122 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



gan, who gives it also as Ga-no'-wau-ga, which on the whole is bet- 

 ter. In 1667 Bruyas spoke of the first Mohawk castle as Ganda- 

 wague and there Jogiies was killed. In 1674 Kaghnewage was also 

 mentioned as the first castle. The more recent location was at 

 Fonda, where the name was applied to a large tract of land. Spaf- 

 ford said : "Caughnawaga, it is well known, was once an Indian 

 village, a principal town of the Mohawk Indians. The name sig- 

 nifies a coffin, which it receives from the circumstance of there being, 

 in the river opposite that place, a large black stone, (still to be 

 seen) resembling a coffin, and projecting from the surface at low 

 water." The Rev. John Taylor (1802) defined this as cook the 

 kettle, probably thinking of Canajoharie. Gallatin derived it from 

 Caghnuhwohherleh, a rapid. J. R. Simms objected to interpreting 

 Caughnawaga at tJie rapids, but forgot that the village of this name 

 was not always at one spot. He said : " It meant, literally, — stone 

 in the zvatei-. In the river, opposite to the ancient village of 

 Caughnawaga, and, perhaps, 25 feet from the southern or Fulton- 

 ville shore is a large boulder, which is the last stone seen when the 

 water is rising, and after a freshet, the first one visible when the 

 water is falling." This seems the stone alluded to in the name 

 Cayadutta. It is sufficient to say that the name followed the town 

 in its removals, could not have referred to this stone, and was used 

 before the Indians knew much of coffins. When some of the Mo- 

 hawks removed to the rapids near Montreal they took the old name 

 as an appropriate one for their new home, where it still remains. 



Caugh-ne-was-sa was placed by Schoolcraft in the Mohawk val- 

 ley, but it does not otherwise appear. He may have meant the pre- 

 ceding name. 



Ca-wa-o-ge or Na-wa-a-ge was a village east of the fourth castle 

 in 1634. Van Curler often gave two names to the Mohawk towns. 



Ca-ya-dut-ta creek, stone standing out of the water, flows through 

 the town of Mohawk. Simms says this means muddy creek, but 

 this is the definition of another name applied to a stream. 



Chuc-te-nun-da has been erroneously interpreted tivo sisters, per- 

 haps because the North and South Chuctenunda creeks are quite 

 near each other, but on opposite sides of the river. A. Cusick de- 

 fined this as stony, and Pearson made it stone houses, from the 

 sheltering cliffs. It is a name of early occurrence at Amsterdam, 



