From two or three prominent points in Greenwood Cemetery fine views of New York city and bay may be obtained, but a better comprehension of the scenery of the harbour, and adjacent shores, may be had in a voyage down the Bay to Staten Island. f This may be accomplished

G0VEEK0E"S and liEKLUt'S LSLANDS.

many times a day, on steam ferry-boats, from the foot of "Whitehall Street, near "The Battery." As we go out from the "slip," we soon obtain a general view of the harbour. On the left is Governor's Island, with Castle Williams upon its western extremity, and Port Columbus

* Duyckinck's Cj'clopsedia of American Literature."

t This island was purchased from the Indians in 1630, by the proprietor of tlie land on which Jersey city now stands, and all of that vicinity. It reverted to the Dutch West India Company, when it was called Status Eylandt, or the State's Island. A considerable number of French Protestants (Huguenots), who fled to America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled on Staten Island. The British troops took, possession of the island in 1776, and held it until the autumn of 178.1.

3 N

THE HUDSON.

lying upon its crown, shaded with old Lombardy poplars. On the right is Bedloe's Island,* mostly occupied by Fort Wood, a heavy fortification, erected in 1841. Near it is Ellis's Island, with a small military work, called Fort Gibson. This was formerly named Gibbet Island, it being then, as now, the place for the execution of pirates. These islands belong to the United States. The forts upon them were used as prisons for captured soldiers of the armies in rebellion during the Civil War.