
as preachers; whereby they all showed they did not know us in truth,
according to the word in Christ Jesus.
[Footnote 60: West Friesland was the ancient name for the northern
part of the province of Holland, Alkmaar one of its chief towns.]
Leaving Texel and the land we came outside the coast, laying our
course S.W. with a S.E. wind, with which we sailed some distance from
the shore. Towards evening the wind began to blow from the S. and
S.S.W. quite hard, and so we stood off through the whole night. I do
not know that I ever had in my life so severe a pain in the breast as
I had this evening, whether it was from hard work or change of our
condition.
_27th, Tuesday._ The wind from the same quarter as before, but blowing
harder, for which reason we reefed our topsails. We had twenty-six and
twenty-eight fathoms of water. By evening it was somewhat calmer; but
as the wind was not steady we stood off from the shore.
_28th, Wednesday._ Finding ourselves in twenty-five and twenty-six
fathoms of water and the wind still south and southwest we sailed over
by the wind. It continued to blow hard, and we sailed for the most
part N. by E. and N.N.E. It annoyed me that I could not get at our
chest, in order to obtain my charts and books of navigation. Our mate
and others observed the latitude, and found it to be 52 deg. 16'; and we
tacked about. The wind continued in the same quarter, sometimes a
little lighter, sometimes sharper. We kept mostly a S.S.E. course,
with hard weather the first part of the night.
_29th, Thursday._ Having twenty-six and twenty-seven fathoms of water
we lay over again. Every day there were many mackerel caught, which
for several days were for the cabin only, whatever number were caught,
because they were taken with the captain's hooks; but the passengers
and sailors began to get their hooks ready also and thus every one
began to catch and eat. The weather was delightful. I had obtained my
things out of the chest, and found the latitude 52 deg. 18' [?]. We stood
over to the Flemish or Zeelandish coast, calculating we were not far
from Sluis and Bruges. I therefore went aloft frequently to look out
for land. We saw several fishing boats, one of which we hailed toward
evening. He was from Zierickzee, and told us Walcheren[61] was about
twenty-eight miles E.S.E. of us, and we could see it from the mast
head, as was the fact. We laid over again immediately. It now began to
blow more from the S.W. and S.W. by W. We had sailed the last night
west by north, according to reckoning, twenty-eight miles. This result
agreed with my observation within less than four miles, and that of
our mate, named Evert. But the captain's and the English mate's
calculation brought us before the Maes, as Evert[62] told me.
[Footnote 61: The westernmost island of the province of Zeeland.]
[Footnote 62: Evert Duyckinck; see _post_, p. 28, note 2.]
We sailed now for a day or two among great quantities of June-bugs or
cock-chafers, which had been driven off from the land and drowned,[63]
which caused us to reflect upon what God did formerly in Egypt and
elsewhere, and still often does, for His power is always the same,
although it is not always understood.
[Footnote 63: In the fragmentary manuscript journal of the voyage of
1683, Danckaerts notices, on land, between Canterbury and Dover, the
same great abundance of beetles, which every evening fly out to sea
from Dover in great numbers.]
_30th, Friday._ We tacked over to the Flemish coast this morning in
twenty-five fathoms of water; but it was so calm that we made little
progress. It was too cloudy to take the latitude. The wind was very
variable, and we could not keep on S.W., or even south, and so drifted
for the most part with the tide.
JULY _1st, Saturday._ We had drifted the whole night in the calm, and
had gone backwards instead of forwards; but in the morning the wind
began to blow out of the N.W. and N.N.W. with a stiff breeze. We
therefore set all sail, and went ahead tolerably well on a straight
course W. by S. and W.S.W. against the current. We saw land many times
about two hours' distance, both on the starboard and larboard, that on
the starboard being the cape of Dover, and on the larboard, the cape
of Calais. There was a free wind and fine weather, though a little
haze on the horizon. The land began to loom up more distinctly, and I
sketched it twice with crayon. We continued to catch plenty of
mackerel, and also weevers and whitings. We arrived before Dover at
sunset, when we fired a gun, and a boat came off to us immediately, by
which the captain sent some letters ashore. We inquired of them the
news, and they answered us all was well; but they told the captain
privately that 30,000 Scottish Papists had taken up arms for the
conspirators.[64]
[Footnote 64: A distorted rumor of the rising of the Covenanters in
June, 1679; but everything was now seen in the light of the Popish
Plot.]
It is proper that I should say something here of the North Sea. In
case you are driven about by strong contrary winds and cannot obtain
the latitude, and, indeed, under any circumstances, you should use the
deep lead frequently, for the depth is well shown on the chart, and
often you cannot get sight of the land. The Flemish coast is the least
dangerous, although the English is the most surveyed, because the
water becomes shoal gradually. You may get into thirteen and fourteen
fathoms of water. In the true channel it is twenty and twenty-two
fathoms, and in the middle it is deeper, namely, twenty-six and
twenty-eight and over, but it is somewhat more uneven. In approaching
the English coast the shoals are more even, as twenty-six, eighteen,
seventeen fathoms. To navigate the channel it is best to keep nearest
the Flemish coast, because it affords a better course, and the current
makes it easy to go north, and the sandbars such as the Galper,
Wytingh, and Goyn,[65] are more to be avoided than the Flemish banks;
and, moreover, close by the shore it is very deep, yet by the setting
of the current to the north you may soon be upon them, that is, with
an ebb tide.
[Footnote 65: Sandbanks off the southeast coast of England, called by
the English the Galloper, the Whiting, and the Goodwin Sands.]
_2d, Sunday._ Made fair progress during the night. We found ourselves
in the morning before the point of Bevesier,[66] which I sketched. The
wind was northerly with a cool air. About breakfast time a large
English ship came up behind us, which we hailed. She was from London
and bound for the Straits.[67] She had much sail on, and after passing
us, set all she had; but not long afterwards a small breeze blowing
off shore, she was compelled to begin to take in her topgallant-sails
and upperstay-sails. This was scarcely half done when her maintop-mast
and mizzentop-mast went by the board, and remained hanging on the side
of the ship. The man who was taking in the topgallant-sail fell
overboard. When this accident happened she was only a short distance
ahead of us; and we, therefore, all ran forward to the forecastle to
see whether there were any pieces of wood at our bow to damage us. We
sailed by her, close under her lee, and saw somewhat of a crowd
running about the ship. Finally they launched their jolly-boat for the
purpose of looking after the man who had fallen overboard with the
top-mast. Whether there were any more we did not know, and as we
sailed ahead of them with considerable speed, we could not see whether
they fished any one up or not; but the ship sailed before the wind the
best she could, when her top-mast went overboard; we took in very
quickly our own topgallant-sail, which we had set, but more from
precaution than necessity. Shortly afterwards it was so calm that we
merely drifted along; and being nearly midway between Bevesier and the
Isle of Wight, and the ebb tide running out, we were compelled by the
current to anchor about a mile from the shore.
[Footnote 66: Beachy Head.]
[Footnote 67: Of Gibraltar.]
About four o'clock in the afternoon Margaret came to me while I was
engaged in sketching the Isle of Wight. We talked over various matters
which were almost the same as those about which she had conversed with
my companion the day before, and I therefore met her with the same
objections.
_3d, Monday._ We did not advance any during the night, and had drifted
along; but a breeze springing up we went ahead a little. It was very
foggy, so that we could not see the land. It cleared up in the
afternoon, when we found ourselves off against the Isle of Wight; but
the wind subsiding, and the tide being spent, we ran for the point of
the island, and came to anchor in ten or eleven fathoms near some
other ships which were waiting there for a good wind and tide. The
jolly-boat was launched and our Dutch mate and two other persons went
ashore in order to see if they could obtain some fresh provisions. The
tide having passed, and the wind shifting, we signalled to them to
come on board again, which they did in the evening, when we were
already almost under sail. They brought nothing with them, except a
little milk which served us as a good refreshment for this evening.
Sailing ahead, we steered above the point with the wind W.S.W., and so
gained the open sea. There is a very strong current here, and hard
beating along the shore and around the point. The current sent us
ahead more than the wind. The coast is quite good and it is deep
enough close up to the shore.
_4th, Tuesday._ We found ourselves in the morning opposite Wight with
the wind S.S.E., and quite still. After a while there came up a
breeze. We passed Peveril Point,[68] however, with the ebb. About noon
a flute-ship[69] came near us which we hailed. She was from Amsterdam,
bound to Cadiz. It was so calm in the evening that we drifted, and
turned round several times. We perceived fifteen or eighteen large
ships on the French coast, which saluted each other with many heavy
guns. The ebb being spent, we came to anchor again in twenty-one
fathoms of water, about two miles from the shore. The flood having run
out by evening, we weighed anchor, and before we were under sail had a
fresh wind astern. We therefore set all the sail we could, having a
favorable wind and tide, by which means we came before Portland.
[Footnote 68: Durlston Head.]
[Footnote 69: A small long three-masted trading-ship.]
_5th, Wednesday._ We still had a fair wind and kept our course W. by
S. We passed Portland, and came in sight of Goutstar,[70] and arrived
off against it about noon. Our mate was of opinion that we had run by
the rock of Meeusteen or Jetston,[71] and should have it on the
larboard; but on looking out afterwards we found it right before us,
about four miles off. We had therefore to hold up and leave it on the
starboard. It is a large rock having its head just above the water. It
rises up straight, but is very much hacked, which makes it look like a
reef. Whenever the sea is rough it is under water. It is dangerous
enough, and lies far out in the channel, farther than it is marked
down on my chart. We certainly had reason here again to observe the
care of the Lord, and His protection through His good providence,
which always watches paternally over His children, shown in our
becoming aware of this rock before the evening, and just before the
evening, for we had not well gone by it before it was dark. If we had
been sailing so at night, or if we had not now discovered it, the
mate's calculation being as it was, we certainly should not have
missed sailing upon it; for when we first saw it, it was straight
before us, and we were sailing with a fair wind and tide up to it. We
were therefore touched, and thankful to the Lord. This passed, we
still, while the sun was going down clear, made Deadman's Head,[72] a
point jutting out from England, so that we reckoned we were still
twenty-eight or thirty-two miles from Falmouth Bay; but the wind had
fallen off somewhat. My calculation was, that we were about twelve or
sixteen miles from Falmouth.
[Footnote 70: Start Point.]
[Footnote 71: This dangerous reef was called by the Dutch Meeuwsteen
(Sea-mews' Rock), by the English Eddystone. Of the lighthouses for
which it has been celebrated, the first was begun in 1695.]
[Footnote 72: Dodman Point.]
_6th, Thursday._ During the night I heard the ship tack close about,
and therefore supposed that the wind had changed, or that the ship had
run too far, or, what was more probable, I was afraid, the wind being
about S.E., we had fallen more to the shore. Our mate Evert and I
thought we should stand off a little till daylight; but the captain
tacked about again, so that we then sailed N.E., intending thus to
enter the harbor of Falmouth, but we found no opening, and when the
day broke, discovered that they had made a mistake, and had taken the
point of Deadman's Head for the point of Falmouth Bay. When the sun
rose, they saw they were deep in the bay, on a lee shore, where it all
looked strange, and they had a tolerably hard wind. When they saw they
were wrong it continued so some time before they became informed. They
then wore ship, and sailed with quite easy sheets out of the bay.
