Either this writer, or another of his tribe, was overjoyed to report that " indigo silvestris grows spontaneously here without any human aid or cultivation." Experiments with this plant were made in the extensive gardens of Rensselaerwyk and promised great things. We find added to that report a statement that madder would " undoubtedly ' ' thrive well ; " even better than in Zealand in regard to the land and other circumstances." O, those old gardens and plantations, in which were planted wheat and apple trees, madder and indigo and great expectations; that yielded now a crop of fruit and now a har\est of disappointment! Those early comers into the American Wonderland planted more than their gardens by the shores of Hudson's River. The succeeding pages will be in part a record of their struggle and their achievement.

Chapter II Two Cities on One Site

THERE are two wonderful cities at the mouth of the Hudson River. One is insistent, ahnost overwhehning in its presentation of presentday achievement. Its sky-hne is a boldlv serrated ridge of stupendous masonry, softened here and there by the smoke from a hundred thousand chimnevs. Its* shore -hne is broken into leagues of wharves that harbour an almost unbroken fleet of vessels. From a thousand miles of streets the aur? ')f its multitudinous life seems to rise, and the hum ■ traffic and the murmur of its striving never ceases On the river the scene changes ii oat not in character. The boats cross and recross t.^ch other's courses like mammoth shuttles, w^eaving a pattern of a marvellous ta]:)estry, and the e\-e is bewildered in tr\'ing to follow their intricate paths or wearies with their imresting procession. Hidden by this metropolis of to-day, of which the eye takes cognisance, there is a quaint little city, visible only to the imagination, contracted, unalterable, and peopled with ghosts.