There is in the provisions of this act a survival of customs fostered under a mediaeval feudatory system, -- customs that seem strangely out of place in the new land. Another clause provides that: Should any Patroon, in course of time, happen to prosper in his Colonic to such a degree as to be able to found one or more towns, he shall have authority to appoint ofificers and magistrates there, and make use of the title of his Colonic, according to the pleasure and the quality of the persons, all saving the Company's regalia. A further explanation of the terms upon which

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 91

Patroons and their colonists lived together is furnished in a report of the Committee of the States-General :

Whereas it is found that greater pains have generally been taken to promote the fur trade than the agriculture and poi^ulation of the country, the supreme court there, shall, in consequence, above all things, provide that cattle be not exported, but be as much as possible retained and reared there : also that a good quantity of grain be kept in store to be furnished and sold at a reasonable price to newly arrived immegrants, who are to be assisted and favoured in every manner, and be located on good lands, suitable for cultivation, taking care therein that they shall dwell as close and as compact together as possible on such lands and places as shall be considered best and most suitable for homestead, bouwerie, plantation and security: the Patroons of Colonies remaining at liberty to improve their own lands as they think proper, they being also obliged to settle the colonists in the form of villages.