40 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
gulf; General Lord Wellington, by the channel up which Franklin 
sailed in 1845; Robeson and Kennedy channels after United States 
Secretaries of the Navy; Committee bay after the governing body of 
the Hudson’s Bay Co., and Jones, Lancaster and Smith sounds after 
the patrons of Baffin in his great voyage when he reached a latitude 
not surpassed till 1818, over two hundred years later. 
“Inland” Names.—The “inland” names of Northern Canada 
differ from the ‘coast’? names in that the majority of them are either 
native names or translations of native names. This is due to the fact 
that most of them were obtained by officers of the Hudson’s Bay 
Company, who, as fur-traders, were in close touch with the native in- 
habitants. 
Eastmain river recalls the Hudson’s Bay Co.’s official designation 
of the east mainland coast of Hudson bay; George river was named by 
Moravian missionaries after George III; Koksoak is Eskimo for “big 
river” and Ungava signifies “far away”; Albany river after James, 
Duke of York and Albany, later, James Il; Hayes river, after James 
Hayes, secretary to Prince Rupert; Nelson river after Button’s master 
who died there; Churchill river after the victor of Blenheim; Backs 
river, after Admiral Sir George Back; Coppermine river after 
the reported copper mines that drew Hearne—first white man 
to sight the Arctic mainland coast of British North America—from 
Hudson bay; Dubawnt is corrupted Indian for ‘“ water-shore,” and 
Slave denotes the contempt of the southern Indians for their less warlike 
‘northern neighbours; the Mackenzie bears the name of its famous 
explorer, Sir Alex. Mackenzie; the Pellyis named after one of the directors 
of the Hudson’s Bay Company; the Frances, after the wife of its famous 
governor, Sir George Simpson, and the Lewes and Stewart after officers 
of the company; the Liard refers to the cottonwood trees (“liards’’) 
on its banks; Keewatin, as every student of Hiawatha knows, signifies 
the “north-west wind.” 
In preparing this paper, the historical interest connected with it 
and the fact that, so far as the writer knows, it has never been com- 
piled before, has induced the addition of :— 
(a) A list of the various Arctic expeditions—including Hudson bay 
—from 1576 to 1910. ; 
(b) A list of the officers of these expeditions. 
(c) Bibliography of the principal works consulted. 


NorTe:—Owing to the limitations of the space allotted to the various sections, 
the publication of the paper as prepared, was found to be impossible. In addition 
to the lists of expeditions, lists of officers and bibliography, it contains notes 
respecting the derivations of the names of upwards of two thousand features. It is 
now, February, 1911, being published as an appendix to a ninth report of the 
Geographic Board of Canada. 
