Nescotack, a certain place so called in the Dongan deed of 1684, is

referred to in connection with Shawongunk. It was granted by patent to

Jacob Rutsen and described as "A tract of land by the Indians called

Nescotack and by the Christians Guilford." (N. Y. Land Papers, 29, 30.)

Guilford was known for many years as Guilford Church, immediately west

of Shawongunk. The actual location of the name, however, is claimed for

a hamlet now called Libertyville, further north, which was long known as

Nescotack. The district is an extended ridge which rises gradually from

the Shawongunk River-bottoms on the east and falls off on the west more

abruptly. The name, probably, describes this ridge as "High lands," an

equivalent of _Esquatak_ and _Eskwatack_ on the Upper Hudson; _Ashpotag,_

Mass., and Westchester Co. _Esp, Hesp, Ishp, Hesko, Nesco,_ etc., are

record orthographies. (See Schodac and Shawongunk.)

Wishauwemis, a place-name in Shawongunk, was translated by Rev. Dr.

Scott, "The place of beeches," from _Schauwemi,_ "Beech wood"; but seems

to be an equivalent of Moh. _Wesauwemisk,_ a species of oak with yellow

bark used for dyeing. _Wisaminschi,_ "Yellow-wood tree." (Zeisb.)

Wickquatennhonck, a place so called in patent to Jacobus Bruyn and Benj.

Smedes, 1709, is described as "Land lying near a small hill called, in

ye Indian tongue, Wickqutenhonck," in another paper Wickquatennhonck,

"Land lying near the end of the hill." The name means, "At the end of

the hill," from _Wequa,_ "End of"; _-ateune_ (_-achtenne,_ Zeisb.),

"hill," and _-unk,_ "at." The location was near the end of what is still

known as the Hoogte-berg (Hooge-berg, Dutch), a range of hills, where

the proprietors located dwellings which remained many years.

Wanaksink, a region of meadow and maize land in the Shawongunk district,

was translated by Dr. Scott from _Winachk,_ "Sassafras" (Zeisb.); but

_Wanachk_ may and probably does stand for _Wonachk,_ "The tip or

extremity of anything," and _-sing_ means "Near," or less than. A piece

of land that was near the end of a certain place or piece of land. It is

not the word that is met in Wynogkee.

Maschabeneer, Masseks, Maskack, Massekex, a certain tract or tracts of

land in the present town of Shawongunk, appear in a description of

survey, Dec. 10, 1701, of seven hundred and ten acres "at a place called

_Maschabeneer Shawengonck,_" laid out for Mathias Mott, accompanied by an

affidavit by Jacob Rutsen concerning the purchase of the same from the

Indians. At a previous date (Sept. 22) Mott asked for a patent for four

hundred acres "at a place called Shawungunk," which was "given him when

a child by the Indians." Whether the two tracts were the same or not does

not appear; but in 1702, June 10, Severeyn Tenhout remonstrated against

granting to Mott the land which he had petitioned for, and accompanied

his remonstrance by an extract from the minutes of the Court at Kingston,

in 1693, granting the land to himself. He asked for a patent and gave

the name of the tract "Called by the Indians _Masseecks,_ near

Shawengonck," _i. e._ near the certain tract called Shawongunk which had

been granted to Thomas Lloyd. He received a patent. In 1709, Mott

petitioned "in relation to a certain tract of land upon Showangonck

River" which had been granted to Tenhout, asking that the "same be so

divided" that he (Mott) should "have a proportion of the good land upon

the said river"--obviously a section of low land or meadow, described by

the name of a place thereon called _Maskeék_ (Zeisb.), meaning "Swamp,

bog"; _Maskeht_ (Eliot), "Grass." The radical is _ask,_ "green, raw,

immature." The suffix _-eghs_ represents an intensive form of the

guttural formative, which the German missionaries softened to _-ech_ and

_-ck,_ and the English to _-sh,_ and is frequently met in _X._ Heckewelder

wrote that the original sound was that of the Greek X, hence Maskex and

x in Coxsackie. _Maschabeneer,_ the name given by Mott, is not

satisfactorily translatable.

Pitkiskaker and Aioskawasting appear in deed from the Esopus Indians to

Governor Dongan, in 1684, as the names of divisions of what are now

known as the Shawongunk Mountains south of Mohunk or Paltz Point. The

deed description reads: "Extending from the Paltz," _i. e._ from the

southeast boundmark of the Paltz Patent on the Hudson, now known as Blue

Point (see Magaat-Ramis), south "along the river to the lands of the

Indians at Murderers' Kill, thence west to the foot of the high hills

called Pitkiskaker and Aioskawasting, thence southwesterly all along the

said hills and the river called Peakadasink to a water-pond lying upon

said hills called Meretange." [FN-1] Apparently the general boundaries

were the line of the Paltz Patent on the north, the Hudson on the east,

a line from "about the Dancing Chamber" on the Hudson to Sam's Point on

the Shawongunk range on the southwest, and on the west by that range and

the river Peakadasank. The Peakadasank is now known as Shawangunk Kill.

The pond "called Meretange," is claimed by some authorities, as that now

known as Binnen-water in the town of Mount Hope, Orange County. On

Sauthier's map it is located on the southern division of the range noted

as "Alaskayering Mts.," and represented as the head of Shawongunk Kill.

The same distinction is claimed for Meretange or Peakadasank Swamp in

the town of Greenville, Orange County. A third Maratanza Pond is located

a short distance west of Sam's Point. The name of the hill has been

changed from _Aioskawasting_ to _Awosting_ as the name of a lake and a

waterfall about four miles north of Sam's Point, and translated from

_Awoss_ (Lenape), "Beyond," "On the other side," and claimed to have been

originally applied to a crossing-place in the depression north of Sam's

Point, neither of which interpretations is tenable. The prefix, _Aioska,_

cannot be dropped and the name have a meaning, and the adjectival,

_Awoss,_ cannot be used as a substantive and followed by the locative

_-ing,_ "at, on," etc. _Awoss_ means "Beyond," surely, but must be

followed by a substantive telling what it is that is "beyond." The

particular features of the Shawongunk range covered by the boundary line

of the deed are "The Traps," a cleft which divides the range a short

distance south of Mohunk, and Sam's Point, [FN-2] about nine miles south

of Mohunk. The latter stands out very conspicuously, its general surface

covered by perpendicular rocks from one hundred to two hundred and fifty

feet high, the point itself crowned by a wall of rock which rises 2200

feet above the valley below.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Meretange, Maretange, or Maratanza, is from Old English _Mere,_

"A pond or pool," and _Tanze,_ "Sharp" or offensive to the taste. The

name was transferred to this pond from the pond first bearing it in the

town of Greenville, Orange County, in changing the northwest line of

the Evans Patent. (See Peakadasank.) The pond is about a mile in

circumference and is lined with cranberry bushes and other shrubbery,

but the water is clear and sweet. It lies about three-quarters of a

mile west of Sam's Point. Long Pond, lying about four miles north of

Maratanza, is now called Awosting Lake. It is about two miles long by

possibly one-quarter of a mile wide and lies in a clove or cleft of the

hills. Its outlet was called by the Dutch Verkerde Kil, now changed to

Awosting. About one mile further north lies "The Great Salt Pond," so

called in records of the town of Shawongunk. It is now called Lake

Minnewaska, a name introduced from the Chippeway dialect, said to mean

"Colored water," which has been changed to "Frozen water." The lake is

particularly described as being "Set into the hills like a bowl." It

has an altitude of 1,600 feet and a depth of seventy to ninety feet of

water of crystal clearness through which the pebbly bottom can be seen.

The fourth pond is that known as Lake Mohonk.

[FN-2] Sam's Point is in the town of Wawarsing, about seven miles south

of the village of Ellenville and about nine miles south of Mohunk or

Paltz Point. It is the highest point on the Shawongunk range in New York

State. Its name is from Samuel Gonsaulus, who owned the tract.

Gertruyd's Nose, the name of another point, was so called from the

fancied resemblance of its shadow to the nose of Mrs. Gertrude, wife of

Jacobus Bruyn, who owned the tract. The pass, cleft or clove known as

"The Traps," was so called from the supposed character of the rock which

it divides. The rock, however, is not Trappean. The pass is 650 feet

wide and runs through the entire range. Its sides present the appearance

of the hill having slipped apart.

Peakadasank, so written in Indian deed to Governor Dongan in

1684--_Pachanasinck_ in patent to Jacob Bruyn, 1719; _Peckanasinck,

Pachanassinck,_ etc.--is given as the name of a stream bounding a tract

of land, the Dongan deed description reading: "Thence southwesterly all

along said hills and the river Peakadasank to a water-pond lying on said

hills called Meretange." The name is preserved in two streams known as

the Big and the Little Pachanasink, in Orange County, and in Ulster

County as the "Pachanasink District," covering the south part of the town

of Shawongunk. The Big Pachanasink is now known as Shawongunk Kill. In

1719, Nov. 26, a certain tract of land "called Pachanasink" was granted

to Jacobus Bruyn and described in survey as "on the north side of

Shawongunck Creek, beginning where the Verkerde Kill [FN] flows into

said river," indicating locative of the name at the Verkerde Branch. In

a brief submitted in the boundary contention, it is said that the line

of the Dongan purchase ran "along the foot of the hills from a place

called Pachanasink, where the Indians who sold the land had a large

village and place," and from thence "to the head of the said river, and

no where else the said river is called by that name." The evidence is

cumulative that the name was that of the dominant feature of the district,

from which it was transferred to the stream. It is a district strewn

with masses of conglomerate rocks thrown off from the hills and

precipitous cliffs. The two forms of the name, Peakadasank (1684) and

Pachanassink (1717), were no doubt employed as equivalents. They differ

in meaning, however. Wm. R. Gerard writes: "_Peakadasank,_ or

_Pakadassin,_ means, 'It is laid out through the effects of a blow,' or

some other action. The participial form is _Pakadasing,_ meaning, 'Where

it is laid out,' or 'Where it lies fallen.' The reference in this case

would seem to be to the stone which had fallen off or been thrown down

from the hills." _Pachanasink_ means, "At the split rocks"; _Pachassin,_

"Split stone." In either form the name is from the split rocks.

* * * * *

[FN] The Verkerde Kill falls over a precipice of about seventy feet.

The exposed surface of the precipice is marked by strata in the

conglomerate as primarily laid down. The entire district is a region

of split rocks. Verkerde Kill takes that name from Dutch _Verkeerd,_

meaning "Wrong, bad, angry, turbulent," etc. It is the outlet of

Meretange Pond near Sam's Point. It flows from the pond to the falls

and from the falls at nearly a right angle over a series of cascades

aggregating in all a fall of two hundred and forty feet. The falls are

in the town of Gardiner, Ulster County. (See Aioskawasting.)

The lands granted to Bruyn included the tract "Known by the Indian

name of Pacanasink," now in the town of Shawongunk, and also a tract

"Known by the Indian name of Shensechonck," now in the town of Crawford,

Orange County. The latter seems to have been a parcel of level upland.

It was about one mile to the southward of the stream.

Alaskayering, entered on Sauthier's map of 1774, as the name of the south

part of the Shawongunk range, was conferred by the English, possibly as

a substitute for Aioskawasting. The first word is heard in _Alaska,_

which is said, on competent authority, to mean, "The high bald rocks";

with locative _-ing,_ "At (or on) the high bald rocks." This

interpretation is a literal description of the hill, and Aioskawasting

may have the same meaning, although those who wrote the former may not

have had a thought about the latter. [FN] (See Pitkiskaker.)

* * * * *

[FN] High Point, the highest elevation in the southern division of the

range, is in New Jersey. It is said to be higher than Sam's Point, and

to bear the same general description.

Achsinink, quoted by the late Rev. Charles Soott, D. D., from local

records probably, as the name of Shawongunk Kill, is an apheresis

apparently of _Pach-achsün-ink,_ "At (or on) a place of split stones."

Many of the split rocks thrown off from the mountain lie in the bed of

the stream, in places utilized for crossing. "There are rocks in it, so

that it is easy to get across." (Col. Hist. N. Y., viii, 272.) _Achsün,_

as a substantive, cannot be used as an independent word with a locative.

An adjectival prefix is necessary. (See Pakadasink.)

Palmagat, the name of the bend in the mountain north of Sam's Point,

regarded by some as Indian, is a Dutch term descriptive of the growth

there of palm or holly (_Ilex opaca_), possibly of shrub oaks the leaf

of which resembles the holly. _Gat_ is Dutch for opening, gap, etc.

Moggonck, Maggonck, Moggonick, Moggoneck, Mohonk, etc., are forms of the

name given as that of the "high hill" which forms the southwest boundmark

of the Paltz Patent, so known, now generally called locally, Paltz Point,

and widely known as Mohunk. The hill is a point of rock formation on the

Shawongunk range. It rises about 1,000 feet above the plain below and

is crowned by an apex which rises as a battlement about 400 feet above

the brow of the hill, now called Sky Top. _Moggonck_ and _Maggonck_ are

interchangeable orthographies. The former appears in the Indian deed from

_Matseyay,_ and other owners, to Louis Du Bois, and others, May 26, 1677,

and is carried forward in the patent issued to them in September of the

same year. _Moggoneck_ appears in Mr. Berthold Fernow's translation of

the Indian deed in Colonial History of N. Y., xiii, 506. _Moggonick_ was

written by Surveyor Aug. Graham on his map of survey in 1709, and

_Mohunk_ is a modern pronunciation. The boundary description of the

tract, as translated by the late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, from the Dutch

deed (N. Y. Land Papers, 15), reads: "Beginning at the high hill called

Moggonck, then southeast to Juffrouw's Hook in the Long Reach, on the

Great River (called in Indian Magaat Ramis), thence north to the island

called Raphoos, lying in the Kromme Elbow at the commencement of the

Long Reach, thence west to the high hill to a place [called] Warachaes

and Tawarataque, along the high hill to Moggonck." The translation in

Colonial History is substantially the same except in the forms of the

names. "Beginning from the high hill, at a place called Moggonck," is a

translation of the deed by Rev. Ame Vaneme, in "History of New Paltz."

It seems to be based on a recognition of the locative of the name as

established by Surveyor Graham in 1709, rather than on the original

manuscript. In the patent the reading is: "Beginning at the high mountain

called Moggonck," and the southwest line is described as extending from

Tawarataque "To Moggonck, formerly so called," indicating that the

patentees had not located the name as they would like to have it located;

certainly, that they had discovered that a line drawn from the apex of

the hill on a southeast course to Juffrouw's Hook, would divide a certain

fine piece of land, which they called the Groot Stuk (great piece), lying

between the hill and the Wallkill and fertilized by that stream, which

they wished to have included in the grant as a whole. So it came about

that they hurried to Governor Andros and secured an amended wording in

the patent of the deed description, and Surveyor-General Graham, when he

came upon the scene in 1709, to run the patent lines, found the locatives

"fixed," and wrote in his description, "Beginning at a certain point on

the hill called Moggonick, . . . thence south, thirty-six degrees

easterly, to a certain small creek called Moggonck, at the south end of

the great piece of land, and from thence south, fifty-five degrees

easterly, to the south side of Uffroe's Hook." Thereafter "The south end

of the great piece," and the "certain small creek," became the "First

station," as it was called. Graham marked the place by a stone which was

found standing by Cadwallader Colden in a survey by him in 1729, and

noted as at "The west end of a small gully which falls into Paltz River,

. . . from the said stone down the said gully two chains and forty-six

links to the Paltz River." The "west end" of the gully was the east end

of the "Certain small creek" noted in Graham's survey. The precise point

is over three miles from the hill. In the course of the years by the

action of frost or flood, the stone was carried away. In 1892, from

actual survey by Abram LeFever, Surveyor, assisted by Capt. W. H. D.

