Adriaen van der Donck

“ Other streams rise in bushy woods, through which the summer sun never shines, which are much trodden by the wild beasts, and wherein the decayed leaves and rotting vegetation falls, all which tend to render the water foul. Those however in their course again become clear and wonderfully pure. Some of them possess the extraordinary quality of never freezing in the bitterest cold weather, when they smoke from their natural warmth, and any frozen article immersed in those waters thaws immediately. ”

“ The sweet ruler that influences the wisdom, power and appearance of man, of animals, and of plants, is the air. Many name it the temperament, or the climate. The air in the New-Netherlands is so dry, sweet and healthy, that we need not wish that it were otherwise. In purity, agreeableness, and fineness, it would be folly to seek for an example of it in any other country. In the New-Netherlands, we seldom hear of any person who is afflicted with a pining disease. ”

“ Then we can see a great distance by the light of the blazing trees, the flames being driven by the wind, and fed by the tops of the trees. But the dead and dying trees remain burning in their standing positions, which appear sublime and beautiful when seen at a distance. ”

“ Rainy weather seldom lasts long. Showers and thunder-storms are frequent in summer, and will last an hour, an hour and a half, and sometimes half a day. It seldom rains three hours in succession, and the rains seldom do any injury, because the earth is open, and the water settles away, and on the high lands the rains are always desirable. A summer shower frequently will produce water sufficient to extend to the roots of the vegetation, and be immediately succeeded by a north-west wind, which will clear off the sky, as if no rain had fallen. ”

“ If you dislike the voyage, pray due attention give, To Van der Donck, his book, which, as a leading star, Directs toward the land where many people are, Where lowland Love and Laws all may freely share. ”

“ The bears of this country are not ravenous, and do not subsist on flesh and carrion, as the bears of Muscovy and Greenland do. They subsist on grass, herbs, nuts, acorns and chestnuts, which, we are told by the Indians, they will gather and eat on the trees. It is also affirmed by the Christians, that they have seen bears on trees gathering and eating the fruit. When they wish to come down, then they place their heads between their legs, and let themselves fall to the earth; and whether they fall high or low, they spring up and go their way. Bears are sometimes shot when on the trees. ”

“ Although the New-Netherlands lay in a fine climate, and although the country in winter seems rather cold, nevertheless lions are found there, but not by the Christians, who have traversed the land wide and broad and have not seen one. It is only known to us by the skins of the females, which are sometimes brought in by the Indians for sale; who on inquiry say, that the lions are found far to the southwest, distant fifteen or twenty days' journey, in very high mountains, and that the males are too active and fierce to be taken. ”

“ The wolves in winter know how to beset and take deer. When the snow is upon the earth, eight or ten wolves, hunter-like, prowl in the chase in company. Sometimes a single wolf will chase and follow a single deer, until the animal is wearied, and falls a prey; but if the deer in the pursuit crosses a stream of water, then the wolf is done, because he dare not follow, and remains on the margin of the stream to see his chase escape. Wolves frequently drive deer into the rivers and streams. ”

“ Some say that the New-Netherlands lie so much further west on the globe, and that this causes the difference, others who compare the summer heat with Spain and Italy, deny this position; others declare that the globe is not round, and that the country lies in a declining position from the sun. Others assert that the last discovered quarter of the world is larger than the other parts, and ask, if the world formerly was considered round, haw that theory can be supported now, when about one-half is added to it? Some also say that the higher a country is situated, the colder it is. ”

“ During my residence of eight or nine years in the New-Netherlands, I have not discovered more than one poisonous plant in the country, which is named the poison artichoke, although it does not resemble the artichoke much, as it bears blue flowers in clusters, which are handsome to the eye, resembling pope's caps, or moon-heads, as they are named in Brabant. ”

“ The Indians have a yearly custom (which some of our Christians have also adopted) of burning the woods, plains and meadows in the fall of the year, when the leaves have fallen, and when the grass and vegetable substances are dry. Those places which are then passed over are fired in the spring in April. This practice is named by us and the Indians, "bush burning," which is done for several reasons; first, to render hunting easier, as the bush and vegetable growth renders the walking difficult for the hunter, and the crackling of the dry substances betrays him and frightens away the game. ”

“ The ancient fabulous writers would, if they had been here, have exalted those works of nature, by the force of imagination, into the most artful and elegant descriptive illusions. The waters descend rapidly downwards from the falls, over a stony bottom, skipping, foaming and whirling boisterously about the distance of a gunshot or more; when it resumes an even course, and flows downwards. We name this the Maquas Kill, but still it is wider in most places than the Yssell of the Netherlands. It however always runs one way; is navigable for boats; being tolerably deep and not rapid ”

