ions, which, if our Netherlanders had enjoyed as
they do, would without doubt, next to the help of God, without which
we are powerless, have enabled our people to flourish as well or better
than they do; ergo, the Company or their officers have hitherto been
and are still the cause of its not faring better with the country. On
account of their cupidity and bad management there is not hope, so long
as the land is under their government, that it will go on any better;
but it will grow worse. However, the right time to treat this subject
has not yet come.

(1) Persons who came to New Netherland, not as colonists
under the patroons, or as employees of the West India
Company, but on their own account.

(2) I.e., of the governor (director-general) of New
Netherland or of the directors of the company.

Of the Situation and Goodness of the Waters.

Having given an account of the situation of the country and its
boundaries, and having consequently spoken of the location of the
rivers, it will not be foreign to our purpose to add a word as to the
goodness and convenience of the waters; which are salt, brackish, or
fresh, according to their locality. There are in New Netherland four
principal rivers; the most southerly is usually called the South River,
and the bay at its entrance, Godyn's Bay. It is so called not because
it runs to the south, but because it is the most southerly river in New
Netherland. Another which this lies south of or nearest to, and which is
the most noted and the best, as regards trade and population, is
called Rio Montanjes, from certain mountains, and Mauritius River, but
generally, the North River, because it reaches farthest north. The third
is the East River, so called because it runs east from the Manathans.
This is regarded by many not as a river but as a Bay, because it is
extremely wide in some places and connects at both ends with the sea. We
however consider it a river and such it is commonly reckoned. The fourth
is called the Fresh River, because the water is for the most part fresh,
more so than the others. Besides these rivers, there are many bays,
havens and inlets, very convenient and useful, some of which might well
be classed among rivers. There are numerous bodies of water inland,
some large, others small, besides navigable kills like rivers, and
many creeks very advantageous for the purpose of navigating through the
country, as the map of New Netherland