Blake, to whom I am indebted for the facts stated, it was replaced by

another bearing the original inscription. By deepening the gully the

swamp of which the stream is the drainage channel, has been mainly

reclaimed, but the stream and the gully remain, as does also the Groot

Stuk. This record narrative is more fully explained by the following

certificate which is on file in the office of the Clerk of Ulster County:

"These are to certify, that the inhabitants of the town of New Paltz,

being desirous that the first station of their patent, named Moggonck,

might be kept in remembrance, did desire us, Joseph Horsbrouck, John

Hardenburgh, and Roeloff Elting, Esqs., Justices of the Peace, to

accompany them, and there being Ancrop, the Indian, then brought us to

the High Mountain, which he named Maggeanapogh, at or near the foot of

which hill is a small run of water and a swamp, which he called

Maggonck, and the said Ancrop affirmed it to be the right Indian names

of the said places, as witness our hands the nineteenth day of December,

1722."

Ancrop, or Ankerop as otherwise written, was a sachem of the Esopus

Indians in 1677, and was still serving in that office in 1722. He was

obviously an old man at the latter date. He had, however, no jurisdiction

over or part in the sale of the lands to the New Paltz Company in 1677.

His testimony, given forty-five years after the sale by the Indians, was

simply confirmatory in general terms of a location which had been made

in 1677, and the interpretation of what he said was obviously given by

the Justices in terms to correspond with what his employers wished him

to say. In the days of the locations of boundmarks of patents, his

testimony would have been regarded with suspicion. Locations of

boundmarks were then frequently changed by patentees who desired to

increase their holdings, by "Taking some Indians in a public manner to

show such places as they might name to them," wrote Sir William Johnson,

for many years Superintendent of Indian Affairs, adding that it was

"Well known" that an Indian "Would shew any place by any name you please

to give him, for a small blanket or a bottle of rum." Presumably Ankerop

received either "A small blanket or a bottle of rum" for his services,

but it is not to be inferred that the location of the boundmarks in 1677

was tainted by the "sharp practice" which prevailed later. It is

reasonable to presume, however, that the name would never have been

removed from the foot of the hill had not the Groot Stuk been situated

as it was with reference to a southeast line drawn from its apex to

Juffrouw's Hook.

Algonquian students who have been consulted, regard the name as it stands

as without meaning; that some part of the original was lost by mishearing

or dropped in pronunciation; that in the dialect which is supposed to

have been spoken here the suffix _-onck_ is classed as a locative and

the adjectival _Mogg_ is not complete. Several restorations of presumed

lost letters have been suggested to give the name a meaning, none of

which, however, are satisfactory. Apparently the most satisfactory

reading is from _Magonck_, or _Magunk_ (Mohegan), "A great tree,"

explained by Dr. Trumbull: "From _Mogki,_ 'Great,' and _-unk,_ 'A tree

while standing.'" It is met as the name of a boundmark on the Connecticut,

and on the east side of the Hudson, within forty miles of the locative

here, _Moghongh-kamigh_, "Place of a great tree," is met as the name of

a boundmark. _Mogkunk_ is also in the Natick dialect, and there is no

good reason for saying that it was not in the local dialect here. There

may have been a certain great tree at the foot of the hill, from which

the name was extended to the hill, and there may have been one on the

Wallkill, which Ankerop said "Was the right Indian name of the place."

It will be remembered that the deed boundmark was "The foot of the hill."

It is safe to say that the name never could have described "A small run

of water and a swamp," nor did it mean "Sky-Top." The former features

were introduced by the Justices to identify the place where the

boundary-stone was located and have no other value; the latter is a

fanciful creation, "Not consistent with fact or reason," but very good

as an advertisement.

Maggeanapogh, the name which Ankerop gave as that of the hill called

Moggonck, bears every evidence of correctness. It is reasonably pure

Lenape or Delaware, to which stock Ankerop probably belonged. The first

word, _Maggean,_ is an orthography of _Machen_ (_Meechin,_ Zeisb.;

_Mashkan,_ Chippeway), meaning "Great," big, large, strong, hard,

occupying chief position, etc., and the second, _-apogh,_ written in

other local names _-apugh, -apick,_ etc., is from _-ápughk_ (_-ápuchk,_

Zeisb.), meaning "Rock," the combination reading, literally, "A great

rock." In the related Chippeway dialect the formative word for rock is

_-bik,_ and the radical is _-ic_ or _-ick,_ of which Dr. Schoolcraft

wrote, "Rock, or solid formation of rock." No particular part of the

hill was referred to, the text reading, "There being Ankerop, the Indian,

then brought us to the High Mountain which he named Maggeanapogh." The

time has passed when the name could have been made permanent. For all

coming time the hill will bear the familiar name of Mohonk, the Moggonck

of 1677, the Paltz Point and the High Point of local history, from the

foot of which the place of beginning of the boundary line was never

removed, although the course from it was changed.

Magaat-Ramis, the record name of the southeast boundmark of the Paltz

Patent, is located in the boundary description at "Juffrou's Hook, in

the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian Magaat-Ramis)."

(Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 15.) Juffrouw's Hook is now known as Blue Point.

It is about two miles north of Milton-on-the-Hudson, and takes its

modern name from the color of the rock which projects from a blue-stone

promontory and runs for some distance under the water of the river,

deflecting the current to the northwest. The primal appearance of the

promontory has been changed by the cut for the West Shore Railroad, but

the submerged point remains. The Dutch name, _Juffrouw's Hook,_ was

obviously employed by the purchasers to locate the boundmark by terms

which were then generally understood. Juffrouw, the first word, means

"Maiden," one of the meanings of which is "Haai-rog"; "_rog_" means

"skate," or Angel-fish, of special application to a species of shark,

but in English shad, or any fish of the herring family, especially the

female. Hook means "Corner, cape, angle, incurved as a hook"; hence

"Maiden Hook," an angle or corner noted as a resort for shad, alewives,

etc.: by metonymie, "A noted or well-known fishing-place." The first

word of the Indian name, _Magaat,_ stands for _Maghaak_ (Moh.), _Machak_

(Zeisb., the hard surd mutes _k_ and _t_ exchanged), meaning "Great,"

large, extended, occupying chief position. The second word, _Ramis_ is

obscure. It has the appearance of a mishearing of the native word. What

that word was, however, may be inferred from the description, "Juffrou's

Hook, in the Long Reach, on the Great River (called in Indian

Magaat-Ramis)," or as written in the patent, "To a certain Point or

Hooke called the Jeuffrou's Hooke, lying in the Long Reach, named by the

Indians Magaat-Ramis." That the name was that of the river at that

place--the Long Reach--is made clear by the sentence which follows:

"Thence north along the river to the island called Rappoos, at the

commencement of the Long Reach," in which connection _Ramis_ would stand

for _Kamis_ or _Gamis,_ from _Gami,_ an Algonquian noun-generic meaning

"Water," frequently met in varying forms in Abnaki and Chippeway--less

frequently in the Delaware. In Cree the orthography is _Kume._ The final

_s_ is the equivalent of _k,_ locative, as in Abnaki _Gami-k,_ a

particular place of water. "On the Great Water," is probably the meaning

of Ramis. In Chippeway _Keeche-gummee,_ "The greatest water," was the

name of Lake Superior. As the name of the "Great Water," _Magaat-Ramis_

is worthy of preservation.

Rappoos, which formed the northeast boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is

specifically located in the Indian deed "Thence north [from Juffrou's

Hook] along the river to the island called Rappoos, lying in the Kromme

Elbow, at the commencement of the Long Reach." The island is now known

as Little Esopus Island, taking that name from Little Esopus Creek, which

flows to the Hudson at that point. It lies near the main land on the east

side of the river, and divides the current in two channels, the most

narrow of which is on the east. Kromme Elleboog (Crooked elbow), is the

abrupt bend in the river at the island, and the Long Reach extends from

the island south to Pollepel's Island. The name is of record Rappoos,

Raphoes, Raphos and Whaphoos, an equivalent, apparently, of _Wabose_ and

_Warpose,_ the latter met on Manhattan Island. It is not the name of the

island, but of the small channel on the east side of it from which it

was extended to the island. It means, "The narrows," in a general sense,

and specifically, "The small passage," or strait. The root is _Wab,_ or

_Wap,_ meaning, "A light or open place between two shores." (Brinton.)

Tawarataque, now written and pronounced _Tower-a-tauch,_ the name of the

northwestern boundmark of the Paltz Patent, is described in the Indian

deed already quoted: "Thence [from Rappoos] west to the high hills _to a

place_ called _Warachoes_ and _Tawarataque,_" which may refer to one and

the same place, or two different places. Surveyor Graham held that two

different places were referred to and marked the first on the east side

of the Wallkill at a place not now known, from whence by a sharp angle he

located the second "On the point of a small ridge of hills," where he

marked a flat rock, which, by the way, is not referred to in the name.

The precise place was at the south end of a clove between the hills,

access to which is by a small opening in the hills at a place now known

as Mud Hook. Probably _Warachoes_ referred to this opening. By dialectic

exchange of _l_ and _r_ the word is _Walachoes--Walak,_ "Hole," "A hollow

or excavation"; _-oes,_ "Small," as a small or limited hollow or open

place. "Through this opening," referring to the opening in the side of

the hill at Mud Hook, "A road now runs leading to the clove between the

ridges of the mountain," wrote Mr. Ralph LeFever, editor of the "New

Paltz Independent," from personal knowledge. _Tawarataque_ was the name

of this clove. It embodies the root _Walak_ prefixed by the radical _Tau_

or _Taw,_ meaning "Open," as an open space, a hollow, a clove, an open

field, etc., suffixed by the verb termination _-aque,_ meaning "Place,"

or _-áke_ as Zeisberger wrote in _Wochitáke,_ "Upon the house." The

reading in _Tawarataque_ is, "Where there is an open space"; _i. e.,_ the

clove. [FN] The late Hon. Edward Elting, of New Paltz, wrote me: "The

flat rock which Surveyor Graham marked as the bound, lies on the east

side of the depression of the Shawongunk Mountain Range leading

northwesterly from Mohunk, at the south end of the clove known as Mud

Hook, near the boundary line between New Paltz and Rosendale, say about

half a mile west of the Wallkill Valley R. R. station at Rosendale. I

think, but am not certain, that the rock can be seen as you pass on the

railroad. It is of the character known as Esopus Millstone, a white or

gray conglomerate. I cannot say that it bears the Surveyor's

inscription."

It is not often that four boundmarks are met that stand out with the

distinctness of those of the Paltz Patent, or that are clothed with

deeper interest as geological features, or that preserve more distinctly

the geographical landmarks of the aboriginal people.

* * * * *

[FN] The adjectival formative _-alagat,_ or _-aragat,_ enters into the

composition of several words denoting "Hole," or "Open space," as

_Taw-álachg-at,_ "Open space," _Sag-álachg-at,_ "So deep the hole." The

verb substantive suffix _-aque,_ or _-ake_ (_qu_ the sound of _k_),

meaning "Place," is entirely proper as a substitute for the verbal

termination _-at._

[Illustration: HUDSON'S RIVER FROM BUTTER HILL TO MAGDALEN ISLAND.

(From Map of 1666)]

Ossangwak is written on Pownal's map as the name of what is known as the

Great Binnenwater (Dutch, "Inland water") in the town of Lloyd. The

orthography disguises the original, which may have been a pronunciation

of _Achsün_ (Minsi), "Stone," as in _Otstónwakin_, read by Reichel, "A

high rock," or rocky hill. Perhaps the name referred to the rocky bluff

which bounds the Hudson there, immediately west of which the lake is

situated.

Esopus--so written on Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and also by De Laet

in 1624-5; _Sopus,_ contemporaneously; _Sypous,_ Rev. Megapolensis, 1657,

is from _Sepuus_ (Natick), "A brook"; in Delaware, _Sipoes_ (Zeisberger).

It is from _Sepu_, "River," and _-es,_ "small." On the Carte Figurative

it is written on the east side of the river near a stream north of

Wappingers' Creek, as it may have been legitimately, but in 1623 it came

to be located permanently at what is now Rondout Creek, from which it

was extended to several streams, [FN] to the Dutch settlement now

Kingston, to the resident Indians, and to a large district of country.

The chirographer of 1614-16 seems to have added the initial E from the

uncertain sound of the initial S, and later scribes further corrupted

it to the Greek and Latin Æ. (See Waronawanka.)

* * * * *

[FN] The streams entering the Hudson in proximity came to be known as

the Kleine Esopus, south of Rondout; the Groot Esopus, now the Rondout,

and the Esopus, now the Saugerties. In the valley west of old Kingston

was a brook, called in records the "Mill Stream."

Waronawanka, Carte Figurative 1614-16--_Warrawannan-koncks,_ Wassenaer,

1621-5; _Warranawankongs,_ De Laet, 1621-5, and _Waranawankcougys,_ 1633;

_Waranawankongs,_ Van der Donck, 1656; _Waerinnewongh,_ local, 1677--is

located on the Carte Figurative on the west side of the Hudson a few

miles north of latitude 42. On Van der Donck's map it is placed on the

west side between Pollepel's Island and the Dans Kamer. De Laet wrote

in his "New World" (Leyden edition): "This reach [Vischer's, covering

Newburgh Bay] extends to another narrow pass, where, on the west side

of the river, there is a point of land juts out covered with sand,

opposite a bend in the river on which another nation of savages called

the _Waoranecks,_ have their abode at a place called Esopus. A little

beyond, on the west side of the river, where there is a creek, and the

river becomes more shallow, the _Waranawankongs_ reside. Here are several

small islands." In his French and Latin edition, 1633-40, the reading

is: "A little beyond where projects a sandy point and the river becomes

narrower, there is a place called Esopus, where the _Waoranekys_ have

their abode. To them succeed, after a short interval, the

_Waranawancougys_, on the opposite side of the river." Read together

there would seem to be no doubt that the _Waoranecks_ were seated on or

around the cove or bay at Low Point and the estuary of Wappingers' Creek,

and that the _Waranatwankongs_ were seated at and around the cove or bay

at Kingston Point, "Where a creek comes in and the river becomes more

shallow."

Of the meaning of the name Dr. A. S. Gatschet, of the Bureau of

Ethnology, wrote me: "If the _Warana-wan-ka_ lived on a bay or cove of

Hudson's River, their name is certainly from _Walina,_ which means

'hollowing, concave site,' and 'cove, bay,' in several eastern languages.

A good parallel are the _Wawenocks_ of S. W. Maine, now living at St.

Francis, who call themselves _Walinaki,_ or those living on a cove--'cove

dwellers'--in referring to their old home on the Atlantic coast near

Portland. In the Micmac (N. S.) dialect _Walini_ is 'bay, cove,' and

even the large Bay of Fundy is called so. The meaning of _k_ or _ka_ is

not clear, but _ong,_ in the later forms, is the locative 'at, on, upon.'"