This mishap was mainly caused by Master Jan, who wishing to play the
part of a wise man, though truly it was from fear, had been on deck
several times during the night in order to look out, afraid, as he
said himself, that we might sail upon the point of the Lizard.[73]
Coming up at this time with drowsy eyes, and catching a glimpse of the
land, through the mist, he began to call out, that we had passed by
Falmouth, and would certainly sail upon the Lizard. It was the English
mate's watch, who was not very well acquainted with him, and could not
keep him still. The captain was therefore called, who also came up
rubbing his eyes, and unable to see the land well in the mist. He
agreed with Jan, being apprehensive that the ship had sailed more than
they thought, and as I myself considered might well be the case, and
so let the ship tack about. I deemed it better, however, to keep off
from the shore till daylight, when they could see where they were; but
the captain relying more upon Jan's opinion, and wishing to accomplish
half a masterpiece, by going into Falmouth in the dark, and surprising
the people there to whom the ship was consigned, and so to pass
hereafter as a good and skillful captain, insisted upon sailing in,
and so they went in, as has been mentioned. It is no part of the
business of a good seaman to run into a place by night, or when it is
dark, where he is not well acquainted; but in such case he should work
off shore slowly, waiting until day and light, and know where he is,
and then see what can be done. Thus the fear of one danger, and the
rashness accompanying it, brought us into another, greater than the
first.
[Footnote 73: The southernmost point of Cornwall. Falmouth is about
midway between it and Dodman Point.]
Sailing then out of this bay, around the west point, we saw at once
the neck from which this point of land takes its name of Deadman's
Head. It is shaped like a coffin or the mound of earth which peasants
form over a grave, one end a little higher than the other, and going
up sharp on either side; but it is on the top somewhat jagged. It is
on the east side of the point, three or four cable lengths from the
main land. We had a third mate (Titus), on board the ship who was to
go on the other ship at Falmouth, and who was well acquainted here. He
said he had passed through the opening between the rock and the main
land, and that it was a mile wide and tolerably clear and deep enough.
After having passed Deadman's Head and this rock, we came to a small
pretty sand-bay, but it lies open. From Deadman's Head you can see, on
the point of Falmouth Bay, a church with a small spire, and near it a
stone windmill, which forms a good land-mark, for along the whole
coast there are few or no steeples. As you sail along this point the
castle comes into view standing upon the west point of the harbor of
Falmouth, where also there is a stone windmill.[74] The easterly point
should be avoided, for it runs out considerably. It is hard bottom,
and at low tide there is three fathoms water always; and we sailed in
with that depth. As soon as you perceive it is deeper, you have passed
the east point. Then keep along this shore if the wind be fair, for
there is a rock almost directly in the channel. You can go around it
close enough, but this should not be done. As it was low water when we
entered, it stuck up out of the water. At high tide it is covered.
There is a spar or pole upon it, which cannot be seen far, but the
breakers are sufficiently visible. When you sail in, in this manner,
you see the other castle also, lying on the east side, on a point
inside. After having passed the rock, keep a little again on the
inside, and then to the west, so as to avoid the second point, upon
which the east castle is situated. As soon as you have passed that,
you have deeper water and softer bottom; and you must then look out
that you do no damage to the shipping, for the roadstead commences
there, and you can see the town or village of Falmouth lying upon the
west side of the bay, and appearing somewhat prettier than it is in
fact. When we arrived, we found a large number of vessels lying there;
but being desirous of sailing high up, several ships received good
thumps from us, in passing by them, and our endeavoring to keep off
the shoals. It would have resulted much worse, if our sheet anchor,
which was lying up forward, had not caught between the rails of a
small vessel, whose mizzenmast we also came foul of, whereby our ship
turned round, and at the same time our anchor fell, and we touched
bottom in the mud, with fine weather and still water. We thanked our
God again, with our whole hearts, for the double mercy shown us this
morning, having not only in a fatherly manner preserved us from an
apprehended danger, but delivered us from this one into which we had
truly fallen, and had then caused us to arrive so well. To Him belongs
all praise and glory, from all His children, and especially from us,
to all eternity. Amen.
[Footnote 74: Falmouth, which had come into existence in 1613,
numbered in 1679 some two hundred and fifty houses. The two castles
alluded to as commanding the harbor were Pendennis castle on the west
(southeast of the town), famous for its obstinate defence in 1646 by
the royalists under Lord Arundell, and St. Mawes on the east.]
Our anchor had not yet touched bottom when the inspectors or
tide-waiters all came on board to examine. Our captain and Margaret
went immediately ashore; and after the cook had served the breakfast,
almost all the passengers, both old and young, putting on their best
clothes, did the same. My comrade also went to see if any letters had
arrived for us, whilst I remained on board to look after things a
little; for all our goods were in the berth, and otherwise within
reach, and the ship was constantly full of strange people. My comrade
soon returned, but brought no letters. This morning while we were
launching the boat, I hurt myself in the loins, on my left side; the
pain extended through the whole of that side of my body, to my left
breast, and across the middle to the right breast. I was all bent up
while standing, and had to sit down. I could scarcely draw a breath or
move myself; but I felt it was my old complaint, forced upon me anew
when I hurt myself. This pain continued for some days, when it
gradually passed over. At high water we towed the ship higher up, to
the warehouse, where we had to unload. The custom house officers, and
Mr. Roggers,[75] came on board with some other persons, and when they
left, they promised us the ship should be unladen by Tuesday, for
which we were glad.
[Footnote 75: The custom house had lately been transferred to Falmouth
from Penryn. Bryan Rogers was one of the chief merchants of the
former.]
_7th, Friday._ They began early to break open the hatches and
discharge the ship. My comrade and I went ashore to a place called
Pe[n]ryn, a little further up the bay, where it ends and as far as
they can go with any vessels. We went walking thence into the country,
over and among the hills, for the purpose of recreating and recruiting
ourselves, which refreshed us very much, after having been so long in
an overburdened ship and with such wicked men.
We returned to Pe[n]ryn at noon in order to see if we could obtain
some place or other to lodge and rest ourselves for a time. By chance
we came to an inn in that place, called The English Ship, the landlord
of which was named Maitre Jean, who spoke a little Dutch, but, as we
afterwards discovered, better French, so well indeed that we could
converse with him. We took dinner there, and agreed with him to lodge
there for several days, with the privilege of a chamber to ourselves.
_8th, Saturday._ Having slept on board the ship we went in the morning
to our new lodgings, where we breakfasted, and then rambled into the
country to divert ourselves, and thence to Falmouth, and so returned
by evening to our lodgings.
_9th, Sunday._ My companion being disposed to write, I went to their
church, to wit the Episcopal,[76] where I was surprised to find in the
church yard a great crowd of people sitting together, smoking tobacco
and waiting for the last toll of the bell. On entering the church I
was still more astonished at the ceremonies which indeed did not
differ much from those of popery, and continued quite long enough.
Then followed a sermon, if it may be called such, delivered in a white
gown, as were the first services and other ceremonies in like
vestments. The sermon was read out of a little book, without the
addition of a single word. It began about ten o'clock, and was not
very edifying. The text was from II Cor. xiii. 11; and all this
continued till about half-past eleven, when church was over, and the
burgomasters or mayors,[77] with two golden royal sceptres, were
escorted home. In the afternoon I went out for a walk to the ship,
which lay about a half-hour from here toward Falmouth, and nearly
midway between the two places for the purpose of being unladen.
[Footnote 76: The new church at Falmouth, built by Sir Robert
Killigrew. The sermon was probably from the _Two Books of Homilies_
authorized by the Church.]
[Footnote 77: There was but one mayor.]
_10th, Monday._ We remained at our lodgings almost the whole day
writing letters. Our ship was nearly discharged, which I went in the
evening to ascertain.
_11th, Tuesday._ We continued still at our lodgings, but in the
afternoon visited the ship in consequence of their telling us that our
chest would be examined, as indeed took place. There were some
passengers on shore whose chests were broken open, because they did
not attend to them, and the inspectors would not wait. They cut to
pieces the cords of their berth under which they found some things;
but although there were more berths so arranged, and still better
furnished than this one, they did nothing to them, as they well knew
beforehand whose they were, and why they did what was done. When they
examined our chest, they took almost all our goods out of it. However,
they did not see our little box, or perhaps they thought it contained
medicines, as they found in the other one. The two small pieces of
linen were entered, and registered against my name. They went to our
berth, but did nothing; nor was anything there.
_12th, Wednesday._ This whole day was a writing day, for the post
would leave to-morrow. They began to reload the ship in the afternoon.
I went on board once, and also went with another to see if there were
any letters for us, which turned out to be the fact; for, on finding
the captain, he gave me a letter for which I paid twenty-two pence
postage. This was the first letter we had received from home. It is
unnecessary for me to say that I was rejoiced, or that we thanked the
Lord that He still thought of us. I went immediately with it to my
companion, who was as glad as I was, and also because the letter came
just in time to be answered, as we did with joy and tenderness of
heart.
_13th, Thursday._ As the post was soon to leave, we took our letters
to the post office at Penryn, next to The White Dolphin. The package
was weighed, and was one ounce and a quarter in weight, for which we
paid fifteen pence postage to London; and they informed us it would
reach London on Monday. Our ship being almost laden again, we paid our
landlord and returned on board ship. We could have easily remained a
day or two longer at our lodgings, but our landlord had given us
reasons for leaving. Coming on board the ship, we began to arrange our
place a little for keeping house again. Meanwhile I helped fill the
water casks. There was also some beef to be salted in barrels.
_14th, Friday._ Our ship was entirely laden, that is, with the goods
she had to take, for there was a large quantity of them which had come
out of her, remaining for the other ship which Margaret had bought
there, and which was to be made ready there to go to the Isle of
May,[78] and thence to Barbados. She was a large but very weak ship,
short and high, small and meagre as regards bulk, not altogether old,
but misbuilt. She sailed tolerably well, but was very lank. Two of our
crew went with her, namely, Titus, who was to be boatswain, and one of
our carpenters, named Herman, who was the best one we had. They went,
from the first, to work upon her, for she was lying in winter
quarters. Our ship being laden, our captain went on board the large
one with an English lad, the cabin boy, and his, the captain's wife.
This captain had obtained a Quaker for his mate, a young man and a
very poor seaman, as I have been able to observe. Hereupon our English
mate, named Robert, who also was a Quaker, became captain in the place
of the other, and our Dutch mate, or rather New Netherland mate, named
Evert van Duike--for he was a New Netherlander born, and his parents
and relations were still there, though he had married at Amsterdam and
had lived there a long time, but was now taking his wife and children
with him to New Netherland--became mate in place of the other.[79] In
return for the three persons and the boy who had gone from our crew,
we obtained only one in their place, a poor creature, called Jan, the
doctor, of Boston, who seemed more a charlatan in his behavior and
gestures than a good seaman. Meanwhile we went walking, to see the
country, and in the afternoon came to the east castle, where a soldier
conducted us from the gate and took us before the governor,[80] who
asked us who we were, where we came from, what flag our ship bore,
when and with whom we had arrived, and for what purpose we had come to
the castle. We answered him politely; but we could not make ourselves
well understood by him, for he spoke nothing but English, which we
could not do, or very little, though we could understand it pretty
well. He finally ordered the soldier to conduct us around the castle,
in order that we might look at it. Having satisfied the soldier, we
left, and went down the hill. The beer brewed at the castle is very
poor; there is little or no fresh water up there, and what there is,
does not amount to much. The castle is otherwise strong and well
provided, having over an hundred guns in different batteries, which
command the harbor and the entire roadstead. When we reached the ship
she was laden.
