Part 38

The locations of the castles or principal towns of the nation, as noted in Van Curler's Journal, has given rise to considerable discussion, particularly in regard to the location of the first of the series and its identity under the different names by which it was called. Van Curler was not an "ignorant Hollander wandering around in the woods," as one writer states; on the contrary, he was an educated man and one of the best equipped men then in the country for the trip he had undertaken, and instead of "wandering around in the woods," he was conducted by Mohawk guides. He wrote that he left Fort Orange in company with Jeronimus la Crock, William Thomasson, and five Mohawks as guides and bearers, "between nine and ten o'clock in the morning," December 12, 1634, and after walking "mostly northwest about eight miles" (Dutch), stopped "at half-past twelve in the evening" (p. m.) "at a little hunters' cabin near the stream that runs into their land, of the name of Vyoge." His hours' travel and his miles' travel to this point were either loosely stated in his manuscript or were misread by the translator. [FN-7] A Dutch mile is one and one-quarter hours' walk and the equivalent of three and one-half English miles and a fraction over. Van Curler no doubt estimated his miles by this standard and not as correct measurements of rough Indian paths. He certainly did not walk eight Dutch miles in three hours. Twenty-four English miles would have taken him to a point northwest of the later Schenectady stockade, which, in 1690, was counted as twenty-four English miles from Fort Orange by the road as then traveled. The "little hunters' cabin" at which he stopped and which he located "near the Vyoge," he explained in his notes of his second day's travel, as "one hour's walk" from the place where he crossed the stream, which would have taken him to a crossing place west of Schenectady, noted in a French Itinerary of 1757 as about one and one-quarter leagues west of the then fort at that settlement, and, presumably, by the canal survey of 1792, as at the first rift west of the beginning of deep water one and one-half miles (English) east of the rift referred to, from which point the survey gave the distance "to the deep water at or above the mouth of Schohare creek" as twenty-five miles. In going to, or from, the crossing-place he "passed Mohawk villages" where "the ice drifted fast," and gave his later travel as "mostly along the kill that ran swiftly," indicating very clearly that he passed along the rapids. Why he crossed the Mohawk when there was a path on the south side, is explained by Pearson's statement (Hist. Schenectady) that the path on the north side "was the best and most frequently traveled path to the Mohawk castles," and held that reputation for many years. It was a trunk line from the Hudson with many connecting paths. In considering his miles' travel the survey of 1792 may be safely referred to. [FN-8] His miles' travel, which he wrote as "eleven" (Dutch) he wrote on his return as "ten," which, counted as standard Dutch, would have been about thirty-five English miles; if counted by General John S. Clark's average of shrinkage, about thirty, which would have taken him from the hunters' cabin to a point two or three miles west of the mouth of Schohare Creek.

Referring particularly to his Journal: On the morning of the 13th, at three o'clock, he left the "little hunters' cabin" where he passed the night, spent one hour in walking to the crossing-place, crossed "in the dark," resumed his march on the north side "mostly along the aforesaid kill that ran swiftly," and after marching ten miles arrived, "at one o'clock in the evening" (p. m.) "at a little house half a mile" (Dutch) "from their First Castle." When he stopped he was so exhausted by the rough road that he could scarcely move his feet, and hence remained at the "little house" until the next morning, when he recrossed the Mohawk to the south side "on the ice which had frozen over the kill during the night," and "after going half-a-mile" (Dutch), or say one and one-half English, arrived "at their First Castle," which he found "built on a high mountain." It contained "thirty-six houses in rows like streets." The houses were "one hundred, ninety or eighty paces long," and were no doubt palisaded as he called the castle a "fort." The name of the castle, he wrote later, was _Onekagoncka._ The crossing was the only one which he made to the south side of the Mohawk in going west. _Where,_ aside from a fair computation of his miles' travel, _did he cross?_ Certainly he did not cross on the ice which had frozen over the rapids east of the mouth of Schohare Creek, for they were never known to freeze over in one night, if at all. Certainly he did not cross east of the rapids, for they extended three and one-half miles east of the mouth of the creek. Obviously, if he crossed Schohare Creek on the ice and "did not know it," as one writer suggests, he must have crossed it in _going to the castle,_ which would surely locate the castle _west_ of the stream. There is not the slightest notice of the stream in his Journal, nor is there any place for it in the harmony of his narrative. The tenable conclusion, from the comparison of his miles and from the natural facts, is that he crossed "on the ice" which had frozen over the deep water "at or above the mouth of Schohare Creek"; that his march took him to the vicinity of Aurie's Creek, or substantially to the castle which Father Jogues called _Osseruenon,_ the site of which is now marked by the Society of Jesus with the Shrine, "Our Lady of Martyrs," whether that castle was east or west of Aurie's Creek, evidences of Indian occupation having been found on a hill on the west side of the creek as well as on a hill on the east side. [FN-9] These evidences, however, prove very little in determining the location of a particular castle three hundred years ago; they only become important when sustained by distances from given points or by natural features of record.