It is safe to say that at either the Dans Kamer, Low Point, or Kingston

Point, the clan would have been seated on a bay, cove, recess or

indentation shaped like a bay, and it is also safe to say that _Warona_

and _Walina_ may be read as equivalents, the former in the local dialect,

and the latter in the Eastern, and that its general meaning is "Concave,

hollowing site." Zeisberger wrote _l_ instead of _r_ in the Minsi-Lenape,

hence _Woalac,_ "A hollow or excavation"; _Walóh,_ "A cove"; _Walpecat,_

"Very deep water." The dialectic _r_ prevails pretty generally on the

Hudson and on the Upper Delaware. On the latter, near Port Jervis, is

met of record _Warin-sags-kameck,_ which is surely the equivalent of

_Walina-ask-kameck,_ "A hollowing or concave site, a meadow or field."

It was written by Arent Schuyler, the noted interpreter, as the name of

a field which he described as "A meadow or vly." _Vly_ is a contraction

of Dutch _Vallei,_ meaning "A hollow or depression in which water stands

in the rainy season and is dry at other times," hence "hollowing." _Ask_

(generic), meaning "Green, raw," is the radical of words meaning

"meadow," "marsh," etc., and _-kameck_ stands for an enclosed field, or

place having definite boundaries as a hollow. _Awan_ (_-awan, -wan,

-uan,_ etc.), as Dr. Gatschet probably read the orthography, is an

impersonal verb termination met on the Hudson in Matteawan, Kitchiwan,

etc. Mr. Gerard writes that it was sometimes followed by the participial

and subjunctive _k._ It may have been so written here, but it seems to

be a form of the guttural aspirate _gh,_ for which it is exchanged in

many cases, here and in Kitchiwangh. In Connecticut on the Sound

apparently the same name is met in _Waranawankek,_ indicating that

whoever wrote it on the Figurative of 1614-16 was familiar with the

dialect of the coast Indians. As it stands the name is one of the oldest

and most sonorous in the valley of Hudson's River.

Ponkhockie is the familiar form of the name of the point, cove or

landing-place on the south side of Kingston Point. It is from Dutch

_Punthoekje,_ meaning, "Point of a small hook, or angle." The local

interpretation, "Canoe harbor," is not in the name, except inferentially

from the fact that the cove was a favorite landing place for canoes.

[FN-1] After the erection of a stockaded redoubt there, the Dutch called

the place Rondhout, meaning. "Standing timber," and the English followed

with Redoubt, and extended the name to the creek, as of record in 1670.

The present form is substantially a restoration of the early Dutch

Rondhout. The stockade was erected by Director Stuyvesant, at the

suggestion of the Amsterdam Chamber of the West India Company, about

1660. There were Dutch traders here certainly as early as 1622, and

presumably as early as 1614, but no permanent settlement appears of

record prior to 1652-3, nor is there evidence that there was a Rondhout

here prior to 1657-8. Compare Stuyvesant's letter of September, 1657, and

Kregier's Journal of the "Second Esopus War" (Col. Hist N. Y., xiii, 73,

314, also page 189), showing that the Rondhout was not completed until

the fall and winter of 1660. De Vries wrote in 1639-40, referring to

Kingston Point probably: "Some Indians live here and have some corn-lands,

but the lands are poor and stony." When Stuyvesant visited the place, in

1658, he anchored his barge "opposite to the two little houses of the

savages standing near the bank of the kil." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 82.)

In the vicinity the war of 1658 had its initiative in an unwise attack by

some settlers on a party of Indians who had been made crazy drunk on

brandy furnished them by Captain Thomas Chambers. Two houses were burned

belonging to settlers, and hostilities continued for eight or nine days.

"At the tennis-court near the Strand," a company of eleven Dutch soldiers

"allowed themselves to be taken prisoners," by the Indians, in 1659. It

does not seem probable that the Dutch had a Tennis Court here at that

early date, but the record so reads. [FN-2] The hook or cove, was the

most desirable place for landing on the south side of the Point. It has

since been the commercial centre of the town and city. Punthoekje is

certainly not without interesting history.

* * * * *

[FN-1] In early times there were two principal landing places: One at

Punthoekje and one north of the present steamboat landing, or Columbus

Point as it is called. The Point is a low formation on the Hudson and

was primarily divided from the main land by a marsh. It was literally

"a concave, hollowing site." The marsh was later crossed by a corduroyed

turnpike connecting with the old Strand Road, now Union Avenue. A ferry

was established here in 1752 and is still operated under its original

charter. The Point is now traversed by rail and trolley roads.

[FN-2] Perhaps an Indian Football Court, resembling a Tennis Court. A

writer in 1609 says of the Virginia natives: "They use, beside, football

play, which women and boys do much play at. They have their goals as

ours, only they never fight and pull each other down." There was a

famous Tennis Court (Dutch _Kaatsbaan_) in the town of Saugerties, which

seems to have been there long before the Dutch settlement. The Tennis

Court referred to in the text is said to have been near the site of the

present City Hall in Kingston, but would that place be strictly "near

the Strand"? "Strand" means "shore, beach." It was probably on the

beach.

Atkarkarton, claimed by some local authorities as the Indian name of

Kingston, comes down to us from Rev. Megapolensis, who wrote, in 1657:

"About eighteen miles [Dutch] up the North River lies a place called by

the Dutch Esopus or Sypous, by the Indians Atkarkarton. It is an

exceedingly beautiful land." (Doc, Hist. N. Y., iii, 103.) The Reverend

writer obviously quoted the name as of general application, although it

would seem to have been that of a particular place. As stated in another

connection, Esopus, Sypous, and Sopus were at first (1623) applied to a

trading-post on the Hudson, from which it was extended inland as a

general name and later became specific as that of the first palisaded

Dutch village named Wildwijk, which was founded a year after Megapolensis

wrote. At the date of his writing the territory called Sopus included the

river front, the plateau on which Kingston stands, and the flats on the

Esopus immediately west, particularly the flat known as the Groot Plat,

and later (1662) as the Nieuw Dorp or New Village, [FN-1] as distinguished

from Sopus or Wildwijk, or the Old Village, the specific site of which

could not have been referred to. Of the site of the Old Village, Director

Stuyvesant wrote in 1658: "The spot marked out for the settlement has a

circumference of about two hundred and ten rods [FN-2] and is well

adapted for defensive purposes. When necessity requires it, it can be

surrounded by water on three sides, and it may be enlarged according to

the convenience and requirements of the present and of future

inhabitants." The palisaded enclosure was enlarged by Stuyvesant, in

1661, to over three times its original size. The precise spot was on the

northwest corner of the plateau. It was separated from the low lands of

the Esopus Valley by a ridge of moderate height extending on the north,

east, and west, and had on the south "a swampish morass" which was

required to be drained, in 1669, for the health of the town "and the

improvement of so much ground." The Groot Plat in the Esopus Valley was

a garden spot ready for the plough and was regarded as of size sufficient

for "fifty bouweries" (farms). From the description quoted, and present

conditions, it may be said with certainty that the site of the Old

Village of Wildwijk was a knoll in an area of prairie and marsh. Neither

of the village sites seem to have been occupied by the Indians except by

temporary huts and corn-lands. The Wildwijk site was given to Director

Stuyvesant by the Indians, in 1658, "to grease his feet with" after his

"long journey" from Manhattan. Of the Groot Plat one-half was given by

the Indians to Jacob Jansen Stoll in compensation for damages. A

commission appointed at that time to examine the tract, and to ascertain

what part of it the Indians wished to retain, reported that the Indians

had "some plantations" there, "but of little value"; that it was "only

a question of one or two pieces of cloth, then they would remove and

surrender the whole piece." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 86, 89.) Instead of

paying the Indians for the lands, however, the settlers commenced

occupation, with the result that the Indians burned the New Village,

June 7, 1663, attacked the Old Village, killed eighteen persons and

carried away thirty captives, women and children. The war of 1663

followed, the results of which are accessible in several publications,

but especially in Colonial History of New York, Vol. xiii. It is

sufficient to say here that the Indians lost the lands in controversy

and a much larger territory. Interpretation of the name can only be made

conjecturally. William R. Gerard wrote me: "I think _Atkarkarton_ simply

disguises _Atuk-ak-aten,_ meaning 'Deerhill,' from _Atuk,_ 'Deer'; _ak,_

plural, and _aten,_ 'hill.' The _r's_ in the name do not mean anything;

they simply indicate that the _a's_ which precede them were nasal." The

Delaware word for "deer" is _Achtuch._ Dr. Schoolcraft wrote the

tradition that the first deers were the hunters of men.

* * * * *

[FN-1] The land or place on the Esopus flat on which the New Village

was founded, is now known as Old Hurley Village. It is repeatedly and

specifically designated as "The Groot Plat"--"The large tract of land

called the New Village"--"The burnt village called the Groot Plat."

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 275, _et. seq._) Hurley was given to it by

Governor Lovelace in 1669, from his family, who were Barons Hurley of

Ireland.

[FN-2] A Dutch rod is twelve feet, which would give this circumference

at less than an English half mile. Schoonmaker writes in "History of

Kingston": "The average length of the stockade was about thirteen

hundred feet, and the width about twelve hundred feet." Substantially,

it enclosed a square of about one-quarter of a mile.

Wildwijk, Dutch--_Wiltwyck,_ modern--the name given by Governor

Stuyvesant, in 1650, to the palisaded village which later became Kingston,

and then and later called Sopus, is a composition of Dutch _Wild,_ meaning

"Wild, savage," and _Wijk,_ "Retreat, refuge, quarter"; constructively,

"A village, fort or refuge from the savages." The claim that the place

was so called by Stuyvesant as an acknowledgment of the fact that the

land was a gift from the Indians, is a figment. The English came in

possession, in 1664, and, in 1669, [FN] changed the early name to

Kingston. The Dutch recovered possession in 1673, and changed the name

to Swanendale, and the English restored Kingston in 1674. (See

Atkarkarton.)

* * * * *

[FN] "On this day (vizt 25th) the towne formerly called Sopez was named

Kingston." Date Sept. 25th, 1669. (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 435.)

Nanoseck, Manoseck, forms of the name of a small island in Rondout Creek,

so "called by the Indians" says the record, may be from Natick

_Nohōōsik,_ "Pointed or tapering." The Dutch called it "Little Cupper's

Island." _Cupper,_ "One who applies a cupping glass." Another island in

the same stream, was "called by the Indians _Assinke,_" that is "Stony

land" or place. (See Mattassink.) Another island was called by the Dutch

_Slypsten Eiland,_ that is, "Whetstone Island"; probably from the quality

of the stone found on it. It lies in the Hudson next to Magdalen Island.

Wildmeet, an Indian "house" so called by the Dutch, means, in the Dutch

language, "A place of meeting of savages." It was not a palisaded village.

It was burned by the Dutch forces in the war of 1660, at which time, the

narrative states, some sixty Indians had assembled at or were living in

it. Its location, by the late John W. Hasbrouck, at the junction of the

Vernoy and Rondout kills, is of doubtful correctness, as is also his

statement that it was "The council-house of all the Esopus Indians." Its

location was about two (Dutch) miles from Wildwyck, or about six or seven

English miles. Judge Schoonmaker wrote: "Supposed to have been located

in Marbletown."

Preumaker's Land, a tract described as "Lying upon Esopus Kil, within

the bounds of Hurley," granted to Venike Rosen, April 1, 1686, was the

place of residence of Preumaker, "The oldest and best" of the Esopus

sachems, whose life was tragically ended by Dutch soldiers in the war

of 1660. The location of his "house" is described as having been "At the

second fall of Kit Davits Kil." [FN-1] A creek now bears the name of the

sachem, who was a hero if he was a savage.

* * * * *

[FN] "Kit Davits' Kil" or the Rondout was so called from Christopher

Davids, an Englishman, who was first at Fort Orange, and was an

interpreter. He obtained, in 1656, a patent for about sixty-five acres,

described as "Situate about a league (about three miles) inland from

the North River in the Esopus, on the west side of the Great Kil,

opposite to the land of Thomas Chambers, running west and northeast

halfway to a small pond on the border of a valley which divides this

parcel and the land of John de Hulter, deceased." Ensign Smith wrote:

"I came with my men to the second valley on Kit Davietsen's River.. . .

Further up in said valley I crossed the stream and found their house."

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii.) Supposed to have been at LeFever's Falls in

Rosendale. (Schoonmaker.)

Frudyachkamik, so written in treaty--deed of 1677 as the name of a place

on the Hudson at the mouth of Esopus (now Saugerties) Creek, is written

Tintiagquanneck in deed of 1767 (Cal. Land Papers, 454), and by the late

John W. Hasbrouck, _Tendeyachameck._ The deed orthography of 1677 is

certainly wrong as there is no sound of F in Algonquian. (See

Kerhonksen.)

* * * * *

{TN} {Unable to locate interlinear references to the following two notes

which appear on this page.}

[FN-1] _Saugerties_ is probably a corruption of Dutch _Zager's Kiltje,_

meaning in English, "Sawyer's little Kill." The original appears first

of record in Kregier's Journal of the Second Esopus War (1663), "They

were at Zager's Kiletje"; "To Sager's little Kill"; "To the Sager's

Killetje." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 342, 344.) The first corruption of

record also belongs to that period. It was by a Mohawk sachem who

visited Esopus and at a conference converted Zager's Kiltje to

Sagertjen. Some of the local Dutch followed with "de Zaagertje's." Other

corruptions were numerous until the English brought in Saugerties. The

original _Zager,_ however, seems to have held legal place for many

years. In 1683, in a survey of the Meals Patent, covering lands now

included in Saugerties, it is written: "Being part of the land called

Sagers," and in another, "Between Cattskill and Sager's Kill." It is

also of record that a man known by the surname of Zager located on the

stream prior to 1663, obtained a cession of the lands on the kill from

Kaelcop, an Esopus sachem, and later disappeared without perfecting his

title by patent. _Zager_ is now converted to _Sager,_ and in English to

_Sawyer._ The claim that Zager had a sawmill at the mouth of the stream

seems to rest entirely upon his presumed occupation from the meaning of

his name. A sawmill here, in 1663, would seem to have been a useless

venture. In 1750, ninety years later, one Burregan had a mill at the

mouth of the kill. "Burregan" stands for Burhans.

[FN-2] "To Freudeyachkamik on the Groote River." (Col. Hist. N. Y.,

xiii, 505.) It was probably the peninsular now known as Flatbush,

Glasco, etc., at the mouth of the creek. The orthographies of the name

are uncertain. An island south of the mouth of the creek was called

_Qusieries._ Three or four miles north is _Wanton_ Island, the site of

a traditionary battle between the Mohawks and the Katskill Indians. It

is now the northeast boundmark of Ulster County. Neither of these

islands could have been the boundmark of the lands granted by the

Indians. _Wanton_ seems to be from _Wanquon_ (_Wankon,_ Del.),

"Heel"--resembling a human heel in shape--pertuberant. The letter _t_

in the name is simply an exchange of the surd mutes _k_ and _l._ Modern

changes have destroyed the original appearance of the island.

