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� Oct 11. 1929(?)

Dear Mrs Eckstorm

After reading your letter I was prepared to order a war bonnet and a pair of moccasins and join the merry throng of Abenaki conversationalists. As a contribution to the gayety of the bunch I enclose an ancient copy of my excursion up the River Agamenticus. I submit it to your polite and discriminating taste as from one who knows it, beginning to end. It begins in York, is seven miles long, is a narrow tidal river, drains nothing, is a meandering thread at first and fairly sizable as it enters the ocean. It is not a "River" [phrase underlined] - but an arm of the sea, an inlet that looks[underlined] like a river. It is Ipswich (called Agawam) all over again. I believe the Injuns knew the difference between a salt water tidal stream and a fresh water river that emptied into the ocean. I will put up terrain and give odds against grammar. No blame to Trumbull or Ganong for their literal[underlined] suggestions but I do not see how they fit, or if they do what relation they could possibly have in identifying this inlet.

In my history of Marthas Vineyard, 3 vols 1911-1926, I had to tackle many Indian names. The island is full[underlined] of them - and there are many Indian deeds in the records, written probably by the Mayhews, in the Algonkian tongue. They ought to furnish some food for the clan. In this I had the constant advice of Mr Tooker. I have his ten volumes that you mention. I had tried the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington to no purpose and finally got in touch with him, fortunately. The Mayhews knew their onions. In one of the early writings of Red Woman Mayhew Jr. I get the Indian name of the Island - Nöepe. Tooker translated it for me as "Amidst the Waters". Off hand that sounds silly - as any island can be said to be in that position - but while he did not know what I did that gave the name its significance, he was right. The Vineyard is situated just south of Wood's Hole, Cape Cod and by reason of its position in