New-York tribune., 1918-09-07
Lyric Names
TO the Eoito, Of The Tribune.
country

10 fhe E0ltOT oj me 1fibUHe.
ClR: All my life | have experienced three
~ things passion to climb hills, the
fascination OF water ana Il reverence for
Indian names. Perhaps the place Of my
BIRTH the surroundings and their names had
some influence in forming these inclna-
tons.
born Oh a bill. one of the seven
hills of Providence, and have never seen
a hill since without feeling a strong desire
to get to the top of it.
In picturesque Rhode Island one cannot
go far in any direction without coming 20
ponds or streams, or the noble bay which,
fringcd with smaller bays, covers perhaps
a sixth Of the area Of the state and has
three broad outlets to the ocean, These
waters were dear to mo from childhood,
and most of them bore the sonorous names
left by the tribes that have vanished away.
To substitute other names for these would
be, in my judgment, an act of vandalism, if
not Of sacricgc. Rhode Island at least has
faithfully preserved them.
The hill on which | started in life bears
the prosac ramc Of Smith, but ! am sure
it must have been known to the Indians by
Il more muSlCdl UeSlSndtlon. Along the east
side of the hill flowed the Moshassuck River
and along the west side the Woonasqua-
tucket River, their waters blending at its
foot to form the Providence River. A mile
away eastward :he Seekonk, sweeping broad
ly down from Pawtucket, issued between
the bluffs of Watchemokct and Tockwotton
to join the Providence River, thus forming
the head of Narragansett Bay. Into this,
four miles down. flowed the Pawtuxet River.
Very beautiful is this sylvan stream-the
Pawtuxct-up which have rowed ten miles
to Pontiac, passing, Sockanosset and Pocas-
set the way. Further up the river is a
tributary, the Ponaganset, which rises not
far from Charachct and receives the flow
Of Moswansicut River, Quonapaug and
Mousqutchawk brooks and Wcstconnaug
Pond.
My first timid ventures into the water
were in Woonasquatuckct River, there a
sparkling, hurrying stream, with grassy
banks and shaded by lofty trees. | learned
to swim in Mashapaug Pond. From the hill
of my birth looked far across the city to
the west, where Newfoundland Hill stood
against the horizon. My father as boy
and | half century later gathered bar
berries on its slopes and fingered upon its
summit, loath to turn away from that scene
of beauty.
In the Pawtucket Valley are Nipmuc Hill
Quidnick, Toque and Posncganset ponds
Just below the mouth Of the Pawtuxet River
is Passeonquis Cove, in front of which the
first British vessel captured by Americans
was burned in 1772 The next cove is Occu-
passatuxet Conmicut Point is the apex of
the shore line of Showomet Beach. All
around Greenwich Bay are the Indian
names, Tuscatucket River, the old village
of Apporaug, Cowcsett, Chepiwanoxet ISL
and, Potowomut River and Pojack Point
Following down this western shore of Mar
ragansett, We come to Quonset Point, An
naquatucket and Pettaquamscutt rivers,
while across the West Passage is Conanicut
Island.
Just below Providence, on the eastern
shore of the bay, is Squantum, a wee island
long the home Of famous club of the name
The rocky islet Pomham supports light.
Nayatt Point is nearly opposite Conmicut
The cape thai makes Bristol Harbor is
called Popasquash Neck. Just across the
Bristol Peninsula King Philip of Pokanoket
had his lofty seat, not far from the mouth
of Kickamuit River, near which is Toweset
Point. Further south is the great island of
Aquidneck, the southern end of which
stands Newport All the region about Mar
ragansett Bay seems to have been fairly
populous, with the Wampanoags in the near
east, the Pequods around The Pawcatuck
River and the Narragansetts between, the
last having, it is said 5000 warriors. We
of Rhode Island owe much to the duskv
men of the forest-and to their women
also, / make doubt for countless acts
of rude but sincere hospitality, much knowl-
edge of foods and their preparation-usefu
to this day-and for the honorable quality
of their dealings with our people, race
must be far from ignoble that produced
such men as Canonicus and Mantonomoh
and it is fortunate that we are not left
without reminders Of them, in the names
which they stamped upon their bays and
hills and streams. Over all the state we
find them, from Pascoag to Sakonnet and
from Woonsocket to Quonocontaug.
j. ALBERT STOWE.
Arlington, \. j.