Brooklyn.

The government of these feeble communities was committed to a
Governor, called Director, and a Council of five men. One of the first
Governors was Peter Minuit, who was appointed in the year 1624. The
English still claimed the territory which the Dutch were so quietly
and efficiently settling. In the year 1626, the Dutch decided to make
a permanent settlement upon Manhattan island, which was then estimated
to contain about twenty-two thousand acres of land. The island was
purchased of the natives for twenty-four dollars. It was all that, at
that time, the savage wilderness was worth. In that year the export of
furs amounted to nineteen thousand dollars.

The colony soon numbered about two hundred persons. The village
consisted of thirty log houses, extending along the banks of the East
River. These cabins were one story high, with thatched roof, wooden
chimneys, and two rooms on the floor. Barrels, placed on an end,
furnished the tables. The chairs were logs of wood. Undoubtedly in
many of these humble homes more true happiness was found than is now
experienced in some of the palatial mansions which grace the gorgeous
avenues of the city. About this time three ships arrived, containing a
large number of families with farming implements, and over a hundred
head of cattle. To prevent the cattle from being lost in the woods,
they were pastured on Governor's, then called Nutten's Island.

And now the tide of emigration began pretty rapidly to increase. The
Dutch transported emigrants for twelve and a half cents a day, during
the voyage, for both passage and food. They also gave them, upon
reaching the colony, as much land as they were able to cultivate. With
a wise toleration, which greatly honored them, the fullest religious