Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 Part 12

A few vegetables are planted, but they are of the coa.r.s.est kinds and are cultivated in the coa.r.s.est manner, without knowledge or care, and they are, therefore, not properly raised, and do not amount to much as regards the production, and still less as to their use. Some have begun to plant orchards, which all bear very well, but are not properly cultivated. The fruit is for the greater part pressed, and makes good cider, of which the largest portion becomes soured and spoiled through their ignorance or negligence, either from not putting it into good casks, or from not taking proper care of the liquor afterwards. Sheep they have none, although they have what is requisite for them if they chose. It is matter of conjecture whether you will find any milk or b.u.t.ter even in summer; we have not found any there at this season of the year. They bestow all their time and care in producing tobacco; each cask or hogshead, as they call it, of which pays two English shillings on exportation, and on its arrival in England, two pence a pound, besides the fees for weighing and other expenses here, and freight and other charges beyond sea. When, therefore, tobacco only brings four or five pence, there is little or nothing left for the owner.

The lives of the planters in Maryland and Virginia are very G.o.dless and profane. They listen neither to G.o.d nor his commandments, and have neither church nor cloister. Sometimes there is some one who is called a minister, who does not as elsewhere, serve in one place, for in all Virginia and Maryland there is not a city or a village[254]--but travels for profit, and for that purpose visits the plantations through the country, and there addresses the people; but I know of no public a.s.semblages being held in these places; you hear often that these ministers are worse than anybody else, yea, are an abomination.

[Footnote 254: No cities, of course, but some villages.]

When the ships arrive with goods, and especially with liquors, such as wine and brandy, they attract everybody, that is, masters, to them, who then indulge so abominably together, that they keep nothing for the rest of the year, yea, do not go away as long as there is any left, or bring anything home with them which might be useful to them in their subsequent necessities. It must therefore go hard with the household, and it is a wonder if there be a single drop left for the future. They squander so much in this way, that they keep no tobacco to buy a shoe or a stocking for their children, which sometimes causes great misery. While they take so little care for provisions, and are otherwise so reckless, the Lord sometimes punishes them with insects, flies, and worms, or with intemperate seasons, causing great famine, as happened a few years ago in the time of the last Dutch war with the English,[255] when the Lord sent so many weevils that all their grain was eaten up as well as almost all the other productions of the field, by reason of which such a great famine was caused that many persons died of starvation, and a mother killed her own child and ate it, and then went to her neighbors, calling upon them to come and see what she had done, and showing them the remains of her child, whereupon she was arrested and condemned to be hung. When she sat or stood on the scaffold, she cried out to the people, in the presence of the governor, that she was now going to G.o.d, where she would render an account, and would declare before him that what she had done she did in the mere delirium of hunger, for which the governor alone should bear the guilt; inasmuch as this famine was caused by the weevils, a visitation from G.o.d, because he, the governor, undertook in the preceding summer an expedition against the Dutch residing on the South River, who maintained themselves in such a good posture of defense, that he could accomplish but little; when he went to the h.o.e.re-kill on the west side of that river, not far from the sea, where also he was not able to do much; but as the people subsisted there only by cultivating wheat, and had at this time a fine and abundant harvest in the fields--and from such harvests the people of Maryland generally, and under such circ.u.mstances as these particularly, were fed--he set fire to it, and all their other fruits, whether of the trees or the field; whereby he committed two great sins at the same time, namely, against G.o.d and his goodness, and against his neighbors, the Dutch, who lost it, and the English who needed it; and had caused more misery to the English in his own country, than to the Dutch in the enemy's country. This wretched woman protesting these words substantially against the governor, before Heaven and in the hearing of every one, was then swung up.

[Footnote 255: The war of 1672-1674. But the attack on the h.o.e.re-kill (Wh.o.r.ekill, now Lewes, Delaware) was not an act of war against the Dutch, but an attack by Marylanders on inhabitants who were under the jurisdiction of the Duke of York, in a territory disputed between him and Lord Baltimore.]