[Footnote 78: One of the Cape Verde islands.]
[Footnote 79: Evert Duyckinck was the son of a Westphalian painter and
glazier of the same name who had come out to New Netherland early, in
the service of the Dutch West India Company.]
[Footnote 80: Pendennis castle is meant. The governor was Richard,
Lord Arundell of Trerice, son of the old governor who had commanded
during the siege of 1646.]
_15th, Saturday._ As our ship was now full, and orders had come to
haul the ship at high water from before the warehouse and off from the
ground, they did so this morning. We went to Penryn to buy some
butter, and when we returned the boat was sent for fresh water, which
was brought on board, and the ship then towed to the roadstead below,
where she arrived in the evening, somewhat late, and was moored at
once.
_16th, Sunday._ The weather was misty and rainy. We went ashore with
one of the passengers and one of the sailors, a young fellow, a
Scotchman, by birth, from the Orkneys, and a Presbyterian by
profession, named Robert,[81] who took us, at our request, to the
Presbyterian meeting, which we left quite satisfied with the zeal of
the preacher. Their mode of service is not different from that of the
Reformed in Holland, but the common people sat there with very little
reverence. At noon we went to dine at a very good inn, called The
Golden Fleece, and in the afternoon we attended the meeting of the
Episcopalians, of whose church service we have before spoken, and so
in the evening returned on board the ship.
[Footnote 81: Robert Sinclair. Though he returned on the _Charles_, he
came back to New York in 1682, married the sister of Evert Duyckinck,
became a sea-captain, and died in 1704.]
_17th, Monday._ We went this morning again with some passengers to
Penryn, where the yearly market day was held, with the intention of
laying out a little money in some purchases, having rid ourselves of
Mr. Jan, who had sought to get it out of our hands, and would by that
means have cheated us. He promised us, if we would let him have the
money, thirty per cent. interest payable in New York, or ducats[82]
there at twelve guilders of _zeewan_ each; but the Lord, who has care
over the least of His children, saved us from this fox, and excited
the attention of another passenger, namely, Jan Theuniesen, who lived
on Long Island, and who advised us what to do.[83]
[Footnote 82: A gold coin of Holland, worth originally about two
dollars and a half, but at this time less. It would apparently have
been worth fifteen guilders of _zeewan_ (wampum) in New Netherland.]
[Footnote 83: Jan Teunissen van Dykhuis, of Brooklyn.]
We bought several things on which we thought we could make a profit,
because the peril of the sea was to be encountered. The Lord, who, as
I have said, takes care of the least of His children, so ordered it
that we not only did not lose any thing by our Dutch money, which
commonly brings not more than five shillings for a ducat; but we
received for almost all that we used, five shillings and six pence,
that is 67 stivers.[84] The reason of this was, that the man who took
our money was about going to Norway, for timber, where he could pay it
out at a higher rate than English money. Having made our purchases, we
went to Falmouth, but as we could not take our goods on board the ship
without first declaring them, we had to take them to Mr. Roggers's,
where one Mr. Jacobs lived, who had assisted in inspecting the ship's
lading, and who would do the same with these. Thinking over the
purchases we had made at Penryn, we discovered there was a mistake in
the payment of a bill, arising from the counting of the money by our
Dutch mate and Jan Theunissen. The difference amounted to one pound
sterling. We, or our friends on our account, had paid the bill. We
discovered the mistake at Falmouth, and immediately went back to
Penryn, informed the merchant of the mistake, which he did not have
much trouble in comprehending. He gave us back the money, for which
we were glad, and returning, arrived by evening on board the ship.
[Footnote 84: Twenty stivers made one florin or guilder, and three
guilders one ducat.]
_18th, Tuesday._ One Mr. Lucas, the most rigid of the inspectors and
custom house officers, came on board this morning. We spoke to him,
told him what we had bought, and requested him to examine them. We
said we might buy something more and he could assess them all
together. He replied he did not wish to examine our chest, or what we
might have bought previously; but would go ashore with us and look at
what we had there. He told us also that he had a small piece or two of
stuffs, which, if we would buy, he would let us have at a bargain. We
went to Mr. Jacobs's where he looked over what we had bought. He told
us we had paid dear for them, although we thought we had bought them
cheap. Mr. Jacobs said he had a remnant of tin which he would sell us
for ten stivers a foot, and we had paid twelve for ours. We were
directed to pay Mr. Jacobs three shillings English for duties upon the
goods we had there, whenever we should have all our merchandise
together. Mr. Lucas went with us to a shop over the door of Mr.
Roggers, where he bought several things for us at a low price; he even
compelled the merchant almost to give us the goods for what he chose,
for the merchant did not dare to refuse or disoblige him. They were
always good purchases. He also brought us something of his own which
he sold us on favorable terms. I supposed these were confiscated
goods, which they wanted to get rid of, and that this was the reason
they were so accommodating to us.[85] Our purchases being completed,
he took us to an inn where we regaled him for the trouble he had taken
with the above-mentioned merchant. We were compelled this evening to
eat and sleep ashore, which we did at the inn, The Golden Fleece.
[Footnote 85: Falmouth customs officers had the right, or opportunity
by connivance of the government, to bring in some goods duty-free.]
We had heard a great deal said for some days past, and to-day, of
great danger from the Turks, who had taken four Dutch ships. This
caused no small apprehension in our ship, and especially in Mr. Jan.
_19th, Wednesday._ My companion wrote a letter home from on board the
ship. We did our best this whole day to get our little merchandise on
board, but without success, because it was not yet declared. However,
every thing concerning the ship and the lading was finished to-day;
and the passengers obtained the bills of their goods, and paid them.
Having accomplished nothing the whole day, we returned on board the
ship.
_20th, Thursday._ My comrade having finished the letters, we went on
shore to Mr. Roggers's, in order to post them in time, and paid the
postage to London. We bought also some brandy, vinegar and other
articles, for we began to see it would go slim with us on the voyage.
We were engaged the whole day in declaring our goods and carrying them
on board, which was completed early in the evening, and the goods
stowed away. We then paid Mr. Lucas a ducaton[86] for the duties on
our goods. He told us what the duties on the whole of the ship's cargo
amounted to, and gave us various other information, all very
willingly, because, after he heard that I was somewhat acquainted with
the wine business, he desired some particulars in regard to it from
me, which I gave him in writing to his satisfaction. We were now all
cleared....[87]
[Footnote 86: A Dutch silver coin, worth about $1.25.]
[Footnote 87: The _Charles_ set sail from Falmouth the next day, July
21, 1679. The account of the voyage is here omitted. It is a somewhat
interesting picture of the hardships, discomforts, and other incidents
of an Atlantic voyage in the seventeenth century, but it is
excessively long.]
[SEPTEMBER] _21st, Thursday._ The hatches of the hold were all opened
yesterday evening, and we began to make the cables fast to the
anchors, which we finished this morning. As soon as the sun rose,
every one climbed aloft in order to look for land and some of them
immediately cried out "land," but they soon discovered they were
mistaken. Our course was north, with the wind E.N.E. I said the land
we would see was in front of us, and we could not see it yet because
it was in latitude 40 deg. 20', and we had 39 deg., a difference of eighty
miles, and as we had sailed only from twenty-four to twenty-eight
miles at the most during the night, we were still fifty-two to
fifty-six miles off, and if we continued to sail as we were doing, it
would be noon or two o'clock before we would see it. I must say a word
here in relation to our cat; how she was always sick and lame for some
days before a storm, and could not walk, and when the storm was over,
was lively and nimble again. She had now been very playful for
several days, running here and there over the ship, but this morning
she was unusually gay. She came running with a spring, leaping into
the rigging and going far aloft, turning her head about and snuffing
the land, as much as to say, there is the land you should look out
for; and causing great laughter among the folks, who said the cat was
on the lookout for land. When she came down she mewed. But a thick fog
coming from the land, cut off all view and hopes of going inside, as
we turned at once from the shore. I obtained, however, the latitude,
to wit: 40 deg. 5'. The distance was reckoned to be sixty-four miles. In
the mean time the deep lead was thrown many times, and 22, 21, 19, 17,
16, 14 fathoms of water found, at one time more and at another less,
for the bottom is uneven. We did this in order not to run ashore
during the fog. It, however, cleared away, and we wore over again, and
immediately saw the land distinctly, which caused new rejoicing. We
perceived clearly that we had been sailing, since yesterday, along the
shore, although it was too far off to be seen. Rentselaer's Hook,[88]
which adjoins Sandy Hook, was in front or north of us; and we had
sailed N.N.E. and N. by E. It was about one o'clock when we first saw
the land. It is not very high, but like a dome, only it is a little
higher. Long Island is not very high; Rentselaer's Hook, which is the
most westerly point of the bay, is the highest of all. Sandy Hook is
low, and stretches out about three miles eastwardly from Rentselaer's
Hook, and makes the channel. You must be close on Sandy Hook before
you can see Long Island. We intended to run in, but could not well do
so this evening, in consequence of the mist continually intercepting
the sight of the land. As the weather was calm, and the sea smooth, we
came to anchor, in thirteen fathoms of water, and lay there quietly
all night.
[Footnote 88: Navesink.]
_22d, Friday._ When the day began to break, they were all in an
uproar; but the weather continued misty, with a northeast wind, for
which reason we judged we could not make the channel. All those who
were so joyful and merry yesterday, were now more sober, as we were
compelled to keep off land, so as not to be caught on a lee shore,
from which it is very difficult to get away. The fog cleared up a
little about ten o'clock, and we sailed again towards the shore, when
we perceived we were approaching the west side. It rained a part of
the time, and was misty, so that sometimes we could only see the land
dimly, and for a moment, and Sandy Hook hardly at all. We durst not
yet venture to run in, and wore off again. About noon we saw a ketch
to the sea-ward of us, but we did not speak to her. She was laying her
course to the west. This coast surely is not very easy to enter,
especially in the autumn. Our captain had trouble enough, though our
mate did not agree with him. Sailing onward, we had 13, 14, 15, 16
fathoms of water, but very uneven bottom as we approached the shore.
We laid our course N.N.E. and N.E. by N. and from the shore, S.S.W.
and S. At four o'clock in the afternoon we determined to run in, if it
were possible. We could see the land a little better, and also
Rentselaer's Hook. Everybody, therefore, was very industrious, some in
looking after the sails, ropes and tackle, so as to be able to turn
and tack ship quickly; others were constantly on the lookout for land
and especially to discover Sandy Hook, in order to secure the best
channel which is next to that point; for not far from it, on the other
side, are the east banks, which are very dangerous. We did our best,
first in a calm, then with a little breeze, to enter. We caught sight
of Sandy Hook at last, but it was soon hid by the fog. We observed how
the land lay by the compass, and so sailed accordingly, expecting a
good flood tide which would begin to make at six o'clock. The deep
lead was thrown constantly, and we found five and four fathoms in the
shallowest places, near the channel. It was low water, and the wind
was N.E. and E.N.E., which took us soon inside, short around the point
of Sandy Hook, into the bay towards the highlands of Rentselaer's
Hook. Upon passing the Hook which was now west of us, we found deeper
water, 5, 6, 7 and 8 fathoms, and ran, as I have said, immediately for
the highlands, and came to anchor in ten fathoms of water, praising
the Lord again, and thankful for the many instances of His goodness
towards us. This is a very fine bay, where many ships can lie,
protected from all winds, except the S.E., which, however, cannot do
much damage, because the east banks lie before it; and at the worst,
the ship can only be driven in the wind. They determined this evening,
to go up early in the morning, in the jolly-boat, to Staten Island or
Long Island, for a pilot.
