to us is the Isle of Nuts, which lies in the bay between New
York and Brooklyn, and which he purchased as his private domain. It is
still called the "Governor's Island."

Van Twiller's successor in the government of the province was William
Kieft. He was as energetic as he was spiteful, and as spiteful as he was
rapacious. His chief pleasure lay in quarrelling. He and his council
made some useful reforms, but as a rule they greatly oppressed the
people. During this administration agriculture was encouraged, the
growing of fruit was undertaken, and several other things done to
increase the material prosperity of the town. The fort was repaired and
strengthened, new warehouses were built, and police ordinances were
framed and strictly executed. The old wooden church was made a barrack
for troops, and a new and larger edifice of stone was constructed by
Kuyter and Dam within the walls of the fort. Within the little tower
were hung the bells captured from the Spanish by the Dutch at Porto Rico.
The church cost $1000, and was considered a grand edifice. In 1642 a
stone tavern was built at the head of Coenties Slip, and in the same
year, the first "city lots" with valid titles were granted to the
settlers.

The latter part of Kieft's administration was marked by contests with the
citizens, who compelled him, in 1641, to grant them a municipal council,
composed of twelve of the most prominent residents of New Amsterdam,
which council he arbitrarily dissolved at the first opportunity. He also
stirred up a war with the Indians, in which he was the principal
aggressor. This war brought great loss and suffering upon the province,
and came near ruining it. Kieft, alarmed at the results of his folly,
appointed a new municipal council of eight members, and this council at
once demanded of the States General of Holland the removal of Kieft.
Their demand was complied with, and in 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was made
Governor of New Netherlands, and reached New Amsterdam in the same year.

Stuyvesant was essentially a strong man. A soldier by education and of
long experience, he was accustomed to regard rigid discipline as the one
thing needful in every relation of life, and he was not slow to introduce
that system into his government of New Amsterdam. He had served
gallantly in the wars against the Portuguese, and had lost a leg in one
of his numerous encounters with them. He was as vain as a peacock, as
fond of display as