Kerhonkson, now so written as the name of a stream of water and of a

village in the town of Wawarsing, Ulster County, is of record in several

forms--Kahanksen, Kahanghsen, Kahanksnix, Kahanckasink, etc. It takes

interest from its connection with the history and location of what is

known, in records of the Esopus Indian War of 1663, as the Old Fort as

distinguished from the New Fort. In the treaty of peace with the Dutch

in 1664, the fort is spoken of without name in connection with a district

of country admitted by the Indians to have been "conquered by the sword,"

including the "two captured forts." In the subsequent treaty (1665) with

Governor Nicolls the ceded district is described as "A certain parcel of

land lying and being to the west or southwest of a certain creek or river

called by the name of Kahanksen, and so up to the head thereof where the

Old Fort was; and so with a direct line from thence through the woods and

crosse the meadows to the Great Hill lying to the west or southwest,

which Great Hill is to be the true west or southwest bounds, and the said

creek called Kahanksen the north or northeast bounds of the said lands."

In a treaty deed with Governor Andros twelve years later (April 27,

1677), the boundary lines _"as they were to be thereafter,"_ are

described: "Beginning at the Rondouyt Kill, thence to a kill called

Kahanksnix, thence north along the hills to a kill called

Maggowasinghingh, thence to the Second Fall, easterly to Freudyachkamick

on the Groot River, south to Rondouyt Kill." In other words the district

conceded to have been "conquered by the sword" lay between the Esopus and

the Rondout on the Hudson, and extended west to the stream called

Kahanksen, thence north to a stream called Maggowasinghingh, thence

north, etc. The only stream that has been certainly identified as the

Maggowasinghingh is the Rondout, where it flows from the west to its

junction with the Sandberg Kill, east of Honk Falls, and this

identification certainly places Kahanksen _south_ of that stream. And in

this connection it may be stated that _the conquered lands did not extend

west of the Rondout._ The Beekman and the Beake patents were held

primarily by Indian deeds. After the conquest the Indians did not sell

lands _east_ of the boundary line, but did sell lands _west_ of that

line. The deed from Beekman to Lowe distinctly states that the lands

conveyed were "within the bounds belonging to the Indians." As the lands

on the west of the kill were not conquered and ceded to the Dutch, the

Old Fort could not have been on that side of the stream. In reaching

conclusions respect must be had to Indian laws, treaties, and boundary

descriptions. In the records of the town of Rochester, of which town

Wawarsing was a part, is the entry, under date of July 22, 1709, "Marynus

van Aken desired the conveyance of about one hundred acres of land lying

over against the land of Colonel Jacob Rutsen called Kahankasinck, known

as Masseecs," that is the land asked for by Van Aken took the name of

Masseecs from a swamp which the name means. Colonel Rutsen's land has not

been located; he held several tracts at different times, and one

especially on the west line of Marbletown known as Rosendale. Whatever

its location it shows that its name of Kahankasinck was extended to it

or from it from some general feature. Obviously from the ancient treaty

and deed boundaries the site of the Old Fort has not been ascertained,

nor has the Great Hill been located. Presumably both must be looked for

on Shawongunk Mountain.

The fort, as described by Kregier in his "Journal of the Second Esopus

War," was a palisaded village and the largest settlement of the Esopus

Indians. He made no reference to a stream or to a ravine, but did note

that he was obliged to pass over swamps, frequent kills, and "divers

mountains" that were so steep that it was necessary to "haul the wagons

and cannon up and down with ropes." His course was "mostly southwest"

from Wildwijk, and the fort "about ten miles" (Dutch), or from thirty to

thirty-five miles English. It was not so far southwest from Wildwijk

(Kingston) as the New Fort by "about four hours," a time measure equal

to nine or ten English miles. The Indians did not defend the fort; they

abandoned it "two days before" the Dutch troops arrived. No particular

description of it has been handed down. Under date of July 31, 1663,

Kregier wrote: "In the morning at dawn of day set fire to the fort and

all the houses, and while they were in full blaze marched out in good

order." And so disappeared forever the historic Indian settlement, not

even the name by which it was known certainly translatable in the absence

of knowledge of the topography of its precise location. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] The name has the appearance of derivation from _Gahan_ (Del.),

"Shallow, low water"'; spoken with the guttural aspirate _-gks_

(Gahaks), and indefinite formative _-an._ As a generic it would be

applicable to the headwaters of any small stream, or place of low water,

and may be met in several places.

Magowasinghinck, so written in its earliest form in treaty deed of 1677

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii) as the name of an Indian family, and also as the

name of a certain kill, or river--"Land lying on both sides of Rondout

Kill, or river, and known by the name of Moggewarsinck," in survey for

Henry Beekman, 1685--"Land on this side of Rondout Kill named

_Ragowasinck,_ from the limits of Frederick Hussay, to a kill that runs

in the Ronduyt Kill, or where a large rock lies in the kill," grant to

George Davis, 1677. The Beekman grant was on both sides of Rondout Creek

west and immediately above Honk Falls, where a large rock lying in the

kill was the boundmark to which the name referred and from which it was

extended to the stream and place. The George Davis grant has not been

located, and may never have been taken up. Beekman sold to Peter Lowe in

1708, and the survey of the latter, in 1722, described his boundary as

running west from "the great fall called Heneck." In Mr. Lindsay's

History of Ulster County it is said that the grant was half a mile wide

on the southeast side of the stream and a mile wide on the northwest

side. Hon. Th. E. Benedict writes me: "The Rondout is eminently a river

of rocks. It rises on the east side of Peekamoose, Table, and Lone

mountains, and west side of Hanover Mountain of the Catskills, and flows

through chasms of giant rocks. All the way down there are notable rocks

reared in midstream. The rock above Honk Falls is hogback shape, a

hundred or more feet long. It lies entirely in the stream and divides

it into two swift channels which join together just above the falls.

Here, amid the roar, the swirl and dash of waters breaking through rocky

barriers, with the rapids at the falls, the Great Rock was an object to

be remembered as a boundmark."

Without knowledge of the locative of the name or of the facts of record

concerning it, the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, replying to inquiry, wrote

me: "I take _Magow_ or _Moggew-assing-ink_ to be from _Macheu_ (Del.),

'It is great, large'; _achsün,_ 'stone', and _ink_ locative; literally

'at the place of the large stone'." The name does not describe the place

where the rock lies. The Davis grant in terms other than the Indian name

located one as lying "in the kill," and the other is described in the

survey of the patent to Beekman: "Land situate, lying and being upon both

sides of Rondout Kill or river, and known by the name of Moggewarsinck,

beginning at a great rock stone in the middle of the river and opposite

to a marked tree on the south side of the river, between two great rock

stones, which is the bounds betwixt it and the purchase of Mr. William

Fisher," etc.; both records confirm Dr. Brinton's interpretation. As a

generic the name may, like Kahanksan, be found in several places, but the

particularly certain place in the Beekman grant was at the falls called

Honneck, now Honk.

Wawarasinke, so written by the surveyor as the name of a tract of land

granted to Anna Beake and her children in 1685, has been retained as the

name of a village situate in part on that tract, about four miles north

of Ellenville. The precise location of the southern boundmark of the

patent was on the west bank of the Rondout, south of the mouth of

Wawarsing Creek, or Vernooy Kill as now called, which flows to the

Rondout in a deep rocky channel, the southern bank forming a very steep,

high hill or point. It is claimed that the Old Fort was on this hill,

and that to and from it an Indian path led east across the Shawongunk

Mountain to the New Fort and is still distinctly marked by the later

travel of the pioneers. That there was an Indian path will not be

questioned, nor will it be questioned that there may have been at least

a modern Indian village on the hill, but the Old Fort was not there. At

the point where the boundmark of the patent was placed the Rondout turns

at nearly a right angle from an east and west course to nearly north,

winding around a very considerable point or promontory. The orthography

of the name is imperfect. By dialectic exchange of _n_ and _r,_ it may be

read _Wa-wa-nawás-ink,_ "At a place where the stream winds, bends,

twists, or eddies around a point or promontory." This explanation is

fully sustained by the topography. Hon. Th. E. Benedict writes me: "The

Rondout at that point (the corner of the Anna Beake Patent) winds around

at almost a right angle. At the bend is a deep pool with an eddying

current, caused by a rock in the bank below the bend. The bend is caused

by a point of high land. It is a promontory seventy-five feet high." The

inquiry as to the meaning of the name need not be pursued further. The

frequently quoted interpretation, "Blackbird's Nest," is puerile. (See

Wawayanda.)

Honk, now so written as the name of the falls on Rondout Creek at

Napanock, appears first in Rochester town records, in 1704, _Hoonek,_ as

the name of the stream. In the Lowe Patent (1722), the reading is:

"Beginning by a Great Fall called _Honeck._" The Rochester record is

probably correct in the designation of the name as that of the creek,

indicating that the original was _Hannek_ (Del.), meaning, "A rapid

stream," or a stream flowing down descending slopes. As now written the

name means nothing unless read from Dutch _Honck,_ "Home, a standing post

or place of beginning," but that could not have been the derivative for

the name was in place before the falls became the boundmark. The familiar

interpretation: "From _Honck_ (Nar.), 'Goose'--'Wild-goose Falls,'" is

worthless. The local word for Goose was _Kaak._ The falls descend two

hundred feet, of which sixty is in a single cataract--primarily a wild,

dashing water-fall.

Lackawack appears of record as the name of a stream in Sullivan County,

otherwise known as the West Branch of Rondout Creek, and also as the name

of the valley through which it passes. The valley passes into the town

of Wawarsing, Ulster County, where the name is met in the Beekman and in

the Lowe patents, with special application to the valley above Honk

Falls, and is retained as the name of a modern village. In the Lowe

Patent it is written Ragawack, the initials L and R exchanged; in the

Hardenberg Patent it is Laughawake. The German missionary orthography is

_Lechauwak_ (Zeisb.), "Fork, division, separation," that which forks or

divides, or comes together in the form of a fork; literally, "The Fork."

_Lechauwak,_ "Fork"; _Lechau-hanne,_ "Fork of a river," from which

Lackawanna; _Lechau-wiechen,_ "Fork of a road," from which

Lackawaxen--"abbreviated by the Germans to _Lecha,_ and by the English

to _Lehigh._" (Reichel.)

Napanoch, on the Rondout below Honk Falls, is probably the same word that

is met in _Nepeak,_ translated by Dr. Trumbull, "Water-land, or land

overflowed by water." At or near Port Jervis, Napeneck, Napenack, etc.

The adjectival is _Nepé, Napé,_ "Water."

Wassahawassing, in the Lowe Patent and also in the deed to Lowe from

Henry Beekman, is probably from _Awossi-newás-ing_ (Del.), "At the point

or promontory beyond," or on the other side of a certain place.

Mopochock--"A certain Great Kil called Mopochock," in patent to Joachim

Staats, 1688, is said to have been the name of what is now known as

Sandberg Kill, but was not, as that stream was in no way connected with

the Staats Patent.

Naversing is entered on Pownal's map between Rosendale and Fountain

creeks, in the old town of Rochester. The map location may not be

correct. The name is from _Newás-ing,_ (Del.), "At a point or

promontory." The familiar form is Neversink.

Mattachonts, a modern orthography, preserves the name of a place in the

town of Rochester, Ulster County, and not that of an Indian maiden as

locally stated. The boundary description refers to a creek and to a

swamp. The record orthographies are Magtigkenighonk and Maghkenighonk,

in Calendar of Land Papers, and "Mattekah-onk Kill," local.

Amangag-arickan, given as the name of an Indian family in western Ulster

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 505), is probably from _Amangak,_ "Large," with

the related meaning of terrible, and _Anakakan,_ "Rushes," or sharp

rushes. _Amangak_ is from _Amangi,_ "Big, large, powerful, dire," etc.,

and _-ak,_ animate plural.

Ochmoachk-ing, an unlocated place, is described as "Above the village

called Mombackus, extending from the north bound of the land of Anna

Beake southerly on both sides of the creek or river to a certain place

called Ochmoachking." (Patent to Staats, 1688.)

Shokan, the name of a village on Esopus Creek, in the town of Olive, has

been interpreted as a pronunciation of _Schokkan_ (Dutch), "To jolt, to

shake," etc., by metonymie, "A rough country." The district is

mountainous and a considerable portion of it is too rough for successful

cultivation, but no Hollander ever used the word _Schokken_ to describe

rough land. At or near the village bearing the name a small creek flows

from the west to the Esopus, indicating that _Shokan_ is a corruption of

_Sohkan,_ "Outlet or mouth of a stream." _Sohk_ is an eastern form and

_an_ is an indefinite or diminutive formative. Heckewelder wrote in the

Delaware, _Saucon,_ "The outlet of a small stream into a larger one."

_Ashokan_ is a pronunciation. The same name is met at the mouth of the

East or Paghatagan Branch of the Delaware. Shokan Point is an elevation

rising 3100 feet.

Koxing Kil, a stream so called in Rosendale, is of record _Cocksing_ and

_Cucksink_--"A piece of land; it lyeth almost behind Marbletown." It is

not the name of the stream but of a place that was at or near some other

place; probably from _Koghksuhksing,_ "Near a high place." (See

Coxackie.) On map of U. S. Geological Survey the name is given to the

outlet of Minnewaska Lake, which lies in a basin of hills on Shawongunk

Mountain, 1650 feet above sea level.

Shandaken, the name of a town in Ulster County, is not from any word

meaning "Rapid water," as has been suggested, but is probably from

_Schindak,_ "Hemlock woods"--_Schindak-ing,_ "At the hemlock woods," or

place of hemlocks. The region has been noted for hemlocks from early

times.

Mombackus, accepted as the name of a place in the present town of

Rochester, Ulster County, is first met in 1676, in application to three

grants of land described as "At ye Esopus at ye Mumbackers, lying at ye

Round Doubt River." In a grant to Tjerck Classen de Witt, in 1685, the

orthography is Mombackhouse--"Lying upon both sides of the Mumbackehous

Kill or brook." The stream is now known as Rochester Creek flowing from

a small lake in the town of Olive. The late John W. Hasbrouck wrote,

"Mombakkus is a Dutch term, literally meaning 'Silent head,' from _Mom,_

'silent,' and _Bak_ or _Bakkus,_ 'head.' It originated from the figure

of a man's face cut in a sycamore tree which stood near the confluence

of the Mombakkus and Rondout kills on the patent to Tjerck Classen de

Witt, and was carved, tradition says, to commemorate a battle fought

near the spot," that "for this information" he was "indebted to the late

Dr. Westbrook, who said the stump of the tree yet stood in his youthful

days." Although the evidence of the existence of a tree marked as

described is not entirely positive, the fact that trees similarly marked

were frequently met by Europeans in the ancient forests gives to its

existence reasonable probability. In his treatment of the name Mr.

Hasbrouck made several mistakes. "Place of death" is not in the word,

and Dutch _Mom_ or _Mum_ does not mean "Silent"; it means "Mask," or

covering, and _Bak_ or _Bakkes,_ does not mean "head," it is a cant term

for "Face, chops, visage." _Mombakkes_ is plainly a vulgar Dutch word

for "Mask." It describes a grotesque face as seen on a Mascaron in

architecture, or a rude painting. Usually trees marked in the manner

described included other figures commemorative of the deeds of a warrior

designed to be honored. Sometimes the paintings were drawn by a member

of the clan or family to which the subject belonged, and sometimes by

the hero himself, who was flattered by the expectation that his memory

would thereby be preserved, or his importance or prowess impressed upon

his associates, or on those of other clans, and perhaps handed down to

later generations.

