ON CAPE BEETON. 185 



Cadie, included iu the mysterious regions of Norumbega or Norembeque, or Ararabec,' or 

 Terre des Bretons, were visited by Europeans long before the valley of the St. Lawrence 

 was discovered by the Breton sailor. Indeed it is contended that the first attempt at 

 European settlement in Canada was on the island of Cape Breton — at St. Peter's or 

 Inganiche ; but we need not dwell on this interesting suggestion of the antiquarian, 

 except to say that the Portuguese had no inlluence whatever on the colonization of the 

 eastern provinces of Canada, and the old town of Annapolis may always point with pride 

 to its grassy hillocks and willow-stamps as so many relics of the days of the French 

 regime. 



It is in the letters-ijateut and commission given in 1G03 by Henry IV of France and 

 Navarre to Sieur de Monts that we find the first mention of Acadie, which is also described 

 as Cadie, obviously a Micmac or Souriquois affix used in connection with other words to 

 describe the natural characteristics of a place or locality (fikade). For instance, Numach- 

 wakade is a place where fish is plentiful ; Anagwakade is White Point ; Segubunakade 

 or Shubenacadie is the place where a root known as the ground nut or Indian potato 

 grows ; and so on with any number of places in the old home of the Micmac Indians." 

 The royal papers just mentioned give the French a jurisdiction over "the whole coast of 

 Acadie, the lands of Gape Breton (du Cap Breton), the bays of St. Clair and Chaleurs, 

 the islands of Percé. Gaspey, Mettan [Matane], Tadousac and the river of Canada." Cape 

 Breton, which is not definitely mentioned as an island, but is called after its cape, long 

 remained in obscurity, and it is Port Royal that alone for many years attracted the atten- 

 tion of the historian. The record of this little post in the Bay of Fuudy is the record of a 

 never ending conflict between the English and the French for the dominion of Acadie. 



According as the New England colonies increased in population, the French possess- 

 ion of Acadie was regarded by them as a constant menace, and all their efforts were, time 

 and again, for more than a century, directed towards driving the French from the country. 

 After the foundation of Quebec by Champlaiu, Canada became the favourite colony of 

 France, and Acadie obtained a very small degree of recognition from the parent state. At 

 no time, indeed, iu her history did she evoke that interest and attention from the French 

 king and people that wovild have enabled the struggling colonists eventually to hold their 

 own against the energetic and sturdy New Englanders. In 1G13 Port lioyal surrendered 

 to an English adventurer named Captain Argall, and Acadie remained iu the possession 

 of England until the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, when it was restored to France with 

 all the countries and places which Great Britain held in New France. While Acadie 

 was occupied by England, a Scotch gentleman. Sir William Alexander, afterwards the 

 Earl of Stirling, obtained a grant from King James of the country which was now called 

 Nova Scotia, as well as of New Brunswick and St. John's Island, of a part of Lower 

 Canada and also of Cape Breton, which was called Baccalaos iu his patent ; an indication 

 that the present name was not yet generally recognized in Europe. This patent is chiefly 

 interesting to us from the fact that it gave him the right to establish settlements within 

 his grant, to which was appended the title of baronet. In these prosaic, practical days, 

 when everything is brought — too much so iu some cases — to the test of commercial value, 



' See infra, sec IX, and App. IV, for references lo a probable survival of this curious name on the south- 

 eastern coast of Cape Breton, in the immediate vicinity of Louisbourg. 



- See App. XIII to this work for a list of Indian compound words in support of the assertion in the text- 

 Sec. II, 1891. 24. 



