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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a28b97 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68540 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68540) diff --git a/old/68540-0.txt b/old/68540-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b9e2aab..0000000 --- a/old/68540-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10661 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pelts and palisades, by Nathaniel C. -Hale - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Pelts and palisades - The story of fur and the rivalry for pelts in early America - -Author: Nathaniel C. Hale - -Release Date: July 17, 2022 [eBook #68540] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Steve Mattern and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images - made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELTS AND PALISADES *** - - - - - -The Author - - -Nathaniel C. Hale graduated from the United States Military Academy -at West Point in 1925. After serving in the Army, he resigned his -commission to enter business, but joined the Army again on the outbreak -of World War II. He was Commandant of an Officers Training School prior -to overseas duty with the Signal Corps. Since the war, Colonel Hale has -become well known as an author and historian. In 1952 he received the -annual award of the Society of Colonial Wars in New York for his book, -VIRGINIA VENTURER, which was cited as the outstanding contribution of -the year in the field of American colonial history. Colonel Hale and -his wife, both of Southern birth, make their home in the Rittenhouse -Square section of Philadelphia and spend part of their summers at their -cottage in Cape May, New Jersey. - - - - -_PELTS and PALISADES_ - - - - -By the Same Author - - -VIRGINIA VENTURER - -_A Biography of William Claiborne 1600-1677_ - -[Illustration: THE FUR TRADE FURNISHED THE MEANS OF CONTACT BETWEEN -WIDELY DIVERGENT CULTURES.] - - - - - _PELTS and PALISADES_ - - THE STORY OF FUR - and the - Rivalry for Pelts in Early America - - _By_ - - _Nathaniel C. Hale_ - - [Illustration] - - RICHMOND, VA. - THE DIETZ PRESS, INCORPORATED - - - - - COPYRIGHT BY - NATHANIEL C. HALE - - © 1959 - - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - - - -To My Grandchildren - - - - -_Preface_ - - -The story of fur is as old as the story of man. Some brief account of -ancient man’s quest for fur is included in the beginning of this book. -However, the main narrative is concerned with the rivalry for pelts in -early America. - -The discoverers of our country came here looking for gold. They found -it in fur. After that the fur trade formed the pattern of exploration, -trade and settlement. It sustained the colonies along the Atlantic -seaboard until they could be rooted in agriculture and it was a -controlling factor in the westward movement of our population. - -In the seventeenth century there was a seemingly insatiable demand in -Europe for beaver pelts, inflated in no small degree by early laws -prohibiting the use of cheaper furs in hat making. Since there was an -apparently inexhaustible supply of these pelts in America, the fur -trade quickly became the economic lifeblood of the colonies. On it was -laid the cornerstone of American commerce. - -On it, too, was laid the cornerstone of European imperialism on -this continent, the prosecution of which was largely motivated by -the energies of the mercantile classes of the nations involved. -The merchants, their factors, and the fur traders, shaped colonial -policies. The statesmen only signed the implementing documents. - -It was the trader in quest of beaver who first met and conducted -diplomatic relations with the Indians and who first challenged the -claims of competing nations. Indeed, it was this fur trader in the -wilderness, making allies and building palisaded trading posts, or -forts, who determined colonial borders and who largely influenced the -outcome of the imperialistic struggle for the continent. - -That struggle culminated in the French and Indian War and that is the -event which ends the story in this book. _Pelts and Palisades_ does not -pretend to be a comprehensive study of the early American fur trade. -Its only intent is to illustrate in narrative form the significant -effect of that trade on the genesis of America and the westward -movement of its people. - -Included in the narrative are frank accounts of merchants and -traders among our founding fathers who built their fortunes or their -reputations on fur. As all the men who were prominent in this activity -could not be named, only meaningful case histories that point up the -pattern of the early fur trade have been cited. Fortunately, there are -local histories, county and state, that do name most of these truly -pioneer Americans and credit them with their individual accomplishments. - -The era of the early fur trade, typified by the white trader and -the Indian hunter, began drawing to a close after the French and -Indian War. The white trader then became the trapper and a whole new -conception of the fur trade in America developed as the frontier rolled -across the plains and on to the Rocky Mountains. Today we may be on the -threshold of still another era, that of the fur farmer. - -In any case the fur industry continues to be big business in this -country, total activity at all levels--raw furs, dressing and dyeing, -and retail sales--being estimated at about one billion dollars. After -exporting some twenty million dollars worth of domestic pelts, the -United States annually consumes around two hundred million dollars -worth of raw furs altogether--this, according to a recent bulletin of -the Department of Commerce. About fifty percent of this consumption is -imported. - -Our imports are chiefly Persian lamb and caracul, mink, rabbit and -squirrel. While the fur farms of this country produce great quantities -of mink, fox, chinchilla and nutria, our principal domestic production -of wild furs consists of muskrat, opossum, raccoon and mink. All other -wild furs including “King Beaver” of colonial times run far behind this -field. - -Curiously enough, the lowly, unwanted muskrat of the seventeenth -century is now the “King” of the wild furs. Its main domicile is the -State of Louisiana. Because of the muskrat’s residence there Louisiana -produces many more pelts, all fur-bearing animals included, than any -other state in the union. Southern Louisiana is in fact one of the -most important fur producing areas on our continent. In that section -alone there are approximately twenty thousand local trappers of -muskrat, mink, otter and raccoon. - -Altogether there are two million full or part-time trappers in the -United States, bringing in about twenty million pelts a year. There -are also some twenty thousand or more fur farms contributing several -million pelts annually, although fur farming had its inception in this -country not much more than thirty-five years ago. Additionally, there -are the raw fur imports. To transform all these pelts into dressed and -dyed furs and retail them to milady calls for the services of thousands -of additional people at manufacturing, jobbing and dealer levels. - -Even as in ancient times such a great outpouring of commercial energy -and money for fur is mainly decreed by fashion. The arbiters of fashion -are fickle of course, but at a recent showing of designer collections -for women in New York it was said that fur and fur trimmings were -everywhere, with mink currently in most popular favor. As one newspaper -correspondent reported, hats were made of fur or trimmed with it; coats -were collared, cuffed, bordered or lined with it; suits wore wide -fur collars and revers; and evening gowns had deep hemline borders -of fur. And not so long ago in the _New York Times_ appeared a full -page advertisement for a chair upholstered in fur, “the world’s most -sumptuous hostess chair ... lavished with the enchanting elegance of -genuine mink!” - -The author wishes to acknowledge the many kindnesses of those who -have been helpful to him. He is much indebted to the staffs of the -Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. -He is also indebted to members of the General Society of Colonial Wars, -the Netherlands Society, the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and the -Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia who have assisted -him in many ways. From papers he has delivered before these groups has -come much of the material used in this book. The author is also very -grateful to Professor Arthur Adams of Boston, Massachusetts for his -criticism and advice. - -A bibliography of the works consulted in the preparation of the -manuscript is appended, special acknowledgement being due to Doctor -Amandus Johnson of Philadelphia for his published documentations of the -Swedish fur trade in the Delaware valley. - -And, to his wife, Eliska, the writer of this book is very thankful for -her patient understanding during the many week ends that he spent on -the manuscript. - - NATHANIEL C. HALE - - _Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1959._ - - - - -_CONTENTS_ - - - _Page_ - - PREFACE vii - - _Chapter_ - - I. ROYAL ROBES AND BEAVER HATS 1 - - II. VIKINGS AND SKRAELINGS IN VINLAND 16 - - III. CODFISH LAND SPAWNS A FUR FRONTIER 24 - - IV. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN LIGHTS A BLAZE OF RED TERROR 37 - - V. ENGLAND MOVES TO EXTEND HER REALM 44 - - VI. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH TAKES TO TRADE 57 - - VII. THE DUTCH PROFIT BY A MUTINY 67 - - VIII. CONCEPTION OF NEW ENGLAND 82 - - IX. THE PILGRIMS RELY ON GOD AND BEAVER 91 - - X. A BORDER FIXED ON THE COAST OF MAINE 107 - - XI. THE BAY OF VIRGINIA 114 - - XII. KENT ISLAND AND THE BACKSIDE OF VIRGINIA 124 - - XIII. NEW NETHERLAND’S SOUTH RIVER 135 - - XIV. SWEDISH INTERLUDE ON THE DELAWARE 147 - - XV. NEW NETHERLAND THREATENED WITHOUT AND WITHIN 164 - - XVI. THE ENGLISH CLOSE THEIR COASTAL RANKS 180 - - XVII. WESTWARD THE FUR FRONTIER OF AMERICA 186 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 205 - - INDEX 209 - - - - -_PELTS and PALISADES_ - - _Friend, once ’twas Fame that led thee forth - To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North; - Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur; - But now our gallants venture but for Fur._ - - JOHN DRYDEN, 1672. - - - - -I - -_Royal Robes and Beaver Hats_ - - -It might be said that man’s first true possession was the fur skin of -an animal. - -Prehistoric mankind prowled the earth seeking food, shelter and -mates--only those needs intended by nature to preserve him and to -perpetuate his species. He had no accumulated wealth. Even his first -crude weapons, rocks and sticks, were expendable. He had nothing -material to treasure until he began to acquire coverings for his body. - -Body coverings must have become useful to primitive man in the last -glacial period, during the very evolution of human society. His -earliest needs were doubtless served by the pelts of such cold-climate -animals as the reindeer and the bear. Once _Homo sapiens_, stretched -out on the floor of a chilly cave, experienced the warmth of fur skins -accumulated from these animals that he had eaten, it could have been -but a short step to using pelts as clothing. All the world was not cold -however. - -In the middle latitudes early man knew little of thickly furred -animals, and had less need for warm garments. He used foliage, grasses -and eventually goat and sheep skins as skirts to hide his uncleanness. -It was probably no more than modesty, a primal sense of shame, that -first prompted him to cover himself. Later, as he learned to shape -and weave and to appreciate his art, he fashioned his clothing for -adornment. - -Then it was that pelts stripped from bowed chiefs of the colder -countries came to be prized as rarities of beauty and usefulness, as -kingly trophies. Conquerors adopted them as ornaments and symbols of -victory and power. Fur became prime loot. For many generations of man, -while contacts between peoples remained essentially war-like, prize -pelts from the farthest corners of the known world were brought home by -warriors as evidence of their prowess and as tribute to their rulers. - -Some rulers among the rising civilizations of the ancient world made -extravagant use of fur skins, especially the brightly hued pelts of the -big cats. - -Tradition has it that the voluptuous Assyrian queen, Semiramis, -acquired eight thousand tiger skins during a plundering campaign in -India. Presumably, much of this loot was used to decorate the palace -and hanging gardens of sinful Babylon which this storied enchantress is -supposed to have founded. - -Pharaohs and high priests of ancient Egypt used quantities of lion, -leopard and panther skins as ornamental and ceremonial pieces. Men of -high position draped these colorful pelts over their shoulders, tying -the paws in the back with ribbons. The tail of the lion was appended -animal-fashion by pharaohs to impart the beast’s qualities to the -wearer, and warriors stretched their frame-wood shields with leopard -skins. Extant today is a wall painting on a tomb of the eighteenth -dynasty which shows tax-paying Ethiopians bearing their tribute of -pelts to an Egyptian king. - -And, when barter finally joined hands with a war as a better means -of contact between peoples, it was fur that helped bring it about. -Evidence of such military commerce emerges from the mists of Greek -antiquity. The legend of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece is -in all likelihood the fanciful story of a fur trading expedition in the -thirteenth or fourteenth century B.C. - -Some students of Greek mythology interpret the Golden Fleece as -symbolism of one kind or another. However, it is specifically -identified in the legend as the pelt of a golden ram and ornamental -pelts are shown in archaic bas-reliefs to have been an integral part of -Greek culture. - -The perils encountered by Jason and his adventurers, as first related -by them, were probably intended to point up the difficulties of -their achievement and to help guard the secrets of their trade-route -discoveries. No doubt Greek hero worship contributed to the subsequent -embellishment of the legend. But, if like most other folk tradition -this epic of the Argonauts had its origin in some simple fact now -obscured by the telling, that fact must lie in the Golden Fleece -itself. Certainly, without its existence in some form, as the object of -the voyage, there would be no motivation--no story. - -But of course there is a story, and a good one, even after eliminating -the delightful folk-tale embroidery. - -For recognition of his right to the throne Prince Jason of Greece -bargained with his crafty uncle, King Pelias, to go on a dangerous -voyage to the Euxine Sea in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason planned -well. All the gods and great heroes of Greece came to his assistance. -With Juno’s help a ship called the _Argo_ was built for the expedition. -According to the legend it was capable of holding over fifty men, but -the building of a ship to accommodate half that number would have been -a gigantic accomplishment for those days. After manning the _Argo_ with -heroes selected for their particular talents in sailing, fighting and -overcoming special dangers of the voyage, Jason set out on his quest. - -The Argonauts were involved in many perilous adventures after they left -Greece. Nevertheless, they negotiated the treacherous straits at the -entrance to the Euxine Sea and followed its shore until at great length -they came to the country of Colchis. There they bargained and fought -against tremendous odds for the Golden Fleece, much the same as fur -trading adventurers who crossed another unknown sea to a New World some -three thousand years or more later. - -But, when Jason returned with the treasure and placed it at the feet -of Pelias, the king became very wrathful. It seems the fleece was no -longer golden. - -This is entirely believable, whether it was lambskin or something else. -Assuredly, prime lambskin, even a mutated sort, could have had no more -lustre than royal baum marten, ermine, sealskin or other fine pelts -available to Jason in the region he had visited. - -In any event Pelias thought he had a good excuse not to keep his end of -the bargain with Jason, a common enough denouement in itself, one that -has been acted out untold times in both history and fiction. - -That is the plot of the legend, as related only to the probable fact -of the fleece’s existence. How the fleece came into being, that is, -how the golden ram descended from the heavens first into Greece and -then betook himself to the far off country of Colchis to be slaughtered -for his radiant coat, all would seem to lie in the realm of pure myth. -So would many other imaginative passages of the legend as recited -variously by bards who have embroidered on the tale. And, of course, -the episodic adventures of the Argonauts have little or no bearing on -the plot. - -The story in its origin does appear to have been simply that of a -Greek expedition bent on military commerce in the Black Sea, the first -organized fur trading voyage in recorded history. - -From the ancient Greeks, too, comes the English word which describes -the fur skin of an animal. Pelt, a contraction of peltry from the old -Anglo-French _pelterie_, is derived from the Greek _pelta_. A _pelta_ -was a half shield made of the skin of an animal. It was carried by the -warriors of Greece and later by the Romans. A foot soldier armed with a -_pelta_ and a short spear or javelin was called a _peltast_. Hence also -the verb pelt, used to indicate repeated blows by striking or hurling -missiles, as against a _pelta_. - -Although the Greeks had competition on occasion from the Persians and -others, they drove a great trade in the Black Sea for over a thousand -years. At the Bosphorus they founded Byzantium, one of the world’s best -known emporiums. Great quantities of fur trimmings for the tall bonnets -and robes of the Mesopotamians were traded there. The felting used so -extensively by the Scythians, as well as the valuable pelts which the -Israelites used as temple decorations and as offerings to the deity, -all passed through this famous fur market. And of course from Byzantium -came the pelts which the Greeks themselves used so extravagantly as -house decorations and body raiment, especially battle dress. - -After the Romans took over Greece’s trade, they in turn carried on a -brisk commerce in pelts through Byzantium where lambskin, marten, sable -and ermine were exacted in vast quantities as tribute. - -The market for pelts expanded tremendously under Rome’s driving demand -for luxuries. From the Slavic steppes and forests and from the shores -of the Black and Caspian Seas came all manner of pelts. Furs of the -finest quality--pure white ermine, black fox and silvery sable--along -with silks and gems, came by trade caravan from Mongolia and Cathay, -across the Asian wastes. Down the Nile from deep in Africa travelled -Ethiopians bearing their lion and leopard skins. Arabian traders, -having learned the law of the monsoon winds, crossed the Indian Ocean -to bring prime pelts as well as spices and other riches from Hindustan -and the Malay Archipelago to the Mediterranean. - -Italy was the main center of the world’s commerce in pelts, with the -Romans reaching out not only for the far eastern trade in precious fur -such as sable and ermine but into northern Europe, to Flanders and even -into Scandinavia for beaver, otter and bear--and for more ermine. For -ermine was becoming the garment of state wherever royalty held court, -pure white ermine being held in highest esteem. Demand for this regal -fur far exceeded the means of supply. Not until the Germanic hordes -cycloned down from the north did the impetus of this Italian trade in -fine pelts abate. - -Then all trade, culture, and even most western knowledge of the world, -shrank almost into oblivion. The Dark Ages settled down upon civilized -Europe. - - * * * * * - -It took the impact of Mohammed’s vicious attack on Christendom and -Islam’s subsequent conquests in the Mediterranean to stir the western -world from its lethargy. The resulting Holy Crusades awakened curiosity -about Moslem luxuries and better ways of living. Western trade was -restimulated; merchants again began bidding up fine furs. - -There was a new, stepped-up demand for ermine pelts by dignitaries of -the Church and other nobility. Fashion came to require quantities of -mantles and robes of the royal white, as whole systems of protocol on -the use of ermine were established. To indicate rank on state occasions -the lustrous white robes of the nobility were often decorated with the -ermine’s black tail tips or the paws of the black lamb. Decrees were -issued permitting peers to wear trimmings of the white fur on their -scarlet gowns. And, king and judge having originated as one, it was but -natural that the judiciary came to be permitted the use of white ermine -as the badge of high legal dignity, of purity. - -The ermine, a slim little animal of the weasel family which produces a -semi-durable pelt of soft, glossy fur, is thought to have gotten its -name from Armenia, a fur center in ancient times. Medieval writers -often referred to the ermine as the Armenian rat. However it was the -breed inhabiting the northern latitudes of Asia that was most sought -after because of its snow-white fur. - -In winter the live ermine’s coat ranges from creamy white in northern -Europe to pure white in parts of Siberia; the tip of its tail is always -black. During the summer the white fur usually darkens in varying -degrees to a yellowish brown except for the underparts of the animal’s -body. Medieval nobility’s choicest ermine pelts were those which were -all pure white, except of course for the black tail tips. Because these -came from Siberia they could be obtained only through eastern trade -channels. - -To make terminal contacts with these eastern channels eager Italian -merchants risked their fortunes and their very lives. Eventually, like -most frontier traders, they won through by individual enterprise. -Commerce with the Moslems was a hazardous business however, even after -two rising emporiums of Italy, Genoa and Venice, built armed navies to -support it. But bartering and warring, sometimes between themselves, -the Genoese and the Venetians extended their trade and their navies -gained complete control of the Mediterranean, to make it once more the -main western highway of Eurasian commerce. - -These encounters, with the Arabs and the ancient cultures they had -preserved, eventually reawakened a long dead interest in the far east -too. In the thirteenth century the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, -penetrated beyond the Moslem barrier to the East, visited the Great -Kublai Khan in Cathay and returned to write a wondrous tale about what -he had seen in the Orient. - -There was gold plate, and there were sapphires, rubies, emeralds and -pearls to be had in the far eastern countries, just as the ancients had -said. For proof, road-weary Marco Polo brought home with him samples -of these jewels sewed in the linings of his tattered clothing. Also, -in plenteous variety in the East he had found spices for seasoning -and deodorizing, commodities for which all Europe yearned desperately -during the middle ages. - -And, Polo reported glowingly, there were silks, and priceless furs! - -The clothes of the wealthy Tartars in the far east were for the most -part of gold and silk stuffs, lined with costly furs, such as sable -and ermine and black fox, in the richest manner. Robes of vair were -much to be seen also. These consisted of hundreds of tiny Siberian -squirrel pelts, the grey backs and white bellies of which were joined -together checker fashion. In winter the Tartars wore two gowns of -pelts, one with the soft, comforting fur inward next to their skin, and -the other with the fur outward to defend them against wind and snow. - -Sable was esteemed the queen of furs in Mongolia. The dark, -silver-tipped fur of the Siberian sable was thick and silky, the -leather thin. According to Polo prime sable pelts, scarcely sufficient -to line a mantle, were often worth two thousand besants of gold. - -However, ermine appears to have been preferred in India where -Ibn-Batootah, a famous Moorish traveller of the fourteenth century, -reported an ermine pelisse was worth a thousand dinars, or rupees, -whereas a pelisse of sable was worth only four hundred at the time. - -In any case these two aristocrats of the weasel family, sable and -ermine, depending on the quality of their pelts, vied for favor among -the lords of the east, as did to some extent the rare black fox of the -icy regions in the far north. - -Polo said that when the Grand Khan of the Tartar Empire quit his palace -for the chase he took ten thousand retainers with him, including his -sons, the nobles of his court, his ladies, falconers and life guards. -For this entourage great tents were provided, appointed luxuriously and -stretched with silken ropes. The Khan’s sleeping tents and audience -pavilions were covered on the outside with the skins of lions, streaked -white, black and red, and so well joined together that no wind or rain -could penetrate. On the inside they were lined with the costly pelts of -ermines and sables. The Venetian marvelled at the skill and taste with -which the inlaying of the pelts was accomplished. - -When this intrepid adventurer travelled into northern Mongolia he -found the country alive with traders and merchants. “The Merchants to -buy their Furres, for fourteene dayes journey thorow the Desart, have -set up for each day a house of Wood, where they abide and barter; and -in Winter they use Sleds without wheeles, and plaine in the bottome, -rising with a semi-circle at the top or end, drawne easily on the Ice -by beasts like great Dogs six yoked by couples, the Sledman only with -his Merchant and Furres sitting therein.” - -These fur traders showed the Venetian huge pelts, “twentie palms long,” -taken from the white bear in the far north. That was the Region of -Darkness, so-called because for “the most part of the Winter moneths -the Sun appeares not, and the Ayre is thick and darkish.” There, Polo -was told, the natives were pale, had no prince and lived like beasts. -But in the polar summer when there was continuous daylight they caught -multitudes of large black foxes, ermines, martens and sables. - -Ibn-Batootah, who later travelled this country, told how the traders -bartered with the mysterious inhabitants of the far north. - -After encamping near the borders of the Region of Darkness the traders -would deposit their bartering goods in a likely spot and return to -their quarters. The next day on returning to the same place they might -find beside their goods the skins of sable, ermine and other valuable -furs. If a trader was satisfied with what he found, he took it; if not, -he left it there. In the latter case the inhabitants of the Region -of Darkness might then on another visit increase the amount of their -deposit, or as often happened, they might pick up their furs and leave -the goods of the foreign merchant untouched. - -So far as the traders were concerned these people of the far north with -whom they bartered might as well have been ghosts. The traders never -saw them. - -The pelts of all the polar animals were lusher and finer and -consequently much more valuable than those found in the districts -inhabited by the Tartars. Because of this the Tartars were often -induced to undertake plundering expeditions in the Region of Darkness -for furs, as well as for domesticated animals kept by the natives -there. Invariably, it appears, the inhabitants simply sought safety -in flight from the raiders, putting up no fight and never showing -themselves. - -Marco Polo said that lest the Tartar raiders lose their way during the -long winter night, “they ride on Mares which have Colts sucking which -they leave with a Guard at the entrance of that Countrey, where the -Light beginneth to faile, and when they have taken their prey give -reynes to the Mares, which hasten to their Colts.” Continuing, he said -that from this northern region came “many of the finest Furres of which -I have heard some are brought into Russia.” - -About the mysteries of Russia, Polo learned little. But he was certain -that it was of vast extent, bordering in the north on the Region of -Darkness and reaching to the “Ocean Sea.” Although there were many fine -and valuable furs there, such as sable, it was not a land of trade he -reported. - -How wrong he was about that! - - * * * * * - -German merchants were long since firmly established with fur factories -in Russia, and Norse sea-rovers had first tapped the trade of that land -hundreds of years earlier. - -During the dark centuries when western Europe was sinking in despair -fierce Vikings in their horned helmets were traversing the Slavic -lands, plundering as they went and dropping Arabian, Byzantine and -Anglo-Saxon coins which later marked their routes. By way of the Volga -and the Dvina the Norsemen brought back far-eastern spices and pearls -obtained on the shores of the Caspian Sea in exchange for amber and -tin. But chiefly they transported skins. They bartered Baltic furs for -lustrous Oriental pelts and frequently used both slaves and coinage as -media of exchange. By way of the Dneiper and other rivers they even -traded on the Black Sea, and at Byzantium, portaging their dragon boats -from stream to stream with marvelous facility. - -In the ninth century the Norsemen established a truly great trading -city of their own at Novgorod. It was located on a table-land where -four main waterways of Russia converged to form trade routes to the -Caspian, Black and Baltic Seas. Here the Vikings, inter-marrying with -the natives, settled down and prospered in the riches of their commerce -with the farthest corners of the world. Furs and other oriental -luxuries, cloths, honey, spices, metals, and the wax consumed in such -quantities by the Christians, all passed through their hands. - -Rurik, the Norse leader of these Russified Scandinavians, or -Varangians, built a castle and a fort at Novgorod in 862 to protect -the independence of the surrounding province, and thus was laid the -foundation of Russia. - -An ancient chronicler tells also of the wicked, fabulous trading city -of Julin at the mouth of the Oder River on the Baltic Sea. The Saxons -called it Winetha (Venice). It was inhabited mainly by pagan Slavs. But -there were Norsemen there too, and in fact anyone could live and trade -in this emporium of the north so long as he didn’t declare himself a -Christian. Julin disappeared at an unknown date beneath the water due -to the encroachments of the sea. Trusting in the wealth of its trade -and despising God, it went the way of Sodom and Gomorrha according to -Christian bards. - -In the eleventh century whatever did remain of Julin belonged to the -Christian Germans. German merchants, crossing the Elbe from the west, -colonized the Oder valley and other Slavic lands on the shores of the -Baltic. At Thorn in Poland they exchanged cloth and other goods for -ermine, sable, fox and calabar (grey squirrel). They even penetrated -Russia deeply for trade. At Novgorod they had a fur trading settlement -active enough to prompt expressive protestations from the pious Canon -Adam of Bremen. - -“Pelts are plentiful as dung” in Russia, he wrote, but they are “for -our damnation, as I believe, for _per fas et nefas_ we strive as hard -to come into the possession of a marten skin as if it were everlasting -salvation.” According to him it was from this evil source in Russia -“that the deadly sin of luxurious pride” had overspread the west. - -Indeed, by comparison with the self-mortifying Christian standards of -the time, luxury in dress was very pronounced among the rising German -merchants and their wives. It was even more so among the men than among -the women. The most conservative patricians and councillors wore cloth -hoods ostentatiously trimmed with beaver and other fine fur, and long -fur cloaks of exquisite quality. So proud were they of their finery -that the Councillors of Bremen once forged a document pretending to -prove that Godfrey of Bouillon during the First Crusade had vested them -with the right to wear fur and gold chains. - -The Church frowned upon the use of fur by the laity or any except the -highest ecclesiastics. In fact, since early in medieval times the -wearing of fur by the common man had been regulated by severe laws. But -even among the Christians a man’s wealth and standing permitted its use -in some degree. As always in the past, fur was a symbol of power and -prestige. And, these German merchants were becoming a real power as -they gained a monopoly of the Baltic trade. - -They formed a strong federation of the towns they had founded at the -river mouths along the south shore of their sea. Their luggers plied -the North Sea and the Thames in Britain. At Wisby on the important -Isle of Gothland they early established an emporium. From the first -Christian centuries barbarian Gothland had been the most active center -of Baltic trade. Now it was under the control of this Hanseatic League -of German cities which dominated the Baltic Sea and was soon permitting -no carrying bottoms there other than its own. - -In the thirteenth century the enterprising Hansa towns had monopolistic -trade factories established not only in England and Scandinavia, and at -Novgorod in Russia, but at Pleskow and perhaps even at Moscow. Their -fur traders penetrated to the White Sea. Within another century they -had extended their operations beyond the Urals into Siberia as far as -Tobolsk and the River Taz. By then their bold assurance had gained them -factories or the protection of trade-guild concessions in Flanders, -France and Portugal. They were granted concessions even in Venice, -their great Italian rival, whose own trading galleys were in turn -annually invading England and Flanders. - -But cruelty and haughtiness were born of the Hansa’s strength and -pride, and lasting enmities resulted. - -German arrogance met its first tests at Novgorod. There the Hansa -traders incurred the everlasting resentment of the Russians, who in -an effort to cope with mounting indignities resorted to cheating the -Germans at every opportunity. Buying furs was risky business except -in well-lighted places where it was easy to test quality. Resentments -often flared into conflict, and the factory in Novgorod became a kind -of hostile encampment. - -In spite of reduced returns, however, the Hansa merchants clung -tenaciously to their trading privileges in Russia for some time. -Not until Ivan the Terrible crushed the independent provinces and -consolidated the Russian Empire were the Germans finally driven out--in -the sixteenth century. - -Then the Scandinavian powers revolted against the Hansa monopolies and -the cruelties of the Germans within their borders. During the wars -that followed the power of the Hanseatic League declined rapidly. With -feudalism breaking up on the continent in western Europe, men had been -freed for competitive commerce. It was the time of the Renaissance -and trading impulses were quickening everywhere. New maritime states, -sensing opportunity, had already risen to challenge the monopoly in the -Baltic. Danes, Dutch and even the commercially-retarded English had -been competing for the prize. - -In England as early as 1404 a group of merchant adventurers organized -a company to carry trade to Baltic cities. But as it turned out the -agricultural English were not ready, for, although their sailors and -traders fought savagely during piratical encounters in the Baltic, -at home they were still hindered by their feudal system, a system -against which the Germans had early rebelled as being incompatible -with commercial enterprise. The absence of a large middle class, of -sufficient urban community life in England, forestalled any real -commerce. - -The backward Englishmen didn’t have anything but lead, tin and cheap -skins to export, and they had to buy back some of that, reworked, at a -premium. On the continent at the time there was a saying: “We buy fox -skins from the English for a groat, and re-sell them the foxes’ tails -for a guilder.” - -The Danes, situated strategically to cut the Baltic trade lane, fared -much better than the English. But in the end it was the Dutch who -succeeded the Hansa in carrying trade. The main lane of traffic from -Bruges in Flanders, over the North Sea, around the Danish peninsular, -and through the Baltic to Russia belonged eventually to Holland. So did -the remnants of the Hansa’s former fur trade at Novgorod. - - * * * * * - -Dutch requirements for skins mounted rapidly with the coming of the -Renaissance. Even a brisk market for worn, discarded and inferior -pelts was maintained in Holland. The pinch for pelts came about as a -result of a tremendously stepped-up demand for fur in manufacture--in -the felting of hats! - -In Holland, as in other countries crawling out of the Dark Ages, beaver -skin had been permitted as headgear to almost all who could afford it. -Beginning with the time that the wearing of hats became fashionable in -Europe this costly fur was used extensively for that purpose by people -of means. It would appear, in fact, that in England from the time of -Chaucer the word _beaver_ was practically synonymous with _hat_. - -Now, felt hats, which had brims and other advantages over those -fashioned from pelts, were being pressed out in quantity by the -trade-conscious Dutch for world commerce. Dutch beavers, they were -called, and they came in a variety of shapes and quality. - -Due to the peculiar matting quality of fur filaments, felting had been -a profitable manufacturing art for centuries. The Greeks had practiced -it. The Mongolians of Kublai Khan’s time used felt matting for tents; -rich Tartars sometimes furred their robes with pelluce or silk shag. -The Normans who wore felted articles of dress brought the art to -England. - -Fur is made up of short, barbed hairs that are downy and inclined to -curl. Matting or felting, which would expose a live animal to cold and -storm, is prevented in most animal coats by relatively stiffer guard -hairs lying alongside the fur filaments and keeping them separated. -But, the ancients had learned that by first plucking the coarser guard -hairs from a pelt, the downy fur that remained could easily be removed -from the hide, processed, pressed into felt mats and blocked into any -shape. - -Although many other furs were used in the manufacture of hats, the -best felts were of beaver. For one thing they were practically -indestructible. Discarded beaver hats could be worked over and made -like new. Then, a new method of combing out the fur filaments of the -beaver pelt was developed, to better utilize the skins. This left the -pelts with the guard hairs to be worked into stoles for clerics and -officials, and the combed-out fur fibers of course for the manufacture -of hats. - -Dutch beavers for both men and women found their way to England, to -Baltic countries, to France, Portugal and into the Mediterranean. -These, as well as other products of the north, were eagerly sought -in trade-hungry Venice, until recently the mistress of a thriving -Mediterranean carrying trade. - -Venice had reached this position of trade eminence in the Mediterranean -after a bitter, hundred years’ war to eliminate Genoa as her rival. -The most savage of the battles between the fine navies of these two -medieval states had been fought over the Black Sea fur trade. But then -the Turks, taking Constantinople in 1453, erected a toll-gate at this -ancient Eurasian cross-roads, and the bite they took as middlemen all -but stagnated world trade through the Mediterranean. - -To make matters worse, the Portuguese, who had been exploring the south -Atlantic, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa -in 1488. An alternative route to India and Malaya had been discovered! - -But, although Italy’s hold on the fur trade and other oriental -traffic was broken, her own need for fine pelts and luxuries had not -diminished. Italian coffers were overflowing with the riches of past -commercial glory, while a golden age of elegance was blossoming in -Europe for those who could afford it. - -One of the keynotes of the Renaissance, as illustrated in the art and -literature of the time, was an increasing appreciation of beautiful -furs. Throughout the western world wealthy women took to adorning -themselves with expensive pelts. If, as was said at the time, the -ermined luxury of a Queen of France was cast into the shade by the -furred splendor of a matron of Bruges, much more could have been -claimed for the oft-wed daughter of Pope Alexander in Italy. - -When this young lady, Lucretia Borgia, was married to her fourth -husband, Alfonso de Ferrara, furs competed with jewels in dazzling -array. Although the marriage was celebrated by proxy, the -twenty-two-year-old bride wore a diadem of diamonds, thirty strings -of splendid pearls, a gown of ruby velvet edged with sable, and a -cloth-of-gold train lined with ermine. According to Sanuto, the -Venetian diarist, it took ten mules to carry the boxes containing -the furs of her trousseau, there being no less than forty-five robes -trimmed and lined with sable, ermine, rabbit, wolf and marten. - -[Illustration: IN EUROPE THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS DEMAND FOR BEAVER FUR -IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.] - -With the need for such elegance, it is small wonder that the cooped-up -western world, alive and vigorous by then, hailed the Portuguese -discovery of a new spice route to the East Indies and began casting -about in every direction for passages to the even greater riches of -Cathay. - - - - -II - -_Vikings and Skraelings in Vinland_ - - -By the closing years of the fifteenth century, not only were the -mercantile classes of western Europe thoroughly awake to the -possibilities of world trade, but a good number of other people were -beginning to think for themselves about the world around them. - -If one could cross by land to China, which itself faced on the sea, -there must be ways to reach that fabulous country by skirting the land -masses of the world. In that manner the Portuguese had discovered an -all-water route to India and Malaya. Or, was there the possibility of -an even more direct passage to both China and the Indies by sailing -straight west across the ocean? - -The ancients had said the world was a globe. Hundreds of years -before Christ, Greek philosophers were sure the world was round. One -of them, Eratosthenes, calculated the earth’s circumference to be -40,000 kilometers (amazingly enough today, within 9 kilometers of the -meridional figure!) And Strabo, a geographer who lived in the first -century, recorded that if it were not for lack of sailing equipment to -negotiate the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean one could travel from -Spain to India by keeping to the same parallel. - -Of course this did not agree with the teachings of the scriptures which -spoke of the “four corners of the earth.” All during the dark ages -ignorant clerics of the Church preferred to think of the world as a -flat platter and pretended to forbid a contrary conception because it -did not conform with the Bible. The low level of western culture had -blindly accepted the thesis that the inner edges of this platter-like -world were inhabited by monstrous creatures, and beyond the edges--a -bottomless gulf! - -On such grounds most people of the western world still resisted any -notion that the world was round. But there was a question in the minds -of many. - -The Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Arabs had navigated the waters -of the Atlantic--so had the Irish and the Vikings who long since -discovered and colonized “islands” across the western sea--all -without falling off the edges of the world. The Arabs, even now, were -making the globes they had made for centuries for their sailors and -traders. Many learned men in the west, geographers and scientists, -were confident that the world was round; only recently at scholarly -Nuremberg a fine globe had been completed showing Asia right across -from Spain. - -If there were “islands” they could be skirted, large though some -of them might be according to the legends and the sagas of ancient -mariners. Christopher Columbus, the Genoese sailor, must have heard -about these western islands at Iceland when he visited that old -Irish-Norse settlement in 1477. Certainly he must have heard much about -Greenland. - -Greenland, a continent-like island in the west, had been colonized by -several thousand Norsemen in the tenth century under the leadership of -a red-headed, murderous Icelander named Eric Thorvaldson. From there -two of his sons, Leif and Thorvald, an illegitimate daughter named -Freydis, and a former daughter-in-law, Gudrid, with her new husband -Thorfinn Karlsefni, set out on even more daring trading and colonizing -expeditions to other great islands--“the western lands of the world.” - -First, Leif, whose conversion to Christianity against his pagan -father’s will may have had something to do with his wish to get away, -made landings in America in 1003. To Leif it was “White Man’s Land” -or “Great Ireland,” for he knew that Christian Irish had preceded him -there. There is in fact some evidence today that Celtic missionaries -in staunch, hide-covered coracles, and others too, had been crossing -the sea and making settlements in America for five hundred years before -Leif Ericson sailed west from Greenland. But Leif’s visit is recorded -with much more credibleness. - -In the tradition of his Viking ancestors Leif and his crew of -thirty-five men visited Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and appear to -have made their camp for the winter on Cape Cod where they built a -good house. There they leisurely cut timber and gathered vines for -cargo back to treeless Greenland. Some of the crew shaped a new mast -from a tall tree for their dragon ship. Others collected peltries. All -marvelled at the mildness of the new country’s climate. - -Leif called the land surrounding his camp site “Vinland,” probably -because of the abundance of the greenbrier vines which grew there. -These made strong, flexible rope material when stripped of their thorns -and stranded together. On the other hand the name “Vinland” may have -been derived from the grape-vines and wineberries discovered there by -Leif’s family retainer, a “southerner” called Tyrker. If this slave -came originally from the Mediterranean area as his name might indicate -he may well have been the first to recognize grapes and demonstrate -their usefulness. - -One thing is certain however; the addition of wine to Leif’s already -valuable cargo, when he embarked for Greenland the following year, made -his expedition most exciting--one to be emulated! - -Ambitious Thorvald Ericson, for one, did not feel that the western -lands had been sufficiently explored by his brother. He set out in 1004 -and spent two years in Vinland investigating the coasts and rivers. In -his Viking ship, the same one that Leif had used, the sagas seem to -say that he ranged north of Cape Cod along the Maine coast and south -through Long Island Sound. - -The natives Thorvald met on his voyage were surprised whenever possible -and liquidated without quarter. Skraelings, he called them, meaning -shriekers or war-whoopers. No doubt the rough treatment afforded the -wild Skraelings was an approved medieval means of taking possession -of their fur skins with the least bother. In any case it ended in -Thorvald’s own death. One day hundreds of Skraelings in their canoes -suddenly attacked the Viking ship. Although the Norsemen drove them -off with much slaughter Thorvald was mortally wounded in his armpit -by an arrow. He was buried ashore that same day. His men returned to -Greenland the following year, in 1007. - -It has been claimed that the encounter in which Thorvald was slain took -place at Mount Desert Island on the Maine coast. Somes Sound does seem -to fit the site of the battle as related in the saga. Certainly, great -numbers of natives could have been in the habit of congregating there -with their canoes during fur trapping season, for Mount Desert Island -was a favorite haunt of beavers and other fur bearers in past centuries. - -In 1010 wealthy Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid, who had urged -the project upon him, took something over 160 colonists from Greenland -to establish a permanent Norse trading settlement in the western land. -They went in dragon ships and round-bottomed cargo vessels loaded -with “all kinds of livestock,” including a bull. The men had headgear -adorned with horns, antlers or ravens’ wings. They wore short breeches -and were clad with leather armor. Pelts were wrapped about their legs. -The women wore girdled tunics. Heavy fur coats and lambskin hoods lined -with cat fur protected the voyagers, men and women alike, when the seas -were icy and the winds biting. Most of them survived to reach Vinland, -where Gudrid bore her husband a son, Snorri, the first autumn they -spent at Leif’s old house. - -Snorri, who was to become the ancestor of a number of distinguished -men including three Icelandic bishops, appears to have been the first -European of record born in America. - -At Vinland the Skraelings came with “packs wherein were grey furs, -sables, and all kind of peltries.” The bull having greatly frightened -them, it was some time before they loosened their bundles and offered -their pelts in trade. They wanted to exchange them for Norse weapons. -Karlsefni rejected this proposition. But the saga relates that he gave -them some milk, whereupon the red men wanted nothing else and barter -forthwith got under way. - -In such manner was the first fur trade of record joined in America, -although one cannot resist wondering if the milk was spirituous. -Experienced Thorfinn Karlsefni, who had gained his fortune in other -parts of the world as a seafaring trader, may well have been the first -white man to practice this ancient trick of the trade on the naïve -native Americans. - -Very soon after this first successful barter the aborigines came back -in much greater number than before with bundles of pelts and stood -outside the palisades which the Norsemen had been foresighted enough to -erect around their house in the meantime. Karlsefni, sensing the making -of another good bargain, instructed the women to offer more milk. The -Skraelings took it thirstily, pitching their bundles of furs over the -palisades. But then one of them tried to steal a Norse weapon and a -battle ensued during which many of the Skraelings were slain. - -Evidently Karlsefni thought it was too dangerous at Vinland. It would -appear that he moved his colony the second year to a site probably on -the Hudson River. In the meantime according to some students he had -explored the country from its northernmost parts, where he mentioned -seeing “many artic foxes,” to the Chesapeake Bay, no doubt entering -many rivers, the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Delaware, possibly the -James, and identifying correctly the extent of the Appalachian mountain -range. There is reason to believe that he built shelters and maintained -a separate camp somewhere in the Chesapeake tidewater. - -It may have been there, as the Norsemen told it, that swarthy, -ill-looking men with broad cheeks and ugly hair on their heads, came -in canoes and stared at them in amazement. Later, these same men came -back with “fur-skins and all-grey skins” wanting swords and spears in -trade. Evidently there was no milk in this camp, wherever it was, but -fortunately the natives finally agreed to take red cloth in exchange -for their pelts. - -“In return for unblemished skins, the savages would accept a span -length of red cloth and bind it around their heads. Thus the trading -continued. When Karlsefni’s people began to run short of cloth, they -ripped it into pieces so narrow that none was broader than a finger, -but the savages even then gave as much for it as before, or more.” - -And, so the trading continued, according to a version of the saga in -_Hauk’s Book_, until it ended in a battle as usual. Once more many of -the natives were killed. So were two of the Norsemen. - -After three years Karlsefni abandoned the idea of a permanent -settlement. The Skraelings were too hostile. The Norse, with their -superior boats and shields, could cope with them on water. But on -land the red men were too numerous and had the advantage of surprise. -They couldn’t be held at bay--the Norsemen didn’t have the terrifying -firearms available to later colonists coming to America. - -All of which may reasonably account for the dearth of Viking artifacts -on the eastern seaboard of America. The Norsemen kept close to the -shore-line, whether on the seacoast or on a tidewater river, building -their huts near the safety of their shielded dragon ships. Today, the -sites of those early camps may well be under water as the level of the -sea has risen at least five or six feet in the intervening time due to -glacial meltings. - -A translation of the _Flatey Book_ saga relates that when Karlsefni’s -people returned to Greenland they “carried away with them much booty in -vines and grapes and peltries,” and that after this “there was much new -talk in Greenland about voyaging to Vinland, for this enterprise was -now considered both profitable and honorable.” - -Not to be outdone in the matter of profit Freydis, the illegitimate -daughter of Eric the Red and with a heart as murderous as that of her -father, led an expedition to Vinland a few years later. Honor appears -to have had no part in her plans. - -Freydis had a husband, but she made the plans. Before leaving -Greenland, she arranged with Leif for the loan of his house in Vinland -and induced two unsuspecting brothers of another family who had a -particularly fine ship to become her partners in the venture. These two -men were pledged to take only thirty warriors and their women. Freydis -had agreed to take a like number, but somehow she contrived to conceal -five extra men in her smaller ship. - -After they arrived in Vinland, Freydis managed to keep the two groups -apart by fomenting antagonism. The brothers were forced to build a -separate house for their men and women. This house, together with too -much wine and heavy sleep, proved to be the means of their undoing--all -according to the Viking lady’s plan it appears. And what a red-handed -proceeding it was! - -Freydis, with her husband’s grudging cooperation, succeeded in -murdering the two brothers in their house one night after shackling -their company. She had all of their men put to death and personally -wielded the axe that killed their five women when no one else would do -it. Then, taking her deceased partners’ fine trading ship, she returned -to Greenland with a rich cargo of furs, wine and lumber. - -One shudders to think how she went about extracting the furs from the -Skraelings! - -For two or three hundred years the Greenland republic maintained an -active trade between America and Norway, and with other countries, in -walrus hides, seal and fur skins, dried fish and whale fat. Norwegian -port records, as well as the sagas, testify to trade with “Markland,” -the name which had been given to Nova Scotia by Leif Ericson. There are -old church records which show that quantities of the pelts of animals -not indigenous to Greenland were exported from that country to Norway, -pelts that could have come only from the mainland of America. The bills -of lading listing church taxes which had been collected _in natura_ -include elk, black bear, beaver, otter, ermine, sable, lynx, glutton -and wolf. - -But, in 1261, the Greenland parliament renounced its independence and -swore allegiance to Norway. Independent traffic with other countries -was promptly curtailed. Subsequently the dominance of the Hanseatic -League through its monopolistic factory at Bergen, which took no -interest in Greenland, brought about a withering of all commerce -between Greenland and the continent. - -Deterioration of the Greenlanders themselves came about through -malnutrition and intermarriage with the Eskimos who descended on their -settlements. Some who voyaged to America probably remained there and -were eventually absorbed by the natives. There is evidence that as late -as 1362 an expedition of Swedes and Norwegians, exploring westward in -the Hudson Bay, left their ship at the mouth of the Nelson River and in -their afterboats penetrated through Lake Winnipeg up the Red River into -Minnesota. An inscription on a rhune-stone, ostensibly left by them as -a marker, says they were being cut off by the savages at the time. But, -whether authentic or not, the storied voyage appears to be of little -commercial significance; the era of Viking trade in America was ended. - -Among most scholars during the dark ages little notice had been taken -of the Norse discoveries, if indeed very much was known about them. -True, the chronicler Adam of Bremen had recorded the discovery of a -large island in the western sea, called “Vinland,” but then everyone -knew there were “islands” in the sea. Knowledge of any far-western -lands, even of Greenland itself, faded with the withering of trade. - -Then Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, plowed the ocean straight -west in 1492 and returned to assert that as he had predicted the east -coast of Asia was six thousand miles nearer to Europe than most of the -world’s best geographers had estimated it to be. - -A new, short route west to Asia! The news was electrifying to a now -thoroughly trade-conscious world. Spain, England, Portugal, France--all -took to the western sea. - - - - -III - -_Codfish Land Spawns a Fur Frontier_ - - -Christopher Columbus probably thought that “the western lands of the -world” explored by the Norsemen were island-like masses, similar to -Greenland, off the northern coast of Asia. From what he was able to -learn, especially on his visit to Iceland, he no doubt concluded that -these lands stretched far away to the southeast. He had a mariner’s -instinct for such things. Certainly he calculated his landfall in 1492 -with amazing accuracy. - -Columbus came among islands that he confidently took to be the Moluccas -off Asia. The continent lay just beyond. - -But it was the wrong continent! - -Although Christopher Columbus made four voyages, reaching the mainland -of South America in 1498, he never knew that he hadn’t really come upon -Asia--that the natives he encountered were not wild, borderland East -Indians. - -In the meantime, a Genoese-born Venetian navigator sailing for an -English king landed on the North American coast in 1497 and claimed -the country for England. John Cabot was his English name. Cabot made -the North Atlantic crossing in a small bark called the _Matthew_ with -eighteen men, following the route of the Vikings, and landed first -somewhere near Cape Breton. After sailing northern coasts for a week he -decided the country was Siberia. Like Christopher Columbus, he returned -quickly to report that he had discovered a route to Asia. - -Like Columbus too, John Cabot was given a fleet of trading ships and -was sent back the next year by an excited monarch and hopeful Bristol -merchants to collect the spoils of his discovery. His ships were -“fraught with sleight and grosse merchandizes, as course cloth, Caps, -laces, points, and other trifles.” - -This time Cabot cruised the coast south, possibly as far as Cape -Fear, for signs of Cathay or India before he returned to England. He -carried back a few mangy furs taken in trade with the Indians--for the -surprised Indians could think of nothing much to give the white god -other than the clothes off their backs--but no gold, pearls, silks or -spices. - -It was hard to believe that this was the Asia about which Marco Polo -had written. - -It took another decade for Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine astronomer -who had gone along on several Spanish and Portuguese voyages to the -western lands, to declare that they were in reality a new world. A -German savant named Waldseemuller who greatly admired Vespucci revised -the map of the earth. He drew in a new continental land mass between -Europe and Asia, and he honored Vespucci by calling it Amerigo’s -Land--in Latin, Terra America. - -Meanwhile, Spain’s only world rival had not been neglecting the west. -Portuguese caravels reached Brazil as early as 1500 and explorers from -Portugal visited Labrador and Newfoundland in 1501. Within a few years -after John Cabot’s crewmen first told Bristol fishermen that the waters -off Newfoundland boiled with codfish, Portuguese fishing boats led the -way to those American waters. - -Armed and battling, rival fishing fleets of the other European -countries followed them across the North Atlantic. Soon, almost a -hundred sail yearly were frequenting the fabulous Newfoundland banks -where fish could literally be hauled in by basket. - -These fishermen, Normans, Bretons, Basques, Bristolmen, fell to -bartering with the natives when they went ashore to dry their catches. -In sailorly tradition they no doubt had a handy reserve of appealing -gew-gaws for any chance meetings with the opposite sex. One thing -leading to another, it was not long before looking-glasses, beads, -tin bells and other trinkets were being exchanged for the fur skins -that the natives wore. And the aborigines in turn were then lured into -trapping and curing prime skins for this trade. - -So, along with their nets, the fishermen from Europe brought over more -substantial trade goods, such as knives, axes, fishhooks, combs and -colored cloth. Codfish Land, as they called it, began yielding up tidy -extra profits from a trade in sealskins, red and blue fox, otter, -beaver and marten. The bulk was small on the return trip; the merchants -at home paid well. - -The first pelts of the American pine marten taken by the sailors -caused much excitement. They were mistaken for sable. At the time -Siberian sable was the most expensive of all furs traded in the great -international fur center at Leipzig. In Russia it was reserved for the -use of royalty only; in England noble women eagerly sought the precious -pelts as neckpieces. A sack, as the Russian traders called a robe of -Siberian sable, was worth more thousands of rubles than most western -royalty could afford. - -But, although the pine marten did eventually become known as American -sable, the pelt of this little animal was never so precious as that of -his glistening, thick-coated Siberian cousin. For one thing the guard -hairs of his fur did not have the beautiful silver tips. - -However, there was another marten, otter-like in its aquatic habits, -that turned out to have a much finer coat than its European and Asian -cousins. This one the fishermen learned to call mink. It was the name -already given in Finland to this scrappy little member of the weasel -family, for whose fur there was a premium market in western European -countries. The American wild mink with its thicker, silkier under fur -and its glossier guard hair was definitely more desirable, bringing a -better price. - -Although Portuguese sailors had led the way to Codfish Land, Portugal -followed up her early advantages in America only half-heartedly. She -agreed to a Papal-sponsored division of the earth that left the new -world pretty much to Spain. The Portuguese suspected there was no short -route west to Asia. Anyway, they were doing very well in their own -sphere with their route to the east around Africa. - -In the end the Pope’s line of demarcation was all right with the -Spaniards, too. By the time they were sure there was no centrally -located strait through America, they had turned up enough gold, silver -and other rich loot to keep them well occupied. - -With medieval single-mindedness they were plundering, enslaving and -killing. It was the only way the criminal conquistadors knew to reward -themselves. Because the natives were accounted to be bloodthirsty -cannibals their enslavement or liquidation was looked upon with favor -by Spanish authorities. It also greatly simplified the acquisition of -aboriginal treasures and mines. Cruelties, so artfully practiced at -home, became sheer brutality when transferred to a frontier where the -number of victims seemed inexhaustible. Roasting alive, tearing by -hounds, dismembering, were all part of the customary Spanish pattern at -the time; it was just that these atrocities were committed with higher -frequency in America. Wholesale annihilation was the order of the day. - -Spain was not so absorbed however that she did not make threatening -gestures against those who would intrude on her new possessions. -England, following up Cabot’s discoveries, made a prideful attempt to -launch a colonizing venture. But it died in birth. The Spaniards warned -against any encroachments in their American sphere and the English -admiralty was in no position to contest the point. - -Not so, the French! - - * * * * * - -Loot from the Aztec Empire proved too tempting to French captains of -swift, handy ships which had been commissioned as privateers. Armed -with official “letters of mark” to challenge Spanish depredations on -the high seas they found clever ways to exceed their authority when -they overhauled cumbersome, treasure-laden galleons from America. - -It wasn’t too long before it was difficult to distinguish between a -French privateer and a plain pirate. And Francis I, winking broadly, -said he knew of no clause in Father Adam’s will which left all the new -world and its riches to his cousin Charles of Spain. Whereupon the -French monarch went further. He sent out a capable Florentine pilot, -Giovanni da Verrazano, to discover and claim lands in America, and if -possible to locate a passage to the Indian Ocean. - -Verrazano, with a crew of fifty Normans in _La Dauphine_, made his -landfall in 1524 just above Spanish Florida. He coasted northward past -the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. It appears that he glimpsed the bay and -identified it as the great ocean of the East reaching to China; then he -sailed on to the Hudson River. - -The natives encountered by the Frenchmen along the way were gentle and -playful. It was spring and Verrazano’s mariners succumbed to the beauty -of the Indian women who braided their hair and modestly covered their -loins with soft furs. Otherwise they were quite naked. The sailors gave -the aborigines toy bells, bits of paper and colored beads, and found -them in turn “very liberal, for they give away what they have.” - -_La Dauphine_ left the Hudson River and continued on north, beyond -Cape Cod, to lands where the natives were found to wear Arctic bear -and seal skins. They were rude and truculent too, possibly as a result -of having encountered white men before. These wild men exchanged their -furs warily. They wanted only fishhooks, metal cutting tools and other -valuable trade goods. - -When Verrazano returned home all he could show, of any tangible value, -were the furs he had taken in trade along the coast of America. But no -one in France was more than passingly interested in pelts; there was -the more immediate prospect of finding gold or reaching China. - -While the French were preparing to follow up Verrazano’s coastal -discoveries with an inland venture the Spaniards looked on with a -jealous eye. They themselves explored northward in Verrazano’s track -to make sure there was no gold or a northwest passage to Cathay there. -They took furs and Indian slaves from the St. Lawrence Gulf. And they -actually tried a gigantic colonizing venture in the Chesapeake Bay -area. There was the chance that another Aztec Empire lay deep in the -interior of those parts! - -This country to the north of Tierra Florida, the Spaniards called -Tierra D’Ayllon. For it was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a justice of Santo -Domingo, who had reconnoitered it and traded there for bison hides, -beaver, otter and muskrat. - -In 1526 Ayllon made a settlement of several hundred men, women and -children at San Miquel, possibly on the James River, in the Bay of -Santa Maria as the Spaniards called the Chesapeake. He brought priests, -armored soldiers, black slaves and the usual instruments of torture to -the Chesapeake. But probably he didn’t erect protecting palisades about -his town. San Miquel was abandoned after the first winter, its captain -having perished. The benighted natives had not taken well to killings. -These were of a prouder race than the West Indian savages, and those -colonists who did not die at their hands or from disease were happy to -get back to sunny Santo Domingo. - -There seemed to be no hope of finding gold or silver in Tierra D’Ayllon -anyway. From this time all the closely guarded, secret maps of the -Spaniards said so. Except for some further trade in the Potomac for -bison hides and pelts, and a fatal missionary effort on the peninsula -between the James and York Rivers by a band of brave Jesuit priests, -the Spaniards ceased active interest in the Chesapeake area for many -years. They were being kept much too busy in Florida and South America. -Newly discovered mines, interlopers in the Caribbean, and especially -French corsairs lying in wait along their rich trade routes--all -demanded attention. - -The Frenchmen, however annoying their “privateers” were to the -Spaniards, were really only biding their time. - -Francis I, as always, had a great many problems. But the most pressing -one was his need for gold--much more than his privateers and pirates -could safely plunder from Spanish galleons. He had his mind on America -itself as a solution. - -Jacques Cartier, a stout Breton mariner of St. Malo who knew the -fishermen’s route to Codfish Land, was sent out by the French king in -1534, and again in 1535, to explore inland in America. He was to find -gold, or the elusive passage to the treasures of Cathay at least. Maybe -in the northwest, beyond Spanish claims, the new-found land was joined -to Tartary as some of the geographers said. By striking inland Cartier -might reach it. - -On his first voyage of discovery Cartier explored the Gulf of St. -Lawrence and claimed the country, calling it New France. He found the -first Indians he met anxious to trade. They followed the French ships, -in their birch-bark canoes and along the shores, dancing and singing to -prove their friendliness, and holding up pelts on sticks. But the pelts -turned out to be “such skinnes as they cloth themselves withall, which -are of small value,” Cartier remarked. - -However, he gave the aborigines ironware and other things, while they -danced about him, rubbed his chest and arms, and cast sea water over -their heads in ceremonies of joy. “They gave us whatsoever they had, -not keeping anything, so that they were constrained to go backe againe -naked, and made us signes that the next day they would come againe, and -bring more skinnes with them.” - -Along the shores of the gulf wherever he went Cartier made friends with -the natives, giving to the women and children, little tin bells and -beads--to the men: hatchets, knives, frying pans. But he found no gold; -he located no passage to Cathay. When he embarked for his return to -France he took two wild men of “Canada” with him, inveigling them into -making the voyage by clothing them in shirts, colored coats and red -caps, and putting a copper chain about each of their necks. - -These two, in France, assured the French king that far up the deep -river of Canada (the St. Lawrence) and beyond, there were walled -cities where people lived in houses--Hochelaga, and even more distant -Saguenay. Frontier towns of Tartary! They could be. When Captain -Cartier left with three ships in 1535 on his second voyage of discovery -he was instructed to “go west as far as possible.” - -With the two Indians as guides, Cartier’s ships anchored finally in -the quiet waters below present-day Quebec. Close by was the village of -Donnacona, Indian “Lord of Canada,” who welcomed the white men even -more than the safe return of his two subjects. He wanted to trade. -But the French captain wasn’t much interested in Donnacona’s personal -wardrobe or any other pelts. - -He made only a brief note of the great store of fur-bearing animals -in Canada--the martens, foxes, otters, beavers, weasels and badgers. -Then he pushed on. His was a more glittering objective. Up the swift, -narrowing river he toiled with a small party, part way in a little -pinnace and then in two long boats, until at length he reached -Hochelaga. - -The walled city turned out to be a well-palisaded Indian village, -near the present site of Montreal, where some of the highly organized -Iroquois lived in their traditional long houses. That was all--except -that the Indians, noting the silver chain of Cartier’s whistle and a -French dagger handle of yellowish copper gilt, said that such metals -came from Saguenay. It was much farther inland, several moons travel. - -But there were difficult rapids and the French captain couldn’t make -it. He was already a thousand miles inland. Winter was coming on. In -the end he returned downstream to the safety of his ships and the fort -his men had built on the river in Canada. - -Plagued by scurvy and freezing with cold that winter, Jacques Cartier -had another failure on his hands. It was going to be difficult to -explain things at home. He treated with Donnacona for food and -medicine, for furs with which to protect his men from the cold, and for -information about the country to the west. The “Lord of Canada” was -anxious to please the white men, that is, in return for their skillets -and axes and their bright colored clothes. He provided the things they -wanted--and he talked too much. - -Donnacona boasted that he had been to Saguenay. Truly, he swore, he had -seen there many of the things the Frenchmen valued so much--red rubies, -gold, silver--and the people were white men who went about clothed in -woolen cloths. Cartier brightened in the face of his troubles. Here, he -perceived, was eye-witness testimony on a royal level to the existence -of Saguenay and its treasures. When spring came he captured Donnacona -by a stratagem and “persuaded” the Indian king to go with him to France -for a visit. - -Whether or not Donnacona really believed his own story about Saguenay, -he played the game effectively all the way for Jacques Cartier when he -was presented to the French monarch. No doubt he wanted to make sure -that he created the means of getting back to his native land. In any -event, he had been canny enough to bring along with him several bundles -of his best trade goods, consisting mostly of “Beavers, and Sea Woolves -skinnes.” Maybe, among other things, he had French squaws in mind for -his holiday abroad, as one old scribbler has suggested. - -It was some time before King Francis was able to get around to doing -much about the Indian king’s stories. In the meantime Donnacona -died. But Francis wanted to make the imagined treasures secure for -the French. The only way to do that was to colonize and fortify the -approaches through New France, to take possession of the land by -occupying it. - -Realistic French merchants, like Jean Ango, were more interested in -the furs that had been finding their way back across the sea. However -colonization was an end they sought, too, if it provided a base for -their traders. It was a long way, across a dangerous ocean, to New -France. - -With the support of both the king and the merchants, therefore, Jacques -Cartier went back to New France in 1541. The Sieur de Roberval followed -him in 1542. In their well-supplied fleets they transported several -hundred colonists, including many farmers, also soldiers, miners and -traders. Roberval’s expedition included some women. They planted near -Quebec, building forts there; both tried desperately to reach mythical -Saguenay. Each remained through only one Canadian winter among the now -hostile Indians. - -Both leaders were more interested in finding quick treasure than in any -such prosaic business as fur trading. Cartier took back fool’s gold and -false diamonds found on the river’s bank near the forts. Rescue ships -had to be sent over from France with enough supplies to evacuate the -scurvy-ridden remnant of Roberval’s contingent. - -It would be another sixty years before a permanent colony was planted -in these parts. But New France was held, nevertheless, for France. And, -curiously enough, by the very fur trade that had been so much ignored. - - * * * * * - -The fishing barques from St. Malo, from Dieppe, Rouen, La Rochelle and -Havre, kept coming to America’s northern coasts every summer, hundreds -of them. They fished for cod on the banks, hunted walrus in the great -gulf, and caught whales in the lower parts of the St. Lawrence River. -Always, wherever they were, the mariners drove an ever increasing trade -with the Indians for valuable pelts. Over the sides of their ships and -on shore they bartered for marten, otter, fox and beaver. - -Commerce flourished to such an extent through this individual -enterprise that ships’ captains frequently found it profitable to -turn all hands to bartering for pelts. It was a French vessel in 1569 -at Cape Breton whose master drove a “trade with the people of divers -sortes of fine furs” that picked up the Englishmen, David Ingram and -his two companions, Richard Browne and Richard Twide. Along with a -large number of others these three had been abandoned ashore following -the defeat of their famous leader, John Hawkins, the slaver, in a -piratical engagement in the Caribbean with the Spaniards. Ingram and -his two friends, however, struck out into the Florida wilderness, -“crossed the River May,” and for twelve months beat their hazardous -way northward through lands never before trod by white men, until they -reached Cape Breton. They reported seeing “plentie of fine furres” -along the way. - -Gradually the traffic in furs moved inland via the St. Lawrence as -occasional traders, adopting the native mode of travel by canoe, braved -the wilderness for choicer pelts. There being no soldiers or forts -to fall back on, these traders, born of the fishing fleets, found it -expedient to treat the Indians well. The Montagnais and the Algonkins, -who had been hostile since Cartier’s last visit, reciprocated in kind. -So did the Hurons, eventually. They were all hopeful of allies with -fire guns to help them against their powerful enemies, the recently -formed league of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, who inhabited parts -of the St. Lawrence valley in the west and the country to the south. - -In 1581 a French bark, sent out exclusively for fur by the merchants -of St. Malo, pushed into the upper St. Lawrence. The profits of this -venture were so spectacular that organized bulk traffic got under way -immediately between France and the St. Lawrence valley. - -Within three years Richard Hakluyt, the English geographer, was -writing, “And nowe our neighboures, the men of St. Maloe in Brytaine, -in the begynnyinge of Auguste laste paste, of this yere 1584 are come -home with five shippes from Canada and the contries upp the Bay of St. -Lawrence, and have broughte twoo of the people of the contrie home, -and have founde suche swete in the newe trade that they are preparinge -tenne shippes to returne thither in January nexte....” - -Almost overnight New France became noted for its valuable export of -pelts, especially beaver. Hakluyt, writing from Paris about this time, -said that in one man’s house he had seen Canadian otter and beaver to -the value of five thousand crowns. - -The French merchants mostly kept to the St. Lawrence valley, for -Canada and the valley region in the hinterland teemed with fur-bearing -animals. Furthermore, communication with the natives in the valley was -relatively easy because of their earlier contact with Frenchmen. - -Of course dialects differed, but limited palaver in a language similar -to that of the Algonkin tribe was possible with all the Indians in -these parts except the Iroquois. Theirs was a different tongue. The -Algonkin tribe of Canada, however, was part of a great linguistic -family which came to be known as Algonquin and which stretched -irregularly over most of the northern woodland and as far south as Cape -Hatteras on the Atlantic seaboard. - -Intrepid French traders often spent the winter in the wilderness with -the different tribes, to learn about their habits and dialects. If they -were to know what was really in the minds of the unpredictable savages -with whom they dealt, it was best to know as much as possible about -them and especially the exact meaning of their words. A good knowledge -of the dialect of a particular tribe might mean an advantage over a -competitor, a better profit, or even the difference between life and -death. - -The lonely fur trader in his canoe with his Indian guides soon -symbolized the occupation of New France. The deeper he penetrated into -the country the farther the fame of his conquest spread abroad. New -France was more than a claim; without colonization it was becoming a -recognized French possession. Geographers so indicated it on their maps. - -The front line of this French conquest was to become known as the -beaver frontier. The coast of the fishermen had been the first fur -trading frontier, but when that trade began moving rapidly inland and -_castor canadensis_ took over the chief victim’s role in the drama of -destruction, it became the beaver frontier. For _castor canadensis_ -is not a highly reproductive animal and he is not a migrant. He is -also hindered from flight in the face of danger by the large capital -investment he has made in his home. - -The beaver is an amphibious rodent whose natural environment is a -pond or a sluggish stream. An industrious home body, operating on a -self-imposed economy, he hews trees and builds protecting dams and -apartment houses in which he cohabits with other beavers, all under a -system of government much like man’s. - -Physically, the beaver is distinguished by his thick coat of soft fur, -his hard, incisor-like teeth with which he can cut through the stoutest -oak, his palmated hind feet and his horizontally-flattened, scaly tail. - -He depends very much on that tail, which probably was a model for -Indian canoe paddles. It serves him as a rudder when he swims and as -a balance for his awkwardly-proportioned body when he runs. As the -foreman of a community construction project he uses his tail with -telling effect to lash laggards in the matter of pushing logs about -or sealing crevices in structures with good, hard clay. Frequently it -comes in handy to smack the surface of the water as a warning that an -enemy approaches as well as a protest to the unwelcome intruder. No -sound impresses itself more sharply on the woodsman than the crash of -an angry beaver’s tail on the quiet waters of his home preserve. - -The fur of this busy little animal was much in demand in the old world. -Not only was it preferred as a coating because of its beauty, warmth -and durability, but the hat industry then centering about La Rochelle -was requisitioning it in increasing quantities. With European reserves -being depleted, the lovely blue-brown, blanket-like pelt of the larger -Canadian animal found eager bidders in the French market at twenty or -more livres a pound, the average beaver pelt weighing one and a half to -two pounds. - -Castoreum, an important by-product of the beaver trade at the time, was -much in demand too. Obtained in the spring from the perineal glands of -both male and female animals, it was used extensively by perfumers as a -base for the flower scents. It was also often used to catch the beaver -himself. During mating season both sexes of the beaver deposited the -pungent, sticky, yellow substance on spots regularly visited by other -beaver and added mud and dead leaves to form scent mounds. These served -the natives to locate runways; also to bait the intricate snares they -set in lieu of spearing, before the white man provided them with metal -traps. - -The Indians of French Canada fell in readily with the white man’s -breathless pursuit of the beaver. They, themselves, had long since -learned the warmth and durability of his pelt. They used his sharp -teeth to point their cutting and scraping tools. They ate his flesh, -the tail of the beaver being considered a special delicacy. Now they -could trade his pelt and his castors for many wonderful things they -thought they needed--ironware, clothing, guns and brandy. It was not -difficult to persuade them to step up their war on the challenging -little animal that acted like a man. - -This soon changed the Indian’s mode of life, making him more and more -dependent on the white man’s wares. Eventually it brought about the red -man’s destruction. - -As old cultural habits began falling away and as hardware which the -Indian couldn’t make took the place of bone, wood and stone, he became -the prey of every evil white man who stood to gain from him. Always -deep in the Indian’s breast lay the revenge motive; always liquor -stirred his most primal instincts. The displacement of bows and arrows -by guns made it possible for him to kill off his aboriginal enemies -much faster. But he was dependent on the European’s continued help even -in that. Only the European could supply repair parts for the muskets -and furnish the required ammunition. It was a case of the red man -destroying himself with the white man’s culture. - -The brass kettle had as much to do with it as guns or brandy--and -the process was not restricted to New France. The pattern was to be -repeated on every other American frontier, by the English, the Dutch -and the Swedes. The fur trade furnished the means of contact between -the two widely divergent cultures of white European and red American. -Profits were tremendous--on both sides, considering relative values. -But the trade led to the Indian’s self-destruction. - -It also led to bitter rivalries among the white men. - - - - -IV - -_Samuel de Champlain Lights a Blaze of Red Terror_ - - -It was the first spectacular profits of the fur trade toward the close -of the sixteenth century that brought about a fresh and urgent need for -the colonization of New France. - -The French government saw danger from jealous foreigners, Englishmen -in particular. Already the English had attempted settlements to the -south at a place called Roanoke. Greatly emboldened on the sea these -days they were admitting Spanish claims no more northerly than 34° and -French claims no more southerly than 45°. The land in between, from -Cape Fear to the Bay of Fundy, was claimed as English. All because John -Cabot had sailed that coast more than a century earlier! - -Now English boats, too many of them, were poking about Newfoundland, -where England laid claim to certain discoveries, and even in the Gulf -of St. Lawrence itself. London merchants like Charles Leigh, ostensibly -on trading voyages in the great gulf, were boldly practicing piracy -against French as well as Spanish vessels. And Hakluyt, the English -geographer, was exhorting his countrymen to even greater competition. -“While the French, Bretons, Basques and Biscayans do yearly return from -these parts a manifold gain, we the English have merely stood still and -been idle lookers on,” he wrote provocatively. - -French merchants, however, were not showing much inclination to -colonize the country; they saw no profit in underwriting such risky -ventures when things were going so well. It cost money to plant -colonies. Unencumbered competitive traders would probably profit as -much as those who did the planting. - -The king saw it differently however. Unless something was done to -colonize the valley of the St. Lawrence, to fortify it, the great -trade of the French and the hoped-for route to Cathay stood to be -seized by foreigners. He resorted to offering monopolies. - -Companies were given total rights to the fur trade in return for -promising to settle specified numbers of colonists a year. But no -volunteers as colonists appeared. When a company was given the fur -monopoly it had to take worthless tramps or convicts furnished by the -government and, as the merchants weren’t particularly interested in -colonization anyway, they didn’t bother much about these derelicts and -criminals once they had transported them to some desolate post in the -wilderness. Furthermore, independent traders, as well as the fishermen -who went ashore to barter, persisted in violating the monopolies. No -one was happy. So vociferous were the conflicting protests that the -king was forced to cancel the patents he granted one after another. - -He didn’t begin to get the results he desired in New France until the -advent of Samuel de Champlain. - -Champlain, born at Brouage on the Bay of Biscay in 1567, was the son -of a French naval captain and the nephew of a Spanish pilot major. -He served with French troops as a quarter-master before the Peace of -Vervins and later captained a Spanish transport conveying troops to -the West Indies. He was there for two years. Having an observant eye -he carefully sketched and mapped everything he saw in the Caribbean, -the account of his adventures even containing a suggestion of a Panama -Canal whereby “the voyage to the South Sea would be shortened by more -than 1500 leagues.” - -When he first came to the St. Lawrence valley in 1603 as an advance -agent of a company with a fur trade monopoly, Samuel de Champlain held -the title of Geographer Royal, a brevet nobility. It had been conferred -upon him by Henry IV in recognition of his demonstrated ability to get -at the facts in America. Now a captain in the French navy he came with -instructions from the French monarch to bring back a true report on -the St. Lawrence valley. While others in the expedition spent their -time bartering with the aborigines, Champlain and Francois Grave, Sieur -duPont, a principal merchant of the company, set out to explore the -great waterway to the west and to get all the intelligence they could -about it. - -Actually, they penetrated no farther west than Cartier had done, and -not so far as other traders in recent years, but Champlain judiciously -recorded what he learned from the Indians and made impressive -recommendations. Before returning to France he made a similar survey -of the regions about Gaspe and the Acadian Peninsula where there were -thought to be rich mines. His report, while recognizing the advantages -of establishing a trading post on the St. Lawrence at Three Rivers -as Dupont-Grave recommended, pointed out that the powerful league of -Iroquois nations barred the way to any farther penetration westward. -Too, the feasibility of a possible passage by this route to China was -complicated by rapids and ice. - -It might be better to try for a more southerly passage, one that would -flank the war-like Iroquois, Champlain suggested. There were rivers on -the coast south of the St. Lawrence that might lead directly to the -lakes in the west--possibly to the western sea. - -The new Huguenot head of the company, Pierre de Guast, Sieur de Monts, -favored this plan. He’d like to find a new entry into New France, one -free of the bitter cold of Canada, and one free of the jealousies of -the merchants who had pioneered in the St. Lawrence. The king fully -approved. The prospects of finding minerals in the more southerly parts -intrigued him. To make sure the company had sufficient ground in which -to operate he gave de Monts a patent extending from Cape Breton south -to present-day Philadelphia, from 46° north latitude to 40°. - -The next few years were spent in making settlements in the Bay of -Fundy, at St. Croix and at Port Royal. - -Scurvy and cold plagued the colonists even more than Basque pirates, -Hollanders and other poaching foreigners annoyed the company’s traders. -Trade was brisk nevertheless, with the furriers and hatters of Rouen -and Paris bidding up all the pelts that could be shipped to France. -In fact, prices rose so high that the Hatters Corporation of Paris -complained to the ministry. - -Meanwhile, Champlain explored to the south of the French settlements -as far as Cape Cod for better sites. He found that Englishmen had been -investigating that coast, but he didn’t discover a river that led -inland to the lake country, skirting the terrible Iroquois. He didn’t -look south far enough. If he had found the Connecticut or the Hudson, -New England might today be populated by Frenchmen. And New Yorkers -probably wouldn’t have their Dutch ancestors. - -In the end Champlain advised the king and the merchants that the -company should return to the St. Lawrence valley. Trading posts should -be established there, he said. With the help of native enemies of the -Iroquois he believed he could defeat the Five Nations--force them to -trade--force a way through to Tartary or the western sea. - -This is what the company now proceeded to do. An expedition was sent -to the St. Lawrence in 1608. Dupont-Grave traded at Tadoussac with one -ship while Champlain in another set out to erect a factory at Quebec. -There, at the foot of the cliff where the river was narrow, he built a -trading post fort consisting of a two-story wooden building surrounded -by a large moat. Cannon which would carry across the river were placed -on mounds at the corners, and the surrounding land was cleared of -timber and brush against attack. - -The going was rough, for _le capitaine_ tolerated no shirking of toil. -Some of his men conspired to murder him by poison, and, should that -fail, by “a traine of gunpowder.” This plot, he discovered in the nick -of time. One of the mutineers was hanged; the others were shipped back -to France, condemned to the galleys. - -When the trading ships with their cargoes of beaver and “blacke -Foxes, which seeme to exceede Sables” returned to France in the fall, -Champlain remained behind at Quebec with twenty-eight men. But scurvy -and dysentery took its usual toll. Only eight remained by spring. -Nevertheless the French captain proceeded with his plan to invade the -country of the Iroquois. He made overtures to their ancient enemies, -the Montagnais and the Algonkin Indians. - -“Notwithstanding, being a man, who is astonished with nothing, and of -a gentle conversation, knowing wisely how to acquaint, and accommodate -himselfe with those people, after having promised them, that when the -land of the Iroquois, and other Countries should be discovered, the -great French Sagamos (meaning our King) would give them great rewards: -he invited them to goe to warre against the said Iroquois, promising -(for himselfe) that he would take part with them. They (in whom the -desire of revenge dieth not, and who delight in nothing more then in -warre) passe their word unto him, and arme themselves about one hundred -men, for that effect, with whom the said Champlain, ventures himselfe, -accompanied with one man, and one of Monsieur deMonts his footemen.” - -This alliance of 1609 was to have far reaching effects on the future -colonial history of America. It sparked a blaze of red terror along -the borders between Dutch and French, and between French and English, -wherever the competition for the fur trade was joined, that was not to -be extinguished for a hundred and fifty years. - -News has a way of travelling fast in the wilderness, especially news -of a war alliance. The Hurons in the west were Iroquoian, but were -bitter enemies of the Five Nations. They wanted to be members of such -a promising war party, one with white men carrying the astonishing -“fireguns” that the nations of the enemy league had never before seen -or heard. - -Down the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence the Hurons came to Quebec, with -furs to barter but with their tomahawks well sharpened. Champlain and -his savage allies gave them a resounding welcome. The French captain -traded with them and made a war pact. Then they all set off up the -St. Lawrence for the mouth of the Richelieu River, beyond which lay -the territory of the Five Nations. There, turning south in a flanking -movement, they ascended the Richelieu to reach the “Lake of the -Iroquois,” later to be called Lake Champlain. - -The invaders proceeded with extreme caution after reaching the -lake, travelling only at night. However, the French captain had an -opportunity to observe something of the advanced state of civilization -of the Iroquois before the alarm was given. Their farms, sown with corn -and beans, were models of orderliness. Their palisaded forts, he noted, -contained buildings of three to four stories, similar to those he had -previously observed among the highly organized natives of Mexico. - -Champlain must have had some premonition then that these intelligent -but bloodthirsty savages would prove far more troublesome than any -other natives the French had encountered in America. - -When the battle was joined, the invading savages cunningly kept the -three Frenchmen hidden behind ranks until, by the sudden appearance of -white men with death-dealing thunder, the greatest consternation might -be created among the Iroquois. The effect upon the Iroquois was even -more dramatic than was anticipated. “On a sodaine, all was in disorder, -astonished at such a noise, and death so unexpected. Upon this feare, -the men of Kebec loosing no occasion, followed earnestly their enemies, -and killed about fiftie of them, whose heads they brought backe, to -make therewith merry feasts, and dances, at their returne, according -to their custome.” They also took back ten or twelve live prisoners -reserved for torture. - -The Iroquois, when they recovered sufficiently from their shock to -learn more about white men and guns, became the irreconcilable haters -of the French. The flame blazed. And it would be fed even more by the -Frenchmen--by surprise arquebus massacres and the savagery of the white -men’s Algonkin and Huron allies. - -Champlain went back to France that fall. Once more the monopoly -had been cancelled; the company had lost its exclusive patent. The -government was permitting free trade to all Frenchmen in the St. -Lawrence valley. However, the company decided to stick it out in the -face of this competition. Champlain became affianced, under a marriage -contract, to a girl of twelve who was to join him later as his wife, -and then he returned to Canada. - -The French captain now carried the war to the Iroquois nations again, -successfully urging his Indian allies to help him push farther west. -All his battles with the Five Nations were not victories, for the -Iroquois were fiercely stubborn foes. However Champlain forced his way -to Lake Ontario and Niagara. He ascended the Ottawa and visited Lakes -Nipissing and Huron, blazing a trail west for the beaver traders to -follow. Because of his tireless efforts in the western wilderness the -economy of the new country rested solidly on the fur trade for many -years, and the beaver rightfully came to occupy a prominent place in -the Canadian coat of arms. - -Samuel de Champlain became the first Governor of French Canada, the -ruler of all New France. But he didn’t find the western sea, or a -passage to China. - -He did force the Five Nations of the Iroquois into alliances with the -enemies of the French, the incoming Dutch fur traders who furnished the -savages with guns, and then with the English. The story of the brutal -border wars that resulted is in large measure the story of the colonial -struggle for most of the American continent. - - - - -V - -_England Moves to Extend Her Realm_ - - -England came of age in the sixteenth century. Labor troubles helped to -bring this about. - -When the tenants on demesne land asserted their right to sell their -labor to the best advantage, the lords in turn claimed their right to -use their lands to the best advantage. Since profitable sheep farming -required fewer laborers than ploughing and reaping, less and less -acres were kept in cultivation by the lords. Frustrated and starving, -the tenants were forced to abandon their homes and seek precarious -employment in the towns and cities. - -But feudalism retreated before this shift to community life and -a nation of five million restless people emerged from its former -agricultural isolation. Although the sheep farmers and wool merchants -improved their capital fortunes at the expense of the poor laborers, -they had notwithstanding built up a great national industry. England at -last had something to sell! - -In 1553 an expedition carrying woolens for trade with the Tartars -attempted unsuccessfully to reach Cathay by a northeast polar passage. -Defeated by ice and death, a surviving remnant did nevertheless manage -to reach the White Sea and to journey south into Russia to Moscow. -There they made a trade agreement of sorts with Ivan IV, called “the -Terrible.” - -The merchant adventurers of England promptly set up the Muscovy Company -to handle what looked like a promising commerce with Russia and through -that country with the caravans of Persia. But the English never found -the Russians rewarding as either customers or middlemen. While their -czar was willing to sell furs, felts and naval stores, or wax and -honey, he wasn’t particularly interested in buying coarse woolens. His -subjects wore fur. - -The subjects of the czar did indeed indulge themselves in both the -beauty and warmth of fur. - -Except for the summer months Russians of quality went about in all -manner of furred luxury. From bearskin, lynx, squirrel, beaver, fox and -marten were fashioned their capes and bonnets, as well as their fine -tailored coats sporting decorative braid loops and toggles. Women wore -handsomely brocaded velvet coats lined and trimmed with expensive fur. -Nowhere in the western world did royalty make such extravagant use of -precious pelts. The nobility of Russia affected enveloping gowns and -pelisses of sable, ermine and vair. Esteemed above all other pelts for -certain wear was black fox. Nobles used this rare fur to make up their -distinctive wide caps enclosing tall felted bonnets in the fashion of -Babylonian hats. - -Millions of lesser folk in Russia, wearing caps and buskins, and -shedding cloth tunics for long waistcoats of fur in the winter, -consumed vast quantities of muskrat, wolf, lamb skin and reindeer hide. - -Still, there were plenty of pelts for export. They were in fact the -country’s chief commodity. Caravans from Siberia brought their cargoes -of fine pelts to the great market towns of Novgorod and Moscow. Ivan -the Terrible personally enforced a tribute of thousands of sables each -year from the western Tartars across the Urals. The value of Russia’s -fur exports to Turkey, Persia and the countries of Christendom reached -into millions of rubles yearly. - -Trade with the Russians, however, was very unsatisfactory to the -English. For one thing Dutch competition bid up the prices of Russian -fur. Some pelts “cost more there with you than we can sell them for -here” the London merchants wrote ruefully to their factors in Russia. -Then there was the fickleness and downright trickiness of the Russians -who being “very mistrustful ... doe not alwaies speake the trueth, -and think other men to bee like them.” To these woes were added the -enormous difficulties of the icy northern route. They were almost -insuperable; yet the taxes imposed on cargoes through the Baltic by the -King of Denmark were unbearably high. It was all very frustrating. - -In the end proclamations were published in England against the use of -foreign furs--and these laws were not entirely sumptuary. - -True, the Renaissance had brought fashion consciousness to the middle -class Englishman to such an extent that it was often difficult to -distinguish between a noble and a well-furred commoner. There was -urgent need for proclamations to stop that. Often in the past such -proclamations had been necessary when the craze for furs mounted -inordinately. “Sabyls be for great estates” had been one historic royal -edict. Henry VIII, who decked himself lavishly with furs plundered from -the monasteries and indulged in cozily “furred nightgowns” for his -evening escapades, issued many a decree limiting the use of precious -pelts to the chosen few. Other monarchs had done the same thing. - -Over and above this need for class distinction however, it irked the -relatively poor English royalty to be gouged in the market place for -one of its regal necessities. - -From earliest Norman times imported furs had been used in England -to designate royal rank. Even before that, in the ninth and tenth -centuries, nobility and ranking clergy trimmed their garments with -beaver and fox. In the fourteenth century Edward III issued a decree -specifying ermine, symmetrically spotted with astrakan or other bits of -black, to be a royal fur. A whole set of heraldic tinctures was based -on fur. Ermine was represented by white flecked with black, variant -patterns and colors being termed ermines, erminois, pean and so forth. -Vair was shown as blue and white alternating in the manner of small -skins sewn together, some of its variants being counter-vair, potent -and counter-potent. Feudal lords of England had been inclined to treat -their equipage of furs as heirlooms, handing them down from generation -to generation. - -The use of fur was so firmly embedded in English tradition that it -was not in the nature of things that the new restrictive laws now -promulgated would be accepted without protest. One English merchant put -it tellingly when describing presents of fur that had previously been -brought to Queen Elizabeth by a Russian ambassador. - -“The Presents sent unto her Majesty were Sables, both in paires for -tippets, and two timbars, to wit, two times fortie, with Luzerns and -other rich furres. For at that time that princely ancient ornament of -furres was yet in use. And great pitie but that it might be renewed -especiall in Court, and among Magistrates, not only for the restoring -of an olde worshipful Art and Companie, but also because they be for -our Climate wholesome, delicate, grave and comely; expressing dignitie, -comforting age, and of longer continuance, and better with small cost -to be preserved, then these new silks, shagges and ragges, wherein a -great part of the wealth of the land is hastily consumed.” - -Whether or not the merchant’s protest was heeded, it was in fact -prophetic in its suggestiveness. - -The recent proclamations had decreed “that no furres shall be worn -here, but such as the like is growing here within this our Realme.” -Well, the “Realme” was about to be vastly extended. - - * * * * * - -Now that England was no longer in a state of complete commercial -dependence upon the continent, ingenuity at home and pluckiness abroad -were rising to meet the challenge. Participation in world affairs was -eagerly sought. While adventurers of purse formed companies to trade -overseas, venturers of person took a sudden interest in such things as -ship design and ordnance. With an eye on plunder as well as legitimate -commerce shipwrights were trained to turn out swift and manageable -craft of small burden, well gunned for oceanic warfare and easy to -maintain. - -Of course Mary Tudor, the Catholic Queen of England who succeeded her -father Henry VIII, had prohibited her countrymen from sailing west to -America. It wouldn’t have pleased Philip II of Spain. He married her to -extend his empire, not to share it. - -But Englishmen had tasted salt water and they liked it. They liked it -even more after seeing the American silver, fifty thousand pounds of -it, that Philip sent to London as a wedding present. When Mary died -in 1558 after a short but bloody reign and her Protestant sister, -Elizabeth, ascended the throne, there was no holding those who wanted -to sail west. - -Elizabeth, herself, applied no restraints. Like the French king, -Francis I, she winked broadly enough when her own newly toughened -mariners pirated Spain’s shipping and disputed that country’s -ascendancy even on the Spanish main. The destiny of empire was -beckoning the English. John Hawkins, the slaver, and Francis Drake, the -privateer, were only the forerunners of captains of their stripe who -were to make their country the mistress of the seas. - -In the beginning it was envy of Spain, a thirst for silver and gold, -and the quest for a trade passage to Cathay that drove the English -westward, just as it had the French before them. Colonization, except -as an eventual means to an end, had no part in the French scheme--nor -in the English. The primary objects other than the harassment of Spain -were the discovery of mines and a northwest passage. - -Colonization was visualized, when at all, only as occupation--to hold -the route to the mines or to Cathay against the possibility of foreign -claims. - -Not until an English venturer in America by the name of John Smith -challenged the wasteful search for gold and demanded the development -of the country’s more obvious resources did it begin to dawn on -the merchant adventurers of England that colonization might be a -commercially desirable end in itself. - -And it was this same John Smith who demonstrated how trade with the -natives could be employed to get the country planted with Englishmen. -Along with the usual trade for pelts he bartered successfully for -Indian corn and other food stuffs. This kept the colonists alive until -they were “seasoned” to the new land; then came the profits from -organized fur trading to maintain them until agricultural settlement -could be effected with some degree of economic success. - -Prior to the coming of John Smith the English ventures in America had -been one costly failure after another. - -Among the earliest of these were the expeditions led by that enigmatic -Yorkshireman, Martin Frobisher. Reputedly a successful privateer, it -was also said that he knew how to hold his tongue. Maybe what he did -tell gained in importance thereby. It might account for the otherwise -unaccountable backing he obtained for three successive voyages to -America. Many thousands of pounds sterling were wasted on these -ventures by a usually hard-headed merchant named Michael Lok. A large -part of the expenditure was underwritten by the queen, herself, and -Elizabeth was not normally one to squander her silver. - -Frobisher went out first in 1576 in search of a northwest passage. -He succeeded only in discovering the bay, or “strait” as he called -it, that bears his name before coming on “gold ore” in the form of -bright, black rocks. Since the samples must have proved worthless on -his return to England, his promise of a strait to Cathay was probably -very impressive. Certainly the fur-clad Eskimo he brought back from -the north side of the “strait” was accepted as an Asiatic. In any -event, back he went to America the next year with three ships and the -financial blessings of Lok’s newly formed Company of Cathay. - -Martin Frobisher did some further exploring on this voyage, but not -enough it appears to learn that his strait was only a bay. It is all -very strange. An abundance of spiders in the region was taken as -convincing evidence that gold-bearing ore was close at hand. In the end -Frobisher loaded his ships with worthless black earth and returned to -England. What he said, or didn’t say, must have been doubly impressive -this time for the merchants evidently were not one whit discouraged. -They backed him with a fine fleet, fifteen ships, for a third voyage in -1578. - -A large band of miners was sent along this time by the company, and -two hundred twenty men were provided for the purpose of planting a -settlement on the “strait” that would protect both the mines and the -route to Cathay. But, so anxious was everyone to dig for gold, the -necessary buildings never did get erected. Again it is not clear what -happened, but apparently all thought of settlement was abandoned. - -Before the ice began to close in, Martin Frobisher set sail for home -with all his company and another three hundred tons of fool’s gold, -bankrupting the Company of Cathay. - -Next there was Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He and his half-brother, Sir -Walter Raleigh, were the queen’s two favorite gallants among her -soldiers of fortune. Both were brave men and both were intensely -nationalistic. Sir Humphrey said that a man is “not worthy to live at -all, that for feare, or danger of death, shunneth his country service, -and his owne honour.” - -Like other gentlemen marauders of England at the time Gilbert and -Raleigh practiced piracy abroad because it was considered both -patriotic and sportingly profitable to do so. They were particularly -jealous of Spain’s sea commerce and lent support to raids on that -country’s shipping with lucrative results. But when they personally -led forays against the silver fleet they were none too successful. -Humiliatingly enough, they were beaten off with severe losses. - -Sir Humphrey, however, was good at drawing maps. Using a globe he -showed the queen how interminably long were the southern routes to the -Indian Ocean as compared with a great circle route to the northwest. -This was true enough in theory--only there was land and ice to block -the northern way. But Humphrey Gilbert didn’t let that bother him. He -drew in a convenient strait, and once a thing is drawn in detail on a -map it has a way of looking real, even to the artist who conceived it. - -So the queen gave Gilbert a patent to “discover and inhabit” all the -land in the west not occupied by another Christian prince. In the -language of the time this meant to explore and occupy such land. And as -an incentive the patentee was given absolute title to all the country -he occupied, except of course for precious metals. One-fifth of that -went to the crown. - -Sir Humphrey planned to occupy Newfoundland as a starter. It was -conveniently situated off the entrance to his strait--the Gulf of St. -Lawrence! - -Newfoundland had natural advantages for colonization. Englishmen were -in fact already living there at some seasons--fishermen comfortably -occupying their well-lardered huts alongside their drying frames. -Domination of the fishing banks would surely prove profitable, Gilbert -thought. Naval stores were plenteous too, according to all reports. - -And everyone knew that Newfoundland was as rich in furs as Muscovy. -Only a year or so earlier an English sea-captain, Richard Whitbourne, -bound for the Gulf of St. Lawrence to kill whales, had put in at -Trinity Harbor in Newfoundland. There he took so great a store of -bears, beaver, otter and seal that after killing a few fish he returned -forthwith to Southampton to sell his more profitable cargo. There were -few of the difficulties in taking these furs that impeded trade with -Russia. - -However, when Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland at St. John’s in -1583, he showed small interest in fish, naval stores or furs. - -Certainly, he was not much concerned with the potentials of the fur -trade. That there were “foxes, which to the Northward a little further -are black, whose furre is esteemed in some Countries of Europe very -rich: Otters, bevers and marternes,” he seems to have acknowledged. And -an American pine marten appears to have arrested his attention at least -fleetingly. “The Generall had brought unto him a Sable alive, which he -sent unto his brother Sir John Gilbert, knight of Devonshire.” But that -was all. - -From the first hour of his arrival at Newfoundland, Humphrey Gilbert -showed deep interest only in metals. He commanded his miners to be -diligent, and they obediently discovered what he took to be copper -and silver. Excitedly loading one of his ships with a treasure trove -of this ore, Sir Humphrey postponed the planting of Newfoundland. He -sailed to discover other mines to the south under his patent. - -But, unfortunately, he met with bad weather and his supply ship -foundered. Even after changing his course for England, storms plagued -his fleet. The “treasure” was lost, and Gilbert himself went down in -the sea after having gallantly refused to abandon the men aboard his -own leaking craft when he might have transferred to a safer consort -ship. “We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!” he cried out above -the tempest at the last. - -Sir Walter Raleigh took over his half-brother’s patent. Since there was -no limit placed on the land to be explored and occupied, except that it -should not be already occupied by another Christian prince, Raleigh had -wide latitude in choosing a theatre for his operations. Newfoundland -didn’t appeal to him. It wasn’t the most favorable site for what he had -in mind. - -The survivors of Sir Humphrey’s ill-fated expedition had been -thoroughly interrogated; obviously it wasn’t silver that had been mined -in Newfoundland. After all, precious metals didn’t come from the bleak -coasts of the north, but from the warmer regions of the south where -the Spaniards had discovered them. And that suited Raleigh’s purpose, -as much as the rising hope that a passage to the Indian Ocean might -also lie in those parts where Verrazano once claimed to have actually -sighted the other sea. Those southern coasts were near New Spain! - -For, what Raleigh really had in mind was a site close to the route -of the Spanish treasure galleons. He wanted an English outpost, a -garrisoned base, within easy striking distance of the silver fleets. -That was the quickest way to riches and the surest means of destroying -the power of Spain. The Caribbean was the Spaniard’s Achilles’ heel. - -The first step in the achievement of this purpose was to be the -planting of a colony. - -A reconnaissance expedition, sent out by the southern route in 1584, -chose the vicinity of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds near Hatteras for -the settlement. Curiously, however, this party failed to recognize the -poor harbor and stormy hazards of the location. Possibly it was just -the first agreeable site they came upon as they coasted north from the -borders of Spanish-held Florida. If they had gone on just a little -farther they would have found Chesapeake Bay, a likely spot indeed. - -In that case Virginia, as Raleigh called the new country in honor -of his “virgin” queen, might have been successfully planted in the -sixteenth rather than the seventeenth century. - -However the reconnaissance expedition suggested Roanoke Island, near -Cape Hatteras, bringing back glowing reports of the country, a few dark -pearls and a good quantity of soft furs. “Chamoys, Buffe, and Deere -skinnes” had been taken in trade with the friendly natives. A single -bright tin dish given in barter had gained twenty skins, each worth -all of a crown, and a copper kettle had gained as many as fifty. The -voyagers also brought back two of the native inhabitants who were as -anxious to please the white men with tales that found favor as was -Chief Donnacona of Canada when he was taken to France, and probably for -the same reasons. - -Sir Walter Raleigh tried hard during the next three years to plant -a colony at Hatteras, sending out one expedition after another. -Everything failed. Storms contributed to the disasters as much as bad -leadership and worsening relations with the Indians. But, mainly, the -objectives were wrong. - -It was the search for precious metals, the quest for a trade passage -through to the Indian Ocean, the harrying of Spain, all coupled with a -complete neglect of the country’s more obvious resources, that brought -defeat. No one thought of growing food or trading with the Indians. The -“colonists” were mostly fortune hunters, ex-soldiers and adventurers, -bent on finding El Dorado in one form or another. - -All except one--he was Thomas Hariot, a precise man and an observant -one. Raleigh sent him out as geographer to the second expedition. -Noting the resources of the country, he listed among other things wine, -“medicinal” tobacco and furs as saleable exports. He made special -mention of the fur trade potential. - -“All along the Sea coast,” Hariot wrote, “there are great store of -Otters, which being taken by weares and other engines made for the -purpose, wil yeeld good profit. We hope also of Marterne furres, and -make no doubt by the relation of the people, that in some places of the -countrey there are store, although there were but two skinnes that came -to our hands. Luzernes also we have understanding of, although for the -time we saw none.” - -But even Hariot, along with Ralph Lane, the governor of the colony at -the time, listened gullibly to the tales of Indians who wanted to gain -favor. While Sir Richard Grenville, the admiral of the Virginia fleet, -raided the Spaniards in the West Indies, Lane and his men spent months -of fruitless search in the interior for white pearls or mines, and -followed many a river whose source might prove to be “near unto a sea.” - -They explored north as far as the Chesapeake, entering the capes and -looking for a channel that might be the passage, while one of their -party, John White, made sketches of the region. The south side of the -bay thus became well known in England about 1590 when White’s work was -included in the first engraved map of Virginia published by Theodore de -Bry. What the Englishmen failed to understand at the time, because they -were more concerned with gold mines and channel passages, was that the -Chesapeake tidewater represented a storehouse of valuable fur--muskrat, -beaver, mink and otter--all in vast reserve. - -Lane, however, was convinced that only “the discovery of a good mine -by the goodness of God, or a passage to the South Sea, or some way to -it, and nothing else, can bring this country in request to be inhabited -by our nation.” If only he had realized that within easy reach there -was far more quick gold in fur than the English would ever take out of -America in ore! - -A last contingent of Raleigh’s colonists, which included some women and -children, provided one of history’s most mystifying episodes when the -entire colony simply vanished from Roanoke Island. Among them was the -first Christian child born in English Virginia, little Virginia Dare, -granddaughter of the colony’s new governor, John White, the artist. -The word “Croatan,” carved in “faire Romane letters” on a post of the -abandoned stockade, was the only clue to the lost colony ever found by -those who came later to search for it. A tribe of Indians by that name -lived on a near-by island. Even this proved futile however, and the -mystery has only darkened with the passing of the centuries. - -Other English ventures in America also ended in failure. Beginning in -1585 Captain John Davis, an expert navigator, went out three times in -quest of a northwest passage to Cathay. He penetrated farther north -than anyone before him to discover the straits that bear his name, -never fully realizing that beyond lay only pack ice. Captain George -Weymouth followed Davis’ track in 1593, meeting eventual defeat. - -Weymouth tried again for a northern passage in 1602; so did Captain -John Knight in 1606 while exploring for gold and silver mines. Ice and -mutiny stopped Weymouth. Knight simply disappeared ashore one day. - -Not long after the turn of the century Captain Charles Leigh led a -daring expedition to South America in an attempt to establish a base -of operations in what is now French Guiana. Only a remnant survived a -massacre by the natives in 1605 to straggle back to England. - -The coast of North America from Spanish Florida to Nova Scotia also -came in for more investigation at this time. Bartholomew Gilbert, son -of Sir Humphrey, was sent out by James I in 1603. He visited the -Chesapeake Bay area, possibly hoping to find survivors of the Roanoke -colony, only to be killed himself by Indians when he landed with a -shore party. - -Others explored in the vicinity of Cape Cod and northward, Bartholomew -Gosnold, going out to that coast in 1602, and Martin Pring in 1603. -They found no mines, but they took back to England quantities of -cedar, sassafras and furs. Gosnold’s cargo of pelts obtained from the -Buzzard’s Bay area included beaver, marten, otter, “Wild-cat skinnes -very large and deepe furre,” seal, deer, black fox, rabbit and “other -beasts skinnes to us unknowen.” - -Pring was more interested in sassafras trees, but he later wrote -that the furs of certain wild beasts in those parts “being hereafter -purchased by exchange may yield no smal gaine to us. Since as we are -certainly informed, the Frenchmen brought from Canada the value of -thirtie thousand Crownes in the yeare 1604. Almost in Bevers and Otters -skinnes only.” - -A great deal of sassafras was cut and stowed aboard their ships by -these two captains. Sassafras brought fancy prices at the time as -a cure for the French pox as well as a specific for certain other -diseases. But such windfall importations glutted the London and Bristol -markets, seriously depressing the price. - -Both Gosnold and Pring brought back the usual tales about a passage to -the South Sea and the fertility of the land. So Captain George Weymouth -went over in 1605, visiting the Maine coast where he explored for -colonization sites. He also drove a good though hazardous trade for -pelts. In one instance, “for knives, glasses, combes and other trifles -to the valew of foure or five shillings, we had 40 good Beavers skins, -Otters skins, Sables, and other small skins which we knewe not how to -call.” - -These were the interlopers who had alarmed the French traders then -settled in the Bay of Fundy. Before Weymouth left Maine, Champlain was -making his own exploration southward along the coast as far as Cape -Cod. He learned enough to decide that all the English ventures had been -failures. They had discovered no mines, no passage, and, although they -had made a temporary camp or two, no colony was yet planted. Obviously, -the Frenchman surmised, the English had found nothing of great value -to the south or they would be trying to occupy that coast. Champlain -turned back, convinced that the best prospects lay in the valley of the -St. Lawrence. - -But then, late in 1606, three small ships put down the Thames, bound -for America. Aboard, in addition to the crews, were a hundred or more -men committed to colonizing an English plantation in the vicinity -of Chesapeake Bay. One of these was Captain John Smith, soldier and -adventurer extraordinary--and, fortunately, a forthright man who spoke -his mind. - - - - -VI - -_Captain John Smith Takes to Trade_ - - -When Captain John Smith arrived in America early in 1607 he was but -freshly turned twenty-seven years of