Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: which border upon that state. By the English they were called River Indians; but those who lived in Berkshire County came afterwards to be called Housatonic Indians. Their proper name is Muh-he-ka-neew in the singular, and Muh-he-ka-ne-ok in the plural, signifying " the people of the continually flowing waters." The orthography of the word does not however seem certain, as besides the above method from the Berkshire History, it is spelled Muh-he- ka-nuk by Mr. Sergeant in 1818, and by the Indians themselves at different times—Muh-he-con-nuk which, strictly, denotes their place of residence, Muh-hea-ken-nuk, Muli- hea-kenn-nuk, Muh-hea-kun-nuk, and Muh-he-cun-nuk. SECTION II. INDIAN HISTORY. The History, and perhaps we may say the entire literature of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, was treasured in the minds of a succession of "historians," each of whom trained one or more to fill the office after his death. When a mission had been established among them, and youth had been sufficiently instructed, a portion of this literature was written down for preservation, as more safe in a civilized community than tradition. Dr. Dwight seems to have had access to a perfect copy; but the one here given has lost its first and its last leaf, and no traces of their contents have yet been discovered except what can be gathered from his " Travels." The History, as we have it, was sent from New York, and is said to have been written, " doubtless, by Capt. Hendrick Aupaumut." Its false syntax is valuable, rather than objectionable, as it furnishes illustrations for the treatise upon their language, and renders that section more perspicuous. According to the extracts made by Dr. Dwight, they came from a country northwest of Stockbridge, having "crossed the great water at the place where this and the...