Their trade consists mostly in peltries, which they measure The trade of ^^ ^^^*^ hand or by the finger. It happened that a wo- LUe Virgin- luau who had seen a skipper's lace shirt, fell sick : finding she should die, she gave her husband three fine peltry skins to present to the skipper for the shirt, which he willingly gave her, for she wished to be buried in it ; tliey outstrip the Christians in the sumptuousness of their burials. In exchange for peltries they receive beads, with wluch tiiey decorate their persons ; knives, adzes, axes, case-knives, kettles and all sorts of iron work which they require for house keeping. In their waters are all sorts of fowls, such as cranes, bitterns, swans, geese, ducks, widgeons, wild geese, as in this '^^terfmvi."'^ country. Birds fill also the woods so that men can scarcely go through them for the whistling, tlie noise, and the chattering. Whoever is not lazy can catcli them with little difficulty. Turkey beans is a very common crop. Pigeons

32 FIRST SETTLEMENT OF NEW-YORK BY THE DUTCH.

fly wild, they are chased by the foxes like fowls. Tortoises are

very small,* and are not eaten, because there is plenty iifvirginT of other food. The most wonderful are t!ie bull-frogs,

in size about a span, which croak with a ringing noise in the evening, as in tliis country. 'Tis surprising that storks have not been found there, if it be a marshy country. Spoonbills, ravens, eagles, sparrow-hawks, vultures are numerous and are actually shot or knocked down by the natives.