DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 79 



traverses the island, presented at cadi successive point of 

 declination superb features of natural beauty which ought to 

 have been relieved by art, rather than remorselessly covered 

 up and lost to sight in the construction of the city. The per- 

 sistent sacrifice of such superior sites with their natural ad- 

 vantages for parks and squares is one of the most deplorable 

 and mischievous mistakes that has ever been made by 

 Brooklyn. As time breeds its own revenges, the force of this 

 statement will be more and more felt in the future growth of 

 the city. 



The most conspicuous instance of this short-sighted folly is 

 Brooklyn Heights. In old Indian days the Algonquins and 

 Iroquois were the two great races of red men occupying the 

 eastern part of the Continent. From them we get the original 

 roots of the Indian language. Scattered through the different 

 Slates were their tribal and sub-tribal divisions. The Mon- 

 tauks were the generic tribe of Long Island. Large heaps of 

 broken shells at scattered points along the shore tell of their 

 industry in manufacturing the circulating currency of the 

 country, viz., wampum or sea want, which was made by cutting 

 out the inner pillars of the quahog or conch shell, or the 

 circular eye of the hard-shell clam and periwinkle. The 

 blue ones were specially valuable. The tribes through 

 the interior were supplied with shell money and shell beads 

 and trinkets from these seawant mints. The Montauks were 

 divided into several tribal and subdivisions, among which were 

 the Canarsie Indians. A favorite watching ground of this 

 tribe, whence its plumed warriors might view the meeting of 

 the waters and devoutly contemplate the Great Spirit in the 

 setting of the sun, was the spot now known as Brooklyn 

 Heights. The name given to this cedar-crowned bluff' by the 

 aborigines was " Ish-pa-tig-oga " (high place of trees). This 

 harsh appellation became gradually softened by use to the 

 beautiful name of " Ihpetonga." 



Towering back on this high bluff' stood its stately temple of 

 cedars. Hundreds of years had been busy in its architecture. 

 The cycles of lost centuries slept in the rings of its great 

 trees. 



