264 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



a diminutive, but simply a form of the locative, equivalent to OOK. This is shown 

 by the use of OOCH, or OOCHK as a locative termination in words in which there 

 can be no suspicion of a diminutive meaning, e.g., LUSTGOOCH (Restigouche), 

 TAKUMEGOOCHK (Tatamagouche), and others which will be considered later 

 in this series. This termination, by the way, appears to be especially common in 

 words in which the syllable before it ends in a K or hard G sound; and it therefore 

 appears to be a device to prevent the immediate succession of two K sounds. Taking 

 everything together, accordingly, it seems to me clear that we have in CAMSO- 

 GOOCH simply the full aboriginal form, including the locative termination, of CAM- 

 SÔK (the G and K sounds being almost indistinguishable in Micmac) which, as 

 noted above, lacks the locative termination. The explanation of the linking of 

 CAMSOGOOCH to LITTLE CANSO by Rand seems to be perfectly understand- 

 able. Rand's interest in Micmac place-names was purely incidental to his general 

 linguistic Micmac studies, and ample evidence in his writings shows that he gave 

 no critical attention to place-names. It seems most probable that the Indians, in- 

 fluenced by their familiarity with the English form CANSO, gave him the exact 

 equivalent, without the locative, in Micmac roots, viz., CAMSÔK or KAMSÔK, but 

 at the same time gave him also the full Indian form with the locative, KAMSÔK- 

 OOCH. In the thought that these were two separate words, and finding a LITTLE 

 CANSO all ready at hand, he naturally interpreted KAMSÔGOOCH as an ab- 

 breviated diminutive (involving CrŒECH), of KAMSÔK. But in this natural 

 supposition he erred, as I think there is no doubt. Rand's CAMSOGOOCH, ac- 

 cordingly, which would be better written KAMSOKOQCH, does not mean LITTLE 

 CANSO, but is the full aboriginal form, including the locative termination, of 

 CANSO. 



CAMSOGOOCHECH. A word given by Rand as the Micmac name for White 

 Head {First Reading Book, cited, 102; Micmac- English Dictionary, in the form 

 KAMSÔKOOTCËTC, 183). The roots of the word are perfectly clear; they include 

 CAMSOGOOCH, just considered, the full aboriginal form of Canso, together with 

 the very common suffix CHECH or CHEECH, which always means LITTLE. 

 The word, therefore, means exactly and literally LITTLE CANSO. As to the 

 location of White Head, the place to which the name applies, the editor of Rand's 

 Micmac- English Dictionary is certainly in error in placing it in "C.B.," (Cape Breton), 

 since no such name occurs in that island so far as I can find after the most detailed 

 search. On the other hand, the name White Head occurs thrice not far from Canso, — 

 for a Cape on White Island about six miles south of Canso, for an Island just off 

 Whitehaven some twelve miles southwest of Canso, and as the local equivalent for 

 Whitehaven itself. The former, being only an exposed point on a barren island, 

 would not be a place for Indian resort, while, moreover, the name White Head is 

 used only upon some maps, the charts having White Point. White Head, the Island, 

 is a barren, inhospitable place, unlikely, I am told, to have been an Indian resort. 

 Whitehaven, however, offers Indian camp sites, and it lies in the near vicinity of 

 that Port de Savelette which is mentioned by both Lescarbot and Champlain as an 

 important French fishing station to which the Indians resorted. Of these three, 

 Whitehaven would seem the more probable location of KAMSOKOOCHECH or 

 LITTLE CANSO, although one would expect a location nearer Canso itself. No 

 doubt the name applied especially to the place in that region chief in importance as 

 an Indian resort. But that there was a KAMSOKOOCHECH or LITTLE CANSO 

 separate from KAMSOKOOCH or CANSO proper, there seems no question. 



