There is, however, for those who have sufficient patience and enthusiasm, a delightful study in those old Indian names that cover the Hudson and its tributarv waters with |)oly syllabic strangeness. The Rev. Charles E. AUison says of the Algonquin tongue, in which these names had their birth, that it "was agglutinative. The wild men of the rapid water settlement strung words together in an extended compound. " In their language the region now known as Westchester County became Laaphawachking, which meant the place w^here beads are strung. The Hudson had several names, one of the most familiar being Shatemuc. The junction of the Spuyten Duyvil creek with the Hudson was called Shoraskappock. A brook at Dobbs Ferry was the Wisquaqua, and another the Wecquashqueck. The Nepperhan River sought the Hudson--

TO The Hudson River

and still does so -- at the place that was once called Nappeckamack, and is now Yonkers. Another Yonkers stream was Amackassin. The name of the Nepperhan seems to have been spelled with variations by the none-too-careful Dutch orthographers ; its meaning was "rapid water." Shorackhappock was the bluff on the north side of Spuyten Duyvil creek, near

THE MOUTH OF SPUYTEN DUYVIL CKEEK IN EARLY DAYS

its mouth, where a Mohegan "castle" is said to have stood, the latter being called Nipnichsen. The Spuyten Duyvil water was named Papuinemen. The Indians, themselves loaded with the unpronounceable name of Meckquaskich, called a river between hills, that ran near AHpconc (shady place), now Tarry town, Pocantico or Pockhantes. Besightsick was Sunnyside brook, Ossin-ing -- "stone upon stone," appropriate prophecy of present State buildings -- was Sing Sing at a later day, though very recently the inhabitants have again restored the Indian name. Sackhoes was the site of Peekskill and Senasqua of Croton Point meadow. Kitchawan signified a swift