_23d, Saturday._ It rained the whole night. Our ship lay quiet as if
she were made fast to the piles at Amsterdam, which was very unusual
for us. The wind being west in the morning, they changed their
resolution of going up for a pilot, and as the wind was so favorable
determined to take her up themselves. The anchor was therefore raised,
and we sailed on, for the purpose of passing between Staten Island and
Long Island, where there are two high points of land, for that reason
called the _Hoofden_.[89] We turned gradually from Sandy Hook to the
right, in order to avoid the shoals of the east bank, and so sailed to
the Hoofden. We had a good flood tide, and four to five fathoms of
water at the shoalest part; but the wind shifted again to the north,
and we were compelled to tack, which rendered our progress slow, for
it was quite calm. Coming to the Hoofden, and between them, you have
10, 11, and 12 fathoms of water. As soon as you begin to approach the
land, you see not only woods, hills, dales, green fields and
plantations, but also the houses and dwellings of the inhabitants,
which afford a cheerful and sweet prospect after having been so long
upon the sea. When we came between the Hoofden, we saw some Indians on
the beach with a canoe, and others coming down the hill. As we tacked
about we came close to this shore, and called out to them to come on
board the ship, for some of the passengers intended to go ashore with
them; but the captain would not permit it, as he wished, he said, to
carry them, according to his contract, to the Manathans, though we
understood well why it was. The Indians came on board, and we looked
upon them with wonder. They are dull of comprehension, slow of speech,
bashful but otherwise bold of person, and red of skin. They wear
something in front, over the thighs, and a piece of duffels, like a
blanket, around the body, and this is all the clothing they have.
Their hair hangs down from their heads in strings, well smeared with
fat, and sometimes with quantities of little beads twisted in it out
of pride. They have thick lips and thick noses, but not fallen in like
the negroes, heavy eyebrows or eyelids, brown or black eyes, thick
tongues, and all of them black hair. But we will speak of these
things more particularly hereafter. After they had obtained some
biscuit, and had amused themselves a little, climbing and looking here
and there, they also received some brandy to taste, of which they
drank excessively, and threw it up again. They then went ashore in
their canoe, and we having a better breeze, sailed ahead handsomely.
As soon as you are through the Hoofden, you begin to see the city,
which presents a pretty sight. The fort, which lies upon the point
between two rivers, is somewhat higher; and as soon as they see a ship
coming up, they raise a flag on a high flag-staff, according to the
colors of the sovereign to whom they are subject, as accordingly they
now flew the flag of the king of England. We came up to the city about
three o'clock, where our ship was quickly overrun with people who came
from the shore in all sorts of craft, each one inquiring and searching
after his own, and his own profit. No custom-house officers came on
board, as in England, and the ship was all the time free of such
persons. We came to anchor, then, before the city at three o'clock.
Every one wanted to go ashore immediately. We let those most in a
hurry go before us, when, leaving our property in charge of Robyn,[90]
we also went in company with a passenger, named Gerrit,[91] who took
us to the house of his father-in-law, where we lodged.
[Footnote 89: "Headlands," at the Narrows.]
[Footnote 90: Robert Sinclair.]
[Footnote 91: Gerrit Evertsen van Duyn, carpenter and wheelwright,
emigrated in 1649 from Nieuwerkerk in Zeeland, married Jacomina,
daughter of Jacob Swarts Hellekers, lived mostly in New Utrecht and
Flatbush, and died in 1706. He had returned to the Netherlands in
1670, but was now coming out for good.]
It is not possible to describe how this bay swarms with fish, both
large and small, whales, tunnies and porpoises, whole schools of
innumerable other fish, which the eagles and other birds of prey
swiftly seize in their talons when the fish come up to the surface,
and hauling them out of the water, fly with them to the nearest woods
or beach, as we saw.
We had finally arrived where we had so long wished to be, but from
whence we were soon to depart, because we had come only to do the will
of Him who watches over us, and who after our longest voyage, will
cause us to arrive, by His favor, as it pleases Him. Meanwhile unto
Him be given all honor, and praise and glory for what He does, to all
eternity. Amen; yea, amen.
Leaving the ship on our arrival, it would seem proper that this
narrative concerning the voyage should here be brought to an end; but
as the sea over which we passed is wide and broad, and various things
are to be noted, which could only be found out in process of time, I
will here add them each by its kind.
_Observations upon the Sea and the Voyage._
1. I have uniformly found it true, that the bottom causes the change
in the color of the sea, and makes the color lighter or darker
according as it may happen to be; as we experienced from the beginning
to the end of our voyage. And this is the reason: the water of itself
has no color, but, as it is transparent, the bottom shows itself, such
as it is, through the clearness of the water, according to its depth;
but something must be allowed for the sky, clouds and other bodies in
the atmosphere, which, although they do not change the water,
nevertheless shine in it, and throw a shadow or reflection.
2. The banks or shoals of Newfoundland extend further south than they
are laid down on the charts, and as far as 36 deg. or less of latitude, as
we observed from the color of the water, although it may be deeper
there than about Newfoundland.
3. There is a stream running from the river Amazon, in fact from Cape
----, along the coast of Guiana, through the Gulf of Mexico and the
channel of the Bahamas, along the coast of Florida, Virginia and New
Netherland, to the banks of Newfoundland, where, uniting with another
stream, coming from the north out of Davis's Strait and river St.
Lawrence, it goes again south, and afterwards S.W., to the Bermudas,
but mostly to the east of them, the particular causes and reasons of
which we will notice in its proper place.
4. This stream has its course along the gulfs, capes and bays of the
coast, the same as we experienced near or west of Cape Cod or Staten
Hook, where for two days successively, without headway on the ship,
and in a calm, we were carried by it a degree to the north. This
should be kept in mind, and one should regulate himself accordingly.
5. The storm of the Bermudas has been mentioned in its place.[92]
[Footnote 92: The mate told him, September 1, off the Bermudas, that
one never failed to have storms there; and that one dark night "it
seemed as if the air was full of strange faces with wonderful eyes
standing out of them" (_cf._ Shakespeare's _Tempest_); and then he
remembered to have read the same, in his youth, in a little book
called _De Silver Poort-Klock_ (The Silver Gate-Bell).]
6. I have heretofore exposed mistakes on the large plane chart, and it
is not material to enter further into that subject.
7. After we approached and passed the Bermudas the wind did not turn
round the compass with the sun, which happened to us four or five
times, and frequently does so, as is said by experienced persons.
8. Therefore, in navigating this passage for this place, it is best,
when there are no reasons to the contrary arising from the Turks[93]
or otherwise, to run just above or below the Azores, to latitude 34
and 33, and even to 32 and 31, in order to get into the stream, and
yet I also consider it well to sail to the eastward of these islands;
or if you avoid the Azores, then to sail from Newfoundland or its
latitude, due south, or S.S.E., to the before mentioned latitude; but,
in returning, it is best to follow the coast to Newfoundland, in order
to fall into the stream and wind. The home voyage is almost always the
shortest, inasmuch as the stream runs mostly along the coast.
[Footnote 93: Corsairs from North Africa, who at that time constantly
infested the seas near England and concerning whom the narrative of
the first part of the voyage shows frequent alarms.]
9. When a change occurs in the color of the water, and at other times,
the deep lead should be much used. It should be of 25 or 30 pounds
weight. The ship or vessel should lie as still as possible, or the
jolly-boat should be used, whether the lead be thrown with a certainty
as to where you may be, or for the discovery of other bottom.
10. In storms or hurricanes never be without stern-sails, however
small, unless you can sail before the wind, but no longer than that;
for it is too dangerous, and too uncomfortable, both for the ship and
the persons in her.
Some other observations in regard to the art of navigation and the
management of ships, of minor importance we will reserve for another
occasion.
_The Persons with whom we made our Voyage._
Although this is such a miserable subject, that I deliberated long
whether it were worth while to take any notice of it, yet since one
does not know when a matter can be serviceable, I will nevertheless
say something.
The persons who belonged to the ship were:
The captain, Thomas Singelton, an Englishman, and a Quaker, from
London, I believe. He had his wife with him, who was quite young,
about 24 or 26 years old, and he was surely a person of 40 or 45. He
was not the best or most experienced seaman by a long distance. He was
proud and very assiduous or officious to please people, especially
Margaret and her man; yet he had some amiable qualities, he was
affable. He was stingy; for when many mackerel were caught, he would
not give one to the poor sailors; they all hung there and spoiled. He
was even displeased if the sailors came with their fish lines to fish
too near the place where he was, because the fish might come to their
lines instead of his. His wife was a young, worldly creature, who had
not the least glimmer of Quakerism, of which nevertheless she made
profession, but entirely resembled an English lady fashioned somewhat
upon the Dutch model. She was so proud that she wore much silver and
gold; and when Margaret once spoke to him about it, he said, "I did
not give it to her." Whereupon Margaret asked, "Why did you give her
money to buy them?" To which he replied, "She wanted it."
The English mate, who afterwards became captain, was a passionate
person, inwardly still more than he showed outwardly, a great
man-pleaser where his interest was to be promoted. He was very close,
but was compelled to be much closer in order to please Margaret.
The Dutch mate, Evert, was a wicked, impious fellow, who also drank
freely. He was very proud of his knowledge and experience, which were
none of the greatest.
The boatswain, Abram, of Plymouth, was rough and wicked in his orders,
but he was a strong and able seaman. Robyn was the best.
I cannot permit myself to go further; it is too unpleasant a subject.
The passengers and crew were a wretched set. There was no rest, night
or day, especially among the wives--a rabble I cannot describe. Day
and night without cessation it was as if one were in the fish market
or apple market, where, indeed, some of them had obtained their
living, or as if indeed one were in still worse places. There were
nine or ten of them always together. Among the men there were some who
drank like beasts, yes, drank themselves dead drunk, as you may judge
from the fact that two or three of them drank 3-1/2 ankers[94] of
brandy, from the time we left England or Holland, besides the wine
which they had with them--it is too horrible. As to Margaret and Jan,
it is not to be told what miserable people Margaret and Jan were, and
especially their excessive covetousness. In fine, it was a Babel. I
have never in my life heard of such a disorderly ship. It was
confusion without end. I have never been in a ship where there was so
much vermin, which were communicated to us, and especially not a few
to me, because being in the cordage at night I particularly received
them. There were those whose bunks and clothes were as full as if they
had been sown. But I must forbear.
[Footnote 94: An anker was about ten gallons.]
When we first came on board the ship we ate where we were, and with
those we found there, but afterwards the messes were regulated, and we
were placed on deck with five or six uncouth youngsters; where,
nevertheless, we continued. This so exercised the other passengers,
seeing us submit so willingly, that they themselves could no longer
endure it, and desired us to come with them, and make a mess of eight.
