76 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

by a siding of boards. An official was appointed
for the care of this canal with orders to see "that
the newly made graft was kept in order, that no
filth was cast into it, and that the boats, canoes,
and other vessels were laid in order."

The new city was by this time thoroughly
cosmopolitan. One traveler speaks of the use
of eighteen different languages, and the forms of
faith were as varied as the tongues spoken. Seven
or eight large ships came every year from Amster-
dam. The Director occupied a fine house on the
point of the island. On the east side of the town
stood the Stadl-Huys protected by a half-moon of
stone mounted with three small brass cannon. In
the fort stood the Governor's house, the church,
the barracks, the house for munitions, and the
long-armed windmills. Everything was prospering
except the foundation on which all depended.
There was no adequate defense for all this prop-
erty. Here we must acquit Stuyvesant from re-
sponsibility, since again and again he had warned
the Company against the weakness of the colony;
but they would not heed the warnings, and the
consequences which might have been averted
suddenly overtook the Dutch possessions.

The war which broke out in 165£ between