20 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, [1638. 



tempted. Even the present occupancy of the river is not claimed, 

 as will be seen' by the following question and answer extracted 

 from that document. 



" Are these limits, (limits including the Delaware,) in the pos- 

 session, at the present time, of the West India Company, and the 

 inhabitants of this country ?" 



Answer : " We occupy Mauritius, or the North river ; where 

 there are two forts, Orange and Amsterdam ; and there is more- 

 over one house built by the company, and that is most of the 

 population." 



The house here spoken of, in the opinion of Dr. O'Callaghan,^ 

 the very best authority on the subject, was the " House of Good 

 Hope," built by the Dutch on the Connecticut river. 



The charter of the Swedish West India Company, having been 

 completed, it Avas printed in Hamburg in 1635. It was not, how- 

 ever, till 1637, that any active operations connected with the 

 establishment of a colony on the Delaware, were commenced. 

 The name of William Usselinex, the projector, not only of the 

 Swedish Company, but also that of the Dutch ; and who had been 

 named in the proclamation of Oxenstiern as the "first director," 

 no longer appears. 



Arrangements having been fully made for planting a Swedish 

 colony, (on the Delaware,) the expedition for its establishment 

 was placed under the charge of Peter Minuit, who had served the 

 Dutch West India Company as their first Director, and who, no 

 doubt, had a practical acquaintance with the river. The squad- 

 ron consisted of but two ships, the " Key of Kalmar," a man of 

 war, and the " Griffin," a tender. They sailed from Gottenburg 

 very late in the year 1637, or early in 1638, both vessels "being 

 well stored with provisions, ammunition and goods proper for 

 commerce with the Indians, and donations for them."^ 



The first notice of the arrival of the expedition on our coast, 

 is contained in a letter written from Jamestown in Virginia, by 

 Jerome Hawley the treasurer of that colony, and is dated May 

 8th, 1638.^ The date of the arrival is not given, but it was sub- 

 sequent to the 20th of March of that year, and at Idast ten days 

 prior to date of his letter. Minuit refused to exhibit his commis- 

 sion to the authorities of Virginia, except upon condition of free 

 trade in tobacco to be carried to Sweden, which was refused, as 

 being "contrary to his Majesty's instructions," but he freely 

 proclaimed the fact, tliat " he held it from the young queen of 

 Sweden, and that "it was signed by eight of the chief lords" of 

 that government. During the ten days the ship remained at 



1 His note at the foot of p. 107, N. Y. Col. Doc. i. 

 ■'' Acrelius in N. Y. Hist. Col. i. N. S. 409. 

 3 N. Y. Col. Doc. iii. 20. 



