In that bay, under the she]ter of Croton Point, Hendrick Hudson anchored the Half-Moon, on the evening of the first of October, 1609;! and such a resort were these waters for canvas-back ducks, and other water-fowl, that, as early as 1683, Governor Dongan came there to enjoy the sport of fowling. There, too, great quantities of shad were caught. But its glory is departed. The flood of 1841, that swept away the Croton Dam, almost filled the bay with earth ; it is accumulating there every hour ; and, in the course of a few years, the Van Cortlandt estate will have many acres of fine meadow laud added to it, where once large vessels miaht ride at anchor.

HE Van Cortlaudt mansionJ of which a sketch appears in the last Chapter, is clustered with historic associations, llnv^as the summer home of the master, whose town residence was a stately one for the colonial times. There, at early, as well as at later, periods, |i|'' the wealthy and the high-born of the land frequently assembled " ^^ ^ as guests. Erom its broad piazza the famous Whitefield preached to a large audience upon the lawn.^ There, in 1774, Governor Tryon, and Edmund Fanning, his secretary, came on a mission of bribery to General Van Cortlandt, who had espoused the. cause of the colonists. They offered him lands and titles for his allegiance to the crown, but they were refused. Under that roof the illustrious "Washington was a frequent guest when the army was in that vicinity ; and the parlour was once honoured by the presence of the immortal Franklin. There may be seen many mementoes of the past : the horns of a stag killed on the manor, when deer ran wild there ; the buttons from the yager coat worn by one of the captors of Andre ; a box made of the wood of the Mideavour, the ship in which Cook navigated the globe, et cetera.