Shortly before I arrived there three large vessels of'300 'tons each had come to load wheat ; two had found cargoes, the third could not be loaded because the savages had burnt ja part of their grain. These ships came from the West Indies where the West India Company usually keeps up seventeen ships of war.

Wo religion is publicly exercised but the Calvinist, and orders 'are to. admit none but Calvinists, but this is 'not observed, for there are, besides Calvinists, in the Colony Catholies, English Puritans, Lutherans, Anabaptists, here called Maistes &e.

When any one comes to settle in the country, they lend him horses, cows &¢, they give him provisions, all which he repays as soon as he is at ease, and as to the land he pays in to the West India Company after ten years the tenth of the produce which he reaps.

This country is bounded on the New England. side by. a-river 'they call the Fresche river, which serves as a boundary between them andthe English. The English however come very near to them, preferring to hold lands under the Dutch who ask nothing from them rather than to be dependant on: English Lords who exact rents and would fain be absolute. . On: the other side southward. towards Virginia, its limits are the river Which they callthe South river on which there:is also a Dutch settlement, but the Swedes have at its mouth another extremely well provided with men and cannon. It is believed that these Swedes. are maintained by some merchants of Amsterdam, who are not satisfied that the West India Company should alone enjoy all the commerce of these parts. . It is near this river that a gold mine.is reported to have been found. .