We had been compelled to buy our stores in England, as what we had
were spoiled, or not sufficient. There was not a bit of butter or
vinegar on the food during the whole voyage, except what we had
purchased at Falmouth. I do not know how long it was we had nothing to
eat except heads of salt fish, and those spoiled for the most part. We
had to eat them till they were thrown overboard. Most of the time we
had white peas, which our cook was too lazy to clean, or were boiled
in stinking water, and when they were brought on the table we had to
throw them away. The meat was old and tainted; the pork passable, but
enormously thick, as much as six inches; and the bread was mouldy or
wormy. We had a ration of beer three times a day to drink at table.
The water smelt very bad, which was the fault of the captain. When we
left England they called us to eat in the cabin, but it was only a
change of place and nothing more. Each meal was dished up three times
in the cabin, first for the eight passengers, then for the captain,
mate and wife, who sometimes did not have as good as we had, and
lastly for Margaret and Mr. Jan, who had prepared for them hardly any
thing else except poultry and the like. But this is enough.
After we left England, I took upon myself, out of love of the thing,
and because there were so few persons to work the ship, namely, ten in
all, including the captain, to watch and attend the rudder, as well as
to make observations in navigation; but when I perceived the sailors,
on this account, became lazy and depended upon me, I left the
rudder-gang. Nevertheless, when an English ship came near running us
down in the watch off Cape Cod, causing thereby much uproar and
confusion in our ship, I did my best to unfasten a rope which they
could not make loose, at which the mate raved and swore, and for which
he would have almost struck or killed me. When my comrade heard of it
he wished me not to do any thing more, and that was my opinion. I
could not, however, refrain from helping to the last, but I abandoned
the watch, and so caused the mate to feel that we were not insensible,
for there was nothing else to be done to him. He, nevertheless,
invited us daily more than any one else. Finally, when the voyage was
completed, there was no one, either captain, or mate, or sailor, or
Margaret, who said "We thank you," except our poor Robyn. We had a
little package put in the ship at Falmouth, about a foot and a half
square, on which the captain charged us four guilders freight, in the
money of Holland. We represented to Margaret how we had managed with
only one chest between us, although each passenger was entitled to
have one of his own, but it was all to no purpose. Four guilders it
must be. It was not that we had any difficulty in giving it, but it
was only to be convinced of her unblushing avarice. The mate's wife
was the least evil-inclined, and listened most to what was said to
her, which we hope will bear fruit. We have truly conducted ourselves
towards all in general and each one in particular, so that not only
has every one reason to be edified and convinced, but, by the grace of
God, every one renders us testimony that we have edified and convinced
them as well by our lives as our conversation. Let Him alone who is
the author of all grace, receive therefore all the glory, to all
eternity. Amen.[95]
[Footnote 95: After this the original manuscript begins a new
pagination. See introduction to this book.]
JOURNAL OF OUR TRAVELS THROUGH NEW NETHERLAND,
_From the Time of our Arrival until our Departure for the
Fatherland._
Having then fortunately arrived, by the blessing of the Lord, before
the city of New York, on Saturday, the 23d day of September, we
stepped ashore about four o'clock in the afternoon, in company with
Gerrit, our fellow passenger, who would conduct us in this strange
place. He had lived here a long time and had married his wife here,
although she and his children were living at present at Zwol.[96] We
went along with him, but as he met many of his old acquaintances on
the way, we were constantly stopped. He first took us to the house of
one of his friends, who welcomed him and us, and offered us some of
the fruit of the country, very fine peaches and full grown apples,
which filled our hearts with thankfulness to God. This fruit was
exceedingly fair and good, and pleasant to the taste; much better than
that in Holland or elsewhere, though I believe our long fasting and
craving of food made it so agreeable. After taking a glass of Madeira,
we proceeded on to Gerrit's father-in-law's, a very old man, half
lame, and unable either to walk or stand, who fell upon the neck of
his son-in-law, welcoming him with tears of joy. The old woman was
also very glad. This good man was born in Vlissingen, and was named
Jacob Swart.[97] He had been formerly a master carpenter at Amsterdam,
but had lived in this country upwards of forty-five years. After we
had been here a little while, we left our travelling bag, and went out
to take a walk in the fields. It was strange to us to feel such
stability under us, although it seemed as if the earth itself moved
under our feet as the ship had done for three months past, and our
body also still swayed after the manner of the rolling of the sea; but
this sensation gradually passed off in the course of a few days. As we
walked along we saw in different gardens trees full of apples of
various kinds, and so laden with peaches and other fruit that one
might doubt whether there were more leaves or fruit on them. I have
never seen in Europe, in the best seasons, such an overflowing
abundance. When we had finished our tour and given our guide several
letters to deliver, we returned to his father-in-law's, who regaled us
in the evening with milk, which refreshed us much. We had so many
peaches set before us that we were timid about eating them, though we
experienced no ill effects from them. We remained there to sleep,
which was the first time in nine or ten weeks that we had lain down
upon a bed undressed, and able to yield ourselves to sleep without
apprehension of danger.
[Footnote 96: Zwolle in the Netherlands.]
[Footnote 97: _I.e._, "black Jacob." His name was Jacob Hellekers, and
his house, in which the Labadists lodged while in New York, stood
where now stands no. 255 Pearl Street, near Fulton Street.]
_24th, Sunday._ We rested well through the night. I was surprised on
waking up to find my comrade had already dressed himself and
breakfasted upon peaches. We walked out awhile in the fine, pure
morning air, along the margin of the clear running water of the sea,
which is driven up this river at every tide. As it was Sunday, in
order to avoid scandal and for other reasons, we did not wish to
absent ourselves from church. We therefore went, and found there truly
a wild worldly world. I say wild, not only because the people are
wild, as they call it in Europe, but because almost all the people who
go there to live, or who are born there, partake somewhat of the
nature of the country, that is, peculiar to the land where they live.
We heard a minister preach, who had come from the up-river country,
from Fort Orange, where his residence is, an old man, named Domine
Schaets,[98] of Amsterdam. He was, it appears, a Voetian, and had come
down for the purpose of approving, examining, ordaining and collating
a student; to perform which office the neighboring ministers come
here, as to the capital, and in order that the collation may be
approved by the governor, who, at this time, was not at home, but was
at Pemequick, in the northerly parts of New England.[99] This student,
named Tessemaker, from Utrecht, I believe, was a Voetian, and had
found some obstacles in his way, because the other ministers were all
Cocceians, namely: Do. Niewenhuisen, of [New] Amsterdam, the one of
Long Island, and Do. Gaesbeck, of Esopus, whose son is sheriff of this
city. He was to minister at the South River, near the governor there,
or in the principal place, as he himself told us. The governor was
expected home every day, and then Tessemaker supposed he would be
dispatched.
[Footnote 98: Rev. Gideon Schaets was settled as pastor at
Rensselaerswyck in 1652, later at Beverwyck and Albany, continuing in
service there till he died in 1694, aged 86. Peter Tesschenmaker had
come up from Dutch Guiana, and had supplied the pulpits at Esopus and
at Newcastle on the South River (Delaware River), for about a year in
each place. The history of his formal call, examination, ordination in
October, 1679, and appointment, is set forth in _Ecclesiastical
Records of New York_, I. 724-735. The only three other Dutch Reformed
ministers in the Province at this time were those named below: Rev.
Wilhelmus van Nieuwenhuysen of New York (1672--d. 1681), Rev. Casparus
van Zuuren of Flushing, Brooklyn, and Flatlands (1677-1685), and Rev.
Laurentius Gaasbeeck of Esopus (1678--d. February, 1680).]
[Footnote 99: Pemaquid, on the coast of Maine, where this governor had
built a fort in 1677, on territory embraced in the Duke of York's
patent. The governor was Sir Edmund Andros (1674-1681). He visited
Pemaquid in the autumn of 1679. He was of course nowise subordinate to
the governor of Jamaica.]
The governor is the greatest man in New Netherland, and acknowledges
no superior in all America, except the viceroy, who resides upon
Jamaica.
This Schaets, then, preached. He had a defect in the left eye, and
used such strange gestures and language that I think I never in all my
life have heard any thing more miserable; indeed, I can compare him
with no one better than with one D. van Ecke, lately the minister at
Armuyden, in Zeeland, more in life, conversation and gestures than in
person. As it is not strange in these countries to have men as
ministers who drink, we could imagine nothing else than that he had
been drinking a little this morning. His text was, "Come unto me all
ye," etc., but he was so rough that even the roughest and most godless
of our sailors were astonished.
The church being in the fort, we had an opportunity to look through
the latter, as we had come too early for preaching. It is not large;
it has four points or batteries; it has no moat outside, but is
enclosed with a double row of palisades. It is built from the
foundation with quarry stone. The parapet is of earth. It is well
provided with cannon, for the most part of iron, though there were
some small brass pieces, all bearing the mark or arms of the
Netherlanders. The garrison is small. There is a well of fine water
dug in the fort by the English, contrary to the opinion of the Dutch,
who supposed the fort was built upon rock, and had therefore never
attempted any such thing. There is, indeed, some indication of stone
there, for along the edge of the water below the fort there is a very
large rock extending apparently under the fort, which is built upon
the point formed by the two rivers, namely, the East River, which is
the water running between the Mahatans and Long Island, and the North
River, which runs straight up to Fort Orange. In front of the fort, on
the Long Island side, there is a small island called Noten Island (Nut
Island),[100] around the point of which vessels must go in sailing out
or in, whereby they are compelled to pass close by the point of the
fort, where they can be flanked by several of the batteries. It has
only one gate, and that is on the land side, opening upon a broad
plain or street, called the Broadway or Beaverway. Over this gate are
the arms of the Duke of York. During the time of the Dutch there were
two gates, namely, another on the water side; but the English have
closed it, and made a battery there, with a false gate. In front of
the church is inscribed the name of Governor Kyft, who caused the same
to be built in the year 1642.[101] It has a shingled roof, and upon
the gable towards the water there is a small wooden tower, with a bell
in it, but no clock. There is a sun-dial on three sides. The front of
the fort stretches east and west, and consequently the sides run north
and south.
[Footnote 100: Governor's Island.]
[Footnote 101: The inscription, on a stone extant till 1835, is here
quoted almost literally. It ran, "Anno Domini 1642, W. Kieft, director
general, has caused the commonalty to build this temple." Willem Kieft
was director-general of New Netherland from 1638 to 1647. A plan of
town and fort may be seen at p. 420 of _Narratives of New Netherland_,
in this series.]