age. And he was in serious -trouble--a prospect for the gibbet, in fact, because of alleged -treason. On the voyage over he had plotted to supplant those in charge, -or so it was charged by his enemies in the expedition. - -But, when the sealed instructions from the London Company were opened -that spring in Virginia, it was learned that John Smith himself was -to be a member of the council in the government of the colony. In the -end he had to be given his rightful position of authority at Jamestown -where the colony was planted. - -It had always been thus with young Smith. By just such amazing -experiences he had succeeded in raising himself from the status of -a poor tenant farmer’s son in Lincolnshire to that of soldier and -“gentleman.” - -Unfortunately, however, at this period in England’s history such social -climbing, though countenanced and legitimate enough, had not quite come -to be “accepted.” It provided fertile ground for the cultivation of -jealous enemies. - -Still, John Smith had probably packed more thrilling experiences and -hairbreadth escapes into his life than anyone else in the realm. -He had warred in far-off countries, engaged in sea fights and been -forced to ship with Barbary pirates. An award of a coat of arms and -the princely sum of fifteen hundred gold ducats had come to him from -Transylvania where, like a knight of old, he cut off three Turks’ heads -in single combat. He had escaped death from wounds on a middle-eastern -battlefield, only to be enslaved by the Turks. This hard fate was -mitigated somewhat by the favors of a high-born Turkish lady who -acquired him as a slave. But then her brother mercilessly shackled him -off to the land of the Tartars. From there, however, Smith succeeded -in making a miraculous escape after killing his cruel master. - -The fiction-like pattern was to be repeated over and over again in the -new world. Captured by the Indians of Virginia, Smith saved himself -from a tortured death by an ingenious oration and his flare for the -dramatic. Later, in the nick of time, he won the love of the young -Indian “princess,” Pocahontas, who rescued him from having his brains -beaten out by her father, Powhatan. He escaped from this predicament -only to find the living remnant of his distressed comrades in the fort -at Jamestown again ready to hang him, this time for allegedly having -gone over to the enemy. And so they would have done, if it had not been -for the timely arrival of the admiral of the Virginia fleet, Captain -Christopher Newport, returning from England with more colonists and -stopgap supplies. - -Delivered from the gallows once more, Captain Smith was subsequently to -be asked to assume the highest office in the colony, that of president, -because he was the only man with ingenuity enough to keep his comrades -alive while enforcing discipline. - -It was a poorly chosen group of colonists--these original Jamestown -venturers. Fully half of them were gentlemen of sorts bent only on a -quest for riches. A handful of craftsmen, a few boys and a brawling lot -of seaport loafers and ex-soldiers who were indisposed to agriculture -or any peaceful pursuits completed the ill-balanced company. They came -to find gold and they expected to relieve the natives of it quickly, if -not to scoop it up by the handful along the banks of Virginia’s rivers. -Instead, they met with hostile Indians, killing diseases and famine. - -Not more than one out of four who pioneered the settlement at Jamestown -survived the first few months in America. - -The joint-stock company that sent them out, backed by the patronage of -King James I and headed by one of the greatest of England’s merchant -adventurers, Sir Thomas Smith, only had the usual primary objectives -in view--the discovery of mines and a northwest passage to Cathay. The -instructions of the London Company, in fact, dwelt on these things, -while saddling the colony with a communalistic form of government that -encouraged idleness, bred suspicion and brought about deadly factional -disputes. Malarial fevers, dysentery and typhoid laid many of the -venturers low. Famine and attacks by the natives completed a grim toll -of death. - -While others remained behind the palisades of the fort, bemoaning their -fate and dying helplessly to prove it, Captain Smith was on the rivers -and in the forests laying the foundations of successful trade with the -Indians and sizing up the country’s resources. Resolutely, he foraged -among the natives for needed corn and other food. With a few men in a -barge he explored and mapped the entire Chesapeake Bay and tidewater -region, realistically recording Virginia’s natural resources with a -view toward making the plantation self-supporting. - -And when he assumed the stewardship of the colony in the fall of 1608, -following two presidents who had failed miserably, John Smith, the -soldier of fortune, truly became John Smith, the colonizer. To do this, -under communalism, he had to become a virtual dictator. But his rule -was as honest and as ingenious as it was arbitrary. These qualities -of leadership coupled with his understanding of the true nature of -Virginia’s resources and of the need for a firm foundation of trade -relations with the natives saved the plantation from extinction. The -colony on the James River became the first permanent English settlement -in America. - -For that matter, it was the British Empire’s first permanent colonial -settlement anywhere in the world. - -The tidewater Indians with whom Smith had to deal mostly belonged -to a group of Algonquian tribes known as the Powhatan Confederacy. -Ruling this confederacy was a tyrannous old chief, himself called -Powhatan, who was held in considerable awe by his subjects. From each -of the tribes under his domination Powhatan demanded an annual tribute -consisting mainly of beads and skins and bits of the decorative copper -that was so scarce in his kingdom. - -Beads were used by the Indians not only for adornment but as a form -of currency. As Captain Smith observed, they were the cause of “as -much dissention among the Salvages as gold and silver amongst the -Christians.” Their manufacture by the natives did indeed call for a -high degree of skill, each bead being cut individually from shell, -then polished and drilled with crude stone tools. When strung together -in belts or arm’s length ropes they were known universally among the -Algonquin nations of the eastern seaboard as wampum. - -In Virginia wampum strings of white beads made from cockle shell were -called roanoke, whereas strings of beads cut from conch shell, dark -purple in color, were called peake. Generally speaking the latter were -worth ten times as much as the former. The natives used their wampum, -or shell money, in barter among themselves to such an extent that the -white men found it very convenient as a means of promoting their own -fur trade. Often they would trade their wares with a rich tribe for -wampum, and then exchange this shell money with a less prosperous tribe -for furs. - -The collecting of skins for taxes, or tribute, was of course a -device older than history. The Romans employed it to collect taxes -from barbarian subjects; so did the pharaohs of prehistoric Egypt in -gathering tribute from the upper Nile valley. Powhatan could demand -pelts in some variety. A contemporary chronicler among the first -settlers at Jamestown noted that within the great chief’s kingdom -the forests and streams abounded with bears, foxes, otters, beavers, -muskrats and “Deere both Red and Fallow.” - -The skins of these animals were the tidewater Indians’ most necessary -and useful commodity next to food. Mainly they were necessary as -clothing in winter, but they were also used as adornment by chiefs and -priests, and for many ceremonial purposes. They were utilized, too, as -closures and decorations for the Indians’ long-houses. And soft hide -leather, such as buckskin, came in for a variety of aboriginal hunting -and household requirements, as well as for garments and footwear. - -Actually Powhatan’s common subjects often went quite naked, except -for skins worn much like aprons. However, when it was cold, they wore -_matchcores_--an Indian word for garments of fur which was later turned -into “match-coats” by the English. - -At his first meeting with Powhatan, Smith found the old savage -blanketed with a _matchcore_ of raccoon skins. One of the priests was -“disguised with a great Skinne, his head hung round with little Skinnes -of Weasels and other vermine.” Many of the better sort of savages, such -as werowances and chief men, affected mantles of carefully dressed -deerskin, some painted and embossed with white beads or bits of copper. -Others who were opulent had _matchcores_ made from squirrel, beaver, -muskrat and otter, the last being held in highest esteem. - -Women wore fur blankets of beaver and otter, or tastefully fringed and -embroidered skin skirts, appropriate to the season. Children usually -went naked, although marriageable maidens, twelve to fifteen, modestly -covered their loins at least. Pocahontas herself is referred to on one -occasion as being girdled with soft otter skins. - -About most of the great Bay of the Chesapeake, on his expeditions, -Captain Smith found “Wilde Cats ... Martins, Powlecats, weessels and -Minkes.” When he explored the Eastern Shore he discovered it to be -thickly inhabited by “Otters, Beavers, Martins, Luswarts and sables.” -Truly, the tidewater literally swarmed with fur bearers. - -In the northernmost reaches of the bay Smith managed to trade with the -giant Susquehannocks. “Their attire,” he recorded, “is the skinnes -of beares and Woolves, some have Cassacks made of Beares heades and -skinnes that a man’s necke goes through the skinnes neck, and the eares -of the beare fastened to his shoulders behind, the nose and teeth -hanging downe his breast, and at the end of the nose hung a Beares -Pawe: the halfe sleeves comming to the elbowes were the neckes of -Beares and the armes through the mouth, with pawes hanging at their -noses. One had the head of a Woolfe hanging in a chaine for a Jewell.” - -These majestic savages came from the banks of the Susquehanna River, -the headwaters of which reached to the territory of the Five Nations -in the lake country of French Canada. As castoff relatives of the -Iroquois, the Susquehannocks lived in palisaded forts along the river -where they were subjected to constant raiding by their bloodthirsty -kinsmen. Hoping to make allies of men with fire guns, they presented -Captain Smith with many fine gifts in trade, including bearskins and -robes of various furs sewn together. Most significantly, however, they -had with them French hatchets, knives and pieces of iron and brass -which they said they had acquired in trade from tribes who bartered -directly with white men on the River of Canada. - -This news, gained by Smith in 1608, about the encroachments of French -trade on the “back-side of Virginia” probably did more than anything -else to awaken Englishmen to their own fur trading possibilities in -America. Everyone knew that the French were driving a highly profitable -trade with the savages up the valley of the St. Lawrence. What hadn’t -been known was how deep they had penetrated into the new continent, or -the direction taken. - -In English minds Virginia stretched northward by land or sea to the -45th parallel at least, even though French charters presumed to -encompass territory as far south as 40°. In less than five years -English guns would rout French Jesuits and traders attempting a -settlement at Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine, and an -expedition from Jamestown would destroy the older plantations of the -French fur merchants at St. Croix and Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy -itself. Within that length of time the Virginians would be well rooted -and competitive as a result of their own good trade in furs, a trade -that would expand rapidly in the Chesapeake tidewater. - -But for the time being, in view of their critical problems of -existence, there was little they could do about either the fur trade or -the Frenchmen, except to nurse their jealousy. It was natural enough -that they were envious of French successes, especially as the hoped-for -mines in Virginia seemed to be retreating farther and farther into the -hinterland and the prospects of finding a passage to the other sea in -the Chesapeake area were diminishing daily. However, staying alive was -their immediate problem. - -Already Captain Smith had spoken out strongly against the fruitless -search for gold--“guilded dirt,” he called it contemptuously. As -president he would not permit the supply ships to be cargoed with more -of the worthless yellow soil or mica-tinctured dirt that they had been -ferrying back to England. And, although he still thought there was the -probability of a passage farther north or possibly a short overland -route between rivers to the other salt sea, he frankly admitted that -his own exploration had been entirely unrewarding in this respect. - -No English explorer before John Smith had dared to be so honest. And -Smith went even farther. - -Now he had courageously despatched a very blunt note to his employers, -the merchant adventurers of the company in London, telling them the -truth about their El Dorado. It was a note that must have startled -those comfortable gentlemen right out of their starched ruffs. -Certainly it was disillusioning to gold-hungry investors already -so heavily committed. But by its very forthrightness it was also -soberingly effective, for the merchants promptly took John Smith’s -advice, even though they didn’t thank him for his seeming impertinence. - -There might be iron in Virginia, Smith had written in effect, but -there was no gold, and neither was there any immediate prospect of -the discovery there of a short route to Cathay and India. However, a -profitable plantation could be cultivated by earnest husbandry and the -realistic development of the country’s natural resources for trade. -Agricultural products, furs, timber, naval stores, iron and possibly -other products of local industries could eventually be shipped home in -exchange for English woolens and coarse cloths. - -In the meantime of course the president had his hands full just -foraging for food enough to keep his charges alive. While people were -dying of famine, company profits of any kind had to wait--even those to -be gained from organized fur trading for which there was considerable -pressure from the natives. The red men were always much more interested -in trading their furs than their food. They never raised more of the -latter than was needed for their own minimum requirements. Smith had -to resort to stratagem and even to a kind of military commerce on more -than one occasion to separate them from their corn. - -So the Indians, with their pelts to barter, turned to the sailors who -manned the transport ships, and the mariners readily accommodated them. -These hands knew how to turn a quick profit in the golden fleece. They -learned first, when the fishing fleets began crossing the oceans, to -Newfoundland and elsewhere--and later, when English ships took to the -seas to trade with other nations. As far back as 1560 merchants in -England were complaining to their factors in Russia about the sailors’ -aptitude for smuggling furs. - -“Foxe skins, white, blacke, and russet will be vendible here,” they -wrote. “The last yere you sent none; but there were mariners that -bought many. If any mariners doe buy any trifling furres or other -commodities, we will they shall be registered in our pursers bookes, to -the intent we may know what they be.” - -In Virginia the mariners not only entered into direct negotiations with -the natives, by swapping goods over the side of a ship with savages -in canoes or by stealing ashore for a dangerous rendezvous, but they -carried on barter through colonists who secretly assumed the roles of -factors in return for favors from the home-bound mariners. One mariner, -according to Captain Smith, confessed to having obtained enough pelts -in this manner on one voyage to net him thirty pounds sterling at home. -That was a tidy sum for an ordinary sailor to acquire in those days, -legitimately or otherwise. - -It was bad enough that the colonists abetted the sailors’ enterprise. -Inflation invariably resulted when the settlers traded individually -with the natives. But worst of all, in most cases the supplies being -bartered had been pilfered by the sailors from company stores aboard -ship. - -Smith railed against this “damnable and private trade,” when the colony -was in such desperate need for food, and even for the very articles -sold to the Indians. He recognized the profits to be made from the fur -trade, as he well proved both in Virginia and later in New England. In -this particular instance it was just that corn came first. - -John Smith’s tenure in Virginia ended in the fall of 1609 when he -was seriously wounded by an accidental gunpowder explosion. He was -invalided home to England. But not before his enemies had taken -advantage of his agonized prostration to plot his murder. This -treachery was thwarted by Smith’s usual fortune in such crises, the -plot being discovered and exposed in the nick of time to save his life. - -In the meantime, however, the thoroughly aroused merchants in London -had reorganized the company, taking a more realistic approach to the -problems of colonization as John Smith suggested, and had appointed an -influential governor with fuller authority to rule their plantation. -The new governor’s advance representatives had already been dispatched -to depose the outspoken young president who was so critical of the -company’s policies. - -But Captain Smith’s task in Virginia was completed. Through his -efforts, almost singlehanded, the English at last had a beachhead on -the American continent. - -Settlers came now in great numbers--traders, merchants and farmers. -The communalistic plan under which the colony had been governed by -the company was abandoned, and a venturer to Virginia was given an -opportunity to share in the profits of his labor. He could acquire -land of his own, through bondage if necessary, something he had little -chance of ever doing in England. And he could establish a family; many -women now immigrated to reinforce further the first two brave females -who arrived in 1608. - -Meanwhile, as John Smith’s historic beachhead was expanded, the fur -trade continued to set the usual pattern of exploration, trade and -settlement. - -Mariners with an experienced eye for marketable pelts came to Virginia -in increasing numbers--hardy, courageous men who were prepared to take -incredible risks in the pursuit of beaver, otter, bear and the big -Virginia muskrat. By 1620 there were nearly one hundred fur traders -operating in and about the Chesapeake Bay, according to an official -of the colony. They plied their shallops and pinnaces up unexplored -tidewater streams and rivers to find the villages of the unpredictable -savages, hazarding their very lives to learn the ways and language of -the aborigines, and to trade with them. They established wilderness -trading posts, building palisaded forts which later came to be occupied -by merchants and farmers and became permanent settlements. - -These fur traders found the profits attractive enough to offset the -dangers--not only those posed by their early contacts with the red men -but those threatened by rival Englishmen during much of the seventeenth -century. - -At times rival traders proved much more dangerous than the aborigines. -The Englishmen were to fight among themselves, often with piratical and -bloody fury, over the fur trade of the Chesapeake tidewater and for -possession of the Susquehanna and Potomac River routes to the lush lake -country of the north where the Frenchmen bartered for pelts. - -But while the Englishmen were thus engaged among themselves on the -backside of Virginia some foreign traders moved in as their neighbors -on the coast, first on the Hudson and then on the Connecticut and -Delaware Rivers. These were the Dutchmen, who forthwith enjoyed a -most profitable commerce in pelts with the natives and began settling -themselves in complete possession of all those parts of “Virginia.” - - - - -VII - -_The Dutch Profit by a Mutiny_ - - -In the late summer of 1609 a Dutch ship, the _Half Moon_, was cruising -the coasts of America. It had an English master. The merchants of the -Dutch East India Company had engaged the Englishman, Captain Henry -Hudson, to search for a northeastern passage to China over the frozen -top of the world. Instead, he sailed their ship west. - -A mutiny compelled him to change his course, or so he later claimed. It -seems that his twenty-man crew, mostly Dutch, had been accustomed to -warmer seas. They refused to brave the northern cold. - -Henry Hudson himself probably had come to recognize the -impracticability of the Arctic route. No longer did he hold to the -notion that because the sun shone continuously at the north pole for -five months of the year temperate waters for navigation would be found -there, that is, once the first belt of Arctic cold was pierced. Twice -before, for English merchants of the Muscovy Company, he had tried -for that northern route only to be frustrated by ice-choked seas--and -mutinous crews. - -The mutinies went unpunished it appears. Certainly, this was a most -unusual outcome for the times. Such uncommon laxity on the part of -an English ship’s master, together with Hudson’s similar behavior on -subsequent occasions, could lead to the conclusion that he was too weak -a disciplinarian ever to have been trusted with command. - -Or, maybe this famous explorer was both dissembling and highhanded -enough to manage always to have his way, even if it was necessary to -employ such devious means as fomenting rebellions to his authority to -achieve his secret purposes. - -The latter is a tempting surmise. But if it is correct, Hudson may have -tried it once too often. - -On a later expedition to America as master of an English ship he -perished at the hands of his crew. He and his young son along with a -few loyal sailors were set adrift in a shallop in the great bay that -bears his name, never to be heard of again. - -Be all of this as it may, by fortunate circumstance or by -pre-meditation Hudson had with him on his memorable voyage in 1609 a -map that had been sent to him from Virginia by Captain John Smith. And -there was a letter that had come with the map from his adventurous -friend suggesting that a passage to China might be found in the west -above 40° where Smith himself had “left off.” Everything pointed to a -big sea on the backside of Virginia. Many of the Indians Captain Smith -met on his explorations had confirmed its existence (their version no -doubt of the Great Lakes). And there was much evidence of navigable -rivers paralleling the Susquehanna above 40°. They probably led toward -this sea! - -So Henry Hudson, contriving to cooperate with the mutineers aboard his -ship and in flagrant disobedience to the specific instructions of his -Dutch employers, sailed west instead of northeast. - -After surviving a storm that tore away her foremast the _Half Moon_ -made a landfall in America off Newfoundland where she came among a -fleet of French fishing boats taking cod on the banks. Captain Hudson -salted a few fish for his own stores, and then put down the coast of -Nova Scotia to Maine. There, at Penobscot Bay, he had a new pine mast -cut and proceeded to relieve some French-speaking Indians of their -stock-in-trade without benefit of barter. - -“We espied two French shallops full of the Countrey people come into -the Harbour,” his clerk wrote, “but they offered us no wrong, seeing we -stood upon our guard. They brought many Beaver skinnes, and other fine -Furres, which they would have changed for redde Gownes. For the French -trade with them for red Cassockes, Knives, Hatchets, Copper, Kettles, -Trevits, Beades and other trifles.... We kept good watch for feare -of being betrayed by the people, and perceived where they layd their -shallops.... In the morning we manned our Scute with foure Muskets, and -sixe men and tooke one of their Shallops and brought it aboard. Then we -manned our Boat and Scute with twelve men and Muskets, and two stone -Pieces or Murderers, and drove the Salvages from their Houses, and -tooke the spoyle of them, as they would have done of us. Then we set -sail....” - -If the Dutchmen left hurriedly it was probably in fear of revenge. -Maybe the Indians showed signs of retaliating. After all, the natives -of this coast must have been getting annoyed by the ways of white men, -considering that this sort of thing had been going on, sporadically, -since the first Norsemen invaded their land some six hundred years -earlier. - -The _Half Moon_ sailed on south to Cape Cod, which the crew noted had -been “discovered by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602.” Here, the -sailors made sport of an Indian they brought aboard, getting the savage -so drunk that “he leapt and danced.” After that Captain Hudson put out -to sea once more, to arrive off the Capes of Virginia about the middle -of August. - -He nosed into the Chesapeake, possibly with the intention of visiting -his friend Smith, but caution seems to have won out over the risk of -exposing his Dutch-owned vessel to agents of the rival London Company. -Being an Englishman himself, Henry Hudson knew only too well that the -merchants of his native country made little distinction between a -foreign competitor and a foreign enemy, especially when they had guns -like those at Jamestown. He might risk disobeying his Dutch employers -but not losing their ship--not before he’d made his grand discovery of -a passage to the Orient. Perhaps, too, he turned a little sensitive -about sailing under a Dutch flag with information furnished by a fellow -Englishman. - -So, a convenient “storm” blew the _Half Moon_ back out to sea, and -Hudson made his way northward, first to penetrate the Delaware River to -shoal water, and then on to explore the river that now bears his name. - -Numerous Europeans had visited this great river before him. The -Norsemen under the leadership of Thorfinn Karselfni in 1011 may have -been the first. Certainly in 1524 the Frenchman, Verrazano, and his -amorous crew stopped off there to mingle with the friendly natives. Not -many months afterward a Portuguese captain, Estevan Gomez, sailing for -Spain, probably put into the river’s mouth. In fact, Spanish archives -are said to indicate that during the sixteenth century many Spanish -ships used the harbor for watering and refitting on their fishing and -fur trading trips between Newfoundland and New Spain. - -But Henry Hudson ascended the river as far as it was navigable and -recorded what he observed and what he did. He it was who took back -to Europe the first news of the vast store of fur skins to be had -there. And that is what opened the valley of the Hudson to trade and -settlement. - -His memorable exploration of the river got off however to an -inauspicious start in the Lower Bay. Here, it was recorded, “the people -of the Countrey came aboord of us, seeming very glad of our comming, -and brought greene Tobacco, and gave us of it for Knives and Beeds. -They goe in Deere skins loose, well dressed. They have yellow copper. -They desire Cloathes, and are very civill.” Yet, Hudson did not trust -them, and mutual suspicion quickly clouded the atmosphere. There was -fighting and a sailor was killed. Later, some Indians who came aboard -were kidnapped. They were plied with liquor and dressed in red coats -while the sailors made crude sport of them. Two were kept prisoners. - -But then, after passing the Narrows and entering the river, the -_Half Moon_ stopped off at Manhattan to find the natives there most -hospitable in spite of any news they may have had about the fights in -the Lower Bay. With their women and children they swarmed about the -little Dutch yacht in a bid for friendship and trade. Captain Hudson, -however, now believing that he had at long last entered on the strait -that led to “Zipangu where the palace roof was covered with gold,” did -not tarry long to barter for pelts. - -Certainly, he didn’t let the escape of the two captive Indians delay -the passage of the _Half Moon_ upstream, even though these savages -swimming ashore made provocative signs of derision and scorn toward the -white men. - -It wasn’t until it became disappointingly obvious that he had reached -the head of ship navigation that Hudson took time for barter. This -was in the vicinity of present-day Albany. Here he again found the -natives both hospitable and anxious to trade. In one instance, when -he went ashore to eat fat dog meat with a chief of the country, the -Indians broke their arrows and cast them into the fire to prove their -friendship. Later they came flocking aboard, bringing beaver and otter -skins which they exchanged for glass beads, knives and hatchets. - -Still, the Englishman and his Dutch mate decided to test some of -the chief men of the country for possible treachery by getting them -intoxicated in the privacy of the _Half Moon’s_ cabin. One of them -got so drunk that he finally dropped to the floor unconscious. The -subsequent raising of this savage from the “dead” created such an -impression on his fellows that they brought tobacco, venison and shell -money to the white captain in gratitude. They also wanted to get drunk -again. - -Indeed, after Captain Hudson had reluctantly turned his ship’s prow -downstream in disappointment over not finding the long sought passage -to the South Sea, he was besieged by chief men of the country who -wanted more _aqua vitae_. They brought women aboard who “behaved very -modestly,” and they made it clear to the captain that whatever he -wanted in their land was his. - -So Hudson now concentrated on acquiring the only thing of value -he recognized--pelts. As the _Half Moon_ proceeded leisurely down -the river he traded in earnest with the “loveing countrey people,” -encouraging any who had furs to offer in exchange for knives and beads -to come aboard. The story is vividly logged. - -On reaching the Highlands the “people of the Mountaynes came aboord -us, wondring at our ship and weapons. We bought some small skinnes of -them for Trifles.” But here real trouble started when an Indian in a -canoe “got up by our Rudder to the Cabin window,” and stole a couple of -shirts. - -“Our Masters Mate shot at him, and strooke him on the breast, and -killed him. Whereupon all the rest fled away, some in the Canoes, and -so lept out of them into the water. We manned our Boat, and got our -things againe. Then one of them that swamme got hold of our Boat, -thinking to overthrow it. But our Cooke tooke a Sword, and cut off one -of his hands, and he was drowned.” - -The next day as the _Half Moon_ approached Manhattan the savages -attacked in force. From their canoes and from the shore they launched -showers of arrows. Foremost among them was one of the two natives who -had been misused and held captive on the trip up the river until the -escape. He led repeated assaults on the yacht. But the red men’s fury -was feeble in its effect. The white men easily drove them off with -musket and falcon shot, killing ten or more of them, and proceeded on -their way. - -Putting the river behind him Captain Hudson sailed for Europe, but -not without much debate on the high seas about the _Half Moon’s_ -destination port. The crew once more threatened him brutally according -to Hudson’s reports. - -Here again “mutiny” served to resolve an awkward situation. The captain -needed a safe haven while explanations were worked out, as much so -as his recalcitrant crew. Disobedience when crowned with success is -usually forgiven, but added to Henry Hudson’s disobedience was failure. -No passage to China had been found. - -After having agreed to winter in Ireland, Hudson managed to put into -Dartmouth in England. From there he wrote a report of his voyage -for the Directors of the East India Company at Amsterdam. And then, -opportunely, his countrymen stepped in to rescue him. They “detained” -him in England as one who had information of value to his own country, -while the _Half Moon_ was returned to its owners in Holland. - -The Dutch East India Company, preoccupied with its profitable spice -trade and its search for a shorter route to the East, promptly wrote -off the cost of the voyage and closed the account. It was said at the -time that all Hudson did in the west was to find a river and exchange -his merchandise for some furs. But it was precisely those furs and the -report of the harbor and river, all unexploited by any Europeans, that -brought independent Dutch fur traders to the Valley of the Hudson the -very next year. - - * * * * * - -Amsterdam merchants who bartered European and Eastern goods in Muscovy -for furs had quickly taken note of the new possibilities in the west. -There were no duties to pay the savages in America, such as those -imposed on trade by the Czar. And a shipload of pelts could be had on -Hudson’s River for an insignificant outlay of beads and trifles--as the -French were doing on their great river in Canada. No time was lost in -organizing a trial adventure. - -In a ship loaded with “a cargo of goods suitable for traffic with the -Indians,” and manned by some of Hudson’s own crew of the previous -year, traders from Holland arrived at Manhattan in 1610. They found -the savages there no less capricious than before, just as dangerously -unpredictable, but obviously anxious to barter their pelts for the -white men’s goods. After driving a profitable trade, it is said, the -Dutchmen promised that “they would visit them the next year again, when -they would bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile,” adding -however that “as they could not live without eating, they should then -want a little land of them, to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs to -put in their broth.” - -And so they did, coming each year, quite likely building a palisaded -truck house and huts on Manhattan Island as early as 1613 to serve -as a depot. Trading posts were established farther up the river and -light-drafted shallops invaded the creeks and bays of the interior. -Beavers were butchered wholesale by natives eager for hatchets, baubles -and liquor. Within a few years furs were being collected in such -quantity during the winter months that early spring ships from Holland -could count on being cargoed along Hudson’s River with as many as seven -thousand pelts. - -To further this profitable trade and to encourage discovery in “New -Netherland” the States General at The Hague granted a temporary charter -of special privileges to merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn who had -formed a western trading association known as the United New Netherland -Company. - -By 1614 Hendrick Christiansen, a fur factor in the employ of Amsterdam -merchants, had established a permanent trading post on Hudson’s River -near the present site of Albany. Fort Nassau, as it was called, was -well palisaded and moated, equipped with two large guns and eleven -swivels, and garrisoned by a dozen armed traders. All were necessary -precautions. The trading post was located on the border of the fiercest -of all Indian tribes, the dreaded Mohawks of the Iroquois Confederacy. - -Relatively peaceful tribes, Algonquian Mohegans and others, occupied -most of the Hudson Valley east of the river and south of Fort Nassau -along both banks. But the interior to the north and west was the home -of the Five Nations, the terrible Iroquois: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, -Cayuga and Seneca. From palisaded forts deep in this hinterland their -bloodthirsty young warriors sallied forth regularly to terrorize their -neighbors. - -Humbling every foe they met into complete submission the Iroquois -enforced tribute and left a trail of carnage wherever they paddled -their war canoes. They carried their conquests to the sea in the east, -scourging the valleys of the Hudson and the Connecticut. Their chilling -war cries sounded over the Great Lakes among the Eries, in the lower -valley of the Delaware where lived the gentle Lenni Lenape, and down -the length of the Susquehanna to the waters of Chesapeake Bay. War -parties from their ancient forts forayed far to the south in the Valley -of Virginia and crossed the Blue Ridge to follow the Piedmont plateau -even into Carolina to take Catawba scalps and women. - -For many generations the supremacy of the Iroquois had been -acknowledged wherever their warriors went in search of victories and -their national pride had grown with every conquest. - -But now their own country was being invaded, from the north, from New -France, by Huron and Algonquin enemies with the help of Champlain’s -arquebusiers. And the Five Nations had sworn by the blood of the bear -their undying enmity to these Frenchmen who first surprised them at -Lake Champlain with their death-dealing firesticks. - -It was the Mohawks, the proudest and bravest of the Iroquois and now -the near neighbors of the Dutch, who had taken the brunt of that first -Iroquois disgrace in 1609. Their portage path coming from the west -terminated near Fort Nassau, and the Dutch traders didn’t find it -difficult to cultivate them. Rankling with hatred against the French, -the Mohawks were in a mood to be friendly with any gun-carrying white -men who might become their allies. - -Revenge of course is a powerful motive in the savage breast. On the -other hand so is self-preservation. The risk of having enemies with the -astonishing fireguns on both their flanks no doubt also entered into -the Mohawks’ calculations. - -In any case it wasn’t long before Dutch traders were fearlessly -visiting villages deep in the country of the dreaded Five Nations, -peacefully driving a great trade in furs while the savages learned to -drink their fire-water and became better acquainted with the awesome -weapons they carried. - -In the meantime, late in 1615, the Iroquois did gain some satisfaction -when Champlain and his Indian allies, after driving deep into their -territory by way of Lake Ontario, were forced to withdraw in temporary -defeat. A galleried and thickly palisaded fort at Lake Onondaga -withstood the arquebuses, even though a movable tower was built by -the attackers so that the Frenchmen might shoot down into the fort. -Attempts by the Canadian force to fire the stockade proved unsuccessful -too, due to contrary winds. And Champlain himself was so badly wounded -during the battle that he had to be carried from the field on a litter -of wickered branches. - -After Fort Nassau was destroyed by a freshet of ice and water in -1617, a new trading post was established by the Dutch in the same -vicinity but in a more secure position. This was on a commanding rise -overlooking the Hudson at the mouth of the Tawasentha, later known -as Norman’s Kill. It was here, as tradition has it, that the tacit -agreement of friendship and trade between the Dutch and the Iroquois -was actually formalized as a treaty of alliance and peace. - -The Mohawks were the prime movers of the pact, sending invitations to -a grand council of the sachems of the Five Nations as well as their -subjugated neighbors in the east and south. With the smoking of the -calumet a binding covenant was made between the factors of the Holland -merchants and all the Indian tribes represented at the council. The -supremacy of the Five Nations over their aboriginal neighbors was -confirmed, and the Dutch promised “firegun” reprisals against any who -broke the peace on the frontiers of New Netherland. - -And there was peace of a sort--while the merchants in Holland filled -their coffers and the Indians acquired guns. Only occasionally did -armed fur factors find it necessary to enforce the pact and then often -to their sorrow. Once, for instance, when a detail from the fort took -the part of some offended Mohegans, the Mohawks retaliated fiercely. -They managed to kill the Dutch commander and three of his men. -Capturing the remainder of the party, they cooked and ate one of them -and burned the others. - -But in the main there was the kind of armed peace that permitted the -fur traders to extend the frontiers of New Netherland and by their -discoveries gain additional trading privileges under their charter. -This they had to do if they were to beat the French and the English to -the vast untapped fur stores of the interior. - -Early in the history of Fort Nassau, a party of three adventurous -traders, led by one “Kleynties,” penetrated deep into the hinterland. -Travelling west up the Mohawk Valley, they appear to have stumbled upon -the headwaters of the Susquehanna River and eventually to have reached -Carantouan, a palisaded town of the Susquehannock Indians. - -Carantouan, now known as Spanish Hill, was just south of the -present-day border between New York and Pennsylvania. It was built -about the terraced slopes of a gigantic mound. The platter-like top of -this mound with its man-made entrenchments was said by the Indians to -have been occupied once by awesome spirits who spoke with thunder and -killed men by making holes through their bodies. The spirits could have -been sixteenth century Spanish explorers from Chesapeake Bay taking -refuge there while searching for gold. - -Only a short time before the advent of the three Dutchmen in this -vicinity Carantouan had been visited by a Frenchman, Etienne Brule. -With a delegation of Hurons he safely traversed the country of the Five -Nations to reach this stronghold of the Susquehannocks in 1615. He -wanted them as allies for Champlain’s pending attack on Fort Onondaga. -Like the Hurons, the Susquehannocks were kinsmen but bitter enemies of -the Five Nations, and they agreed readily enough to help in the attack. -However their war dances took too long and they arrived too late--after -Champlain’s defeat. - -Etienne Brule returned to Carantouan with his savage friends to do a -bit of bartering and to examine into the possibilities of extending the -fur trade of Canada to the Susquehanna. In fact he descended the length -of that river into the upper waters of Chesapeake Bay. But because -of the temperate climate there he took it to be the coast of Spanish -Florida and discreetly turned back. - -[Illustration: THE MERCHANTS FILLED THEIR COFFERS, WHILE THE INDIANS -ACQUIRED GUNS.] - -After his return up the river to Carantouan, Brule set out for home. -This time he was captured in the country of the Five Nations. When -those savages discovered he was a Frenchman, they plucked his beard -hair by hair, tore his nails loose with their teeth, and staked him -out for fire-brand torture. But then, just before it was too late, -Brule mysteriously won their favor, was roundly feted, and in the end -was permitted to escape back to Huron lands. In 1618 he made his way -to Three Rivers in Canada, where Champlain at the time was driving a -trade for beaver pelts with the Indians, and there he reported his -discoveries. - -However, getting through the Iroquois country to Carantouan--and -getting back to Canada--had been a dangerous exploit, one that not many -French traders would desire to emulate, not unless Champlain first -brought the Five Nations to complete submission by force of arms. That, -of course, the great French captain was never able to do; if he had, -probably the French would have overrun the valleys of the Susquehanna, -the Delaware and the Hudson. - -In the meantime, if the three lost Hollanders from Fort Nassau did -wander into the Susquehannock stronghold, they managed to get out of -it with their whole skins. Maybe, having missed Brule, they posed as -friendly Frenchmen, or even as Englishmen with whom the Susquehannocks -had previously enjoyed such satisfactory dealings through Captain John -Smith. Eventually, however, they were taken by other Susquehannock -Indians, or “Minquas,” and ended up on the lower reaches of the -Delaware River as captives held for ransom. - -From there, it appears, word of their predicament reached Manhattan and -Fort Nassau. - -At the time, the spring of 1616, the Dutch factors on Hudson’s River -were anxious to explore this other great river to the south that -Captain Hudson had also discovered. Already investigated were the -rivers to the east and north. Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May, a trader -in the employ of Hoorn merchants, had sailed east along the coast as -far as Martha’s Vineyard. Another trader out of Amsterdam, Captain -Adrien Block, went even farther in a small 16-ton yacht called the -_Onrust_ which he had built in New Netherland following the loss of his -employers’ ship by fire. The little _Onrust_ sailed through Long Island -Sound, ascended the Connecticut, explored other streams and the bays -along the coasts, and rounded Cape Cod northward to latitudes above -present-day Boston. - -It was claimed that Captain May had also sailed far enough south to -touch at the cape that now bears his name. However, there appears to -have been a little hesitancy about making any further discoveries in -that direction that might be interpreted as encroaching on the English -settlements in Virginia. Maybe the Dutch traders were especially -cautious about disturbing the Virginians. It had been in the late fall -of 1613 that the fiery tempered Englishman, Captain Samuel Argall, -in a 16-gun frigate stopped off at Manhattan supposedly and forced -token acknowledgement of the supremacy of the Virginia government. The -Hollanders’ trade in Hudson’s River had been going very well; there had -been no need to beg trouble abroad. - -Now, however, the Dutch felt that their claims were better established -by actual occupation on the northern river and no English were yet -known to occupy or even trade upon the southern river that Hudson -had discovered. Why not explore it with a view toward making further -discoveries which under the Hollanders’ charter would give them -additional trading privileges? And should they find their lost traders, -would not those three have made enough discoveries in the hinterland to -provide material for new claims--yes, even a new map of New Netherland? - -So, Cornelis Hendricksen who now had the _Onrust_ in his charge went -out in that little yacht to investigate the prospects on the “South” -River and to see if he might find and ransom the three traders held -captive there. - -Hendricksen’s voyage was entirely successful. After charting the west -shores of Delaware Bay, he entered the river and ascended it possibly -as high as present-day Philadelphia. The river’s banks abounded with -game, the country was pleasant, and the climate which was “the same as -that of Holland” delighted the crew of the _Onrust_. Above all, there -were ample prospects of a great traffic in pelts. On the banks of the -Christina where Wilmington now stands and at other places along the -shores of the Delaware River, Hendricksen drove a most profitable trade -with friendly Indians for “sable,” mink, otter and beaver. - -And, meager though his report is in the matter of details, somewhere -along the river he was successful in ransoming his three captive -countrymen from the Minquas for “kettles, beads, and other merchandize.” - -Hendricksen returned quickly to Manhattan and sailed for Holland. -There, he laid before his employers a report of his discoveries -“between the thirty-eighth and fortieth degrees of latitude,” together -with a map of New Netherland embracing the lower reaches of the -Delaware River as well as the hinterland discoveries of the three -traders he had ransomed. Excitedly, the merchants went before the -States General of the United Netherlands and prayed not only for an -extension of their special charter which was soon to expire but for an -extension of the geographical limits of New Netherland. - -In the original charter, New Netherland had been described as “situated -in America, between New France and Virginia, the seacoasts of which -lie between the 40th and 45th degrees of latitude.” The Dutch claim -was thus neatly set down as the exact territory of the overlapping -claims of France and England on the Elizabethan theory that it was the -possession of neither of those countries as it was not occupied by -either of them. - -Now the merchants wanted the limits extended by two degrees in the -south--to include the Delaware valley. Their arguments were impressive. -The Delaware had not been occupied by the English, or even explored by -them. What if Captain Samuel Argall had looked in on the bay and named -it for his English governor of Virginia? That was a year after Henry -Hudson had discovered it for the Dutch. - -The States General demurred however, postponing any decision. There -were problems at home and abroad that took precedence, and within the -framework of a grand solution of those problems was a plan to create a -great western trading company similar to the Dutch East India Company. - -Ever since the defeat of the Armada there had been those in the United -Netherlands who had urged striking at Spain’s sources of revenue in -the East and West Indies as the surest way to hasten that nation’s -decline. The Dutch East India Company, a military trading organization, -had been chartered with this in mind. That was before Spain virtually -acknowledged the independence of the Dutch Netherlands in 1609 by -agreeing to a truce. After that, however, the Peace Party in the Dutch -Netherlands had been strong enough to resist demands that a similar -company be organized to exploit America and harass the Spanish there. -It was considered dangerous to Holland’s newly gained peace and -independence to goad the Spaniards in that quarter--or to offend the -English, or the French either for that matter. - -But the War Party led by Prince Maurice of Orange and the Calvinist -clergy, and backed by such important Flemish emigres as Amsterdam’s -great merchant, William Usselinx, wanted to resume the war with Spain -in order to gain complete independence for all the Netherlands. -Usselinx particularly urged the necessity of challenging Spanish -hegemony in America. He wanted a government-sponsored Dutch West India -Company to prosecute the pursuit of gold and silver, the conduct of -the fur trade with the Indians and the destruction of the Spanish -commercial monopoly in the New World. - -It was the probability of being forced into forming this company, a -company which would incidentally assume control over New Netherland, -that kept the States General from renewing the New Netherland Company’s -charter. Certainly, concern over possible friction with the English or -the French prevented any territorial broadening of the charter or of -the individual trading licenses which were issued after the charter’s -expiration. - -By the New Netherland Company’s charter the States General had in -effect defined and acknowledged the borders of New France in the north -and Virginia in the south. They recognized that it would be bad enough -in the interior when the French realized that New Netherland traders -were aligning themselves with the Iroquois enemies of New France. But -it would be much worse to tangle with the English on the coasts--the -Virginians in the south, and now those other Englishmen preparing to -stake out “New England” in the north. - -The Peace Party in the Netherlands didn’t want any trouble and they -wished the Orangers who had gone out to America would stay in the -valley of Hudson’s River, where no Englishmen had ever attempted to -trade for furs. However, that was not to be. The fur traders would push -on; the War Party would have its way. - - - - -VIII - -_Conception of New England_ - - -The Englishmen living already in America, in southern Virginia, were -more concerned about the Catholic Spaniards to the south of them than -about a few Dutch traders on an unknown river to the north. Jamestown -had been planted by the London Company with very much the same objects -that Raleigh had in mind when he planted Roanoke--a threat to New Spain -among other things. While the colony was young and relatively weak, -therefore, the Virginians lived in constant dread of themselves being -surprised and destroyed by the Spaniards. - -Their neighbors in the south had a reputation for making short shrift -of heretics or any foreign colonies that might endanger Florida or -Spanish silver fleets. Some years earlier several hundred Huguenots -from France who planted a colony on the southern coast had been -butchered to the last man in a surprise attack. - -Indeed, the Virginians’ fears were well founded. The Spanish admiralty -more than once nursed just such an action against the “English pirates’ -nest” on the James River. That they didn’t attack was probably due to -their own increasing vulnerability, for the Spanish star had been in -decline since the destruction of the Armada. - -To the north, the Virginians had mainly been concerned about the -French. The northern boundary of English “Virginia,” the 45th parallel, -cut through the Bay of Fundy, but the Frenchmen failed to observe this -delineation of the border. Whereas Dutch interlopers might be passed -off as no more than individual traders who could be ousted at will, the -government-backed traders of New France, firmly entrenched as they were -in the far north, needed special watching. - -There was no English colony in those parts to forestall serious French -encroachment. The Plymouth Company had failed in its mission to settle -a plantation in northern Virginia. - -It had been with the hope of finding gold or a trade route to the -Indian sea, or in lieu of that at least an outlet for English woolens, -that King James granted charters in 1606 to the London Company and -the Plymouth Company. The merchants of these two joint-stock trading -companies were to settle southern and northern Virginia respectively, -thus driving an English wedge of actual occupation between the vast -territorial claims of New Spain and New France. Under the direction of -Sir Thomas Smith of the London Company the southern colony, Jamestown, -was successfully planted. But in the north, on the border of French -Canada, the colonists sent over by the Plymouth Company failed. They -were too much in love with “El Dorado.” - -There had been an unusually good prospect of trade in furs to tide over -the Plymouth Company’s plantation until it could become permanently -rooted by agriculture. Gosnold, Pring, Weymouth--all had predicted the -success of such a venture. But colonization failed. There was no John -Smith at Sagadahoc. - -The settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec in Maine was made in 1607, -only a few months after the colonists of the London Company planted -themselves at Jamestown. The Sagadahoc venturers came in two ships, -mainly supplied by Sir Ferdinando Gorges of the Plymouth Company and -backed by the special patronage of another great merchant adventurer, -Chief Justice Sir John Popham. They built a palisaded fort which they -called Saint George, a storehouse and a church, and fifteen dwellings. -And their carpenters under the supervision of a shipwright named Digby -constructed a thirty-ton pinnace, the _Virginia_, which crossed the -ocean to England and came back later to Jamestown in the service of the -Virginia Company. - -Except for these few noteworthy accomplishments, however, everything -went wrong at Sagadahoc. Fire destroyed most of the buildings and -few survived the bitter cold of the first winter. George Popham, the -president of the colony and a nephew of the chief patron, died. Trouble -with French traders on the coast operating out of the Bay of Fundy -was a source of much uneasiness, especially after a prominent French -captain wintering at St. Croix was waylaid by the Englishmen and -released only on his promise never again to trade for pelts in those -parts. The weakened defenders of Fort St. George lived in fear of a -surprise French attack--of bloody retaliation. - -To cap the Englishmen’s difficulties they were unsuccessful in driving -a trade of their own with the Indians. For one thing, their disgraceful -personal conduct turned the savages against them. A licentious lot of -brawlers to begin with, the Sagadahoc venturers went native without -restraint, and the Indians who were certainly never prudish about -lending their women recoiled in contempt. For another thing, the -Frenchmen offered more for pelts, so the natives hid their furs from -the Englishmen. - -When spring came the Sagadahoc settlement was abandoned and the -survivors returned to England with nothing to show for their efforts. -It was all so discouraging that no money could be raised among the -merchant adventurers of the Plymouth Company for further attempts at -colonization, although each year thereafter Gorges sent trading vessels -to the vicinity for pelts. To compete with the French these vessels had -to be plentifully supplied with a variety of goods, trinkets, hatchets, -colored cloths, and eventually even with guns and powder to exchange -for furs. - -Several years after Sagadahoc was evacuated the Vice-Admiral of Acadia, -Saint Just, came down the coast and set up the arms of France on the -most conspicuous height he could find near the Englishmen’s abandoned -fort. Having thus officially proclaimed his jurisdiction over Maine, -he returned to his headquarters at Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy, -where it was his practice to exact a one-fifth share of all the furs -collected. - -Saint Just’s father, Sieur de Poutrincourt, had been granted the -country originally by de Monts, and now held it under an independent -patent from the king. Although, all in all, Poutrincourt and his son -made a pretty profit from their patent, they met with difficulty in -getting their full share of the furs being collected. Taxes of course -are always unpopular, especially among frontiersmen. The traders across -the bay at St. Croix were recalcitrant, and there were even more -serious dissensions at Port Royal itself on this score. - -Among the inhabitants of Port Royal were two lately-arrived Jesuit -priests who had purchased part ownership in a trading vessel and -were stirring up no end of trouble for Saint Just. One of these -fathers, Pierre Biard, was particularly obstreperous, objecting to the -vice-admiral’s profits, giving unwanted advice on trading, and even -trying to take over control of the colony according to his enemies. He -was accused of pitting Catholics against Huguenots, and he did actually -bring about the excommunication of Saint Just. Some said he partook too -freely of the bottle. - -In any event, Father Biard accompanied Saint Just on his voyage along -the southern coast and liked the lay of the country. He thought it -offered special opportunities for a profitable trade in furs, and he -felt that if he could but have a colony of his own there he would -use the profits of trade with the savages for the maintenance of the -Jesuits rather than let it be “lost in the hands of the merchants.” - -Upon his return to Port Royal, Biard and his brother priest proceeded -to do something about it. Writing to their patron at the French court, -Madame deGuercheville, the Jesuits told her of their troubles and their -aspirations. Whereupon that well-connected lady acquired a patent to -the southern coast, granted the fathers their wish for a colony of -their own and sent over a ship to settle them there at her expense. In -the spring of 1613 the Jesuit colony was planted--Saint Sauveur it was -called--on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. - -But no sooner were the Frenchmen seated than they were murderously -surprised by the English. - -Captain Samuel Argall out of Jamestown in his heavily armed ship, -the _Treasurer_, happened to be trading and fishing in the vicinity. -Learning from the Indians of the presence of the French vessel at Mount -Desert and the colony being planted there, he attacked so suddenly -that he met with practically no resistance. Two Frenchmen were killed. -Father Biard and fourteen others were taken to Jamestown as prisoners -and the remainder were ordered by Argall to find their way home as best -they could in any fishing or trading vessels they might happen upon -along the coast. - -There was great excitement at Jamestown when Captain Argall arrived -there with his prisoners and the news about the French infringement on -“English territory.” There was even more excitement when Father Biard -proffered the information that Saint Just, after capturing an English -ship, was fortifying Port Royal with thirty cannon. A “pirates’ nest,” -Biard called it in his anger at Saint Just. Certainly it was a menace -to the English the Virginia Council concluded. - -So Argall was dispatched north again, this time to rout the French -from the Bay of Fundy. On the way, he destroyed all vestiges of French -occupation at Mt. Desert Island and at St. Croix; then he surprised -Port Royal with the help of Father Biard who appears to have acted -as his guide ashore. Coming upon the fort-like settlement at a time -when most of the inhabitants were busy in the fields, Argall burned -their houses and plundered their stores, leaving the Frenchmen almost -destitute on the eve of winter. - -The destruction was so complete that Sieur de Poutrincourt, who arrived -from France in the spring, decided to collect what furs he could and -transport his people back to France. - -Madame deGuercheville gave up too. She attempted no new colony, -contenting herself with protestations to the English king. But James -let it be known that the Virginia Company was well within its rights, -and there the matter ended. - -Although Saint Just did return to Port Royal later to act as factor -for some independent La Rochelle fur merchants and although young -Dupont-Grave wintered at St. Croix on occasion to maintain desultory -barter with the savages there, the French fur trade was now restricted -in the main to the St. Lawrence Valley and the hinterland. Argall had -effectually checked the advance south on the coast into the territory -claimed by the English--for the time being. - -Traffic on the “Northern Virginia” coast, below the Bay of Fundy, now -fell almost exclusively into the hands of the English--except, of -course, for that which the Dutchmen were pursuing in the vicinity of -the Hudson River. - -There is the relation in an uncorroborated promotional tract of the -time that Captain Argall, in the late fall of 1613 on his return from -Port Royal, stopped off at Manhattan where he is said to have caused -the few Dutch traders he found there to submit to the English king and -the government at Jamestown. If so, he no doubt took whatever furs -they had as tribute and probably made other arrangements calculated to -benefit his private purse. Samuel Argall, later knighted, was to become -notorious for such devices. - -But if the Dutch traders, reflectively smoking their pipes, acceded to -his demands while the guns of the _Treasurer_ pointed at their huts, -they lost little time in expanding their beaver trade along the eastern -and northern coasts once the hot-headed Englishman left. The very next -spring they began the prosecution of a highly profitable business in -and about Long Island Sound, up the valley of the Connecticut, and in -the Narragansett country. The Indians as far east as Buzzard’s Bay -acquired special longings for Dutch sugar, liquor, ornaments, cloth and -firearms, and the Hollanders were able to maintain a virtual monopoly -on this trade for some years. - -Captain John Smith didn’t see anything of these Dutch competitors -when he visited northern Virginia in 1614. But then he traded along -the coasts no farther south than Cape Cod. The only foreigners he -encountered were a couple of poaching French ships bartering with the -Indians for pelts some forty leagues below the mouth of the Kennebec -River. - -Being recovered from his wound and being much interested in planting an -English colony in the north, Captain Smith had helped promote enough -capital to supply two ships for this voyage. Of course the venture’s -immediate object was not colonization. No money could have been raised -for that. Rather it was to “Take whales and make tryalls of a Myne of -Gold and Copper,” Smith said. “If those failed, Fish and Furres was -then our refuge.” - -The venturers discovered no mines. And, although there were plenty of -whales in sight, they weren’t able to catch any. The English hadn’t -yet learned to whale. So, while the sailors turned to fishing, John -Smith set out with eight or nine men in a shallop to investigate the -country, to map the bays and rivers, and to trade with the natives--in -preparation for the colonization he secretly planned. - -He ranged the coast from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod, and “got for -trifles neer 1100 Bever skinnes, 100 martins and neer as many Otters.” -Most of these were acquired within a distance of twenty leagues, he -said, for “Eastwards our commodities were not esteemed, they were so -neare the French who affords them better.” At Sagadahoc, at the mouth -of the Kennebec, there was competition from an English vessel belonging -to Sir Francis Popham, son of the chief justice. This fur-trading ship -“had there such an acquaintance, having many yeares used only that -porte, that the most parte there was had by him.” And of course to the -southwest were the two French trading vessels. - -The country, Smith later reported, was populated by “Moos, a beast -bigger than a Stagge; Deere, red and Fallow; Bevers, Wolves, Foxes, -both blacke and other; Aroughconds (raccoons), Wild-cats, Beares, -Otters, Martins, Fitches, musquassus (muskrats) and diverse sorts of -vermine, whose names I know not.” - -“Of the Musk Rat,” he predicted, “May bee well raised of their -goodnesse. Of Bevers, Otters, Martins, Blacke Foxes, and Furres of -price, may yearely be had 6 or 7000: and if the trade of the French -were prevented, many more.” - -With the title of Admiral of this “New England,” of which he had drawn -an exceptionally detailed and accurate map, Captain Smith was sent -out the next year by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others of the Plymouth -Company. This time he never reached his objective, being captured by -pirates and once more experiencing perils enough for many another -adventurer’s lifetime. With his usual luck and ingenuity however he -managed to escape, and returned to England to write about his ventures. - -Unable to get any further backing for his colonization schemes John -Smith never returned to America. Thus it never came about that he -encountered the Dutch interlopers for whose original presence in -“Virginia” he had been responsible through his friendship with Henry -Hudson. However, one of Smith’s companions on his last voyage, Thomas -Dermer, was sent out again by Gorges in 1619. And Dermer paid a visit -to the Dutch at Manhattan. - -After arriving in America and sending a cargo of furs and fish from -Sagadahoc back to England, Dermer set out in a small open pinnace -of five tons burden to follow the coast south to the Chesapeake. The -account of his voyage is almost as interesting as one of Captain John -Smith’s epics. - -Among other adventures on his way down the coast, Dermer “redeemed” two -Frenchmen from the Indians. These men, after having been shipwrecked -off Cape Cod and captured with others by the Indians, had survived -three years of being “sent from one sachem to another to make sport -with.” Dermer himself was taken during a fight with the savages but -successfully contrived an escape with the aid of some hatchets which -his compatriots used as ransom bait. - -Following a winter at the plantations on the James River, Dermer -then returned to New England via Manhattan where he stopped off, -probably upon the urging of Jamestown officials, to see what the Dutch -traders were about. There he discovered a “multitude” of factors busy -with furs, and he found plenty to indicate that the Hollanders were -permanently settling themselves in the land. - -The English fur trader pointed out to them that they were on English -soil, but the Dutchmen replied that “they understood no such thing, -nor found any other nation there; so that they hoped they had not -offended.” Since he was in no position to challenge them further Dermer -contented himself by warning them not to continue their occupation as -his own countrymen would soon take possession of what they, the Dutch -squatters, were calling “New Netherland.” - -Whereupon Thomas Dermer withdrew, eventually to have his story laid -before the English merchants at home, while the Hollanders promptly -went about widening the coastal head of the wedge they had driven -between southern Virginia and northern Virginia, the country now called -New England by the Englishmen. - -Cornelis Jacobsen May explored south again that very summer. He even -entered the James River. Then he revisited the cape he had first -sighted a few years earlier and which now bears his name. Entering -Delaware Bay this time however, he charted its shores, and following in -Hendricksen’s path he ascended the river to trade and more thoroughly -investigate it also. - -By the following year, 1621, the English ambassador at The Hague -was before the States General calling attention to the trespassers -on “English” territory in America. But his protests received scant -hearing. The lowlanders’ grand design for the west was now in process -of completion--the West India Company had been chartered--and a -government for New Netherland was being organized. Already an official -seal for the new province in America had been engraved, the figure of a -beaver, fittingly enough, its central theme. - -In the meantime however part of the Dutch claim had been occupied by -some refugee Englishmen who were determined to stay in America. The -Pilgrims had planted the first permanent settlement on the coast of New -England. - - - - -IX - -_The Pilgrims Rely on God and Beaver_ - - -The first permanent settlement made by the English on the northern -coasts of America owed its success to traffic in pelts. - -Almost from the very beginning in the winter of 1620-21 the Plymouth -plantation was a fur-trading post, depending on beaver and otter skins -for the maintenance of its inhabitants. And, as Edward Channing has put -it, “In the end what saved the Plymouth colony from extinction and gave -the settlers a chance to repay the London merchants for their advances -was a well managed fur trade.” - -Governor William Bradford himself recognized that the fur trade was -vital to the survival of his people in New England, saying “there was -no other means to procure them food which they so much wanted and -clothes also.” - -This was only too true. Not only did a vicious system of communalistic -enterprise retard the production of food at Plymouth but the merchant -adventurers in England who backed the plantation insisted that -time-consuming agricultural activities be curtailed to a minimum, -promising to send over the needed food. In return for financing the -venture they wanted quick returns that could be gotten only from fish -and fur. Since the Plymouth colonists were never too successful at -fishing, in fact ill equipped for that pursuit, they had to depend on -the export of pelts to keep the merchants happy and to wangle supplies -and trucking goods enough to keep themselves alive. - -Even with the help of the fur trade, however, this brave little band -of Brownist Separatists probably would not have survived the rigors of -the climate and the harsh New England coast except for the impelling -religious motive that brought them to America in the first place. - -Persecuted for their beliefs and exiled from their homeland, they -had been maintained through many trials by a driving determination to -find sanctuary for themselves and their posterity--a place where they -could live and worship in the way they believed was most fitting in the -eyes of God. First, they fled to Holland, where at Leyden they enjoyed -immunity from interference by the authorities but too much intimacy -with their neighbors. In this their leaders saw a new danger. The -Dutch, they felt, were entirely too neglectful of God’s ordinances, and -the exiles became exceedingly fearful that “their posteritie would be -in danger to degenerate and be corrupted.” - -Only in the New World where they would have no near neighbors did -there seem to be a solution to the problem. They thought of going out -to Guiana, and the Dutch even offered to underwrite their passage -to New Netherland to plant a colony there under the auspices of the -States General. But then some of their leaders learned that through the -Virginia Company a patent could be obtained for a private plantation -in America where they could live as Englishmen, yet “as a distincte -body by themselves.” Assured that they might have their own governor, -ordinances and mode of worship, subject only to the general government -of Virginia, they entered into conclusive negotiations with English -merchants to finance the venture. - -One Thomas Weston was the leading backer of the proposed plantation, -obtaining the patent through the Virginia Company and promoting the -adventurers’ share of the joint-stock through a company of merchants -which he represented. Although the king balked at giving the exiles -liberty of conscience under his protection he did indicate that he -would not molest them. And of course the Virginia Company, the leaders -of which were mostly Puritan-tinged Genevans at heart, encouraged the -venture from the start, albeit with discretion. - -So the business agreements were drawn up and signed and transportation -arranged. This included a stopover in England where the exiles -were joined by a major complement of indentured servants and other -“strangers” hired by Weston. The emigrants were to sail in two -ships from Southampton, but after a false start they settled on the -_Mayflower_ and this little ship put out alone across the sea late in -1620. - -The _Mayflower’s_ destination was charted as the general vicinity of -Hudson’s River where a beginning was to be made on selecting a suitable -site for the new English plantation in Virginia. However, a landfall -was made at Cape Cod and, although a course was then actually set for -the mouth of the Hudson, the ship was brought about after navigation -difficulties and hints of mutiny and a decision was made to plant in -New England instead. - -This was territory well known at the time of sailing as coming under -the jurisdiction of the proposed Council for New England which was -about to be created as successor to Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ old Plymouth -Company. - -Quite likely, William Bradford and other leaders of the expedition -had come to have their doubts about settling in the vicinity of the -Hudson River, a territory in dispute between England and Holland. But -in addition it would appear that before the sailing they had received -secret assurance that Gorges and the reorganized New England company -would welcome a colony planted within their jurisdiction, and that a -proper patent would be no more than a legal formality once the Council -for New England was commissioned. Certainly the chief investor in the -enterprise, Thomas Weston, favored New England. In the final days of -preparation he had expressed a strong preference for New England rather -than Virginia, due he said to the established fisheries and fur trade, -as well as other commercial prospects there. - -In any event, when word reached England that the Pilgrims had settled -themselves at Plymouth in New England, no one seems to have expressed -the slightest surprise. Nor is there any record of an explanation -coming from Plymouth--just as if none was thought to be necessary. - -All of which would make it appear likely that the planting at Plymouth -was no accident, but premeditated to some extent by merchants of -the New England company in connivance with leading partners in the -adventure. Possibly there was more than a hope that some calculated -incident would bring it about. If so, the navigation difficulties and -threats of mutiny provided incident enough--or excuse enough to satisfy -those not in on the plan! - - * * * * * - -The savages in and about Plymouth Harbor, so named by Captain John -Smith some six years earlier, did not exactly welcome the _Mayflower’s_ -passengers. Their experience with white men had been none too rewarding -over the years and these new arrivals were proving no exception. From -their hiding places the natives watched the very first exploring -parties that came ashore from the ship steal caches of Indian corn and -rifle the graves of the dead. - -Small wonder it is, therefore, that almost before the Pilgrims laid -eyes on a savage they were treated to thievery in kind and the weird -shrieks, or war whoops, with which these same “Skraelings” had -challenged the invading Vikings centuries earlier. But when the attacks -came they were easily repulsed by English firearms. - -In the meantime, after the landing at Plymouth in that winter of -1620-21, some of the natives were enticed out of hiding by offers -of bright baubles and other gifts. On one occasion “a pot of strong -water” was employed. Then, with thunder-making cannon mounted ashore -to awe their wild hosts, the Pilgrims were finally able to enter into -negotiations for beaver skins and food supplies under a kind of armed -truce. - -But the Indians of this section were very poor and very few. A -pestilence originally spread among them by Frenchmen had all but wiped -them out in fact. It was necessary for the Pilgrims to look abroad for -the pelts which they had quickly realized would be their chief means of -support if they were to survive in this strange land. - -Beaver skins would pay their debts, buy for them in England the -additional supplies they needed, even serve as a medium of exchange -in obtaining corn and beans from the savages themselves. In the guise -of exploration, therefore, military commerce was commenced as soon as -possible with neighboring tribes along the coast. - -In this the diminutive military commander at Plymouth, Captain Miles -Standish, had an invaluable aide--an Indian named Squanto who had come -to the fort and offered his services as ally and interpreter. - -Squanto spoke English almost as fluently as the white men. Twice he -had been to England, once having dwelt for some time with a London -merchant. He was first taken there by Captain George Weymouth in 1605. -Returned to his native land nine years later by Captain John Smith, -Squanto had been no more than set free when he was kidnapped along with -some other natives by an English captain named Hunt and sold in the -Spanish slave market at Malaga. However, through the intercession of -local friars, he managed to get to London again. Captain Thomas Dermer -then returned him once more to Cape Cod, not many months before the -Pilgrims arrived. - -Finding his own people wiped out by the pestilence, Squanto sought -refuge with a neighboring tribe. But when he learned of the presence -of the Englishmen at Plymouth he went to them, to be gratefully -acknowledged as “a speciall instrumente sent of God for their good -beyond their expectation.” - -Guided by this Indian the Pilgrim traders went farther and farther -afield. In September ten armed men sailed up to Boston Harbor in a -shallop and obtained a quantity of beaver from the Massachusetts -Indians. So successful was the barter that the women of the tribe -impulsively removed their beaver coats to exchange them for the bright -baubles of the white men. Giggling maidens, bedecked only with strings -of beads we are told, were left behind by the “sober-faced” Pilgrims -when they sailed away. - -By November, when the first “supply” ship, the _Fortune_, arrived from -England, the colony at Plymouth had acquired enough beaver and otter -skins to pack two great hogsheads worth 300 pounds sterling for export. -These pelts represented over sixty per cent of the total value of the -vessel’s return cargo, the remainder consisting of clapboard. By this -one shipment the Pilgrim Fathers estimated they were paying off almost -half of their debt to Weston and his partners and insuring the prompt -return of the additional supplies they so much needed by then. - -But unfortunately, as they later learned, the _Fortune_ was intercepted -by a French privateer before she reached England and all her cargo -confiscated! - -Long before this first supply ship came to Plymouth the Pilgrims had -been in want of food. Their meal was gone, and other rations were -rapidly dwindling under their communalistic system. But when the ship -arrived it brought only letters of gratuitous counsel from their -merchant backers in England and more “hungrie bellies” to be fed. There -was practically nothing aboard in the way of food and clothing or truck -for barter with the savages. - -Already half-starved, the colonists were in really dire straits -as winter approached. Many of them sickened and death stalked the -huts and cottages at Plymouth. With Indian alarms and unaccountable -fires creating a general state of anxiety, fear and suspicion lay -heavy on those who lived. Probably the only thing that prevented a -complete collapse was the diversion brought about by enforced labor on -strengthening the fortifications of the plantation. - -Before the first snow, the Narragansett tribe which had not suffered -from the plague boldly sent in a bundle of arrows wrapped in a -snakeskin. It was an open challenge to war. The Pilgrims were plucky -enough to replace the arrows with bullets and send the snakeskin back -to the Narragansett, but they were nevertheless thoroughly frightened -and hastened to palisade their fort and buildings with a strong wall of -high pales. - -Relations with the natives was under constant strain. Most of the early -commerce with them for pelts and food was a bloody business. But, -as explosive and unprincipled as was the red-headed little military -captain, Miles Standish, it was Squanto who caused much of the trouble. - -It seems that the Indian interpreter was overly ambitious to become a -great sachem and seized on any opportunity to eliminate a red rival to -his pretensions by provoking hostilities. Captain Standish never did -like Squanto, and Bradford himself later stated that the interpreter -“sought his own ends and played his own game, by putting the Indians in -fear and drawing gifts from them to enrich himself, making them believe -he could stir up war against whom he would, and make peace with whom he -would.” - -Although some temporary relief in the matter of food could be obtained -from trading and fishing boats off the Maine coast and by other local -expedients, it was plain for all to see that the economy, indeed -the very existence of Plymouth, depended on fur. Fishing had failed -completely as a source of income. Only as a fur-trading post could -the plantation be maintained, for only by the export of pelts could -sufficient supplies and trading goods be obtained and the debt to the -merchant adventurers paid off. So, in the spring of 1622, an expedition -went out once more to the Massachusetts and commerce of a sort was -resumed--along with hostilities. Some few pelts were thus obtained by -the Pilgrims in spite of their almost total lack of trading goods. - -But then came a “providence of God.” A trading ship, coasting the -shores from Virginia to New England, came into the harbor with a large -store of English beads and knives aboard. - -The captain, however, drove a hard bargain with the desperate -colonists. Shrewdly sensing the situation, he hiked the prices of his -trading goods; in fact, he “would sell none but at dear rates and also -a good quantity together.” The Pilgrims were forced to buy, paying away -their store of coat-beaver at three shillings per pound which, as it -happened, “in a few years after yielded twenty shillings.” Still, by -this means, they were fitted again to barter for beans and corn--and -more beaver. - - * * * * * - -For the next three or four years the Plymouth plantation was engaged in -hand-to-mouth expedients to squeeze enough revenue from the fur trade -to meet the demands of its economy. - -All of this was made the more trying because of the evils of the -communalistic system under which the colony was operated. A first step -toward the private ownership of land was taken in 1623, when each man -was permitted to set a little corn “for his owne perticuler,” but it -was some years before this reform was fully realized. However, of more -concern to the Pilgrims was the increasing pressure from a variety of -English competitors for the fur trade along the coast. - -Always a bit disturbing had been the freebooting interlopers who -operated along the coasts, particularly in Maine. These Englishmen, -bartering generously with trinkets, colored cloth and ironware, were -also not averse to trading guns and powder with the Indians, a practice -frowned upon by the king. - -Partly because of the trade in firearms, but mainly because the -freebooters were cutting into the monopoly of the august Council -for New England, that body obtained a royal proclamation forbidding -trade in furs and fish without a license. As it turned out however -the merchants were unsuccessful in enforcing the edict. Captain -Francis West, the Admiral of New England, who was sent out to stop the -trespassing returned only to report that he found the traders to be -“stuborne fellows.” - -In the meantime a number of patents and licenses were being granted -through the Council for New England along the northern coast. - -Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, as adventurers, were -granted the “Province of Maine,” all the land lying between the -Merrimac and the Kennebec Rivers. As early as 1623 David Thompson, -“a Scottish gentleman,” went out with a few servants and established -a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Piscataqua, near the present -site of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Said to have been accompanied by -his wife and children, he “built a Strong and Large House, enclosed -it with a large and high Palizado and mounted Gunns, and being -stored extraordinarily with shot and Ammunition was a Terror to the -Indians....” Thompson nevertheless carried on a flourishing business -with the natives for otter and beaver, as did Christopher Levett who -built a fort-like emporium for the same kind of military commerce in -Casco Bay the following year. - -More obvious competitors to the Pilgrims had been getting footholds -in the country of the Massachusetts Indians. Samuel Maverick had a -palisaded trading post on Noddle’s Island (East Boston) wherein he -mounted “four murtherers to protect him from the Indians.” Under the -muzzles of these wicked little cannon he drove a most profitable -private trade. And David Thompson himself moved to Boston Bay in 1626, -building a truck house on the island which ever since has been known by -his name. - -Although these more or less distant and individual competitors cut into -the Plymouth Colony’s business to some degree, they were not exactly -strangling the economy and they were not neighbors in the bothersome -sense. However, the Pilgrims viewed with real alarm all attempts of -English traders to establish themselves in the near-by lower end of -Boston Bay. That, they judged, belonged to them and was necessary to -their survival as well as their cherished privacy. - -Their one-time friend, Thomas Weston, had been the first to try to -plant a trading post there, at Wessagusset, in 1622. Weston, who had -sold out his interest in the Plymouth Plantation, first sent over some -men to trade for his “perticuler,” that is, not for the plantation’s -account. Shortly afterward he obtained a patent to plant a colony of -his own at the lower end of Boston Bay. - -The colony his men established at Wessagusset, now Weymouth, was -entirely too close to the Pilgrims for their comfort, not only because -it forthwith severed a major artery of their fur trade but because it -put the pinch on Plymouth for food. Weston’s “rude fellers” were more -interested in consorting with Indian squaws, according to the Pilgrims, -than in grubbing for their own food. Also, disturbingly enough in -itself, these newcomers setting themselves down as near neighbors were -Anglicans. - -According to the record the Pilgrims discovered a conspiracy among the -savages to massacre the Englishmen at Wessagusset. Possibly, as some -say, they simply invented the plot. Be that as it may, they rushed to -the assistance of their unsuspecting white neighbors. Then, under the -pretense of joining with the Massachusetts in feasting and trading, -they conducted a surprise massacre of their own among the natives. -During this murderous affair Captain Standish cut off the head of one -Massachusetts brave of some renown for his previous insults to the -Pilgrims and took it back to Plymouth where he stuck it on a pole for -all to see. After that it was much too dangerous for Weston’s traders -to remain at Wessagusset. - -The following year Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ son, Captain Robert Gorges, -with a commission from the Council of New England as general governor -of the country brought over some people and occupied Wessagusset as a -fur-trading post. But things did not go well for him either. Gorges -soon abandoned the place and his people scattered, some going to -Virginia. A few, however, remained in the vicinity and set up a trading -post at Nantasket (Hull) which was made permanent by the frequent -addition of discontents from Plymouth. - -Still later, in 1625, a shipload of colonists, composed mostly of -indentured servants under the command of a Captain Wollaston, came to -Boston Bay. The captain set up a trading post close by Wessagusset at -Quincy. By 1627 he too had given up. The difficulties, whether of the -Pilgrims’ secret connivance or not, were too great. He gathered up most -of the servants and sailed for Virginia where he sold their indentures -at a very good profit. - -Wollaston would have taken all the servants and sold their time if it -had not been for one Thomas Morton. An educated man, a lawyer of sorts -with a bent for both pleasure and profit, Morton saw an opportunity for -greater gains in the fur trade than anyone had yet garnered. His plan -was to sell guns and liquor to the Indians in exchange for skins and to -let the devil take the hindmost. - -Appealing to some of the worst rogues among Wollaston’s servants on -the promise that they would prosper Morton conducted a successful -mutiny. After all, who wanted to be sold into slavery in Virginia? Soon -thereafter, with his disreputable associates, Morton set up his own -trading post, calling it “Merrymount,” and commenced his illegal barter -with the Indians to the great consternation of the Pilgrims. - -Beaver, otter and valuable deer skins found their way in great -quantities to the new truck house, while Merrymount became “a sort of -a drunkard’s resort and gambling hall” and worse. The jolly host of -Merrymount, revelling in “riotous prodigality,” had a great Maypole -erected for the entertainment of visiting factors who wanted to dance -and frisk with pleasurable Indian maids. Fishing and trading vessels -along the coast much preferred to do business with the open-handed -Morton rather than the close-fisted Pilgrims. Therefore, trading goods -were as easily come by at Merrymount as were beaver skins. Everyone was -quite happy about the situation except the fathers at Plymouth. - -Morton had even discovered their profitable new trading grounds -in Maine. The first year the Pilgrims extended their fur trading -operations to Maine, in 1625, they gathered in 700 pounds of beaver -besides some other furs on the Kennebec, mostly in exchange for the -corn they had by then learned to grow at Plymouth. But now Morton was -outbidding them with his more attractive trading goods and getting -nearly everything of value in that vicinity too. The very existence of -the Plymouth Colony seemed to be at stake. - -Complaints, cajolings and threats were of no avail. Morton, the -lawyer, was too clever. Something had to be done and force was the -final resort. Captain Standish was sent with some soldiers to arrest -the obnoxious neighbor on the charge that he was violating the royal -proclamation prohibiting trade in guns and powder. - -“Captain Shrimp,” as Morton contemptuously called Standish, succeeded -in his mission only after a fight. He captured Morton and took him -to Plymouth. There he tried his best to have the erstwhile “host of -Merrymount” hanged. But in the end Morton’s only punishment was to be -shipped back to England. - -As it came about, the Wessagusset area was no sooner eliminated as a -competitor for the beaver trade than the Pilgrims were faced with new -and much more formidable rivals in the same neighborhood. These were -the Puritans, the advance guard of whom arrived at Salem under Captain -John Endicott in 1628. As recruits of the great Massachusetts Bay -Company they were soon coming by the thousands. Under the leadership of -Governor John Winthrop they overran the Boston Bay region. And there -wasn’t much the fathers at Plymouth could do about these new neighbors -except to offer religious advice on the relative merits of Brownism and -Separation. - - * * * * * - -The local competition for beaver now being almost overwhelming, the -Pilgrims found it necessary to go more and more afield to meet their -required quota of pelts. Excursions north to the Kennebec in Maine -were the most fruitful, not only because there was much fine fur to -be had from the natives there but because trading goods on occasion -could be obtained from fishing and trading ships off that coast. Once, -too, in exchange for corn the Pilgrims picked up four hundred pounds -worth of trucking stuff from some Englishmen who were abandoning their -plantation on Monhegan Island. And they acquired an additional stock of -truck from a French ship which had been wrecked at Sagadahoc. - -To the south along the coast they never met with much success. When -they had first gone out to Narragansett Bay on a trading voyage in -1623, for instance, the Indians there disdained their meagre offerings. -The Narragansett were much too happy with the goods being furnished -by the Dutch traders from Manhattan. Both the Narragansett and their -neighbors, the Pequot, held on to their furs for the Hollanders, and -they were powerful enough to get away with it. They had Dutch guns -and powder, as well as the Hollanders themselves if need be, to back -them up. In fact, by 1625 the Dutch had a fortified trading post on -an island in Narragansett Bay and two similar forts near-by on the -mainland. - -Governor Bradford, in exasperation, gave out a warning that all the -region along the coast to the southeast of Plymouth was English -territory. He as much as demanded that the New Netherlanders stop -trading there. But it was useless. The Dutchmen simply ignored the -warnings. However they did offer to enter into direct trading relations -themselves with Plymouth and sent a mission there in 1627, with sugar, -linen and other goods, to talk it over. - -This mission was headed up by Isaack de Rasieres, the chief trader as -well as the Secretary of New Netherland. Rasieres appears to have had -an ulterior motive in making the visit. He brought along a stock of -wampum, the strings of highly polished shell-beads that the Dutchmen -had been accustomed to getting from the Narragansett and the Pequot. -With wampum, Rasieres pointed out to the Pilgrims, he had been doing a -great business among Indians who didn’t have the means of manufacturing -it, especially along the Hudson River where Henry Hudson himself had -first discovered strings of shell-beads circulating as a kind of money. - -The Hollander cannily suggested that wampum might be used to just as -great advantage on the Kennebec by the Pilgrims. No doubt, by this -means, he hoped to direct their attention more to Maine and away from -the Dutch trading preserves in Long Island Sound and the Narragansett -country. Offering to sell wampum to the Englishmen at a fair price, -probably he hoped also to keep them from dealing direct for it with the -Narragansett and the Pequot. - -Although the Pilgrim fathers were a bit suspicious of Rasieres’ -motives, nevertheless they did find the shell-money to be most -“vendable” on the Kennebec. So much so, in fact, that in a very -short time with the aid of this medium of exchange they were enabled -to cut off the fur trade of that region from the fishermen and other -independent traders who had been accustomed to barter there. In the -meantime they also developed their own sources of wampum among some of -the Massachusetts coastal tribes who, as it turned out, also possessed -the means of manufacturing it. - -The Pilgrims secured their rights up the Kennebec River by obtaining -a patent to a strip of land fifteen miles wide on both sides of that -river. They built a trucking house at Cushenoc (Augusta) which they -kept stocked with coats, shirts, rugs, blankets, corn, biscuit, peas, -prunes, and other supplies. With the help of wampum for exchange they -drove a brisk trade among the Abnaki Indians in those parts. In 1630 -they extended their operations even farther north, setting up a trading -post on the Penobscot River at Pentagoet, now Castine, Maine. - -The Penobscot trading post originated as a private venture for which -the Pilgrim, Isaac Allerton, along with some partners in England -promoted a patent. Allerton, once a London tailor, had risen in -prominence at Plymouth in New England to stand second only to the -governor. It would appear that he and his overseas partners shared -the rights to trade in the territory north of the Kennebec with other -leading Pilgrims in return for the loan of wampum, shallops, supplies -and servants. - -But the partnership accounts became jumbled, because of Allerton’s -financial deceits according to the Pilgrims. And Edward Ashley, the -“profane young man” sent out from England as factor, didn’t help things -by his personal conduct. - -Actually, young Ashley did well enough in the bartering department, -acquiring over a thousand pounds of beaver and otter the first season. -However he seems to have gone native in the most offensive sense to -the Pilgrim fathers, living “naked” among the savages and committing -“uncleannes with Indean women.” Also, it was discovered, he was trading -shot and powder with the savages and not even accounting for the -profits from this unholy trade. - -Such behavior, of course, could not be countenanced. Ashley was -arrested and shipped back to England by the Plymouth partners, while -they themselves took over complete operating control of the enterprise. - -All of which was not to Isaac Allerton’s liking. Deserting the -partnership, he retaliated by setting himself up as a competitor in -Maine. In 1633 he settled some “base fellows” in a new trading post at -the mouth of the Machias River, close by the present Canadian border. -There he did his best to cut off Plymouth’s commerce with the more -northerly tribes who were then taking their furs to the Penobscot and -Kennebec trucking houses. - -The Pilgrims had other competitors in Maine also. In 1630 a trading -post was established at Pemaquid Point under a patent obtained by two -English merchants for twelve thousand acres between the Damariscotta -and Muscongus Rivers. About the same time John Oldham and Richard Vines -obtained a grant at the mouth of the Saco River, which remained a most -profitable fur trading center for some years. - -Then there was the Laconia Company, organized by Sir Ferdinando Gorges -and Captain John Mason to put new life in their Piscataqua colony. -Laconia, described as a vast hinterland area of rivers and lakes, was -an extension of their original patent to the “Province of Maine.” -Gorges and Mason now planned to send cargoes of Indian trucking goods -up the Piscataqua River into Laconia, to Lake Champlain, to be bartered -for peltries. Thus they hoped to compete with the Dutch and the French -for the hinterland trade. - -Captain Walter Neale, as governor of the Laconia Company, and Ambrose -Gibbons, as factor, did very well from 1630 to 1633, establishing -several trading posts on the Piscataqua River. But they never reached -Lake Champlain. Maybe they had it confused with Lake Winnepesaukee. -In any case, as they discovered, the rivers of Maine flowed from the -north, not from the west, and they couldn’t penetrate deep enough into -the interior to tap the hinterland trade of the Dutch and the French. - -Probably the most dangerous of the Pilgrims’ rivals in Maine about this -time was the trading post on Richmond’s Island off Cape Elizabeth. -Thomas Morton, the jolly host of Merrymount, had traded here as early -as 1627. After his banishment from America one of his most roguish -associates, Walter Bagnall, took over the island and is said to have -gained 1,000 pounds sterling from his trade in a period of three years. -Then this “wicked fellow” was murdered by the natives. - -Bagnall’s successor, John Winter, also did a flourishing business on -Richmond’s Island as factor for some English merchants, employing some -sixty men at one time in both fishing and fur trading activities. The -records indicate that he was about as unscrupulous in his dealings as -was his predecessor, cheating and otherwise mistreating the Indians -at every turn. He charged them at the rate of thirty-three pounds for -a hogshead of brandy which cost him seven. For powder which cost him -twenty pence per pound he raised the rate to three shillings in trade. -But the natives preferred his goods. - -In spite of such competition, however, Maine became the Pilgrims’ chief -source of furs. In one period of two years the trading post at Cushenoc -alone is known to have gathered in more than 7,000 pounds of beaver. -The route of the beaver-laden shallops from the Maine coast was indeed -Plymouth’s life-line. Wampum played no small role in the success of -this extended operation which was so vital to the colony’s existence, -although the tight control exercised over the fur trade by the Pilgrim -fathers was the main factor. - -Always the peltry traffic had been invested in certain leaders at -Plymouth who managed the whole trade in the interests of the communalty -in order that the Pilgrims’ debt to the merchants in England might be -paid. In 1627 William Bradford, Isaac Allerton, Edward Winslow, Miles -Standish and a few others in partnership undertook to assume this -entire indebtedness. In return, these “undertakers” were to enjoy any -and all profits from the traffic in peltries for six years. They were -empowered to do what they pleased with all furs and trucking goods -in the common store, and they alone were to use the colony’s trading -posts, truck houses and shallops. - -From that time forward the Plymouth Plantation enjoyed real economic -success. In 1628 furs to the value of 659 English pounds were exported -in one cargo. Although no total figures are available for 1628 to 1630, -a very large amount of peltry went to England according to Governor -Bradford. From 1631 to 1636 over 12,000 pounds of beaver and 1,000 -pounds of otter were shipped, most of which brought 20 shillings a -pound and none less than 14 shillings. Bradford said that the beaver -alone during these years brought 10,000 pounds sterling and that the -otter was more than sufficient to pay all costs of transport and -auction. Considering the size of the plantation this was indeed big -business. - -In spite of the financial bungling of the partnership’s agents in -England, and even outright irregularities there, the debt was paid off. -Additional profits from the sale of beaver skins bought many other -things the Pilgrims needed, and in the end it was the earnings from the -fur trade that provided the foundation for Plymouth’s next economic -development, cattle farming. - -In the meantime the Pilgrims’ profitable trade in furs on the Maine -coast and on rivers leading to the interior was jealously regarded by -the French who, after all, considered that territory within their own -limits. And neighboring French traders were doing something about it. - - - - -X - -_A Border Fixed on the Coast of Maine_ - - -The planting of trading posts farther and farther up the coast of Maine -by the New Englanders did not go unchallenged by the French. Although -in English eyes it had been well established ever since Captain -Argall’s raids in the Bay of Fundy that English claims to the coast now -extended well above the 45th parallel, even to the St. Lawrence valley, -no such admission had ever been made by the French. There were always -French traders in Acadia (Nova Scotia) who envisaged their preserves -as extending well down the coast of Maine and who intended to resist -further encroachments in those parts. - -In fact, as it came about, these fur traders protected and maintained -the French claim to much of this coastal region during an incident of -the Thirty Years’ War which put most of New France under the English -flag for three years, from 1629 to 1632. - -Prior to this episode the affairs of New France had reached a turning -point. In 1627 Samuel de Champlain’s difficulties became acute. That -year the Iroquois, his irreconcilable enemies, renewed their bloody -savagery in the interior, while along the coast the English were -closing off the very entrance to the valley of the St. Lawrence with -their plantations and trading posts and their increased shipping. - -Although Champlain’s company had a good season in furs, collecting -22,000 that summer which could be sold in France at ten francs -each, the expense of operation had made the outlook none too bright -relatively for the shareholders who expected huge returns. Besides the -salaries of the Viceroy in France and of Champlain as his lieutenant -governing the colony, interpreters now cost as much as a thousand -francs a season and sailors six hundred, while factors and other -servants came correspondingly high. And there were other increased -expenses that bid fair to cut deep into profits. - -As a result the directors of the company made things difficult for -their governor on the St. Lawrence. They particularly balked at his -urgent request for extra funds to strengthen the fortifications of -Quebec, even though only a wooden palisade and a few small cannon -protected the French trading post. - -Champlain, with characteristic fortitude, made the best of his -difficulties. But he was most uneasy about the English at his doorway. -And well he might be! - -As early as 1620 Sir George Calvert, English Baron of Baltimore, had -adventured a plantation in Newfoundland. Three years later King James -granted him quasi-regal proprietorship of the southeastern peninsula -of that island between Trinity and Placentia Bays. In 1627 he came out -with his family, built a fine house at Ferryland, and showed every -intention of establishing a great fur trading and fishing colony in the -form of a British dominion at this strategic gateway to New France. - -Still more alarming were the activities of a Scotsman, Sir William -Alexander, who had been stirred by accounts of the founding of New -Spain, New France, New Netherland and New England to attempt the -founding of a New Scotland. In 1621, with complete disregard for French -claims, the English king had granted to him all the vast peninsula -between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of St. Lawrence! Today that -would be Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and part of Quebec Province. This -princely domain was to be divided into feudal-type Scotch baronies -complete with a hierarchy of hereditary titles. - -Alexander’s attempts to establish permanent trading posts in New -Scotland, or Nova Scotia, were failures until 1628. That year -seventy-two of his colonists managed to set up for business at -Poutrincourt’s old quarters at Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy. There -they found themselves to be the near neighbors of a young French -fur trader at Cape Sable named Charles de la Tour who was under the -impression that the country belonged to him. - -Monsieur La Tour had inherited his rights from Saint Just after that -pioneer finally returned to France in 1623. Since then he had been -living the independent life of a wilderness lord with French retainers -and aboriginal subjects, and he had no intention of yielding his estate -or fur-trading privileges to anyone, much less foreigners. - -La Tour did not immediately attempt to oust Alexander’s Scots from Port -Royal as he was on much the weaker side at the time, but he did stand -firm and unsubmissive at Cape Sable and he resisted all efforts of the -English to bring him over to their side. This was not easy, for nearly -all of New France was soon in the hands of the enemy. - -In 1628 a French colonizing fleet sent out by the Company of New France -under the aegis of Cardinal de Richelieu was captured by privateers -boldly operating in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with English letters of -marque. In another year Champlain’s worst fears were realized when this -same fleet of privateers, under the leadership of the Kirke brothers, -appeared before Quebec in force enough to insure its capitulation. - -Champlain himself was taken prisoner at Quebec. But under the terms -of the surrender he marched out of the fort with his arms and all of -his own furs, as did other head men. The factors, servants and workmen -were allowed to take but one beaver skin each before the English took -over the factory. Then, after running up the English flag, the Kirkes -were said to have driven an immediate trade with Indians and others -remaining about the fort for some 2,000 skins in addition to those they -found in the storehouse. They even ended up with the pelts they had -allowed the starving garrison under the terms of surrender, taking them -in trade for food. - -Sir William Alexander, uniting his interests with the Kirkes to form -the Scottish and English Company for the peltry trade of New France, -sent out a second fleet to Port Royal in 1629 under the command of his -son. When the fleet arrived nearly half the people who had been left at -Port Royal the year before were found to have died from one cause or -another. But young Alexander relieved the survivors, strengthened the -fort, and put new life into the colony. His vessels managed to acquire -a satisfactory number of pelts in the Bay of Fundy during that summer. -He also captured a French ship. And as further proof of the substance -of New Scotland he took back on his return voyage an Indian chief of -the region who wanted to conclude an alliance with the English king. - -In the meantime it developed that shortly before Champlain’s -capitulation a treaty of peace had been signed between England and -France. But, although King Charles agreed very soon to restore Quebec -to the French under the terms of the treaty, the negotiations dragged -on for three years. During that time the Scottish Company continued -to drive a great trade for pelts on the St. Lawrence and elsewhere, -while the French pressed not only their claims to furs appropriated -from stores at Quebec after the actual signing of the peace treaty -but insisted also upon the return of all of New France. That included -Acadia of course and the evacuation of the fort at Port Royal. - -At first, Charles was not disposed to disturb Alexander in his -occupation of “Nova Scotia.” In fact he encouraged the Scot to further -efforts in that direction. However, he needed gold at the time much -more than he needed another Scotland, so he was not reluctant to do a -little bargaining. When his wife’s brother, the French king, agreed to -pay a long overdue and substantial dowry, Charles agreed to return Port -Royal to the French. Sir William’s dream was thereupon finished. The -Scots demolished their fort, and young Alexander surrendered Port Royal -to the Chevalier Isaac de Razilly who had been sent out by the Company -of New France as governor of all Acadia. - -This was a tremendous victory for Charles de la Tour and his French -fur traders, who had not only stubbornly maintained themselves during -the incident of the Scottish occupation of Acadia, but had managed -harassments intended to hinder further encroachments up the coast of -Maine by the Englishmen in those more southerly parts. - -In 1631 the Frenchmen had paid a visit to the Pilgrims’ most northerly -outpost at Pentagoet on the Penobscot. Taking advantage of the absence -of the factor and most of his company, they were able to surprise a few -“simple” servants by a ruse. First, pretending they had “newly come -from the sea” and that their vessel was in need of repairs, a “false -Scot” among them fell to admiring the Englishmen’s muskets. Then, -talking the servants into letting them examine the guns, they gained -possession of the Englishmen’s weapons and promptly made away with -some four or five hundred pounds worth of Pilgrim goods, including -three hundredweight of beaver. - -In time, however, after the ousting of the Scots from the Bay of Fundy, -the Frenchmen were able to do more than simply harass the Englishmen on -the coast of Maine. The truck house at Machias in Maine, built by Isaac -Allerton in 1633, was even more of a challenge than the Penobscot post -had been. Allerton had no sooner settled his traders there than “La -Tour, governor of the French in those parts, making claim to the place, -came to displant them, and finding resistance, killed two of the men -and carried away the other three and the goods.” - -Allerton himself later went to Port Royal to protest. But he was -told by La Tour that “he had authority from the king of France, who -challenged all from Cape Sable to Cape Cod, wishing them to take notice -and to certify the rest of the English, that, if they traded to the -east of Pemaquid, he would make prize of them.” When Allerton asked to -see Monsieur La Tour’s commission the Frenchman replied that “his sword -was commission sufficient, where he had strength to overcome; where -that wanted, he would show his commission.” - -And the French made good on their challenge, for in 1635 Monsieur -Charles d’Aunay, one of Governor Razilly’s lieutenants, came in a -man-of-war to the Pilgrims’ trading post on the Penobscot. By a show -of this force he took possession of the trucking house in the name of -the King of France. Making an inventory of the goods he found there at -prices he set himself, d’Aunay “made no payment for them, but told them -in convenient time he would do it if they came for it. For the house -and fortification etc. he would not allow nor account anything, saying -that they which build on another man’s ground do forfeit the same.” -Then he put the English traders in a shallop and sent them back to -Plymouth. - -The Pilgrim fathers were enough upset about the loss of their goods and -trading post to do something violent about it. With the approval of -the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but without much in the way of material -assistance from their Puritan brethren, they hired “a fair ship of -above 300 tun well fitted with ordnance” to retake Pentagoet. This -ship was under the command of a Captain Girling. If the captain was -successful he was to have 700 pounds of beaver; if not, nothing. Along -with him went Captain Miles Standish and twenty Plymouth men in their -own bark to resettle their trading post after Girling had driven out -the French. - -It would appear, however, that the French must have had notice of the -impending attack. So firmly were they entrenched behind earthworks -that Captain Girling’s gunfire could not dislodge them and all the big -ship’s powder was exhausted without effect. No landing was attempted. -Standish, frustrated, returned to Plymouth in his bark, and Captain -Girling went his own way. - -The French now remained in permanent possession of what was soon known -as the “Mission of Pentagoet.” And so the line was finally drawn as a -practical matter between the English and the French on the Maine coast, -although England continued to maintain officially that it was more -northerly, at the 45th parallel. - -Mutual distrust, born of the religious differences between -English Puritan and French Catholic, often erupted in charges and -counter-charges that sometimes threatened security on either side of -the line. In fact, fear of possible French aggression was in part -responsible for the eventual formation of the New England Confederation -in 1643. On the other side of the picture however, there was much -guarded trade between Frenchman and Englishman as it suited their -pocketbooks. As a matter of fact the Puritans actually traded with -the French conquerors of Pentagoet shortly after d’Aunay captured the -Pilgrim trading post. - -But, even so, this coastal border created by the rival fur traders of -these two nations was maintained with only minor variations for years, -even after competition for the beaver trade was no longer the reason -for its existence. - -Acadian fur traders and the rivers of Maine and Massachusetts that ran -in the wrong direction had effectively contained the English on the -northern coasts. The St. Lawrence River route to the interior, to the -great lake country that teemed with fur-bearers, remained safe to the -French traders, who resumed their profitable westward penetration of -the hinterland. - -It remained to be seen, however, if the French could prevent the Dutch -of New Netherland and the English of Virginia from draining off this -hinterland trade. The Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna -Rivers all ran in the right direction to tap it. - - - - -XI - -_The Bay of Virginia_ - - -When Sir George Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, founded his province of -“Avalon” in Newfoundland he was partly motivated by religious urgings. -Being a Catholic convert he earnestly wanted to provide a haven in -the new world for the persecuted Catholics of England. But this court -favorite, who as the son of a humble Yorkshire farmer had figuratively -pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to ennoblement, was also a -profit-minded promoter. He expected a rich return on his newly gained -proprietorship. - -However, after investing many thousands of pounds at Ferryland, Lord -Baltimore had little to show in the way of profits. The future, too, -looked as bleak as the cold Newfoundland winters, as barren as the -sterile soil. True, there were fish to be had for the taking--weather -permitting. But the trade in pelts was only fair, for the more -profitable fur frontier had long since passed into the interior of -Canada. And agricultural pursuits, the traditional support of English -feudal manors, were almost impossible due to the inclemencies of the -climate. - -The Lord Proprietor of Avalon was soon looking southward, his eyes -resting appraisingly on Virginia. There, the warmer weather and richer -soil seemed to offer more appropriate conditions for the kind of -province he had in mind. There, in the lush tidewater of the Chesapeake -Bay country, he could hope for a better trade in pelts too. - -As for possible profits from Newfoundland cod, he would gladly consign -them to those hearty fishermen who by nature were better able to cope -with the rigors of the northern climate! - -So it came about that in 1629 his lordship wrote to King Charles asking -that a precinct of land in Virginia be granted to him with the same -quasi-regal privileges he enjoyed under his Newfoundland patent. Then, -without waiting for a reply, he embarked for Jamestown where he let it -be known that he was looking for a new plantation site, and forthwith -began cruising about Chesapeake Bay with the air of a man who was -confident that the king would approve his plans. - -This was anything but politic. No Virginians, Anglican or Puritan, -wanted a Catholic in their midst. They didn’t want one even as a -neighbor in their great bay, and especially such an influential convert -as Baltimore. Who knew what Romish plot he might be promoting? - -But even more alarming was the threat that this ambitious baron posed -to their fur trade in the Chesapeake. - - * * * * * - -The tidewater had come to represent a treasure house of pelts to -the merchants and factors on the James River, at Jamestown and at -Kecoughtan, and to scores of traders plying their shallops and pinnaces -in the bay. On the York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers these -traders regularly visited the villages of the Indians, their shallops -returning to the James River plantations laden with skins. And across -the bay on the Eastern Shore there was still another lively fur trading -center at Accomac where beaver and muskrat abounded in the near-by -streams and marshes. - -The most profitable branch of this trade was that in the Potomac River, -where the Spaniards of the sixteenth century had been the first of -record to barter with the natives for pelts and hides. Captain Samuel -Argall, who succeeded Captain John Smith in 1609 as the colony’s main -support for trade with the Indians, made several early visits to the -villages of the Patowomecks there. For hatchets and hoes, no doubt, he -took good quantities of beaver, otter, raccoon and deer skins as well -as the corn that was so badly needed at Jamestown. In 1612 he really -whetted the Patowomecks’ appetite for English goods when he produced a -copper kettle for their chief. Many English traders, with and without -permits, followed Captain Argall into the Potomac River, but especially -members of the Virginia Council who more or less controlled the -Chesapeake trade as a perquisite of office. - -The Eastern Shore was opened up for trade in 1619 by Ensign Thomas -Savage who was one of the earliest professional factors in the -Chesapeake tidewater. He had spent several years as a youthful hostage -with Chief Wahunsonacock of the Powhatan Confederacy after having been -left with this old Powhatan in 1608 by Captain Christopher Newport. -During that time young Savage became a favorite of the natives and -learned much about the dialects and customs of the tribes in the -tidewater country. Later, when his services as an interpreter came to -be in demand by Virginia officials, he was commissioned an “Aunchient,” -or ensign, on the staff of the Master of Ordnance at Jamestown. It -was in this capacity on expeditions of discovery in the Potomac and -Patuxent Rivers and on the Eastern Shore that he began bartering on his -own account. - -Like Captain John Smith before him, Ensign Savage learned of the great -trade in furs being had by the Frenchmen on the “backside of Virginia.” -In 1621 his account of their deeper penetration of the hinterland -reached the Virginia Company Council in London. At the same time the -company received reports of Dutch traders operating along the Virginia -coasts. A detailed account of this competition was rendered by Thomas -Dermer, the New England fur trader, who in addition to having paid -the visit to Jamestown went into the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. He -reported that in both those rivers he had “found divers ships of -Amsterdam and Horne who yearly had there a great and rich trade in -Furrs.” - -The Dutch encroachments prompted a special letter, too, from the -governor and his council at Jamestown. They urged the company to -undertake “so certaine and gainefull” voyages for pelts as might be -made “to their infinite gaine” in the Delaware and Hudson, both of -which they pointed out were “within our lymits.” The Dutch interlopers -on the coasts were almost as challenging to the Virginians, now that -they themselves were well rooted, as was the possibility of French -competition creeping down the rivers that flowed into Chesapeake Bay -from the northern hinterland. - -Almost--but not quite as challenging. For one thing, the settlers on -the James at this time had neither the ships to trade coastwise nor -the trade goods necessary to compete with the Dutch. More importantly, -however, right at their back door was the vast tidewater of the bay -and, beyond that, great stretches of lake country in the north, all -fertile with fur bearers to be had for the taking--provided they got -there before the French. This could be accomplished with home-made -shallops and less fancy trade goods than were needed to compete with -the Dutch. - -So it came about that the Virginians left any exploitation of -the Delaware and Hudson Rivers to the merchants in England and, -individually with their more limited resources, extended their own -trading operations in their “Bay of Virginia.” - -Scores of immigrants participated in this tidewater fur trade, -including a great many who had the advantage of a knowledge of the -Algonquin tongue because of having cohabited with the savages. Some of -the latter were no more than villainous runaways, cautiously returning -from sanctuary with the natives to share the profits of the boom in -pelts. Others, such as Robert Poole and Henry Spelman, had been left -with the Indians as hostages when they were youths, very much in the -same manner as Thomas Savage. Like him, they too had learned the -dialects and habits of various tribes, acted as spies for the English -colonists and then, later, were useful as interpreters. - -Robert Poole traded professionally for the joint-stock, making voyages -in the company’s pinnace and rendering his accountings to the colony’s -treasurer at Jamestown. But he and Thomas Savage also obtained -commissions through members of the council and, renting shallops from -more prosperous colonists for voyages to the villages of the Indians, -did very well for themselves in this way. Probably neither of them -traded for pelts as extensively however as did Henry Spelman who -eventually managed to get financial backing in England and ships of his -own. - -Young Spelman was the incorrigible scion of a distinguished English -family. According to his own testimony he had been sent out to Virginia -in 1609 at fourteen years of age because of “beinge in displeasure -of my fryndes and desirous to see other countries.” Captain John -Smith left him with Powhatan’s people, no doubt as the best way to -get rid of him. Henry Spelman was not as popular with the natives as -Thomas Savage, except perhaps with the Indian maidens. In fact he -appears to have escaped with his life only because of the intervention -of Pocahontas who, continuing her interest in white men after the -affair with Captain John Smith, succeeded eventually to marrying an -Englishman named John Rolfe. - -Spelman’s entire career in the colony was one of manifold and -dangerous deceit. As a youth living with the Indians, he was accused -of treacherously laying a death