In 1649 Governor Printz bought a small district on the eastern shore of the Delaware, a narrow strip north of the former limits of New Sweden, between the Mantas and Raccoon Creeks. The commercial activities, if we are to believe in Dutch reports, were very lively at this time. Hudde writes in 1649 “that the trade in beavers with the savages amounts at present to 30 or 40 and more thousands of beavers during one trading season.” Since the Swedes monopolized the trade (to the exclusion of others) it is to be inferred that their beaver traffic approached the above sum in 1649; but these estimates must be greatly exaggerated, and the Indian trade in New Sweden could hardly have reached one-fourth of the above mentioned sum annually. In 1650 the troubles with the Dutch increased, and neither news nor supplies came from Sweden. But the year proved prosperous, as the weather was favorable to the grain. The Dutch abandoned Fort Beversreede, and Stuyvesant was somewhat uneasy, as he was aware that a ship with a large cargo was expected by the Swedes. In July, however, Augustine Herrman brought news that the ship had stranded at Porto Rico and been captured by the Spaniards. Stuyvesant took pains to inform the Swedes of the disaster. But Printz did not lose heart. At this time a Dutch vessel was in the river ready to return to Europe, offering him an opportunity to write letters to the Queen, to the chancellor, to Brahe and to Trotzig in which he urged them to send over new supplies, additional soldiers and more colonists. He had written five times to Sweden in the last two years and three months, but had received no reply either from the mother country or from the company’s agents in Holland. He reported that large territories had been purchased from the Indians, although the Dutch protested against it daily, but there were entirely too few colonists to improve the land. He had the upper hand in the quarrels with the Dutch, and had resisted their attempts at settlements within the Swedish boundary line. The freemen were in a prosperous condition and “all well except in a few cases”; they were mostly provided with oxen and other domestic animals, which were increasing and growing more numerous yearly; they cultivated the land in earnest and could sell over one hundred barrels of grain; they not only had fields of rye and barley, but also prepared orchards and planted valuable fruit trees which grew spendidly; their greatest trouble was the lack of servants and some of them desired wives. In addition to these letters Sven Skute was sent to Sweden to explain the conditions more fully and, if possible, to awaken the company and government to action.