It is difficult to believe that Tappan was transferred to those distant parts from an Indian name on Hudson's River ; on the contrary its presence in those parts forces the conclusion that it was conferred by the Dutch from their own, or from some dialect with which they were familiar, precisely as it was on Hudson's River and was descriptive of a district of country the features of which supply the meaning. DeLaet wrote in his "New World" (Leyden Edition, 1625-6) of the general locative of the name on the Hudson: "Within the first reach, on the west side of the river, where the land is low, dwells a nation of savages named Tappaans^" presumably so named by the Dutch from the place where they had jurisdiction, i. e. the low lands. Specifically, De \^ries wrote in 1639, Tappaen as the name of a place where he found and purchased, "A beautiful valley of clay land, some three or four feet

^ Paen, old French, meaning Pagan, a heathen or resident of a heath, from Pagus, Latin, a heath, a district of waste land.

HUDSON S RIVER ON THE WEST. II9

above the water, lying under the mountains, along the river," presumed to have been in the meadows south of Piermont, into which flows from the mountains Tappan Creek, now called Spar Kill/ as well as the overflow of Tappan Zee, of which he wrote without other name than "bay" : "There flows here a strong flood and ebb, but the ebb is not more than four feet on account of the great quantity of water that flows from above, overflowing the low lands in the spring," converting them into veritable soft lands. Gamocnapaen, now a district in Jersey City, was interpreted by the late Judge Benson, "Tillable land and marsh." Dr.