was sent to Plymouth. He was hospitably entertained, and
returned to Fort Amsterdam with such testimonials of his reception as
induced Director Minuit to send a formal ambassador to Plymouth,
entrusted with plenipotentiary powers. Governor Bradford apologized
for not sending an ambassador to Fort Amsterdam, stating, "one of our
boats is abroad, and we have much business at home." Director Minuit
selected Isaac De Rassieres, secretary of the province, "a man of fair
and genteel behavior," as his ambassador. This movement was, to those
infant colonies, an event of as much importance as any of the more
stately embassies which have been interchanged between European
courts.

The barque Nassau was fitted out, and manned with a small band of
soldiers, and some trumpeters. It was the last of September, 1629,
when earth and sky were bathed in all the glories of New England
autumnal days. In De Rassieres' account of the excursion, he writes:

"Sailing through Hell-gate, and along the shores of
Connecticut and Rhode Island, we arrived, early the next
month, off Frenchman's Point, at a small river where those
of New Plymouth have a house, made of hewn oak planks,
called Aptuxet; where they keep two men, winter and summer,
in order to maintain the trade and possession."

This Aptuxet was at the head of Buzzard's Bay, upon the site of the
present village of Monumet, in the town of Sandwich. Near by there was
a creek, penetrating the neck of Cape Cod, which approached another
creek on the other side so near that, by a portage of but about five
miles, goods could be transported across.

As the Nassau came in sight of this lonely trading port suddenly the
peals of the Dutch trumpets awoke the echoes of the forest. It was the
4th of October. A letter was immediately dispatched by a fleet-footed
Indian runner to Plymouth. A boat was promptly sent to the head of the
creek, called Manoucusett, on the north side of the cape, and De
Rassieres, with his companions, having threaded the Indian trail
through the wilderness for five miles, was received on board the
Pilgrims' boat and conveyed to Plymouth, "honorably attended with the
noise of trumpeters."[2]

This meeting was a source of enjoyment to both parties. The two
nations of England and Holland were in friendly alliance, and
consequently this interview, in the solitudes of the New World, of the
representatives of the two colonies, was mutually agreeable