parallel of 40 degrees, he entered the
mouth of the great river which perpetuates his name. He found the
country inviting to the eye, and occupied by natives friendly in
disposition. The subsequent career of this bold mariner has a mournful
interest. He never returned to Holland, but, touching at Dartmouth, was
restrained by the English authorities, and forbidden longer to employ
his skill and experience for the benefit of the Dutch. Again entering
the English service and sent once more to discover the northwest
passage, he sailed into the waters of the bay which still bears his
name, where cold and hunger transformed the silent discontent of his
crew into open mutiny, and they left the fearless navigator to perish
amid the icebergs of the frozen north.

[Illustration: Seal of New Amsterdam.]

[Illustration: Peter Stuyvesant.]

[1614-1618]

Hudson had sent to Holland a report of the Great River and the country
bordering it, rich in fur-bearing animals, and it had excited eager
interest. Private individuals sent expeditions thither and carried on a
profitable trade with the natives. A few Dutch were here when, in 1613,
Captain Argall sailed from Virginia against the French at Port Royal,
Acadia, now Annapolis in Nova Scotia, who were encroaching upon the
English possessions on the coast of Maine. He compelled them to
surrender. On his return, he visited the Dutch traders of Manhattan
Island, and forced them also, as it had been discovered by Cabot in
1497, to acknowledge the sovereignty of England over this entire region.

[Illustration: Seal of New Netherland.]

It was in 1614 that the Dutch States-General, in the charter given to a
company of merchants, named the Hudson Valley New Netherland. To
facilitate trade this company made a treaty with the Five Nations and
subordinate tribes, memorable as the first compact formed between the
whites and the savages. In it the Indians were regarded as possessing
equal rights and privileges with their white brethren. The treaty was
renewed in 1645, and continued in force till the English occupation,
1664. In 1618, the charter of the New Netherland Company having expired,
the Dutch West India Company was offered a limited incorporation, but it
was not until 1621 that it received its charter, and it was two years
later that it was completely organized and approved by the
States-General. By this company were sent out Mey, as Director, to the
Delaware or South River, and Tienp