Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 22, November, 1878

SEAWANHAKA, THE ISLAND OF SHELLS. "FOR PERCIVAL." THE HARVESTING-ANTS OF FLORIDA. DOCTEUR ALPHGE. SYMPHONIC STUDIES. UNWRITTEN LITERATURE OF THE CAUCASIAN MOUNTAINEERS. THE GIFT. THROUGH WINDING WAYS. TO THE RAINBOW. THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1878. DESERTED. RAMBLING TALK ABOUT THE NEGRO. THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH OF THE BARONESS CONTALETTO. MUSIC IN AMERICA OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. LITERATURE OF THE DAY. Books Received. IT is not by any means certain what was the name by which Long Island was known to the aboriginal dwellers in its "forest primeval," or indeed 522that they ever had a common name by which to designate it. It seems probable that each tribe bestowed upon it a different name, expressive of the aspect that appeared most striking to its primitive and poetical visitors and occupants. Among so many tribesthe Canarsees (who met Hudson when on September 4, 1609, he anchored in Gravesend Bay), the Rockaways, Nyacks, Merrikokes, Matinecocs, Marsapeagues, Nissaquages, Corchaugs, Setaukets, Secataugs, Montauks, Shinecocs, Patchogues, and Manhansetts, to say nothing of the Pequots and Narragansetts on the northern shore of the Sounda community of usage in regard to nomenclature could hardly be expected. We accordingly find that one of the old names of the island was Mattenwake, a compound of Mattai, the Delaware for "island." It was also called Paumanacke (the Indian original of the prosaic Long Island), Mattanwake (the Narragansett word for "good" or "pleasant land"), Pamunke and Meitowax. For a name, however, at once beautiful and suggestive, appropriate to an island whose sunny shores are strewn with shells, and recalling Indian feuds and customs, savage ornament and tributes paid in wampum, no name equals that we have chosenSeawanhaka or Seawanhackee, the "Island of Shells." ......Buy Now (To Read More)

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Ebook Number: 25030
Author: Various
Release Date: Apr 10, 2008
Format: eBook
Language: English