ooklyn]," he says, "are almost entirely Dutch. In Queen's
County, four fifths of the people are so likewise, but the other
fifth, and all Suffolk County, are English as they call themselves,
being from English ancestors, and using no other language." Major
Baurmeister, one of the officers of the Hessian division which
participated in the battle of Long Island, leaves us something more
than statistics in the case. He appears to have noted every thing with
lively appreciation. To a friend in Germany, for instance, we find him
writing as follows: "The happiness of the inhabitants, whose ancestors
were all Dutch, must have been great; genuine kindness and real
abundance is everywhere; any thing worthless or going to ruin is
nowhere to be perceived. The inhabited regions resemble the
Westphalian peasant districts; upon separate farms the finest houses
are built, which are planned and completed in the most elegant
fashion. The furniture in them is in the best taste, nothing like
which is to be seen with us, and besides so clean and neat, that
altogether it surpasses every description. The female sex is
universally beautiful and delicately reared, and is finely dressed in
the latest European fashion, particularly in India laces, white cotton
and silk gauzes; not one of these women but would consider driving a
double team the easiest of work. They drive and ride out alone, having
only a negro riding behind to accompany them. Near every
dwelling-house negroes (their slaves) are settled, who cultivate the
most fertile land, pasture the cattle, and do all the menial
work."[17] That the English element, however, had crept in to a
considerable extent around Brooklyn at this time, is a matter of
record.

[Footnote 16: The Hon. Henry C. Murphy, who visited this place in
1859, says of it: "The town lies in the midst of a marshy district,
and hence its name; for Breukelen--pronounced Brurkeler--means marsh
land." "There are some curious points of coincidence," continues Mr.
Murphy, "both as regards the name and situation of the Dutch Breukelen
and our Brooklyn. The name with us was originally applied exclusively
to the hamlet which grew up along the main road now embraced within
Fulton Avenue, and between Smith Street and Jackson Street; and we
must, therefore, not confound it with the settlements at the
Waalebought, Gowanus, and the Ferry, now Fulton Ferry, which were
entirely distinct, and were not embraced within the general name of