HISTORY OF BROOKLYN. 11

of beaver-skins and other valuable furs, procurable at a trifling costs but commanding a most remunerative market among the northern nations Of Europe. The spirit of private enterprise was stimulated to an extraordinary degree, and before the close of the next Summer (1610) a vessel, laden with coarse but suitable goods for Indian traffic, was dispatched by some of the Amsterdam merchants to the Great River of the North. The “Half Moon,” also, and a portion of her crew, although under another leader, revisited Manhattan and the scenes of their former adventures, to the unmistakable delight of the savages, who welcomed them as old acquaintances. During the year following, 1611, Hendrick Christiaensen made two voyages to Manhattan, the latter in company with Adriaen Block, bringing back with them to Holland two young savages, whose arrival in the civilized world fanned to a still brighter glow the already awakened mercantile curiosity and activity. In 1612 these two worthy mariners were again dispatched from Amsterdam to Manhattan, each in command of a separate vessel; and were followed, in 1613, by others, among whom. was Captain Cornelis Jacobson May, afterwards honorably known in the annals of Transatlantic discovery. The mingled tide of discovery and commerce had now fairly set towards the shores of New Netherland, and its importance began to attract the attention of the StatesGeneral of the United Netherlands, which, on the 27th of March, 1614, passed a general ordinance, conferring upon the discoverers of new lands the exclusive privilege of making six voyages thither­­measure which was followed by an increased activity among the mercantile communities of Amsterdam and Hoorn.

Manhattan Island, by virtue of its admirable position, became the headquarters of the fur-trade. From thence trading_shallops and canoes penetrated into every neighboring creek, inlet or bay, and Pushed their way even to the head of navigation on the rivers and larger streams. Gradually inland depots were established, where the adventurous trader, making himself comfortable among the homes and families of the natives, spent the winter months in purchasing and collecting furs and peltries, in readiness for shipment when the vessels from “the Fatherland” should arrive in the early spring. A few huts on the lower end of Manhattan Island