The locative conclusion stated above is more positively emphasized by counting Van Curler's miles' travel and his landmarks in going west from _Onekagoncka,_ and by the natural features which he noted in his Journal. Leaving _Onekagoncka,_ he wrote that he walked "half a mile" (Dutch) "on the ice" which had frozen over the kill, or say one and one-half English miles, and in that distance passed "a village of six houses of the name of _Canowarode._" It was near the river obviously. Walking on the ice "another half mile" (Dutch), he passed "a village of twelve houses named _Senatsycrossy._" After walking "another mile or mile and a half" on the ice, he passed "great stretches of flat lands" and came to a castle which he first called _Medatshet,_ and later _Canagere,_ which he denominated "The Second Castle." His distances traveling west "on the ice" were evidently more correctly computed than they were on his march on the rough path "along the kill that ran swiftly." His miles from _Onekagoncka_ to _Canagere_ are given as two and a half (Dutch) or about nine miles English. The actual distance is supposed to have been about eight. He found the castle "built on a hill without any palisades or any defence." He located it east of Canajohare Creek, a stream which has never lost its identity. When Van Curler visited the castle it contained "sixteen houses, fifty, sixty, seventy or eighty paces long."

Detained in this castle by a heavy fall of rain which broke up the streams--the "January thaw" of 1635 in the Mohawk Valley--Van Curler resumed his journey on the 20th, and "after marching a mile" (Dutch), came to Canajohare Creek which he was obliged to ford. After crossing and walking "half a mile" (Dutch), he came to what he called the "Third Castle of the name of _Sohanidisse,_" later written by him _Rohanadisse,_ and by Van der Donck _Schanatisse,_ suggesting the name of the hill on which it stood, which Van Curler described as "very high." It contained "thirty-two houses like the others"; was not palisaded. The very high hill, and the flat lands which he referred to, remain.

