THE SEMINOLES OF FLORIDA 175

their own if it be true that "Yankee" is only an
attempt made by the Indian to speak the word Eng-
lish, and that pappoose is the effort of the natives to
say "baby." The symphonious cadence of such
words as Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Caloosahatchee and
Minnehaha has often been noticed.
 Tohope Ke-liga is the name of one of the most
beautiful lakes in Florida, its Indian significance
meaning fort site." All around the lake are the
old hunting grounds of the Indians and memorable
points in Seminole war fame. To-day the Okeecho-
bee drainage canal connects it with the lakes south,
plantations surrounding its shores; the thriving city
of Kissimmee is situated on its north side and all trace
of the Seminole has vanished. The only memorials
he has left are his words firmly embedded in the his-
tory of his conquerors. Kissimmee river is said to
have taken its name from a romantic episode. A
young Spanish grandee in a moment of impulse
snatched a kiss from a Seminole girl, and the fright-
ened maiden's childlike plaint to her mother estab-
lished the name of the river on whose banks the kiss
was stolen Kiss-him-mee.
 The romance attached to our beautiful Kissimmee
 river gives it especial interest and we give it only as
 a traditional meaning. The present Indians cannot
 give the English rendition, saying, "Indian long,
 long time ago named the river," which is corrob-
 orated by the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian In-
 stitution, as follows: