Mo^N^^E'^y] 1'HE MEIPONTSKY OR MEIPOUTSKY. 37 



ous white visitors considerably west of tbe Blue ridge. In this name 

 the initial pio may be the Siouan root ma", "earth " or "country," and 

 the tiual to u may be the Siouan to" or to"iva'\ "village" or "settle- 

 ment," which appears in the tribal names Teton, Yankton, Sisseton, 

 etc. {Mohetan, Moheton, p. 100, N. Y., C). 



The Mciponlsky or Meipontsky. — These seem to be mentioned only 

 in the report of the Albany conference of 1722, convened at the 

 instance of Governor Spotswood to put an end to the inroads of the 

 Iroquois against the Virginian tribes. They are named as one of the 

 five tribes then living near Fort Christanna and known collectively 

 to the English as Christanna Indians and to the Iroquois as Todirich- 

 roone; the four others being the Saponi, Occaneechi, Stenkenock 

 (Stegaraki), and Tutelo. They were probably one of the Monacan 

 or jManahoac tribes, although they can not be identified with any of 

 those named by kSmith ; and as they do not appear in the later 

 records we may assume that their existence became merged in tiiat of 

 the Saponi and Tutelo {Meipontsky, N. Y., 7; Meipoutsky, Byrd, 5). 



THE SAPONI AND TUTELO. 



The Tutelo and Saponi tribes must be considered together. Their 

 history umler either nnme begins in 1070. 



As already stated, Monahassanngh and Nahyssan are other forms 

 of Ye.sa", the name given to themselves by the last surviving Tutelo, 

 and which seems to have been the generic term used by all the tribes 

 of this connection to designate them as a people. The name Sa])oni 

 (Monasickapaiiough ?) was generally limited to a particular tribe or 

 aggregation of tribal remnants, Avhile the Iroquois name Tutelo, Totero, 

 or Todirich-roone, in its vaiions forms, although commonly nsed by 

 the English to designate a particular tribe, was really the generic Iro- 

 quois term for all the Siouan tribes of Virginia and Carolina, including 

 even the Catawba. In 1722 the remnants of all the tribes of Virginia 

 and the adjacent parts of Carolina, included nnder this general desig- 

 nation by the Iroquois, had been gathered at Fort Christanna and 

 were commonly known collectively as Christanna Indians or Saponi. 

 After their removal to the Iroquois country in the north the Iroquois 

 collective term, Tutelo, became more prominent. In deference to 

 Hale, who first established their Siouan affinity, we have chosen to 

 use the form Tutelo, although Totero is more in agreement with the old 

 authorities. Vv'ith the Iroquois it takes the tribal suflix rone^ as 

 Todirich roone. Ilale states that, so far as known, the name has no 

 meaning either to the Tutelo, who call themselves Yesang, or to the 

 Iroquois (Hale, 2). As the name is used by Batts and Lawson it 

 probably belongs to some southern language and was adopted by the 

 Iroquois. It frequently hap])eiis that Indian tribes can not interpret 

 their common tribal designations, but know themselves simply as "the 

 people.'' 



