[chamherh] 



TIfK I'HILOF.OGY OF THK OUANANICHE 



137 



Montagiiai.s imim' for salnioii — the siilmon of 1 lit- sou — is not oiittnan at all 

 biit inii'li(iili(iiiiiiiir or uii-slia-fihti nuil:^ aii<l this iianu' is still often applit'd 

 by tho Indians to particularly dai-k-coloiiri'd and »'Xtra larjjfo s|»o('inu'ns of 

 tho ouananiclic found in cortain northorn laUos. To tlicir ordinary frt'sli 

 water salmon they a|i|»liod a apeci tic name, calling it '• ouanans " or the 

 abbrcviatcfl -unans" — each pronounced '-wannan " or • whonnan." 



Originally. • ouanans." oddly enough, signified locality, especially 

 the place whci-o tisli are Ibuml. according to some aujhoi'itics. According 

 to others i( is a corruption of mien- a f (pronounced • when-nu'') — a 

 Montagnais interrogative. Used in tho sense of " What is that ? " it is not 

 difficult to inuigine how unrn-a .' or nuan-ii ! uttered by .Montagnais 

 tishermen as they pointed to large fish seen feeding upon the flies on the 

 Hcum-coverc(| pools, came in time to be employed for the name of that 

 l)artieular variety which, more than any other in the territory in which 

 it is found, is fund of dis|)orting itself u|»on the surface of the water. The 

 JJev, Pere Arnaud. the missiomny to the Montagnais. suggests further to 

 me that the particular locality known as •' ounans " or ■ umms." to the 

 Montagnais, is the eddying water in the pools at the foot of rapid 

 currents. Jn Just such water as this the ouananidie are often seen sailing 

 around with theii- dor.sal fins protruding above their native element. It 

 retiuires no stretch of imagination on the ])art of those acquainted witli 

 the Indians and their manners and the evolutions of their language, to 

 admit the possibility of either ouanans or idians having bei'u'the original 

 r. ot of ouananiche. , 



Kither is much more nrobable than the sugiicstion of Mr. Creigliton 

 at page 82 of Shield's Aiiterican (iame Fishes, that the name of tlie 

 tish •• is probably derived from the Cree i-oot -wan.' to lose or mistake, 

 applied either to the tish having lost itself or being taken for a salmon.' 



The diminutive form of the word •ouanans" is now almost univers- 

 ally employed in speaking of the tish, perhaps because the latter offers no 

 exception to the angler's general experiences that the big tish are few 

 and far between. Or can it be that there is tin element of truth in tho 

 Indian reports of the deterioration in .size of their fresh-water salmon, 

 anil that in former ages these tish were so much larger, that all their 

 descendants of the present <lay must be classed as little (luanans .' Frenidi- 

 Canadian tishermen. settlers and guides in the land of the ouaiumiche 

 call it le saainon (tho salmon) ])erhaps oftener than they employ the 

 Indian name, and from their j)etit saiiinun (little salmon), and the know- 

 ledge that the Montagnais attix ichc is a diminutive, may have originated 

 the fashionable error of jumping to the conclusion that '• ouananiche " is 

 an Indian equivalent for •' little salmon."' Were it indeed so, the con- 

 structors of the word would simply have builded better than they knew. 



And now that the original fonn. after an existence in French- 

 Canadian literature of over two and a half centuries, has obtained such 



