504 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. ISS. 



The sentence of the inferior court, presided over 

 by an European judge, is based upon the clearest 

 evidence of O'NeiU's having caused two of his 

 slaves to be murdered in his presence, and their 

 heads cut off and stuck upon poles as a warning 

 to the others. The sentence of the Court of Ap- 

 peal, presided over by a brother planter, and en- 

 tirely composed of planters, reverses the sentence, 

 ■without assigning any reason for its decision, be- 

 yond the mere allegations of the accused party. 

 Such was criminal justice in the days of slavery ! 



Heney H. Breen. 

 St. Lucia. 



LONGEVITY. 



(Vol. vii., p. 358., &c.) 



On looking over some volumes of the Annual 

 Register, from its commencement in 1758, I find 

 instances of longevity very common, if we can 

 credit its reports. In vol. iv., for the year 1761, 

 amongst the deaths, of which there are many be- 

 tween 100 and 110, the following occur : 



January. " At Philadelphia, Mr. Charles Cottrell, 

 aged 1 20 years ; and three days after, his wife, aged 

 115. This couple lived together in the marriage state 

 98 years in great union and harmony." 



April. " Mrs. Gillam, of Aldersgate Street, aged 1 1 3." 



July. " John Newell, Esq,, at Michael(s)town, Ire- 

 land, aged 127, grandson to old Parr, who died at the 

 age of 152." 



August. " James Carlewhite, of Seatown, In Scotland, 

 aged 111. 



"John Lyon, of Bandon, in the county of Cork, 

 Ireland, aged 116." 



In September there are three aged 106 ; one 107 ; 

 one 111 ; one 112; and one 114 registered. I will 

 take three from the year 1768, viz.: 



January. " Died lately in the Isle of Sky, in Scot- 

 land, Mr. Donald M'Gregor, a farmer there, in the 

 117th year of his age. 



" Last week, died at Burythorpe, near Malton in 

 Yorkshire, Francis Confit, aged 150 years : he was main- 

 tained by the parish above sixty years, and retained his 

 senses to the very last." 



April. " Near Ennis, Joan M'Donough, aged 138 

 years." 



Should sufficient interest attach to this subject, 

 and any of the correspondents of " N. & Q." wish 

 it, I will be very happy to contribute my mite, and 

 make out a list of all the deaths above 120 years, 

 or even 110, from the commencement of the Annual 

 Register, but am afraid it will be found rather 

 long. J. S. A. 



Old Broad Street. 



A few years ago there lived in New Ross, in the 

 county of Wexford, two old men. The one, a 

 slater named Furlong, a person of very intem- 

 perate habits, died an inmate of the poorhouse in 



his 101st year : he was able to take long walks up 

 to a very short period before his death ; and I 

 have heard that he, his son, and grandson, have 

 been all together on a roof slating at the same 

 time. The other man was a nurseryman named 

 Hayden, who died in his 108th year : his memory 

 was very good as to events that happened in his 

 youth, and his limbs, though shrunk tip consider- 

 ably, served him well. He was also in the frequent 

 habit of taking long walks not long before his 

 death. J. W. D. 



DEEIVATION OF CANADA. 



(Vol. vii., p. 380.) 



The derivation given in the " cutting from an 

 old newspaper," contributed by Mr. Breen, seems 

 little better than that of Dr. Douglas, who derives 

 the name from a M, Cane, to whom he attributes 

 the honour of being the discoverer of the St. Law- 

 rence. 



In the first place, the "cutting" is not correct, in 

 so far as Gaspar Cortereal never ascended the river, 

 having merely entered the gulf, to which the name 

 of St. Lawrence was afterwards given by Jacques 

 Cartier. Neither was the main object of the ex- 

 pedition the discovery of a passage into the Indian 

 Sea, but the discovery of gold ; and it was the dis- 

 appointment of the adventurers in not finding the 

 precious metal which is supposed to have caused 

 them to exclaim " Aca nada ! " (Nothing here). 



The author of the Conquest of Canada, in the 

 first chapter of that valuable work, says that " an 

 ancient Castilian tradition existed, that the Spa- 

 niards visited these coasts before the French," — to 

 which tradition probably this supposititious deriv- 

 ation owes its origin. 



Hennepin, who likewise assigns to the Spaniards 

 priority of discovery, asserts that they called the- 

 land El Capo di Nada (Cape Nothing) for the- 

 same reason. 



But the derivation given by Charlevoix, in his 

 Nouvelle France, should set all doubt upon the 

 point at rest ; Canndda signifying, in the Iroquois 

 language, a number of huts {un amas de cabanes), 

 or a village. The name came to be applied to the 

 whole country in this manner : — The natives being 

 asked what they called the first settlement at which 

 Cartier and his companions arrived, answered, 

 "Cannada;" not meaning the particular appel- 

 lation of the place, which was Stadacona (the 

 modern Quebec), but simply a village. In like 

 manner, they applied the same word to Hochelaga 

 (Montreal) and to other places ; whence the 

 Europeans, hearing every locality designated by 

 the same term, Canndda, very naturally applied it 

 to the entire valley of the St. Lawrence. It may 

 not here be out of place to notice, that with respect- 

 to the derivation of Quebec, the weight of evidence 



