valleys in whose peaceful bosoms the weary of other
lands seemed to be invited to take refuge.

Indeed it is doubtful whether the whole continent of North America
presented any region more attractive. The salubrity of its clime, the
beauty of the scenery, the abundance and purity of the waters, the
spacious harbor, the luxuriance of the soil and the unexplored rivers
opening communication with vast and unknown regions of the interior,
all combined in giving to the place charms which could not be exceeded
by any other position on the continent.

The success of the first trading vessel was so great that, within
three years, five other ships were sent to the "Mauritius river" as
the Hudson was first named. There was thus opened a very brisk traffic
with the Indians which was alike beneficial to both parties. Soon one
or two small forts were erected and garrisoned on the river for the
protection of the traders. Manhattan island, so favorably situated at
the mouth of the river, ere long became the headquarters of this
commerce. Four log houses were built, it is said, upon the present
site of 39, Broadway.

Here a small company of traders established themselves in the silence
and solitude of the wilderness. Their trading boats ran up the river,
and along the coast, visiting every creek and inlet in the pursuit of
furs. The natives, finding this market thus suddenly opening before
them, and finding that their furs, heretofore almost valueless, would
purchase for them treasures of civilization of almost priceless worth,
redoubled their zeal in hunting and trapping.

A small Indian settlement sprang up upon the spot. Quite large cargoes
of furs were collected during the winter and shipped to Holland in the
spring. The Dutch merchants seem to have been influenced by a high
sentiment of honor. The most amicable relations existed between them
and the Indians. Henry Christiaensen was the superintendent of this
feeble colony. He was a prudent and just man, and, for some time, the
lucrative traffic in peltry continued without interruption. The Dutch
merchants were exposed to no rivalry, for no European vessels but
theirs had, as yet, visited the Mauritius river.

But nothing in this world ever long continues tranquil. The storm ever
succeeds the calm. In November, of the year 1613, Captain Argal, an
Englishman, in a war vessel, looked in upon the little defenceless
trading hamlet, at the mouth of the Hudson, and claiming the terr