The Indians cared a great deal more for glittering
glass and highly colored rags than they did for furs.
One trader above all others whose name should be remembered, was Adrian
Block. He came in a ship called the Tiger. This ship was anchored in the
bay close by what is now called the Battery, and directly in the course
that the ferry-boats take when they go to Staten Island.
[Illustration: Indians Trading for Furs.]
On a cold night in November it took fire and was burned to the water's
edge. Block and those who were with him would all have been burned to
death had they not been strong and hardy men who were able to swim
ashore in the ice-cold water. Even when they reached the shore they were
not safe, for there were no houses or places of shelter; the winter was
coming on, and the woods were filled with wild beasts. But Block and his
men very soon built houses for themselves; rude and clumsy buildings to
look at, but warm and comfortable within. They were the first houses of
white men on the Island of Manhattan. If you wish to see where they
stood, take a walk down Broadway, and just before you reach the Bowling
Green, on a house which is numbered 41, you will find a tablet of brass
which tells that Block's houses stood on that self-same spot.
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