Gowanus--_Gowanus,_ 1639; _Gowanes,_ 1641; _Gouwanes,_ 1672--the name of one of the boundmarks of a tract of land in Brooklyn, is probably from _Koua_ (_Kowaw,_ Williams; _Curve,_ Zeisb.), "Pine"; _Kowawese_ (Williams), "A young pine," or small pine. It was that of a place on a small stream, the description in the Indian deed of 1639, reading: "Stretching southward to a certain kil or little low bushes." The land conveyed is described as being "overflowed at every tide, and covered with salt-meadow grass." The latter gave to it its value. The claim that the name was that of an Indian owner is not well sustained. The evidence of the Dutch description of the bay as Boompje Hoek, meaning, literally, "Small tree cape, corner or angle," and the fact that small pines did abound there, seems to establish _Koua_ as the derivative of the name. Marechkawick, treaty of 1645--_Mereckawack,_ Breeden Raddt, 1649; _Mareckawick_ and _Marechkawieck,_ Rapelie deed, 1630; _Marechkourick,_ O'Callaghan; _Marechkawick,_ Brodhead--forms of the name primarily given as that of Wallabout Bay, [FN] "The bought or bend of Marechkawick"--"in the bend of Marechkawick," 1630--has been translated by Dr. Tooker from _Men'achk_ (_Manachk,_ Zeisb.), "fence, fort," and _-wik,_ "house" (Zeisb.), the reference being to a fenced or palisaded cabin presumably occupied by a sachem and his family of the clan known in Dutch history as the Mareckawicks. The existence of a palisaded cabin in the vicinity of "the bought or bend" is possible, but the name has the appearance of an orthography (Dutch) of _Mereca,_ the South-American name of a teal, (Mereca Americani) the Widgeon, and _-wick_ (_Wijk,_ M. L. G.), "Bay, cove, inlet, retreat," etc., literally "Widgeon Bay." "Situate on the bay of Merechkawick," is entered on map of 1646 in Stiles' "History of Brooklyn." _Merica_ was the Mayan name of the American Continent. It is spread all over South America and was applied to many objects as in the Latinized Mereca Americani. The early Dutch navigators were no doubt familiar with it in application to the Widgeon, a species of wild duck, and employed it in connection with the word _-wijk._ Until between 1645 and 1656, the Indians residing on the west end of Long Island were known as Marechkawicks; after 1656 they were called Canorise. (See Canar'sie.) Brooklyn is from Dutch _Breukelen,_ the name of a village about eighteen miles from Amsterdam. It means "Broken land." (Breuk.) On Van der Donck's map the name is written correctly. A record description reads: "There is much broken land here." * * * * *