certain.
He sent a confidential person, Arent Corsen, with a
bagful
of the mineral to New Haven, to take passage in an
English
ship
for England, thence to proceed to Holland. The
vessel sailed
at
Christmas, but never reached her port. All on
board
perished.[A]
In
the year 1647, Wilhelmus Kieft himself embarked on
board the
Princess,
taking with him specimens of the supposed mineral.
The
ship was never heard of more!
Some have supposed that the mineral
in question was not gold, but pyrites; but
we have the assertion of Adrian Van der Donck, an
eye-witness, and the experiment of Johannes
de la Montagne, a learned doctor of medicine,
on the golden side of the question. Cornelius
Van Tienhooven, also, at that time secretary of the
New Netherlands, declared, in Holland, that
he had tested several specimens of the mineral,
which proved satisfactory. It would appear,
however, that these golden treasures of the Kaatskill
always brought ill luck; as is evidenced in
the fate of Arent Corsen and Wilhelmus Kieft,
and the wreck of the ships in which they attempted
to convey the treasure across the ocean. The
golden mines have never since been explored,
but remain among the mysteries of the Kaatskill
mountains, and under the protection of the
goblins which haunt them.
[A] See Van der Donck’s
description of the New Netherlands,
Collect. New York Hist. Society,
vol. i., p. 161.
BOOK V.
CONTAINING THE FIRST PART OF THE REIGN OF PETER STUYVESANT,
AND HIS TROUBLES WITH THE AMPHICTYONIC COUNCIL.
To a profound philosopher like myself, who am apt
to see clear through a subject, where the penetration
of ordinary people extends but half way, there is
no fact more simple and manifest than that the death
of a great man is a matter of very little importance.
Much as we may think of ourselves, and much as we
may excite the empty plaudits of the million, it is
certain that the greatest among us do actually fill
but an exceedingly small space in the world; and it
is equally certain, that even that small space is
quickly supplied when we leave it vacant. “Of
what consequence is it,” said Pliny, “that
individuals appear, or make their exit? the world
is a theater whose scenes and actors are continually
changing.” Never did philosopher speak
more correctly, and I only wonder that so wise a remark
could have existed so many ages, and mankind not have
laid it more to heart. Sage follows on in the
footsteps of sage; one hero just steps out of his
triumphal car, to make way for the hero who comes after
him; and of the proudest monarch it is merely said
that, “he slept with his fathers, and his successor
reigned in his stead.”
