S4 GANONG OK ST. LAWRENCE 



Martin (Marguerite and Other Poems, 1887.) Bourinot (Canadian Monthly, April, 1875), makes the 

 Isle of Demons and the Isles de Demoiselle the same. Allefonsce, as jjointed out, places the latter in 

 the Gulf on the Labradoi- coast (p. 25), though old maps place the former in the region of Belle Isle. 

 The legend is interesting and, Parkman points out, may have an historical basis, but these localities 

 cannot be certainly identified. 



MiRAMiCHi. — This is popularly supposed to be a Micmac word, meaning " happy retreat," such 

 being the interpretation given by Cooney, Gesner and others in theii- histories of this region. Another 

 idea is that it comes from " Miggumaghee" or " Megumaage," which means Micmac-Land. On the 

 other hand. Dr. Silas Eand, our greatest Micmac scholar, does not know its meaning or origin, nor 

 does Ml'. Edward Jack, who is familiar with the language of the Milicete Indians. One of the most 

 intelligent Indians of the Milicete tribe, Newell Paul, has told me that the word is not Indian at all. 

 Mr. Jack writes that there is no such word in the Abenaki language to his knowledge, and that 

 the Indians call the Miramichi Les-ta-goo-chic, or Little Eestigouche. Dr. Rand, in his Micmac 

 Reader, gives it the same name, Lùsfegoocheechh. Were the word '' Miramichi " used by either 

 Micmacs or Milicetes, these two men would certainly know of it. 



The word has had a most interesting history, but so fiir I have not been able to reach a satisfactory 

 conclusion as to its origin. On maps of the last century, the river is usually called Bistigouchi, which 

 is clearly the same word as Dr. Eand and Mr. Jack give, with the r softened to I, as it always is in 

 the language of these Indians. Passing back to the seventeenth century, the r disappears and is 

 replaced by s, so that it reads Misamiehi, Mismmichi, etc., though occasionally the r does appear. 

 Leseaibot has Misamichis, De Laet Mesamicht, Champlain Misaviichy. DeMont's commission of 1603 

 has Mesamichi. Moreover the word in all of these cases is apjjlied not to the river, but to a place or 

 port ; Lescarbot speaks of it as a port where the French were accustomed to dry tisb, and he also tells 

 us that it is an Indian word. 



So much is certain : but I believe the word can be traced still further back. On a map, dated 1594 

 in the " Histoire de la Navigatione de lean Hugues de Linscot," and on another dated 1596, in De 

 Bry's " America," we find the name Machanuce (which may be misprinted of course,) and indeed in 

 the latter m'ght almost be read Machamice, occuwing in the position of our present Miramichi. More- 

 over, its position is made certain on both maj^s by the presence of the little circle and tower used 

 conventionally on both to indicate a town, settlement or port, and this circle is placed on what is 

 clearly very near or exactly on the present Miramichi Eiver. I have not seen it again on any 

 earlier map until that of Homem of 1558 (given antea, p. ), where it appears exactly in its proper 

 position ' in the form Micheomai. The same forms appears also upon Freire's map of 1546, though it 

 might possibly be read there pucheomai. Lastly in the Henry II map (given antea, p. 38) we find 

 a name Terre de Ahchalman, placed not at the Miramichi, but in what is now Eestigouche County. 

 Considering the great differences in spelling in these early maps, their corrupting of names, and 

 changes from one language to another, together with the fact that an entirely new name very rarely 

 appears, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that these are all the same word. 



As it appears on the Henri II map, which 'so faithfully mirrors the explorations of Cartier, it 

 would look as if the name had been given by him, or, at all events, was in some way connected with 

 his voyages. Yet we search his narratives in vain for any trace of it, or anything that can be con- 

 nected with it. No modern word either in French, Spanish or Portuguese, which at all resembles 

 any of these forms throws any light upon it. Both Portuguese maps have Micheomai ; the French 

 map has Michalman. Some student who thoroughly understands these languages might help us here, 

 or the Kohl collection of maps at Washington might give other forms of the name, or intermediate 

 steps which would throw light on the question. 



J The little bay at the right of the name is meant for ]Miramichi Bay, the " Baia de limari " just below being 

 the head of Northumberland Strait. 



