USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 6
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Mutighticoos .- Var., Mattegticos, Titicus. A personal name, probably the same as the Abnaki MattegSess8, " the hare."
Nanichiestawack .- (Van der Donek's map.) Delaware, Nanatschitar-ack, "a place of safety. i.e., a place to take care of," probably a palisaded inelosure erected for defense.
Nappeckamack .- Var., Neperhan, Neppizan, cte. This name has been generally translated as the "rapid water settlement," which is evidently an error. The same name occurs on Long Island as Rapahamuck. Both the n and rare intrusive. The suffix, amack or amuck, denotes " a fishing-place "; the prefix appeh " a trap"; hence we have appeh-amack, " the trap fishing-place." Neperhan (apehhan) " a trap, snare, gin." ete. At the locality where the name was originally bestowed. the Indians probably had a weir for catching fish, and this fact gave rise to the name of the settlement. On Long Island Rapahamuck was at the month of a
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
ereek ealled Suggamuck (m'sugge-amuck) " the bass fishing-place." Wood's N.E. Prospect, 1634, says: " When they used to tide it in and out to the rivers and creekes with long seanes or basse nets, which stop in the fish, and the water ebbing from them, they are left on the dry ground, sometimes two or three thousand at a set." (See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac on " Some Indian Fishing Stations Upon Long Island," 1895, pp. 54-57.)
Noch Peem .- (Van der Donck.) Var., Noapain, Ochpeen (Map 1688). This name de- notes "a dwelling place," "an abode," "where we are," etc. Delaware, Achpeen, "a lodge," " dwelling.
Nipnichsen .- Indian village and castle near Spuyten Duyvil. The name denotes "a small pond or water-place."
Onox .- Eldest son of Ponns. Onur (wonnux) "the stranger."
Ponus. A chief ; he places (something ).
Patthunek .- A personal name ; " pounding-mortar."
Pachamitt .- (Van der Donek's map. ) Name of a tribe taken from the place where they lived, "at the turning-aside place." De Laet says : " Visher's Rack, that is the fisherman's bend, and here the eastern bank is inhabited by the Pachami, a little beyond where projects a sandy point." Pachanu, a sachem, takes his name also from tribe and place.
Paunskapham .- A locality in Cortlandt. Probably this on exhaustive search will be found a personal name.
Pasquasheck .- (Van der Donck.) Pasquiasheck, Pashquashic (Pasquesh-auke). "Land at the bursting forth," i. e., "at the outlet of a stream ;" an Indian village at the month of a stream.
Papirinemen .- Spuyten Duyvil Creek ; also place at north end of Manhattan Island. This name has a verbal termination denoting the act of doing something, a suffix not allowable in place names. Hence it was probably a personal name denoting " to parcel out," to divide, to divert, variation, Perrinenien.
Pechquinakonek .- (Van der Donck.) A locality in North Salem ; probably originally an Indian village situated on high land. Pachquin-ak-onk, "at the land raised or lifted up."
Pepemighting .- A river in Bedford. Pepe-mightug, " the choseu-tree," probably a bound- ary mark originally.
Peppenegkek .- Var., Peppeneghak, a river and pond in Bedford. Probably a boundary mark like the previous name ; " the chosen stake."
Pockerhoe .- See Tuckahoe (?).
Poningoe .- Var., Peningoe. Locality in Rye. Looks like a personal name, meaning not ascertained.
Pocantico .- Var., Pokanteco, Puegkanteko, Peckantico. Tarrytown. Pohki-tuck-ut, "at the clear creek."
Potiticus .- A trail. An abbreviation of Mutighticoos (?).
Pockcotessewake .- A brook in Rye ; also another name for Mamaroneck River. Var., Pockotessewake. Probably the name of some Indian. The chief called Meghtesewakes seems to have had a name with a similar termination but different prefix. Pokessake, a grantor on the Norwalk deed of 1651.
Quaroppas .- White Plains, including Scarsdale. Seemingly a personal name.
