404 The National Geographic Magazine 



weed." When the word first appeared 

 the country was inhabited by a tribe of 

 Miamis, in whose dialect the word for 

 skunk was ' ' se-kaw-kwaw. " It is said 

 that the wild cat, or skunk, was named 

 from the plant. 



Coney; island at the extremity of 

 Long Island, New York, which is said 

 by some to have been so named because 

 of the numbers of rabbits there. Another 

 theory ascribes it to the winds having 

 driven the sand into truncated cones. 

 It appears, however, to have been orig- 

 inally called Congu, which may suggest 

 another derivation. 



Chesapeake ; bay in Maryland which 

 gives name to several places in the 

 country. An Indian name variously ex- 

 plained. Heckewelder says it is cor- 

 rupted from Tschischwapeki, which is 

 compounded of kitshi, " highly salted," 

 and peek, " a body of standing water, 

 a pond, a bay." Others give che, 

 "great," and sepi, "waters." Bos- 

 man interprets it as " mother of waters. ' ' 

 W. W. Looker says that the early form 

 was Chesepiooc, from k'che-sepi-ack, 

 " country on a great river." 



California ; one of the states of the 

 Union. This name was applied by Cor- 

 tez to the bay and country, which he 

 supposed to be an island. The name is 

 that of an island in an old Spanish ro- 

 mance, where a great abundance of 

 precious stones were found. Eight 

 post-offices bear this name. 



Catiada ; villages in Marion County, 

 Kansas ; Pike County, Kentucky, and 

 Muskegon County, Michigan, named 

 from the Dominion of Canada. Author- 

 ities differ as to the derivation of this 

 name. Father Hennepin says the Span- 

 iards were the oiiginal discoverers of 

 the country, but upon lauding they 

 were disappointed in the general ap- 

 pearance, and expressed their feelings 

 by saying, "II capa di nada," "Cape 

 Nothing." Sir John Barlow says the 

 Portuguese, who first ascended the St. 

 Lawrence, believing it to be a passage 



to the Indian Sea, expressed their dis- 

 appointment when they discovered their 

 mistake by saying " Canada," " Noth- 

 ing here. ' ' This the natives are said to 

 have remembered and repeated to the 

 Europeans who arrived later, who 

 thought it must be the name of the 

 country. Dr Shea says the Spanish 

 derivation is fictitious. Some think it 

 was named for the first man to plant a 

 colony of French in the country, Mon- 

 sieur Cana. Charlevoix says the word 

 originated with the Iroquois Indians, 

 Kanata, or Kanada, "a collection of 

 huts, a village, a town," which the 

 early explorers mistook for the name of 

 the country. Other etymologies pro- 

 pose the two Indian words, Kan, "a 

 mouth," and ada, " a country ; " hence 

 " the mouth of the country," originally 

 applied to the mouth of the St. Law- 

 rence. There is a respectable authority 

 that the name was first applied to the 

 river. Lescarbot tells us that the Gas- 

 perians and Indians who dwelt on the 

 borders of the Bay of Chaleur called 

 themselves Canadaquea ; that the word 

 meant " province or country." Sweet- 

 ser says that the word came from the 

 Indian Caughnawaugh, "the village of 

 the rapids." Brant, the Indian chief- 

 tain, who translated the gospel into his 

 own language, used the word Canada 

 for " village." 



Chautauqua; county in Kansas ; 

 county, lake, and town in New York. 

 An Indian word which has been the sub- 

 ject of much controversy. Webster says 

 it is a corruption of a word which means 

 " fogg}' place." Another derivation 

 gives the meaning as " bag tied in the 

 middle," referring to the shape of the 

 lake. It is also said to mean "place 

 where a child was washed awaj r ." Dr 

 Peter Wilson, an educated Seneca, says 

 it is literal^ ' ' where the fish was 

 taken out." Other meanings given are 

 "place of easy death," "place where 

 one was lost." 



Brandywine ; creek in Pennsylvania. 



