ON CAPE BRBTOK 267 



has its present name, but in most of the English accounts of the sieges of 1*745 and 1*758 it 

 appears as Chapeau Rouge. Some may think that there is a connection between the two 

 names ; that Chapeau Rouge was given by the English colonists in 1*745, as through an 

 error for Grabarus, these respective names sounding much the same in ordinary conversa- 

 tion. Dr. Parkmau throws doubt oil the identity of the names, but does not help us to 

 solve the problem. It is noteworthy, however, that the name Chapeau Rouge was not 

 uncommon in the French nomenclature of New France. It is still found in Placentia 

 Bay, on the southeastern coast of Newfoundland, directly across from Gabarus in Cape 

 Breton. During the French occupation of Plaisance, Chapeau Rovige was a post of some 

 importance and is frequently mentioned in the records of the time. It has been assumed 

 by some persons with whom I have discussed the question that Chapeau Rouge may have 

 been given to the Cape Breton bay by the settlers from Plaisance and its vicinity in 

 remembrance of their former home in Newfoundland ; but there is no evidence whatever 

 to support this mere surmise. In Bellin's map of 1'744 Gabarus assumes the still more 

 mysterious form of G-abori. As a matter of fact the bay appears to have been named at an 

 early period of its history after one Cabarrus, a Frenchman of Bayonne, who was the first 

 to visit its waters though I have not been able to find the exact date. This much, however, 

 I have learned on excellent authority. The family of Cabarrus — or Gabarrus as it was 

 sometimes called — had been for a long time engaged in trade at Bayonne, and for a number 

 of years in the fisheries of Acadie and New France. They had an establishment iu the 

 bay which now bears their name.^ 



It is curious to note how in the course of time, under the English occupation, the 

 French names of places have assumed different forms, though retaining more or less the 

 original vocal sounds of the old words. We see this strikingly exemplified in the 

 present name of Lingan which has been given for very many years to a shallow bay 

 which is one of the several harbours and bays that indent the coast of Cape Breton between 

 Louisbourg and Sydney. On all the French maps it is marked L'Indiane or L'Indienne. 

 Pichon informs us that this was a remarkable bay on account of the English having 

 erected in 1745 a fort at a place called Cape Coal for the purpose of supplying the Louis- 

 bourg garrison with fuel. The French after they resumed the occupation of the fortress 

 made use of the coal in the same mine and the intendant frequently gave leave to his 

 favourites to load their ships from the pit instead of taking ballast. The mine, however, 

 caught fire in the summer of 1*752, and the fort was burned to the ground. Another 

 name which has been considerably or almost entirely changed in its vocalisation is that of 

 Arichat, all old and once prosperous town, famous for its large fishing establishments, 

 situated on lie Madame— or Maurepas from a well known French statesman — an island 

 on the southeastern coast of Cape Breton where a large number of descendants of the old 

 Acadiaus and French still follow their occupations as sailors, fishermen and farmers. 

 The name " Madame " given for nearly two centuries to this well-known island, the prin- 



' I am indebted for this information to M. Alph. Pinart of the Société de Géographie è Paris. In a catalogue 

 of the well known bookseller, Dufosaé of Paris, appears the following entry which corroborates the statement in the 

 text: 



" Cabarrus (Dominiciue de) Lettres de noblesse accordées au Sieur Dominique de Cabarrus, négociant à 

 Bayonne, données à Versailles au mois d'avril, 1789. Copie contresignée par d'Hozier de Serigny, 4pp. in fol. 

 Cachet du Cabinet d'Hozier. 



Extr : ' C'est le frère du Sieur Dominique de Cabarrus qui a donné son nom à la baye C'abarrus à l'isle royale.' 