On the 21st, _before_ reaching the second stream which he noted later as having crossed, he wrote that "half a mile" _west_ of Canajohare Creek he came to a village of "nine houses of the name of _Osquage,_" which gave name to the stream now known as the _Otsquage,_ which he also called _Okquage_ and _Okwahohage,_ "Wolves"--a village of the Wolf tribe. On the 23d he forded the Otsquage, and after going "half a mile" (Dutch) _west_ of that stream, came "to a village named _Cawaoge._" It had fourteen houses and stood "on a very high hill." On his return trip he wrote the name _Nawaoga;_ on old maps it is _Canawadage,_ and has since 1635 been known as the _Nowadage_ or Fort Plain Creek. _He did not cross this stream,_ but after stopping at the village for a short time moved on "by land," presumably inland either north or south, and "going another mile" came to the "Fourth Castle," which he called _Tenotoge_ and _Tenotohage,_ and Father Jogues called _Te-ouonte-ogén,_ and also "the furthest castle." It was no doubt the principal castle of the Wolf tribe, strongly palisaded to defend the western approach to the seat of the nation, as was _Onekagoncka_ to guard the east. It was, he wrote, composed of fifty-five houses like the others. It stood in a valley evidently, probably on the bank of the creek, as he wrote that the stream (Otsquaga) which he had crossed in the morning "ran past" the castle; that he saw on the opposite (east) "bank" of the stream "a good many houses filled with corn and beans," and also extensive flat lands. Further than this topographical description the location of the castle cannot be determined. [FN-10] Van Curler's miles to the castle from _Onekagonka,_ as nearly as can be counted from his Journal, were about six Dutch or about twenty-one English, or as General Clark counted Dutch miles, about eighteen English. As Van Curler traveled "on the ice" for the most considerable part of the way from _Onekagoncka,_ and followed necessarily the bend in the river and diverged at times from the shore line, exact computation of his miles cannot be made. General Clark located the castle at Spraker's Basin, thirteen miles by rail west of Aurie's Creek. Van Curler located it _on the west side of Otsquage Creek._ On Simeon DeWitt's map of survey of patents in 1790 (Doc. Hist. N. Y., i, 420), the direct line from the west side of the mouth of Otsquage Creek to the west side of the mouth of Aurie's Creek is fifteen and three-tenths miles; following the bend in the Mohawk, as Van Curler did, it is seventeen and one-half miles. Granting that the lithographic reproduction of the map may vary from the original, it nevertheless shows conclusively that _Onekagoncka_ must have been located at or near Aurie's Creek, The suggestion that it was located on a hill on the east side of Schohare Creek is untenable, as is also the suggestion that it was at Klein, eight miles east of Schohare Creek. There may have been villages at a later date at the places suggested, but never one of the ancient castles. Counted from the east or from the west there is no location that meets Van Curler's miles, or Father Jogues' "leagues," so certainly as does Aurie's Creek. (See Oghracke.)

In addition to the locations of the ancient castles, Van Curler's notes supply interesting evidence of the strength of the Mohawks when the Dutch first met them, which was then at its highest known point in number and in the number of their settlements, namely: Two hundred and twenty-five "long houses" in castles and villages, without including villages on the lower Mohawk "where the ice drifted fast," which he passed without particular note, and those in villages or settlements which he did not see. Two hundred and twenty-five houses were capable of holding and no doubt did hold a very large number of people, packed as they were packed. Father Pierron reported, in 1669, after the French invasion of 1666, that he visited every week "six large villages, covering seven and one-half leagues distance," around Caughnawaga where he was stationed. In almost constant wars with the French, and with the Hurons and other Indian tribes as allies of the French, their number had dwindled to an estimate of eighty warriors in 1735. The story of their greatness and of their decay is of the deepest interest. No student of American history can dispense with its perusal and be well-informed in the events of the pioneer era.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Arent Van Curler, in 1635, in his "Journal of a Visit to the Seneca Country," wrote: "I was shown a parcel of flint-stones with which they make a fire when in the forest. These stones would do very well for flint-lock guns."

Roger Williams wrote of the Narraganset Indians in 1643: "I have seen a native go into the woods with his hatchet, carrying a basket of corn with him, and stones to strike a fire." Father Le June wrote, in 1634: "They strike together two metallic stones, just as we do with a piece of flint and iron or steel. . . . That is how they light their fire." The "Metallic stones" spoken of are presumed, by some writers, to have been iron pyrites, as they may have been in some cases, but the national emblem was the flint.

[FN-2] "_Sankhicani,_ the Mohawk's, from _Sankhican,_ a gun-lock." (Heckewelder.) The name appears first on the Carte Figurative of 1614-16, in application to the Indians of northern New Jersey (Delawares), who were, by some writers, called "The Fire-workers." They seem to have manufactured stone implements by the application of fire. Presumably they were "Fire-strikers" as well as the Mohawks. Certainly they were not Mohawks. Were the Mohawks the discoverers of the fire-striking properties of the flint?

[FN-3] State Historian Hastings writes me: "The map of which you inquire, appeared originally in a pamphlet published at Middleburgh, Holland, at the Hague, 1666. It was first reproduced by the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy in his translation of the 'Vertoogh van Nieu Nederland,' etc. His reproduction gives _Canagere,_ as the name of the second castle, and _Caneray_ as the name of the first, precisely as they appear in order in our reproduction in our Third Report."

