Evening star., 1925-05-24

| his works. But the village of Onaw-
manient furnishes a clue.
From its location on his map and its
| spelling. Onawmanient has been iden-
titled with Nomini, the name of a
| small bay and creek on the Virginia
| side of the Potomac, about 80 miles
| from its mouth. Smith probably ask
| ed the Indians for the names of the
| tribes, villages and rivers he visited
! and then wrote them down, as they
sounded TO him, in the English Ian
| guage. Many of the names have been
retained in the original spelling; 9TH
ers have been slightly changed or con-
tracted. syllables being dropped off at
the beginning or end, or at both ends
The word Onawmanient is one of
! the most interesting examples on rec
ord OF this sort of contraction. The
word was probably pronounced in the
hrst instance with an accent on the
second syllable, nav" and on the
next to last syllable 81" Then in the
course of time the first and last sylla-
Dies were lost or dropped for the sake
OF convenience, and the ward became
NaWmanl, spelled today "Nomini''
Even If Smith did not paddle out in
an Indian canoe on the waters of the
main river at this point, or visit its
shores, he very likely obtained a view
OF Its great eXpanse from the shores
OF Nomin1 Bay between Christmas
ana New Years day in 1907. 1t is
evident from Smiths determination
later TO explore the Potomac that the
river made a deep impression on him
at that time
Dur1ng his captivity Smith had a
long talk with the Powhatan. who was
chiettain of all the allied tribes on the
! virginia side of the Potomac as far
north as Little Falls, or nearly that
1ar- Several times in their converse
ton reference is made to the Poto-
mac River and the tribe of Potomac
lholans. The Powhatan described "a
mighty nation, called Pocoughtronack.
nerce nation that did eat men and
Warred with the people of Mayaonoer
and Pataromerke," the latter name
being undoubtedly another one of
Smiths many ways of spelling Pa
taWomek, now Potomac.
In his description of Virginia Smith
says that beyond the mountains.
from whence is the head of the river
fataWomeke, the savages report that
their mortal enemies, the Massawo
mekes, live upon a salt walter lake.
which Smith thinks is some part of
Canada or an arm of the Pacific
Ocean.
These references explain more ful1v
why Smith said in his speech to his
discouraged crew on Chesapeake Bay.
just before they found the mouth of
the Potomac River, that he was not
going to return until he found Pa
tawomek and the Massawomekes. He
had apparently made up his mind
that no exploration of that region
| would be worth anything that did
not result in knowledge of them, be-
cause OF the importance which both
the village of the Patawomekes sand
their enemies the MasSa womekes held
in the eyes of the Powhatan and his
1eIioW countrymen. 1t is now known
that the Massawomekes were the Iro-
quois, whose headquarters were on
the Great Lakes.
LOOMING now to Smiths discovery
Of the mouth of the Potomac
River, we find that they sailed I'D the
rivers estuary for 80 miles and then
were conducted by two savages up a.
little bayed creek" toward Onaw-
manient, where they nearly had a
fatal encounter with the Indians, but
finally succeeded in pacifying them.
Thus the first place that Smith Wis,
tied in the Potomac was Nomini Bay
and Creek. Smith says they landed
there and in the end were kindly used
by the natives.
In his familiar account of his voy-
age up the Potomac Smith gives no
clue to the identity of the two In
dians who met him in canoes. But i'll
his account of a second voyage of dis
covery on the Chesapeake, which be-
gan on July "a of the same year. after
narrating the discovery of the head
of the bay and telling of the return
to the mouth of the Rappahannock
River, next to the Potomac on the
south, he makes this highly important
statement:
Here we encountered eur old
| fy-fa
Cocomoco, upon the river Patawomek.
We supposed him some French mans
| some, because he had a thicke black
bush beard, and the savages seldom
have any at all, of which he was
not little proud, to see so many
Of his countrymen.
Wood and water he would fetch
US, and guide us any whether, nay,
cause divers of his countrymen helpe
us to toe against winde or tyde from
place to place till we came to Pata-
womek: there he rested till we returned
from the head Of the river, and occa-
stoned our conduct to the mine we
supposed Antimony."
The second part Of this statement
undoubtedly refers to his voyage up
the Potomac the month before, when
he visited the village of Patawomek
and the supposed Antimony mine.
Reference to Mosco as an "old friend"
clearly indicates that it was on that
former voyage that they first met
him. Historians have apparently
overlooked the fact, hidden in this
part of Smiths history, that he says
explicitly that he visited the head Of
the Potomac River-that is to say, the
head of navigation. This seems to set
tie the controversy over his visit to
the site of Washington by establish
ing the fact that he not only came
that far, but probably went as far
as a boat could go, namely, to the
foot of Little Falls, abouA miles
above Georgetown.
Yet many writers have denied that
there is any evidence that Smith as
cended as high as the site of Wash
ington. Smith said, in his we'll known
account of the voyage, that he went
"as high as we could with the bote"
But skeptical writer's have explained
| that as a possible reference to a side
trip up the Occoquon or some other
small stream flowing into the main
, river. They could not have known
of Mosco.
, But the evidence is cumulative in
favor of the view that he came to
the head of navigation. The Indian
! village highest up the river on the
, Maryland side. both on his map and in
the list given in his history, is Ma
cotchtanke. This name appears in
his own works and other colonial
writings variously as Nacastine, Ne
cost, Anacostine and finally we have
it in the Latinized form-thanks to
the good Jesuit fathers Of Maryland
! as Anacostia. Modern students of
; the Bureau OF American Ethnology.
Smithsonian Institution, have identi-