Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/70

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34 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROIK English dwelt about two hundred miles between the French and Dutch plantations ; and that though their dialects do ex- ceedingly differ within the said two hundred miles, yet not so, but within that compass a man by this help may converse with thousands of natives all over the country." Governor Hutch- inson also states, that from Piscataqua to Connecticut River the different tribes could converse tolerably together.* The Pequods and iMohegans claimed some authority over the Indians of the Connecticut River. But those, extending thence westwardly to the Hudson River, appear to have been divided into small and independent tribes, united, since they were known to the Europeans by no common government. Those within Connecticut were sometimes called " the Seven Tribes." With respect to those along the Hudson and w T ithin the juris- diction of New York, De Laet, who in Dutch affairs is an origi- nal authority, places the Manhattans and the Pacbamins on the eastern bank of the river and below the Highlands ; the War- oanekins on the eastern, and the Waranancongyns on the west- ern bank, both in the vicinity of Esopus, which he mentions by that name ; and above these, extending to Albany, the Manhikans on the eastern bank, and opposite to them the Mackwaes, their mortal enemies. " Maquas," was the name given by the Atlantic-Lenape nations to the Mohawks. In the Manhikans we recognise the Mohicans, Mohikanders, or River Indians. The Waroanekins and Waranancongyns are clearly the people since known to us by the name of Wappings or Wappingers, who have left their name to a river in Dutchess County, and who extended across the Hud- son, not only to Esopus, but also some distance below the Highlands, where they were bounded on the south by the Min- si f But they are at a later date embraced under the generic appellation of Mohikanders,^ which seems to indicate a commu- nity of language. And the identity of name, between the Mohikans of the Hudson and the Mohejans of East Connec- ticut, induces the belief that all those tribes belonged to the same stock. We have however no ancient vocabularies of their re- spective languages, and must recur to those of the Stockbridge dialect.

  • Hist, of Mass. Vol. I. p. 479.

f See treaty of Easton, of 1758, in which the Wappings of Esopus are mentioned, and those south of the Highlands jointly with the Minsi, execute a deed of release for lands in New Jersey. | See treaty of Albany of 1746, abovementioned.