Pirate and explorer, da Verrazano seeks a faster route to the Orient for the French. Blown off course, he reaches New York Harbor and, impressed by its beauty and people, describes it as, "a pleasant place not without some riches". Three brass tablets, nailed to the wall where the Half Moon crew slept, read:
1. Honor Thy Father and Mother.
2. Good Advice Makes the Wheels Run Smoothly.
3. Do Not Fight Without Cause.
Hudson's clerk said of America: " This is ... a pleasant land to see ... the people ... came aboord us ... and brought greene Tobacco, and gave us of it for Knives and Beads. They goe in Deere skins loose, well dressed ... They have great store of Maiz ... whereof they make good bread. The coutrey if full of great and tall Oakes. The Lands wew as pleasant with Grasse and Flowers and goodly Trees ...".
Henry Hudson writes: "The natives are very good people, for when they saw that I would not remain, they supposed that I was afraid of their bows, and taking the arrows, they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire."
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