During the war with Spain they had opened and developed a profitable interchange ot commodities with the countries of the Baltic, and they had become the chief distributors of Russian furs to the countries of Europe. Naturally, they soon turned their attention to the prosecution of the fur trade with the Indians of the Hudson River, where beaver, otter and other valuable fur-bearing animals were abundant.

Merchants fitted out vessels and sent them across the ocean under such skillful commanders as the former mate of the Half-Moon and Captains Chris-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

tiaensen, Block, De Witt and May. Further explorations of the coast were made, as well as valuable cargoes obtained. Depots for the collection of furs, and a friendly and advantageous intercourse with the Indians, were established. Captain Block's vessel, the "Tiger," was accidentally burned in Xew York Bay, in 1613, and, without aid from Holland, the intrepid commander and his crew built the first vessel, the ' Restless," ever launched upon American waters. To shelter them, while engaged in the work, the first houses were erected upon Manhattan Island. During the winter the Indians supplied them " with food and all kinds of necessaries."

In the " Restless " Block sailed boldly through the rushing currents of the East River, naming its most dangerous portion " Hell Gate," after a similar situa. tion in a branch of the Scheldt, near Hulst, in Zealand, called " Hellegat." He explored our shore of Long Island Sound, and continued eastward to Cape Cod. The importance of these enterprises increased so that the States-General passed ordinances regulat. ing the trade, and, in 1614, granted a charter to the traders, in which the country was first called " New Netherland." The merchants to whom the charter was granted were not united as a corporation, but were merely participants in a limited monopoly, which they enjoyed in common.