trap for some of his fellow Englishmen -at Jamestown. Later, when he was employed as an official interpreter -for the colony, his tenure in office was cut short after he was tried -by the House of Burgesses and degraded from his rank for inciting -Opechancanough, the new Powhatan, against the English governor. - -In 1622, when Opechancanough finally loosed his stored-up hatred -against the English, killing some three hundred fifty men, women and -children along the James River in a surprise massacre, Henry Spelman -and a trading partner, Captain Raleigh Croshaw, were bartering in -the Potomac. Opechancanough conspired with Chief Japazaws of the -Patowomecks to have the traders murdered. But the Patowomeck king -double-crossed the Powhatan. Instead of killing the Englishmen, -he entered into an alliance with them, permitting them to build a -fortified trading post on his lands. - -All the evidence would indicate that Japazaws was a very wily -politician. He liked English kettles and knives as much as some of his -red neighbors disliked him, and he never did get around to knuckling -under to Opechancanough. No doubt the fort was a smart move on his -part. In any event, because of Japazaws’ need for white friends with -guns Captains Spelman and Croshaw escaped death. - -Henry Spelman was not so fortunate the following year however. On a -trading voyage farther up the Potomac River, at the later site of -Washington, D. C., he was killed by the Anacostan Indians after being -captured in an ambush along with Henry Fleet and some other traders -and servants. Just a few days before his death Spelman had betrayed a -warrior who hazarded warning him of his own intended murder. It appears -he even witnessed the agony of the red man’s tortured execution. Then, -by some sort of final justice, he died at the hands of the same savages -to whom he had given over the kindly warrior. - -_Aqua vitae_ may have had something to do with this murderous episode, -for, like the French and the Dutch before them and like the English -who were to follow in New England, some traders in Virginia taught the -savages to drink strong waters as a means of extracting a richer profit -during barter. And what a frightful chance they took! - -Emotionally volatile and capricious by nature, the red man was even -more unpredictable of course when he was under the influence of liquor. -He might lose his trading sense to the advantage of the white men who -purposely plied him with _aqua vitae_ during the feasting that always -preceded barter, but when he realized he had been cheated he was apt -to reach for another jug and his tomahawk at the same time. No doubt -many a trader suffered a slow and bestial death while looking into the -bloodshot eyes of savages galled by stomach fires that he himself had -kindled. - -Henry Fleet, who had been captured with Spelman, managed the -predicament in which he found himself with more skill than his friend, -indeed with some foresight. While no one in the colony heard from -him in over four years, and all thought he was dead, Fleet not only -contrived to escape execution by the savages, but spent his captivity -to real advantage. By the time he was finally released he had learned -enough about the Algonquin language and had become sufficiently -fraternal with his captors to engage in a profitable trade in skins -with them. Then, returning to London, where he had excellent family -connections, he acquired financial backing from William Cloberry and -other well-known merchants there. Afterward, as Captain Henry Fleet, -he traded in the Chesapeake for some years in his own ships and later -played a significant role in the genesis of the war between the -Virginians and Lord Baltimore over the fur trade. - - * * * * * - -The central figure in that struggle was to be William Claiborne, an -ambitious and fiery young man who had been sent out to Virginia by -the company in 1621 as the colony’s surveyor. He served against the -Indians and rose rapidly to become a member of the governor’s council. -In 1626, after the English king took over the management of the colony -from the company, Captain Claiborne at twenty-five years of age -became Secretary of Virginia, the first to hold that office by royal -appointment. - -This flattering preferment happened during the midst of the young -councillor’s activities to launch himself in the fur trade as a means -of supplementing his income. For a base of operations in the tidewater -he had just acquired a strategically located plantation at the mouth of -the James River. This was at Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City--now Hampton, -Virginia, the oldest continuous English habitation on the American -continent--a prime seventeenth century warehousing site. - -In the favored position of a member of the council Claiborne was -joining such enterprising venturers as Raleigh Croshaw, Abraham -Peirsey, John Chew and Samuel Mathews in profiting from the Chesapeake -fur trade. These merchants furnished guides, interpreters, maps, -supplies and trucking stuff not only to seasoned traders already on the -bay but to those naively adventurous souls who came out from England -with their warrants to barter with the savages. It was a lucrative -business, particularly for one who also had influence to peddle in the -matter of commissions, licenses and taxes. - -However, Captain Claiborne’s ambitions soared much higher with his -appointment as Secretary of His Majesty’s Colony of Virginia. In this -capacity he was second only to the governor in the colony’s hierarchy -of prestige and power, and he was in a position to dispense direct -patronage. His trade horizon broadened measurably. - -With the acquisition of additional lands on the Eastern Shore, a -perquisite of the Secretary’s office, he began doing business on that -side of the bay with promising traders like Daniel Cugley and Charles -Harmar, as well as with Thomas Savage, who then lived on land given -him there by his genial friend, Debedeavon, the Laughing King of the -Accomacs. And these rugged frontiersmen together with their friends -supported the ambitious young secretary in plans he broached to set -up a great new plantation somewhere in the northernmost reaches of -the bay, a Virginia Hundred which would serve as a base for far-flung -trading operations on the backside of Virginia--to challenge both the -Dutch and the French in the hinterland. - -Beginning in 1627 Claiborne made several exploratory expeditions in the -Chesapeake preparatory to implementing these plans. Since the governor -and his council had authority to grant commissions for discovery and -trade with the Indians between the 34th and 41st parallels, it was no -trick at all for Mr. Secretary to arrange to go whither he pleased -in the pursuit of his objective. Also, it would appear, he had less -trouble than most in dealing with the savages. He seemed to have a way -with them. - -On his voyages into the Potomac and other near-by rivers of the -tidewater, where the natives were already accustomed to bartering -with the Virginians, Indian dugouts filled with braves would escort -Claiborne’s boat to a village site or runners would appear along the -banks to show the way. There would be drummings, smoke signals and -whooping. When the village was reached the entire population might be -in evidence, standing about in groups exhibiting their brown beaver, -otter, marten, or deerskins by holding up the pelts on poles and -otherwise making friendly gestures. - -Usually the savages were almost naked. During the hot spring months of -the trading season few of them wore much more than little aprons, with -possibly feathers or some English ornaments tied on their heads. On -sunny days their bodies glistened with grease and oil; often they were -streaked with the red and orange dye of pocones root in honor of the -distinguished white visitors with the intriguing trade goods. - -Sometimes, to prove their friendship, the warriors of a tribe would -come dancing to the beat of their drums and singing their peace song -all the way down to the water’s edge. A priest might be among them, -cavorting about with clattering deer hooves tied around his ankles and -rattling dried gourds filled with pebbles and shells. Or even some -squaws might join in the greetings with loops of bells, thimbles or -pieces of brass which they shook in cadence with the drums. - -Always, however, the Virginians had to be watchful for ambuscades, no -matter how friendly things appeared. Only if women and children were -much in evidence was it considered reasonably safe to beach a boat and -proceed with the preliminaries of barter. - -Exasperating in their tediousness, these preliminaries had to be -accepted with casualness, else the barter might be off. A great trader -like Captain Claiborne must first engage in seemingly endless pantomime -and orations. After that he had to offer through his interpreter gifts -of axes, knives or hatchets for the chief of the tribe and his head -men, and this must be followed by a distribution of blue beads, bells -and other trinkets among the chief’s wives. But it was the feasting -that took up most of the time. In fact, when a really good catch of -beaver was on hand trading seldom commenced until the second day. - -Then, when the goods were finally unloaded, the natives would insist -on viewing it at leisure, tumbling and tossing it over and over again -and stealing whatever they could. If objections were raised, however, -no barter might be joined. Or worse, the savages might “fall out” with -the Englishmen, and killings would result. Therefore, the members of -the bartering detail had to be constantly on the alert to prevent as -much stealing as possible, while their companions stood guard by the -boat with arms in readiness to provide cover for a quick retreat in -case of necessity. After the bartering actually got under way, every -cunning device and ruse was employed on each side to outwit the other. -Suspicion was mutual, and well it might be, for the natives were quick -to learn “English tricks.” - -Claiborne was especially successful in the northern reaches of the -bay where contacts were made with fierce hunting tribes from the -hinterland. They brought out decorative panther skins, bundles of tough -bison hides which would serve as leather, and huge bearskins for use -as robes, blankets and floor coverings. Occasionally for mere trifles -they offered sparkling stones and rare gems that would eventually bring -fancy prices from the London jewelers who set them in gentlemen’s rings. - -There were even black beaver and sable skins available in the -northernmost bay villages. Sables (American pine marten) brought up -to twenty shillings a pair. One full grown black beaver was worth as -much, whereas a brown beaver pelt weighing two pounds never brought -more than fourteen shillings in the Virginia market at the time. There -were stacks of the cheaper pelts to be had in the northern villages -too--wild-cat, red fox and the little musquash (muskrat). The time -would come in America when the lowly muskrat would be the backbone of -the fur industry, but the smaller varieties in the seventeenth century -sometimes brought only two shillings a dozen--with cods. The cods of -muskrat served for good perfume in England. In Virginia they only added -to the stench of Indian stews! - -Wherever the English traders went in the Chesapeake there was no -escaping the hospitality of the feast. And much Indian food was -anything but palatable. Stinking jerked venison swarming with maggots -had to be eaten if offered, however. Gobbets of greasy meat with the -suspiciously foul odors of a communal stew pot must be swallowed. An -Indian could understand why a white trader might decline the offer of a -squaw as a bed fellow for the night but never the refusal of food at a -feast. - -Captain Claiborne’s crowning business achievement at this time was -the establishment of trading relations with the giant Susquehannocks -who had previously bartered their fine pelts with Captain John Smith. -These proud and intelligent savages, Iroquois by blood, inhabited the -valley of the Susquehanna River through which the Englishmen hoped -to gain access to the northern lake regions. Claiborne made trading -pacts with their great chief in 1629, the meetings taking place at the -mouth of the river on the mountainous little island which today serves -as a bridge anchor for fast trains and automobiles speeding over the -Susquehanna River between Philadelphia and Baltimore. - -Indeed, the Secretary of Virginia was well on his way to consummating -his grand plan for a Virginia Hundred in the upper Chesapeake as the -hub of a great fur-trading empire, when Lord Baltimore appeared on the -scene. - -Now, obviously, the English baron had much the same idea as the -Virginians, except in one important respect. He didn’t plan to come -under Virginia’s jurisdiction. He intended to have a province of his -own--and that a slice of Virginia territory--over which he would rule -independently and for which he would be answerable to no one except the -king. - -It was an impossible situation for the Virginians. But not for George -Calvert. The First Baron of Baltimore felt that he knew well enough how -to get things done at the English court, and he didn’t intend to let -any muddy colonials stand in his way! - - - - -XII - -_Kent Island and the Backside of Virginia_ - - -At the time of Lord Baltimore’s arrival the Virginians were already -suffering from mass hypertension induced by fear. Early in the summer -of 1629 there had been another massacre along the James River, and no -sooner had this Indian uprising been quelled than rumors were rife that -the Spaniards were about to attack. - -Captain Claiborne led the colonial forces against the offending -Pamunkeys of the Powhatan Confederacy in an effort to “utterly -exterpate” them, that being the settled policy of the colony. No -thought had been given to any further trade with these neighboring -savages since the first bloody massacre they committed in 1622. The -Pamunkeys were fair game and in 1629 the English soldiers “obtained -more spoil and revenge than they had done since the great massacre.” - -But even more pressing than the Indian war that year was the feverish -urgency about rebuilding and fortifying the fort at Point Comfort -to protect the plantations against a surprise attack from Florida. -Nervously on the alert for Spanish spies and treachery, the protestant -Virginians not only didn’t trust the intentions of their Catholic -neighbors to the south, they didn’t trust their own king. After all, -they no doubt reasoned, Charles did have a Catholic wife! And didn’t -he have as his new advisor, William Laud, the Bishop of London, who -everyone knew was trying to reconcile the English Church to Rome? - -The bigotries of the seventeenth century were indeed unreasoning. But -they were very real to the Virginians in their lonesome outpost of -civilization. To them Spaniard and Catholic were one. - -Now into their midst came Lord Baltimore! Had he not once connived with -Gondomar, the hated Spanish ambassador, to bring about the marriage of -the baby Prince Charles to the Infanta Maria of Spain? Maybe he was -in league now with Spain under some subtle arrangement made by King -Charles himself. Anything was possible to the fear-ridden colonists on -the James. - -To dispose of this unwelcome intruder, without the risk of too greatly -offending the king, they had to have something fool-proof on which to -hang their collective hats. In the end, they offered Baltimore the -prescribed oath of allegiance and supremacy, making it mandatory for -him to subscribe to the supreme authority of the English sovereign in -all matters ecclesiastical and spiritual. He refused to take the oath -and so was ordered to leave the colony. - - * * * * * - -Always in the front rank of the opposition to Lord Baltimore of course -had been the merchants who foresaw the loss of their tidewater trade, -but even more especially William Claiborne and his followers with their -own grand plan for colonization and trade on the backside of Virginia. -Working for them in addition to fear and prejudice during this clash -of rival plans was the rising sense of political independence in the -colony, an increasing determination to fight for the sovereignty of -possessed land and for “democrattical rights.” - -The Virginians did actually have something of a legal brake that -they could apply on royal or noble license. They had their House of -Burgesses, which had been sitting since 1619 as the first popular -legislative assembly in America. Even after the king took over the -colony from the company the colonists had been successful in retaining -their little parliament. Somehow, with this bulwark of democracy, it -was easier to face up to the crown or to court favorites like Lord -Baltimore when impossible demands were in the making. And that is -exactly what happened, for the House of Burgesses backed the merchants -in every move they made to thwart the great lord’s plans, both in -Virginia and in England after he returned there. - -Meanwhile, Captain Claiborne himself went to London where he obtained -additional backing for his project through the merchant adventurer, -William Cloberry. This wealthy man, together with Maurice Thompson and -other merchants, subscribed for the major share of the joint-stock -in the trading adventure. All agreed enthusiastically that through -Claiborne’s plantation it would be possible to drain off much of -the fur trade of the French in Canada. Cloberry well knew the -potentialities of the “backside of Virginia,” as he had formerly -adventured with the Kirkes in Canada. - -Just to make sure that if Lord Baltimore later obtained his grant -he did not molest Claiborne, the partners in the trading adventure -obtained a commission under His Majesty’s signet of Scotland -authorizing trade in all territory “neere or about these partes of -America for which there is not allready a patent granted to others -for the sole trade.” It was drawn up by Sir William Alexander, the -Secretary for Scotland, who was entertained by Cloberry with bait in -the form of a proposition for interchange of trade between Virginia -and Nova Scotia. Sir William, making desperate efforts at the time -to extract a profit from his grant in America, saw in the Claiborne -venture a source of corn for his plantation at Port Royal. - -In any event, the commission was confirmed by the King himself at -Greenwich, and when the Secretary of Virginia sailed back across the -ocean in May of 1631 to establish his plantation and launch his trading -adventure he went with the royal blessing. - -In his ship, the _Africa_, cargoed with colonists and supplies, -Claiborne touched first at Kecoughtan and Accomac to attract additional -volunteers, and then late in August he planted his colony on Kent -Island, some hundred and twenty-five miles up the bay. Kent Island, -which lies against the Eastern Shore opposite present-day Annapolis, -was ideally situated for his purposes. He built a palisaded fort and -stocked his plantation with cattle, swine and poultry. With the arrival -of more farmers and traders from the lower settlements it was not long -before the colony had a church, a windmill, warehouses, and a shipyard -busily constructing shallops, wherries and pinnaces for the Indian -trade. - -Despite a devastating fire that once destroyed all the buildings, death -from marauding savages, and sickness, as well as many other hardships, -the plantation flourished. In the spring its fields were green with -tobacco and corn, and its wharves were busy with trading boats and -bundles of furs. During the summer the season’s pelts were stretched -and leathered on rows of wooden hide racks inside the palisades before -being packed in great hogsheads for shipment to England. Then in the -autumn, after the harvesting, the sweet scent of tobacco wafted into -the fort from the drying sheds where the leaves hung curing on poles. - -In the spring of 1632 Captain Nicholas Martiau, an ancestor of George -Washington, represented Kent Hundred in the House of Burgesses at -Jamestown, and the first English settlement within the present bounds -of the State of Maryland was recognized as a political unit of -Virginia, established within the assigned territorial limits of that -royal colony. - -In the meantime, on the other side of the ocean, George Calvert died -before ever getting a charter to establish a palatinate of his own in -the Chesapeake. However, his efforts finally bore fruit. On June 30, -1632, two months after his death, a grant passed through the seals. -“Maryland” was to be a slice of Virginia extending from the Potomac -River northward to the 40th parallel which crosses the Delaware at -present-day Philadelphia. It was a feudal seigniory to be passed on -to the baron’s heirs, just as he had planned, and already it had made -its first descent, to his oldest son, Cecilius Calvert, second Lord -Baltimore. - -Although Kent Island was obviously within the limits of the grant to -Baltimore, neither William Claiborne nor the Council at Jamestown -doubted the legality of Virginia’s claim upon the island. The Maryland -charter expressly limited Baltimore’s rights to land “hactenus -inculta,” that is, hitherto uncultivated. Kent of course was cultivated -and had been for some time. - -Two years later, however, when Cecilius’ younger brother, the -twenty-eight-year-old Leonard, brought the first colonists over to -plant on the Potomac River he promptly let it be known that Captain -Claiborne must submit to his government. Kent Hundred, he said, came -under the jurisdiction of the Lord Proprietor of Maryland. Furthermore, -licenses from Lord Baltimore were to be required of anyone trading -within the precincts of Maryland. Not only was Kent Island to be -delivered up to his government at St. Mary’s on the Potomac, but the -trading post in the Susquehanna River on mountainous little Palmer’s -Island, which Claiborne had planted in 1633, was to be given over. The -Marylanders, it appeared, planned to build their own ships for the -Indian fur trade and to set up magazines in their colony that they -might “make thereby a very great gayne.” - -Cecil, Lord Baltimore, in fact laid much stress on the fur trade in his -instructions to Leonard, consigning to his brother for his own account -in trade with the natives a quantity of trucking stuff consisting of -“coarse freeze, small groce glass beads, box, Ivorye, and horne Combes, -brass kettles, axes, hoes, hawkes bells, and sheffeeld knives.” Before -the palisaded fort at St. Mary’s was completed, the Maryland pinnace, -_Dove_, was sent out to follow the “trade of beaver through all parts -of the precincts of this province.” - -Under Cyprian Thorowgood, Lord Baltimore’s traders paid a visit to the -Virginians’ trading post on Palmer’s Island, which was manned by an -interpreter named John Fullwood and a negro slave. However, the men -from St. Mary’s “had a little falling out with the Indians” who never -did take well to them. When Thorowgood threatened a small Kent Island -shallop he found trading there, the Indians showed signs of siding with -the Virginians and in the end the shallop was permitted to depart with -its load of skins. - -Although the Kent Islanders had taken in 3,000 skins during the first -part of the 1634 season, the Marylanders, due to the lateness of their -arrival that spring, took altogether “only 298, weighing 451 pounds, -together with 53 muskrat and 17 other skins.” - -Even so, Leonard Calvert was much encouraged, and he sent out shallops -for more skins late in May. He also wrote home that he was certain -that he could obtain a large part of the trade of the “Massawomecks” -(Iroquois) who, he said, dwelt ten days journey to the north and had -formerly traded with the Kirkes in Canada. He urged however that -much more trucking stuff be sent over as “there is nothing does more -endanger the loss of commerce with the Indians than want of truck to -barter with them.” - -The site of Calvert’s capital near the mouth of the Potomac River was -an old trading ground of Virginia traders, including Claiborne, Fleet -and Harmar. Once, Harmar had outwitted Fleet there to the tune of three -hundredweight of beaver, when he persuaded the Yowaccomoco Indians -to let him have the skins they were holding for his rival by telling -them that Fleet was dead. The trick worked so well in fact that Harmar -then went up the river spreading the report that Captain Fleet was -dead, with the result that he made “an unexpected trade for the time, -at a small charge, having gotten fifteen hundredweight of beaver, and -cleared fourteen towns.” - -Up the Potomac were the important towns of the Piscattaways. Beyond -them lived the Anacostans who once held Henry Fleet captive and with -whom he later traded. The Anacostans, like the Susquehannocks, were -blood relatives of the Iroquois. But they too were now castoff and -acted as buffers between the war-like Five Nations and the Algonquin -tribes to the south. Through the Anacostans, Fleet hoped to make -contacts with the Iroquois, tap the Canada trade, and drain it down -the backside of Virginia through the Potomac River. He had run into -trouble, however, due to the jealousies of the Piscattaways and -others in the lower valley who didn’t want to be bypassed. They had -no objection to acting as middlemen, but they objected to the white -men taking their truck up the valley and dealing directly with their -enemies. - -Fleet’s problems were further complicated by the arrival of the -Marylanders. It would appear that as a means of protecting his trade -interests in the Potomac valley, he associated himself with them in -the fur trade, agreeing to pay the ten percent tax demanded by the -proprietary on all skins acquired from the Indians. - -This, of course, William Claiborne and other Virginians would not agree -to do. - - * * * * * - -When Captain Claiborne refused to submit to Lord Baltimore or to pay -the tax on skins, he found himself accused of having incited the -Indians against the Maryland settlement on the Potomac. Henry Fleet, -it turned out, was the instrument of this accusation. Possibly he was -hoping in this way to hasten the elimination of his major competitor -for the backside trade. - -However, the accusation against Claiborne was later proved false on -the testimony of the Indian chiefs themselves. They said that it was -actually Captain Fleet who had talked against the Marylanders--all -of which might indicate that some original scheme concocted by Fleet -to hang on to his Potomac trade had backfired. Father Andrew White, -a restless Jesuit priest who was much involved in the fur trade with -the natives as a means of supporting the Jesuits’ mission in Maryland, -always insisted that Captain Fleet “had been a firebrand to inflame the -Indians against us.” - -The new Governor of Virginia, Sir John Harvey, also co-operated with -the Marylanders. For reasons of his own he gave them cattle and -supplies and assisted them against Claiborne whom he had relieved of -his office as secretary. All of which was very much to the disgust of -the Virginians who eventually “thrust” the governor out of office for -treason to their interests and sent him packing back to England. - -It was charged that Harvey had even encouraged Calvert’s men to fire -on Kent Island shallops and confiscate their furs. In any case, this -the Marylanders did almost from the time of their arrival in 1634, and -during all the remainder of that year piracy and lawlessness ruled the -Chesapeake. - -Armed pinnaces out of St. Mary’s commandeered Claiborne’s smaller -shallops and took his furs. His men were evicted from their traditional -trading grounds with gun and sword. But the fort on Kent Island was not -attacked, and the Virginians had time not only to make it more secure -but to erect a second fort on another part of the island to prevent -surprise. They also began building larger boats, including a pinnace -called the _Long Tayle_, that could carry more fighting men and heavier -weapons in addition to a cargo of pelts. - -The _Long Tayle_ was the first real ship built within the present -boundaries of Maryland. She had a crew of twenty men. Her guns were -chambers and falconets for ball shot, and murderers--the little cannon -into the muzzles of which could be jammed scraps of iron, rocks, or -almost anything lethal that might be handy for standing off boarding -parties. - -The Kent Islanders launched the hostilities in the spring of 1635 when -John Butler, Claiborne’s brother-in-law, captured a Maryland boat -loaded with pelts taken from Palmer’s Island. Soon after, Captain -Thomas Smith went out in the _Long Tayle_ to trade for beaver with -an Indian village on the south side of the Patuxent River. Since this -village was not more than half a dozen miles overland from the Maryland -capital, it is not strange that Calvert learned of the _Long Tayle’s_ -presence. He promptly sent a sufficient force of soldiers to surprise -the Kent Islanders and take them and their pinnace. - -Captain Claiborne retaliated just as promptly. He dispatched -Lieutenant Radcliffe Warren down the bay in a fast wherry, called the -_Cockatrice_, with a vengeful crew of thirteen men. They tried to -recapture the _Long Tayle_. However they couldn’t get at her under the -guns of Calvert’s fort at St. Mary’s where she lay protected. But then, -Warren heard that a Maryland pinnace, the _St. Helen_, was trading -alone in the Pocomoke River on the Eastern Shore. So he set out after -her. - -Entering the Pocomoke, he sighted the Maryland pinnace and splashed a -ball from his falconet beside her. She hove to quietly. He was closing -in to board when, suddenly from a nearby cove, another pinnace bore -down on him. Her decks were razed and her crew were presenting arms. It -was the _St. Margaret_, Calvert’s largest boat, commanded by his chief -trader and councillor, Captain Thomas Cornwallis. - -Lieutenant Warren had little time to consider the probability that he -was the victim of a well-laid trap. Falconets cracked out their sharp -reports. Chambers barked. The surrounding marshes of the Pocomoke -reverberated with the din of oaths, shots and belching murderers as the -three boats became environed with fire and smoke. Warren himself was -killed. Three others died in the fight, and many were wounded on both -sides. Only the greater maneuverability and speed of the badly battered -_Cockatrice_ accounted for its escape back to Kent Island. - -Claiborne and his men were bitter about the unexpected outcome of -Warren’s expedition. They soon had an opportunity for revenge however. -Just a few weeks later they learned that Cornwallis was again bartering -in the Pocomoke, together with his aide, Cuthbert Fenwick, and some -other well known Maryland traders. Two boats were sent this time to -trap the Marylanders. Captain Thomas Smith, recently escaped from -St. Mary’s and now master of the _Cockatrice_, went in escort with a -newly enlisted Virginia pinnace under the command of Philip Taylor. -They succeeded in capturing the big Maryland boat and its crew in a -naval action that was later described as “felonie and piracie” by Lord -Baltimore’s government. - -The next day Taylor was in the Potomac River for a try at recapturing -the _Long Tayle_. He carried what might be described as a letter of -marque and reprisal given him by William Claiborne. The Marylanders, -however, turned the tables on him. They captured Taylor along with his -pinnace. - -But in the meantime Governor Harvey had been placed under arrest by the -Virginia Council and put on a ship for England. When Claiborne arrived -from Kent Island late in May of 1635 with news of the bloody encounters -on the bay, the acting governor, John West, at once sent a mission to -St. Mary’s to apprize Calvert of Harvey’s arrest and to demand that the -Marylanders “desist their violent proceedings.” - -Leonard Calvert took pause at this unexpected development. His younger -brother, George, as well as his councillor, Jerome Hawley, had been -contending all along that Claiborne had some right on his side. -Violence was certainly not accomplishing anything. Maybe, Calvert may -have conjectured, his brother in England could do better through the -courts. - -So it came about that the mission was successful in imposing a truce -on Maryland that lasted for two years. Prisoners and confiscated boats -were exchanged. Claiborne, now married and settled with his family, was -left unmolested in the possession of his island home and undisturbed in -his trading activities. Another windmill was built, and another church, -better to serve the two growing communities on Kent Island. Besides an -enormous number of pelts traded locally for private accounts and for -the maintenance of the plantation, furs to the value of 4,000 pounds -sterling were shipped to England for the company partners there. - -But then, Captain Claiborne found it necessary to go to England, for -Lord Baltimore had powerful friends. It looked as if he might get a -legal decision against the Virginians through the Lords Commissioners -of Plantations. Claiborne turned over all his operations to a partner -who had recently arrived from England representing the joint-stock -company, and went to London to fight for his rights. No sooner had he -left however than this partner, one George Evelin, managed to betray -Kent Island into the hands of his enemies. - -Although the main fort was traitorously delivered up, the island was -not yielded quietly or easily. Repeated military expeditions to subdue -the inhabitants were made by Leonard Calvert before Captain Thomas -Smith and others were finally captured in 1638 and hanged as pirates -and rebels. Claiborne himself, _in absentia_, was attainted by the -Maryland Assembly of the “grievous crimes of pyracie and murther,” and -“all his lands and tenements, goods and chattels” were forfeited to -the Lord Proprietary. Evelin took his share of the loot, even digging -up some of Claiborne’s fruit trees and transplanting them to the manor -that Lord Baltimore granted him near St. Mary’s in payment for his -services. - -In another few years, due to continued disturbances, Kent Island was -to be laid waste without hope of recovery, the mill and the forts -destroyed, its former population scattered abroad. - -Soldiers armed with ordnance taken from Kent were also sent in 1638 -to Palmer’s Island in the Susquehanna River where they “utterly -ruined” the plantation and reduced the palisaded fort which had been -built there the previous year. They seized all of Claiborne’s goods -and chattels. Leonard Calvert himself, following the expedition, -triumphantly supervised the conversion of this trade outpost to “Fort -Conquest” of Maryland. The spoils were divided. Claiborne’s bonded -servants, cattle and other goods at Palmer’s Island went to John -Lewger, Secretary of Maryland. His books were sequestered by a petty -officer, as was a wooden chest belonging to the unfortunate Captain Tom -Smith. - -Gone was the “Plantation in the Sasquesahonoughs Country” at the mouth -of the river, for which Captain Claiborne had been willing to pay the -king a rental of fifty pounds sterling a year including rights “to the -head of the said River, and to the Grand Lake of Canada to be held in -fee from the Crown of England.” In fact, forever gone was the “greate -trade of beaver and other furrs which Claiborne might have had with the -mountayn Indians which live upon the lakes of the river of Canada.” - -The Marylanders carried on a profitable local fur trade, in spite -of Indian disturbances, for some years. But they were no threat to -the French or the Dutch as they were never successful in tapping the -northern lake-country trade on the backside of Virginia through either -the valley of the Susquehanna or the Potomac. Their relations with the -Indians were not up to it, and they were more inclined to agricultural -pursuits anyway. - -The French were therefore able to continue their penetration of America -without the interference they might have had from the Virginians who -settled Kent and Palmer’s Islands. In fact, they were now almost -unmolested in an encirclement of the English colonies that would not -stop until they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. And the -Dutch were undisturbed by the Marylanders even in the neighboring -valley of the Delaware, where they were now settling and trading in -pelts under the very noses of Lord Baltimore’s people who claimed -jurisdiction over some of those parts. - -By the end of the century the fur frontier in Maryland had almost -disappeared and the trade was no longer important in the economic life -of the colony. The average value of skins exported per year didn’t -exceed 650 pounds sterling. By then the Governor of Maryland was -declaring that “this Countrey is an open Country and deales generally -in Tobacco and not in furrs.” - - - - -XIII - -_New Netherland’s South River_ - - -The charter of the great Dutch West India Company gave it a monopoly -over trade in Africa and America, empowered it to plant colonies and -appoint governors of those colonies, make treaties with the aborigines, -build forts, and wage war. The company was to maintain its own fleet of -twenty warships; but, if it became embroiled in more trouble than this -fleet could handle expeditiously, the States General of the Netherlands -bound itself to furnish twenty additional armed vessels. - -Although the company was chartered in 1621, it did not commence -operations until 1623. But then, during the next six or seven years, -its success was phenomenal in the matter of profits--from waging war -against Spain. So much so, that by 1629 its directors in Amsterdam were -prone to speak slightingly of New Netherland, their trading colony -in North America. “The trade carried on there in peltries is right -advantageous but, one year with another, we can at most bring home -fifty thousand guilders,” they complained. - -For a plantation which at the time numbered no more than 300 -inhabitants this would seem to be most productive, especially when -compared to what the English had done in either Virginia or in New -England. It was paltry enough, however, when compared with the loot -of Spanish colonial strongholds that fell to the conquering Dutch -merchants, or when weighed against the spoils of Spain’s silver fleet -that Admiral Peter Heyn had captured in the name of the West India -Company. In one fell swoop he took seventeen galleons laden with -bullion and merchandise to the value of fourteen millions of guilders! -From that operation alone the investors received a dividend amounting -to well over half of the company’s paid-up capital. - -Experienced Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May, who had been appointed -the first managing director of the West India Company’s colony in -America, acted primarily as a chief fur factor for the company. During -1624, the first and only year of his governorship, he sent home pelts -which brought 27,000 guilders. The next year his successor did even -better. In 1626, the year that Peter Minuit received the formal title -of Director General of New Netherland and purchased Manhattan from the -Indians, one ship for Amsterdam was cargoed with “7246 beaver skins, -178¹⁄₂ otter skins, 675 otter skins, 48 minck skins, 36 wild cat skins, -33 mincks, 34 rat skins.” It also carried some oak and hickory to -timber-hungry Holland. - -This, incidentally, is the earliest known true manifest of a ship -clearing from the present port of New York. In terms of today’s money -the skins brought well over one hundred thousand American dollars. A -right advantageous trade indeed! - -In the spring of 1624 some thirty families, mostly French-speaking -Walloons from the lower provinces fleeing persecution by Spanish -inquisitors, had come over with Captain May in the _New Netherland_. -They came as the plantation’s first real colonists, to raise livestock, -to put their spades into the earth. May, as well as his successor, -was charged with “spreading out” and more formally occupying New -Netherland. It would prevent any further trouble with England about the -possession of that country, it was hoped, since the English themselves -had expounded the doctrine that “occupancy confers a good title by the -laws of nations and nature.” In the case of their North American colony -the Hollanders could afford a point of agreement on such a doctrine. - -A part of this 1624 expedition is said to have been landed on Manhattan -Island. Although the evidence has been attacked, it is not at all -unlikely that May did promptly put some of the _New Netherland’s_ -passengers ashore at Manhattan to begin the replacement of any -temporary works there. There must have been a truck house or two, huts -and possibly even palisades in need of rehabilitation for permanent, -year-round occupancy. The immediate occupation of such a strategic -location at the mouth of the river could hardly have been neglected -anyway, especially as it was necessary at the time to escort from the -harbor a poaching French ship whose captain seemed bent on going -ashore to set up the arms of his king and take possession of the -country. - -In any case, some eighteen families were conveyed up the Hudson to a -previously selected site a few miles above the redoubt at Norman’s -Kill. In this more convenient location a new fort was built, while -the Walloons settled around it. Fort Orange, as they called this -plantation, was within the limits of present-day Albany, New York. Here -the Mohegans, as well as the Iroquois, came immediately with presents -of beaver and other peltry to confirm their alliance with the Dutch, -and the old trade continued to flourish under the new management of the -West India Company. - -It would appear that about this time a group of May’s people also went -up the Connecticut River to establish a trading post near the present -site of Hartford and to begin the construction of Fort Good Hope there. -But the building of this outpost lagged. It was some years before the -fort was completed and manned. When that came about, in 1633, Fort Good -Hope had become a focal point of rivalry between the Dutch and the -New Englanders for the beaver meadows of the Connecticut valley and a -question mark in the matter of resolving jurisdiction over the country. - - * * * * * - -At the time of the planting of Fort Orange another part of May’s -expedition, including some of the Walloon families, was dispatched -to the Delaware, or South River, as the Hollanders now called it to -distinguish it from the Hudson, their great North River. - -Up the South River, on its east bank, at a strategic trading site also -previously selected by Captain May, a new Fort Nassau was built. It was -opposite the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware, the -tongue of land on which Philadelphia was later founded by William Penn -but which at the time of the Dutch arrival was the seat of probably -the largest Lenni Lenape community in the valley. There, at Passyunk, -lived the great chief of all the lower river Indians. Fort Nassau, the -new Dutch trading post across the Delaware River, stood at the mouth of -Timber Creek within the present limits of Gloucester, New Jersey. - -Some soldiers and traders, together with a few of the Walloon farmers -and their families who were originally to have settled a farming -plantation on the lower west side of Delaware Bay, were eventually -installed at Fort Nassau. There, they established trade relations with -the natives. Others, it is said, with the addition of new recruits from -Holland the following spring, were sent still higher up the river to -build a house and operate a trading station on Verhulsten Island, near -the present site of Trenton. This island, at the head of navigation -just below the falls, was named for Captain May’s successor in 1625, -William Verhulst, who made his headquarters on the South River. The -site of the falls was an important Indian crossing from the valley of -the Hudson, where the Lenni Lenape traditionally traded with other -tribes. - -The Lenni Lenape Indians, later called the Delaware by the English, -were an Algonquin nation that inhabited all the immense valley of -the Delaware. Tribal relatives occupied important villages even in -the lower valley of the Hudson River. Relatively peaceful, the Lenni -Lenape made their homes beside placid streams, in grass-matted huts -thatched with the bark of cedar, the men fishing and hunting while -their women tilled gardens of corn, beans, tobacco and squash. The men -hunted fur-bearing animals whose pelts would be useful for winter body -coverings. The women scraped the pelts with stone tools and dried them -on wooden stretching racks, rubbing the animals’ brains and livers into -the skins to help in the suppling process. - -All was not quiet and peace for the Lenape however. They were subject -to terrifying raids by the Susquehannocks (Minquas, the Dutch called -them) as well as by the Iroquoian relatives of the Susquehannocks who -lived farther up the valley of the Susquehanna River. These fearsome -marauders stole their women, burnt their houses and devastated their -gardens. Trapping beaver and muskrat for blankets or hunting the -raccoon too far away from native grounds was a precarious venture -for Lenape braves. In fact, some tribes had fled their more isolated -villages for the safety of Passyunk on the Schuylkill before the white -men came. Others, on the west bank of the lower river, had crossed over -the Delaware to settle on the safer east bank. - -So it was that at the coming of the Dutch these river Indians welcomed -the Europeans’ guns. And the deliberative Hollanders bought land and -made trade treaties with them while, at the same time, probing for -avenues of trade with the Lenapes’ enemies, too. Although there were -muskrat, mink, ordinary otter and some brown beaver on the South River, -the Dutch well knew from previous dealings with the Iroquois that there -were vast stores of the finer black pelts, both beaver and otter, and -valuable “lion skins” cached in the “forts” of the Susquehannocks -and their northern relatives. However, on the lower Delaware, it was -principally muskrat that the Lenape had to offer, the market value of -which was but a fraction of other pelts. - -The muskrat, a bushy-furred member of the rodent family, resembles -nothing so much as a big wharf rat. This was something with which the -seagoing Dutchmen were only too familiar. As a matter of practice they -referred to the kindred fur bearers in America simply as “rats.” Like -the Englishmen they also marketed both the pelts and the musky cods, -the fluids of which were useful for perfumes and as demothing agents. - -Muskrats frequent tidewater marshlands and swamps. Their hind feet -are oar-like, being slightly webbed and set obliquely to the legs, -permitting a swivel action that propels them through the water. They -steer themselves with their tails which are flattened sidewise. The -Indians hunted and trapped these animals along their waterside runs -very much as they did the beaver. And they often dumped the skinned -carcasses of the “rats” into the communal stew pot, much to the disgust -of the traders who had to partake of the feast which always preceded -barter. - -In the early days of the Dutch occupation on the South River, as it -turned out, the Hollanders were not too successful in opening up trade -with the Susquehannocks and their Iroquois relatives of the hinterland. -The Susquehannocks were too busy subjugating the Lenni Lenape. By the -time things settled down, after most of the lower river Indians had -taken flight or been made tributary, the Susquehannocks were bartering -in a more convenient market. They were selling pelts at the mouth of -their own river among the English in the Chesapeake Bay. - -On the other hand, the furs of the lower Delaware River Indians were -not hard to come by, even when they were good. Brown beaver by the -bundle, when the Lenape had it, might be taken for a white clay pipe -worth a mere pittance. To an Indian who had not yet learned the true -value of such a tobacco pipe, with its smoothly beautiful bowl and -straight stem, it was a treasure to accompany him to his grave. And, -as for the Dutchman’s iron and his colored cloth, his liquor, his -firearms, and especially the clothes he wore, these all represented -unbelievable wealth to the savage. Quick to learn that he could acquire -such amazing riches for a few animal skins, he would risk traffic with -his aboriginal enemies if necessary to get the kinds of pelts the white -men wanted. - -But it was entirely different when it came to the food for which the -Dutch in their early occupation of the Delaware valley had to depend -on their native neighbors. Although the Lenape were perfectly willing -to part with their own furs, and sometimes took extraordinary risks to -get more of them, it was another matter when it came to corn and beans. -With the Minquas constantly raiding, no treasure could tempt a Lenape -chief to give up what little corn he might have to keep his people from -starving. - -It was this difficulty, coupled with the squeeze put on New Netherland -by greedy directors of the West India Company, that soon brought about -the recall of the South River settlers to Manhattan. One small yacht, -the directors contended, would adequately take care of the South River -trade at much less cost than maintaining garrisons there under the -conditions with which they had to contend. - -Anyway, it was asserted, the need for formal occupation of this distant -outpost was less necessary now that England had joined the Netherlands -in the war against Spain. All ports of each country were open to -merchantmen and warships of the other, and both were committed to -maintain fleets that were finally to rid the world of Spanish might. -Under the circumstances the English would hardly risk offending their -ally by disturbing any part of the Netherlands’ province in America. - -So, after the government of New Netherland was formally taken over -in 1626 by Peter Minuit, who forthwith installed a “Battery” on the -southern tip of Manhattan Island for protection against the Spaniards -and named the place “Fort Amsterdam,” the South River was all but -abandoned as a plantation. Now and then Dutch factors put ashore at -Fort Nassau to occupy it temporarily as a trading post, but by 1628 all -the Walloon farmers had returned to the North River. - -There, at Fort Amsterdam, the company now concentrated its own -colonists and centralized the control of its fur trade, while promoting -another scheme for the permanent planting of the outlying districts -with farmers at no expense to itself. - - * * * * * - -The no-expense colonizing scheme was not a new one among the colonial -powers of Europe, except for its dressing. - -Members of the West India Company who at their own expense planted the -unoccupied provinces of New Netherland were to become “patroons,” that -is, proprietors of little colonial principalities with feudalistic -“privileges and exemptions.” By transporting and settling a specified -number of colonists, black slaves qualifying as such, a rich if -otherwise undistinguished merchant of Amsterdam could elevate himself -to the worshipful status of a feudal lord. Of course he had first to -purchase his land from the Indians in conformance with Dutch policy. A -little _aqua vitae_ and a few jackets sufficed usually to keep that a -relatively minor expense however. - -There was only one hitch. A patroon could not engage in the fur trade. -He had freedom of trade in any merchandise “except beavers, otters, -minks, and all sorts of peltry.” The commerce in pelts was to remain -the company’s monopoly. - -Because of this restriction the early patroonships were destined to -failure. Trade in furs was needed to help root a new plantation in the -soil, as had already been proved so often on the wild American coasts. -Only one of the early patroonships survived, Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s -colony in the Albany area. And it was the illegal pursuit of private -fur trade that suckled Rensselaerwyck through its infancy. - -The earliest patroonship for which land was chosen in New Netherland -was patented on the “South River” in 1630. Samuel Godyn and Samuel -Blommaert, leading members of the company, were original partners in -this venture which later included Captain David Pieters de Vries among -others. Their original manor tract, called Swanendael, lay west of Cape -Henlopen in Delaware Bay, but the proprietorship was later extended -to the opposite shore including Cape May. The bay, reportedly, was a -favorite haunt of whales, many having been sighted there in the past. -It was decided that whaling would be a profitable enterprise in lieu of -fur trading to support the plantation in its infancy. - -The first colonizing expedition to Swanendael arrived in the spring of -1631 and planted at Whorekill, on present-day Lewes Creek, just above -Cape Henlopen. Although the whaling proved a failure that year, the -ship that brought over the colonists returning to Amsterdam with no -more than a sample of oil taken from a dead whale found on the beach, -it was said that the settlers did seed their land and had a fine crop -by July. But then, as the story goes, a piece of tin was the instrument -of their undoing. - -They had emblazoned a small sheet of this metal with the arms of -Holland and attached it to a pillar which was erected to proclaim -their possession of the land. An Indian chief, happening along, -appropriated the tin, probably with the idea of converting it into a -shiny tobacco pipe. That savage whim, it was claimed, set off a chain -of misunderstanding that ended in his own death and the massacre of the -Dutch. Only one of the thirty-three settlers survived the carnage. - -The Hollanders had built a brick house which should have served -them well as a fort. They were also supposed to have surrounded -the house with palisades, a requirement of the time, and to have -had an Indian-fighting mastiff handy for just such an emergency. -However, according to those who later argued with the company over -responsibility for the failure of the Swanendael patroonship, the -settlers at Whorekill were caught and butchered individually one -day while laboring in the fields, unable to reach the safety of the -palisades reportedly erected--while their fierce dog was unfortunately -chained at the house. - -If Whorekill, which may be translated as Harlots’ Creek, acquired its -name as indicated, one cannot resist wondering whether playful Indian -squaws, too much _aqua vitae_ and vengeful braves might have had -something to do with the demise of the Dutchmen. Certain it is that -these first Europeans “left other reminders of their brief sojourn on -the bay besides their skeletons,” for later Dutchmen who visited in -this vicinity “with their goods where they traded with the Indians ... -got the country dutyes, otherwise called the Pox.” - -When Captain David de Vries came over as patroon in the winter of -1632-33 he built a lodging hut ashore, constructed “sloops” for whaling -and set up a kettle for rendering oil. But although his harpooners -killed a few whales, they were small and almost worthless for oil. The -whale fishery was an economic failure. - -Meanwhile, for some reason, Captain De Vries made peace with the -savages who had slaughtered the original settlers on the Whorekill. -There was no retaliation, surprisingly enough, for whatever happened -on the creek the previous year. De Vries explained that the natives -promised to provide him with food. But apparently they didn’t do so. - -The Dutch patroon ascended the South River to barter for corn and -beans. Twice during the winter he visited abandoned Fort Nassau where -many Indians congregated on the news that he was in the river. However -there was the usual difficulty about food. The Lenape were anxious -to trade skins for his merchandise, even pausing in flight from the -terrible Minqua to do so, but few of them were willing to part with -corn. - -De Vries did buy some of their pelts, though without much enthusiasm. -Under an ambiguous agreement the company had recently made with the -patroons, they were permitted to barter for pelts where no company -factories were maintained. However, all skins taken under this -arrangement had to be delivered at Fort Amsterdam for processing and -shipment by the company to Holland. Such transactions were therefore -not too satisfactory from an overall profit standpoint. - -With the coming of spring, the Patroon of Swanendael went down the -coast to call on the neighboring English at Jamestown for enough -supplies to evacuate his people. The small profit on the pelts he had -taken represented the only gain from the patroonship. It wasn’t too -long afterward that the continuing wrangle over fur trading privileges, -and other contentions, ended in the proprietors of Swanendael selling -out their interests to the company, without having made any further -attempt at colonization. - -At the time of De Vries’ visit to the old Dutch works at Fort Nassau, -he learned much to his surprise that an English shallop with seven or -eight traders from Virginia had preceded him there. All the Virginians -had been killed by the Lenape. Some of the chief men among the savages -were jauntily wearing their victims’ jackets when they came to call on -the Dutch patroon aboard his yacht that winter. - -On the subsequent visit to Jamestown, which may have been prompted as -much by curiosity concerning this invasion of the South River as by the -need of supplies, Captain De Vries was told by Governor Harvey that -these Virginians had indeed gone on an exploring voyage in those parts. -And, although Harvey said there was no reason for Virginia traders to -disturb the Hollanders, he nevertheless maintained the English claim to -the Delaware valley and intimated that other countrymen of his would be -going there too. - -Shortly after this, when De Vries stopped off at Fort Amsterdam with -his furs and the alarming news about the English, the Dutch provincial -council dispatched an expedition once more to occupy Fort Nassau. A -new house was built there and other improvements were made during the -summer. Arendt Corssen, who went along at this time as the company’s -commissioner in charge, also purchased from the Lenape a tract of land -across the Delaware from Fort Nassau. There, probably on the west -bank of the Schuylkill River and within the limits of present-day -Philadelphia, he built a house and established a trading post. - -This post of course promoted a more convenient trade with the western -Minquas. It was also designed, no doubt, to serve as added evidence of -the company’s maintenance of factories in the South River valley. - -However, no English having appeared on the river during the summer -and the Swanendael patroonship being inactive, these lonely outposts -of the company were again deserted during the winter of 1633-34. A -fur trader’s life in the winter wilderness, cooped up in a house -surrounded by snow and unpredictable savages, must have been anything -but enviable. The Hollanders on the South River could hardly be blamed -for preferring their warmer and gayer quarters on Manhattan. - -But then, in the summer of 1634 when no Dutch were about, an Englishman -named Thomas Young sailed up the Delaware and planted the arms of his -king ashore. He had come directly from England to trade in “Virginia,” -under a license from the king, with special designs on the valley of -the Delaware. Governor Harvey of Virginia lent all possible assistance -to him when he stopped off in the Chesapeake to build trading shallops -and gather information for his venture. - -Captain Young traded extensively for beaver, otter and lesser furs, -and he was much impressed by the abundance of elk and deer skins -available in the Delaware valley. However, his ambition was to discover -a northwest passage to the South Sea and he had secret instructions -authorizing him to explore the Delaware, challenge any Dutch -encroachment there, and plant forts to occupy the land if he wished to -do so. He was stopped of course by the falls. Although he established -an English post at Eriwoneck, where his lieutenant recorded that “we -sate down,” the adventure was given over after a year or two. - -Young himself was later captured by the French of Canada when, in his -continuing quest for the elusive passage to the Orient, he ascended the -Kennebec River, portaged to headwaters of streams that took him to the -St. Lawrence and found himself unexpectedly before Quebec! - -The English post that Captain Young established on the Delaware at -Eriwoneck was opposite present-day Philadelphia. It is frequently -mentioned as having been on Pennsauken Creek. However, since the -Eriwoneck tribe appears to have been living close by if not at the site -of Fort Nassau, it is more likely that the English captain simply “sate -down” in the deserted Dutch fort. In view of his mission any other -course would appear to have been inexpedient. - -Captain Young discreetly makes no mention of Dutch works on the river, -probably to avoid any perplexity over the Elizabethan theory about -occupation proving right of possession. But his report admits of two -contacts with Dutch traders. First he ran into a trading vessel from -Manhattan which he accosted and chased from the river. Then a fresh -expedition from Fort Amsterdam, which he reported had been sent to -“plant and trade heere” by the Hollanders, was similarly forced to -retire by the English captain. - -Although the Dutch traders didn’t put up any fight in the face of -Thomas Young’s well-gunned ship that summer, it was a different matter -the next year when an English deserter brought word overland to Fort -Amsterdam that a party of Virginia traders was occupying Fort Nassau. - -An armed bark was immediately dispatched to the South River. It -recaptured the fort and made prisoners of the Englishmen, about fifteen -altogether including their leader, George Holmes. These captives, after -being transported first to Fort Amsterdam where no one could decide -what to do with them, were finally returned to Kecoughtan in Virginia. -The New Netherlanders then installed and maintained a permanent -garrison of traders at Fort Nassau under the management of Jan Jansen -with Peter May as his assistant. All of which so discouraged other -Virginians, who at the time were planning to follow in Holmes’ track, -that they abandoned the project. - -However, across the ocean, venturers of still another nationality were -preparing to invade New Netherland’s South River. The Swedish people, -aroused to territorial expansion by their late King Gustavus Adolphus, -wanted a bridgehead in America. Profit-minded merchants, with the fur -trade uppermost in their minds, were moving eagerly to accommodate -them. - - - - -XIV - -_Swedish Interlude On the Delaware_ - - -Peter Minuit, erstwhile governor and chief fur trader of New -Netherland, was a man of energy and special talent for colonial -administration. Although he had been discharged from his post in -Dutch America after a disagreement with his employers, the directors -of the West India Company, his administration there had been virile -and efficient. It was therefore quite natural that he should be a bit -vindictive toward the people who had treated him so unfairly. And, -because of his driving energy, it would have been quite as unnatural -for him to remain idle for long. - -So it was that he sought out Samuel Blommaert who, embittered by -the failure of his Swanendael patroonship, also felt he had reason -for complaint against his former associates in the West India -Company. According to Blommaert, it was their parsimonious policies -on such matters as the fur trade and military protection for new -plantations that had caused the fiasco at Whorekill. Anxious now -to show up the stupidity of their management, he was attempting to -form a Dutch-Swedish opposition company under Swedish protection for -operations in the “West Indies.” - -When Minuit came on the scene, with his firsthand knowledge of New -Netherland, things began to happen fast. Blommaert’s project quickly -crystallized into a fur trading company with the specific intent of -colonizing the valley of the South River where the patroon himself had -formerly adventured. It remained only for Minuit to offer his expert -services as leader of such an expedition to the Swedish crown, and -royal sanction and assistance were forthcoming for the venture. - -“Pierre” Minuit, for that is what the Hollanders often called him -when he was their governor in New Netherland, had been born a French -Huguenot in the German city of Wessel. It is not strange that his -nationalism was therefore elastic enough to meet almost any demands of -his ambition and ability. About the only point at which Minuit might -have hesitated in those bigoted times would have been an association -with Catholics. Certainly, to serve under the banner of Sweden, a -protestant nation allied in the crusade against Spain, required a -minimum degree of adaptability, especially as Sweden’s official excuse -for a colony in America was that it would provide a base for attacking -the common enemy at his weakest spot. - -Half the subscriptions for the venture in “New Sweden” were raised in -Sweden and half in Holland, with Samuel Blommaert the largest single -subscriber. Although the Swedish government furnished two well-armed -ships, _Kalmar Nyckel_ and _Gripen_, as well as all other weapons and -ammunition, the cost of the expedition to the company ran to 33,000 -florins by the time it sailed from Gothenburg in the closing days of -1637. - -If Minuit was lucky however, a single Spanish prize would be enough -to cancel out this unexpectedly high debt. Otherwise the New Sweden -Company looked to the Indian fur trade to pay it off in a season or two. - -Almost half of the invested capital was for cargo that consisted mainly -of the merchandise needed for the Indian trade. Axes, hatchets, adzes, -knives, tobacco pipes, looking-glasses, cheap trinkets, duffels and -other cloth weaved in Holland were purchased by Blommaert and shipped -to Sweden where they were loaded aboard the two ships. So were a few -tools for farming, as well as some spirituous liquors and wines to be -traded either in Virginia or the West Indies for tobacco. The tobacco -was to be brought into Sweden where people had lately developed a taste -for it. But the furs would be sold in Holland, a better market for -foreign skins. - -No act of fate guided Peter Minuit to the site he chose for the Swedish -beachhead in America. It was on Minquas Kill, a little stream from -the west emptying into the estuary of the Delaware River. The Indians -from whom the stream acquired its name had often used its course -in their raids against the Lenape. Minuit doubtless knew all about -Minquas Kill from reports he had received from Dutch traders when he -was Governor of New Netherland. He knew it was navigable by small -boats almost to the borders of the Minqua country, where a trade might -be joined for the rich pelts then finding their way to the English on -Chesapeake Bay. Also, he well knew that the site he selected on this -stream was a protected though strategic one from which, once fortified -and garrisoned properly, further encroachment on the Dutch West India -Company’s South River preserves might be safely launched. - -For a kettle and other trifles Minuit bought enough land from a local -sachem to erect a couple of houses, emplace some cannon and palisade -“Fort Christina”--which was named in honor of the Queen of Sweden and -which was the beginning of Wilmington, Delaware. Then, he managed to -attract a few other Lenape chieftains from up and down the Delaware -who were perfectly willing to cede all the land that he wanted for New -Sweden in return for the colorful merchandise he offered. - -There was some argument later about these “deeds,” that is, after they -were “lost.” Not only was their geographical extent challenged, which -the Swedes claimed to be the west side of the Delaware from Duck Creek -up to the Schuylkill; but other purchasers, in particular the Dutch to -whom the Lenape were equally accommodating, laid claim to identical -grants from the Indians. The English did too, in at least one case. - -Of course the Hollanders came down the river from Fort Nassau, shortly -after the Swedes arrived, to find out what was going on. But Minuit, -experienced in handling them, gave it out that he was only stopping in -Minquas Kill for wood and water on his way to the West Indies. In this -he was telling the truth, strictly speaking, for he and both of his -ships were moving on to that part of the new world to exchange their -liquor for tobacco and to try for Spanish prizes before returning to -Europe. What he neglected to say was that he was building a fort to -be left garrisoned with 24 men, collecting return cargoes of furs and -leaving a sloop on the river to collect more. - -Peter May, at the time in charge of Fort Nassau during Jan Jansen’s -absence at Fort Amsterdam, learned the truth when Minuit’s little -trading boat tried to slip past the Dutch outpost to barter for pelts. -May wouldn’t let the sloop ascend the river, and he sped Indian -runners overland to Manhattan with news of the Swedish invasion. -Whereupon newly-arrived Governor Kieft dispatched Commissary Jansen -back to his South River headquarters with many loud protests and -threats against the Swedes, but not much in the way of force to back up -his fulminations. - -The New Netherland governor even issued a menacing proclamation. In -view of the close political and economic ties between Sweden and his -country, he couldn’t believe that the Swedish queen had authorized -Minuit to build forts “or to trade in peltries on the South River,” but -in any event, he proclaimed, the Dutch West India Company would defend -its rights by bloodshed if the Swedes did not withdraw. - -Peter Minuit was undeterred by all of this however. He went about -finishing his fort and collecting his peltries, and there wasn’t really -anything the Dutch could do about it. They claimed that he “drew all -the skins to him by his liberal gifts,” and that as a result of his -“underselling” their losses ran to 30,000 guilders. - -While Minuit was still on the Delaware that spring of 1638 he sent -the _Grip_ down to Jamestown to try to barter liquor for tobacco. -However the Governor of Virginia, Sir Francis Wyatt, who probably -looked askance at the usurpation of English claims on the Delaware, -diplomatically found excuses for not trading with the Swedes. He said -he would refer the matter to his king, and that ended it. The _Grip_ -returned to Minquas Kill, transferred the liquor to the _Kalmar Nyckel_ -and set out in search of a fat Spanish galleon. - -Soon thereafter, the _Kalmar Nyckel_ also took aboard 710 beaver, -otter and bear pelts, which had been collected from the Indians, and -laid a course for the West Indies to trade the liquor for tobacco. -Peter Minuit sailed in this ship. He left Mans Kling in command of -Fort Christina, with Hendrick Huygen as commissary in charge of the -provisions, merchandise and Indian trade. Huygen maintained excellent -relations with the Indians and would appear to have opened up trade -with the Minquas. He bartered for food as well as furs, and the first -permanent white settlement in the present State of Delaware was able -to sustain itself for two years before any further relief came from -Sweden. - -In the meantime, New Sweden’s founder had lost his life in the West -Indies. While the _Kalmar Nyckel_ was in harbor at St. Christopher’s -Island, Minuit went aboard a ship out of Rotterdam as the guest of its -skipper. A hurricane came up suddenly and drove this ship out to sea. -It was never heard of again. - -Peter Minuit’s untimely death was an irreparable loss to the Swedes. He -would have made a capable governor for their colony in America, which -might have turned out quite differently had he remained in charge. - -After a fruitless year on the track of the silver fleet the _Grip_ -returned to New Sweden in the spring of 1639, took on a miscellaneous -lot of over 1,500 fur skins and sailed for Sweden. All the skins were -reshipped to Holland for merchandising, where the _Kalmar Nyckel_ had -already unloaded its cargo of pelts. Altogether, these first furs from -New Sweden brought 15,426:13:8 florins into the coffers of the company -according to Dr. Amandus Johnson, the American-Swedish historian. - -The Dutch West India Company, at last awakening to the perils facing -New Netherland from foreign encroachment, now took more positive steps -to encourage immigration. The directors promised land and free trade -in the colony to private persons and made their promise firm by an -official proclamation. It was announced that anyone could henceforth -trade in pelts, as well as other merchandise, upon payment of fifteen -per cent tax and freight charges on all exports. - -This lure to promote individual enterprise under the flag of Holland -quickly brought Dutchmen from the Netherlands as well as “strangers” -from Virginia and New England into the colony. After being on the -verge of economic collapse because of the company’s mismanagement, New -Netherland began to prosper again, especially those parts about the -North River. The newly liberalized policy was too late, however, to -have any effect in offsetting the invasion of the South River under the -Swedish flag. - -Swedish reinforcements, men and women, began arriving in 1640. Even -some Hollanders came over and took up land near Fort Christina, their -leader being paid a salary by the Swedish government as the commandant -of his people. Among contingents of new settlers from Sweden itself -were some who came unwillingly. Such were the Finns, those hearty, -pioneering outlaws who had been roving Sweden, poaching game and -destroying forests, and rudely mocking all efforts to curb their -depredations. Many of them were rounded up and “persuaded” to emigrate, -along with some native “criminals” whose most serious offenses appear -to have been unpaid debts, adultery, and draft-dodging. - -But these unwilling emigrants quickly adapted themselves after they -arrived in the new country. They rendered good service clearing the -land, hewing trees and building houses. Back of Fort Christina typical -Scandinavian houses went up, the first “log cabins” ever seen in -America, with the timbers notched so that the carefully tailored logs -lay flat and close at the joints. These primitive but highly efficient -cabins soon became the symbol of the American pioneer--the fur trader -as well as the farmer. - -The trading limits of New Sweden were extended to the Falls of the -Delaware on the north and to Cape Henlopen on the south by new -purchases from the Indians. Traffic in pelts, always the chief business -of the colony, was prosecuted with real vigor. With the arrival in 1643 -of a vigorous new governor, Johan Printz, the Swedes began establishing -trading posts and forts up and down the river in their expanded -territory. And there just weren’t enough Hollanders under the flag of -the Dutch West India Company at Fort Nassau to stop them, no more in -fact than twenty at any time. - -The Swedes went out even to the Minqua country in the valley of the -Susquehanna, competing with the Dutch for the luxuriant pelts from the -northern lake country. Traders with Hendrick Huygen penetrated the -northwestern hinterland over 200 miles. Most often however the Minquas, -or Susquehannocks, who no longer went to the Marylanders in Chesapeake -Bay, came with great bundles of their fine pelts to trade at Fort -Christina, for they found that the Swedes were more liberal than either -the Dutch or the English, not only with trade goods but with sewan, or -wampum. - -Always the Swedes gave the Minquas generous measures of shell strings -in exchange for beaver. Whether it was common white roanoke made from -the cockle shells found in quantity along some local beaches, valuable -peake strung with purple conch shell, or a variety of the even more -highly prized Long Island wampum, measurements were uniformly generous. -And since fathoms, ells and yards were roughly estimated by using -the length of one’s arm, the giant Susquehannocks did very well for -themselves. - -Resourceful as usual, the Dutch began manufacturing false wampum -to meet the competition. But the savages were quick to detect the -counterfeit and wouldn’t accept it. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, some English traders from the New Haven Colony, which was -being hemmed in and cut off from the Indian trade of New England, had -come down to test out the prospects on the Delaware River and were very -much impressed. George Lamberton, Nathaniel Turner and others decided -to form a company to purchase land about the Schuylkill River as well -as the unoccupied country stretching northward from Cape May. As usual -the natives obliged them, regardless of prior deeds, and the New -Englanders soon had a colony at Varkens Kill, now Salem Creek in New -Jersey. - -Everything might have been all right if the Englishmen had remained on -the land they bought on the east side of the river. But this was not -destined to be. Although there were some twenty families who cleared -land and planted crops in 1641 at Varkens Kill, these people were -primarily fur traders. They discovered that the east side of the river -was too far from the trading grounds of the Indians. The next year they -established a fort, building dwellings and a truck house, on the west -side of the river at the mouth of the Schuylkill. - -This trading post, located on Province Island in present Philadelphia, -was on land claimed by both the Swedes and the Dutch. Actually it must -have incorporated whatever was left of the abandoned Dutch installation -built there originally by Arendt Corssen in 1633. In any case the men -from New Haven, after starting a lively Indian trade, made it clear -that they would countenance no competition within their newly acquired -precincts. - -The Swedes and the Dutch, who had been operating under a kind of armed -truce in this area, united promptly in the face of this threat to their -common interest. Two armed sloops were sent out by the Council of New -Netherland, and Jan Jansen with the cooperation of the Swedes attacked -and burned out the interlopers. George Lamberton managed to escape in -his pinnace with a few of his people. But most of the New Englanders -were captured and shipped off to Manhattan as prisoners. - -Lamberton, however, like most English traders, was a man of tenacity -and courage. Certainly he was persistent when he thought he saw a good -thing. The very next year he was back in the river again. This time, -unfortunately for him, the atmosphere was even more hostile. That -hot-tempered, national-minded Governor of New Sweden, Johan Printz, had -arrived in the meantime--all four hundred imperious pounds of him! - -“Big Belly” Printz, as the Indians called him, came with the fire of -patriotism in his eye. He was not one to stand for any nonsense from -foreigners. As a good diplomat he maintained a neighborly friendship -with the Dutch, as he had been instructed to do, that is, so long as -they were no military threat to New Sweden and so long as they could be -outwitted in the Indian trade. But the English--those aggressive and -stubbornly nationalistic colonizers--were another matter. - -So, in 1643, when George Lamberton once more sailed up the Delaware in -his pinnace, he was to find himself in real trouble. - -Intercepting some Minquas en route to Fort Christina with their furs, -Lamberton induced them to trade with him. Whereupon the Swedish -governor invited him to dinner in order to arrest him, the charge being -that of having bribed the Minquas with cloth and wampum to massacre the -Swedes and Dutch. For a while it looked as if the Englishman might have -a short life. - -But, although “Big Belly” set himself up as inquisitor, prosecutor -and judge, he couldn’t make his accusation stick before a mixed court -of English, Dutch and Swedish commissioners in the face of 400 beaver -skins Lamberton produced as evidence of his peaceful barter. In the -end Printz could only fine the New Englander double duty on the beaver -skins he had taken in trade and let him go. As a parting threat -however, he told Lamberton that his pinnace would be confiscated if -ever he traded again in New Sweden without authorization. - -Then the corpulent but vigorous governor turned his full attention to -tightening Swedish control of the river, with a view toward gaining a -monopoly of the fur trade for his company. - -On the east side of the Delaware, where he pretended to the same land -claimed by the New Englanders, he constructed a stronghold which he -named Fort Elfsborg. It was an imposing earthwork, emplaced with 8 -twelve-pound guns and a mortar. Located on waterside just below Varkens -Kill and garrisoned by thirteen men, Fort Elfsborg not only asserted -Printz’s authority over a sickly remnant of the New Haven Englishmen -still there, but gave him military control of the river. Even Dutch -vessels on their way up to Fort Nassau were compelled to lower their -flags before the guns of the Swedish fort, their skippers no doubt -muttering curses against “Big Belly” who now “held the river locked for -himself.” - -On the west side of the river the governor strengthened Fort Christina, -the fur emporium of New Sweden where the general storehouses were -maintained. He moved his own headquarters however to a much grander -manor setting farther upstream at Tinicum Island. - -There, on this water-bound river bank, over which sleek airliners now -wing low, in and out of close by Philadelphia Airport, he built a -riverside fort of hemlock logs “laid one upon another” and a princely -“hall” for himself. Fort New Gothenborg, he named this new capital, -which was little more than half a dozen miles from Dutch Fort Nassau -across the river. To Fort New Gothenborg the Swedish governor hoped to -attract most of the Indian traffic that he now shared grudgingly with -the New Netherland traders. - -For a while the strategy proved highly successful, especially after -Printz established a trading post on the near-by Schuylkill to control -that important artery of traffic from the hinterland. There, on -Province Island, from which the English had so recently been ousted, -he built a blockhouse of his own and mounted “stone cannon” on it. -These were the vicious little “murderers” of the time, whose broad -iron mouths could be jammed with stones or anything else lethal that -might be handy to spray attackers at close range. Other buildings too -were later erected at Province Island, but in the spring of 1644 the -blockhouse served for stores, and also as quarters for Lieutenant Mans -Kling and the traders stationed there. - -The Dutch traders under Jan Jansen at Fort Nassau, frustrated by lack -of numbers as well as by restraining orders from Fort Amsterdam, now -could only stand by watching and biting their nails, while taking -whatever crumbs of the Indian trade their Swedish neighbors deigned to -share with them. - -This same year of 1644 some merchants of Boston, with the backing -of Winthrop and the Court of Massachusetts, formed a company to -discover the great Lake of the Iroquois by ascending the Delaware -River. Some dozen years earlier, Captain Walter Neale of the Laconia -Company had failed in his efforts to reach the lake via the rivers of -Maine. At least the Delaware ran in the right direction, toward that -“inexhaustible” supply of beaver, something it was now conceded no -Maine or Massachusetts rivers did. - -A well-equipped pinnace was actually sent out to the Delaware. However, -just what happened on the river is vague. Certainly neither the -Swedes nor the Dutch wanted English traders on their “backside.” A -few tentative shots were fired, but apparently some wisely dispensed -liquor accomplished more than force. In any event the New Englanders -were “entertained,” one way or another, first at Fort Elfsborg by the -Swedes and then at Fort Nassau by the Dutch, and in the end they were -persuaded to turn back. They returned to Boston in their pinnace, at -great loss to the chagrined investors in the enterprise. - - * * * * * - -Under Johan Printz’s able direction Swedish trade flourished throughout -the Delaware valley. Fine cargoes of beaver and other pelts were -shipped across the sea. Some went to Sweden, but the market was never -good there for foreign pelts and most were auctioned in Holland. Great -quantities, however, were sold locally in America for needed supplies. -And, we are told, “otter coats” and “elkskin trousers” were common -articles of dress among the Swedes themselves. - -Like the Pilgrims, the Swedes could not have maintained themselves -but for the beaver trade. Their attempts to cultivate tobacco were -unsuccessful. Neither did they grow sufficient food for themselves. -And little enough help came from home. For nearly six years after the -winter of 1647-48 there was no relief ship nor even any official word -from Sweden to its earnest governor in America. A relief expedition -sent out in 1649 was wrecked en route in the Spanish West Indies, its -people tortured and enslaved. Printz had to depend on his Dutch and -English neighbors for supplies. And there was only one thing of value -to give them in exchange for this subsistence--beaver. - -The problem of the Swedes was to monopolize the Indian beaver trade -while depending upon competitors not only for subsistence supplies but -for the very trucking merchandise required for the Indian trade. Dutch -traders, as well as English, were therefore welcome on the Delaware so -long as the Swedes could act as middlemen between them and the natives -who had the beaver pelts. - -English traders of this type were particularly active in New -Sweden--Virginians and New Englanders, and some roving independents -like Isaac Allerton, the former Pilgrim father who made so much trouble -for his associates at Plymouth. Allerton, as a matter of fact, made his -headquarters at this time with the Dutch at Fort Amsterdam. - -John Wilcox and William Cox were among other colonial merchants who -purveyed fowling pieces, sailcloth, duffels, cheese and brandy to -the Swedes in exchange for beaver skins. They also provided Printz -with trucking goods, such as knives, kettles, axes, hoes, cloth, red -coral and sewan, or wampum. Among many such entries in the company -books, reported by Dr. Amandus Johnson, is one for 220 yards of sewan -purchased from an Englishman for 140 beaver skins valued at 800 florins. - -William Whiting, a Hartford merchant, collected 1,069¹⁄₂ pounds of -beaver worth 4,277 florins from the Swedes on one trading expedition to -the Delaware in 1644. Captain Turner and Allerton, who made frequent -trips there, purveyed cloth, barley seed and other grain, millstones, -beer, leather and wampum for the Indian trade, all in exchange for the -Swedes’ beaver. Several trading boats were also sold to the Swedes, a -small one being exchanged for 98 skins, and larger barks bringing five -to ten times as many. - -Printz frequently sent his own people with beaver to New Amsterdam, and -even to New England, to buy trade goods, livestock, rye, corn, lime, -and other supplies. His chief commissary, Hendrick Huygen, usually -headed up the expeditions to Manhattan. At the Dutch capital the going -rate for corn, which was not always to be obtained direct from the -Indians, was one beaver pelt for three bushels. Evidently the Swedes -found this exchange less onerous than toiling with the plow. - -On one trip to the Dutch capital Huygen bought seven oxen for 124 -beaver skins valued at 868 florins, a cow for 22 skins worth 154 -florins, and 75 bushels of rye for 32 skins valued at seven florins -each. It cost him only ten skins to get this livestock to New Sweden, -five being paid out to two Hollanders who led some of the oxen -cross-country, and five to the Governor of New Netherland whose sloop -delivered the remainder on the Delaware. On another trip, in addition -to oxen, Huygen bought a horse for thirty skins. He even settled for -his expenses at New Amsterdam with beaver, paying out nine skins for -board and five for lodgings to the inn-keeper on one occasion, while -having the storm-torn sails of his boat repaired for another six skins. - -The Swedes never did root their colony in agriculture. For one thing, -it was just too easy to rest the entire economy on the beaver trade, -and somehow the habit persisted even after the fur frontier had -passed into the hinterland. A visiting Indian convert from New France -once accused them of being more concerned with fur trading than with -converting his red kinsmen to Christianity. The charge was true enough. -It might have been leveled in fact at almost any colonials of the time. -But probably it wasn’t even of passing interest to the beaver-hungry -Swedes. - -A lesser reason for the agricultural failure was that there never -seemed to be enough Swedes to man farms. The total population -of the colony--soldiers, traders, farmers, servants, women, and -children--amounted to no more than two hundred fifty at any time during -Governor Printz’s tenure. And losses by death were not offset by -reinforcements from home. In the spring of 1648 a census of all male -inhabitants of age counted up to only seventy-nine. These seventy-nine -were not all Swedes by a large number. - -When Peter Stuyvesant arrived in America as governor of the Dutch, -the inherent numerical weakness of the Swedes was at once apparent to -him, for he was an experienced soldier. He also knew that because of -changing conditions abroad there was less reason for being so friendly -and neighborly. With the war against the Catholics drawing to a close, -the alliance was breaking up, and Holland was no longer favoring -Swedish shipping. The two countries were becoming bitter competitors. - -The new Dutch governor had a personality that was every bit as colorful -as that of his soldier counterpart in New Sweden. Having lost a leg -in action, and being of an arrogant and tyrannical nature, Stuyvesant -stamped about affectedly on a silver-banded pegleg, swishing a -rattan cane to emphasize his commands. But he was also as zealously -nationalistic and as company-minded in the administration of his -colonial post as was Johan Printz. - -It was predestined that hot-tempered “Big Belly” and autocratic -“Peg-Leg” would clash. They did--almost immediately. - -Printz, it appears, replaced his blockhouse on Province Island with a -much stronger installation, Fort Korsholm, armed with cannon and manned -with a garrison of soldiers. Andries Hudde, who had succeeded Jan -Jansen as Dutch commissary on the South River, reported to Stuyvesant -that he was now absolutely cut off from the Schuylkill and that the -Swedes were “hindering” all other Dutch trade with the Indians in the -river valley. - -Furthermore, Hudde said, the Swedes had spoiled the trade anyway, -for the Indians now insisted on two fathoms of white sewan and one -fathom of purple sewan for a beaver. And, since a fathom was commonly -estimated as the span of a man’s outstretched arms, the natives were -sending “the largest and tallest among them to trade with us.” This -made the barter “rather too much against” him, the Dutch commissary -complained, as every fathom amounted “to three ells!” - -Stuyvesant, to Hudde’s surprise, instructed him to take the initiative -against the Swedes, telling him it was now well known that the Swedes -could expect no succor from home, and that he should go into the -Schuylkill and erect a stronghold there for his own traders. - -Backed by this authority the South River commissary, who was of an -aggressive nature anyway, went into the Schuylkill with enthusiasm. In -May of 1648 he began building a log house surrounded by palisades at -Passyunk, on the lands purchased by Corssen in 1633. He called it Fort -Beversrede (Beaver Road Fort). Located within the limits of present-day -Philadelphia, on the east bank of the Schuylkill, Fort Beversrede not -only challenged the Swedish monopoly of the Schuylkill trade but it -restrained some of Printz’s people who were now probing east and north -of that stream. - -Governor Printz reacted violently as might have been expected. He -sent out several chastising expeditions of armed men who tore down -palisades, destroyed surrounding forests and burned houses being built -about the new Dutch trading post. But there doesn’t appear to have been -too much blood shed, and the whole affair ended up amusingly enough -when the Swedes constructed a blockhouse of their own on the riverside -within a dozen feet of the gates to the Dutch fort. Evidently the six -nervous Hollanders who manned Fort Beversrede looked the other way -during this operation. In any case, after the Swedish blockhouse went -up, thirty-five feet in length, the Hollanders in their fort didn’t -have “the sight of the water on the kill” that they were supposed to -dominate. - -It is easy to imagine that this was almost too much for Stuyvesant. -However, he was cautioned by his employers in Holland to arm himself -with some patience before using force against the Swedes. But then, -becoming increasingly irritated by further trespasses, the governor -determined to send both ships and troops to the South River as a -convincing show of strength. In 1651 he dispatched eleven ships with -arms and supplies around the coast, while he marched overland with 120 -soldiers to Fort Nassau where the fleet met him. - -There ensued much on-the-spot argument among the Dutch, the Swedes, and -the Indians, about their overlapping land titles. But it all ended up -with the Dutch becoming the masters of the South River, their troops -being much the most persuasive consideration in the case. - -Stuyvesant sailed down the river to a likely site on the west bank just -below Fort Christina, landed two hundred men and erected a commanding -fortification which he named Fort Casimir. Located on a peninsula, near -present New Castle, Fort Casimir was 210 feet long and was mounted -with twelve guns, some of which came from Fort Nassau, now dismantled. -Two warships were also stationed in the river and several English -trading-boats were taken as prizes since England and Holland were at -war. All traders on the South River were now compelled to pay duty to -New Netherland. - -Printz’s situation deteriorated rapidly as Dutch trading factors -overran New Sweden, monopolizing the beaver commerce. With pitifully -few remaining subjects, desertions having cut the total population to -less than a hundred souls, the governor had to leave Forts Elfsborg and -Korsholm unmanned and rotting. Now that he was without trade goods even -the Indians turned against him, boldly committing depredations within -the limits of the colony. - -The people, growing mutinous, openly accused “Big Belly” of avarice -and brutality. They claimed that by their enforced labor he had filled -his storehouses at Tinicum Island with skins for his personal profit. -But he tore up a petition of their grievances and had their leader -convicted of treason. Then he heatedly dared the others to complain -again. - -As to the charge of brutality, things were probably no worse nor any -better than the time a party of Indians was hired in New Sweden to -track down some settlers who deserted. These luckless subjects, who -had first tried unsuccessfully to desert to the Dutch, fled toward -the English settlements on the Chesapeake. The savages did their job -well--and efficiently--bringing back only the heads of those who -resisted capture. - -The Swedish governor could only protest the Dutch usurpation of his -life-giving trade in the face of the military odds against him and his -own internal problems. His government was left intact however, and he -bided the time that reinforcements would arrive. But none came, nor -even any word. In the end he asked to be relieved. When there was no -reply to his request Johan Printz, at last disillusioned and completely -frustrated, finally took it on his own authority in 1653 to relinquish -his post and sail for home. - -Once, some years earlier when Printz was a young officer in the Army -of Sweden, he had been dismissed from the service for surrendering his -post without authority. When he left America under similar conditions, -it is said that he took the precaution of getting a letter of -recommendation from Peter Stuyvesant to the Dutch West India Company, -just as insurance. - -The year after Printz sailed away reinforcements did at long last -arrive in New Sweden, and with them came a new and impetuous governor -named Johan Rising. Finding Fort Casimir in the embarrassing position -of being without gunpowder and greatly underestimating the general -situation of the Dutch in New Netherland, Rising made the mistake of -reducing the fort to Swedish rule and pledging the loyalty of some of -the Dutchmen there. - -Infuriated, the Directors of the Dutch West India Company sent a fleet -of ships and two hundred veteran soldiers across the sea to their -governor at New Amsterdam. They ordered him to gather all possible -additional forces before the Swedes could be reinforced and “exert -every nerve to avenge that injury, not only by restoring affairs to -their former situation, but by driving the Swedes from every side of -the river.” Stuyvesant responded with alacrity. In September of 1655 he -was under sail for the South River with a fleet of seven armed ships, -land artillery for besieging batteries, and several hundred soldiers. - -Captain Sven Skute who was the commandant at Fort Casimir, now called -Fort Trinity by the Swedes, had greatly strengthened the fortifications -there in anticipation of the attack. Shot and powder were stored in -good supply, as were all other necessities for defense. Skute had -written orders from the Council at Fort Christina not to let the enemy -pass. - -But, when the Dutch flotilla sailed up the river and anchored above the -fort, Sven Skute didn’t fire a shot. Stuyvesant was permitted to mount -his batteries ashore without interference. After the Swedish stronghold -had been completely surrounded and cut off, Skute sent out word that -his men were going to defend the position. Governor Stuyvesant replied -that if a single Hollander became a casualty there would be no quarter -for any Swede in the fort. Whereupon Captain Skute capitulated under -terms that permitted him to walk out with his “personal property.” His -men had mutinied, it appears. - -Leaving Captain Dirck Smith in command of the fort, now renamed Fort -Amstel, the Dutch moved on to the Christina. There Stuyvesant repeated -his maneuver, investing the fort and the entire Swedish settlement. -While he and Rising parleyed, Dutch soldiers pillaged the countryside -as far north as Tinicum Island, where Johan Printz’s ambitious -daughter, married to a pliable husband, now held forth at Printz Hall -in the style of her father. The Hollanders killed livestock, plundered -houses and left the women “stripped naked” in their beds, or so it was -said. - -Governor Rising’s situation was hopeless. He had only a small supply of -ammunition, most of it having been sent to Fort Trinity. He was faced -not only with the Dutch guns pointing at his fort but with increasing -desertions to the enemy. Stuyvesant was demanding complete evacuation -of the position or the oath of loyalty to Holland from all Swedish -subjects. - -In the end the Swedish governor could only agree to surrender, with -transportation guaranteed for those who did not wish to remain as Dutch -subjects. The governor himself did not fare too badly. It appears that -his private property, like that of Captain Skute, was respected under -the terms of the capitulation and that it was promised he would be -landed in “England or France.” - -New Sweden was no more. No longer did the Dutch at New Amsterdam have -to worry about Swedish competition on their South River, much less the -envelopment of Fort Orange in the north by Swedish penetration of the -hinterland. - -What the Dutch had to worry about now, other than the Indians in -the vicinity of Manhattan who were getting a bit out of hand, were -Englishmen--especially the New England traders pressing them in the -north. And that was becoming quite a worry! - - - - -XV - -_New Netherland Threatened Without and Within_ - - -Nowhere in America was there a better situation for a great fur -emporium than Manhattan Island. There, converging into a protected -harbor which was easily accessible to seagoing ships, were arteries of -fur traffic that tapped both hinterland and coastal trade. Indeed, the -beaver trade that originated at Manhattan in the round-bellied Dutch -ships of the seventeenth century was the genesis of a commerce that was -to make New York the greatest seaport in the world. - -But, although the Hollanders at New Amsterdam had this material -advantage and were exploiting it with all their energy, their -occupation of New Netherland was insecure to say the least. In English -eyes they were squatters on English territory, and the English had the -physical means to do something about it whenever they wished. - -Logically, of course, the Englishmen had a very poor case. In the light -of their own Elizabethan theory that occupation of a territory was -necessary to back up any claim of possession, the Dutch title to New -Netherland was certainly valid. The Hollanders had searched out and -settled the country. The Englishmen had not bothered to do either. Yet, -stubbornly, they had never once conceded Dutch sovereignty. - -Naturally, they had to come up with a new interpretation of Elizabeth’s -historic pronouncement. It took the following line of reasoning. James -I had long since defined Virginia as extending from the 34th to the -45th parallel, and, in fact, had granted it by charter to two great -joint-stock companies of London and Plymouth before Captain Hudson -ever went out to America for the Dutch. Such an act of sovereignty -could be considered equivalent to taking possession of that territory! -Therefore the Dutch were intruders!! - -And, a quarter of a century after this “act of sovereignty,” parts of -Dutch New Netherland--Connecticut, Long Island and the west bank of the -Delaware River--were being reconveyed by the original English patentees -or the king himself, all without benefit of having yet been settled by -Englishmen. - -That no official action was taken to eject the Hollanders can be -attributed to the alliances of the Thirty Years’ War. However, the -time was not too far away when England and Holland, relieved of their -compacts, were to become deadly rivals. Already, in fact, patriotic -Englishmen smarted with the knowledge that a foreign country which had -to import its timber for shipbuilding, and one which had so recently -been helped to independence by them, was growing rich on a carrying -trade that should be in British bottoms. The ultimate conquest of New -Netherland was a foregone conclusion as far as they were concerned. - -Meanwhile, pressure on New Netherland from individual traders with the -backing of London and New England merchants prepared the way for the -anticipated military action. - - * * * * * - -The pressure on New Netherland began in 1633 when a trading vessel -from England invaded the Hollanders’ North River for furs. Her name -was the _William_. She was the first English ship ever to ascend the -Hudson. At the time, the annual returns there were estimated at 16,000 -beaverskins, and no one was better qualified to appreciate this rich -business than the factor in charge of the _William_; for, he was none -other than a former Dutch commissary on the Hudson, Jacob Eelkens, -who himself had driven a great trade with the Indians at Fort Orange. -In 1623 however, after incurring the displeasure of the West India -Company, he had been summarily discharged. Now he was in the employ of -English merchants, William Cloberry and Company of London, and he was -of a mind to square accounts. - -Defying both Governor Wouter van Twiller and the threatening guns on -Manhattan, Eelkens proclaimed haughtily that the Hudson River belonged -to England and then proceeded upstream. Van Twiller didn’t fire on him. -In fact, the irresolute Dutch governor broached a cask of wine while -he deliberated on the situation. Not until he had been roundly twitted -for timidity by his drinking companions did he acquire enough spirit to -dispatch three ships with some soldiers after the renegade Hollander. -By the time this force caught up with Eelkens, he was anchored near -Fort Orange, where he had established a well-stocked trucking station -ashore and was enjoying a lucrative trade for beaver with the natives, -all at the expense of the frustrated Dutch commissary there. - -Van Twiller’s soldiers, upon their arrival, arrested the turncoat -interloper, and the _William_ was convoyed back down the river to -Manhattan where all the pelts aboard were confiscated. Then Eelkens, -protesting loudly, was escorted with his empty ship out of the Narrows, -never again to bother his countrymen on the Hudson. - -But this same year, 1633, there was pressure of a more serious nature -on the Dutch. It came overland, and it was not to be repulsed so easily. - -The fur traders of New England hankered for the beaver that abounded in -the valley of the Connecticut River where the Hollanders were taking -annually some 10,000 skins. Of course Dutch Captain Adrien Block -had discovered and explored the Connecticut, or “Fresh Water” as he -called it, in 1614. And since fur traders from New Amsterdam bartered -traditionally on the river, even establishing a temporary trading -post and laying out the foundations of Fort Good Hope near the site -of present-day Hartford in 1623, there was not much question in their -minds about the jurisdiction of New Netherland. Admittedly, however, -they had made no permanent settlements. - -Neither had the English who now coveted the valley’s beaver meadows. -However, they had lately done some exploring and liked what they found. -Edward Winslow of New Plymouth went up the river in 1632 and was so -impressed that he selected a site for a house. And John Winthrop of the -Bay Colony let it out that because his colony extended “to the south -sea on the west parte,” the Connecticut River, or the greater part of -it anyway, belonged to Massachusetts under its charter. - -So the Hollanders at New Amsterdam, a bit alarmed, bestirred -themselves to complete the fort which had been commenced by them some -ten years earlier. After buying “most of the lands on both sides” of -the Connecticut River from the Indians, they built a strong house of -yellow bricks at their old trading post and set up two cannon there to -secure the river above them. - -But, even while their commissary, Jacob van Curler, was building -this fort in 1633, it was being enveloped by the New Englanders. Fur -traders from Massachusetts Bay fought their way straight west through -the wilderness that summer to reach the upper Connecticut valley north -of Fort Good Hope. In the fall a party of Pilgrims from New Plymouth -sailed up the river from the south for the same purpose. - -It was John Oldham, an adventurous trader of ten years experience -in New England, who pioneered the way for the English. With three -companions he blazed what was to become known as the “Old Connecticut -Path” from Watertown in Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. On -his return he made an enthusiastic report on the valley and its -beaver meadows, while delegations of Mohegans from the Connecticut -valley offered alliances and otherwise made things most attractive to -prospective settlers. They wanted the men of Massachusetts, or any -other white men with guns, to settle among them. It was the only way -they knew to even scores with their recent conquerors, the Pequots. - -There were 4,000 Englishmen clustered about Massachusetts Bay at -the time and quite a few were of a mind to get away. Puritanical -intolerance, given free rein in this new American colony, was making -too much of a strait jacket out of life for many of them. Connecticut -sounded almost too good to be true. Some of the bold ones began making -plans to migrate to the bounteous valley the following year. - -In the meantime Winslow’s people at New Plymouth moved more quickly. -With them fresh beaver territory was always a pressing necessity. -Their very survival as a colony depended on their fur exports. They -also sensed profit in taking sides with the Mohegans. Whereas the -Massachusetts men cautiously avoided any complicating alliances with -the Connecticut valley Indians, the Pilgrims in their desperate anxiety -for pelts were quite willing, as usual, to involve themselves in -inter-tribal disputes. In this case it led to most unhappy results for -the traders, the farmers, and their families. Some have claimed that it -was the genesis of the fierce war between the Pequots and the white men -that exploded a few years later. - -In any event, by early September of 1633 Captain William Holmes of -New Plymouth, carrying a prefabricated house frame in “a great new -bark,” was on his way up the Connecticut River. Undaunted by the Dutch -fort and the Hollanders, who “threatened [him] hard, yet ... shot -not,” Captain Holmes sailed past Fort Good Hope and erected his house -above it at Windsor. There his people established a trading post that -prospered at once on upriver furs at the expense of the Dutch traders -below them. Strongly palisading this post, Holmes and his company then -stood firm against a force of seventy Hollanders who were sent from New -Amsterdam to eject them. - -The Pilgrim coup was short-lived however. Competition from Boston had -even more to do with this than Indian troubles, for in another three -years a wholesale exodus from Massachusetts to the Connecticut was -under way, over 800 people already having moved west to the fruitful -valley. In the forefront of this migration were the fur traders, but -farmers followed them to found Wethersfield and other towns. Invading -Windsor, they swallowed up the small band of their Pilgrim brethren -there. - -The Puritans completely surrounded the isolated Dutch trading post -at Hartford. But, although the New Englanders on the Connecticut at -this time outnumbered the population of all New Netherland, they -made no attempt to oust the garrison of Hollanders in their midst. -Some twenty men, sent out by the younger Winthrop from Boston, did -however take possession of the Dutch claims about the mouth of the -Connecticut. There they tore down the arms of the States General which -had been affixed to a tree and contemptuously engraved “a ridiculous -face in their place.” When a Dutch sloop came from New Amsterdam -to dislodge them, it was compelled to withdraw in the face of two -cannon threateningly mounted ashore. The Boston men then went about -constructing fortifications and buildings which they called Fort -Saybrook. - -After that the English had control of the river and, as they thought, -easy access also to the beaver trade “of that so pleasant and -commodious country of Erocoise before us.” - -One Puritan merchant, William Pynchon, who was to found a great -fortune in the Indian trade, now spearheaded the economic attack on -New Netherland’s northern flank. Because of his relentless search for -fur he did more than any other man to defeat the Dutch traders and to -expand the frontiers of Massachusetts. - -William Pynchon was one of the original company of twenty-seven -grantees of Massachusetts. For their concession these adventurers -were committed to pay the crown one-fifth of all the gold and silver -ore found within the limits of the grant. Pynchon, however, wasn’t -interested in ore. He was of a more practical bent of mind. He traded -with the Indians near Boston from the start, supplying them with guns -and ammunition in exchange for their beaver. - -Although this trade in guns was carried on with the court’s approval, -Pynchon was severely criticized for doing it, fined in fact. Annoyed -about this, dissatisfied anyway with the dwindling fur trade about the -bay, and not being particularly in sympathy with the rigid Calvinism of -the church he had helped to found there, Pynchon’s eyes turned westward. - -This keen-minded, resolute man was probably one of John Oldham’s -financial backers when that extraordinary adventurer pioneered the -Connecticut Path. Pynchon himself made a trip up the Connecticut River -by shallop in 1635 and chose a location for a trading post near the -Indian village of Agawam. Somewhat above the other river towns which -were being laid out, this strategic site was relied upon to intercept -most of the Indian trade from the north and west. - -Early in 1636 Pynchon with his son-in-law, Henry Smith, led a group of -traders overland to Agawam. They shipped their goods by water. For 18 -fathoms of wampum, and 18 each of coats, hatchets, hoes and knives, -with “two extra coats thrown in for good measure,” land was purchased -from the Indians, and a trading settlement was established. It wasn’t -too long before every one was calling this trading post Springfield, in -honor of its founder’s home town in England. - -In the resolutions which were framed for the government of Springfield -a provision was shrewdly included to limit the population. This was -intended to prevent an influx of farmers who would spoil the fur trade. -Actually, the founder brought out only twelve families. As a result of -his plan the main business of Springfield for many years was the beaver -trade. - -There was a provision in the resolutions, too, for obtaining a -minister, Pynchon himself acting in this capacity until the Reverend -George Moxon was finally installed. It is recorded of this good -parson that when he did arrive he preached a sermon that lasted for -twenty-eight days. It is also a matter of record that an early purchase -for the church was an hourglass. But whether its purpose was to impose -a time limit or to insure good measure is not stated. - -Travelling extensively by canoe and on horseback, William Pynchon -bartered with many tribes for beaver, otter, marten, mink, muskrat, -raccoon, lynx, and fox. And, tactfully using Algonquin tribes as -middlemen, it wasn’t too long before he tapped the Iroquois trade. By -1640 he had established one of his agents, Thomas Cooper, at Woronoco, -later the site of Westfield, “where the Indians brought not only their -own furs, but also furs which they obtained from the Mohawks.” When -this happened, the Dutch no longer had a monopoly of the furs of the -Iroquois. - -Of course Pynchon’s tremendous gains meant some real losses to the new -towns below Springfield, which in 1639 had created a government of -their own when they drew up the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. In -an effort to checkmate Pynchon, and bring the trade of the valley to -Hartford instead, Connecticut now granted to Governor Edward Hopkins -and William Whiting “liberty of free trade at Woronoco and at any place -thereabouts ... all others to be restrained for the terme of seven -years....” But Massachusetts came to Pynchon’s rescue, resisted the -Connecticut grab, and eventually established through the Commissioners -of the United Colonies that Woronoco was within its bounds. - -Later, the Connecticut people tried another tack. They declared an -impost on all pelts and other goods that Pynchon shipped down the -river, a tax that could have ruined him. However, they voted to remove -this excise when the Massachusetts authorities, in retaliation, levied -a large duty on Connecticut goods coming into Boston harbor. And -William Pynchon went on to expand the fur frontier of Massachusetts to -the north and the west, and through his beaver trade to become one of -the richest men in New England. