Menatan (Hudson's Mannah-atin, -an or -in, the indefinite or diminutive form), ' The small island,' or the smaller of the two principal islands, the Manhates of Adriaen' Block.* Mandhtons, ' People of the Island,' Mandhatanesen, ' People of the small islands.' " ^ The Eastern-Algonquian word for " Island " (English notation), is written Miinnoh, with formative -an (Munnohan). It appears of record, occasionally, in the vicinity of New York, presumably introduced by interpreters or English scribes. The usual form is the Lenape Menate. Chippeway Miiuiis, " Small island," classed also as Old Algonquian, or generic, may be met in the valley of the Hudson, but the instances are not clear. It is simply a dialectic equivalent of Del. Menates. (See Monach'nong.) "Van Curler wrote in his Mohawk vocabulary (1635), " Kanonnezmga, Manhattan Island." The late J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, wrote me : '' In the alphabet of this of-

^ Hudson anchored in tlie bay near Hoboken. Near by his anchorage he noticed that " there was a cliff that looked of the color of white green." This cliflF is near Elysian Fields at Hoboken. (Broadhead-) The cliff is now known as Castle Point. * The reference to Adriaen Block is presumably to the "Carte Figurative" of 1614-16, now regarded as from Block's chart. * " Composition of Indian Geographical Names," p. 22.

HUDSON S RIVER AND ITS ISLANDS. 15

fice the name may be transliterated Kanonnb' ge. It signifies ' Place of Reeds.' " Perhaps what was known as the " Reed Valley " was referred to, near which Van Twiller had a tobacco plantation w^here the Indians of all nations came to trade. (See Saponickan.) The lower part of the island was probably more or less a district of reed swamps. Pagganck, so written in Indian deed of 1637, as the name of Governor's Island -- Peconuc, Denton/ is an equivalent of Pagdn'trnk, meaning literally " Nut Island." Also written Pachgan, as in Pachganunschi, "White walnut trees." (Zeisb.) Denton explained, " Because excellent nut trees grew there." ^ The Dutch called it " der Nooten Eilandt," literally " The Walnut Island," from whence the modern name, " Nutten Island." The island was purchased from the Indian owners by Director Wouter van Twiller, from whose occupation, and its subsequent use as a demense of the governors of the Province, its present name.