Van Twiller bought the islands now known as Randall's and Ward's
Islands, and these, with some others, made him the richest landholder in
the colony. On his islands he raised cattle, and on his farm tobacco.
Many of the colonists did not take kindly to Governor Van Twiller's
methods, and among them was Van Dincklagen, the schout-fiscal. He told
the Governor that it was very evident that he was putting forth every
effort to enrich himself at the expense of everybody else, just as
Minuit had done. The Governor became very angry. He told the
schout-fiscal not to expect any more salary, that it would be stopped
from that minute. This did not worry the schout-fiscal much, as he had
not been paid his salary in three years! But Van Twiller did not stop
there. He sent the schout-fiscal as a prisoner to Holland, which was a
foolish thing for him to do. For the prisoner pleaded his own cause to
such good effect that before the end of the year 1637, Van Twiller was
recalled to Holland, after he had governed New Netherland for four
years, very much to his own interest, and very much against the interest
of the West India Company and everybody else.
[Illustration: Dutch Costumes.]
CHAPTER V
WILLIAM KIEFT and the WAR with the INDIANS
A dreary winter came and went, and just as the first signs of spring
showed in the fields that closed about the fort, a ship sailed up the
bay, bringing a stranger to the province.
This was William Kieft, the new Governor of New Netherland.
He was a blustering man, who became very angry when anyone disagreed
with him, and who very soon was known as "William the Testy." He made no
effort to make the Indians his friends, and the result was that much of
his rule of ten years was a term of bloody warfare.
The affairs of the Company had been sadly neglected by Governor Van
Twiller, and Governor Kieft, in a nervous, testy, energetic fashion set
about remedying them. The fort was almost in ruins from neglect. The
church was in little better condition. The mills were so out of repair
that even if the wind could have reached them they could not have been
made to do their work properly. There were smugglers who carried away
furs without even a thought of the koopman, who was waiting to record
the duties which should have been paid on them. There were those who
defied all law and order, and sold guns and powder and liquor to the
Indians, regardless of the fact that the penalty for doing so was death.
For guns and liquor had been found to be dangerous things to put in
savage hands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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