The authentic history of Westchester County begins in the month of September, 1609, when Henry Hudson, in his little ship the " Half Moon," entered the harbor of New York and ascended the great river which now bears his name. But there are strong reasons for believing that Hudson was not the first navigator to appear on our shores, or at least in their immediate vicinity. In 1524 Juan Yerrazano, an Italian in the French service, sailing northward along the coast, came to anchor at a place apparently outside the Narrows. In a letter dated July 8, 1521, to Francis I., king of France, he reports that he " found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea; to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as we were riding at anchor in a good berth we would not venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth; therefore we took the boat, and entering the river we found a country on its banks well peopled. . . . We passed up this river about half a league, when we found it formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in circuit. . . . All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so commodious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills showed mamT indications of minerals." This description, although perplexing in some of its statements, and therefore suggesting caution as to conclusions, reasonably admits of the belief I allowing for the inaccuracies in detail which nearly always occur in the reports of the early explorers) that Yerrazano entered and inspected the Upper Bay.