They have sown all kinds of grain in the middle of May, and reaped in the middle of August. I send you small samples of the summer grains, as wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, beans and flax.

" ' The cargo of the ship consists of 7,246 beaver skins, 178J otter 675 " 48 mink " 36 cat-lynx " 33 mink " 34 small rat " together with a considerable quantity of oak timber and nut-wood.

" ' Commending your High and Mighty Lordships to the favor of the Almighty, " I am your High Mightinesses' humble servant, '

" P. SCHAGEN. '

" 'At Amsterdam, Nov. 5th, anno 1626.'

" The historical value and interesting character of this document cannot fail to strike any one who is capable of appreciating the first efforts to introduce the arts of civilized life into a new and widely extended domain, which has since grown from these small beginnings into a large and flourishing commonwealth, excelling in population and resources some of the monarchies of the Old World. "Some doubt has hitherto existed in regard to the name of the Director-General or Governor of the Colony prior to the year 1633 and although it was generally supposed that the office ;

was then held by Peter Minuit, yet no official act of that person as chief magistrate was among our records. The fact is now established by the discovery of an original grant of lands, signed by Peter Minuit and his Council, dated at Fort Amsterdam, July 15th, 1630. The original parchment containing this grant was procured by Mr. Brodhead, and is now deposited