Albany claims the first of these, a palisaded enclosure antedating even that upon Manhattan Island. At the extreme ends of the navigable river, nearly a fortnight apart in ordinary weather and absolutely shut off from communication after the winter ice and snow appeared, they became each the centre of dependent communities. The settlements from New Amsterdam, or Manhattan, extended northward to Kitchawan, and those of Rensselaerwyk (or Albany) included th(^ more southerly posts of Kingston, Esopus, and Rondout. While it is true that other posts sprang up between,

12 The Hudson River

yet the greater part of the river shore was for many years practically untouched by the whites. In relation to the purchase of Manhattan there is one old document, written in 1634, that concludes with a burst that has the ring of prophecy: " Further, not only were the above named forts enlarged and renewed, but the said company purchased from the Indians, who were the indubitable owners thereof, the island of Manhattes, situated at the entrance of said river, and there laid the foundations of a city.'' Whoever the forgotten framer of that paragraph, he wrote, as his contemporaries builded, better than he knew. Noting the orthography of the name Manhattes, as given above, it is interesting to find that there are forty- two spellings of the word used in old manuscripts. In that abounding wilderness which bordered what has become the main artery of the Empire State, the forests not only afforded a shelter for a large Indian population, but a hiding-place for numberless wild animals, among which an old document of the year 1645 includes