In addition to what the tobacco itself pays on exportation, which produces a very large sum, every hundred acres of land, whether cultivated or not, has to pay one hundred pounds of tobacco a year, and every person between sixteen and sixty years of age must pay three shillings a year. All animals are free of taxation, and so are all productions except tobacco.

It remains to be mentioned that those persons who profess the Roman Catholic religion have great, indeed, all freedom in Maryland, because the governor makes profession of that faith, and consequently there are priests and other ecclesiastics who travel and disperse themselves everywhere, and neglect nothing which serves for their profit and purpose. The priests of Canada take care of this region, and hold correspondence with those here, as is supposed, as well as with those who reside among the Indians. It is said there is not an Indian fort between Canada and Maryland, where there is not a Jesuit who teaches and advises the Indians, who begin to listen to them too much; so much so, that some people in Virginia and Maryland as well as in New Netherland, have been apprehensive lest there might be an outbreak, hearing what has happened in Europe,[256] as well as among their neighbors at Boston; but they hope the result of the troubles there will determine many things elsewhere. The Lord grant a happy issue there and here, as well as in other parts of the world, for the help of His own elect, and the glory of His name.

[Footnote 256: The reference is to the Popish Plot in England; in respect to Boston, it is probably to King Philip's War, 1675-1676, and the hostilities along the Maine coast in 1677, though there is no reason to attribute these to French or Jesuit instigation. Yet possibly the great fire of August 8-9, 1679, is meant; see p. 269, note 1, _infra_.]

We will now leave Maryland, and come back to Sandhoeck [Newcastle], on the South River, where, in the house of our friend Ephraim Hermans, the Lord had brought us, and our friends received and lodged us with affectionate hearts.

_16th, Sat.u.r.day._ Mr. Moll, who is the president [of the court] and one of the princ.i.p.al men here in the South, having finished his business in the court which was now ended, had intended to ride this morning to a plantation which he had recently purchased on Christina Kill, and would have been pleased to have had us accompany him, and look at the lands about there, which he said were very good; but as the hard and rainy weather of yesterday had not yet cleared up, he put off the journey until Monday, in hopes he would then have our company, when he would provide a horse for each of us, and Ephraim would also go with us. Meanwhile we went to see whether there would be any means of returning to the Manathans notwithstanding the ice, either by land or sea. If we should return by water, we should be able to see the lower parts of this river, the h.o.e.re-kill and others; but no opportunity presented itself, because it was so late in the year, there being no navigating in consequence of every one being afraid of the ice.

_17th, Sunday._ We had an opportunity to-day to hear Domine Tessemaker, which we did, but never heard worse preaching, and I, therefore, had little desire to go again in the afternoon, though I was misled by the ringing of the bell. He is a man who wishes to effect some _etabliss.e.m.e.nt_ or reform here, but he will not accomplish much in that respect, as he not only has no grace therefor, but there seems to be something in his life which will hereafter manifest itself more. For the present we can say with truth that he is a perfect worldling.[257] It seems that in these spiritually, as well as physically, waste places, there is nevertheless a craving of the people to accept anything that bears even the name of food, in order to content rather than satisfy themselves therewith. Nevertheless the Lord will take pity upon these his lands, as we hope, for it appears indeed that the seed of the elect is here, especially among those of European descent.

[Footnote 257: Domine Petrus Tesschenmaker remained in charge of the church in Newcastle till 1682. After brief sojourns in New York and on Staten Island, he was called to the church in Schenectady. There he served from 1685 to 1690, when he was killed in the Indian ma.s.sacre of that year.]

_18th, Monday._ We four, namely, Mr. Moll, Ephraim, my comrade and myself, after we had breakfasted, started about nine o'clock, on horseback, from Newcastle for Christina Kill. We observed the land through which we rode was sometimes only common soil, until we reached a plantation which Mr. Moll and Ephraim owned together, lying on a branch of that creek, and which was a good piece of land. Ephraim having finished the business for which he had come here, of having planks sawed for boarding a new clap-board house he had built, left us and rode back to Newcastle, and we continued on after we had looked at a grist-mill which the Swedes had constructed upon one of the branches of the creek, a considerable distance along another of them.

