not
consider at present.

[Footnote 271: New York Bay; so named from Samuel Godyn, one of the
earliest patentees of New Netherland.]

As the Hollanders were the first discoverers of this river, they were
also the first residents, settling themselves down in small numbers at
the Hoerekil and thereabouts, and at Santhoeck, though the most people
and the capital of the country were at the Manhatans, under the rule
and authority of the West India Company.[272] The Indians killed many
of them because they did not live well with them, especially with
their women, from which circumstance this kill derives its name.
Others fled to the Manhatans, but afterwards returned, and have since
continued in possession of the river, although in small numbers and
with little strength. Meanwhile some Swedish soldiers, who had been in
the service of the West India Company, went to Sweden, and there made
known the fact that the country was so large the Hollanders could not
possess it all, especially the river called the South River, lying
next to Virginia, their old friends, and that it was only necessary to
go there with a small number of people to take possession of it, as no
one in that country was powerful enough to prevent it. They
accordingly ordered a levy to be made of men, half of them under the
name of soldiers, and half of boors, and sent them under a certain
commander to settle on the west side of the river, well knowing where
the best and healthiest climate was, namely, up the river, and being
thus near their friends, the English. Whether these good friends, here
or in Europe, have not assisted them in this matter, is not known.
They thus established themselves there, the Hollanders either being
not strong enough or too negligent to prevent them, whilst the West
India Company began gradually to fail, and did not hinder them. The
Swedes therefore remained, having constructed small fortresses here
and there, where they had settled and had Swedish governors.

[Footnote 272: The settlement at the Whorekill was Swanendael, founded
by David de Vries and other Dutch patroons in 1631. See his Notes in
_Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware_, in
this series. The origin of New Sweden was quite different from what is
stated in the text. It sprang from commercial companies formed in
Sweden, allied with Dutch merchants.]

The Hollanders did not abandon this river, but they, as well as the
Swedes, sought to adva