Wieskottine, located on Van der Donck's map (1656), north of Esopus

Creek and apparently in the territory of the Catskill Indians, is a Dutch

notation of _Wishquot-attiny,_ meaning, literally, "Walnut Hill." A hill

and trees are figured on the map. The dialect of the Catskill Indians

was Mahican or Mohegan. It seems to have influenced very considerably

the adjoining Lenape dialect. On a map of 1666, the orthography is

_Wichkotteine,_ and the location placed more immediately north of the

stream. The settlement represented can be no other than that of the

ancient Wildwijk, now Kingston. The name has disappeared of record, as

has also _Namink_ on the Groot Esopus.

Catskill, now so written, primarily Dutch _Kat's Kil,_ presumably from

_Káterákts,_ or "Kil of the Katarakts," has come down from a very early

date in _Katskil._ On Van der Donck's map of 1656 it is written _Kats

Kill,_ but he never wrote Kil with two l's. Older than Van der Donck's

map it evidently was from the frequent reference to the "Kats Kil

Indians" in Fort Orange records. Its origin is, of course, uncertain.

Reasonably and presumably it was a colloquial form of Katerakts

Kil--reasonably, because the falls on that stream would have naturally

attracted the attention of the early Dutch navigators, as they have

attracted the attention of many thousands of modern travelers. It was

the absence of an authoritative explanation that led Judge Benson to

inflict upon the innocent streams which now bear them the distinguishing

names of _Kat's_ and _Kauter's,_ and to relate that as catamounts were

probably very abundant in the mountains there and were naturally of the

male and female species, the former called by the Dutch _Kauter,_ or "He

cat," and the latter _Kat,_ "She cat," the streams were called by those

names. His hypothesis is absurd, but is firmly believed by most of modern

residents, who do not hesitate to write _Kauter,_ "He cat," on their

cards and on their steamboats, although it is no older than Judge

Benson's application. He might have found a better basis for his

conjecture in the fact that in 1650, on the north side of the Kat's Kil

reigned in royal majesty, _Nipapoa,_ a squaw sachem, while on the other

side _Machak-nimano,_ "The great man of his people," held sway; that,

as they painted on their cabins a rude figure of a wolf, their totemic

emblem, easily mistaken for a catamount, the name of "He cat" was given

to one stream, and "She cat" to the other.

Katarakts Kil, as it is met of record--now Judge Benson's Kauter Kil--is

formed by the outlets of two small lakes lying west of the well-known

Mountain House. A little below the lakes the united streams leap over a

ledge and fall 175 feet to a shelf of rock, and a few rod's below fall

85 feet to a ravine from which they find their way to the Kat's Kil.

Beautiful are the falls and appropriate is the ancient name "The Kil of

the Kataracts." Compare it, please, with Judge Benson's "He cat kil."

The Kat's Kil Indians have an interesting history. They are supposed to

have been the "loving people" spoken of in Juet's Journal of Hudson's

voyage in 1609. They were Mahicans and always friendly in their

intercourse with the Dutch. In the wars with the Esopus Indians they took

no part. Their hereditary enemies were the Mohawks who adjoined them on

the west side of the mountains, their respective territories following

the line of the watersheds. They came to be more or less mixed with

fugitives from the eastern provinces, after the overthrow of King Philip.

A palisaded village they had north of the Esopus, and fierce traditional

battles with the Mohawks. They disappeared gradually by the sale of their

lands, and gave place to the Rip van Winkles of modern history.

[Illustration: The River at Hudson Looking South-West]

Quatawichnack and Katawichnack, record forms of the name given as that

of a fall on Kauter's Kill, now so written, supposed to be the fall near

the bridge on the road to High Falls, has been interpreted "Place of the

greatest overflow," from the overflow of the stream which forms a marsh,

which, however, the name describes as a "Moist, boggy meadow," or boggy

land. (See Quatackuaohe.)

Mawignack, Mawichnack, Machawanick, Machwehenoc, forms of the name given

as that of the meadow at the junction of the Kauter Kil and the Kat's

Kil, locally interpreted, "Place where two streams meet," means, "At the

fork of the river." (See Mawichnauk.)

Pasgatikook is another record name of the Katskill, varied in Pascakook

and Pistakook. It is an orthography of _Pishgachtigûk_ (Moh.), meaning,

"Where the river divides, or branches." (See Schaghticoke.) In patent to

John Bronck, 1705, the name is given to "A small piece of land called

Pascak-ook, lying on the north side of Katskil creek." The locative is

claimed by the village of Leeds.

Teteachkie, the name of a tract granted to Francis Salisbury and described

as "A place lying upon Katskill Creek," has not been located. _Teke,_ from

_Teke-ne,_ may stand for "Wood," and _-achkie_ stand for land--a piece

of woodland.

Quachanock, modern _Quajack,_ the name of a place described as the west

boundary of a tract sold to Jacob Lockerman, does not mean "Christian

corn-lands," as locally interpreted, although the Indians may have called

"the five great plains" the "Christian corn-land" after their occupation

by the purchasers. The original word was probably _Pahquioke,_ or

_Pohqu'un-auke_ (_-ock_), "Cleared, opened land," or land from which the

trees and bushes had been removed to fit it for cultivation.

Wachachkeek, of record as the name of the first of "five great flats,

with the woodland around them," which were included in the Catskill

Patent of 35,000 acres, is otherwise written _Machachkeek._ It is

described as "lying on both sides of Catskil Creek," and is claimed to

be known as a place west of the village of Leeds. Dr. O'Callaghan

interpreted the name from _Wacheu,_ "hill," and _-keag,_ "land" or

place--"Hill country," and Dr. Trumbull gave the same meaning from

_Wadchuauke._ The orthography of the second form, however, is probably

the most correct--_Machachkeek_--which pretty surely, from the locative,

stands for _Maskekeck,_ meaning, "Marsh or wet meadow."

Wichquanachtekok, the name of the second flat, is no doubt an equivalent

of _Wequan-achten-ûk,_ "At the end of the hill," from _Wequa,_ "the end";

_-achtene,_ "hill" or mountain, and _-ûk,_ locative.

Pachquyak, Pachquyak, Paquiage, etc., forms of the name of the third flat

(_Pachquayack,_ 1678), given also as the name of a flat "in the Great

Imbocht," [FN] is the equivalent of _Panqua-auke,_ Mass., "Clear land,

open country." Brodhead wrote _Paquiage_ as the name of the place on the

west side of the Hudson to which the followers of King Philip retreated

in 1675, but the name may have been that of any other open or unoccupied

land west of the Hudson. (See Potik.)

* * * * *

[FN] Dutch _Inbocht,_ "In the bend," "bay," etc. "Great" was added as

an identification of the particular bend spoken off.

Paskaecq--"a certain piece of land at Katskill, on the north side of the

kill, called by the Indians Paskaecq, lying under a hill to the west of

it." Conveyed to Jan Bronk in 1674-5. The name describes a vale, cleft

or valley. It is widely distributed. (See Paskack.)

Assiskowachok or Assiskowacheck, the name of record as that of the fourth

flat, is no doubt from _Assiskeu,_ "Mud"--_Assiskew-aughk-ûk,_ "At (or

on) a muddy place."

Potic, the name of the fifth flat, is also of record Potick, Potatik, and

Potateuck, probably an equivalent of _Powntuckûk_ (Mass.), denoting,

"Country about the falls." (Trumbull.) From the flat the name was

extended to a hill and to a creek in the town of Athens. Hubbard, in his

"History of Indian Wars," assigns the same name to a place on the east

side of Hudson's River. (See Pachquyak and Schaghticoke.)

Ganasnix and Ganasenix, given as the name of a creek constituting the

southern boundary of the Lockerman Patent (1686), seems to be an

orthography of Kaniskek, which see.

Waweiantepakook, Waweantepakoak, Wawantepekoak, are forms of a name given

as that of "a high round hill" near Catskill. The description reads: "A

place on the northeast side of a brook called Kiskatamenakook, on the

west side of a hill called Waweantepakoak." (Land Papers, 242.) The

location has not been ascertained. _Antpéch_ (_Antpek,_ Zeisb.), means

"Head." In Mass. (Eliot), _Puhkuk--Muppukuk,_ "A head." _Wawei_ is a

reduplicative of _Wai_ or _Way_; it means, "Many windings around," or

deviations from a direct line. The name is sufficiently explained by the

description, "On the west side of a hill," or a hill-side, but

descriptive of a hill resembling a head--"high, erect"--with the

accessory meaning of superiority. "Indian Head" is now applied to one

of the peaks of the Catskills. The parts of the body were sometimes

applied by the Indians to inanimate objects just as we apply them in

English--head of a cove, leg of a table, etc. (See Wawayanda.)

Kiskatom, a village and a stream of water so called in Greene County,

appears in two forms in original records, _Kiskatammeeche_ and

_Kiskatamenakoak._ The abbreviated form, _Kiskatom,_ appears in 1708,

more particularly describing "A certain tract by a place called

Kiskatammeeche, beginning at a turn of Catrick's Kill ten chains below

where Kiskatammeeche Kill watereth into Catrick's Kill," and "Under the

great mountain called Kiskatameck." Dr. Trumbull wrote:

"_Kiskato-minak-auke,_ 'Place of thin-shelled nuts,' or shag-bark hickory

nuts." He explained: "Shag-bark hickory nuts, 'nuts to be cracked by

the teeth,' are the 'Kiskatominies' and 'Kisky Thomas nuts' of the

descendants of the Dutch colonists of New Jersey and New York." (Comp.

Ind. Geographical Names.)

Kaniskek, or Caniskek, of record as the name of Athens, is described in

original deeds: "A certain tract of land on the west side of North River

opposite Claverack, called Caniskek, which stretches along the river from

the lands of Peter Bronck down to the valley lying near the point of the

main land behind the Barren Island, called Mackawameck," now known as

Black Rock, at the south part of Athens. The description covers the long

marshy flat in front of Athens, or between Athens and Hudson. The name

seems to be from _Quana_ (_Quinnih,_ Eliot), "Long"; _-ask,_ the radical

of all names meaning grass, marsh, meadow, etc., and _-ek,_

formative--literally, "Long marsh or meadow." The early settlement at

Athens was called Loonenburgh, from one Jan van Loon, who located there

in 1706. Esperanza succeeded this name and was followed by Athens. The

particular place of first settlement is described as running "from the

corner called Mackawameck west into the woodland to the Kattskill road

or path, which land is called Loonenburgh." Athens is from the capital

of the ancient Greek State of Attica.

Keessienwey's Hoeck, a place so called, [FN-1] has not been located. It

is presumed to have been in the vicinity of Kaniskek and to have taken

its name from the noted "chief or sachem" of the Katskill Indians called

Keessienwey, Keesiewey, Kesewig, Keeseway, etc. On the east side of the

river, south of Stockport, Kesieway's Kil is of record. Mr. Bernard

Fernow, in his translation of the Dutch text wrote, "_Keessienweyshoeck_

(Mallows Meadow Hook)," but no meadow of that character is of local

record. Kessiewey was a peace chief, or resident ruler, whose office it

was to negotiate treaties of peace for his own people, or for other clans

when requested, and in this capacity, with associates, announced himself

at Fort Orange, in 1660, as coming, "in the name of the Esopus sachems,

to ask for peace" with them. [FN-2] He was engaged in similar work in

negotiating the Esopus treaty of 1664; signed the deed for Kaniskek in

1665, and disappears of record after that date. In "History of Greene

County," he is confused with Aepjen, a peace chief of the Mahicans, and

in some records is classed as a Mahican, which he no doubt was tribally,

but not the less "a Katskil Indian." Beyond his footprints of record,

nothing is known of the noted diplomat. His name is probably from

_Keeche,_ "Chief, principal, greatest." _Keechewae,_ "He is chief." (See

Schodac.)

* * * * *

[FN-1] ". . . We have, therefore, gathered information from the

Mahicanders, who thought we knew of it, that more than fifteen days ago

some Esopus [Indians] had been at Keessienwey's Hoeck who wanted to come

up [to Fort Orange], but had been prevented until this time, and in

order to get at the truth of the matter, we have concluded to send for

two or three sachems of the Katskil Indians, especially Macsachneminanau

and Safpagood, also Keesienwey, to come hither." (Col. Hist. N. Y.,

xiii, 309.)

[FN-2] "May 24, 1660. To-day appeared [at Fort Orange] three Mahican

chiefs, namely, Eskuvius, alias Aepjen (Little Ape), Aupaumut, and

Keessienway, alias Teunis, who answered that they came in the name of

the Esopus sachems to ask for peace."

Machawameck, the south boundmark of Kaniskek, was not the name of

Barrent's Island, as stated in French's Gazetteer. It was the name of a

noted fishing place, now known as Black Rock, in the south part of

Athens. The prefix _Macha,_ is the equivalent of _Massa_ (Natick _Mogge_),

meaning "Great," and _-ameck_ is an equivalent of _-ameek_ (_-amuk,_

Del.), "Fishing-place." As the root, _-am,_ means "To take by the mouth,"

the place would seem to have been noted for fish of the smaller sort.

The Dutch called the place _Vlugt Hoek,_ "Flying corner," it is so

entered in deed. Qr. "Flying," fishing with a hook in the form of a fly.

Koghkehaeje, Kachhachinge, Coghsacky, now Coxsackie, a very early place

name where it is still retained, was translated by Dr. Schoolcraft from

_Kuxakee_ (Chip.), "The place of the cut banks," and by Dr. O'Callaghan,

"A corruption of Algonquin _Kaakaki,_ from _Kaak,_ 'goose,' and _-aki,_

'place.'" In his translation of the Journal of Jasper Dankers and Peter

Sluyter, in which the name is written _Koch-ackie_ (German notation;

Dutch, _Kok,_ "cook"), the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy wrote: "The true

orthography is probably _Koek's-rackie_ (the Cook's Little Reach), to

distinguish it from the Koek's Reach below the Highlands, near New York."

Unfortunately there is no evidence that there was a reach called the

Cook's north of the Highlands, while it is certain that the name is

Algonquian. Dankers and Sluyter gave no description of the place in

1679-80, but their notice of it indicates that it was familiar at that

date. In 1718 it was given as the name of a bound-mark of a tract

described as "having on the east the land called Vlackte and Coxsackie."

(Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 124.) _Vlackte_ (Vlakte) is Dutch for "Plain or

flat," and no doubt described the Great Nutten Hoek Flat which lies

fronting Coxsackie Landing, and Coxackie described the clay bluff which

skirts the river rising about one hundred feet. The bluff and flat

bounded the tract on the east. From the locative the name may be

translated from Mass. _Koghksuhk-ohke,_ meaning "High land." The guttural

_ghks_ had the sound of Greek x, hence _Kox_ or _Cox._

Stighcook, a tract of land so called, now in Greene County, granted to

Casparus Brunk and others in 1743, is located in patent as lying "to the

westward of Koghsacky." In Indian deed to Edward Collins, in 1734, the

description reads, "Westerly by the high woods known and called by the

Indian name Sticktakook." Apparently from Mass. _Mishuntugkook,_ "At a

place of much wood." The district seems to have been famed for nut trees.

