74 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

appeared with a fleet of sixty-four war canoes,
attacked and looted New Amsterdam, then crossed
to Hoboken and continued their bloody work in
Pavonia and on Staten Island. In three days a
hundred men, women, and children were slain,
and a hundred and fifty-two were taken captive,
and the damage to property was estimated at two
hundred thousand guilders—approximately eighty
thousand dollars. As usual the Dutch had been the
aggressors, for Van Dyck, formerly schout fiscaal,
had shot and killed an old Indian woman who was
picking peaches in his orchard.

It must be set down to Stuyvesant's credit that
on his return he acted toward the Indians in a
manner that was kind and conciliating, and at the
same time provided against a repetition of the
recent disaster by erecting blockhouses at various
points and by concentrating the settlers for mutual
defense. By this policy of mingled diplomacy and
preparation against attack Stuyvesant preserved
peace for a period of three years. But trouble with
the Indians continued to disturb the colonies on
the river and centered at Esopus, where slaughters
of both white and red men occurred. Eight white
men were burned at the stake in revenge for shots
fired by Dutch soldiers, and an Indian chief was