NOTES AND NEWS 5^7
word poquosin, and confidently asserts that " there appears to be abso- lutely no question as to its identity " with the latter, it may not be out of place to explain the meaning of the appellation of the city of the alleged " safe harbor." Having resided in Poughkeepsie many years, I am perfectly familiar with its topography and with the exact locality to which the name was originally applied. This was a rocky cove or basin worn away at the foot of the fall near the river just north of the present railroad station. On May 5, 1683, Massany, a Highland (west side of the Hudson) Indian, gave as a present to one Jan Smeedes, a farm and also 4< a fall on the shore to set a mill upon." Smeedes erected his mill upon the side of the pool or basin near the foot of the fall whence he obtained his water power. In the deed of gift, the Dutch scribe wrote the name of the mill-site Pooghkcpesingh (for Apoeghkip- ising) y a word which, in German orthography, would have been Apuch- kipisink. The word means "at the rock pool," or "at the rock basin of water," and accurately described the locality to which the name was applied by its Indian owner.
The name of the place under consideration was distorted by the Dutch and their descendants into so many remarkable and unintelligible forms as amply to justify the remark once made by the late Dr Trum- bull that " nothing disguises an Indian word so effectually as a Dutch pen." W. R. Gerard.
An Inverted Double Reed — In the National Museum there are several wind instruments of music of the class here called " inverted double reed " which, with one exception, are in use only among the Coast tribes of British Columbia, and I do not find that any writer on musical instruments has called attention to them. To make the con- struction plain, let us divide reed instruments into three classes : (1), the ribbon reed, fastened at both ends and vibrating at the middle, as when one blows on a blade of grass held between the thumbs ; (2), the single reed, fastened at one end and swinging free in its slot or beating against the edges of the instrument ; and (3), the double reed, having two vibrating bodies instead of one. In the third class the breath is forced between the reeds. In the ordinary double reed, the free ends are toward the player's mouth, and they do not quite touch each other. The pressure of the breath brings the vibrating ends together, and the sound is produced by waves in the space beyond. But, in the British Columbia specimens, which Professor Mason has named the " inverted double reed," the free ends are away from the mouth of the player, are close together when at rest, and are forced apart by the breath of the player. Number 89060 is from the Bella Bella (Salishan) Indians. It
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