We discovered here and there pieces of good land, but they were not large, and were along the creek. The greater portion of the country was only common land. Evening coming on, we rode back to the plantation of a Mr. Man, lying upon a neck of land called Cheese-and-bread Island, which is a good piece of ground, and up to which the creek is navigable for large boats or barks.[258] This man is a great friend of Mr. Moll. We were, therefore, very welcome, and slept there this night.

[Footnote 258: Bread and Cheese Island lay up Christina Creek, some ten miles west of present Wilmington, Delaware, and at the junction of Red Clay Creek and White Clay Creek. The planter was Abraham Mann, who in 1683 was sheriff and member of a.s.sembly for Newcastle County.]

_19th, Tuesday._ After breakfast we rode out in company with Mr. Man, to look at several pieces of land which they very highly recommended to us, but it was because, as they said, they wished to have good neighbors, though sometimes neighbors did not amount to much. It was now in the afternoon, and we rode towards home, over a plain where the deer ran out of the road in herds. Coming to the large creek, which is properly called Christina Kill, we found Mr. Moll had not correctly calculated the tide, for he supposed it would be low water or thereabouts, whereas the water was so high that it was not advisable to ride through it with horses, and we would have to wait until the water had fallen sufficiently for that purpose. While we were waiting, and it began to get towards evening, an Indian came on the opposite side of the creek, who knew Mr. Moll, and lived near there at that time, and had perhaps heard us speak. He said that we should have to wait there too long; but if we would ride a little lower down, he had a canoe in which he would carry us over, and we might swim the horses across. We rode there at once, and found him and his canoe. We unsaddled the horses, and he swam them over one by one, being in the canoe and holding them by the bridle. When we were over, we quickly saddled them and rode them as fast as they could run, so that they might not be cold and benumbed. It was entirely dark, and we remarked to each other the providence of the Lord in this Indian coming there; for otherwise we should not have known how to find the way through the woods in consequence of the great darkness. It was bad enough as it was, on a path that both the horses and Mr. Moll were acquainted with, for we could scarcely see each other sometimes. We reached Newcastle happily about eight o'clock in the evening, much rejoiced, and thanking Mr. Moll.

_20th, Wednesday._ While we were in Maryland, and were crossing over the Sa.s.safras River, we saw a small English ship lying there, which they told us would leave about the English Christmas.[259] We now learned from Mr. Moll, that he was going to write by her, and was willing if we wrote, to allow our letters to go to London under cover of his; and also that he should soon go to Maryland to attend the court now about to be held there. We determined, therefore, not to permit the opportunity to pa.s.s by of writing home.

[Footnote 259: Our travellers used the new style, current in Holland (though not in Friesland), the English and their colonists the old.

Christmas of old style was January 4 of new.]

_21st, Thursday._ We finished our letters to-day. We perceived it would be in vain to wait for a chance to go to the Manathans by sea, and there would be no opportunity to go up the river. We, therefore, finally concluded to hire a canoe and a person to take us up the river; and accordingly agreed with one Jan Boeyer,[260] for fifty guilders in _zeewan_, and a dollar for the canoe a day, to leave the next day if it were possible. Whereupon, Ephraim and his wife, who had done their best herein, as well as other friends, set about writing letters for us to take to the Manathans. Meantime, Ephraim received news that his father was near his end, and had to be handled by one or two men to turn him in bed, and that he desired once more to speak to him.

[Footnote 260: Jan Boeyer was constable of Newcastle the next year.]

_22d, Friday._ It had frozen some this morning, and Jan Boeyer manifested little disposition to go up the river, declaring that with such a frost as this, the river above was all frozen up; and though there was no probability of it, we had to wait. Ephraim and Mr. Moll left together for Maryland to see Ephraim's father, who wanted to speak to him, as we heard, in relation to the land or manor which he possessed there; for while he had given portions to all his other children, namely, one son and three daughters, he had made Ephraim, his oldest son, heir of his rank and manor, according to the English law, as _fils de commys_,[261] that is, Ephraim could enjoy the property during his life, and hire or sell it for that period, but upon his death, it must go to his oldest son, and so descend from heir to heir. Mr. Moll was the witness of this, and had the papers in his care. It seemed that the father wished to make some change because we had been there, and he had offered us a part of the land.[262] We, therefore, think we shall hear what he shall have done in the matter.