It is noted on Van der Donck's map "Noten Hoeck," from which it was

extended to Great Nutten Hook Island and Little Nutten Hook Island, on

which there were nut trees. (See Wieskottine, Kiskatom, etc.)

Siesk-assin, a boundmark of the Coeymans Patent, is described as a point

on the west side of the Hudson, "opposite the middle of the island called

_Sapanakock_ and by the Dutch called Barrent's Island." The suffix

_-assin,_ probably stands for _Assin,_ "Stone," but the prefix is

unintelligible. _Sapanak-ock_ means, "Place of wild potatoes," or bulbous

roots. (See Passapenoc.) Barrent's is from Barrent Coeymans, the founder

of the village of Coeymans. The earlier Dutch name was Beerin Island, or

"She-bear's Island," usually read Bear's Island.

Achquetuck is given as the name of the flat at Coeyman's Hollow. The

suffix _-tuck_ probably stands for "A tidal river or estuary," and

_Achque_ means "On this side," or before. The reference seems to have

been to land before or on this side of the estuary, or the side toward

the speaker.

Oniskethau, quoted as the name of Coeymans' Creek, is said to have been

the name of a Sunk-squa, or sachem's wife. Authority not given. The

stream descends in two falls at Coeymans' Village, covering seventy-five

feet. The same name is met in _Onisquathaw,_ now _Niskata,_ of record as

the name of a place in the town of New Scotland, Albany County.

Hahnakrois, or Haanakrois, the name of a small stream sometimes called

Coeymans' Creek, which enters the Hudson in the northeast corner of

Greene County, is Dutch corrupted. The original was _Haan-Kraait,_

meaning "Cock-crowing" Kill, perhaps from the sound of the waterfall.

Sankagag, otherwise written _Sanckhagag,_ is given, in deed to Van

Rensselaer, 1630, as the name of a tract of land described as "Situated

on the west side of the North River, stretching in length from a little

above Beeren Island along the river upward to Smack's Island, and in

width two days' journey inland." Beeren Island is about twelve miles

south of Albany, and Smack's Island is near or at that city. The western

limit of the tract included the Helderberg [FN] hills.

* * * * *

[FN] _Helder_ (Dutch) means "Clear, bright, light, clearly, brightly,"

and Berg means "hill" or mountain. It was probably employed to express

the appearance of the hills in the landscape. Some of the peaks of the

range afford fine view of the valley of Hudson's River.

Nepestekoak, a tract of land described, "Beginning at the northernmost

fall of water in a certain brook, called by the Indians Nepestekoak";

in another paper, Nepeesteegtock. The name was that of the place. It is

now assigned to a pond in the town of Cairo, Greene County. (See

Neweskeke.)

Neweskeke, -keek, about ten miles south of Albany, is described as "The

corner of a neck of land having a fresh water river running to the east

of it." In another paper the neck is located "near a pool of water called

Nepeesteek," and "a brook called Napeesteegtock." The name of the brook

and that of the pool is from _Nepé_, "Water," the first describing

"Water at rest," a pool or lake, and the second a place adjoining

extending to the stream. _Neweskeke_ means "Promontory, point or

corner," [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] This name appears to be a contraction of _Newas-askeg,_ "Marshy

promontory,' or a promontory or point near a marsh." (Gerard.)

Pachonahellick and Pachonakellick are record forms of the name of Long

or Mahikander's Island, otherwise known historically as Castle Island.

It is the first island south of Albany, and lies on the west side of the

river, near the main land opposite the mouth of Norman's Kill. On some

maps it is called Patroon's Island and Martin Garretson's Island. The

first Dutch traders were permitted to occupy it, and they are said to

have erected on it, in 1614, a fort or "castle," which they called Fort

Nassau. In the spring of 1617 this fort was almost wholly destroyed by

freshet. The traders then erected a fort on the west bank of the river,

on the north side of Norman's Kill, which they called Fort Orange. This

fort was succeeded, in 1623, by one on or near the present steamboat

landing in Albany, to which the name was transferred and which was known

as Fort Orange until the English obtained possession (1664), when the

name was changed to Fort Albany, from which the present name of the

capital of the State. [FN-1] In addition to the early history of the

island the claim is made by Weise, in his "History of Albany," that it

was occupied by French traders in 1540; that they erected a fort or

castle thereon, which they were forced to leave by a freshet in the

spring of 1542, and that they called the river, and also their trading

post, "Norumbega." These facts are also stated in another connection.

There is some evidence that French traders visited the river, and that

they constructed a fort on Castle Island, but none that they called the

river "Norumbega." (See Muhheak-unuk.) By the construction of an

embankment and the filling of the passage between the island and the

main land, the island has nearly disappeared. [FN-2]

* * * * *

[FN-1] Fort Albany was succeeded by a quadrangular fort called Fort

Frederick, built by the English (1742-3) on what is now State Street,

between St. Peter's Church and Geological Hall. It was demolished soon

after the Revolution. Wassenaer wrote, under date of 1625: "Right

opposite [Fort Orange] is the fort of the Maykans which they built

against their enemies the Maquas" [Mohawks]. "Right opposite" means

"directly opposite," _i. e._ directly opposite the present steamboat

landing at Albany, presumably on the bluff at Greenbush.

[FN-2] The name seems to have been that of the mouth of Norman's Kill

immediately west of the island, and to be from _Sacona-hillak._ "An

out-pour of water," the mouth of the stream serving to locate the

island. "Patroon's Island" and "Patroon's Creek" were local Dutch

names. (See Norman's Kill.)

Norman's Kill, so well known locally, took that name from one Albert

Andriessen, Brat de Noordman (the Northman), who leased the privilege

and erected a mill for grinding corn, sometime about 1638. On Van

Rensselaer's map of 1630 it is entered "Godyn's Kil and Water Val," a

mill stream, not a cataract. Brat de Noordman's mill was in the town of

Bethlehem, adjoining the city of Albany. The stream rises in Schenectady

County and flows southeast about twenty-eight miles to the Hudson. The

Mohawks called it _Tawalsontha._ In a petition for a grant of land near

Schenectady, in 1713, is the entry, "By ye Indian name Tawalsontha,

otherwise ye Norman's Kill"--"A creek called D'Wasontha" (1726)--from

the generic _Toowawsuntha_ (Gallatin), meaning, "The falls of a stream";

_Twasenta_ (Bruyas), "Sault d'eau," applied by the French to rapids in

a stream--a leaping, jumping, tumbling waterfall.

Aside from the names of the stream it has especial historic interest in

connection with early Dutch settlement and the location of Fort Orange

where Indians of all nations and tongues assembled for intercourse with

the government. (See Pachonahellick.) Dr. Schoolcraft wrote, without any

authority that I have been able to find, _Tawasentha_ as the name of the

mound on which Fort Orange was erected, with the meaning, "Place of the

many dead," adding that the Mohawks had a village near and buried their

dead on this hill; a pure fiction certainly in connection with the period

to which he referred. The Mohawks never had a village here, nor owned a

foot of land east of the Helderberg range. The Mahicans were the owners

and occupants, but neither Mahicans or Mohawks would have permitted the

Dutch to build a fort on their burial ground. Heckewelder wrote, in his

"Indian Nations," "_Gaaschtinick,_ since called by the name of Norman's

Kill," and recited a Delaware tradition, with the coloring of truth, that

that nation consented there, under advisement of the Dutch, to take the

rank of women, _i. e._ a nation without authority to make war or sell

lands. The tradition is worthless. The Dutch did make "covenants of

friendship" here with several tribes as early as 1625 (Doc Hist. N. Y.

iii, 51), but none of the character stated. All the tribes were treated

as equals in trade and friendship. Whatever of special favor there was

was with the Mahicans among whom they located. The first treaty,

"offensive and defensive," which was made was by the English with the

Five Nations in 1664-5. The Mahicans had then sold their lands and

retired to the Housatenuk, and the Mohawks and their alliant nations had

become the dominant power at Albany.

Nachtenak is quoted as the Mahican name of Waterford, or rather as the

name of the point of land now occupied by that city, lying between the

Mohawk and the Hudson. Probably the same as the following:

Mathahenaak, "being a part of a parcel of land called the foreland of the

Half-Moon, and by the Indians Mathahenaack, being on the north of the

fourth branch or fork of the Mohawk." _Matha_ is an orthography of

_Macha_ (Stockbridge, _Naukhu_; Del. _Lechau_), with locative _ûk,_ "At

the fork"--now or otherwise known as Half-Moon Point, Waterford.

Quahemiscos is a record form of the name of what is now known as Long

Island, near Waterford.

Monemius Island, otherwise Cohoes Island and Haver Island, just below

Cohoes Falls, the site of Monemius's Castle, or residence of Monemius or

Moenemines, a sachem of the Mahicans in 1630, so entered on Van

Rensselaer's map. Haver is Dutch, "Oat straw." (See Haverstraw.)

Saratoga, now so written, was, primarily, the name of a specific place

extended to a district of country lying on both sides of the Hudson,

described, in a deed from the Indian owners to Cornelis van Dyk, Peter

Schuyler, and others, July 26, 1683, as "A tract of land called

_Sarachtogoe_" (by the Dutch), "or by the Maquas _Ochseratongue_ or

_Ochsechrage,_ and by the Machicanders _Amissohaendiek,_ situated to the

north of Albany, beginning at the utmost limits of the land bought from

the Indians by Goose Gerritse and Philip Pieterse Schuyler deceased,

there being" (_i. e._ the bound-mark) "a kil called _Tioneendehouwe,_

and reaching northward on both sides of the river to the end of the

lands of _Sarachtoge,_ bordering on a kil, on the east side of the river,

called _Dionandogeha_ and having the same length on the west side to

opposite the kil (Tioneendehouwe), and reaching westward through the

woods as far as the Indian proprietors will show, and the same distance

through the woods on the east side." The boundary streams of this tract

are now known as the Hoosick (Tioneendehowe), and the Batten Kill

(Dionondehowe), as written on the map of the patent. The boundaries

included, specifically, the section of the Hudson known as "The Still

Water," [FN-1] noted from the earliest Dutch occupation as the Great

Fishing Place and Beaver Country, two elements the most dear to the

Indian heart and the most contributive to his support, inciting wars

for possession. Specifically, too, the locative of the name, from the

language of the deed and contemporary evidence, would seem to have been

on the east side of the river--"the end of the lands of Sarachtoge,

bordering on a kil on the east side of the river, called," etc., a place

which Governor Dongan selected, in 1685, on which to settle the Mohawk

Catholic converts, who had been induced to remove to Canada, as a

condition of their return, and which he described as a tract of land

"called Serachtogue, lying upon Hudson's River, about forty miles above

Albany," and for the protection of which Fort Saratoga was erected in

1709; noted by Governor Cornbury in 1703, as "A place called Saractoga,

which is the northernmost settlement we have"; topographically described,

in later years, as "a broad interval on the east side of the river, south

of Batten Kill," and as including the mouth of the kill and lake

Cossayuna. (Col. Hist. N. Y.; Fitch's Survey; Kalm's Travels.) On the

destruction of the fort, in the war of 1746, the settlement was removed

to the opposite side of the river and the name went with it, but to

which it had no legitimate title. (See Kayauderossa.)

Apparently the Mahican name, _Amissohaendiek,_ is the oldest. It carries

with it a history in connection with the wars between the Mohawks and

the Mahicans. At the sale of the lands, the Mahicans who were present

renounced claim to compensation "because in olden time the lands belonged

to them, before the Maquas took it from them." [FN-2] (Col. Hist. N. Y.,

xiii, 537.) It is this section of Hudson's River that the only claim was

ever made and conceded of Mohawk possession by conquest.

The Mohawk name, _Ochseratongue_ or _Ochsechrage,_ became, in the course

of its transmission, _Osarague_ and _Saratoga,_ and in the latter form,

without reference to its antecedents, was translated by the late Henry

R. Schoolcraft "From _Assarat,_ 'Sparkling water,' and _Oga,_ 'place,'

'the place of the sparkling water,'" the reference being to the mineral

springs, one of which. "High Rock," was, traditionally, known to the

Indians, who, it is said, conveyed Sir William Johnson thither, in 1767,

to test the medicinal virtues of the water; but, while the tradition may

recite a fact the translation is worthless.

With a view to obtain a satisfactory explanation of the record names,

the writer submitted them to the late eminent Iroquoian philologist,

Horatio Hale, M. A., of Clinton, Ontario, Canada, and to the eminent

Algonquian linguist, the late Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia. In

reply, Mr. Hale wrote: . . . "Your letter has proved very acceptable,

as the facts you present have thrown light on an interesting question

which has heretofore perplexed me. I have vainly sought to discover the

origin and meaning of the name Saratoga. My late distinguished friend,

L. H. Morgan, was, it seems, equally unsuccessful. In the appendix of

local names added to his admirable 'League of the Iroquois,' Saratoga

is given in the Indian form as _Sharlatoga,_ with the addition,

'signification lost.' There can be no doubt that the word, as we have

it, and indeed as Morgan heard it, is, as you suggest, much abbreviated

and corrupted. One of the ancient forms, however, which you give from

the old Dutch authorities, seems to put us at once on the right track.

This form is _Ochsechrage._ The 'digraph' _ch_ in this word evidently

represents the hard guttural aspirate, common to both the Dutch and the

German languages. This aspirate is of frequent occurrence in the Iroquois

dialects, but it is not a radical element. As I have elsewhere said, it

appears and disappears as capriciously as the common _h_ in the speech

of the south of England. In etymologies it may always be disregarded.

Omitting it, we have the well-known word _Oserage_--in modern Iroquois

orthography _Oserake,_ meaning 'At the beaver-dam.' It is derived from

_osera,_ 'beaver-dam,' with the locative particle _ge_ or _ke_ affixed.

"In Iroquois _r_ and _l_ are interchangeable, and _s_ frequently sounds

like _sh._ Thus we can understand how in Cartier's orthography _Oserake_

(pronounced with an aspirate) became _Hochelaga,_ the well-known

aboriginal name of what is now Montreal. That this name meant simply

'At the beaver-dam' is not questioned. It is rather curious, though not

surprising, that two such noted Indian names as _Saratoga_ and

_Hochelaga_ should have the same origin. In _Ochseratongue_ the name is

lengthened by an addition which is so evidently corrupted that I hesitate

to explain it. I may say, however, that I suspect it to be a 'verbalized'

form. It may possibly be derived from the verb _atona,_ 'to become' (in

its perfect tense _atonk_), added to _osera,_ in which case the word

would mean, 'where a beaver-dam has been forming,' or, as we should

express it in English, 'where the beavers have been making a dam.'

"With regard to the Mahican name _Amissohaendiek_ or _Amissohaendick_

(whichever it is) I cannot say much, my knowledge of the Algonquin

dialects not being sufficient to warrant me in venturing on etymologies.

