But Aaron Burr was no ordinary lover, which is perhaps the reason why in his generation his enemies were seldom found among the gentler sex. History discreetly neglects to furnish the details of the courtship that we know ultimately resulted in the winning of Theodosia 's hand and heart. By daybreak horse and rider were back within the American lines and no one but the troopers, the ferryman, and the widow knew of that wild trip. There are two channels in this part of the river, one near the eastern and the other close to the western shore; between are flats of comparatively shoal water,

2i8 The Hudson River

where formerly some of the older maps showed a small island, that was probably nothing more than a sandbar. One of the familiar features of the shoals is that of the numerous shad poles that mark the fishinggrounds. Less important now than formerly are the oysterbeds that were once a feature of this part of the river. In the days when the Indians inhabited the shores of

TAPPAN ZEE AND THE TARRYTOWN LIGHT

the Hudson these were among their principal sources of subsistence, as evidenced by the extensive shellheaps that still mark the site of many of their villages or camps. The water of the Tappan Zee is brackish, about half sea water and half fresh. The width from Tarry town to Nyack is between three and a half and four miles, and communication between the two shores is kept up during the greater part of the year by ferry. Occasionally