n. When
he arrived at this creek the wind was high, the elements were in an
uproar, and no boatman at hand. "For a short time," it is said, "he
vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking
himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his
stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across _en
spijt en Duyvil_ (in spite of the Devil), and daringly plunged into
the stream. Scarce had he buffeted half way over when he was observed
to struggle violently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters.
Instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement
blast--sank forever to the bottom."

* * *

O legends full of life and health,
That live when records fail and die,
Ye are the Hudson's richest wealth,
The frondage of her history!

_Wallace Bruce._

* * *

The main branch of the Hudson River Railroad, with its station at
Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, crosses the Harlem River at
Mott Haven, and, following its northern bank, meets the Hudson at this
point, where the 30th Street branch, following the river, joins the
main line. The steamer now passes Riverdale, with its beautiful
residences and the Convent of Mount St. Vincent, one of the prominent
landmarks of the Hudson, located on grounds bought of Edwin Forrest,
the tragedian, whose "Font Hill Castle" appears in the foreground, and
we come to

=Yonkers=, on the east bank, seventeen miles from New York, at the
mouth of the Nepperhan. West of the creek is a large rock, called
A-mac-lea-sin, the great stone to which the Indians paid reverence as
an evidence of the permanency and immutability of their deity. The
Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappechemak.
European settlements were made as early as 1639, as shown by deeds of
purchase. Here are many important manufacturing industries: carpet,
silk, and hat factories; mowers and reapers, gutta percha, rubber and
pencil companies. Its "Recreation Pavilion" on the pier was a noble
thing for the city to build--costing $50,000. The structure is of
steel and capable of accommodating 5,000 people.

It is said that Yonkers derived its name from Yonk-herr--the young
heir, or young sir, of the Phillipse manor. Until after the middle
of the seventeenth century the Phillipse family had their principal
residence at Castle Phillipse, Sleepy Hollow, but having purchased
"property to the southward" from Adrian