Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 1 - Frederic Shonnard - Страница 6

It was not until 1609, one hundred and seventeen years after the discovery of the New World, that European enterprise, destined to lead to definite colonization and development, was directed to that portion of the North American continent where the metropolis of the Western hemisphere and the Empire State of the American Union have since been erected. The entire North American mainland, in fact, from Florida to Hudson's Bay, although explored by voyagers of different nationalities within comparatively brief periods after the advent of Columbus, had been practically neglected throughout the sixteenth century as a field for serious purposes of civilized occupation and exploitation. The early French attempts at settlement in Canada, in the first half of that century, and the colonizing expeditions sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to the shores of North Carolina, in the second half, were dismal failures, and in the circumstances could not have resulted differently. For these undertakings were largely without reference to intelligent and progressive cultivation of such resources as the country might afford, being incidental, or, at least, secondary, to the absorbing conviction of the times that the riches of India lay somewhere beyond the American coast barrier, and would still yield themselves to bold search. Naturally, few men of substantial from ax old print. character and decent antecedents could be persuaded to embark as volunteers in such doubtful enterprises. The first settlers on the Saint Lawrence were a band of robbers, swindlers, murderers, and promiscuous ruffians, released from the prisons of France by the government as a heroic means of providing colonists for an expedition which could not be recruited from the people at large. The settlers sent by Sir Walter Raleigh under his patent from Elizabeth in 1585 for establishing colonies north of the Spanish dominions in Florida were, according to Bancroft, a body of -broken-down gentlemen and libertines, more fitted to corrupt a republic than to found one, with very few mechanics farmers, or laborers among them— mere buccaneering adventurers, who carried fire and sword into the land and had no higher object before them than to plunder and enslave the natives. It is true that very early in the sixteenth century the fishermen of Normandy and Britanny began to seek the waters of Newfoundland for the legitimate ends of their vocation, and soon built up a gainful trade, which, steadily expanding and attracting other votaries, employed in 1583 more than four hundred European fishing craft. But this business was conducted almost exclusively for the profits of the fisheries, and although the vessels devoted to it ranged all along the New England coast, there was no consecutive occupation of the country with a view to its earnest settlement until after the dawn of the seventeenth century.

Throughout the era of original American discovery and coast exploration, the returning mariners had agreed in describing the region to the north of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea as utterly lacking in indications of accumulated riches, inhabited only by savage races who possessed no gold and silver or other valuable property, enjoyed no civilization, offered no commodities to commerce except the ordinary products of the soil and the chase, and could communicate nothing definite respecting more substantial wealth farther to the west. The ancient civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and rem having been subverted by the Spanish conquistadores, and their stores of precious metals largely absorbed, it was fondly hoped that the unpenetrated wilds of the north might contain new realms with similar abundant treasures. Narvaez, in 1528, and De Soto, in 1539, led finely appointed expeditions from the Florida coast into the interior in quest of the imagined eldorados— emprises which proved absolutely barren of encouraging results and from which only a few miserable survivors returned to tell the disillusioning tale of dreadful wilderness marches, appalling sufferings, and fruitless victories over wretched tribes owning no goods worth carrying away. The impressive record of these disastrous failures, in connection with the uniformly unflattering accounts of the lands farther north, deterred all European nations from like pompous adventurings. The poverty of the native inhabitants of North America saved them from the swift fate which overtook the rich peoples of the south, and for a century preserved them even from intrusion, except of the most fugitive kind. This fact of their complete poverty is by far the most conspicuous aspect of the original comparative condition, in both economic and social regards, of the North American Indians, as well as of the history of their gradual expulsion and extirpation. Possessing nothing but land and the simplest concomitants of primitive existence, they did not present to the European invaders an established and measurably advanced and affluent organization of society, inviting speedy and comprehensive overthrow and the immediate substitution on a general scale of the supremacy and institutions of the subjugators. Dispersed through the primeval forests in small communities, they did not confront the stranger foe with formidable masses of population requiring to be dealt with by the summary methods of formal conquest; and skilled in but few industries and arts, which they practiced not acquisitively but only to serve the most necessary ends of daily life, and maintaining themselves in a decidedly struggling and adventitious fashion by a rude agriculture and the pursuits of hunting and fishing, their numbers in the aggregate, following well-known laws of population, were, indeed, comparatively few. Yet the same conditions made them the ruggedest, bravest, and most independent of races, and utterly unassimilable. Thus, as found by the Europeans, while because of their poverty provoking no programme of systematic conquest and dispossession, they were foredoomed to inevitable progressive dislodgement and ultimate extermination or segregation. The cultivated and numerous races of Mexico and Peru, on the other hand, exciting the cupidity of the Spaniards by their wealth, were reduced to subjection at a blow. Put though ruthlessly slaughtered by the most bloody and cruel conquerors known to the criminal annals of history, these more refined people of the south had reserved for them a less melancholy destiny than that of the untutored children of the wilderness. Their survivors readily gave themselves to the processes of absorption, and their descendants to-day are coheirs, in all degrees of consanguinity, with the progeny of the despoiler.

The origin of the native races of America is. in the present state of knowledge, a problem of peculiar difficulty. Nothing is contributed toward its solution by any written records now known to exist. None of the aboriginal inhabitants of either of the Americas left any written annals. The opinion is held by some scholars, who favor the theory of Asiatic origin, that when the as yet unpublished treasures of ancient Chinese literature come to be spread before the world definite light may be cast upon the subject. There is a strong probability that the civilization of the Aztecs was either of direct Mongolian derivation or partially a development from early .Mongolian transplantations. This view is sustained, first, by certain superficial resemblances, and, second by various details in old Chinese manuscripts suggestive of former intercourse with the shores of Mexico and South America. The belief that man's initial appearance on this hemisphere was as a wanderer from Asia finds plausible support in the fact of the very near approach of the American land mass to Asia at the north, the two being separated by a narrow strait, while a continuous chain of steppingstone islands reaches from coast to coast not far below. Accepting the Darwinian theory of man's evolution from the lower orders, the idea of his indigenous growth in America seems to be precluded; for no traces have been found of the existence at any time of his proximate ancestors— the higher species of apes, from which alone he could have come, having no representatives here in the remains of bygone times.

The question of man's relative antiquity on the Western hemisphere is also a matter of pure speculation. Here again the absence of all written records prevents any assured historical reckonings backward. Ancient remains, including those of the Aztecs and their associated races, the cliff-dwellers of Arizona and the mound-builders of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, are abundant and highly interesting, but their time connections are lacking. Yet while the aspects of the purely historical progress of man in the New World are most unsatisfactory, anthropological studies proper are attended by much more favorable conditions in the Americas than in Europe. In the Old World, occupied and thickly settled for many historic ages by man in the various stages of civilized development, most of the vestiges of prehistoric man have been destroyed by the people; whereas these still have widespread existence in the New.

In the immediate section of the country to which the County of Westchester belongs such traces of the ancient inhabitants as have boon found are in no manner reducible to system. There are no venerable monumental ruins, nor are there any of the curious " mounds " of the west. Various sites of villages occupied by the Indians at the time of the arrival of the Europeans are known, as also of some of their forts and burial -rounds. Great heaps of oyster and clam shells here and there on tin'' coast remain as landmarks of their abiding places. Aside from such features, which belong to ordinary historical association rather than to the department of archaeological knowledge, few noteworthy "finds" have been made. Several years ago much was made in the New York City newspaper press of certain excavations by Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth, at Inwood, on Manhattan Island, a short distance below Spuyten Duyvil. Mr. Chenoweth unearthed a variety of interesting objects, including Indian skeletons, hearthstones blackened by lire, implements, and utensils. There can be no doubt that these remains were from a period antedating the European discovery. But they possessed no importance beyond that fact. With all the other traces of the more ancient inhabitants which have been found in this general region, they show that hereabouts Indian conditions as known to history did not differ sharply, in the way either of improvement or of degeneration, from those which preceded the beginning of authentic records.

Verrazano, the French navigator, who sailed along the coast of North America in 1524, entering the harbor of New York and possibly ascending the river a short distance, speaks of the natives whom he met there as " not differing much " from those with whom he had held intercourse elsewhere, " being dressed out with the feathers of birds of various colors." " They came forward toward us," he adds, " with evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration and showing us where we could most securely land with our boat." In similar words Henry Hudson describes the savages whom he first took on board his vessel in the lower New York Bay. They came, he says, " dressed in mantles of feathers and robes of fur, the women clothed in hemp, red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper did they wear about their necks." Their attitude was entirely amicable, for they brought no arms with them. On his voyage up the river to the head of navigation, Hudson was everywhere received by the Indian chiefs of both banks with friendliness, and lie found the various tribes along whose borders he passed to possess the same general characteristics of appearance, customs, and disposition.

Ruttenber, the historian of the Hudson River Indians, in his general classification of the different tribes distributed along the banks, summarizes the situation as follows: At the time of discovery the entire eastern bank, from an indefinable point north of Albany to the sea, including Long Island, was held, under numerous sub-tribal divisions, by the Mohicans (also written Mahicans and Mohegans). The dominion of the Mohicans extended eastward to the Connecticut, where they were joined by kindred tribes, and on the west bank ran as far down as Catskill, reaching westward to Schenectady. Adjoining them on the west was the territory of the Mohawks, and on the south their neighbors were chieftaincies of the Minsis, a totemic tribe of the Lenni Lenapes. The latter exercised control thence to the sea and westward to the Delaware River. Under the early Dutch government, continues Ruttenber, the .Mohicans sold a considerable portion of their land on the west side to Van Rensselaer, and admitted the Mohawks to territorial sovereignty north of the Mohawk River. The Mohawks were one of the five tribes of the great Iroquois confederacy, whose other members were the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Thus as early as 1630 there were three principal divisions or nations of Indians represented on the Hudson: the Iroquois, Mohicans, and Lenni Lenapes (or Delawares).