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, the Puritan migration was taking other avenues of expansion -in the direction of New Netherland, along the shores of Long Island -Sound. These routes, too, followed the paths of fur traders who as -usual broke through the wilderness to make pacts with the natives or to -fuse the wars that cleared the way for settlement. - -The Narragansett country and Long Island Sound were of course -traditional Dutch trading preserves. But as early as 1632, New Plymouth -established a truckhouse at Sowamset, now Barrington, Rhode Island, and -in the following year daring John Oldham, filled with “vast conceits -of extraordinary gaine,” was driving a trade on his own account much -farther to the west in Long Island Sound. Oldham did business with -both the Pequots and the Narragansetts, the latter taking so kindly -to him and his trucking goods that they offered him free land for the -establishment of a permanent trading post among them. - -Three years later however, on a trading voyage in the Sound, Oldham was -murdered at Block Island by Indians under Pequot control. His boat was -plundered and two English boys with him at the time were carried off -into captivity. This episode fused the Pequot War, the chief results of -which was a bloody purge by the New Englanders that cleared the shores -of the Sound for settlement. - -The campaign commenced against the Pequots in 1637 quickly became a -hundredfold more terrible than the murderous episode the white men set -out originally to avenge. Under the leadership of Captain John Endicott -of Massachusetts, a devastating blow was first delivered at Block -Island. A hundred men went there with him in three ships. They burned -the native wigwams, spoiled the corn, and slew all the Indians they -could catch. Then they repaired to the mainland, where they invaded the -heart of the Pequot country and repeated their brutal chastisement of -the red men. - -This grim Puritan punishment came close to uniting all the Indians in -those parts against the English. Only the diplomacy of Roger Williams, -who traded for furs with the Narragansetts while preaching the gospel, -prevented the great Narragansett tribe from joining the Pequots in the -fierce revenge they now took against any isolated Englishmen they could -find. Meanwhile the Pequots scourged the countryside--until, by a final -campaign, the New Englanders set out to remove this powerful tribe from -the face of the earth! - -An army composed mostly of mercenary savages was assembled by the -Englishmen for this gory task. It originated with a party of ninety -white men from the Connecticut River towns under the command of John -Mason. Together with an equal number of Mohegans, they went down to -Fort Saybrook to meet Captain John Underhill who had been sent from -Massachusetts with twenty soldiers. This nucleous force then proceeded -to the Bay of the Narragansetts where it was joined by some 500 of -those savages, all bent on scalps and loot. From the bay the army -marched overland to the Mystic River to attack one of the chief Pequot -towns, occupied at the time by some six or seven hundred men, women and -children. - -The English and their Indian allies took the inhabitants of the town -by surprise. They put the torch to the wigwams before the sleeping -natives could offer any resistance. All who were not burned to death -were slaughtered as they tried to escape--all except seven who managed -to escape and seven others who were taken captive. It was a terrible -affair--for the Pequots. Only two Englishmen died in the encounter. - -Another main body of the Pequots was routed soon afterward. But that -did not end the bloody harassment. A month later, a large force from -Massachusetts under Captain Stoughton, together with Captain Mason’s -Connecticut men, surrounded all that remained of the once powerful -tribe. This occurred in a swamp at Fairfield where the remnant of the -tribe had taken refuge. The warriors put up a brave fight, but the odds -were too great against them. Those few who escaped this final butchery -were divided among the Mohegans and the Narragansetts, never more to be -called Pequots. - -The shores of the Sound west of Fort Saybrook were open now to -settlers. A wave of migration from Boston resulted in the founding of -New Haven, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford, and other towns. The New Haven -people, forming their own government, even spread across the Sound -to Long Island which, of course, had long been occupied only by the -Hollanders, whose traders exploited the natives there for the wampum so -essential in the beaver trade. - -To halt this encroachment on the very nerve center of their trading -territory, the Dutch hurriedly purchased from the Indians all the -country that remained open between Manhattan and the oncoming English, -acquiring legal title to additional lands on Long Island as far west -as Oyster Bay as well as to all that triangle of territory between the -Hudson and the Sound south of Norwalk. The latter comprised much of -present Westchester County. However the English encroachment along the -north shore of the Sound, as a practical matter, was halted no farther -east than Greenwich. - -Only in the Narragansett country, after 1640, did the Dutch hang on to -any substantial beaver trade east of Greenwich. Rhode Island, by then -well populated with Englishmen, tried to keep them out. However, the -Dutch simply supplied the Indians there more generously with rum and -guns--in return for beaver. So did some interloping but enterprising -Frenchmen. And so did some of the New Englanders themselves, for that -matter. Nowhere was the competition for beaver more keen or more -dangerous than in Rhode Island. - -English laws at the time sincerely prohibited the sale of liquor or -firearms to the savages. But such laws were difficult to enforce on a -wild frontier where uncontrolled profits could be scooped up so easily. -Roger Williams was later to write that he had “refused the gain of -thousands by such a murderous trade.” Some of his neighbors in the -wilderness and even some of his own trading associates had no such -scruples however. - -Richard Smith who became wealthy on the Indian trade was a man of -this stripe. He and Roger Williams, along with John Wilcox, “a -sturring, driving, somewhat unscrupulous fellow,” began trading in the -Narragansett country as early as 1637. Each of them built trucking -houses on the much-traveled Pequot and Narragansett Trail at the site -of present-day Wickford. As trading practices sharpened over the years, -neither Smith nor Wilcox hesitated to meet the increasing demands of -the natives for liquor and powder. Williams was revolted. In 1651, -when he was about to go to England, he sold his house and trading -interests to Smith for 50 pounds sterling. That left Smith without any -competition for this lucrative fur trade, as he had bought out Wilcox -some years earlier. - -Men like Smith and Wilcox furnished tinder for many flaming atrocities -in Rhode Island. But their murderous trade was “the most profitable -employment in these parts of America ... by which many persons of mean -degree advanced to considerable estates.” Rhode Island was truly one of -the most fertile of all beaver grounds--while it lasted. That was until -1660. By then the beaver was all but exhausted, while, with the help -of the white man’s goods, the Indian trapper was well on the way to -destroying himself too. - -It had been the same of course on every fur frontier in America. In -Rhode Island the fateful process of the aborigine’s extinction was -just exaggerated in dreadful degree. As native drinking increased, -atrocities mounted and bloody retaliation followed. Yet, in spite of -this terrible situation, the English themselves came to recognize wine -and spirits as the chief staple of the Indian trade, while futilely -putting new laws on their books intended to limit the natives’ -consumption! - -For their part the Hollanders never had any compunction about -distributing hot waters or firearms among the savage neighbors of the -New Englanders, who after all seemed bent on taking over all of New -Netherland. Protected by ships, of which the Rhode Islanders had none, -the Hollanders drove a continuing trade at their long-established posts -in Narragansett Bay, especially at Dutchmen’s Island which they had -fortified. As late as 1647 the natives were transporting their pelts -in canoes to Dutchmen’s Island, where it was said they could lay in -a supply of strong waters sufficient to keep an Indian village in an -uproar for a week and acquire all the guns and powder they wanted. -And the Dutch continued to trade in the bay for some years after that, -until the beaver of Rhode Island was almost exhausted. - -In fact at no time, until 1650, did the New Netherlanders give up any -part of their claims south of Cape Cod, even though they hadn’t been -able to stem the overland flood of English traders and settlers. In -1647 they did seize an Amsterdam ship, trading at New Haven without a -license from the Dutch West India Company, and brought her into New -Amsterdam where she was confiscated in spite of excited protests from -New Haven. On land, however, they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. -Furthermore, troubles at home, especially with the savages, kept them -close to the valley of the Hudson after 1640. - - * * * * * - -Curiously enough, the New Netherlanders’ troubles at home beginning in -1640 sprang largely from their sale of firearms to the distant Iroquois. - -These lake country Indians, with practically inexhaustible supplies of -the finest beaver, thought nothing of offering as many as twenty heavy -skins in exchange for a musket. The great profit in this traffic had -proved irresistible to the Dutchmen. So the authorities at Manhattan -often winked at the illegal purveyance of arms and powder by their -traders to such faraway savages. If their consciences bothered them at -all, they were comforted by the knowledge that their Iroquois allies -maintained a bulwark against competitive traders from French Canada, as -well as against the enveloping English. - -At the same time however, prompted strictly by self-preservation, the -New Netherlanders clamped down hard on any “bosch-lopers” who sold -arms among their Algonquin neighbors. This was good policy for the -Hollanders of course, but it left the river tribes at the complete -mercy of their ancient and terrible Iroquois enemies, especially the -Mohawks, who descended upon them periodically to collect taxes. - -Added to this touchy situation was the asininity of a reckless Dutch -governor, one William Kieft, who himself attempted to collect taxes -from these same river Indians for the support of his fortifications on -Manhattan. When he adopted wholesale butchery and the surprise tactics -of the Iroquois to enforce his demands for tribute, things became -explosive. The Dutch found themselves waging a sanguinary five-year war -against local tribes who in turn managed to terrorize Manhattan and the -surrounding plantations. - -This war, though sporadic and spotty, was fought with a thirst for -blood on both sides. Massacres and other atrocities were committed by -reds and whites alike, as the Indian league against the Hollanders -spread up the Hudson above the Highlands. In 1643 a shallop coming down -from Fort Orange with four hundred beaver skins taken in trade with -the Mohawks was plundered, to signal a general massacre that resulted -in the virtual evacuation of all the outlying plantations in the lower -valley as surviving colonists fled to Fort Amsterdam. - -It took a final annihilating blow, no less terrible than the recent -English offensive against the Pequots, to end the war. And it was -Captain John Underhill who delivered it with the same dreadful -efficiency he had demonstrated during the Pequot campaign. Underhill, -now a Boston “heretic” living under the jurisdiction of the West India -Company, led 150 Dutch soldiers into the mountainous region north -of Stamford where the remnant of the Indian league against the New -Netherlanders had a strongly palisaded town. When it was all over 700 -Indian corpses darkened the snow. The Dutch lost 15 men. - -Only Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s patroonship far up the Hudson was spared -the tomahawk during these Indian troubles. There, where the shrewd -Amsterdam jeweler had purchased lands about Fort Orange embracing most -of two present-day New York counties, the neighboring Mohawk allies of -the Dutch provided complete protection from Algonquin depredations. -While all was pandemonium on the lower river, both agriculture and -trade flourished at Rensselaerwyck. - -Nowhere in New Netherland, in fact, was there a livelier trade in -pelts then or at any other time than at Van Rensselaer’s manor. And -nowhere was this trade more unlicensed. In 1644 it was estimated that -between three and four thousand furs had been carried off the manor -illegally during a twelve month period. That is, illegally carried off -in the eyes of the patroon, although he himself was shipping out pelts -illegally as far as the authorities at Manhattan were concerned. - -Van Rensselaer, however, recognized no jurisdiction from that quarter. -He asserted that he held his patroonship directly from the States -General and that he would buy and ship furs as he pleased without -regard to any laws or taxes proclaimed by the West India Company’s -representatives at New Amsterdam. And so he did. - -He even built a fort of his own on a Hudson River island where he -emphasized the independence of his feudal domain by enforcing the -medieval principle of “staple right.” Every passing vessel, except -those of the Dutch West India Company, must pay duty or deposit its -cargo of pelts ashore where the patroon might buy these “staples” on -his own terms. The skippers must strike their colors too, in homage to -the lord of Rensselaerwyck. - -Van Rensselaer also made it clear that company as well as private fur -traders were to keep off his property. This caused much bitterness. -Fort Orange, about which the patroon had established his domain, was -the official post of the Dutch West India Company, the emporium where -their traders traditionally bartered for beaver with the Iroquois. -After Rensselaerwyck was established Fort Orange continued to be -the commercial center of this profitable trade, so much so that the -flourishing little trading village which sprang up there under the -very cannon of the fort, and which was to grow into the strategically -important city of Albany, was originally christened Beverwyck. Kiliaen -van Rensselaer of course had no jurisdiction over Fort Orange, the -company’s private precinct, but he considered Beverwyck within his -domain. The resulting rivalry between his traders and the company’s -representatives, with guns for the savages as bait for beaver, was -anything but neighborly. - -The company’s management at Manhattan only quickened the tension when -on occasion the authorities there confiscated firearms en route to the -patroon of Rensselaerwyck. In one case, in 1644, a ship out of Holland -for Rensselaerwyck was discovered to be carrying 4,000 pounds of powder -and 700 guns intended for the Indian trade, and these munitions were -seized with considerable show of propriety. But what then happened to -them is not stated, although one well-informed old chronicler suggests -that they got along probably in due course to the Iroquois as usual -in return for their precious beaver. In any event, the confiscation -represented only one slight interruption in the continuous flow of -these murderous trade goods to the lake-country Indians. - -The feud between the company and the patroonship on the upper Hudson -really settled down to cases in 1648 after Kiliaen van Rensselaer -died and his young son’s contumacious new commissary, Brandt van -Slechtenhorst, took over the management of Rensselaerwyck. For, in the -meantime, that little snappish captain, Peter Stuyvesant, had arrived -in New Netherland as the West India Company’s Director General. - -Stuyvesant was by way of being a reformer, so long as the reforms were -in the company’s trade interests. One of his first acts to attract more -settlers was to permit the popular election of “Nine Men” who, when -called upon, were to assist the governor and the council in matters -concerning the general welfare. But when the “Nine Men” proposed to -serve the general welfare without being called upon by the governor, -Peter Stuyvesant proceeded to knock them down. And when the right of -appeal to the home government was suggested, the governor stamped about -arrogantly on his pegleg and dared anyone to try it. He said he would -make the appealer “a foot shorter, pack the pieces off to Holland, and -let him appeal in that way!” - -Brutally dictatorial though he may have been, the new governor was -earnest nevertheless in all things, reforms included. He took very -effective steps, for instance, to check the smuggling of beaver into -New England where it could be traded tax-free for European goods. And, -while setting up tighter export controls, he also increased the tax -on furs. Furthermore, he not only forbade the sale of liquor to the -natives but he tried his best to enforce the contraband on firearms for -use as trade goods. - -Naturally, such policies were obnoxious at Rensselaerwyck, where -gun-running was popular and company taxes were not. There too the -commissary, Brandt van Slechtenhorst, headstrong in pretensions -to complete independence of the company, was itching to prove his -insubordination. - -So, when Stuyvesant, with his penchant for issuing autocratic -proclamations, decreed a certain fast day not to van Slechtenhorst’s -liking, the Commissary of Rensselaerwyck pounced upon it, rejecting it -as an invasion of “the right and authority of the Lord Patroon.” When -the governor went up the river to challenge his adversary he was met -with open defiance. - -It was Stuyvesant’s edict then that “no new ordinances affecting trade -or commerce within the colony were to be made, unless with the assent -of the provincial authorities.” Also, with regard to the company’s -jealously guarded “precincts” about Fort Orange, no more buildings -were to be erected at Beverwyck within range of the guns of the -fortifications. Such encroachments on the company’s precincts rendered -the fort insecure, the governor claimed. And further, he ordered, the -wooden palisades of the fort were to be replaced with a stone wall, the -stone to be quarried on an adjoining tract of land. - -Van Slechtenhorst’s reply to all this was that he would build wherever -he pleased because all the land around belonged to the patroon. He -noted sarcastically that the patroon’s own trading house had once -stood on the very border of the fort’s moat. No sooner had Stuyvesant -departed than the wilful commissary went right ahead erecting houses, -“even within pistol shot” of the palisades. Furthermore, he forbade the -quarrying of stone for new walls to replace the palisades. - -The feud, continuing unabated, was eventually referred to Holland where -the States General sustained the Governor of New Netherland on every -point. Although by this action the aspirations of the patroonship -for independence were dashed beyond hope, van Slechtenhorst resisted -stubbornly until 1652, when he was arrested and transported down to -Manhattan. In the end also, the village of Beverwyck was officially -declared free, to become a part of the “precincts” of Fort Orange. - -Meanwhile, for Governor Stuyvesant, there was the more vital problem of -the New Englanders who were hungrily gnawing away at Dutch fur trading -territory. - - - - -XVI - -_The English Close Their Coastal Ranks_ - - -All during the trouble he was having with the patroon on the upper -Hudson, Peter Stuyvesant was conducting a diplomatic holding action -against the mounting pressure on his New England front. This was no -easy task in the face of the darkening international situation abroad. -After Charles I of England was beheaded in 1649, Cromwell’s jealousy -of Dutch commerce had become threateningly obvious. War between the -two nations was imminent. And Stuyvesant well knew that the “United -Colonies of New England,” even without Cromwell’s soldiers, could -overrun New Netherland with ease if they took concerted action. That -possibility had been implicit in the founding purpose of their alliance -in 1643. - -It was a fact that defense against the Indians had motivated the New -Englanders not much more than the animosity they nurtured against their -Dutch neighbors, an animosity born of rivalry for the fur trade. After -the alliance, English fur factors became even more aggressive. The men -of New Haven, who were especially bitter about being cut off from the -Indian trade, boldly encroached on Dutch preserves when they ascended -the Housatonic valley and set up a trucking station on the Naugatuck -River within sixty miles of Fort Orange. And traders from the upper -Connecticut valley probed deeply into traditional Dutch territory in -their efforts to tap the beaver stores of the Iroquois. - -But, in the years immediately following the formation of the league, -there was not enough unanimity of purpose among the New Englanders to -attack the foreigners who were standing in the way of their expanding -beaver traffic. For one thing, at that time, the dominant member of -the confederation was not too directly affected by Dutch resistance. -Massachusetts’ main inland fur traffic from Boston did not approach -Dutch territory, and her chief fur merchant, Simon Willard of Concord, -who spearheaded this traffic up the Merrimac River had yet to reach -even Lake Winnepesaukee, itself far separated from New Netherland -frontiers by natural boundaries. - -Of course all New Englanders protested about the “murderous” Dutch -trade in arms for beaver. William Pynchon protested even about the -Hollanders supplying the distant Iroquois with firearms. But since all -the colonies of the confederation were guilty in some degree of this -practice, it is questionable whether the complaints sprang as much from -moral considerations as they did from vexation over the diversion of -beaver pelts to the more freehanded Hollanders. - -In any case, while the New Englanders protested so virtuously about -the Dutch trade in firearms, they complained strenuously also about -Stuyvesant’s new excises on furs, and they took the occasion to pass -laws excluding the Hollanders from any trade with Indians under -their jurisdiction. Their jurisdiction, it seemed, now comprehended -everything along the coast east of Greenwich and unlimited claims to -the interior. This brought about a diplomatic showdown. - -Governor Stuyvesant, in high bluff, journeyed to Hartford in 1650 for -a meeting with the Commissioners of the United Colonies. He offered a -valiant front, opening the negotiations with a letter of considerations -signed at Hartford but dated “in New Netherland.” When the New -England commissioners took exception, Stuyvesant explained that, as -the substance of the letter was agreed upon in Council at Manhattan, -it was so dated. However, if the commissioners would cease speaking -of Hartford “in New England,” he would not date his letters “in New -Netherland.” - -This was not to be his only retreat. His territorial claims east -along the coast retreated from Cape Cod to Greenwich in the face of -accomplished fact. And he could only agree to a stabilization of the -border between New England and New Netherland at about where it had -been fixed already by English traders. Roughly, this was a line running -northerly from the vicinity of Greenwich that was at no point to come -within ten miles of Hudson’s River. The only Dutch reservation east of -that line was the Fort Good Hope trading post. - -It was all very humiliating. However it appeared to have the redeeming -feature of halting by treaty any further encroachment on the heart of -the Dutch trading preserves. The all-important Iroquois trade was saved. - -But only for the time being, as it turned out. Significantly enough, -although the treaty signed at Hartford was eventually ratified by the -States General in Holland, the English government never did get around -to doing so. It wasn’t necessary. England planned to take all of New -Netherland, in due time. - -Meanwhile, the pressure on New Netherland was renewed, while the treaty -itself was violated, even repudiated, by the New Englanders. - -To begin with, Cromwell’s Navigation Act was passed in 1651. It decreed -that goods imported into England must come in English ships or ships -belonging to the country in which the goods were produced. Since this -was specifically directed against the Dutch carrying trade, it soon -plunged England and Holland into a naval war, from which England may be -said to have emerged the victor even though she was soundly thrashed at -sea. But, although the British fleet had to take refuge in the Thames -while an exulting Dutch admiral sailed up and down the Channel with -a broom tied to the masthead of his flagship, the Navigation Act was -maintained in force. - -While all this was going on overseas, New Haven and Connecticut -clamored for the conquest of their “noxious” Dutch neighbors. -So alarmed was Peter Stuyvesant in 1653 that he made last-ditch -preparations for the coming English onslaught. It was at this time -that the famous wall of palisades was built along the line of what -is still called “Wall” Street. This pale was intended to hinder any -possible land envelopment of New Amsterdam by the English. But once -again Massachusetts held back. She prevented outright war in America by -refusing to join in a military offensive against New Netherland. - -The boundaries set up by the Treaty of Hartford were violated however. -By 1655 the English had pushed across the line at Greenwich, well into -present-day Westchester County. By 1659 Massachusetts itself was ready -to repudiate the treaty. - -In that year, it appears, the Hollanders made the mistake of -objecting too vigorously to being divested of the bulk of their -beaver trade by Boston merchants. The Bay Colony, claiming unlimited -western boundaries, had granted a tract in the Hudson valley to -merchants interested in establishing a fur trading post close by Fort -Orange itself. Then, as if this was not offensive enough to the New -Netherlanders, the Boston men boldly requested free use of the Hudson -River waterway to reach their new property. The overland route was too -difficult, they explained. - -When Peter Stuyvesant angrily refused this request the Boston traders -persisted, bringing their case before the Commissioners of the United -Colonies. Whereupon those gentlemen announced airily that “The -agreement at Hartford that the English should not come within ten miles -of Hudson’s River, doth not prejudice the rights of the Massachusetts -in the upland country, nor give any rights to the Dutch there!” Only -the excitement generated by the Restoration in England quelled the -ensuing controversy long enough to forestall a local conflict. - -This same year, only four years after the Dutch conquest of New Sweden, -English pressure commenced from the south. There, Governor Fendall -of Lord Baltimore’s Maryland colony was invading the Delaware valley -with men and ultimatums. He demanded that “the pretended Governor of -a people seated in Delaware Bay, within his Lordship’s Province ... -depart forth!” Otherwise, he declaimed, that part of his lordship’s -province “would be reduced to its due obedience under him.” - -Stuyvesant, of course, refuted the Maryland claim. He pointed out -that Lord Baltimore’s patent gave him rights only to lands hitherto -uncultivated by Christians. But the English pressure in that quarter, -once commenced, was maintained with the same stubborn persistence as -that on the New England front. The British were closing their ranks on -the eastern seaboard of America. The squeeze was on New Netherland. - -The Dutch governor fought desperately for the life of his colony. He -had been plagued with Indian uprisings in the valley of the Hudson, -pirates in Long Island Sound and English plotters in New Amsterdam -itself. Now the very life’s breath of his colony was being squeezed -out, for, in addition to the loss of Indian trade to the trespassing -Englishmen, Peter Stuyvesant also had to contend with the stifling -effects of the new British Navigation Acts. These laws had not been -relaxed in any degree since Cromwell’s death. On the contrary, they had -been tightened upon the restoration of the crown. - -But, since the Navigation Acts were almost as obnoxious to the English -colonies as they were to the Dutch, ways were found in America to -circumvent them. Intercolonial trade practices developed that soon -baffled the monopoly-minded merchants of London and Bristol. Stuyvesant -discovered, for instance, that he could exchange negroes and “other -merchandise” for Virginia tobacco, and then reship the English product -via New Amsterdam. Thus, goods intended for British bottoms were being -carried by the Dutch to foreign markets, in spite of the English -navigation laws. - -Under these circumstances, from the British viewpoint, there was -only one thing left to do. Whatever remained of Dutch authority and -jurisdiction in America would have to be stamped out by military force. -To accomplish this the English had only to take the Hudson River. It -was not only the main highway to the fur stores of the Iroquois, it was -the key to military control of the continent. And it could be seized at -small cost, the Council of Foreign Plantations suggested. - -Whereupon James, Duke of York, persuaded his brother, Charles II, -to grant him title to various lands in America including all the -territory between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers, and to finance -an expedition against New Amsterdam. The English did not bother even to -declare war, since, as the king curiously put it, New Amsterdam “did -belong to England before, but the Dutch drove our people out of it.” A -conglomeration of assumptions hardly warranted by any facts! - -Someone has written that the conquest of New Netherland by the force -sent out by the Duke of York was “a mere bit of bellicose etiquette.” -Others have been more direct, calling it “bold robbery.” In any case, -when Colonel Richard Nicolls arrived off Fort Amsterdam in the late -summer of 1664, with four frigates and five times the fire power of -Stuyvesant’s guns, New Amsterdam became New York without a shot being -fired. So did Fort Orange up the river. It only remained then for -Sir Robert Carr to descend upon the Delaware settlements to force the -allegiance of all those seated there, and New Netherland ceased to -exist. - -The English had closed ranks on the coasts of America. British colonies -now stretched out in line, unbroken by foreigners, from Spanish Florida -to French Canada--one united front--for trade, for war. - -British demands at Fort Amsterdam having proved to be moderate, -the Dutch remained as good subjects, thus establishing the early -cosmopolitan character of Manhattan. Many of the burghers had openly -sided with the English anyway during the surrender negotiations, -apparently with the happy prospect of ridding themselves of their -waspish little governor. Stuyvesant himself, retiring to private life, -developed a warm friendship with his English successor, Governor -Nicolls, each apparently holding the other in high esteem. - -And, in the official seal of New York, full recognition was given to -the little furred animal that had so properly occupied a prominent -place in the seal of the Dutch colony. _Castor canadensis_ appeared -twice, in fact, within the shield of the British seal. Even after the -American Revolution, after the eagle had supplanted the crown in the -seal of New York, these two beavers remained there as a permanent -reminder of the important role of fur in the genesis of our greatest -port. - - - - -XVII - -_Westward the Fur Frontier of America_ - - -With the elimination of New Netherland in 1664 the main obstacle to -British colonial policy had been removed. Laws providing for a more -closely knit relationship between the colonies and the mother country, -such as the Navigation Acts, could be enforced. Soldiers now backed -up the merchants. Indeed, from this time the expansion of England’s -imperial trade system in America would proceed at the point of a gun. - -That it would expand however, and solidly, was because the English had -what it took in addition to guns. They possessed all those stubborn -qualities required of true empire builders, of colonizers. The farmers -who pressed hard behind the fur traders were land-hungry, persistent -and numerous. They kept the beaver traders, and the soldiers, on the -move. - -Although the English flag waved over America in 1664 from Spanish -Florida to French Canada, it was planted only along the coast. The -farthest inland post was Fort Albany on the Hudson, formerly Dutch Fort -Orange. Beyond that, however, lay the boundless hinterland, a seemingly -inexhaustible fur frontier to be rolled westward toward the South Sea, -toward China! - -Of course there was the matter of protecting the English flanks against -the Spaniards and the French. On the left flank, in the south, this had -been accomplished by the Carolina Patent which extended England’s claim -in those parts far below Cape Fear to 31°, and later even farther, -although Spain did manage to keep the border north of its stronghold -at St. Augustine. On the right flank the French coastal boundary had -been neatly settled, or so the British colonials thought, when the -northernmost limit of the widely scattered lands granted to the Duke of -York was placed at the St. Croix River, roughly 45°, which had been -England’s traditional claim there. - -[Illustration: THE TRADERS KEPT PUSHING THEIR BIRCH-BARK CANOES DEEPER -INTO THE WILDERNESS.] - -Then, too, there was the matter of the French traders already in the -northwestern hinterland. But, since England had inherited the Dutch -trade with the Iroquois, those fierce savages were counted upon to act -as buffer allies in the interior, to keep the French trade routes north -of the lake country. - -It was quite a surprise therefore to the British colonials when their -penetration of the interior had hardly begun before Frenchmen were -harassing their right flank. Their coastal border on the St. Croix -River was forced back once more below the Penobscot, while in the -interior the Mohawk valley itself was raided by French troops trying to -wrest more southerly routes from the Iroquois. - -And this was only the beginning of a bloody rivalry between the English -and the French for fur and dominion in America, a rivalry that would -keep the evershifting borders aflame for almost a hundred years--to -culminate finally in the decisive French and Indian War of the -eighteenth century. - - * * * * * - -The Frenchmen of the seventeenth century who followed the paths blazed -by Samuel de Champlain had extended those paths farther and farther -into the hinterland. Fur traders, explorers, soldiers, and Catholic -priests who not infrequently bent to the paddles for discovery entirely -on their own, all took part in this invasion of America. - -Of course the Frenchmen who came to America were not colonizers, not -true empire builders. There were few farmers among them. In the main -they were adventurers. But they had grand plans, and they knew how to -strike bargains and make treaties with the natives. So, although their -lines of communication were much too thinly held, they kept pushing -their birch-bark canoes deeper into the wilderness for trade and -dominion. - -In 1634, one of Champlain’s interpreters, Jean Nicollet, voyaged across -the waters of Lake Michigan to establish trade with the natives in the -Wisconsin region. He had supposed they would be an Oriental people, -and his appearance at Green Bay in a damask gown richly embroidered in -the Chinese manner impressed the Dacotahs no less than the thunder and -lightning of his pistol. Believing him to be a white god, the savages -were humbly acquiescent to Nicollet’s demand for skins, and he took -full profit from the situation. - -In another twenty-five years two intrepid fur-traders, Pierre -Exprit Radisson and his sister’s husband Medard Chouart, Sieur des -Grosseilliers, had looked upon the waters of the upper Mississippi -River. Trading and hunting with the Sioux, they explored much of the -vast country between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. On this -same expedition, it would appear, while his partner was ill in winter -camp, Radisson investigated the region about Lake Superior and learned -of Cree trade routes from that lake to the Great Bay of the North -(Hudson’s Bay). In the end, after many blood-curdling adventures, -he and his brother-in-law returned home to Three Rivers on the St. -Lawrence with a fortune in beaver skins. - -They were soon off again, however, on another extended trading -expedition, this time to build a palisaded fort among savage tribes -living north of Lake Superior and eventually to cross the wilderness -to Hudson’s Bay. Radisson’s account of the perils encountered on this -venture puts one in mind of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece--and -the tale’s denouement is no less reminiscent of that ancient Greek -legend. In any case, the brothers-in-law took along a particularly -fine supply of merchandise on this expedition into what is now -northwestern Ontario--knives, hatchets and swords, ivory combs and tin -looking-glasses, awls, and needles--all those things designed to send -the red men in breathless pursuit of beaver. And, when they returned -home, they had the greatest single cargo of pelts ever before seen -in America. Their convoy included a great fleet of fur-laden canoes, -requiring hundreds of Indians to paddle them. - -Such a kingly treasure was too much for the grasping French governor -at Quebec to resist. What he couldn’t take away from Radisson and -Des Grosseilliers in taxes he took away in fines. This, he informed -them, was because they had gone on their journey without his personal -permission. The share left for the two traders, who had taken the -risks, opened the country and brought back the beaver, hardly -compensated them for their labor. They quit Canada in disgust to cast -their lot with the English, the important consequence of which was the -birth of the great Hudson’s Bay Company. - -Radisson and his brother-in-law first spent some time trying to -interest merchants in Nova Scotia, then under British control, in -establishing a fur trading post on Hudson’s Bay. An expedition did set -out in an English ship but the captain turned back on encountering ice -floes, due to the lateness of the season. Then the Frenchmen went to -Boston, where they gained considerable interest in their project but -not enough capital to launch it. Finally, in England, they obtained -sufficient backing from Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II, to -finance such a costly adventure. - -In 1668 a trading post was established “at the bottom of Hudson’s Bay,” -in the southernmost part of James Bay, and the first cargo of furs to -arrive in England was magnificent enough to insure a royal charter. -The king granted domain over all the vast area drained by waters -flowing into Hudson’s Bay to Prince Rupert and seventeen associates, -incorporating them in 1670 as the “Governor and Company of Adventurers -of England Trading in Hudson’s Bay.” These merchant adventurers became -virtual rulers over “Rupert’s Land,” approximately 1,400,000 square -miles of territory, and so their successors of the Hudson’s Bay Company -were to be for over 200 years. - -After the English became entrenched on Hudson’s Bay, furs were diverted -to them that otherwise would have been collected by the French. In time -French traders became aggravated enough to make repeated attacks on -the rival posts. Attempts to dislodge the English from the bay proved -futile however. Although the “Honorable Company,” as the Hudson’s Bay -Company was to become known, moved ponderously at times due to its -conservative absentee directorship in England, it managed to endure and -to expand at the expense of the French. In fact, it was destined to -become the world’s largest fur trading organization. It would shift the -course of trade to London, to make it the center of the western world’s -fur market. - -Meanwhile, the adventurous French were spurred on by the discovery of -the upper Mississippi. Radisson called the Mississippi, in conjunction -with the Missouri, the Forked River “because it has two branches, the -one towards the west, the other towards the south, which we believe -runs toward Mexico.” Jesuit priests, probing the hinterland, wrote that -the savages assured them the Mississippi was “so noble a river that, at -more than three hundred leagues’ distance from its mouth, it is larger -than the one flowing before Quebec; for they declare it is more than a -league wide.... Some warriors of this country, who tell us that they -have made their way thither, declare that they saw there men resembling -the French, who were splitting trees with long knives, and that some -of them had houses on the water--for they thus expressed themselves in -speaking of sawed boards and Ships”--and Spaniards! - -Already, young Louis XIV had considered occupying the mouths of -continental rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico to threaten the -Spanish possessions there. If Radisson’s Forked River was really one of -these waterways, the strategic value of such a move would be immensely -enhanced. It would provide a backside approach from New France, an -interior line of communications safe from Spanish attack. It was an -intriguing prospect, to say the least. - -Then, in 1673, a fur trader and mine prospector named Louis Joliet -together with a Jesuit priest, Father Jacques Marquette, descended the -Mississippi far enough to learn that it assuredly did flow into the -Gulf of Mexico. Whereupon the French not only tasted the stimulating -prospect of threatening Spanish possessions there, they excitedly -envisioned an inland empire of trading citadels stretching from the -Gulf of St. Lawrence, through the Great Lakes and the Mississippi -Valley, to the Gulf of Mexico. The continent would be theirs, with -great ports of entry at the distantly separated mouths of the St. -Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers. The English colonies would be -completely encircled--to be pinned down on the coast, or eliminated! - -Chief among those who developed this grand commercial strategy for -dominion over the heart of America was Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la -Salle, who as Commandant of Fort Frontenac at the western outlet of -Lake Ontario had built up a thriving trade with the northwestern -savages. Much to the annoyance of the Iroquois he furnished these -Algonquin tribes with guns, powder and lead, as well as less deadly -goods, in return for their furs. La Salle’s profits from this commerce -were huge. But he was an eager young man. The prospect of an enormous -trade for buffalo hides, deerskins, beaver, bear, otter and raccoon -in the Mississippi valley beckoned him to conquest. In 1678, on his -promise to King Louis that he would Christianize the natives, establish -a line of forts from the lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi and open -a direct route to France through the Gulf of Mexico, he was granted a -monopolistic trade patent to all the lands drained by the mighty river. - -It was to be four years however before La Salle reached the mouth of -the Mississippi, even on an initial exploratory expedition, for he was -to make one false start after another. - -If the Iroquois had been unhappy before, they were more so when La -Salle, entering into his new domain, palisaded a trading post called -Fort Crevecouer--the present site of Peoria, Illinois. They almost -annihilated the Illinois with whom the Frenchmen were trading there, -this being one of the tribes over which the Five Nations maintained -their tyrannous lordship. Henri de Tonti, La Salle’s lieutenant in -command of the fort at the time these human tigers descended on their -vassals, was given the choice of being burned along with some Illinois -captives or departing forthwith. He chose to depart. Curiously enough, -however, not without a superb stock of furs for his inconvenience, all -provided for him with typical savage capriciousness. - -There were other opponents with whom La Salle had to contend during -this period of trial. Jesuit priests, who drove a profitable trade -for beaver among the savages while saving souls, objected not only -to the monopoly granted La Salle but to the Franciscan priests who -accompanied him and who competed in both commercial and spiritual -fields. And there were still others who made mischief. _Coureurs des -bois_, those renegade Frenchmen trading in the wilderness without -license and illegally selling their furs to the English at Albany, were -not averse to conspiring against the new monopoly that threatened their -independence. There were hundreds of these savage-like white men, some -originally of the French petty nobility, living among the Indians. Many -of them had squaw wives, no consciences and little compunction about -stirring up a war against their own countrymen if it fattened their -pocketbooks. - -In the end, however, La Salle established trading relations with the -western tribes and organized them as allies. To keep the Iroquois off -his back he furnished his red friends with more guns and taught them -how to palisade their villages against the attacks of their fierce -overlords. This done, in 1682 he was able to launch the fleet of canoes -that carried a motley company of some fifty white men and Indians, -including squaws and papooses, to the desolate delta country at the -mouth of the Mississippi River. There, he erected a cross, sang the -_Te Deum_ and gave the name of “Louisiana” to the vast domain he now -claimed in the name of France. Then he re-embarked with his company for -the Illinois country. - -It was a tortuous voyage back up the river. La Salle sickened and -nearly died. Recovering at last, he went on to France where he -organized and embarked on the expedition that was to end his short but -historic career. - -After setting out for the Gulf of Mexico with a well-equipped fleet of -ships and a full complement of traders and their families, La Salle was -first attacked by the Spaniards; then he failed to locate the mouth -of the Mississippi. In final desperation he built a palisaded fort -hundreds of miles west of his goal on what is now called Matagorda -Bay. In that strange country the young French leader was killed -by discontents among his own men following an argument over the -apportionment of some buffalo meat. - -But La Salle’s grand scheme did not die with him. While the Spaniards, -who carried on a flourishing business in hides in New Mexico, were -not long in searching out all that remained of the French colony and -taking over the neighboring country called “Texas,” they didn’t occupy -the strategic region about the mouth of the Mississippi River. By 1699 -Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, a Canadian, had planted a colony -on Biloxi Bay in what is now Mississippi, and in another three years -a strongly palisaded fort was built close by at Mobile, to become the -capital of Louisiana. - -French trading citadels soon dotted the Mississippi valley--New Orleans -in the delta, Forts Rosalie, Chartres and St. Antoine to comprehend -the length of the great river itself, Fort d’Huiller on the Minnesota, -Pimitoui on the Illinois, and Fort Orleans on the Missouri. Half-breed -camps, conglomerate communities sprang up--Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Natchez, -Natchitoches, and others. The natives, and even the outlawed _coureurs -des bois_, found ready, local markets for their peltries in exchange -for trade goods and supplies. And, while deep-laden canoes and company -boats plied the alluvial waters of the Mississippi River to and from -its mouth, ships from France set a course direct to the Gulf of -Mexico--to the new French fur emporium in America. - -In the meantime, the main path of the fur traders, the line of -communication between Canada and Louisiana, was shortened by a -far-sighted Gascon merchant named Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. -When he palisaded his trading citadel at Detroit in 1699, on the -strait connecting Lake Erie and Lake Huron, he brought about such a -concentration of Indian commerce and military power in those parts that -within a few years portages between streams feeding western Lake Erie -and the Ohio River could be effected with relative safety from Iroquois -attack. And, when French fur traders began dipping their paddles in -the Ohio River, thousands of square miles of territory were added to -France’s mid-continent conquest. - -Not only had the French completely encircled the English colonies -strung out along the Atlantic seaboard, they had now begun to spread -their occupation eastward toward the Appalachian Mountains, behind -which they hoped to contain the English permanently. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, trail-blazing traders from Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania -and New York had come upon the Appalachians and were searching out that -mountainous barrier to further westward expansion. - -Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, had an especial interest -in the mountains and the country beyond. As agent in America for the -Hudson’s Bay Company he hoped to help break the French monopoly on the -hinterland trade by exploiting the western territory from Virginia. -As early as 1669 he sent out John Lederer, a German, who ranged the -eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge, north and south, for many miles. -Even before that, Abraham Wood and other traders with commissions from -the governor had bartered far to the southwest among the headwaters of -Carolina coastal rivers. - -They transported their wares on pack horses, 150 to 200 pounds on -each animal, making twenty miles or more a day on their journeys when -forage was plentiful. With guns, powder and shot as prime trade goods -they visited tribes who had previously bartered with the Spaniards of -Florida. They took hatchets, kettles, iron tools, colorful blankets and -a variety of trinkets to villages never before visited by white men. -On these occasions the appearance of that strange animal, the horse, -strung with tinkling bells and packing unbelievable wealth on his back, -created more awe among the savages than the bearded white man himself. - -In 1671 the Virginians crossed the southerly ridges into the New River -valley, and in another two years young Gabriel Arthur opened commerce -with the Cherokees in the terminal hills of the Appalachians. He -and his partner, James Needham, had some extraordinary experiences. -Needham, a much older man of some experience in the Indian trade, was -murdered by the savages on this venture. Arthur himself escaped burning -only through the intervention of a Cherokee chief who, during the midst -of the torture, adopted him into the tribe. - -The Cherokee chief dressed and armed Arthur as a brave and sent him out -with raiding war parties. In the first such instance, the Virginian -seems to have joined willingly enough in a murderous surprise attack -on a Spanish mission settlement in West Florida. In another, he helped -slaughter some sleeping native villagers one night in the vicinity of -Port Royal, South Carolina, on the promise of the Cherokees that no -Englishmen in those parts would be harmed during the raid. Arthur later -said he could tell that one English family was celebrating Christmas -when his war party crept by their hut. - -In still another instance, Arthur went all the way to the banks of the -Ohio with his Cherokee chief to attack a Shawnee village. There he was -badly wounded and captured, but released with some reverence when he -scrubbed himself and exhibited his white skin to the amazed savages. -After making his way back to the country of his Cherokee friends, the -young Virginian finally returned to his own kind on the James River, -richly laden with furs and trade treaties. - -Henry Woodward, Carolina’s resourceful pioneer, found evidence of the -Virginians’ trade on the backside of Lord Ashley’s proprietary in -1674. Woodward, who saved the fledgling colony at Charles Towne from -bankruptcy by developing a trade in pelts and skins with the hinterland -savages, visited the palisaded village of the Westoes that year. There, -high up the Savannah River, he found the natives already “well provided -with arms, ammunition, tradeing cloath & other trade from ye northward -for which at set times of ye year they truck drest deare skins furrs & -young Indian slaves.” - -Governor Berkeley’s traders were indeed carrying on a highly profitable -commerce. So much so, that in the interests of those profits, it was -claimed, the governor permitted favored hinterland tribes to pillage -Virginia tobacco planters with impunity. In any case Berkeley, who -operated gainfully in his capacity as a British fur factor, did not -respond with enough enthusiasm to the planters’ demands for protection, -and a civil war resulted in 1676 that set back the colony’s economy by -years. The rebellion was led by a fiery, twenty-nine-year-old patriot -named Nathaniel Bacon. Before he died suddenly of a camp malady, Bacon -chased the governor across the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore and -burned Jamestown, the capital of Virginia, to the ground. With Bacon’s -death the revolt collapsed and twenty-three prominent insurgent leaders -were hanged by the governor in an orgy of personal revenge. - -But, if Governor Berkeley had won the war over the fur trade, it was a -merchant at the Falls of the James River who prospered most. There, at -his store, William Byrd maintained a fine stock of calico, red coats, -beads, knives, guns and Barbadian brandy for the pack-traders who -sought out beaver pelts among remote Indian villages in the interior. -So successful was Byrd that by the early 1680’s he dominated the -hinterland trading paths of Virginia and Carolina. From this commerce -he created the fortune that bought enough slaves and tobacco lands to -promote his family to a position among the wealthiest in the colony, -while the great hogsheads of pelts that he shipped yearly down the -James River to England contributed in no small way to the support of -Britain’s growing empire. - -Henry Woodward and his Carolinians driving straight west avoided the -trading paths of the Virginians, as well as the Appalachian Mountains, -to invade the preserves of Spanish Florida. This took them to the -headwaters of rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, to the villages -of the Creeks, where the Spaniards had previously monopolized the -trade in deerskins and Indian slaves. The Carolinians diverted much -of this profitable commerce to newly located Charleston. Thousands -upon thousands of deerskins were shipped yearly to England, to be -manufactured into a variety of articles. Hundreds of Indian slaves were -supplied to New England and Virginia, and to Barbados where the rate of -mortality on the hot sugar plantations insured a steady demand. - -Spanish resistance in the south, the extinction of deer and the -elimination of whole tribes of Indians who succumbed to slavery, kept -the Charleston traders pushing ever toward the unknown west, across the -headwaters of the Chattahoochee and the Alabama and into the valley of -the Tennessee River. Before the turn of the century they had reached -the lands of the Chickasaw Indians bordering on the Mississippi River, -where their bright trade goods soon brought in all the available deer -in those parts. There, they were busily helping the Chickasaws make -war on their neighbors, the Choctaws, to procure slaves in lieu of the -skins, when the French arrived. - -French forts and a French alliance with the Choctaws halted this -English advance into the lower valley of the Mississippi. Even so, -the Carolina traders had pushed the English frontier farther west, by -hundreds of miles, than any other colonials would do during the next -half century. - -North of Virginia in the latter part of the seventeenth century the -two major areas of the fur trade among the English colonies were New -England and New York. - -The New England trade, exhausting itself, was on the decline. It had -been blocked from expansion by national and political barriers in -the west and by the hostility of the French in the north. Raids and -counter raids, with the Indians used as allies on both sides, kept the -borders between the French and the New Englanders alive with savage -horrors. And, because of the prolonged hostilities in Europe these -conditions would continue into the next century, until 1763, long after -competition for pelts was no longer a controlling motive in that area. - -The main fur trade of the colonies in the north after the fall of New -Netherland was New York’s hinterland traffic, that which had been -inherited from the Dutch. All wilderness paths led to Albany, even -those made by the _coureurs des bois_ and their copper-hued families -packing their illegal furs to the Hudson when they could not do -business with their own countrymen at Montreal. In 1679, it was said, -there were over 500 of these French renegades living among the Indians. -And to Albany, of course, came not only the beaver of the Five Nations -but the peltries of vassal tribes deep in the hinterland for whom the -Iroquois acted as middlemen. - -The Five Nations were jealous enough of their trade and sovereignty -to visit swift vengeance on any vassals who tried to deal direct -with the white men, as happened to the Illinois in 1680 when those -distant natives sold their pelts to La Salle. For the same reason -they also tried to keep white pack traders from pushing farther into -the west, where they might exchange their wares direct with the less -sophisticated natives. It was a losing battle however. - - * * * * * - -By the turn of the century, traders from New York, Pennsylvania and -Virginia were working the Appalachian passes for beaver and otter. In -another twenty years many were squeezing through the more northerly -gaps into the valley of the Ohio River. By then, the pressure of -immigrant families upon the land east of the mountains had commenced in -earnest. Palatine farmers were flowing up the valley of the Mohawk in -great numbers, and land-hungry Ulster Scots were scrambling through the -Susquehanna valley and southward up the Shenandoah. - -The fur trader as usual had searched out the country. Then, while he -was still exploiting it for his own purposes, he had to make way for -the farmer. The two could never blend, not after the frontier began -to roll westward. Farmers spoiled the trade. The pioneer traders could -only move on to more fertile trading grounds, to open new territory -which itself would later be taken up by farmers. - -Of course, Indian titles had to be extinguished before settlers could -legally move into the lands opened up by the fur traders. Some tribes -were a bit troublesome about this detail. The Delaware kicked up an -especially bloody fuss on the Pennsylvania frontier. They had more than -a suspicion that they had been swindled by the “Walking Purchase.” - -When William Penn, the founding proprietor of the Quaker colony, bought -land from the Delaware tribe, the extent of the purchase was limited to -the distance a man could go in 1¹⁄₂ days. But, when the time came in -1737 for Penn’s son to measure this off, he did not have it walked off -as the Indians had presumed it would be done. To cover the distance, -the Quaker employed trained white athletes, runners! It was even -suspected that the white runners may have used horses concealed along -the route, that is, after they were out of sight of the Indians who -panted along behind them full of Penn’s rum, according to some accounts. - -Things settled down rather quickly however when James Logan, that -astute Pennsylvanian who guided the Indian policy of the colony, -treated generously with the Iroquois to keep the Delaware in line. The -Delaware, in fear of their fierce overlords in the north, vacated most -of their lands east of the mountains and joined the equally unhappy -Shawnee in the upper Ohio valley. There they listened malevolently to -French traders and soldiers who promised a red-handed revenge. - -So successful was the Indian policy in general, however, that on the -outbreak of King George’s War in 1744 between England and France, the -Iroquois were cajoled into granting the English practically all the -Ohio valley and sealing the bargain with an alliance to help protect -the property against the French who were already there. In fact, -commissioners from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, meeting with an -Iroquois delegation around the council fire at Lancaster, obtained “a -Deed recognizing the King’s right to all the Lands that are, or shall -be, by his Majesty’s appointment, in the Colony of Virginia.” - -As far as the Virginians were concerned those lands by ancient charter -stretched all the way to the South Sea, wherever that was, although -they were willing to settle for the Ohio valley for the time being. Nor -did the Quaker colony seriously dispute Virginia’s claim at the time, -even though nearly all of the fur traders beyond the mountains, who -were now aggressively competing with the French, were Pennsylvanians. - -Chief among these was George Croghan. He had not arrived in -Pennsylvania from Dublin until 1741, but he was established in trade -on the Ohio River well before King George’s War. By 1746 he had a -number of storehouses on Lake Erie itself. From the bustling base of -his operations in the 1740’s near Harris Ferry (Harrisburg) on the -Susquehanna, and later from Aughwick farther west, he and his various -partners directed effective attacks on French trade in the Ohio valley. - -Together with his brother-in-law William Trent, and Andrew Montour, -Barney Curran and John Fraser, Croghan controlled fort-like storehouses -about the forks of the Ohio, up the Allegheny and the Youghiogheny, -on the south shore of Lake Erie, at the forks of the Muskingum, and -even on the Scioto and Miami Rivers. From these trading posts, all of -which developed into rude settlements of sorts, the Pennsylvanians -distributed rum, gunpowder, lead and flints, as well as calicoes, -ribbons, colored stockings, kettles, axes, bells, whistles and -looking-glasses. In return, they collected a fine variety of pelts and -skins--beaver, raccoon, otter, muskrat, mink, fisher, fox, deer, elk, -and bear. - -Croghan’s pack traders, at times possibly numbering twenty-five men -and driving a hundred or more mules altogether, followed the Ohio down -to the falls and worked the streams that fed it. They were trading and -fighting in what is now West Virginia and eastern Kentucky almost a -quarter of a century before Daniel Boone. They bartered under the very -guns of French forts, engaging in bloody skirmishes with the French and -Indians and on occasion being taken as captives to Montreal and even to -France. - -Croghan had his English competitors too. There were, for instance, the -five Lowrey brothers, as aggressive and as rugged a lot of rivals as -might have been found on any fur frontier. But all the Pennsylvanians -were as one in their persistent encroachment on the French. Backed by -factors in Philadelphia and Lancaster, including Shippen and Lawrence -and the firm of Levy, Franks and Simon, both of which specialized in -the Indian trade and in turn received credit from wealthy merchants of -London and Bristol, these intrepid frontiersmen stubbornly picked away -at the French trade. - -In one respect the Englishmen were fortunate. During King George’s War -the French had trouble getting sufficient trade goods, and many Indians -with whom they had been trading became contemptuous of them. It is said -that, on one occasion, when a Frenchman only offered a single charge -of powder for a beaver skin, the Indian with whom he was bartering -“took up his Hatchet, and knock’d him on the head, and killed him upon -the Spot.” Croghan and his Pennsylvanians took full advantage of the -temporary French embarrassment, building up their annual business in -pelts to a value of some 40,000 pounds sterling. - -It was the prospect of a share in this lucrative trade that motivated -some wealthy Virginians, among them Thomas Lee and the Washingtons, who -conceived the Ohio Company after the Treaty of Lancaster. While acting -as a vehicle to establish England’s claim west of the mountains, the -company as it was finally organized promised future dividends from land -development in those parts. But there was the immediate prospect of -rich gains from the fur trade, and little time was lost in lining up -experienced Indian traders for the project. - -Thomas Cresap, a clever Yorkshireman, who operated a trading post in -the mountains near the junction of the North and South Branches of -the Potomac River, became an organizing member of the Ohio Company. -So lavishly hospitable was Cresap to the Indians and others with whom -he did business that he was known to them as “Big Spoon,” but to his -Pennsylvania trading competitors he was an undercutting Marylander -not above committing murder for a beaver skin. Certain it is that -he had once been carted off in irons, after some “rascality” on the -Maryland-Pennsylvania border, to spend a year in prison at Philadelphia. - -In any case the aristocratic tidewater Virginians counted “Colonel -Cressup” a key member of their Ohio Company. The Marylander’s trading -paths already led to the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela, and the -Ohio. So, the fort-like establishment he maintained on Virginia’s -northwestern frontier served as a convenient base from which the -company commenced its well-financed operations in the Ohio valley. - -Employed by the company were some former associates of George Croghan. -Among them were Andrew Montour, a colorful half-breed of _coureur des -bois_ stock, and Croghan’s brother-in-law William Trent. With the aid -of experienced men like these, Thomas Cresap was soon proving his worth -to his tidewater partners and to the British Empire. - -The threat was too obvious to be ignored by the French. They laid plans -to push the English back over the mountains. Already, a French army -detachment, using a traders’ portage between the eastern end of Lake -Erie and Lake Chautauqua, had gone down to the Ohio via the Allegheny -River, planting lead plates along both streams as a warning to -trespassers. Already, French-led and French-inspired Indian raids had -taken the lives of English traders, as well as those of their native -hosts. In one case a prominent Indian chief allied with the English had -been boiled and eaten by some Ottawas led by a French half-breed, all -without discouraging the Englishmen it seemed. Now, in 1753, a French -army of 1,000 men headed down the Allegheny from Canada, to begin -building a line of forts along the line of the previously planted lead -plates. - -Forts were built first at present-day Erie on the lake and at the head -of French Creek to secure a portage. Then, John Frazer’s trading post -at Venango on the Allegheny was taken and converted to a fortification. -There the French troops, bogged down with sickness, dug in for the -winter. - -That is where Major George Washington found them when he carried a note -from the Governor of Virginia to their commanding officer suggesting -that they all retire promptly to Canada. This, the Frenchmen said, they -had no intention of doing. In the spring they would push on, down the -Allegheny, to the strategic Forks of the Ohio. - -Even as the French army was building canoes that winter for its advance -on the Ohio, Thomas Cresap and William Trent were supervising the -construction of an English fort at the forks of the river. They now -represented the Governor of Virginia and the King of England, as well -as the Ohio Company, all of whom were one and the same as far as the -Ohio valley was concerned. In fact Trent, the fur trader in the employ -of the Ohio Company, had been commissioned a captain by Governor -Dinwiddie of Virginia to command the new fort and oppose the French. - -But when spring and the French came to the Forks of the Ohio, Captain -Trent was absent. He said he was looking for recruits; some suspected -he was ferrying his beaver to a safer spot. The ensign in command -yielded the English fort in the face of overwhelming odds, and the -French built an impressive citadel in its place, which they named Fort -DuQuesne to honor the Canadian governor of that name. - -Washington, now Colonel Washington, who was advancing from Virginia -with his militia to Trent’s support, was much too late. He was forced -to content himself with palisading a defensive position along the road -at Great Meadows. There at Fort Necessity, as he called it, he warded -off as best he could the large number of French troops who came out to -engage him. - -That summer of 1754 Washington surrendered. When he led his militiamen -back over the Alleghenies, the Frenchmen had succeeded in their -purpose. The English were out of the Ohio valley. - -However, the American phase of the Seven Years’ War had commenced--two -years before it was officially declared in Europe. The critical contest -known on this continent as the French and Indian War was under way, and -the very next year General Edward Braddock arrived with his British -regulars to direct the campaign. - -The strategic plan decided upon encompassed a four-fold attack upon the -French at DuQuesne, Crown Point, Niagara, and in Nova Scotia. General -Braddock himself assumed the DuQuesne assignment, the most important -immediate objective. But he failed on this mission, his abortive -attempt to reach the Forks of the Ohio ending in the disastrous rout of -his troops and his own death. - -It was not until 1758 that General John Forbes forced the evacuation -of the fort at the Forks of the Ohio. The French then abandoned the -entire valley. Fort DuQuesne became Fort Pitt and the English were in -control of the Ohio River. - -The war was savagely fought out on all fronts in America. Other French -citadels fell--Louisburg, Frontenac, Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown -Point. Eventually, Quebec and Montreal, those ancient fortresses on -the St. Lawrence River, capitulated to the British. Then, in 1763, by -the Treaty of Paris, France ceded Canada and all her territory east -of the Mississippi River to Great Britain, except for one small plot -encompassing New Orleans. Spain likewise ceded Florida. - -The English flanks no longer needed protection. The way west was open -and the frontier was boundless! - -Settlers spilled through the gaps of the Appalachians, into Ohio, -Kentucky, Illinois. And the fur traders, making way for them as they -pressed upon their trading grounds, pushed on, ever westward, across -the plains after the turn of the century to the Rocky Mountains and the -coastal rivers of the Pacific. - -But the era of the early fur trader, typified by the white trader and -the Indian hunter, had come to an end. As the frontier began rolling -across the great plains of America, the white man became trapper as -well as trader. When he took over the function of the Indian, who had -formerly caught the beaver, a whole new conception of the fur trade in -America was born. A new era commenced--that of the fur trapper. - -The fur trader of early America had played out his historically -important role. - - - - -Bibliography and Acknowledgements - - - Adams, Charles Francis, _Three Episodes in Massachusetts History_, - Cambridge, 1892. - - _Adventures of Marco Polo_, ed. by Richard J. 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Samuel, 78, 79, 85, 86, 87, 107, 115 - - Argo, 3 - - Argonauts, 2, 3, 4 - - Armada, 80, 82 - - Armenia, 5 - - Arthur, Gabriel, 194 - - Ashley, Edward, 103 - - Ashley, Lord, 195 - - Asia, 4, 6, 17, 23, 24, 26, 49 - - Atlantic (Ocean), vii, 14, 16, 17, 24, 25, 34, 108, 193 - - Aughwick, 199 - - Augusta (Maine), 103 - - Aunay, Charles d’, 111, 112 - - Avalon (Newfoundland), 114 - - Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, 28, 29 - - Aztec Empire, 27, 28 - - - _B_ - - Babylon, 2 - - Bacon, Nathaniel, 195 - - Bagnall, Walter, 104, 105 - - Baltic Sea, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 45 - - Baltimore, Lord, (first) _see_ George Calvert; - (second) _see_ Cecilius Calvert - - Barbadian brandy, 195 - - Barbados, 196 - - Barbary pirates, 57 - - Barrington, Rhode Island, 171 - - Basque, 25, 37, 39 - - Battery, 140 - - Bay of Biscay, 38 - - Bay Colony, 166, 183 - - Bay of Fundy, 37, 39, 55, 62, 82, 83, 84, 86, 107, 108, 109, 111 - - Bay of the Narragansetts, 172 - - Bay of Santa Maria, 28 - - Beaver Road Fort, 160 - - Bergen, 22 - - Berkeley, Sir William (Governor of Virginia), 193, 195 - - Beverwyck, 177, 179 - - Biard, Father Pierre, 85, 86 - - Biloxi Bay (Mississippi), 192 - - Black Sea, 4, 9, 14 - - Block, Capt. Adrien, 78, 166 - - Block Island, 171 - - Blommaert, Samuel, 141, 147, 148 - - Blue Ridge Mountains, 74, 194 - - Boone, Daniel, 199 - - Borgia, Lucretia, 14 - - Bosphorus, 4 - - Boston (Massachusetts), 78, 98, 156, 168, 171, 173, 176, 180, 183, 189 - - Boston Bay, 98, 99, 101 - - Boston Harbor, 95 - - Braddock, General Edward, 202 - - Bradford, Governor William, 91, 93, 96, 102, 105, 106 - - Brazil, 25 - - Bremen - Canon Adam of, 10, 22 - Councillors of, 10 - - Bretons, 25, 37 - - Bristol, 24, 25, 184, 200 - - Britain, 33, 196 - - British Empire, 59, 201 - - Brouage, Bay of Biscay, 38 - - Browne, Richard, 33 - - Bruges (Flanders), 12, 14 - - Brule, Etienne, 76, 77 - - Bry, Theodore de, 53 - - Burgesses, House of, 118, 125, 127 - - Butler, John, 130 - - Buzzard’s Bay, 55, 87 - - Byrd, William, 195 - - Byzantium, 4, 9 - - - _C_ - - Cabot, John, 24, 25, 27, 37 - - Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, 193 - - Cahokia, 193 - - Calvert, Cecilius (second Lord Baltimore), 127, 128, 132, 133, 134, - 183 - - Calvert, George (first Lord Baltimore), 108, 114, 115, 119, 123, 124, - 125, 127, 129 - - Calvert, Leonard, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133 - - Canada, 30, 31, 33, 34, 39, 42, 43, 61, 73, 75, 76, 77, 83, 104, 114, - 126, 128, 129, 133, 188, 193, 201, 203 - - Cape Breton, 24, 32, 33, 39 - - Cape Cod, 17, 18, 28, 39, 55, 69, 78, 87, 88, 89, 93, 95, 111, 175, - 181 - - Cape Elizabeth, 104 - - Cape Fear, 24, 37, 186 - - Cape of Good Hope, 14 - - Cape Hatteras, 34, 52 - - Cape Henlopen, 141, 142, 152 - - Cape May, 89, 142, 153 - - Cape Sable, 108, 109, 111 - - Carantouan, 76, 77 - - Cardinal de Richelieu, 109 - - Caribbean Sea, 29, 33, 38, 52 - - Carolina, 74, 186, 193, 194, 195, 196 - - Carr, Sir Robert, 185 - - Cartier, Jacques, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 39 - - Casco Bay, 98 - - Caspian Sea, 4, 9 - - Castine, Maine, 103 - - Catawba Indians, 74 - - Cathay, 4, 6, 15, 24, 28, 29, 30, 38, 44, 48, 49, 54, 58, 63 - - Catholic, 47, 82, 85, 114, 115, 124, 148, 159, 187 - - Cavelier, Robert (Sieur de la Salle), 190, 191, 192, 197 - - Cayuga Indians, 74 - - Champlain, Samuel de. _See_ Chapter IV, pp. 37-43, 55, 56, 74, 75, 77, - 107, 108, 109, 110, 187 - - Channing, Edward, 91 - - Charles I, 110, 114, 124, 125, 126, 180 - - Charles II, 124, 184 - - Charles of Spain, 27 - - Charleston, 196 - - Charles Towne, 195 - - Chattahoochee River, 196 - - Chaucer, 13 - - Cherokee Indians, 194, 195 - - Chesapeake Area, 29, 54, 62, 65, 120 - - Chesapeake Bay, 20, 27, 28, 52, 53, 55, 56, 59, 61, 65, 69, 74, 76, - 77, 89 - - Chew, John, 120 - - Chickasaw Indians, 196 - - China, 16, 27, 28, 39, 43, 67, 68, 72, 186 - - Choctaw Indians, 196 - - Chouart, Medard, Sieur des Grosseilliers, 188 - - Christiansen, Hendrick, 73 - - Christina River, 79 - - Church, The, 5, 11, 16 - - Claiborne, William, 119-123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, - 132, 133 - - Cloberry, William, 119, 125, 126, 165 - - _Cockatrice_ (wherry), 131 - - Codfish Land, 25, 26, 29 - - Colchis, 3 - - Columbus, Christopher, 17, 23, 24 - - Commissioners of the United Colonies, 170, 181 - - Company of Cathay, 49 - - Company of London, 165 - - Company of New France, 109, 110 - - Connecticut, 170, 171, 172 - - Connecticut Path, 167, 169 - - Connecticut River, 40, 66, 74, 78, 87, 113, 137, 165, 166, 167, 168, - 169, 172, 180, 182, 184 - - Constantinople, 14 - - Cooper, Thomas, 170 - - Cornwallis, Capt. Thomas, 131 - - Corssen, Arendt, 144, 153, 160 - - Council of Foreign Plantations, 184 - - _Coureurs des bois_, 191, 193, 197, 201 - - Cox, William, 157 - - Cree Indians, 188 - - Creek Indians, 196 - - Cresap, Thomas, 200, 201 - - “Croatan,” 54 - - Croghan, George, 199, 200, 201 - - Cromwell, Oliver, 180, 184 - Navigation Act of, 182 - - Croshaw, Raleigh, 118, 120 - - Crown Point, 202, 203 - - Crusades, 5, 10 - - Cugley, Daniel, 120 - - Curler, Jacob van, 167 - - Curran, Barney, 199 - - Cushenoc, 103, 105 - - - _D_ - - Dacotah Indians, 187 - - Damariscotta River, 104 - - Danes, 12 - - Dare, Virginia, 54 - - Dark Ages, 5, 13 - - Darkness, Region of, 8, 9 - - Dartmouth, England, 72 - - D’Aunay, Charles, 111, 112 - - Davis, Capt. John, 54 - - Debedeavon, 120 - - De Bry, Theodore, 53 - - De Champlain. _See_ Champlain - - De Ferrara, Alfonso, 14 - - DeGuercheville, Madame, 85, 86 - - Delaware, 150 - - Delaware Bay, 78, 89, 138, 141, 183 - - Delaware Indians, 198 - - Delaware River, 20, 66, 69, 74, 77, 79, 113, 116, 117, 127, 134, 137, - 138, 139, 140, 144, 145, 148, 149, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 165, 183, - 184, 185 - - De Monts, 39, 41, 84 - - Department of Commerce, viii - - De Razilly, 110, 111 - - Dermer, Capt. Thomas, 88, 89, 95, 116 - - De Roberval, 32 - - Des Grosseilliers, 188 - - De Tonti, Henri, 191 - - Detroit, 193 - - De Vries. _See_ Vries - - D’Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, 192 - - Dieppe, 32 - - Digby, 83 - - Dinwiddie, Governor, 201, 202 - - Dneiper, 9 - - Donnacona, 30, 31, 52 - - _Dove_ (pinnace), 128 - - Drake, Francis, 48 - - Dublin, 199 - - Duck Creek, 149 - - Dupont-Grave, 38, 39, 40, 86 - - Dutch. _See_ Chapters VII, XIII, XV and pages 12, 13, 36, 41, 45, 66, - 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 102, 104, 116, 117, 119, 120, 134, 147, 148, - 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, - 163, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 197 - - Dutch East India Company, 67, 72, 79, 80 - - Dutchmen’s Island, 174 - - Dutch West India Company, 80, 90, 135, 136, 137, 140, 141, 147, 149, - 150, 151, 152, 162, 165, 175, 176, 177 - - DuQuesne, 202 - - Dvina, 9 - - - _E_ - - East India Company, 67, 72, 79, 80 - - East Indies, 15, 80 - - Eastern Shore, 115, 116, 120, 126, 131, 195 - - Edward III, 46 - - Eelkens, Jacob, 165, 166 - - Egypt, 2, 60 - - Elbe, 10 - - “El Dorado,” 53, 63, 83 - - Elizabeth I, 47, 48, 49 - - Elizabeth City, 120 - - Elizabethan occupation theory, 79, 145, 164 - - Endicott, Capt. John, 101, 171 - - England, 11, 12, 13, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 37, Chapter V, 58, 62, 63, - 64, 72, 79, 83, 88, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 101, 103, 105, 106, 110, - 112, 114, 117, 125, 127, 130, 132, 133, 136, 140, 145, 161, 163, 165, - 169, 174, 180, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 189, 196, 198, 200, 202 - - English, 12, 24, 36, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 46, 48, 50, 53, 54, 55, 59, - 62, 63, 65, 67, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, - 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 101, 102, 104, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, - 112, 113, 115, 117, 118, 119, 122, 123, 124, 135, 136, 139, 143, 144, - 145, 146, 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 161, 163, 164, 165, 166, - 167, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, Chapter XVI, 186, 187, 189, - 190, 191, 193, 194, 196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203 - - Eratosthenes, 16 - - Ericson, Leif, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 - - Eric the Red (Eric Thorvaldson), 17, 21 - - Ericson, Thorvald, 18 - - Erie, 201 - - Eriwoneck, 145 - - Eskimos, 22, 49 - - Ethiopians, 2, 4 - - Europe, vii, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, 23, 25, 51, 70, 72, 141, 149, 197, - 202 - - Euxine Sea, 3 - - Evelin, George, 133 - - - _F_ - - Fairfield, 172 - - Ferrara, Alfonso de, 14 - - Fendall, Governor, 183 - - Fenwick, Cuthbert, 131 - - Ferryland, 108, 114 - - Finland, 26 - - Finns, 152 - - Five Nations, 41, 42, 43, 61, 74, 75, 76, 77, 129, 191, 197 - - Flanders, 5, 11, 12 - - _Flatey Book_, 21 - - Fleet, Henry, 118, 119, 128, 129, 130 - - Florida, 27, 29, 33, 52, 82, 124, 194, 203 - - Forbes, General John, 202 - - Forked River, 189, 190 - - Fort Albany, 186 - - Fort Amstel, 163 - - Fort Amsterdam, 140, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 149, 156, 157, 176, 184, - 185 - - Fort Beversrede, 160 - - Fort Casimir, 161, 162 - - Fort Chartres, 192 - - Fort Christina, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 160, 162, 163 - - Fort Conquest, 133 - - Fort Crevecouer, 191 - - Fort DuQuesne, 202, 203 - - Fort Elfsborg, 155, 156, 161 - - Fort Frontenac, 190, 203 - - Fort Good Hope, 137, 166, 167, 168, 181 - - Fort d’Huiller, 193 - - Fort Korsholm, 159, 161 - - Fort Nassau, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 137, 138, 141, 143, 144, 145, 146, - 149, 152, 155, 156, 160, 161 - - Fort Necessity, 202 - - Fort New Gothenborg, 155 - - Fort Onondaga, 76 - - Fort Orange, 137, 163, 165, 166, 176, 177, 179, 180, 183, 185, 186 - - Fort Orleans, 193 - - Fort Pitt, 203 - - Fort Rosalie, 192 - - Fort St. Antoine, 192 - - Fort St. George, 84 - - Fort Saybrook, 168, 172, 173 - - Fort Trinity, 163 - - _Fortune_ (ship), 95 - - France, 11, 13, 14, 23, 28, 30, 31, 33, 39, 40, 52, 79, 82, 84, 86, - 107, 108, 110, 111, 163, 191, 192, 193, 198, 199, 203 - - Francis I, 27, 29, 31, 47, 48 - - Fraser, John, 199, 201 - - French Canada, 35, 61, 83, 175, 185, 186 - - French Creek, 201 - - French, 28, 29, 31, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 54, 55, 62, 68, - 69, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94, 95, - 101, 104, 106, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 116, 117, 119, 120, 126, 134, - 137, 145, 147, 173, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196, 197, - 198, 199, 200, 201 _passim_, 202, 203 - - French and Indian War, vii, viii, 187, 202 - - Freydis, 17, 21 - - Frobisher, Martin, 48, 49 - - Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 170 - - - _G_ - - Gaspe, 39 - - Genoa, 6, 14 - - German, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 193 - - Gibbons, Ambrose, 104 - - Gilbert, Bartholomew, 54 - - Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 49, 50, 51, 54 - - Gilbert, Sir John, 51 - - Girling, Captain, 112 - - Gloucester, New Jersey, 137 - - Godfrey of Bouillon, 10 - - Godyn, Samuel, 141 - - Golden Fleece, 2, 3, 4, 188 - - Gomez, Captain Estevan, 69 - - Gondomar, Ambassador, 124 - - Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 83, 84, 88, 93, 98, 99, 104 - - Gorges, Capt. Robert, 99 - - Gosnold, Bartholomew, 55, 69, 83 - - Gothenburg, 148 - - Gothland, 11 - - Grave, Francois (Sieur duPont), 38, 39, 40 - - Great Lakes, 68, 74, 190 - - Great Meadows, 202 - - Greece, 3, 4 - - Greek, 2, 4, 13, 17, 188 - - Green Bay, 187 - - Greenland, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24 - - Greenwich (Connecticut), 126, 173, 181, 182 - - Grenville, Sir Richard, 53 - - _Gripen_ (ship), 148, 150, 151 - - Grosseilliers, Sieur des, 188 - - Gudrid, 17, 19 - - Guercheville, Madame de, 85, 86 - - Guiana, 54, 92 - - Gulf of Mexico, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196 - - Gulf of St. Lawrence, 28, 29, 37, 50, 108, 109, 190 - - Gustavus Adolphus, 146 - - - _H_ - - Hakluyt, Richard, 33, 37 - - _Half Moon_ (ship), 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 - - Hampton, Virginia, 120 - - Hansa, 11, 12 - - Hanseatic League, 11, 12, 22 - - Hariot, Thomas, 53 - - Harmar, Charles, 120, 128, 129 - - Harrisburg, 199 - - Harris Ferry, 199 - - Hartford, 137, 166, 168, 170, 181, 182, 183 - - Harvey, Sir John (Governor of Virginia), 130, 132, 144, 145 - - Hatteras, 34, 52 - - _Hauk’s Book_, 20 - - Havre, 32 - - Hawkins, John, 33, 48 - - Hawley, Jerome, 132 - - Hendricksen, Cornelis, 78, 79, 89 - - Henry IV, 38 - - Henry VIII, 46, 47 - - Heyn, Admiral Peter, 135 - - Hindustan, 5 - - Hochelaga, 30 - - Holland, 12, 13, 72, 73, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 92, 93, 135, 136, 138, - 140, 142, 143, 148, 151, 156, 159, 160, 161, 163, 165, 177, 178, - 179, 182 - - Hollanders, 39, 77, 78, 87, 89, 136, 138, 144, 146, 147, 151, 152, - 158, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 174, 175, 176, 181, 182 - - Holmes, Capt. William, 168 - - Holmes, George, 146 - - Hoorn, 73, 77, 116 - - Hopkins, Governor Edward, 170 - - Horne (Hoorn), 116 - - Hudde, Andries, 159 - - Hudson Bay, 22, 188, 189 - - Hudson’s Bay Company, 189, 193 - - Hudson, Capt. Henry, 40, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 79, 88, - 102, 164 - - Hudson River, 20, 27, 28, 66, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 81, 86, 93, - 102, 113, 116, 117, 137, 138, 165, 166, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, - 181, 183, 184, 186, 197 - - Huguenots, 82, 85 - - Hunt, Captain, 95 - - Huron Indians, 33, 41, 42, 74, 76, 77 - - Huygen, Hendrick, 150, 152, 158 - - - _I_ - - Iberville, Pierre le Moyne d’, 192 - - Ibn-Batootah, 7, 8 - - Iceland, 17, 24 - - Illinois, 203 - - Illinois Indians, 191, 192, 197 - - Illinois River, 193 - - India, 2, 7, 14, 16, 24, 63 - - Indian, 110, 123, 124, 129, 134, 142, 150, 158, 168, 172, 174, 176, - 183, 196, 200, 201, 203 - corn, viii, 28, 35, 48, 69, 75, 94, 96 - league, 176 - policy, 198 - trade, 126, 128, 148, 153, 154, 156, 157, 169, 174, 177, 180, 184, - 193, 194, 200 - village, 131, 169, 174, 195 - - Indian Ocean, 5, 27, 50, 52, 53 - - Indians, vii, 25, 29, 30, 32, 33, 35, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, - 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 80, 84, 85, 87, 89, 94, 97, 100, 102, - 105, 109, 115, 117, 119, 128, 129, 130, 133, 136, 137, 139, 143, 148, - 149, 150, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160, 161, 165, 167, 169, 170, 171, - 172, 173, 175, 180, 181, 188, 191, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200 - customs of, 121-122 - - Indian Sea, 83 - - Indies, 16 - - Ingram, David, 33 - - Ireland, 17, 72 - - Iroquois Confederacy, 73 - - Iroquois Indians, 30, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 61, 73, 74, 75, 77, 80, - 107, 123, 128, 129, 137, 138, 139, 170, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 181, - 182, 184, 187, 190, 191, 192, 193, 197, 198 - customs of, 74 - - Islam, 5 - - Italy, 6, 14 - - Italian merchants, 5, 6, 14 - - Ivan the Terrible, 12, 44, 45 - - - _J_ - - James I, 54, 58, 83, 86, 108, 164 - - James Bay, 189 - - James, Duke of York, 184, 186 - - James River, 20, 28, 29, 59, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89, 115, 116, 118, 120, - 124, 125, 195, 196 - - Jamestown, 57, 58, 60, 62, 69, 82, 89, 115, 116, 117, 118, 127, 143, - 144, 150, 195 - - Jansen, Commissary Jan, 146, 149, 150, 154, 156, 159 - - Japazaws, 118 - - Jason, 2, 3, 4 _passim_, 188 - - Jesuit priests, 29, 85, 190, 191 - - Johnson, Dr. Amandus, 151, 157 - - Joliet, Louis, 190 - - Julin, 10 - - Juno, 3 - - - _K_ - - _Kalmar Nyckel_ (ship), 148, 150, 151 - - Karlsefni, Thorfinn, 17, 19, 20, 21, 69 - - Kaskaskia, 193 - - Kecoughtan, 115, 120, 126, 146 - - Kennebec River, 83, 87, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 145 - - Kent Hundred, 127 - - Kent Island, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134 - - Kent Islanders, 128, 130, 131 - - Kentucky, 199, 203 - - Khan, Kublai, the Great, 6, 7, 13 - - Kieft, Governor William, 150, 175 - - King George’s War, 198, 199, 200 - - Kirke brothers, 109, 126, 128 - - “Kleynties,” 76 - - Kling, Lieutenant Mans, 150, 156 - - Knight, Capt. John, 54 - - Kublai Khan, 6, 7, 13 - - - _L_ - - Labrador, 25 - - Laconia Company, 104, 156 - - _La Dauphine_ (ship), 27, 28 - - Lake Champlain, 41, 74, 104 - - Lake Chautauqua, 201 - - Lake Erie, 193, 199, 201 - - Lake Huron, 193 - - Lake Michigan, 187 - - Lake Nipissing, 42 - - Lake of the Iroquois, 41, 156 - - Lake Onondaga, 75 - - Lake Ontario, 42, 75, 190 - - Lake Superior, 188 - - Lake Winnipeg, 22 - - Lake Winnepesaukee, 104, 181 - - Lamberton, George, 153, 154 - - Lancaster, 198, 200 - - Lane, Governor Ralph, 53, 54 - - La Rochelle, 32, 35, 86 - - La Salle, Sieur de, 190, 191, 192, 197 - - La Tour, Charles de, 108, 109, 110, 111 - - Laud, William (Bishop of London), 124 - - Lederer, John, 193 - - Lee, Thomas, 200 - - Leif, Ericson, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 - - Leigh, Capt. Charles, 37, 54 - - Leipzig, 26 - - Lenni Lenape Indians, 74, 137, 138, 139, 140, 143, 144, 148, 149 - - Levett, Christopher, 98 - - Levy, Franks and Simon, 200 - - Lewger, John (Secretary of Maryland), 133 - - Leyden, 92 - - Lincolnshire, 57 - - Logan, James, 198 - - Lok, Michael, 49 - - London, 37, 45, 48, 55, 63, 64, 83, 95, 119, 132, 164, 165, 184, 189, - 200 - - London Company, 57, 58, 69, 82, 83 - - Long Island Sound, 18, 78, 87, 102, 153, 165, 171, 173, 183 - - _Long Tayle_ (pinnace), 130, 131, 132 - - Lords Commissioners of Plantations, 132 - - Louis XIV, 190, 191 - - Louisburg, 203 - - Louisiana, viii, ix, 192, 193 - - Lowrey brothers, 199 - - - _M_ - - Machias (Maine), 111 - - Machias River, 104 - - Maine, 18, 55, 62, 68, 83, 84, 85, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 104, - 105, 106, 107,110, 111, 112, 156 - - Malaga, 95 - - Malaya, 14, 16 - - Malay Archipelago, 5 - - Manhattan, 70, 71, 73, 77, 78, 79, 86, 88, 89, 102, 136, 140, 144, - 145, 150, 154, 158, 163, 164, 165, 166, 173, 175, 176, 177, 179, - 181, 185 - - Marco Polo, 6, 7, 8, 9, 25 - - “Markland,” 22 - - Marquette, Father Jacques, 190 - - Martha’s Vineyard, 78 - - Martiau, Capt. Nicholas, 127 - - Mary Tudor (Queen of England), 47 - - Maryland, 127, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 183, 198, 200 - - Marylanders, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 152, 200 - - Mason, Capt. John, 98, 104, 172 - - Massachusetts, 103, 112, 156, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 180, - 182, 183 - - Massachusetts Bay, 167 - - Massachusetts Bay Colony, 111 - - Massachusetts Bay Company, 101 - - Massachusetts Indians, 95, 97, 98, 99 - - Matagorda Bay, 192 - - _Matthew_ (boat), 24 - - Mathews, Samuel, 120 - - Maverick, Samuel, 98 - - May, Capt. Cornelis Jacobsen, 77, 78, 89, 135, 136, 137, 138 - - May, Peter, 146, 149 - - _Mayflower_ (ship), 92, 93, 94 - - Mediterranean, 5, 6, 13, 14 - - Merrimac River, 98, 181 - - Merrymount, 100, 101, 104 - - Mesopotamians, 4 - - Mexico, 41, 190 - - Minqua Indians, 77, 79, 140, 144, 149, 150, 152, 154 - - Minquas Kill, 148, 149, 150 - - Minnesota, 22 - - Minnesota River, 193 - - Minuit, Governor Peter, 136, 140, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151 - - Mississippi, 192 - - Mississippi River, 134, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196, 203 - discovery of, 189 - - Missouri River, 188, 189, 193 - - Mobile, 192 - - Mohammed, 5 - - Mohawk Indians, 73, 74, 75, 170, 175, 176 - - Mohawk Valley, 76, 187, 197 - - Mohegan Indians, 73, 75, 137, 167, 172, 173 - - Moluccas, 24 - - Mongolia, 4, 7 - - Monhegan Island, 101 - - Monongahela River, 201 - - Montagnais Indians, 33, 40 - - Montour, Andrew, 199, 201 - - Montreal, 30, 197, 199, 203 - - Monts, Sieur de, 39, 41, 84 - - Morton, Thomas, 100, 101, 104 - - Moscow, 11, 44, 45 - - Moslem, 5, 6 - - Mount Desert Island, 18, 19, 62, 85, 86 - - Moxon, Rev. George, 170 - - Moyne, Pierre le (Sieur d’Iberville), 192 - - Muscongus River, 104 - - Muscovy, 50, 72 - - Muscovy Company, 44, 67 - - Muskingum River, 199 - - Mystic River, 172 - - - _N_ - - Nantasket, 99 - - Narragansett Bay, 101, 102, 174 - - Narragansett Indians, 87, 96, 101, 102, 171, 172, 173, 174 - - Narrows, 70, 166 - - Natchez, 193 - - Natchitoches, 193 - - Naugatuck River, 180 - - Navigation Acts, 182, 184, 186 - - Neale, Capt. Walter, 104, 156 - - Needham, James, 194 - - Nelson River, 22 - - Netherlands. _See_ Holland - - New Amsterdam, 158, 162, 163, 164, 166, 168, 175, 182, 183, 184 - - New Brunswick, 108 - - New Castle, 161 - - New England, 40, 64, 81, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 97, 108, 119, 135, 151, - 153, 158, 163, 165, 166, 167, 171, 180, 181, 183, 196 - Confederation of, 112 - Council for, 93, 97, 98, 99 - - New Englanders, 107, 137, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 167, 168, 171, 172, - 173, 179, 180, 181, 182, 197 - - Newfoundland, 17, 25, 37, 50, 51, 63, 68, 70, 108, 114 - - New France, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 43, 74, 79, 80, 82, - 83, 107, 108, 109, 110, 158, 190 - - New Haven, 153, 155, 173, 175, 180, 182 - - New Jersey, 153 - - New Mexico, 192 - - New Netherland, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 90, 92, 108, 113, Chapter XII, - 147, 149, 151, 155, 161, 162, Chapter XV, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, - 185, 186, 197 - Council of, 154 - Governor of, 148, 158, 179 - - New Netherlanders, 102, 146, 175, 176, 183 - - _New Netherland_ (ship), 136 - - New Orleans, 192, 203 - - New Plymouth, 166, 167, 168, 171 - - Newport, Capt. Christopher, 58, 116 - - New River Valley, 194 - - New Scotland, 108, 109 - - New Spain, 52, 70, 82, 83, 108 - - New Sweden, 148, 149, 151, 152, 154, 155, 157, 158, 159, 161, 162, 183 - - New York (city), ix, 76, 136, 137, 164, 184, 196 - - New York (state), 185, 193, 197 - - New Yorkers, 40 - - _New York Times_, ix - - New World, 3, 80, 92 - - Niagara, 42, 202, 203 - - Nicollet, Jean, 187, 188 - - Nicolls, Colonel Richard, 184, 185 - - Nile, 4, 60 - - Noddle’s Island, 98 - - Normans, 13, 25, 27, 46 - - Norman’s Kill, 137 - - Norsemen, 9, 10 _passim_, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 69 - - North America, 24, 54, 135, 136 - - North River, 137, 141, 151, 165 - - North Sea, 9, 11, 12 - - Norwalk, 173 - - Norway, 22 - - Norwegians, 22 - - Nova Scotia, 17, 22, 54, 68, 107, 108, 109, 110, 126, 189, 202 - - Novgorod, 10, 11, 12, 45 - - Nuremberg, 17 - - - _O_ - - Oder River, 10 - - Ohio, 203 - - Ohio Company, 200, 202 - - Ohio River, 193, 194, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203 - - Oldham, John, 104, 167, 171 - - Oneida Indians, 74 - - Onondaga Indians, 74 - - _Onrust_ (ship), 78, 79 - - Ontario, 188 - - Opechancanough, 118 - - Orient, 6, 135 - - Oriental pelts, 9, 187 - - Ottawa Indians, 201 - - Ottawa River, 41, 42 - - Oyster Bay, 173 - - - _P_ - - Pacific Ocean, 203 - - Palmer’s Island, 127, 128, 130, 133, 134 - - Pamlico Sound, 52 - - Pamunkey Indians, 124 - - Panama Canal, 38 - - Paris, 33, 39 - - Passyunk, 137, 138, 160 - - Patowomecks, 115, 118 - - Patuxent River, 116, 131 - - Peirsey, Abraham, 120 - - Pelias, King, 3 - - Pemaquid, 104, 111 - - Penn, William, 137, 198 - - Penn’s son, 198 - - Pennsauken Creek, 145 - - Pennsylvania, 76, 193, 197, 198, 199, 200 - - Penobscot Bay, 68, 88 - - Penobscot River, 103, 104, 110, 111, 187 - - Pentagoet, 103, 110, 112 - - Pentagoet Bay, 112 - - Peoria, Illinois, 191 - - Pequot Indians, 102, 167, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176 - annihilation of, 172 - War, 171 - - Persians, 4, 44, 45 - - Philadelphia, ix, x, 39, 78, 123, 127, 137, 144, 145, 153, 155, 160, - 200 - - Philip II (King of Spain), 48 - - Phoenicians, 17 - - Piedmont plateau, 74 - - Pilgrims, 90, Chapter IX, 110, 111, 112, 156, 167, 168 - - Pimitoui, 193 - - Piscataqua, 98, 104 - - Piscataqua River, 104 - - Piscattaway Indians, 129 - - Placentia Bay, 108 - - Pleskow, 11 - - Plymouth, Chapter IX, 111, 112, 157, 164 - - Plymouth Company, 83, 84, 88, 93 - - Pocahontas, 58, 61, 117 - - Pocomoke River, 131 - - Point Comfort, 124 - - Polo, Marco, 6, 7, 8, 9, 25 - - Poole, Robert, 117 - - Popham, Sir Francis, 88 - - Popham, George, 83 - - Popham, Sir John (Chief Justice), 83 - - Port Royal (Bay of Fundy), 39, 62, 84, 85, 86, 108, 109, 110, 111, 126 - - Port Royal, South Carolina, 194 - - Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 98 - - Portugal, 11, 13, 23, 25, 26 - - Portuguese, 14, 15, 16, 25 - - Potomac River, 29, 65, 115, 116, 118, 121, 127, 128, 129, 130, 132, - 134, 200 - - Poutrincourt, Sieur de, 84, 86, 108 - - Powhatan, 58, 59, 60, 117 - - Powhatan Confederacy, 59, 116, 124 - - Pring, Martin, 55, 83 - - Printz, Johan (Governor of New Sweden), 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, - 159, 160, 161, 162, 163 - - Province Island, 153, 155, 159 - - Puritan, 101, 111, 112, 167, 168, 169, 171, 172 - - Pynchon, William, 169-170, 171, 181 - - - _Q_ - - Quaker, 198, 199 - - Quebec, 30, 32, 40, 41, 42, 108, 109, 110, 145, 188, 190, 203 - - Quebec Province, 108 - - Quincy, 99 - - - _R_ - - Radisson, Pierre Esprit, 188, 189, 190 - - Raleigh, Sir Walter, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 82 - - Rappahannock River, 115 - - Rasieres, Isaak de, 102 - - Razilly, Chevalier Isaac de, 110, 111 - - Red River, 22 - - Renaissance, 12, 14, 46 - - Rensselaer, Kiliaen van, 141, 176, 177, 178 - - Rensselaerwyck, 141, 176, 177, 178, 179 - - Restoration, 183 - - Rhode Island, 173, 174, 175 - - Richelieu, Cardinal de, 109 - - Richelieu River, 41 - - Richmond’s Island, 104, 105 - - Rising, Johan, 162, 163 - - Roanoke, 37, 52, 54, 55, 82 - - Roberval, Sieur de, 32 - - Rocky Mountains, viii, 203 - - Rolfe, John, 118 - - Romans, 4, 5, 60 - - Rome, 4, 124 - - Rotterdam, 151 - - Rouen, 32, 39 - - “Rupert’s Land,” 189 - - Rupert, Prince, 189 - - Rurik, 9 - - Russia, 9, 10, 12, 26, 44, 45, 51, 63 - - Russian, 45, 46 - - - _S_ - - Saco River, 104 - - Sagahadoc, 83, 84, 88, 101 - - St. Augustine, 186 - - St. Christopher’s Island, 151 - - St. Croix, 39, 62, 84, 86 - - St. Croix River, 186, 187 - - Saint George, 83 - - _St. Helen_ (pinnace), 131 - - Saint Just, 84, 85, 86, 108 - - St. Lawrence River, 20, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 56, - 62, 85, 86, 107, 108, 110, 112, 145, 188, 190, 203 - - St. Malo, 32, 33 - - _St. Margaret_ (boat), 131 - - St. Mary’s, 127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 133 - - Salem Creek, 153 - - Salem, 101 - - San Miguel, 28 - - Santo Domingo, 28, 29 - - Sanuto, 14 - - Saquenay, 30, 31, 32 - - Savage, Thomas, 115, 116, 117, 120 - - Savannah River, 195 - - Saxons, 10 - - Scandinavia, 5, 11 - - Schuylkill River, 137, 138, 144, 149, 153, 155, 159, 160 - - Scioto River, 199 - - Scotland, 110, 126 - - Scots, 109, 111 - - Scottish Company, 110 - - Scottish and English Company, 109 - - Semiramis, 2 - - Seneca Indians, 74 - - Seven Years’ War, 202 - - Shawnee Indians, 194, 198 - - Shenandoah Valley, 197 - - Shippen and Lawrence, 200 - - Siberia, 6, 7, 11, 24, 26, 45 - - Sioux Indians, 188 - - Skraelings, Chapter II, 94 - - Skute, Capt. Sven, 162, 163 - - Slavic lands, 4, 9, 10 - - Slavs, 10 - - Slechtenhorst, Brandt van, 178, 179 - - Smith, Capt. Dirck, 163 - - Smith, Henry, 169 - - Smith, Capt. John, 48, 56, Chapter VI, 68, 69, 77, 83, 87, 88, 89, 94, - 95, 115, 116, 117, 118, 123 - - Smith, Richard, 173, 174 - - Smith, Capt. Thomas, 130, 133 - - Smith, Sir Thomas, 58, 83 - - Snorri, 19 - - Somes Sound, 18 - - Southampton, 50, 92 - - South America, 24, 29, 54 - - South River, 71, 78, 138, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144, 146, 147, 149, 150, - 151, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163 - - South Sea, 54, 55, 145, 186, 199 - - Sowamset, 171 - - Spain, 16, 17, 23, 25, 26, 27, 48, 50, 52, 53, 69, 80, 125, 135, 140, - 148, 186, 203 - - Spaniards, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 52, 80, 82, 115, 124, 140, 186, 192, - 194, 196 - - Spanish, 27, 48, 52, 70, 76, 95, 124, 135, 136, 148, 149, 150, 190, - 194, 196 - - Spanish Florida, 54, 77, 185, 186, 196 - - Spanish Hill, 76 - - Spanish West Indies, 157 - - Spelman, Henry, 117, 118, 119 - - Springfield, 169, 170 - - Squanto, 94, 95, 96 - - Stamford, 173, 176 - - Standish, Capt. Miles, 94, 96, 101, 105, 112 - - “staple right,” 177 - - States General of the Netherlands, 79, 80, 90, 92, 135, 168, 177, 179, - 182 - - Stoughton, Captain, 172 - - Strabo, 16 - - Stratford, 173 - - Stuyvesant, Governor Peter, 159, 160, 162, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, - 183, 184, 185 - - Susquehanna River, 61, 65, 68, 74, 76, 77, 113, 123, 127, 133, 134, - 138, 152, 197, 199 - - Susquehannocks, 61, 76, 77, 123, 129, 138, 139, 153 - - Swanendael, 141, 142, 144, 147 - - Sweden, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 156, 157, 162 - - Swedes, 22, 36, Chapter XIV - - Swedish, 146, Chapter XIV - - - _T_ - - Tadoussac, 40 - - Tartars, 6, 7, 8, 13, 44, 45, 57 - - Tartar Empire, 7 - - Tartary, 29, 30, 40 - - Tawasentha, 137 - - Taylor, Philip, 132 - - Taz River, 11 - - Tennessee River, 196 - - Texas, 192 - - Thames River, 11, 56, 182 - - The Hague, 73, 89, 90 - - Thirty Years’ War, 107, 165 - - Thompson, David, 98 - - Thompson, Maurice, 125 - - Thorowgood, Cyprian, 128 - - Thorn, Poland, 10 - - Thorvald Ericson, 18 - - Thorvaldson, Eric (Eric the Red), 17, 21 - - Three Rivers, 39, 77, 188 - - Ticonderoga, 203 - - Tierra D’Ayllon, 28, 29 - - Tierra Florida, 28 - - Timber Creek, 137 - - Tinicum Island, 155, 161, 163 - - Tobolsk, 11 - - Tonti, Henri de, 191 - - Transylvania, 57 - - _Treasurer_ (ship), 85, 87 - - Treaty of Hartford, 182 - - Treaty of Lancaster, 200 - - Treaty of Paris, 203 - - Trent, Capt. William, 199, 201, 202 - - Trenton, 138 - - Trinity Bay, 108 - - Trinity Harbor, 50 - - Turkey, 45 - - Turks, 14, 57 - - Turner, Capt. Nathaniel, 153, 157 - - Twide, Richard, 33 - - Tyrker, 18 - - - _U_ - - Ulster Scots, 197 - - Underhill, Capt. John, 172, 176 - - United Colonies, Commissioners of the, 183 - - United Colonies of New England, 180 - - United Netherlands, 80 - - United New Netherland Company, 73 - - United States, viii, ix - - Urals, 11, 45 - - Usselinx, William, 80 - - - _V_ - - Valley of Virginia, 74 - - Van Curler, Jacob, 167 - - Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, 141, 176, 177, 178 - - Van Slechtenhorst, Brandt, 178, 179 - - Van Twiller, Governor Wouter, 165, 166 - - Varangians, 9 - - Varkens Kill, 153, 155 - - Venango, 201 - - Venice, 6, 11, 14 - - Verhulst, William, 138 - - Verhulsten Island, 138 - - Verrazano, Giovanni da, 27, 28, 52, 69 - - Vervins, Peace of, 38 - - Vespucci, Amerigo, 25 - - Vikings, 9, Chapter II, 24, 94 - - Vines, Richard, 104 - - Vinland, Chapter II - - Virginia, Capes of, 69 - - Virginia Company, 83, 86, 92 - - Virginia Company Council, 116 - - Virginia Council, 86, 115, 132 - - Virginia, 52, 53, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 78, 79, 80, - 83, 86, 87, 89, 92, 93, 97, 99, 100, 113, Chapters XI, XII, 135, 144, - 145, 146, 148, 151, 164, 184, 193, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 201, 202 - - _Virginia_ (pinnace), 83 - - Virginians, 70, 80, 82, 115, 116, 117, 119, 121, 123, 124, 125, 128, - 129, 130, 134, 144, 146, 157, 194, 195, 196, 199, 200 - - Volga, 9 - - Vries, Capt. David Pieters de, 141, 143, 144 - - - _W_ - - Wahunsonacock, 116 - - Waldseemuller, 25 - - “Walking Purchase,” 198 - - Walloons, 136, 137, 141 - - “Wall” Street, 182 - - Warren, Lieutenant Radcliffe, 131 - - Washington, D. C., 118 - - Washington, George, 201, 202 - - Washington family, 200 - - Watertown, Massachusetts, 167 - - Wessagusset, 99, 101 - - Wessel, 147 - - West, Capt. Francis, 98 - - West, John, 132 - - Westchester County, 173, 182 - - Westfield, 170 - - West India Company. _See_ Dutch West India Company - - West Indies, 29, 38, 53, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151 - - Westoes, 195 - - Weston Thomas, 92, 93, 95, 98, 99 - - West Virginia, 199 - - Wethersfield, 168 - - Weymouth, 83, 99 - - Weymouth, Capt. George, 54, 55, 95 - - White, Father Andrew, 130 - - White, John, 53, 54 - - White Sea, 11, 44 - - Whiting, William, 157, 170 - - Whorekill, 142, 143, 147 - - Wickford, Rhode Island, 174 - - Wilcox, John, 157, 173 - - Willard, Simon, 181 - - _William_ (ship), 165, 166 - - Williams, Roger, 172, 173 - - Wilmington (Delaware), 79, 149 - - Windsor, 168 - - Winetha, 10 - - Winslow, Edward, 105, 166, 167 - - Winter, John, 105 - - Winthrop, Governor John, 101, 156, 166 - - Wisby, 11 - - Wisconsin, 187 - - Wollaston, 99, 100 - - Wood, Abraham, 194 - - Woodward, Henry, 195, 196 - - Woronoco, 170 - - Wyatt, Sir Francis (Governor of Virginia), 150 - - - _Y_ - - York, Duke of, 184, 186 - - York River, 29, 115 - - Youghiogheny River, 199, 200, 201 - - Young, Capt. Thomas, 145, 146 - - Yowaccomoco Indians, 129 - - - _Z_ - - Zipangu, 70 - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - -A few minor errors in punctuation and spacing were corrected. - -Page 10: “wore cloth hoods ostenstatiously” changed to “wore cloth -hoods ostentatiously” - -Page 27: “Wholesale annihiliation” changed to “Wholesale annihilation” - -Page 28: “instuments of torture” changed to “instruments of torture” - -Page 34: “great linquistic family” changed to “great linguistic family” - -Page 68: “parallelling the Susquehanna” changed to “paralleling the -Susquehanna” - -Page 123: “the offer a squaw” changed to “the offer of a squaw” - -Page 176: “sanquinary five-year war” changed to “sanguinary five-year -war” - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELTS AND PALISADES *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Hale—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> /* <![CDATA[ */ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -ul.index { list-style-type: none; margin-top: 1.5em;} -li.ifrst { - margin-top: 0.5em; - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 1em; -} -li.isuba { - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 2em; -} -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; width: 70%;} -table.autotable td, -table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } -.x-ebookmaker table {width: 95%;} -.page {width: 3em;} - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} /* page numbers */ - -.ml {margin-left: 20%;} - -.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} - -.right {text-align: right; text-indent: 0em;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} -img.w50 {width: 50%;} -.x-ebookmaker .w50 {width: 75%;} -.w5 {width: 5%;} -.x-ebookmaker .w5 {width: 7.5%;} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -img.drop-cap -{ - float: left; - margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; -} - -p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - color: transparent; - visibility: hidden; - margin-left: -0.9em; -} - -.x-ebookmaker img.drop-cap -{ - display: none; -} - -.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - color: inherit; - visibility: visible; - margin-left: 0; -} - -.upper-case -{ - text-transform: uppercase; -} - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-indent: 0em;} -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry in browsers */ -/* .poetry {display: inline-block;} */ -/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -.small {font-size: 0.8em;} -.big {font-size: 1.2em;} -.vbig {font-size: 1.5em;} - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pelts and palisades, by Nathaniel C. Hale</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Pelts and palisades</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>The story of fur and the rivalry for pelts in early America</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Nathaniel C. Hale</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 17, 2022 [eBook #68540]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Steve Mattern and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELTS AND PALISADES ***</div> - - - -<h2>The Author</h2> - - -<p>Nathaniel C. Hale graduated from the United States Military Academy -at West Point in 1925. After serving in the Army, he resigned his -commission to enter business, but joined the Army again on the outbreak -of World War II. He was Commandant of an Officers Training School prior -to overseas duty with the Signal Corps. Since the war, Colonel Hale has -become well known as an author and historian. In 1952 he received the -annual award of the Society of Colonial Wars in New York for his book, -VIRGINIA VENTURER, which was cited as the outstanding contribution of -the year in the field of American colonial history. Colonel Hale and -his wife, both of Southern birth, make their home in the Rittenhouse -Square section of Philadelphia and spend part of their summers at their -cottage in Cape May, New Jersey.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PELTS_and_PALISADES"><i>PELTS and PALISADES</i></h2> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="By_the_Same_Author">By the Same Author</h2> -</div> - - -<h3>VIRGINIA VENTURER</h3> - -<p class="center"><i>A Biography of William Claiborne <br />1600-1677</i></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img001"> - <img src="images/001.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE FUR TRADE FURNISHED THE MEANS OF CONTACT BETWEEN -WIDELY DIVERGENT CULTURES." /> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">THE FUR TRADE FURNISHED THE MEANS OF CONTACT BETWEEN -WIDELY DIVERGENT CULTURES.<br /></p> - - - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h1> -<i>PELTS and PALISADES</i></h1> -<p class="center"> -<span class="vbig">THE STORY OF FUR</span><br /><br /> -<span class="small">and the</span><br /><br /> -<span class="big">Rivalry for Pelts in Early America</span></p> -<p class="center p2"><span class="small"><i>By</i></span><br /> -<br /> -<i>Nathaniel C. Hale</i></p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img002"> - <img src="images/002.jpg" class="w5" alt="Decorative mark" /> -</span></p> -<p class="center p4"> -RICHMOND, <abbr title="Virginia">VA.</abbr><br /> -THE DIETZ PRESS, INCORPORATED<br /> -</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - - -<p class="center p2"> -<span class="smcap small">Copyright by</span><br /> -NATHANIEL C. HALE<br /> -© 1959</p><p class="center p4 small"> -PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<br /> -</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p> -<p class="center p2">To My Grandchildren</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Preface"><i>Preface</i></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> story of fur is as old as the story of man. Some brief account of -ancient man’s quest for fur is included in the beginning of this book. -However, the main narrative is concerned with the rivalry for pelts in -early America.</p> - -<p>The discoverers of our country came here looking for gold. They found -it in fur. After that the fur trade formed the pattern of exploration, -trade and settlement. It sustained the colonies along the Atlantic -seaboard until they could be rooted in agriculture and it was a -controlling factor in the westward movement of our population.</p> - -<p>In the seventeenth century there was a seemingly insatiable demand in -Europe for beaver pelts, inflated in no small degree by early laws -prohibiting the use of cheaper furs in hat making. Since there was an -apparently inexhaustible supply of these pelts in America, the fur -trade quickly became the economic lifeblood of the colonies. On it was -laid the cornerstone of American commerce.</p> - -<p>On it, too, was laid the cornerstone of European imperialism on -this continent, the prosecution of which was largely motivated by -the energies of the mercantile classes of the nations involved. -The merchants, their factors, and the fur traders, shaped colonial -policies. The statesmen only signed the implementing documents.</p> - -<p>It was the trader in quest of beaver who first met and conducted -diplomatic relations with the Indians and who first challenged the -claims of competing nations. Indeed, it was this fur trader in the -wilderness, making allies and building palisaded trading posts, or -forts, who determined colonial borders and who largely influenced the -outcome of the imperialistic struggle for the continent.</p> - -<p>That struggle culminated in the French and Indian War and that is the -event which ends the story in this book. <i>Pelts and Palisades</i> -does not pretend to be a comprehensive study of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> early American -fur trade. Its only intent is to illustrate in narrative form the -significant effect of that trade on the genesis of America and the -westward movement of its people.</p> - -<p>Included in the narrative are frank accounts of merchants and -traders among our founding fathers who built their fortunes or their -reputations on fur. As all the men who were prominent in this activity -could not be named, only meaningful case histories that point up the -pattern of the early fur trade have been cited. Fortunately, there are -local histories, county and state, that do name most of these truly -pioneer Americans and credit them with their individual accomplishments.</p> - -<p>The era of the early fur trade, typified by the white trader and -the Indian hunter, began drawing to a close after the French and -Indian War. The white trader then became the trapper and a whole new -conception of the fur trade in America developed as the frontier rolled -across the plains and on to the Rocky Mountains. Today we may be on the -threshold of still another era, that of the fur farmer.</p> - -<p>In any case the fur industry continues to be big business in this -country, total activity at all levels—raw furs, dressing and dyeing, -and retail sales—being estimated at about one billion dollars. After -exporting some twenty million dollars worth of domestic pelts, the -United States annually consumes around two hundred million dollars -worth of raw furs altogether—this, according to a recent bulletin of -the Department of Commerce. About fifty percent of this consumption is -imported.</p> - -<p>Our imports are chiefly Persian lamb and caracul, mink, rabbit and -squirrel. While the fur farms of this country produce great quantities -of mink, fox, chinchilla and nutria, our principal domestic production -of wild furs consists of muskrat, opossum, raccoon and mink. All other -wild furs including “King Beaver” of colonial times run far behind this -field.</p> - -<p>Curiously enough, the lowly, unwanted muskrat of the seventeenth -century is now the “King” of the wild furs. Its main domicile is the -State of Louisiana. Because of the muskrat’s residence there Louisiana -produces many more pelts, all fur-bearing animals included, than any -other state in the union. Southern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span> Louisiana is in fact one of the -most important fur producing areas on our continent. In that section -alone there are approximately twenty thousand local trappers of -muskrat, mink, otter and raccoon.</p> - -<p>Altogether there are two million full or part-time trappers in the -United States, bringing in about twenty million pelts a year. There -are also some twenty thousand or more fur farms contributing several -million pelts annually, although fur farming had its inception in this -country not much more than thirty-five years ago. Additionally, there -are the raw fur imports. To transform all these pelts into dressed and -dyed furs and retail them to milady calls for the services of thousands -of additional people at manufacturing, jobbing and dealer levels.</p> - -<p>Even as in ancient times such a great outpouring of commercial energy -and money for fur is mainly decreed by fashion. The arbiters of fashion -are fickle of course, but at a recent showing of designer collections -for women in New York it was said that fur and fur trimmings were -everywhere, with mink currently in most popular favor. As one newspaper -correspondent reported, hats were made of fur or trimmed with it; coats -were collared, cuffed, bordered or lined with it; suits wore wide fur -collars and revers; and evening gowns had deep hemline borders of -fur. And not so long ago in the <i>New York Times</i> appeared a full -page advertisement for a chair upholstered in fur, “the world’s most -sumptuous hostess chair ... lavished with the enchanting elegance of -genuine mink!”</p> - -<p>The author wishes to acknowledge the many kindnesses of those who -have been helpful to him. He is much indebted to the staffs of the -Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. -He is also indebted to members of the General Society of Colonial Wars, -the Netherlands Society, the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and the -Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia who have assisted -him in many ways. From papers he has delivered before these groups has -come much of the material used in this book. The author is also very -grateful to Professor Arthur Adams of Boston, Massachusetts for his -criticism and advice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></p> - -<p>A bibliography of the works consulted in the preparation of the -manuscript is appended, special acknowledgement being due to Doctor -Amandus Johnson of Philadelphia for his published documentations of the -Swedish fur trade in the Delaware valley.</p> - -<p>And, to his wife, Eliska, the writer of this book is very thankful for -her patient understanding during the many week ends that he spent on -the manuscript.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span class="smcap">Nathaniel C. Hale</span><br /> -</p> - - -<p><i>Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1959.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS"><i>CONTENTS</i></h2> -</div> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th class="tdl"> -<i>Chapter</i> -</th> -<th colspan="2" class="tdr"> -<i>Page</i> -</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2"> -<a href="#Preface"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_vii">vii</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#I">I.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#I"><span class="smcap">Royal Robes and Beaver Hats</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_1">1</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#II">II.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#II"><span class="smcap">Vikings and Skraelings in Vinland</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_16">16</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#III">III.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#III"><span class="smcap">Codfish Land Spawns a Fur Frontier</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_24">24</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#IV">IV.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">Samuel de Champlain Lights a Blaze of Red Terror</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_37">37</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#V">V.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#V"><span class="smcap">England Moves to Extend Her Realm</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_44">44</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#VI">VI.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">Captain John Smith Takes to Trade</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_57">57</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#VII">VII.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">The Dutch Profit by a Mutiny</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_67">67</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#VIII">VIII.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">Conception of New England</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_82">82</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#IX">IX.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">The Pilgrims Rely on God and Beaver</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_91">91</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#X">X.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#X"><span class="smcap">A Border Fixed on the Coast of Maine</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_107">107</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XI">XI.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XI"><span class="smcap">The Bay of Virginia</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_114">114</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XII">XII.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XII"><span class="smcap">Kent Island and the Backside of Virginia</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_124">124</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XIII">XIII.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XIII"><span class="smcap">New Netherland’s South River</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_135">135</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XIV">XIV.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XIV"><span class="smcap">Swedish Interlude on the Delaware</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_147">147</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XV">XV.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XV"><span class="smcap">New Netherland Threatened Without and Within</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_164">164</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XVI">XVI.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XVI"><span class="smcap">The English Close Their Coastal Ranks</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_180">180</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"> -<a href="#XVII">XVII.</a> -</td> -<td class="tdl"> -<a href="#XVII"><span class="smcap">Westward the Fur Frontier of America</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_186">186</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2"> -<a href="#Bibliography_and_Acknowledgements"><span class="smcap">Bibliography and Acknowledgements</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#Page_205">205</a> -</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2"> -<a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a> -</td> -<td class="tdr page"> -<a href="#INDEX">209</a> -</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PELTS"><i>PELTS and PALISADES</i></h2> -</div> - -<p class="poetry"> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Friend, once ’twas Fame that led thee forth</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North;</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur;</i></span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>But now our gallants venture but for Fur.</i></span><br /> -</p> - -<p class="ml"> -<span class="smcap">John Dryden, 1672.</span><br /> -</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="I">I<br /><i>Royal Robes and Beaver Hats</i></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_i.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">It</span> might be said that man’s first true possession was the fur skin of -an animal.</p> - -<p>Prehistoric mankind prowled the earth seeking food, shelter and -mates—only those needs intended by nature to preserve him and to -perpetuate his species. He had no accumulated wealth. Even his first -crude weapons, rocks and sticks, were expendable. He had nothing -material to treasure until he began to acquire coverings for his body.</p> - -<p>Body coverings must have become useful to primitive man in the last -glacial period, during the very evolution of human society. His -earliest needs were doubtless served by the pelts of such cold-climate -animals as the reindeer and the bear. Once <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Homo sapiens</i>, -stretched out on the floor of a chilly cave, experienced the warmth of -fur skins accumulated from these animals that he had eaten, it could -have been but a short step to using pelts as clothing. All the world -was not cold however.</p> - -<p>In the middle latitudes early man knew little of thickly furred -animals, and had less need for warm garments. He used foliage, grasses -and eventually goat and sheep skins as skirts to hide his uncleanness. -It was probably no more than modesty, a primal sense of shame, that -first prompted him to cover himself. Later, as he learned to shape -and weave and to appreciate his art, he fashioned his clothing for -adornment.</p> - -<p>Then it was that pelts stripped from bowed chiefs of the colder -countries came to be prized as rarities of beauty and usefulness, as -kingly trophies. Conquerors adopted them as ornaments and symbols of -victory and power. Fur became prime loot. For many generations of man, -while contacts between peoples remained essentially war-like, prize -pelts from the farthest corners of the known world were brought home by -warriors as evidence of their prowess and as tribute to their rulers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> - -<p>Some rulers among the rising civilizations of the ancient world made -extravagant use of fur skins, especially the brightly hued pelts of the -big cats.</p> - -<p>Tradition has it that the voluptuous Assyrian queen, Semiramis, -acquired eight thousand tiger skins during a plundering campaign in -India. Presumably, much of this loot was used to decorate the palace -and hanging gardens of sinful Babylon which this storied enchantress is -supposed to have founded.</p> - -<p>Pharaohs and high priests of ancient Egypt used quantities of lion, -leopard and panther skins as ornamental and ceremonial pieces. Men of -high position draped these colorful pelts over their shoulders, tying -the paws in the back with ribbons. The tail of the lion was appended -animal-fashion by pharaohs to impart the beast’s qualities to the -wearer, and warriors stretched their frame-wood shields with leopard -skins. Extant today is a wall painting on a tomb of the eighteenth -dynasty which shows tax-paying Ethiopians bearing their tribute of -pelts to an Egyptian king.</p> - -<p>And, when barter finally joined hands with a war as a better means -of contact between peoples, it was fur that helped bring it about. -Evidence of such military commerce emerges from the mists of Greek -antiquity. The legend of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece is -in all likelihood the fanciful story of a fur trading expedition in the -thirteenth or fourteenth century B.C.</p> - -<p>Some students of Greek mythology interpret the Golden Fleece as -symbolism of one kind or another. However, it is specifically -identified in the legend as the pelt of a golden ram and ornamental -pelts are shown in archaic bas-reliefs to have been an integral part of -Greek culture.</p> - -<p>The perils encountered by Jason and his adventurers, as first related -by them, were probably intended to point up the difficulties of -their achievement and to help guard the secrets of their trade-route -discoveries. No doubt Greek hero worship contributed to the subsequent -embellishment of the legend. But, if like most other folk tradition -this epic of the Argonauts had its origin in some simple fact now -obscured by the telling, that fact must lie in the Golden Fleece -itself. Certainly, without its existence in some form, as the object of -the voyage, there would be no motivation—no story.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> - -<p>But of course there is a story, and a good one, even after eliminating -the delightful folk-tale embroidery.</p> - -<p>For recognition of his right to the throne Prince Jason of Greece -bargained with his crafty uncle, King Pelias, to go on a dangerous -voyage to the Euxine Sea in search of the Golden Fleece. Jason planned -well. All the gods and great heroes of Greece came to his assistance. -With Juno’s help a ship called the <i>Argo</i> was built for the -expedition. According to the legend it was capable of holding over -fifty men, but the building of a ship to accommodate half that number -would have been a gigantic accomplishment for those days. After manning -the <i>Argo</i> with heroes selected for their particular talents in -sailing, fighting and overcoming special dangers of the voyage, Jason -set out on his quest.</p> - -<p>The Argonauts were involved in many perilous adventures after they left -Greece. Nevertheless, they negotiated the treacherous straits at the -entrance to the Euxine Sea and followed its shore until at great length -they came to the country of Colchis. There they bargained and fought -against tremendous odds for the Golden Fleece, much the same as fur -trading adventurers who crossed another unknown sea to a New World some -three thousand years or more later.</p> - -<p>But, when Jason returned with the treasure and placed it at the feet -of Pelias, the king became very wrathful. It seems the fleece was no -longer golden.</p> - -<p>This is entirely believable, whether it was lambskin or something else. -Assuredly, prime lambskin, even a mutated sort, could have had no more -lustre than royal baum marten, ermine, sealskin or other fine pelts -available to Jason in the region he had visited.</p> - -<p>In any event Pelias thought he had a good excuse not to keep his end of -the bargain with Jason, a common enough denouement in itself, one that -has been acted out untold times in both history and fiction.</p> - -<p>That is the plot of the legend, as related only to the probable fact -of the fleece’s existence. How the fleece came into being, that is, -how the golden ram descended from the heavens first into Greece and -then betook himself to the far off country of Colchis to be slaughtered -for his radiant coat, all would seem to lie in the realm of pure myth. -So would many other imaginative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> passages of the legend as recited -variously by bards who have embroidered on the tale. And, of course, -the episodic adventures of the Argonauts have little or no bearing on -the plot.</p> - -<p>The story in its origin does appear to have been simply that of a -Greek expedition bent on military commerce in the Black Sea, the first -organized fur trading voyage in recorded history.</p> - -<p>From the ancient Greeks, too, comes the English word which describes -the fur skin of an animal. Pelt, a contraction of peltry from the old -Anglo-French <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pelterie</i>, is derived from the Greek <i lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">pelta</i>. -A <i lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">pelta</i> was a half shield made of the skin of an animal. It -was carried by the warriors of Greece and later by the Romans. A -foot soldier armed with a <i lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">pelta</i> and a short spear or javelin -was called a <i lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">peltast</i>. Hence also the verb pelt, used to -indicate repeated blows by striking or hurling missiles, as against a -<i lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">pelta</i>.</p> - -<p>Although the Greeks had competition on occasion from the Persians and -others, they drove a great trade in the Black Sea for over a thousand -years. At the Bosphorus they founded Byzantium, one of the world’s best -known emporiums. Great quantities of fur trimmings for the tall bonnets -and robes of the Mesopotamians were traded there. The felting used so -extensively by the Scythians, as well as the valuable pelts which the -Israelites used as temple decorations and as offerings to the deity, -all passed through this famous fur market. And of course from Byzantium -came the pelts which the Greeks themselves used so extravagantly as -house decorations and body raiment, especially battle dress.</p> - -<p>After the Romans took over Greece’s trade, they in turn carried on a -brisk commerce in pelts through Byzantium where lambskin, marten, sable -and ermine were exacted in vast quantities as tribute.</p> - -<p>The market for pelts expanded tremendously under Rome’s driving demand -for luxuries. From the Slavic steppes and forests and from the shores -of the Black and Caspian Seas came all manner of pelts. Furs of the -finest quality—pure white ermine, black fox and silvery sable—along -with silks and gems, came by trade caravan from Mongolia and Cathay, -across the Asian wastes. Down the Nile from deep in Africa travelled -Ethiopians bearing their lion and leopard skins. Arabian traders, -having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> learned the law of the monsoon winds, crossed the Indian Ocean -to bring prime pelts as well as spices and other riches from Hindustan -and the Malay Archipelago to the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>Italy was the main center of the world’s commerce in pelts, with the -Romans reaching out not only for the far eastern trade in precious fur -such as sable and ermine but into northern Europe, to Flanders and even -into Scandinavia for beaver, otter and bear—and for more ermine. For -ermine was becoming the garment of state wherever royalty held court, -pure white ermine being held in highest esteem. Demand for this regal -fur far exceeded the means of supply. Not until the Germanic hordes -cycloned down from the north did the impetus of this Italian trade in -fine pelts abate.</p> - -<p>Then all trade, culture, and even most western knowledge of the world, -shrank almost into oblivion. The Dark Ages settled down upon civilized -Europe.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It took the impact of Mohammed’s vicious attack on Christendom and -Islam’s subsequent conquests in the Mediterranean to stir the western -world from its lethargy. The resulting Holy Crusades awakened curiosity -about Moslem luxuries and better ways of living. Western trade was -restimulated; merchants again began bidding up fine furs.</p> - -<p>There was a new, stepped-up demand for ermine pelts by dignitaries of -the Church and other nobility. Fashion came to require quantities of -mantles and robes of the royal white, as whole systems of protocol on -the use of ermine were established. To indicate rank on state occasions -the lustrous white robes of the nobility were often decorated with the -ermine’s black tail tips or the paws of the black lamb. Decrees were -issued permitting peers to wear trimmings of the white fur on their -scarlet gowns. And, king and judge having originated as one, it was but -natural that the judiciary came to be permitted the use of white ermine -as the badge of high legal dignity, of purity.</p> - -<p>The ermine, a slim little animal of the weasel family which produces a -semi-durable pelt of soft, glossy fur, is thought to have gotten its -name from Armenia, a fur center in ancient times. Medieval writers -often referred to the ermine as the Armenian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> rat. However it was the -breed inhabiting the northern latitudes of Asia that was most sought -after because of its snow-white fur.</p> - -<p>In winter the live ermine’s coat ranges from creamy white in northern -Europe to pure white in parts of Siberia; the tip of its tail is always -black. During the summer the white fur usually darkens in varying -degrees to a yellowish brown except for the underparts of the animal’s -body. Medieval nobility’s choicest ermine pelts were those which were -all pure white, except of course for the black tail tips. Because these -came from Siberia they could be obtained only through eastern trade -channels.</p> - -<p>To make terminal contacts with these eastern channels eager Italian -merchants risked their fortunes and their very lives. Eventually, like -most frontier traders, they won through by individual enterprise. -Commerce with the Moslems was a hazardous business however, even after -two rising emporiums of Italy, Genoa and Venice, built armed navies to -support it. But bartering and warring, sometimes between themselves, -the Genoese and the Venetians extended their trade and their navies -gained complete control of the Mediterranean, to make it once more the -main western highway of Eurasian commerce.</p> - -<p>These encounters, with the Arabs and the ancient cultures they had -preserved, eventually reawakened a long dead interest in the far east -too. In the thirteenth century the Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, -penetrated beyond the Moslem barrier to the East, visited the Great -Kublai Khan in Cathay and returned to write a wondrous tale about what -he had seen in the Orient.</p> - -<p>There was gold plate, and there were sapphires, rubies, emeralds and -pearls to be had in the far eastern countries, just as the ancients had -said. For proof, road-weary Marco Polo brought home with him samples -of these jewels sewed in the linings of his tattered clothing. Also, -in plenteous variety in the East he had found spices for seasoning -and deodorizing, commodities for which all Europe yearned desperately -during the middle ages.</p> - -<p>And, Polo reported glowingly, there were silks, and priceless furs!</p> - -<p>The clothes of the wealthy Tartars in the far east were for the most -part of gold and silk stuffs, lined with costly furs, such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> as sable -and ermine and black fox, in the richest manner. Robes of vair were -much to be seen also. These consisted of hundreds of tiny Siberian -squirrel pelts, the grey backs and white bellies of which were joined -together checker fashion. In winter the Tartars wore two gowns of -pelts, one with the soft, comforting fur inward next to their skin, and -the other with the fur outward to defend them against wind and snow.