* *

CANADA, ETC.

(Vol. vii., pp. 380. 504.)

My former Note on the origin of this name suggests a question, which, if
you think it worthy of a place in "N. & Q.," may interest many besides
myself, viz. At what period and by whom was that part of North America
called Canada?

To the French it appears always to have been known as "La Nouvelle France."
La Hontan, who quitted the country 1690, I think, calls it Canada. Lajitan
certainly does, as well as many other old authors.

In a map of North America, date 1769, the tract bordering on the St.
Lawrence, lately called Upper and Lower Canada, is designated "The Province
of Quebec;" whilst the region to the northward, lying between it and
Hudson's Bay, has the word Canada in much larger letters, as if a general
name of the whole. That the name is slightly altered from an Indian word is
probable, but not so that it was used by the Indians themselves, who, in
the first place, were not in the habit of imposing general names on large
districts, although they had significant ones for almost every locality;
the former were usually denominated the land of the Iroquois, of the
Hurons, &c., _i. e._ of the people dwelling, on, and in possession of it.
Even allowing that the Indians may have had a general name for the country,
it is very unlikely that one so unmeaning as "Kanata" would have been
imposed upon it by a people whose nomenclature in every other case is so
full of meaning.

Moreover, although the Mic-macs of Gaspe may have called themselves
Canadians according to Lescarbot, yet we are told by Volney, that--

"The Canadian savages call themselves 'Metoktheniakes' (born of the
sun), without allowing themselves to be persuaded of the contrary by
the Black Robes," &c.--Vol. ii. p. 438.

The following, to the same purpose, is from the _Quarterly Review_, vol.
iv. p. 463.:

"'Tapoy,' which we understand from good authority to be the generic
appellation by which the North American tribes distinguish themselves
from the whites," &c.

{602}

Now I should imagine both Lescarbot and Champlain, knowing nothing of the
language, and probably having very bad interpreters, must have made a great
mistake in supposing the Gaspesiens called themselves Canadians, for I have
questioned several intelligent Mic-Macs on the subject, and they have
invariably told me that they call themselves "Ulnookh" or "Elnouiek,"
"_Ninen elnouiek!--We are Men._