Peter of New Amsterdam: A Story of Old New York Read online

  I had counted on seeing much of the world during this voyage in the_Sea Mew_, believing that we should visit strange lands, where I couldroam about feasting my eyes upon all manner of odd things; but none ofthis came to pass.

  Twice during the voyage did the _Sea Mew_ cast anchor off some island,where it would have given me no little pleasure to go on shore that Imight compare the land with the country I had known; but I lacked thecourage to ask permission of my master, who as yet had not spoken to mesince the ship left port, and no one, not even the friendliest among theseamen, had enough of charity in his heart to say "Come."

  A VIEW OF NEW NETHERLAND

  Because of all this, the voyage, which took up nearly four months, wasone of discomfort, if not exactly of suffering, and when we came toanchor off that place in America which had been named New Netherland, Iwould have rejoiced even though it were the most desolate island,because of my life on shipboard having, for a time at least, come to anend.

  But before I tell you what I saw when I gazed upon this part of the NewWorld for the first time, to the end that you may the better understandwhat I am talking about, let me say that toward the close of the year ofgrace, 1624, a company of forty-five persons, men, women and children,with all their home belongings, their tools for the farms, and onehundred and three cows and sheep, had been sent out from Amsterdam inthree large ships and a small boat, called by the Dutch a yacht,although in England it would have been spoken of as a pinnace.

  Some of these people, who agreed with the West India Company to build atthis place a trading post, had already set up such houses as would serveto shelter them from the weather.

  And this is the picture which I saw on the fourth day of May, in theyear of our Lord, 1626, when I stood on the forward part of the _SeaMew_, gazing shoreward with hungry eyes, for the one desire I had was toplant my feet once more upon the solid earth.

  We were lying where two grand rivers came together, forming a harbor inwhich all the King's ships might ride in safety. In front of me was arange of small hills, whereon grew noble trees that had just put ontheir dress of green to mark the coming of the summer, and in thevalleys, betwixt the forest and the shore, were small dwellings or hutsbuilt of the bark of trees, much as a child might make a house of twigs.

  Beyond these huts were settlements like unto nothing I had ever seen,made up of buildings which looked not unlike gigantic logs that had beensplit in the middle, with the cleft side lying on the ground. Some ofthese half-round shelters were exceedingly long, others short, and allhad one or more doors close to the ground, but no windows that I couldsee.

  They were made, as I afterward learned, of the bark of birch trees laidover a framework of saplings, and fastened in place with the sinews ofanimals, or with small wooden pegs. From more than one of them camesmoke, telling of fires and of cooking, but I saw no chimneys.

  THE "BROWN MEN" OR SAVAGES

  Here and there, either in this odd village, or near the bark huts of theDutch people, wandered colored men, not black like those negro slaves wehad on board the _Sea Mew_, but rather the color of a copper kettlethat has been somewhat used over a fire. For clothing, they wore nothingmore than a piece of skin tied around the waist, or leggings of hide.

  Their heads were bare, with the hair shaven from off a goodly portion,leaving a long tuft directly on the top, which by means, as I afterwardlearned, of animal fat, was made to stand upright like a horn.

  These were the savages, and I looked no longer at the dwellings built inthe shape of a half-moon, or at the loosely stacked strips of bark whichmarked the home of some Dutchman who had come here at the bidding of theWest India Company, for all my thoughts were centered upon these brownmen, of whom I had heard as one hears a fairy tale, not believing in itstruth.

  Now although the land was goodly and fair to look upon, a veritablegarden of pleasure, to those who had come from a long voyage on theangry waters, as had we of the _Sea Mew_, yet there came into my mindthe fear that these brown men who wandered here and there, giving littleheed to us who were so lately arrived, and who were the owners of thisNew World, might come at some future time to say to themselves that itwere better the Dutch had never landed in their midst. If that day everdid arrive, woe unto us whose skins were white!

  Little did I believe, even as I dreamed, that such would come to be thetruth; that the day was not far distant when these savages who made evenof their hair a seeming weapon, would come to thirst for the blood of uswho hoped to find fame or fortune, or both, in this New World ofAmerica.

  At a mile or more from the point where we had anchored, we were toldthere was a strip of marshy ground, stretching across from river toriver, and lying so low that when the tide was at its height, thestreams were united, making of this settlement an island, which theIndians called Manhattan.

  There were trees in the forest before me enough to make all the maststhat could be used by the people of the world, and in such a wildernesshow abundant must be the game! In these huge rivers how great in numberthe fish!

  I panted to leave the narrow space of ship; to go on shore where I couldwander among the trees and amid the flowers; where I could see thesestrange, brown people, whose huts were to me much like hills thrown upby ants; to come in contact with all these things which God had made,and in so doing rejoice that I lived.

  SUMMONED TO THE CABIN

  Now it was as if Master Minuit, who had given no heed during all thevoyage as to whether I might be alive or dead, suddenly remembered thatsomewhere on board the _Sea Mew_ he had a servant by the name of PeterHulbert, and straightway sent one of the serving men from the greatcabin to hunt me out.

