en the first in the Union in which the settlers
purchased and paid for the lands on which they settled, and in which the
aboriginal owners were so fairly treated that every foot of the soil not
purchased of them by individuals was bought and paid for by the
government of the State.

FINS, RATTLES, AND WINGS.

When the first settlers came to New Jersey, they found in that country
plenty of wild animals, some of them desirable, and some quite
otherwise. In the first class were great herds of red deer (especially
in the central portion of the State), beavers, hares, and squirrels,
and, among the dangerous kinds, bears, panthers, wolves, wild cats, and
rattlesnakes. There were also many foxes, which were a great injury to
the poultry yards of the settlers. Some of these creatures were so
troublesome, that bounties were paid for the heads of panthers, foxes,
and some other animals.

The white settlers found New Jersey a capital hunting ground. Nothing,
however, that is told about hunting in the early days of New Jersey
equals the accounts which are given of the fishing in the waters of that
State. Soon after the settlement of Burlington, one of the townspeople
wrote to his friends in England, describing the manner in which the
people fished in that place.

The Delaware abounded in fish, and in the spring it swarmed with
herring. When the early Burlingtonians wanted to catch herring, they did
not trouble themselves about nets, or hooks and lines, but they built in
the shallow water near the shore a pen, or, as they called it, a
"pinfold," made by driving stakes into the sand so as to inclose a
circular space about six feet in diameter. On the side toward the open
water an aperture was left; and a big bush was made ready to close this
up when the proper time came. Then the fishermen waded into the water,
carrying with them great birch bushes. Sweeping the water with these,
they slowly advanced toward the pinfold, driving swarms of herring
before them, and so surrounding the frightened fish, that they had no
way of escape, except by rushing through the entrance of the pinfold.
Into the inclosure the shining creatures shot,--pushing, crowding, and
dashing over each other,--until the pen was packed with fish, almost as
closely jammed together as sardines in a tin box. Then the bush was
driven down into the opening; and all that it was necessary to do, was
to dip into the pinfold and take out great handfuls of fish. In