This is Ruttenber's classification. On the other hand, it has been considered by some writers on the Indians that the Mohicans were really only a subdivision of the Lenni Lenapes, whose dominions, according to Heckewelder, extended from the mouth of the Potomac northeastwardly to the shores of Massachusetts Bay and the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont, and westwardly to the Alleghenies and Catskills. But whether the Mohicans are to be regarded as a separate grand division or as a minor body, the geographical limits of the territory over which they were spread are well defined.

They were called' by the Dutch Maikans, and by the French missionaries the " nine nations of Mahingans, gathered between Manhattan and the environs of Quebec." The tradition which they gave of their origin has been stated as follows:

The country formerly owned by the Muhheakunnuk (Mohican) nation was situated partly in Massachusetts and partly in the States of Vermont and New York. The inhabitants dwelt chiefly in little towns and villages. Their chief seat was on the Hudson River now it is called Albany, which was called Pempotowwuthut-Muhhecanneuw, or the fireplace of the Muhheakunnuk nation, where their allies used to come on any business, whether relating to the covenant of their friendship or other matters. The etymology of the word Muhheakunnuk, according to its original signification, is great waters or sea, which are constantly m motion either ebbing or flowing. Our forefathers assert that they were emigrants from another country; that they passed over great waters, where this and the other country was nearly connected, called Ukhokpeck; it signifies snake water or water where snakes are abundant and that they lived by the side of a great water or sea, whence they derived the name of the Muhheakunnuk nation. Muhheakanneuw signifies a man of the Mahheakunnuk tribe Muhheakunneyuk is a plural number. As they were coming from the west they found many Teat waters, but none of a How and ebb like Muhheakannuk until they came to Hudson's River Then they said to one another, this is like Muhheakannuk, our nativity. And when they found grain was very plenty in that country, they agreed to kindle a fire there and hang a kettle whereof they and their children after them might dip out their daily refreshment. (Massachusetts Hist. Soc., coll., ix., 101)

The name given by the Mohicans and the Lenapes to the Hudson River was the Mohicanituk, or River of the Mohicans, signifying " the constantly flowing waters." By the Iroquois it was called the Cohatatea.

The Mohicans belonged to the great Algonquin race stock, which may be said to have embraced all the Indian nations from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Its different branches had a general similarity of language, and while the separate modifications were numerous and extreme, all the Indians within these bounds understood one another.

The Mohican power is regarded by Ruttenber as hardly less formidable than that of the Iroquois, and he points out that notwithstanding the boasted supremacy of the Iroquois in war there is no historical evidence that the Mohicans were ever brought under subjection to them or despoiled of any portion of their territory. Yet it is unquestionable that the Iroquois exacted and received tribute from the Long Island Indians; and this could hardly have happened without previously obtaining dominion over the Mohicans. On the other hand, it is certain that the Mohicans never tamely submitted to the northern conquerors. "When the Dutch first met the Mohicans," says Ruttenber, "they were in conflict with the Mohawks (an Iroquois nation), and that conflict was maintained for nearly three-quarters of a century, and until the English, who were in alliance with both, were able to effect a permanent settlement.''

Although the Mohican name was generic for all the tribes on the eastern side of the Hudson, it never occurs, at least in the southern part of New York State, in the numerous local land deeds and other documentary agreements drawn by the settlers with the Indians. The tribal or chieftaincy name prevailing in the district in question is uniformly employed. This finds a good illustration in the affidavit of King Nimham, executed October 13, 1730, in which the deponent says that "he is a River Indian of the Tribe of the Wappinoes (Wappmo-ers) which tribe was the ancient inhabitants of the east shores of Hudson's River, from the City of New York to about the middle of Beekinans patent (in the northern part of the present County of Dutchess); that another tribe of river Indians called the Mayhiccondas (Mohicans) were the ancient inhabitants of the remaining east shore of said river; that these two tribes constitute one nation." There was however, an intimate understanding among all the associated tribes and minor divisions of the Mohicans, which in emergencies was given very practical manifestation. The Dutch, in their early wars against the Indians of Westchester County, were perplexed to find that the Highland tribes, with whom, as they supposed, they were upon terms of amity, were rendering assistance to their enemies.

The Mohicans of the Hudson should not be confused with the Mohegans under Uncas, the Pequot chief, whose territory, called Moheganick, lay in eastern Connecticut. The latter was a strictly local New England tribe, and though probably of the same original stock as the Hudson River Mohican nation, was never identified with it.

The entire country south of the Highlands, that is, Westchester County and Manhattan Island, was occupied by chieftaincies of the Wappinger division of the Mohicans. The Wappingers also held dominion over a large section of the Highlands, through their subtribes, the Nochpeems. At the east their lands extended beyond the Connecticut line being met by those of the Sequins. The latter, The entire country south of the Highlands, that is, Westchester County and Manhattan Island, was occupied by chieftaincies of the Wappinger division of the Mohicans. The Wappingers also held do minion over a large section of the Highlands, through their subtribes, the Nochpeems. At the east their lands extended beyond the Connecticut line, being met by those of the Sequins. The latter, having jurisdiction thence to the Connecticut River, were, it is believed, an enlarged family of Wappingers, " perhaps the original head of the tribe, from whence its conquests were pushed over the southern part of the peninsula." The north and south extent of the territory of the Sequins is said to have been some sixty miles. They first sold their lands, June 8, 1633, to the Dutch West India Company, and upon them was erected the Dutch trading post of " Good Hope; " but ten years later they executed a deed to the English, embracing "the whole country to the Mohawk country." On Long Island were the Canarsies, Rockaways, Merricks, Massapeags, Matinecocks, Corchaegs, Manhansetts, Secatogues, Unkechaugs, Shinnecocks, and Montauks. The principal tribes on the other side of New York Bay and the west bank of the Hudson (all belonging to the Lenape or Delaware nation) were the Navesinks, Raritans, Hackinsacks, Aquackanonks, Tappans, and Haverstraws.

The Wappinger sub-tribes or chieftaincies of Westchester County, thanks chiefly to the careful researches of Bolton, are capable of tolerably exact geographical location and of detailed individual description. Bolton is followed in the main by Ruttenber, who, giving due credit to the former while adding the results of his own investigations, is the final authority on the whole subject at the present time. No apologies need be made for transferring to these pages, even quite literally. Ruttenber's classification of the Indians of the county, with the incidental descriptive particulars.

1. The Reckgawawanes, better known by the generic name of Manhattans and so designated by Brodhead and other New York historians. Bolton gives to this chieftaincy the name of Nappeekamaks, a title which, however, does not appear in the records except as the name of their principal village on the site of Yonkers. This village of Nappeckamak (a name signifying the " trap-fishing place" ) was, says Bolton, situated at the month of the Nepperhan or Sawmill River. The castle or fort of the Manhattans or Reckgawawanes was on the northern shore of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and was called Nipinichsen. It was carefully protected by a strong stockade and commanded the romantic scenery of the Papirinemen or Spuyten Duyvil and the Mohicanituk, the junction of which two streams was called Shorackappock. It was opposite this castle that the fight occurred between Hudson and the Indians as he was returning down the river. They held Manhattan Island and had thereon three villages, which, however, it is claimed, were occupied only while they were on hunting and fishing excursions. In Breeden Raedt their name is given as the Reckewackes, and it is said that in the treaty of 1643 Oritany, sachem of the Hackinsacks, declared he was delegated by and for those of Tappaen, Reckgawawanc, Kicktawanc, and Sintsinc. The tract occupied by the Reckgawawanes on the mainland was called Keckesick, and is described as " lying over against the flats of the Island of Manhates." In its northern extent it included the site of the present City of Yonkers, and on the east it reached to the Bronx River. Their chiefs were Rechgawac, for whom they appear to have been called, Feequesmeck and Peckauniens. Their first sachem known to" the Dutch was Tackerew (1639). In 1682 the names of Goharis, Teattanqueer and Wearaquaeghier appear as the grantors of lands to Frederick Philipse.

2. The Weckquaesgecks. This chieftaincy is known to have had, as early as 1644, three intrenched castles, one of which remained as late as 1663, and was then garrisoned by eighty warriors Their principal village was where Dobbs Ferry now stands. It is said that the outlines of it can still be traced by numerous shell beds. It was called Weckquaesgeck, and its location was at the mouth of Wicker's Creek (called by the Indians the Wysquaqua or Weghqueghe). Another of their villages was Alipconck, the "place of the elms", now Tarrytown. Their territory appears to have extended from Norwalk on the Sound to the Hudson, and embraced considerable portions of the towns of Mount Pleasant, Creenburgh, White Plains, and Rye, being ultimately very largely included in the Manor of Philipsborough. Their sachem in 1649 was Ponupahowhelbshelen; in 1660 Aekhough; in 1663 Souwenaro; in 1680 Weskora or Weskomen, and Goharius, his brother; in 1681 Wessickenaiaw, and Conarhanded, his brother. These chiefs are largely represented in the list of grantors of lands to the whites.

