the  dwelling  and  out-houses  of  another.  Next  holding
lighted  firebrands  to  other  buildings,  they  compelled  the
fiumers  to  plough  their  maize  patches,  threatening,  in  case
of  refusal,  to  fire  the  dwellings  of  "the  Dutch  dogs" —
••  they  could  easily  pay  for  killing  them  by  a  few  fathoms
of  wampum.''  The  white  population  consisted,  at  this
period,  of  between  sixty  and  seventy  Christians,  the  pro-
gress of  whose  tillage  may  be  calculated  from  the  fact,  that
they  had  nearly  a  thousand  schepels  of  grain  in  the  ground
when  this  outbreak  occurred.'  Naturally  alarmed  for
their  crops,  their  property  and  their  lives,  they  durst  not
refuse  compliance  with  the  demands  of  their  persecutors.
A  The  Datch  word  Ronduit  means,  literally,  a  small  fort  or  redoubt.  The
original  name,  slightly  varied,  still  designates  the  place.  The  Dutch  *'  Ron-
dNut**  IB  now  RoNDOOT.  In  pronunciation  these  words  have  a  strong  resem-
bknee,  which  perhaps  accounts  for  the  alteration  in  the  spelling.  Those,  there-
fere,  err  who  say  that  the  present  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  word  redoubt.  It
il^  with  the  variation  already  stated,  the  name  originally  given  to  the  place.
*  "  About  eighteen  miles  up  the  North  River,  half  way  between  the  Manhat-
tms  and  Rensselaer  or  Beverwyck,  lies  a  place  called  by  the  Dutch  Esopas  or
Qjrpoos;  by  the  Indians,  Atkarkarton.  It  is  an  exceedingly  beautiful  coontry."
Rev.  Mr.  Megapolensis  to  the  Classis  at  Amsterdam.
*  Estimating  two  bushels  to  the  acre,  the  number  of  acres  of  tilled  land  at
this  time  in  Ulster  county,  was  about  400,  or  25  to  each  family.
