6 and twenty days’ journey from the interior, and who have been farther off to catch beavers, and they know of no limits to the country, and, when spoken to on the subject, they deem such enquiries to be strange and singular. Therefore we may safely say that we know not how deep or how far we extend inland. There are, however, many signs, which indicate a great extent of country, such as the land winds, which domineer much, with severe cold, the multitudes of beavers and land animals which are taken, and the great numbers of water-fowl, which fly to and fro across the country in the spring and fall seasons. From these circumstances we judge that the land extends several hundred miles into the interior. Therefore, the extent and greatness of this province are still unknown. ' Of the Forelands and Sea-havens. The coast of New-Netherlands extends south-west and northeast, as before mentioned, and is mostly clean and sandy, drying naturally; and, although the bare, bleak, and open sea breaks on the beach, still there is good anchorage in almost every place, because of the clean, sandy bottom. There seldom are severe gales from the sea, except from the south-east, with the spring tides. When the winds blow from the northwest, which domineer the strongest, then there is an upper or windward shore, with smooth water and little danger. For those reasons, the coast is as convenient to approach at all seasons as could be desired. The highlands, which are naturally dry, may be seen far at sea, and give timely warning. The forelands are generally double, and in some places broken into islands (affording convenient situations for. the keeping of stock), which would lead seamen to suppose, on approaching the shore, that the same were the main land, when the same are islands and forelands, within which lie large meadows, bays, and creeks, affording convenient navigable passages, and communications between places. It has pleased God to protect against the raging sea those parts of the coast which have no double foreland, with natural barriers of firm, strong, and secure stone foundations, that preserve the coast from the inundations of the mighty ocean (which are ever to be feared), where the coast, if not thus protected, might be lessened and destroyed; particularly the nearest sea lands, against which the sea acts with most violence.
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