on than
hitherto it has been possible to find.

As to what concerns myself and my household affairs: I find myself
by the loss of my good and helpful partner very much hindered and
distressed--for my two little daughters are yet small; maid servants are
not here to be had, at least none whom they can advise me to take; and
the Angola slave women(1) are thievish, lazy, and useless trash. The
young man whom I took with me, I discharged after Whitsuntide, for the
reason that I could not employ him out-of-doors at any working of the
land, and in-doors he was a burden to me instead of an assistance. He is
now elsewhere at service among the farmers.

(1) Slavery was introduced into New Netherland two or three
years before this, a number of negroes, some of them from
Angola, having been imported in 1625 or 1626.

The promise which the Honorable Directors of the Company had made me
of some morgens or acres of land for me to sustain myself, instead of
a free table which otherwise belonged to me, is void and useless. For
their Honors well knew that there are no horses, cows, or laborers to
be obtained here for money. Every one is short in these particulars
and wants more. I should not mind the expense if the opportunity only
offered, for the sake of our own comfort, although there were no profit
in it (the Honorable Directors nevertheless remaining indebted to me for
as much as the value of a free table), for refreshment of butter, milk,
etc., cannot be here obtained; though some is indeed sold at a very
high price, for those who bring it in or bespeak it are jealous of each
other. So I shall be compelled to pass through the winter without butter
and other necessities, which the ships do not bring with them to be
sold here. The rations, which are given out here, and charged for high
enough, are all hard stale food, such as men are used to on board ship,
and frequently not very good, and even so one cannot obtain as much as
he desires. I began to get considerable strength, by the grace of the
Lord, but in consequence of this hard fare of beans and gray peas, which
are hard enough, barley, stockfish, etc., without much change, I cannot
fully recuperate as I otherwise would. The summer yields something, but
what is that for any one who does not feel well? The savages also bring
some things, but one who has no wares, such as knives, beads, and the
like, or seewan, cannot come to any terms with them. Though the people