36 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

Even before the West India Company had
promulgated its charter, a number of rich mer-
chants had availed themselves of the opportunity
to secure lands under the offered privileges and
exemptions. Godyn and Blommaert, in associa-
tion with Captain David de Vries and others, took
up a large territory on Delaware Bay, and here
they established a colony called "Swannendael,"
which was destroyed by the Indians in 1632.
Myndert Myndertsen established his settlement
on the mainland behind Staten Island, and his
manor extended from Achter Kul, or Newark
Bay, to the Tappan Zee.

One of the first patents recorded was granted
to Michiel Pauw in 1630. In the documentary
record the Director and Council of New Neth-
.erland, under the authority of their High
Mightinesses, the Lords States-General and the
West India Company Department of Amster-
dam, testify to the bargain made with the na-
tives, who are treated throughout with legal
ceremony as if they were high contracting parties
and fully capable of understanding the trans-
action in which they were engaged. These origi-
nal owners of the soil appeared before the
Council and declared that in consideration of