he found the natives friendly. He had lost his foremast in a storm,
and remained at this place a week, preparing a new one. He had heard
in Europe that there was probably a passage through the unexplored
continent, to the Pacific ocean, south of Virginia. Continuing his
voyage southward, he passed Cape Cod, which he supposed to be an
island, and arrived on the 18th of August at the entrance of
Chesapeake Bay. He then ran along the coast in a northerly direction
and entered a great bay with rivers, which he named South River, but
which has since received the name of the Delaware.

Still following the coast, he reached the Highlands of Neversink, on
the 2d of September, and at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same
day, came to what then seemed to him to be the mouths of three large
rivers. These were undoubtedly the Raritan, the Narrows, and Rockaway
Inlet. After careful soundings he, the next morning, passed Sandy Hook
and anchored in the bay at but two cables' length from the shore. The
waters around him were swarming with fish. The scenery appeared to him
enchanting. Small Indian villages were clustered along the shores, and
many birch canoes were seen gliding rapidly to and fro, indicating
that the region was quite densely populated, and that the natives were
greatly agitated if not alarmed by the strange arrival.

Soon several canoes approached the vessel, and the natives came on
board, bringing with them green tobacco and corn, which they wished to
exchange for knives and beads. Many vessels, engaged in fishing, had
touched at several points on the Atlantic coast, and trafficked with
the Indians. The inhabitants of this unexplored bay had heard of these
adventurers, of the wonders which they brought from distant lands, and
they were in a state of great excitement, in being visited in their
turn.