New York. 269 



occafion to go and wait upon the Sachems ; 

 for they always came into my habitation 

 without being afked : thefe vifits they com- 

 monly paid in order to get a glafs or two 

 of brandy, which they value above any 

 thing they know. One of the five Sachems 

 mentioned above, died in England; the 

 others returned fafe. 



The firft colonifts in New York were 

 Dutchmen : when the town and its territo- 

 ries were taken by the Englijh, and left 

 them by the next peace in exchange for 

 Surinam, the old inhabitants were allowed 

 either to remain at New York, and to enjoy 

 all the priviledges and immunities which 

 they were polTerTed of before, or to leave 

 the place with all their goods : moft of them 

 choie the former; and therefore the inha- 

 bitants both of the town and of the pro- 

 vince belonging to it, are yet for the great- 

 eft part Dutchmen ; who ftill, efpecially the 

 old people, fpeak their mother tongue. 



They begin however by degrees to change 

 their manners and opinions; chiefly indeed 

 in the town and in its neighbourhood : for 

 mofl: of the young people now fpeak prin- 

 cipally Engltjh, and go only to the Englijh 

 church ; and would even take it amifs, if 

 they were called Dutchmen and not Englijh- 

 men. 



Though 



