delightful and pleasant to look upon, especially at the present time,
when they were all green with the wheat coming up. The woodland also
is very good for tillable land, and it was one of the locations which
pleased me most, with its agreeable fountains. Coming back to the
shore, I made a sketch,[355] as well as I could, of the Catskill
mountains, which now showed themselves nakedly, which they did not do
to us when we went up the river. They lie on the west side of the
river, deep in the country, and I stood on the east side of it. In the
evening we obtained a still more distinct view of them.

[Footnote 355: Sketch not preserved.]

_3d, Friday._ We took on board early the rest of our lading. Our
tradress left us here in order to go back to Albany, and we received
two other passengers in her stead, a young man of this place, named
Dirck, to whom we made mention of our crystal. He said they had at his
place a rock, in which there was a yellow, glittering substance like
gold, as they firmly believed it was; he did not know we were there,
otherwise he would have presented us with a specimen. We spoke to him,
as he was a good hearted youth, several times of God and Christ, and
of the Christian life, and each time he was much concerned. Truly we
discover gradually more and more there is here a hunger and thirst
after God, and no one to help them. They go everywhere wandering
without a shepherd, and know not where they shall turn. We also spoke
to the skipper's daughter, a worldly child, who was not affected by
what we said. The Lord will, in His own time, gather together those
who are of His elect.

We sailed from there about nine o'clock, but after going eight or
twelve miles got aground in consequence of our heavy lading, where we
were compelled to remain until four o'clock in the afternoon, waiting
for high water. But what was unfortunate, we missed a fine, fair wind,
which sprang up about eleven o'clock. Meanwhile the passengers went
ashore. I walked a small distance into the country, and came to a fall
of water, the basin of which was full of fish, two of which I caught
with my hands. They were young shad. I went immediately after the
other passengers for assistance to catch more, but when they came,
they made such an agitation of the water, that the fish all shot to
the bottom, and remained there under the rocks. We therefore could
obtain no more; but if we had had a small casting net, we could have
caught them