" These were the Mankikani and Mohikans of De Laet, tlie Mahiccanders^ Mohickanders and Nahikanders of the Dutch, the Manhikans, Mahikans, or Mohegans, according to Professor Ebehng, and the Mohegana or Miihhekanew. (the original name of Mohegans.) According to the English the Mohiccans, Mahiccon, and lastly, Mahiccans, were all one people, originally a branch of the Delaware nation. The Mahiccans and Delawares both say they were once one people."^ " The best information (says Mr. Heckewelder) which I could procure of the extent of the country the Mahicanni inhabited, was from an aged and intelligent man of this nation, whose grandfather had been a noted chief. His report was as follows, to wit : ' When I was a boy, my grandfather used to speak much of old times ; how it had been before the white people came into this country, (that is, the State of New York, in which the relator was born,) and what changes took place since, from time to time. The western bounding line of the Mahicanni was the river Mahicannittuck^ which the white people now call the ' North River.' Our towns and settlements extended on the east side of this river from Thyp-
^ Moulton's Hist, of New York, 226.
yiii INTRODUCTION.
hane or Tnphanne, (a Delaware word for cold stream^ from which the whites have derived the name Tnppan,) to the extent of tide water up this river; here was the uppermost town. From thence our towns were scattered throughout the country on the smaller rivers and creeks. Our nearest neighbors on the east were the Wanipano.^ "a