148 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Webster, interpreter to the Oneidas, signifies in the dialect of the 

 Indians, a swamp under, or at the foot of a hill or mountain." Mr 

 Clark referred to this and made special inquiries about the word.. 

 He said: "From the best information we have attained we set it 

 down as the 'residence of the people of the hills,' the word swamp 

 having no connection with it." The successive towns were at first 

 on the hills near Limestone creek, but the name followed the later 

 sites on lower lands. The Oneida and Oswego rivers once had 

 this name, and Onondaga lake and creek retain it. 



O-nun-da'-ga, on the hills, is Morgan's name for the creek. 



O-nun'-o-gese, long hickory, is his name for Apulia, and may be 

 compared with names used by the Moravians. 



O-ser-i-gooch, the large lake in Tully, was so called by Span- 

 genberg in his journal of 1745. 



Oswego, lowing ojit, an old name for Seneca river in its down- 

 ward course. 



Ote-ge-ga-ja-ke, for Pompey and Lafayette, is correctly given 

 by Clark as a place of much grass openings or prairies. This 

 alluded to the many fields abandoned as the Onondagas removed 

 their villages, for they occupied several places in these towns. 



Mr Clark added : "Another name given to this locality, not often 

 repeated, and about which there is much superstitious reserve, is 

 Ote-queh-sah-he-eh, the field of blood or bloody ground — a place 

 where many have been slain. It has been said that no Indian ever 

 visits this neighborhood. They certainly very much dislike to con- 

 verse about it. A. Cusick did not know Pompey by this name, but 

 defined it as Mood spilled. There is no evidence of early battles 

 there, but the allusion is to the numerous cemeteries. In Iroquois 

 speech even a peaceful death might be considered as the shedding 

 of blood. Thus, in one of the condoling songs the people are re- 

 minded that their great men, warriors, women, and even little 

 children were daily borne into the earth, " so that in the midst of 

 blood you are sitting. Now, therefore, we say, we will wash off the 

 blood marks from your seat." Thus to call a place a field of blood 

 might be merely to say it was a place where many were buried. 

 Many illustrations could be cited. 



O-tis'-co or Otskah lake appears as Ostisco on a map of 1825. 

 Spafiford said : "Otisco is from Ostickney, signifying waters much 



