NAMES. 
483 
many words of theirs would have been preserved on the hemi- 
sphere bearing an Italian name, if the language had been spoken in 
any part of the continent, by a colony of their own. As a people, 
they have produced great leaders, but no colonists. The French 
have generally given respectable names, either repetitions of 
personal titles, or of local names, or else descriptive words la 
Louisiane, les Carolines, le Maine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada for, 
as we have already observed, leaving a good Indian name is equal 
to gi?ving one of our own. It may also be doubted if the French 
have placed one really ridiculous word on the map. The Dutch, 
also, have shown themselves trustworthy in this way ; their names 
are rarely poetical, but they are never pompous or pretending. 
They are usually simple, homely, and hearty : the Schuylkill, 
or Hiding-Creek ; Reedy Island ; Boompties-IIoeck, Tree-Point ; 
Barnegat, the Breaker-Gut ; Great and Little Egg Harbors ; Still- 
water ; Midwout, or Midwood ; Flachtebos, or Flatbush ; Greene- 
bos, Grecnbush ; Hellegat ; Verdreitige Hoack, Tedious Point ; Ha- 
verstroo, or Oat Straw ; Yonker's Kill, the Young-Lord's-Creek ; 
Bloemen'd Dal, Bioomingdale, are instances. Among the most pe- 
culiar of their names, are Spyt-den-duyvel Kill, a little stream, 
well known to those who live on the Island of Manhattan, and 
Pollepel Island, a familiar object to all who go up and down the 
Hudson ; In-spite-of-the-devil-creek is a translation of the name 
of the stream ; formerly there was a ford there, and the spot was 
called Fonteyn, Springs. Pollepel means a ladle, more especially 
the ladle with which waffles were made. So says Judge Benson. 
In short, it would not be difficult to prove that, happily for the 
world, other nations have shown more taste and sense in giving 
names than the English or the Yankees. It is remarkable, that 
