who then learned " for the first time that he and his Indians had done" them " much injury." 2 The position of the Dutch was perilous in the extreme. The Indians literally hung " upon their necks with fire and sword." 3 Had they known their own strength, the last refuge of the colonists would have fallen before them, but judging from their own modes of warfare, difficulty, but

they feared to attack the fort and contented themselves with sweeping off the exposed plantations and with the terror which their presence inspired. 4

Director Kieft now solicited aid from New England, offering " for one hundred and fifty.men, twenty-five thousand guilders and as a further consideration that New Netherland should be

"

mortgaged to the English for the payment of the sum offered. Relief was also solicited from Holland ; but these applications

were attended with only partial success, and the Dutch were thrown on their own resources, aided by a few English volun teers

command of Captain John Underbill. 5

under the

The prowess of the Iroquois is affirmed in that they once placed Quebec in siege,

yet

Fort

Amsterdam,

more formidable

than Quebec, was twice laid waste by the Indians in its vicinity. *

Documentary History, iv, 14. Colonial History, i, 182.

"

They

rove

in

parties

continually

around day and night on the island of Manhattans, slaying our folks not a thousand paces from the fort, and 'tis now arrived at such a pass, that no one dare move a foot to fetch a stick of fire wood