</p> - -<p>Sable was esteemed the queen of furs in Mongolia. The dark, -silver-tipped fur of the Siberian sable was thick and silky, the -leather thin. According to Polo prime sable pelts, scarcely sufficient -to line a mantle, were often worth two thousand besants of gold.</p> - -<p>However, ermine appears to have been preferred in India where -Ibn-Batootah, a famous Moorish traveller of the fourteenth century, -reported an ermine pelisse was worth a thousand dinars, or rupees, -whereas a pelisse of sable was worth only four hundred at the time.</p> - -<p>In any case these two aristocrats of the weasel family, sable and -ermine, depending on the quality of their pelts, vied for favor among -the lords of the east, as did to some extent the rare black fox of the -icy regions in the far north.</p> - -<p>Polo said that when the Grand Khan of the Tartar Empire quit his palace -for the chase he took ten thousand retainers with him, including his -sons, the nobles of his court, his ladies, falconers and life guards. -For this entourage great tents were provided, appointed luxuriously and -stretched with silken ropes. The Khan’s sleeping tents and audience -pavilions were covered on the outside with the skins of lions, streaked -white, black and red, and so well joined together that no wind or rain -could penetrate. On the inside they were lined with the costly pelts of -ermines and sables. The Venetian marvelled at the skill and taste with -which the inlaying of the pelts was accomplished.</p> - -<p>When this intrepid adventurer travelled into northern Mongolia he -found the country alive with traders and merchants. “The Merchants to -buy their Furres, for fourteene dayes journey thorow the Desart, have -set up for each day a house of Wood, where they abide and barter; and -in Winter they use Sleds without wheeles, and plaine in the bottome, -rising with a semi-circle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> at the top or end, drawne easily on the Ice -by beasts like great Dogs six yoked by couples, the Sledman only with -his Merchant and Furres sitting therein.”</p> - -<p>These fur traders showed the Venetian huge pelts, “twentie palms long,” -taken from the white bear in the far north. That was the Region of -Darkness, so-called because for “the most part of the Winter moneths -the Sun appeares not, and the Ayre is thick and darkish.” There, Polo -was told, the natives were pale, had no prince and lived like beasts. -But in the polar summer when there was continuous daylight they caught -multitudes of large black foxes, ermines, martens and sables.</p> - -<p>Ibn-Batootah, who later travelled this country, told how the traders -bartered with the mysterious inhabitants of the far north.</p> - -<p>After encamping near the borders of the Region of Darkness the traders -would deposit their bartering goods in a likely spot and return to -their quarters. The next day on returning to the same place they might -find beside their goods the skins of sable, ermine and other valuable -furs. If a trader was satisfied with what he found, he took it; if not, -he left it there. In the latter case the inhabitants of the Region -of Darkness might then on another visit increase the amount of their -deposit, or as often happened, they might pick up their furs and leave -the goods of the foreign merchant untouched.</p> - -<p>So far as the traders were concerned these people of the far north with -whom they bartered might as well have been ghosts. The traders never -saw them.</p> - -<p>The pelts of all the polar animals were lusher and finer and -consequently much more valuable than those found in the districts -inhabited by the Tartars. Because of this the Tartars were often -induced to undertake plundering expeditions in the Region of Darkness -for furs, as well as for domesticated animals kept by the natives -there. Invariably, it appears, the inhabitants simply sought safety -in flight from the raiders, putting up no fight and never showing -themselves.</p> - -<p>Marco Polo said that lest the Tartar raiders lose their way during the -long winter night, “they ride on Mares which have Colts sucking which -they leave with a Guard at the entrance of that Countrey, where the -Light beginneth to faile, and when they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> have taken their prey give -reynes to the Mares, which hasten to their Colts.” Continuing, he said -that from this northern region came “many of the finest Furres of which -I have heard some are brought into Russia.”</p> - -<p>About the mysteries of Russia, Polo learned little. But he was certain -that it was of vast extent, bordering in the north on the Region of -Darkness and reaching to the “Ocean Sea.” Although there were many fine -and valuable furs there, such as sable, it was not a land of trade he -reported.</p> - -<p>How wrong he was about that!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>German merchants were long since firmly established with fur factories -in Russia, and Norse sea-rovers had first tapped the trade of that land -hundreds of years earlier.</p> - -<p>During the dark centuries when western Europe was sinking in despair -fierce Vikings in their horned helmets were traversing the Slavic -lands, plundering as they went and dropping Arabian, Byzantine and -Anglo-Saxon coins which later marked their routes. By way of the Volga -and the Dvina the Norsemen brought back far-eastern spices and pearls -obtained on the shores of the Caspian Sea in exchange for amber and -tin. But chiefly they transported skins. They bartered Baltic furs for -lustrous Oriental pelts and frequently used both slaves and coinage as -media of exchange. By way of the Dneiper and other rivers they even -traded on the Black Sea, and at Byzantium, portaging their dragon boats -from stream to stream with marvelous facility.</p> - -<p>In the ninth century the Norsemen established a truly great trading -city of their own at Novgorod. It was located on a table-land where -four main waterways of Russia converged to form trade routes to the -Caspian, Black and Baltic Seas. Here the Vikings, inter-marrying with -the natives, settled down and prospered in the riches of their commerce -with the farthest corners of the world. Furs and other oriental -luxuries, cloths, honey, spices, metals, and the wax consumed in such -quantities by the Christians, all passed through their hands.</p> - -<p>Rurik, the Norse leader of these Russified Scandinavians, or -Varangians, built a castle and a fort at Novgorod in 862 to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> protect -the independence of the surrounding province, and thus was laid the -foundation of Russia.</p> - -<p>An ancient chronicler tells also of the wicked, fabulous trading city -of Julin at the mouth of the Oder River on the Baltic Sea. The Saxons -called it Winetha (Venice). It was inhabited mainly by pagan Slavs. But -there were Norsemen there too, and in fact anyone could live and trade -in this emporium of the north so long as he didn’t declare himself a -Christian. Julin disappeared at an unknown date beneath the water due -to the encroachments of the sea. Trusting in the wealth of its trade -and despising God, it went the way of Sodom and Gomorrha according to -Christian bards.</p> - -<p>In the eleventh century whatever did remain of Julin belonged to the -Christian Germans. German merchants, crossing the Elbe from the west, -colonized the Oder valley and other Slavic lands on the shores of the -Baltic. At Thorn in Poland they exchanged cloth and other goods for -ermine, sable, fox and calabar (grey squirrel). They even penetrated -Russia deeply for trade. At Novgorod they had a fur trading settlement -active enough to prompt expressive protestations from the pious Canon -Adam of Bremen.</p> - -<p>“Pelts are plentiful as dung” in Russia, he wrote, but they are “for -our damnation, as I believe, for <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">per fas et nefas</i> we strive -as hard to come into the possession of a marten skin as if it were -everlasting salvation.” According to him it was from this evil source -in Russia “that the deadly sin of luxurious pride” had overspread the -west.</p> - -<p>Indeed, by comparison with the self-mortifying Christian standards of -the time, luxury in dress was very pronounced among the rising German -merchants and their wives. It was even more so among the men than among -the women. The most conservative patricians and councillors wore cloth -hoods ostentatiously trimmed with beaver and other fine fur, and long -fur cloaks of exquisite quality. So proud were they of their finery -that the Councillors of Bremen once forged a document pretending to -prove that Godfrey of Bouillon during the First Crusade had vested them -with the right to wear fur and gold chains.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> - -<p>The Church frowned upon the use of fur by the laity or any except the -highest ecclesiastics. In fact, since early in medieval times the -wearing of fur by the common man had been regulated by severe laws. But -even among the Christians a man’s wealth and standing permitted its use -in some degree. As always in the past, fur was a symbol of power and -prestige. And, these German merchants were becoming a real power as -they gained a monopoly of the Baltic trade.</p> - -<p>They formed a strong federation of the towns they had founded at the -river mouths along the south shore of their sea. Their luggers plied -the North Sea and the Thames in Britain. At Wisby on the important -Isle of Gothland they early established an emporium. From the first -Christian centuries barbarian Gothland had been the most active center -of Baltic trade. Now it was under the control of this Hanseatic League -of German cities which dominated the Baltic Sea and was soon permitting -no carrying bottoms there other than its own.</p> - -<p>In the thirteenth century the enterprising Hansa towns had monopolistic -trade factories established not only in England and Scandinavia, and at -Novgorod in Russia, but at Pleskow and perhaps even at Moscow. Their -fur traders penetrated to the White Sea. Within another century they -had extended their operations beyond the Urals into Siberia as far as -Tobolsk and the River Taz. By then their bold assurance had gained them -factories or the protection of trade-guild concessions in Flanders, -France and Portugal. They were granted concessions even in Venice, -their great Italian rival, whose own trading galleys were in turn -annually invading England and Flanders.</p> - -<p>But cruelty and haughtiness were born of the Hansa’s strength and -pride, and lasting enmities resulted.</p> - -<p>German arrogance met its first tests at Novgorod. There the Hansa -traders incurred the everlasting resentment of the Russians, who in -an effort to cope with mounting indignities resorted to cheating the -Germans at every opportunity. Buying furs was risky business except -in well-lighted places where it was easy to test quality. Resentments -often flared into conflict, and the factory in Novgorod became a kind -of hostile encampment.</p> - -<p>In spite of reduced returns, however, the Hansa merchants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> clung -tenaciously to their trading privileges in Russia for some time. -Not until Ivan the Terrible crushed the independent provinces and -consolidated the Russian Empire were the Germans finally driven out—in -the sixteenth century.</p> - -<p>Then the Scandinavian powers revolted against the Hansa monopolies and -the cruelties of the Germans within their borders. During the wars -that followed the power of the Hanseatic League declined rapidly. With -feudalism breaking up on the continent in western Europe, men had been -freed for competitive commerce. It was the time of the Renaissance -and trading impulses were quickening everywhere. New maritime states, -sensing opportunity, had already risen to challenge the monopoly in the -Baltic. Danes, Dutch and even the commercially-retarded English had -been competing for the prize.</p> - -<p>In England as early as 1404 a group of merchant adventurers organized -a company to carry trade to Baltic cities. But as it turned out the -agricultural English were not ready, for, although their sailors and -traders fought savagely during piratical encounters in the Baltic, -at home they were still hindered by their feudal system, a system -against which the Germans had early rebelled as being incompatible -with commercial enterprise. The absence of a large middle class, of -sufficient urban community life in England, forestalled any real -commerce.</p> - -<p>The backward Englishmen didn’t have anything but lead, tin and cheap -skins to export, and they had to buy back some of that, reworked, at a -premium. On the continent at the time there was a saying: “We buy fox -skins from the English for a groat, and re-sell them the foxes’ tails -for a guilder.”</p> - -<p>The Danes, situated strategically to cut the Baltic trade lane, fared -much better than the English. But in the end it was the Dutch who -succeeded the Hansa in carrying trade. The main lane of traffic from -Bruges in Flanders, over the North Sea, around the Danish peninsular, -and through the Baltic to Russia belonged eventually to Holland. So did -the remnants of the Hansa’s former fur trade at Novgorod.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Dutch requirements for skins mounted rapidly with the coming of the -Renaissance. Even a brisk market for worn, discarded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> and inferior -pelts was maintained in Holland. The pinch for pelts came about as a -result of a tremendously stepped-up demand for fur in manufacture—in -the felting of hats!</p> - -<p>In Holland, as in other countries crawling out of the Dark Ages, beaver -skin had been permitted as headgear to almost all who could afford it. -Beginning with the time that the wearing of hats became fashionable -in Europe this costly fur was used extensively for that purpose by -people of means. It would appear, in fact, that in England from the -time of Chaucer the word <i>beaver</i> was practically synonymous with -<i>hat</i>.</p> - -<p>Now, felt hats, which had brims and other advantages over those -fashioned from pelts, were being pressed out in quantity by the -trade-conscious Dutch for world commerce. Dutch beavers, they were -called, and they came in a variety of shapes and quality.</p> - -<p>Due to the peculiar matting quality of fur filaments, felting had been -a profitable manufacturing art for centuries. The Greeks had practiced -it. The Mongolians of Kublai Khan’s time used felt matting for tents; -rich Tartars sometimes furred their robes with pelluce or silk shag. -The Normans who wore felted articles of dress brought the art to -England.</p> - -<p>Fur is made up of short, barbed hairs that are downy and inclined to -curl. Matting or felting, which would expose a live animal to cold and -storm, is prevented in most animal coats by relatively stiffer guard -hairs lying alongside the fur filaments and keeping them separated. -But, the ancients had learned that by first plucking the coarser guard -hairs from a pelt, the downy fur that remained could easily be removed -from the hide, processed, pressed into felt mats and blocked into any -shape.</p> - -<p>Although many other furs were used in the manufacture of hats, the -best felts were of beaver. For one thing they were practically -indestructible. Discarded beaver hats could be worked over and made -like new. Then, a new method of combing out the fur filaments of the -beaver pelt was developed, to better utilize the skins. This left the -pelts with the guard hairs to be worked into stoles for clerics and -officials, and the combed-out fur fibers of course for the manufacture -of hats.</p> - -<p>Dutch beavers for both men and women found their way to England, to -Baltic countries, to France, Portugal and into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> Mediterranean. -These, as well as other products of the north, were eagerly sought -in trade-hungry Venice, until recently the mistress of a thriving -Mediterranean carrying trade.</p> - -<p>Venice had reached this position of trade eminence in the Mediterranean -after a bitter, hundred years’ war to eliminate Genoa as her rival. -The most savage of the battles between the fine navies of these two -medieval states had been fought over the Black Sea fur trade. But then -the Turks, taking Constantinople in 1453, erected a toll-gate at this -ancient Eurasian cross-roads, and the bite they took as middlemen all -but stagnated world trade through the Mediterranean.</p> - -<p>To make matters worse, the Portuguese, who had been exploring the south -Atlantic, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa -in 1488. An alternative route to India and Malaya had been discovered!</p> - -<p>But, although Italy’s hold on the fur trade and other oriental -traffic was broken, her own need for fine pelts and luxuries had not -diminished. Italian coffers were overflowing with the riches of past -commercial glory, while a golden age of elegance was blossoming in -Europe for those who could afford it.</p> - -<p>One of the keynotes of the Renaissance, as illustrated in the art and -literature of the time, was an increasing appreciation of beautiful -furs. Throughout the western world wealthy women took to adorning -themselves with expensive pelts. If, as was said at the time, the -ermined luxury of a Queen of France was cast into the shade by the -furred splendor of a matron of Bruges, much more could have been -claimed for the oft-wed daughter of Pope Alexander in Italy.</p> - -<p>When this young lady, Lucretia Borgia, was married to her fourth -husband, Alfonso de Ferrara, furs competed with jewels in dazzling -array. Although the marriage was celebrated by proxy, the -twenty-two-year-old bride wore a diadem of diamonds, thirty strings -of splendid pearls, a gown of ruby velvet edged with sable, and a -cloth-of-gold train lined with ermine. According to Sanuto, the -Venetian diarist, it took ten mules to carry the boxes containing -the furs of her trousseau, there being no less than forty-five robes -trimmed and lined with sable, ermine, rabbit, wolf and marten.</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img003"> - <img src="images/003.jpg" class="w50" alt="IN EUROPE THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS DEMAND FOR BEAVER FUR -IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS." /> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">IN EUROPE THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS DEMAND FOR BEAVER FUR -IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.<br /></p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p> - -<p>With the need for such elegance, it is small wonder that the cooped-up -western world, alive and vigorous by then, hailed the Portuguese -discovery of a new spice route to the East Indies and began casting -about in every direction for passages to the even greater riches of -Cathay.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="II">II<br /><i>Vikings and Skraelings in Vinland</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_b.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">By</span> the closing years of the fifteenth century, not only were the -mercantile classes of western Europe thoroughly awake to the -possibilities of world trade, but a good number of other people were -beginning to think for themselves about the world around them.</p> - -<p>If one could cross by land to China, which itself faced on the sea, -there must be ways to reach that fabulous country by skirting the land -masses of the world. In that manner the Portuguese had discovered an -all-water route to India and Malaya. Or, was there the possibility of -an even more direct passage to both China and the Indies by sailing -straight west across the ocean?</p> - -<p>The ancients had said the world was a globe. Hundreds of years -before Christ, Greek philosophers were sure the world was round. One -of them, Eratosthenes, calculated the earth’s circumference to be -40,000 kilometers (amazingly enough today, within 9 kilometers of the -meridional figure!) And Strabo, a geographer who lived in the first -century, recorded that if it were not for lack of sailing equipment to -negotiate the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean one could travel from -Spain to India by keeping to the same parallel.</p> - -<p>Of course this did not agree with the teachings of the scriptures which -spoke of the “four corners of the earth.” All during the dark ages -ignorant clerics of the Church preferred to think of the world as a -flat platter and pretended to forbid a contrary conception because it -did not conform with the Bible. The low level of western culture had -blindly accepted the thesis that the inner edges of this platter-like -world were inhabited by monstrous creatures, and beyond the edges—a -bottomless gulf!</p> - -<p>On such grounds most people of the western world still resisted any -notion that the world was round. But there was a question in the minds -of many.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> - -<p>The Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Arabs had navigated the waters -of the Atlantic—so had the Irish and the Vikings who long since -discovered and colonized “islands” across the western sea—all -without falling off the edges of the world. The Arabs, even now, were -making the globes they had made for centuries for their sailors and -traders. Many learned men in the west, geographers and scientists, -were confident that the world was round; only recently at scholarly -Nuremberg a fine globe had been completed showing Asia right across -from Spain.</p> - -<p>If there were “islands” they could be skirted, large though some -of them might be according to the legends and the sagas of ancient -mariners. Christopher Columbus, the Genoese sailor, must have heard -about these western islands at Iceland when he visited that old -Irish-Norse settlement in 1477. Certainly he must have heard much about -Greenland.</p> - -<p>Greenland, a continent-like island in the west, had been colonized by -several thousand Norsemen in the tenth century under the leadership of -a red-headed, murderous Icelander named Eric Thorvaldson. From there -two of his sons, Leif and Thorvald, an illegitimate daughter named -Freydis, and a former daughter-in-law, Gudrid, with her new husband -Thorfinn Karlsefni, set out on even more daring trading and colonizing -expeditions to other great islands—“the western lands of the world.”</p> - -<p>First, Leif, whose conversion to Christianity against his pagan -father’s will may have had something to do with his wish to get away, -made landings in America in 1003. To Leif it was “White Man’s Land” -or “Great Ireland,” for he knew that Christian Irish had preceded him -there. There is in fact some evidence today that Celtic missionaries -in staunch, hide-covered coracles, and others too, had been crossing -the sea and making settlements in America for five hundred years before -Leif Ericson sailed west from Greenland. But Leif’s visit is recorded -with much more credibleness.</p> - -<p>In the tradition of his Viking ancestors Leif and his crew of -thirty-five men visited Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and appear to -have made their camp for the winter on Cape Cod where they built a -good house. There they leisurely cut timber and gathered vines for -cargo back to treeless Greenland. Some of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> crew shaped a new mast -from a tall tree for their dragon ship. Others collected peltries. All -marvelled at the mildness of the new country’s climate.</p> - -<p>Leif called the land surrounding his camp site “Vinland,” probably -because of the abundance of the greenbrier vines which grew there. -These made strong, flexible rope material when stripped of their thorns -and stranded together. On the other hand the name “Vinland” may have -been derived from the grape-vines and wineberries discovered there by -Leif’s family retainer, a “southerner” called Tyrker. If this slave -came originally from the Mediterranean area as his name might indicate -he may well have been the first to recognize grapes and demonstrate -their usefulness.</p> - -<p>One thing is certain however; the addition of wine to Leif’s already -valuable cargo, when he embarked for Greenland the following year, made -his expedition most exciting—one to be emulated!</p> - -<p>Ambitious Thorvald Ericson, for one, did not feel that the western -lands had been sufficiently explored by his brother. He set out in 1004 -and spent two years in Vinland investigating the coasts and rivers. In -his Viking ship, the same one that Leif had used, the sagas seem to -say that he ranged north of Cape Cod along the Maine coast and south -through Long Island Sound.</p> - -<p>The natives Thorvald met on his voyage were surprised whenever possible -and liquidated without quarter. Skraelings, he called them, meaning -shriekers or war-whoopers. No doubt the rough treatment afforded the -wild Skraelings was an approved medieval means of taking possession -of their fur skins with the least bother. In any case it ended in -Thorvald’s own death. One day hundreds of Skraelings in their canoes -suddenly attacked the Viking ship. Although the Norsemen drove them -off with much slaughter Thorvald was mortally wounded in his armpit -by an arrow. He was buried ashore that same day. His men returned to -Greenland the following year, in 1007.</p> - -<p>It has been claimed that the encounter in which Thorvald was slain took -place at Mount Desert Island on the Maine coast. Somes Sound does seem -to fit the site of the battle as related in the saga. Certainly, great -numbers of natives could have been in the habit of congregating there -with their canoes during fur<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> trapping season, for Mount Desert Island -was a favorite haunt of beavers and other fur bearers in past centuries.</p> - -<p>In 1010 wealthy Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid, who had urged -the project upon him, took something over 160 colonists from Greenland -to establish a permanent Norse trading settlement in the western land. -They went in dragon ships and round-bottomed cargo vessels loaded -with “all kinds of livestock,” including a bull. The men had headgear -adorned with horns, antlers or ravens’ wings. They wore short breeches -and were clad with leather armor. Pelts were wrapped about their legs. -The women wore girdled tunics. Heavy fur coats and lambskin hoods lined -with cat fur protected the voyagers, men and women alike, when the seas -were icy and the winds biting. Most of them survived to reach Vinland, -where Gudrid bore her husband a son, Snorri, the first autumn they -spent at Leif’s old house.</p> - -<p>Snorri, who was to become the ancestor of a number of distinguished -men including three Icelandic bishops, appears to have been the first -European of record born in America.</p> - -<p>At Vinland the Skraelings came with “packs wherein were grey furs, -sables, and all kind of peltries.” The bull having greatly frightened -them, it was some time before they loosened their bundles and offered -their pelts in trade. They wanted to exchange them for Norse weapons. -Karlsefni rejected this proposition. But the saga relates that he gave -them some milk, whereupon the red men wanted nothing else and barter -forthwith got under way.</p> - -<p>In such manner was the first fur trade of record joined in America, -although one cannot resist wondering if the milk was spirituous. -Experienced Thorfinn Karlsefni, who had gained his fortune in other -parts of the world as a seafaring trader, may well have been the first -white man to practice this ancient trick of the trade on the naïve -native Americans.</p> - -<p>Very soon after this first successful barter the aborigines came back -in much greater number than before with bundles of pelts and stood -outside the palisades which the Norsemen had been foresighted enough to -erect around their house in the meantime. Karlsefni, sensing the making -of another good bargain, instructed the women to offer more milk. The -Skraelings took it thirstily,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> pitching their bundles of furs over the -palisades. But then one of them tried to steal a Norse weapon and a -battle ensued during which many of the Skraelings were slain.</p> - -<p>Evidently Karlsefni thought it was too dangerous at Vinland. It would -appear that he moved his colony the second year to a site probably on -the Hudson River. In the meantime according to some students he had -explored the country from its northernmost parts, where he mentioned -seeing “many artic foxes,” to the Chesapeake Bay, no doubt entering -many rivers, the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence, the Hudson, the Delaware, possibly the -James, and identifying correctly the extent of the Appalachian mountain -range. There is reason to believe that he built shelters and maintained -a separate camp somewhere in the Chesapeake tidewater.</p> - -<p>It may have been there, as the Norsemen told it, that swarthy, -ill-looking men with broad cheeks and ugly hair on their heads, came -in canoes and stared at them in amazement. Later, these same men came -back with “fur-skins and all-grey skins” wanting swords and spears in -trade. Evidently there was no milk in this camp, wherever it was, but -fortunately the natives finally agreed to take red cloth in exchange -for their pelts.</p> - -<p>“In return for unblemished skins, the savages would accept a span -length of red cloth and bind it around their heads. Thus the trading -continued. When Karlsefni’s people began to run short of cloth, they -ripped it into pieces so narrow that none was broader than a finger, -but the savages even then gave as much for it as before, or more.”</p> - -<p>And, so the trading continued, according to a version of the saga in -<i>Hauk’s Book</i>, until it ended in a battle as usual. Once more many -of the natives were killed. So were two of the Norsemen.</p> - -<p>After three years Karlsefni abandoned the idea of a permanent -settlement. The Skraelings were too hostile. The Norse, with their -superior boats and shields, could cope with them on water. But on -land the red men were too numerous and had the advantage of surprise. -They couldn’t be held at bay—the Norsemen didn’t have the terrifying -firearms available to later colonists coming to America.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> - -<p>All of which may reasonably account for the dearth of Viking artifacts -on the eastern seaboard of America. The Norsemen kept close to the -shore-line, whether on the seacoast or on a tidewater river, building -their huts near the safety of their shielded dragon ships. Today, the -sites of those early camps may well be under water as the level of the -sea has risen at least five or six feet in the intervening time due to -glacial meltings.</p> - -<p>A translation of the <i>Flatey Book</i> saga relates that when -Karlsefni’s people returned to Greenland they “carried away with them -much booty in vines and grapes and peltries,” and that after this -“there was much new talk in Greenland about voyaging to Vinland, for -this enterprise was now considered both profitable and honorable.”</p> - -<p>Not to be outdone in the matter of profit Freydis, the illegitimate -daughter of Eric the Red and with a heart as murderous as that of her -father, led an expedition to Vinland a few years later. Honor appears -to have had no part in her plans.</p> - -<p>Freydis had a husband, but she made the plans. Before leaving -Greenland, she arranged with Leif for the loan of his house in Vinland -and induced two unsuspecting brothers of another family who had a -particularly fine ship to become her partners in the venture. These two -men were pledged to take only thirty warriors and their women. Freydis -had agreed to take a like number, but somehow she contrived to conceal -five extra men in her smaller ship.</p> - -<p>After they arrived in Vinland, Freydis managed to keep the two groups -apart by fomenting antagonism. The brothers were forced to build a -separate house for their men and women. This house, together with too -much wine and heavy sleep, proved to be the means of their undoing—all -according to the Viking lady’s plan it appears. And what a red-handed -proceeding it was!</p> - -<p>Freydis, with her husband’s grudging cooperation, succeeded in -murdering the two brothers in their house one night after shackling -their company. She had all of their men put to death and personally -wielded the axe that killed their five women when no one else would do -it. Then, taking her deceased partners’ fine trading ship, she returned -to Greenland with a rich cargo of furs, wine and lumber.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span></p> - -<p>One shudders to think how she went about extracting the furs from the -Skraelings!</p> - -<p>For two or three hundred years the Greenland republic maintained an -active trade between America and Norway, and with other countries, in -walrus hides, seal and fur skins, dried fish and whale fat. Norwegian -port records, as well as the sagas, testify to trade with “Markland,” -the name which had been given to Nova Scotia by Leif Ericson. There are -old church records which show that quantities of the pelts of animals -not indigenous to Greenland were exported from that country to Norway, -pelts that could have come only from the mainland of America. The -bills of lading listing church taxes which had been collected <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in -natura</i> include elk, black bear, beaver, otter, ermine, sable, lynx, -glutton and wolf.</p> - -<p>But, in 1261, the Greenland parliament renounced its independence and -swore allegiance to Norway. Independent traffic with other countries -was promptly curtailed. Subsequently the dominance of the Hanseatic -League through its monopolistic factory at Bergen, which took no -interest in Greenland, brought about a withering of all commerce -between Greenland and the continent.</p> - -<p>Deterioration of the Greenlanders themselves came about through -malnutrition and intermarriage with the Eskimos who descended on their -settlements. Some who voyaged to America probably remained there and -were eventually absorbed by the natives. There is evidence that as late -as 1362 an expedition of Swedes and Norwegians, exploring westward in -the Hudson Bay, left their ship at the mouth of the Nelson River and in -their afterboats penetrated through Lake Winnipeg up the Red River into -Minnesota. An inscription on a rhune-stone, ostensibly left by them as -a marker, says they were being cut off by the savages at the time. But, -whether authentic or not, the storied voyage appears to be of little -commercial significance; the era of Viking trade in America was ended.</p> - -<p>Among most scholars during the dark ages little notice had been taken -of the Norse discoveries, if indeed very much was known about them. -True, the chronicler Adam of Bremen had recorded the discovery of a -large island in the western sea, called “Vinland,” but then everyone -knew there were “islands” in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> sea. Knowledge of any far-western -lands, even of Greenland itself, faded with the withering of trade.</p> - -<p>Then Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain, plowed the ocean straight -west in 1492 and returned to assert that as he had predicted the east -coast of Asia was six thousand miles nearer to Europe than most of the -world’s best geographers had estimated it to be.</p> - -<p>A new, short route west to Asia! The news was electrifying to a now -thoroughly trade-conscious world. Spain, England, Portugal, France—all -took to the western sea.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="III">III<br /><i>Codfish Land Spawns a Fur Frontier</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_c.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">Christopher</span> Columbus probably thought that “the western lands of the -world” explored by the Norsemen were island-like masses, similar to -Greenland, off the northern coast of Asia. From what he was able to -learn, especially on his visit to Iceland, he no doubt concluded that -these lands stretched far away to the southeast. He had a mariner’s -instinct for such things. Certainly he calculated his landfall in 1492 -with amazing accuracy.</p> - -<p>Columbus came among islands that he confidently took to be the Moluccas -off Asia. The continent lay just beyond.</p> - -<p>But it was the wrong continent!</p> - -<p>Although Christopher Columbus made four voyages, reaching the mainland -of South America in 1498, he never knew that he hadn’t really come upon -Asia—that the natives he encountered were not wild, borderland East -Indians.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, a Genoese-born Venetian navigator sailing for an -English king landed on the North American coast in 1497 and claimed -the country for England. John Cabot was his English name. Cabot made -the North Atlantic crossing in a small bark called the <i>Matthew</i> -with eighteen men, following the route of the Vikings, and landed first -somewhere near Cape Breton. After sailing northern coasts for a week he -decided the country was Siberia. Like Christopher Columbus, he returned -quickly to report that he had discovered a route to Asia.</p> - -<p>Like Columbus too, John Cabot was given a fleet of trading ships and -was sent back the next year by an excited monarch and hopeful Bristol -merchants to collect the spoils of his discovery. His ships were -“fraught with sleight and grosse merchandizes, as course cloth, Caps, -laces, points, and other trifles.”</p> - -<p>This time Cabot cruised the coast south, possibly as far as Cape -Fear, for signs of Cathay or India before he returned to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> England. He -carried back a few mangy furs taken in trade with the Indians—for the -surprised Indians could think of nothing much to give the white god -other than the clothes off their backs—but no gold, pearls, silks or -spices.</p> - -<p>It was hard to believe that this was the Asia about which Marco Polo -had written.</p> - -<p>It took another decade for Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine astronomer -who had gone along on several Spanish and Portuguese voyages to the -western lands, to declare that they were in reality a new world. A -German savant named Waldseemuller who greatly admired Vespucci revised -the map of the earth. He drew in a new continental land mass between -Europe and Asia, and he honored Vespucci by calling it Amerigo’s -Land—in Latin, Terra America.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Spain’s only world rival had not been neglecting the west. -Portuguese caravels reached Brazil as early as 1500 and explorers from -Portugal visited Labrador and Newfoundland in 1501. Within a few years -after John Cabot’s crewmen first told Bristol fishermen that the waters -off Newfoundland boiled with codfish, Portuguese fishing boats led the -way to those American waters.</p> - -<p>Armed and battling, rival fishing fleets of the other European -countries followed them across the North Atlantic. Soon, almost a -hundred sail yearly were frequenting the fabulous Newfoundland banks -where fish could literally be hauled in by basket.</p> - -<p>These fishermen, Normans, Bretons, Basques, Bristolmen, fell to -bartering with the natives when they went ashore to dry their catches. -In sailorly tradition they no doubt had a handy reserve of appealing -gew-gaws for any chance meetings with the opposite sex. One thing -leading to another, it was not long before looking-glasses, beads, -tin bells and other trinkets were being exchanged for the fur skins -that the natives wore. And the aborigines in turn were then lured into -trapping and curing prime skins for this trade.</p> - -<p>So, along with their nets, the fishermen from Europe brought over more -substantial trade goods, such as knives, axes, fishhooks, combs and -colored cloth. Codfish Land, as they called it, began yielding up tidy -extra profits from a trade in sealskins, red and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> blue fox, otter, -beaver and marten. The bulk was small on the return trip; the merchants -at home paid well.</p> - -<p>The first pelts of the American pine marten taken by the sailors -caused much excitement. They were mistaken for sable. At the time -Siberian sable was the most expensive of all furs traded in the great -international fur center at Leipzig. In Russia it was reserved for the -use of royalty only; in England noble women eagerly sought the precious -pelts as neckpieces. A sack, as the Russian traders called a robe of -Siberian sable, was worth more thousands of rubles than most western -royalty could afford.</p> - -<p>But, although the pine marten did eventually become known as American -sable, the pelt of this little animal was never so precious as that of -his glistening, thick-coated Siberian cousin. For one thing the guard -hairs of his fur did not have the beautiful silver tips.</p> - -<p>However, there was another marten, otter-like in its aquatic habits, -that turned out to have a much finer coat than its European and Asian -cousins. This one the fishermen learned to call mink. It was the name -already given in Finland to this scrappy little member of the weasel -family, for whose fur there was a premium market in western European -countries. The American wild mink with its thicker, silkier under fur -and its glossier guard hair was definitely more desirable, bringing a -better price.</p> - -<p>Although Portuguese sailors had led the way to Codfish Land, Portugal -followed up her early advantages in America only half-heartedly. She -agreed to a Papal-sponsored division of the earth that left the new -world pretty much to Spain. The Portuguese suspected there was no short -route west to Asia. Anyway, they were doing very well in their own -sphere with their route to the east around Africa.</p> - -<p>In the end the Pope’s line of demarcation was all right with the -Spaniards, too. By the time they were sure there was no centrally -located strait through America, they had turned up enough gold, silver -and other rich loot to keep them well occupied.</p> - -<p>With medieval single-mindedness they were plundering, enslaving and -killing. It was the only way the criminal conquistadors knew to reward -themselves. Because the natives were accounted to be bloodthirsty -cannibals their enslavement or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> liquidation was looked upon with favor -by Spanish authorities. It also greatly simplified the acquisition of -aboriginal treasures and mines. Cruelties, so artfully practiced at -home, became sheer brutality when transferred to a frontier where the -number of victims seemed inexhaustible. Roasting alive, tearing by -hounds, dismembering, were all part of the customary Spanish pattern at -the time; it was just that these atrocities were committed with higher -frequency in America. Wholesale annihilation was the order of the day.</p> - -<p>Spain was not so absorbed however that she did not make threatening -gestures against those who would intrude on her new possessions. -England, following up Cabot’s discoveries, made a prideful attempt to -launch a colonizing venture. But it died in birth. The Spaniards warned -against any encroachments in their American sphere and the English -admiralty was in no position to contest the point.</p> - -<p>Not so, the French!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Loot from the Aztec Empire proved too tempting to French captains of -swift, handy ships which had been commissioned as privateers. Armed -with official “letters of mark” to challenge Spanish depredations on -the high seas they found clever ways to exceed their authority when -they overhauled cumbersome, treasure-laden galleons from America.</p> - -<p>It wasn’t too long before it was difficult to distinguish between a -French privateer and a plain pirate. And Francis I, winking broadly, -said he knew of no clause in Father Adam’s will which left all the new -world and its riches to his cousin Charles of Spain. Whereupon the -French monarch went further. He sent out a capable Florentine pilot, -Giovanni da Verrazano, to discover and claim lands in America, and if -possible to locate a passage to the Indian Ocean.</p> - -<p>Verrazano, with a crew of fifty Normans in <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Dauphine</i>, made his -landfall in 1524 just above Spanish Florida. He coasted northward past -the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. It appears that he glimpsed the bay and -identified it as the great ocean of the East reaching to China; then he -sailed on to the Hudson River.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> - -<p>The natives encountered by the Frenchmen along the way were gentle and -playful. It was spring and Verrazano’s mariners succumbed to the beauty -of the Indian women who braided their hair and modestly covered their -loins with soft furs. Otherwise they were quite naked. The sailors gave -the aborigines toy bells, bits of paper and colored beads, and found -them in turn “very liberal, for they give away what they have.”</p> - -<p><i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Dauphine</i> left the Hudson River and continued on north, beyond -Cape Cod, to lands where the natives were found to wear Arctic bear -and seal skins. They were rude and truculent too, possibly as a result -of having encountered white men before. These wild men exchanged their -furs warily. They wanted only fishhooks, metal cutting tools and other -valuable trade goods.</p> - -<p>When Verrazano returned home all he could show, of any tangible value, -were the furs he had taken in trade along the coast of America. But no -one in France was more than passingly interested in pelts; there was -the more immediate prospect of finding gold or reaching China.</p> - -<p>While the French were preparing to follow up Verrazano’s coastal -discoveries with an inland venture the Spaniards looked on with a -jealous eye. They themselves explored northward in Verrazano’s track -to make sure there was no gold or a northwest passage to Cathay there. -They took furs and Indian slaves from the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence Gulf. And they -actually tried a gigantic colonizing venture in the Chesapeake Bay -area. There was the chance that another Aztec Empire lay deep in the -interior of those parts!</p> - -<p>This country to the north of Tierra Florida, the Spaniards called -Tierra D’Ayllon. For it was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, a justice of Santo -Domingo, who had reconnoitered it and traded there for bison hides, -beaver, otter and muskrat.</p> - -<p>In 1526 Ayllon made a settlement of several hundred men, women and -children at San Miquel, possibly on the James River, in the Bay of -Santa Maria as the Spaniards called the Chesapeake. He brought priests, -armored soldiers, black slaves and the usual instruments of torture to -the Chesapeake. But probably he didn’t erect protecting palisades about -his town. San Miquel was abandoned after the first winter, its captain -having perished. The benighted natives had not taken well to killings. -These were of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> prouder race than the West Indian savages, and those -colonists who did not die at their hands or from disease were happy to -get back to sunny Santo Domingo.</p> - -<p>There seemed to be no hope of finding gold or silver in Tierra D’Ayllon -anyway. From this time all the closely guarded, secret maps of the -Spaniards said so. Except for some further trade in the Potomac for -bison hides and pelts, and a fatal missionary effort on the peninsula -between the James and York Rivers by a band of brave Jesuit priests, -the Spaniards ceased active interest in the Chesapeake area for many -years. They were being kept much too busy in Florida and South America. -Newly discovered mines, interlopers in the Caribbean, and especially -French corsairs lying in wait along their rich trade routes—all -demanded attention.</p> - -<p>The Frenchmen, however annoying their “privateers” were to the -Spaniards, were really only biding their time.</p> - -<p>Francis I, as always, had a great many problems. But the most pressing -one was his need for gold—much more than his privateers and pirates -could safely plunder from Spanish galleons. He had his mind on America -itself as a solution.</p> - -<p>Jacques Cartier, a stout Breton mariner of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Malo who knew the -fishermen’s route to Codfish Land, was sent out by the French king in -1534, and again in 1535, to explore inland in America. He was to find -gold, or the elusive passage to the treasures of Cathay at least. Maybe -in the northwest, beyond Spanish claims, the new-found land was joined -to Tartary as some of the geographers said. By striking inland Cartier -might reach it.</p> - -<p>On his first voyage of discovery Cartier explored the Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence and claimed the country, calling it New France. He found the -first Indians he met anxious to trade. They followed the French ships, -in their birch-bark canoes and along the shores, dancing and singing to -prove their friendliness, and holding up pelts on sticks. But the pelts -turned out to be “such skinnes as they cloth themselves withall, which -are of small value,” Cartier remarked.</p> - -<p>However, he gave the aborigines ironware and other things, while they -danced about him, rubbed his chest and arms, and cast sea water over -their heads in ceremonies of joy. “They gave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> us whatsoever they had, -not keeping anything, so that they were constrained to go backe againe -naked, and made us signes that the next day they would come againe, and -bring more skinnes with them.”</p> - -<p>Along the shores of the gulf wherever he went Cartier made friends with -the natives, giving to the women and children, little tin bells and -beads—to the men: hatchets, knives, frying pans. But he found no gold; -he located no passage to Cathay. When he embarked for his return to -France he took two wild men of “Canada” with him, inveigling them into -making the voyage by clothing them in shirts, colored coats and red -caps, and putting a copper chain about each of their necks.</p> - -<p>These two, in France, assured the French king that far up the deep -river of Canada (the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence) and beyond, there were walled -cities where people lived in houses—Hochelaga, and even more distant -Saguenay. Frontier towns of Tartary! They could be. When Captain -Cartier left with three ships in 1535 on his second voyage of discovery -he was instructed to “go west as far as possible.”</p> - -<p>With the two Indians as guides, Cartier’s ships anchored finally in -the quiet waters below present-day Quebec. Close by was the village of -Donnacona, Indian “Lord of Canada,” who welcomed the white men even -more than the safe return of his two subjects. He wanted to trade. -But the French captain wasn’t much interested in Donnacona’s personal -wardrobe or any other pelts.</p> - -<p>He made only a brief note of the great store of fur-bearing animals -in Canada—the martens, foxes, otters, beavers, weasels and badgers. -Then he pushed on. His was a more glittering objective. Up the swift, -narrowing river he toiled with a small party, part way in a little -pinnace and then in two long boats, until at length he reached -Hochelaga.</p> - -<p>The walled city turned out to be a well-palisaded Indian village, -near the present site of Montreal, where some of the highly organized -Iroquois lived in their traditional long houses. That was all—except -that the Indians, noting the silver chain of Cartier’s whistle and a -French dagger handle of yellowish copper gilt, said that such metals -came from Saguenay. It was much farther inland, several moons travel.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<p>But there were difficult rapids and the French captain couldn’t make -it. He was already a thousand miles inland. Winter was coming on. In -the end he returned downstream to the safety of his ships and the fort -his men had built on the river in Canada.</p> - -<p>Plagued by scurvy and freezing with cold that winter, Jacques Cartier -had another failure on his hands. It was going to be difficult to -explain things at home. He treated with Donnacona for food and -medicine, for furs with which to protect his men from the cold, and for -information about the country to the west. The “Lord of Canada” was -anxious to please the white men, that is, in return for their skillets -and axes and their bright colored clothes. He provided the things they -wanted—and he talked too much.</p> - -<p>Donnacona boasted that he had been to Saguenay. Truly, he swore, he had -seen there many of the things the Frenchmen valued so much—red rubies, -gold, silver—and the people were white men who went about clothed in -woolen cloths. Cartier brightened in the face of his troubles. Here, he -perceived, was eye-witness testimony on a royal level to the existence -of Saguenay and its treasures. When spring came he captured Donnacona -by a stratagem and “persuaded” the Indian king to go with him to France -for a visit.</p> - -<p>Whether or not Donnacona really believed his own story about Saguenay, -he played the game effectively all the way for Jacques Cartier when he -was presented to the French monarch. No doubt he wanted to make sure -that he created the means of getting back to his native land. In any -event, he had been canny enough to bring along with him several bundles -of his best trade goods, consisting mostly of “Beavers, and Sea Woolves -skinnes.” Maybe, among other things, he had French squaws in mind for -his holiday abroad, as one old scribbler has suggested.</p> - -<p>It was some time before King Francis was able to get around to doing -much about the Indian king’s stories. In the meantime Donnacona -died. But Francis wanted to make the imagined treasures secure for -the French. The only way to do that was to colonize and fortify the -approaches through New France, to take possession of the land by -occupying it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> - -<p>Realistic French merchants, like Jean Ango, were more interested in -the furs that had been finding their way back across the sea. However -colonization was an end they sought, too, if it provided a base for -their traders. It was a long way, across a dangerous ocean, to New -France.</p> - -<p>With the support of both the king and the merchants, therefore, Jacques -Cartier went back to New France in 1541. The Sieur de Roberval followed -him in 1542. In their well-supplied fleets they transported several -hundred colonists, including many farmers, also soldiers, miners and -traders. Roberval’s expedition included some women. They planted near -Quebec, building forts there; both tried desperately to reach mythical -Saguenay. Each remained through only one Canadian winter among the now -hostile Indians.</p> - -<p>Both leaders were more interested in finding quick treasure than in any -such prosaic business as fur trading. Cartier took back fool’s gold and -false diamonds found on the river’s bank near the forts. Rescue ships -had to be sent over from France with enough supplies to evacuate the -scurvy-ridden remnant of Roberval’s contingent.</p> - -<p>It would be another sixty years before a permanent colony was planted -in these parts. But New France was held, nevertheless, for France. And, -curiously enough, by the very fur trade that had been so much ignored.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The fishing barques from <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Malo, from Dieppe, Rouen, La Rochelle and -Havre, kept coming to America’s northern coasts every summer, hundreds -of them. They fished for cod on the banks, hunted walrus in the great -gulf, and caught whales in the lower parts of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence River. -Always, wherever they were, the mariners drove an ever increasing trade -with the Indians for valuable pelts. Over the sides of their ships and -on shore they bartered for marten, otter, fox and beaver.</p> - -<p>Commerce flourished to such an extent through this individual -enterprise that ships’ captains frequently found it profitable to -turn all hands to bartering for pelts. It was a French vessel in 1569 -at Cape Breton whose master drove a “trade with the people of divers -sortes of fine furs” that picked up the Englishmen,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> David Ingram and -his two companions, Richard Browne and Richard Twide. Along with a -large number of others these three had been abandoned ashore following -the defeat of their famous leader, John Hawkins, the slaver, in a -piratical engagement in the Caribbean with the Spaniards. Ingram and -his two friends, however, struck out into the Florida wilderness, -“crossed the River May,” and for twelve months beat their hazardous -way northward through lands never before trod by white men, until they -reached Cape Breton. They reported seeing “plentie of fine furres” -along the way.</p> - -<p>Gradually the traffic in furs moved inland via the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence as -occasional traders, adopting the native mode of travel by canoe, braved -the wilderness for choicer pelts. There being no soldiers or forts -to fall back on, these traders, born of the fishing fleets, found it -expedient to treat the Indians well. The Montagnais and the Algonkins, -who had been hostile since Cartier’s last visit, reciprocated in kind. -So did the Hurons, eventually. They were all hopeful of allies with -fire guns to help them against their powerful enemies, the recently -formed league of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, who inhabited parts -of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley in the west and the country to the south.</p> - -<p>In 1581 a French bark, sent out exclusively for fur by the merchants -of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Malo, pushed into the upper <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence. The profits of this -venture were so spectacular that organized bulk traffic got under way -immediately between France and the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley.</p> - -<p>Within three years Richard Hakluyt, the English geographer, was -writing, “And nowe our neighboures, the men of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Maloe in Brytaine, -in the begynnyinge of Auguste laste paste, of this yere 1584 are come -home with five shippes from Canada and the contries upp the Bay of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence, and have broughte twoo of the people of the contrie home, -and have founde suche swete in the newe trade that they are preparinge -tenne shippes to returne thither in January nexte....”</p> - -<p>Almost overnight New France became noted for its valuable export of -pelts, especially beaver. Hakluyt, writing from Paris about this time, -said that in one man’s house he had seen Canadian otter and beaver to -the value of five thousand crowns.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p>The French merchants mostly kept to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley, for -Canada and the valley region in the hinterland teemed with fur-bearing -animals. Furthermore, communication with the natives in the valley was -relatively easy because of their earlier contact with Frenchmen.</p> - -<p>Of course dialects differed, but limited palaver in a language similar -to that of the Algonkin tribe was possible with all the Indians in -these parts except the Iroquois. Theirs was a different tongue. The -Algonkin tribe of Canada, however, was part of a great linguistic -family which came to be known as Algonquin and which stretched -irregularly over most of the northern woodland and as far south as Cape -Hatteras on the Atlantic seaboard.</p> - -<p>Intrepid French traders often spent the winter in the wilderness with -the different tribes, to learn about their habits and dialects. If they -were to know what was really in the minds of the unpredictable savages -with whom they dealt, it was best to know as much as possible about -them and especially the exact meaning of their words. A good knowledge -of the dialect of a particular tribe might mean an advantage over a -competitor, a better profit, or even the difference between life and -death.</p> - -<p>The lonely fur trader in his canoe with his Indian guides soon -symbolized the occupation of New France. The deeper he penetrated into -the country the farther the fame of his conquest spread abroad. New -France was more than a claim; without colonization it was becoming a -recognized French possession. Geographers so indicated it on their maps.</p> - -<p>The front line of this French conquest was to become known as the -beaver frontier. The coast of the fishermen had been the first fur -trading frontier, but when that trade began moving rapidly inland and -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">castor canadensis</i> took over the chief victim’s role in the -drama of destruction, it became the beaver frontier. For <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">castor -canadensis</i> is not a highly reproductive animal and he is not a -migrant. He is also hindered from flight in the face of danger by the -large capital investment he has made in his home.</p> - -<p>The beaver is an amphibious rodent whose natural environment is a -pond or a sluggish stream. An industrious home body, operating on a -self-imposed economy, he hews trees and builds protecting dams and -apartment houses in which he cohabits with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> other beavers, all under a -system of government much like man’s.</p> - -<p>Physically, the beaver is distinguished by his thick coat of soft fur, -his hard, incisor-like teeth with which he can cut through the stoutest -oak, his palmated hind feet and his horizontally-flattened, scaly tail.</p> - -<p>He depends very much on that tail, which probably was a model for -Indian canoe paddles. It serves him as a rudder when he swims and as -a balance for his awkwardly-proportioned body when he runs. As the -foreman of a community construction project he uses his tail with -telling effect to lash laggards in the matter of pushing logs about -or sealing crevices in structures with good, hard clay. Frequently it -comes in handy to smack the surface of the water as a warning that an -enemy approaches as well as a protest to the unwelcome intruder. No -sound impresses itself more sharply on the woodsman than the crash of -an angry beaver’s tail on the quiet waters of his home preserve.</p> - -<p>The fur of this busy little animal was much in demand in the old world. -Not only was it preferred as a coating because of its beauty, warmth -and durability, but the hat industry then centering about La Rochelle -was requisitioning it in increasing quantities. With European reserves -being depleted, the lovely blue-brown, blanket-like pelt of the larger -Canadian animal found eager bidders in the French market at twenty or -more livres a pound, the average beaver pelt weighing one and a half to -two pounds.</p> - -<p>Castoreum, an important by-product of the beaver trade at the time, was -much in demand too. Obtained in the spring from the perineal glands of -both male and female animals, it was used extensively by perfumers as a -base for the flower scents. It was also often used to catch the beaver -himself. During mating season both sexes of the beaver deposited the -pungent, sticky, yellow substance on spots regularly visited by other -beaver and added mud and dead leaves to form scent mounds. These served -the natives to locate runways; also to bait the intricate snares they -set in lieu of spearing, before the white man provided them with metal -traps.</p> - -<p>The Indians of French Canada fell in readily with the white man’s -breathless pursuit of the beaver. They, themselves, had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> long since -learned the warmth and durability of his pelt. They used his sharp -teeth to point their cutting and scraping tools. They ate his flesh, -the tail of the beaver being considered a special delicacy. Now they -could trade his pelt and his castors for many wonderful things they -thought they needed—ironware, clothing, guns and brandy. It was not -difficult to persuade them to step up their war on the challenging -little animal that acted like a man.</p> - -<p>This soon changed the Indian’s mode of life, making him more and more -dependent on the white man’s wares. Eventually it brought about the red -man’s destruction.</p> - -<p>As old cultural habits began falling away and as hardware which the -Indian couldn’t make took the place of bone, wood and stone, he became -the prey of every evil white man who stood to gain from him. Always -deep in the Indian’s breast lay the revenge motive; always liquor -stirred his most primal instincts. The displacement of bows and arrows -by guns made it possible for him to kill off his aboriginal enemies -much faster. But he was dependent on the European’s continued help even -in that. Only the European could supply repair parts for the muskets -and furnish the required ammunition. It was a case of the red man -destroying himself with the white man’s culture.</p> - -<p>The brass kettle had as much to do with it as guns or brandy—and -the process was not restricted to New France. The pattern was to be -repeated on every other American frontier, by the English, the Dutch -and the Swedes. The fur trade furnished the means of contact between -the two widely divergent cultures of white European and red American. -Profits were tremendous—on both sides, considering relative values. -But the trade led to the Indian’s self-destruction.</p> - -<p>It also led to bitter rivalries among the white men.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">IV<br /><i>Samuel de Champlain Lights a Blaze of Red Terror</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_i.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">It</span> was the first spectacular profits of the fur trade toward the close -of the sixteenth century that brought about a fresh and urgent need for -the colonization of New France.</p> - -<p>The French government saw danger from jealous foreigners, Englishmen -in particular. Already the English had attempted settlements to the -south at a place called Roanoke. Greatly emboldened on the sea these -days they were admitting Spanish claims no more northerly than 34° and -French claims no more southerly than 45°. The land in between, from -Cape Fear to the Bay of Fundy, was claimed as English. All because John -Cabot had sailed that coast more than a century earlier!</p> - -<p>Now English boats, too many of them, were poking about Newfoundland, -where England laid claim to certain discoveries, and even in the Gulf -of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence itself. London merchants like Charles Leigh, ostensibly -on trading voyages in the great gulf, were boldly practicing piracy -against French as well as Spanish vessels. And Hakluyt, the English -geographer, was exhorting his countrymen to even greater competition. -“While the French, Bretons, Basques and Biscayans do yearly return from -these parts a manifold gain, we the English have merely stood still and -been idle lookers on,” he wrote provocatively.</p> - -<p>French merchants, however, were not showing much inclination to -colonize the country; they saw no profit in underwriting such risky -ventures when things were going so well. It cost money to plant -colonies. Unencumbered competitive traders would probably profit as -much as those who did the planting.</p> - -<p>The king saw it differently however. Unless something was done to -colonize the valley of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence, to fortify it, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> great -trade of the French and the hoped-for route to Cathay stood to be -seized by foreigners. He resorted to offering monopolies.</p> - -<p>Companies were given total rights to the fur trade in return for -promising to settle specified numbers of colonists a year. But no -volunteers as colonists appeared. When a company was given the fur -monopoly it had to take worthless tramps or convicts furnished by the -government and, as the merchants weren’t particularly interested in -colonization anyway, they didn’t bother much about these derelicts and -criminals once they had transported them to some desolate post in the -wilderness. Furthermore, independent traders, as well as the fishermen -who went ashore to barter, persisted in violating the monopolies. No -one was happy. So vociferous were the conflicting protests that the -king was forced to cancel the patents he granted one after another.</p> - -<p>He didn’t begin to get the results he desired in New France until the -advent of Samuel de Champlain.</p> - -<p>Champlain, born at Brouage on the Bay of Biscay in 1567, was the son -of a French naval captain and the nephew of a Spanish pilot major. -He served with French troops as a quarter-master before the Peace of -Vervins and later captained a Spanish transport conveying troops to -the West Indies. He was there for two years. Having an observant eye -he carefully sketched and mapped everything he saw in the Caribbean, -the account of his adventures even containing a suggestion of a Panama -Canal whereby “the voyage to the South Sea would be shortened by more -than 1500 leagues.”</p> - -<p>When he first came to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley in 1603 as an advance -agent of a company with a fur trade monopoly, Samuel de Champlain held -the title of Geographer Royal, a brevet nobility. It had been conferred -upon him by Henry IV in recognition of his demonstrated ability to get -at the facts in America. Now a captain in the French navy he came with -instructions from the French monarch to bring back a true report on -the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley. While others in the expedition spent their -time bartering with the aborigines, Champlain and Francois Grave, Sieur -duPont, a principal merchant of the company, set out to explore the -great waterway to the west and to get all the intelligence they could -about it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> - -<p>Actually, they penetrated no farther west than Cartier had done, and -not so far as other traders in recent years, but Champlain judiciously -recorded what he learned from the Indians and made impressive -recommendations. Before returning to France he made a similar survey -of the regions about Gaspe and the Acadian Peninsula where there were -thought to be rich mines. His report, while recognizing the advantages -of establishing a trading post on the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence at Three Rivers -as Dupont-Grave recommended, pointed out that the powerful league of -Iroquois nations barred the way to any farther penetration westward. -Too, the feasibility of a possible passage by this route to China was -complicated by rapids and ice.</p> - -<p>It might be better to try for a more southerly passage, one that would -flank the war-like Iroquois, Champlain suggested. There were rivers on -the coast south of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence that might lead directly to the -lakes in the west—possibly to the western sea.</p> - -<p>The new Huguenot head of the company, Pierre de Guast, Sieur de Monts, -favored this plan. He’d like to find a new entry into New France, one -free of the bitter cold of Canada, and one free of the jealousies of -the merchants who had pioneered in the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence. The king fully -approved. The prospects of finding minerals in the more southerly parts -intrigued him. To make sure the company had sufficient ground in which -to operate he gave de Monts a patent extending from Cape Breton south -to present-day Philadelphia, from 46° north latitude to 40°.</p> - -<p>The next few years were spent in making settlements in the Bay of -Fundy, at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix and at Port Royal.</p> - -<p>Scurvy and cold plagued the colonists even more than Basque pirates, -Hollanders and other poaching foreigners annoyed the company’s traders. -Trade was brisk nevertheless, with the furriers and hatters of Rouen -and Paris bidding up all the pelts that could be shipped to France. -In fact, prices rose so high that the Hatters Corporation of Paris -complained to the ministry.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Champlain explored to the south of the French settlements -as far as Cape Cod for better sites. He found that Englishmen had been -investigating that coast, but he didn’t discover a river that led -inland to the lake country, skirting the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> terrible Iroquois. He didn’t -look south far enough. If he had found the Connecticut or the Hudson, -New England might today be populated by Frenchmen. And New Yorkers -probably wouldn’t have their Dutch ancestors.</p> - -<p>In the end Champlain advised the king and the merchants that the -company should return to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley. Trading posts should -be established there, he said. With the help of native enemies of the -Iroquois he believed he could defeat the Five Nations—force them to -trade—force a way through to Tartary or the western sea.</p> - -<p>This is what the company now proceeded to do. An expedition was sent -to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence in 1608. Dupont-Grave traded at Tadoussac with one -ship while Champlain in another set out to erect a factory at Quebec. -There, at the foot of the cliff where the river was narrow, he built a -trading post fort consisting of a two-story wooden building surrounded -by a large moat. Cannon which would carry across the river were placed -on mounds at the corners, and the surrounding land was cleared of -timber and brush against attack.</p> - -<p>The going was rough, for <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le capitaine</i> tolerated no shirking of -toil. Some of his men conspired to murder him by poison, and, should -that fail, by “a traine of gunpowder.” This plot, he discovered in the -nick of time. One of the mutineers was hanged; the others were shipped -back to France, condemned to the galleys.</p> - -<p>When the trading ships with their cargoes of beaver and “blacke -Foxes, which seeme to exceede Sables” returned to France in the fall, -Champlain remained behind at Quebec with twenty-eight men. But scurvy -and dysentery took its usual toll. Only eight remained by spring. -Nevertheless the French captain proceeded with his plan to invade the -country of the Iroquois. He made overtures to their ancient enemies, -the Montagnais and the Algonkin Indians.</p> - -<p>“Notwithstanding, being a man, who is astonished with nothing, and of -a gentle conversation, knowing wisely how to acquaint, and accommodate -himselfe with those people, after having promised them, that when the -land of the Iroquois, and other Countries should be discovered, the -great French Sagamos (meaning our King) would give them great rewards: -he invited them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> to goe to warre against the said Iroquois, promising -(for himselfe) that he would take part with them. They (in whom the -desire of revenge dieth not, and who delight in nothing more then in -warre) passe their word unto him, and arme themselves about one hundred -men, for that effect, with whom the said Champlain, ventures himselfe, -accompanied with one man, and one of Monsieur deMonts his footemen.”</p> - -<p>This alliance of 1609 was to have far reaching effects on the future -colonial history of America. It sparked a blaze of red terror along -the borders between Dutch and French, and between French and English, -wherever the competition for the fur trade was joined, that was not to -be extinguished for a hundred and fifty years.</p> - -<p>News has a way of travelling fast in the wilderness, especially news -of a war alliance. The Hurons in the west were Iroquoian, but were -bitter enemies of the Five Nations. They wanted to be members of such -a promising war party, one with white men carrying the astonishing -“fireguns” that the nations of the enemy league had never before seen -or heard.</p> - -<p>Down the Ottawa and the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence the Hurons came to Quebec, with -furs to barter but with their tomahawks well sharpened. Champlain and -his savage allies gave them a resounding welcome. The French captain -traded with them and made a war pact. Then they all set off up the -<abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence for the mouth of the Richelieu River, beyond which lay -the territory of the Five Nations. There, turning south in a flanking -movement, they ascended the Richelieu to reach the “Lake of the -Iroquois,” later to be called Lake Champlain.</p> - -<p>The invaders proceeded with extreme caution after reaching the -lake, travelling only at night. However, the French captain had an -opportunity to observe something of the advanced state of civilization -of the Iroquois before the alarm was given. Their farms, sown with corn -and beans, were models of orderliness. Their palisaded forts, he noted, -contained buildings of three to four stories, similar to those he had -previously observed among the highly organized natives of Mexico.</p> - -<p>Champlain must have had some premonition then that these intelligent -but bloodthirsty savages would prove far more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> troublesome than any -other natives the French had encountered in America.</p> - -<p>When the battle was joined, the invading savages cunningly kept the -three Frenchmen hidden behind ranks until, by the sudden appearance of -white men with death-dealing thunder, the greatest consternation might -be created among the Iroquois. The effect upon the Iroquois was even -more dramatic than was anticipated. “On a sodaine, all was in disorder, -astonished at such a noise, and death so unexpected. Upon this feare, -the men of Kebec loosing no occasion, followed earnestly their enemies, -and killed about fiftie of them, whose heads they brought backe, to -make therewith merry feasts, and dances, at their returne, according -to their custome.” They also took back ten or twelve live prisoners -reserved for torture.</p> - -<p>The Iroquois, when they recovered sufficiently from their shock to -learn more about white men and guns, became the irreconcilable haters -of the French. The flame blazed. And it would be fed even more by the -Frenchmen—by surprise arquebus massacres and the savagery of the white -men’s Algonkin and Huron allies.</p> - -<p>Champlain went back to France that fall. Once more the monopoly -had been cancelled; the company had lost its exclusive patent. The -government was permitting free trade to all Frenchmen in the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence valley. However, the company decided to stick it out in the -face of this competition. Champlain became affianced, under a marriage -contract, to a girl of twelve who was to join him later as his wife, -and then he returned to Canada.</p> - -<p>The French captain now carried the war to the Iroquois nations again, -successfully urging his Indian allies to help him push farther west. -All his battles with the Five Nations were not victories, for the -Iroquois were fiercely stubborn foes. However Champlain forced his way -to Lake Ontario and Niagara. He ascended the Ottawa and visited Lakes -Nipissing and Huron, blazing a trail west for the beaver traders to -follow. Because of his tireless efforts in the western wilderness the -economy of the new country rested solidly on the fur trade for many -years, and the beaver rightfully came to occupy a prominent place in -the Canadian coat of arms.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> - -<p>Samuel de Champlain became the first Governor of French Canada, the -ruler of all New France. But he didn’t find the western sea, or a -passage to China.</p> - -<p>He did force the Five Nations of the Iroquois into alliances with the -enemies of the French, the incoming Dutch fur traders who furnished the -savages with guns, and then with the English. The story of the brutal -border wars that resulted is in large measure the story of the colonial -struggle for most of the American continent.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="V">V<br /><i>England Moves to Extend Her Realm</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_e.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">England</span> came of age in the sixteenth century. Labor troubles helped to -bring this about.</p> - -<p>When the tenants on demesne land asserted their right to sell their -labor to the best advantage, the lords in turn claimed their right to -use their lands to the best advantage. Since profitable sheep farming -required fewer laborers than ploughing and reaping, less and less -acres were kept in cultivation by the lords. Frustrated and starving, -the tenants were forced to abandon their homes and seek precarious -employment in the towns and cities.</p> - -<p>But feudalism retreated before this shift to community life and -a nation of five million restless people emerged from its former -agricultural isolation. Although the sheep farmers and wool merchants -improved their capital fortunes at the expense of the poor laborers, -they had notwithstanding built up a great national industry. England at -last had something to sell!</p> - -<p>In 1553 an expedition carrying woolens for trade with the Tartars -attempted unsuccessfully to reach Cathay by a northeast polar passage. -Defeated by ice and death, a surviving remnant did nevertheless manage -to reach the White Sea and to journey south into Russia to Moscow. -There they made a trade agreement of sorts with Ivan IV, called “the -Terrible.”</p> - -<p>The merchant adventurers of England promptly set up the Muscovy Company -to handle what looked like a promising commerce with Russia and through -that country with the caravans of Persia. But the English never found -the Russians rewarding as either customers or middlemen. While their -czar was willing to sell furs, felts and naval stores, or wax and -honey, he wasn’t particularly interested in buying coarse woolens. His -subjects wore fur.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> - -<p>The subjects of the czar did indeed indulge themselves in both the -beauty and warmth of fur.</p> - -<p>Except for the summer months Russians of quality went about in all -manner of furred luxury. From bearskin, lynx, squirrel, beaver, fox and -marten were fashioned their capes and bonnets, as well as their fine -tailored coats sporting decorative braid loops and toggles. Women wore -handsomely brocaded velvet coats lined and trimmed with expensive fur. -Nowhere in the western world did royalty make such extravagant use of -precious pelts. The nobility of Russia affected enveloping gowns and -pelisses of sable, ermine and vair. Esteemed above all other pelts for -certain wear was black fox. Nobles used this rare fur to make up their -distinctive wide caps enclosing tall felted bonnets in the fashion of -Babylonian hats.</p> - -<p>Millions of lesser folk in Russia, wearing caps and buskins, and -shedding cloth tunics for long waistcoats of fur in the winter, -consumed vast quantities of muskrat, wolf, lamb skin and reindeer hide.</p> - -<p>Still, there were plenty of pelts for export. They were in fact the -country’s chief commodity. Caravans from Siberia brought their cargoes -of fine pelts to the great market towns of Novgorod and Moscow. Ivan -the Terrible personally enforced a tribute of thousands of sables each -year from the western Tartars across the Urals. The value of Russia’s -fur exports to Turkey, Persia and the countries of Christendom reached -into millions of rubles yearly.</p> - -<p>Trade with the Russians, however, was very unsatisfactory to the -English. For one thing Dutch competition bid up the prices of Russian -fur. Some pelts “cost more there with you than we can sell them for -here” the London merchants wrote ruefully to their factors in Russia. -Then there was the fickleness and downright trickiness of the Russians -who being “very mistrustful ... doe not alwaies speake the trueth, -and think other men to bee like them.” To these woes were added the -enormous difficulties of the icy northern route. They were almost -insuperable; yet the taxes imposed on cargoes through the Baltic by the -King of Denmark were unbearably high. It was all very frustrating.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> - -<p>In the end proclamations were published in England against the use of -foreign furs—and these laws were not entirely sumptuary.</p> - -<p>True, the Renaissance had brought fashion consciousness to the middle -class Englishman to such an extent that it was often difficult to -distinguish between a noble and a well-furred commoner. There was -urgent need for proclamations to stop that. Often in the past such -proclamations had been necessary when the craze for furs mounted -inordinately. “Sabyls be for great estates” had been one historic royal -edict. Henry VIII, who decked himself lavishly with furs plundered from -the monasteries and indulged in cozily “furred nightgowns” for his -evening escapades, issued many a decree limiting the use of precious -pelts to the chosen few. Other monarchs had done the same thing.</p> - -<p>Over and above this need for class distinction however, it irked the -relatively poor English royalty to be gouged in the market place for -one of its regal necessities.</p> - -<p>From earliest Norman times imported furs had been used in England -to designate royal rank. Even before that, in the ninth and tenth -centuries, nobility and ranking clergy trimmed their garments with -beaver and fox. In the fourteenth century Edward III issued a decree -specifying ermine, symmetrically spotted with astrakan or other bits of -black, to be a royal fur. A whole set of heraldic tinctures was based -on fur. Ermine was represented by white flecked with black, variant -patterns and colors being termed ermines, erminois, pean and so forth. -Vair was shown as blue and white alternating in the manner of small -skins sewn together, some of its variants being counter-vair, potent -and counter-potent. Feudal lords of England had been inclined to treat -their equipage of furs as heirlooms, handing them down from generation -to generation.</p> - -<p>The use of fur was so firmly embedded in English tradition that it -was not in the nature of things that the new restrictive laws now -promulgated would be accepted without protest. One English merchant put -it tellingly when describing presents of fur that had previously been -brought to Queen Elizabeth by a Russian ambassador.</p> - -<p>“The Presents sent unto her Majesty were Sables, both in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> paires for -tippets, and two timbars, to wit, two times fortie, with Luzerns and -other rich furres. For at that time that princely ancient ornament of -furres was yet in use. And great pitie but that it might be renewed -especiall in Court, and among Magistrates, not only for the restoring -of an olde worshipful Art and Companie, but also because they be for -our Climate wholesome, delicate, grave and comely; expressing dignitie, -comforting age, and of longer continuance, and better with small cost -to be preserved, then these new silks, shagges and ragges, wherein a -great part of the wealth of the land is hastily consumed.”</p> - -<p>Whether or not the merchant’s protest was heeded, it was in fact -prophetic in its suggestiveness.</p> - -<p>The recent proclamations had decreed “that no furres shall be worn -here, but such as the like is growing here within this our Realme.” -Well, the “Realme” was about to be vastly extended.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now that England was no longer in a state of complete commercial -dependence upon the continent, ingenuity at home and pluckiness abroad -were rising to meet the challenge. Participation in world affairs was -eagerly sought. While adventurers of purse formed companies to trade -overseas, venturers of person took a sudden interest in such things as -ship design and ordnance. With an eye on plunder as well as legitimate -commerce shipwrights were trained to turn out swift and manageable -craft of small burden, well gunned for oceanic warfare and easy to -maintain.</p> - -<p>Of course Mary Tudor, the Catholic Queen of England who succeeded her -father Henry VIII, had prohibited her countrymen from sailing west to -America. It wouldn’t have pleased Philip II of Spain. He married her to -extend his empire, not to share it.</p> - -<p>But Englishmen had tasted salt water and they liked it. They liked it -even more after seeing the American silver, fifty thousand pounds of -it, that Philip sent to London as a wedding present. When Mary died -in 1558 after a short but bloody reign and her Protestant sister, -Elizabeth, ascended the throne, there was no holding those who wanted -to sail west.</p> - -<p>Elizabeth, herself, applied no restraints. Like the French king, -Francis I, she winked broadly enough when her own newly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> toughened -mariners pirated Spain’s shipping and disputed that country’s -ascendancy even on the Spanish main. The destiny of empire was -beckoning the English. John Hawkins, the slaver, and Francis Drake, the -privateer, were only the forerunners of captains of their stripe who -were to make their country the mistress of the seas.</p> - -<p>In the beginning it was envy of Spain, a thirst for silver and gold, -and the quest for a trade passage to Cathay that drove the English -westward, just as it had the French before them. Colonization, except -as an eventual means to an end, had no part in the French scheme—nor -in the English. The primary objects other than the harassment of Spain -were the discovery of mines and a northwest passage.</p> - -<p>Colonization was visualized, when at all, only as occupation—to hold -the route to the mines or to Cathay against the possibility of foreign -claims.</p> - -<p>Not until an English venturer in America by the name of John Smith -challenged the wasteful search for gold and demanded the development -of the country’s more obvious resources did it begin to dawn on -the merchant adventurers of England that colonization might be a -commercially desirable end in itself.</p> - -<p>And it was this same John Smith who demonstrated how trade with the -natives could be employed to get the country planted with Englishmen. -Along with the usual trade for pelts he bartered successfully for -Indian corn and other food stuffs. This kept the colonists alive until -they were “seasoned” to the new land; then came the profits from -organized fur trading to maintain them until agricultural settlement -could be effected with some degree of economic success.</p> - -<p>Prior to the coming of John Smith the English ventures in America had -been one costly failure after another.</p> - -<p>Among the earliest of these were the expeditions led by that enigmatic -Yorkshireman, Martin Frobisher. Reputedly a successful privateer, it -was also said that he knew how to hold his tongue. Maybe what he did -tell gained in importance thereby. It might account for the otherwise -unaccountable backing he obtained for three successive voyages to -America. Many thousands of pounds sterling were wasted on these -ventures by a usually hard-headed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> merchant named Michael Lok. A large -part of the expenditure was underwritten by the queen, herself, and -Elizabeth was not normally one to squander her silver.</p> - -<p>Frobisher went out first in 1576 in search of a northwest passage. -He succeeded only in discovering the bay, or “strait” as he called -it, that bears his name before coming on “gold ore” in the form of -bright, black rocks. Since the samples must have proved worthless on -his return to England, his promise of a strait to Cathay was probably -very impressive. Certainly the fur-clad Eskimo he brought back from -the north side of the “strait” was accepted as an Asiatic. In any -event, back he went to America the next year with three ships and the -financial blessings of Lok’s newly formed Company of Cathay.</p> - -<p>Martin Frobisher did some further exploring on this voyage, but not -enough it appears to learn that his strait was only a bay. It is all -very strange. An abundance of spiders in the region was taken as -convincing evidence that gold-bearing ore was close at hand. In the end -Frobisher loaded his ships with worthless black earth and returned to -England. What he said, or didn’t say, must have been doubly impressive -this time for the merchants evidently were not one whit discouraged. -They backed him with a fine fleet, fifteen ships, for a third voyage in -1578.</p> - -<p>A large band of miners was sent along this time by the company, and -two hundred twenty men were provided for the purpose of planting a -settlement on the “strait” that would protect both the mines and the -route to Cathay. But, so anxious was everyone to dig for gold, the -necessary buildings never did get erected. Again it is not clear what -happened, but apparently all thought of settlement was abandoned.</p> - -<p>Before the ice began to close in, Martin Frobisher set sail for home -with all his company and another three hundred tons of fool’s gold, -bankrupting the Company of Cathay.</p> - -<p>Next there was Sir Humphrey Gilbert. He and his half-brother, Sir -Walter Raleigh, were the queen’s two favorite gallants among her -soldiers of fortune. Both were brave men and both were intensely -nationalistic. Sir Humphrey said that a man is “not worthy to live at -all, that for feare, or danger of death, shunneth his country service, -and his owne honour.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> - -<p>Like other gentlemen marauders of England at the time Gilbert and -Raleigh practiced piracy abroad because it was considered both -patriotic and sportingly profitable to do so. They were particularly -jealous of Spain’s sea commerce and lent support to raids on that -country’s shipping with lucrative results. But when they personally -led forays against the silver fleet they were none too successful. -Humiliatingly enough, they were beaten off with severe losses.</p> - -<p>Sir Humphrey, however, was good at drawing maps. Using a globe he -showed the queen how interminably long were the southern routes to the -Indian Ocean as compared with a great circle route to the northwest. -This was true enough in theory—only there was land and ice to block -the northern way. But Humphrey Gilbert didn’t let that bother him. He -drew in a convenient strait, and once a thing is drawn in detail on a -map it has a way of looking real, even to the artist who conceived it.</p> - -<p>So the queen gave Gilbert a patent to “discover and inhabit” all the -land in the west not occupied by another Christian prince. In the -language of the time this meant to explore and occupy such land. And as -an incentive the patentee was given absolute title to all the country -he occupied, except of course for precious metals. One-fifth of that -went to the crown.</p> - -<p>Sir Humphrey planned to occupy Newfoundland as a starter. It was -conveniently situated off the entrance to his strait—the Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence!</p> - -<p>Newfoundland had natural advantages for colonization. Englishmen were -in fact already living there at some seasons—fishermen comfortably -occupying their well-lardered huts alongside their drying frames. -Domination of the fishing banks would surely prove profitable, Gilbert -thought. Naval stores were plenteous too, according to all reports.</p> - -<p>And everyone knew that Newfoundland was as rich in furs as Muscovy. -Only a year or so earlier an English sea-captain, Richard Whitbourne, -bound for the Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence to kill whales, had put in at -Trinity Harbor in Newfoundland. There he took so great a store of -bears, beaver, otter and seal that after killing a few fish he returned -forthwith to Southampton to sell<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> his more profitable cargo. There were -few of the difficulties in taking these furs that impeded trade with -Russia.</p> - -<p>However, when Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> John’s in -1583, he showed small interest in fish, naval stores or furs.</p> - -<p>Certainly, he was not much concerned with the potentials of the fur -trade. That there were “foxes, which to the Northward a little further -are black, whose furre is esteemed in some Countries of Europe very -rich: Otters, bevers and marternes,” he seems to have acknowledged. And -an American pine marten appears to have arrested his attention at least -fleetingly. “The Generall had brought unto him a Sable alive, which he -sent unto his brother Sir John Gilbert, knight of Devonshire.” But that -was all.</p> - -<p>From the first hour of his arrival at Newfoundland, Humphrey Gilbert -showed deep interest only in metals. He commanded his miners to be -diligent, and they obediently discovered what he took to be copper -and silver. Excitedly loading one of his ships with a treasure trove -of this ore, Sir Humphrey postponed the planting of Newfoundland. He -sailed to discover other mines to the south under his patent.</p> - -<p>But, unfortunately, he met with bad weather and his supply ship -foundered. Even after changing his course for England, storms plagued -his fleet. The “treasure” was lost, and Gilbert himself went down in -the sea after having gallantly refused to abandon the men aboard his -own leaking craft when he might have transferred to a safer consort -ship. “We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!” he cried out above -the tempest at the last.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter Raleigh took over his half-brother’s patent. Since there was -no limit placed on the land to be explored and occupied, except that it -should not be already occupied by another Christian prince, Raleigh had -wide latitude in choosing a theatre for his operations. Newfoundland -didn’t appeal to him. It wasn’t the most favorable site for what he had -in mind.</p> - -<p>The survivors of Sir Humphrey’s ill-fated expedition had been -thoroughly interrogated; obviously it wasn’t silver that had been mined -in Newfoundland. After all, precious metals didn’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> come from the bleak -coasts of the north, but from the warmer regions of the south where -the Spaniards had discovered them. And that suited Raleigh’s purpose, -as much as the rising hope that a passage to the Indian Ocean might -also lie in those parts where Verrazano once claimed to have actually -sighted the other sea. Those southern coasts were near New Spain!</p> - -<p>For, what Raleigh really had in mind was a site close to the route -of the Spanish treasure galleons. He wanted an English outpost, a -garrisoned base, within easy striking distance of the silver fleets. -That was the quickest way to riches and the surest means of destroying -the power of Spain. The Caribbean was the Spaniard’s Achilles’ heel.</p> - -<p>The first step in the achievement of this purpose was to be the -planting of a colony.</p> - -<p>A reconnaissance expedition, sent out by the southern route in 1584, -chose the vicinity of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds near Hatteras for -the settlement. Curiously, however, this party failed to recognize the -poor harbor and stormy hazards of the location. Possibly it was just -the first agreeable site they came upon as they coasted north from the -borders of Spanish-held Florida. If they had gone on just a little -farther they would have found Chesapeake Bay, a likely spot indeed.</p> - -<p>In that case Virginia, as Raleigh called the new country in honor -of his “virgin” queen, might have been successfully planted in the -sixteenth rather than the seventeenth century.</p> - -<p>However the reconnaissance expedition suggested Roanoke Island, near -Cape Hatteras, bringing back glowing reports of the country, a few dark -pearls and a good quantity of soft furs. “Chamoys, Buffe, and Deere -skinnes” had been taken in trade with the friendly natives. A single -bright tin dish given in barter had gained twenty skins, each worth -all of a crown, and a copper kettle had gained as many as fifty. The -voyagers also brought back two of the native inhabitants who were as -anxious to please the white men with tales that found favor as was -Chief Donnacona of Canada when he was taken to France, and probably for -the same reasons.</p> - -<p>Sir Walter Raleigh tried hard during the next three years to plant -a colony at Hatteras, sending out one expedition after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> another. -Everything failed. Storms contributed to the disasters as much as bad -leadership and worsening relations with the Indians. But, mainly, the -objectives were wrong.</p> - -<p>It was the search for precious metals, the quest for a trade passage -through to the Indian Ocean, the harrying of Spain, all coupled with a -complete neglect of the country’s more obvious resources, that brought -defeat. No one thought of growing food or trading with the Indians. The -“colonists” were mostly fortune hunters, ex-soldiers and adventurers, -bent on finding El Dorado in one form or another.</p> - -<p>All except one—he was Thomas Hariot, a precise man and an observant -one. Raleigh sent him out as geographer to the second expedition. -Noting the resources of the country, he listed among other things wine, -“medicinal” tobacco and furs as saleable exports. He made special -mention of the fur trade potential.</p> - -<p>“All along the Sea coast,” Hariot wrote, “there are great store of -Otters, which being taken by weares and other engines made for the -purpose, wil yeeld good profit. We hope also of Marterne furres, and -make no doubt by the relation of the people, that in some places of the -countrey there are store, although there were but two skinnes that came -to our hands. Luzernes also we have understanding of, although for the -time we saw none.”</p> - -<p>But even Hariot, along with Ralph Lane, the governor of the colony at -the time, listened gullibly to the tales of Indians who wanted to gain -favor. While Sir Richard Grenville, the admiral of the Virginia fleet, -raided the Spaniards in the West Indies, Lane and his men spent months -of fruitless search in the interior for white pearls or mines, and -followed many a river whose source might prove to be “near unto a sea.”</p> - -<p>They explored north as far as the Chesapeake, entering the capes and -looking for a channel that might be the passage, while one of their -party, John White, made sketches of the region. The south side of the -bay thus became well known in England about 1590 when White’s work was -included in the first engraved map of Virginia published by Theodore de -Bry. What the Englishmen failed to understand at the time, because they -were more concerned with gold mines and channel passages, was that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> -Chesapeake tidewater represented a storehouse of valuable fur—muskrat, -beaver, mink and otter—all in vast reserve.</p> - -<p>Lane, however, was convinced that only “the discovery of a good mine -by the goodness of God, or a passage to the South Sea, or some way to -it, and nothing else, can bring this country in request to be inhabited -by our nation.” If only he had realized that within easy reach there -was far more quick gold in fur than the English would ever take out of -America in ore!</p> - -<p>A last contingent of Raleigh’s colonists, which included some women and -children, provided one of history’s most mystifying episodes when the -entire colony simply vanished from Roanoke Island. Among them was the -first Christian child born in English Virginia, little Virginia Dare, -granddaughter of the colony’s new governor, John White, the artist. -The word “Croatan,” carved in “faire Romane letters” on a post of the -abandoned stockade, was the only clue to the lost colony ever found by -those who came later to search for it. A tribe of Indians by that name -lived on a near-by island. Even this proved futile however, and the -mystery has only darkened with the passing of the centuries.</p> - -<p>Other English ventures in America also ended in failure. Beginning in -1585 Captain John Davis, an expert navigator, went out three times in -quest of a northwest passage to Cathay. He penetrated farther north -than anyone before him to discover the straits that bear his name, -never fully realizing that beyond lay only pack ice. Captain George -Weymouth followed Davis’ track in 1593, meeting eventual defeat.</p> - -<p>Weymouth tried again for a northern passage in 1602; so did Captain -John Knight in 1606 while exploring for gold and silver mines. Ice and -mutiny stopped Weymouth. Knight simply disappeared ashore one day.</p> - -<p>Not long after the turn of the century Captain Charles Leigh led a -daring expedition to South America in an attempt to establish a base -of operations in what is now French Guiana. Only a remnant survived a -massacre by the natives in 1605 to straggle back to England.</p> - -<p>The coast of North America from Spanish Florida to Nova Scotia also -came in for more investigation at this time. Bartholomew Gilbert, son -of Sir Humphrey, was sent out by James I in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> 1603. He visited the -Chesapeake Bay area, possibly hoping to find survivors of the Roanoke -colony, only to be killed himself by Indians when he landed with a -shore party.</p> - -<p>Others explored in the vicinity of Cape Cod and northward, Bartholomew -Gosnold, going out to that coast in 1602, and Martin Pring in 1603. -They found no mines, but they took back to England quantities of -cedar, sassafras and furs. Gosnold’s cargo of pelts obtained from the -Buzzard’s Bay area included beaver, marten, otter, “Wild-cat skinnes -very large and deepe furre,” seal, deer, black fox, rabbit and “other -beasts skinnes to us unknowen.”</p> - -<p>Pring was more interested in sassafras trees, but he later wrote -that the furs of certain wild beasts in those parts “being hereafter -purchased by exchange may yield no smal gaine to us. Since as we are -certainly informed, the Frenchmen brought from Canada the value of -thirtie thousand Crownes in the yeare 1604. Almost in Bevers and Otters -skinnes only.”</p> - -<p>A great deal of sassafras was cut and stowed aboard their ships by -these two captains. Sassafras brought fancy prices at the time as -a cure for the French pox as well as a specific for certain other -diseases. But such windfall importations glutted the London and Bristol -markets, seriously depressing the price.</p> - -<p>Both Gosnold and Pring brought back the usual tales about a passage to -the South Sea and the fertility of the land. So Captain George Weymouth -went over in 1605, visiting the Maine coast where he explored for -colonization sites. He also drove a good though hazardous trade for -pelts. In one instance, “for knives, glasses, combes and other trifles -to the valew of foure or five shillings, we had 40 good Beavers skins, -Otters skins, Sables, and other small skins which we knewe not how to -call.”</p> - -<p>These were the interlopers who had alarmed the French traders then -settled in the Bay of Fundy. Before Weymouth left Maine, Champlain was -making his own exploration southward along the coast as far as Cape -Cod. He learned enough to decide that all the English ventures had been -failures. They had discovered no mines, no passage, and, although they -had made a temporary camp or two, no colony was yet planted. Obviously, -the Frenchman surmised, the English had found nothing of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> value -to the south or they would be trying to occupy that coast. Champlain -turned back, convinced that the best prospects lay in the valley of the -<abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence.</p> - -<p>But then, late in 1606, three small ships put down the Thames, bound -for America. Aboard, in addition to the crews, were a hundred or more -men committed to colonizing an English plantation in the vicinity -of Chesapeake Bay. One of these was Captain John Smith, soldier and -adventurer extraordinary—and, fortunately, a forthright man who spoke -his mind.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">VI<br /><i>Captain John Smith Takes to Trade</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_w.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">When</span> Captain John Smith arrived in America early in 1607 he was but -freshly turned twenty-seven years of age. And he was in serious -trouble—a prospect for the gibbet, in fact, because of alleged -treason. On the voyage over he had plotted to supplant those in charge, -or so it was charged by his enemies in the expedition.</p> - -<p>But, when the sealed instructions from the London Company were opened -that spring in Virginia, it was learned that John Smith himself was -to be a member of the council in the government of the colony. In the -end he had to be given his rightful position of authority at Jamestown -where the colony was planted.</p> - -<p>It had always been thus with young Smith. By just such amazing -experiences he had succeeded in raising himself from the status of -a poor tenant farmer’s son in Lincolnshire to that of soldier and -“gentleman.”</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, however, at this period in England’s history such social -climbing, though countenanced and legitimate enough, had not quite come -to be “accepted.” It provided fertile ground for the cultivation of -jealous enemies.</p> - -<p>Still, John Smith had probably packed more thrilling experiences and -hairbreadth escapes into his life than anyone else in the realm. -He had warred in far-off countries, engaged in sea fights and been -forced to ship with Barbary pirates. An award of a coat of arms and -the princely sum of fifteen hundred gold ducats had come to him from -Transylvania where, like a knight of old, he cut off three Turks’ heads -in single combat. He had escaped death from wounds on a middle-eastern -battlefield, only to be enslaved by the Turks. This hard fate was -mitigated somewhat by the favors of a high-born Turkish lady who -acquired him as a slave. But then her brother mercilessly shackled him -off to the land of the Tartars. From there, however, Smith succeeded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> -in making a miraculous escape after killing his cruel master.</p> - -<p>The fiction-like pattern was to be repeated over and over again in the -new world. Captured by the Indians of Virginia, Smith saved himself -from a tortured death by an ingenious oration and his flare for the -dramatic. Later, in the nick of time, he won the love of the young -Indian “princess,” Pocahontas, who rescued him from having his brains -beaten out by her father, Powhatan. He escaped from this predicament -only to find the living remnant of his distressed comrades in the fort -at Jamestown again ready to hang him, this time for allegedly having -gone over to the enemy. And so they would have done, if it had not been -for the timely arrival of the admiral of the Virginia fleet, Captain -Christopher Newport, returning from England with more colonists and -stopgap supplies.</p> - -<p>Delivered from the gallows once more, Captain Smith was subsequently to -be asked to assume the highest office in the colony, that of president, -because he was the only man with ingenuity enough to keep his comrades -alive while enforcing discipline.</p> - -<p>It was a poorly chosen group of colonists—these original Jamestown -venturers. Fully half of them were gentlemen of sorts bent only on a -quest for riches. A handful of craftsmen, a few boys and a brawling lot -of seaport loafers and ex-soldiers who were indisposed to agriculture -or any peaceful pursuits completed the ill-balanced company. They came -to find gold and they expected to relieve the natives of it quickly, if -not to scoop it up by the handful along the banks of Virginia’s rivers. -Instead, they met with hostile Indians, killing diseases and famine.</p> - -<p>Not more than one out of four who pioneered the settlement at Jamestown -survived the first few months in America.</p> - -<p>The joint-stock company that sent them out, backed by the patronage of -King James I and headed by one of the greatest of England’s merchant -adventurers, Sir Thomas Smith, only had the usual primary objectives -in view—the discovery of mines and a northwest passage to Cathay. The -instructions of the London Company, in fact, dwelt on these things, -while saddling the colony with a communalistic form of government that -encouraged idleness, bred suspicion and brought about deadly factional -disputes. Malarial fevers, dysentery and typhoid laid many of the -venturers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> low. Famine and attacks by the natives completed a grim toll -of death.</p> - -<p>While others remained behind the palisades of the fort, bemoaning their -fate and dying helplessly to prove it, Captain Smith was on the rivers -and in the forests laying the foundations of successful trade with the -Indians and sizing up the country’s resources. Resolutely, he foraged -among the natives for needed corn and other food. With a few men in a -barge he explored and mapped the entire Chesapeake Bay and tidewater -region, realistically recording Virginia’s natural resources with a -view toward making the plantation self-supporting.</p> - -<p>And when he assumed the stewardship of the colony in the fall of 1608, -following two presidents who had failed miserably, John Smith, the -soldier of fortune, truly became John Smith, the colonizer. To do this, -under communalism, he had to become a virtual dictator. But his rule -was as honest and as ingenious as it was arbitrary. These qualities -of leadership coupled with his understanding of the true nature of -Virginia’s resources and of the need for a firm foundation of trade -relations with the natives saved the plantation from extinction. The -colony on the James River became the first permanent English settlement -in America.</p> - -<p>For that matter, it was the British Empire’s first permanent colonial -settlement anywhere in the world.</p> - -<p>The tidewater Indians with whom Smith had to deal mostly belonged -to a group of Algonquian tribes known as the Powhatan Confederacy. -Ruling this confederacy was a tyrannous old chief, himself called -Powhatan, who was held in considerable awe by his subjects. From each -of the tribes under his domination Powhatan demanded an annual tribute -consisting mainly of beads and skins and bits of the decorative copper -that was so scarce in his kingdom.</p> - -<p>Beads were used by the Indians not only for adornment but as a form -of currency. As Captain Smith observed, they were the cause of “as -much dissention among the Salvages as gold and silver amongst the -Christians.” Their manufacture by the natives did indeed call for a -high degree of skill, each bead being cut individually from shell, -then polished and drilled with crude stone tools. When strung together -in belts or arm’s length ropes they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> were known universally among the -Algonquin nations of the eastern seaboard as wampum.</p> - -<p>In Virginia wampum strings of white beads made from cockle shell were -called roanoke, whereas strings of beads cut from conch shell, dark -purple in color, were called peake. Generally speaking the latter were -worth ten times as much as the former. The natives used their wampum, -or shell money, in barter among themselves to such an extent that the -white men found it very convenient as a means of promoting their own -fur trade. Often they would trade their wares with a rich tribe for -wampum, and then exchange this shell money with a less prosperous tribe -for furs.</p> - -<p>The collecting of skins for taxes, or tribute, was of course a -device older than history. The Romans employed it to collect taxes -from barbarian subjects; so did the pharaohs of prehistoric Egypt in -gathering tribute from the upper Nile valley. Powhatan could demand -pelts in some variety. A contemporary chronicler among the first -settlers at Jamestown noted that within the great chief’s kingdom -the forests and streams abounded with bears, foxes, otters, beavers, -muskrats and “Deere both Red and Fallow.”</p> - -<p>The skins of these animals were the tidewater Indians’ most necessary -and useful commodity next to food. Mainly they were necessary as -clothing in winter, but they were also used as adornment by chiefs and -priests, and for many ceremonial purposes. They were utilized, too, as -closures and decorations for the Indians’ long-houses. And soft hide -leather, such as buckskin, came in for a variety of aboriginal hunting -and household requirements, as well as for garments and footwear.</p> - -<p>Actually Powhatan’s common subjects often went quite naked, except -for skins worn much like aprons. However, when it was cold, they wore -<i>matchcores</i>—an Indian word for garments of fur which was later -turned into “match-coats” by the English.</p> - -<p>At his first meeting with Powhatan, Smith found the old savage -blanketed with a <i>matchcore</i> of raccoon skins. One of the -priests was “disguised with a great Skinne, his head hung round with -little Skinnes of Weasels and other vermine.” Many of the better -sort of savages, such as werowances and chief men, affected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> mantles -of carefully dressed deerskin, some painted and embossed with white -beads or bits of copper. Others who were opulent had <i>matchcores</i> -made from squirrel, beaver, muskrat and otter, the last being held in -highest esteem.</p> - -<p>Women wore fur blankets of beaver and otter, or tastefully fringed and -embroidered skin skirts, appropriate to the season. Children usually -went naked, although marriageable maidens, twelve to fifteen, modestly -covered their loins at least. Pocahontas herself is referred to on one -occasion as being girdled with soft otter skins.</p> - -<p>About most of the great Bay of the Chesapeake, on his expeditions, -Captain Smith found “Wilde Cats ... Martins, Powlecats, weessels and -Minkes.” When he explored the Eastern Shore he discovered it to be -thickly inhabited by “Otters, Beavers, Martins, Luswarts and sables.” -Truly, the tidewater literally swarmed with fur bearers.</p> - -<p>In the northernmost reaches of the bay Smith managed to trade with the -giant Susquehannocks. “Their attire,” he recorded, “is the skinnes -of beares and Woolves, some have Cassacks made of Beares heades and -skinnes that a man’s necke goes through the skinnes neck, and the eares -of the beare fastened to his shoulders behind, the nose and teeth -hanging downe his breast, and at the end of the nose hung a Beares -Pawe: the halfe sleeves comming to the elbowes were the neckes of -Beares and the armes through the mouth, with pawes hanging at their -noses. One had the head of a Woolfe hanging in a chaine for a Jewell.”</p> - -<p>These majestic savages came from the banks of the Susquehanna River, -the headwaters of which reached to the territory of the Five Nations -in the lake country of French Canada. As castoff relatives of the -Iroquois, the Susquehannocks lived in palisaded forts along the river -where they were subjected to constant raiding by their bloodthirsty -kinsmen. Hoping to make allies of men with fire guns, they presented -Captain Smith with many fine gifts in trade, including bearskins and -robes of various furs sewn together. Most significantly, however, they -had with them French hatchets, knives and pieces of iron and brass -which they said they had acquired in trade from tribes who bartered -directly with white men on the River of Canada.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> - -<p>This news, gained by Smith in 1608, about the encroachments of French -trade on the “back-side of Virginia” probably did more than anything -else to awaken Englishmen to their own fur trading possibilities in -America. Everyone knew that the French were driving a highly profitable -trade with the savages up the valley of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence. What hadn’t -been known was how deep they had penetrated into the new continent, or -the direction taken.</p> - -<p>In English minds Virginia stretched northward by land or sea to the -45th parallel at least, even though French charters presumed to -encompass territory as far south as 40°. In less than five years -English guns would rout French Jesuits and traders attempting a -settlement at Mount Desert Island on the coast of Maine, and an -expedition from Jamestown would destroy the older plantations of the -French fur merchants at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix and Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy -itself. Within that length of time the Virginians would be well rooted -and competitive as a result of their own good trade in furs, a trade -that would expand rapidly in the Chesapeake tidewater.</p> - -<p>But for the time being, in view of their critical problems of -existence, there was little they could do about either the fur trade or -the Frenchmen, except to nurse their jealousy. It was natural enough -that they were envious of French successes, especially as the hoped-for -mines in Virginia seemed to be retreating farther and farther into the -hinterland and the prospects of finding a passage to the other sea in -the Chesapeake area were diminishing daily. However, staying alive was -their immediate problem.</p> - -<p>Already Captain Smith had spoken out strongly against the fruitless -search for gold—“guilded dirt,” he called it contemptuously. As -president he would not permit the supply ships to be cargoed with more -of the worthless yellow soil or mica-tinctured dirt that they had been -ferrying back to England. And, although he still thought there was the -probability of a passage farther north or possibly a short overland -route between rivers to the other salt sea, he frankly admitted that -his own exploration had been entirely unrewarding in this respect.</p> - -<p>No English explorer before John Smith had dared to be so honest. And -Smith went even farther.</p> - -<p>Now he had courageously despatched a very blunt note to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> employers, -the merchant adventurers of the company in London, telling them the -truth about their El Dorado. It was a note that must have startled -those comfortable gentlemen right out of their starched ruffs. -Certainly it was disillusioning to gold-hungry investors already -so heavily committed. But by its very forthrightness it was also -soberingly effective, for the merchants promptly took John Smith’s -advice, even though they didn’t thank him for his seeming impertinence.</p> - -<p>There might be iron in Virginia, Smith had written in effect, but -there was no gold, and neither was there any immediate prospect of -the discovery there of a short route to Cathay and India. However, a -profitable plantation could be cultivated by earnest husbandry and the -realistic development of the country’s natural resources for trade. -Agricultural products, furs, timber, naval stores, iron and possibly -other products of local industries could eventually be shipped home in -exchange for English woolens and coarse cloths.</p> - -<p>In the meantime of course the president had his hands full just -foraging for food enough to keep his charges alive. While people were -dying of famine, company profits of any kind had to wait—even those to -be gained from organized fur trading for which there was considerable -pressure from the natives. The red men were always much more interested -in trading their furs than their food. They never raised more of the -latter than was needed for their own minimum requirements. Smith had -to resort to stratagem and even to a kind of military commerce on more -than one occasion to separate them from their corn.</p> - -<p>So the Indians, with their pelts to barter, turned to the sailors who -manned the transport ships, and the mariners readily accommodated them. -These hands knew how to turn a quick profit in the golden fleece. They -learned first, when the fishing fleets began crossing the oceans, to -Newfoundland and elsewhere—and later, when English ships took to the -seas to trade with other nations. As far back as 1560 merchants in -England were complaining to their factors in Russia about the sailors’ -aptitude for smuggling furs.</p> - -<p>“Foxe skins, white, blacke, and russet will be vendible here,” they -wrote. “The last yere you sent none; but there were mariners<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> that -bought many. If any mariners doe buy any trifling furres or other -commodities, we will they shall be registered in our pursers bookes, to -the intent we may know what they be.”</p> - -<p>In Virginia the mariners not only entered into direct negotiations with -the natives, by swapping goods over the side of a ship with savages -in canoes or by stealing ashore for a dangerous rendezvous, but they -carried on barter through colonists who secretly assumed the roles of -factors in return for favors from the home-bound mariners. One mariner, -according to Captain Smith, confessed to having obtained enough pelts -in this manner on one voyage to net him thirty pounds sterling at home. -That was a tidy sum for an ordinary sailor to acquire in those days, -legitimately or otherwise.