658 



SUSQUEHANNA 



[b. a. b. 



that Heckewelder's suggested derivation 

 of the name Wyoming from a Delaware 

 or cognate term is merely a translation of 

 the Iroquoian term. Heckewelder says, 

 M'cheuomi or 31' cheuwdmi "signifieth ex- 

 tensive level flats," and because of the 

 large falls on this river, it is called, he 

 says, "M'chweuwamiSipu" by theDela- 

 wares, and "Quahonta" by the Six Na- 

 tions, which is the nominal stem in the 

 Iroquoian term in question. The locative 

 of the Delaware term would be M'cheu- 

 6mmg, or M'dieuwaming, meaning 'at the 

 great fiats, or plain,' which the English 

 have changed into "Wyoming." The 

 animate plural added to the first of these 

 examples would produce JSP cheuomek, 

 which Smith heard from another dialect 

 as ' ' Massawomecke. ' ' This seems to con- 

 firm the suggestion that the "Massawo- 

 mecks" of Smith were identical with the 

 "Scahentoarrhonons" of the Jesuit Re- 

 lation for 1635. It has been seen that 

 Akhrakvaeronon, of which Atra'kwae'- 

 ronnons is a well-known dialectic varia- 

 tion in Huron (in which kh=t), is a syn- 

 onym of ScuJieiitoarrhowms, and so it is 

 possible to show that these people of 

 Wyoming were destroyed by the Iroquois 

 in 1652. Two entries in the Journal des 

 PP. Jesuites for ]652 explain this; the 

 entry for June 5 says that "the Iroquois, 

 having gone during the winter in full force 

 against the Alra^ kwaeWonnons or Andas- 

 to^e'ronnons, had had the worst of !t," but 

 that for July 3 says the news was "the 

 capture of Atra'kwa'e [= Atra'kwaye'] by 

 the Iroquois Nations, to the number of a 

 thousand. They have carried off 5 or 6 

 hundred — chiefly men. The Mohawk 

 lost in this expedition 10 men; the other 

 cantons, some 20, some 30 — all together, 

 130." The identification of Atra'kwaye 

 with Andasto'e' in the foregoing citations 

 is probably due to a misconception of the 

 relator. From the Journal des PP. Jesu- 

 ites for 1651 (Apr. 22) it is learned that 

 in the autumn of 1650, 1,500 Iroquois had 

 attacked the Neutrals and had taken one 

 of their towns, but that the Neutrals, led 

 by the Tohontaenrat, the Deer tribe of the 

 Hurons, named the White-eared, fell on 

 the retreating Iroquois and killed or cap- 

 tured 200; that, notwithstanding this re- 

 verse, 1,200 Iroquois returned thither 

 during the winter of 1651 to avenge their 

 loss. The Journal for Apr. 7, 1652 says 

 only 600 Iroquois struck this blow. In 

 the same Journal for 1652 (Apr. 19) it is 

 stated that the Neutrals have formed an 

 alliance with those of Andasto'e' (=Ka- 

 nasto'ge) against the Iroquois; that the 

 Seneca, going to war against the Neutrals, 

 had been defeated, and as a consequence 

 the women had been compelled to leave 

 Sonnontouan (the Seneca capital) and 

 withdraw to the Cayuga; and that during 



the winter the Mohawk had gone to war 

 toward Andasto'e', the result being un- 

 known. The Jesuit Relation for 1651 

 (chap. II, ed. 1858) gives the informa- 

 tion that the Iroquois for a year past 

 had turned their arms against the Neu- 

 trals and had met with some success, 

 taking two frontier towns, in one of which 

 were 1,600 men. One was taken in the 

 autumn of 1650, and the other in the early 

 spring of 1651; the destruction of life was 

 great, especially among the aged and the 

 children, and the number of captives, 

 particularly young women, was very large. 

 This loss brought about the total dispersal 

 of the Neutrals, but did not result by any 

 means in the total extinction of the peo- 

 ple of that nation, as the following cita- 

 tion from the Journal des PP. Jesuites for 

 1653 clearly indicates, when considered 

 in connection with the reputed alliance 

 of the Neutrals with the Conestoga, 

 mentioned above, giving some insight 

 into the state of affairs in regard to the 

 Erie and allied tribes southward. "All 

 the Algonquian Nations are assembling, 

 with what remains of the Tobacco Na- 

 tion and of the Neutral Nation, at 

 Ayotonatendiye [i. e.. At Potawatomi 

 Place], 3 days' journey above the Sault 

 Skiaye [i. e., Sault Ste Marie], toward the 

 south. Those of the Tobacco Nation have 

 wintered at Teyaonto'rayi [i. e., AtMichi- 

 limaekinac] ; the Neutrals, to the number 

 of 800, at Sken'chioye [i. e.. At the Place 

 of the Foxes, being a. of Detroit], toward 

 Teyo'chanontian [Detroit] ; these two na- 

 tions are to betake themselves next au- 

 tumn to the "Place of the Potawatomi, 

 where even now they number a thousand 

 men, to wit, 400 Potawatomi, 200 Ottawa 

 or Cheveux Relevez, 100 Winnebago, 

 people from the Nation of A'chawi, 200 

 Chippewa, and 200 Missisauga and allies. 

 A 'chawi is the one who is directing all this 

 affair." (In the italicized native words 

 the letter y has been substituted for the 

 inverted comma of the original.) Of all 

 the tribes which at this period became 

 involved in war with the Iroquois, the 

 Erie and allies apparently do not appear 

 in this complot of the enemies of the Iro- 

 quois. But it is very probable that the 

 Erie here appear under the name Achawi, 

 or A'chawi, which was seemingly their 

 Algonquian appellation. And it may be 

 that this name is a form of Smith's Utcho- 

 wig, the final g being the animate plural 

 sign. It is evidently a translation of the 

 Iroquois-Huron name Rhiierrhonon and 

 cognate forms (see Erie), which signify, 

 apparently, ' People of the place of pan- 

 thers, ' or possibly of wildcats, the name 

 being generic for both of these animals. 

 For wildcat. Smith gives utchunquoyes, 

 Strachey gives uichoonggwai for a cat or 

 a wild beast much larger and spotted 



