INDIANS ON BOARD THE HALF-MOON.
The 4th was fair weather, and the wind at north north-west. We weighed, and came out of the river, into which we had run so far.…
By twelve of the clock we were clear of all the inlet. Then we took in our boat, and set our mainsail and spritsail and topsails, and steered away east south-east and south-east by east, off into the main sea.…
We continued our course toward England, without seeing any land by the way, all the rest of this month of October;and on the seventh day of November, stilo novo,[360] being Saturday, by the grace of God we safely arrived in the range of Dartmouth, in Devonshire, in the year 1609.
II.—Indian Traditions of Henry Hudson’s Arrival.
[The following narrative was written in 1801, by Rev. John Heckewelder, for many years a missionary among the Indians; the traditions having been told to him, as he says, forty years earlier, that is, about 1761, a century and a half after the coming of Hudson.]
The following account of the first arrival of Europeans at New York Island is verbatim as it was related to me by aged and respected Delawares, Monseys, and Mahicanni (otherwise called Mohegans, Mahicandus), near forty years ago. It is copied from notes and manuscripts taken on the spot. They say,—
A long time ago, when there was no such thingknown to the Indians as people with a white skin,—their expression,—some Indians who had been out a-fishing, and where the sea widens, espied at a great distance something remarkably large, swimming or floating on the water, and such as they had never seen before. They, immediately returning to the shore, apprised their countrymen of what they had seen, and pressed them to go out with them, and discover what it might be. These together hurried out, and saw, to their great surprise, the phenomenon, but could not agree what it might be; some concluding it to be an uncommon large fish or other animal, while others were of opinion it must be some very large house. It was at length agreed among those who were spectators, that as this phenomenon moved towards the land,—whether or not it was an animal, or any thing that had life in it,—it would be well to inform all the Indians on the inhabited islands of what they had seen, and put them on their guard.
Accordingly, they sent runners and watermen off to carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that these might send off in every direction for the warriors to come in. These arriving in numbers, and themselves viewing the strange appearance, and that it was actually moving towards them,—the entrance of the river or bay,—concluded it to be a large canoe or house, in which the Mannitto (great or supreme Being) himself was, and that he probably was coming to visit them. By this time the chiefs of the different tribes were assembled on York Island, and were deliberating on the manner they should receive their Mannitto on his arrival. Every step had been taken to be well provided withplenty of meat for a sacrifice. The women were required to prepare the best of victuals; idols or images were examined, and put in order; and a great dance was supposed not only to be an agreeable entertainment for the Mannitto, but might, with the addition of a sacrifice, contribute towards appeasing him, in case he was angry with them. The conjurers were also set to work to determine what the meaning of this phenomenon was, and what the result would be. Both to these, and to the chiefs and wise men of the nation, men, women, and children were looking up for advice and protection. Between hope and fear, and in confusion, a dance commenced.