The Native American inhabitants of the shores, though overawed by the first appearance of the Half Moon , soon recovered from their consternation, and after a short time, communications opened freely between the vessel and the shore. A week was spent at the first anchorage, after which, passing through the Narrows, he came upon the strait that connects the lower and upper bays on September 11th.
Hudson was the first European to explore this sequestered region and the river that now perpetuates his name. After ten days exploring the river, he cautiously made his way across the broad waters of Tappan Bay, and through the narrow passage of the Highlands, until he came to the spot where Hudson, New York would later be established. He then turned back to the ocean. Later, the question would be raised as to whether Hudson and his companions were the first Europeans that ever entered the waters of New York Bay.
Folklore has also brought the wandering Welsh Prince Madoc to this coast and within these quiet waters. It was also declared that persons in the employ of the Dutch Greenland Company resorted to this place in about , to find a shelter for themselves during the winter months. The newly discovered landscape appears to have impressed the minds of the discoverers and the accounts they gave of the lands were favorable:. Its hills of smiling green swelled gently one above another, crowned with lofty trees of luxuriant growth, some pointing their tapering foliage toward the clouds, which were gloriously transparent, and others loaded with a verdant burden of clambering vines, bowing their branches to the earth, that was covered with flowers.
On the gentle declivities of the hills were scattered in gay profusion, the dogwood, the sumac, and the wild briar, whose scarlet berries and white blossoms glowed brightly among the deep green of the surrounding foliage; and here and there a circling column of smoke rising from the little glens that opened along the shore, seemed to promise the weary voyagers a welcome at the hands of their fellow-creatures. These wandering natives were not formidable warriors; but, were in harmony with the wild nature around them and did not work the soil.
Their architecture was the basic and their food consisted of roots and wild fruits, and small game. The entrance to Lower Bay and the Narrows lies through a broad passage of more than four fathoms depth at low tide, with the drifting sands of Coney Island on the east, and a long sand-bar projecting far out from the mainland, now called Sandy Hook on the west.
Immediately within the bar, the waters spread out far to the west, forming a capacious inland bay, and insinuating far into the country. The ground in front, though apparently a portion of the continent, is, in fact, an island, being separated from the mainland by a narrow belt of water — the well known Staten Island.
On the east of this is a long channel separating it from Long Island, and uniting the Lower Bay with the harbor, or Upper Bay. This channel is called the Narrows and is the only and sufficient medium of communication in this direction with the ocean from New York Bay.
Along its eastern border runs the shore of Long Island, at the south a low sandy beach, but farther north a beautiful and fertile tract elevated more than a hundred feet from the water.
As seen by one approaching it from the Narrows, the Bay of New York presents one of the finest land and water views on the face of the earth. A beautiful sheet of water expands on every side, with its jutting shores and frowning headlands in the dim distance — yet not so remote but that their waving outlines may be readily traced. On the left the upper side of Staten Island stretches away to the west, forming the base of the picture, while in front, slightly to the left, rise the blue shores of New Jersey , with the hills of Hoboken in the distance.
Directly to the westward, the waters open a passage into a deep inland bay, now known as Newark Bay, which is separated from the Bay of New York by a low and broad peninsula, called Elizabethtown Point. Two small islands — Bedlow now Liberty and Ellis are seen in this direction — green specks, rising out of the water and giving increased beauty to the fair scenery.
Immediately in front, the noble Hudson River spreads out its broad surface, extending far into the interior — itself an arm of the sea, capable of bearing the united navies of the world. This island is less than a mile in circuit, and but a few feet above the level of high-water; and, lying at the mouth of the channel that here enters from the east, divides it into two parts. A little farther onward rises the rocky projection of Manhattan Island, once a desolate region already described, but now the seat of commerce and the dwelling place of the multitudes that make up the Empire City of America.
Later, the English corrupted into Hellgate, a name was later softened into Hurlgate. This renowned pass, the terror of early navigators, and the scene of many a thrilling legend demands a more circumstantial description than most other localities here enumerated. To the west of Hurlgate, a deep bay, full of low reedy islands, indents the shore, and, narrowing to a diminutive channel, reaches quite over to the Hudson, and forms the northern boundary of Manhattan Island.
Located at the southeastern end it is called Harlem River; but, at its junction with the Hudson, where it is a diminutive water-course, it is called Spuytendevil Creek. The direction of this channel, from river to river, is nearly north and south, cutting the narrow belt of land transversely, and making a distance of four times its width.
Manhattan Island is a narrow tongue of land lying between the Hudson River, on the west, and on the east that part of Long Island Sound commonly known as the East River. The same body of water forms its southern boundary, while the Harlem River lies on the north.
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During the age of exploration, numerous world powers such as the Netherlands and Great Britain are carving up the so-called New World, particularly North America. They do this by sending explorers to the continent. One of such explorers is Giovanni da Verrazzano. The name may be obscure, but his voyages to the New World were a significant first in the history of voyage. This is because his trips to the Atlantic seaboard of North America were the first ones made by a European since the voyages of the seafaring Vikings half a millennium earlier.
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