PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 LXXXIII 



4. — " The Origin of the Ilaidahs of the Queen Charlotte Islands," by- 

 John Campbell, LL.D. 



This paper professes to set forth, by a comparison of grammatical forms and of 

 over two hundred different parts of speech, the connection of the Haidahs with the 

 Melanesian population of the Pacific Ocean as distinguished from the Malay and 

 Polynesian populations of the same insular area. In the Philippine Islands, the 

 ancestors of the Haidahs submitted to Malay influences in blood and in language, 

 modifying considerably the Melanesian type best known in Papua and in Australia. 

 The arrival of the Haidahs in the region now occupied by their descendants cannot 

 be placed earlier than the eleventh century, A. D., nor later than the fifteenth. 

 Of the same Melanesian stock on American soil are the Tupi-Guarani tribes of 

 Brazil, but they must have been the outcome of a far earlier migration dating back 

 to the ninth century at least. The Haidahs represent the extreme northern limit 

 of Melanesian or Papuan distribution. 



5. — " The Cabotian Voyages," by Hon. J. Boyd Thacher, Mayor of 

 Albany, N. Y., and author of " The Continent of America, its Discovery 

 and its Baptism, etc." Presented by Dr. Bouiinot, C.M.Gr. 



The author leans towards a land-fall near Hudson's Strait, and treats the whole 

 subject from the standpoint of proving England's right to territory from English 

 discoveries. Mr. Thacher will exhibit an autograph letter of Henry VII. and other 

 documents of historic interest. 



6. — " Nicolas Denys, First French Governor of Cape Breton : His 



Life and Book — ' Historicalf Account of the Coasts of North America,' " 



with Bibliographical Notes, by Dr. Bourinot, C.M.G. 



It is proposed to republish the first volume of one of the rarest works on 

 America, and reproduce tlie map which is only found in some copies. A translation 

 Avill be given opposite each page of the original, which will be reproduced verbatim 

 et literatim. A sketch of the life of the author will be added, and such histoi'ical, 

 geographical and bibliographical notes appended to the text as will make the 

 monograph useful to all students of Canadian history. The work by Denys is in 

 two volumes, but it is proposed to reprint at present only the first, which deals 

 with the history and geography of northeastern America. 



7. — " How Best to Learn to Speak or Teach a Language," by Mr. 

 Charles Baillairgé, C. E., Quebec. 



8. — " The Latest Conclusions on the Subject of the Voyages of Cabot," 

 by S. E. Dawson, Lit. D. 



9. — " A Monograph of the Cartography of the Province of New 

 Brunswick," (Contributions to the History of New Brunswick, No. 3.) 

 by William F. Ganong, M.A., Ph.D. Presented by Dr. Bourinot, C.M.G. 

 This paper contains an attempt at the exhaustive study of the cartography of a 

 limited region from the point of view of its evolution and the causes controlling it. 

 The historical value of maps, sources of error in their making and their interpreta- 

 tion, and the principles of their evolution are briefly discussed. It is shown that 

 the maps of a limited region do not form a continuous and constantly-improving 

 series, but they fall into a few marked types, each of which is a great advance over 

 its predecessors, and the intermediate forms, which outnumber the types many to 

 one, are but copies and alterations of the types. The types, eight in number, are 

 then taken up for New Brunswick, and the sources for new information in each is 

 discussed. Sketches of each of the types are given, and of several important MS. 

 maps hitherto unpublished, which bear upon them, and also a synoptical list of the 

 maps of the province arranged under their types. 



