Trumbull, "of Powntucksuck, 'falls of a brook,' or outlet, "Powntiick, a general name for all falls," according to Indian testimony quoted by the same writer. "Pantiick, falls of a stream." (Zeisb.) Several interpretations of the name have been suggested, of which the most probably correct is from Massachusetts Pontoosuck, which would readily be converted to Hoosick or Panhoosick (Pontoosuck). It was applicable to any falls, and may have had locative at Hoosick Falls as well as on the outlet of Pontoosuck Lake. Without examination or warrant from the local dialect, Heckewelder wrote in his Lenape tradition, "The Hairless or Naked Bear": "Hoosink, which means the basin, or more properly, the kettle." The Lenape or Delaware Hods, "certainly means, in that dialect, 'a pot or kettle.' Figuratively, it might be applied to a kettle-shaped depression in land or to a particular valley. Hoosink means 'in' or 'at' the pot or kettle. Hoosack might be read ' round valley land,' or

68 INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.

land with steep sides." (Brinton.) Of course this does not explain the prefix Pan, nor does it prove that Hods was in the local dialect, which, in 1652, was certainly Ma:hican or Mohegan. Still, it cannot be said that the tradition was not familiar to all Algonquians in their mythical lore. Heckewelder's tradition, "The Naked or Hairless Bear," has its culmination at a place "lying east oi the Hudson," where the last one of those fabulous animals was killed. "The s'tory," writes Dr. Brinton, "was that the bear was immense in size and the most vicious of animals. Its skin was bare except a tuft of white hair on the back. It attacked and ate the natives and the only means of escape from it was to take to the waters. Its sense of smell was remarkably keen, but its sight was defective.