tion was one of those extended tracts of land, which
was partly cultivated but upon which no settler dwelt. There was no
protection anywhere for the trembling population, save in and directly
around fort Amsterdam. Mr. Brodhead, alluding to these scenes of
terror, writes,

"The women and children lay concealed in straw huts, while
their husbands and fathers mounted guard on the crumbling
ramparts above. For the fort itself was almost defenceless.
It resembled rather a mole-hill than a fortress against an
enemy. The cattle, which had escaped destruction, were
huddled within the walls, and were already beginning to
starve for want of forage. It was indispensable to maintain
a constant guard at all hours, for seven allied tribes, well
supplied with muskets, powder and ball, which they had
procured from private traders, boldly threatened to attack
the dilapidated citadel with all their strength, now
amounting to fifteen hundred men.

"So confident had the enemy become, that their scouting
parties constantly threatened the advanced sentinels of the
garrison. Ensign Van Dyck, while relieving guard at one of
the outposts, was wounded by a musket ball in his arm. All
the forces that the Dutch could now muster, besides the
fifty or sixty soldiers in garrison, were about two hundred
freemen. With this handful of men was New Netherland to be
defended against the implacable fury of her savage foe."

For a time the war which had desolated the region of the lower valley
of the Hudson, did not reach fort Nassau, now Albany. The tribes
resident there were at war with the lower river tribes. As these
Indians still maintained apparently friendly relations with the
whites, the patroon, Van Rensselaer, allowed his agents freely to sell
to them fire arms and powder.

This distant and feeble post at this time consisted only of a wretched
little fort built of logs, with eight or ten small cannon or swivels.

A hamlet of about thirty huts was scattered along the river. A church,
thirty-four feet long by nineteen wide, had been erected in a pine
grove within range of the guns of the fort. Nine benches accommodated
the congregation. A very faithful pastor, Domine Megapolensis,
ministered to them.

The red men were often attracted to the church to hear the preached
gospel, and wondered what it meant. Megapolensis writes:

"When we ha