[Footnote 261: For _fideicommissum_.]

[Footnote 262: Augustine Herrman did not die till 1686. In 1684 he executed his final deed of conveyance to Peter Sluyter _alias_ Vorsman, Jasper Danckaerts _alias_ Schilders, Petrus Bayard of New York (nephew of Governor Stuyvesant and ancestor of all the Bayards of Delaware), John Moll, and Arnoldus de La Grange, conveying the "Labadie Tract" of some 3750 acres on the north side of Bohemia River.

Moll and de La Grange immediately released their interest in the land to Danckaerts and Sluyter, Bayard did so in 1688, and Danckaerts in 1693, from Holland, conveyed to Sluyter all his rights. Augustine Herrman at his death conveyed the rest of Bohemia Manor to his son Ephraim as an entailed estate. But evidently he had by that time repented of his dealings with the Labadists, for a codicil to his will appoints trustees to carry it out because "my eldest Sonn Ephraim Herman ... hath Engaged himself deeply unto the labady faction and religion, seeking to perswade and Entice his Brother Casparus and sisters to Incline thereunto alsoe, whereby itt is upon Good ground suspected that they will prove no True Executors of This my Last Will of Entailement ... but will Endeavour to disanull and make it voide, that the said Estates may redound to the Labady Communality." MS., Md.

Hist. Soc.]

Although it had frozen hard, yet when the sun rose high about nine o'clock, it was ordinarily pleasant and handy weather, but there was no decision on the part of our skipper to leave. In the meantime we had the house with Ephraim's wife alone, and, therefore, more freedom and opportunity to speak to her of G.o.d, and G.o.dly things, which she well received. We expect something good from her as well as from Ephraim.

_23d, Sat.u.r.day._ The weather was milder, and there was some fog which cleared away as the sun rose. We went to see Jan Boeyer again, but he had no intention to make the journey. We heard it was not so much on account of the ice, as of the small-pox, which prevailed very much up the river, and which he had never had. There was no use of striving with him, and we determined, therefore, to hire somebody else, if we could find any person. Mr. Peter Aldrix made inquiry for us, but to no purpose, and we had to wait and depend upon G.o.d's providence. We heard, however, of some people who had arrived in a canoe from Christina Kill, and that even in that creek there was no ice yet, or up the river.

_24th, Sunday._ Domine Tessemaker being at Apoquemene, there was no preaching to-day at Newcastle but some reading. We went, however, to the church, in order not to give offense. Much of the reading we could not bear, but we hope others were more edified than we expected to be.

It was very fine weather and it annoyed us that we had to wait so.

This evening there arrived a canoe with Swedes, who had come from half way below the falls, and of whom we inquired whether there were any ice up the river. They said there was not, and they were going back the next day. We endeavored to make an agreement with them to carry us, but they asked entirely too much, namely, an anker[263] of rum, which would amount to about 120 guilders in _zeewan_: whereupon we rebuked them for their exorbitancy. The Swedes and Finns, particularly, have this fault, and generally towards strangers; but as it seemed to me they had drunk a little too much, we let the matter rest in the hope they would talk more reasonably to-morrow.

[Footnote 263: About ten gallons.]

_25th, Monday._ The weather being good, we spoke again to our Swedes, but they continued obstinate; and also to Jan Boeyer, but nothing could be done with him either. While we were standing on the sh.o.r.e talking with them about leaving, I saw coming down the river a boat which looked very much like that of the Quaker of Upland,[264] as indeed it was. He landed at Newcastle and was going to Ephraim's house, where he had some business to transact, intending to leave the next day. We asked him if he was willing to take us with him, and he said he would do so with pleasure. We were rejoiced, observing the providence of the Lord who took such fatherly care of us. There stood Jan Boeyer and the Swedes cheated by their own covetousness. Robert Wade and his wife lodged at Ephraim's, which a.s.sured us our journey would be commenced the next day.