Quinnahung .- Hunt's Point, West Farms, " a long, high place."
Ranachque .- Bronek's land. Wanachque, "end, point, or stop." The name has probably lost a locative. See Senasque.
Rahonaness .- A plain east of Rye. Probably so called from an Indian.
Rippowams .- Var., Nippowunce (Captain John Mason, 1643). "The plantatio of Rippo- wams is named Stamforde " (N. II. Rec., Vol. 1, p. 69). This included the territory on both sides of Mill River. The late J. 11. Trumbull was unable to translate this name. It may be rather presuming to suggest where he failed. We think we can see Nipau-apuchk in the Delaware, or Nepau-ompsk in the Massachusetts, "a standing or rising up rock." In collo- quial use ompsk is frequently abbreviated to ams. See Toquams.
Sachus .- Var., Sackhoes. From the possessive seemingly a personal name. Colloquial use changes names frequently, and it may be a variant of the Delaware Sokunk, "mouth of a stream." Compare Sangus, the Indian name of Lynn, Mass., which has the same derivation.
Sackama Wicker .- " Sachems house," Delaware, Sakama-wik-ing, " at the chief's house."
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ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS
Sackwahung .- A locality at West Farms. An evident variant of Aquchung.
Shorakapkock .- Spuyten Dnyvil Creek, where it joins the Hudson, "as far as the sitting- down place," i.e., where there was a portage.
Shingabarrossins .- A locality in Pelham. Applied to erratic bowlders or rolling stones. It probably denotes " a place of flat stones."
Shappequa .- Var., Chappaqua. "A separated place," i.e., " a place of separation." Men- tioned as a boundary in some conveyances.
Sickham. - A locality in Cortlandt. A personal name.
Shippam .-- New Rochelle. A personal name, probably, although Eliot gives us Keechepam, " shore."
Sigghes .- A great bowlder, a landmark mentioned as a boundary. Another name for Meghkaekassin. From an original Sioyke-ompsk-it, "at the hard rock."
Sacunyte Napucke .- A locality in Pelham. Sakunk-Napi-ock, " at the outlet of a pond or water-place." Probably used in some conveyance to indicate the line running to this place, hence a boundary designation
Saperwrack .- A hook or bend in a stream at West Farms. "Land on a river," or "ex- tended land; " the name will bear both interpretations.
Sepackena .- A ereek at Tarrytown.
Sachkerah ..- A locality at West Farms.
Saproughah .- A creek at West Farms.
Sepparak .- A locality in Cortlandt. The foregoing names are seemingly variations of the same word, denoting "extended or spread-ont land." A search for early forms might change this opinion. -
Senasqua .- Croton Point on Hudson, Wanasque, " a point or ending." This name, as well as Ranachque, has lost its suffix. On Long Island it oceurs in Wanasquattan, " a point of hills," Wanasquetuck, " the ending creek."
Sint Sinck .- Sing Sing. Ossin-sing, "stone upon stones," belongs to the Chippeway dia- leet and was suggested by Schooleraft (see Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soe., 1844, p. 10I). lle is also responsible for a number of other interpretations frequently quoted. The Delaware form, Asin-es-ing, " a stony place," is much better. The same name oceurs on Long Island in Queens County. But on the Delaware River is a place called Maetsingsing (see Col. list. N. Y., Vol. 1, pp. 590, 596), which seems to be a fuller form of our name and warrant- ing another interpretation : " Place where stones are gathered together," a heap of stones, probably.
Snakapins .- Cornell's Neck. If not a personal name, as I suspect, it may represent an earlier Sagapin, "a ground-nnt."
Suckehonk .- " A black (or dark colored) place," a marsh or meadow. The Hartford meadows, Connecticut, were called Suck'iang.
Soakatuck .- A locality in l'elham. "The month of a stream." The same as Saugatuck. in Conneetient.
Suwanoes .- A tribe located from Norwalk, Conn., to Hellgate. They were the Shawon- anoes, "the Southerners," to tribes farther north.