3. The Sint-Sincs. These Indians were not very numerous. Their most important village was Ossing-Sing, the present Sing Sing. They had another village, called Kestaubuinck, between the Sing Sing Creek and the Kitchawonck or Croton River. Their lands are described in the deed of sale to Philipse, August '24, 1685, and were included in his manor

4. The Kitchawangs or Kicktawancs. Their territory apparently extended from the Croton River north to Anthony's Nose. Ketchtawonck was their leading village, at the mouth of the Croton (Kitchtawonck) River. They occupied another, Sackhoes, on the site of Peekskill. Their castle or fort, which stood at the mouth of the Croton, is represented as one of the most formidable and ancient of Indian fortresses south of the Highlands. Its precise location was at the entrance or neck of Teller's Point (called Senasqua), and west of the cemetery of the Van Cortlandt family. The traditional sachem was Croton. There was apparently a division of chieftaincies at one time, Kitchawong figuring as sachem of the village and castle on the Croton and Sachus of the village of Sackhoes or Peekskill. The lands of the chieftaincy were principally included in the Manor of Cortlandt, and from them the towns of Cortlandt, Yorktown, Somers, North Salem, and Lewisboro have been erected.

5. The Tankitekes. They occupied the country now comprising the towns of Poundridge, Bedford, and New Castle, in Westchester County, and those of Darien, Stamford, and New Canaan in Connecticut, all purchased by Nathaniel Turner in 1640 on behalf of the people of New Haven, and described in the deeds as tracts called Toquams and Shipham. Ponus was sachem of the former and Wasenssne of the latter. Ponus reserved portions of Toquams for the use of himself and his associates, but with this exception the entire possessions of the Tankitekes appear to have passed under a deed to the whites without metes or bounds. The chieftaincy occupies a prominent place in Dutch history through the action of Pacham, " a crafty man," who not only performed discreditable services for Director Kieft, but also was very largely instrumental in bringing on the war of 1645. O'Callaghan locates the Tankitekes on the eastern side of Tappan Bay, and Bolton in the eastern portion of Westchester County, from deeds to their lands. They had villages beside Wampus Lake in the town of North Castle, near Pleasantville, in the town of Mount Pleasant, and near the present villages of Bedford and Katonah.

6. The Siwanoys, also known as "one of the tribes of the seacoast." This was one of the largest of the Wappinger subdivisions. They occupied the northern shore of the Sound from Norwalk twenty-four miles to the neighborhood of Hellgate. How far inland their territory extended is uncertain, but their deeds of sale covered the manor lands of Morrisania, Scarsdale, and Pelham, from which New Rochelle, Eastchester, Westchester, New Castle, Mamaroneck, and Searsdale, and portions of White Plains and West Farms have been carved. They possessed, besides, portions of the towns of Rye and Harrison, and of Stamford (Conn.), and there are grounds for supposing that the tract known as Toquams, assigned to the Tankitekes, was part of their dominions. They had a very large village on the banks of Rye Pond hi the town of Rye, and in the southern angle of that town, on the beautiful hill now known as Mount Misery, stood one of their castles. Another of their villages was on Davenport's Neck. Near the entrance to Pelham Neck was one of their burying grounds. Two large mounds are pointed out as the sepulchers of their chiefs, Ann-Hoock and Nimham. In the town of Westchester they had a castle on what is still called Castle Hill Neck, and a village near Bear Swamp, of which latter they remained in possession until 1(389. One of their Sachems whose name has been permanently preserved in Westchester County was Katonah (1680). Their chief Ann-Hoock, alias Wampage, was probably the murderer of Ann Hutchinson. One of their warriors was Mayane (1644), "a fierce Indian, who, alone, dared to attack, with bow and arrow, three Christians armed with guns, one of whom he shot dead, and whilst engaged with the other was killed by the third and his head conveyed to Fort Amsterdam. "

In their intercourse with the whites from the beginning the Indians displayed a bold independence and perfect indifference to the evidences of superior and mysterious power and wisdom which every aspect of their strange visitors disclosed. Though greatly astonished at the advent of the " Half Moon," and perplexed by the white skin, remarkable dress, and terrible weapons of its crew, they discovered no fear, and at the first offer of physical violence or duress were prompt and intrepid in resentment. On his way up the river, at a point probably below Spuyten Duyvil, Hudson attempted to detain two of the natives, but they jumped overboard, and, swimming to shore, called back to him " in scorn." For this unfriendly demonstration he was attacked on his return trip, a month later, off Spuyten Duyvil. " Whereupon," he says in his journal. " two canoes full of men, with their bows and arrows, shot at us after our sterne, in recompense whereof we discharged six muskets, and killed two or three of them. Then above a hundred of them came to a point of land to shoot at us. There I shot a falcon at them and killed two of them; whereupon the rest lied into the woods. Yet they manned off another canoe with nine or ten men, who came to meet us. So I shot a falcon and shot it through, and killed one of them. So they went their way." Thus in utter contempt of the white man's formidable vessel and deadly gun they dared assail him at the first opportunity in revenge for his offense against their rights, returning to the attack a second and third time despite the havoc they had suffered.

The entire conduct of the Indians in their subsequent relations with the Europeans who settled in the land and gradually absorbed it was in strict keeping with the grim and fearless attitude shown upon this first occasion. To manifestations of force they opposed all the resistance they could summon, and with the fiercest determination and most relentless severity administered such reprisals, both general and individual, as they were able to inflict. Their characteristics in these respects, and their disposition of complete unteachableness as to moderation and Christian precept, are described in quaint terms in a letter written in 1628 by Domine Jonas Michaelius, the first pastor in New Amsterdam. " As to the natives of this country," writes the good domine, " I find them entirely savage and wild, strangers to all decency; yea, uncivil and stupid as posts, proficient in all wickedness and godlessness; devilish men, who serve nobody but the devil, that is, the spirit which, in their language, they call Manetto, under which title they comprehend everything that is subtle and crafty and beyond human power. They have so much witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and wicked tricks that they cannot be held in by any locks or bounds. They are as thievish and treacherous as they are tall, and in cruelty they are more inhuman than the people of Barbary and far exceed the Africans. I have written something concerning these things to several persons elsewhere, not doubting that Brother Crol will have written sufficient to your Bight Reverend, or to the Lords; as also of the base treachery and the murders which the Mohicans, at the upper part of this river, against Fort Orange, had committed. . . . I have as yet been able to discover hardly a good point, except that they do not speak so jeeringly and so scoffingly of the Godlike and glorious majesty of their Creator as the Africans dare to do; but it is because they have no certain knowledge of Him or scarcely any. If we speak to them of God it appears to them like a dream, and we are compelled to speak of Him not under the name of Manetto, whom they know and serve — for that would be blasphemous— but under that of some great person, yea of the chiefs Sackiema, by which name they — living without a king — call those who have command of many hundreds among them, and who, by our people, are called Sackemakers. "' In striking contrast with this stern but undoubtedly just view of the Indian, as a social individual, is the lofty and magnanimous tribute paid to his character in its broader aspect by Cadwallader Golden after more than a century of European occupation of the country and intercourse with him. In his " History of the Five Indian Nations," published in 1727, Golden says: " A poor, barbarous people, under the darkest ignorance, and yet a bright and noble genius shines through these dark clouds. None of the great Roman heroes have discovered as great love of country, or a greater contempt of death, than these barbarians have done when life and liberty came in competition. Indeed, I think our Indians have outdone the Romans. . . . They are the fiercest and most formidable people in North America, and at the same time as politic and judicious as can well be conceived."

Although exterminating wars were waged between the Dutch and the Westchester Indians, in which both sides were perfectly rapacious, it was the general policy of the Dutch to deal with the natives amicably and to attain their great object, the acquirement of the land, by the forms of purchase, with such incidental concessions of the substance as might be required by circumstances. The goods given in exchange for the lands comprised a variety of useful articles, such as tools! hatchets, kettles, cloth, firearms, and ammunition, with trinkets for ornament and the always indispensable rum. The simplicity of the natives in their dealings with the whites is the subject of many entertaining narratives. " The man with the red clothes now distributed presents of beads, axes, hoes, stockings, and other articles, and made them understand that he would return home and come again to see them, bring them more presents, and stay with them awhile, but should want a little land to sow some seeds, in order to raise herbs to put in their broth. . . . They rejoiced much at seeing each other again, but the whites laughed at them, seeing that they knew not the use of the axes, hoes, and the like they had given them, they having had those hanging to their breasts as ornaments, and the stockings t hoy had made use of as tobacco pouches. The whites now put handles or helves in the former, and cut trees down before their eyes, and dug the ground, and showed them the use of the stockings. Here a general laughter ensued among the Indians, that they had remained for so long a time ignorant of the use of so valuable implements, and had borne with the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks for such a length of time. . . . Familiarity daily increasing between them and the whites, the latter now proposed to stay with them, asking for only so much land as the hide of a bullock would cover or encompass, which hide was brought forward and spread on the ground before them. That they readily granted this request; whereupon the whites took a knife and beginning at one place on this hide cut it up into a rope not thicker than the finger of a little child, so that by the time the hide 1 was cut up there was a great heap; that this rope was drawn out to a great distance and then brought round again, so that the ends might meet; that they carefully avoided its breaking, and that upon the whole it encompassed a large piece of land; that they were surprised at the superior wit of the whites, but did not wish to contend with them about a little land, as they had enough; that they and the whites lived for a long time contentedly together, although the whites asked from time to time more land of them, and proceeding higher up the Mohicanituk they believed they would soon want the whole country."