[Footnote 264: Robert Wade. See p. 105.]

_26th, Tuesday._ All the letters having been collected together, which we were to take with us and deliver, and the Quaker having finished his business, we breakfasted together, and courteously took leave of all our acquaintances; but especially with some love, of Madame Ephraim, named Elizabeth van Rodenburgh. She had shown us much kindness, and given us good hope that the Lord will not forget her therein.

We will observe before leaving Sand-hoek, that it has always been the princ.i.p.al place on the South River, as well in the time of the English as of the Dutch. It is now called Newcastle by the English. It is situated on the west side of the river upon a point which extends out with a sandy beach, affording a good landing place, better than is to be found elsewhere on that account. It lies a little above the bay where the river bends and runs south from there, so that you can see down the river southerly, the greater portion of it, which presents a beautiful view in perspective, and enables you to see from a distance the ships which come out of the great bay and sail up the river.

Formerly all ships were accustomed to anchor here, for the purpose of paying duties or obtaining permits, and to unload when the goods were carried away by water in boats or barks, or by land in carts. It was much larger and more populous at that time, and had a small fort called Na.s.sau; but since the country has belonged to the English, ships may no longer come here, or they must first declare and unload their cargoes at New York, which has caused this little place to fall off very much, and even r.e.t.a.r.ded the settlement of plantations. What remains of it consists of about fifty houses, almost all of wood. The fort is demolished, but there is a good block-house, having some small cannon, erected in the middle of the town, and sufficient to resist the Indians or an incursion of Christians; but it could not hold out long. This town is the capital of justice, where the high court of the South River is held, having three other courts subordinate to it, from which appeals lie to it, as they do from it to New York, and from New York to England. These three minor courts are established, one at Salem, a small village of Quakers newly commenced on the east side of the river not far from Newcastle[265]; another is at Upland, on the west side above Newcastle, a Swedish village, and the third is at Burlington, a new Quaker village on the east side of the river above Newcastle. Newcastle is about eighty miles from the falls, and the same distance from the mouth of the river or the sea. The water in the river at Newcastle at ordinary flood tide is fresh, but when it is high spring tide, or the wind blows hard from the south or southeast, it is brackish, and if the wind continues long or it is hard weather it becomes a little saltish. With a new or full moon it makes high water at Newcastle at five o'clock. The princ.i.p.al persons whom we have seen are Mr. Moll and his wife, Ephraim Hermans and his wife, Pieter Aldrix and his wife, and Domine Tessemaker.

[Footnote 265: Salem, New Jersey, had been founded by John Fenwick in 1675.]

As regards Mr. Moll, he lived in his youth at Amsterdam, in order to learn business. He afterwards went to Bristol, in England, where he carried on a reasonably large business which he had begun to do at Amsterdam. In the war between England and Holland, he lost so much that he failed, or made an agreement with his creditors. He, therefore, immigrated to this country, and after trading in Virginia and Maryland some time, came to Newcastle to live, where he has two or three plantations, upon which he raises tobacco, more for the purpose of paying his creditors, as he himself informed me, than because he seeks this manner of gain and life, intending, as soon as he can release himself, to go and live upon the land, and support himself by what G.o.d may be pleased to give him. Touching the hope of grace discoverable in him it is very slight, although he has listened with attention to all we have said to him, requesting us to continue, and that he might be favored with a letter from us on the subject, or some books such as we might deem necessary, and willing, with a full heart, to do us every service in his power in these quarters or elsewhere, as he had done many, and endeavored to do still more. The Lord will do for him as it pleases him.

The wife of Mr. Moll is an English woman, a pious Independent. When he married her, she lived in a large house where many persons dwelt together, separate from all other a.s.semblies and the attachments of the world, seeking nothing except to serve G.o.d in peace and uprightness, and having their own preacher and other ministers. But with all this she remains a great _mundane_, as to which we have spoken to her. They have only one son.

