Unwilling, however, to abandon all hope of recovering a portion, at least, of the records which had been sold, I caused advertisements to be inserted in the most widely circulated journals of the country, requesting any person who might have in his possession any documents relating to the history of the Colony of New Netherland to have the goodness to communicate with the (then) Consul of the United States, at Amsterdam, Mr. J. W. Van den Broek. The kind attentions and friendly exertions of this gentleman, to further the objects of my visit to Amsterdam, have imposed on me an obligation which I would do great injustice to my feelings if I did not take this opportunity to acknowledge. It was subsequently ascertained that a portion of the records,

sold at Amsterdam, was in the possession of the original buyer, a person residing at the Hague. I purchased permission of him to make an examination of this portion, which was accordingly effected. Nothing, however, relating to our history was found and the mortify- ;

ing conviction is now forced upon us, that the papers of the West India Company relating to New Netherland -- which, until the year 1821, were easily attainable by the State, and whose destruction has left such a chasm in the original materials for the illustration of our annals -- are now irrecoverably lost! " The application to the authorities of the city of Amsterdam, for permission to examine '

their archives, was at once acceded to in the most courteous manner, and prompt arrangements were made to facilitate my investigations of the records in the Stad-Huys. Quite a number of interesting documents, relating to the City's Colony on the South river, were found and copied. " Examinations were also made of the valuable collections of manuscripts and pamphlets '