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Probably what is now known as the French River was called in French times the Tatamagouche River. The English adopted the name French River, either because the French clearings along its banks had been more extensive than those on Waugh’s River, or as was more likely, because it was used by the French as part of their route to the Cobequid villages. The word, Cobequid, which in the French days became generally applicable to all the French settlements along the head of the Bay of Fundy, was after the settlement of these places by the New England settlers, restricted in its use to the designation of the waters at the end of the Bay of Fundy, now called Cobequid Bay and to the range of mountains of the same name. It is from the Indian word, Wakobetk, meaning "the end of the water’s flow" and in the first instance was used to denote the waters of Cobequid Bay. Geographical features were as a rule noted and named by the Indians and their names in a corrupted form adopted by the French. However, as many were not of importance enough to be marked on the French and on the early English maps, they have been lost. For instance, there is a very small stream, though much larger before the forests were cut, which joins the River at the Old Burying-Ground and which is now crossed by the culvert of the C.N. Railway. This was known as Whahungs,* a Micmac word whose meaning is not known. *The only place I have seen this word is in the description of nearby lands deeded to the late Hon. Alex Campbell by DesBarres in 1823 Back |
