Lonely and deserted as the country had seemed to the new settlers,
their coming was quickly known to both the Indians and the Dutch.
The first to visit them was an Indian Chief named Mattahoon. He and
some of his braves stalked in among the colonists one day, with silent
Indian tread, and stood looking about them with curious, glittering
black eyes. Minuit gave them some presents, and they seemed much
pleased. Then Mattahoon told Minuit that the land belonged to him and
his braves.
Minuit wished to buy it from him, and the Sachem agreed to sell it for
a copper kettle and some other small articles. These were given to him,
and he and his braves went away, well content with their bargain.
The next visitor to come to them was a messenger from New Amsterdam.
He told them that Director General Kieft, the Dutch Governor, had sent
him to ask why they had settled on land that belonged to the Dutch. The
Dutch had bought it from the Indians long ago, at the time DeVries had
settled on the river.
Minuit answered the messenger very civilly. He gave the Dutchman to
understand that he and his Swedes were on their way to the West Indies,
and had only landed on this shore for rest and refreshment.
The messenger believed what Minuit said, and was quite satisfied, and
the next day he returned to New Amsterdam and told Kieft there was
nothing to fear from these strangers; they were only passers-by and had
no wish to settle upon the river.
However, not long after this, a Dutch ship sailing up the river saw
that the strangers were still there. Moreover, they were building
houses and something that looked like a fort, and gardens were laid out.
Kieft, the Dutch Governor was very angry when he heard this. Again he
sent a messenger in haste, to ask why the Swedes were building, and to
demand that they should re-enter their ships and sail away.
Minuit paid but little attention to this second messenger. He was very
busy. The fort was almost finished. Reorus Torkillus, a clergyman who
had come from Sweden with him, had already held services in it, and
had prayed for the welfare of their little settlement of Christinaham,
for that was what they had named it. The fort itself was called Fort
Christina, in honor of the Swedish Queen, and the name of the creek was
changed from Minquas to Christina.
It was of no use for the Dutch to send messengers now. The Swedes were
well established. Moreover, they had made friends with the Indians.
Minuit had given them a number of presents—kettles, cloth, trinkets,
and even fire-arms and ammunition.[6]
With these presents the savages were delighted; and they signed a paper
with their marks, giving to the Swedes all the land from Cape Henlopen
to Santican, or what is now called the Falls of Trenton. When the Dutch
heard this, they were indignant for they claimed that all that land had
already been sold to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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