, if it did not
drive us back, and as there was room to work with the rudder, I went
and took hold of the tiller myself, and brought the boat, with the
flood tide, just within the point of Staten Island, where we found a
ketch bound for Achter Kol, and further up to Snake Hill. Having now
the tide with us, we tacked about, and quickly passed by Schutters
Island, lying in the mouth of a kill, on the north side of the Kil
achter Kol. This island is so called, because the Dutch, when they
first settled on the North River, were in the practice of coming here
to shoot wild geese, and other wild fowl, which resorted there in
great numbers. This kill, when the water is high, is like a large
river, but at low water it is dry in some places. Up above it divides
itself into two branches, one of which runs about north to Snake Hill
and Ackingsak; and the other, called the Northwest Kill, because it
extends in that direction, runs to Aquakenom, of which we will speak
hereafter.[188] We sailed inside of Schutters Island, although the
passage is very small, and thus obtained the in-running current;
because the flood tide which came from Achter Kol, and that from the
North River, strike each other here, and thus shoot together in this
kill. With much effort we reached the point of Elizabeth's Kill, where
we were compelled to come to anchor, at four o'clock. We all went
ashore, and lodged for the night in the house of the French people, of
whom we have spoken before, and who were not yet rid of the suspicion
they had conceived, notwithstanding the declarations we had made to
the contrary. We all slept on the floor, and supped upon what we had
brought with us. We were no sooner in the house, than it began to rain
and blow hard from the northwest, and to be very cold. We saw herein
the good providence of the Lord again, whom we had so many times,
during our journeying, so visibly perceived, watching and protecting
so faithfully those who cared for nothing, except for Him and to do
His will.

[Footnote 187: Piscataway, N.J., founded in 1666, some seven or eight
miles up the Raritan River from its mouth at Perth Amboy. Achter Kol,
below, was the Dutch name for what is now corruptly called Arthur
Kill, and, by extension, for Newark Bay and the portion of New Jersey
immediately west of Staten Island, Arthur Kill, and the Kill van
Kull.]

[Footnote 188: Hackensack and Passaic Rivers.]

_15th, Wednesday._ It still blew stiff out of the nor