18 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

trading. Within a year after the return of the
Half Moon, Dutch merchants sent out a second
ship, the crew of which included several sailors
who tad served under Hudson and of which the
command was given, in all probability, to Hud-
son's former mate. The vessel was soon followed
by the Fortune, the Tiger, the Little Fox, and
the Nightingale. By this time the procession of
vessels plying between the Netherlands Old and
New was fairly set in motion. But the aim of all
these voyages was commerce rather than coloniza-
tion. Shiploads of tobacco and furs were de-
manded by the promoters, and to obtain these
traders and not farmers were needed.

The chronicle of these years is melancholy read-
ing for lovers of animals, for never before in the
history of the continent was there such a whole-
sale, organized slaughter of the unoffending crea-
tures of the forest. Beavers were the greatest
sufferers. Their skins became a medium of cur-
rency, and some of the salaries in the early days
of the colony were paid in so many "beavers."
The manifest of one cargo mentions 7246 beavers,
675 otters, 48 minks, and 36 wildcats.

In establishing this fur trade with the savages,
the newcomers primarily required trading-posts