Documentary History of the State of New York, Vol. III

When they have a corpse, they place it, in the act of dying, squat on the heels, like children sitting in this country before the fire ; and so lay it in the grave, all sitting ; its face to the East. It appears that the Sickmiamersj before mentioned, make asort of sacrifice. Tliey have a hole in a hill in w^hich ^the'siclaua- ^^'^^J P^^cc a kcttle full of all sorts of articles that they '"^'^- have, either by them, or procured. "When there is a

great quantity collected a snake comes in, then they all depart, and the" Manifion, that is the Devil, comes in the night and takes the kettle away, according to the statement of the Koutsinacka^ or Devil hunter, who presides over the ceremony.

This Pieter Barentz, already spoken of, is conversant with all

the Tribes th.ereabout -, he traded with the Sickenames, ^'^aif'ua°es ^^ wliom tlic wliolc Nortli coast is tributary ; with the

Sinnekox, Wappenox, Maquaes and Maikans^ so that he visited all the Tribes with sloops and traded in a friendly manner with them, only for peltries. And he brought back this year a valuable cargo in the ship the Arms of Amsterdam, whereof Adriaen Joris is Skipper, who went out there on the 19^^ of December of the year 1625 with the ship the Sea-gull [het Meeutje) and conveyed Pieter Minuit aforesaid, who now sends for his wife thither. The Sea gull arrived there 4*'i May, 1626

Two SHIPS came from New Netherland for the benefit of the said (W. I.) Company, with ten thousand Peltries, or w^^timilf' skins, together with a large quantity of timber, fit for N^w Ni^^hJ?. t^^® building of the vessels which are shortly to be '^'"'- launched. Those ships were despatcht by the Commander there, called Minuict ; one ship was the Three Kings, Skipper Jan Jacobsz. of Wieringhj' the other was, the Arms of Amsterdam.