Its colour is dusky above, with faint traces of oblique bands ; belly white, and the fins tinged with reddish colour.

tr

146 THE HUDSON.

the inhabitants of that ancient town, " Sturgeonites." They vary in size from two to eight feet in length, and in weight from 100 to 450 lbs. The "catch" commences in April, and continues until the latter end of August. The flesh is used for food by some, and the oil that is extracted is considered equal to the best sperm as an illuminator. The voyagers upon the Hudson may freqiiently see them leap several feet out of water when chasing their prey of smaller fish to the surface, and they have been known to seriously injure small boats, either by striking their bottoms with their snout in rising, or falling into them. Bass and herring are also caught in abundance in almost every part of the river, and numerous smaller fishes reward the angler's patience by their beauty of form, if he be painter or poet, and their delicious flavour, if the table gives him pleasure.

About thirty miles below Albany, lying upon a bold, rocky promontory that juts out from the eastern shore at an elevation of fifty feet, with a beautiful bay on each side, is the city of Hudson, the capital of Columbia County, a port of entry, and one of the most delightfully situated towns on the river. It was founded in 1784 by thirty proprietors, chiefly Quakers from New England. Never in the history of the rapid growth of cities in America has there been a more remarkable example than that of Hudson. AVithin three years from the time when the farm on which it stands was purchased, and only a solitary storehouse stood ixpon the bank of the river at the foot of the bluff", one hundi;ed and fifty dwellings, with wharves, storehouses, workshops, barns, &c., were erected, and a population of over fifteen hundred souls had settled there, and become possessed of a city charter.