es he had performed, and the important discovery he had
made, the great river Mohegan should be called after his name; and it
continues to be called Hudson River unto this very day.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] True it is, and I am not ignorant of the fact, that in a
certain apocryphal book of voyages, compiled by one Hackluyt, is
to be found a letter written to Francis the First, by one
Giovanni, or John Verazzani, on which some writers are inclined
to found a belief that this delightful bay had been visited
nearly a century previous to the voyage of the enterprising
Hudson. Now this (albeit it has met with the countenance of
certain very judicious and learned men) I hold in utter
disbelief, and that for various good and substantial reasons:
First, because on strict examination it will be found that the
description given by this Verazzani applies about as well to the
bay of New York as it does to my nightcap. Secondly, because that
this John Verazzani, for whom I already begin to feel a most
bitter enmity, is a native of Florence, and everybody knows the
crafty wiles of these losel Florentines, by which they filched
away the laurels from the brows of the immortal Colon (vulgarly
called Columbus), and bestowed them on their officious townsman,
Amerigo Vespucci; and I make no doubt they are equally ready to
rob the illustrious Hudson of the credit of discovering this
beauteous island, adorned by the city of New York, and placing it
beside their usurped discovery of South America. And, thirdly, I
award my decision in favor of the pretensions of Hendrick Hudson,
inasmuch as his expedition sailed from Holland, being truly and
absolutely a Dutch enterprise; and though all the proofs in the
world were introduced on the other side, I would set them at
nought as undeserving my attention. If these three reasons be not
sufficient to satisfy every burgher of this ancient city, all I
can say is they are degenerate descendants from their venerable
Dutch ancestors, and totally unworthy the trouble of convincing.
Thus, therefore, the title of Hendrick Hudson to his renowned
discovery is fully vindicated.

[23] This river is likewise laid down in Ogilvy's map as
Manhattan--Noordt, Montaigne, and