the year 1616 to fit
out a trading expedition to that region. A vessel was at once
dispatched, freighted with a variety of goods to be exchanged for
furs. The enterprise was eminently successful and gradually more
minute information was obtained respecting the territory surrounding
the spacious bay into which the Hudson river empties its flood.

The island of Manhattan, upon which the city of New York is now built,
consisted then of a series of forest-crowned hills, interspersed with
crystal streamlets and many small but beautiful lakes. These solitary
sheets of water abounded with fish, and water-fowl of varied plumage.
They were fringed with forests, bluffs, and moss-covered rocks. The
upper part of the island was rough, being much broken by storm-washed
crags and wild ravines, with many lovely dells interspersed, fertile
in the extreme, blooming with flowers, and in the season, red with
delicious strawberries. There were also wild grapes and nuts of
various kinds, in great abundance.

The lower part of the island was much more level. There were
considerable sections where the forest had entirely disappeared. The
extended fields, inviting the plough, waved with luxuriant grass. It
was truly a delightful region. The climate was salubrious; the
atmosphere in cloudless transparency rivalled the famed skies of
Italy.

Where the gloomy prison of the Tombs now stands, there was a lake of
crystal water, overhung by towering trees. Its silence and solitude
were disturbed only by the cry of the water-fowl which disported upon
its surface, while its depths sparkled with the spotted trout. The
lake emptied into the Hudson river by a brook which rippled over its
pebbly bed, along the present line of Canal street. This beautiful
lake was fed by large springs and was sufficiently deep to float any
ship in the navy. Indeed it was some time before its bottom could be
reached by any sounding line.

There was a gentle eminence or ridge, forming as it were the backbone
of the island, along which there was a narrow trail trodden by the
moccasined feet of the Indian, in single file for countless
generations. Here is now found the renowned Broadway, one of the
busiest thoroughfares upon the surface of the globe.

On the corner of Grand street and Broadway, there was a well-wooded
hill, from whose commanding height one obtained an enchanting view of
the whole island with its surrounding waters. Amidst these solitudes
there were many