After we had returned to the house and dined, my comrade not wishing
to go to church, sat about writing letters, as there was a ship, of
which Andre Bon was master, about to leave in a few days for London;
but in order that we should not be both absent from church, and as the
usual minister[102] was to preach in the afternoon, I went alone to
hear him. He was a thick, corpulent person with a red and bloated
face, and of very slabbering speech. His text was, the elders who
serve well, etc., because the elders and deacons were that day
renewed, and I saw them admitted. After preaching, the good old people
with whom we lodged, who, indeed, if they were not the best on all the
Manathans, were at least among the best, especially the wife, begged
we would go with their son Gerrit to one of their daughters, who lived
in a delightful place, and kept a tavern, where we would be able to
taste the beer of New Netherland, inasmuch as it was also a
brewery.[103] Some of their friends passing by requested Gerrit and us
to accompany them, and so we went for the purpose of seeing what was
to be seen; but when we arrived there, we found ourselves much
deceived. On account of its being to some extent a pleasant spot, it
was resorted to on Sundays by all sorts of revellers, and was a low
pot-house. Our company immediately found acquaintances there and
joined them, but it being repugnant to our feelings to be there, we
walked into the orchard to seek pleasure in contemplating the innocent
objects of nature. Among other trees we observed a mulberry tree, the
leaves of which were as large as a plate. The wife showed us pears
larger than the fist, picked from a three year's graft which had borne
forty of them. A great storm of rain coming up in the evening
compelled us to go into the house, where we did not remain long with
the others, but took our leave of them, against their wishes. We
retraced our steps in the dark, exploring a way over which we had gone
only once in our life, through a salt meadow and over water, upon the
trunk of a tree. We nevertheless reached home, having left the others
in their revels. While in their company we conversed with the first
male born of Europeans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigne. His
parents were from Valenciennes and he was now about sixty-five years
of age. He was a brewer and a neighbor of our old people.[104] When we
had come back we said to our old woman what it was fitting should be
said to her, regarding her daughter and her employment, in order to
free our minds, though she herself was quite innocent in respect to
it.
[Footnote 102: Nieuwenhuysen. The text is in I Timothy v. 17, "Let the
elders that rule well, be accounted worthy of double honor."]
[Footnote 103: Rebecca, daughter of Jacob Hellekers's wife by her
former husband, was married to Arie or Adrian Corneliszen, who had a
license to sell wines and other liquors, and lived a little out of
town, beyond the Fresh Water.]
[Footnote 104: Jean Vigne had in previous years been four times one of
the schepens, or municipal councillors, of New Amsterdam. If he was
born in New Netherland in or about 1614, there must have been at least
one European woman in the colony at an earlier date than has been
supposed, namely, back in the years of the first Dutch trading along
that coast. But many things concerning the earliest years of New
Netherland must remain in uncertainty until the publication of a
certain group of documents of that period, evidently important, which
were sold in 1910 by Muller of Amsterdam and are now in private
possession in New York, and withheld from public knowledge.]
A ketch came in from sea this evening, of which David Jochemsen was
the master. She left England three weeks before us, and was the same
one we saw the day we came in. The captain said he recollected to have
seen us, but observing us tacking several times, he did not dare
follow us, for fear of being misled.
_25th, Monday._ We went on board the ship this morning in order to
obtain our travelling bag and clothes for the purpose of having them
washed, but when we came on board we could not get ashore again,
before the afternoon, when the passengers' goods were to be delivered.
All our goods which were between decks, were taken ashore and carried
to the public storehouse, where they had to be examined; but some time
elapsed before it was done in consequence of the examiners being
elsewhere. At length, however, one Abraham Lennoy,[105] a good fellow
apparently, befriended us. He examined our chest only, without
touching our bedding or any thing else. I showed him a list of the tin
which we had in the upper part of our chest, and he examined it and
also the tin, and turned up a little more what was in the chest, and
with that left off, without looking at it closely. He demanded four
English shillings for the tin, remarking at the same time, that he had
observed some other small articles, but would not examine them
closely, though he had not seen either the box or the pieces of linen.
This being finished we sent our goods in a cart to our lodgings,
paying for the two heavy chests and straw beds, and other goods from
the public storehouse, to the Smit's Valey[106] (which is about as
far as from the Elve to Wilken's house),[107] sixteen stuivers of
zeawan, equal to three stuivers and a half in the money of
Holland.[108] This finished the day and we retired to rest.
[Footnote 105: Abraham de la Noy was a schoolmaster. See _post_, p.
63, note 2. Probably the writer means Peter de la Noy, who was clerk
under the collector of the port. Later he was one of the chief
supporters of Leisler.]
[Footnote 106: The Smith's Flats, a tract of low-lying land along the
East River, outside the palisade of the town, and extending from
present Wall Street to Beekman.]
[Footnote 107: Perhaps a reminiscence from the days (1671-1675) when
the Labadists lived on the Elbe, at Altona.]
[Footnote 108: The stiver of Holland money was equivalent to two
cents. Six white beads of wampum to the stiver was the rate
established by authority in 1673.]
_26th, Tuesday._ We remained at home for the purpose of writing, but
in the afternoon finding that many goods had been discharged from the
ship, we went to look after our little package, which also came. I
declared it, and it was examined. I had to pay 24 guilders in zeawan
or five guilders in the coin of Holland. I brought it to the house and
looked the things all over, rejoicing that we were finally rid of that
miserable set and the ship, the freight only remaining to be paid,
which was fixed at four guilders in coin. We went first to Margaret in
relation to the freight, who said she had nothing more to do with it,
and that we must speak to her husband about it, which it was not
convenient to do that evening, and we therefore let it go, waiting for
an opportunity to speak to her and her husband with the captain and
perhaps also Mr. Jan.
_27th, Wednesday._ Nothing occurred to-day except that I went to
assist Gerrit in bringing his goods home, and declaring them, which we
did. We heard that one of the wicked and godless sailors had broken
his leg; and in this we saw and acknowledged the Lord and His
righteousness. We visited Jean Vigne in order, as he was one of the
oldest inhabitants, to obtain from him information on various matters
relating to the country.
_28th, Thursday._ We remained at home to-day. I performed some little
errands. Monsr. de La Grange[109] called upon us, dressed up like a
great fop, as he was. My comrade did not fail to speak to him
seriously on the subject. He requested us to go with him immediately
to his house, as I at length did. His house was not far from our
lodgings on the front of the city. He had a small shop, as almost all
the people here have, who gain their living by trade, namely, in
tobacco and liquors, thread and pins and other knick-knacks. His wife
welcomed me, and instantly requested that we would come to their house
and stay there as long as we were here, for which I thanked them. They
had lost a child by the small pox, and they had been sick with the
same disease. He said he intended to go to the South River[110] within
three weeks, and hearing we were inclined to travel, he desired our
company, being willing to take us everywhere and to give us every
information. I thanked him, but gave him no assurances, telling him we
would see what the Lord would will of us.
[Footnote 109: Arnoldus de la Grange and his wife Cornelia (Fonteyn),
resident at this time in New York, removed soon after to Newcastle, on
the Delaware River, where he had various tracts of land and where he
in 1681 erected a windmill. In 1684-1685 he was concerned in the
purchase from Augustine Herrman of land in Bohemia Manor for the
Labadist settlement, and later is found as a member of their
community.]
[Footnote 110: Delaware River.]
_29th, Friday._ We finished our letters, and intended to go to-day
over to Long Island. At noon a person came to us in our chamber and
requested that we would be pleased to go to their minister, who was in
the next house, as he was desirous of seeing and conversing with us,
having already heard much good of us. We excused ourselves on the
ground that we were busy writing, endeavoring to finish our letters,
in order, if it were possible, to go over to Long Island in the
afternoon, with which he went away.
As soon as we had dined we sent off our letters; and this being all
accomplished, we started at two o'clock for Long Island. This island
is called Long Island, not so much because it is longer than it is
broad, but particularly because it is the longest island in this
region, or even along the whole coast of New Netherland, Virginia and
New England. It is one hundred and forty-four miles in length, and
from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles wide, though there are several
bays and points along it, and, consequently, it is much broader in
some places than others. On the west is Staten Island, from which it
is separated about a mile, and the great bay over which you see the
Nevesincke. With Staten Island it makes the passage through which all
vessels pass in sailing from or to the Mahatans, although they can go
through the Kil van Kol, which is on the other side of Staten Island.
The ends of these islands opposite each other are quite high land,
and they are, therefore, called the Hoofden (Headlands), from a
comparison with the Hoofden of the channel between England and France,
in Europe. On the north is the island of Mahatans and a part of the
mainland. On the east is the sea, which shoots up to New England, and
in which there are various islands. On the south is the great ocean.
The outer shore of this island has before it several small islands and
broken land, such as Coninen [Coney] Island, a low sandy island of
about three hours' circuit, its westerly point forming with Sandy
Hook, on the other side, the entrance from the sea. It is oblong in
shape, and is grown over with bushes. Nobody lives upon it, but it is
used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen, hogs and others,
which are able to obtain there sufficient to eat the whole winter, and
to shelter themselves from the cold in the thickets. This island is
not so cold as Long Island or the Mahatans, or others, like some other
islands on the coast, in consequence of their having more sea breeze,
and of the saltness of the sea breaking upon the shoals, rocks and
reefs, with which the coast is beset. There is also the Bear's Island
and others, separated from Long Island by creeks and marshes overflown
at high water.[111] There are also on this sea coast various miry
places, like the Vlaeck, and others as well as some sand bays and hard
and rocky shores. Long Island stretches into the sea for the most part
east by south and east-southeast. None of its land is very high, for
you must be nearly opposite Sandy Hook before you can see it. There is
a hill or ridge running lengthwise through the island, nearest the
north side and west end of the island. The south side and east end are
more flat. The water by which it is separated from the Mahatans, is
improperly called the East River, for it is nothing else than an arm
of the sea, beginning in the bay on the west and ending in the sea on
the east. After forming in this passage several islands, this water is
as broad before the city as the Y before Amsterdam, but the ebb and
flood tides are stronger. There is a ferry for the purpose of crossing
over it, which is farmed out by the year, and yields a good income, as
it is a considerable thoroughfare, this island being one of the most
populous places in this vicinity. A considerable number of Indians
live upon it, who gain their subsistence by hunting and fishing, and
they, as well as others, must carry their articles to market over this
ferry, or boat them over, as it is free to every one to use his own
boat, if he have one, or to borrow or hire one for the purpose. The
fare over the ferry is three stuivers in _zeewan_[112] for each
person.
[Footnote 111: Beeren Eylandt, afterward called Barren Island, lay
east of Coney Island, between it and Jamaica Bay. Vlaeck means "the
flat."]
[Footnote 112: Less than half a cent.]
Here we three crossed over, my comrade, Gerrit, our guide, and myself,
in a row-boat, as it happened, which, in good weather and tide,
carries a sail. When we came over we found there Jan Teunissen, our
fellow passenger, who had promised us so much good. He was going over
to the city, to deliver his letters and transact other business. He
told us he would return home in the evening, and we would find him
there. We went on, up the hill, along open roads and a little woods,
through the first village, called Breukelen, which has a small and
ugly little church standing in the middle of the road.[113] Having
passed through here, we struck off to the right, in order to go to
Gouanes. We went upon several plantations where Gerrit was acquainted
with almost all of the people, who made us very welcome, sharing with
us bountifully whatever they had, whether it was milk, cider, fruit or
tobacco, and especially, and first and most of all, miserable rum or
brandy which had been brought from Barbados and other islands, and
which is called by the Dutch _kill-devil_. All these people are very
fond of it, and most of them extravagantly so, although it is very
dear and has a bad taste. It is impossible to tell how many peach
trees we passed, all laden with fruit to breaking down, and many of
them actually broken down. We came to a place surrounded with such
trees from which so many had fallen off that the ground could not be
discerned, and you could not put your foot down without trampling
them; and, notwithstanding such large quantities had fallen off, the
trees still were as full as they could bear. The hogs and other
animals mostly feed on them. This place belongs to the oldest European
woman in the country. We went immediately into her house, where she
lived with her children. We found her sitting by the fire, smoking
tobacco incessantly, one pipe after another. We enquired after her
age, which the children told us was an hundred years. She was from
Luyck [Liege], and still spoke good Wals.[114] She could reason very
well sometimes, and at other times she could not. She showed us
several large apples, as good fruit of that country, and different
from that of Europe. She had been about fifty years now in the
country, and had above seventy children and grandchildren. She saw the
third generation after her. Her mother had attended women in child-bed
in her one hundred and sixth year, and was one hundred and eleven or
twelve years old when she died. We tasted here, for the first time,
smoked _twaelft_ [twelfth], a fish so called because it is caught in
season next after the _elft_ [eleventh].[115] It was salted a little
and then smoked, and, although it was now a year old, it was still
perfectly good, and in flavor not inferior to smoked salmon. We drank
here, also, the first new cider, which was very fine.
