NO. 12 MONACAN TOWNS IN VIRGINIA BUSHNELL 5 



Lederer, and Manakin Town or Maningkinton of Michel. The mean- 

 ing of the word is not known. 



The spelHng of the names as given on the Smith map will be fol- 

 lowed when referring to the sites in the present sketch, although it 

 is not possi])le to discover which form is the more nearly correct. A 

 section of the map showing the five Monacan towns, the course of 

 the James and of its principal tributary, the Rivanna, is reproduced 

 in figure i. A second map, figure 2. is presented for comparison with 

 the preceding. The base is traced from a recent map issued by the 

 United States Geological Survey, and on this have been indicated 

 the sites of the five Monacan towns mentioned by the early writers. 

 They will be described separately in the following pages. 



How long the country had been occupied by the Siouan tribes can 

 never be determined. Others had preceded them, but who they were 

 or whence they came may ever remain unknown. The earlier habitat 

 of the Siouan tribes, to which stock the Monacan belonged, is believed 

 to have been in the valley of the Ohio, from which region they crossed 

 the mountains to the eastward and later occupied the lands where 

 they were encountered by the Virginia colonists early in the 17th 

 century. A comparison of the material to be recovered from sites 

 eastward from the Ohio may make it possible to trace the line of 

 migration of these tribes ; this would require much time and careful 

 study, but if successful would prove of the greatest interest. 



THE FALLS 



The Falls of the James, which tended to separate the regions 

 occupied by the two groups of tribes, may be more correctly described 

 as a series of rapids extending several miles. It was an important 

 place for fishing, and was frequented by the Indians whose camps 

 would have been found scattered along the wooded banks of the 

 stream, a very rough and broken bit of country. 



The last village of the Algonquian tribes up the river was a mile 

 or more below the foot of the rapids. It is not improbable that the 

 upper part of the falls, some miles distant from the Algonquian 

 village, was often visited by the inhabitants of the nearest Monacan 

 town, Mowhemcho. Powhatan's statement to Captain Newport at 

 the time of their first visit in 1608 that the Monacan "came Downe 

 at the fall of the leafe and invaded his Countrye," would indicate that 

 the Monacan rather than the Algonquian dominated the region and 

 did not fear the latter. 



There was formerly in " The Byrd Title Book " — a manuscript 

 volume belonging to the Virginia Historical Society — a drawing or 



