Part 36 (1/2)
OWENAGUNGAS, a general name of the Iroquois for the New England Indians.
OTESEONTEO, a spring which is the head of the river Delaware.
ONTONAGON, a considerable river of lake Superior, noted from early times, for the large ma.s.s of native copper found on its banks. This name is said to have been derived from the following incident. It is known that there is a small bay and dead water for some distance within its mouth. In and out of this embayed water, the lake alternately flows, according to the influence of the winds, and other causes, upon its level. An Indian woman had left her wooden dish, or Onagon, on the sands, at the sh.o.r.e of this little bay, where she had been engaged. On coming back from her lodge, the outflowing current had carried off her valued utensil. Nia Nin-do-nau-gon! she exclaimed, for it was a curious piece of workmans.h.i.+p. That is to say--Alas! my dis.h.!.+
CHUAH-NAH-WHAH-HAH, or Valley of the Mountains. A new pa.s.s in the Rocky Mountains, discovered within a few years. It is supposed to be in N.
lat.i.tude about 40. The western end of the valley gap is 30 miles wide, which narrows to 20 at its eastern termination, it then turns oblique to the north, and the opposing sides appear to close the pa.s.s, yet there is a narrow way quite to the foot of the mountain. On the summit there is a large beaver pond, which has outlets both ways, but the eastern stream dries early in the season, while there is a continuous flow of water west. In its course, it has several beautiful, but low cascades, and terminates in a placid and delightful stream. This pa.s.s is now used by emigrants.
AQUIDNECK.--The Narragansett name for Rhode Island. Roger Williams observes, that he could never obtain the meaning of it from the natives.
The Dutch, as appears by a map of Novi Belgii published at Amsterdam in 1659, called it Roode Eylant, or Red Island, from the autumnal colour of its foliage. The present term, as is noticed, in Vol. III. of the Collections of the R.I. Hist. Soc. is derived from this.
INCAPATCHOW, a beautiful lake in the mountains at the sources of the river Hudson.--[Charles F. Hoffman, Esq.]
HOUSATONIC, a river originating in the south-western part of Ma.s.sachusetts, and flowing through the State of Connecticut into Long Island Sound, at Stratford. It is a term of Mohegan origin. This tribe on retiring eastward from the banks of the Hudson, pa.s.sed over the High-lands, into this inviting valley. We have no transmitted etymology of the term, and must rely on the general principles of their vocabulary. It appears to have been called the valley of the stream beyond the Mountains, from _ou_, the notarial sign of wudjo, a mountain, atun, a generic phrase for stream or channel, and ic, the inflection for locality.
WEA-NUD-NEC.--The Indian name, as furnished by Mr. O'Sullivan, [D. Rev.]
for Saddle Mountain, Ma.s.sachusetts. It appears to be a derivative from Wa-we-a, round, i.e. any thing round or crooked, in the inanimate creation.
MA-HAI-WE.--The Mohegan term, as given by Mr. Bryant [N.Y.E.P.] for Great Barrington, Berks.h.i.+re County, Ma.s.sachusetts.
Ma.s.sACHUSETTS.--This was not the name of a particular tribe, but a geographical term applied, it should seem, to that part of the sh.o.r.es of the North Atlantic, which is swept by the tide setting into, and around the peninsula of Cape Cod, and the wide range of coast trending southerly. It became a generic word, at an early day, for the tribes who inhabited this coast. It is said to be a word of Narragansett origin, and to signify the Blue Hills. This is the account given of it by Roger Williams, who was told, by the Indians, that it had its origin from the appearance of an island off the coast. It would be more in conformity to the general requisitions of ethnography, to denominate the language the New England-Algonquin, for there are such great resemblances in the vocabulary and such an ident.i.ty in grammatical construction, in these tribes, that we are constantly in danger, by partial conclusions as to original supremacy, of doing injustice. The source of origin was doubtless west and south west, but we cannot stop at the Narragansetts, who were themselves derivative from tribes still farther south. The general meaning given by Williams seems, however, to be sustained, so far as can now be judged. The terminations in _ett_, and _set_, as well as those in _at_ and _ak_, denoted locality in these various tribes. We see also, in the antipenultimate Chu, the root of Wudjo, a mountain.
TA-HA-WUS, a very commanding elevation, several thousand feet above the sea, which has of late years, been discovered at the sources of the Hudson, and named Mount Marcy. It signifies, he splits the sky.--[Charles F. Hoffman, Esq.]
MONG, the name of a distinguished chief of New England, as it appears to be recorded in the ancient pictorial inscription on the Dighton Rock, in Ma.s.sachusetts, who flourished before the country was colonized by the English. He was both a war captain, and a prophet, and employed the arts of the latter office, to increase his power and influence, in the former. By patient application of his ceremonial arts, he secured the confidence of a large body of men, who were led on, in the attack on his enemies, by a man named Piz-hu. In this onset, it is claimed that he killed forty men, and lost three. To the warrior who should be successful, in this enterprize, he had promised his younger sister.
[Such are the leading events symbolized by this inscription, of which extracts giving full details, as interpreted by an Indian chief, now living, and read before the Am. Ethnological Society, in 1843, will be furnished, in a subsequent number.]
TIOGA.--A stream, and a county of the State of New-York. From Teoga, a swift current, exciting admiration.
DIONDEROGA, an ancient name of the Mohawk tribe, for the site at the mouth of the Schoharie creek, where Fort Hunter was afterwards built [Col. W.L. Stone.]
ALMOUCHICO, a generic name of the Indians for New England, as printed on the Amsterdam map of 1659, in which it is stated that it was thus ”by d inwoonders genaemt.” (So named by the natives.)
IROCOISIA, a name bestowed in the map, above quoted, on that portion of the present state of Vermont, which lies west of the Green Mountains, stretching along the eastern bank of Lake Champlain. By the application of the word, it is perceived that the French were not alone in the use they made of the apparently derivative term ”Iroquois,” which they gave to the (then) Five Nations.
NAMES OF THE SEASONS.
The following are the names of the four seasons, in the Odjibwa tongue:
Pe-bon, Winter, From Kone, Snow.
Se-gwun, Spring, ” Seeg, Running water.
Ne-bin, Summer, ” Anib, A leaf.
Ta-gwa-gi, Autumn, ” Gwag, The radix of behind &c.
By adding the letter g to these terms, they are placed in the relation of verbs in the future tense, but a limited future, and the terms then denote _next winter_, &c. Years, in their account of time, are counted by winters. There is no other term, but pe-boan, for a year. The year consists of twelve lunar months, or moons. A moon is called Geezis, or when spoken of in contradistinction to the sun, Dibik Geezis, or night-sun.