</p> - -<p>It was bad enough that the colonists abetted the sailors’ enterprise. -Inflation invariably resulted when the settlers traded individually -with the natives. But worst of all, in most cases the supplies being -bartered had been pilfered by the sailors from company stores aboard -ship.</p> - -<p>Smith railed against this “damnable and private trade,” when the colony -was in such desperate need for food, and even for the very articles -sold to the Indians. He recognized the profits to be made from the fur -trade, as he well proved both in Virginia and later in New England. In -this particular instance it was just that corn came first.</p> - -<p>John Smith’s tenure in Virginia ended in the fall of 1609 when he -was seriously wounded by an accidental gunpowder explosion. He was -invalided home to England. But not before his enemies had taken -advantage of his agonized prostration to plot his murder. This -treachery was thwarted by Smith’s usual fortune in such crises, the -plot being discovered and exposed in the nick of time to save his life.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, however, the thoroughly aroused merchants in London -had reorganized the company, taking a more realistic approach to the -problems of colonization as John Smith suggested, and had appointed an -influential governor with fuller authority to rule their plantation. -The new governor’s advance representatives had already been dispatched -to depose the outspoken young president who was so critical of the -company’s policies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p> - -<p>But Captain Smith’s task in Virginia was completed. Through his -efforts, almost singlehanded, the English at last had a beachhead on -the American continent.</p> - -<p>Settlers came now in great numbers—traders, merchants and farmers. -The communalistic plan under which the colony had been governed by -the company was abandoned, and a venturer to Virginia was given an -opportunity to share in the profits of his labor. He could acquire -land of his own, through bondage if necessary, something he had little -chance of ever doing in England. And he could establish a family; many -women now immigrated to reinforce further the first two brave females -who arrived in 1608.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, as John Smith’s historic beachhead was expanded, the fur -trade continued to set the usual pattern of exploration, trade and -settlement.</p> - -<p>Mariners with an experienced eye for marketable pelts came to Virginia -in increasing numbers—hardy, courageous men who were prepared to take -incredible risks in the pursuit of beaver, otter, bear and the big -Virginia muskrat. By 1620 there were nearly one hundred fur traders -operating in and about the Chesapeake Bay, according to an official -of the colony. They plied their shallops and pinnaces up unexplored -tidewater streams and rivers to find the villages of the unpredictable -savages, hazarding their very lives to learn the ways and language of -the aborigines, and to trade with them. They established wilderness -trading posts, building palisaded forts which later came to be occupied -by merchants and farmers and became permanent settlements.</p> - -<p>These fur traders found the profits attractive enough to offset the -dangers—not only those posed by their early contacts with the red men -but those threatened by rival Englishmen during much of the seventeenth -century.</p> - -<p>At times rival traders proved much more dangerous than the aborigines. -The Englishmen were to fight among themselves, often with piratical and -bloody fury, over the fur trade of the Chesapeake tidewater and for -possession of the Susquehanna and Potomac River routes to the lush lake -country of the north where the Frenchmen bartered for pelts.</p> - -<p>But while the Englishmen were thus engaged among themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> on the -backside of Virginia some foreign traders moved in as their neighbors -on the coast, first on the Hudson and then on the Connecticut and -Delaware Rivers. These were the Dutchmen, who forthwith enjoyed a -most profitable commerce in pelts with the natives and began settling -themselves in complete possession of all those parts of “Virginia.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VII">VII<br /><i>The Dutch Profit by a Mutiny</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_i.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">In</span> the late summer of 1609 a Dutch ship, the <i>Half Moon</i>, was -cruising the coasts of America. It had an English master. The merchants -of the Dutch East India Company had engaged the Englishman, Captain -Henry Hudson, to search for a northeastern passage to China over the -frozen top of the world. Instead, he sailed their ship west.</p> - -<p>A mutiny compelled him to change his course, or so he later claimed. It -seems that his twenty-man crew, mostly Dutch, had been accustomed to -warmer seas. They refused to brave the northern cold.</p> - -<p>Henry Hudson himself probably had come to recognize the -impracticability of the Arctic route. No longer did he hold to the -notion that because the sun shone continuously at the north pole for -five months of the year temperate waters for navigation would be found -there, that is, once the first belt of Arctic cold was pierced. Twice -before, for English merchants of the Muscovy Company, he had tried -for that northern route only to be frustrated by ice-choked seas—and -mutinous crews.</p> - -<p>The mutinies went unpunished it appears. Certainly, this was a most -unusual outcome for the times. Such uncommon laxity on the part of -an English ship’s master, together with Hudson’s similar behavior on -subsequent occasions, could lead to the conclusion that he was too weak -a disciplinarian ever to have been trusted with command.</p> - -<p>Or, maybe this famous explorer was both dissembling and highhanded -enough to manage always to have his way, even if it was necessary to -employ such devious means as fomenting rebellions to his authority to -achieve his secret purposes.</p> - -<p>The latter is a tempting surmise. But if it is correct, Hudson may have -tried it once too often.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> - -<p>On a later expedition to America as master of an English ship he -perished at the hands of his crew. He and his young son along with a -few loyal sailors were set adrift in a shallop in the great bay that -bears his name, never to be heard of again.</p> - -<p>Be all of this as it may, by fortunate circumstance or by -pre-meditation Hudson had with him on his memorable voyage in 1609 a -map that had been sent to him from Virginia by Captain John Smith. And -there was a letter that had come with the map from his adventurous -friend suggesting that a passage to China might be found in the west -above 40° where Smith himself had “left off.” Everything pointed to a -big sea on the backside of Virginia. Many of the Indians Captain Smith -met on his explorations had confirmed its existence (their version no -doubt of the Great Lakes). And there was much evidence of navigable -rivers paralleling the Susquehanna above 40°. They probably led toward -this sea!</p> - -<p>So Henry Hudson, contriving to cooperate with the mutineers aboard his -ship and in flagrant disobedience to the specific instructions of his -Dutch employers, sailed west instead of northeast.</p> - -<p>After surviving a storm that tore away her foremast the <i>Half -Moon</i> made a landfall in America off Newfoundland where she came -among a fleet of French fishing boats taking cod on the banks. Captain -Hudson salted a few fish for his own stores, and then put down the -coast of Nova Scotia to Maine. There, at Penobscot Bay, he had a new -pine mast cut and proceeded to relieve some French-speaking Indians of -their stock-in-trade without benefit of barter.</p> - -<p>“We espied two French shallops full of the Countrey people come into -the Harbour,” his clerk wrote, “but they offered us no wrong, seeing we -stood upon our guard. They brought many Beaver skinnes, and other fine -Furres, which they would have changed for redde Gownes. For the French -trade with them for red Cassockes, Knives, Hatchets, Copper, Kettles, -Trevits, Beades and other trifles.... We kept good watch for feare -of being betrayed by the people, and perceived where they layd their -shallops.... In the morning we manned our Scute with foure Muskets, and -sixe men and tooke one of their Shallops and brought it aboard. Then we -manned our Boat and Scute with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> twelve men and Muskets, and two stone -Pieces or Murderers, and drove the Salvages from their Houses, and -tooke the spoyle of them, as they would have done of us. Then we set -sail....”</p> - -<p>If the Dutchmen left hurriedly it was probably in fear of revenge. -Maybe the Indians showed signs of retaliating. After all, the natives -of this coast must have been getting annoyed by the ways of white men, -considering that this sort of thing had been going on, sporadically, -since the first Norsemen invaded their land some six hundred years -earlier.</p> - -<p>The <i>Half Moon</i> sailed on south to Cape Cod, which the crew noted -had been “discovered by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602.” Here, the -sailors made sport of an Indian they brought aboard, getting the savage -so drunk that “he leapt and danced.” After that Captain Hudson put out -to sea once more, to arrive off the Capes of Virginia about the middle -of August.</p> - -<p>He nosed into the Chesapeake, possibly with the intention of visiting -his friend Smith, but caution seems to have won out over the risk of -exposing his Dutch-owned vessel to agents of the rival London Company. -Being an Englishman himself, Henry Hudson knew only too well that the -merchants of his native country made little distinction between a -foreign competitor and a foreign enemy, especially when they had guns -like those at Jamestown. He might risk disobeying his Dutch employers -but not losing their ship—not before he’d made his grand discovery of -a passage to the Orient. Perhaps, too, he turned a little sensitive -about sailing under a Dutch flag with information furnished by a fellow -Englishman.</p> - -<p>So, a convenient “storm” blew the <i>Half Moon</i> back out to sea, and -Hudson made his way northward, first to penetrate the Delaware River to -shoal water, and then on to explore the river that now bears his name.</p> - -<p>Numerous Europeans had visited this great river before him. The -Norsemen under the leadership of Thorfinn Karselfni in 1011 may have -been the first. Certainly in 1524 the Frenchman, Verrazano, and his -amorous crew stopped off there to mingle with the friendly natives. Not -many months afterward a Portuguese captain, Estevan Gomez, sailing for -Spain, probably put into the river’s mouth. In fact, Spanish archives -are said to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> indicate that during the sixteenth century many Spanish -ships used the harbor for watering and refitting on their fishing and -fur trading trips between Newfoundland and New Spain.</p> - -<p>But Henry Hudson ascended the river as far as it was navigable and -recorded what he observed and what he did. He it was who took back -to Europe the first news of the vast store of fur skins to be had -there. And that is what opened the valley of the Hudson to trade and -settlement.</p> - -<p>His memorable exploration of the river got off however to an -inauspicious start in the Lower Bay. Here, it was recorded, “the people -of the Countrey came aboord of us, seeming very glad of our comming, -and brought greene Tobacco, and gave us of it for Knives and Beeds. -They goe in Deere skins loose, well dressed. They have yellow copper. -They desire Cloathes, and are very civill.” Yet, Hudson did not trust -them, and mutual suspicion quickly clouded the atmosphere. There was -fighting and a sailor was killed. Later, some Indians who came aboard -were kidnapped. They were plied with liquor and dressed in red coats -while the sailors made crude sport of them. Two were kept prisoners.</p> - -<p>But then, after passing the Narrows and entering the river, the <i>Half -Moon</i> stopped off at Manhattan to find the natives there most -hospitable in spite of any news they may have had about the fights in -the Lower Bay. With their women and children they swarmed about the -little Dutch yacht in a bid for friendship and trade. Captain Hudson, -however, now believing that he had at long last entered on the strait -that led to “Zipangu where the palace roof was covered with gold,” did -not tarry long to barter for pelts.</p> - -<p>Certainly, he didn’t let the escape of the two captive Indians delay -the passage of the <i>Half Moon</i> upstream, even though these savages -swimming ashore made provocative signs of derision and scorn toward the -white men.</p> - -<p>It wasn’t until it became disappointingly obvious that he had reached -the head of ship navigation that Hudson took time for barter. This -was in the vicinity of present-day Albany. Here he again found the -natives both hospitable and anxious to trade. In one instance, when -he went ashore to eat fat dog meat with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> chief of the country, the -Indians broke their arrows and cast them into the fire to prove their -friendship. Later they came flocking aboard, bringing beaver and otter -skins which they exchanged for glass beads, knives and hatchets.</p> - -<p>Still, the Englishman and his Dutch mate decided to test some of -the chief men of the country for possible treachery by getting them -intoxicated in the privacy of the <i>Half Moon’s</i> cabin. One of -them got so drunk that he finally dropped to the floor unconscious. -The subsequent raising of this savage from the “dead” created such an -impression on his fellows that they brought tobacco, venison and shell -money to the white captain in gratitude. They also wanted to get drunk -again.</p> - -<p>Indeed, after Captain Hudson had reluctantly turned his ship’s prow -downstream in disappointment over not finding the long sought passage -to the South Sea, he was besieged by chief men of the country who -wanted more <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">aqua vitae</i>. They brought women aboard who “behaved -very modestly,” and they made it clear to the captain that whatever he -wanted in their land was his.</p> - -<p>So Hudson now concentrated on acquiring the only thing of value he -recognized—pelts. As the <i>Half Moon</i> proceeded leisurely down -the river he traded in earnest with the “loveing countrey people,” -encouraging any who had furs to offer in exchange for knives and beads -to come aboard. The story is vividly logged.</p> - -<p>On reaching the Highlands the “people of the Mountaynes came aboord -us, wondring at our ship and weapons. We bought some small skinnes of -them for Trifles.” But here real trouble started when an Indian in a -canoe “got up by our Rudder to the Cabin window,” and stole a couple of -shirts.</p> - -<p>“Our Masters Mate shot at him, and strooke him on the breast, and -killed him. Whereupon all the rest fled away, some in the Canoes, and -so lept out of them into the water. We manned our Boat, and got our -things againe. Then one of them that swamme got hold of our Boat, -thinking to overthrow it. But our Cooke tooke a Sword, and cut off one -of his hands, and he was drowned.”</p> - -<p>The next day as the <i>Half Moon</i> approached Manhattan the savages -attacked in force. From their canoes and from the shore they launched -showers of arrows. Foremost among them was one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> of the two natives who -had been misused and held captive on the trip up the river until the -escape. He led repeated assaults on the yacht. But the red men’s fury -was feeble in its effect. The white men easily drove them off with -musket and falcon shot, killing ten or more of them, and proceeded on -their way.</p> - -<p>Putting the river behind him Captain Hudson sailed for Europe, but -not without much debate on the high seas about the <i>Half Moon’s</i> -destination port. The crew once more threatened him brutally according -to Hudson’s reports.</p> - -<p>Here again “mutiny” served to resolve an awkward situation. The captain -needed a safe haven while explanations were worked out, as much so -as his recalcitrant crew. Disobedience when crowned with success is -usually forgiven, but added to Henry Hudson’s disobedience was failure. -No passage to China had been found.</p> - -<p>After having agreed to winter in Ireland, Hudson managed to put into -Dartmouth in England. From there he wrote a report of his voyage -for the Directors of the East India Company at Amsterdam. And then, -opportunely, his countrymen stepped in to rescue him. They “detained” -him in England as one who had information of value to his own country, -while the <i>Half Moon</i> was returned to its owners in Holland.</p> - -<p>The Dutch East India Company, preoccupied with its profitable spice -trade and its search for a shorter route to the East, promptly wrote -off the cost of the voyage and closed the account. It was said at the -time that all Hudson did in the west was to find a river and exchange -his merchandise for some furs. But it was precisely those furs and the -report of the harbor and river, all unexploited by any Europeans, that -brought independent Dutch fur traders to the Valley of the Hudson the -very next year.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Amsterdam merchants who bartered European and Eastern goods in Muscovy -for furs had quickly taken note of the new possibilities in the west. -There were no duties to pay the savages in America, such as those -imposed on trade by the Czar. And a shipload of pelts could be had on -Hudson’s River for an insignificant outlay of beads and trifles—as the -French were doing on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> their great river in Canada. No time was lost in -organizing a trial adventure.</p> - -<p>In a ship loaded with “a cargo of goods suitable for traffic with the -Indians,” and manned by some of Hudson’s own crew of the previous -year, traders from Holland arrived at Manhattan in 1610. They found -the savages there no less capricious than before, just as dangerously -unpredictable, but obviously anxious to barter their pelts for the -white men’s goods. After driving a profitable trade, it is said, the -Dutchmen promised that “they would visit them the next year again, when -they would bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile,” adding -however that “as they could not live without eating, they should then -want a little land of them, to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs to -put in their broth.”</p> - -<p>And so they did, coming each year, quite likely building a palisaded -truck house and huts on Manhattan Island as early as 1613 to serve -as a depot. Trading posts were established farther up the river and -light-drafted shallops invaded the creeks and bays of the interior. -Beavers were butchered wholesale by natives eager for hatchets, baubles -and liquor. Within a few years furs were being collected in such -quantity during the winter months that early spring ships from Holland -could count on being cargoed along Hudson’s River with as many as seven -thousand pelts.</p> - -<p>To further this profitable trade and to encourage discovery in “New -Netherland” the States General at The Hague granted a temporary charter -of special privileges to merchants of Amsterdam and Hoorn who had -formed a western trading association known as the United New Netherland -Company.</p> - -<p>By 1614 Hendrick Christiansen, a fur factor in the employ of Amsterdam -merchants, had established a permanent trading post on Hudson’s River -near the present site of Albany. Fort Nassau, as it was called, was -well palisaded and moated, equipped with two large guns and eleven -swivels, and garrisoned by a dozen armed traders. All were necessary -precautions. The trading post was located on the border of the fiercest -of all Indian tribes, the dreaded Mohawks of the Iroquois Confederacy.</p> - -<p>Relatively peaceful tribes, Algonquian Mohegans and others, occupied -most of the Hudson Valley east of the river and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> south of Fort Nassau -along both banks. But the interior to the north and west was the home -of the Five Nations, the terrible Iroquois: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, -Cayuga and Seneca. From palisaded forts deep in this hinterland their -bloodthirsty young warriors sallied forth regularly to terrorize their -neighbors.</p> - -<p>Humbling every foe they met into complete submission the Iroquois -enforced tribute and left a trail of carnage wherever they paddled -their war canoes. They carried their conquests to the sea in the east, -scourging the valleys of the Hudson and the Connecticut. Their chilling -war cries sounded over the Great Lakes among the Eries, in the lower -valley of the Delaware where lived the gentle Lenni Lenape, and down -the length of the Susquehanna to the waters of Chesapeake Bay. War -parties from their ancient forts forayed far to the south in the Valley -of Virginia and crossed the Blue Ridge to follow the Piedmont plateau -even into Carolina to take Catawba scalps and women.</p> - -<p>For many generations the supremacy of the Iroquois had been -acknowledged wherever their warriors went in search of victories and -their national pride had grown with every conquest.</p> - -<p>But now their own country was being invaded, from the north, from New -France, by Huron and Algonquin enemies with the help of Champlain’s -arquebusiers. And the Five Nations had sworn by the blood of the bear -their undying enmity to these Frenchmen who first surprised them at -Lake Champlain with their death-dealing firesticks.</p> - -<p>It was the Mohawks, the proudest and bravest of the Iroquois and now -the near neighbors of the Dutch, who had taken the brunt of that first -Iroquois disgrace in 1609. Their portage path coming from the west -terminated near Fort Nassau, and the Dutch traders didn’t find it -difficult to cultivate them. Rankling with hatred against the French, -the Mohawks were in a mood to be friendly with any gun-carrying white -men who might become their allies.</p> - -<p>Revenge of course is a powerful motive in the savage breast. On the -other hand so is self-preservation. The risk of having enemies with the -astonishing fireguns on both their flanks no doubt also entered into -the Mohawks’ calculations.</p> - -<p>In any case it wasn’t long before Dutch traders were fearlessly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> -visiting villages deep in the country of the dreaded Five Nations, -peacefully driving a great trade in furs while the savages learned to -drink their fire-water and became better acquainted with the awesome -weapons they carried.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, late in 1615, the Iroquois did gain some satisfaction -when Champlain and his Indian allies, after driving deep into their -territory by way of Lake Ontario, were forced to withdraw in temporary -defeat. A galleried and thickly palisaded fort at Lake Onondaga -withstood the arquebuses, even though a movable tower was built by -the attackers so that the Frenchmen might shoot down into the fort. -Attempts by the Canadian force to fire the stockade proved unsuccessful -too, due to contrary winds. And Champlain himself was so badly wounded -during the battle that he had to be carried from the field on a litter -of wickered branches.</p> - -<p>After Fort Nassau was destroyed by a freshet of ice and water in -1617, a new trading post was established by the Dutch in the same -vicinity but in a more secure position. This was on a commanding rise -overlooking the Hudson at the mouth of the Tawasentha, later known -as Norman’s Kill. It was here, as tradition has it, that the tacit -agreement of friendship and trade between the Dutch and the Iroquois -was actually formalized as a treaty of alliance and peace.</p> - -<p>The Mohawks were the prime movers of the pact, sending invitations to -a grand council of the sachems of the Five Nations as well as their -subjugated neighbors in the east and south. With the smoking of the -calumet a binding covenant was made between the factors of the Holland -merchants and all the Indian tribes represented at the council. The -supremacy of the Five Nations over their aboriginal neighbors was -confirmed, and the Dutch promised “firegun” reprisals against any who -broke the peace on the frontiers of New Netherland.</p> - -<p>And there was peace of a sort—while the merchants in Holland filled -their coffers and the Indians acquired guns. Only occasionally did -armed fur factors find it necessary to enforce the pact and then often -to their sorrow. Once, for instance, when a detail from the fort took -the part of some offended Mohegans, the Mohawks retaliated fiercely. -They managed to kill the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> Dutch commander and three of his men. -Capturing the remainder of the party, they cooked and ate one of them -and burned the others.</p> - -<p>But in the main there was the kind of armed peace that permitted the -fur traders to extend the frontiers of New Netherland and by their -discoveries gain additional trading privileges under their charter. -This they had to do if they were to beat the French and the English to -the vast untapped fur stores of the interior.</p> - -<p>Early in the history of Fort Nassau, a party of three adventurous -traders, led by one “Kleynties,” penetrated deep into the hinterland. -Travelling west up the Mohawk Valley, they appear to have stumbled upon -the headwaters of the Susquehanna River and eventually to have reached -Carantouan, a palisaded town of the Susquehannock Indians.</p> - -<p>Carantouan, now known as Spanish Hill, was just south of the -present-day border between New York and Pennsylvania. It was built -about the terraced slopes of a gigantic mound. The platter-like top of -this mound with its man-made entrenchments was said by the Indians to -have been occupied once by awesome spirits who spoke with thunder and -killed men by making holes through their bodies. The spirits could have -been sixteenth century Spanish explorers from Chesapeake Bay taking -refuge there while searching for gold.</p> - -<p>Only a short time before the advent of the three Dutchmen in this -vicinity Carantouan had been visited by a Frenchman, Etienne Brule. -With a delegation of Hurons he safely traversed the country of the Five -Nations to reach this stronghold of the Susquehannocks in 1615. He -wanted them as allies for Champlain’s pending attack on Fort Onondaga. -Like the Hurons, the Susquehannocks were kinsmen but bitter enemies of -the Five Nations, and they agreed readily enough to help in the attack. -However their war dances took too long and they arrived too late—after -Champlain’s defeat.</p> - -<p>Etienne Brule returned to Carantouan with his savage friends to do a -bit of bartering and to examine into the possibilities of extending the -fur trade of Canada to the Susquehanna. In fact he descended the length -of that river into the upper waters of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> Chesapeake Bay. But because -of the temperate climate there he took it to be the coast of Spanish -Florida and discreetly turned back.</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img004"> - <img src="images/004.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE MERCHANTS FILLED THEIR COFFERS, WHILE THE INDIANS -ACQUIRED GUNS." /> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">THE MERCHANTS FILLED THEIR COFFERS, WHILE THE INDIANS -ACQUIRED GUNS.<br /></p> - - -<p>After his return up the river to Carantouan, Brule set out for home. -This time he was captured in the country of the Five Nations. When -those savages discovered he was a Frenchman, they plucked his beard -hair by hair, tore his nails loose with their teeth, and staked him -out for fire-brand torture. But then, just before it was too late, -Brule mysteriously won their favor, was roundly feted, and in the end -was permitted to escape back to Huron lands. In 1618 he made his way -to Three Rivers in Canada, where Champlain at the time was driving a -trade for beaver pelts with the Indians, and there he reported his -discoveries.</p> - -<p>However, getting through the Iroquois country to Carantouan—and -getting back to Canada—had been a dangerous exploit, one that not many -French traders would desire to emulate, not unless Champlain first -brought the Five Nations to complete submission by force of arms. That, -of course, the great French captain was never able to do; if he had, -probably the French would have overrun the valleys of the Susquehanna, -the Delaware and the Hudson.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, if the three lost Hollanders from Fort Nassau did -wander into the Susquehannock stronghold, they managed to get out of -it with their whole skins. Maybe, having missed Brule, they posed as -friendly Frenchmen, or even as Englishmen with whom the Susquehannocks -had previously enjoyed such satisfactory dealings through Captain John -Smith. Eventually, however, they were taken by other Susquehannock -Indians, or “Minquas,” and ended up on the lower reaches of the -Delaware River as captives held for ransom.</p> - -<p>From there, it appears, word of their predicament reached Manhattan and -Fort Nassau.</p> - -<p>At the time, the spring of 1616, the Dutch factors on Hudson’s River -were anxious to explore this other great river to the south that -Captain Hudson had also discovered. Already investigated were the -rivers to the east and north. Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May, a trader -in the employ of Hoorn merchants, had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> sailed east along the coast as -far as Martha’s Vineyard. Another trader out of Amsterdam, Captain -Adrien Block, went even farther in a small 16-ton yacht called the -<i>Onrust</i> which he had built in New Netherland following the loss -of his employers’ ship by fire. The little <i>Onrust</i> sailed through -Long Island Sound, ascended the Connecticut, explored other streams and -the bays along the coasts, and rounded Cape Cod northward to latitudes -above present-day Boston.</p> - -<p>It was claimed that Captain May had also sailed far enough south to -touch at the cape that now bears his name. However, there appears to -have been a little hesitancy about making any further discoveries in -that direction that might be interpreted as encroaching on the English -settlements in Virginia. Maybe the Dutch traders were especially -cautious about disturbing the Virginians. It had been in the late fall -of 1613 that the fiery tempered Englishman, Captain Samuel Argall, -in a 16-gun frigate stopped off at Manhattan supposedly and forced -token acknowledgement of the supremacy of the Virginia government. The -Hollanders’ trade in Hudson’s River had been going very well; there had -been no need to beg trouble abroad.</p> - -<p>Now, however, the Dutch felt that their claims were better established -by actual occupation on the northern river and no English were yet -known to occupy or even trade upon the southern river that Hudson -had discovered. Why not explore it with a view toward making further -discoveries which under the Hollanders’ charter would give them -additional trading privileges? And should they find their lost traders, -would not those three have made enough discoveries in the hinterland to -provide material for new claims—yes, even a new map of New Netherland?</p> - -<p>So, Cornelis Hendricksen who now had the <i>Onrust</i> in his charge -went out in that little yacht to investigate the prospects on the -“South” River and to see if he might find and ransom the three traders -held captive there.</p> - -<p>Hendricksen’s voyage was entirely successful. After charting the west -shores of Delaware Bay, he entered the river and ascended it possibly -as high as present-day Philadelphia. The river’s banks abounded with -game, the country was pleasant, and the climate which was “the same as -that of Holland” delighted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> the crew of the <i>Onrust</i>. Above all, -there were ample prospects of a great traffic in pelts. On the banks of -the Christina where Wilmington now stands and at other places along the -shores of the Delaware River, Hendricksen drove a most profitable trade -with friendly Indians for “sable,” mink, otter and beaver.</p> - -<p>And, meager though his report is in the matter of details, somewhere -along the river he was successful in ransoming his three captive -countrymen from the Minquas for “kettles, beads, and other merchandize.”</p> - -<p>Hendricksen returned quickly to Manhattan and sailed for Holland. -There, he laid before his employers a report of his discoveries -“between the thirty-eighth and fortieth degrees of latitude,” together -with a map of New Netherland embracing the lower reaches of the -Delaware River as well as the hinterland discoveries of the three -traders he had ransomed. Excitedly, the merchants went before the -States General of the United Netherlands and prayed not only for an -extension of their special charter which was soon to expire but for an -extension of the geographical limits of New Netherland.</p> - -<p>In the original charter, New Netherland had been described as “situated -in America, between New France and Virginia, the seacoasts of which -lie between the 40th and 45th degrees of latitude.” The Dutch claim -was thus neatly set down as the exact territory of the overlapping -claims of France and England on the Elizabethan theory that it was the -possession of neither of those countries as it was not occupied by -either of them.</p> - -<p>Now the merchants wanted the limits extended by two degrees in the -south—to include the Delaware valley. Their arguments were impressive. -The Delaware had not been occupied by the English, or even explored by -them. What if Captain Samuel Argall had looked in on the bay and named -it for his English governor of Virginia? That was a year after Henry -Hudson had discovered it for the Dutch.</p> - -<p>The States General demurred however, postponing any decision. There -were problems at home and abroad that took precedence, and within the -framework of a grand solution of those problems was a plan to create a -great western trading company similar to the Dutch East India Company.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span></p> - -<p>Ever since the defeat of the Armada there had been those in the United -Netherlands who had urged striking at Spain’s sources of revenue in -the East and West Indies as the surest way to hasten that nation’s -decline. The Dutch East India Company, a military trading organization, -had been chartered with this in mind. That was before Spain virtually -acknowledged the independence of the Dutch Netherlands in 1609 by -agreeing to a truce. After that, however, the Peace Party in the Dutch -Netherlands had been strong enough to resist demands that a similar -company be organized to exploit America and harass the Spanish there. -It was considered dangerous to Holland’s newly gained peace and -independence to goad the Spaniards in that quarter—or to offend the -English, or the French either for that matter.</p> - -<p>But the War Party led by Prince Maurice of Orange and the Calvinist -clergy, and backed by such important Flemish emigres as Amsterdam’s -great merchant, William Usselinx, wanted to resume the war with Spain -in order to gain complete independence for all the Netherlands. -Usselinx particularly urged the necessity of challenging Spanish -hegemony in America. He wanted a government-sponsored Dutch West India -Company to prosecute the pursuit of gold and silver, the conduct of -the fur trade with the Indians and the destruction of the Spanish -commercial monopoly in the New World.</p> - -<p>It was the probability of being forced into forming this company, a -company which would incidentally assume control over New Netherland, -that kept the States General from renewing the New Netherland Company’s -charter. Certainly, concern over possible friction with the English or -the French prevented any territorial broadening of the charter or of -the individual trading licenses which were issued after the charter’s -expiration.</p> - -<p>By the New Netherland Company’s charter the States General had in -effect defined and acknowledged the borders of New France in the north -and Virginia in the south. They recognized that it would be bad enough -in the interior when the French realized that New Netherland traders -were aligning themselves with the Iroquois enemies of New France. But -it would be much worse to tangle with the English on the coasts—the -Virginians in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> the south, and now those other Englishmen preparing to -stake out “New England” in the north.</p> - -<p>The Peace Party in the Netherlands didn’t want any trouble and they -wished the Orangers who had gone out to America would stay in the -valley of Hudson’s River, where no Englishmen had ever attempted to -trade for furs. However, that was not to be. The fur traders would push -on; the War Party would have its way.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII">VIII<br /><i>Conception of New England</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> Englishmen living already in America, in southern Virginia, were -more concerned about the Catholic Spaniards to the south of them than -about a few Dutch traders on an unknown river to the north. Jamestown -had been planted by the London Company with very much the same objects -that Raleigh had in mind when he planted Roanoke—a threat to New Spain -among other things. While the colony was young and relatively weak, -therefore, the Virginians lived in constant dread of themselves being -surprised and destroyed by the Spaniards.</p> - -<p>Their neighbors in the south had a reputation for making short shrift -of heretics or any foreign colonies that might endanger Florida or -Spanish silver fleets. Some years earlier several hundred Huguenots -from France who planted a colony on the southern coast had been -butchered to the last man in a surprise attack.</p> - -<p>Indeed, the Virginians’ fears were well founded. The Spanish admiralty -more than once nursed just such an action against the “English pirates’ -nest” on the James River. That they didn’t attack was probably due to -their own increasing vulnerability, for the Spanish star had been in -decline since the destruction of the Armada.</p> - -<p>To the north, the Virginians had mainly been concerned about the -French. The northern boundary of English “Virginia,” the 45th parallel, -cut through the Bay of Fundy, but the Frenchmen failed to observe this -delineation of the border. Whereas Dutch interlopers might be passed -off as no more than individual traders who could be ousted at will, the -government-backed traders of New France, firmly entrenched as they were -in the far north, needed special watching.</p> - -<p>There was no English colony in those parts to forestall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> serious French -encroachment. The Plymouth Company had failed in its mission to settle -a plantation in northern Virginia.</p> - -<p>It had been with the hope of finding gold or a trade route to the -Indian sea, or in lieu of that at least an outlet for English woolens, -that King James granted charters in 1606 to the London Company and -the Plymouth Company. The merchants of these two joint-stock trading -companies were to settle southern and northern Virginia respectively, -thus driving an English wedge of actual occupation between the vast -territorial claims of New Spain and New France. Under the direction of -Sir Thomas Smith of the London Company the southern colony, Jamestown, -was successfully planted. But in the north, on the border of French -Canada, the colonists sent over by the Plymouth Company failed. They -were too much in love with “El Dorado.”</p> - -<p>There had been an unusually good prospect of trade in furs to tide over -the Plymouth Company’s plantation until it could become permanently -rooted by agriculture. Gosnold, Pring, Weymouth—all had predicted the -success of such a venture. But colonization failed. There was no John -Smith at Sagadahoc.</p> - -<p>The settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec in Maine was made in 1607, -only a few months after the colonists of the London Company planted -themselves at Jamestown. The Sagadahoc venturers came in two ships, -mainly supplied by Sir Ferdinando Gorges of the Plymouth Company and -backed by the special patronage of another great merchant adventurer, -Chief Justice Sir John Popham. They built a palisaded fort which they -called Saint George, a storehouse and a church, and fifteen dwellings. -And their carpenters under the supervision of a shipwright named Digby -constructed a thirty-ton pinnace, the <i>Virginia</i>, which crossed -the ocean to England and came back later to Jamestown in the service of -the Virginia Company.</p> - -<p>Except for these few noteworthy accomplishments, however, everything -went wrong at Sagadahoc. Fire destroyed most of the buildings and -few survived the bitter cold of the first winter. George Popham, the -president of the colony and a nephew of the chief patron, died. Trouble -with French traders on the coast operating out of the Bay of Fundy -was a source of much uneasiness, especially after a prominent French -captain wintering at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix was waylaid by the Englishmen and -released only on his promise never again to trade for pelts in those -parts. The weakened defenders of Fort <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> George lived in fear of a -surprise French attack—of bloody retaliation.</p> - -<p>To cap the Englishmen’s difficulties they were unsuccessful in driving -a trade of their own with the Indians. For one thing, their disgraceful -personal conduct turned the savages against them. A licentious lot of -brawlers to begin with, the Sagadahoc venturers went native without -restraint, and the Indians who were certainly never prudish about -lending their women recoiled in contempt. For another thing, the -Frenchmen offered more for pelts, so the natives hid their furs from -the Englishmen.</p> - -<p>When spring came the Sagadahoc settlement was abandoned and the -survivors returned to England with nothing to show for their efforts. -It was all so discouraging that no money could be raised among the -merchant adventurers of the Plymouth Company for further attempts at -colonization, although each year thereafter Gorges sent trading vessels -to the vicinity for pelts. To compete with the French these vessels had -to be plentifully supplied with a variety of goods, trinkets, hatchets, -colored cloths, and eventually even with guns and powder to exchange -for furs.</p> - -<p>Several years after Sagadahoc was evacuated the Vice-Admiral of Acadia, -Saint Just, came down the coast and set up the arms of France on the -most conspicuous height he could find near the Englishmen’s abandoned -fort. Having thus officially proclaimed his jurisdiction over Maine, -he returned to his headquarters at Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy, -where it was his practice to exact a one-fifth share of all the furs -collected.</p> - -<p>Saint Just’s father, Sieur de Poutrincourt, had been granted the -country originally by de Monts, and now held it under an independent -patent from the king. Although, all in all, Poutrincourt and his son -made a pretty profit from their patent, they met with difficulty in -getting their full share of the furs being collected. Taxes of course -are always unpopular, especially among frontiersmen. The traders across -the bay at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix were recalcitrant, and there were even more -serious dissensions at Port Royal itself on this score.</p> - -<p>Among the inhabitants of Port Royal were two lately-arrived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> Jesuit -priests who had purchased part ownership in a trading vessel and -were stirring up no end of trouble for Saint Just. One of these -fathers, Pierre Biard, was particularly obstreperous, objecting to the -vice-admiral’s profits, giving unwanted advice on trading, and even -trying to take over control of the colony according to his enemies. He -was accused of pitting Catholics against Huguenots, and he did actually -bring about the excommunication of Saint Just. Some said he partook too -freely of the bottle.</p> - -<p>In any event, Father Biard accompanied Saint Just on his voyage along -the southern coast and liked the lay of the country. He thought it -offered special opportunities for a profitable trade in furs, and he -felt that if he could but have a colony of his own there he would -use the profits of trade with the savages for the maintenance of the -Jesuits rather than let it be “lost in the hands of the merchants.”</p> - -<p>Upon his return to Port Royal, Biard and his brother priest proceeded -to do something about it. Writing to their patron at the French court, -Madame deGuercheville, the Jesuits told her of their troubles and their -aspirations. Whereupon that well-connected lady acquired a patent to -the southern coast, granted the fathers their wish for a colony of -their own and sent over a ship to settle them there at her expense. In -the spring of 1613 the Jesuit colony was planted—Saint Sauveur it was -called—on Mt. Desert Island in Maine.</p> - -<p>But no sooner were the Frenchmen seated than they were murderously -surprised by the English.</p> - -<p>Captain Samuel Argall out of Jamestown in his heavily armed ship, the -<i>Treasurer</i>, happened to be trading and fishing in the vicinity. -Learning from the Indians of the presence of the French vessel at Mount -Desert and the colony being planted there, he attacked so suddenly -that he met with practically no resistance. Two Frenchmen were killed. -Father Biard and fourteen others were taken to Jamestown as prisoners -and the remainder were ordered by Argall to find their way home as best -they could in any fishing or trading vessels they might happen upon -along the coast.</p> - -<p>There was great excitement at Jamestown when Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> Argall arrived -there with his prisoners and the news about the French infringement on -“English territory.” There was even more excitement when Father Biard -proffered the information that Saint Just, after capturing an English -ship, was fortifying Port Royal with thirty cannon. A “pirates’ nest,” -Biard called it in his anger at Saint Just. Certainly it was a menace -to the English the Virginia Council concluded.</p> - -<p>So Argall was dispatched north again, this time to rout the French -from the Bay of Fundy. On the way, he destroyed all vestiges of French -occupation at Mt. Desert Island and at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix; then he surprised -Port Royal with the help of Father Biard who appears to have acted -as his guide ashore. Coming upon the fort-like settlement at a time -when most of the inhabitants were busy in the fields, Argall burned -their houses and plundered their stores, leaving the Frenchmen almost -destitute on the eve of winter.</p> - -<p>The destruction was so complete that Sieur de Poutrincourt, who arrived -from France in the spring, decided to collect what furs he could and -transport his people back to France.</p> - -<p>Madame deGuercheville gave up too. She attempted no new colony, -contenting herself with protestations to the English king. But James -let it be known that the Virginia Company was well within its rights, -and there the matter ended.</p> - -<p>Although Saint Just did return to Port Royal later to act as factor -for some independent La Rochelle fur merchants and although young -Dupont-Grave wintered at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix on occasion to maintain desultory -barter with the savages there, the French fur trade was now restricted -in the main to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence Valley and the hinterland. Argall had -effectually checked the advance south on the coast into the territory -claimed by the English—for the time being.</p> - -<p>Traffic on the “Northern Virginia” coast, below the Bay of Fundy, now -fell almost exclusively into the hands of the English—except, of -course, for that which the Dutchmen were pursuing in the vicinity of -the Hudson River.</p> - -<p>There is the relation in an uncorroborated promotional tract of the -time that Captain Argall, in the late fall of 1613 on his return from -Port Royal, stopped off at Manhattan where he is said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> to have caused -the few Dutch traders he found there to submit to the English king and -the government at Jamestown. If so, he no doubt took whatever furs -they had as tribute and probably made other arrangements calculated to -benefit his private purse. Samuel Argall, later knighted, was to become -notorious for such devices.</p> - -<p>But if the Dutch traders, reflectively smoking their pipes, acceded to -his demands while the guns of the <i>Treasurer</i> pointed at their -huts, they lost little time in expanding their beaver trade along the -eastern and northern coasts once the hot-headed Englishman left. The -very next spring they began the prosecution of a highly profitable -business in and about Long Island Sound, up the valley of the -Connecticut, and in the Narragansett country. The Indians as far east -as Buzzard’s Bay acquired special longings for Dutch sugar, liquor, -ornaments, cloth and firearms, and the Hollanders were able to maintain -a virtual monopoly on this trade for some years.</p> - -<p>Captain John Smith didn’t see anything of these Dutch competitors -when he visited northern Virginia in 1614. But then he traded along -the coasts no farther south than Cape Cod. The only foreigners he -encountered were a couple of poaching French ships bartering with the -Indians for pelts some forty leagues below the mouth of the Kennebec -River.</p> - -<p>Being recovered from his wound and being much interested in planting an -English colony in the north, Captain Smith had helped promote enough -capital to supply two ships for this voyage. Of course the venture’s -immediate object was not colonization. No money could have been raised -for that. Rather it was to “Take whales and make tryalls of a Myne of -Gold and Copper,” Smith said. “If those failed, Fish and Furres was -then our refuge.”</p> - -<p>The venturers discovered no mines. And, although there were plenty of -whales in sight, they weren’t able to catch any. The English hadn’t -yet learned to whale. So, while the sailors turned to fishing, John -Smith set out with eight or nine men in a shallop to investigate the -country, to map the bays and rivers, and to trade with the natives—in -preparation for the colonization he secretly planned.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p> - -<p>He ranged the coast from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod, and “got for -trifles neer 1100 Bever skinnes, 100 martins and neer as many Otters.” -Most of these were acquired within a distance of twenty leagues, he -said, for “Eastwards our commodities were not esteemed, they were so -neare the French who affords them better.” At Sagadahoc, at the mouth -of the Kennebec, there was competition from an English vessel belonging -to Sir Francis Popham, son of the chief justice. This fur-trading ship -“had there such an acquaintance, having many yeares used only that -porte, that the most parte there was had by him.” And of course to the -southwest were the two French trading vessels.</p> - -<p>The country, Smith later reported, was populated by “Moos, a beast -bigger than a Stagge; Deere, red and Fallow; Bevers, Wolves, Foxes, -both blacke and other; Aroughconds (raccoons), Wild-cats, Beares, -Otters, Martins, Fitches, musquassus (muskrats) and diverse sorts of -vermine, whose names I know not.”</p> - -<p>“Of the Musk Rat,” he predicted, “May bee well raised of their -goodnesse. Of Bevers, Otters, Martins, Blacke Foxes, and Furres of -price, may yearely be had 6 or 7000: and if the trade of the French -were prevented, many more.”</p> - -<p>With the title of Admiral of this “New England,” of which he had drawn -an exceptionally detailed and accurate map, Captain Smith was sent -out the next year by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others of the Plymouth -Company. This time he never reached his objective, being captured by -pirates and once more experiencing perils enough for many another -adventurer’s lifetime. With his usual luck and ingenuity however he -managed to escape, and returned to England to write about his ventures.</p> - -<p>Unable to get any further backing for his colonization schemes John -Smith never returned to America. Thus it never came about that he -encountered the Dutch interlopers for whose original presence in -“Virginia” he had been responsible through his friendship with Henry -Hudson. However, one of Smith’s companions on his last voyage, Thomas -Dermer, was sent out again by Gorges in 1619. And Dermer paid a visit -to the Dutch at Manhattan.</p> - -<p>After arriving in America and sending a cargo of furs and fish from -Sagadahoc back to England, Dermer set out in a small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> open pinnace -of five tons burden to follow the coast south to the Chesapeake. The -account of his voyage is almost as interesting as one of Captain John -Smith’s epics.</p> - -<p>Among other adventures on his way down the coast, Dermer “redeemed” two -Frenchmen from the Indians. These men, after having been shipwrecked -off Cape Cod and captured with others by the Indians, had survived -three years of being “sent from one sachem to another to make sport -with.” Dermer himself was taken during a fight with the savages but -successfully contrived an escape with the aid of some hatchets which -his compatriots used as ransom bait.</p> - -<p>Following a winter at the plantations on the James River, Dermer -then returned to New England via Manhattan where he stopped off, -probably upon the urging of Jamestown officials, to see what the Dutch -traders were about. There he discovered a “multitude” of factors busy -with furs, and he found plenty to indicate that the Hollanders were -permanently settling themselves in the land.</p> - -<p>The English fur trader pointed out to them that they were on English -soil, but the Dutchmen replied that “they understood no such thing, -nor found any other nation there; so that they hoped they had not -offended.” Since he was in no position to challenge them further Dermer -contented himself by warning them not to continue their occupation as -his own countrymen would soon take possession of what they, the Dutch -squatters, were calling “New Netherland.”</p> - -<p>Whereupon Thomas Dermer withdrew, eventually to have his story laid -before the English merchants at home, while the Hollanders promptly -went about widening the coastal head of the wedge they had driven -between southern Virginia and northern Virginia, the country now called -New England by the Englishmen.</p> - -<p>Cornelis Jacobsen May explored south again that very summer. He even -entered the James River. Then he revisited the cape he had first -sighted a few years earlier and which now bears his name. Entering -Delaware Bay this time however, he charted its shores, and following in -Hendricksen’s path he ascended the river to trade and more thoroughly -investigate it also.</p> - -<p>By the following year, 1621, the English ambassador at The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> Hague -was before the States General calling attention to the trespassers -on “English” territory in America. But his protests received scant -hearing. The lowlanders’ grand design for the west was now in process -of completion—the West India Company had been chartered—and a -government for New Netherland was being organized. Already an official -seal for the new province in America had been engraved, the figure of a -beaver, fittingly enough, its central theme.</p> - -<p>In the meantime however part of the Dutch claim had been occupied by -some refugee Englishmen who were determined to stay in America. The -Pilgrims had planted the first permanent settlement on the coast of New -England.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IX">IX<br /><i>The Pilgrims Rely on God and Beaver</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> first permanent settlement made by the English on the northern -coasts of America owed its success to traffic in pelts.</p> - -<p>Almost from the very beginning in the winter of 1620-21 the Plymouth -plantation was a fur-trading post, depending on beaver and otter skins -for the maintenance of its inhabitants. And, as Edward Channing has put -it, “In the end what saved the Plymouth colony from extinction and gave -the settlers a chance to repay the London merchants for their advances -was a well managed fur trade.”</p> - -<p>Governor William Bradford himself recognized that the fur trade was -vital to the survival of his people in New England, saying “there was -no other means to procure them food which they so much wanted and -clothes also.”</p> - -<p>This was only too true. Not only did a vicious system of communalistic -enterprise retard the production of food at Plymouth but the merchant -adventurers in England who backed the plantation insisted that -time-consuming agricultural activities be curtailed to a minimum, -promising to send over the needed food. In return for financing the -venture they wanted quick returns that could be gotten only from fish -and fur. Since the Plymouth colonists were never too successful at -fishing, in fact ill equipped for that pursuit, they had to depend on -the export of pelts to keep the merchants happy and to wangle supplies -and trucking goods enough to keep themselves alive.</p> - -<p>Even with the help of the fur trade, however, this brave little band -of Brownist Separatists probably would not have survived the rigors of -the climate and the harsh New England coast except for the impelling -religious motive that brought them to America in the first place.</p> - -<p>Persecuted for their beliefs and exiled from their homeland,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> they -had been maintained through many trials by a driving determination to -find sanctuary for themselves and their posterity—a place where they -could live and worship in the way they believed was most fitting in the -eyes of God. First, they fled to Holland, where at Leyden they enjoyed -immunity from interference by the authorities but too much intimacy -with their neighbors. In this their leaders saw a new danger. The -Dutch, they felt, were entirely too neglectful of God’s ordinances, and -the exiles became exceedingly fearful that “their posteritie would be -in danger to degenerate and be corrupted.”</p> - -<p>Only in the New World where they would have no near neighbors did -there seem to be a solution to the problem. They thought of going out -to Guiana, and the Dutch even offered to underwrite their passage -to New Netherland to plant a colony there under the auspices of the -States General. But then some of their leaders learned that through the -Virginia Company a patent could be obtained for a private plantation -in America where they could live as Englishmen, yet “as a distincte -body by themselves.” Assured that they might have their own governor, -ordinances and mode of worship, subject only to the general government -of Virginia, they entered into conclusive negotiations with English -merchants to finance the venture.</p> - -<p>One Thomas Weston was the leading backer of the proposed plantation, -obtaining the patent through the Virginia Company and promoting the -adventurers’ share of the joint-stock through a company of merchants -which he represented. Although the king balked at giving the exiles -liberty of conscience under his protection he did indicate that he -would not molest them. And of course the Virginia Company, the leaders -of which were mostly Puritan-tinged Genevans at heart, encouraged the -venture from the start, albeit with discretion.</p> - -<p>So the business agreements were drawn up and signed and transportation -arranged. This included a stopover in England where the exiles -were joined by a major complement of indentured servants and other -“strangers” hired by Weston. The emigrants were to sail in two -ships from Southampton, but after a false start they settled on the -<i>Mayflower</i> and this little ship put out alone across the sea late -in 1620.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p> - -<p>The <i>Mayflower’s</i> destination was charted as the general vicinity -of Hudson’s River where a beginning was to be made on selecting a -suitable site for the new English plantation in Virginia. However, a -landfall was made at Cape Cod and, although a course was then actually -set for the mouth of the Hudson, the ship was brought about after -navigation difficulties and hints of mutiny and a decision was made to -plant in New England instead.</p> - -<p>This was territory well known at the time of sailing as coming under -the jurisdiction of the proposed Council for New England which was -about to be created as successor to Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ old Plymouth -Company.</p> - -<p>Quite likely, William Bradford and other leaders of the expedition -had come to have their doubts about settling in the vicinity of the -Hudson River, a territory in dispute between England and Holland. But -in addition it would appear that before the sailing they had received -secret assurance that Gorges and the reorganized New England company -would welcome a colony planted within their jurisdiction, and that a -proper patent would be no more than a legal formality once the Council -for New England was commissioned. Certainly the chief investor in the -enterprise, Thomas Weston, favored New England. In the final days of -preparation he had expressed a strong preference for New England rather -than Virginia, due he said to the established fisheries and fur trade, -as well as other commercial prospects there.</p> - -<p>In any event, when word reached England that the Pilgrims had settled -themselves at Plymouth in New England, no one seems to have expressed -the slightest surprise. Nor is there any record of an explanation -coming from Plymouth—just as if none was thought to be necessary.</p> - -<p>All of which would make it appear likely that the planting at Plymouth -was no accident, but premeditated to some extent by merchants of -the New England company in connivance with leading partners in the -adventure. Possibly there was more than a hope that some calculated -incident would bring it about. If so, the navigation difficulties and -threats of mutiny provided incident enough—or excuse enough to satisfy -those not in on the plan!</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The savages in and about Plymouth Harbor, so named by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> Captain -John Smith some six years earlier, did not exactly welcome the -<i>Mayflower’s</i> passengers. Their experience with white men had been -none too rewarding over the years and these new arrivals were proving -no exception. From their hiding places the natives watched the very -first exploring parties that came ashore from the ship steal caches of -Indian corn and rifle the graves of the dead.</p> - -<p>Small wonder it is, therefore, that almost before the Pilgrims laid -eyes on a savage they were treated to thievery in kind and the weird -shrieks, or war whoops, with which these same “Skraelings” had -challenged the invading Vikings centuries earlier. But when the attacks -came they were easily repulsed by English firearms.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, after the landing at Plymouth in that winter of -1620-21, some of the natives were enticed out of hiding by offers -of bright baubles and other gifts. On one occasion “a pot of strong -water” was employed. Then, with thunder-making cannon mounted ashore -to awe their wild hosts, the Pilgrims were finally able to enter into -negotiations for beaver skins and food supplies under a kind of armed -truce.</p> - -<p>But the Indians of this section were very poor and very few. A -pestilence originally spread among them by Frenchmen had all but wiped -them out in fact. It was necessary for the Pilgrims to look abroad for -the pelts which they had quickly realized would be their chief means of -support if they were to survive in this strange land.</p> - -<p>Beaver skins would pay their debts, buy for them in England the -additional supplies they needed, even serve as a medium of exchange -in obtaining corn and beans from the savages themselves. In the guise -of exploration, therefore, military commerce was commenced as soon as -possible with neighboring tribes along the coast.</p> - -<p>In this the diminutive military commander at Plymouth, Captain Miles -Standish, had an invaluable aide—an Indian named Squanto who had come -to the fort and offered his services as ally and interpreter.</p> - -<p>Squanto spoke English almost as fluently as the white men. Twice he -had been to England, once having dwelt for some time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> with a London -merchant. He was first taken there by Captain George Weymouth in 1605. -Returned to his native land nine years later by Captain John Smith, -Squanto had been no more than set free when he was kidnapped along with -some other natives by an English captain named Hunt and sold in the -Spanish slave market at Malaga. However, through the intercession of -local friars, he managed to get to London again. Captain Thomas Dermer -then returned him once more to Cape Cod, not many months before the -Pilgrims arrived.</p> - -<p>Finding his own people wiped out by the pestilence, Squanto sought -refuge with a neighboring tribe. But when he learned of the presence -of the Englishmen at Plymouth he went to them, to be gratefully -acknowledged as “a speciall instrumente sent of God for their good -beyond their expectation.”</p> - -<p>Guided by this Indian the Pilgrim traders went farther and farther -afield. In September ten armed men sailed up to Boston Harbor in a -shallop and obtained a quantity of beaver from the Massachusetts -Indians. So successful was the barter that the women of the tribe -impulsively removed their beaver coats to exchange them for the bright -baubles of the white men. Giggling maidens, bedecked only with strings -of beads we are told, were left behind by the “sober-faced” Pilgrims -when they sailed away.</p> - -<p>By November, when the first “supply” ship, the <i>Fortune</i>, arrived -from England, the colony at Plymouth had acquired enough beaver and -otter skins to pack two great hogsheads worth 300 pounds sterling for -export. These pelts represented over sixty per cent of the total value -of the vessel’s return cargo, the remainder consisting of clapboard. By -this one shipment the Pilgrim Fathers estimated they were paying off -almost half of their debt to Weston and his partners and insuring the -prompt return of the additional supplies they so much needed by then.</p> - -<p>But unfortunately, as they later learned, the <i>Fortune</i> was -intercepted by a French privateer before she reached England and all -her cargo confiscated!</p> - -<p>Long before this first supply ship came to Plymouth the Pilgrims had -been in want of food. Their meal was gone, and other rations were -rapidly dwindling under their communalistic system. But when the ship -arrived it brought only letters of gratuitous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> counsel from their -merchant backers in England and more “hungrie bellies” to be fed. There -was practically nothing aboard in the way of food and clothing or truck -for barter with the savages.</p> - -<p>Already half-starved, the colonists were in really dire straits -as winter approached. Many of them sickened and death stalked the -huts and cottages at Plymouth. With Indian alarms and unaccountable -fires creating a general state of anxiety, fear and suspicion lay -heavy on those who lived. Probably the only thing that prevented a -complete collapse was the diversion brought about by enforced labor on -strengthening the fortifications of the plantation.</p> - -<p>Before the first snow, the Narragansett tribe which had not suffered -from the plague boldly sent in a bundle of arrows wrapped in a -snakeskin. It was an open challenge to war. The Pilgrims were plucky -enough to replace the arrows with bullets and send the snakeskin back -to the Narragansett, but they were nevertheless thoroughly frightened -and hastened to palisade their fort and buildings with a strong wall of -high pales.</p> - -<p>Relations with the natives was under constant strain. Most of the early -commerce with them for pelts and food was a bloody business. But, -as explosive and unprincipled as was the red-headed little military -captain, Miles Standish, it was Squanto who caused much of the trouble.</p> - -<p>It seems that the Indian interpreter was overly ambitious to become a -great sachem and seized on any opportunity to eliminate a red rival to -his pretensions by provoking hostilities. Captain Standish never did -like Squanto, and Bradford himself later stated that the interpreter -“sought his own ends and played his own game, by putting the Indians in -fear and drawing gifts from them to enrich himself, making them believe -he could stir up war against whom he would, and make peace with whom he -would.”</p> - -<p>Although some temporary relief in the matter of food could be obtained -from trading and fishing boats off the Maine coast and by other local -expedients, it was plain for all to see that the economy, indeed -the very existence of Plymouth, depended on fur. Fishing had failed -completely as a source of income. Only as a fur-trading post could -the plantation be maintained, for only by the export of pelts could -sufficient supplies and trading goods be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> obtained and the debt to the -merchant adventurers paid off. So, in the spring of 1622, an expedition -went out once more to the Massachusetts and commerce of a sort was -resumed—along with hostilities. Some few pelts were thus obtained by -the Pilgrims in spite of their almost total lack of trading goods.</p> - -<p>But then came a “providence of God.” A trading ship, coasting the -shores from Virginia to New England, came into the harbor with a large -store of English beads and knives aboard.</p> - -<p>The captain, however, drove a hard bargain with the desperate -colonists. Shrewdly sensing the situation, he hiked the prices of his -trading goods; in fact, he “would sell none but at dear rates and also -a good quantity together.” The Pilgrims were forced to buy, paying away -their store of coat-beaver at three shillings per pound which, as it -happened, “in a few years after yielded twenty shillings.” Still, by -this means, they were fitted again to barter for beans and corn—and -more beaver.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>For the next three or four years the Plymouth plantation was engaged in -hand-to-mouth expedients to squeeze enough revenue from the fur trade -to meet the demands of its economy.</p> - -<p>All of this was made the more trying because of the evils of the -communalistic system under which the colony was operated. A first step -toward the private ownership of land was taken in 1623, when each man -was permitted to set a little corn “for his owne perticuler,” but it -was some years before this reform was fully realized. However, of more -concern to the Pilgrims was the increasing pressure from a variety of -English competitors for the fur trade along the coast.</p> - -<p>Always a bit disturbing had been the freebooting interlopers who -operated along the coasts, particularly in Maine. These Englishmen, -bartering generously with trinkets, colored cloth and ironware, were -also not averse to trading guns and powder with the Indians, a practice -frowned upon by the king.</p> - -<p>Partly because of the trade in firearms, but mainly because the -freebooters were cutting into the monopoly of the august Council -for New England, that body obtained a royal proclamation forbidding -trade in furs and fish without a license. As it turned out however -the merchants were unsuccessful in enforcing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> the edict. Captain -Francis West, the Admiral of New England, who was sent out to stop the -trespassing returned only to report that he found the traders to be -“stuborne fellows.”</p> - -<p>In the meantime a number of patents and licenses were being granted -through the Council for New England along the northern coast.</p> - -<p>Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, as adventurers, were -granted the “Province of Maine,” all the land lying between the -Merrimac and the Kennebec Rivers. As early as 1623 David Thompson, -“a Scottish gentleman,” went out with a few servants and established -a fur-trading post at the mouth of the Piscataqua, near the present -site of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Said to have been accompanied by -his wife and children, he “built a Strong and Large House, enclosed -it with a large and high Palizado and mounted Gunns, and being -stored extraordinarily with shot and Ammunition was a Terror to the -Indians....” Thompson nevertheless carried on a flourishing business -with the natives for otter and beaver, as did Christopher Levett who -built a fort-like emporium for the same kind of military commerce in -Casco Bay the following year.</p> - -<p>More obvious competitors to the Pilgrims had been getting footholds -in the country of the Massachusetts Indians. Samuel Maverick had a -palisaded trading post on Noddle’s Island (East Boston) wherein he -mounted “four murtherers to protect him from the Indians.” Under the -muzzles of these wicked little cannon he drove a most profitable -private trade. And David Thompson himself moved to Boston Bay in 1626, -building a truck house on the island which ever since has been known by -his name.</p> - -<p>Although these more or less distant and individual competitors cut into -the Plymouth Colony’s business to some degree, they were not exactly -strangling the economy and they were not neighbors in the bothersome -sense. However, the Pilgrims viewed with real alarm all attempts of -English traders to establish themselves in the near-by lower end of -Boston Bay. That, they judged, belonged to them and was necessary to -their survival as well as their cherished privacy.</p> - -<p>Their one-time friend, Thomas Weston, had been the first to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> try to -plant a trading post there, at Wessagusset, in 1622. Weston, who had -sold out his interest in the Plymouth Plantation, first sent over some -men to trade for his “perticuler,” that is, not for the plantation’s -account. Shortly afterward he obtained a patent to plant a colony of -his own at the lower end of Boston Bay.</p> - -<p>The colony his men established at Wessagusset, now Weymouth, was -entirely too close to the Pilgrims for their comfort, not only because -it forthwith severed a major artery of their fur trade but because it -put the pinch on Plymouth for food. Weston’s “rude fellers” were more -interested in consorting with Indian squaws, according to the Pilgrims, -than in grubbing for their own food. Also, disturbingly enough in -itself, these newcomers setting themselves down as near neighbors were -Anglicans.</p> - -<p>According to the record the Pilgrims discovered a conspiracy among the -savages to massacre the Englishmen at Wessagusset. Possibly, as some -say, they simply invented the plot. Be that as it may, they rushed to -the assistance of their unsuspecting white neighbors. Then, under the -pretense of joining with the Massachusetts in feasting and trading, -they conducted a surprise massacre of their own among the natives. -During this murderous affair Captain Standish cut off the head of one -Massachusetts brave of some renown for his previous insults to the -Pilgrims and took it back to Plymouth where he stuck it on a pole for -all to see. After that it was much too dangerous for Weston’s traders -to remain at Wessagusset.</p> - -<p>The following year Sir Ferdinando Gorges’ son, Captain Robert Gorges, -with a commission from the Council of New England as general governor -of the country brought over some people and occupied Wessagusset as a -fur-trading post. But things did not go well for him either. Gorges -soon abandoned the place and his people scattered, some going to -Virginia. A few, however, remained in the vicinity and set up a trading -post at Nantasket (Hull) which was made permanent by the frequent -addition of discontents from Plymouth.</p> - -<p>Still later, in 1625, a shipload of colonists, composed mostly of -indentured servants under the command of a Captain Wollaston, came to -Boston Bay. The captain set up a trading post close by Wessagusset at -Quincy. By 1627 he too had given up. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> difficulties, whether of the -Pilgrims’ secret connivance or not, were too great. He gathered up most -of the servants and sailed for Virginia where he sold their indentures -at a very good profit.</p> - -<p>Wollaston would have taken all the servants and sold their time if it -had not been for one Thomas Morton. An educated man, a lawyer of sorts -with a bent for both pleasure and profit, Morton saw an opportunity for -greater gains in the fur trade than anyone had yet garnered. His plan -was to sell guns and liquor to the Indians in exchange for skins and to -let the devil take the hindmost.</p> - -<p>Appealing to some of the worst rogues among Wollaston’s servants on -the promise that they would prosper Morton conducted a successful -mutiny. After all, who wanted to be sold into slavery in Virginia? Soon -thereafter, with his disreputable associates, Morton set up his own -trading post, calling it “Merrymount,” and commenced his illegal barter -with the Indians to the great consternation of the Pilgrims.</p> - -<p>Beaver, otter and valuable deer skins found their way in great -quantities to the new truck house, while Merrymount became “a sort of -a drunkard’s resort and gambling hall” and worse. The jolly host of -Merrymount, revelling in “riotous prodigality,” had a great Maypole -erected for the entertainment of visiting factors who wanted to dance -and frisk with pleasurable Indian maids. Fishing and trading vessels -along the coast much preferred to do business with the open-handed -Morton rather than the close-fisted Pilgrims. Therefore, trading goods -were as easily come by at Merrymount as were beaver skins. Everyone was -quite happy about the situation except the fathers at Plymouth.</p> - -<p>Morton had even discovered their profitable new trading grounds -in Maine. The first year the Pilgrims extended their fur trading -operations to Maine, in 1625, they gathered in 700 pounds of beaver -besides some other furs on the Kennebec, mostly in exchange for the -corn they had by then learned to grow at Plymouth. But now Morton was -outbidding them with his more attractive trading goods and getting -nearly everything of value in that vicinity too. The very existence of -the Plymouth Colony seemed to be at stake.</p> - -<p>Complaints, cajolings and threats were of no avail. Morton,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> the -lawyer, was too clever. Something had to be done and force was the -final resort. Captain Standish was sent with some soldiers to arrest -the obnoxious neighbor on the charge that he was violating the royal -proclamation prohibiting trade in guns and powder.</p> - -<p>“Captain Shrimp,” as Morton contemptuously called Standish, succeeded -in his mission only after a fight. He captured Morton and took him -to Plymouth. There he tried his best to have the erstwhile “host of -Merrymount” hanged. But in the end Morton’s only punishment was to be -shipped back to England.</p> - -<p>As it came about, the Wessagusset area was no sooner eliminated as a -competitor for the beaver trade than the Pilgrims were faced with new -and much more formidable rivals in the same neighborhood. These were -the Puritans, the advance guard of whom arrived at Salem under Captain -John Endicott in 1628. As recruits of the great Massachusetts Bay -Company they were soon coming by the thousands. Under the leadership of -Governor John Winthrop they overran the Boston Bay region. And there -wasn’t much the fathers at Plymouth could do about these new neighbors -except to offer religious advice on the relative merits of Brownism and -Separation.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The local competition for beaver now being almost overwhelming, the -Pilgrims found it necessary to go more and more afield to meet their -required quota of pelts. Excursions north to the Kennebec in Maine -were the most fruitful, not only because there was much fine fur to -be had from the natives there but because trading goods on occasion -could be obtained from fishing and trading ships off that coast. Once, -too, in exchange for corn the Pilgrims picked up four hundred pounds -worth of trucking stuff from some Englishmen who were abandoning their -plantation on Monhegan Island. And they acquired an additional stock of -truck from a French ship which had been wrecked at Sagadahoc.</p> - -<p>To the south along the coast they never met with much success. When -they had first gone out to Narragansett Bay on a trading voyage in -1623, for instance, the Indians there disdained their meagre offerings. -The Narragansett were much too happy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> with the goods being furnished -by the Dutch traders from Manhattan. Both the Narragansett and their -neighbors, the Pequot, held on to their furs for the Hollanders, and -they were powerful enough to get away with it. They had Dutch guns -and powder, as well as the Hollanders themselves if need be, to back -them up. In fact, by 1625 the Dutch had a fortified trading post on -an island in Narragansett Bay and two similar forts near-by on the -mainland.</p> - -<p>Governor Bradford, in exasperation, gave out a warning that all the -region along the coast to the southeast of Plymouth was English -territory. He as much as demanded that the New Netherlanders stop -trading there. But it was useless. The Dutchmen simply ignored the -warnings. However they did offer to enter into direct trading relations -themselves with Plymouth and sent a mission there in 1627, with sugar, -linen and other goods, to talk it over.</p> - -<p>This mission was headed up by Isaack de Rasieres, the chief trader as -well as the Secretary of New Netherland. Rasieres appears to have had -an ulterior motive in making the visit. He brought along a stock of -wampum, the strings of highly polished shell-beads that the Dutchmen -had been accustomed to getting from the Narragansett and the Pequot. -With wampum, Rasieres pointed out to the Pilgrims, he had been doing a -great business among Indians who didn’t have the means of manufacturing -it, especially along the Hudson River where Henry Hudson himself had -first discovered strings of shell-beads circulating as a kind of money.</p> - -<p>The Hollander cannily suggested that wampum might be used to just as -great advantage on the Kennebec by the Pilgrims. No doubt, by this -means, he hoped to direct their attention more to Maine and away from -the Dutch trading preserves in Long Island Sound and the Narragansett -country. Offering to sell wampum to the Englishmen at a fair price, -probably he hoped also to keep them from dealing direct for it with the -Narragansett and the Pequot.</p> - -<p>Although the Pilgrim fathers were a bit suspicious of Rasieres’ -motives, nevertheless they did find the shell-money to be most -“vendable” on the Kennebec. So much so, in fact, that in a very<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> -short time with the aid of this medium of exchange they were enabled -to cut off the fur trade of that region from the fishermen and other -independent traders who had been accustomed to barter there. In the -meantime they also developed their own sources of wampum among some of -the Massachusetts coastal tribes who, as it turned out, also possessed -the means of manufacturing it.</p> - -<p>The Pilgrims secured their rights up the Kennebec River by obtaining -a patent to a strip of land fifteen miles wide on both sides of that -river. They built a trucking house at Cushenoc (Augusta) which they -kept stocked with coats, shirts, rugs, blankets, corn, biscuit, peas, -prunes, and other supplies. With the help of wampum for exchange they -drove a brisk trade among the Abnaki Indians in those parts. In 1630 -they extended their operations even farther north, setting up a trading -post on the Penobscot River at Pentagoet, now Castine, Maine.</p> - -<p>The Penobscot trading post originated as a private venture for which -the Pilgrim, Isaac Allerton, along with some partners in England -promoted a patent. Allerton, once a London tailor, had risen in -prominence at Plymouth in New England to stand second only to the -governor. It would appear that he and his overseas partners shared -the rights to trade in the territory north of the Kennebec with other -leading Pilgrims in return for the loan of wampum, shallops, supplies -and servants.</p> - -<p>But the partnership accounts became jumbled, because of Allerton’s -financial deceits according to the Pilgrims. And Edward Ashley, the -“profane young man” sent out from England as factor, didn’t help things -by his personal conduct.</p> - -<p>Actually, young Ashley did well enough in the bartering department, -acquiring over a thousand pounds of beaver and otter the first season. -However he seems to have gone native in the most offensive sense to -the Pilgrim fathers, living “naked” among the savages and committing -“uncleannes with Indean women.” Also, it was discovered, he was trading -shot and powder with the savages and not even accounting for the -profits from this unholy trade.</p> - -<p>Such behavior, of course, could not be countenanced. Ashley was -arrested and shipped back to England by the Plymouth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> partners, while -they themselves took over complete operating control of the enterprise.</p> - -<p>All of which was not to Isaac Allerton’s liking. Deserting the -partnership, he retaliated by setting himself up as a competitor in -Maine. In 1633 he settled some “base fellows” in a new trading post at -the mouth of the Machias River, close by the present Canadian border. -There he did his best to cut off Plymouth’s commerce with the more -northerly tribes who were then taking their furs to the Penobscot and -Kennebec trucking houses.</p> - -<p>The Pilgrims had other competitors in Maine also. In 1630 a trading -post was established at Pemaquid Point under a patent obtained by two -English merchants for twelve thousand acres between the Damariscotta -and Muscongus Rivers. About the same time John Oldham and Richard Vines -obtained a grant at the mouth of the Saco River, which remained a most -profitable fur trading center for some years.</p> - -<p>Then there was the Laconia Company, organized by Sir Ferdinando Gorges -and Captain John Mason to put new life in their Piscataqua colony. -Laconia, described as a vast hinterland area of rivers and lakes, was -an extension of their original patent to the “Province of Maine.” -Gorges and Mason now planned to send cargoes of Indian trucking goods -up the Piscataqua River into Laconia, to Lake Champlain, to be bartered -for peltries. Thus they hoped to compete with the Dutch and the French -for the hinterland trade.</p> - -<p>Captain Walter Neale, as governor of the Laconia Company, and Ambrose -Gibbons, as factor, did very well from 1630 to 1633, establishing -several trading posts on the Piscataqua River. But they never reached -Lake Champlain. Maybe they had it confused with Lake Winnepesaukee. -In any case, as they discovered, the rivers of Maine flowed from the -north, not from the west, and they couldn’t penetrate deep enough into -the interior to tap the hinterland trade of the Dutch and the French.</p> - -<p>Probably the most dangerous of the Pilgrims’ rivals in Maine about this -time was the trading post on Richmond’s Island off Cape Elizabeth. -Thomas Morton, the jolly host of Merrymount, had traded here as early -as 1627. After his banishment from America one of his most roguish -associates, Walter Bagnall, took<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> over the island and is said to have -gained 1,000 pounds sterling from his trade in a period of three years. -Then this “wicked fellow” was murdered by the natives.</p> - -<p>Bagnall’s successor, John Winter, also did a flourishing business on -Richmond’s Island as factor for some English merchants, employing some -sixty men at one time in both fishing and fur trading activities. The -records indicate that he was about as unscrupulous in his dealings as -was his predecessor, cheating and otherwise mistreating the Indians -at every turn. He charged them at the rate of thirty-three pounds for -a hogshead of brandy which cost him seven. For powder which cost him -twenty pence per pound he raised the rate to three shillings in trade. -But the natives preferred his goods.</p> - -<p>In spite of such competition, however, Maine became the Pilgrims’ chief -source of furs. In one period of two years the trading post at Cushenoc -alone is known to have gathered in more than 7,000 pounds of beaver. -The route of the beaver-laden shallops from the Maine coast was indeed -Plymouth’s life-line. Wampum played no small role in the success of -this extended operation which was so vital to the colony’s existence, -although the tight control exercised over the fur trade by the Pilgrim -fathers was the main factor.</p> - -<p>Always the peltry traffic had been invested in certain leaders at -Plymouth who managed the whole trade in the interests of the communalty -in order that the Pilgrims’ debt to the merchants in England might be -paid. In 1627 William Bradford, Isaac Allerton, Edward Winslow, Miles -Standish and a few others in partnership undertook to assume this -entire indebtedness. In return, these “undertakers” were to enjoy any -and all profits from the traffic in peltries for six years. They were -empowered to do what they pleased with all furs and trucking goods -in the common store, and they alone were to use the colony’s trading -posts, truck houses and shallops.</p> - -<p>From that time forward the Plymouth Plantation enjoyed real economic -success. In 1628 furs to the value of 659 English pounds were exported -in one cargo. Although no total figures are available for 1628 to 1630, -a very large amount of peltry went to England according to Governor -Bradford. From 1631 to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> 1636 over 12,000 pounds of beaver and 1,000 -pounds of otter were shipped, most of which brought 20 shillings a -pound and none less than 14 shillings. Bradford said that the beaver -alone during these years brought 10,000 pounds sterling and that the -otter was more than sufficient to pay all costs of transport and -auction. Considering the size of the plantation this was indeed big -business.</p> - -<p>In spite of the financial bungling of the partnership’s agents in -England, and even outright irregularities there, the debt was paid off. -Additional profits from the sale of beaver skins bought many other -things the Pilgrims needed, and in the end it was the earnings from the -fur trade that provided the foundation for Plymouth’s next economic -development, cattle farming.</p> - -<p>In the meantime the Pilgrims’ profitable trade in furs on the Maine -coast and on rivers leading to the interior was jealously regarded by -the French who, after all, considered that territory within their own -limits. And neighboring French traders were doing something about it.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="X">X<br /><i>A Border Fixed on the Coast of Maine</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> planting of trading posts farther and farther up the coast of Maine -by the New Englanders did not go unchallenged by the French. Although -in English eyes it had been well established ever since Captain -Argall’s raids in the Bay of Fundy that English claims to the coast now -extended well above the 45th parallel, even to the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence valley, -no such admission had ever been made by the French. There were always -French traders in Acadia (Nova Scotia) who envisaged their preserves -as extending well down the coast of Maine and who intended to resist -further encroachments in those parts.</p> - -<p>In fact, as it came about, these fur traders protected and maintained -the French claim to much of this coastal region during an incident of -the Thirty Years’ War which put most of New France under the English -flag for three years, from 1629 to 1632.</p> - -<p>Prior to this episode the affairs of New France had reached a turning -point. In 1627 Samuel de Champlain’s difficulties became acute. That -year the Iroquois, his irreconcilable enemies, renewed their bloody -savagery in the interior, while along the coast the English were -closing off the very entrance to the valley of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence with -their plantations and trading posts and their increased shipping.</p> - -<p>Although Champlain’s company had a good season in furs, collecting -22,000 that summer which could be sold in France at ten francs -each, the expense of operation had made the outlook none too bright -relatively for the shareholders who expected huge returns. Besides the -salaries of the Viceroy in France and of Champlain as his lieutenant -governing the colony, interpreters now cost as much as a thousand -francs a season and sailors six hundred, while factors and other -servants came correspondingly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> high. And there were other increased -expenses that bid fair to cut deep into profits.</p> - -<p>As a result the directors of the company made things difficult for -their governor on the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence. They particularly balked at his -urgent request for extra funds to strengthen the fortifications of -Quebec, even though only a wooden palisade and a few small cannon -protected the French trading post.</p> - -<p>Champlain, with characteristic fortitude, made the best of his -difficulties. But he was most uneasy about the English at his doorway. -And well he might be!</p> - -<p>As early as 1620 Sir George Calvert, English Baron of Baltimore, had -adventured a plantation in Newfoundland. Three years later King James -granted him quasi-regal proprietorship of the southeastern peninsula -of that island between Trinity and Placentia Bays. In 1627 he came out -with his family, built a fine house at Ferryland, and showed every -intention of establishing a great fur trading and fishing colony in the -form of a British dominion at this strategic gateway to New France.</p> - -<p>Still more alarming were the activities of a Scotsman, Sir William -Alexander, who had been stirred by accounts of the founding of New -Spain, New France, New Netherland and New England to attempt the -founding of a New Scotland. In 1621, with complete disregard for French -claims, the English king had granted to him all the vast peninsula -between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence! Today that -would be Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and part of Quebec Province. This -princely domain was to be divided into feudal-type Scotch baronies -complete with a hierarchy of hereditary titles.</p> - -<p>Alexander’s attempts to establish permanent trading posts in New -Scotland, or Nova Scotia, were failures until 1628. That year -seventy-two of his colonists managed to set up for business at -Poutrincourt’s old quarters at Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy. There -they found themselves to be the near neighbors of a young French -fur trader at Cape Sable named Charles de la Tour who was under the -impression that the country belonged to him.</p> - -<p>Monsieur La Tour had inherited his rights from Saint Just after that -pioneer finally returned to France in 1623. Since then he had been -living the independent life of a wilderness lord with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> French retainers -and aboriginal subjects, and he had no intention of yielding his estate -or fur-trading privileges to anyone, much less foreigners.</p> - -<p>La Tour did not immediately attempt to oust Alexander’s Scots from Port -Royal as he was on much the weaker side at the time, but he did stand -firm and unsubmissive at Cape Sable and he resisted all efforts of the -English to bring him over to their side. This was not easy, for nearly -all of New France was soon in the hands of the enemy.</p> - -<p>In 1628 a French colonizing fleet sent out by the Company of New France -under the aegis of Cardinal de Richelieu was captured by privateers -boldly operating in the Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence with English letters of -marque. In another year Champlain’s worst fears were realized when this -same fleet of privateers, under the leadership of the Kirke brothers, -appeared before Quebec in force enough to insure its capitulation.</p> - -<p>Champlain himself was taken prisoner at Quebec. But under the terms -of the surrender he marched out of the fort with his arms and all of -his own furs, as did other head men. The factors, servants and workmen -were allowed to take but one beaver skin each before the English took -over the factory. Then, after running up the English flag, the Kirkes -were said to have driven an immediate trade with Indians and others -remaining about the fort for some 2,000 skins in addition to those they -found in the storehouse. They even ended up with the pelts they had -allowed the starving garrison under the terms of surrender, taking them -in trade for food.</p> - -<p>Sir William Alexander, uniting his interests with the Kirkes to form -the Scottish and English Company for the peltry trade of New France, -sent out a second fleet to Port Royal in 1629 under the command of his -son. When the fleet arrived nearly half the people who had been left at -Port Royal the year before were found to have died from one cause or -another. But young Alexander relieved the survivors, strengthened the -fort, and put new life into the colony. His vessels managed to acquire -a satisfactory number of pelts in the Bay of Fundy during that summer. -He also captured a French ship. And as further proof of the substance -of New Scotland he took back on his return<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> voyage an Indian chief of -the region who wanted to conclude an alliance with the English king.</p> - -<p>In the meantime it developed that shortly before Champlain’s -capitulation a treaty of peace had been signed between England and -France. But, although King Charles agreed very soon to restore Quebec -to the French under the terms of the treaty, the negotiations dragged -on for three years. During that time the Scottish Company continued -to drive a great trade for pelts on the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence and elsewhere, -while the French pressed not only their claims to furs appropriated -from stores at Quebec after the actual signing of the peace treaty -but insisted also upon the return of all of New France. That included -Acadia of course and the evacuation of the fort at Port Royal.</p> - -<p>At first, Charles was not disposed to disturb Alexander in his -occupation of “Nova Scotia.” In fact he encouraged the Scot to further -efforts in that direction. However, he needed gold at the time much -more than he needed another Scotland, so he was not reluctant to do a -little bargaining. When his wife’s brother, the French king, agreed to -pay a long overdue and substantial dowry, Charles agreed to return Port -Royal to the French. Sir William’s dream was thereupon finished. The -Scots demolished their fort, and young Alexander surrendered Port Royal -to the Chevalier Isaac de Razilly who had been sent out by the Company -of New France as governor of all Acadia.</p> - -<p>This was a tremendous victory for Charles de la Tour and his French -fur traders, who had not only stubbornly maintained themselves during -the incident of the Scottish occupation of Acadia, but had managed -harassments intended to hinder further encroachments up the coast of -Maine by the Englishmen in those more southerly parts.</p> - -<p>In 1631 the Frenchmen had paid a visit to the Pilgrims’ most northerly -outpost at Pentagoet on the Penobscot. Taking advantage of the absence -of the factor and most of his company, they were able to surprise a few -“simple” servants by a ruse. First, pretending they had “newly come -from the sea” and that their vessel was in need of repairs, a “false -Scot” among them fell to admiring the Englishmen’s muskets. Then, -talking the servants into letting them examine the guns, they gained -possession of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> Englishmen’s weapons and promptly made away with -some four or five hundred pounds worth of Pilgrim goods, including -three hundredweight of beaver.</p> - -<p>In time, however, after the ousting of the Scots from the Bay of Fundy, -the Frenchmen were able to do more than simply harass the Englishmen on -the coast of Maine. The truck house at Machias in Maine, built by Isaac -Allerton in 1633, was even more of a challenge than the Penobscot post -had been. Allerton had no sooner settled his traders there than “La -Tour, governor of the French in those parts, making claim to the place, -came to displant them, and finding resistance, killed two of the men -and carried away the other three and the goods.”</p> - -<p>Allerton himself later went to Port Royal to protest. But he was -told by La Tour that “he had authority from the king of France, who -challenged all from Cape Sable to Cape Cod, wishing them to take notice -and to certify the rest of the English, that, if they traded to the -east of Pemaquid, he would make prize of them.” When Allerton asked to -see Monsieur La Tour’s commission the Frenchman replied that “his sword -was commission sufficient, where he had strength to overcome; where -that wanted, he would show his commission.”</p> - -<p>And the French made good on their challenge, for in 1635 Monsieur -Charles d’Aunay, one of Governor Razilly’s lieutenants, came in a -man-of-war to the Pilgrims’ trading post on the Penobscot. By a show -of this force he took possession of the trucking house in the name of -the King of France. Making an inventory of the goods he found there at -prices he set himself, d’Aunay “made no payment for them, but told them -in convenient time he would do it if they came for it. For the house -and fortification etc. he would not allow nor account anything, saying -that they which build on another man’s ground do forfeit the same.” -Then he put the English traders in a shallop and sent them back to -Plymouth.</p> - -<p>The Pilgrim fathers were enough upset about the loss of their goods and -trading post to do something violent about it. With the approval of -the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but without much in the way of material -assistance from their Puritan brethren, they hired “a fair ship of -above 300 tun well fitted with ordnance”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> to retake Pentagoet. This -ship was under the command of a Captain Girling. If the captain was -successful he was to have 700 pounds of beaver; if not, nothing. Along -with him went Captain Miles Standish and twenty Plymouth men in their -own bark to resettle their trading post after Girling had driven out -the French.</p> - -<p>It would appear, however, that the French must have had notice of the -impending attack. So firmly were they entrenched behind earthworks -that Captain Girling’s gunfire could not dislodge them and all the big -ship’s powder was exhausted without effect. No landing was attempted. -Standish, frustrated, returned to Plymouth in his bark, and Captain -Girling went his own way.</p> - -<p>The French now remained in permanent possession of what was soon known -as the “Mission of Pentagoet.” And so the line was finally drawn as a -practical matter between the English and the French on the Maine coast, -although England continued to maintain officially that it was more -northerly, at the 45th parallel.</p> - -<p>Mutual distrust, born of the religious differences between -English Puritan and French Catholic, often erupted in charges and -counter-charges that sometimes threatened security on either side of -the line. In fact, fear of possible French aggression was in part -responsible for the eventual formation of the New England Confederation -in 1643. On the other side of the picture however, there was much -guarded trade between Frenchman and Englishman as it suited their -pocketbooks. As a matter of fact the Puritans actually traded with -the French conquerors of Pentagoet shortly after d’Aunay captured the -Pilgrim trading post.</p> - -<p>But, even so, this coastal border created by the rival fur traders of -these two nations was maintained with only minor variations for years, -even after competition for the beaver trade was no longer the reason -for its existence.</p> - -<p>Acadian fur traders and the rivers of Maine and Massachusetts that ran -in the wrong direction had effectively contained the English on the -northern coasts. The <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence River route to the interior, to the -great lake country that teemed with fur-bearers, remained safe to the -French traders, who resumed their profitable westward penetration of -the hinterland.</p> - -<p>It remained to be seen, however, if the French could prevent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> the Dutch -of New Netherland and the English of Virginia from draining off this -hinterland trade. The Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna -Rivers all ran in the right direction to tap it.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XI">XI<br /><i>The Bay of Virginia</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_w.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">When</span> Sir George Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, founded his province of -“Avalon” in Newfoundland he was partly motivated by religious urgings. -Being a Catholic convert he earnestly wanted to provide a haven in -the new world for the persecuted Catholics of England. But this court -favorite, who as the son of a humble Yorkshire farmer had figuratively -pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to ennoblement, was also a -profit-minded promoter. He expected a rich return on his newly gained -proprietorship.</p> - -<p>However, after investing many thousands of pounds at Ferryland, Lord -Baltimore had little to show in the way of profits. The future, too, -looked as bleak as the cold Newfoundland winters, as barren as the -sterile soil. True, there were fish to be had for the taking—weather -permitting. But the trade in pelts was only fair, for the more -profitable fur frontier had long since passed into the interior of -Canada. And agricultural pursuits, the traditional support of English -feudal manors, were almost impossible due to the inclemencies of the -climate.</p> - -<p>The Lord Proprietor of Avalon was soon looking southward, his eyes -resting appraisingly on Virginia. There, the warmer weather and richer -soil seemed to offer more appropriate conditions for the kind of -province he had in mind. There, in the lush tidewater of the Chesapeake -Bay country, he could hope for a better trade in pelts too.</p> - -<p>As for possible profits from Newfoundland cod, he would gladly consign -them to those hearty fishermen who by nature were better able to cope -with the rigors of the northern climate!</p> - -<p>So it came about that in 1629 his lordship wrote to King Charles asking -that a precinct of land in Virginia be granted to him with the same -quasi-regal privileges he enjoyed under his Newfoundland patent. Then, -without waiting for a reply, he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> embarked for Jamestown where he let it -be known that he was looking for a new plantation site, and forthwith -began cruising about Chesapeake Bay with the air of a man who was -confident that the king would approve his plans.</p> - -<p>This was anything but politic. No Virginians, Anglican or Puritan, -wanted a Catholic in their midst. They didn’t want one even as a -neighbor in their great bay, and especially such an influential convert -as Baltimore. Who knew what Romish plot he might be promoting?</p> - -<p>But even more alarming was the threat that this ambitious baron posed -to their fur trade in the Chesapeake.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The tidewater had come to represent a treasure house of pelts to -the merchants and factors on the James River, at Jamestown and at -Kecoughtan, and to scores of traders plying their shallops and pinnaces -in the bay. On the York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac Rivers these -traders regularly visited the villages of the Indians, their shallops -returning to the James River plantations laden with skins. And across -the bay on the Eastern Shore there was still another lively fur trading -center at Accomac where beaver and muskrat abounded in the near-by -streams and marshes.</p> - -<p>The most profitable branch of this trade was that in the Potomac River, -where the Spaniards of the sixteenth century had been the first of -record to barter with the natives for pelts and hides. Captain Samuel -Argall, who succeeded Captain John Smith in 1609 as the colony’s main -support for trade with the Indians, made several early visits to the -villages of the Patowomecks there. For hatchets and hoes, no doubt, he -took good quantities of beaver, otter, raccoon and deer skins as well -as the corn that was so badly needed at Jamestown. In 1612 he really -whetted the Patowomecks’ appetite for English goods when he produced a -copper kettle for their chief. Many English traders, with and without -permits, followed Captain Argall into the Potomac River, but especially -members of the Virginia Council who more or less controlled the -Chesapeake trade as a perquisite of office.</p> - -<p>The Eastern Shore was opened up for trade in 1619 by Ensign Thomas -Savage who was one of the earliest professional factors in the -Chesapeake tidewater. He had spent several years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> as a youthful hostage -with Chief Wahunsonacock of the Powhatan Confederacy after having been -left with this old Powhatan in 1608 by Captain Christopher Newport. -During that time young Savage became a favorite of the natives and -learned much about the dialects and customs of the tribes in the -tidewater country. Later, when his services as an interpreter came to -be in demand by Virginia officials, he was commissioned an “Aunchient,” -or ensign, on the staff of the Master of Ordnance at Jamestown. It -was in this capacity on expeditions of discovery in the Potomac and -Patuxent Rivers and on the Eastern Shore that he began bartering on his -own account.</p> - -<p>Like Captain John Smith before him, Ensign Savage learned of the great -trade in furs being had by the Frenchmen on the “backside of Virginia.” -In 1621 his account of their deeper penetration of the hinterland -reached the Virginia Company Council in London. At the same time the -company received reports of Dutch traders operating along the Virginia -coasts. A detailed account of this competition was rendered by Thomas -Dermer, the New England fur trader, who in addition to having paid -the visit to Jamestown went into the Delaware and Hudson Rivers. He -reported that in both those rivers he had “found divers ships of -Amsterdam and Horne who yearly had there a great and rich trade in -Furrs.”</p> - -<p>The Dutch encroachments prompted a special letter, too, from the -governor and his council at Jamestown. They urged the company to -undertake “so certaine and gainefull” voyages for pelts as might be -made “to their infinite gaine” in the Delaware and Hudson, both of -which they pointed out were “within our lymits.” The Dutch interlopers -on the coasts were almost as challenging to the Virginians, now that -they themselves were well rooted, as was the possibility of French -competition creeping down the rivers that flowed into Chesapeake Bay -from the northern hinterland.</p> - -<p>Almost—but not quite as challenging. For one thing, the settlers on -the James at this time had neither the ships to trade coastwise nor -the trade goods necessary to compete with the Dutch. More importantly, -however, right at their back door was the vast tidewater of the bay -and, beyond that, great stretches of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> lake country in the north, all -fertile with fur bearers to be had for the taking—provided they got -there before the French. This could be accomplished with home-made -shallops and less fancy trade goods than were needed to compete with -the Dutch.</p> - -<p>So it came about that the Virginians left any exploitation of -the Delaware and Hudson Rivers to the merchants in England and, -individually with their more limited resources, extended their own -trading operations in their “Bay of Virginia.”</p> - -<p>Scores of immigrants participated in this tidewater fur trade, -including a great many who had the advantage of a knowledge of the -Algonquin tongue because of having cohabited with the savages. Some of -the latter were no more than villainous runaways, cautiously returning -from sanctuary with the natives to share the profits of the boom in -pelts. Others, such as Robert Poole and Henry Spelman, had been left -with the Indians as hostages when they were youths, very much in the -same manner as Thomas Savage. Like him, they too had learned the -dialects and habits of various tribes, acted as spies for the English -colonists and then, later, were useful as interpreters.</p> - -<p>Robert Poole traded professionally for the joint-stock, making voyages -in the company’s pinnace and rendering his accountings to the colony’s -treasurer at Jamestown. But he and Thomas Savage also obtained -commissions through members of the council and, renting shallops from -more prosperous colonists for voyages to the villages of the Indians, -did very well for themselves in this way. Probably neither of them -traded for pelts as extensively however as did Henry Spelman who -eventually managed to get financial backing in England and ships of his -own.</p> - -<p>Young Spelman was the incorrigible scion of a distinguished English -family. According to his own testimony he had been sent out to Virginia -in 1609 at fourteen years of age because of “beinge in displeasure -of my fryndes and desirous to see other countries.” Captain John -Smith left him with Powhatan’s people, no doubt as the best way to -get rid of him. Henry Spelman was not as popular with the natives as -Thomas Savage, except perhaps with the Indian maidens. In fact he -appears to have escaped with his life only because of the intervention -of Pocahontas who, continuing her interest in white men after the -affair with Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> John Smith, succeeded eventually to marrying an -Englishman named John Rolfe.</p> - -<p>Spelman’s entire career in the colony was one of manifold and -dangerous deceit. As a youth living with the Indians, he was accused -of treacherously laying a death trap for some of his fellow Englishmen -at Jamestown. Later, when he was employed as an official interpreter -for the colony, his tenure in office was cut short after he was tried -by the House of Burgesses and degraded from his rank for inciting -Opechancanough, the new Powhatan, against the English governor.</p> - -<p>In 1622, when Opechancanough finally loosed his stored-up hatred -against the English, killing some three hundred fifty men, women and -children along the James River in a surprise massacre, Henry Spelman -and a trading partner, Captain Raleigh Croshaw, were bartering in -the Potomac. Opechancanough conspired with Chief Japazaws of the -Patowomecks to have the traders murdered. But the Patowomeck king -double-crossed the Powhatan. Instead of killing the Englishmen, -he entered into an alliance with them, permitting them to build a -fortified trading post on his lands.</p> - -<p>All the evidence would indicate that Japazaws was a very wily -politician. He liked English kettles and knives as much as some of his -red neighbors disliked him, and he never did get around to knuckling -under to Opechancanough. No doubt the fort was a smart move on his -part. In any event, because of Japazaws’ need for white friends with -guns Captains Spelman and Croshaw escaped death.</p> - -<p>Henry Spelman was not so fortunate the following year however. On a -trading voyage farther up the Potomac River, at the later site of -Washington, D. C., he was killed by the Anacostan Indians after being -captured in an ambush along with Henry Fleet and some other traders -and servants. Just a few days before his death Spelman had betrayed a -warrior who hazarded warning him of his own intended murder. It appears -he even witnessed the agony of the red man’s tortured execution. Then, -by some sort of final justice, he died at the hands of the same savages -to whom he had given over the kindly warrior.</p> - -<p><i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Aqua vitae</i> may have had something to do with this murderous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> -episode, for, like the French and the Dutch before them and like the -English who were to follow in New England, some traders in Virginia -taught the savages to drink strong waters as a means of extracting a -richer profit during barter. And what a frightful chance they took!</p> - -<p>Emotionally volatile and capricious by nature, the red man was even -more unpredictable of course when he was under the influence of liquor. -He might lose his trading sense to the advantage of the white men who -purposely plied him with <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">aqua vitae</i> during the feasting that -always preceded barter, but when he realized he had been cheated he -was apt to reach for another jug and his tomahawk at the same time. No -doubt many a trader suffered a slow and bestial death while looking -into the bloodshot eyes of savages galled by stomach fires that he -himself had kindled.</p> - -<p>Henry Fleet, who had been captured with Spelman, managed the -predicament in which he found himself with more skill than his friend, -indeed with some foresight. While no one in the colony heard from -him in over four years, and all thought he was dead, Fleet not only -contrived to escape execution by the savages, but spent his captivity -to real advantage. By the time he was finally released he had learned -enough about the Algonquin language and had become sufficiently -fraternal with his captors to engage in a profitable trade in skins -with them. Then, returning to London, where he had excellent family -connections, he acquired financial backing from William Cloberry and -other well-known merchants there. Afterward, as Captain Henry Fleet, -he traded in the Chesapeake for some years in his own ships and later -played a significant role in the genesis of the war between the -Virginians and Lord Baltimore over the fur trade.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The central figure in that struggle was to be William Claiborne, an -ambitious and fiery young man who had been sent out to Virginia by -the company in 1621 as the colony’s surveyor. He served against the -Indians and rose rapidly to become a member of the governor’s council. -In 1626, after the English king took over the management of the colony -from the company, Captain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> Claiborne at twenty-five years of age -became Secretary of Virginia, the first to hold that office by royal -appointment.</p> - -<p>This flattering preferment happened during the midst of the young -councillor’s activities to launch himself in the fur trade as a means -of supplementing his income. For a base of operations in the tidewater -he had just acquired a strategically located plantation at the mouth of -the James River. This was at Kecoughtan in Elizabeth City—now Hampton, -Virginia, the oldest continuous English habitation on the American -continent—a prime seventeenth century warehousing site.</p> - -<p>In the favored position of a member of the council Claiborne was -joining such enterprising venturers as Raleigh Croshaw, Abraham -Peirsey, John Chew and Samuel Mathews in profiting from the Chesapeake -fur trade. These merchants furnished guides, interpreters, maps, -supplies and trucking stuff not only to seasoned traders already on the -bay but to those naively adventurous souls who came out from England -with their warrants to barter with the savages. It was a lucrative -business, particularly for one who also had influence to peddle in the -matter of commissions, licenses and taxes.</p> - -<p>However, Captain Claiborne’s ambitions soared much higher with his -appointment as Secretary of His Majesty’s Colony of Virginia. In this -capacity he was second only to the governor in the colony’s hierarchy -of prestige and power, and he was in a position to dispense direct -patronage. His trade horizon broadened measurably.</p> - -<p>With the acquisition of additional lands on the Eastern Shore, a -perquisite of the Secretary’s office, he began doing business on that -side of the bay with promising traders like Daniel Cugley and Charles -Harmar, as well as with Thomas Savage, who then lived on land given -him there by his genial friend, Debedeavon, the Laughing King of the -Accomacs. And these rugged frontiersmen together with their friends -supported the ambitious young secretary in plans he broached to set -up a great new plantation somewhere in the northernmost reaches of -the bay, a Virginia Hundred which would serve as a base for far-flung -trading operations on the backside of Virginia—to challenge both the -Dutch and the French in the hinterland.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> - -<p>Beginning in 1627 Claiborne made several exploratory expeditions in the -Chesapeake preparatory to implementing these plans. Since the governor -and his council had authority to grant commissions for discovery and -trade with the Indians between the 34th and 41st parallels, it was no -trick at all for <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Secretary to arrange to go whither he pleased -in the pursuit of his objective. Also, it would appear, he had less -trouble than most in dealing with the savages. He seemed to have a way -with them.</p> - -<p>On his voyages into the Potomac and other near-by rivers of the -tidewater, where the natives were already accustomed to bartering -with the Virginians, Indian dugouts filled with braves would escort -Claiborne’s boat to a village site or runners would appear along the -banks to show the way. There would be drummings, smoke signals and -whooping. When the village was reached the entire population might be -in evidence, standing about in groups exhibiting their brown beaver, -otter, marten, or deerskins by holding up the pelts on poles and -otherwise making friendly gestures.</p> - -<p>Usually the savages were almost naked. During the hot spring months of -the trading season few of them wore much more than little aprons, with -possibly feathers or some English ornaments tied on their heads. On -sunny days their bodies glistened with grease and oil; often they were -streaked with the red and orange dye of pocones root in honor of the -distinguished white visitors with the intriguing trade goods.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, to prove their friendship, the warriors of a tribe would -come dancing to the beat of their drums and singing their peace song -all the way down to the water’s edge. A priest might be among them, -cavorting about with clattering deer hooves tied around his ankles and -rattling dried gourds filled with pebbles and shells. Or even some -squaws might join in the greetings with loops of bells, thimbles or -pieces of brass which they shook in cadence with the drums.</p> - -<p>Always, however, the Virginians had to be watchful for ambuscades, no -matter how friendly things appeared. Only if women and children were -much in evidence was it considered reasonably safe to beach a boat and -proceed with the preliminaries of barter.</p> - -<p>Exasperating in their tediousness, these preliminaries had to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> be -accepted with casualness, else the barter might be off. A great trader -like Captain Claiborne must first engage in seemingly endless pantomime -and orations. After that he had to offer through his interpreter gifts -of axes, knives or hatchets for the chief of the tribe and his head -men, and this must be followed by a distribution of blue beads, bells -and other trinkets among the chief’s wives. But it was the feasting -that took up most of the time. In fact, when a really good catch of -beaver was on hand trading seldom commenced until the second day.</p> - -<p>Then, when the goods were finally unloaded, the natives would insist -on viewing it at leisure, tumbling and tossing it over and over again -and stealing whatever they could. If objections were raised, however, -no barter might be joined. Or worse, the savages might “fall out” with -the Englishmen, and killings would result. Therefore, the members of -the bartering detail had to be constantly on the alert to prevent as -much stealing as possible, while their companions stood guard by the -boat with arms in readiness to provide cover for a quick retreat in -case of necessity. After the bartering actually got under way, every -cunning device and ruse was employed on each side to outwit the other. -Suspicion was mutual, and well it might be, for the natives were quick -to learn “English tricks.”