" Though this people,*' says Van der Donck, " do not make such a distinction between man and man as ether nations, yet they have high and low families, inferior and superior chiefs." Their rulers were called sachems, the title usually remaining hereditarily in the family, although the people claimed the right of election. It does not appear that the sachems ever assumed oppressive powers, or, on the other hand, that rebellious or intrigues against their authority were ever undertaken to any noticeable extent. The sachem remained with the tribe at all times, and was assisted in the government by certain counselors or chiefs, elected by the people. There was a chief called a w> hero," who was chosen for established courage and prudence in war; another called an " owl," who was required to have a good memory and be a fluent speaker, and who sat beside the sachem in council and his orders; and a third called a " runner," who carried mesproclaimed sages and convened councils. The Indian sachems and chiefs of the Hudson have left no names familiar to the general reader -- certainly none comparable with those of Massasoit, Miantonomoh, Uncas, and Philip, of New England, or Powhattan, of Virginia. Even to the local historian, indeed, their names have little importance beyond that attaching to them from their connection with notable transfers of land and with rivers, lakes, and localities to which they have been applied. In the geographical nomenclature of Westchester County, as well as of the whole country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are preserved numerous permanent memorials of the vanished aboriginal race. The following article on the pure or derived Indian names of our county has been compiled specially for this work. It is not, however, presented with any claim to minute completeness.