[FN-4] _Oneongoure_ is a form of the name in Colonial History. In the standard translation of Jesuit Relations it is _Oneugiouré._ _Oneon_ is a clerical error. The letters _u_ and _ou_ represent a sound produced by the Indian in the throat without motion of the lips. Bruyas wrote it 8{_sic_ ȣ?}; it is now read _w-Onew._ Adding an _a,_ we have very nearly M. Cuoq's _Ohnawah,_ "current," "swift river"; with suffix _gowa,_ "great," the reference being to the great rapids near which the castle was located. The omission of the locative participle shows that it was not "at" or "on" the great rapids.

[FN-5] "Their three castles destroyed and themselves dispersed." (Col. Hist. N. Y., iv, 20, 22.) The castles referred to Caughnawaga, Canagora, and Tiononteogen. A castle on the south side of the Mohawk, said to have been about two miles inland, escaped. Presumably it was the village of the Beaver family, but we have nothing further concerning it. The attack was made on the night of Feb. 16, 1693. The warriors of the first two castles were absent, and the few old men and the women made little resistance. At the third, the warriors fought bravely but unsuccessfully. The three castles were burned; that at Caughnawaga was given to the flames on the morning of February 20, 1693.

[FN-6] Journal of Arent van Curler, of a visit to the Seneca country, 1634-5 O. S., translated by General James Grant Wilson, printed in "The Independent," N. Y., Oct. 5, 1895. Republished by National Historical Society.

[FN-7] General Wilson wrote me that the Journal was translated for him by a Hollander, now (1905) dead, and that the manuscript had passed out of his hands. The question of hours and miles is not important here. On his return travel he gave the distance from the little hunters' cabin (which in the meantime had been burned), as "A long walk," which will not be disputed. It may be added that it is not justifiable to count his two days' travel as one, and count the two as thirty-two English miles from Fort Orange. The two days' travel are very distinct in the Journal.

[FN-8] Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1087.

[FN-9] Father Jogues noted in his narrative a "torrent" which passed "At the foot of their village"--a brook or creek which was swollen by rains into a torrent, and from which, on the later recedence of the water, he recovered the remains of the body of his companion, Rene Goupil, who had been murdered and his body thrown into it, probably with the expectation that it would be carried down into the Mohawk, "At the foot of their village," or at the foot of the hill on which the village stood.

[FN-10] In the town of Minden, four miles south of Fort Plain, on a tongue of land formed by the Otsquaga Creek and one of its tributaries, are the remains of an ancient fortification, showing a curved line two hundred and forty feet in length, inclosing an area of about seven acres. The remains are, of course, claimed as belonging to the age of the mound-builders, but with equal probability are the remains of the ancient fort which Van Curler visited.

* * * * *

Kahoos, Kahoes, Cohoes, Co'os, forms of the familiar name of the falls of the Mohawk River at the junction of that stream with Hudson's River, has had several interpretations based on the presumption that it is from the Mohawk-Iroquoian dialect, but none that have been satisfactory to students of that dialect, nor any that have not been purely conjectural. One writer has read it: "From _Kaho,_ a boat or ship," commemorative of Hudson's advent at Half-Moon Point in 1609. Beauchamp repeated from Morgan: "A shipwrecked canoe," and, in another connection: "From _Kaho,_ a torrent." Another writer has read it: "Cahoes, 'the parting of the waters,' the reference being to the separation of the stream into three channels at its junction with the Hudson." The late Horatio Hale wrote me: "Morgan gives, as the Iroquois form of the name, _Gä-hŏ-oose_ (in which _ä_ represents the Italian _a_ as in father), with the signification of 'ship-wrecked canoe.' This, I presume, is correct, though I cannot analize the word to my satisfaction." The obvious reason for this uncertainty is that the name is _not_ Mohawk-Iroquoian, but an early Dutch orthography of the Algonquian generic _Koowa,_ "Pine"; _Koaaés,_ "Small pine," or "Small pine trees"; written with locative _it,_ "Place of small pine trees"; now applied to a small island. On the Connecticut River this generic is met in _Co'os_ and _Co'hos._ The "Upper Co-hos Interval" on that stream (Sauthier's map) [FN-1] was a tract of low small pine trees, between the hills and the river, corresponding with the topography at the falls on the Hudson. The Dutch termination _-hoos,_ meaning in that language, "Water-spout," may have given rise to the interpretation "The Great Falls," but if so the reading was simply descriptive. The presumption that the name was Mohawk-Iroquoian was no doubt from the general impression that the falls were primarily in a Mohawk district, but the fact is precisely the reverse. The Hudson, on both sides, was held by Algonquian-Mahicans when the Dutch located at Albany, and for some years later, and the Dutch no doubt received the name from them, as they did others. What few Mohawk names are met in this district are of later introduction. It may be noted that there is no element in the name in any dialect which refers to falls. [FN-2] When the falls were first known they were regarded as the most wonderful in the world, and even as late as 1680 they were so called by visitors. In early days the stream poured a flood nine-hundred feet wide and eight feet deep over a rocky declivity of seventy-eight feet, of which forty feet was perpendicular, in addition to which are the rapids above and below. The roar of the falling waters, and in the breaking up and precipitation of ice, was very distinctly heard at Fort Orange, nine miles distant, and the hills on which Albany now stands trembled under the impact. Primarily the falls were much higher than they are now, the stream having cut its way through one hundred feet of rock which rises on either side in massive wall. Below the falls the water separates in four branches or "Sprouts," the northerly and the southerly one reaching the Hudson five miles apart, at Waterford and West Troy respectively.

