I shall begin my exposition with the Indian deed of the East Hampton township, dated April 29, 1648,[10] where we find, by the power acquired by the grantees from the Farrett mortgage of 1641,[11] that Thomas Stanton made a purchase from the Indians for Theophilus Eaton, Esq., Governor of the Colony of New Haven, and Edward Hopkins, Esq., Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, and their associates "for all that tract of land lyinge from the bounds of the Inhabitants of Southampton, unto the East side of _Napeak_, next unto _Meuntacut_ high land, with the whole breadth from sea to sea, etc.," this conveyance is signed by the four Sachems of Eastern Long Island--to wit: _Poggatacut_,[12] the Sachem of _Munhansett_; _Wyandanch_,[13] the Sachem of _Meuntacut_; _Momoweta_,[14] the Sachem of _Corchake_; _Nowedonah_,[15] the Sachem of _Shinecok_, and their marks are witnessed by _Cheekanoo_, who is thereon stated to have been "_their Interpreter_."[16] Here we find confronting us, not only a remarkable, but a very unusual circumstance, in the fact that an Indian of Long Island, who is called "_Cheekanoo_," is acting as an interpreter for these four Sachems, together with Thomas Stanton,[17] another well-known interpreter of the Colonies, as an intermediary in making the purchase. It is very clear to me, and I think it will be to all, that if this Indian was sufficiently learned to speak English, and so intelligent as to act as an interpreter, with all such a qualification would indicate, in 1648, the year before Eliot commended his ingenious teacher, and within the time he seems to have returned to Long Island, he must have acquired his knowledge from someone who had taken great pains in bestowing it, and that one must have been John Eliot. We have found that Eliot does not mention him by name in existing letters; but, as before quoted, simply calls him his "Interpreter"; therefore, let us learn how a translation of his Long Island appellation will bear on this question. This name, _Cheekanoo_, _Cockenoe_, _Chickino_, _Chekkonnow_, or _Cockoo_,--no matter how varied in the records of Long Island and elsewhere, for every Town Clerk or Recorder, with but a limited or no knowledge of the Indian tongue and its true sounds, wrote down the name as it suited him, and seldom twice alike even on the same page,--finds its parallel sounds in the Massachusetts of both Eliot and Cotton, in the verb _kuhkinneau_, or _kehkinnoo_, "he marks, observes, takes knowledge, instructs, or imitates";[18] hence, "he interprets," and therefore indicating by a free translation "an interpreter or teacher"; this word in its primitive form occurs in all dialects of the same linguistic family--that is, the Algonquian--in an infinite number of compounds, denoting "a scholar; teacher; a thing signified; I say what he says, _i. e._, repeat after him," etc.[19]