20 The days- are not so long in summer, nor so short in winter, as they are in Holland. Their length in summer, and their shortness in winter, differ about an hour and a half. It is found that this difference in the length of the days causes no inconvenience; the days in summer are long and warm enough for those who are inclined to labour, and do it from necessity; and for those who eek diversion. The winters pass by without becoming tedious. The reasons for this, and the objections thereto, we leave to the learned, as we deem the subject not worthy of our inquiry. The received opinion on this subject is that the difference in the length of the days and nights arises from the difference of latitude of the New-Netherlands and Holland. The former lies nearer the equinoctial line, and nearer the centre of the globe. As they differ in length, so also they differ in twilight. When it is mid-day in Holland, it is morning in the New-Netherlands. On this subject there are also different opinions. Most men say that the New-Netherlands lay so much farther to the west that its situation causes this variation; others go further, and dispute the roundness of the globe. As the creation of the world is connected with this subject, which none will deny, and as the difference in the appearance of the eclipses supports the truth of the first position of the roundness of the globe, therefore the other position appears to be unsupported. The autumns in the New-Netherlands are very fine, lovely, and agreeable ; more delightful cannot be found on the earth; not only because the summer productions are gathered, and the earth is then yielding its surplusage, but also because the season is so well tempered with heat and cold as to appear like the month of May, except that on some mornings there will be frost, which by ten o’clock will be removed by the ascending sun. ... In short the autumns in the New-Netherlands are as fine as the summers of Holland, and continue very long; for below the highlands, towards the sea-coast, the winter does not set in or freeze much before Christmas, the waters remaining open, the weather fine, and in many places the cattle grazing in the fields. Above the highlands, advancing northerly, the weather is colder, the fresh waters freeze, the stock is sheltered, the kitchens are provided, and all things are put in order for the winter. The fat oxen and swine are slaughtered. The wild geese, turkeys, and deer are at their best in this season, and easiest obtained, because of the cold, and because the
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