190 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
precisely as we use in English the word Little River not so much in an absolute 
sense as in comparison with a Main River. This is confirmed by the use of SMALLER 
or LESSER in some of the meanings earlier given. We may therefore accept for 
ABSETKWECHK the meaning THE SMALLER STREAM, expressing contrast 
with the Restigouche. All of the reliable data we possess, are, I believe, in full 
harmony with this interpretation. 
The same word occurs elsewhere in the Maritime Provinces. Thus Rand gives 
APSETKWETCK or APSETKWETC, (the TC being sounded like TCH) as the 
name for the smaller or eastern branch of the Avon River, N.S., and this is obviously 
the same word as our APSETKWECHK (Micmac-English Dictionary, 25, 180, 
although he locates our river erroneously on the Miramichi). Again Rand gives, 
APSIBOOGWECHK, meaning LITTLE RIVER for Port Le Bear, Nova Scotia, 
(Reader, 97); here the roots are also plain, APSI is SMALL, and BOOGWECHK is 
simply the full form (also common in Micmac place-names as noted above) of which 
GWECHK or KWECHK is an abbreviation, and having the same meaning. 
From these facts it is evident that the L of UPSALQUITCH, our literary form 
of the name, does not occur at all in the Indian word. But it is easy to see whence 
it came. It originated, I have no doubt, in the making of Purdy’s map, froma 
simple error of transcriber or engraver, who mistook the T of Von Velden’s UPSAT- 
QUITCH for an L. This error, once made, naturally persisted upon maps, and 
gradually crept into printed works, which influenced the pronunciation of those 
who make use of books and maps and follow these in the desire to be correct. But, 
as so often happens in such cases, the local users of the name, who are so little 
influenced by printed records, have continued to speak the original and more correct 
form. The form UPSALQUITCH should, however, remain the standard despite 
its illegitimate origin, for it is not only firmly fixed in literary usage, but is a far more 
pleasing and easily pronounced word than the original form. 
The same name, furthermore, is applied, I believe, to yet another river. The 
Maliseet name for the Gaspereau River, the principal branch of Salmon River in 
Queen’s County, New Brunswick, is OP-SKETCHK’, as given me by a well-informed 
Maliseet Indian, who gave its meaning, though with some hesitancy, as NARROW 
STREAM. In view of the facts that (1) the word has a marked resemblance to 
APSETKWECHK, (2) Gaspereau bears to Salmon River a relation physiographi- 
cally identical with that of UPSALQUITCH to Restigouche, and (3) the Indian 
names of most of the waters of the lower Saint John are Micmac, I think there can 
be little doubt that OPSKETCHK is identical in origin and meaning with APSETK- 
WECHK, the word being somewhat softened and shortened by the Maliseets who 
adopted it from the Micmacs. I have seen the word written, in a book on sport in 
New Brunswick, as OBSCACHE, which forms a good familiarization of the name for 
future literary use. 
OrHer EXPLANATIONS.—A meaning that is only partially correct is given by 
H. Y. Hind who writes AB-SAT-QUITCH, “the river that runs out small,” (Report on 
the Geology of New Brunswick, 1865, 258). Very different is an interpretation given 
me by Mr. D. Ferguson, formerly a resident of Restigouche, who knows the Micmacs 
and their language well. He tells me he has understood it to be derived from 
APTSH, meaning MORE or AGAIN, AL-COOTCH or AT-COOTCH, BLANKET 
or COVERING, thus signifying MORE-BLANKET-RIVER, alluding to the cold- 
ness of travel upon it in winter (These Transactions, XII, 1906, ii, 52). This explana- 
tion is, however, much older, for Charles Lanman, in his Adventures in the Wilds of 
the United States and British Provinces, 1856, II, 47, gives the meaning BLANKET 
RIVER, and Herdman in the series of articles on the history of Restigouche already 
