On a cold night in November it took fire and was burned to the water's
edge. Block and those who were with him would all have been burned to
death had they not been strong and hardy men who were able to swim
ashore in the ice-cold water. Even when they reached the shore they were
not safe, for there were no houses or places of shelter; the winter was
coming on, and the woods were filled with wild beasts. But Block and his
men very soon built houses for themselves; rude and clumsy buildings to
look at, but warm and comfortable within. They were the first houses of
white men on the Island of Manhattan. If you wish to see where they
stood, take a walk down Broadway, and just before you reach the Bowling
Green, on a house which is numbered 41, you will find a tablet of brass
which tells that Block's houses stood on that self-same spot.

As soon as the hard winter was over, Block and his men began to build a
new ship, and before another winter had come they had one larger than
the Tiger. It was the first vessel to be built in the new world, and was
called the Restless.

That same year the Dutch merchants decided that they were giving too
many glass beads for the furs, and that if all the merchants combined
into one company they might not have to give so many. So they did
combine, and called themselves the United New Netherland Company. It
was in this way that the name New Netherland first appeared.

When the first ships of the new company reached the island, a house was
built for the use of the fur-traders, just south of where the Bowling
Green Park is. This structure was called Fort Manhattan. It was of
wood, and did not take long to build because the traders did not intend
to live in it a great while. They felt quite sure that all the furs
would be collected in a few years, and that then the island would be