It was flanked by the sand mounds,--part of the Zantberg, or long range of sand hills,--haunted by wild fowl, and utterly aloof from even that primitive civilisation.

The brook flowed from the upper part of the Zantberg Hills to the Hudson River, and emptied itself into that great channel at a point somewhere near Charlton Street.

The name Minetta came from the Dutch root,--_min_,--minute, diminutive.

With the popular suffix _tje_ (the Dutch could no more resist that than the French can resist _ette_!) it became _Mintje_,--the little one,--to distinguish it from the _Groote Kill_ or large creek a mile away.

It was also sometimes called _Bestavaar's Killetje_, or Grandfather's Little Creek, but _Mintje_ persisted, and soon became Minetta.
Minetta was a fine fishing brook, and the adjacent region was full of wild duck; so, take it all in all, it was a game preserve such as sportsmen love.