\ganong] origin of ACADIA AND NORUMBEGA 107 



but a descendant of the Arcadia given by Verrazzano. Why did 

 Verrazzano use this word ? Since he associated it with the beauty of 

 the trees, we can only suppose that he had in mind Arcadia in Greece, 

 then as now a symbol for quiet silvan charm. 



2. The Origin of the Place-name Norumbega. 



This name appears prominently on maps of the sixteenth century, 

 applied variously to a territory, a great river, and a city, in the region 

 of the present State of Maine. The word has been much discussed 

 by many writers, notably by Slafter in the Prince Society's Champlain 

 (Vol. II), by De Costa in Winsor's Narrative and Critical History 

 (III, 169) and in the Magazine of American History (I, 1877, 14), by 

 Godfrey in Collections of the Maine Historical Society (VIII, 1881, 315), 



by Harrisse in his Découverte de Terre-Neuve (149), by Horsford 



in his hopelessly uncritical writings directed to identify the place 

 with the Charles River near Boston, and by a good many others from 

 various special points of view. The word has been claimed as native 

 Indian, and this phase of the matter I wish here to discuss. If the 

 data I present do not solve the problem, they will at least serve to 

 define it clearly. 



The first claim that Norumbega is an Indian name accompanies 

 the earliest recorded use of the word. In the well-known Raccolta 

 of Ralnusio, of 1565, is printed an anonymous narrative of explorations, 

 written in 1539, which describes the country of Norumbega, lying 

 between Cape Breton and Florida, and adds, "the inhabitants of 

 this country c^ll it Norumbega." No new statement on the matter 

 appears for the next three centuries, during which time the name, by 

 stages clearly shown on the maps, had become localized on the Penobs- 

 cot River. Believing that Norumbega was the Penobscot, Father 

 Vetromile, missionary to the Penobscot Indians, wrote in 1866; 

 "Its former name was Nolumbeka (succession of falls and still- water), 

 the Indian name for the Penobscot river, or rather for some parts of 

 it." And again: — "Nolumbega means a still-water between falls, of 

 which there are several in that river. At different times, travelling 

 in a canoe along the Penobscot, I have heard the Indians calling those 

 localities Noliimhegd" {The Abnakis and their History, 45, 48-9). Kohl, 



in his well-known work on The Discovery of Maine, takes an 



Indian origin for granted, whether under influence of Vetromile's 

 work or from general assumption I do not know. Godfrey {op. cit.) 

 quotes with apparent approval a derivation from Ballard, making the 

 word mean Still Water Place. While neither Vetromile or Ballard 

 are real authorities in such a matter, their work being uncritical in the 