  From the time of leaving Amsterdam until this moment, no one had shownany desire to have speech with me, while all had acted as if believing Iwas of no more use in this world than to cumber their path; thus it camenear to startling me when my name was called, so that I hung back,hardly knowing if I was expected to go forward or aft, until one of theseamen, hearing the serving man vainly shouting, asked me if that wasnot my name which was being spoken so loudly.

  Whereupon I awoke to my senses, and went toward the stern to meet thisfellow, who was bawling at the full strength of his lungs, as if hewould make his tongue do the work of a trumpet, and by him was led intothe great cabin where stood my master, as if he had been awaiting mycoming.

  From that moment until this I have never sought for employment; therehas ever been something which I should do for others, or was in dutybound to do for myself, until I am come to think that he who goes into anew world to help in building there a city, much the same as fastenshimself into a treadmill in such a fashion that he may not contrive hisown escape.

  Now did I learn what it meant to act the part of body servant to such asMaster Minuit, and was not a little surprised at finding that he hadtwo others, one a man grown, and a second who was three or four years myelder, both of whom took advantage of every opportunity to lord it overme when the master was not within hearing.

  TOYS FOR THE SAVAGES

  During the long voyage I had tried time and again to picture to myselfwhat would be expected of me when I began to serve Master Minuit, andfancied the duties would be to look after his belongings, perhaps hisweapons, or his clothing, or to serve him while he sat at meals.

  Therefore it was that my surprise was exceeding great when the firsttask which he set me, was that of taking from certain huge boxes, whichhad been brought into the great cabin, what appeared like toys forchildren, rather than things such as grown men would set a value upon.

  A stout chest, fitted with handles, so that it might the more readily becarried, had been placed nearby these big boxes, and, under MasterMinuit's direction, I took out these fanciful things, laying some uponthe floor, and stowing others in the chest.

  There were strings of beads such as young Dutch girls wear around theirnecks; short lengths of bright red, or blue, or yellow cloth of wool;ornaments for the ears, made of Dutch brass, and fashioned so rudelythat none sa
ve the poorest in the land would covet them; belts ofgaudily colored leather, and small axes and knives formed of iron sobadly worked that but little rough usage would serve to turn the edges.

  I cannot well name all the useless trinkets which I handled that day,working as deftly as I might, to the end that my new master should layno blame upon me for clumsiness; but all the goods were of so littlevalue that, poor though I was, there came into my heart no desire topossess them.

  As I worked, and while the other two servants were busily engaged makinginto packages the belongings of my master, that they might the morereadily be carried on shore, I could not fail of hearing, even thoughmaking no effort to play the part of eavesdropper, the conversationwhich was going on between Master Minuit and those Dutch gentlemen whohad come out with him to build up this new land.

  CLAIM OF THE WEST INDIA COMPANY

  And what I thus heard, without being minded to play the listener, wasthat among the orders given by the West India Company, was one to theeffect that before Master Minuit should do anything toward taking uponhimself the governing of the country, the land of Manhattan Island wasto be bought of the brown men, and these useless trinkets were to servein the stead of purchase money.

  To the better understanding of this order, let me go back in the tale towhere I have said that the West India Company claimed to own the landwhich was called New Netherland. Their reasons for making such claimwere that the Dutch government had, many years before, sent out the ship_Half Moon_, commanded by an Englishman named Henry Hudson, who believedhimself to be the first white man that ever saw these rivers; andafterward that famous Dutch seaman, Adrian Block, had followed MasterHudson, stopping at this same island of Manhattan. Therefore it was,because of their vessels being supposed to have come to this placefirst, that the people of Holland claimed the land as their own.

  As I came to know later, however, a certain sailor from Florence hadbeen sent to America by the French king, near ninety years before MasterHudson's coming, and, on landing nearabout where we then were, claimedall the country in the name of France.

  Perhaps the West India Company knew somewhat of this, and, fearing theFrench king might set up ownership to the island of Manhattan, haddecided to buy it of theirs, first because of having been discovered bythem, and again because of being bought in fair trade.

  All this which I have just told you came to me afterward, when I knewmore of the great world and of the manner in which the nations of theearth struggled one against another to increase their possessions.

  MAKING READY FOR TRADE

  At the time, however, there was no thought in my mind save that ifMaster Minuit should buy this island of Manhattan with all the trumperygoods he had in the great cabin, then would he be paying a price far toosmall for even the least portion of it.

  You can well fancy that I did not neglect my work while thus lookingwith contempt upon the goods before me. My duty was to make quickdespatch of the task set me, and at the same time take good heed that itwas done in such a manner as to win the approval, if not the praise, ofMaster Minuit.

  Many a long hour did I spend putting the childish things into the chest,and in taking them out and exchanging for others, when those in companywith my master believed we were gathering too much of value, if indeedthere could be value to such goods. When it was done, I had the ideathat Master Minuit was pleased with me, for he said that from then on Iwas to hold myself close to his person, going where he went, andstopping where he stopped.

