4 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



A bold eminence lying to the north of Bedford village retains the abo- 

 riginal name of Aspetong or Aspicung (Indian terms for an indigenous 

 variety of an odoriferous grape); while another on the west, covered 

 with luxurious woods and visible from all parts of the surrounding coun- 

 try, still bears the title of its aboriginal proprietor, Nanama, one of the six 

 great sagamores who (we shall see presently) sold land half a mile square 

 lying west of the old Hop Grounds in 1692. Two roads in the western 

 part of the town traverse the Indian paths of Potiticus and Suckebouk, 

 the former leading to Cohansey, a wild and romantic spot west of Broad 

 Brook, and almost under the shadow of Nanama. Here was a famous 

 spring of water, and here the Indians continued to reside down to a late 

 period of our Colonial History. 



Amawalk lot is a fine knoll situated near the banks of Stony Hill 

 River, in the immediate vicinity of which are the "pits," a sandy plain 

 surrounded by woods and marshy ground, almost bordering on the 

 Beaver Dam River, both these places were favorite sites for Indian 

 lodges. Patomus Ridge lies a little farther eastward, upon which stood 

 a cluster of wigwams, in 1692. Armonck, Comonck, or Kahomesug, 

 sold by Catoona and other Indians to the proprietors of the Hop 

 Grounds in 1683, is situated in the south-west part of the town. Cor- 

 nelius Van Tienhoven (an early Dutch authority) in describing the 

 bounds of the Indian territory of Wechquaesqueck, says, "This land is 

 situate between two rivulets called Sintsinck and Armonck lying between 

 the East and North River.* The term Armonckf (here alluded to) is 

 supposed to have been the original Indian appellation for the Byram 

 River, whose springs rise from the Comonck hills in this town, some- 

 times called Cohamong ridge; % the last syllable onck or ong, when 

 taken in connection with the rest of the word, denotes "the place or 

 locality where shells are manufactured into wampum." From this we 

 infer that the seawan (the specie currency of the natives) was once man- 

 ufactured in large quantities upon the banks of the Byram or Armonck, 

 while the whole county of Westchester was denominated "Laapha- 

 wachking," or "place of stringing beads." 



"Quauhaug is an English corruption of the Indian word Poquau- 

 hock. The New England and Long Island Indians called the round, 

 hard-shell clam Poqucrn, and added the termination hog, huog, hock or 

 haug, to signify the plural. In old works on New England and New 



*0'Callagan's Hist, of New Netherland, vol. 1, p. 240. 



tAmochk in the Delaware tongue signifk 

 •avid Zeisberger, Pliila, 1776. 



tRec. of 60. Road's Register's office, p. 1. 



tAmochk in the Delaware tongue signifies Baaver. Essay of a Delaware Indian, &c, by 

 David Zeisberger, Phila, 1776. 



