in their season filled the air with spicy perfume. Yet the forests were not uninhabited, for from every covert, every little cove or bay along the shores, the canoes of the Indians put out to intercept or at least to approach the "yacht" of the voyager. The names of tribes and sub-tribes have in large part been pre- Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Introductory 9 served in local names, some of which are in familiar use until this day. The Indian name for the Palisades is said to have been Weh-awk-en; awk, the middle syllable, meaning "rocks that resemble trees." If this is the correct etymology and application of the name, we may won- der how it happened to slip its moorings and drop down with the tide to the present Weehawken, where it has remained since the Dutch first gained possession of the banks of the lower Hudson. An etymology, like a horse, may be a vain thing for safety and carries our faith on many a break-neck journey into the land of speculation. There is, however, for those who have sufficient patience and enthusiasm, a delightful study in those old Indian names that cover the Hudson and its tribu- tary waters with polysyllabic strangeness. The Rev. Charles E. Allison says of the Algonquin tongue, in which these names had their birth, that it "was agglutinative. The wild men of the rapid water settle- ment strung words together in an extended compound. " In their language the region now known as West- chester County became Laaphawachking, which meant the place where beads are strung. The Hudson had several names, one of the most familiar being Shatemuc. The junction of the Spuyten Duyvil creek with the Hudson was called Shoraskappock. A brook at Dobbs Ferry was the Wisquaqua, and another the Wecquash- queck. The Nepperhan River sought the Hudson — Digitized by Microsoft® TO The Hudson River and still does 'so— at the place that was once called Nappeckamack, and is now Yonkers. Another Yon- kers stream was Amackassin. The name of the Nep- perhan seems to have been spelled with variations by the none-too-careful Dutch orthographers : its mean- ing was "rapid water." Shorackhappock was the bluff on the north side of Spuyten Duyvil creek, near THE MOUTH OF SPUYTEN DUYVIL CREEK IN EARLY DAYS its mouth, where a Mohegan "castle" is said to have stood, the latter being called Nipnichsen. The Spuyten Duyvil water was named Papuinemen. The Indians, themselves loaded with the unpronounceable name of Meckquaskich, called a river between hills, that ran near Alipconc (shady place), now Tarrytown, Pocan- tico or Pockhantes. Besightsick was Sunnyside brook, Ossin-ing — "stone upon stone," appropriate prophecy of present State buildings — was Sing Sing at a later day, though very recently the inhabitants have again restored the Indian name. Sackhoes was the site of Peekskill and Senasqua of Croton Point meadow. Kitchawan signified a swift Digitized by Microsoft® Introductory 1 1 and strong current and was the name by which the Croton River was known to the red men who hunted game on its banks or drew the fish from its waters. It is to the credit of the Dutch settlers that they obtained their lands from the Indians by purchase. It is a threadbare story that Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan for a sum about equivalent to twenty-four dollars; taking into account the relative values of land and money at that time and place, the purchase may be regarded as equitable. The oldest Indian deed to Westchester property that is now preserved is that covering a tract included in the town of Kingsbridge. All of the great manors and patroonships along the river were acquired by pur- chase and afterwards confirmed by grants. The earliest settlements on the Hudson River were, naturally, those surrounding the several forts that afforded protection from the neighbouring savages. Albany claims the first of these, a palisaded enclosure antedating even that upon Manhattan Island. At the extreme ends of the navigable river, nearly a fortnight apart in ordinary weather and absolutely shut off from communication after the winter ice and snow appeared, they became each the centre of dependent communi- ties. The settlements from New Amsterdam, or Man- hattan, extended northward to Kitchawan, and those of Rensselaerwyk (or Albany) included the more southerly posts of Kingston, Esopus, and Rondout. While it is true that other posts sprang up between, Digitized by Microsoft® 12 The Hudson River yet the greater part of the river shore was for many- years practically untouched by the whites. In relation to the purchase of Manhattan there is one old document, written in 1634, that concludes with a burst that has the ring of prophecy: " Further, not only were the above named