The first purchase of Indian lands in what is now New York State was that of Manhattan Island, which was announced in a letter dated November 5, 1626, from P. Schaghen, the member of the States-General of Holland attending the "Assembly of the XIX." of the West India Company, to his colleagues in The Hague. This letter conveyed the information that a ship had arrived the day before bringing news from the new settlement, and that "They have bought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders " – $24 of our money. The acquisition of title to the site of what has become the second commercial entrepot of the world for so ridiculous a sum — which, moreover, was paid not in money but in goods — is a familiar theme for moralizing and didactic writers. Yet there can be no question that the value given the savages reasonably corresponded to honorable standards of equivalent recompense. The particular land with which they parted had to them no more worth than an equal area of the water of the river or the bay, except in the elementary regard that it was land, where man can abide, and not water, where he cannot abide; while to the Dutch the sole worth lay in the chance of its ultimate development. On the other hand, the value received by the settlers was an eminently substantial one, consisting of possessions having a practical economic utility beyond anything known to their previous existence. " A metal kettle, a spear, a knife, a hatchet, transformed the whole life of a savage. A blanket was to him a whole wardrobe." Moreover, the moral phases of such a bargain cannot fairly be scrutinized by any fixed conception of the relative values involved. It was purely a bargain of friendly exchange for mutual convenience and welfare. The Indians did not understand, and could not have been expected to understand, that it meant a formal and everlasting alienation of their lands; on the other hand, they deemed that they were covenanting merely to admit the whites peaceably to rights of joint occupancy. The amount of consideration paid by the latter has no relevancy to the merits of the transaction, which was honorable to both parties, resting, so far as the Dutch were concerned, upon the principle of purchase and recompense instead of seizure and spoliation, and, on the part of the Indians, upon the basis of amicable instead of hostile disposition.

The principle of reciprocal exchange established in the purchase of Manhattan Island was adhered to in all the progressive advances made by the whites northward. Westchester County was never a squatter's paradise. Its lands were not grabbed by inrushing adventurers upon the Oklahoma plan. De facto occupancy did not constitute a sufficient title to ownership on the part of the white settlers. Landed proprietorship was uniformly founded upon deeds of purchase from the original Indian owners. The rivalries between the Dutch and English, culminating in the overthrow of the former by conquest, were largely occasioned by antagonistic claims to identical strips of land — claims supported on both sides by Indian deeds of sale.

But the right to buy land from the Indians was not a. necessary natural right inhering in any white settler. The government, upon the well-known principle of the supreme right of discovery, assumed a fundamental authority in the disposal of lands, and hence arose the numerous land grants and land patents to specified persons, which were based, however, under both Dutch and English law, upon previous extinguishment of the Indian title by deeds of sale. It is well here to more clearly understand the principles underlying this governmental assumption. They have been thus stated:

Upon the discovery of this continent the great nations of Europe, eager to appropriate as much of it as possible, and conceiving that the character and religion of its inhabitants afforded an apology for considering them as a people over whom the superior genius of Europe might claim an ascendancy, adopted, as by common consent, this principle:

That discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects, or under whose authority, it was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession. Hence if the country he discovered and possessed by emigrants of an existing and acknowledged government, the possession is deemed taken for the nation, and title must he derived from the sovereign in whom the power to dispose of vacant territory is vested by law.

Resulting from this principle was that of the sole right of the discoverer to acquire the soil from the natives and establish settlements, either by purchase or by conquest. Hence also the exclusive right cannot exist in government and at the same time in private individuals; and hence also

The natives were recognized as rightful occupants, but their power to dispose of the soil at their own will to whomsoever they pleased was denied by the original fundamental principle that discovery gave exclusive title to those who made it.

The ultimate dominion was asserted, and. as a consequence, a power to grant the soil while yet in the possession of the natives. Hence such dominion was incompatible with an absolute and complete title in the Indians. Consequently they had no right to sell to any other than the government of the first discoverer, nor to private citizens without the sanction of that government. Hence the Indians were to be considered mere occupants to be protected indeed while in peaceable possession of their lands, but with an incapacity of transferring the absolute title to others.

In many of the old Indian title deeds various conditional clauses appear, the savages reserving to themselves certain special rights. For example, it was at times specified that they should retain the whitewood trees, from which they constructed their "dugout" canoes. They always remained on (he lands after sale, continuing their former habits of life until forced by the steady extension of white settlement to fall back farther into the wilderness. Having no conception of the principles of civilized law, and no idea of the binding effect of contracts, they seldom realized that the mere act of signing over their lands to the whites was a necessarily permanent release of them. They were incapable of comprehending any other idea of ownership than actual physical possession, and in cases where lands were not occupied promptly after sale they assumed that no change had transpired, and thus frequently the same territory would be formally sold two or three times over. Besides, they considered that it was their natural right at all times to forcibly seize lands that had been sold, expel the settlers, and then resell them. The boundaries of sub-tribal jurisdiction were necessarily indefinite, and consequently deeds of sale by the Indians of one locality would frequently cover portions of lands conveyed by those of another, which led to much confusion.

The military power of the Indians of Westchester County was destroyed forever as a result of the war of 1643-45 with the Dutch. But it was not until after the close of the seventeenth century that the last vestiges of their legal ownership of lands in the county disappeared. In succeeding chapters of this History their relation to the progress of events and to the gradual development of the county during the period of their organized continuance in it will receive due notice, and it is not necessary in the present connection to anticipate that portion of our narrative. What is known of their ultimate fate as a people may, however, appropriately be related here.

During the Dutch Wars many hundreds of them were slain and some of their principal villages were given to the flames. It is estimated that in a single Indian community (near the present village of Bedford), which was surrounded, attacked, and burned at midnight, more than five hundred of them perished before the merciless onslaught of the whites. After the peace of 1015 their remaining villages, being absorbed one by one in the extensive land purchases and grants, were by degrees abandoned. The continuance of the Indian on the soil was entirely incompatible with its occupancy by the white man. The country, by being converted to the uses of agriculture, became unadapted to the pursuits of the natives, as it was quickly deserted by the game. The wild animals fled to the forest solitudes, and the wild men followed them, until only small groups, and finally isolated families and individuals, remained. The locality called Indian Hill, in the Town of Yorktown, is still pointed out as the spot where the last lingering band of Indians in Westchester County had its abiding place.

The historian of the Town of Rye, the late Rev. Charles W. Baird, gives the following particulars (typical for the whole county) of the gradual fading away of the Indians of that locality:

The fullest account of the condition of the Indians of Rye is that of Rev. Mr. Muirson. . . "As to the Indians, the natives of the country," he says, in a letter to the Gospel Propagation Society in January, 1708, " they are a decaying people. We have now in all this parish twenty families, whereas not many years ago there were several hundred. . . . I have taken some pains to teach some of them, but to no purpose, for they seem regardless of instruction." Long after the settlement of the town there were Indians living within its bounds, some of them quite near the village, but the greater number back in the wilderness that still overspread the northern part of Rye. This was the case in most of the Connecticut towns, the law obliging the inhabitants to reserve to the natives a sufficient quantity of planting ground, and protecting the latter from insult, fraud, and violence. The twenty families of whom Mr. Muirson speaks were reduced by the year 1720 to four or five families of Indians, writes Mr. Bridges, " that often abide in this parish, but are frequently removing, almost every month or six weeks." After this date we hear little more of Indians at Rye, except as slaves. Tradition states that in old times a band of Indians used to visit Rye once a year, resorting to the beach, where they had a frolic which lasted several days. Another place which they frequented as late, certainly, as the middle of the last century, was a spot on Grace Church Street, at the corner of the road now called Kirby Avenue. Here a troop of Indians would come every year and spend the night in a " pow-wow," during which their cries and yells would keep the whole neighborhood awake.

Removing, for the most part, northward, the remnants of the Westchester Indians became merged in the kindred tribes of the Mohican nation, whirl, stretched to the limits of the Mohawk country above Albany, and followed their destinies. The Mohicans, though vastly reduced in numbers and territorial possessions, still retained an organized existence and some degree of substantial power until after the Revolution. Having constantly sustained friendly relations with the settlers, it was naturally with the colonists that their sympathies were enlisted when the struggle with Great Britain began. As early as April 1774, a message was dispatched by the provincial congress of Massachusetts to the Mohicans and Wappingers at their principal village, Westenhuch, on the western side of the Hudson just below Cohoes Falls, with a letter requesting their cooperation in the impending conflict. The letter was addressed " To C:aptain Solomon Ahkannu-auwaumut, chief sachem of the Moheackonuck Indians." Captain Solomon thereupon journeyed to Boston, where, in reply to the communication from the congress, he delivered the following impressive address:

Brothers: We have heard you speak by your letter; we thank you for it: we now make answer.

Brothers: You remember when you first came over the great waters, I was great and you were very little, very small. I then took you in for a friend, and kept you under my arms, so that no one might injure you; since that time we have ever been true friends; there has never been any quarrel between us. But now our conditions are changed. You have become great and tall. You reach the clouds. You are seen all around the world, and I am become small, very little. I am not so high as your heel. Now you take care of me, and I look to you for protection.

Brothers: I am sorry to hear of this great quarrel between you and old England, it appears that blood must soon be shed to end this quarrel. We never till this day understood the foundation of this quarrel between you and the country you came from.

Brothers: Whenever I see your blood running, you will soon find me about to revenge my brothers' blood. Although I am low and very small, I will gripe hold of your enemy's heel, that he cannot run so fast and so light as if he had nothing at his heels.

Brothers: You know that I am not so wise as you are, therefore I ask your advice m what I am now going to say. I have been thinking, before you come to action, to take a run to the westward, and feel the mind of my Indian brethren, the Six Nations, and know how they stand; whether they are on your side or for your enemies. If I find they are against you, I will try to turn their minds. I think they will listen to me, for they have always looked this way for advice concerning all important news that comes from the rising of the sun. If they hearken to me you will not be afraid of any danger behind you. However their minds are affected you shall soon know by me. Now I think I can do you more service m this way than by marching off immediately to Boston and staying there; it may be a great while before blood runs. Now, as I said, you are wiser than I; I leave this for your consideration, whether I come down immediately or wait till I hear some blood is spilled.

