ich enabled him to travel better than we could with our wearied
feet. We reached his house about eight o'clock, where he and his wife
bade us welcome. We were well entertained, and went easily to sleep,
having travelled during the day a great distance.

[Footnote 241: Where Danckaerts had lived.]

[Footnote 242: German.]

[Footnote 243: An act of assembly of 1671 naturalized Cornelius
Commegys the elder, Millementy [so in the act as printed, read
Willemtje] his wife, and his four children, Cornelius, Elizabeth,
William, and Hannah, the first born in Virginia, the younger three in
Maryland. He settled at Quaker Neck on the Chester River, in Kent
County, below Chestertown.]

_8th, Friday._ We advised this morning with Mr. Commegys as to
proceeding further down to Virginia, and crossing the bay, in
pursuance of the address which we had received from Mr. Moll, and our
recollection, to wit, that arriving at Mr. Commegys's we should then
consult him, and he would give us further information. In talking the
matter over with him, he said, he saw no probability of our being able
to accomplish this, and advised us against it, for several reasons.
First, the country below there was full of creeks and their branches,
more so than that we had passed over, and it was difficult to get
across them, as boats were not always to be obtained, and the people
were not very obliging. As to going by water, either down or across
the bay, there was not much navigating at this time of year, the
winter being so close at hand, and the worst of it would be to get
back again. To go by sea to the South River, or New York, there was
not much opportunity, and it was attended with great danger and
inconvenience. As to exploring the land, he assured us we had seen the
best; the rest of it was poor and covered with bushes, especially in
Virginia. It would cost us much at this time, and we would have to do
with a godless and very crafty people, who would be the more so
towards us, because we were strangers who could not speak their
language, and did not understand the customs of the country, and so
forth, all which we took into consideration. After breakfast a man
arrived with a letter from Mr. Miller, requesting Commegys to go with
him in his boat across the bay to the ships. Commegys not wishing to
go, answered the letter, and said to us in general terms something
about a man who wished to cross the bay in a boat, but he did not
express himself fully