[Footnote 113: The second church building in Brooklyn, erected in
1666, and standing till 1766. It stood in the middle of what is now
Fulton Street, near Lawrence Street. Gowanus was a distinct hamlet to
the southward from Breukelen.]
[Footnote 114: French of the Walloon variety. See p. 70, note 1,
_post_.]
[Footnote 115: Striped bass and shad, respectively. In reality the
word _elft_ has nothing to do with _eleven_, for _elft_ = Fr. _alose_
or Eng. _allice_.]
We proceeded on to Gouanes, a place so called, where we arrived in the
evening at one of the best friends of Gerrit, named Symon.[116] He was
very glad to see us, and so was his wife. He took us into the house,
and entertained us exceedingly well. We found a good fire, half-way up
the chimney, of clear oak and hickory, which they made not the least
scruple of burning profusely. We let it penetrate us thoroughly. There
had been already thrown upon it, to be roasted, a pail-full of Gouanes
oysters, which are the best in the country. They are fully as good as
those of England, and better than those we ate at Falmouth. I had to
try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of them not less
than a foot long, and they grow sometimes ten, twelve and sixteen
together, and are then like a piece of rock. Others are young and
small. In consequence of the great quantities of them, everybody keeps
the shells for the purpose of burning them into lime. They pickle the
oysters in small casks, and send them to Barbados and the other
islands. We had for supper a roasted haunch of venison, which he had
bought of the Indians for three guilders and a half of _seewant_, that
is, fifteen stivers of Dutch money,[117] and which weighed thirty
pounds. The meat was exceedingly tender and good, and also quite fat.
It had a slight spicy flavor. We were also served with wild turkey,
which was also fat and of a good flavor; and a wild goose, but that
was rather dry. Everything we had was the natural production of the
country. We saw here, lying in a heap, a whole hill of water-melons,
which were as large as pumpkins, and which Symon was going to take to
the city to sell. They were very good, though there is a difference
between them and those of the Caribbee Islands; but this may be owing
to its being late in the season, and these were the last pulling. It
was very late at night when we went to rest in a kermis bed, as it is
called,[118] in the corner of the hearth, along side of a good fire.
[Footnote 116: This settler was Simon Aertsen De Hart, who came to New
Netherland in 1664 and settled at Gowanus Cove. The house in which he
entertained the travellers was till lately still standing, near
Thirty-ninth Street, west of Third Avenue, Brooklyn, but was destroyed
to make room for the terminal buildings of the Thirty-ninth Street
ferry. A picture of it as it appeared in 1867 is plate XII. in Mr.
Murphy's edition of this journal.]
[Footnote 117: Thirty cents.]
[Footnote 118: Shake-down, bed on the floor.]
_30th, Saturday._ Early this morning the husband and wife set off for
the city with their marketing; and we, having explored the land in the
vicinity, left after breakfast. We went a part of the way through a
wood and fine, new made land, and so along the shore to the west end
of the island called Najack.[119] As we proceeded along the shore, we
found, among other curiosities, a highly marbled stone, very hard, in
which we saw muscovy glass[120] lying in layers between the clefts,
and how it was struck or cut out. We broke off a small piece with some
difficulty, and picked out a little glass in the splits. Continuing
onward from there, we came to the plantation of the Najack Indians,
which was planted with maize, or Turkish wheat. We soon heard a noise
of pounding, like thrashing, and went to the place whence it
proceeded, and found there an old Indian woman busily employed beating
Turkish beans out of the pods by means of a stick, which she did
with astonishing force and dexterity. Gerrit inquired of her, in the
Indian language, which he spoke perfectly well, how old she was, and
she answered eighty years; at which we were still more astonished that
so old a woman should still have so much strength and courage to work
as she did. We went from thence to her habitation, where we found the
whole troop together, consisting of seven or eight families, and
twenty or twenty-two persons, I should think. Their house was low and
long, about sixty feet long and fourteen or fifteen feet wide. The
bottom was earth, the sides and roof were made of reed and the bark of
chestnut trees; the posts, or columns, were limbs of trees stuck in
the ground, and all fastened together. The top, or ridge of the roof
was open about half a foot wide, from one end to the other, in order
to let the smoke escape, in place of a chimney. On the sides, or
walls, of the house, the roof was so low that you could hardly stand
under it. The entrances, or doors, which were at both ends, were so
small and low that they had to stoop down and squeeze themselves to
get through them. The doors were made of reed or flat bark. In the
whole building there was no lime, stone, iron or lead. They build
their fire in the middle of the floor, according to the number of
families which live in it, so that from one end to the other each of
them boils its own pot, and eats when it likes, not only the families
by themselves, but each Indian alone, according as he is hungry, at
all hours, morning, noon and night. By each fire are the cooking
utensils, consisting of a pot, a bowl, or calabash, and a spoon also
made of a calabash. These are all that relate to cooking. They lie
upon mats with their feet towards the fire, on each side of it. They
do not sit much upon any thing raised up, but, for the most part, sit
on the ground or squat on their ankles. Their other household articles
consists of a calabash of water, out of which they drink, a small
basket in which to carry and keep their maize and small beans, and a
knife. The implements are, for tillage, a small, sharp stone, and
nothing more; for hunting, a gun and pouch for powder and lead; for
fishing, a canoe without mast or sail, and without a nail in any part
of it, though it is sometimes full forty feet in length, fish hooks
and lines, and scoops to paddle with in place of oars. I do not know
whether there are not some others of a trifling nature. All who live
in one house are generally of one stock or descent, as father and
mother with their offspring. Their bread is maize, pounded in a block
by a stone, but not fine. This is mixed with water, and made into a
cake, which they bake under the hot ashes. They gave us a small piece
when we entered, and although the grains were not ripe, and it was
half baked and coarse grains, we nevertheless had to eat it, or, at
least, not throw it away before them, which they would have regarded
as a great sin, or a great affront. We chewed a little of it _with
long teeth_, and managed to hide it so they did not see it. We had
also to drink out of their calabashes the water which was their drink,
and which was very good. We saw here the Indians who came on board the
ship when we arrived. They were all very joyful at the visit of our
Gerrit, who was an old acquaintance of theirs, and had heretofore long
resided about there. We presented them with two jewsharps, which much
pleased them, and they immediately commenced to play upon them, which
they could do tolerably well. Some of their _patroons_ (chiefs), some
of whom spoke good Dutch, and are also their medicine-men and surgeons
as well as their teachers, were busy making shoes of deer leather,
which they understand how to make soft by continually working it in
their hands. They had dogs, fowls and hogs, which they learn by
degrees from the Europeans how to manage better. They had, also, peach
trees, which were well laden. Towards the last, we asked them for some
peaches, and they answered, "Go and pick them," which showed their
politeness. However, in order not to offend them, we went off and
pulled some. Although they are such a poor, miserable people, they
are, nevertheless, licentious and proud, and given to knavery and
scoffing. Seeing a very old woman among them, we inquired how old she
was, when some young fellows, laughing and jeering, answered twenty
years, while it was evident to us she was not less than an hundred. We
observed here the manner in which they travel with their children, a
woman having one which she carried on her back. The little thing clung
tight around her neck like a cat, where it was kept secure by means of
a piece of daffels, their usual garment. Its head, back and buttocks
were entirely flat. How that happened to be so we will relate
hereafter, as we now only make mention of what we saw.
[Footnote 119: Pronounced Nyack; the region around the present site of
Fort Hamilton, on the eastern side of the Narrows. It was at that time
largely surrounded by a marsh and hence is referred to in the text as
an island.]
[Footnote 120: Mica.]
These Indians live on the land of Jaques ----, brother-in-law of
Gerrit.[121] He bought the land from them in the first instance, and
then let them have a small corner, for which they pay him twenty
bushels of maize yearly, that is, ten bags. Jaques had first bought
the whole of Najack from these Indians, who were the lords thereof,
and lived upon the land, which is a large place, and afterwards bought
it _again_, in parcels. He was unwilling to drive the Indians from the
land, and has therefore left them a corner of it, keeping the best of
it himself.[122] We arrived then upon the land of this Jaques, which
is all good, and yields large crops of wheat and other grain. It is of
a blackish color, but not clayey, and almost like the garden mould I
have seen in Holland. At length we reached the house of this Jaques,
where we found Monsr. de La Grange, who had come there in search of
us, to inform us further concerning his departure for the South River,
and to take us to his house. We spoke to him in regard to this and
other matters, as was proper, and shortly afterwards he left. This
Jaques ---- is a man advanced in years. He was born in Utrecht, but of
French parents, as we could readily discover from all his actions,
looks and language. He had studied philosophy in his youth, and spoke
Latin and good French. He was a mathematician and sworn land-surveyor.
He had also formerly learned several sciences, and had some knowledge
of medicine. But the worst of it was, he was a good Cartesian,[123]
and not a good Christian, regulating himself, and all externals, by
reason and justice only; nevertheless, he regulated all things better
by these principles than most people in these parts do, who bear the
name of Christians or pious persons. His brother-in-law and ourselves
were welcomed by him and his wife. He treated us with every civility,
although two of his sons being sick, and he very much confined in
attending upon them, he was much interrupted in attending to us, since
they more than we afflicted his head and that of his wife. We went
looking around the country, and towards evening came to the village of
New Utrecht, so named by him. This village was burned down some time
ago, with every thing about it, including the house of this man, which
was almost half an hour distant from it.[124] Many persons were
impoverished by the fire. It was now almost all rebuilt, and many good
stone houses were erected, of which Jaques's was one, where we
returned by another road to spend the night. After supper, we went to
sleep in the barn, upon some straw spread with sheep-skins, in the
midst of the continual grunting of hogs, squealing of pigs, bleating
and coughing of sheep, barking of dogs, crowing of cocks, cackling of
hens, and, especially, a goodly quantity of fleas and vermin, of no
small portion of which we were participants; and all with an open barn
door, through which a fresh northwest wind was blowing. Though we
could not sleep, we could not complain, inasmuch as we had the same
quarters and kind of bed that their own son usually had, who had now
on our arrival crept in the straw behind us.
[Footnote 121: Jacques Cortelyou. He came out from Utrecht as tutor to
the children of Cornelis van Werckhoven, to whom this New Utrecht
tract was first granted by the Dutch West India Company. He became the
official surveyor of the province, made in 1660 a map of New
Netherland, and founded New Utrecht, on Long island, and a settlement
in New Jersey.]