I remark, however, that 'beaver' in Mahican, as in several other

Algonquin dialects, is _Amisk_ or some variant of that word. This would

apparently account for the first two syllables of the name. In Iroquois

the word for 'beaver-dam' 'has no connection with the word 'beaver,' but

it may be otherwise in Mahican." . . .

Dr. Brinton wrote:

. . . "I have little doubt but that the Mahican term is practically a

translation of the Iroquois name. It certainly begins with the element

_Amik, Amisk_ or _Amisque,_ 'Beaver,' and terminates with the locative

_ck_ or _k._ The intermediate portion I am not clear about. There is

probably considerable garbling of the middle syllables, and this obscures

their forms. In a general way, however, it means 'Place where beavers

live,' or 'are found.'"

Father Le June wrote _Amisc-ou,_ "Beaver," an equivalent of _Amis-so_ in

the text. Dr. Trumbull wrote: "_Amisk,_ a generic name for beaver-kind,

has been retained in the principal Algonquian dialects." The district

was a part of Ochsaraga, "The beaver-hunting country of the Confederate

Indians," conquered by them about 1624. The evolution from

_Ochsera-tongue_ (deed of 1683) appears in Serachtogue (Dongan, 1685);

Serasteau (contemporary French); Saractoga (Cornbury, 1703); Saratoga

(modern). The _Ossarague,_ noted by Father Jogues, in 1646, as a famous

fishing-place, is now assigned to Schuylerville.

Aside from its linguistic associations, the Batten Kill is an interesting

stream. It has two falls, one of which, near the Hudson, is seventy-five

feet and preserves in its modern name, _Dionandoghe,_ its Mohawk name,

Ti-oneenda-houwe, for the meaning of which see Hoosick.

* * * * *

[FN-1] "At a place called the Still Water, so named for that the water

passeth so slowly as not to be discovered, yet at a little distance both

above and below is disturbed and rageth as in a sea, occasioned by great

rocks and great falls therein." (Col. Hist. N. Y., x, 194.)

[FN-2] The war in which the Mahicans lost and the Mohawks gained

possession of the lands here occurred in 1627, as stated in Dutch

records (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 48), sustained by the deed to King

George in 1701. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 773.) There was no conquest on

the Hudson south of Cohoes Falls.

Sacondaga, quoted as the name of the west branch of the Hudson, is not

the name of the stream but of its mouth or outlet at Warrensburgh,

Warren County. It is from Mohawk generic _Swe'ken,_ the equivalent of

Lenape _Sacon_ (Zeisb.), meaning "Outlet," or "Mouth of a river," "Pouring

out," and _-daga,_ a softened form of _-take,_ "At the," the composition

meaning, literally, "At the outlet" or mouth of a river. (Hale.)

_Ti-osar-onda,_ met in connection with the stream, means "Branch" or

"Tributory stream." (Hewitt.) The reference may have been to the stream

as a branch of the Hudson, or to some other stream. The stream comes

down from small lakes and streams in Lewis and Hamilton counties, and

is the principal northwestern affluent of the Hudson.

Scharon, Scarron, Schroon, orthographies of the name now conferred on a

lake and its outlet, and on a mountain range and a town in Essex County,

is said to have been originally given to the lake by French officers in

honor of the widow Scarron, the celebrated Madam Maintenon of the reign

of Louis XVI. (Watson.) The present form, _Schroon,_ is quite modern. On

Sauthier's map the orthography is Scaron. The lake is about ten miles

long and forms a reservoir of waters flowing from a number of lakes and

springs in the Adirondacks. Its outlet unites with the Hudson on the east

side at Warrensburgh, Warren County, and has been known for many years

as the East Branch of Hudson's River. The Mohawk-Iroquoian name of the

stream at one place is of record _At-a-te'ton,_ from _Ganawate^cton_

(Bruyas), meaning "Rapid river," "Swift current." (J. B. N. Hewitt.) A

little valley at the junction of the stream with the Hudson at

Warrensburgh, dignified by the name of "Indian Pass," bears the record

name of _Teohoken,_ from Iroquois generic _De-ya-oken,_ meaning "Where

it forks," or "Where the stream forks or enters the Hudson." (J. B. N.

Hewitt.) The little valley is described as "a picture of beauty and

repose in strong contrast with the rugged hills around." (Lossing.)

Oi-o-gue, the name given by the Mohawks to Father Jogues in 1646, at Lake

George, to what we now fondly call Hudson's River, is fully explained in

another connection. The stream has its sources among the highest peaks

of the Adirondacks, the most quoted springlet being that in what is known

as "Adirondack or Indian Pass," a deep and rugged gorge between the steep

slopes of Mt. Mclntyre and the cliffs of Wallface Mountain, in Essex

County. The level of this gorge is 2,937 feet above tide. [FN-1] The

highest lakelet-head sources, however, are noted in Verplanck Colvin's

survey of the Adirondack region as Lake Moss and Lake Tear-of-the-clouds

on Mount Marcy, [FN-2] the former having an elevation of 4,312 feet above

sea-level and the latter 4,326 feet, "the loftiest water-mirror of the

stars" in the State. The little streams descending from these lakes,

gathering strength from other small lakes and springlets, flow rapidly

into Warren County, where they receive the Sacondaga and Schroon. Between

Warrensburgh and Glen's Falls the stream sweeps, in tortuous course with

a wealth of rapids, eastward among the lofty hills of the Luzerne [FN-3]

range of mountains, and at Glen's Falls descends about sixty feet,

passing over a precipice, in cataract, in flood seasons, about nine

hundred feet long, and then separates into three channels by rocks piled

in confusion. In times of low water there is, on the south side of the

gorge, a perpendicular descent of about forty feet. Below, the channels

unite and in one deep stream flow on gently between the grained cliffs

of fine black marble, which rises in some places from thirty to seventy

feet. At the foot of the fall the current is divided by a small island

which is said to bear on its flat rock surface a petrifaction having the

appearance of a big snake, which may have been regarded by the Mohawks

with awe as the personification of the spirit of evil, according to the

Huron legend, "_Onniare jotohatienn tiotkon,_ The demon takes the figure

of a snake." (Bruyas.) Under the rock is a cave over which the serpent

lies as a keeper, extending from one channel to the other and which, as

well as the snake, comes down to us embalmed in Cooper's "Last of the

Mohegans," though some visitors with clear heads have failed to discover

the snake. In times of flood the cave is filled with water and all the

dividing rocks below the fall are covered, presenting one vast foaming

sheet.

At Sandy Hill the river-channel curves to the south and pursues a broken

course to what are known as Baker's Falls, where the descent is between

seventy and eighty feet--primarily nearly as picturesque as at Glen's

Falls, untouched by Cooper's pen. The bend to the south at Sandy Hill is

substantially the head of the valley of Hudson's River. Throughout the

mountainous region above that point several Indian names are quoted by

writers in obscure orthographies and very doubtful interpretations, the

most tangible, aside from those which have been noticed, being that which

is said to have been the name of Glen's Falls, but was actually the name

of the very large district known as _Kay-au-do-ros-sa._ In Mohawk, Sandy

Hill would probably be called _Gea-di-go,_ "Beautiful plain," but it has

no Indian name of record. The village stands upon a high sandy plain. It

has its traditionary Indian story, of course; in this section of country

it is easy to coin traditions of the wars of the Mohawks, the Hurons, and

the Algonquians; they interest but do not harm any one.

* * * * *

[FN-1] This famous Pass is partly in the town of Newcomb and partly in

the town of North Elba, Essex County. Wall-face, on the west side, is

a perpendicular precipice 800 to 1,000 feet high, and Mt. Mclntyre rises

over 3,000 feet. The gorge is seldom traversed, even adventurous

tourists are repelled by its ruggedness.

[FN-2] By Colvin's survey Mount Marcy has an elevation of 5,344.411 feet

"above mean-tide level in the Hudson." It is the highest mountain in the

State. Put four Butter Hills on the top of each other and the elevation

would be only a few hundred feet higher.

[FN-3] French, "Spanish Trefoil." "Having a three-lobed extremity or

extremities, as a cross." Botanically, plants having three leaves, as

white clover, etc. Topographically, a mountain having three points or

extremities.

[Illustration: GLENS FALLS: ABOVE LEATHERSTOCKING COVE.]

Kay-au-do-ros-sa (modern), _Kancader-osseras, Kanicader-oseras_ (primary),

the name given as that of a stream of water, of a district of country,

and of a range of mountains, was originally the name of the stream now

known as Fish Creek, [FN] the outlet of Saratoga Lake, and signifies,

literally, "Where the lake mouths itself out." Horatio Hale wrote me:

"Lake, in Iroquois, is, in the French missionary spelling, _Kaniatare,_

the word being sounded as in Italian. _Mouth_ is _Osa,_ whence (writes

the Rev. J. A. Cuoq in his Lexique de la langue Iroquois), _Osara,_ mouth

of a river, 'boudhe d'un fleure, embouchure d'une riviere.' This word

combined would give either _Kauicatarosa_ or _Kaniatarossa,_ with the

meaning of 'Lake mouth,' applicable to the mouth of a lake, or rather,

according to the verbalizing habit of the language, 'the place where the

lake disembogues,' literally, 'mouths itself out.'" To which J. B. N.

Hewitt added the explanation, "Or flood-lands of the lake--the overflow

of the lake."

* * * * *

[FN] "About Kayaderossres Creek and the lakes in that quarter." "The

chief tract of hunting land we have left, called Kayaderossres, with a

great quantity of land about it." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., ii, 110.) The

stream drains an extensive district of country, flows into and becomes

the outlet of Saratoga Lake, and is now known as Fish Creek and Fish

Kill, a very cheap substitute for the expressive Mohawk term.

Adirondacks, or Ratirontaks, a name now improperly applied to the

mountainous district of northern New York, is said to have been primarily

bestowed by the Iroquois on a tribe occupying the left bank of the St.

Lawrence above the present site of Quebec, who were called by the French

Algonquins specifically, as representatives of a title which had come to

be of general application to a group of tribes speaking radically the

same language. [FN-1] The term is understood to mean, "They eat trees,"

_i. e._ people Who eat the bark of certain trees for food, presumably

from the climatic difficulty in raising corn in the latitude in which

they lived. [FN-2] Horatio Hale analyzed the name: "From _Adi,_ 'they';

_aronda,_ 'tree,' and _ikeks,_ 'eat.'" The name was not that of the

district, nor is it convertible with _Algonquin_. The later is a French

rendering of _Algoumquin,_ from _A'goumak,_ "On the other side of the

river," _i. e._ opposite their neighbors lower down. (Trumbull.)

Schoolcraft gave substantially the same interpretation from the Chippewa,

"_Odis-qua-guma,_ 'People at the end of the waters,'" making its

application specific to the Chippewas as the original Algonquins, instead

of the Ottawas. The accepted interpretation, "Country of mountains and

forests," is correct only in that that it is descriptive of the country.

The record names of the district are _Cough-sagh-raga_ and

_Canagariarchio_, the former entered on Pownal's map with the addition

"Or the beaver--hunting country of the Confederate Indians," and the

latter entered in the deed from the Five Nations to the King in 1701.

(Col, Hist. N. Y., iv, 909.) _Cough-sagh-raga_ is now written _Koghsarage_

(Elliot) and _Kohserake_ (modern), and signifies "Winter" or "Winter

land"; but the older name, _Cana-gariarc-hio,_ means, "The beaver-hunting

country." [FN-3] It is not expected that this explanation will affect

the continuance, by conference, of _Adirondacks_ as the name of the

district; but it may lead to the replanting of the much more expressive

Iroquoian title, _Kohsarake,_ on some hill-top in the ancient wilderness.

* * * * *

[FN] The specific tribe called Algonquins by the French, were seated,

in 1738, near Montreal, and described as a remnant of "A nation the most

warlike, the most polished, and the most attached to the French." Their

armorial bearing, or totem, was an evergreen oak. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i,

16.) It is claimed that they were principally Ottawas, residing on the

Ottawa River. (Schoolcraft.) The primary location of the language is

only measurably involved in the first application of the name, the honor

being claimed for the Chippewa, the Cree, and the Lenni-Lenape. The

Eastern Algonquins substituted for the Iroquois Adirondacks,

_Mihtukméchaick_ (Williams) with the same meaning.

[FN-2] The bark of the chestnut, the walnut, and of other trees was

dried, macerated, and rolled in the fat of bears or other animals, and

probably formed a palatable and a healthful diet. Presumably the eating

of the bark of trees was not confined to a particular tribe.

[FN-3] "_Coughsaghrage,_ or the Beaver-Hunting Country of the Confederate

Indians. The Confederates, called by the French Iroquois, surrendered

this country to the English at Albany, on the 19th day of July, 1701;

and their action was confirmed the 14th of September, 1724. It belongs

to New York, and is full of Swamps, Lakes, Rivers, Drowned Lands; a Long

Chain of Snowy Mountains which are seen. Lake Champlain runs thro' the

whole tract. North and South. This country is not only uninhabited, but

even unknown except towards the South where several grants have been

made since the Peace."

So wrote Governor Pownal on his map of 1775. There is no question that

Coughsaghraga means "Winter." It may also mean "At the Beaver-dam," or

"In the country of Beaver-dams." _Kohseraka_ may be a form of _Hochelaga_

or _Ochseraga._ _Osera_ means "Beaver-dam" as well as "Winter," wrote

Horatio Hale. (See Saratoga.) In explanation of _Canagariachio_ Mr. Hale

wrote: "_Kanagariarchio_ is a slightly corrupted form of the Iroquois

word _Kanna'kari-kario,_ which means simply 'Beaver.' It is a descriptive

term compounded of _Kannagare,_ 'Stick' or club, _Kakarien,_ To bite,'

and _Kario,_ 'Wild animal.' It is not the most common Iroquois word for

Beaver, which, in the Mohawk dialect is _Tsionuito,_ or _Djonuito._ That

the word should be understood to mean 'The Beaver-Hunting Country,' is

in accordance with Indian usage."

* * * * *

On the Mohawk.

Mohawk, the river so called--properly "the Mohawk's River," or river of

the Mohawks--rises near the centre of the State and reaches the Hudson

at Cohoes Falls. Its name preserves that by which the most eastern nation

of the Iroquoian confederacy, the Six Nations, is generally known in

history--the Maquaas of the early Dutch. The nation, however, did not

give that name to the stream except in the sense of occupation as the

seat of their possessions; to them it was the _O-hyoⁿhi-yo'ge,_ "Large,

chief or principal river" (Hewitt); written by Van Curler in 1635,

_Vyoge_ and _Oyoghi,_ and by Bruyas "_Ohioge,_ a la riviere," now written

_Ohio_ as the name of one of the rivers of the west, nor did they apply

the word Mohawk to themselves; that title was conferred upon them by

their Algonquian enemies, as explained by Roger Williams, who wrote in

1646, "_Mohowaug-suck,_ or _Mauquawog,_ from _Moho,_ 'to eat,' the

cannibals or men-eaters," the reference being to the custom of the nation

in eating the bodies of enemies who might fall into its hands, a custom

of which the Huron nations, of which it was a branch, seem to have been

especially guilty. To themselves they gave the much more pleasant name

_Canniengas,_ from _Kannia,_ "Flint," Which they adopted as their

national emblem and delineated it in their official signatures,

signifying, in that connection, "People of the Flint." When and why they

adopted this national emblem is a matter of conjecture. Presumably it

was generations prior to the incoming of Europeans and from the discovery

of the fire-producing qualities of the flint, which was certainly known

to them and to other Indian nations [FN-1] in pre-historic times. When

the flint and steel were introduced to them they added the latter to

their emblem, generally delineated it on all papers of national

importance, and called it _Kannien,_ "batte-feu," as written by Bruyas,

a verbal form of _Kannia,_ "a flint," or fire-stone, the verb describing

a new method of "striking fire out of a flint," or a new instrument for

striking fire, and a new emblem of their own superiority springing from

their ancient emblem. The Delawares called them _Sank-hikani,_ [FN-2] or

"The fire-striking people," from Del. _Sank_ or _San,_ "stone" (from

_Assin_), and _-hikan,_ "an implement," obviously a flint-stone implement

for striking fire, or, as interpreted by Heckewelder, "A fire-lock," and

by Zeisberger, "A fire-steel."

