316 HUDSON HONORED IN NEW YORK 



son parleyed with the natives, whose canoes swarmed about his ship, and sent 

 out little exploring parties in boats. In one of these explorations the boat 

 crew had a fight with Indians, and John Coleman, a seaman, was shot through 

 the throat by an arrow. The first white man to die in New York was buried 

 on a sandy strip of ground known thereafter as "Coleman's Point." On Sept. 

 12 the Half Moon sailed up the bay to Manhattan island and anchored off what 

 is now the battery. One historian writes that at this spot Hudson gave a great 

 feast to the Indians and offered them the first liquor they had ever tasted. A 

 drunken orgy followed, and the Delawares, in contempt, named the island 

 "Man-hatta-nink" — meaning "place of general intoxication." Hudson was 

 delighted with the beauty of Manhattan island and wrote in his report : 

 "It is a very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see !" 

 Thence up the broad river he sailed, certain that he had at last found the 

 "strait." Friendly natives fed his crew on grain and game during this journey 

 and received in return not only such trinkets as savages love, but liquor as 

 well. Says the journal of Juet, Hudson's mate : "When they were drunk it 

 was strange to them ; for they could not tell how to take it." At the present 

 city of Hudson the captain and officers went ashore, and, according to the 

 note, were there feasted by the local chiefs on "a goodly store of pigeons and a 

 fat dog." Hudson plied the chiefs with drink "to learn if they had any 

 treachery in their hearts toward us." When he discovered that the salt water 

 of the lower bay was turning fresh he began to doubt if he were really in the 



"strait." 



Yet he kept on, until, on Sept. 22, at a point just above Albany, he found 

 the river was no longer navigable. This was a terrific blow. Hudson had 

 failed to reach the North Pole, he had disobeyed orders in coming to America, 

 and now he knew at last that there was no inland sea leading from New York 

 to the Pacific. 



His voyage had failed. He was heartbroken. The fact that he had dis- 

 covered one of the greatest rivers on earth counted for nothing. That while 

 searching for a "strait" which did not exist he had opened New York to civil- 

 ization and had thrown wide the gates to a rich wonder-world — all this meant 

 nothing to him. He had failed. His fellow-navigators would sneer at him. 

 His employers would reprimand — perhaps discharge him. 



To soften the Dutch East India company's wrath he began to collect rare 

 woods and furs to show how valuable a land this might be from a trade view- 

 point. Indeed, it was the news of these products — especially the furs — that 

 later led the Dutch to settle New York. Thus, even in his "failure." Pludson's 



