e had gone a good distance before he became aware of it,
and would have gone on still further if we had not told him that we
thought the course we were going was wrong. We therefore left one
road, and went straight back in search of the other which we at length
found. A man overtook us who was going the same way, and we followed
him. We crossed the Schiltpads Kill,[215] where there was a fall of
water over the rocks, affording a site for a grist-mill which was
erected there. This Schilpads Kil is nothing but a branch or arm of
Christine Kill into which it discharges itself, and is so named on
account of the quantities of tortoises which are found there. Having
crossed it we came to the house of the miller who was a Swede or
Holsteiner whom they usually call Tapoesie. He was short in person,
but a very friendly fellow. Ephraim had told us we would find him such
as we did, for he had ridden there before us. He had, as it appeared,
several well-behaved children, among whom was a little girl who
resembled very much our little Judith in her whole countenance and
figure, and was about the same age, and had she met us by our house, I
should have considered her Judith. Her name was Anne Mary. We were
welcome here, and were entertained according to the man's
circumstances.

[Footnote 215: Turtle Creek, now Shelpot Creek. At its falls the
Swedes had built a mill in 1662.]

_24th, Friday._ Ephraim having some business here, we did not leave
very speedily. This miller had shot an animal they call a muskrat, the
skin of which we saw hanging up to dry. He told us they were numerous
in the creeks. We asked them why they gave them that name, and he said
because they smelt so, especially their testicles, which he had
preserved of this one, and gave my comrade, remarking that they were
intended for some amateur or other, and he could do little with them.
The muskrat is not larger than the common rat. It has gray hair, and
the fleece is sometimes sold with other peltries, but it is not worth
much, although it has some odor. It was about noon when we were set
across the creek in a canoe. We proceeded thence a small distance over
land to a place where the fortress of Christine[216] had stood which
had been constructed and possessed by the Swedes, but taken by the
Dutch governor, Stuvesant, and afterwards, I believe, demolished by
the English. We went into a house here belonging to some Swedes, with
whom Ephraim had some business. We were