100                                HISTORY OF
 

CHAPTER II.
 

Containing an account of a mighty Ark which
floated, under the protection of St. *N*icholas,
from Holland to Gibbet Islands—the descent of
the strange Animals therefrom—a great victory,
and a description of the ancient village of Com-
munipaw.

The delectable accounts given by the great Hud¬
son, and master Juet, of the country they had dis¬
covered, excited not a little talk and speculation
among the good people of Holland.—Letters pa¬
tent were granted by government to an association
of merchants, called the West-India company,
for the exclusive trade on Hudson river, on which
they erected a trading house called Fort Aurania,
or Orange, from whence did spring the great city
of Albany. But I forbear to dwell on the various
commercial and colonizing enterprises which took
place; among which was that of Mynheer Adrian
Block, who discovered and gave a name to Block
Island, since famous for its cheese—and shall bare¬
ly confine myself to that, which gave birth to this
renowned city.

It was some three or four years after the return
of the immortal Hendrick, that a crew of honest,
low Dutch colonists set sail from the city of Am-