Brothers: I would not have you think by this that we are falling back from our engagements We are ready to do anything for your relief and shall be guided by your counsels.

Brothers: One thing I ask of you, if you send for me to fight, that you let me fight in my own Indian way. I am not used to fight English fashion, therefore you must not expect I can train like your men. Only point out to me where your enemies keep and that is all that I shall want to know.

After the battle of Lexington, a year later, the Mohican braves marched to the theater of war in Massachusetts, arriving in time to participate in the battle of Bunker Hill. Subsequently, addressing a council which met at German Flats in this State and held adjourned sessions at Albany, Captain Solomon pledged anew the support of the Mohicans to the American cause.

"Depend upon it," he said, " we are true to you and mean to join you. Wherever you go we shall be by your sides. Our bones shall lie with yours. We are determined never to be at peace with the redcoats while they are at variance with you. We have one favor to beg. We should be glad if you would help us to establish a minister amongst us. that when our men are gone to war our women and children may have the advantage of being instructed by him. If we are conquered, our lands go with yours; but if you are victorious, we hope you will help us recover our just rights."

For about five years the Mohicans continued to serve as volunteers in the patriot army. " being generally attached," says Washington, in one of his letters, " to the light corps." And, he adds, conducting themselves " with great propriety and fidelity." They were present, and fought with conspicuous valor, in a number of sanguinary encounters with the enemy in Westchester County. "At White Plains, in October, 17706" says Ruttenber. "their united war cry, Woach, Woach, Ha, Ha, Hach, Woach! rang out as when of old they had disputed the supremacy of the Dutch, and their blood mingled with that of their chosen allies."

In the spring of 1778, as a portion of the forces detached under Lafayette to check the depredations of the British on their retreat from Philadelphia, they assisted in the routing of the enemy in the engagement at Barren Hill. In -Inly and August of the same year, being stationed in Westchester County, they performed highly valuable services, culminating in their memorable fight, August 31, 1778, at Cortlandt's Ridge, in the Town of Yonkers, where, according to the British commander, they lost "near forty killed or desperately wounded," about half their number. In this light they first attacked the British from behind the fences, and then fell back among the rocks, where for some time they defied all efforts made to dislodge Them. They were charged by an overwhelming force of cavalry, but as the horses rode them down "the Indians seized the legs of their foes and dragged them from their saddles." Their chief, Nimham, king of the Wappingers, finally counseled his followers to save themselves, adding, however, " As for myself, I am an aged tree; I will die here." When ridden down by Simcoe he wounded that officer and was about to pull him from his saddle when shot dead by an orderly.

In 1780 the surviving remnant of the Mohican warriors, some twenty men, were honorably discharged from the army, and returned to their homes. It was upon this occasion that Washington wrote the letter above alluded to. which was a communication to congress, requesting that suitable measures be Taken to provide them with necessary clothing.

With the close of the Revolution the history of the Mohicans as a people ends completely, and even their name vanishes. From that time they are known no longer as Mohicans, but as " Stockbridge Indians," from the name of a town in central New York, to which they removed. Leaving their ancient seats at the headwaters of the Hudson, they settled in 1783-88 near the Oneidas. They received a tract of land six miles square in Augusta (Oneida County) and Stockbridge (Madison County ) . This tract they subsequently ceded to white purchasers by twelve different treaties, executed in the years 1818, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1826, 1827, 1829, and 1830. Some of them removed in 1818 to the banks of the White River, in Indiana, and a large number, in 1821, to lands on the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, in Wisconsin, which, with other New York Indians, they had bought from the Menominees and Winnebagoes. The Stockbridge tribe numbered 120 souls in 1785 and 438 in 1818.

Physically the Indians of Westchester County, as of this entire portion of the country, were remarkable specimens of manhood, capable of marvelous feats of endurance and free from most of the diseases incident to civilized society. The early European writers testify without exception that there were none among them afflicted with bodily deformities. The women delivered their young with singular ease, and immediately after labor were able to resume the ordinary duties of life. The appearance and general physical characteristics of the Indians are thus described by Van der Donck:

They are well shaped and strong, having pitch-black and lank hair, as coarse as a horse's tail, broad shoulders, small waist, brown eyes, and snow-white teeth; they are of a sallow color, abstemious in food and drink. Water satisfies their thirst; flesh meat and fish are prepared alike. They observe no set time for meals. Whenever hunger demands the time for eating arrives. Whilst hunting they live some days on roasted corn carried about the person in a bag. . . . Their clothing is most sumptuous. The women ornament themselves more than the men. And although the winters are very severe, they go naked until their thirteenth year; the lower parts of the girls' bodies alone are covered. All wear around the waist a girdle made of seawant (shells). They bedeck themselves with hair tied with small bands. The hair is of a scarlet color and surpassing brilliancy, which is permanent and ineffaceable by rain. The women wear a petticoat down midway the legs, very richly ornamented with seawant. They also wrap the naked body in a deerskin, the tips of which swing with their points. . . . Both go for the most part bareheaded. . Around the neck and arms they wear bracelets of seawant, and some around the waist. Moccasins are made of elk hides. . . . The men paint their faces of many colors. The women lay on a black spot only here and there. . . . Both are uncommonly faithful.

Although their society was upon the monogamous plan, and none of the common people took more than one wife, it was not forbidden the chiefs to follow their inclinations in this respect. " Great and powerful chiefs," says Van der Donck, " frequently have two, three, or four wives, of the neatest and handsomest of women, who live together without variance." As the life of the Indian was spent in constant struggle against most severe conditions of existence, sensuality was quite foreign to his nature. This is powerfully illustrated by the almost uniformly respectful treatment accorded female prisoners of war. As a victor the North American Indian was entirely merciless and cruel. His adult male captives were nearly always doomed to death, and if not slain immediately after the battle were reserved for slow torture. But the women who fell into his hands were seldom violated. Such forbearance was of course dictated in no way by sentiment. The women, in common with the young children, were regarded by the conquerors merely as accessions to their numbers. Unchastity was an exceptionally rare thing among the married females; and in no other particular do the different accounts of the natives given by the earliest observers agree more markedly than in the statement that both the women and the girls were peculiarly modest in their demeanor. The Dutch farmers occasionally took Indian women for their wives, refusing to abandon them for females of their own country.

One of the most curious domestic institutions of the Indians of this region was the sweating bath, " made," says Van der Donck, " of earth and lined with clay." " A small door serves as an entrance. The patient creeps in, seats himself down, and places heated stones around the sides. Whenever he hath sweated a certain time, he immerses himself suddenly in cold water; from which he derives great security from all sorts of sickness." Of medical science they knew T nothing, except how to cure wounds and hurts. They used for many purposes an oil extracted from the beaver, which also was considered by the Dutch to possess great virtues. Upon the " medicine man, " who was supposed to effect cures by supernatural powers, their reliance in the more serious cases of sickness was mainly placed.

Inured to abstemiousness by the rigors of his lot and but little disposed to sexual gratification, the Indian yet fell an easy victim, and speedily became an abject slave, to strong drink. It was not the taste but the stimulating properties of the white man's rum which enthralled him. Hudson relates that when he first offered the intoxicating cup to his Indian visitors while at anchor in New York Bay, they one and all refused it after smelling the liquor and touching their lips to it. But finally one of their number, fearing that offense might be taken at their rejection of it, made bold to swallow it, and experienced great exhilaration of spirits in consequence, which led his companions to follow his example, with like pleasing effects. Robert Juet, the mate of the " Half Moon,'' gravely says in his journal: " Our master and his mate determined to try some of the cheefe men of the country, whether they had any treachery in them. So they took them down into the cabin, and gave them so much wine and aquae vitae that they were all very merie." Rum, or rather distilled liquor of every kind, soon came to be valued by the savages above every other article ili.it they obtained from the whites, and it played a very important part both in promoting intercourse and in hastening their destruction. A chief of the Six Nations, in a speech delivered before the commissioners of the United States at Fort Stanwix, in 1788, said: "The avidity of the white people for land and the thirst of the Indians for spirituous liquors were equally insatiable; that the white men had seen and fixed their eyes upon the Indian's good land, and the Indians had seen and fixed their eyes on the white man's keg of rum. And nothing could divert either of them from their desired object; and therefore there was no remedy but that the while men must have the land and the Indians the keg of rum."

The Indian character has always been a matter of the most varied accounts and estimates. While there is no room for disagreement or misunderstanding about its more prominent separate traits, views of it in its general aspect are extremely divergent, and extensive as is the literature bearing upon this subject there exists no single presentation of the Indian character in its proportions, at least from a familiar pen, that entirely rills and satisfies the mind. Longfellow's " Hiawatha " and Cooper's Indian actions bring out the romantic and heroic phases; but no powerful conception of the Indian type, except in the department of song and story, has yet been given to literature.

There is one safe starting point, and only one, for a correctly balanced estimate of the Indian. He was essentially a physical being. Believing both in a supreme good deity and an evil spirit, and also in an existence after death, religion was not, however, a predominating factor and influence in his life and institutions. In this respect he differed from most aboriginal and peculiar types. Of a stolid, stoical, and phlegmatic nature, possessing little imagination, he was neither capable of spiritual exaltation nor characteristically subject to superstitious awe and fear. Idolatrous practices he had none. Among all the objects of Indian handiwork that have come down to us— at least such as belong to this section of the country, — including the remains of pre-European peoples, there are none that are suggestive of worship. He appears to have had no fanatic ceremonials except those of the "medicine man," which were extemporized functions for immediate physical ends rather than regularly ordained formularies expressive of a real system of abstractions. He was a pare physical barbarian. His conceptions of principles of right and wrong, of social obligations, and of good and bad conduct, wore limited to experience and customs having no other relations than to physical well-being. Thus there was neither sensibility nor grossness in his character, and thus he stood solitary and aloof from the rest of mankind. All sensitive and imaginative races, like those of Mexico, South America, the West Indies, and the Orient, easily commingle with European conquerors; and the same is true of strictly gross peoples, like the heathenish native tribes of Africa. Sensibility and grossness, like genius and insanity, are, indeed, closely allied; where either quality is present it affords the fundamentals of social communion for cultivated man, but where both are lacking no possible basis for association exists. In these and like reflections may perhaps be found the true key to the character of the Indian.

