ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK 39 



1 terminate the first (Chautauqua) with an a, because I sometimes 

 hear it pronounced by strangers, in two syllables, as well as that 

 this orthography comes nearer the Indian pronunciation. The fol- 

 lowing is written from statements given me in 1815, and subse- 

 quently, by several chiefs and interpreters of the Indian tribes in 

 the western part of this State. In their language there is a phrase, 

 or word-in-t heir-manner, signifying of the fog, at the fog, foggy 

 place, etc., spoken Ots-ha-ta'-ka, with long sound of o, and the 

 broad of a, except of the last letter, a short, almost like e. 



This would seem conclusive, but has been disputed. In the 

 Gleji Echo Chautauqua, August, 1891, Mr Albert S. Gatschet had 

 an article on this name. Mr J. N. B. Hewitt had told him that 

 " the first two syllables are both pronounced short," and gave the 

 original name as T'kantchata'kwan, "one who has taken out fish 

 there." This pronunciation disagrees with all writers, early and 

 late, unless the prefix is meant. He said, "There exists an old 

 tradition that the Indians of the vicinity took out fish from Lake 

 Erie to stock Lake Chautauqua." He thought Cattaraugus creek 

 was the place stocked. Mr Gatschet gave the story of Dr Peter 

 Wilson, an educated Seneca (Cayuga) chief: "A party of Senecas 

 were returning from the Ohio to Lake Erie. While paddling 

 through Chautauqua lake, one of them caught a strange fish and 

 tossed it into his canoe. After passing the portage into Lake Erie, 

 they found the fish still alive, and threw it into the water. From 

 that time the new species became abundant in Lake Erie, where one 

 was never known before." Hence they called the place where it 

 was caught, Jah-dah-gwah, the elements of which are Ga-joh, 

 "fish," and Ga-dah-gwah, "taken out." By dropping the prefixes, 

 according to Seneca custom, the compound name "Jah-dah-gwah" 

 was formed. 



In Schoolcraft's Seneca vocabulary Kenjuck expresses Ush 

 in general, gahquah being used for bass- The Onondagas call fish 

 ojoontwa, nor does this derivation have much support from other 

 vocabularies. For the early name Evans' map of 1758 has Jadach- 

 que, and on the boundary map of 1768 it is Jadaghque on Lake 

 Erie. Rev. Mr Alden said the name, as pronounced by Corn- 

 planter, was Chaud-dauk-wa. It is a Seneca name, of course, in 

 its later form at least, and "according to the. system of the late 

 Rev. Asher Wright, long a missionary among them and a fluent 