Tammoesis .- Creek near Verplanek's Point. Delaware, Tummeu-esis, " little wolf," a per- sonal name.
Tanrucken .- A locality in Cortlandt. Tarackan, "the crane." The name was derived from the lond and piereing ery peculiar to the genus, especially to the Grus americana or Whooping Crane, which, says Nuttall, has been " not unaptly compared to the whoop or yell of the savages when rushing to battle." (Trumbull.)
Tankitekes .- Name of tribe living back of Sing Sing. This is probably a term of derision applied to them by other tribes : " Those of little worth."
Tatomnek .- This name has probably lost a syllable or more. The suffix indicates a " fish- ing-place." On Long Island Arhata-amuck denotes "a crab fishing-place." Corrupted in some records to Katawamac.
Toquams .- Var., Toquamske. This was a boundary mark in some conveyance, or else a well known landmark ; p'tukqu-ompsk, "at the round-rock."
Titieus .- A brook towing north and west across the State line into the Croton River ; also a village and postoffice in Connecticut. An abbreviation of Mutighticoos or Matteticos.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Tuckahoe .- llill in Yonkers. This appears in Southampton, L. I., and elsewhere, and seems to have been applied to a species of truffle or subterranean fungus (Pachyma cocos- Fries) sometimes called Indian loaf. The tuckaho of Virginia (tockwhogh, as Captain John Smith wrote the name) was the root of the Golden Club or Floating Arum (Orantium Aquati- cum). " It groweth like a flag in low, marshy places. In one day a salvage will gather sufficient for a week. These roots are much the bigness and taste of potatoes." (Strachey. )
Waumainuck .- Delaney's Neek. Var., Waimanuck, " land round about." Some other place understood.
W'ampus .- " The Opossum." A personal name.
Werkquaskeek .- Var., Wechquoesqueeck, Wiequoeshook, Weecquoesguck, ete. Schoolcraft's suggestion, " the place of the bark-kettle," and as repeated in various histories, is absolutely worthless. The name is simply a descriptive appellation of the locality where the Indians lived at the date of settlement. Delaware, Wiquie-askeek, Massachusetts, Wehque-askeet, Chippewa, Waiekwa-ashkiki, "end of the marsh or bog."
Weghqueghe .- Var., Il'yoquaqua. A variant of the foregoing.
Wenneebees .- A locality in Cortlandt. Probably a personal name from the final s, although early forms, if found, might indicate with a locative an original Winne-pe-es-et, "at the good- tasted water-place," i.e., " a spring."
Wishqua .- " The end."
Wissayek .- Dover. "Yellow-place."
Waccabuck .- A lake or pond in Lewisboro. Wequa-baug, "end or head of the pond."
CHAPTER IN
DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW
HE alluring hypothesis of the discovery and settlement of portions of this continent by the Northmen far back in the Middle Ages, formerly received with quite general consid- eration, finds few supporters at this day among the leading anthorities on the early history of America. That the Norse colonized Greenland at a very early period is unhesitatingly admitted, abundant proofs of their occupancy of that country being afforded by authentic ruins, especially of churches and baptistries, and collateral testimony to the fact being furnished by old ecclesiastical annals, which seem to indicate that as early as the eleventh century Greenland belonged to the jurisdiction of the Catholic bishops of Iceland. It is also con- ceded to be not impossible that accidental Norse descents from Green- land upon the continent were made in the centuries that followed. But this is merely an amiable concession to academic conjecture. It is insisted that no reliable Norse remains have ever been found south of Davis Straits: and one by one the various relies thought to be of Norse origin that have been brought forward, in- «luding certain supposed Runie inscriptions, have been pronounced incapable of acceptation as such.
