682 [Assembly 



Farmingdale the wells are 20 feet deepj at Suffolk Station, 90 feet 

 above tide water, they are 40 feet, with never failing water. It 

 may not be uninteresting here to state, that very near this point of 

 the road (Suffolk Station,) about two miles to the north, are found 

 the head waters of the Nissequgue river, which rises in the north 

 part of the town of Islip, and flows northwardly through Smithtown 

 into Long Island Sound. The locality in which the waters of this 

 stream arise, is called by the Indian name of " Hauppague," which 

 means in the aboriginal language, " sweet waters," and is as justly 

 expressive of the nature and qualities of that to which it is applied, 

 as any terra of Virgil or Homer j as the whole region abounds in 

 springs of the purest and sweetest water j in some places gushing 

 suddenly and in great abundance out of the ground. It may here 

 be mentioned that this is the only place from which a supply of 

 pure and wholesome water can be had for the city of Brooklyn, and 

 the west end of the Island. The locality is such, and the formation 

 of the ground such, that a reservoir of vast extent and capacity 

 could easily be made, and the supply of water would be most abun- 

 dant and unfailing. The water could be raised as at Fairmount, or 

 by the steam-engine, as at New-Orleans, and then conveyed to 

 Brooklyn, a distance of about forty miles, if the wants of the city 

 hereafter require it. The expense and labor of such a work would 

 be a great deal less than the cost of the Croton, probably not more 

 than one-third as much, by reason of the difference in the face of 

 the country over which it would pass. A few miles east of this, and 

 near the middle of the island, is the famous Ronkonkama of Indian 

 memory, now commonly called the Great Pond, and is one of the 

 most beautiful sheets of water on the island. Says Mr. Thompson, 

 (Hist, of Long Island, vol. i., page 448,) *' It is certainly one of the 

 most remarkable features in the topography of Long Island, the first 

 discovery of which excites in the stranger equal surprise and 

 delight. 



" It is difficult to conceive of an object more gratifying to the ad- 

 mirer of nature, or the lover of beautiful scenery, than is here pre- 

 sented to his view, situated in the midst of an extensive forest. 

 The first sight of its placid and silvery surface creates astonishment 

 and rapture in the beholder." 



This gem of " the first water," thus set in with wild woodlands 

 and forests, is about a mile in diameter, of singular transparency 

 and of wonderful depth, and has no visible inlet or outlet. About 

 a mile and a half in a southwesterly direction, and about thirty feet 