“ Here our attention is arrested in the beautiful landscape around us, here the painter can find rare and beautiful subjects for the employment of his pencil, and here also the huntsman is animated when he views the enchanting prospects presented to the eyes; on the hills, at the brooks and in the valleys, where the game abounds and where the deer are feeding, or gamboling or resting in the shades in full view. ”

“ To the persons who will please to notice the formation of the country of the New Netherlands, which is mostly elevated above the floods, and free from the overflowings of its upper waters; and that it is mountainous in many places, and that it is situated in a temperate climate, such persons will, on contemplation, readily conclude that the country possesses minerals; although the Netherlanders have not been at much cost or trouble to examine and search for mines and minerals, which has not happened so much from ignorance and negligence as may be imagined, but from other good considerations. ”

“ The Turkey wheat, or maize, as the grain is named, many persons suppose to be the same kind of grain which Jesse sent parched by his son David to his other sons of the army of Israel. This is a hardy grain, and is fit for the sustenance of man and animals. It is easily cultivated, and will grow in almost every kind of land, in the worst and strongest in the country, even in a foul and worn-out soil. It is a good crop to subdue new land, and to prepare it for other purposes. ”

“ The damage arises from the easterly winds. When the north-west gales blow, then much damage is done in the timber lands, by the blowing down and cracking of the trees, and then is the proper time for the gunners to approach their game. In summer, a southerly sea breeze usually sets in on the flood-tide at New-Amsterdam, which blows over a cool element, and brings refreshment with it. ”

“ New-Netherlands throughout is a woody country, being almost every where beset with trees, stumps and brushwood, wherein the sheep pasture, and by which they lose most of their wool, which by appearance does not seem to be out, but when sheared turns out light in the fleeces. ”

“ Some persons, (which I also hold to be good management,) when their land becomes foul and weedy, break it up and sow the same with peas, because a crop of peas softens the land and makes it clean; but most of the land is too rich for peas, which when sown on the same grow so rank that the crop falls and rots on the land. Some of the land must be reduced by cropping it with wheat and barley, before it is proper to sow the same with peas. We have frequently seen the straw of wheat and barley grow so luxuriant that the crops yielded very little grain. ”

“ A person who intends to shoot a bear, should be careful to have a tree near him to retreat to for safety; for if his shot does not take good effect, and the bear is not killed instantly, which, on account of their toughness, seldom happens, then the hunter is in danger; for then the bear instantly makes a stopper of leaves or of any other substance, as instinct directs, wherewith the animal closes the wound, and directly proceeds towards the hunter, if in sight, or to the place whence the smoke ascends and the gun was fired. ”

“ When a bird is crippled by a gunner, or is otherwise disabled, then the eagle's eye will see them, where the human eyes have looked in vain. The eagles soar very high in the air, beyond the vision of man, and on those flights they are always looking out for prey, or for a dead carcase, near which they are commonly seen. They seldom kill corn birds, or fowls which live on fruit. Eagles are fond of the flesh of deer, for which they watch the places where the wolves kill deer, and have left a carcase partly eaten, which they discover on the wing. ”

“ New-Netherlands is a fine, acceptable, healthy, extensive and agreeable country, wherein all people can more easily gain a competent support, than in the Netherlands, or in any other quarter of the globe, which is known to me or which I have visited. ”

“ In the winter season, the creeks and back waters abound with a small kind of fish which comes from the sea, about the size of a smelt. Some call them little mullets. Those fishes are so tame that many are caught with the hand; and as those come with the frost, we call them frost-fish. Outside at sea, and in some of the bays of the East river, the codfish are very plenty; and if we would practice our art and experience in fishing, we could take ship loads of cod-fish, for it can be easily accomplished. ”

“ It also is excellent firewood, surpassing every other kind, and setting at naught our old adage, "The man is yet to come, who can find better wood to burn than oak." This wood is far better as well for heat as duration. It possesses a peculiar sap, which causes it to burn freely, whether green or dry. If we draw it up out of the fresh water where it has lain a long time, still, on account of its hardness, it is even then uncommonly durable on the fire. ”

“ We all agree, that no turf, or other common fuel is equal to nut-wood. When it is dry, it keeps fire and sparkles like matches. Our women prefer nut-coals to turf for their stoves, because they last longer, and are not buried in ashes. This kind of wood is found all over the New-Netherlands in such abundance, that it cannot become scarce in the first hundred years with an increased population. ”

“ On the north, the river of Canada stretches a considerable distance, but to the north-west it is still undefined and unknown. Many of our Netherlanders have been far into the country, more than seventy or eighty miles from the river and sea-shore. We also frequently trade with the Indians, who come more than ten and twenty days' journey from the interior, and who have been farther off to catch beavers, and they know of no limits to the country, and when spoken to on the subject, they deem such enquiries to be strange and singular. ”