Several years ago there was found at Inwood, just below the limits of Westchester County, by Mr. INWOOD STONE. Alexander C. Chenoweth ( whose Indian excavations in the same lo- eality are noticed in the preceding chapter ), a stone curiously marked, which was the subject of some archaeological discussion at the time. The markings were claimed to be rude Runic characters constituting an inscription, out of which one writer, by ingeniously interpolating missing letters, formed the words Kirkjussynir akta, which translated are " Sons of the Church tax (or take a census )." " I suppose it to mean," added this writer, " that representatives of the Church of Rome had been there to tax, or number the people, and that this stone was inscribed to commemorate the event."1 Thus it is seen that the general region of which our county forms a part has been connected with the fabled ages of Norse habitation of America-whatever may be thought of the specific ground for the connection. The Inwood
1 An Inseribed Stone. by Cornelia Horsford (Privately printed. Cambridge. 1805), p. 14
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
stone is possibly as plausible a specimen of "Runic" lettering as other so-called inscribed stones which have been scrutinized and re- pudiated by archæologists from time to time. The all-sufficient argu- ment against the Norse theory is that no satisfactory traces of Norse residence, aside from the doubtful inscriptions, have ever been dis- covered-no ruins of dwellings or works of any kind, no personal rel- ics, and no indisputable graves,-whereas such a people could not conceivably have dwelt here without transmitting to us some more visible tokens of their presence than laboriously carved memorials.
The authentic history of Westchester County begins in the month of September, 1609, when Henry Hudson, in his little ship the " Half Moon," entered the harbor of New York and ascended the great river which now bears his name. But there are strong reasons for believing that Hudson was not the first navigator to appear on our shores, or at least in their immediate vicinity.
In 1524 Juan Verrazano, an Italian in the French service, sailing northward along the coast, came to anchor at a place apparently out- side the Narrows. In a letter dated July 8, 1524, to Francis I., king of France, he reports that he " found a very pleasant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea; to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as we were riding at anchor in a good berth we would not venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth; therefore we took the boat, and entering the river we found a country on its banks well peopled. We passed up this river about half a league, when we found it formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in cir- cuit. All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so com- modious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain great riches, as the hills showed many indications of minerals." This description, although perplexing in some of its statements, and there- fore suggesting caution as to conclusions, reasonably admits of the belief (allowing for the inacenracies in detail which nearly always oc- cur in the reports of the early explorers) that Verrazano entered and inspected the Upper Bay. But it hardly justifies the opinion that he passed up the river; the " lake three leagues in cirenit " conld have been no other body of water than the Upper Bay, and the " river " up which he went " about half a league " to reach it was evidently the Narrows.
In the following year (1525) Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese sailor employed by Spain to seek a passage to India, explored the coast,
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DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW
which, he says, " turns southward twenty leagues to Bay St. Chripsta- pel in 39º. From that bend made by the land the coast turns north- ward, passing said bay thirty leagues to Rio St. Antonio, in 41º, which is north and south with said bay." Gomez's "Bay St. Chripstapel" was unquestionably the Lower New York Bay, and his " Rio St. Anto- nio" (so named in honor of the saint on whose day he beheld it) the Hudson River. The latter conclusion is clearly established by his de- scription of the river as "north and south with said bay," which, taken in its connections, can not possibly apply to any other stream. To have established the north and south direction of the river he must have explored it for some distance. It hence becomes an entirely reason- able inference that in 1525, eighty-four years before Hudson's appear- ance, the Portuguese Gomez, sailing under a commission from Spain, entered Westchester County waters. It has even been suggested that Anthony's Nose, the peak which guards the entrance to the High- lands, owes its name to this first voyager of the river.1
Aside from the records of these early discoveries of Verrazano and Gomez, there is much historic- al evidence indicating that at least the general coast con- formation in the latitude of New York was well under- stood by European cartograph- ers and navigators long before Hudson made his memorable voyage in the " Half-Moon." This is strikingly illustrated by Hudson's own statement, that in seeking a way to India THE "HALF-MOON."
