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

"The country between the banks of the Connecticut River^ and the Hudson, (says Mr. Bancroft,) was possessed by independent villages of the Mohegans^ kindred with the Mauhattayis ; whose few smokes once arose amidst the forests on New York Island. "c Mr. Schoolcraft informs us that " The Mohegans and the Minci were two tribes of Algonquin lineage, who inhabited the valley of the Hudson between New York and Albany." Mohegan, (continues the same authority,) is a word, the meaning of which is not explained by the early writers ; but if we may trust the deductions of philology, it needs create little uncertainty. In the Mohegan, as spoken at the present time by their lineal descendants, the Slockbridges of Wisconsin^ Maihtshow^ is the name of the common wolf. It is called, in cognate dialects of the Algonquin, Myegan by the Kenistenos, and Myeengun by the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottowattomies. In the old Algonquin, as given by La Hontan, it is Mahingan, and we perceive that this was the term employed by the early French writers for the Mohegans. In the language of the Indian priests or medais, a mystical use of the names of various objects in the animated creation is made, in order to clothe their arts with the degree of respect and authority, which ignorant nations are ready to pay to whatsoever they do not fully understand ; in other words, that which is mysterious.