Highlands, eminently so called because they are
higher than the others. In passing by the Hysopus you see the Katskil
Mountains, a little inland, which are the highest in this region, and
extend from there, in the form of a crescent, into the country of the
Maquaas. Although these mountains are from 112 to 120 miles distant
from the sea, there are skippers who in clear weather have seen them
while sailing along the coast. All the reaches, creeks, headlands, and
islands, bear the names which were accidentally given them in the
first instance: as Antonis Neus (Anthony's Nose) a headland and high
hill in the Highlands, because it has a sharp edge running up and down
in the form of a man's nose; Donderbergh (Thunder Hill), because it
thundered there frightfully at the time the first explorers of the
river passed it; Swadel Rack (Swath Reach), a short strait between
high hills, where in sailing through they encounter whirlwinds and
squalls, and meet sometimes with accidents, which they usually call
_swadelen_ (swaths or mowing sweeps); Danskamer (Dancing
Chamber),[364] a spot where a party of men and women arrived in a
yacht in early times, and being stopped by the tide went ashore. Gay,
and perhaps intoxicated, they began to jump and dance, when the
Indians who had observed them fell upon them in the height of their
merriment and drove them away. In remembrance of this circumstance the
place has since been called the Dancing Chamber. It is on the west
side of the river, just through the Highlands. Boterberg (Butter
Hill), and Hoyberg (Hay Hill), the one because it is like the rolls of
butter which the farmers in Holland take to market, and the other
because it is like a haystack in Holland; 't Claver Rack (Clover
Reach), from three bare places which appear on the land;[365] and
Kinder Hoeck (Children's Point), Noten Hoeck (Nut Point), Potlepels
Eylant (Potladle Island), Kock Achie, etc.

[Footnote 362: The Figurative Map of 1616 gives the name Riviere van
den Vorst Mauritius (River of Prince Maurice). Wassenaer (1624) speaks
of the river as "called first Rio de Montagnes, now the River
Mauritius." De Laet, in _Nieuwe Wereldt_ (1625), gives "Manhattes
River" and "Rio de Montaigne," but says that "the Great River" is the
usual designation. In his Latin version of 1633, and French of 1640,
he adds a mention of the name Nassau River. As Dr. Johannes la
Montagne did not come to New Netherland till 1637, the derivation here
giv