lady
was polite, quite well informed, and of good life and disposition.[345]
She had experienced several proofs of the Lord. The breaking up of the
ice had once carried away her entire mansion, and every thing
connected with it, of which place she had made too much account. Also,
in some visitations of her husband, death, and others before. In her
last child-bed, she became lame or weak in both of her sides, so that
she had to walk with two canes or crutches. In all these trials, she
had borne herself well, and God left not Himself without witness in
her. She treated us kindly, and we ate here exceedingly good pike,
perch, and other fish, which now began to come and be caught in great
numbers. We had several conversations with her about the truth, and
practical religion, mutually satisfactory. We went to look at several
of her mills at work, which she had there on an ever-running stream,
grist-mills, saw-mills, and others. One of the grist-mills can grind
120 schepels[346] of meal in twenty-four hours, that is, five an hour.
Returning to the house, we politely took our leave. Her residence is
about a quarter of an hour from Albany up the river. This day we went
to visit still other farms and milling establishments on the other
side of the river, where there was a water-fall but not large,
sufficient to keep about three mills going. This is indeed, I think,
the highest that I have seen.

[Footnote 345: The patroonship of Rensselaerswyck was founded in 1630
by Kiliaen van Rensselaer of Amsterdam. It was a great manorial
estate, extending along the west bank of the Hudson from Beeren Island
to the Mohawk and running so far back from the river as to embrace
about the same area as the present Albany County, though Albany itself
was not a part of it. The first patroon had died in 1646, the second,
his oldest son Johannes, had also died, and the present heir was the
latter's son Kiliaen. The lady here described was Maria, the widow of
Jeremias van Rensselaer, the original patroon's third son, who had
ruled the colony from 1658 to 1674. She was a daughter of Oloff
Stevensz van Cortlandt, and lived till 1689. Her husband's youngest
brother Richard had lived at the colony from 1652 to 1672, but was now
in Holland, treasurer of Vianen, and never came to America again.]

[Footnote 346: Ninety bushels.]

_28th, Sunday._ We went to church in the morning, and heard Domine
Schaets preach, who, although he is a poor, old, ignorant p