in this region he was partly influenced by a hint received from his friend, Captain John Smith, of Virginia, to the effect that somewhere about 40º north there was a strait conducting to the Pacific, similar to Magellan's Strait. Indeed, it was in studied violation of the in- structions laid down for him by his employers at his setting out that he turned his vessel hitherward. His instructions were to sail past Nova Zembla and the north coast of Siberia, through the Bering Strait into the Pacific, and so southward to the Dutch Indies. The famous
1 Benson, in his " Memoirs, " says that "the promon- tory in the Highlands is called Antonie's Noxe, after An- tonie De Hooge, secretary of the colony of Rensselaer- wyck." He gives no authority for the opinion. The Labadist brothers called it Antonis Nens (L. I. Hist. Coll., vol. i., p. 330), and say that all the Highlands "bear the names that were originally given to them," and this be-
cause it has the form of a man's nose, All the Dutch All- thonies appear to have claimed it in turn; but what if it should finally appear that it was named by the Spaniards. who gave the whole river into the charge of Saint Anthony ? -Sailing Directions of Henry Hudson, edited by the Ber. B. F. De Costa (. Ilhany. 1-69;
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
" Sailing Directions " of Ivar Bardsen that he took with him to guide his course related exclusively to far northern latitudes.
Thus it is likely that neither the honor of the original discovery of the Hudson River, nor such merit as attaches to the conception of the availability of this latitude for adventurous quest, belongs to Henry Hudson. Proper recognition of these historical facts does not, how- ever, involve any diminishing from the uniqueness and greatness of his achievement. He found a grand harbor and a mighty and beau- tiful river, previously unknown, or only vaguely known, to the civil- ized world. He thoroughly explored both, and, returning to Europe, gave accounts of them which produced an immediate appreciation of their importance and speedily led to measures for the development of the country. Judged by its attendant results, Hudson's exploit stands unrivaled in the history of North American exploration. No other single discovery on the mainland of this continent was so quickly, consecutively, and successfully followed by practical enterprise.
Henry Hudson was of English birth and training. Apart from this, and from the facts of his four voyages, which were made in as many years, nothing is known of him. His first voyage was undertaken in 1607 for the Muscovy Company, having for its object the discovery of a northeast route to China along the coast of Spitzbergen. His see- ond, in 1608, to a like end, took him to the region of Nova Zembla. It was on his third, in 1609, still looking for a short way to the Orient, that he came to these shores. His fourth and last, in pursuit of the same chimera, was in 1610-11, the expense being borne by three Eng- lish gentlemen. He explored the bay and strait to which his name has since been given, passed the winter in the southern part of the bay. and on the 2Ist of June, 1611, was, with his son and seven companions, set adrift in an open boat by his mutinous crew, never to be heard of more.
When Hudson adventured forth on his momentous voyage of 1609 he flew from the mast of his vessel the flag of the new-born Republic of the United Netherlands. Just THE FLAG OF HOLLAND. at that time the Netherlands were success- fully concluding the first period of their gigantic struggle with Spain for independence. It was, indeed, in the same month that the " Half-Moon " sailed from Amsterdam (April) that the twelve years' fruce between the Spanish and Dutch was signed. Everywhere in Europe this was a period of transition. In England the long reign of Elizabeth had but recently come to its end, and already, under James L., the first of the ill-fated Stuart dynasty, the
55
DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW
events were shaping which were to culminate in the Commonwealth. In France Henry IV. was still reigning-that Henry of Navarre who signed the Edict of Nantes, gave peace to the warring factions of the kingdom, and laid the foundations for the diplomacy of Richelieu and the power of Louis XIV. In the German Empire the seeds of the ter- rible Thirty Years' War were ripening. In Sweden the young Gus- tavus Adolphus was about to come to the throne. In Russia the dawn of a new era was being ushered in by the accession of the first sov- ereign of the house of Romanoff. In the south of Europe, on the other hand, the glories of long ages of commercial, intellectual, and political supremacy were fading away : the Italian republics were beginning to decline, and the might of Spain was tottering to its fall. To this pe- riod belong many of the world's greatest inventive and philosophical intellects: Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rubens, Van Dyck, Kepler, Gali- leo, Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood, and Lord Bacon, who said of the early attempts to utilize the discoveries of Columbus: "Certainly it is with the kingdoms of the earth as it is in the kingdom of Heaven: sometimes a grain of mustard seed becomes a great tree. Who can tell? " And in this grand epoch of mental av- tivity and political change a more rational spirit respecting the uses to be made of America was becoming conspicuously manifest. The sixteenth century had been wholly wasted so far as the legitimate de- velopment of the newly discovered lands beyond the sea was con- verned; but with the first decade of the seventeenth soberly conceived plans of orderly colonization began to be set on foot. During that dec- ade the French inaugurated their permanent settlements in Canada, and the English, under Captain JJohn Smith, at last established an enduring colony in Virginia-enduring because founded on the secure basis of mutual self-interest, labor, and economy. Even Spain, with all her greed for new realms to pillage, had practically abandoned the futile hope of forcing a gateway to them at the west. It remained for the Dutch, the most practical-minded people in Europe, to make their entry into America, in matter-of-fact times and circumstances such as these, upon a mere quixotic expedition to the far Cathay-almost the last one, happily, of its grotesque kind.
