4 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

special banner. It is no wonder that such an
apparition causes the simple natives ashore to
believe first that some marvelous bird has swept
in from the sea, and then that a mysterious mes-
senger from the Great Spirit has appeared in all
his celestial robes.

If Hudson's object had been stage-setting for
the benefit of the natives, he could not have ar-
ranged his effects better. The next day, when the
ship had moved to a good harbor, the people of the
country were allowed to come aboard to barter
"greene Tabacco" for knives and beads. Hudson
probably thought that the savages might learn a
lesson in regard to the power of the newcomers by
an inspection of the interior of the ship. The
cannon which protruded their black noses amid-
ships held their threat of destruction even when
they were not belching thunder and lightning. The
forecastle with its neatly arranged berths must
have seemed a strange contrast to the bare ground
on which the savages were accustomed to sleep,
and the brightness of polished and engraved brass
tablets caught the untutored eyes which could not
decipher the inscriptions. There were three of
these tablets, the mottoes of which, being trans-
lated, read: Honor thy father and thy mother! Do