190 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



lari^ely empirical, and mj cliief source of information is the questioning- 

 of the most intelligent Indians, further references to whom will be found 

 in the Appendix. In some words all Indians agree as to the construc- 

 tion and meaning-, and give the roots, as in Tomogonops, Magayuadaric, 

 Pocoicoi/amis; in others a majority agree upon one interpretation, but 

 some dissent as in Sheix/omor. while about others there is the widest dif- 

 ference of oiùuiou as in BcstitjoiirJte. It is onl}^ b}' gathering data from 

 as many and reliable sources as possible, and carefully correlating all, 

 that results of value can be obtained ; single statements are almost 

 worthless. 



There is much popular misunderstanding about Indian place-names ; 

 they are supposed all to have a meaning exactly descriptive of the place 

 and perfectly intelligible to every Indian. As a matter of fact a large 

 proportion of their names are no more understood by the Indians than 

 are the names of .England by the average Englishman, and of those 

 which are plain to them, many do not describe any quality of the place, 

 but refer to some event supposed to have occurred there, while others are 

 purely legendary. 



The question of constancy of Indian names is important and has 

 three phases, (I) do they shift their positions fiom one place to another? 

 (2) is one name replaced by another for the same place ? (3) does the 

 form of the individual word change much in time ? Of (1) I have found 

 no case ; of (2) the only example I have met with is where the aboriginal 

 name has gone out of use and been replaced by a translation of the English 

 name, as in the case of (irand Lake. As to (3) most of their place-names 

 have remained very constant for two hundred years as the following 

 examples will show: alli)wance must be made for the French pronuncia- 

 tion of the earlier lornis. and the}' must be chosen from the most care- 

 fully prepared documents. Happily we possess these in records left by 

 deMeulles. St. Valier. <iyles, Jumeau : 



Present name. Fre.^ent Malisert Old forms, 



jironuncuition. 



Meductic Me-dog'-teg Medoctet, 1684, d'Amours Seigniory 



Medogtek, 1688, St. Vallier 

 .Medocktack, 1689, Gyles 



Madawaska >Ied-a-wes'-kak M.'douaska, 1688, St. Vallier 



Medawescook, 1689, Gyles 



Salmon Eiver Chee-min'iiic C'hiiiuni)y, l(iS6, deMeulles 



Grand Falls Cbik ini ik'-a-t»il< Checanekepeag, 1689, Gyles 



But almost equally good examples may be found in the dictionary 

 under Restigouche, liichibucto. Longs Creek, Jacquet River, Tractldie, 

 Nepisiguit, Shejjody, Meduxnakeag, Nashwaak, Jemseg, and in most 



