74  THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND

and the firearms with which they humbled their
vassals.

On their westward route, they avoided the hills,
sands, and cataracts northward, and through the
valley of Norman's Kill rejoined the Mohawk
trail. The " kill" took its name from Andries
Bradt, who was a Norman, Northman, or Norse¬
man, that is, a Dane, or of Danish extraction, who
settled on its banks in 1630. This pretty stream,
with its flower-lined cliffs and alluring rock cran¬
nies, meandering through daisy-clothed meadows,
recalls in its name the home of the Vikings.

The first covenant of friendship between the
Iroquois and the Hollanders was here entered into
by Jacob Eelkins in 1617. Adrian Joris, a wise
and energetic superintendent, confirmed the com¬
pact in 1623.

Daniel van Kriekenbeek, the successor of Joris,
was less wary and more susceptible to Indian elo¬
quence. Opposite, on the east side of the river, at
Green Bush, rose the palisaded castle of the Mohi¬
cans. In 1626 they asked the Dutch commandant
to aid them in a raid against the Mohawks. Kriek¬
enbeek foolishly consented, and set out with six
of his men towards Schenectady, but the West¬
ern red men were alert, and the whole party was
driven back by a volley of arrows. Among the
many slain were four Dutchmen, including the
commandant. Then the white people learned to
their horror that the Iroquois were, on some occa-