CANADA IN THE BODLEIAN. 385 



did vanquished Ohio behold the ambuscades of savages made of none 

 effect; and, source of woe unending! St. Lawrence pour down his tide, 

 subject unto Thee ! " 



It will be observed that the penultimate syllable of Niagara has, in the 

 above Latin lines, the quantity which it possessed when the name first 

 fell on the ear of Europeans. The line in Goldsmith's Traveller will 

 be remembered : 



Have we not seen, at Pleasure's lordly call, 

 The smiling, long-freqnented village fall? 

 Beheld the duteous son, the sire decayed, 

 The modest matron, and the blushing maid, 

 Forc'd from their homes, a melancholy train, 

 To traverse climes beyond the western main, 

 "Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around, 

 And Niagara stuns with thund'ring sound ? 



Like other native names, Niagara has been subjected to a process of 

 abbreviation and shaping. It properly begins with a nasal On. Tbe 

 following forms of the word are to be read in early books on Canada : 

 lagera, lagare, Jagera, Jagare, Jagera, Niagaro, Niagra, Niagro, 

 Oakinagaro, Ochiagara, Ocbjagara, Octjagara, Ohniagero, Oneageragh, 

 Oneagoragh, Oneigra, Oneygra, Ongayerae, Oniagara, Oniagorah, 

 Oniagra, Oniagro, Onjagara, Onjagera, Onjagora, Onjagore, Onjagoro, 

 Onjagra, Onnyagaro, Onyagara, Onyagare, Onyagaro, Onyagoro, 

 Onyagars, Onyagra, Onyagro, Onyegra, Yagero, Yangree. In the 

 Jesuit Relation for 1641, we have Onguiaahra. 



Our English system of accentuation misleads us in respect to the 

 quantity of syllables in native words. The aborigines lay an almost 

 equal stress on every syllable : thus it happens that, although their 

 language, when reduced to writing, seems to consist of words of an 

 unconscionable length, it sounds, when spoken, monosyllabic. Ohio, 

 too, it may be observed, has here its middle syllable short. We find it 

 short in other early productions. Like the shortening of the penult of 

 Niagara, the lengthening of that of Ohio is an English modernism. 

 Ohio occurs in the old books as Oio and Oyo. 



For the sake of a clever transfer into Latin of the idea of our national 

 flag, we made an extract from P. Methuen's production. Otherwise, in 

 the lines presented there is nothing especially interesting. Indus therein 

 seems to indicate the river; although again Indian or Hindoo may be 

 intended. The writer was a gentleman commoner of Corpus Christi 

 College. He is speaking of the late royal death : 