[Footnote 122: There is probably here some confusion between the
original grant to van Werckhoven and subsequent regrants to
Cortelyou.]
[Footnote 123: Follower of Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the celebrated
French philosopher and mathematician, founder of Cartesianism and of
modern philosophy in general.]
[Footnote 124: See Governor Andros's recommendation to the constables
and overseers of Brooklyn to contribute to the relief of Cortelyou and
the other inhabitants of New Utrecht, on account of their losses by
fire, 1675, in Stiles, _History of Brooklyn_, I. 198.]
OCTOBER _1st, Sunday._ We went, this morning, on a tour of observation
of the country and of the neighbors, some of whom were better situated
than others, but all of them had more or less children sick with the
small pox, which, next to the fever and ague, is the most prevalent
disease in these parts, and of which many have died. We went into one
house where there were two children lying dead and unburied, and three
others sick, and where one had died the week before. This disease was
more fatal this year than usual. We spoke to these afflicted people
what was suitable and they could bear.
Finding myself afterwards alone upon a small eminence, I made a
sketch, as well as I could, of the land surrounding the great bay,
that is, Coney Island, the entrance from the sea, Rentselaer's Hook,
and so further to the right, towards Kil van Kol.[125]
[Footnote 125: This sketch is still preserved, accompanying the
manuscript of this journal in the possession of the Long Island
Historical Society. It bears the legend, in Dutch, "Views of the land
on the south side and southwest side of the great bay between the
Nevesincks and Long Island, six [Dutch] miles from New York.... All as
it appears from ... Jaques [_blank_]'s house at Najaq." It is
reproduced as plate II. in Mr. Murphy's edition.]
After dinner we intended to leave for a place called the bay,[126]
where Jan Theunissen, our fellow passenger, lived, who had made us
great promises of friendship; besides, my companion was desirous, as
they said there would be preaching, to hear the minister of the
island,[127] who was very zealous and a great Cocceian, and, perhaps,
a Cartesian. But Jaques persuaded us from it, because the house where
Jan Theunissen lived with his father was so full of people on Sundays,
who came from all directions to attend preaching, that you could
scarcely get in or out. As the minister was not in the village where
he dwelt, he remained over with many other persons; and he (Jaques)
said he would accompany us there the next morning. So we let it pass,
and took another walk to New Utrecht, where we drank some good beer a
year old, and coming back again to the house, indulged in peaches on
the road. I went along the shore to Coney Island, which is separated
from Long Island only by a creek, and around the point, and came
inside not far from a village called Gravesant,[128] and again home.
We discovered on the road several kinds of grapes still on the vines,
called _speck_ (pork) grapes, which are not always good, and these
were not; although they were sweet in the mouth at first, they made it
disagreeable and stinking. The small blue grapes are better, and their
vines grow in good form. Although they have several times attempted to
plant vineyards, and have not immediately succeeded, they,
nevertheless, have not abandoned the hope of doing so by and by, for
there is always some encouragement, although they have not, as yet,
discovered the cause of the failure.
[Footnote 126: Flatlands, where Elbert Elbertsen Stoothoff,
father-in-law of Jan Theunissen, and a man of prominence, lived.]
[Footnote 127: Niewenhuisen.]
[Footnote 128: Gravesend, still farther down the south shore of Long
Island.]
_2d, Monday._ Having slept the night again at Najack, we four went,
after breakfast, to the bay, where we arrived about ten o'clock. We
did not find Jan Theunissen at home, as he had driven to the city to
bring his goods; but the father and mother bade us welcome, and took
us around into their orchards to look at them. My comrade spoke to him
as opportunity offered of godly things, but he seemed to be a little
disposed to play the part of a religious and wise man, and he defended
himself and the evil as much as he could, going to work somewhat
coldly with us. We took the time, however, to go around and see every
thing thoroughly, and found the land, in general, not so good as that
at Najack. There is towards the sea a large piece of low flat land
which is overflowed at every tide, like the _schorr_ with us, miry and
muddy at the bottom, and which produces a species of hard salt grass
or reed grass. Such a place they call _valey_ and mow it for hay,
which cattle would rather eat than fresh hay or grass. It is so hard
that they cannot mow it with a common scythe, like ours, but must have
the English scythe for the purpose. Their adjoining corn lands are dry
and barren for the most part. Some of them are now entirely covered
with clover in blossom, which diffused a sweet odor in the air for a
great distance, and which we discovered in the atmosphere, before we
saw the fields. Behind the village, inland, are their meadows, but
they also were now arid. All the land from the bay to the Vlacke
Bos[129] is low and level, without the least elevation. There is also
a tract which is somewhat large, of a kind of heath, on which sheep
could graze, though we saw none upon it. This marsh, like all the
others, is well provided with good creeks which are navigable and very
serviceable for fisheries. There is here a grist-mill driven by the
water which they dam up in the creek; and it is hereabouts they go
mostly to shoot snipe and wild geese. In the middle of this meadow
there is a grove into which we went, and within which there was a good
vale cleared off and planted. On our return from this ramble we found
Jan Theunissen had come back with his company. He welcomed us, but
somewhat coldly, and so demeaned himself all the time we were there,
as to astonish my comrade at the change, but not me entirely, for I
had observed this falling off while we were yet at sea and were
approaching the land and even before that, and had remarked it to my
colleague, but he had more confidence in him. The day having been thus
passed, we remained here for the night to sleep. In the evening we
made the acquaintance of one Jan Poppe, formerly a skipper in the West
Indies, whom I had known when I lived there.[130] He did not know me
by name or by vocation, but only that I lived there, and had conversed
with him there, but not much. He was tired of the sea, and not having
accumulated much, he had come to settle down here, making his living
out of the business of a turner, by which he could live bountifully.
[Footnote 129: Flatbush.]
[Footnote 130: This may mean Surinam (Dutch Guiana). Later, in 1683, a
Labadist colony went out to Surinam, but failed; Danckaerts went out
to join them, but returned.]
_3d, Tuesday._ This whole day it did nothing except rain, with an E.
and E.N.E. wind, so that we were compelled to sit in their house, as
in a prison all the time; and it was so much the worse because the
house was constantly filled with a multitude of godless people; for
this father or father-in-law of Jan Theunissen,[131] being the
principal person in the place, was their captain, and having many
children of his own besides, there was a continual concourse at his
house. We had to remain, although it grieved us a great deal. But as
we had heard that there was an Englishman residing at Gravesend, named
Bouman, who went every year about this time with horses and sheep to
the South River, and would probably go there again in about three
weeks time, we resolved, when the rain was partly over, to go and talk
to him, which we did, arriving there towards evening. We found him at
home, and inquired of him as to the situation. He said, he intended to
leave in fourteen days or at the longest in three weeks, with horses,
and would be happy to have our company on the road. He told us several
things touching the situation of the South River, where he had a large
tract of land which he intended soon to put under cultivation. It
being evening, and nearer Jaques's house than the bay, we determined
to go there as we had previously intended. Mr. Bouman had the kindness
to conduct us a portion of the way so that we could not go astray. We
arrived at Jaques's house, where we were welcome. The land around
Gravesant is also flat, but not so flat or so barren as in the bay,
and yields good crops.
[Footnote 131: Elbert Elbertsen.]
_4th, Wednesday._ We slept for the night in our old place. In the
morning the horses were harnessed to the wagon for the purpose of
carrying us to the city, and bringing back some medicines which had
arrived for him (Jaques) from Holland in our ship. We breakfasted to
our full, and rode first to the bay, where we had left our travelling
bag. Seeing there was nothing to be accomplished with our Jan
Theunissen, all his great promises having vanished without the least
result, though they had cost us dearly enough, we let that rest quiet,
and taking our leave, rode on to the Vlacke Bos, a village situated
about an hour and a half's distance from there, upon the same plain,
which is very large. This village seems to have better farms than the
bay, and yields full as much revenue. Riding through it, we came to
the woods and the hills, which are very stony and uncomfortable to
ride over. We rode over them, and passed through the village of
Breukelen to the ferry, and leaving the wagon there, we crossed over
the river and arrived at home at noon, where we were able to rest a
little, and where our old people were glad to see us. We sent back to
Jaques half of our tincture Calaminaris, and half of our balsam
Sulpherus and some other things.[132] He had been of service to us in
several respects, as he promised to be, and that with perfect
willingness.
[Footnote 132: Tincture of calamus; sulphur balsam, a mixture of olive
oil and sublimed sulphur.]
_5th, Thursday._ We remained at home this morning, my comrade having
been a little indisposed the preceding day and night, and betook
ourselves to writing. At noon we visited Mons. de La Grange, who was
busily employed in his little shop, packing and marking a parcel of
ribbons which he was going to send to Barbados, because, as he said,
he could not dispose of them here to advantage, that is, with
sufficient profit. We let him first finish his work, and after that he
took us to his counting room, where his wife was. We did not fail to
converse kindly with him and his wife in relation to those matters in
which we believed they were sinning, notwithstanding all the little
reasons which pious people of that description are accustomed to
advance in extenuation of their sin and avarice. As there were plenty
of books around, my comrade inquired of him what book he liked or
esteemed the most. Upon this he brought forward two of the elder
Brakel, one of which was, _De Trappen des Geestelycken Levens_.[133]
He also took down another written by a Scotchman, of whom my comrade
had some knowledge, and translated by Domine Koelman. On my return
home, the son of our old people asked me if I would not go to their
usual catechizing, which they held once a week at the house of Abraham
Lanoy, schoolmaster, and brother of the clerk in the custom
house.[134] I accompanied him there and found a company of about
twenty-five persons, male and female, but mostly young people. It
looked like a school, as indeed it was, more than an assembly of
persons who were seeking after true godliness; where the schoolmaster,
who instructed them, handled the subject more like a schoolmaster in
the midst of his scholars than a person who knew and loved God, and
sought to make him known and loved. They sang some verses from the
Psalms, made a prayer, and questioned from the catechism, at the
conclusion of which they prayed and sang some verses from the Psalms
again. It was all performed without respect or reverence, very
literally, and mixed up with much obscurity and error. He played,
however, the part of a learned and pious man, _enfin le suffisant et
le petit precheur_. After their departure, I had an opportunity of
speaking to him and telling him what I thought was good for him. He
acknowledged that I convinced him of several things; and thus leaving
him I returned home.
[Footnote 133: "The Gradations of the Spiritual Life," by Theodorus a
Brakel (1608-1699), an orthodox clergyman of note in the Reformed
Church of Holland. Jacobus Koelman was originally a minister of the
same church, in Zeeland, but became a schismatic and a Labadist and
was forbidden to preach. In 1682 the people on the South River made
much effort with the Classis of Amsterdam to have him sent over to be
their minister, but in vain, and shortly after he left the Labadists,
and in 1683 published a book against them. The book here spoken of was
probably one of the works of Rev. John Brown of Wamphray in Scotland,
written during his exile in Holland, 1663-1679.]
[Footnote 134: Abraham de la Noy seems to have taught in New York from
1668 to his death in 1702, conducting at this time a private school,
but from 1686 serving as master of the Dutch parochial school.]
_6th, Friday._ We remained in t
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