Hudson's reputation as a skillful navigator led the wealthy corporation known as the Dutch East India Company to seek his services. He was placed in command of a small vessel called the _Half Moon_ and ordered to sail to the northeast instead of the northwest. He did as directed, but his experience was similar to his previous one, and, being compelled to withdraw, he headed westward. Sighting Cape Cod, he named it New Holland, unaware that it had already been named by Champlain. He continued southward to Chesapeake Bay, where he learned that the English had planted a settlement. Turning northward, he entered Delaware Bay, but was displeased with the shallow water and sailed again northward. On September 3, 1609, he dropped anchor opposite Sandy Hook. Hudson now began ascending the magnificent river which bears his name. At the end of ten days he had reached a point opposite the present site of Albany. The Indians were friendly and curious. Many of them put out in their canoes and were made welcome on board the little Dutch vessel, which was a source of constant wonderment to them, for they had never seen anything of the kind before. Descending the stream, Hudson made his way to Dartmouth, England, from which point he sent an account of his discovery to Holland. That country lost no time in claiming sovereignty over the new territory, the claim being so valid that no other nation could legitimately dispute it. Hudson's achievement added to his fame, and he was once more sent in search of the northwest passage. He entered the bay and strait which bear his name, and passed a winter in that terrible region. In the following spring his crew mutinied, and, placing the navigator, his son, and several members in an open boat, set them adrift, and none of them was ever heard of again. [Illustration: Seal of The Virginia Company.] CHAPTER II. SETTLEMENT OF THE THIRTEEN ORIGINAL STATES. _Virginia_,--Founding of Jamestown--Captain John Smith--Introduction of African Slavery--Indian Wars--Bacon's Rebellion--Forms of Government--Prosperity--Education--_New England_,--Plymouth--Massachusetts Bay Colony--Union of the Colonies--Religious Persecution--King Philip's War--The Witchcraft Delusion--_New Hampshire_,--_The Connecticut Colony_, --_The New Haven Colony_,--Union of the Colonies--Indian Wars--The Charter Oak--_Rhode Island_,--Different Forms of Government--_New York_,--The Dutch and English Settlers--_New Jersey_,--_Delaware_,--_Pennsylvania_, --_Maryland_,--Mason and Dixon's Line--_The Carolinas_--_Georgia_.