[FN] "Whale-fishing Island" is a mistranslation of "Walvish Eiland" (Dutch), meaning simply "Whale Island." It is related by Van der Donck (1656) that during the great freshet of 1647, a number of whales ascended the river, one of which was stranded and killed on this island. Hence the name.
Wallumschack, so written in return of survey of patent granted to Cornelius van Ness and others, in 1738, for lands now in Washington County; _Walloomscook,_ and other forms; now preserved in Walloomsac, as the name of a place, a district of country, and a stream flowing from a pond on the Green Mountains, in the town of Woodford, near Bennington, Vermont. [FN-1] It has not been specifically located, but apparently described a place on the adjacent hills where material was obtained for making paints with which the Indians daubed their bodies. (See Washiack.) It is from a generic root written in different dialects, _Walla, Wara_ etc., meaning "Fine, handsome, good," etc., from which in the Delaware, Dr. Brinton derived _Wálám,_ "Painted, from the sense to be fine in appearance, to dress, which the Indians accomplished by painting their bodies," and _-'ompsk_ (Natick), with the related meaning of standing or upright, the combination expressing "Place of the paint rocks." [FN-2] The ridges of many of the hills as well as of the mountains in the district are composed of slate, quartz, sandstone and limestone, which compose the Takonic system. By exposure the slate becomes disintegrated and forms an ochery clay of several colors, which the Indians used as paint. The washing away of the rock left the quartz exposed in the form of sharp points, which were largely used by the Indians for making axes, lance-heads, arrow points, etc. Some of the ochre beds have been extensively worked, and plumbago has also been obtained. White Creek, in the same county, takes that name from its white clay banks.
[FN-1] Vermont is from _Verd Montagne_ (French), meaning "Green Mountains," presumably from their verdure, but actually from the appearance of the hills at a distance from the color of the rocks reflected in the atmosphere. To the Indian they were Wal'ompskeck, "fine, handsome rocks."
[FN-2] An interpretation of the name from the form Wallumscnaik, in Thompson's Hist. Vermont, states that "The termination _'chaik'_ signifies in the Dutch language, 'scrip.' or 'patent.'" This is erroneous. There is no such word as _chaik_ in the Dutch language. The _ch_ in the name here stands for _k_ and belongs to _'ompsk._