134 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



made without her consent. Fugitives and enemies were safe there 

 for a reasonable time. In a certain case, however, she unwisely 

 sided with her own people and the fort was destroyed. The his- 

 toric basis of this legend is the fact that the Neutral nation, once 

 occupying both sides of Niagara river, sheltered both Hurons and 

 Iroquois in the great Huron war, allowing no fighting in their 

 territory. Hence their common name. David Cusick said : "A 

 queen, named Yagowanea, resided at the fort Kauhanauka, (said 

 Tuscarora) . . '. The queen lived outside the fort in a long 

 house, which was called a peace house. She entertained the two 

 parties who were at war with each other; indeed she was called the 

 mother of the Nations." 



Ni-ag-a-ra was an early French form of the name for the river, 

 but for a long time the accent was placed on the penult as in Gold- 

 smith's Traveller: 



When wild Oswego spreads her swamps around, 

 And Niagara stuns with thund'ring sound. 



It meant simply the neck connecting two great lakes, as the body 

 and head are united. The initial letter was often dropped by early 

 writers, and the word became Yagerah or Jagara, with the same 

 sound. This form, however, might lead to a different interpreta- 

 tion, for Zeisberger defines the Onondaga word Joragaree, to roar. 

 Sometimes there were prefixes, as Oneigra and Oniagorah in 1687, 

 the latter suggestiiiig- the idea of greatness. It appeared as the great 

 fall Oakinagaro in 1701, and Onjagera, Ochjagara, etc., in 1720, 

 becoming Oniagara in English use in 1726. In 1640 the Neutrals 

 had a village at the mouth of the River d'Onguiaahra, and this had 

 its name from the river. The Relation of 1641 mentions this early 

 name : 



On this side of the river, and not on the other, [east] as some 

 map marks it, are the greater number of the towns of the Neutral 

 nation. There are three or four beyond, arranged from east to west, 

 toward the nation of the Cat, or the Erieehronons. This river or 

 flood is that by whicli is discharged our great lake of the Hurons, 

 or Mer Douce, which flows first into the lake of Erie, or of the 

 nation of the Cat, and up to that point it enters into the lands of the 

 Neutral nation, and takes the name of Onguiaahra, until it is dis- 

 charged into the Ontario or lake of Saint Louys. 



Morgan gave the name of Ne-ah'-ga to Youngstown, and from 



