mother hen. The whole was surrounded by an inclosure of
strong palisadoes to guard against any sudden irruption of the savages.
Outside of these extended the cornfields and cabbage-gardens of the
community, with here and there an attempt at a tobacco-plantation; all
covering those tracts of country at present called Broadway, Wall
street, William street and Pearl street.

I must not omit to mention that in portioning out the land a goodly
"bowerie" or farm was allotted to the sage Oloffe in consideration of
the service he had rendered to the public by his talent at dreaming; and
the site of his "bowerie" is known by the name of Kortlandt (or
Courtlandt) street to the present day.

And now, the infant settlement having advanced in age and stature, it
was thought high time it should receive an honest Christian name.
Hitherto it had gone by the original Indian name Manna-hata, or, as some
will have it, "The Manhattoes"; but this was now decried as savage and
heathenish, and as tending to keep up the memory of the pagan brood that
originally possessed it. Many were the consultations held upon the
subject without coming to a conclusion, for, though everybody condemned
the old name, nobody could invent a new one. At length, when the council
was almost in despair, a burgher, remarkable for the size and squareness
of his head, proposed that they should call it New Amsterdam. The
proposition took everybody by surprise; it was so striking, so apposite,
so ingenious. The name was adopted by acclamation, and New Amsterdam the
metropolis was thenceforth called. Still, however, the early authors of
the province continued to call it by the general appellation of "The
Manhattoes," and the poets fondly clung to the euphonious name of
Manna-hata; but those are a kind of folk whose tastes and notions should
go for nothing in matters of this kind.

Having thus provided the embryo city with a name, the next was to give
it an armorial bearing or device. As some cities have a rampant lion,
others a soaring eagle, emblematical, no doubt, of the valiant and
high-flying qualities of the inhabitants, so after mature deliberation a
sleek beaver was emblazoned on the city standard as indicative of the
amphibious origin and patient and persevering habits of the New
Amsterdammers.

WALTER THE DOUBTER

It was in the year of our Lord 1629 that Mynheer Wouter Van Twiller was
appointed governor of the province of Nieuw Nederlandts, under the
com