90 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



noted, the idea of NARROW occurs. Comparing, now, this modern Indian form 

 with the earlier forms from the first records above mentioned, it is evident that we 

 have a phenomenon parallel with that displayed by the name POKIOK, viz., the 

 earlier forms show a short O in the first syllable, and contain after the K a W sound 

 which has been gradually lost in the evolution of the word under use by the whites, 

 but which must have occurred in the aboriginal form of the name. Obviously in 

 this word as in Pokiok, the sound has been dropped gradually because of the greater 

 ease of pronunciation of the word without it; and similarly this new usage has 

 influenced the pronunciation of the Indians, whose association with the whites 

 in this region is very close. The sounds B and P are interchangeable, or rather, 

 undifferentiated, in the language of these Indians, as, indeed, two of the Indian 

 pronunciations above given illustrate, so that the first part of the word can be written 

 equally well BOC-W or POK-W. The second vowel evidently lies somewhere 

 between A. E, and O, the nearest intermediate form being E. The similarity of 

 these syllables to those in Pokiok earlier discussed (page 3) at once becomes evident, 

 and raises the question whether this river presents any feature comparable with that 

 which gave Pokiok its name. In fact it does, and a very striking one, as I know 

 from my own personal observation. A mile or so up from its mouth, and a quarter 

 of a mile below the bridge where the highway road crosses the river, the valley 

 narrows to a small typical vertical-walled post-glacial gorge, through which at low 

 tide, the clear green salt waters of the tidal basin above pour down in rapids through 

 a natural sluice, the whole arrangement being one of the typical "Pokiok" type 

 already explained (page 3). In this feature, accordingly, which is found in no 

 other river of this region, and is therefore distinctive as well as striking, we seem 

 without doubt to have the explanation of the first two syllables of the name, that is, 

 as in Pokiok (page 3), PÔK-WÉ, the O being either crushed out as a superflous 

 sound between this syllable and the next, though originally, I have no doubt, present, 

 or else it is now with the preceding E whicli is thereby shortened. The first part 

 of the word would therefore be PÔK-WËO, meaning, as in Pokiok, NARROWS 

 RUNS OUT, or RUNS OUT THROUGH NARROWS. As to the terminal BEC, 

 or PEK, that also seems equally plain. Its meaning is suggested by the word TIDE 

 in the explanation on the preceding page. A root PAK, or PAAK, is an inseparable 

 suffix occurring in numerous Micmac words connected with TIDES. Thus Rand 

 gives for "The tide is coming in" WÊCHKWÔBAAK, and for "the tide is very 

 high" ÂOOSAMPAAK (English- M icmnc Dictionary, 265): while, as will later be 

 shown in this series, the important old Indian name AUCPAC (used for the Spring- 

 hill region on the Saint John) means simply the HEAD OF TIDE. The word also 

 is extended to large bodies of tidal water, or tidal lakes, as in the case of M ALP EC, 

 originally MACPAC, in Prince Edward Island, and WONPAC, the name for the 

 lake-like Coles Harbour near Halifax. It is true this root as I cite it is Micmac, 

 but as abundant evidence attests (e.g. Magaguadavic and Oromocto, earlier dis- 

 cussed in this series, with Passamaquoddy, Cobscook, and others later to appear), 

 the place-names of the southern part of New Brunswick are prevailingly if not 

 exclusively, Micniac; while moreover, as above shown, the roots of POKIOK are 

 Micmac as well as Maliseet. Now a very peculiar fact about these Narrows of the 

 Bocabec, and one which immediately strikes the attention, is this, that they occur 

 in the tideway of the river, for at high water the rapid is completely buried by the 

 tide which flows for nearly a mile above it. Accordingly it would seem that the 

 PEK of our word must represent a form of PAK meaning TIDE or TIDAL, whidi 

 interpretation makes the word perfectly clear, that is, it would be in full POK-\\ E'O- 

 PÂK, moaning NARROWS-RUNS OUT-TIDALLY, or RUNS OUT THROUGH 



