The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-06-28

WAS and is called in the Mtnsi dialect
kpkN-k ,wk. The name kiwkawkauing
siguifi, s where wild geese abound" or
the place OF wild geese"
If they freouen,ed most the neighbor r
hood of the outlet the name would there
fore be applied t. that stream ann the
contiguous lands, as we'll as to the laks IT.
self.
NA'HATCoN.
The name Na'hatcon has been errone-
ously called Narlticong, Naraucong aud
| Neritcong in some historical works.
There is no +, ( or v in the Lenape. In
this case, az in several Others recently
brought to my notice, the sound of an
has been misunderstood for r and so
written. This was the title of a clan OF
| Minsi-L, who inhabited the central high
| land region of New jersey and also q dis
| tricG further southwark. The raccoon was
their totemic emblem and their name was
derived from Nachenum, the ancient Lee
nspe word for raccoon Qater tie Minsi
used Espan or Esban to desigpa'e this
animal). The Raccoon In lians occupied
the vicinage of Lake Hopatcong. and a
point at its northwestern extreinIty-now
an isllnd of Byram Cove-was a ~favorite
camping ground of theirs, ard from that
| circumstance was called by the white
settlers Raccoon Poiut, now Race Don
Island.
A corruption of the pame Na'hatcon
has been applied to a Steamboat upon the
lake AID is prop osed as the appella3ion OF
a locality upou the western shore: let US
hope that the persons Interested Will re-
store the original and correct name, es-
pee ally since it is more euphoneous than
the other.
The raccoon was, by many of the tribes,
held to be semi-su~ pernalural aud of fabu-
lous origin. Els or Ais was au important
parsonage in their mythology; resting
once beside a stream he WIS CONVEX ed
into a shell. hence the word Es or Ais for
shell In several dialects. After an expe-
renee which cauuot be detailed here, he
yas again nirsculously transformed, this
time into q rAccoon. The second trans
formation is commenorated IN the uame
Aisbun, which that NINA bears In the
Chippewa ard some other dialects the
sylln BILE Bun or Pun being the particle
for this past tense and the name meaning
che was u she'll" | refer to this bit or
folklore only to indicate that in the In
stance of the name Na'hatcon there are
legendary as well as historical and Rsihet-
ical reasons for preserving the aboriginal
name.
Possibly other existing names might be
appropriately changed. The picturesque
islet IN Byram Cove Is entitled to q pre-
tier name tha Coon Island.' as it is Of
ten called, The names Nachena, Nache-
nopg or Espanong would, either of them,
commemora' e the traditional associations
of the spot aud the symbol of the an
who once Inhabited it.
A cottage villa upon another shore or
the lake Is named Crabtree; this the
Minsi, who used to have their lodges
upon that hillside Qhe shore at its foot
has-furnisned many stone lmplements)
would have called Schwa-ah-kong "Crab-
tree Place"
THE ORIGIN OF H%oPATCoNG.
The name Hopatcong is of compa"a-
lively recent date. Formerly the lake
w a q na1lal Hnnnnrn1nD and still earlier
HappachoDg. ihe srbwing Importance
of this resort, as we'll al the number
of inquiries received. have induced
me to crefully examine each or sew
eral of them.
OF these probably the most recent is
mirror Lake''-a pretty audperhaps ar
propriaie title, but 1t must b3 derived
from Pepenaus and could sea c;ly be cor
rupted into Happachong.
CIV Observation-Disclosures" IS q more
popular but not more accurate rendering.
Thee Is no word in the Minsi-Lenape
wuich has this meaning. and when we
have expressed the idea with the words
Mbi. Wutschu (hilD etc, we will not have
the name Happachong, but something
fearfully and wonderfully differeut.
"The Stepping-stones" is the interpre-
tation set forth by II newspaper coLr9-
spondent some mouths ago This refers
obviously to the alltg .d causeway, about
which so much has been written; anyone
who will visit the spot It very low water
will see that the cause way has no exist
ence. Besides. AT The time tue Indians
dwelt in the vicinage, the site OF the
causeway was dry land and the isla I'd
was part of the main shore, SO that they
hal no Eeed for stepping-stonss. Fur
thur, if the name s1gulIled stepping
stoue, it would be Ahpalihk-ahsiuingal or
Pochquallhk-a.
"Placid water" Is the rendering which
has been given more often than any
other, but TO have this meuning the name
would be KalamooEakuhk. The word
Potpacong has The same meaning in u
modified sense and more nearly re-
sembIe, The modern corruption OF Happn-
choug. but it would not be applicable t.
the lake, IL might be applied uplv to some
sheltered bay or inlet wnicl was more
quiet than the main body OF the lake.
Differing from all the alb we i'll this. at
least, that it is the result OF honest study
and not of invention. Is an interpretation
published some years ago by u venerable
friend OF mine-"Pipe-water," o Ho-
pokan, a tobacco pipe. IL WAS the shape
of the original lake which suggested Liiis
explanation. l have lem at some pain,
to obiai the outline of the shores ct the
lower and lai ger lake, the one which first
alone bore tue name under discussion
(the upper one of the two was more near
iy circular and had a different appella-
tiop) and hnd that it WAS of a general
creScent1c shape but very crooked ana &C.
centric.
THE LAND OF THE TOBACCO PIPE.
1t has been surmised that the word fer
pipe was used symbolically t, express
crookeduess, and that Hoboken wa so
called Lecause 1t is situated at II crook in
he river shore. hence the maine II light
have been applied to Il crook ID lake. But
the pipe of the Minsi was rarely crooked,
and therefore would not be to them the
symb Dol OF crookedheas; and | have found
that as early AS 1850 the name of Hoboken
was demonstrating. me ming "the
land of the tobacco pipe" aud referring
not to the form of the shore, but to the
fact that the Indians found there a stone
out of which they wrought their pipes. A
word more likely to be Used 10 syn4holize
crooketiness, is Hopikan. a rib (aecoEdinglgi
we nave Huquoan. a pot-hooK, etc, de-
rived from this wold). but it is never en-
ployed as q proper name. Even II it,
could, i'll this form, be used al the name
of Il lake, il need not CONCERN us for, wuile
il does not remotely resemble the present
name, IL j. not at all like the Happachon
OF which Hopaicnng Is the recent cor
ruplion. The Miust tenn for crooked
lake is even mole diSsimilar. II
Kakpacnong IL the Que applicable
Miusi proper noun which most nearly
corresponds with the namew we are con-
slderiug. 1t signifies PRIMARILY lat the