224 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



has the reputation of being the finest Indian scholar 

 in the country, I learned as his opinion that as nearly 

 as he could judge without giving the subject careful 

 thought, the name was similar in its' significance to 

 that of Natick, — i. e. , ' the place of the hills'; an ap- 

 propriate name, certainly. The idioms of the island 

 aborigines would easily account for a change in the 

 structure of the word." 



The above was signed " Nantucket, Jr.," and was 

 from the pen of Mr. Alex. Starbuck, of Waltham, 

 Mass. 



It will be found, if one cares to pursue the subject, 

 that all names of localities which end in e£, etts, or 

 fce£, are of Indian origin. Thus : Miacomet, Meta- 

 comet, Pawtucket, Shetucket, Pawtuxet, Nantasket, 

 Wannacomet, Massachusetts (many mountains ?), 

 Neponset, Pocasset, Narragansett. 



Knowing nothing of either the Norse or Indian 

 languages, the compiler would hazard the conjecture 

 that that bold navigator Bjorne Herjulfson, or some 

 other equally bold, did discover the island and give 

 it the name of Nauticon, which in the idioms of the 

 Indian tongue had been Nantucket, ages before. 



In Drake's " Nooks and Corners " will be found on 

 page 325 the following in relation to the name : " The 

 name of c Nautican ' is the first I have found applied 

 to Nantucket Island (by Sir F. Gorges). Whether 

 the derivation is from the Latin nauticus, or a cor- 

 ruption of the Indian, is disputed, though the word 

 has an unmistakably Indian sound and construction. 

 In the patents and other documents it is called Nan- 

 tukes, Mantukes, or Nantucquet Isle, indifferently ; 



