The middle-colony people had a keen sense for trade. The fur-traffic was widespread and of the first importance, particularly in New York and Pennsylvania; while the personal danger to the adventurous forest trader was very great, the profits on packs of peltries successfully landed in New York and Philadelphia were such as to warrant the hazard. The principal exports were grain, flour, and furs, and vessels with these American products sailed to England, Lisbon, Madeira, and the West Indies; the exports of goods were never equal to the imports, however, and ships bringing over wines, sugar, and miscellaneous manufactured articles often found it difficult to obtain return cargoes. There was a profitable 'longshore commerce in farm products and small manufactures, boats penetrating up the rivers far inland. New England bottoms were largely employed, although a shipbuilding industry soon sprang up at Philadelphia. New York was the chief port of the middle colonies for foreign trade; her merchants were highly active and prosperous. 95. Social Life. Sidenote: Life and manners in New York. In 1700 the Dutch were still the largest landowners in New York. The English and other nationalities, jealously excluded from the landed class as far as possible, were to be mainly found in the large towns in the southern portion of the province, engaged in trade. The Dutch adhered to old dress and customs with remarkable tenacity. Their farm-houses were usually of wood, with the second story overhanging; the great rafters showed in the ceilings; the fireplaces were ornamented with pictured tiles, and above were rows of great wooden and pewter dishes, and racks of long tobacco-pipes; the floors were daily scrubbed and sanded, and evidences of neatness and thrift were distinguishing features. In the little hamlets, as well as on the farms, there was plenty of good plain living; but the people, while thrifty, sober, contented, and industrious, were superstitious, ignorant, grasping, and slow. Life with them was narrow and monotonous. The wealthy landed proprietors lived on their estates up the Hudson in summer, and moved to New York city in winter; their manor-houses were large and richly furnished, they had trains of servants, black and white, and maintained a degree of splendor scarcely equalled elsewhere in the colonies. The Dutch women, rich and poor, were noted for their excellence as housekeepers, their unaffected piety, and their love of flowers. Sidenote: Elsewhere in the middle colonies.