It is the city that hid behind palisades for fear of Indian neighbours; that fretted and prospered under Dutch and English governors; that in j^lace of stock exchanges and produce exchanges raised live stock and farm produce: the little city that entertained the first representative Congress in the Colonies and inaugurated the first President of the new Republic. Fort Amsterdam, at first a very rude affair of logs, but no doubt a sufficient defence against the simple weapons of the savages, was remodelled and rebuilt almost as many times as the little city had new governors. For this reason the earlier descriptions and pict-

A BIT OF OLD NEW YORK

Two Cities on One Site

ures of this miniature outpost in the wilderness did not agree. What was at first designated a fort was, in fact, nothing more than a stockade or i)aHsade, enclosing not only the official buildings but private dwellings of the settlers. For many years the church in which the early Dutch domines exhorted their flocks fostered its s];)iritual courage behind that tem])oral bulwark, and no doubt the many-breeked worshippers slei)t more comfortably in the knowledge that the hewn timber of their fence was strong, and the matchlocks of the guard ready for all comers. The names by which the fort was known, judging by the old records, changed almost as frequently as its size or dimensions. From Amsterdam it was altered by the English to James, and then by the Dutch again to William Hendrick, finally returning to James. At