fields have they cruelly murdered men and women; and with hatchets and tomahawks struck little children dead in their parents' arms or before their doors ; or carried them away into bondage ; the houses and grain-barracks are burnt with the produce; cattle, of all descriptions, are slain and destroyed, and such as remain must perish this approaching Winter for the want of fodder. Almost every place is abandoned. We, wretched people, must skulk, with wives and little ones that still survive, in poverty together, in and around the fort at the Manahatas where we are not safe even for an hour; whilst the Indians daily threaten to overwhelm us with it. Very little can be planted this autumn, and much less in the spring; so that it will come to pass that all of us who will yet save our lives, must of necessity perish next year of hunger and sorrow, with our wives and children, unless our God have pity on us. We are all here, from the smallest to the greatest, devoid of counsel and means, wholly powerless. The enemy meets with scarce any resistance. The garrison consists of but 50 @^60 soldiers unprovided with ammunition. Fort Amsterdam, utterly defenceless, stands open to the enemy night and day. The Company hath few or no effects here (as the Director hath informed us); were it not for this, there would have been still time to receive assistance

140 NEW- YORK COLONIAL MANUSCRIPTS. from the English at the East (ere all had gone to ruin); and we wretched settlers, whilst we must abandon all our substance, are exceedingly poor. These heathens are strong in might; they have formed an alliance with seven other nations; are well provided with guns, powder and lead, which they purchased for beaver from the private traders who have had, for a long time, free range here; the rest they take from our fellow countrymen whom they murder.