Page:History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen.djvu/28

20 "There Came an Uprising of Tribes" From the Lunette by C. Y. Turner, Hudson County Court House

Netherlandt." It is described as "beginning from the Great Klip above Wiehachan and from there right through the land above the island Sikakes and therefrom thence to the Kill von Coll, and so along to the Constable Hoeck, and from the Constable Hoeck again to the aforesaid Klip above Wiehachan." The word "Klip" was Dutch for "cliff." It is hardly necessary to explain what places were meant by Wiehachan and Sikakes. Merely as a matter of superfluous accuracy we mention apologetically that they were Weehawken and Secaucus. Secaucus was scarcely an island. It was a strip of firm land surrounded by tidal marsh. For some reason it was highly prized by planters. Its name was Indian for "place of snakes" and it and Snake Hill or Rattlesnake Hill, appear frequently in subsequent land transfers.