* * * * *

[FN-1] "L. Intervale-Cowass or Kohas (Coas) meadows." (Pownal's Map.)

[FN-2] The name having been submitted to the Bureau of Ethnology for interpretation, the late Prof. J. W. Powell, Chief, wrote me, as the opinion of himself and his co-laborers: "The name is unquestionably from the Algonquian _Koowa._"

Wathoiack, of record as the name of "The Great Rift above Kahoes Falls" (Cal. Land Papers, 134, etc.) is also written _Wathojax, D'Wathoiack,_ and _DeWathojaaks,_ means, substantially, what it describes, a rift or rapid. The cis-locative _De_ locates a place "On this side of the rapid," or the side toward the speaker. The flow of water is between walls of rock over a rocky bed, and the rapids extend for a distance of thirty-five or forty feet. (Ses Kahoes.)

Niskayune, now so written as the name of a town and of a village in Schenectady County, is from _Kanistagionne,_ primarily located on the north side of the Mohawk, _Canastagiowane_ (1667) being the oldest form of record. The locative description reads: "Lying at a place called _Neastegaione,_ . . . known by the name of _Kanistegaione._" West of Schenectady the Mohawk is a succession of rapids. At or below Schenectady it makes a bend to the northeast in the form of a crescent, around which the water flows in a sluggish current. At the north point of the crescent was, and probably is a place called by the Dutch the Aal-plaat (Eel-place), marked on maps by a small stream from the north which still bears the name, and which formed the eastern boundmark of the Schenectady Patent. In Barber's collection it is stated that there was an Indian village here called _Canastagaones,_ or "People of the Eel-place." Naturally there would be fishing villages in the vicinity. The location of the Aal-plaat is particularly identified in the Mohawk deed for five small islands lying at Kanastagiowne, in 1667, and by the abstract of title filed by one Evart van Ness in 1715. (Cal. Land Papers.) The name is from _Keantsica,_ "Fish," of the larger kind, and _-gionni, "Long"--tsi,_ "Very long"--constructively, "The Long-fish place," the Aal-plaat, or Eel-place, of the Dutch. The suggestion by Pearson (Hist. Schenectady) that the name "was properly that of the flat on the north side of the river," is untenable from the name itself. The reading by the late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan: "From _Oneasti,_ 'Maize,' and _Couane,_ 'Great'--'Great maize field'"--is also erroneous. The generic name for the field or flat was _Shenondohawah,_ compressed by the Dutch to _Skonowa._ In the vicinity of the Aal-plaat was the ancient crossing-place of the path from Fort Orange to the Mohawk castles, in early days regarded as the "Best" as it was the "Most traveled." The path continued north from the crossing as well as west to the castles.