INDIAN NAMES.
The proper names of Indians are in general given to them after animals
of various kinds, and even fishes and reptiles. Thus they are called
the _Beaver_, _Otter_, _Sun-fish_, _Black-fish_, _Rattle-snake_,
_Black-snake_, &c. They have also other descriptive names, from their
personal qualities or appearances, and sometimes from fancy or caprice;
but many of those are given them by the whites, such as _Pipe_,
_White-eyes_, _Kill-buck_, &c., which are not real Indian names. They
do not always preserve the names first given to them, but often assume
a new one after they have come to man’s estate.
Indians, who have particularly distinguished themselves by their
conduct, or by some meritorious act, or who have been the subjects of
some remarkable occurrence, have names given to them in allusion to
those circumstances. Thus, I have known a man whose name would signify
in our language _the beloved lover_, and one who was named _Met by
love_. Another, a great warrior, who had been impatiently waiting for
day-light to engage the enemy, was afterwards called _Cause day-light_,
or _Make day-light appear_. So, one who had come in with a heavy load
of turkies on his back, was called _The Carrier of Turkies_, and
another whose shoes were generally torn or patched, was called _Bad
Shoes_. All those names are generally expressed in one single word, in
compounding which the Indians are very ingenious. Thus, the name they
had for the place where Philadelphia now stands, and which they have
preserved notwithstanding the great change which has taken place, is
_Kúequenáku_,[156] which means, _The grove of the long pine trees_.
They have proper names, not only for all towns, villages, mountains,
valleys, rivers, and streams, but for all remarkable spots, as
for instance, those which are particularly infested with gnats or
musquitoes, where snakes have their dens, &c. Those names always
contain an allusion to such particular circumstance, so that
foreigners, even though acquainted with their language, will often be
at a loss to understand their discourse.
To strangers, white men for instance, they will give names derived from
some remarkable quality which they have observed in them, or from some
circumstance which remarkably strikes them. When they were told the
meaning of the name of William Penn, they translated it into their own
language by _Miquon_, which means a feather or quill. The Iroquois call
him _Onas_, which in their idiom means the same thing.
The first name given by the Indians to the Europeans who landed in
Virginia was _Wapsid Lenape_ (white people;) when, however, afterwards
they began to commit murders on the red men, whom they pierced with
swords, they gave to the Virginians the name _Mechanschican_, (long
knives,) to distinguish them from others of the same colour.
In New England, they at first endeavoured to imitate the sound of the
national name of the _English_, which they pronounced _Yengees_. They
also called them _Chauquaquock_, (men of knives) for having imported
those instruments into the country, which they gave in presents to
the natives.[157] They thought them better men than the Virginians;
but when they were afterwards cruelly treated by them, and their
men shipped off to sea, the Mohicans of that country called them
_Tschachgoos_; and when next the people of the middle colonies began to
murder them, and called on the Iroquois to insult them and assist in
depriving them of their lands, they then dropped that name, and called
the whites by way of derision, _Schwannack_, which signifies _salt
beings_, or _bitter beings_; for in their language the word _Schwan_,
is in general applied to things that have a salt, sharp, bitter, or
sour taste. The object of this name, as well as of that which the
Mohicans gave to the eastern people, was to express contempt as well as
hatred or dislike, and to hold out the white inhabitants of the country
as hateful and despicable beings. I have, however, in many instances
observed that the Indians are careful not to apply this opprobrious
name to any white person whom they know to be amicably disposed towards
them, and whom they are sure to be a good, honest, well-meaning man. I
have heard them charge their children not to call a particular white
man _Schwannack_, but _Friend_. This name was first introduced about
the year 1730. They never apply it to the _Quakers_, whom they greatly
love and respect since the first arrival of William Penn into the
country. They call them _Quœkels_, not having in their language the
sound expressed by our letter R. They say they have always found them
good, honest, affable and peaceable men, and never have had reason to
complain of them.
These were the names which the Indians gave to the whites, until
the middle of the Revolutionary war, when they were reduced to the
following three:
1. _Mechanschican_ or _Chanschican_ (long knives). This they no longer
applied to the Virginians exclusively, but also to those of the people
of the middle states, whom they considered as hostilely inclined
towards them, particularly those who wore swords, dirks, or knives at
their sides.
2. _Yengees._ This name they now exclusively applied to the people
of New England, who, indeed, appeared to have adopted it, and were,
as they still are, generally through the country called _Yankees_,
which is evidently the same name with a trifling alteration. They say
they know the _Yengees_, and can distinguish them by their dress and
personal appearance, and that they were considered as less cruel than
the Virginians or _long knives_. The proper English they[158] call
_Saggenash_.
3. _Quœkels._ They do not now apply this name exclusively to the
members of the Society of Friends, but to all the white people whom
they love or respect, and whom they believe to have good intentions
towards them.
Not only the Delawares, but all the nations round them, make use of
these names, and with the same relative application. I have myself, in
1782, while at Detroit, witnessed the Chippeways, who on meeting an
American prisoner, who was walking about, called out _Messamochkemaan_
(long knife), though he had no knife, sword, or dirk at his side. I
was one day about the same time hailed in that manner as I was walking
up the river, and apprehending that I might be seized as a runaway
prisoner, I immediately answered: _Kau! Saggenash_; No! an Englishman;
and they passed on. I might with great propriety make this answer, as I
was born in England.
In the year 1808, while I was riding with a number of gentlemen through
Greentown[159] (an Indian town in the State of Ohio), I heard an Indian
in his house, who through a crevice saw us passing, say in his language
to his family: “See! what a number of people are coming along!--What!
and among all these not one _long knife_! _All Yengees!_” Then,
probably observing me, he said correcting himself, “No! one _Quækel_.”
Such are the observations which the Indians make on the white people,
and the names which they give to them. They may sometimes be in the
wrong; but, as they make it their particular study to become acquainted
with the actions, motions, deportment, and dress of the different
nations, they seldom commit mistakes, and in general, they apply their
different names precisely to those whom they are meant to designate or
describe.