l8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



attainments ; of great credulity, and with strong personal attach- 

 ments to the Indians. His entire life was passed among the Dela- 

 wares, and his knowledge of the Indian history and character was 

 derived wholly from them. The Delaware tribe was the first and 

 last object of his hopes. Every legendary story of their former 

 power, and of their subsequent fall, such as the old men repeated 

 to the boys in the long winter evenings, was received by him in 

 good faith, and has been recorded with all the gravity of history. 

 It appears never to have occurred to him that these traditional 

 stories, orally repeated from generation to generation, may have 

 finally borne very little resemblance to the events they commemo- 

 rate, nor that a Delaware could sacrifice the love of truth to the 

 love of his tribe. Cass, 22 :65 



All this must be taken with reasonable allowance but it may be 

 added that the best authorities sometimes err, Indians themselves 

 often differing widely in the interpretation of names, and that while 

 some are certain, very many must always be matters of opinion, 

 whoever sustains them. Most nouns have been shortened for con- 

 venience and others have been insensibly changed, so that the true 

 forms and meanings of mjany are hard to determine. 



LOCAL NAMES 



In giving and defining local names, when this can be done, 

 perhaps no better or more convenient arrangement can be made 

 than the arbitrary one of classing them by counties. The general 

 and logical territorjifil grouping has been mentioned, and on Long 

 Island might be preferred. Names might be grouped in linguistic 

 families, but a little practice soon enables most persons to distin- 

 guish between Iroquois and Algonquin names, wherever found, 

 though a few are barely separated in sound. It will be seen that 

 many places have more than one name, or that it appears in several 

 forms. At first it seemed best to group all the names of any place 

 under one head. While this is occasionally done it seemed better 

 to separate the more important names or forms, giving them a 

 nearly alphabetical arrangement in the several counties. A few 

 doubtful names will appear, where writers have differed as to their 

 origin. It is remarkable that they are so few. 



ALBANY COUNTY 



The Indian title was so soon extinguished in most of Albany 

 county that few local names remain. It belonged to the Mahicans, 



