]
Although Governor Van Twiller did not do much for the colonists, he was
very careful to look after his own affairs. He bought from the
Indians, for some goods of small value, the little spot now called
Governor's Island; which was then known as Nut Island, because of the
many nut-trees that grew there. There is little doubt but that
Governor's Island was once a part of Long Island. It is separated from
it now by a deep arm of water called Buttermilk Channel. The channel was
so narrow and so shallow in Van Twiller's time that the cattle could
wade across it. It was given its name more than a hundred years ago,
from boats which drew very little water, and were the only craft able to
get through the channel, and which took buttermilk from Long Island to
the markets of New York.
[Illustration: Governor's Island and the Battery in 1850.]
Van Twiller bought the islands now known as Randall's and Ward's
Islands, and these, with some others, made him the richest landholder in
the colony. On his islands he raised cattle, and on his farm tobacco.
Many of the colonists did not take kindly to Governor Van Twiller's
methods, and among them was Van Dincklagen, the schout-fiscal. He told
the Governor that it was very evident that he was putting forth every
effort to enrich himself at the expense of everybody else, just as
Minuit had done.
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