occupying Fort Nassau, Printz, the new Swedish governor, garrisoned a similar work on Tinicum Island, a few miles below, as a place of residence for himself, and a protection to the settlers in its vicinity.

At any other period, it is possible that the possession of either shore of the Delaware might have been disputed by the Dutch governor of New Netherland; but when those settlements took place, Kieft was too busily engaged in another quarter, to show his resentment in any manner more forcible than words. Indian disturbances had broken out. An Indian of the Raritan tribe, having witnessed during his boyhood the robbery and murder of his uncle by one of the servants of Minuits, had nursed a desire to revenge his kinsman's death as soon as he was grown up. In 1641, he fulfilled his vow of retaliation by killing an old Dutchman. Kieft immediately demanded that the assassin should be given up; but his people refused to surrender him, and justified the act.

In this emergency, Kieft summoned a meeting of the principal citizens and farmers, to take the subject into consideration. They chose twelve of their number to advise with the governor; but as the board, thus popularly appointed, commenced an active inquiry into existing abuses, Kieft speedily dissolved it, as infringing upon his authority. A detachment of eighty men was sent

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against the Raritans; but the guide lost his way, and the expedition came to nothing. De Vries and other moderate men counselled a more pacific policy; and the Indians themselves, finding they were threatened with hostilities, evinced a disposition to conciliate matters, by offering to surrender the murderer. Unfortunately, while the adjustment of this affair was pending, a Hackensack Indian, the son of a chief of that tribe, who had been made drunk and then robbed by the Dutch, revenged himself by shooting down the first two white men he chanced to meet.

Desirous of making immediate atonement, a deputation of chiefs waited on Kieft, and offered two hundred fathom of wampum as an indemnity for the crime. The wampum was refused, and a peremptory demand made for the murderer. The chieftains declined to surrender him. "You yourselves," said they, "are the cause of this evil. You ought not to craze the young Indians with brandy. Your own people, when drunk, fight with knives and do foolish things; and you cannot prevent mischief till you cease to sell strong drink to the Indian."

Notwithstanding the obvious truth of this remonstrance, Kieft would listen to no terms of accommodation that did not include the surrender of the fugitive. The chiefs were equally inflexible in shielding him. While the anger of the Dutch governor was at its height, his allies, the

Mohawks, descended upon the Raritans, and forced them to throw themselves upon the mercy of the Dutch. Their forlorn condition awakening a feeling of pity, some of the more compassionate of the colonists supplied them with food. Fearing to return to their former homes in the vicinity of Tappan, the fugitives took shelter among the Hackensacks. The two tribes most obnoxious to the Dutch being thus brought near to each other, the war party among the colonists determined upon their massacre; and, in defiance of the remonstrances of De Vries and many of the most influential inhabitants of New Amsterdam, preparations were at once made to carry their sanguinary purpose into effect.

Acting under the authority of the passionate and overbearing governor, two armed parties, composed respectively of troops and volunteers, crossed the Hudson on the night of the 25th of February, 1643, and fell suddenly upon the Indian encampments. Taken entirely by surprise, scarcely any resistance was offered; and in the stillness of the night, the noise of the musketry and the shrieks of the victims could be distinctly heard by the inhabitants of the island of Manhattan. No mercy was shown. Men, women, children, all were indiscriminately slaughtered. Infants bound in their bark cradles were flung into the icy river; and the poor frantic mothers, who had plunged into the water to their rescue,

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were mercilessly forced back from the shore until they were drowned. This fearful massacre continued throughout the following day. The wounded, who during the darkness of the night aad crawled into secret hiding-places, were hunted out and killed in cold blood. Nearly a hundred Indians, of all ages, perished in this barbarous onslaught, and some thirty others were taken prisoners to New Amsterdam.

But the triumph of the Dutch was only temporary. All the tribes around Manhattan made common cause with the Raritans and Hackensacks, and commenced a war of retaliation. In every direction plantations were destroyed, villages burned, the men and women murdered, and the helpless children hurried away into captivity. The settlements on Long Island were laid desolate. Those on the opposite shore of the Sound shared the same fate. Ruin and despair stared the harassed colonists in the face. Many sought safety in flying from the country. "Mine eyes,' says Roger Williams, "saw the flames of their towns, the frights and hurries of men, women, and children, and the present removal of all that could to Holland."

The fury of Kieft was succeeded by terror and remorse. He was charged with having been the cause of the massacre. He threw the blame on Adriansen, an old freebooter, who had headed the ferocious attack on the Raritans. Rendered

nor.

furious by this accusation, Adrianşen, armed with cutlass and pistol, attempted the life of the goverHis assault being frustrated, he was seized and sent a prisoner to Holland. In this fearful state of things, all the colonists were enrolled into service, and a day was set apart for a solemn fast.

Happily, the vengeance of the combined tribes was satiated. Offers of peace were made and accepted. A deputation, led by De Vries, met the principal chiefs of Long Island at Rockaway, on the 5th of March, 1643. In the council which was held soon after their arrival, one of the chiefs arose, bearing in his hand a bundle of small sticks. Addressing himself to De Vries and his companions, he said:

"When you first arrived on our shores, you were destitute of food; we gave you our beans and our corn; we fed you with oysters and fish ; and now, for our recompense, you murder our people." Here the chief put down one little stick. Having thus indicated that this was his first accusation, he continued:

"The traders whom your first ships left upon our shore to traffic till their return, were cherished by us as the apple of our eye; we gave them our daughters for their wives; among those whom you have murdered were children of your own blood." This closed the orator's second charge, and he laid down another stick. Many other