Part 26 (1/2)
Autumn had given uniformity of coloring to the woods.
It varied now between copper and gold, and shone like an infinitely rich golden embroidery on the Indian veil of mist which rested upon the heights along the Hudson.
_Harriet Martineau._
According to Ruttenber, the names and location of the Indian tribes were not ascertained with clearness by the early Dutch settlers, but through doc.u.ments, treaties and information, subsequently obtained, it is now settled that the Mahicans held possession ”under sub-tribal organizations” of the east bank of the river from an undefined point north of Albany to the sea, including Long Island; that their dominion extended east to the Connecticut, where they joined kindred tribes; that on the west bank of the Hudson they ran down as far as Catskill, and west to Schenectady; that they were met on the west by the territory of the Mohawks, and on the south by tribes of the Lenni Lenapes or Delawares, whose territory extended thence to the sea, and west to and beyond the Delaware River. The Mahicans had a castle at Catskill and at Cohoes Falls. The western side of the Hudson, above Cohoes, belonged to the Mohawks, a branch of the Iroquois. Therefore, as early as 1630, three great nations were represented on the Hudson--
=The Mahicans, the Delawares and the Iroquois.= The early French missionaries refer to the ”nine nations of Manhinyans, gathered between Manhattan and the environs of Quebec.” These several nations have never been accurately designated, although certain general divisions appear under the t.i.tles of Mohegan, Wappinger, Sequins, etc. ”The government of the Mahicans was a democracy. The office was hereditary by the lineage of the wife; that is, the selection of a successor on the death of the chief, was confined to the female branch of the family.” According to Ruttenber, the precise relation between the Mahicans of the Hudson and the Mohegans under Uncas, the Pequot chief, is not known. In a foot-note to this statement, he says: ”The ident.i.ty of name between the Mahicans and Mohegans, induces the belief that all these tribes belonged to the same stock,--although they differed in dialect, in territory, and in their alliances.” The two words, therefore, must not be confounded.
Round about the Indian village Spread the meadows and the cornfields, Stood the groves of singing pine trees, And beyond them stood the forest,
_Henry W. Longfellow._
It is also pleasant to remember that the Mahicans as a tribe were true and faithful to us during the war of the Revolution, and when the six nations met in council at Oswego, at the request of Guy Johnson and other officers of the British army, ”to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a Bostonian,” Hendrick, the Mahican, made the pledge for his tribe at Albany, almost in the eloquent words of Ruth to Naomi, ”Thy people shall be our people, and whither thou goest we will be at your side.”
=The Mourdener's Kill=, with its sad story of a girl tied by Indians to a horse and dragged through the valley, flows into the Hudson above Castleton. Two miles above this near the steamer channel will be seen Staats Island on the east, with an old stone house, said to be next in antiquity to the old Van Rensselaer House, opposite Albany. It is also a fact that this property pa.s.sed directly to the ancestors of the present family, the only property in this vicinity never owned by the lord of the manor. Opposite the old stone house, the point on the west bank is known as Parda Hook, where it is said a horse was once drowned in a horse-race on the ice, and hence the name Parda, for the old Hollanders along the Hudson seemed to have had a musical ear, and delighted in acc.u.mulating syllables. (The word pard is used in Spenser for spotted horse, and still survives in the word leopard.)
The Castleton Bar or ”overslaugh,” as it was known by the river pilots, impeded for years navigation in low water. Commodore Van Santvoord and other prominent citizens brought the subject before the State legislature, and work was commenced in 1863. In 1868 the United States Government very properly (as their jurisdiction extends over tide-water), a.s.sumed the completing of the d.y.k.es, which now stretch for miles along the banks and islands of the upper Hudson. Here and there along our route between c.o.xsackie and Albany will be seen great dredges deepening and widening the river channel. The plan provides for a system of longitudinal d.y.k.es to confine the current sufficiently to allow the ebb and flow of the tidal-current to keep the channel clear. These d.y.k.es are to be gradually brought nearer together from New Baltimore toward Troy, so as to a.s.sist the entrance of the flood-current and increase its height.
Where Hudson winds his silver way And murmurs at the tardy stay, Impatient at delay.
_William Crow._
The engineers report that the greater part of the material carried in suspension in the Hudson river above Albany is believed to come from the Mohawk river, and its tributary the Schoharie river, while the sands and gravel that form the heavy and obstinate bars near Albany and chiefly between Albany and Troy, come from the upper Hudson.
The discharge of the Hudson between Troy and Albany at its lowest stage may be taken at about 3,000 cubic feet per second. The river supply, therefore, during that stage is inadequate in the upper part of the river for navigation, independent of tidal flow.
The greatest number of bars is between Albany and Troy, where the channel is narrow, and at least six obstructing bars, composed of fine and coa.r.s.e gravel and coa.r.s.e and fine sand, are in existence. In many places between Albany and Troy the navigable depth is reduced to 7 feet by the presence of these bars.
From Albany to New Baltimore the depths are variable, the prevailing depth being 10 feet and over, with pools of greater depth separated by long cross-over bars, over which the greatest depth does not exceed 9 or 10 feet. Pa.s.sing many delightful homes on the west bank and the mouth of the Norman's Kill (Indian name Ta-wa-sentha, place of many dead) and the Convent of the Sacred Heart, we see Dow's Point on the east and above this the--
=Van Rensselaer Place=, with its port holes on either side of the door facing the river, showing that it was built in troublesome times.
It is the oldest of the Patroon manor houses, built in 1640 or thereabouts. It has been said that the adaptation of the old tune now known as ”Yankee Doodle” was made near the well in the grounds of the Van Rensselaer Place by Dr. Richard Shuckberg, who was connected with the British army when the Colonial troops from New England marched into camp at Albany to join the British regulars on their way to fight the French. The tune was known in New England before the Revolution as ”Lydia Fisher's Jig,” a name derived from a famous lady who lived in the reign of Charles II, and which has been perpetuated in the following rhyme:
Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Lydia Fisher found it; Not a bit of money in it, Only binding 'round it.
The appearance of the troops called down the derision of the British officers, the hit of the doctor became known throughout the army, and the song was used as a method of showing contempt for the Colonials until after Lexington and Concord.
When life is old And many a scene forgot the heart will hold Its memory of this.