ery cordially into his house, where
we had as good as he and his wife had. She was a Dutch woman from the
Manhatans, who was glad to have us in her house.

[Footnote 150: The Oude Dorp (Old Town or Old Village) stood near the
present South Beach on the east side of the island. The steep bluff
spoken of was at what is now called Fort Wadsworth.]

[Footnote 151: Still called New Dorp; a village some two miles east of
Richmond.]

_12th, Thursday._ Although we had not slept well, we had to resume our
journey with the day. The man where we slept set us on the road. We
had now no more villages to go to, but went from one plantation to
another, for the most part belonging to French, who showed us every
kindness because we conversed with them in French, and spoke of the
ways of the Lord according to their condition. About one-third part of
the distance from the south side to the west end is still all woods,
and is very little visited. We had to go along the shore, finding
sometimes fine creeks well provided with wild turkeys, geese, snipes
and wood hens. Lying rotting upon the shore were thousands of fish
called _marsbancken_,[152] which are about the size of a common carp.
These fish swim close together in large schools, and are pursued so by
other fish that they are forced upon the shore in order to avoid the
mouths of their enemies, and when the water falls they are left there
to die, food for the eagles and other birds of prey. Proceeding thus
along we came to the west point where an Englishman lived alone some
distance from the road.[153] We ate something here, and he gave us the
consolation that we should have a very bad road for two or three hours
ahead, which indeed we experienced, for there was neither path nor
road. He showed us as well as he could. There was a large creek to
cross which ran very far into the land, and when we should get on the
other side of it, we must, he said, go outward again along (the
shore). After we had gone a piece of the way through the woods, we
came to a valley with a brook running through it, which we took to be
the creek or the end of it. We turned round it as short as we could,
in order to go back again to the shore, which we reached after
wandering a long time over hill and dale, when we saw the creek, which
we supposed we had crossed, now just before us. We followed the side
of it deep into the woods, and when we arrived at the end of it saw no
path along the other side to get outw