The French called them _Agnié_ and _Agniérs,_ presumably derived from

_Canienga_ (Huron, _Yanyenge_). The Dutch called them _Mahakuas_, by

contraction _Maquaas,_ from Old Algonquian _Magkwah_ (Stockbridge,

_Mquoh_), Bear, "He devours, he eats." As a nation they were Bears,

tearing, devouring, eating, enemies who fell into their hands. Bruyas

wrote in the Huron dialect, "_Okwari_, ourse (that is Bear);

_Ganniagwari,_ grand ourse" (grand, glorious, superb, Bear), and in

another connection, "It is the name of the Agniers," the characteristic

type of the nation. They were divided in three ruling totemic tribes,

the Tortoise (_Anowara_), the Bear (_Ochquari_), and the Wolf (_Okwaho_),

and several sub-tribes, as the Beaver, the Elk, the Serpent, the

Porcupine, and the Fox, as shown by deeds of record, of which the most

frequently met is that of the Beaver. On Van der Donck's map of 1656,

the names of four tribal castles are entered: _Carenay, Ganagero,

Schanatisse,_ and _t' Jonnontego._ In the recently recovered Journal of

a trip to the Mohawk country, by Arent van Curler, in the winter of

1634-5, the names are _Ouekagoncka, Ganagere, Sohanidisse,_ and _Tenotoge_

or _Tenotogehooge._ In 1643, Father Isaac Jogues, in French notation,

wrote the name of the first, _Osseruehon,_ and that of the last,

_Te-ononte-ogen._ Rev. Megapolensis, the Dutch minister at Fort Orange,

wrote, in 1644, the name of the first _Assarue,_ the second _Banigiro,_

and the last _Thenondiago._ On a map republished in the Third Annual

Report of the State Historian, copied from a map published in Holland

in 1666, the first is called _Caneray_ (Van der Donck's _Carenay_), and

the second, _Canagera._ [FN-3] The several names refer in all cases to

the same castles tribally, in some cases, apparently, by the name of a

specific topographical feature near which the castles were located, and

in some cases, apparently, by the name of the tribe. Cramoisy, in his

Relation of 1645-6, referring to the visit of Father Jogues to the

Mohawks, wrote: "They arrived at their first small village, called

_Oneugiouré,_ formerly _Osserrion._" (Relations, 29: 51), showing very

clearly that those two names referred to one and the same castle. What

_Oneugiouré_ stands for certainly, cannot be stated, though it seems to

read easily from _Ohnaway_ (Cuoq), "Current, swift river," indicating

that it may have referred to the long rapids. [FN-4] Chief W. H. Holmes,

of the Bureau of Ethnology, wrote me: "According to our best expert

authority, an Iroquoian, _Onekagoncka_ signifies 'At the junction of the

waters,' and _Osserueñon, Osserrion, Assarue,_ etc., signifies 'At the

beaver-dam.'" Accepting these interpretations, the particular place where

the two names seem to come together is at the mouth of Aurie's Creek

"where it falls into Mohawk's river." (See Oghracke.) As generic terms,

however, they would be applicable at any place where the features were

met and would only become specific here from other locative testimony,

which we seem to have.

The first castle or town was that of the Tortoise tribe; the second, that

of the Bear tribe; the third, that of the Beaver (probably), and the

fourth, that of the Wolf tribe. On Van der Donck's map there are four,

and Greenhalgh, in 1677, noted four. In a Schenectady paper of the same

year the names of two sachems are subscribed who acted "for themselves"

and as "the representatives of ye four Mohock's castles." The French

invaded the valley in 1666, and burned all the castles of the early

period, and the tribes retreated to the north side of river and

established themselves, the first at Caughnawaga; the second about one

and one-half miles west of the first; the third, west of the second, and

the fourth beyond the third, in their ancient order as Greenhalgh found

them in 1677. The French destroyed them again in 1693, [FN-5] and the

tribes returned to and rebuilt on the south side of the river in proximity

to their ancient seats. After the changes which had swept over the

nation, three castles are noted in later records--the "Upper" at

Canajohare, the "Lower" at the mouth of Schohare Creek, and the "Third"

on the Schohare some sixteen miles inland.

While the early castles were known to the Dutch traders prior to 1635,

and their locations marked, approximately, on their rude charts which

formed the basis of Van der Donck's and other early maps, it was not

until the recovery and publication in 1895, of Van Curler's Journal

[FN-6]that much was known concerning them prior to 1642-44, when the

Jesuit missionaries and the Dutch minister at Fort Orange, Rev.

Megapolensis, went into the field. Van Curler's Journal, supplemented by

the Relations of the Jesuit Fathers and Rev. Megapolensis's notes,

enables us now to almost look in upon the early homes of the "barbarians,"

as they were called.

The Mohawks were the most important factor in the "Five [Six] Nations

Confederacy," particularly from the standpoint of their proximity to and

relations with the Dutch and the English governments, primarily in trade

and later as alliants offensive and defensive under treaty of 1664 and

more definitely under treaty of 1683. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 576.) Their

written history is graven in no uncertain colors on the valley which

still bears their name, as well as on northeastern New York, marred

though it may be by claims to pre-historical supremacy which cannot be

maintained. When Van Curler visited them the nation was at peace, and the

occupants of the towns and villages engaged in the duties of home life.

He wrote that "Most of the people were out 'hunting for deer and bear";

that "the houses were full of corn and beans"; that he "saw maize--yes,

in some of the houses more than three hundred bushels." He added that he

was hospitably entertained, was fed on "pumpkins cooked and baked,

roasted turkeys, venison and bear's meat," and altogether seems to have

fared sumptuously. Rev. Megapolensis wrote of them, that though they were

cruel to their enemies, they were very friendly to the Dutch. "We go with

them into the woods; we meet with each other, sometimes at an hour's walk

from any house, and think no more of it than if we met with Christians."

The dark side of their character may be seen in a single quotation from

Father Jogues's narrative, as related by Father Lalemant: "Happily for

the Father the very time when he was entering the gates, a messenger

arrived who brought news that a warrior and his comrades were returning

victorious, bringing twenty Abanaqois prisoners. Behold them all joyful;

they leave the poor Father; they burn, they flay, they roast, they eat

those poor victims with public rejoicings." Gentle and affable in peace,

with many evidences of a rude civilization, they were indeed "Demons in

war."

Faithful in their labors among them were the Jesuit Fathers. They were

men who were ready to suffer torture and death in the propagation of

their faith, as several of them did. The conflict of those heroes of the

Cross in the valley of the Mohawk, inaugurated by the capture and

martyrdom of Father Jogues and his companion, Rene Goupil, in 1646, did

not deter them; the wars of the nation with the French aided them. So

successful were they that many of the nation were drawn off to Canada

and became zealous partisans of the French and a scourge to English

settlements, especially emphasized in the massacre at Schenectady in

February, 1689-90. Those who remained true to the English became no

longer "barbarians" in the full sense of that word, but "Praying Maquas."

The subsequent story of the nation may be gleaned from the pages of

history. At the close of the Revolution the integrity of the Six Nations

had been effectually broken, and the castles of the Mohawks swept from

the valley proper. The history, of the latter nation especially, needs

to be studied, not in the wild glamour of fiction, but in the realm of

fact, as that of an original people, native to the soil of the New World,

clasping hands with the era of the origin of man; a people who, when they

were first met, had borrowed nothing, absolutely nothing, from the

civilizations or the languages of the Old World--the _Ougwe-howe,_ the

"real men" of the Mohawk Valley.

The locations of the castles or principal towns of the nation, as noted

in Van Curler's Journal, has given rise to considerable discussion,

particularly in regard to the location of the first of the series and

its identity under the different names by which it was called. Van Curler

was not an "ignorant Hollander wandering around in the woods," as one

writer states; on the contrary, he was an educated man and one of the

best equipped men then in the country for the trip he had undertaken,

and instead of "wandering around in the woods," he was conducted by

Mohawk guides. He wrote that he left Fort Orange in company with

Jeronimus la Crock, William Thomasson, and five Mohawks as guides and

bearers, "between nine and ten o'clock in the morning," December 12,

1634, and after walking "mostly northwest about eight miles" (Dutch),

stopped "at half-past twelve in the evening" (p. m.) "at a little

hunters' cabin near the stream that runs into their land, of the name

of Vyoge." His hours' travel and his miles' travel to this point were

either loosely stated in his manuscript or were misread by the

translator. [FN-7] A Dutch mile is one and one-quarter hours' walk and

the equivalent of three and one-half English miles and a fraction over.

Van Curler no doubt estimated his miles by this standard and not as

correct measurements of rough Indian paths. He certainly did not walk

eight Dutch miles in three hours. Twenty-four English miles would have

taken him to a point northwest of the later Schenectady stockade, which,

in 1690, was counted as twenty-four English miles from Fort Orange by

the road as then traveled. The "little hunters' cabin" at which he

stopped and which he located "near the Vyoge," he explained in his notes

of his second day's travel, as "one hour's walk" from the place where he

crossed the stream, which would have taken him to a crossing place west

of Schenectady, noted in a French Itinerary of 1757 as about one and

one-quarter leagues west of the then fort at that settlement, and,

presumably, by the canal survey of 1792, as at the first rift west of

the beginning of deep water one and one-half miles (English) east of the

rift referred to, from which point the survey gave the distance "to the

deep water at or above the mouth of Schohare creek" as twenty-five miles.

In going to, or from, the crossing-place he "passed Mohawk villages"

where "the ice drifted fast," and gave his later travel as "mostly along

the kill that ran swiftly," indicating very clearly that he passed along

the rapids. Why he crossed the Mohawk when there was a path on the south

side, is explained by Pearson's statement (Hist. Schenectady) that the

path on the north side "was the best and most frequently traveled path

to the Mohawk castles," and held that reputation for many years. It was

a trunk line from the Hudson with many connecting paths. In considering

his miles' travel the survey of 1792 may be safely referred to. [FN-8]

His miles' travel, which he wrote as "eleven" (Dutch) he wrote on his

return as "ten," which, counted as standard Dutch, would have been about

thirty-five English miles; if counted by General John S. Clark's average

of shrinkage, about thirty, which would have taken him from the hunters'

cabin to a point two or three miles west of the mouth of Schohare Creek.

Referring particularly to his Journal: On the morning of the 13th, at

three o'clock, he left the "little hunters' cabin" where he passed the

night, spent one hour in walking to the crossing-place, crossed "in the

dark," resumed his march on the north side "mostly along the aforesaid

kill that ran swiftly," and after marching ten miles arrived, "at one

o'clock in the evening" (p. m.) "at a little house half a mile" (Dutch)

"from their First Castle." When he stopped he was so exhausted by the

rough road that he could scarcely move his feet, and hence remained at

the "little house" until the next morning, when he recrossed the Mohawk

to the south side "on the ice which had frozen over the kill during the

night," and "after going half-a-mile" (Dutch), or say one and one-half

English, arrived "at their First Castle," which he found "built on a high

mountain." It contained "thirty-six houses in rows like streets." The

houses were "one hundred, ninety or eighty paces long," and were no doubt

palisaded as he called the castle a "fort." The name of the castle, he

wrote later, was _Onekagoncka._ The crossing was the only one which he

made to the south side of the Mohawk in going west. _Where,_ aside from

a fair computation of his miles' travel, _did he cross?_ Certainly he did

not cross on the ice which had frozen over the rapids east of the mouth

of Schohare Creek, for they were never known to freeze over in one night,

if at all. Certainly he did not cross east of the rapids, for they

extended three and one-half miles east of the mouth of the creek.

Obviously, if he crossed Schohare Creek on the ice and "did not know it,"

as one writer suggests, he must have crossed it in _going to the castle,_

which would surely locate the castle _west_ of the stream. There is not

the slightest notice of the stream in his Journal, nor is there any place

for it in the harmony of his narrative. The tenable conclusion, from the

comparison of his miles and from the natural facts, is that he crossed

"on the ice" which had frozen over the deep water "at or above the mouth

of Schohare Creek"; that his march took him to the vicinity of Aurie's

Creek, or substantially to the castle which Father Jogues called

_Osseruenon,_ the site of which is now marked by the Society of Jesus

with the Shrine, "Our Lady of Martyrs," whether that castle was east or

west of Aurie's Creek, evidences of Indian occupation having been found

on a hill on the west side of the creek as well as on a hill on the east

side. [FN-9] These evidences, however, prove very little in determining

the location of a particular castle three hundred years ago; they only

become important when sustained by distances from given points or by

natural features of record.

The locative conclusion stated above is more positively emphasized by

counting Van Curler's miles' travel and his landmarks in going west from

_Onekagoncka,_ and by the natural features which he noted in his Journal.

Leaving _Onekagoncka,_ he wrote that he walked "half a mile" (Dutch) "on

the ice" which had frozen over the kill, or say one and one-half English

miles, and in that distance passed "a village of six houses of the name

of _Canowarode._" It was near the river obviously. Walking on the ice

"another half mile" (Dutch), he passed "a village of twelve houses named

_Senatsycrossy._" After walking "another mile or mile and a half" on the

ice, he passed "great stretches of flat lands" and came to a castle which

he first called _Medatshet,_ and later _Canagere,_ which he denominated

"The Second Castle." His distances traveling west "on the ice" were

evidently more correctly computed than they were on his march on the

rough path "along the kill that ran swiftly." His miles from _Onekagoncka_

to _Canagere_ are given as two and a half (Dutch) or about nine miles

English. The actual distance is supposed to have been about eight. He

found the castle "built on a hill without any palisades or any defence."

He located it east of Canajohare Creek, a stream which has never lost its

identity. When Van Curler visited the castle it contained "sixteen

houses, fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty paces long."

Detained in this castle by a heavy fall of rain which broke up the

streams--the "January thaw" of 1635 in the Mohawk Valley--Van Curler

resumed his journey on the 20th, and "after marching a mile" (Dutch),

came to Canajohare Creek which he was obliged to ford. After crossing

and walking "half a mile" (Dutch), he came to what he called the "Third

Castle of the name of _Sohanidisse,_" later written by him _Rohanadisse,_

and by Van der Donck _Schanatisse,_ suggesting the name of the hill on

which it stood, which Van Curler described as "very high." It contained

"thirty-two houses like the others"; was not palisaded. The very high

hill, and the flat lands which he referred to, remain.