Hudson's employers in this enterprise were the Dutch East India Company, a powerful corporation, which had been chartered in 1602 to trade with the East Indies, the southern and eastern coasts of Asia, and the eastern coast of Africa. The new countries in America, and, indeed, the entire waters of the Atlantic, were excluded from the field of its operations. The company, during the less than seven years of its existence, had enjoyed extraordinary success, and its earnings now represented seventy-five per cent. of profit. In resolving upon a voy-
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
age for the long desired " northwest passage," the company adopted a decidedly conservative plan. There was to be no visionary explora- tion for a possibly existing route through the coastline of America, but a direct entrance into Arctic waters in the region of Nova Zembla, in the hope that an open sea, or continnous passage, would there be found. Hudson, an Englishman, was chosen for the undertaking be- cause he was known to be familiar with the northern seas-no Dutch navigator of like experience being available. On the 4th of April, 1609, he sailed from Amsterdam in the " Half-Moon." a vessel of some eighty tous burden, with a crew of twenty Datch and English sailors. Pursuant to his instructions from the company, he set a direct course for the northeast coast of America, which he reached in the latitude of Nova Scotia. Here, however, he abruptly departed from the plans laid out for him, turned southward, passed along the shores of Maine and Cape Cod, and proceeded as far as Chesapeake Bay. Returning northward from that region, he followed the windings of the coastline until, on the 20 day of September, he sighted the Highlands of Nave- sink. Dropping anchor in the Lower Bay on the 3d, he remained there ten days, meantime exploring with his ship's boat the surrounding waters. Although his intercourse with the Indians was friendly, the men whom he sent out in the boat provoked a conflict with them, in which one of the exploring party, Jolin Coleman, was killed and two men were wounded. On the 12th of September he steered the " Half- Moon " through the Narrows, anchoring that evening somewhere in the Upper Bay, probably not far from the lower extremity of Manhat- tan Island. The next day he began his voyage up the river, and after making a distance of eleven and one-half miles again came to anchor. It was at this stage of his journey that he attempted to detain two of the natives, who, however, jumped overboard, swam to the shore, and cried back to him " in scorn." Brodhead, in his " History of New York," locates the scene of this incident opposite the Indian village of Nappeckamack, now the City of Youkers. But from the details given in the Journal of Hudson's mate, Robert JJuet, it appears probable that the point of anchorage on the 13th was not above the contines of Manhattan Island. It is significant that the formidable attack on Hudson's vessel when he was returning down the river, an attack in retaliation for his treacherous act upon this occasion, occurred at Spurten Duyvil Creek, and was clearly made by Manhattan Island In- dians, the Indian fortress in that locality being on the southern shore of the creek. The question, of course, is not important enough to re- quire any serious discussion, but upon its determination depends the fixing of the date of Hudson's entrance into Westchester waters- that is, the date of discovery of our county and of the mainland of
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