CHAPTER   IV.

THE FIRST  INDIAN  WAR.      (1642.)

It was suggested, in a previous chapter, that the influx
into the country of settlers not connected with the West
India Company, had a tendency to introduce competition
in the fur trade, which the company had designed to
monopolize for its own benefit. The private traders, by
traversing the country into distant localities and over¬
bidding the company's officers, contrived to. turn this
profitable trade from the coffers of the government into
their own pockets. After years of fruitless effort to
restrain these illegal practices, the Directory in Holland,
making a virtue of necessity, threw open the Indian trade
to individual competition, simply endeavoring to counter¬
balance the sacrifices thus made, by increasing their duties
on imports and exports.

The effect of this measure, was to open a scene in the
country altogether novel, and of a pernicious tendency.
For, then, nearly the whole population turned their
thoughts toward the Indian trade, abandoning their former
pursuits. The officers and agents, in the service of the
company, resigned their places, and engaged in business
on their own account. Mechanics left their trades, and a
general competition ensued for the purchase of peltries.
To make friends among the Indians was, therefore, the