In the branches of the trees there were birds of varied colors,
and wandering through the tangled undergrowth were many wild animals.
The people of the island were men and women whose skins were quite red;
strong and healthy people who clothed themselves in the furs of animals
and made their houses of the trees and vines.
In this year of 1609, these people gathered on the shore of their island
and looked with wonder at the boat, so different from any they had ever
seen, as it was swept before the wind up the river.
The ship was called the Half Moon, and it had come all the way from
Amsterdam, in the Dutch Netherlands. The Netherlands was quite a small
country in the northern part of Europe, not nearly as large as the State
of New York, and was usually called Holland, as Holland was the most
important of its several states. But the Dutch owned other lands than
these. They had islands in the Indian Ocean that were rich in spices of
every sort, and the other European countries needed these spices. These
islands, being quite close to India, were called the East Indies, and
the company of Dutch merchants who did most of the business with them
was called the East India Company. They had many ships, and the Half
Moon was one of them.
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