The country was not an entire wilderness, when the Swedes arrived. The Delaware Indians, being largely agricultural, had cleared big tracts near their villages on which they planted corn. In 1654 Lindeström wrote that the savages had cultivated their corn fields at Trenton Falls until the soil was too poor to yield good crops. Quantities of corn were also planted by the natives near the Schuylkill, at the Horn Kill and other places. The settlers adopted many practices from the savages; and Indian corn often proved a valuable article for the sustenance of the colonists, who early learnt to cultivate and use it. “Two barrels of wheat and two barrels of seed corn” and perhaps other grains had been taken over on the ships, and when the proper time came plots of ground were prepared around the fort and on the mainland, which were sown and planted with Indian corn. When the storehouse was ready, provisions were taken from the ships and quantities of fish, deer, turkeys, geese “and all sorts of suchlike provisions” were laid up. Måns Kling was given command of the fort with its garrison of twenty-three men, and Henrick Huygen was left in charge of the merchandise and provisions. When Minuit had provided for the maintenance and safety of the garrison and the fort, he began to prepare for his return voyage. He made a map of the river and sketches of the fort, and drafted a report to the government. In due time the skins purchased from the Indians and the cargo intended for the tobacco trade were loaded into the _Kalmar Nyckel_, and about June 15 the director left his little settlement. Huygen continued the Indian trade after Minuit’s departure, and exchanged a large number of skins and a quantity of corn for merchandise and _sewant_ in the autumn and spring of 1638 and 1639. At this time English and Dutch merchants from the north began to trade with the Swedes. They offered all kinds of supplies to the settlers, but always asked very high prices. Commercial relations were also established with the English of Virginia and Maryland. During the late spring and early summer the _Grip_ cruised about in West Indian waters, searching Spanish prizes. In June the ship was at St. Christopher, sometime later “she spied the Spanish silver fleet together with one Peter van Bruggen”, and went to inform Admiral Jol about it (while Van Bruggen watched the course of the Spaniards). Later she went to Havana and from there to the South River, arriving at Fort Christina early in 1639. Nothing more is known about this expedition. Years afterwards the skipper was accused of reaping all the benefits from the cruise, and a negro slave seems to have been the only addition it made to the colony’s wealth. On April 10 the _Grip_ was ready to set out for Europe with its cargo of furs, but contrary winds delayed the departure until the end of the month.