As we have indicated, the religion of the Westchester and kindred Indians did not rise to the dignity of a defined institution. By the term, the Indian religion, we understand only a set of elementary beliefs, unaccompanied by an establishment of any kind. The Great Spirit of the Indians of this locality was called Cantantowit, who was good, all-wise, and all-powerful, and to whose happy hunting grounds they hoped to go after death, although their beliefs also comprehended the idea of exclusion from those realms of such Indians as were regarded by him with displeasure. The Spirit of Evil they called Hobbaniocko. The home of Cantantowit they located in the southwest, whence came the fair winds; and they accordingly interred their dead in a sitting position with their faces looking in that direction and their valuable possessions, including food for the soul's journey, beside them. The customs and ceremonials attending decease and sepulture are thus described by Ruttenber:

When death occurred the next of kin closed the eyes of the deceased. The men made no noise over the dead, but the women made frantic demonstrations of grief, striking their breasts, tearing their faces, and calling loudly the name of the deceased day and night. Their loudest lamentations were on the death of their sons and husbands. On such occasions they cut off their hair and bound it on the grave in the presence of all their relatives, painted their faces pitch black, and in a deerskin jerkin mourned the dead a full year In burying their dead the body was placed in a sitting posture, and beside it were placed a pot, kettle, platter, spoon, and money and provisions for use in the other world. Wood was then placed around the body, and the whole covered with earth and stones, outside of which palisades were erected, fastened in such a manner that the tomb resembled a little house. To these tombs great respect was paid, and to violate them was deemed an unpardonable provocation.

To review the separate aspects of their social life and economy, including their domestic arrangements, their arts and manufactures, their agriculture, their trade relations with one another, and the like Incidental details, would require much more space than can be given in these pages. For such more minute particulars the reader is referred to the various formal works on the North American Indian. It will suffice to present some of the more prominent outlines.

Their houses, says Ruttenber, were, for the most part, built after one plan, differing only in length. They were formed by long, slender hickory saplings set in the ground, in a straight line of two rows, as far asunder as they intended the width to be, and the rows continuing as far as they intended the length to be. The poles were then bent toward each other in the form of an arch and secured together, giving the appearance of a garden arbor. Split poles were then lathed up the sides and the roof, and over this was bark, lapped on the ends and edges, which was kept in its place by withes to the lathings. A hole was left in the roof for smoke to escape, and a single door of entrance was provided. Barely exceeding twenty feet in width, these houses were sometimes a hundred and eighty yards long. " In those places," says Van der Donck, "they crowd a surprising number of persons, and it is surprising to see them out in open day." From sixteen to eighteen families occupied one house, according to its size.

Of the manufacture of metals they had no knowledge. All their weapons, implements, and utensils were fashioned from stone, wood, shells, bone, and other animal substances, and clay. Their most noteworthy manufactured relics are probably their specimens of pottery. Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth draws some interesting deductions as to the processes of pottery manufacture prevalent in early times from his examinations of specimens that he has unearthed. He says:

They could fashion earthen jars with tasteful decorations, manufacture cloth, and twist fibers into cords. They had several methods of molding their pottery. One was to make a mold of basket work and press the clay inside. In baking, the basket work was burned off, leaving its imprint to be plainly seen on the outside of the jar. Other forms show that a coarse cloth or a net was used for the same purpose. Another method of molding, sometimes employed, was to twist clay in long rolls and lay it spirally to form a vessel or jar, the folds being pressed together. This kind of vessel breaks easily along the spiral folds, as the method does not insure a good union between the layers. The vessels range in size from a few inches in circumference to four feet, the depth being in proportion to the diameter. The study of the decoration and method employed reveal the implements used for that purpose. The imprint of a finger nail is clearly defined on some of the rudest as a decoration. Others show the imprint of a coarse netting or cloth, while the edge of an escallop shell or clam shell was often used. Pointed sticks, wedge-shaped sticks, and straws were also common implements for decorating with. These people twisted fibers, from which they made cloth.

Their numerous weapons, implements, and utensils of stone — including mortars and pestles, axes, hatchets, adzes, gouges, chisels, cutting tools, skinning tools, perforators, arrow and spear heads, scrapers, mauls, hammer-stones, sinkers, pendants, pierced tablets, polishers, pipes, and ceremonial stones — of all of which specimens have been found in Westchester County, were very well wrought, and, considering the extreme difficulties attending their fabrication on account of the entire absence of metal tools, bear high testimony to the perseverance and ingenuity of the Indians as artificers. They had great art in dressing skins, using smooth, wedge-shaped stones to rub and work the pelts into a pliable shape. They produced fire by rapidly turning a wooden stick, fitted in a small cavity of another piece of wood, between their hands until ignition was effected. When they wished to make one of their more durable canoes they had first to fell a suitable tree, a task which, on account of the insufficiency of their tools, required much labor and time. Being unable to cut down a tree with their stone axes, they resorted to fire, burning the tree around its trunk and removing the charred portion with their stone implements. This was continued until the tree fell. Then they marked the length to be given to the canoe, and resumed at the proper place the process of burning and removing.

Their agriculture was exceedingly primitive. They raised only one principal crop — maize, or Indian com. Quite extensive fields of this were grown. In addition, they planted the sieva bean, the pumpkin, and tobacco. For cultivating their fields they used only a hoe made of a clam shell or the shoulder blade of a deer. They had no domestic animals to assist them in their agricultural labors and provide them with manure for the refreshment of their exhausted lands and with food products— no horses, sheep, swine, oxen, or poultry; and even their dogs were mere miserable mongrels. It is said that they used fish for fertilizing the soil, but this use must have been on an extremely limited scale.

The extent and character of the trade relations between the Indians of the same tribe and those of different tribes can only be inferred from known facts which render it unquestionable that such relations existed For instance, tobacco, which was in universal use among the aborigines of North America, had to be obtained by exchange m all localities unadapted by climate and soil to its growth. The copper ornaments remarked by Hudson on the persons of the Indians whom he met in New York Bay must have been wrought out of metal obtained by barter or capture from distant parts of the country, since no deposits of native copper exist in this region. And Indian relics of various kinds are constantly found which bear no connection to the prevailing remains of the locality where discovered, but on the other hand are perfectly characteristic of other localities.

For purposes of exchange, as well as for ornament, the Indians used wampum, a name given to a certain class of cylindrical beads, usually one-fourth of an inch long and drilled lengthwise, which were chiefly manufactured from the shells of the common hard-shell clam (Venus mercenaria). The blue or violet portions of the shells furnished the material for the dark wampum, which was held in much higher estimation than that made of the white portions, or of the spines of certain univalves. According to Roger Williams, one of the earliest New England writers on the Indians, six of the white beads and three of the blue were equivalent to an English penny. The author of an instructive treatise on "Ancient and Aboriginal Trade in North America" (from which some of the details in the preceding pages are taken) says of the wampum belts, so often mentioned in connection with the history of the eastern tribes:

They consisted of broad straps of leather, upon which white and blue wampum-beads were sewed In rows, being so arranged that by the contrast of the light and dark colors certain figures were produced. The Indians, it is well known, exchanged these belts at the conclusion of peace, and on other solemn occasions, in order to ratify the transaction, and to perpetuate the remembrance of the event. When sharp admonitions or threatening demonstrations were deemed necessary, the wampum belts likewise played a part, and they were even sent as challenges of war. In these various cases the arrangement of the colors and the figures of the belts corresponded to the object in view: on peaceable occasions the white color predominated; if the complications were of a serious character, the dark prevailed; and in case of a declaration of war, it is stated, the belt was entirely of a somber hue, and, moreover, covered with red paint, while there appeared in the middle the figure of a hatchet executed in white. The old accounts, however, are not quite accordant concerning these details, probably because the different Atlantic tribes followed in this particular their own taste rather than a general rule. At any rate, however, the wampum belts were considered as objects of importance, being, as has been stated, the tokens by which the memory of remarkable events was transmitted to posterity. They were employed somewhat in the manner of the Peruvian guipu, which they also resembled in that particular, that their meaning could not be conveyed without oral comment. At certain times the belts were exhibited, and their relations to former occurrences explained. This was done by the aged and experienced of the tribe, in the presence of the young men, who made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the shape, size, and marks of the belts, as well as with the events they were destined to commemorate, in order to be able to transmit these details to others at a future time. Thus the wampum belts represented the archives of polished nations. Among the Iroquois tribes, who formed the celebrated " league," there was a special keeper of the wampum, whose duty it was to preserve the belts and to interpret their meaning, when required.

The civil institutions of the Mohican Indians were democratic, showing but slight modifications of the purely democratic principle.

