The vovage of Henry Hudson, English navigator in the service of the Dutch East India Company, to find a passage through polar seas to the shores of farthest Ind; the happy accident which led him into the mouth of the river that was afterwards to bear his name and to perpetuate his memory; and the wonder of the Indians of Manhattan when the Half Moon anchored at last, are the details of a more than thrice-told tale. There is no doubt that in Hudson's mind the " Groot Ri\'iere" he had found was the long-sought passage to open seas beyond. With Columbus, Verrazani, Cabot, and a host of others who have followed an ignis fatuiis through widening zones, the object of their expectations "a furlong still before,"' the skipper of the Half Moon looked for a speedy realisation of his dreams. It was not until the "green, pleasant shores" of Manhattan were far astern, and the lessening tides and fresher volume of the river confronted him with unanswerable argument, that his faith began to waver. Yes, even then, we read, his heart was sore at finding the head of navigation in the river, near the present site of Albany. He dispatched his mate with a boat's crew, to make sure of the disappointing fact, and not till this expedition returned, after a journey of eight or

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nine leagues, did he finally abandon the enterprise in that direction and prepare to descend the river. Hudson ascended the stream in eleven days. He recorded his impressions and adventures, especially with regard to the Indians, in a report which he fortunately succeeded in forwarding to his employers in Holland, w^iile he himself, after re-crossing the Atlantic, was forcibly detained in PORTRAIT OF HUDSON