Mohawk, the river so called--properly "the Mohawk's River," or river of the Mohawks--rises near the centre of the State and reaches the Hudson at Cohoes Falls. Its name preserves that by which the most eastern nation of the Iroquoian confederacy, the Six Nations, is generally known in history--the Maquaas of the early Dutch. The nation, however, did not give that name to the stream except in the sense of occupation as the seat of their possessions; to them it was the _O-hyoⁿhi-yo'ge,_ "Large, chief or principal river" (Hewitt); written by Van Curler in 1635, _Vyoge_ and _Oyoghi,_ and by Bruyas "_Ohioge,_ a la riviere," now written _Ohio_ as the name of one of the rivers of the west, nor did they apply the word Mohawk to themselves; that title was conferred upon them by their Algonquian enemies, as explained by Roger Williams, who wrote in 1646, "_Mohowaug-suck,_ or _Mauquawog,_ from _Moho,_ 'to eat,' the cannibals or men-eaters," the reference being to the custom of the nation in eating the bodies of enemies who might fall into its hands, a custom of which the Huron nations, of which it was a branch, seem to have been especially guilty. To themselves they gave the much more pleasant name _Canniengas,_ from _Kannia,_ "Flint," Which they adopted as their national emblem and delineated it in their official signatures, signifying, in that connection, "People of the Flint." When and why they adopted this national emblem is a matter of conjecture. Presumably it was generations prior to the incoming of Europeans and from the discovery of the fire-producing qualities of the flint, which was certainly known to them and to other Indian nations [FN-1] in pre-historic times. When the flint and steel were introduced to them they added the latter to their emblem, generally delineated it on all papers of national importance, and called it _Kannien,_ "batte-feu," as written by Bruyas, a verbal form of _Kannia,_ "a flint," or fire-stone, the verb describing a new method of "striking fire out of a flint," or a new instrument for striking fire, and a new emblem of their own superiority springing from their ancient emblem. The Delawares called them _Sank-hikani,_ [FN-2] or "The fire-striking people," from Del. _Sank_ or _San,_ "stone" (from _Assin_), and _-hikan,_ "an implement," obviously a flint-stone implement for striking fire, or, as interpreted by Heckewelder, "A fire-lock," and by Zeisberger, "A fire-steel."