[201] War-hatchet: from which we have made tomahawk.
[202] The Indians call the American continent an island; believing it to be (as in fact, probably, it is) entirely surrounded with water.
[203] For “killed” read “eaten.”
[204] Mr. Pyrlæus lived long among the Iroquois, and was well acquainted with their language. He was instructed in the Mohawk dialect by the celebrated interpreter Conrad Weiser. He has left behind him some manuscript grammatical works on that idiom, one of them is entitled: Affixa nominum et verborum Linguæ Macquaicæ, and another, Adjectiva, nomina et pronomina Linguæ Macquaicæ. These MSS. are in the library of the Society of the United Brethren at Bethlehem.
[205] For “Pauksit” read “P’duk-sit.”
[206] See page 101.
[207] Probably alluding to a tradition which the Indians have of a very ferocious kind of bear, called the naked bear, which they say once existed, but was totally destroyed by their ancestors. The last was killed in the New York state, at a place they called Hoosink, which means the Basin, or more properly the Kettle.
[208] The same whom Mr. de Volney speaks of in his excellent “View of the Soil and Climate of the United States.” Supplement, No. VI., page 356, Philadelphia Edition, 1804.
[209] See ch. 29, p. 225.
[210] See ch. 28, p. 221.