Fishkill, the English name of the stream of which Matteawan is the estuary, is from Dutch Fischer's Kil. It was probably applied by the Dutch to the estuary from Vischer's Rak which the Dutch applied to a reach or sailing course on the Hudson at this point. De Laet wrote: "A place which our country-men call Vischer's Rack,' that is Fisherman's Bend." (See Woranecks.) On the earlier maps the stream, or its estuary, is named Vresch Kil, or "Fresh-
^ Rack is obsolete; the present word is Rccht. It describes an almost straight part of the river.
38 INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.
water Kil," to distinguish it from the brackish water of the Hudson^ From the estuary extended to the entire stream. Woranecks, Carte Figurative 1614-16; Waoranecks, 1621-2^: Warenecker, Wassenaer; Waoranekyc, De Laet, 1633-40; Waoranecks, Van der Donck's map, 1656 -- is located on the Carte Figurative north of latitude 42-15, on the east side of the river. De Laet and Van der Donck place it between what are now known as Wappingers' Creek and Fishkill Creek. De Laet wrote: "Where projects a sand}' point and the river becomes narrower, there is a place called Esopus, where the Waoranekys, another barbarous nation, have their abode." Later, Esopus became permanent on the west side of the river at Kingston. It is a Dutch corruption of Algonquian Sepus, meaning brook, creek, etc., applicable to any small stream. From De Laet's description,* there is little room for doubt that the "sandy point" to which he referred is now known as Low Point, opposite the Dans Kamer, at the head of Newburgh Bay, where the river narrows, or that Esopus was applied to Casper's Creek. On Van der Donck's map the "barbarous nation" is given three castles on the south side of the stream, which became known later (1643) as the Wappingers, who certainly held jurisdiction on the east side of Newburgh Bay.