154 INTRODUCTION. 



nimous warrior, celebrated in the annals of Massachusetts, and who fell in a 

 chivalrous effort to drive the intruding white man from the continent, is written 

 with all the benevolent spirit and taste of its accomplished author. Henry R. 

 Schoolcraft, a native of this state, but now a citizen of Michigan, has been a phi- 

 losophic and enthusiastic student of the languages and unwritten literature of 

 the red men. Besides many important contributions to our reviews, he has given 

 us in his work, under the fanciful title of Algic Researches, a library of Indian 

 romance, very precious, and such as no other than its author could have gathered 

 and so tastefully arranged. Much assiduity has been manifested in collecting 

 materials for the history of New- York. The description of the New-Nether- 

 lands, by Adrian Vanderdonck, translated by Jeremiah Johnson, abounds in cu- 

 rious and interesting information concerning the early condition of the colony, 

 and its relations with the Indians and with the other provinces.* 



The earliest English accounts of the colony which remain, is " A Brief De- 

 scription of New-York, formerly called New-Netherlands," by Daniel Denton, a 

 small quarto printed in London in 1607. The author informs us that the book 

 was written with the object of giving " some directions and advice to such as 

 shall go there, an account of what commodities they shall take with them, and 

 the profit and pleasure that may accrue to them thereby." There is a copy of 

 this curious work in the state library. 



It is perhaps not generally known that the name of the city of New- York, 

 which was assumed in 1664 was, in 1673, changed to New-Orange. This fact 

 appears from " A View of the City of New-Orange, as it was in the year 1673, 

 with explanatory notes, by Joseph W. Moulton." This pamphlet abounds in very 

 curious and apparently very authentic information concerning the manners, cus- 

 toms and habits of the period to which it relates. A pamphlet was published in 

 New-York,inl799, entitled "A Description of the Settlement of the Genesee Coun- 

 try in the state of New- York," in a series of letters from a gendeman to his friend. 



* Notes on Antiquities and the Press were received from the Honorahle Gabriel Forman. Notes on Female Bio- 

 graphy and Indian History were received from William L. Stone, Esq. 



