ACADIAN GEOLOGY. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE NAME " ACADIA " GEOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE ACADIAN 



PROVINCES. 



The old and beautiful name Acadia or Acadie, by which Nova Scotia, 

 NeAV Brunswick, and the neighbouring islands were known to the 

 early French colonists, though it has a classic look and sound, is 

 undoubtedly of aboriginal origin. Long before I was aware that 

 any doubt or controversy existed as to its derivation, it was explained 

 to me by an ancient Micmac patriarch named Martin St Pierre, or, 

 as he pronounced it, " Maltun Sapeel," who used to visit my father's 

 house, asking alms, when I was a boy. According to him, the name 

 signifies " Plenty here," and he illustrated this by the word Shuben- 

 acadie, which still remains as the name of one of the principal rivers 

 of Nova Scotia, Shuben, he said, or " Sgabun," means ground-nuts, 

 or Indian potatoes ; and Shubenacadie, a place where gi-ound-nuts are 

 abundant. On the authority of this venerable Micmac philologist, 

 I gave, in the first edition of this work, the following explanation 

 of the term : — 



" The aboriginal Micmacs of Nova Scotia, being of a practical turn 

 of mind, were in the habit of bestowing on places the names of the 

 useful things which could be found in them, affixing to such terms 

 the word Acadie^ denoting the local abundance of the particular 

 objects to which the names referred. The early French settlers 

 appear to have supposed tliis common tei'mination to be the proper 

 name of the country, and applied it as the general designation of the 



A 



