dians, giving them in exchange some beads, some
brass ornaments, some bits of glass and some strips of colored cloth;
all of which seemed a rich treasure to the Indians, but were in reality
worth just twenty-four dollars.

As soon as Minuit had bought the island, he organized a government. In
authority next to the Governor was the koopman, who was secretary of the
province, and bookkeeper at the Company's warehouse, and who worked very
hard. Then came the schout-fiscal, who worked still harder, being half
sheriff, half attorney-general, and all customs officer. There was also
a council of five men who looked wise but had very little to say and did
not dare to disagree with the Governor.

Although in buying their land Governor Minuit had made the Indians his
friends, he took care to be prepared in case they should change their
minds and become warlike. He had Kryn Frederick, the Company's engineer,
build a solid fort on the spot where the fur-traders' stockade had
stood. This he called Fort Amsterdam. It was surrounded by cedar
palisades, and was large enough to shelter all the people of the little
colony in case of danger. Inside this fort there was a house for the
Governor, and outside the walls was a warehouse for furs, and a mill
which was run by horse-power, with a large room on the second floor to
be used as a church.

[Illustration: The Building of the Palisades.]

When Minuit had become fairly settled in his new colony, he divided the
lower part of the island into farms, which in those days were called
"bouweries." A road which led through these farms was named Bouwerie
Lane, and the same road is to-day known as The Bowery.

Minuit had been Governor four years, and there were 200 persons on the
island, when the Dutch West India Company, deciding that the colony was
not increasing fast enough, made a plan for giving large tracts of land
to any man who would go from Holland and take with him fifty persons to
make their homes in New Netherland. The grants of land, which were
really large farms, stretched away in all directions over the territory
of New Netherland. But no grant was made on the Island of Manhattan, as
the Company reserved that for itself. Each of these farms was called a
manor. The man who brought colonists from Holland was called a patroon.
He was the Lord of the Manor.

He had supreme authority over his colonists, who cleared the land of
the trees, planted seeds, gathered the ripened grain, an