</p> - -<p>Claiborne was especially successful in the northern reaches of the -bay where contacts were made with fierce hunting tribes from the -hinterland. They brought out decorative panther skins, bundles of tough -bison hides which would serve as leather, and huge bearskins for use -as robes, blankets and floor coverings. Occasionally for mere trifles -they offered sparkling stones and rare gems that would eventually bring -fancy prices from the London jewelers who set them in gentlemen’s rings.</p> - -<p>There were even black beaver and sable skins available in the -northernmost bay villages. Sables (American pine marten) brought up -to twenty shillings a pair. One full grown black beaver was worth as -much, whereas a brown beaver pelt weighing two pounds never brought -more than fourteen shillings in the Virginia market at the time. There -were stacks of the cheaper pelts to be had in the northern villages -too—wild-cat, red fox and the little musquash (muskrat). The time -would come in America when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> the lowly muskrat would be the backbone of -the fur industry, but the smaller varieties in the seventeenth century -sometimes brought only two shillings a dozen—with cods. The cods of -muskrat served for good perfume in England. In Virginia they only added -to the stench of Indian stews!</p> - -<p>Wherever the English traders went in the Chesapeake there was no -escaping the hospitality of the feast. And much Indian food was -anything but palatable. Stinking jerked venison swarming with maggots -had to be eaten if offered, however. Gobbets of greasy meat with the -suspiciously foul odors of a communal stew pot must be swallowed. An -Indian could understand why a white trader might decline the offer of a -squaw as a bed fellow for the night but never the refusal of food at a -feast.</p> - -<p>Captain Claiborne’s crowning business achievement at this time was -the establishment of trading relations with the giant Susquehannocks -who had previously bartered their fine pelts with Captain John Smith. -These proud and intelligent savages, Iroquois by blood, inhabited the -valley of the Susquehanna River through which the Englishmen hoped -to gain access to the northern lake regions. Claiborne made trading -pacts with their great chief in 1629, the meetings taking place at the -mouth of the river on the mountainous little island which today serves -as a bridge anchor for fast trains and automobiles speeding over the -Susquehanna River between Philadelphia and Baltimore.</p> - -<p>Indeed, the Secretary of Virginia was well on his way to consummating -his grand plan for a Virginia Hundred in the upper Chesapeake as the -hub of a great fur-trading empire, when Lord Baltimore appeared on the -scene.</p> - -<p>Now, obviously, the English baron had much the same idea as the -Virginians, except in one important respect. He didn’t plan to come -under Virginia’s jurisdiction. He intended to have a province of his -own—and that a slice of Virginia territory—over which he would rule -independently and for which he would be answerable to no one except the -king.</p> - -<p>It was an impossible situation for the Virginians. But not for George -Calvert. The First Baron of Baltimore felt that he knew well enough how -to get things done at the English court, and he didn’t intend to let -any muddy colonials stand in his way!</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XII">XII<br /><i>Kent Island and the Backside of Virginia</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_a.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">At</span> the time of Lord Baltimore’s arrival the Virginians were already -suffering from mass hypertension induced by fear. Early in the summer -of 1629 there had been another massacre along the James River, and no -sooner had this Indian uprising been quelled than rumors were rife that -the Spaniards were about to attack.</p> - -<p>Captain Claiborne led the colonial forces against the offending -Pamunkeys of the Powhatan Confederacy in an effort to “utterly -exterpate” them, that being the settled policy of the colony. No -thought had been given to any further trade with these neighboring -savages since the first bloody massacre they committed in 1622. The -Pamunkeys were fair game and in 1629 the English soldiers “obtained -more spoil and revenge than they had done since the great massacre.”</p> - -<p>But even more pressing than the Indian war that year was the feverish -urgency about rebuilding and fortifying the fort at Point Comfort -to protect the plantations against a surprise attack from Florida. -Nervously on the alert for Spanish spies and treachery, the protestant -Virginians not only didn’t trust the intentions of their Catholic -neighbors to the south, they didn’t trust their own king. After all, -they no doubt reasoned, Charles did have a Catholic wife! And didn’t -he have as his new advisor, William Laud, the Bishop of London, who -everyone knew was trying to reconcile the English Church to Rome?</p> - -<p>The bigotries of the seventeenth century were indeed unreasoning. But -they were very real to the Virginians in their lonesome outpost of -civilization. To them Spaniard and Catholic were one.</p> - -<p>Now into their midst came Lord Baltimore! Had he not once connived with -Gondomar, the hated Spanish ambassador, to bring about the marriage of -the baby Prince Charles to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> Infanta Maria of Spain? Maybe he was -in league now with Spain under some subtle arrangement made by King -Charles himself. Anything was possible to the fear-ridden colonists on -the James.</p> - -<p>To dispose of this unwelcome intruder, without the risk of too greatly -offending the king, they had to have something fool-proof on which to -hang their collective hats. In the end, they offered Baltimore the -prescribed oath of allegiance and supremacy, making it mandatory for -him to subscribe to the supreme authority of the English sovereign in -all matters ecclesiastical and spiritual. He refused to take the oath -and so was ordered to leave the colony.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Always in the front rank of the opposition to Lord Baltimore of course -had been the merchants who foresaw the loss of their tidewater trade, -but even more especially William Claiborne and his followers with their -own grand plan for colonization and trade on the backside of Virginia. -Working for them in addition to fear and prejudice during this clash -of rival plans was the rising sense of political independence in the -colony, an increasing determination to fight for the sovereignty of -possessed land and for “democrattical rights.”</p> - -<p>The Virginians did actually have something of a legal brake that -they could apply on royal or noble license. They had their House of -Burgesses, which had been sitting since 1619 as the first popular -legislative assembly in America. Even after the king took over the -colony from the company the colonists had been successful in retaining -their little parliament. Somehow, with this bulwark of democracy, it -was easier to face up to the crown or to court favorites like Lord -Baltimore when impossible demands were in the making. And that is -exactly what happened, for the House of Burgesses backed the merchants -in every move they made to thwart the great lord’s plans, both in -Virginia and in England after he returned there.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Captain Claiborne himself went to London where he obtained -additional backing for his project through the merchant adventurer, -William Cloberry. This wealthy man, together with Maurice Thompson and -other merchants, subscribed for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> major share of the joint-stock -in the trading adventure. All agreed enthusiastically that through -Claiborne’s plantation it would be possible to drain off much of -the fur trade of the French in Canada. Cloberry well knew the -potentialities of the “backside of Virginia,” as he had formerly -adventured with the Kirkes in Canada.</p> - -<p>Just to make sure that if Lord Baltimore later obtained his grant -he did not molest Claiborne, the partners in the trading adventure -obtained a commission under His Majesty’s signet of Scotland -authorizing trade in all territory “neere or about these partes of -America for which there is not allready a patent granted to others -for the sole trade.” It was drawn up by Sir William Alexander, the -Secretary for Scotland, who was entertained by Cloberry with bait in -the form of a proposition for interchange of trade between Virginia -and Nova Scotia. Sir William, making desperate efforts at the time -to extract a profit from his grant in America, saw in the Claiborne -venture a source of corn for his plantation at Port Royal.</p> - -<p>In any event, the commission was confirmed by the King himself at -Greenwich, and when the Secretary of Virginia sailed back across the -ocean in May of 1631 to establish his plantation and launch his trading -adventure he went with the royal blessing.</p> - -<p>In his ship, the <i>Africa</i>, cargoed with colonists and supplies, -Claiborne touched first at Kecoughtan and Accomac to attract additional -volunteers, and then late in August he planted his colony on Kent -Island, some hundred and twenty-five miles up the bay. Kent Island, -which lies against the Eastern Shore opposite present-day Annapolis, -was ideally situated for his purposes. He built a palisaded fort and -stocked his plantation with cattle, swine and poultry. With the arrival -of more farmers and traders from the lower settlements it was not long -before the colony had a church, a windmill, warehouses, and a shipyard -busily constructing shallops, wherries and pinnaces for the Indian -trade.</p> - -<p>Despite a devastating fire that once destroyed all the buildings, death -from marauding savages, and sickness, as well as many other hardships, -the plantation flourished. In the spring its fields were green with -tobacco and corn, and its wharves were busy with trading boats and -bundles of furs. During the summer the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> season’s pelts were stretched -and leathered on rows of wooden hide racks inside the palisades before -being packed in great hogsheads for shipment to England. Then in the -autumn, after the harvesting, the sweet scent of tobacco wafted into -the fort from the drying sheds where the leaves hung curing on poles.</p> - -<p>In the spring of 1632 Captain Nicholas Martiau, an ancestor of George -Washington, represented Kent Hundred in the House of Burgesses at -Jamestown, and the first English settlement within the present bounds -of the State of Maryland was recognized as a political unit of -Virginia, established within the assigned territorial limits of that -royal colony.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, on the other side of the ocean, George Calvert died -before ever getting a charter to establish a palatinate of his own in -the Chesapeake. However, his efforts finally bore fruit. On June 30, -1632, two months after his death, a grant passed through the seals. -“Maryland” was to be a slice of Virginia extending from the Potomac -River northward to the 40th parallel which crosses the Delaware at -present-day Philadelphia. It was a feudal seigniory to be passed on -to the baron’s heirs, just as he had planned, and already it had made -its first descent, to his oldest son, Cecilius Calvert, second Lord -Baltimore.</p> - -<p>Although Kent Island was obviously within the limits of the grant to -Baltimore, neither William Claiborne nor the Council at Jamestown -doubted the legality of Virginia’s claim upon the island. The Maryland -charter expressly limited Baltimore’s rights to land “hactenus -inculta,” that is, hitherto uncultivated. Kent of course was cultivated -and had been for some time.</p> - -<p>Two years later, however, when Cecilius’ younger brother, the -twenty-eight-year-old Leonard, brought the first colonists over to -plant on the Potomac River he promptly let it be known that Captain -Claiborne must submit to his government. Kent Hundred, he said, came -under the jurisdiction of the Lord Proprietor of Maryland. Furthermore, -licenses from Lord Baltimore were to be required of anyone trading -within the precincts of Maryland. Not only was Kent Island to be -delivered up to his government at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s on the Potomac, but the -trading post in the Susquehanna River on mountainous little Palmer’s -Island, which Claiborne had planted in 1633, was to be given over. The -Marylanders,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> it appeared, planned to build their own ships for the -Indian fur trade and to set up magazines in their colony that they -might “make thereby a very great gayne.”</p> - -<p>Cecil, Lord Baltimore, in fact laid much stress on the fur trade in his -instructions to Leonard, consigning to his brother for his own account -in trade with the natives a quantity of trucking stuff consisting of -“coarse freeze, small groce glass beads, box, Ivorye, and horne Combes, -brass kettles, axes, hoes, hawkes bells, and sheffeeld knives.” Before -the palisaded fort at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s was completed, the Maryland pinnace, -<i>Dove</i>, was sent out to follow the “trade of beaver through all -parts of the precincts of this province.”</p> - -<p>Under Cyprian Thorowgood, Lord Baltimore’s traders paid a visit to the -Virginians’ trading post on Palmer’s Island, which was manned by an -interpreter named John Fullwood and a negro slave. However, the men -from <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s “had a little falling out with the Indians” who never -did take well to them. When Thorowgood threatened a small Kent Island -shallop he found trading there, the Indians showed signs of siding with -the Virginians and in the end the shallop was permitted to depart with -its load of skins.</p> - -<p>Although the Kent Islanders had taken in 3,000 skins during the first -part of the 1634 season, the Marylanders, due to the lateness of their -arrival that spring, took altogether “only 298, weighing 451 pounds, -together with 53 muskrat and 17 other skins.”</p> - -<p>Even so, Leonard Calvert was much encouraged, and he sent out shallops -for more skins late in May. He also wrote home that he was certain -that he could obtain a large part of the trade of the “Massawomecks” -(Iroquois) who, he said, dwelt ten days journey to the north and had -formerly traded with the Kirkes in Canada. He urged however that -much more trucking stuff be sent over as “there is nothing does more -endanger the loss of commerce with the Indians than want of truck to -barter with them.”</p> - -<p>The site of Calvert’s capital near the mouth of the Potomac River was -an old trading ground of Virginia traders, including Claiborne, Fleet -and Harmar. Once, Harmar had outwitted Fleet there to the tune of three -hundredweight of beaver, when he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> persuaded the Yowaccomoco Indians -to let him have the skins they were holding for his rival by telling -them that Fleet was dead. The trick worked so well in fact that Harmar -then went up the river spreading the report that Captain Fleet was -dead, with the result that he made “an unexpected trade for the time, -at a small charge, having gotten fifteen hundredweight of beaver, and -cleared fourteen towns.”</p> - -<p>Up the Potomac were the important towns of the Piscattaways. Beyond -them lived the Anacostans who once held Henry Fleet captive and with -whom he later traded. The Anacostans, like the Susquehannocks, were -blood relatives of the Iroquois. But they too were now castoff and -acted as buffers between the war-like Five Nations and the Algonquin -tribes to the south. Through the Anacostans, Fleet hoped to make -contacts with the Iroquois, tap the Canada trade, and drain it down -the backside of Virginia through the Potomac River. He had run into -trouble, however, due to the jealousies of the Piscattaways and -others in the lower valley who didn’t want to be bypassed. They had -no objection to acting as middlemen, but they objected to the white -men taking their truck up the valley and dealing directly with their -enemies.</p> - -<p>Fleet’s problems were further complicated by the arrival of the -Marylanders. It would appear that as a means of protecting his trade -interests in the Potomac valley, he associated himself with them in -the fur trade, agreeing to pay the ten percent tax demanded by the -proprietary on all skins acquired from the Indians.</p> - -<p>This, of course, William Claiborne and other Virginians would not agree -to do.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>When Captain Claiborne refused to submit to Lord Baltimore or to pay -the tax on skins, he found himself accused of having incited the -Indians against the Maryland settlement on the Potomac. Henry Fleet, -it turned out, was the instrument of this accusation. Possibly he was -hoping in this way to hasten the elimination of his major competitor -for the backside trade.</p> - -<p>However, the accusation against Claiborne was later proved false on -the testimony of the Indian chiefs themselves. They said that it was -actually Captain Fleet who had talked against the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> Marylanders—all -of which might indicate that some original scheme concocted by Fleet -to hang on to his Potomac trade had backfired. Father Andrew White, -a restless Jesuit priest who was much involved in the fur trade with -the natives as a means of supporting the Jesuits’ mission in Maryland, -always insisted that Captain Fleet “had been a firebrand to inflame the -Indians against us.”</p> - -<p>The new Governor of Virginia, Sir John Harvey, also co-operated with -the Marylanders. For reasons of his own he gave them cattle and -supplies and assisted them against Claiborne whom he had relieved of -his office as secretary. All of which was very much to the disgust of -the Virginians who eventually “thrust” the governor out of office for -treason to their interests and sent him packing back to England.</p> - -<p>It was charged that Harvey had even encouraged Calvert’s men to fire -on Kent Island shallops and confiscate their furs. In any case, this -the Marylanders did almost from the time of their arrival in 1634, and -during all the remainder of that year piracy and lawlessness ruled the -Chesapeake.</p> - -<p>Armed pinnaces out of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s commandeered Claiborne’s smaller -shallops and took his furs. His men were evicted from their traditional -trading grounds with gun and sword. But the fort on Kent Island was not -attacked, and the Virginians had time not only to make it more secure -but to erect a second fort on another part of the island to prevent -surprise. They also began building larger boats, including a pinnace -called the <i>Long Tayle</i>, that could carry more fighting men and -heavier weapons in addition to a cargo of pelts.</p> - -<p>The <i>Long Tayle</i> was the first real ship built within the present -boundaries of Maryland. She had a crew of twenty men. Her guns were -chambers and falconets for ball shot, and murderers—the little cannon -into the muzzles of which could be jammed scraps of iron, rocks, or -almost anything lethal that might be handy for standing off boarding -parties.</p> - -<p>The Kent Islanders launched the hostilities in the spring of 1635 when -John Butler, Claiborne’s brother-in-law, captured a Maryland boat -loaded with pelts taken from Palmer’s Island. Soon after, Captain -Thomas Smith went out in the <i>Long Tayle</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> to trade for beaver -with an Indian village on the south side of the Patuxent River. Since -this village was not more than half a dozen miles overland from the -Maryland capital, it is not strange that Calvert learned of the <i>Long -Tayle’s</i> presence. He promptly sent a sufficient force of soldiers -to surprise the Kent Islanders and take them and their pinnace.</p> - -<p>Captain Claiborne retaliated just as promptly. He dispatched -Lieutenant Radcliffe Warren down the bay in a fast wherry, called the -<i>Cockatrice</i>, with a vengeful crew of thirteen men. They tried to -recapture the <i>Long Tayle</i>. However they couldn’t get at her under -the guns of Calvert’s fort at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s where she lay protected. But -then, Warren heard that a Maryland pinnace, the <i><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Helen</i>, was -trading alone in the Pocomoke River on the Eastern Shore. So he set out -after her.</p> - -<p>Entering the Pocomoke, he sighted the Maryland pinnace and splashed a -ball from his falconet beside her. She hove to quietly. He was closing -in to board when, suddenly from a nearby cove, another pinnace bore -down on him. Her decks were razed and her crew were presenting arms. It -was the <i><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Margaret</i>, Calvert’s largest boat, commanded by his -chief trader and councillor, Captain Thomas Cornwallis.</p> - -<p>Lieutenant Warren had little time to consider the probability that he -was the victim of a well-laid trap. Falconets cracked out their sharp -reports. Chambers barked. The surrounding marshes of the Pocomoke -reverberated with the din of oaths, shots and belching murderers as the -three boats became environed with fire and smoke. Warren himself was -killed. Three others died in the fight, and many were wounded on both -sides. Only the greater maneuverability and speed of the badly battered -<i>Cockatrice</i> accounted for its escape back to Kent Island.</p> - -<p>Claiborne and his men were bitter about the unexpected outcome of -Warren’s expedition. They soon had an opportunity for revenge however. -Just a few weeks later they learned that Cornwallis was again bartering -in the Pocomoke, together with his aide, Cuthbert Fenwick, and some -other well known Maryland traders. Two boats were sent this time to -trap the Marylanders. Captain Thomas Smith, recently escaped from <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Mary’s and now master of the <i>Cockatrice</i>, went in escort with a -newly enlisted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> Virginia pinnace under the command of Philip Taylor. -They succeeded in capturing the big Maryland boat and its crew in a -naval action that was later described as “felonie and piracie” by Lord -Baltimore’s government.</p> - -<p>The next day Taylor was in the Potomac River for a try at recapturing -the <i>Long Tayle</i>. He carried what might be described as a letter -of marque and reprisal given him by William Claiborne. The Marylanders, -however, turned the tables on him. They captured Taylor along with his -pinnace.</p> - -<p>But in the meantime Governor Harvey had been placed under arrest by the -Virginia Council and put on a ship for England. When Claiborne arrived -from Kent Island late in May of 1635 with news of the bloody encounters -on the bay, the acting governor, John West, at once sent a mission to -<abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s to apprize Calvert of Harvey’s arrest and to demand that the -Marylanders “desist their violent proceedings.”</p> - -<p>Leonard Calvert took pause at this unexpected development. His younger -brother, George, as well as his councillor, Jerome Hawley, had been -contending all along that Claiborne had some right on his side. -Violence was certainly not accomplishing anything. Maybe, Calvert may -have conjectured, his brother in England could do better through the -courts.</p> - -<p>So it came about that the mission was successful in imposing a truce -on Maryland that lasted for two years. Prisoners and confiscated boats -were exchanged. Claiborne, now married and settled with his family, was -left unmolested in the possession of his island home and undisturbed in -his trading activities. Another windmill was built, and another church, -better to serve the two growing communities on Kent Island. Besides an -enormous number of pelts traded locally for private accounts and for -the maintenance of the plantation, furs to the value of 4,000 pounds -sterling were shipped to England for the company partners there.</p> - -<p>But then, Captain Claiborne found it necessary to go to England, for -Lord Baltimore had powerful friends. It looked as if he might get a -legal decision against the Virginians through the Lords Commissioners -of Plantations. Claiborne turned over all his operations to a partner -who had recently arrived from England representing the joint-stock -company, and went to London<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> to fight for his rights. No sooner had he -left however than this partner, one George Evelin, managed to betray -Kent Island into the hands of his enemies.</p> - -<p>Although the main fort was traitorously delivered up, the island was -not yielded quietly or easily. Repeated military expeditions to subdue -the inhabitants were made by Leonard Calvert before Captain Thomas -Smith and others were finally captured in 1638 and hanged as pirates -and rebels. Claiborne himself, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">in absentia</i>, was attainted by the -Maryland Assembly of the “grievous crimes of pyracie and murther,” and -“all his lands and tenements, goods and chattels” were forfeited to -the Lord Proprietary. Evelin took his share of the loot, even digging -up some of Claiborne’s fruit trees and transplanting them to the manor -that Lord Baltimore granted him near <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s in payment for his -services.</p> - -<p>In another few years, due to continued disturbances, Kent Island was -to be laid waste without hope of recovery, the mill and the forts -destroyed, its former population scattered abroad.</p> - -<p>Soldiers armed with ordnance taken from Kent were also sent in 1638 -to Palmer’s Island in the Susquehanna River where they “utterly -ruined” the plantation and reduced the palisaded fort which had been -built there the previous year. They seized all of Claiborne’s goods -and chattels. Leonard Calvert himself, following the expedition, -triumphantly supervised the conversion of this trade outpost to “Fort -Conquest” of Maryland. The spoils were divided. Claiborne’s bonded -servants, cattle and other goods at Palmer’s Island went to John -Lewger, Secretary of Maryland. His books were sequestered by a petty -officer, as was a wooden chest belonging to the unfortunate Captain Tom -Smith.</p> - -<p>Gone was the “Plantation in the Sasquesahonoughs Country” at the mouth -of the river, for which Captain Claiborne had been willing to pay the -king a rental of fifty pounds sterling a year including rights “to the -head of the said River, and to the Grand Lake of Canada to be held in -fee from the Crown of England.” In fact, forever gone was the “greate -trade of beaver and other furrs which Claiborne might have had with the -mountayn Indians which live upon the lakes of the river of Canada.”</p> - -<p>The Marylanders carried on a profitable local fur trade, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> spite -of Indian disturbances, for some years. But they were no threat to -the French or the Dutch as they were never successful in tapping the -northern lake-country trade on the backside of Virginia through either -the valley of the Susquehanna or the Potomac. Their relations with the -Indians were not up to it, and they were more inclined to agricultural -pursuits anyway.</p> - -<p>The French were therefore able to continue their penetration of America -without the interference they might have had from the Virginians who -settled Kent and Palmer’s Islands. In fact, they were now almost -unmolested in an encirclement of the English colonies that would not -stop until they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River. And the -Dutch were undisturbed by the Marylanders even in the neighboring -valley of the Delaware, where they were now settling and trading in -pelts under the very noses of Lord Baltimore’s people who claimed -jurisdiction over some of those parts.</p> - -<p>By the end of the century the fur frontier in Maryland had almost -disappeared and the trade was no longer important in the economic life -of the colony. The average value of skins exported per year didn’t -exceed 650 pounds sterling. By then the Governor of Maryland was -declaring that “this Countrey is an open Country and deales generally -in Tobacco and not in furrs.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XIII">XIII<br /><i>New Netherland’s South River</i></h2> -</div><div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_t.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">The</span> charter of the great Dutch West India Company gave it a monopoly -over trade in Africa and America, empowered it to plant colonies and -appoint governors of those colonies, make treaties with the aborigines, -build forts, and wage war. The company was to maintain its own fleet of -twenty warships; but, if it became embroiled in more trouble than this -fleet could handle expeditiously, the States General of the Netherlands -bound itself to furnish twenty additional armed vessels.</p> - -<p>Although the company was chartered in 1621, it did not commence -operations until 1623. But then, during the next six or seven years, -its success was phenomenal in the matter of profits—from waging war -against Spain. So much so, that by 1629 its directors in Amsterdam were -prone to speak slightingly of New Netherland, their trading colony -in North America. “The trade carried on there in peltries is right -advantageous but, one year with another, we can at most bring home -fifty thousand guilders,” they complained.</p> - -<p>For a plantation which at the time numbered no more than 300 -inhabitants this would seem to be most productive, especially when -compared to what the English had done in either Virginia or in New -England. It was paltry enough, however, when compared with the loot -of Spanish colonial strongholds that fell to the conquering Dutch -merchants, or when weighed against the spoils of Spain’s silver fleet -that Admiral Peter Heyn had captured in the name of the West India -Company. In one fell swoop he took seventeen galleons laden with -bullion and merchandise to the value of fourteen millions of guilders! -From that operation alone the investors received a dividend amounting -to well over half of the company’s paid-up capital.</p> - -<p>Experienced Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May, who had been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> appointed -the first managing director of the West India Company’s colony in -America, acted primarily as a chief fur factor for the company. During -1624, the first and only year of his governorship, he sent home pelts -which brought 27,000 guilders. The next year his successor did even -better. In 1626, the year that Peter Minuit received the formal title -of Director General of New Netherland and purchased Manhattan from the -Indians, one ship for Amsterdam was cargoed with “7246 beaver skins, -178¹⁄₂ otter skins, 675 otter skins, 48 minck skins, 36 wild cat skins, -33 mincks, 34 rat skins.” It also carried some oak and hickory to -timber-hungry Holland.</p> - -<p>This, incidentally, is the earliest known true manifest of a ship -clearing from the present port of New York. In terms of today’s money -the skins brought well over one hundred thousand American dollars. A -right advantageous trade indeed!</p> - -<p>In the spring of 1624 some thirty families, mostly French-speaking -Walloons from the lower provinces fleeing persecution by Spanish -inquisitors, had come over with Captain May in the <i>New -Netherland</i>. They came as the plantation’s first real colonists, -to raise livestock, to put their spades into the earth. May, as well -as his successor, was charged with “spreading out” and more formally -occupying New Netherland. It would prevent any further trouble with -England about the possession of that country, it was hoped, since the -English themselves had expounded the doctrine that “occupancy confers -a good title by the laws of nations and nature.” In the case of their -North American colony the Hollanders could afford a point of agreement -on such a doctrine.</p> - -<p>A part of this 1624 expedition is said to have been landed on Manhattan -Island. Although the evidence has been attacked, it is not at all -unlikely that May did promptly put some of the <i>New Netherland’s</i> -passengers ashore at Manhattan to begin the replacement of any -temporary works there. There must have been a truck house or two, huts -and possibly even palisades in need of rehabilitation for permanent, -year-round occupancy. The immediate occupation of such a strategic -location at the mouth of the river could hardly have been neglected -anyway, especially as it was necessary at the time to escort from the -harbor a poaching<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> French ship whose captain seemed bent on going -ashore to set up the arms of his king and take possession of the -country.</p> - -<p>In any case, some eighteen families were conveyed up the Hudson to a -previously selected site a few miles above the redoubt at Norman’s -Kill. In this more convenient location a new fort was built, while -the Walloons settled around it. Fort Orange, as they called this -plantation, was within the limits of present-day Albany, New York. Here -the Mohegans, as well as the Iroquois, came immediately with presents -of beaver and other peltry to confirm their alliance with the Dutch, -and the old trade continued to flourish under the new management of the -West India Company.</p> - -<p>It would appear that about this time a group of May’s people also went -up the Connecticut River to establish a trading post near the present -site of Hartford and to begin the construction of Fort Good Hope there. -But the building of this outpost lagged. It was some years before the -fort was completed and manned. When that came about, in 1633, Fort Good -Hope had become a focal point of rivalry between the Dutch and the -New Englanders for the beaver meadows of the Connecticut valley and a -question mark in the matter of resolving jurisdiction over the country.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>At the time of the planting of Fort Orange another part of May’s -expedition, including some of the Walloon families, was dispatched -to the Delaware, or South River, as the Hollanders now called it to -distinguish it from the Hudson, their great North River.</p> - -<p>Up the South River, on its east bank, at a strategic trading site also -previously selected by Captain May, a new Fort Nassau was built. It was -opposite the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware, the -tongue of land on which Philadelphia was later founded by William Penn -but which at the time of the Dutch arrival was the seat of probably -the largest Lenni Lenape community in the valley. There, at Passyunk, -lived the great chief of all the lower river Indians. Fort Nassau, the -new Dutch trading post across the Delaware River, stood at the mouth of -Timber Creek within the present limits of Gloucester, New Jersey.</p> - -<p>Some soldiers and traders, together with a few of the Walloon farmers -and their families who were originally to have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> settled a farming -plantation on the lower west side of Delaware Bay, were eventually -installed at Fort Nassau. There, they established trade relations with -the natives. Others, it is said, with the addition of new recruits from -Holland the following spring, were sent still higher up the river to -build a house and operate a trading station on Verhulsten Island, near -the present site of Trenton. This island, at the head of navigation -just below the falls, was named for Captain May’s successor in 1625, -William Verhulst, who made his headquarters on the South River. The -site of the falls was an important Indian crossing from the valley of -the Hudson, where the Lenni Lenape traditionally traded with other -tribes.</p> - -<p>The Lenni Lenape Indians, later called the Delaware by the English, -were an Algonquin nation that inhabited all the immense valley of -the Delaware. Tribal relatives occupied important villages even in -the lower valley of the Hudson River. Relatively peaceful, the Lenni -Lenape made their homes beside placid streams, in grass-matted huts -thatched with the bark of cedar, the men fishing and hunting while -their women tilled gardens of corn, beans, tobacco and squash. The men -hunted fur-bearing animals whose pelts would be useful for winter body -coverings. The women scraped the pelts with stone tools and dried them -on wooden stretching racks, rubbing the animals’ brains and livers into -the skins to help in the suppling process.</p> - -<p>All was not quiet and peace for the Lenape however. They were subject -to terrifying raids by the Susquehannocks (Minquas, the Dutch called -them) as well as by the Iroquoian relatives of the Susquehannocks who -lived farther up the valley of the Susquehanna River. These fearsome -marauders stole their women, burnt their houses and devastated their -gardens. Trapping beaver and muskrat for blankets or hunting the -raccoon too far away from native grounds was a precarious venture -for Lenape braves. In fact, some tribes had fled their more isolated -villages for the safety of Passyunk on the Schuylkill before the white -men came. Others, on the west bank of the lower river, had crossed over -the Delaware to settle on the safer east bank.</p> - -<p>So it was that at the coming of the Dutch these river Indians welcomed -the Europeans’ guns. And the deliberative Hollanders<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> bought land and -made trade treaties with them while, at the same time, probing for -avenues of trade with the Lenapes’ enemies, too. Although there were -muskrat, mink, ordinary otter and some brown beaver on the South River, -the Dutch well knew from previous dealings with the Iroquois that there -were vast stores of the finer black pelts, both beaver and otter, and -valuable “lion skins” cached in the “forts” of the Susquehannocks -and their northern relatives. However, on the lower Delaware, it was -principally muskrat that the Lenape had to offer, the market value of -which was but a fraction of other pelts.</p> - -<p>The muskrat, a bushy-furred member of the rodent family, resembles -nothing so much as a big wharf rat. This was something with which the -seagoing Dutchmen were only too familiar. As a matter of practice they -referred to the kindred fur bearers in America simply as “rats.” Like -the Englishmen they also marketed both the pelts and the musky cods, -the fluids of which were useful for perfumes and as demothing agents.</p> - -<p>Muskrats frequent tidewater marshlands and swamps. Their hind feet -are oar-like, being slightly webbed and set obliquely to the legs, -permitting a swivel action that propels them through the water. They -steer themselves with their tails which are flattened sidewise. The -Indians hunted and trapped these animals along their waterside runs -very much as they did the beaver. And they often dumped the skinned -carcasses of the “rats” into the communal stew pot, much to the disgust -of the traders who had to partake of the feast which always preceded -barter.</p> - -<p>In the early days of the Dutch occupation on the South River, as it -turned out, the Hollanders were not too successful in opening up trade -with the Susquehannocks and their Iroquois relatives of the hinterland. -The Susquehannocks were too busy subjugating the Lenni Lenape. By the -time things settled down, after most of the lower river Indians had -taken flight or been made tributary, the Susquehannocks were bartering -in a more convenient market. They were selling pelts at the mouth of -their own river among the English in the Chesapeake Bay.</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the furs of the lower Delaware River Indians were -not hard to come by, even when they were good. Brown beaver by the -bundle, when the Lenape had it, might be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> taken for a white clay pipe -worth a mere pittance. To an Indian who had not yet learned the true -value of such a tobacco pipe, with its smoothly beautiful bowl and -straight stem, it was a treasure to accompany him to his grave. And, -as for the Dutchman’s iron and his colored cloth, his liquor, his -firearms, and especially the clothes he wore, these all represented -unbelievable wealth to the savage. Quick to learn that he could acquire -such amazing riches for a few animal skins, he would risk traffic with -his aboriginal enemies if necessary to get the kinds of pelts the white -men wanted.</p> - -<p>But it was entirely different when it came to the food for which the -Dutch in their early occupation of the Delaware valley had to depend -on their native neighbors. Although the Lenape were perfectly willing -to part with their own furs, and sometimes took extraordinary risks to -get more of them, it was another matter when it came to corn and beans. -With the Minquas constantly raiding, no treasure could tempt a Lenape -chief to give up what little corn he might have to keep his people from -starving.</p> - -<p>It was this difficulty, coupled with the squeeze put on New Netherland -by greedy directors of the West India Company, that soon brought about -the recall of the South River settlers to Manhattan. One small yacht, -the directors contended, would adequately take care of the South River -trade at much less cost than maintaining garrisons there under the -conditions with which they had to contend.</p> - -<p>Anyway, it was asserted, the need for formal occupation of this distant -outpost was less necessary now that England had joined the Netherlands -in the war against Spain. All ports of each country were open to -merchantmen and warships of the other, and both were committed to -maintain fleets that were finally to rid the world of Spanish might. -Under the circumstances the English would hardly risk offending their -ally by disturbing any part of the Netherlands’ province in America.</p> - -<p>So, after the government of New Netherland was formally taken over -in 1626 by Peter Minuit, who forthwith installed a “Battery” on the -southern tip of Manhattan Island for protection against the Spaniards -and named the place “Fort Amsterdam,” the South River was all but -abandoned as a plantation. Now and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> then Dutch factors put ashore at -Fort Nassau to occupy it temporarily as a trading post, but by 1628 all -the Walloon farmers had returned to the North River.</p> - -<p>There, at Fort Amsterdam, the company now concentrated its own -colonists and centralized the control of its fur trade, while promoting -another scheme for the permanent planting of the outlying districts -with farmers at no expense to itself.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The no-expense colonizing scheme was not a new one among the colonial -powers of Europe, except for its dressing.</p> - -<p>Members of the West India Company who at their own expense planted the -unoccupied provinces of New Netherland were to become “patroons,” that -is, proprietors of little colonial principalities with feudalistic -“privileges and exemptions.” By transporting and settling a specified -number of colonists, black slaves qualifying as such, a rich if -otherwise undistinguished merchant of Amsterdam could elevate himself -to the worshipful status of a feudal lord. Of course he had first to -purchase his land from the Indians in conformance with Dutch policy. -A little <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">aqua vitae</i> and a few jackets sufficed usually to keep -that a relatively minor expense however.</p> - -<p>There was only one hitch. A patroon could not engage in the fur trade. -He had freedom of trade in any merchandise “except beavers, otters, -minks, and all sorts of peltry.” The commerce in pelts was to remain -the company’s monopoly.</p> - -<p>Because of this restriction the early patroonships were destined to -failure. Trade in furs was needed to help root a new plantation in the -soil, as had already been proved so often on the wild American coasts. -Only one of the early patroonships survived, Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s -colony in the Albany area. And it was the illegal pursuit of private -fur trade that suckled Rensselaerwyck through its infancy.</p> - -<p>The earliest patroonship for which land was chosen in New Netherland -was patented on the “South River” in 1630. Samuel Godyn and Samuel -Blommaert, leading members of the company, were original partners in -this venture which later included Captain David Pieters de Vries among -others. Their original manor tract, called Swanendael, lay west of Cape -Henlopen in Delaware Bay,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> but the proprietorship was later extended -to the opposite shore including Cape May. The bay, reportedly, was a -favorite haunt of whales, many having been sighted there in the past. -It was decided that whaling would be a profitable enterprise in lieu of -fur trading to support the plantation in its infancy.</p> - -<p>The first colonizing expedition to Swanendael arrived in the spring of -1631 and planted at Whorekill, on present-day Lewes Creek, just above -Cape Henlopen. Although the whaling proved a failure that year, the -ship that brought over the colonists returning to Amsterdam with no -more than a sample of oil taken from a dead whale found on the beach, -it was said that the settlers did seed their land and had a fine crop -by July. But then, as the story goes, a piece of tin was the instrument -of their undoing.</p> - -<p>They had emblazoned a small sheet of this metal with the arms of -Holland and attached it to a pillar which was erected to proclaim -their possession of the land. An Indian chief, happening along, -appropriated the tin, probably with the idea of converting it into a -shiny tobacco pipe. That savage whim, it was claimed, set off a chain -of misunderstanding that ended in his own death and the massacre of the -Dutch. Only one of the thirty-three settlers survived the carnage.</p> - -<p>The Hollanders had built a brick house which should have served -them well as a fort. They were also supposed to have surrounded -the house with palisades, a requirement of the time, and to have -had an Indian-fighting mastiff handy for just such an emergency. -However, according to those who later argued with the company over -responsibility for the failure of the Swanendael patroonship, the -settlers at Whorekill were caught and butchered individually one -day while laboring in the fields, unable to reach the safety of the -palisades reportedly erected—while their fierce dog was unfortunately -chained at the house.</p> - -<p>If Whorekill, which may be translated as Harlots’ Creek, acquired its -name as indicated, one cannot resist wondering whether playful Indian -squaws, too much <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">aqua vitae</i> and vengeful braves might have had -something to do with the demise of the Dutchmen. Certain it is that -these first Europeans “left other reminders of their brief sojourn on -the bay besides their skeletons,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> for later Dutchmen who visited in -this vicinity “with their goods where they traded with the Indians ... -got the country dutyes, otherwise called the Pox.”</p> - -<p>When Captain David de Vries came over as patroon in the winter of -1632-33 he built a lodging hut ashore, constructed “sloops” for whaling -and set up a kettle for rendering oil. But although his harpooners -killed a few whales, they were small and almost worthless for oil. The -whale fishery was an economic failure.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, for some reason, Captain De Vries made peace with the -savages who had slaughtered the original settlers on the Whorekill. -There was no retaliation, surprisingly enough, for whatever happened -on the creek the previous year. De Vries explained that the natives -promised to provide him with food. But apparently they didn’t do so.</p> - -<p>The Dutch patroon ascended the South River to barter for corn and -beans. Twice during the winter he visited abandoned Fort Nassau where -many Indians congregated on the news that he was in the river. However -there was the usual difficulty about food. The Lenape were anxious -to trade skins for his merchandise, even pausing in flight from the -terrible Minqua to do so, but few of them were willing to part with -corn.</p> - -<p>De Vries did buy some of their pelts, though without much enthusiasm. -Under an ambiguous agreement the company had recently made with the -patroons, they were permitted to barter for pelts where no company -factories were maintained. However, all skins taken under this -arrangement had to be delivered at Fort Amsterdam for processing and -shipment by the company to Holland. Such transactions were therefore -not too satisfactory from an overall profit standpoint.</p> - -<p>With the coming of spring, the Patroon of Swanendael went down the -coast to call on the neighboring English at Jamestown for enough -supplies to evacuate his people. The small profit on the pelts he had -taken represented the only gain from the patroonship. It wasn’t too -long afterward that the continuing wrangle over fur trading privileges, -and other contentions, ended in the proprietors of Swanendael selling -out their interests to the company, without having made any further -attempt at colonization.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> - -<p>At the time of De Vries’ visit to the old Dutch works at Fort Nassau, -he learned much to his surprise that an English shallop with seven or -eight traders from Virginia had preceded him there. All the Virginians -had been killed by the Lenape. Some of the chief men among the savages -were jauntily wearing their victims’ jackets when they came to call on -the Dutch patroon aboard his yacht that winter.</p> - -<p>On the subsequent visit to Jamestown, which may have been prompted as -much by curiosity concerning this invasion of the South River as by the -need of supplies, Captain De Vries was told by Governor Harvey that -these Virginians had indeed gone on an exploring voyage in those parts. -And, although Harvey said there was no reason for Virginia traders to -disturb the Hollanders, he nevertheless maintained the English claim to -the Delaware valley and intimated that other countrymen of his would be -going there too.</p> - -<p>Shortly after this, when De Vries stopped off at Fort Amsterdam with -his furs and the alarming news about the English, the Dutch provincial -council dispatched an expedition once more to occupy Fort Nassau. A -new house was built there and other improvements were made during the -summer. Arendt Corssen, who went along at this time as the company’s -commissioner in charge, also purchased from the Lenape a tract of land -across the Delaware from Fort Nassau. There, probably on the west -bank of the Schuylkill River and within the limits of present-day -Philadelphia, he built a house and established a trading post.</p> - -<p>This post of course promoted a more convenient trade with the western -Minquas. It was also designed, no doubt, to serve as added evidence of -the company’s maintenance of factories in the South River valley.</p> - -<p>However, no English having appeared on the river during the summer -and the Swanendael patroonship being inactive, these lonely outposts -of the company were again deserted during the winter of 1633-34. A -fur trader’s life in the winter wilderness, cooped up in a house -surrounded by snow and unpredictable savages, must have been anything -but enviable. The Hollanders on the South River could hardly be blamed -for preferring their warmer and gayer quarters on Manhattan.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span></p> - -<p>But then, in the summer of 1634 when no Dutch were about, an Englishman -named Thomas Young sailed up the Delaware and planted the arms of his -king ashore. He had come directly from England to trade in “Virginia,” -under a license from the king, with special designs on the valley of -the Delaware. Governor Harvey of Virginia lent all possible assistance -to him when he stopped off in the Chesapeake to build trading shallops -and gather information for his venture.</p> - -<p>Captain Young traded extensively for beaver, otter and lesser furs, -and he was much impressed by the abundance of elk and deer skins -available in the Delaware valley. However, his ambition was to discover -a northwest passage to the South Sea and he had secret instructions -authorizing him to explore the Delaware, challenge any Dutch -encroachment there, and plant forts to occupy the land if he wished to -do so. He was stopped of course by the falls. Although he established -an English post at Eriwoneck, where his lieutenant recorded that “we -sate down,” the adventure was given over after a year or two.</p> - -<p>Young himself was later captured by the French of Canada when, in his -continuing quest for the elusive passage to the Orient, he ascended the -Kennebec River, portaged to headwaters of streams that took him to the -<abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence and found himself unexpectedly before Quebec!</p> - -<p>The English post that Captain Young established on the Delaware at -Eriwoneck was opposite present-day Philadelphia. It is frequently -mentioned as having been on Pennsauken Creek. However, since the -Eriwoneck tribe appears to have been living close by if not at the site -of Fort Nassau, it is more likely that the English captain simply “sate -down” in the deserted Dutch fort. In view of his mission any other -course would appear to have been inexpedient.</p> - -<p>Captain Young discreetly makes no mention of Dutch works on the river, -probably to avoid any perplexity over the Elizabethan theory about -occupation proving right of possession. But his report admits of two -contacts with Dutch traders. First he ran into a trading vessel from -Manhattan which he accosted and chased from the river. Then a fresh -expedition from Fort Amsterdam, which he reported had been sent to -“plant and trade heere”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> by the Hollanders, was similarly forced to -retire by the English captain.</p> - -<p>Although the Dutch traders didn’t put up any fight in the face of -Thomas Young’s well-gunned ship that summer, it was a different matter -the next year when an English deserter brought word overland to Fort -Amsterdam that a party of Virginia traders was occupying Fort Nassau.</p> - -<p>An armed bark was immediately dispatched to the South River. It -recaptured the fort and made prisoners of the Englishmen, about fifteen -altogether including their leader, George Holmes. These captives, after -being transported first to Fort Amsterdam where no one could decide -what to do with them, were finally returned to Kecoughtan in Virginia. -The New Netherlanders then installed and maintained a permanent -garrison of traders at Fort Nassau under the management of Jan Jansen -with Peter May as his assistant. All of which so discouraged other -Virginians, who at the time were planning to follow in Holmes’ track, -that they abandoned the project.</p> - -<p>However, across the ocean, venturers of still another nationality were -preparing to invade New Netherland’s South River. The Swedish people, -aroused to territorial expansion by their late King Gustavus Adolphus, -wanted a bridgehead in America. Profit-minded merchants, with the fur -trade uppermost in their minds, were moving eagerly to accommodate -them.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XIV">XIV<br /><i>Swedish Interlude On the Delaware</i></h2> -</div> - - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_p.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">Peter</span> Minuit, erstwhile governor and chief fur trader of New -Netherland, was a man of energy and special talent for colonial -administration. Although he had been discharged from his post in -Dutch America after a disagreement with his employers, the directors -of the West India Company, his administration there had been virile -and efficient. It was therefore quite natural that he should be a bit -vindictive toward the people who had treated him so unfairly. And, -because of his driving energy, it would have been quite as unnatural -for him to remain idle for long.</p> - -<p>So it was that he sought out Samuel Blommaert who, embittered by -the failure of his Swanendael patroonship, also felt he had reason -for complaint against his former associates in the West India -Company. According to Blommaert, it was their parsimonious policies -on such matters as the fur trade and military protection for new -plantations that had caused the fiasco at Whorekill. Anxious now -to show up the stupidity of their management, he was attempting to -form a Dutch-Swedish opposition company under Swedish protection for -operations in the “West Indies.”</p> - -<p>When Minuit came on the scene, with his firsthand knowledge of New -Netherland, things began to happen fast. Blommaert’s project quickly -crystallized into a fur trading company with the specific intent of -colonizing the valley of the South River where the patroon himself had -formerly adventured. It remained only for Minuit to offer his expert -services as leader of such an expedition to the Swedish crown, and -royal sanction and assistance were forthcoming for the venture.</p> - -<p>“Pierre” Minuit, for that is what the Hollanders often called him -when he was their governor in New Netherland, had been born a French -Huguenot in the German city of Wessel. It is not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> strange that his -nationalism was therefore elastic enough to meet almost any demands of -his ambition and ability. About the only point at which Minuit might -have hesitated in those bigoted times would have been an association -with Catholics. Certainly, to serve under the banner of Sweden, a -protestant nation allied in the crusade against Spain, required a -minimum degree of adaptability, especially as Sweden’s official excuse -for a colony in America was that it would provide a base for attacking -the common enemy at his weakest spot.</p> - -<p>Half the subscriptions for the venture in “New Sweden” were raised in -Sweden and half in Holland, with Samuel Blommaert the largest single -subscriber. Although the Swedish government furnished two well-armed -ships, <i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> and <i>Gripen</i>, as well as all other -weapons and ammunition, the cost of the expedition to the company ran -to 33,000 florins by the time it sailed from Gothenburg in the closing -days of 1637.</p> - -<p>If Minuit was lucky however, a single Spanish prize would be enough -to cancel out this unexpectedly high debt. Otherwise the New Sweden -Company looked to the Indian fur trade to pay it off in a season or two.</p> - -<p>Almost half of the invested capital was for cargo that consisted mainly -of the merchandise needed for the Indian trade. Axes, hatchets, adzes, -knives, tobacco pipes, looking-glasses, cheap trinkets, duffels and -other cloth weaved in Holland were purchased by Blommaert and shipped -to Sweden where they were loaded aboard the two ships. So were a few -tools for farming, as well as some spirituous liquors and wines to be -traded either in Virginia or the West Indies for tobacco. The tobacco -was to be brought into Sweden where people had lately developed a taste -for it. But the furs would be sold in Holland, a better market for -foreign skins.</p> - -<p>No act of fate guided Peter Minuit to the site he chose for the Swedish -beachhead in America. It was on Minquas Kill, a little stream from -the west emptying into the estuary of the Delaware River. The Indians -from whom the stream acquired its name had often used its course -in their raids against the Lenape. Minuit doubtless knew all about -Minquas Kill from reports he had received from Dutch traders when he -was Governor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> of New Netherland. He knew it was navigable by small -boats almost to the borders of the Minqua country, where a trade might -be joined for the rich pelts then finding their way to the English on -Chesapeake Bay. Also, he well knew that the site he selected on this -stream was a protected though strategic one from which, once fortified -and garrisoned properly, further encroachment on the Dutch West India -Company’s South River preserves might be safely launched.</p> - -<p>For a kettle and other trifles Minuit bought enough land from a local -sachem to erect a couple of houses, emplace some cannon and palisade -“Fort Christina”—which was named in honor of the Queen of Sweden and -which was the beginning of Wilmington, Delaware. Then, he managed to -attract a few other Lenape chieftains from up and down the Delaware -who were perfectly willing to cede all the land that he wanted for New -Sweden in return for the colorful merchandise he offered.</p> - -<p>There was some argument later about these “deeds,” that is, after they -were “lost.” Not only was their geographical extent challenged, which -the Swedes claimed to be the west side of the Delaware from Duck Creek -up to the Schuylkill; but other purchasers, in particular the Dutch to -whom the Lenape were equally accommodating, laid claim to identical -grants from the Indians. The English did too, in at least one case.</p> - -<p>Of course the Hollanders came down the river from Fort Nassau, shortly -after the Swedes arrived, to find out what was going on. But Minuit, -experienced in handling them, gave it out that he was only stopping in -Minquas Kill for wood and water on his way to the West Indies. In this -he was telling the truth, strictly speaking, for he and both of his -ships were moving on to that part of the new world to exchange their -liquor for tobacco and to try for Spanish prizes before returning to -Europe. What he neglected to say was that he was building a fort to -be left garrisoned with 24 men, collecting return cargoes of furs and -leaving a sloop on the river to collect more.</p> - -<p>Peter May, at the time in charge of Fort Nassau during Jan Jansen’s -absence at Fort Amsterdam, learned the truth when Minuit’s little -trading boat tried to slip past the Dutch outpost to barter for pelts. -May wouldn’t let the sloop ascend the river,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> and he sped Indian -runners overland to Manhattan with news of the Swedish invasion. -Whereupon newly-arrived Governor Kieft dispatched Commissary Jansen -back to his South River headquarters with many loud protests and -threats against the Swedes, but not much in the way of force to back up -his fulminations.</p> - -<p>The New Netherland governor even issued a menacing proclamation. In -view of the close political and economic ties between Sweden and his -country, he couldn’t believe that the Swedish queen had authorized -Minuit to build forts “or to trade in peltries on the South River,” but -in any event, he proclaimed, the Dutch West India Company would defend -its rights by bloodshed if the Swedes did not withdraw.</p> - -<p>Peter Minuit was undeterred by all of this however. He went about -finishing his fort and collecting his peltries, and there wasn’t really -anything the Dutch could do about it. They claimed that he “drew all -the skins to him by his liberal gifts,” and that as a result of his -“underselling” their losses ran to 30,000 guilders.</p> - -<p>While Minuit was still on the Delaware that spring of 1638 he sent the -<i>Grip</i> down to Jamestown to try to barter liquor for tobacco. -However the Governor of Virginia, Sir Francis Wyatt, who probably -looked askance at the usurpation of English claims on the Delaware, -diplomatically found excuses for not trading with the Swedes. He -said he would refer the matter to his king, and that ended it. The -<i>Grip</i> returned to Minquas Kill, transferred the liquor to the -<i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> and set out in search of a fat Spanish galleon.</p> - -<p>Soon thereafter, the <i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> also took aboard 710 beaver, -otter and bear pelts, which had been collected from the Indians, and -laid a course for the West Indies to trade the liquor for tobacco. -Peter Minuit sailed in this ship. He left Mans Kling in command of -Fort Christina, with Hendrick Huygen as commissary in charge of the -provisions, merchandise and Indian trade. Huygen maintained excellent -relations with the Indians and would appear to have opened up trade -with the Minquas. He bartered for food as well as furs, and the first -permanent white settlement in the present State of Delaware was able -to sustain itself for two years before any further relief came from -Sweden.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span></p> - -<p>In the meantime, New Sweden’s founder had lost his life in the -West Indies. While the <i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> was in harbor at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Christopher’s Island, Minuit went aboard a ship out of Rotterdam as the -guest of its skipper. A hurricane came up suddenly and drove this ship -out to sea. It was never heard of again.</p> - -<p>Peter Minuit’s untimely death was an irreparable loss to the Swedes. He -would have made a capable governor for their colony in America, which -might have turned out quite differently had he remained in charge.</p> - -<p>After a fruitless year on the track of the silver fleet the <i>Grip</i> -returned to New Sweden in the spring of 1639, took on a miscellaneous -lot of over 1,500 fur skins and sailed for Sweden. All the skins were -reshipped to Holland for merchandising, where the <i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> -had already unloaded its cargo of pelts. Altogether, these first -furs from New Sweden brought 15,426:13:8 florins into the coffers of -the company according to <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Amandus Johnson, the American-Swedish -historian.</p> - -<p>The Dutch West India Company, at last awakening to the perils facing -New Netherland from foreign encroachment, now took more positive steps -to encourage immigration. The directors promised land and free trade -in the colony to private persons and made their promise firm by an -official proclamation. It was announced that anyone could henceforth -trade in pelts, as well as other merchandise, upon payment of fifteen -per cent tax and freight charges on all exports.</p> - -<p>This lure to promote individual enterprise under the flag of Holland -quickly brought Dutchmen from the Netherlands as well as “strangers” -from Virginia and New England into the colony. After being on the -verge of economic collapse because of the company’s mismanagement, New -Netherland began to prosper again, especially those parts about the -North River. The newly liberalized policy was too late, however, to -have any effect in offsetting the invasion of the South River under the -Swedish flag.</p> - -<p>Swedish reinforcements, men and women, began arriving in 1640. Even -some Hollanders came over and took up land near Fort Christina, their -leader being paid a salary by the Swedish government as the commandant -of his people. Among contingents of new settlers from Sweden itself -were some who came<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> unwillingly. Such were the Finns, those hearty, -pioneering outlaws who had been roving Sweden, poaching game and -destroying forests, and rudely mocking all efforts to curb their -depredations. Many of them were rounded up and “persuaded” to emigrate, -along with some native “criminals” whose most serious offenses appear -to have been unpaid debts, adultery, and draft-dodging.</p> - -<p>But these unwilling emigrants quickly adapted themselves after they -arrived in the new country. They rendered good service clearing the -land, hewing trees and building houses. Back of Fort Christina typical -Scandinavian houses went up, the first “log cabins” ever seen in -America, with the timbers notched so that the carefully tailored logs -lay flat and close at the joints. These primitive but highly efficient -cabins soon became the symbol of the American pioneer—the fur trader -as well as the farmer.</p> - -<p>The trading limits of New Sweden were extended to the Falls of the -Delaware on the north and to Cape Henlopen on the south by new -purchases from the Indians. Traffic in pelts, always the chief business -of the colony, was prosecuted with real vigor. With the arrival in 1643 -of a vigorous new governor, Johan Printz, the Swedes began establishing -trading posts and forts up and down the river in their expanded -territory. And there just weren’t enough Hollanders under the flag of -the Dutch West India Company at Fort Nassau to stop them, no more in -fact than twenty at any time.</p> - -<p>The Swedes went out even to the Minqua country in the valley of the -Susquehanna, competing with the Dutch for the luxuriant pelts from the -northern lake country. Traders with Hendrick Huygen penetrated the -northwestern hinterland over 200 miles. Most often however the Minquas, -or Susquehannocks, who no longer went to the Marylanders in Chesapeake -Bay, came with great bundles of their fine pelts to trade at Fort -Christina, for they found that the Swedes were more liberal than either -the Dutch or the English, not only with trade goods but with sewan, or -wampum.</p> - -<p>Always the Swedes gave the Minquas generous measures of shell strings -in exchange for beaver. Whether it was common white roanoke made from -the cockle shells found in quantity along<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> some local beaches, valuable -peake strung with purple conch shell, or a variety of the even more -highly prized Long Island wampum, measurements were uniformly generous. -And since fathoms, ells and yards were roughly estimated by using -the length of one’s arm, the giant Susquehannocks did very well for -themselves.</p> - -<p>Resourceful as usual, the Dutch began manufacturing false wampum -to meet the competition. But the savages were quick to detect the -counterfeit and wouldn’t accept it.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meanwhile, some English traders from the New Haven Colony, which was -being hemmed in and cut off from the Indian trade of New England, had -come down to test out the prospects on the Delaware River and were very -much impressed. George Lamberton, Nathaniel Turner and others decided -to form a company to purchase land about the Schuylkill River as well -as the unoccupied country stretching northward from Cape May. As usual -the natives obliged them, regardless of prior deeds, and the New -Englanders soon had a colony at Varkens Kill, now Salem Creek in New -Jersey.</p> - -<p>Everything might have been all right if the Englishmen had remained on -the land they bought on the east side of the river. But this was not -destined to be. Although there were some twenty families who cleared -land and planted crops in 1641 at Varkens Kill, these people were -primarily fur traders. They discovered that the east side of the river -was too far from the trading grounds of the Indians. The next year they -established a fort, building dwellings and a truck house, on the west -side of the river at the mouth of the Schuylkill.</p> - -<p>This trading post, located on Province Island in present Philadelphia, -was on land claimed by both the Swedes and the Dutch. Actually it must -have incorporated whatever was left of the abandoned Dutch installation -built there originally by Arendt Corssen in 1633. In any case the men -from New Haven, after starting a lively Indian trade, made it clear -that they would countenance no competition within their newly acquired -precincts.</p> - -<p>The Swedes and the Dutch, who had been operating under a kind of armed -truce in this area, united promptly in the face of this threat to their -common interest. Two armed sloops were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> sent out by the Council of New -Netherland, and Jan Jansen with the cooperation of the Swedes attacked -and burned out the interlopers. George Lamberton managed to escape in -his pinnace with a few of his people. But most of the New Englanders -were captured and shipped off to Manhattan as prisoners.</p> - -<p>Lamberton, however, like most English traders, was a man of tenacity -and courage. Certainly he was persistent when he thought he saw a good -thing. The very next year he was back in the river again. This time, -unfortunately for him, the atmosphere was even more hostile. That -hot-tempered, national-minded Governor of New Sweden, Johan Printz, had -arrived in the meantime—all four hundred imperious pounds of him!</p> - -<p>“Big Belly” Printz, as the Indians called him, came with the fire of -patriotism in his eye. He was not one to stand for any nonsense from -foreigners. As a good diplomat he maintained a neighborly friendship -with the Dutch, as he had been instructed to do, that is, so long as -they were no military threat to New Sweden and so long as they could be -outwitted in the Indian trade. But the English—those aggressive and -stubbornly nationalistic colonizers—were another matter.</p> - -<p>So, in 1643, when George Lamberton once more sailed up the Delaware in -his pinnace, he was to find himself in real trouble.</p> - -<p>Intercepting some Minquas en route to Fort Christina with their furs, -Lamberton induced them to trade with him. Whereupon the Swedish -governor invited him to dinner in order to arrest him, the charge being -that of having bribed the Minquas with cloth and wampum to massacre the -Swedes and Dutch. For a while it looked as if the Englishman might have -a short life.</p> - -<p>But, although “Big Belly” set himself up as inquisitor, prosecutor -and judge, he couldn’t make his accusation stick before a mixed court -of English, Dutch and Swedish commissioners in the face of 400 beaver -skins Lamberton produced as evidence of his peaceful barter. In the -end Printz could only fine the New Englander double duty on the beaver -skins he had taken in trade and let him go. As a parting threat -however, he told Lamberton that his pinnace would be confiscated if -ever he traded again in New Sweden without authorization.</p> - -<p>Then the corpulent but vigorous governor turned his full<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> attention to -tightening Swedish control of the river, with a view toward gaining a -monopoly of the fur trade for his company.</p> - -<p>On the east side of the Delaware, where he pretended to the same land -claimed by the New Englanders, he constructed a stronghold which he -named Fort Elfsborg. It was an imposing earthwork, emplaced with 8 -twelve-pound guns and a mortar. Located on waterside just below Varkens -Kill and garrisoned by thirteen men, Fort Elfsborg not only asserted -Printz’s authority over a sickly remnant of the New Haven Englishmen -still there, but gave him military control of the river. Even Dutch -vessels on their way up to Fort Nassau were compelled to lower their -flags before the guns of the Swedish fort, their skippers no doubt -muttering curses against “Big Belly” who now “held the river locked for -himself.”</p> - -<p>On the west side of the river the governor strengthened Fort Christina, -the fur emporium of New Sweden where the general storehouses were -maintained. He moved his own headquarters however to a much grander -manor setting farther upstream at Tinicum Island.</p> - -<p>There, on this water-bound river bank, over which sleek airliners now -wing low, in and out of close by Philadelphia Airport, he built a -riverside fort of hemlock logs “laid one upon another” and a princely -“hall” for himself. Fort New Gothenborg, he named this new capital, -which was little more than half a dozen miles from Dutch Fort Nassau -across the river. To Fort New Gothenborg the Swedish governor hoped to -attract most of the Indian traffic that he now shared grudgingly with -the New Netherland traders.</p> - -<p>For a while the strategy proved highly successful, especially after -Printz established a trading post on the near-by Schuylkill to control -that important artery of traffic from the hinterland. There, on -Province Island, from which the English had so recently been ousted, -he built a blockhouse of his own and mounted “stone cannon” on it. -These were the vicious little “murderers” of the time, whose broad -iron mouths could be jammed with stones or anything else lethal that -might be handy to spray attackers at close range. Other buildings too -were later erected at Province Island, but in the spring of 1644 the -blockhouse served for stores,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> and also as quarters for Lieutenant Mans -Kling and the traders stationed there.</p> - -<p>The Dutch traders under Jan Jansen at Fort Nassau, frustrated by lack -of numbers as well as by restraining orders from Fort Amsterdam, now -could only stand by watching and biting their nails, while taking -whatever crumbs of the Indian trade their Swedish neighbors deigned to -share with them.</p> - -<p>This same year of 1644 some merchants of Boston, with the backing -of Winthrop and the Court of Massachusetts, formed a company to -discover the great Lake of the Iroquois by ascending the Delaware -River. Some dozen years earlier, Captain Walter Neale of the Laconia -Company had failed in his efforts to reach the lake via the rivers of -Maine. At least the Delaware ran in the right direction, toward that -“inexhaustible” supply of beaver, something it was now conceded no -Maine or Massachusetts rivers did.</p> - -<p>A well-equipped pinnace was actually sent out to the Delaware. However, -just what happened on the river is vague. Certainly neither the -Swedes nor the Dutch wanted English traders on their “backside.” A -few tentative shots were fired, but apparently some wisely dispensed -liquor accomplished more than force. In any event the New Englanders -were “entertained,” one way or another, first at Fort Elfsborg by the -Swedes and then at Fort Nassau by the Dutch, and in the end they were -persuaded to turn back. They returned to Boston in their pinnace, at -great loss to the chagrined investors in the enterprise.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Under Johan Printz’s able direction Swedish trade flourished throughout -the Delaware valley. Fine cargoes of beaver and other pelts were -shipped across the sea. Some went to Sweden, but the market was never -good there for foreign pelts and most were auctioned in Holland. Great -quantities, however, were sold locally in America for needed supplies. -And, we are told, “otter coats” and “elkskin trousers” were common -articles of dress among the Swedes themselves.</p> - -<p>Like the Pilgrims, the Swedes could not have maintained themselves -but for the beaver trade. Their attempts to cultivate tobacco were -unsuccessful. Neither did they grow sufficient food<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> for themselves. -And little enough help came from home. For nearly six years after the -winter of 1647-48 there was no relief ship nor even any official word -from Sweden to its earnest governor in America. A relief expedition -sent out in 1649 was wrecked en route in the Spanish West Indies, its -people tortured and enslaved. Printz had to depend on his Dutch and -English neighbors for supplies. And there was only one thing of value -to give them in exchange for this subsistence—beaver.</p> - -<p>The problem of the Swedes was to monopolize the Indian beaver trade -while depending upon competitors not only for subsistence supplies but -for the very trucking merchandise required for the Indian trade. Dutch -traders, as well as English, were therefore welcome on the Delaware so -long as the Swedes could act as middlemen between them and the natives -who had the beaver pelts.</p> - -<p>English traders of this type were particularly active in New -Sweden—Virginians and New Englanders, and some roving independents -like Isaac Allerton, the former Pilgrim father who made so much trouble -for his associates at Plymouth. Allerton, as a matter of fact, made his -headquarters at this time with the Dutch at Fort Amsterdam.</p> - -<p>John Wilcox and William Cox were among other colonial merchants who -purveyed fowling pieces, sailcloth, duffels, cheese and brandy to -the Swedes in exchange for beaver skins. They also provided Printz -with trucking goods, such as knives, kettles, axes, hoes, cloth, red -coral and sewan, or wampum. Among many such entries in the company -books, reported by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Amandus Johnson, is one for 220 yards of sewan -purchased from an Englishman for 140 beaver skins valued at 800 florins.</p> - -<p>William Whiting, a Hartford merchant, collected 1,069¹⁄₂ pounds of -beaver worth 4,277 florins from the Swedes on one trading expedition to -the Delaware in 1644. Captain Turner and Allerton, who made frequent -trips there, purveyed cloth, barley seed and other grain, millstones, -beer, leather and wampum for the Indian trade, all in exchange for the -Swedes’ beaver. Several trading boats were also sold to the Swedes, a -small one being exchanged for 98 skins, and larger barks bringing five -to ten times as many.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span></p> - -<p>Printz frequently sent his own people with beaver to New Amsterdam, and -even to New England, to buy trade goods, livestock, rye, corn, lime, -and other supplies. His chief commissary, Hendrick Huygen, usually -headed up the expeditions to Manhattan. At the Dutch capital the going -rate for corn, which was not always to be obtained direct from the -Indians, was one beaver pelt for three bushels. Evidently the Swedes -found this exchange less onerous than toiling with the plow.</p> - -<p>On one trip to the Dutch capital Huygen bought seven oxen for 124 -beaver skins valued at 868 florins, a cow for 22 skins worth 154 -florins, and 75 bushels of rye for 32 skins valued at seven florins -each. It cost him only ten skins to get this livestock to New Sweden, -five being paid out to two Hollanders who led some of the oxen -cross-country, and five to the Governor of New Netherland whose sloop -delivered the remainder on the Delaware. On another trip, in addition -to oxen, Huygen bought a horse for thirty skins. He even settled for -his expenses at New Amsterdam with beaver, paying out nine skins for -board and five for lodgings to the inn-keeper on one occasion, while -having the storm-torn sails of his boat repaired for another six skins.</p> - -<p>The Swedes never did root their colony in agriculture. For one thing, -it was just too easy to rest the entire economy on the beaver trade, -and somehow the habit persisted even after the fur frontier had -passed into the hinterland. A visiting Indian convert from New France -once accused them of being more concerned with fur trading than with -converting his red kinsmen to Christianity. The charge was true enough. -It might have been leveled in fact at almost any colonials of the time. -But probably it wasn’t even of passing interest to the beaver-hungry -Swedes.</p> - -<p>A lesser reason for the agricultural failure was that there never -seemed to be enough Swedes to man farms. The total population -of the colony—soldiers, traders, farmers, servants, women, and -children—amounted to no more than two hundred fifty at any time during -Governor Printz’s tenure. And losses by death were not offset by -reinforcements from home. In the spring of 1648 a census of all male -inhabitants of age counted up to only seventy-nine. These seventy-nine -were not all Swedes by a large number.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p> - -<p>When Peter Stuyvesant arrived in America as governor of the Dutch, -the inherent numerical weakness of the Swedes was at once apparent to -him, for he was an experienced soldier. He also knew that because of -changing conditions abroad there was less reason for being so friendly -and neighborly. With the war against the Catholics drawing to a close, -the alliance was breaking up, and Holland was no longer favoring -Swedish shipping. The two countries were becoming bitter competitors.</p> - -<p>The new Dutch governor had a personality that was every bit as colorful -as that of his soldier counterpart in New Sweden. Having lost a leg -in action, and being of an arrogant and tyrannical nature, Stuyvesant -stamped about affectedly on a silver-banded pegleg, swishing a -rattan cane to emphasize his commands. But he was also as zealously -nationalistic and as company-minded in the administration of his -colonial post as was Johan Printz.</p> - -<p>It was predestined that hot-tempered “Big Belly” and autocratic -“Peg-Leg” would clash. They did—almost immediately.</p> - -<p>Printz, it appears, replaced his blockhouse on Province Island with a -much stronger installation, Fort Korsholm, armed with cannon and manned -with a garrison of soldiers. Andries Hudde, who had succeeded Jan -Jansen as Dutch commissary on the South River, reported to Stuyvesant -that he was now absolutely cut off from the Schuylkill and that the -Swedes were “hindering” all other Dutch trade with the Indians in the -river valley.</p> - -<p>Furthermore, Hudde said, the Swedes had spoiled the trade anyway, -for the Indians now insisted on two fathoms of white sewan and one -fathom of purple sewan for a beaver. And, since a fathom was commonly -estimated as the span of a man’s outstretched arms, the natives were -sending “the largest and tallest among them to trade with us.” This -made the barter “rather too much against” him, the Dutch commissary -complained, as every fathom amounted “to three ells!”</p> - -<p>Stuyvesant, to Hudde’s surprise, instructed him to take the initiative -against the Swedes, telling him it was now well known that the Swedes -could expect no succor from home, and that he should go into the -Schuylkill and erect a stronghold there for his own traders.</p> - -<p>Backed by this authority the South River commissary, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> was of an -aggressive nature anyway, went into the Schuylkill with enthusiasm. In -May of 1648 he began building a log house surrounded by palisades at -Passyunk, on the lands purchased by Corssen in 1633. He called it Fort -Beversrede (Beaver Road Fort). Located within the limits of present-day -Philadelphia, on the east bank of the Schuylkill, Fort Beversrede not -only challenged the Swedish monopoly of the Schuylkill trade but it -restrained some of Printz’s people who were now probing east and north -of that stream.</p> - -<p>Governor Printz reacted violently as might have been expected. He -sent out several chastising expeditions of armed men who tore down -palisades, destroyed surrounding forests and burned houses being built -about the new Dutch trading post. But there doesn’t appear to have been -too much blood shed, and the whole affair ended up amusingly enough -when the Swedes constructed a blockhouse of their own on the riverside -within a dozen feet of the gates to the Dutch fort. Evidently the six -nervous Hollanders who manned Fort Beversrede looked the other way -during this operation. In any case, after the Swedish blockhouse went -up, thirty-five feet in length, the Hollanders in their fort didn’t -have “the sight of the water on the kill” that they were supposed to -dominate.</p> - -<p>It is easy to imagine that this was almost too much for Stuyvesant. -However, he was cautioned by his employers in Holland to arm himself -with some patience before using force against the Swedes. But then, -becoming increasingly irritated by further trespasses, the governor -determined to send both ships and troops to the South River as a -convincing show of strength. In 1651 he dispatched eleven ships with -arms and supplies around the coast, while he marched overland with 120 -soldiers to Fort Nassau where the fleet met him.</p> - -<p>There ensued much on-the-spot argument among the Dutch, the Swedes, and -the Indians, about their overlapping land titles. But it all ended up -with the Dutch becoming the masters of the South River, their troops -being much the most persuasive consideration in the case.</p> - -<p>Stuyvesant sailed down the river to a likely site on the west bank just -below Fort Christina, landed two hundred men and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> erected a commanding -fortification which he named Fort Casimir. Located on a peninsula, near -present New Castle, Fort Casimir was 210 feet long and was mounted -with twelve guns, some of which came from Fort Nassau, now dismantled. -Two warships were also stationed in the river and several English -trading-boats were taken as prizes since England and Holland were at -war. All traders on the South River were now compelled to pay duty to -New Netherland.</p> - -<p>Printz’s situation deteriorated rapidly as Dutch trading factors -overran New Sweden, monopolizing the beaver commerce. With pitifully -few remaining subjects, desertions having cut the total population to -less than a hundred souls, the governor had to leave Forts Elfsborg and -Korsholm unmanned and rotting. Now that he was without trade goods even -the Indians turned against him, boldly committing depredations within -the limits of the colony.</p> - -<p>The people, growing mutinous, openly accused “Big Belly” of avarice -and brutality. They claimed that by their enforced labor he had filled -his storehouses at Tinicum Island with skins for his personal profit. -But he tore up a petition of their grievances and had their leader -convicted of treason. Then he heatedly dared the others to complain -again.</p> - -<p>As to the charge of brutality, things were probably no worse nor any -better than the time a party of Indians was hired in New Sweden to -track down some settlers who deserted. These luckless subjects, who -had first tried unsuccessfully to desert to the Dutch, fled toward -the English settlements on the Chesapeake. The savages did their job -well—and efficiently—bringing back only the heads of those who -resisted capture.</p> - -<p>The Swedish governor could only protest the Dutch usurpation of his -life-giving trade in the face of the military odds against him and his -own internal problems. His government was left intact however, and he -bided the time that reinforcements would arrive. But none came, nor -even any word. In the end he asked to be relieved. When there was no -reply to his request Johan Printz, at last disillusioned and completely -frustrated, finally took it on his own authority in 1653 to relinquish -his post and sail for home.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span></p> - -<p>Once, some years earlier when Printz was a young officer in the Army -of Sweden, he had been dismissed from the service for surrendering his -post without authority. When he left America under similar conditions, -it is said that he took the precaution of getting a letter of -recommendation from Peter Stuyvesant to the Dutch West India Company, -just as insurance.</p> - -<p>The year after Printz sailed away reinforcements did at long last -arrive in New Sweden, and with them came a new and impetuous governor -named Johan Rising. Finding Fort Casimir in the embarrassing position -of being without gunpowder and greatly underestimating the general -situation of the Dutch in New Netherland, Rising made the mistake of -reducing the fort to Swedish rule and pledging the loyalty of some of -the Dutchmen there.</p> - -<p>Infuriated, the Directors of the Dutch West India Company sent a fleet -of ships and two hundred veteran soldiers across the sea to their -governor at New Amsterdam. They ordered him to gather all possible -additional forces before the Swedes could be reinforced and “exert -every nerve to avenge that injury, not only by restoring affairs to -their former situation, but by driving the Swedes from every side of -the river.” Stuyvesant responded with alacrity. In September of 1655 he -was under sail for the South River with a fleet of seven armed ships, -land artillery for besieging batteries, and several hundred soldiers.</p> - -<p>Captain Sven Skute who was the commandant at Fort Casimir, now called -Fort Trinity by the Swedes, had greatly strengthened the fortifications -there in anticipation of the attack. Shot and powder were stored in -good supply, as were all other necessities for defense. Skute had -written orders from the Council at Fort Christina not to let the enemy -pass.</p> - -<p>But, when the Dutch flotilla sailed up the river and anchored above the -fort, Sven Skute didn’t fire a shot. Stuyvesant was permitted to mount -his batteries ashore without interference. After the Swedish stronghold -had been completely surrounded and cut off, Skute sent out word that -his men were going to defend the position. Governor Stuyvesant replied -that if a single Hollander became a casualty there would be no quarter -for any Swede in the fort. Whereupon Captain Skute capitulated under -terms that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> permitted him to walk out with his “personal property.” His -men had mutinied, it appears.</p> - -<p>Leaving Captain Dirck Smith in command of the fort, now renamed Fort -Amstel, the Dutch moved on to the Christina. There Stuyvesant repeated -his maneuver, investing the fort and the entire Swedish settlement. -While he and Rising parleyed, Dutch soldiers pillaged the countryside -as far north as Tinicum Island, where Johan Printz’s ambitious -daughter, married to a pliable husband, now held forth at Printz Hall -in the style of her father. The Hollanders killed livestock, plundered -houses and left the women “stripped naked” in their beds, or so it was -said.</p> - -<p>Governor Rising’s situation was hopeless. He had only a small supply of -ammunition, most of it having been sent to Fort Trinity. He was faced -not only with the Dutch guns pointing at his fort but with increasing -desertions to the enemy. Stuyvesant was demanding complete evacuation -of the position or the oath of loyalty to Holland from all Swedish -subjects.</p> - -<p>In the end the Swedish governor could only agree to surrender, with -transportation guaranteed for those who did not wish to remain as Dutch -subjects. The governor himself did not fare too badly. It appears that -his private property, like that of Captain Skute, was respected under -the terms of the capitulation and that it was promised he would be -landed in “England or France.”</p> - -<p>New Sweden was no more. No longer did the Dutch at New Amsterdam have -to worry about Swedish competition on their South River, much less the -envelopment of Fort Orange in the north by Swedish penetration of the -hinterland.</p> - -<p>What the Dutch had to worry about now, other than the Indians in -the vicinity of Manhattan who were getting a bit out of hand, were -Englishmen—especially the New England traders pressing them in the -north. And that was becoming quite a worry!</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XV">XV<br /><i>New Netherland Threatened Without and Within</i></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_n.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">Nowhere</span> in America was there a better situation for a great fur -emporium than Manhattan Island. There, converging into a protected -harbor which was easily accessible to seagoing ships, were arteries of -fur traffic that tapped both hinterland and coastal trade. Indeed, the -beaver trade that originated at Manhattan in the round-bellied Dutch -ships of the seventeenth century was the genesis of a commerce that was -to make New York the greatest seaport in the world.</p> - -<p>But, although the Hollanders at New Amsterdam had this material -advantage and were exploiting it with all their energy, their -occupation of New Netherland was insecure to say the least. In English -eyes they were squatters on English territory, and the English had the -physical means to do something about it whenever they wished.</p> - -<p>Logically, of course, the Englishmen had a very poor case. In the light -of their own Elizabethan theory that occupation of a territory was -necessary to back up any claim of possession, the Dutch title to New -Netherland was certainly valid. The Hollanders had searched out and -settled the country. The Englishmen had not bothered to do either. Yet, -stubbornly, they had never once conceded Dutch sovereignty.</p> - -<p>Naturally, they had to come up with a new interpretation of Elizabeth’s -historic pronouncement. It took the following line of reasoning. James -I had long since defined Virginia as extending from the 34th to the -45th parallel, and, in fact, had granted it by charter to two great -joint-stock companies of London and Plymouth before Captain Hudson -ever went out to America for the Dutch. Such an act of sovereignty -could be considered equivalent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> to taking possession of that territory! -Therefore the Dutch were intruders!!</p> - -<p>And, a quarter of a century after this “act of sovereignty,” parts of -Dutch New Netherland—Connecticut, Long Island and the west bank of the -Delaware River—were being reconveyed by the original English patentees -or the king himself, all without benefit of having yet been settled by -Englishmen.</p> - -<p>That no official action was taken to eject the Hollanders can be -attributed to the alliances of the Thirty Years’ War. However, the -time was not too far away when England and Holland, relieved of their -compacts, were to become deadly rivals. Already, in fact, patriotic -Englishmen smarted with the knowledge that a foreign country which had -to import its timber for shipbuilding, and one which had so recently -been helped to independence by them, was growing rich on a carrying -trade that should be in British bottoms. The ultimate conquest of New -Netherland was a foregone conclusion as far as they were concerned.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, pressure on New Netherland from individual traders with the -backing of London and New England merchants prepared the way for the -anticipated military action.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The pressure on New Netherland began in 1633 when a trading vessel from -England invaded the Hollanders’ North River for furs. Her name was -the <i>William</i>. She was the first English ship ever to ascend the -Hudson. At the time, the annual returns there were estimated at 16,000 -beaverskins, and no one was better qualified to appreciate this rich -business than the factor in charge of the <i>William</i>; for, he was -none other than a former Dutch commissary on the Hudson, Jacob Eelkens, -who himself had driven a great trade with the Indians at Fort Orange. -In 1623 however, after incurring the displeasure of the West India -Company, he had been summarily discharged. Now he was in the employ of -English merchants, William Cloberry and Company of London, and he was -of a mind to square accounts.</p> - -<p>Defying both Governor Wouter van Twiller and the threatening guns on -Manhattan, Eelkens proclaimed haughtily that the Hudson River belonged -to England and then proceeded upstream. Van Twiller didn’t fire on him. -In fact, the irresolute Dutch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> governor broached a cask of wine while -he deliberated on the situation. Not until he had been roundly twitted -for timidity by his drinking companions did he acquire enough spirit to -dispatch three ships with some soldiers after the renegade Hollander. -By the time this force caught up with Eelkens, he was anchored near -Fort Orange, where he had established a well-stocked trucking station -ashore and was enjoying a lucrative trade for beaver with the natives, -all at the expense of the frustrated Dutch commissary there.</p> - -<p>Van Twiller’s soldiers, upon their arrival, arrested the turncoat -interloper, and the <i>William</i> was convoyed back down the river to -Manhattan where all the pelts aboard were confiscated. Then Eelkens, -protesting loudly, was escorted with his empty ship out of the Narrows, -never again to bother his countrymen on the Hudson.</p> - -<p>But this same year, 1633, there was pressure of a more serious nature -on the Dutch. It came overland, and it was not to be repulsed so easily.</p> - -<p>The fur traders of New England hankered for the beaver that abounded in -the valley of the Connecticut River where the Hollanders were taking -annually some 10,000 skins. Of course Dutch Captain Adrien Block -had discovered and explored the Connecticut, or “Fresh Water” as he -called it, in 1614. And since fur traders from New Amsterdam bartered -traditionally on the river, even establishing a temporary trading -post and laying out the foundations of Fort Good Hope near the site -of present-day Hartford in 1623, there was not much question in their -minds about the jurisdiction of New Netherland. Admittedly, however, -they had made no permanent settlements.</p> - -<p>Neither had the English who now coveted the valley’s beaver meadows. -However, they had lately done some exploring and liked what they found. -Edward Winslow of New Plymouth went up the river in 1632 and was so -impressed that he selected a site for a house. And John Winthrop of the -Bay Colony let it out that because his colony extended “to the south -sea on the west parte,” the Connecticut River, or the greater part of -it anyway, belonged to Massachusetts under its charter.</p> - -<p>So the Hollanders at New Amsterdam, a bit alarmed, bestirred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> -themselves to complete the fort which had been commenced by them some -ten years earlier. After buying “most of the lands on both sides” of -the Connecticut River from the Indians, they built a strong house of -yellow bricks at their old trading post and set up two cannon there to -secure the river above them.</p> - -<p>But, even while their commissary, Jacob van Curler, was building -this fort in 1633, it was being enveloped by the New Englanders. Fur -traders from Massachusetts Bay fought their way straight west through -the wilderness that summer to reach the upper Connecticut valley north -of Fort Good Hope. In the fall a party of Pilgrims from New Plymouth -sailed up the river from the south for the same purpose.</p> - -<p>It was John Oldham, an adventurous trader of ten years experience -in New England, who pioneered the way for the English. With three -companions he blazed what was to become known as the “Old Connecticut -Path” from Watertown in Massachusetts to the Connecticut River. On -his return he made an enthusiastic report on the valley and its -beaver meadows, while delegations of Mohegans from the Connecticut -valley offered alliances and otherwise made things most attractive to -prospective settlers. They wanted the men of Massachusetts, or any -other white men with guns, to settle among them. It was the only way -they knew to even scores with their recent conquerors, the Pequots.</p> - -<p>There were 4,000 Englishmen clustered about Massachusetts Bay at -the time and quite a few were of a mind to get away. Puritanical -intolerance, given free rein in this new American colony, was making -too much of a strait jacket out of life for many of them. Connecticut -sounded almost too good to be true. Some of the bold ones began making -plans to migrate to the bounteous valley the following year.</p> - -<p>In the meantime Winslow’s people at New Plymouth moved more quickly. -With them fresh beaver territory was always a pressing necessity. -Their very survival as a colony depended on their fur exports. They -also sensed profit in taking sides with the Mohegans. Whereas the -Massachusetts men cautiously avoided any complicating alliances with -the Connecticut valley Indians, the Pilgrims in their desperate anxiety -for pelts were quite willing, as usual, to involve themselves in -inter-tribal disputes. In<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> this case it led to most unhappy results for -the traders, the farmers, and their families. Some have claimed that it -was the genesis of the fierce war between the Pequots and the white men -that exploded a few years later.</p> - -<p>In any event, by early September of 1633 Captain William Holmes of -New Plymouth, carrying a prefabricated house frame in “a great new -bark,” was on his way up the Connecticut River. Undaunted by the Dutch -fort and the Hollanders, who “threatened [him] hard, yet ... shot -not,” Captain Holmes sailed past Fort Good Hope and erected his house -above it at Windsor. There his people established a trading post that -prospered at once on upriver furs at the expense of the Dutch traders -below them. Strongly palisading this post, Holmes and his company then -stood firm against a force of seventy Hollanders who were sent from New -Amsterdam to eject them.</p> - -<p>The Pilgrim coup was short-lived however. Competition from Boston had -even more to do with this than Indian troubles, for in another three -years a wholesale exodus from Massachusetts to the Connecticut was -under way, over 800 people already having moved west to the fruitful -valley. In the forefront of this migration were the fur traders, but -farmers followed them to found Wethersfield and other towns. Invading -Windsor, they swallowed up the small band of their Pilgrim brethren -there.</p> - -<p>The Puritans completely surrounded the isolated Dutch trading post -at Hartford. But, although the New Englanders on the Connecticut at -this time outnumbered the population of all New Netherland, they -made no attempt to oust the garrison of Hollanders in their midst. -Some twenty men, sent out by the younger Winthrop from Boston, did -however take possession of the Dutch claims about the mouth of the -Connecticut. There they tore down the arms of the States General which -had been affixed to a tree and contemptuously engraved “a ridiculous -face in their place.” When a Dutch sloop came from New Amsterdam -to dislodge them, it was compelled to withdraw in the face of two -cannon threateningly mounted ashore. The Boston men then went about -constructing fortifications and buildings which they called Fort -Saybrook.</p> - -<p>After that the English had control of the river and, as they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> thought, -easy access also to the beaver trade “of that so pleasant and -commodious country of Erocoise before us.”</p> - -<p>One Puritan merchant, William Pynchon, who was to found a great -fortune in the Indian trade, now spearheaded the economic attack on -New Netherland’s northern flank. Because of his relentless search for -fur he did more than any other man to defeat the Dutch traders and to -expand the frontiers of Massachusetts.</p> - -<p>William Pynchon was one of the original company of twenty-seven -grantees of Massachusetts. For their concession these adventurers -were committed to pay the crown one-fifth of all the gold and silver -ore found within the limits of the grant. Pynchon, however, wasn’t -interested in ore. He was of a more practical bent of mind. He traded -with the Indians near Boston from the start, supplying them with guns -and ammunition in exchange for their beaver.</p> - -<p>Although this trade in guns was carried on with the court’s approval, -Pynchon was severely criticized for doing it, fined in fact. Annoyed -about this, dissatisfied anyway with the dwindling fur trade about the -bay, and not being particularly in sympathy with the rigid Calvinism of -the church he had helped to found there, Pynchon’s eyes turned westward.</p> - -<p>This keen-minded, resolute man was probably one of John Oldham’s -financial backers when that extraordinary adventurer pioneered the -Connecticut Path. Pynchon himself made a trip up the Connecticut River -by shallop in 1635 and chose a location for a trading post near the -Indian village of Agawam. Somewhat above the other river towns which -were being laid out, this strategic site was relied upon to intercept -most of the Indian trade from the north and west.</p> - -<p>Early in 1636 Pynchon with his son-in-law, Henry Smith, led a group of -traders overland to Agawam. They shipped their goods by water. For 18 -fathoms of wampum, and 18 each of coats, hatchets, hoes and knives, -with “two extra coats thrown in for good measure,” land was purchased -from the Indians, and a trading settlement was established. It wasn’t -too long before every one was calling this trading post Springfield, in -honor of its founder’s home town in England.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> - -<p>In the resolutions which were framed for the government of Springfield -a provision was shrewdly included to limit the population. This was -intended to prevent an influx of farmers who would spoil the fur trade. -Actually, the founder brought out only twelve families. As a result of -his plan the main business of Springfield for many years was the beaver -trade.</p> - -<p>There was a provision in the resolutions, too, for obtaining a -minister, Pynchon himself acting in this capacity until the Reverend -George Moxon was finally installed. It is recorded of this good -parson that when he did arrive he preached a sermon that lasted for -twenty-eight days. It is also a matter of record that an early purchase -for the church was an hourglass. But whether its purpose was to impose -a time limit or to insure good measure is not stated.</p> - -<p>Travelling extensively by canoe and on horseback, William Pynchon -bartered with many tribes for beaver, otter, marten, mink, muskrat, -raccoon, lynx, and fox. And, tactfully using Algonquin tribes as -middlemen, it wasn’t too long before he tapped the Iroquois trade. By -1640 he had established one of his agents, Thomas Cooper, at Woronoco, -later the site of Westfield, “where the Indians brought not only their -own furs, but also furs which they obtained from the Mohawks.” When -this happened, the Dutch no longer had a monopoly of the furs of the -Iroquois.</p> - -<p>Of course Pynchon’s tremendous gains meant some real losses to the new -towns below Springfield, which in 1639 had created a government of -their own when they drew up the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. In -an effort to checkmate Pynchon, and bring the trade of the valley to -Hartford instead, Connecticut now granted to Governor Edward Hopkins -and William Whiting “liberty of free trade at Woronoco and at any place -thereabouts ... all others to be restrained for the terme of seven -years....” But Massachusetts came to Pynchon’s rescue, resisted the -Connecticut grab, and eventually established through the Commissioners -of the United Colonies that Woronoco was within its bounds.</p> - -<p>Later, the Connecticut people tried another tack. They declared an -impost on all pelts and other goods that Pynchon shipped down the -river, a tax that could have ruined him. However,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> they voted to remove -this excise when the Massachusetts authorities, in retaliation, levied -a large duty on Connecticut goods coming into Boston harbor. And -William Pynchon went on to expand the fur frontier of Massachusetts to -the north and the west, and through his beaver trade to become one of -the richest men in New England.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meanwhile, the Puritan migration was taking other avenues of expansion -in the direction of New Netherland, along the shores of Long Island -Sound. These routes, too, followed the paths of fur traders who as -usual broke through the wilderness to make pacts with the natives or to -fuse the wars that cleared the way for settlement.</p> - -<p>The Narragansett country and Long Island Sound were of course -traditional Dutch trading preserves. But as early as 1632, New Plymouth -established a truckhouse at Sowamset, now Barrington, Rhode Island, and -in the following year daring John Oldham, filled with “vast conceits -of extraordinary gaine,” was driving a trade on his own account much -farther to the west in Long Island Sound. Oldham did business with -both the Pequots and the Narragansetts, the latter taking so kindly -to him and his trucking goods that they offered him free land for the -establishment of a permanent trading post among them.</p> - -<p>Three years later however, on a trading voyage in the Sound, Oldham was -murdered at Block Island by Indians under Pequot control. His boat was -plundered and two English boys with him at the time were carried off -into captivity. This episode fused the Pequot War, the chief results of -which was a bloody purge by the New Englanders that cleared the shores -of the Sound for settlement.</p> - -<p>The campaign commenced against the Pequots in 1637 quickly became a -hundredfold more terrible than the murderous episode the white men set -out originally to avenge. Under the leadership of Captain John Endicott -of Massachusetts, a devastating blow was first delivered at Block -Island. A hundred men went there with him in three ships. They burned -the native wigwams, spoiled the corn, and slew all the Indians they -could catch. Then they repaired to the mainland, where they invaded the -heart of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> Pequot country and repeated their brutal chastisement of -the red men.</p> - -<p>This grim Puritan punishment came close to uniting all the Indians in -those parts against the English. Only the diplomacy of Roger Williams, -who traded for furs with the Narragansetts while preaching the gospel, -prevented the great Narragansett tribe from joining the Pequots in the -fierce revenge they now took against any isolated Englishmen they could -find. Meanwhile the Pequots scourged the countryside—until, by a final -campaign, the New Englanders set out to remove this powerful tribe from -the face of the earth!</p> - -<p>An army composed mostly of mercenary savages was assembled by the -Englishmen for this gory task. It originated with a party of ninety -white men from the Connecticut River towns under the command of John -Mason. Together with an equal number of Mohegans, they went down to -Fort Saybrook to meet Captain John Underhill who had been sent from -Massachusetts with twenty soldiers. This nucleous force then proceeded -to the Bay of the Narragansetts where it was joined by some 500 of -those savages, all bent on scalps and loot. From the bay the army -marched overland to the Mystic River to attack one of the chief Pequot -towns, occupied at the time by some six or seven hundred men, women and -children.</p> - -<p>The English and their Indian allies took the inhabitants of the town -by surprise. They put the torch to the wigwams before the sleeping -natives could offer any resistance. All who were not burned to death -were slaughtered as they tried to escape—all except seven who managed -to escape and seven others who were taken captive. It was a terrible -affair—for the Pequots. Only two Englishmen died in the encounter.</p> - -<p>Another main body of the Pequots was routed soon afterward. But that -did not end the bloody harassment. A month later, a large force from -Massachusetts under Captain Stoughton, together with Captain Mason’s -Connecticut men, surrounded all that remained of the once powerful -tribe. This occurred in a swamp at Fairfield where the remnant of the -tribe had taken refuge. The warriors put up a brave fight, but the odds -were too great against them. Those few who escaped this final butchery<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> -were divided among the Mohegans and the Narragansetts, never more to be -called Pequots.</p> - -<p>The shores of the Sound west of Fort Saybrook were open now to -settlers. A wave of migration from Boston resulted in the founding of -New Haven, Stratford, Norwalk, Stamford, and other towns. The New Haven -people, forming their own government, even spread across the Sound -to Long Island which, of course, had long been occupied only by the -Hollanders, whose traders exploited the natives there for the wampum so -essential in the beaver trade.</p> - -<p>To halt this encroachment on the very nerve center of their trading -territory, the Dutch hurriedly purchased from the Indians all the -country that remained open between Manhattan and the oncoming English, -acquiring legal title to additional lands on Long Island as far west -as Oyster Bay as well as to all that triangle of territory between the -Hudson and the Sound south of Norwalk. The latter comprised much of -present Westchester County. However the English encroachment along the -north shore of the Sound, as a practical matter, was halted no farther -east than Greenwich.</p> - -<p>Only in the Narragansett country, after 1640, did the Dutch hang on to -any substantial beaver trade east of Greenwich. Rhode Island, by then -well populated with Englishmen, tried to keep them out. However, the -Dutch simply supplied the Indians there more generously with rum and -guns—in return for beaver. So did some interloping but enterprising -Frenchmen. And so did some of the New Englanders themselves, for that -matter. Nowhere was the competition for beaver more keen or more -dangerous than in Rhode Island.</p> - -<p>English laws at the time sincerely prohibited the sale of liquor or -firearms to the savages. But such laws were difficult to enforce on a -wild frontier where uncontrolled profits could be scooped up so easily. -Roger Williams was later to write that he had “refused the gain of -thousands by such a murderous trade.” Some of his neighbors in the -wilderness and even some of his own trading associates had no such -scruples however.</p> - -<p>Richard Smith who became wealthy on the Indian trade was a man of -this stripe. He and Roger Williams, along with John<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> Wilcox, “a -sturring, driving, somewhat unscrupulous fellow,” began trading in the -Narragansett country as early as 1637. Each of them built trucking -houses on the much-traveled Pequot and Narragansett Trail at the site -of present-day Wickford. As trading practices sharpened over the years, -neither Smith nor Wilcox hesitated to meet the increasing demands of -the natives for liquor and powder. Williams was revolted. In 1651, -when he was about to go to England, he sold his house and trading -interests to Smith for 50 pounds sterling. That left Smith without any -competition for this lucrative fur trade, as he had bought out Wilcox -some years earlier.</p> - -<p>Men like Smith and Wilcox furnished tinder for many flaming atrocities -in Rhode Island. But their murderous trade was “the most profitable -employment in these parts of America ... by which many persons of mean -degree advanced to considerable estates.” Rhode Island was truly one of -the most fertile of all beaver grounds—while it lasted. That was until -1660. By then the beaver was all but exhausted, while, with the help -of the white man’s goods, the Indian trapper was well on the way to -destroying himself too.</p> - -<p>It had been the same of course on every fur frontier in America. In -Rhode Island the fateful process of the aborigine’s extinction was -just exaggerated in dreadful degree. As native drinking increased, -atrocities mounted and bloody retaliation followed. Yet, in spite of -this terrible situation, the English themselves came to recognize wine -and spirits as the chief staple of the Indian trade, while futilely -putting new laws on their books intended to limit the natives’ -consumption!</p> - -<p>For their part the Hollanders never had any compunction about -distributing hot waters or firearms among the savage neighbors of the -New Englanders, who after all seemed bent on taking over all of New -Netherland. Protected by ships, of which the Rhode Islanders had none, -the Hollanders drove a continuing trade at their long-established posts -in Narragansett Bay, especially at Dutchmen’s Island which they had -fortified. As late as 1647 the natives were transporting their pelts -in canoes to Dutchmen’s Island, where it was said they could lay in -a supply of strong waters sufficient to keep an Indian village in an -uproar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> for a week and acquire all the guns and powder they wanted. -And the Dutch continued to trade in the bay for some years after that, -until the beaver of Rhode Island was almost exhausted.</p> - -<p>In fact at no time, until 1650, did the New Netherlanders give up any -part of their claims south of Cape Cod, even though they hadn’t been -able to stem the overland flood of English traders and settlers. In -1647 they did seize an Amsterdam ship, trading at New Haven without a -license from the Dutch West India Company, and brought her into New -Amsterdam where she was confiscated in spite of excited protests from -New Haven. On land, however, they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. -Furthermore, troubles at home, especially with the savages, kept them -close to the valley of the Hudson after 1640.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Curiously enough, the New Netherlanders’ troubles at home beginning in -1640 sprang largely from their sale of firearms to the distant Iroquois.</p> - -<p>These lake country Indians, with practically inexhaustible supplies of -the finest beaver, thought nothing of offering as many as twenty heavy -skins in exchange for a musket. The great profit in this traffic had -proved irresistible to the Dutchmen. So the authorities at Manhattan -often winked at the illegal purveyance of arms and powder by their -traders to such faraway savages. If their consciences bothered them at -all, they were comforted by the knowledge that their Iroquois allies -maintained a bulwark against competitive traders from French Canada, as -well as against the enveloping English.</p> - -<p>At the same time however, prompted strictly by self-preservation, the -New Netherlanders clamped down hard on any “bosch-lopers” who sold -arms among their Algonquin neighbors. This was good policy for the -Hollanders of course, but it left the river tribes at the complete -mercy of their ancient and terrible Iroquois enemies, especially the -Mohawks, who descended upon them periodically to collect taxes.</p> - -<p>Added to this touchy situation was the asininity of a reckless Dutch -governor, one William Kieft, who himself attempted to collect taxes -from these same river Indians for the support of his fortifications on -Manhattan. When he adopted wholesale butchery<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> and the surprise tactics -of the Iroquois to enforce his demands for tribute, things became -explosive. The Dutch found themselves waging a sanguinary five-year war -against local tribes who in turn managed to terrorize Manhattan and the -surrounding plantations.</p> - -<p>This war, though sporadic and spotty, was fought with a thirst for -blood on both sides. Massacres and other atrocities were committed by -reds and whites alike, as the Indian league against the Hollanders -spread up the Hudson above the Highlands. In 1643 a shallop coming down -from Fort Orange with four hundred beaver skins taken in trade with -the Mohawks was plundered, to signal a general massacre that resulted -in the virtual evacuation of all the outlying plantations in the lower -valley as surviving colonists fled to Fort Amsterdam.</p> - -<p>It took a final annihilating blow, no less terrible than the recent -English offensive against the Pequots, to end the war. And it was -Captain John Underhill who delivered it with the same dreadful -efficiency he had demonstrated during the Pequot campaign. Underhill, -now a Boston “heretic” living under the jurisdiction of the West India -Company, led 150 Dutch soldiers into the mountainous region north -of Stamford where the remnant of the Indian league against the New -Netherlanders had a strongly palisaded town. When it was all over 700 -Indian corpses darkened the snow. The Dutch lost 15 men.</p> - -<p>Only Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s patroonship far up the Hudson was spared -the tomahawk during these Indian troubles. There, where the shrewd -Amsterdam jeweler had purchased lands about Fort Orange embracing most -of two present-day New York counties, the neighboring Mohawk allies of -the Dutch provided complete protection from Algonquin depredations. -While all was pandemonium on the lower river, both agriculture and -trade flourished at Rensselaerwyck.</p> - -<p>Nowhere in New Netherland, in fact, was there a livelier trade in -pelts then or at any other time than at Van Rensselaer’s manor. And -nowhere was this trade more unlicensed. In 1644 it was estimated that -between three and four thousand furs had been carried off the manor -illegally during a twelve month period. That is, illegally carried off -in the eyes of the patroon, although<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> he himself was shipping out pelts -illegally as far as the authorities at Manhattan were concerned.</p> - -<p>Van Rensselaer, however, recognized no jurisdiction from that quarter. -He asserted that he held his patroonship directly from the States -General and that he would buy and ship furs as he pleased without -regard to any laws or taxes proclaimed by the West India Company’s -representatives at New Amsterdam. And so he did.</p> - -<p>He even built a fort of his own on a Hudson River island where he -emphasized the independence of his feudal domain by enforcing the -medieval principle of “staple right.” Every passing vessel, except -those of the Dutch West India Company, must pay duty or deposit its -cargo of pelts ashore where the patroon might buy these “staples” on -his own terms. The skippers must strike their colors too, in homage to -the lord of Rensselaerwyck.