44 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



Dutch found a large shell-heap on the 

 west shore of Fresh Water pond, a 

 small pond, mostly swamp, which was 

 bounded by the present Bowery, Elm, 

 Canal and Pearl Streets, and which 

 they named from this circumstance 

 Kalch-Hook. In course of time, this 

 was abbreviated to Kalch or Collect 

 and was applied to the pond itself. 1 

 This shell-heap must have been the 

 accumulation of quite a village, for 

 Mrs. Jno. K. Van Rensselaer 2 speaks 

 of a castle called Catiemuts overlook- 

 ing a small pond near Canal Street, 

 and says that the neighborhood was 

 called Shell Point. Hemstreet refers 

 to the same castle as being on a 

 hill "close by the present Chatham 

 Square," and says that it had once 

 been an "Indian lookout." 3 Exca- 

 vations at Pearl Street are said to 

 to have reached old shell banks. 

 "The Memorial History of New 

 York" 4 says that a hill near Chatham 

 Square was called Warpoes, which 

 meant literally a "small hill." 5 

 According to the same authority, 

 "Corlear's Hoeck was called Naig- 

 ianac, literally, 'sandlands.' It may, 

 however, have been the name of the 

 Indian village which stood there, and 

 was in temporary occupation." This 

 is the only reference we have to this 

 village, but there are references to 

 another on the lower end of the Island. 

 Janvier 6 says that there was an Indian 

 settlement as late as 1661 at Sap- 



1 Mr. Edward Hagaman Hall, however, derives 

 the name from "Kolk" or "Kolch" a word still in 

 use in Holland and applied to portions of a canal 

 or inclosure of water. Editor. 



2 Goede-Vrouw of Manahata, p. 39. 



s Hemstreet, Nooks and Corners of Old New 

 York, p. 46. 



4 Bulletin, N. Y., State Museum, Vol. 7, No. 32, 

 p. 107, Feb., 1900. 



6 James G. Wilson, op. cit., p. 52. 



6 Evolution of New York. 



pokanican near the present Ganse- 

 voort Market. According to Judge 

 Benson, 1 Sappokanican ("tobacco 

 field") 2 was the Indian name for the 

 point afterwards known as Greenwich. 

 "In the Dutch records references are 

 made to the Indian village of Sap- 

 pokanican; and this name * *was 

 applied for more than a century to the 

 region which came to be known as 

 Greenwich in the later, English, times. 

 The Indian village probably was near 

 the site of the present Gansevoort 

 Market; but the name seems to have 

 been applied to the whole region lying 

 between the North River and the 

 stream called the Manetta Water or 

 Bestavaar's Kill." 3 Benton says that 

 the name of the village was Lapini- 

 can. 4 Going back to the old Dutch 

 records might lead to finding the actual 

 names and other data regarding these 

 places. 



Most of the specimens found on 

 Manhattan Island, as already stated, 

 come from the northern part. We 

 have a few from the central portion, 

 however. There are the arrow-heads 

 spoken of by Riker, and in the Webster 

 Free Library there is a fine specimen 

 of a grooved stone axe found at 77th 

 Street and Avenue B. Mr. Calver has 

 found an arrow-head at 81st Street and 

 Hudson River and specimens from the 

 site of Columbia College have been 

 recorded. 



Doubtless the northern part of the 

 Island was inhabited for the longer 

 period; but it is probable that all 

 along the shore, wherever one of the 

 many springs or small brooks, shown 



1 N. Y. Historical Society Collections, S. II, 

 Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 84, 1848. 



2 All Hilse translations are doubtful. 



3 Thos. A. Janvier, In Old New York, pp. 85-86. 



4 New York, p. 26. 