" Though this people," says Van der Donck, " do not make such a distinction between man and man as ether nations, yet they have high and low families, inferior and superior chiefs." Their rulers were called sachems, the title usually remaining hereditarily in the family, although the people claimed the right of election. It does not appear that the sachems ever assumed oppressive powers, or, on the other hand, that rebellious or intrigues against their authority were ever undertaken to any noticeable extent. The sachem remained with the tribe at all times, and was assisted in the government by certain counselors or chiefs, elected by the people. There was a chief called a "hero," who was chosen for established courage and prudence in war; another called an " owl," who was required to have a good memory and be a fluent speaker, and who sat beside the sachem in council and proclaimed his orders; and a third called a " runner," who carried messages and convened councils. The Indian sachems and chiefs of the Hudson have left no names familiar to the general reader — certainly none comparable with those of Massasoit, Miantonomoh, Uncas, and Philip, of New England, or Powhattan, of Virginia. Even to the local historian, indeed, their names have little importance beyond that attaching to them from their connection with notable transfers of land and with rivers, lakes, and localities to which they have been applied.

In the geographical nomenclature of Westchester County, as well as of the whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are preserved numerous permanent memorials of the vanished aboriginal race. The following article on the pure or derived Indian names of our county has been compiled specially for this work. It is not, however, presented with any claim to minute completeness.

AMERINDIAN NAMES IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

BY WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER.

The Amerindian names of localities in Westchester County represent several dialectical variations of the great Algonquian language. While some are of the Mohegan dialect and akin to those of Connecticut, others partake more of the Delaware or Lenape characteristics as spoken in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Where either of these have been retained unchanged in their phonetic elements, and without the loss of a syllable or initial letter, the task of identification and translation of their components has been comparatively easy. Many, however that have been handed down colloquially without having been recorded m deed or record, have become so altered that even the Amerind himself, should he reappear from the « happy hunting ground," would be utterly unable to recognize the present sounds of the terms as part of his native speech. Those of the personal names bestowed on places are especially difficult to analyze, owing to their construction and the changes already noted Many of the place names were translated many years ago by Schoolcraft, Trumbull, and others, some correctly, and others more often incorrectly. Some of the latter were so erroneous that they have been passed by the writer without notice. The present attempts are based upon the comparative rules of Algonquian nomenclature, and are therefore not the hasty generalization of misapplied Chippeway root terms so often used by Schoolcraft and followed by others The names mostly are descriptive appellations of the localities where originally bestowed, and as such do not differ from those retained in other parts of the country where the same language was spoken.

Acquehounck. — Var., Aqueanounck, Achqueehgeuom. Hutchinson's Creek, Eastchester Creek, and a locality in West Farms. The variations of this term are quite numerous. Delaware, Achwowdngeu, " high bank." See Aquehung, another variant.

Alipkonck. — "A place of elms." This interpretation, given by Schoolcraft in 1844, is probably correct. Allowing for the interchange or permutation of l and w, as well as b and p, occurring in many dialects, we find its parallel in the Otchipwe Anip, Abnaki, anibi, " elm tree," which with the locative completes the analysis.

Apawquammis. — Var. , Apawammeis, Apawamis, Epawames. Budd's Neck, in Rye. The main stem of this name, Appoqua, signifies " to cover;" mis, " the stock or trunk of a tree," a generic, hence " the covering tree," possibly a descriptive term for the birch tree, and used as a personal name.

Appamaghpogh. — Var., Apparaghpogh. Lands near Verplanck's Point, also a locality east of Cortlandt. The main stem of this term is the same as that in the previous name, with the suffix plug, " a water-place " or " pond." " The (lodge) covering water-place," i.e., a place where the cat-tail flag (Typha latifolia) was cut. The flags were used for mats and covering wigwams.

Aquehung. — A locality on the Bronx River. The name of Staten Island is the same, Acquehonga, " a high bank or bluff;" also Hockqueunk, "on high."

Apwonnah. — Rye. It means "an oyster," or " the roasted shell-fish."

Armonck. — See Cohamong.

Armenperal. — Var., Armenperai. Sprain River. probably greatly corrupted. Its meaning has not been ascertained. A district on the Schuylkill River, was called Armenveruis (Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. I., p. 593), probably the same name, for the v should be p.

Askewaen. — A personal name, meaning not ascertained.

Aspetong. — A bold eminence in Bedford. The main stem or root of this term signifies " to raise up," aspe; Eliot uses it in the form Ashpohtag, " a height," which applies well to the locality.

Asumsowis. — A locality in Pelham; a personal name probably.

Bissightick. — Var., Bisightick, a " creek." This probably means " a muddy creek," pissigh-tuck; Delaware, Assisk-tik.

Be-tuck-qua-pock. — Var., petuquapaen (Van der Donck's map). This was the " Dumpling pond," at Greenwich, Conn. P'tukqua-paug, " a round pond, or water-place." (See Trumbull's Names in Connecticut.)

Canopus –– Name of a chieftain.

Cantetoe. — In this form not a place name, but seemingly from Cantecoy, " to sing and to dance." Variations, Kante, Cante, etc. It may have been derived, however, from Sand which see.

Catonah. — var., Katonah, Ket-atonah, " great mountain." Said to be the name of a chief. Cantetoe, by some is said to be a variant of Catonah.

Cisqua. — See Kisco. It does not mean beaver-dam in its present form.

Cohomong. — Var., Armonk, Comonck, Cob-a-mong (?) Hills, also Byram River, the boundary between Connecticut and New York. The termination denotes a fishing-place — amaug. As it was a boundary it may represent a survival of Chaubun-longamaug, " the boundary fishing-place." Byram River may have been an earlier boundary, and, as such, retained to the present day.

Cowangongh. — A locality in West Farms; a "boundary-place."

Croton. — A personal name. Schoolcraft suggests Kenotin, " the wind.", I prefer the Delaware Kloltin, "he contends."

Euketaupucuson. — Mar., Ekucketaupacuson. "A high ridge in Rye," also applied to Rye Woods. This name denotes a " place where a stream opens out or widens on both sides," i.e., overflows, generally where the stream flows through low lands.

Gowahasuasing. — A locality in West Farms. A Delaware form signifying "a place of briars," or " a place where there is a hedge," comes from the same elements.

Haseco. — See Miossehassaky.

Honge. — Blind brook. Probably taken from Acquehung.

Kisco. — See Keskistkonck.

Kitchawong. — Var., Kicktawanc, Kechtawong, Kichtawan (Kussi-tchuan). Croton River, denotes " a wild, dashing stream." First suggested by Schoolcraft.

Kekeshick. — A locality in Yonkers. Ketch-auke, "the principal, or greatest place," probably a palisaded enclosure.

Kitchtawan. — Var., Kightowank. A locality in Sing and in Cortlandt. Probably a variation of Kitchawong.

Keskistkonck Var., Kisco, Keskisco, Cisqua. Originally an Indian village situated on the bank of a creek. Massachusetts, Kishketuk-ock, " land on the edge of a creek."

Kestaubnuck. — Mar., Kastoniuck (Keche-tauppen-auke). " The great encampment." A village of the Indians (Van der Donek's map). Schoolcraft was mistaken in deriving Nyack from this term. Nyack signifies " a point of land," and is the equivalent of the Long Island Nyack (Kings County) Noyac (Suffolk County).

Kiwigtignock. — Var., Kewightegnack, He-weghtiquack. An elbow of the Croton River. Whquae-tigu-ack, " land at head of the cove." Compare Wiq'uetaquock, the cove at Stonington, Conn.

Laaphawachking. — Pelham. None of the components warrant a translation "as a place of stringing beads." We would suggest rather "a plowed field or plantation." Lapechwahacking, " land again broken up " for cultivation.

Maminketsuck. — A stream in Pelham. "A strong flowing brook," Manuhketsuck. Earlier forms might suggest another interpretation.

Mamaroneck. — A river, so named after Mamaronock, a chief who lived at Wiquaeskeck in 1644. Variations, Moworronoke, Momoronah, etc. (Mohmo'-anock) " he assembles the people."

Manursing. — An island. This form denotes a " little island." Minnewits, Minnefords, etc., was so called after Peter Minuit.

Myanas. — Var., Meanau, Meanagh, Medhagh, Mehanos, etc., all seem to be simply variations of the same name — a personal one, " he who gathers together." Maryanne was killed by Captain Patrick in 1643.

Meghkeekassin. — Var., Amackassin, Mekhkakhsin, Makakassin. A large rock, noted as a landmark west of Neperah. Delaware, Meechek-achsiitik, " at the big rock."

Mohegan. — The late Dr. D. G. Brinton follows Captain Hendrick, a native Mohegan, in translating the name as " a people of the great waters which are constantly ebbing and flowing." The tribe would naturally reject a term which was first applied by others. I agree with Schoolcraft and Trumbull that it denotes the " wolf nation." All the early maps corroborate it. See Creuxius's map of 1660, for " Natio Luporii."

Mentipathe. — A small stream in West Farms. Probably a personal name.

Miosse hassaky. — Var., Haseco. "A great fresh meadow or marshy land." The same name occurs in parts of New England; Moshhassuck River, near Providence, R. I.

Mopus. — A brook in North Salem. A variant of Canopus (?).

Mockquams. — A brook in Rye. A variant from Apawquammis (?), or perhaps a personal name from the possessive in s.

Mosholu. — A brook in Yonkers. This looks like a made-up name, or else a greatly corrupted one.

Muscoota. — "A meadow," or a place of rushes, sometimes applied to grassy flats bordering rivers.

Mutighticoos. — Var., Mattegticos, Titicus. A personal name, probably the same as the Abnaki MattegSess8, "the hare."

Nanichieslawack. — (Van der Donek's map.) Delaware, Nanatschitaw-ack, "a place of safety, i.e., a place to take care of," probably a palisaded enclosure erected for defense.