Ephraim Hermans is the oldest child of Augustine Hermans, there being two brothers and three sisters, one of whom lives now at Amsterdam.

They are all of a Dutch mother, after whose death their father married an English woman, who is the most artful and despicable creature that can be found. He is a very G.o.dless person, and his wife, by her wickedness, has compelled all these children to leave their father's house and live elsewhere. Ephraim, the oldest, having gone into business, settled at Newcastle, his oldest sister keeping house for him. He had for a long time sought in marriage at New York, a daughter of the late governor of the island of Carsou [Curacao], in the Caribbean Sea, belonging to the Dutch West India Company, whose name was Johan van Rodenburgh.[266] She lived with her mother on the Manhatan, who, after the death of her husband, Rodenburgh, married one Joannes van Burgh, by whom she had several children. Her daughter, Elizabeth van Rodenburgh, being of a quiet turn of mind, and quite sickly, had great inclination to remain single. Ephraim, however, finally succeeded in his suit, and married her at New York. He brought her with him to Newcastle on the South River, and we accompanied them on the journey. Ephraim had been a bad, artful fellow in his youth, and lived in all G.o.dless ways, but the Lord seized his heart, whereby he began to repent, and saw that he must live otherwise, the Lord compelling him. He found, however, no ground or strength, but having a good conception of spiritual matters or religion, as far as could be the case in such a man, he saw nothing but untruth, falsehood, and deception in all that was done in relation to G.o.d and G.o.dly things, and great hypocrisy in the best persons with whom he was acquainted.

Convinced of this, and seeing no better result, he remained in suspense, although he professed the doctrines of the Reformed, and was a member of their church. Seeing our life, and hearing us speak, he has begun to see the difference, and discover the truth received in the heart. He has examined himself in several things, and corrected them, and was disposed to do more, as we had persuaded him. May the Lord bestow upon him His true grace, who puts it in our hearts to beseech this for him with confidence. We commit all to Him.

[Footnote 266: _Lucas_ Rodenburgh was vice-director of Curacao from 1644 to 1655.]

His wife, Elizabeth van Rodenburgh, has the quietest disposition we have observed in America. She is politely educated. She has had through her entire youth a sleeping sickness of which she seems now to be free. She has withdrawn herself much from the idle company of youth, seeking G.o.d in quiet and solitude. She professes the Reformed religion, is a member of that church, and searches for the truth which she has found nowhere except in the word and preaching, which she therefore much attended upon and loved, but which never satisfied her, as she felt a want and yearning after something more. She was so pleased at our being near her, and lodged at her house, she could not abstain from frequently declaring so, receiving all that we said to her with grat.i.tude, desiring always to be near us; and following the example of her husband, she corrected many things, with the hope and promise of persevering if the Lord would be pleased so to give her grace. We were indeed comforted with these two persons, who have done much for us out of sincere love. The Lord pities them, and will keep His promise to this house.

Margaret Hermans possesses a good disposition, although a little wild, according to the nature of the country. She complained that she was like a wild and desolate vine, trained up in a wild and desolate country; that she had always felt an inclination to know more of G.o.d quietly, and to serve Him, hoping the Lord would be merciful to her.

She treated us with great affection, and received thankfully and acceptably what we said to her. We did not see her on our return, as she had gone to attend upon her father; and we therefore have not conversed much with her. The Lord will do with her as it pleases Him.

As to Mr. Pieter Aldrix he is a man of Groningen. He came to this country in the year '63 or '64, for the Lord Burgomasters of Amsterdam, as chief of their cargoes and storehouse in respect of the trade with the Indians, and thus was at the head of their office on the South River. Whether he had been in this country before or not, I do not know.[267] He did not occupy his place long, for the English shortly afterwards took the country and deprived him of all he had; yet he has remained here, gaining his livelihood by various means as well as he can, and seems to have gradually succeeded. He had a ketch made for the purpose of trading to the [West India] Islands, and elsewhere. He has a large family of children, and others. He sought to render us as much service as he could, but for the things of grace he is not inclined. He is a mundane, but is not vicious. The Lord can use him as it pleases Him.

