, to which the others would listen very
attentively, smoke their pipes, and grunt _yah, mynher_,--whereat
the poor savages were wondrously delighted. They instructed the new
settlers in the best art of curing and smoking tobacco, while the
latter, in return, made them drunk with true Hollands,--and then
taught them the art of making bargains.

"A brisk trade for furs was soon opened; the Dutch traders were
scrupulously honest in their dealings and purchased by weight,
establishing it as an invariable table of avoirdupois, that the
hand of a Dutchman weighed one pound, and his foot two pounds. It
is true, the simple Indians were often puzzled by the great
disproportion between bulk and weight, for let them place a bundle
of furs, never so large, in one scale, and a Dutchman put his hand
or foot in the other, the bundle was sure to kick the beam;--never
was a package of furs known to weigh more than two pounds in the
market of Communipaw!

"This is a singular fact,--but I have it direct from my
great-great-grandfather, who had risen to considerable importance
in the colony, being promoted to the office of weigh-master, on
account of the uncommon heaviness of his foot.

"The Dutch possessions in this part of the globe began now to
assume a very thriving appearance, and were comprehended under the
general title of Nieuw Nederlandts, on account, as the Sage Vander
Donck observes, of their great resemblance to the Dutch
Netherlands,--which indeed was truly remarkable, excepting that the
former were rugged and mountainous, and the latter level and
marshy. About this time the tranquillity of the Dutch colonists was
doomed to suffer a temporary interruption. In 1614, Captain Sir
Samuel Argal, sailing under a commission from Dale, governor of
Virginia, visited the Dutch settlements on Hudson River, and
demanded their submission to the English crown and Virginian
dominion. To this arrogant demand, as they were in no condition to
resist it, they submitted for the time, like discreet and
reasonable men.

"It does not appear that the valiant Argal molested the settlement
of Communipaw; on the contrary, I am told that when his vessel
first hove in sight, the worthy burghers were seized with such a
panic, that they fell to smoking their pipes with as