</p> - -<p>Van Rensselaer also made it clear that company as well as private fur -traders were to keep off his property. This caused much bitterness. -Fort Orange, about which the patroon had established his domain, was -the official post of the Dutch West India Company, the emporium where -their traders traditionally bartered for beaver with the Iroquois. -After Rensselaerwyck was established Fort Orange continued to be -the commercial center of this profitable trade, so much so that the -flourishing little trading village which sprang up there under the -very cannon of the fort, and which was to grow into the strategically -important city of Albany, was originally christened Beverwyck. Kiliaen -van Rensselaer of course had no jurisdiction over Fort Orange, the -company’s private precinct, but he considered Beverwyck within his -domain. The resulting rivalry between his traders and the company’s -representatives, with guns for the savages as bait for beaver, was -anything but neighborly.</p> - -<p>The company’s management at Manhattan only quickened the tension when -on occasion the authorities there confiscated firearms en route to the -patroon of Rensselaerwyck. In one case, in 1644, a ship out of Holland -for Rensselaerwyck was discovered to be carrying 4,000 pounds of powder -and 700 guns intended for the Indian trade, and these munitions were -seized with considerable show of propriety. But what then happened to -them is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> not stated, although one well-informed old chronicler suggests -that they got along probably in due course to the Iroquois as usual -in return for their precious beaver. In any event, the confiscation -represented only one slight interruption in the continuous flow of -these murderous trade goods to the lake-country Indians.</p> - -<p>The feud between the company and the patroonship on the upper Hudson -really settled down to cases in 1648 after Kiliaen van Rensselaer -died and his young son’s contumacious new commissary, Brandt van -Slechtenhorst, took over the management of Rensselaerwyck. For, in the -meantime, that little snappish captain, Peter Stuyvesant, had arrived -in New Netherland as the West India Company’s Director General.</p> - -<p>Stuyvesant was by way of being a reformer, so long as the reforms were -in the company’s trade interests. One of his first acts to attract more -settlers was to permit the popular election of “Nine Men” who, when -called upon, were to assist the governor and the council in matters -concerning the general welfare. But when the “Nine Men” proposed to -serve the general welfare without being called upon by the governor, -Peter Stuyvesant proceeded to knock them down. And when the right of -appeal to the home government was suggested, the governor stamped about -arrogantly on his pegleg and dared anyone to try it. He said he would -make the appealer “a foot shorter, pack the pieces off to Holland, and -let him appeal in that way!”</p> - -<p>Brutally dictatorial though he may have been, the new governor was -earnest nevertheless in all things, reforms included. He took very -effective steps, for instance, to check the smuggling of beaver into -New England where it could be traded tax-free for European goods. And, -while setting up tighter export controls, he also increased the tax -on furs. Furthermore, he not only forbade the sale of liquor to the -natives but he tried his best to enforce the contraband on firearms for -use as trade goods.</p> - -<p>Naturally, such policies were obnoxious at Rensselaerwyck, where -gun-running was popular and company taxes were not. There too the -commissary, Brandt van Slechtenhorst, headstrong in pretensions -to complete independence of the company, was itching to prove his -insubordination.</p> - -<p>So, when Stuyvesant, with his penchant for issuing autocratic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> -proclamations, decreed a certain fast day not to van Slechtenhorst’s -liking, the Commissary of Rensselaerwyck pounced upon it, rejecting it -as an invasion of “the right and authority of the Lord Patroon.” When -the governor went up the river to challenge his adversary he was met -with open defiance.</p> - -<p>It was Stuyvesant’s edict then that “no new ordinances affecting trade -or commerce within the colony were to be made, unless with the assent -of the provincial authorities.” Also, with regard to the company’s -jealously guarded “precincts” about Fort Orange, no more buildings -were to be erected at Beverwyck within range of the guns of the -fortifications. Such encroachments on the company’s precincts rendered -the fort insecure, the governor claimed. And further, he ordered, the -wooden palisades of the fort were to be replaced with a stone wall, the -stone to be quarried on an adjoining tract of land.</p> - -<p>Van Slechtenhorst’s reply to all this was that he would build wherever -he pleased because all the land around belonged to the patroon. He -noted sarcastically that the patroon’s own trading house had once -stood on the very border of the fort’s moat. No sooner had Stuyvesant -departed than the wilful commissary went right ahead erecting houses, -“even within pistol shot” of the palisades. Furthermore, he forbade the -quarrying of stone for new walls to replace the palisades.</p> - -<p>The feud, continuing unabated, was eventually referred to Holland where -the States General sustained the Governor of New Netherland on every -point. Although by this action the aspirations of the patroonship -for independence were dashed beyond hope, van Slechtenhorst resisted -stubbornly until 1652, when he was arrested and transported down to -Manhattan. In the end also, the village of Beverwyck was officially -declared free, to become a part of the “precincts” of Fort Orange.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, for Governor Stuyvesant, there was the more vital problem of -the New Englanders who were hungrily gnawing away at Dutch fur trading -territory.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XVI">XVI<br /><i>The English Close Their Coastal Ranks</i></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_a.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">All</span> during the trouble he was having with the patroon on the upper -Hudson, Peter Stuyvesant was conducting a diplomatic holding action -against the mounting pressure on his New England front. This was no -easy task in the face of the darkening international situation abroad. -After Charles I of England was beheaded in 1649, Cromwell’s jealousy -of Dutch commerce had become threateningly obvious. War between the -two nations was imminent. And Stuyvesant well knew that the “United -Colonies of New England,” even without Cromwell’s soldiers, could -overrun New Netherland with ease if they took concerted action. That -possibility had been implicit in the founding purpose of their alliance -in 1643.</p> - -<p>It was a fact that defense against the Indians had motivated the New -Englanders not much more than the animosity they nurtured against their -Dutch neighbors, an animosity born of rivalry for the fur trade. After -the alliance, English fur factors became even more aggressive. The men -of New Haven, who were especially bitter about being cut off from the -Indian trade, boldly encroached on Dutch preserves when they ascended -the Housatonic valley and set up a trucking station on the Naugatuck -River within sixty miles of Fort Orange. And traders from the upper -Connecticut valley probed deeply into traditional Dutch territory in -their efforts to tap the beaver stores of the Iroquois.</p> - -<p>But, in the years immediately following the formation of the league, -there was not enough unanimity of purpose among the New Englanders to -attack the foreigners who were standing in the way of their expanding -beaver traffic. For one thing, at that time, the dominant member of -the confederation was not too directly affected by Dutch resistance. -Massachusetts’ main inland fur traffic from Boston did not approach -Dutch territory,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> and her chief fur merchant, Simon Willard of Concord, -who spearheaded this traffic up the Merrimac River had yet to reach -even Lake Winnepesaukee, itself far separated from New Netherland -frontiers by natural boundaries.</p> - -<p>Of course all New Englanders protested about the “murderous” Dutch -trade in arms for beaver. William Pynchon protested even about the -Hollanders supplying the distant Iroquois with firearms. But since all -the colonies of the confederation were guilty in some degree of this -practice, it is questionable whether the complaints sprang as much from -moral considerations as they did from vexation over the diversion of -beaver pelts to the more freehanded Hollanders.</p> - -<p>In any case, while the New Englanders protested so virtuously about -the Dutch trade in firearms, they complained strenuously also about -Stuyvesant’s new excises on furs, and they took the occasion to pass -laws excluding the Hollanders from any trade with Indians under -their jurisdiction. Their jurisdiction, it seemed, now comprehended -everything along the coast east of Greenwich and unlimited claims to -the interior. This brought about a diplomatic showdown.</p> - -<p>Governor Stuyvesant, in high bluff, journeyed to Hartford in 1650 for -a meeting with the Commissioners of the United Colonies. He offered a -valiant front, opening the negotiations with a letter of considerations -signed at Hartford but dated “in New Netherland.” When the New -England commissioners took exception, Stuyvesant explained that, as -the substance of the letter was agreed upon in Council at Manhattan, -it was so dated. However, if the commissioners would cease speaking -of Hartford “in New England,” he would not date his letters “in New -Netherland.”</p> - -<p>This was not to be his only retreat. His territorial claims east -along the coast retreated from Cape Cod to Greenwich in the face of -accomplished fact. And he could only agree to a stabilization of the -border between New England and New Netherland at about where it had -been fixed already by English traders. Roughly, this was a line running -northerly from the vicinity of Greenwich that was at no point to come -within ten miles of Hudson’s River. The only Dutch reservation east of -that line was the Fort Good Hope trading post.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span></p> - -<p>It was all very humiliating. However it appeared to have the redeeming -feature of halting by treaty any further encroachment on the heart of -the Dutch trading preserves. The all-important Iroquois trade was saved.</p> - -<p>But only for the time being, as it turned out. Significantly enough, -although the treaty signed at Hartford was eventually ratified by the -States General in Holland, the English government never did get around -to doing so. It wasn’t necessary. England planned to take all of New -Netherland, in due time.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the pressure on New Netherland was renewed, while the treaty -itself was violated, even repudiated, by the New Englanders.</p> - -<p>To begin with, Cromwell’s Navigation Act was passed in 1651. It decreed -that goods imported into England must come in English ships or ships -belonging to the country in which the goods were produced. Since this -was specifically directed against the Dutch carrying trade, it soon -plunged England and Holland into a naval war, from which England may be -said to have emerged the victor even though she was soundly thrashed at -sea. But, although the British fleet had to take refuge in the Thames -while an exulting Dutch admiral sailed up and down the Channel with -a broom tied to the masthead of his flagship, the Navigation Act was -maintained in force.</p> - -<p>While all this was going on overseas, New Haven and Connecticut -clamored for the conquest of their “noxious” Dutch neighbors. -So alarmed was Peter Stuyvesant in 1653 that he made last-ditch -preparations for the coming English onslaught. It was at this time -that the famous wall of palisades was built along the line of what -is still called “Wall” Street. This pale was intended to hinder any -possible land envelopment of New Amsterdam by the English. But once -again Massachusetts held back. She prevented outright war in America by -refusing to join in a military offensive against New Netherland.</p> - -<p>The boundaries set up by the Treaty of Hartford were violated however. -By 1655 the English had pushed across the line at Greenwich, well into -present-day Westchester County. By 1659 Massachusetts itself was ready -to repudiate the treaty.</p> - -<p>In that year, it appears, the Hollanders made the mistake of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> -objecting too vigorously to being divested of the bulk of their -beaver trade by Boston merchants. The Bay Colony, claiming unlimited -western boundaries, had granted a tract in the Hudson valley to -merchants interested in establishing a fur trading post close by Fort -Orange itself. Then, as if this was not offensive enough to the New -Netherlanders, the Boston men boldly requested free use of the Hudson -River waterway to reach their new property. The overland route was too -difficult, they explained.</p> - -<p>When Peter Stuyvesant angrily refused this request the Boston traders -persisted, bringing their case before the Commissioners of the United -Colonies. Whereupon those gentlemen announced airily that “The -agreement at Hartford that the English should not come within ten miles -of Hudson’s River, doth not prejudice the rights of the Massachusetts -in the upland country, nor give any rights to the Dutch there!” Only -the excitement generated by the Restoration in England quelled the -ensuing controversy long enough to forestall a local conflict.</p> - -<p>This same year, only four years after the Dutch conquest of New Sweden, -English pressure commenced from the south. There, Governor Fendall -of Lord Baltimore’s Maryland colony was invading the Delaware valley -with men and ultimatums. He demanded that “the pretended Governor of -a people seated in Delaware Bay, within his Lordship’s Province ... -depart forth!” Otherwise, he declaimed, that part of his lordship’s -province “would be reduced to its due obedience under him.”</p> - -<p>Stuyvesant, of course, refuted the Maryland claim. He pointed out -that Lord Baltimore’s patent gave him rights only to lands hitherto -uncultivated by Christians. But the English pressure in that quarter, -once commenced, was maintained with the same stubborn persistence as -that on the New England front. The British were closing their ranks on -the eastern seaboard of America. The squeeze was on New Netherland.</p> - -<p>The Dutch governor fought desperately for the life of his colony. He -had been plagued with Indian uprisings in the valley of the Hudson, -pirates in Long Island Sound and English plotters in New Amsterdam -itself. Now the very life’s breath of his colony was being squeezed -out, for, in addition to the loss of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> Indian trade to the trespassing -Englishmen, Peter Stuyvesant also had to contend with the stifling -effects of the new British Navigation Acts. These laws had not been -relaxed in any degree since Cromwell’s death. On the contrary, they had -been tightened upon the restoration of the crown.</p> - -<p>But, since the Navigation Acts were almost as obnoxious to the English -colonies as they were to the Dutch, ways were found in America to -circumvent them. Intercolonial trade practices developed that soon -baffled the monopoly-minded merchants of London and Bristol. Stuyvesant -discovered, for instance, that he could exchange negroes and “other -merchandise” for Virginia tobacco, and then reship the English product -via New Amsterdam. Thus, goods intended for British bottoms were being -carried by the Dutch to foreign markets, in spite of the English -navigation laws.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances, from the British viewpoint, there was -only one thing left to do. Whatever remained of Dutch authority and -jurisdiction in America would have to be stamped out by military force. -To accomplish this the English had only to take the Hudson River. It -was not only the main highway to the fur stores of the Iroquois, it was -the key to military control of the continent. And it could be seized at -small cost, the Council of Foreign Plantations suggested.</p> - -<p>Whereupon James, Duke of York, persuaded his brother, Charles II, -to grant him title to various lands in America including all the -territory between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers, and to finance -an expedition against New Amsterdam. The English did not bother even to -declare war, since, as the king curiously put it, New Amsterdam “did -belong to England before, but the Dutch drove our people out of it.” A -conglomeration of assumptions hardly warranted by any facts!</p> - -<p>Someone has written that the conquest of New Netherland by the force -sent out by the Duke of York was “a mere bit of bellicose etiquette.” -Others have been more direct, calling it “bold robbery.” In any case, -when Colonel Richard Nicolls arrived off Fort Amsterdam in the late -summer of 1664, with four frigates and five times the fire power of -Stuyvesant’s guns, New Amsterdam became New York without a shot being -fired.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> So did Fort Orange up the river. It only remained then for -Sir Robert Carr to descend upon the Delaware settlements to force the -allegiance of all those seated there, and New Netherland ceased to -exist.</p> - -<p>The English had closed ranks on the coasts of America. British colonies -now stretched out in line, unbroken by foreigners, from Spanish Florida -to French Canada—one united front—for trade, for war.</p> - -<p>British demands at Fort Amsterdam having proved to be moderate, -the Dutch remained as good subjects, thus establishing the early -cosmopolitan character of Manhattan. Many of the burghers had openly -sided with the English anyway during the surrender negotiations, -apparently with the happy prospect of ridding themselves of their -waspish little governor. Stuyvesant himself, retiring to private life, -developed a warm friendship with his English successor, Governor -Nicolls, each apparently holding the other in high esteem.</p> - -<p>And, in the official seal of New York, full recognition was given to -the little furred animal that had so properly occupied a prominent -place in the seal of the Dutch colony. <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Castor canadensis</i> -appeared twice, in fact, within the shield of the British seal. Even -after the American Revolution, after the eagle had supplanted the -crown in the seal of New York, these two beavers remained there as a -permanent reminder of the important role of fur in the genesis of our -greatest port.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="XVII">XVII<br /><i>Westward the Fur Frontier of America</i></h2> -</div> - - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dc_w.jpg" width="100" height="113" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="upper-case">With</span> the elimination of New Netherland in 1664 the main obstacle to -British colonial policy had been removed. Laws providing for a more -closely knit relationship between the colonies and the mother country, -such as the Navigation Acts, could be enforced. Soldiers now backed -up the merchants. Indeed, from this time the expansion of England’s -imperial trade system in America would proceed at the point of a gun.</p> - -<p>That it would expand however, and solidly, was because the English had -what it took in addition to guns. They possessed all those stubborn -qualities required of true empire builders, of colonizers. The farmers -who pressed hard behind the fur traders were land-hungry, persistent -and numerous. They kept the beaver traders, and the soldiers, on the -move.</p> - -<p>Although the English flag waved over America in 1664 from Spanish -Florida to French Canada, it was planted only along the coast. The -farthest inland post was Fort Albany on the Hudson, formerly Dutch Fort -Orange. Beyond that, however, lay the boundless hinterland, a seemingly -inexhaustible fur frontier to be rolled westward toward the South Sea, -toward China!</p> - -<p>Of course there was the matter of protecting the English flanks against -the Spaniards and the French. On the left flank, in the south, this had -been accomplished by the Carolina Patent which extended England’s claim -in those parts far below Cape Fear to 31°, and later even farther, -although Spain did manage to keep the border north of its stronghold -at <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Augustine. On the right flank the French coastal boundary had -been neatly settled, or so the British colonials thought, when the -northernmost limit of the widely scattered lands granted to the Duke of -York was placed at the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix River, roughly 45°, which had been -England’s traditional claim there.</p> - - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img005"> - <img src="images/005.jpg" class="w50" alt="THE TRADERS KEPT PUSHING THEIR BIRCH-BARK CANOES DEEPER -INTO THE WILDERNESS." /> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">THE TRADERS KEPT PUSHING THEIR BIRCH-BARK CANOES DEEPER -INTO THE WILDERNESS.<br /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span></p> - -<p>Then, too, there was the matter of the French traders already in the -northwestern hinterland. But, since England had inherited the Dutch -trade with the Iroquois, those fierce savages were counted upon to act -as buffer allies in the interior, to keep the French trade routes north -of the lake country.</p> - -<p>It was quite a surprise therefore to the British colonials when their -penetration of the interior had hardly begun before Frenchmen were -harassing their right flank. Their coastal border on the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix -River was forced back once more below the Penobscot, while in the -interior the Mohawk valley itself was raided by French troops trying to -wrest more southerly routes from the Iroquois.</p> - -<p>And this was only the beginning of a bloody rivalry between the English -and the French for fur and dominion in America, a rivalry that would -keep the evershifting borders aflame for almost a hundred years—to -culminate finally in the decisive French and Indian War of the -eighteenth century.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Frenchmen of the seventeenth century who followed the paths blazed -by Samuel de Champlain had extended those paths farther and farther -into the hinterland. Fur traders, explorers, soldiers, and Catholic -priests who not infrequently bent to the paddles for discovery entirely -on their own, all took part in this invasion of America.</p> - -<p>Of course the Frenchmen who came to America were not colonizers, not -true empire builders. There were few farmers among them. In the main -they were adventurers. But they had grand plans, and they knew how to -strike bargains and make treaties with the natives. So, although their -lines of communication were much too thinly held, they kept pushing -their birch-bark canoes deeper into the wilderness for trade and -dominion.</p> - -<p>In 1634, one of Champlain’s interpreters, Jean Nicollet, voyaged across -the waters of Lake Michigan to establish trade with the natives in the -Wisconsin region. He had supposed they would be an Oriental people, -and his appearance at Green Bay in a damask gown richly embroidered in -the Chinese manner impressed the Dacotahs no less than the thunder and -lightning of his pistol. Believing him to be a white god, the savages -were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> humbly acquiescent to Nicollet’s demand for skins, and he took -full profit from the situation.</p> - -<p>In another twenty-five years two intrepid fur-traders, Pierre -Exprit Radisson and his sister’s husband Medard Chouart, Sieur des -Grosseilliers, had looked upon the waters of the upper Mississippi -River. Trading and hunting with the Sioux, they explored much of the -vast country between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. On this -same expedition, it would appear, while his partner was ill in winter -camp, Radisson investigated the region about Lake Superior and learned -of Cree trade routes from that lake to the Great Bay of the North -(Hudson’s Bay). In the end, after many blood-curdling adventures, -he and his brother-in-law returned home to Three Rivers on the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence with a fortune in beaver skins.</p> - -<p>They were soon off again, however, on another extended trading -expedition, this time to build a palisaded fort among savage tribes -living north of Lake Superior and eventually to cross the wilderness -to Hudson’s Bay. Radisson’s account of the perils encountered on this -venture puts one in mind of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece—and -the tale’s denouement is no less reminiscent of that ancient Greek -legend. In any case, the brothers-in-law took along a particularly -fine supply of merchandise on this expedition into what is now -northwestern Ontario—knives, hatchets and swords, ivory combs and tin -looking-glasses, awls, and needles—all those things designed to send -the red men in breathless pursuit of beaver. And, when they returned -home, they had the greatest single cargo of pelts ever before seen -in America. Their convoy included a great fleet of fur-laden canoes, -requiring hundreds of Indians to paddle them.</p> - -<p>Such a kingly treasure was too much for the grasping French governor -at Quebec to resist. What he couldn’t take away from Radisson and -Des Grosseilliers in taxes he took away in fines. This, he informed -them, was because they had gone on their journey without his personal -permission. The share left for the two traders, who had taken the -risks, opened the country and brought back the beaver, hardly -compensated them for their labor. They quit Canada in disgust to cast -their lot with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> English, the important consequence of which was the -birth of the great Hudson’s Bay Company.</p> - -<p>Radisson and his brother-in-law first spent some time trying to -interest merchants in Nova Scotia, then under British control, in -establishing a fur trading post on Hudson’s Bay. An expedition did set -out in an English ship but the captain turned back on encountering ice -floes, due to the lateness of the season. Then the Frenchmen went to -Boston, where they gained considerable interest in their project but -not enough capital to launch it. Finally, in England, they obtained -sufficient backing from Prince Rupert, cousin of King Charles II, to -finance such a costly adventure.</p> - -<p>In 1668 a trading post was established “at the bottom of Hudson’s Bay,” -in the southernmost part of James Bay, and the first cargo of furs to -arrive in England was magnificent enough to insure a royal charter. -The king granted domain over all the vast area drained by waters -flowing into Hudson’s Bay to Prince Rupert and seventeen associates, -incorporating them in 1670 as the “Governor and Company of Adventurers -of England Trading in Hudson’s Bay.” These merchant adventurers became -virtual rulers over “Rupert’s Land,” approximately 1,400,000 square -miles of territory, and so their successors of the Hudson’s Bay Company -were to be for over 200 years.</p> - -<p>After the English became entrenched on Hudson’s Bay, furs were diverted -to them that otherwise would have been collected by the French. In time -French traders became aggravated enough to make repeated attacks on -the rival posts. Attempts to dislodge the English from the bay proved -futile however. Although the “Honorable Company,” as the Hudson’s Bay -Company was to become known, moved ponderously at times due to its -conservative absentee directorship in England, it managed to endure and -to expand at the expense of the French. In fact, it was destined to -become the world’s largest fur trading organization. It would shift the -course of trade to London, to make it the center of the western world’s -fur market.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the adventurous French were spurred on by the discovery of -the upper Mississippi. Radisson called the Mississippi, in conjunction -with the Missouri, the Forked River “because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> it has two branches, the -one towards the west, the other towards the south, which we believe -runs toward Mexico.” Jesuit priests, probing the hinterland, wrote that -the savages assured them the Mississippi was “so noble a river that, at -more than three hundred leagues’ distance from its mouth, it is larger -than the one flowing before Quebec; for they declare it is more than a -league wide.... Some warriors of this country, who tell us that they -have made their way thither, declare that they saw there men resembling -the French, who were splitting trees with long knives, and that some -of them had houses on the water—for they thus expressed themselves in -speaking of sawed boards and Ships”—and Spaniards!</p> - -<p>Already, young Louis XIV had considered occupying the mouths of -continental rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico to threaten the -Spanish possessions there. If Radisson’s Forked River was really one of -these waterways, the strategic value of such a move would be immensely -enhanced. It would provide a backside approach from New France, an -interior line of communications safe from Spanish attack. It was an -intriguing prospect, to say the least.</p> - -<p>Then, in 1673, a fur trader and mine prospector named Louis Joliet -together with a Jesuit priest, Father Jacques Marquette, descended the -Mississippi far enough to learn that it assuredly did flow into the -Gulf of Mexico. Whereupon the French not only tasted the stimulating -prospect of threatening Spanish possessions there, they excitedly -envisioned an inland empire of trading citadels stretching from the -Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence, through the Great Lakes and the Mississippi -Valley, to the Gulf of Mexico. The continent would be theirs, with -great ports of entry at the distantly separated mouths of the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> -Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers. The English colonies would be -completely encircled—to be pinned down on the coast, or eliminated!</p> - -<p>Chief among those who developed this grand commercial strategy for -dominion over the heart of America was Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la -Salle, who as Commandant of Fort Frontenac at the western outlet of -Lake Ontario had built up a thriving trade with the northwestern -savages. Much to the annoyance of the Iroquois he furnished these -Algonquin tribes with guns,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> powder and lead, as well as less deadly -goods, in return for their furs. La Salle’s profits from this commerce -were huge. But he was an eager young man. The prospect of an enormous -trade for buffalo hides, deerskins, beaver, bear, otter and raccoon -in the Mississippi valley beckoned him to conquest. In 1678, on his -promise to King Louis that he would Christianize the natives, establish -a line of forts from the lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi and open -a direct route to France through the Gulf of Mexico, he was granted a -monopolistic trade patent to all the lands drained by the mighty river.</p> - -<p>It was to be four years however before La Salle reached the mouth of -the Mississippi, even on an initial exploratory expedition, for he was -to make one false start after another.</p> - -<p>If the Iroquois had been unhappy before, they were more so when La -Salle, entering into his new domain, palisaded a trading post called -Fort Crevecouer—the present site of Peoria, Illinois. They almost -annihilated the Illinois with whom the Frenchmen were trading there, -this being one of the tribes over which the Five Nations maintained -their tyrannous lordship. Henri de Tonti, La Salle’s lieutenant in -command of the fort at the time these human tigers descended on their -vassals, was given the choice of being burned along with some Illinois -captives or departing forthwith. He chose to depart. Curiously enough, -however, not without a superb stock of furs for his inconvenience, all -provided for him with typical savage capriciousness.</p> - -<p>There were other opponents with whom La Salle had to contend during -this period of trial. Jesuit priests, who drove a profitable trade for -beaver among the savages while saving souls, objected not only to the -monopoly granted La Salle but to the Franciscan priests who accompanied -him and who competed in both commercial and spiritual fields. And -there were still others who made mischief. <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Coureurs des bois</i>, -those renegade Frenchmen trading in the wilderness without license -and illegally selling their furs to the English at Albany, were not -averse to conspiring against the new monopoly that threatened their -independence. There were hundreds of these savage-like white men, some -originally of the French petty nobility, living among the Indians. Many -of them had squaw wives, no consciences and little compunction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> about -stirring up a war against their own countrymen if it fattened their -pocketbooks.</p> - -<p>In the end, however, La Salle established trading relations with the -western tribes and organized them as allies. To keep the Iroquois off -his back he furnished his red friends with more guns and taught them -how to palisade their villages against the attacks of their fierce -overlords. This done, in 1682 he was able to launch the fleet of canoes -that carried a motley company of some fifty white men and Indians, -including squaws and papooses, to the desolate delta country at the -mouth of the Mississippi River. There, he erected a cross, sang the -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Te Deum</i> and gave the name of “Louisiana” to the vast domain he -now claimed in the name of France. Then he re-embarked with his company -for the Illinois country.</p> - -<p>It was a tortuous voyage back up the river. La Salle sickened and -nearly died. Recovering at last, he went on to France where he -organized and embarked on the expedition that was to end his short but -historic career.</p> - -<p>After setting out for the Gulf of Mexico with a well-equipped fleet of -ships and a full complement of traders and their families, La Salle was -first attacked by the Spaniards; then he failed to locate the mouth -of the Mississippi. In final desperation he built a palisaded fort -hundreds of miles west of his goal on what is now called Matagorda -Bay. In that strange country the young French leader was killed -by discontents among his own men following an argument over the -apportionment of some buffalo meat.</p> - -<p>But La Salle’s grand scheme did not die with him. While the Spaniards, -who carried on a flourishing business in hides in New Mexico, were -not long in searching out all that remained of the French colony and -taking over the neighboring country called “Texas,” they didn’t occupy -the strategic region about the mouth of the Mississippi River. By 1699 -Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, a Canadian, had planted a colony -on Biloxi Bay in what is now Mississippi, and in another three years -a strongly palisaded fort was built close by at Mobile, to become the -capital of Louisiana.</p> - -<p>French trading citadels soon dotted the Mississippi valley—New Orleans -in the delta, Forts Rosalie, Chartres and <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Antoine<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> to comprehend -the length of the great river itself, Fort d’Huiller on the Minnesota, -Pimitoui on the Illinois, and Fort Orleans on the Missouri. Half-breed -camps, conglomerate communities sprang up—Cahokia, Kaskaskia, -Natchez, Natchitoches, and others. The natives, and even the outlawed -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coureurs des bois</i>, found ready, local markets for their peltries -in exchange for trade goods and supplies. And, while deep-laden canoes -and company boats plied the alluvial waters of the Mississippi River to -and from its mouth, ships from France set a course direct to the Gulf -of Mexico—to the new French fur emporium in America.</p> - -<p>In the meantime, the main path of the fur traders, the line of -communication between Canada and Louisiana, was shortened by a -far-sighted Gascon merchant named Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. -When he palisaded his trading citadel at Detroit in 1699, on the -strait connecting Lake Erie and Lake Huron, he brought about such a -concentration of Indian commerce and military power in those parts that -within a few years portages between streams feeding western Lake Erie -and the Ohio River could be effected with relative safety from Iroquois -attack. And, when French fur traders began dipping their paddles in -the Ohio River, thousands of square miles of territory were added to -France’s mid-continent conquest.</p> - -<p>Not only had the French completely encircled the English colonies -strung out along the Atlantic seaboard, they had now begun to spread -their occupation eastward toward the Appalachian Mountains, behind -which they hoped to contain the English permanently.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meanwhile, trail-blazing traders from Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania -and New York had come upon the Appalachians and were searching out that -mountainous barrier to further westward expansion.</p> - -<p>Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, had an especial interest -in the mountains and the country beyond. As agent in America for the -Hudson’s Bay Company he hoped to help break the French monopoly on the -hinterland trade by exploiting the western territory from Virginia. -As early as 1669 he sent out John Lederer, a German, who ranged the -eastern slopes of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> Blue Ridge, north and south, for many miles. -Even before that, Abraham Wood and other traders with commissions from -the governor had bartered far to the southwest among the headwaters of -Carolina coastal rivers.</p> - -<p>They transported their wares on pack horses, 150 to 200 pounds on -each animal, making twenty miles or more a day on their journeys when -forage was plentiful. With guns, powder and shot as prime trade goods -they visited tribes who had previously bartered with the Spaniards of -Florida. They took hatchets, kettles, iron tools, colorful blankets and -a variety of trinkets to villages never before visited by white men. -On these occasions the appearance of that strange animal, the horse, -strung with tinkling bells and packing unbelievable wealth on his back, -created more awe among the savages than the bearded white man himself.</p> - -<p>In 1671 the Virginians crossed the southerly ridges into the New River -valley, and in another two years young Gabriel Arthur opened commerce -with the Cherokees in the terminal hills of the Appalachians. He -and his partner, James Needham, had some extraordinary experiences. -Needham, a much older man of some experience in the Indian trade, was -murdered by the savages on this venture. Arthur himself escaped burning -only through the intervention of a Cherokee chief who, during the midst -of the torture, adopted him into the tribe.</p> - -<p>The Cherokee chief dressed and armed Arthur as a brave and sent him out -with raiding war parties. In the first such instance, the Virginian -seems to have joined willingly enough in a murderous surprise attack -on a Spanish mission settlement in West Florida. In another, he helped -slaughter some sleeping native villagers one night in the vicinity of -Port Royal, South Carolina, on the promise of the Cherokees that no -Englishmen in those parts would be harmed during the raid. Arthur later -said he could tell that one English family was celebrating Christmas -when his war party crept by their hut.</p> - -<p>In still another instance, Arthur went all the way to the banks of the -Ohio with his Cherokee chief to attack a Shawnee village. There he was -badly wounded and captured, but released with some reverence when he -scrubbed himself and exhibited his white skin to the amazed savages. -After making his way back to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> country of his Cherokee friends, the -young Virginian finally returned to his own kind on the James River, -richly laden with furs and trade treaties.</p> - -<p>Henry Woodward, Carolina’s resourceful pioneer, found evidence of the -Virginians’ trade on the backside of Lord Ashley’s proprietary in -1674. Woodward, who saved the fledgling colony at Charles Towne from -bankruptcy by developing a trade in pelts and skins with the hinterland -savages, visited the palisaded village of the Westoes that year. There, -high up the Savannah River, he found the natives already “well provided -with arms, ammunition, tradeing cloath & other trade from ye northward -for which at set times of ye year they truck drest deare skins furrs & -young Indian slaves.”</p> - -<p>Governor Berkeley’s traders were indeed carrying on a highly profitable -commerce. So much so, that in the interests of those profits, it was -claimed, the governor permitted favored hinterland tribes to pillage -Virginia tobacco planters with impunity. In any case Berkeley, who -operated gainfully in his capacity as a British fur factor, did not -respond with enough enthusiasm to the planters’ demands for protection, -and a civil war resulted in 1676 that set back the colony’s economy by -years. The rebellion was led by a fiery, twenty-nine-year-old patriot -named Nathaniel Bacon. Before he died suddenly of a camp malady, Bacon -chased the governor across the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore and -burned Jamestown, the capital of Virginia, to the ground. With Bacon’s -death the revolt collapsed and twenty-three prominent insurgent leaders -were hanged by the governor in an orgy of personal revenge.</p> - -<p>But, if Governor Berkeley had won the war over the fur trade, it was a -merchant at the Falls of the James River who prospered most. There, at -his store, William Byrd maintained a fine stock of calico, red coats, -beads, knives, guns and Barbadian brandy for the pack-traders who -sought out beaver pelts among remote Indian villages in the interior. -So successful was Byrd that by the early 1680’s he dominated the -hinterland trading paths of Virginia and Carolina. From this commerce -he created the fortune that bought enough slaves and tobacco lands to -promote his family to a position among the wealthiest in the colony,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> -while the great hogsheads of pelts that he shipped yearly down the -James River to England contributed in no small way to the support of -Britain’s growing empire.</p> - -<p>Henry Woodward and his Carolinians driving straight west avoided the -trading paths of the Virginians, as well as the Appalachian Mountains, -to invade the preserves of Spanish Florida. This took them to the -headwaters of rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, to the villages -of the Creeks, where the Spaniards had previously monopolized the -trade in deerskins and Indian slaves. The Carolinians diverted much -of this profitable commerce to newly located Charleston. Thousands -upon thousands of deerskins were shipped yearly to England, to be -manufactured into a variety of articles. Hundreds of Indian slaves were -supplied to New England and Virginia, and to Barbados where the rate of -mortality on the hot sugar plantations insured a steady demand.</p> - -<p>Spanish resistance in the south, the extinction of deer and the -elimination of whole tribes of Indians who succumbed to slavery, kept -the Charleston traders pushing ever toward the unknown west, across the -headwaters of the Chattahoochee and the Alabama and into the valley of -the Tennessee River. Before the turn of the century they had reached -the lands of the Chickasaw Indians bordering on the Mississippi River, -where their bright trade goods soon brought in all the available deer -in those parts. There, they were busily helping the Chickasaws make -war on their neighbors, the Choctaws, to procure slaves in lieu of the -skins, when the French arrived.</p> - -<p>French forts and a French alliance with the Choctaws halted this -English advance into the lower valley of the Mississippi. Even so, -the Carolina traders had pushed the English frontier farther west, by -hundreds of miles, than any other colonials would do during the next -half century.</p> - -<p>North of Virginia in the latter part of the seventeenth century the -two major areas of the fur trade among the English colonies were New -England and New York.</p> - -<p>The New England trade, exhausting itself, was on the decline. It had -been blocked from expansion by national and political barriers in -the west and by the hostility of the French in the north.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span> Raids and -counter raids, with the Indians used as allies on both sides, kept the -borders between the French and the New Englanders alive with savage -horrors. And, because of the prolonged hostilities in Europe these -conditions would continue into the next century, until 1763, long after -competition for pelts was no longer a controlling motive in that area.</p> - -<p>The main fur trade of the colonies in the north after the fall of New -Netherland was New York’s hinterland traffic, that which had been -inherited from the Dutch. All wilderness paths led to Albany, even -those made by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coureurs des bois</i> and their copper-hued -families packing their illegal furs to the Hudson when they could not -do business with their own countrymen at Montreal. In 1679, it was -said, there were over 500 of these French renegades living among the -Indians. And to Albany, of course, came not only the beaver of the Five -Nations but the peltries of vassal tribes deep in the hinterland for -whom the Iroquois acted as middlemen.</p> - -<p>The Five Nations were jealous enough of their trade and sovereignty -to visit swift vengeance on any vassals who tried to deal direct -with the white men, as happened to the Illinois in 1680 when those -distant natives sold their pelts to La Salle. For the same reason -they also tried to keep white pack traders from pushing farther into -the west, where they might exchange their wares direct with the less -sophisticated natives. It was a losing battle however.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>By the turn of the century, traders from New York, Pennsylvania and -Virginia were working the Appalachian passes for beaver and otter. In -another twenty years many were squeezing through the more northerly -gaps into the valley of the Ohio River. By then, the pressure of -immigrant families upon the land east of the mountains had commenced in -earnest. Palatine farmers were flowing up the valley of the Mohawk in -great numbers, and land-hungry Ulster Scots were scrambling through the -Susquehanna valley and southward up the Shenandoah.</p> - -<p>The fur trader as usual had searched out the country. Then, while he -was still exploiting it for his own purposes, he had to make way for -the farmer. The two could never blend, not after<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> the frontier began -to roll westward. Farmers spoiled the trade. The pioneer traders could -only move on to more fertile trading grounds, to open new territory -which itself would later be taken up by farmers.</p> - -<p>Of course, Indian titles had to be extinguished before settlers could -legally move into the lands opened up by the fur traders. Some tribes -were a bit troublesome about this detail. The Delaware kicked up an -especially bloody fuss on the Pennsylvania frontier. They had more than -a suspicion that they had been swindled by the “Walking Purchase.”</p> - -<p>When William Penn, the founding proprietor of the Quaker colony, bought -land from the Delaware tribe, the extent of the purchase was limited to -the distance a man could go in 1¹⁄₂ days. But, when the time came in -1737 for Penn’s son to measure this off, he did not have it walked off -as the Indians had presumed it would be done. To cover the distance, -the Quaker employed trained white athletes, runners! It was even -suspected that the white runners may have used horses concealed along -the route, that is, after they were out of sight of the Indians who -panted along behind them full of Penn’s rum, according to some accounts.</p> - -<p>Things settled down rather quickly however when James Logan, that -astute Pennsylvanian who guided the Indian policy of the colony, -treated generously with the Iroquois to keep the Delaware in line. The -Delaware, in fear of their fierce overlords in the north, vacated most -of their lands east of the mountains and joined the equally unhappy -Shawnee in the upper Ohio valley. There they listened malevolently to -French traders and soldiers who promised a red-handed revenge.</p> - -<p>So successful was the Indian policy in general, however, that on the -outbreak of King George’s War in 1744 between England and France, the -Iroquois were cajoled into granting the English practically all the -Ohio valley and sealing the bargain with an alliance to help protect -the property against the French who were already there. In fact, -commissioners from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, meeting with an -Iroquois delegation around the council fire at Lancaster, obtained “a -Deed recognizing the King’s right to all the Lands that are, or shall -be, by his Majesty’s appointment, in the Colony of Virginia.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span></p> - -<p>As far as the Virginians were concerned those lands by ancient charter -stretched all the way to the South Sea, wherever that was, although -they were willing to settle for the Ohio valley for the time being. Nor -did the Quaker colony seriously dispute Virginia’s claim at the time, -even though nearly all of the fur traders beyond the mountains, who -were now aggressively competing with the French, were Pennsylvanians.</p> - -<p>Chief among these was George Croghan. He had not arrived in -Pennsylvania from Dublin until 1741, but he was established in trade -on the Ohio River well before King George’s War. By 1746 he had a -number of storehouses on Lake Erie itself. From the bustling base of -his operations in the 1740’s near Harris Ferry (Harrisburg) on the -Susquehanna, and later from Aughwick farther west, he and his various -partners directed effective attacks on French trade in the Ohio valley.</p> - -<p>Together with his brother-in-law William Trent, and Andrew Montour, -Barney Curran and John Fraser, Croghan controlled fort-like storehouses -about the forks of the Ohio, up the Allegheny and the Youghiogheny, -on the south shore of Lake Erie, at the forks of the Muskingum, and -even on the Scioto and Miami Rivers. From these trading posts, all of -which developed into rude settlements of sorts, the Pennsylvanians -distributed rum, gunpowder, lead and flints, as well as calicoes, -ribbons, colored stockings, kettles, axes, bells, whistles and -looking-glasses. In return, they collected a fine variety of pelts and -skins—beaver, raccoon, otter, muskrat, mink, fisher, fox, deer, elk, -and bear.</p> - -<p>Croghan’s pack traders, at times possibly numbering twenty-five men -and driving a hundred or more mules altogether, followed the Ohio down -to the falls and worked the streams that fed it. They were trading and -fighting in what is now West Virginia and eastern Kentucky almost a -quarter of a century before Daniel Boone. They bartered under the very -guns of French forts, engaging in bloody skirmishes with the French and -Indians and on occasion being taken as captives to Montreal and even to -France.</p> - -<p>Croghan had his English competitors too. There were, for instance, the -five Lowrey brothers, as aggressive and as rugged a lot of rivals as -might have been found on any fur frontier. But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> all the Pennsylvanians -were as one in their persistent encroachment on the French. Backed by -factors in Philadelphia and Lancaster, including Shippen and Lawrence -and the firm of Levy, Franks and Simon, both of which specialized in -the Indian trade and in turn received credit from wealthy merchants of -London and Bristol, these intrepid frontiersmen stubbornly picked away -at the French trade.</p> - -<p>In one respect the Englishmen were fortunate. During King George’s War -the French had trouble getting sufficient trade goods, and many Indians -with whom they had been trading became contemptuous of them. It is said -that, on one occasion, when a Frenchman only offered a single charge -of powder for a beaver skin, the Indian with whom he was bartering -“took up his Hatchet, and knock’d him on the head, and killed him upon -the Spot.” Croghan and his Pennsylvanians took full advantage of the -temporary French embarrassment, building up their annual business in -pelts to a value of some 40,000 pounds sterling.</p> - -<p>It was the prospect of a share in this lucrative trade that motivated -some wealthy Virginians, among them Thomas Lee and the Washingtons, who -conceived the Ohio Company after the Treaty of Lancaster. While acting -as a vehicle to establish England’s claim west of the mountains, the -company as it was finally organized promised future dividends from land -development in those parts. But there was the immediate prospect of -rich gains from the fur trade, and little time was lost in lining up -experienced Indian traders for the project.</p> - -<p>Thomas Cresap, a clever Yorkshireman, who operated a trading post in -the mountains near the junction of the North and South Branches of -the Potomac River, became an organizing member of the Ohio Company. -So lavishly hospitable was Cresap to the Indians and others with whom -he did business that he was known to them as “Big Spoon,” but to his -Pennsylvania trading competitors he was an undercutting Marylander -not above committing murder for a beaver skin. Certain it is that -he had once been carted off in irons, after some “rascality” on the -Maryland-Pennsylvania border, to spend a year in prison at Philadelphia.</p> - -<p>In any case the aristocratic tidewater Virginians counted “Colonel -Cressup” a key member of their Ohio Company. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> Marylander’s trading -paths already led to the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela, and the -Ohio. So, the fort-like establishment he maintained on Virginia’s -northwestern frontier served as a convenient base from which the -company commenced its well-financed operations in the Ohio valley.</p> - -<p>Employed by the company were some former associates of George Croghan. -Among them were Andrew Montour, a colorful half-breed of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coureur des -bois</i> stock, and Croghan’s brother-in-law William Trent. With the -aid of experienced men like these, Thomas Cresap was soon proving his -worth to his tidewater partners and to the British Empire.</p> - -<p>The threat was too obvious to be ignored by the French. They laid plans -to push the English back over the mountains. Already, a French army -detachment, using a traders’ portage between the eastern end of Lake -Erie and Lake Chautauqua, had gone down to the Ohio via the Allegheny -River, planting lead plates along both streams as a warning to -trespassers. Already, French-led and French-inspired Indian raids had -taken the lives of English traders, as well as those of their native -hosts. In one case a prominent Indian chief allied with the English had -been boiled and eaten by some Ottawas led by a French half-breed, all -without discouraging the Englishmen it seemed. Now, in 1753, a French -army of 1,000 men headed down the Allegheny from Canada, to begin -building a line of forts along the line of the previously planted lead -plates.</p> - -<p>Forts were built first at present-day Erie on the lake and at the head -of French Creek to secure a portage. Then, John Frazer’s trading post -at Venango on the Allegheny was taken and converted to a fortification. -There the French troops, bogged down with sickness, dug in for the -winter.</p> - -<p>That is where Major George Washington found them when he carried a note -from the Governor of Virginia to their commanding officer suggesting -that they all retire promptly to Canada. This, the Frenchmen said, they -had no intention of doing. In the spring they would push on, down the -Allegheny, to the strategic Forks of the Ohio.</p> - -<p>Even as the French army was building canoes that winter for its advance -on the Ohio, Thomas Cresap and William Trent were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> supervising the -construction of an English fort at the forks of the river. They now -represented the Governor of Virginia and the King of England, as well -as the Ohio Company, all of whom were one and the same as far as the -Ohio valley was concerned. In fact Trent, the fur trader in the employ -of the Ohio Company, had been commissioned a captain by Governor -Dinwiddie of Virginia to command the new fort and oppose the French.</p> - -<p>But when spring and the French came to the Forks of the Ohio, Captain -Trent was absent. He said he was looking for recruits; some suspected -he was ferrying his beaver to a safer spot. The ensign in command -yielded the English fort in the face of overwhelming odds, and the -French built an impressive citadel in its place, which they named Fort -DuQuesne to honor the Canadian governor of that name.</p> - -<p>Washington, now Colonel Washington, who was advancing from Virginia -with his militia to Trent’s support, was much too late. He was forced -to content himself with palisading a defensive position along the road -at Great Meadows. There at Fort Necessity, as he called it, he warded -off as best he could the large number of French troops who came out to -engage him.</p> - -<p>That summer of 1754 Washington surrendered. When he led his militiamen -back over the Alleghenies, the Frenchmen had succeeded in their -purpose. The English were out of the Ohio valley.</p> - -<p>However, the American phase of the Seven Years’ War had commenced—two -years before it was officially declared in Europe. The critical contest -known on this continent as the French and Indian War was under way, and -the very next year General Edward Braddock arrived with his British -regulars to direct the campaign.</p> - -<p>The strategic plan decided upon encompassed a four-fold attack upon the -French at DuQuesne, Crown Point, Niagara, and in Nova Scotia. General -Braddock himself assumed the DuQuesne assignment, the most important -immediate objective. But he failed on this mission, his abortive -attempt to reach the Forks of the Ohio ending in the disastrous rout of -his troops and his own death.</p> - -<p>It was not until 1758 that General John Forbes forced the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> evacuation -of the fort at the Forks of the Ohio. The French then abandoned the -entire valley. Fort DuQuesne became Fort Pitt and the English were in -control of the Ohio River.</p> - -<p>The war was savagely fought out on all fronts in America. Other French -citadels fell—Louisburg, Frontenac, Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown -Point. Eventually, Quebec and Montreal, those ancient fortresses on -the <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence River, capitulated to the British. Then, in 1763, by -the Treaty of Paris, France ceded Canada and all her territory east -of the Mississippi River to Great Britain, except for one small plot -encompassing New Orleans. Spain likewise ceded Florida.</p> - -<p>The English flanks no longer needed protection. The way west was open -and the frontier was boundless!</p> - -<p>Settlers spilled through the gaps of the Appalachians, into Ohio, -Kentucky, Illinois. And the fur traders, making way for them as they -pressed upon their trading grounds, pushed on, ever westward, across -the plains after the turn of the century to the Rocky Mountains and the -coastal rivers of the Pacific.</p> - -<p>But the era of the early fur trader, typified by the white trader and -the Indian hunter, had come to an end. As the frontier began rolling -across the great plains of America, the white man became trapper as -well as trader. When he took over the function of the Indian, who had -formerly caught the beaver, a whole new conception of the fur trade in -America was born. A new era commenced—that of the fur trapper.</p> - -<p>The fur trader of early America had played out his historically -important role.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Bibliography_and_Acknowledgements">Bibliography and Acknowledgements</h2> -</div> - - -<p>Adams, Charles Francis, <i>Three Episodes in Massachusetts -History</i>, Cambridge, 1892.</p> - -<p><i>Adventures of Marco Polo</i>, <abbr title="edited">ed.</abbr> by Richard J. 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Turner, <i>The Mode in Furs</i>, New York, 1951.</p> - -<p>Williamson, William D., <i>History of the State of Maine, Vol. I</i>, -New York, 1940.</p> - -<p>Willison, George F., <i>Saints and Strangers</i>, New York, 1945.</p> - -<p>Willson, Beckles, <i>The Great Company</i>, Toronto, 1899.</p> - -<p>Winthrop, John, <i>The History of New England</i>, 2 <abbr title="volumes">vols.</abbr>, Boston, -1825.</p> - -<p>Zimmern, Helen, <i>The Hansa Towns</i>, New York, 1889.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> -</div> - - -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>A</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Abnaki Indians, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Acadia, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Acadian Peninsula, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Accomac, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Accomac Indians, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Africa, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Africa</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Agawam, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alabama River, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Albany, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Albemarle Sound, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alexander, Pope, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alexander, Sir William, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Algonkin Indians, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Algonquin Indians, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Allegheny River, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Alleghenies, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Allerton, Isaac, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">American Revolution, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Amerigo’s Land, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Amsterdam, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Anacostan Indians, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Anglican, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Anglo-Saxon, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ango, Jean, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Annapolis, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Appalachian, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arabs, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arabian, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arctic, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Argall, Capt. Samuel, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Argo, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Argonauts, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Armada, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Armenia, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Arthur, Gabriel, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ashley, Edward, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ashley, Lord, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Asia, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Atlantic (Ocean), vii, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aughwick, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Augusta (Maine), <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aunay, Charles d’, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Avalon (Newfoundland), <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Aztec Empire, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>B</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Babylon, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bacon, Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bagnall, Walter, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Baltic Sea, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Baltimore, Lord, (first) <i>see</i> <a href="#gcalvert">George Calvert</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">(second) <i>see</i> <a href="#ccalvert">Cecilius Calvert</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barbadian brandy, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barbados, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barbary pirates, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Barrington, Rhode Island, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Basque, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Battery, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bay of Biscay, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bay Colony, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bay of Fundy, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bay of the Narragansetts, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bay of Santa Maria, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beaver Road Fort, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bergen, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Berkeley, Sir William (Governor of Virginia), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Beverwyck, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Biard, Father Pierre, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Biloxi Bay (Mississippi), <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Black Sea, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Block, Capt. Adrien, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Block Island, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Blommaert, Samuel, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Blue Ridge Mountains, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Boone, Daniel, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Borgia, Lucretia, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bosphorus, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Boston (Massachusetts), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Boston Bay, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Boston Harbor, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Braddock, General Edward, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bradford, Governor William, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Brazil, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bremen</li> -<li class="isuba">Canon Adam of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Councillors of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bretons, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bristol, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Britain, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">British Empire, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Brouage, Bay of Biscay, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Browne, Richard, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bruges (Flanders), <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Brule, Etienne, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bry, Theodore de, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burgesses, House of, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Butler, John, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Buzzard’s Bay, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Byrd, William, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Byzantium, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>C</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cabot, John, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cadillac, Antoine de la Mothe, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cahokia, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="ccalvert">Calvert, Cecilius (second Lord Baltimore), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="gcalvert">Calvert, George (first Lord Baltimore), <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Calvert, Leonard, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Canada, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Breton, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Cod, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Fear, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape of Good Hope, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Hatteras, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Henlopen, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape May, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cape Sable, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carantouan, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cardinal de Richelieu, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Caribbean Sea, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carolina, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Carr, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cartier, Jacques, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Casco Bay, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Caspian Sea, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Castine, Maine, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Catawba Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cathay, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Catholic, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cavelier, Robert (Sieur de la Salle), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cayuga Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="champ">Champlain, Samuel de. <i>See</i> <a href="#IV">Chapter IV</a>, pp. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Channing, Edward, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Charles I, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Charles II, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Charles of Spain, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Charleston, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Charles Towne, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chattahoochee River, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chaucer, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cherokee Indians, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chesapeake Area, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chesapeake Bay, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chew, John, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chickasaw Indians, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">China, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Choctaw Indians, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Chouart, Medard, Sieur des Grosseilliers, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Christiansen, Hendrick, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Christina River, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Church, The, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Claiborne, William, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cloberry, William, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Cockatrice</i> (wherry), <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Codfish Land, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Colchis, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Columbus, Christopher, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Commissioners of the United Colonies, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Company of Cathay, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Company of London, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Company of New France, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Connecticut, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Connecticut Path, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Connecticut River, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Constantinople, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cooper, Thomas, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cornwallis, Capt. Thomas, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Corssen, Arendt, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Council of Foreign Plantations, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Coureurs des bois</i>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cox, William, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cree Indians, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Creek Indians, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cresap, Thomas, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Croatan,” <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Croghan, George, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cromwell, Oliver, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Navigation Act of, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Croshaw, Raleigh, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Crown Point, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Crusades, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cugley, Daniel, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Curler, Jacob van, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Curran, Barney, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cushenoc, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>D</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dacotah Indians, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Damariscotta River, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Danes, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dare, Virginia, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dark Ages, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Darkness, Region of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dartmouth, England, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">D’Aunay, Charles, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Davis, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Debedeavon, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Bry, Theodore, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Champlain. <i>See</i> <a href="#champ">Champlain</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Ferrara, Alfonso, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">DeGuercheville, Madame, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Delaware, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Delaware Bay, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Delaware Indians, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Delaware River, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Monts, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Department of Commerce, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Razilly, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dermer, Capt. Thomas, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Roberval, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Des Grosseilliers, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Tonti, Henri, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Detroit, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">De Vries. <i>See</i> <a href="#vries">Vries</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">D’Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dieppe, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Digby, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dinwiddie, Governor, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dneiper, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Donnacona, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Dove</i> (pinnace), <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Drake, Francis, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dublin, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Duck Creek, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dupont-Grave, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dutch. <i>See</i> Chapters <a href="#VII">VII</a>, <a href="#XIII">XIII</a>, <a href="#XV">XV</a> and pages <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dutch East India Company, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dutchmen’s Island, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="dwic">Dutch West India Company, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">DuQuesne, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dvina, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>E</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">East India Company, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">East Indies, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eastern Shore, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Edward III, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eelkens, Jacob, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Egypt, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elbe, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“El Dorado,” <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elizabeth I, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elizabeth City, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Elizabethan occupation theory, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Endicott, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">England, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#V">Chapter V</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">English, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, Chapter <a href="#XVI">XVI</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eratosthenes, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ericson, Leif, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eric the Red (Eric Thorvaldson), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ericson, Thorvald, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Erie, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eriwoneck, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Eskimos, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ethiopians, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Europe, vii, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Euxine Sea, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Evelin, George, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>F</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fairfield, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ferrara, Alfonso de, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fendall, Governor, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fenwick, Cuthbert, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ferryland, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Finland, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Finns, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Five Nations, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Flanders, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Flatey Book</i>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fleet, Henry, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Florida, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Forbes, General John, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Forked River, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Albany, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Amstel, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Amsterdam, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Beversrede, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Casimir, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Chartres, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Christina, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Conquest, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Crevecouer, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort DuQuesne, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Elfsborg, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Frontenac, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Good Hope, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort d’Huiller, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Korsholm, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Nassau, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Necessity, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort New Gothenborg, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Onondaga, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Orange, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Orleans, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Pitt, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Rosalie, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Antoine, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> George, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Saybrook, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fort Trinity, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Fortune</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">France, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Francis I, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fraser, John, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">French Canada, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">French Creek, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">French, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a> <i>passim</i>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">French and Indian War, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a>, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Freydis, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Frobisher, Martin, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>G</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gaspe, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Genoa, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">German, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gibbons, Ambrose, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gilbert, Bartholomew, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gilbert, Sir John, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Girling, Captain, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gloucester, New Jersey, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Godfrey of Bouillon, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Godyn, Samuel, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Golden Fleece, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gomez, Captain Estevan, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gondomar, Ambassador, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gorges, Capt. Robert, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gosnold, Bartholomew, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gothenburg, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gothland, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grave, Francois (Sieur duPont), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Great Lakes, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Great Meadows, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greece, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greek, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Green Bay, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greenland, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Greenwich (Connecticut), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grenville, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Gripen</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grosseilliers, Sieur des, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gudrid, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Guercheville, Madame de, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Guiana, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gulf of Mexico, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gulf of <abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gustavus Adolphus, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>H</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hakluyt, Richard, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Half Moon</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hampton, Virginia, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hansa, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hanseatic League, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hariot, Thomas, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harmar, Charles, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harrisburg, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harris Ferry, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hartford, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Harvey, Sir John (Governor of Virginia), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hatteras, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Hauk’s Book</i>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Havre, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hawkins, John, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hawley, Jerome, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hendricksen, Cornelis, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Henry IV, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Henry VIII, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Heyn, Admiral Peter, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hindustan, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hochelaga, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="holland">Holland, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hollanders, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Holmes, Capt. William, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Holmes, George, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hoorn, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hopkins, Governor Edward, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Horne (Hoorn), <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hudde, Andries, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hudson Bay, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hudson’s Bay Company, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hudson, Capt. Henry, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hudson River, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Huguenots, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hunt, Captain, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Huron Indians, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Huygen, Hendrick, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>I</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Iberville, Pierre le Moyne d’, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ibn-Batootah, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Iceland, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Illinois, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Illinois Indians, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Illinois River, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">India, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Indian, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> -<li class="isuba">corn, viii, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> -<li class="isuba">league, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> -<li class="isuba">policy, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">trade, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -<li class="isuba">village, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Indian Ocean, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Indians, vii, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> -<li class="isuba">customs of, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>-<a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Indian Sea, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Indies, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ingram, David, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ireland, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Iroquois Confederacy, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Iroquois Indians, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> -<li class="isuba">customs of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Islam, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Italy, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Italian merchants, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ivan the Terrible, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>J</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">James I, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">James Bay, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">James, Duke of York, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">James River, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jamestown, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jansen, Commissary Jan, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Japazaws, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jason, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a> <i>passim</i>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Jesuit priests, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Johnson, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Amandus, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Joliet, Louis, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Julin, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Juno, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>K</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Kalmar Nyckel</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Karlsefni, Thorfinn, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kaskaskia, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kecoughtan, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kennebec River, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kent Hundred, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kent Island, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kent Islanders, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kentucky, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Khan, Kublai, the Great, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kieft, Governor William, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">King George’s War, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kirke brothers, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Kleynties,” <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kling, Lieutenant Mans, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knight, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kublai Khan, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>L</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Labrador, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Laconia Company, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>La Dauphine</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Champlain, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Chautauqua, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Erie, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Huron, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Michigan, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Nipissing, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake of the Iroquois, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Onondaga, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Ontario, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Superior, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Winnipeg, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lake Winnepesaukee, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lamberton, George, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lancaster, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lane, Governor Ralph, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">La Rochelle, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">La Salle, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">La Tour, Charles de, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Laud, William (Bishop of London), <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lederer, John, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lee, Thomas, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leif, Ericson, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leigh, Capt. Charles, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leipzig, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lenni Lenape Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Levett, Christopher, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Levy, Franks and Simon, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lewger, John (Secretary of Maryland), <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Leyden, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lincolnshire, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Logan, James, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lok, Michael, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">London, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">London Company, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Long Island Sound, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Long Tayle</i> (pinnace), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lords Commissioners of Plantations, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Louisburg, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Louisiana, viii, ix, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lowrey brothers, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>M</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Machias (Maine), <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Machias River, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Maine, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>,<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malaga, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malaya, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Malay Archipelago, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Manhattan, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marco Polo, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Markland,” <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marquette, Father Jacques, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Martha’s Vineyard, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Martiau, Capt. Nicholas, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mary Tudor (Queen of England), <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Maryland, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Marylanders, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mason, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Massachusetts Bay, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Massachusetts Bay Colony, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Massachusetts Bay Company, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Massachusetts Indians, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Matagorda Bay, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Matthew</i> (boat), <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mathews, Samuel, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Maverick, Samuel, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">May, Capt. Cornelis Jacobsen, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">May, Peter, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Mayflower</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mediterranean, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Merrimac River, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Merrymount, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mesopotamians, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mexico, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minqua Indians, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minquas Kill, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minnesota, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minnesota River, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minuit, Governor Peter, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mississippi, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mississippi River, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> -<li class="isuba">discovery of, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Missouri River, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mobile, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mohammed, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mohawk Indians, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mohawk Valley, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mohegan Indians, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moluccas, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mongolia, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Monhegan Island, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Monongahela River, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montagnais Indians, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montour, Andrew, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Montreal, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Monts, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Morton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moscow, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moslem, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mount Desert Island, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moxon, <abbr title="reverend">Rev.</abbr> George, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Moyne, Pierre le (Sieur d’Iberville), <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Muscongus River, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Muscovy, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Muscovy Company, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Muskingum River, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mystic River, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>N</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nantasket, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Narragansett Bay, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Narragansett Indians, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Narrows, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Natchez, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Natchitoches, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Naugatuck River, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Navigation Acts, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Neale, Capt. Walter, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Needham, James, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nelson River, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Netherlands. <i>See</i> <a href="#holland">Holland</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Amsterdam, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Brunswick, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Castle, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New England, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Confederation of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Council for, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Englanders, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New France, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Haven, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Jersey, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Mexico, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Netherland, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, Chapter <a href="#XII">XII</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, Chapter <a href="#XV">XV</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Council of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> -<li class="isuba">Governor of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Netherlanders, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>New Netherland</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Orleans, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Plymouth, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Newport, Capt. Christopher, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New River Valley, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Scotland, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Spain, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Sweden, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New York (city), ix, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New York (state), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New Yorkers, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>New York Times</i>, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">New World, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Niagara, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nicollet, Jean, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nicolls, Colonel Richard, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nile, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Noddle’s Island, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Normans, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norman’s Kill, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norsemen, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a> <i>passim</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">North America, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">North River, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">North Sea, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norwalk, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norway, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Norwegians, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nova Scotia, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Novgorod, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nuremberg, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>O</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oder River, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ohio, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ohio Company, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ohio River, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oldham, John, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oneida Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Onondaga Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Onrust</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ontario, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Opechancanough, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Orient, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oriental pelts, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ottawa Indians, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ottawa River, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Oyster Bay, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>P</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pacific Ocean, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Palmer’s Island, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pamlico Sound, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pamunkey Indians, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Panama Canal, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Paris, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Passyunk, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Patowomecks, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Patuxent River, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peirsey, Abraham, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pelias, King, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pemaquid, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn, William, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penn’s son, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pennsauken Creek, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pennsylvania, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penobscot Bay, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Penobscot River, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pentagoet, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pentagoet Bay, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Peoria, Illinois, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pequot Indians, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> -<li class="isuba">annihilation of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> -<li class="isuba">War, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Persians, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a>, <a href="#Page_x">x</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philip II (King of Spain), <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Phoenicians, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Piedmont plateau, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pilgrims, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, Chapter <a href="#IX">IX</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pimitoui, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Piscataqua, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Piscataqua River, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Piscattaway Indians, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Placentia Bay, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pleskow, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Plymouth, Chapter <a href="#IX">IX</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Plymouth Company, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pocahontas, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pocomoke River, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Point Comfort, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Polo, Marco, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Poole, Robert, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Popham, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Popham, George, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Popham, Sir John (Chief Justice), <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Port Royal (Bay of Fundy), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Port Royal, South Carolina, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Portsmouth, New Hampshire, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Portugal, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Portuguese, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Potomac River, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Poutrincourt, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Powhatan, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Powhatan Confederacy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pring, Martin, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Printz, Johan (Governor of New Sweden), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Province Island, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Puritan, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pynchon, William, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>Q</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Quaker, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Quebec, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Quebec Province, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Quincy, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>R</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Radisson, Pierre Esprit, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rappahannock River, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rasieres, Isaak de, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Razilly, Chevalier Isaac de, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Red River, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Renaissance, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rensselaer, Kiliaen van, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rensselaerwyck, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Restoration, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rhode Island, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Richelieu, Cardinal de, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Richelieu River, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Richmond’s Island, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rising, Johan, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Roanoke, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Roberval, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rocky Mountains, viii, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rolfe, John, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Romans, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rome, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rotterdam, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rouen, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Rupert’s Land,” <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rupert, Prince, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rurik, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Russia, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Russian, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>S</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Saco River, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sagahadoc, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Augustine, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Christopher’s Island, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Croix River, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Saint George, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Helen</i> (pinnace), <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Saint Just, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Lawrence River, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Malo, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Margaret</i> (boat), <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><abbr title="saint">St.</abbr> Mary’s, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Salem Creek, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Salem, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">San Miguel, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Santo Domingo, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sanuto, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Saquenay, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Savage, Thomas, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Savannah River, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Saxons, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scandinavia, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Schuylkill River, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scioto River, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scotland, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scots, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scottish Company, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Scottish and English Company, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Semiramis, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Seneca Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Seven Years’ War, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shawnee Indians, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shenandoah Valley, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Shippen and Lawrence, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Siberia, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sioux Indians, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Skraelings, Chapter <a href="#II">II</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Skute, Capt. Sven, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Slavic lands, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Slavs, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Slechtenhorst, Brandt van, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Capt. Dirck, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Henry, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, Chapter <a href="#VI">VI</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Richard, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Capt. Thomas, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Smith, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Snorri, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Somes Sound, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Southampton, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">South America, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">South River, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">South Sea, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sowamset, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spain, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spaniards, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spanish, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spanish Florida, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spanish Hill, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spanish West Indies, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spelman, Henry, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Springfield, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Squanto, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stamford, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Standish, Capt. Miles, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“staple right,” <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">States General of the Netherlands, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stoughton, Captain, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Strabo, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stratford, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stuyvesant, Governor Peter, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Susquehanna River, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Susquehannocks, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swanendael, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sweden, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swedes, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, Chapter <a href="#XIV">XIV</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Swedish, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, Chapter <a href="#XIV">XIV</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>T</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tadoussac, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tartars, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tartar Empire, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tartary, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tawasentha, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Taylor, Philip, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Taz River, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tennessee River, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Texas, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thames River, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">The Hague, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thirty Years’ War, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thompson, David, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thompson, Maurice, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thorowgood, Cyprian, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thorn, Poland, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thorvald Ericson, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thorvaldson, Eric (Eric the Red), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Three Rivers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ticonderoga, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tierra D’Ayllon, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tierra Florida, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Timber Creek, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tinicum Island, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tobolsk, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tonti, Henri de, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Transylvania, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Treasurer</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Treaty of Hartford, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Treaty of Lancaster, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Treaty of Paris, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Trent, Capt. William, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Trenton, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Trinity Bay, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Trinity Harbor, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Turkey, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Turks, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Turner, Capt. Nathaniel, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Twide, Richard, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tyrker, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>U</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ulster Scots, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Underhill, Capt. John, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">United Colonies, Commissioners of the, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">United Colonies of New England, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">United Netherlands, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">United New Netherland Company, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">United States, <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>, <a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Urals, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Usselinx, William, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>V</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Valley of Virginia, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Curler, Jacob, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Rensselaer, Kiliaen, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Slechtenhorst, Brandt, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Van Twiller, Governor Wouter, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Varangians, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Varkens Kill, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Venango, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Venice, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verhulst, William, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verhulsten Island, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Verrazano, Giovanni da, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vervins, Peace of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vespucci, Amerigo, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vikings, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, Chapter <a href="#II">II</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vines, Richard, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vinland, Chapter II</li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginia, Capes of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginia Company, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginia Company Council, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginia Council, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginia, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, Chapters <a href="#XI">XI</a>, <a href="#XII">XII</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>Virginia</i> (pinnace), <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Virginians, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Volga, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst" id="vries">Vries, Capt. David Pieters de, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>W</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wahunsonacock, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Waldseemuller, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Walking Purchase,” <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Walloons, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Wall” Street, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Warren, Lieutenant Radcliffe, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Washington, D. C., <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Washington, George, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Washington family, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Watertown, Massachusetts, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wessagusset, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wessel, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">West, Capt. Francis, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">West, John, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Westchester County, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Westfield, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">West India Company. <i>See</i> <a href="#dwic">Dutch West India Company</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">West Indies, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Westoes, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Weston Thomas, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">West Virginia, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wethersfield, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Weymouth, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Weymouth, Capt. George, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">White, Father Andrew, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">White, John, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">White Sea, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Whiting, William, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Whorekill, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wickford, Rhode Island, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wilcox, John, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Willard, Simon, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst"><i>William</i> (ship), <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Williams, Roger, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wilmington (Delaware), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Windsor, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Winetha, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Winslow, Edward, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Winter, John, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Winthrop, Governor John, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wisby, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wisconsin, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wollaston, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wood, Abraham, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Woodward, Henry, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Woronoco, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wyatt, Sir Francis (Governor of Virginia), <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>Y</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">York, Duke of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">York River, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Youghiogheny River, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Young, Capt. Thomas, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Yowaccomoco Indians, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst"><i>Z</i></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Zipangu, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> -</ul> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes</h2> - - -<p>A few minor errors in punctuation and spacing were corrected.</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_10">10</a>: “wore cloth hoods ostenstatiously” changed to “wore cloth -hoods ostentatiously”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_27">27</a>: “Wholesale annihiliation” changed to “Wholesale annihilation”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_28">28</a>: “instuments of torture” changed to “instruments of torture”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_34">34</a>: “great linquistic family” changed to “great linguistic family”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_68">68</a>: “parallelling the Susquehanna” changed to “paralleling the -Susquehanna”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_123">123</a>: “the offer a squaw” changed to “the offer of a squaw”</p> - -<p>Page <a href="#Page_176">176</a>: “sanquinary five-year war” changed to “sanguinary five-year -war”</p> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELTS AND PALISADES ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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