[Footnote 267: Peter Alrichs came over in 1657.]

These are the persons at Newcastle with whom we have some acquaintance, and such the hope they have given us. We have promised them to continue it, and write to them, and send them such books as we might deem necessary for them.

Returning now to our boat, it left about ten o'clock for a place a little higher up the river where they had to take in some wheat, and where we were to go on foot, with the Quaker's wife. We reached it about noon, and found the boat laden, and lying high up on the land, so that we had to wait until the tide was half flood. We saw there a piece of meadow or marsh, which a Dutch woman had d.y.k.ed in, and which they a.s.sured us had yielded an hundred for one, of wheat, notwithstanding the hogs had done it great damage. The boat getting afloat, we left about three o'clock, and moved up with the tide. The weather was pleasant and still, with a slight breeze sometimes from the west, of which we availed ourselves; but it did not continue long, and we had to rely upon our oars. We arrived at Upland about seven o'clock in the evening, and it was there only half flood, so much later does the tide make there than at Newcastle. The Quaker received us kindly, gave us supper, and counselled with us as to how we should proceed further. We were shown a better place to sleep than we had when we were here before.

_27th, Wednesday._ It rained some during the night and it was very misty early in the morning. Before the tide served to leave, we agreed with this man who had brought us up, to send us in his boat to Burlington, with two boys to manage it, paying him twenty guilders for the boat, and three guilders a day to each of the boys for three days, amounting in the whole to thirty-eight guilders; but one of the boys wishing too much, he determined to take us up himself. A good wind coming out of the south, we breakfasted and dined in one meal, and left about ten o'clock, with a favorable wind and tide, though at times the wind was quite sharp. We sailed by Tinakonk again, but did not land there. It began at noon to rain very hard, and continued so the whole day, and also blew quite hard. We ran aground on the lee sh.o.r.e upon a very shallow and muddy place, from which we got off with difficulty. On account of this and other accidents, if we had had the boys it would have been bad for us. We arrived at Wykakoe,[268] a Swedish village on the west side of the river, in the evening at dusk, where we went, all wet, into the house of one Otto, who had three children lying sick with the small-pox. We dried ourselves here partly. He gave us supper and took us to sleep all together in a warm stove room, which they use to dry their malt in and other articles. It was very warm there, and our clothes in the morning were entirely dry.

[Footnote 268: Wicacoa was in the southeastern part of the present area of Philadelphia, where Gloria Dei Church, still standing, was erected by the Swedes in 1697.]

_28th, Thursday._ It was flood at daylight when we left, but had not gone far before I discovered I had left one of my gloves behind, whereupon we ran the boat ash.o.r.e, and I went back and found it. My comrade was more unfortunate, for after we had proceeded full two hours, and when we were going to breakfast on what our female friend had given us, he found he had left his knife and fork; but we had gone too far to lose the time to go back for them. The weather was foggy, but when the sun had risen a little, it cleared away and became pleasant and calm. We therefore advanced rapidly, rowing with the tide, and reached Takany of which we have before spoken, about ten o'clock, and where we landed a person who had come up with us. We continued on, and as the tide just commenced rising there we had a constant flood tide with us to Burlington, where we arrived about two o'clock. We were put ash.o.r.e on an island of Peter Aldrix[269] who had given us a letter of recommendation to a person living there, and working for him. We paid Robert Wade who and his wife are the best Quakers we have found. They have always treated us kindly. He went immediately over to Burlington where he did not stop long, and took the ebb tide and rowed with it down the river. It was not high tide for an hour and a half after we arrived at the island, and there is, therefore, a difference of eleven hours or more in the same tide from Newcastle.

[Footnote 269: A ma.n.u.script map of the upper Delaware, which accompanies the journal, shows a plantation of Peter Alrichs on the right bank, opposite Matinnaconk Island and Burlington, and near the present Bristol, Pennsylvania.]