  I make but a poor attempt at telling the tale, otherwise I would havesaid that when we were first come to anchor, some of those people whohad been sent over by the West India Company in advance of our ship,came on board the _Sea Mew_ to speak with my master; and, as each inturn was done with his business, or with his pleasure, as the case mightbe, orders were given him that the savages be told they were to meetMaster Minuit on the shore nearby where we were then lying at anchor, tothe end that he might have speech with them.

  It puzzled me not a little to understand how he could have speech withthe brown men, when they did not speak in the same tongue as did he; butI had enough of wit to understand that it did not concern me. MasterMinuit most like had considered well the matter.

  HANS BRAUN AND KRYN GILDERSLEEVE

  When I was done with my task, instead of going into the forward part ofthe ship where I had lived from the time we left Amsterdam, my mastergave orders that I should remain nearby where were his own quarters, andsent me with his other servants, of whom I have already told yousomewhat.

  The elder, who might have been thirty years of age, was named HansBraun. He was as sour-visaged, square-jawed, thick-headed a Dutchman asever stepped foot in Holland; one who knew not the meaning of the wordfriendship, and cared for his own comfort and his own pleasure more thanhe did for the master he served, or for anything whatsoever.

  When I came to have a good look at him, as he beckoned me to follow tothat portion of the ship where he and his mate found lodgings, I said tomyself that there at least was one in this New World who would neverlend a helping hand, and would not hesitate to do a wrong if thereby hecould compass his own ends.

  The other servant was Kryn Gildersleeve, who, mayhap, was three or fouryears my elder; a dull, heavy lad, who did not give promise of being acheerful comrade, and yet I would have put faith in him under the sameconditions that I would have suspected Hans of working me harm.

  If I have been overly careful in speaking of these two fellow servants,it is because of our being at a later day so placed that they could dome much of evil, or of good.

  I had rather an hundred times over have gone into my meaner lodgings inthe forward part of the ship, than spend the night in what were mostcomfortable quarters, with such as Hans, and yet it was not for me tosay whether I would come here or go there, after the command had beengiven. Before another day was very old, however, I understood that,without having spoken a wrong word or done anything against himwhatsoever, Hans Braun would never be my friend.

  THE GATHERING OF THE SAVAGES

  It seemed, as I afterward learned, that Master Minuit had given ordersfor me to follow him on shore, while the other two were to remain aboardthe ship, and this it was, most like, which displeased Hans.

  However that may be, it has nothing to do with my tale, and perhaps I amgiving overly many words to it; yet would I have you know how I, theyoungest body servant of Master Minuit, Director of the West IndiaCompany's lands in America, came to see so much of that which was, infact, important business, such as a lad would not be likely to have anypart in.

  We were yet on board the _Sea Mew_, when I, who was standing by the railon the quarter-deck, where I could hear the slightest summons from mymaster, saw the brown men gathering on shore and verily it was a sightto cause wonder.

  These brown men, with their hair standing upright on the middle of theirheads, and naked to the waist, but wearing leggings fringed with stripsof hide, and queer, soft shoes ornamented with colored quills of theporcupine, which I afterwards learned were called moccasins, seatedthemselves on the sand of the shore, gazing out toward the _Sea Mew_.

  Below, in the great cabin, I could see that my master and his companionswere arraying themselves as if about to set out for an audience with theking, and why this should be I failed to understand, save that theycounted to surprise the savages by their bravery of attire.

  Master Minuit wore a long coat of blue cloth, which was fastened aroundhis waist with a silken sash, and black velvet breeches, gathered in atthe knee with a knot of blue ribbon, while his low shoes, ornamentedwith huge silver buckles, set off, as it seemed to me, the shinyblackness of his silken hose.

  He had on a broad-brimmed hat of felt, in which was a plume of blue, andover his shoulder was a blue sash, which, coming to a point under theleft arm, gave a hanging for his sword.

  The gentlemen with him were decked out in no less brave apparel, and Isaid to myself that if the savages of Manhattan Island gave heed to gayadorning then
they were like to be pleased on this day.

  GOING ASHORE

  I was the one sent ashore in charge of the chest of trinkets, and that Iwas thus given a position of trust did not serve to sweeten the sourlook on Hans' face, for he acted much as if believing he was the onlyone of Master Minuit's following who could be depended upon for anyservice of note.

  It is impossible for me to say in such words as would be understood, howdelighted I was to be on dry land once more. The scent of the flowers,the odors that came from the forest, and the songs of the birds, sofilled me with delight that it was indeed a difficult matter to act asif I still held possession of my wits. Perhaps, if the savages had notbeen seated nearby, noting every movement made by those concerned in thecare of the chest, I should not have succeeded so well.

  Before these half-dressed, brown men, who watched intently, with neverthe ghost of a smile or show of interest on their faces, one could notbut act in a dignified manner, and I held myself as if I, not PeterMinuit, were the Director of New Netherland come to take possession ofmy office.