GOWANS' BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA. 1 "I have gathered a nosegay of flowers, and there is nothing of my own but MONTAIGNE. "To rescue from oblivion the memory of former transactions, and to render BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF NEW YORK, FORMERLY CALLED NEW NETHERLANDS WITH THE PLACES THEREUNTO ADJOINING. LIKEWISE A BRIEF RELATION OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE INDIANS THERE BY DANIEL DENTON. A NEW EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND COPIOUS HISTORICAL NOTES. BY GABRIEL FURMAN, MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Of all the lands that heav'n o'erspreads with light! In wavy gold thy summer vales are dress'd And fish of every fin, thy seas afford: Woods crown thy mountains, and in every grove Soft rains and kindly dews refresh the field And rising springs eternal verdure yield.-Homer. And to be short, all they that have been there with one consent affirme, that there are the goodliest greene meadows and plaines, the fairest mountains covered with all sorts of trees and fruites, the fairest vallies, the goodliest pleasant fresh rivers, stored with infinite kind of fishes, the thickest woods, greene and bearing fruite all the whole yeere, that are in all the world. And as for gold, silver and other kind of metals, all kind of spices aud delectable fruites, both for delicacie and health are there in such abundance, as hitherto they have beene thought to have been bred no where else but there. And in conclusion it is nowe thought that no where else but under the equinoctiall, or not far from thence, is the earthly paradise, and the only place of perfection in this world......... ....Richard Hakluyt. NEW YORK: WILLIAM GOWAN S. |