Nappeckamack. — Var., Neperhan, Neppizan, etc. This name has been generally translated as the " rapid water settlement," which is evidently an error. The same name occurs on Long Island as Rapahamuck. Both the n and r are intrusive. The suffix, attack or amuck, denotes " a fishing-place"; the prefix appeh " a trap "; hence we have appeh-amack, " the trap fishing-place." Neperhan (apehhan) "a trap, snare, gin," etc. At the locality where the name was originally bestowed, the Indians probably had a weir for catching fish, and this fact gave rise to the name of the settlement. On Long Island Rapahamuck was at the mouth of a creek called Suggamuck (m'sugge-amuck) " the bass fishing-place." Wood's N.E. Prospect, 1634, says: " When they used to tide it in and out to the rivers and creekes with long seanes or basse nets, which stop in the fish, and the water ebbing from them, they are left on the dry ground, sometimes two or three thousand at a set." (See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac on " Some Indian Fishing Stations Upon Long Island," 1895, pp. 54-57.)

Noch Peem. — (Van der Donck.) Var., Noapain, Ochpeen (Map 1688). This name de notes " a dwelling place," "an abode," "where we are," etc. Delaware, Achpeen, "a lodge," " dwelling."

Nipnichsen. — Indian village and castle near Spuyten Duyvil. The name denotes " a small pond or water-place."

Unox. — Eldest son of Ponus. Onux (ivonnux) "the stranger."

Ponus. — A chief; he places (something).

Patthunck. — A personal name; " pounding-mortar."

Pachamitt. — (Van der Donck's map.) Name of a tribe taken from the place where they lived, "at the unstop place." De Laet says: " Visher's Rack, that is the fisherman's bend, and here the eastern bank is inhabited by the Pachami, a little beyond where projects a sandy point." Pachanu, a sachem, takes his name also from tribe and place.

Paunskapham — A locality in Cortlandt. Probably this on exhaustive search will be found a personal name.

Pasquasheck. — (Van der Donck.) Pasquiasheck, Pashquashic (Pasquesh-auke). " Land at the bursting forth," i.e., "at the outlet of a stream;" an Indian village at the mouth of a stream.

Papirinemen. — Spuyten Duyvil Creek; also place at north end of Manhattan Island. This name has a verbal termination denoting the act of doing something, a suffix not allowable in place names. Hence it was probably a personal name denoting " to parcel out," to divide, to divert, variation, Pewinenien.

Pechquinakonck. — (Van der Donck.) A locality in North Salem; probably originally an Indian village situated on high land. Pachquin-ak-onk, " at the land raised or lifted up."

Pepemighting. — A river in Bedford. Pepe-mightug, " the chosen-tree," probably a boundary mark originally.

Peppenegkek. — Var., Peppeneghak, a river and pond in Bedford. Probably a boundary mark like the previous name; " the chosen stake."

Pockerhoe. — See Tuckahoe (?).

Poningoe. — Var., Peningoe. Locality in Rye. Looks like a personal name, meaning not ascertained.

Pocantico. — Var., Pokanteco, Puegkanteko, Peckantico. Tarrytown. Pohki-tuck-ut, "at the clear creek."

Potiticus A trail. An abbreviation of Mutighticoos (?).

Pockcotessewake. — A brook in Rye; also another name for Mamaroneck River. Mar., Pockottssewake. Probably the name of some Indian. The chief called Meghtesewakes seems to have had a name with a similar termination but different prefix. Poketsake, a grantor on the Norwalk deed of 1651.

Quaroppas. — White Plains, including Scarsdale. Seemingly a personal name.

Quinnahung. — Hunt's Point, West Farms, "a long, high place."

Ranachque. — Bronck's land. Wanachque, "end, point, or stop." The name has probably lost a locative. See Senasque.

Rahonaness. — A plain east of Rye. Probably so called from an Indian.

Rippowams. — Var., Nippowance (Captain John Mason, 1643). "The plantation of Rippo-wams is named Stamforde " (N. H. Rec, Vol. I, p. 69). This included the territory on both sides of Mill River. The late J. H. Trumbull was unable to translate this name. It may be rather presuming to suggest where he failed. We think we can see Nipau-apuchk in the Delaware, or Nepau-ompsk in the Massachusetts, "a standing or rising up rock." In colloquial use ompsk is frequently abbreviated to ams. See Toquams.

Sachus Var., Sackhoes. From the possessive seemingly a personal name. Colloquial use changes names frequently, and it may be a variant of the Delaware Sakunk, "mouth of a stream." Compare Saugus, the Indian name of Lynn, Mass., which has the same derivation.

Sackama Wicker. — " Sachems house," Delaware, Sakama-wik-ing, " at the chief's house."

Sackwahung. — A locality at West Farms. An evident variant of Aquehung.

Shorakapkock. — Spuyten Duyvil Creek, where it joins the Hudson, "as far as the sittingdown place," i.e., where there was a portage.

Shingabawossins. — A locality in Pelham. Applied to erratic bowlders or rolling stones. It probably denotes " a place of flat stones."

Shappequa.—Var., Chappaqua. "A separated place," i.e., " a place of separation." Mentioned as a boundary in some conveyances.

Sickham. — -A locality in Cortlandt. A personal name.

Shippam. — New Rochelle. A personal name, probably, although Eliot gives us Keechepam, " shore."

Sigghes. — A great bowlder, a landmark mentioned as a boundary. Another name for Meghkaekassin. From an original Siogke-ompsk-it, "at the hard rock."

Sacunyte Napucke. — A locality in Pelham. Sakunk-Napi-ock, " at the outlet of a pond or water-place." Probably used in some conveyance to indicate the line running to this place, hence a boundary designation

Saperwack. — A hook or bend in a stream at West Farms. " Laud on a river," or " extended land;" the name will bear both interpretations.

Sepackena. — A creek at Tarrytown.

Sachkerah. — A locality at West Farms.

Saproughah. — A Creek at West Farms.

Sepparak. — A locality in Cortlandt. The foregoing names are seemingly variations of the same word, denoting " extended or spread-out land." A search for early forms might change this opinion.

Senas(pia. — Croton Point on Hudson, Wanasque, " a point or ending." This name, as well as Ranachque, has lost its suffix. On Long Island it occurs in Wanasquattan, " a point of hills," Wanasquetuck, " the ending creek."

Sint Sinck. — Sing Sing. Ossin-sing, "stone upon stones," belongs to the Chippeway dialect and was suggested by Schoolcraft (see Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soc, 1844, p. 101). He is also responsible for a number of other interpretations frequently quoted. The Delaware form, Asin-es-ing, " a stony place," is much better. The same name occurs on Long Island in Queens County. But on the Delaware River is a place called Maetsingsing (see Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. 1, pp. 590, 596), which seems to be a fuller form of our name and warranting another interpretation: " Place where stones are gathered together," a heap of stones, probably.

Snakapins. — Cornell's Neck. If not a personal name, as I suspect, it may represent an earlier Sagapin, "a ground-nut."

Suckehonk. — " A black (or dark colored) place," a marsh or meadow. The Hartford meadows, Connecticut, were called Suck'iang.

Soakatuck. — A locality in Pelham. "The mouth of a stream." The same as Saugatuck in Connecticut.

Suwanoes. — -A tribe located from Norwalk, Conn., to Hellgate. They were the Shawon-anoes, " the Southerners," to tribes farther north.

Tammoesis. — Creek near Verplanck's Point. Delaware, Tummeu-esis, "little wolf," a personal name.

Tanracken.— -A locality in Cortlandt. Tarackan, " the crane." The name was derived from the loud and piercing cry peculiar to the genus, especially to the Grus americana or Whooping Crane, which, says Nuttall, has been "not unaptly compared to the whoop or yell of the savages when rushing to battle." (Trumbull.)

Tankitekes. — Name of tribe living back of Sing. This is probably a term of derision applied to them by other tribes: " Those of little worth."

Tatomuck. — This name has probably lost a syllable or more. The suffix indicates a " fishing-place." On Long Island Arhata-amuck denotes "a crab fishing-place." Corrupted in some records to Katawamac.

Toquams Var., Toquamske. This was a boundary mark in some conveyance, or else a well-known landmark; p'tukqu-ompsk, " at the round-rock."

Titicus. — A brook flowing north and west across the State line into the Croton River; also a village and post-office in Connecticut. An abbreviation of Mutighticoos or Matteticos.

Tuckahoe. — Hill in Yonkers. This appears in Southampton, L. I., and elsewhere, and seems to have been applied to a species of truffle or subterranean fungus (Pachyma cocos — Fries) sometimes called Indian loaf. The tuckaho of Virginia (tockwhogh, as Captain John Smith wrote the name) was the root of the Golden Club or Floating Arum (Orantium Aquaticum). " It groweth like a flag in low, marshy places. In one day a salvage will gather sufficient for a week. These roots are much the bigness and taste of potatoes." (Strachey. )

Waumainuck. — Delancy's Neck. Var., Waimanuck, " land round about." Some other place understood.

Wampus. — " The Opossum." A personal name.

Weckquaskeek. — Var., Wechquoesqueeck; Wiequoeshook, Weecquoesguck, etc. Schoolcraft's suggestion, " the place of the bark-kettle," and as repeated in various histories, is absolutely worthless. The name is simply a descriptive appellation of the locality where the Indians lived at the date of settlement. Delaware, Wiquie-askeek, Massachusetts, Wehque-askeet, Chippewa, Waiekwa-ashkiki, " end of the marsh or bog."

Weghqueghe. — Var., Wyoquaqua. A variant of the foregoing.

Wenneebees.— -A locality in Cortlandt. Probably a personal name from the finals, although early forms, if found, might indicate with a locative an original Winne-pe-es-et, " at the good-tasted water-place," i.e., " a spring."

Wishqua.—" The end."

Wissayek. — Dover. " Yellow-place."

Waccabuck. — A lake or pond in Lewisboro. Wequa-baug, "end or head of the pond."