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

Introductory

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

England. We shall have occasion in the course of this work to refer again to this initial voyage up the river. In the year following Hudson's discovery, the Holland merchants, acting on the principle that one should not refuse a penny because it happens not to be a ])ound, conceived the idea that while waiting to open a new wa}' to China and Japan it might be profitable to secure an exclusive grant to trade in the country that was thrust upon them. A chronicle of thj time relates that

in that year, 1610, they sent a ship thither and obtained afterwards, from the High and I\hghty Lords States-General, a grant to resort and trade exclusively in these parts, to which end they likewise, in the year 161 5, l)uilt on the North River, about the Island Manhattans, a redoubt or little fort, wherein was left a small garrison, some people usually remaining there to carry on trade with the natives or Indians. This was continued and