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Page 41
"Communipaw is at present but a small village pleasantly situated,
among rural scenery, on that beauteous part of the Jersey shore
which was known in ancient legends by the name of Pavonia,[1] and
commands a grand prospect of the superb bay of New York. It is
within but half an hour's sail of the latter place, provided you
have a fair wind, and may be distinctly seen from the city. Nay, it
is a well-known fact, which I can testify from my own experience,
that on a clear still summer evening, you may hear, from the
Battery of New York, the obstreperous peals of broad-mouthed
laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw, who, like most other
negroes, are famous for their risible powers. This is peculiarly
the case on Sunday evenings, when, it is remarked by an ingenious
and observant philosopher who has made great discoveries in the
neighborhood of this city, that they always laugh loudest, which he
attributes to the circumstance of their having their holiday
clothes on.
"These negroes, in fact, like the monks of the dark ages, engross
all the knowledge of the place, and being infinitely more
adventurous and more knowing than their masters, carry on all the
foreign trade; making frequent voyages to town in canoes loaded
with oysters, buttermilk, and cabbages. They are great astrologers,
predicting the different changes of weather almost as accurately as
an almanac; they are moreover exquisite performers on
three-stringed fiddles; in whistling they almost boast the
far-famed powers of Orpheus's lyre, for not a horse or an ox in the
place, when at the plough or before the wagon, will budge a foot
until he hears the well-known whistle of his black driver and
companion. And from their amazing skill at casting up accounts upon
their fingers, they are regarded with as much veneration us were
the disciples of Pythagoras of yore, when initiated into the sacred
quaternary of numbers.
"As to the honest burghers of Communipaw, like wise men and sound
philosophers, they never look beyond their pipes, nor trouble their
heads about any affairs out of their immediate neighborhood; so
that they live in profound and enviable ignorance of all the
troubles, anxieties, and revolutions of this distracted planet. I
am even told that many among them do verily believe that Holland,
of which they have heard so much from tradition, is situated
somewhere on Long Island,--that _Spiking-devil_ and _the Narrows_
are the two ends of the world,--that the country is still under the
dominion of their High Mightinesses,--and that the city of New York
still goes by the name of Nieuw Amsterdam. They meet every Saturday
afternoon at the only tavern in the place, which bears as a sign a
square-headed likeness of the Prince of Orange, where they smoke a
silent pipe, by way of promoting social conviviality, and
invariably drink a mug of cider to the success of Admiral Van
Tromp, who they imagine is still sweeping the British channel with
a broom at his mast-head.
"Communipaw, in short, is one of the numerous little villages in
the vicinity of this most beautiful of cities, which are so many
strongholds and fastnesses, whither the primitive manners of our
Dutch forefathers have retreated, and where they are cherished with
devout and scrupulous strictness. The dress of the original
settlers is handed down inviolate, from father to son: the
identical broad-brimmed hat, broad-skirted coat, and broad-bottomed
breeches, continue from generation to generation; and several
gigantic knee-buckles of massy silver are still in wear, that made
gallant display in the days of the patriarchs of Communipaw. The
language likewise continues unadulterated by barbarous innovations;
and so critically correct is the village schoolmaster in his
dialect, that his reading of a Low-Dutch psalm has much the same
effect on the nerves as the filing of a handsaw."
[Footnote 1: Pavonia in the ancient maps, is given to a tract
of country extending from about Hoboken to Amboy.]
The early prosperity of this settlement is dwelt on with satisfaction by
the author:--
"The neighboring Indians in a short time became accustomed to the
uncouth sound of the Dutch language, and an intercourse gradually
took place between them and the new-comers. The Indians were much
given to long talks, and the Dutch to long silence;--in this
particular, therefore, they accommodated each other completely. The
chiefs would make long speeches about the big bull, the Wabash, and
the Great Spirit, to which the others would listen very
attentively, smoke their pipes, and grunt _yah, mynher_,--whereat
the poor savages were wondrously delighted. They instructed the new
settlers in the best art of curing and smoking tobacco, while the
latter, in return, made them drunk with true Hollands,--and then
taught them the art of making bargains.
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