Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/492

 406 NOTES AND QUERIES. [io» s. iv. NOV. is, 1905. sought to convey. The amended version, by a Mr. Gadley or Mr. Godley, appeared in a number of The Holijhead Parish Magazine. Inasmuch as the lines might give rise to speculation on the part of the curious as to surmised relation of incidents, I transcribe the amended setting :— In the bare midst of Anglesey they show Two springs which close by one another play ; And long ago, two holy men, they say, At noon met often where those waters flow. One Eastward came, fronting the morning glow, The sun-burnt Kybi from his Western bay. While the fair Seiriol from the rising day Westward with unsunned face did always go. Noon passed, and then as each one homeward sped The dweller in the West still faced the light, The dweller in the East was still in shade. Even so to-day in conquering sunshine bright The man of the bold VVest cornea forth arrayed ; He of the mystic East is touched with night. ANEURIN WILLIAMS. Carnarvon. " ONDATRA " : ITS ORIGIN.—Looking over the latest half-volume of the ' New English Dictionary' (O - Pf), I notice that the zoological term ondatra is merely described as " native Canadian name." This is a pity, because, so far as its derivation is concerned, ondatra is unique. Practically all other North American zoological terms are from one or other of the dialects of the great Algonquin family. There are forty or more of these Algonquin names of beasts and fishes, but ondatrais not Algonquin at all, it belongs to quite another group—the Huron. The Algonquin synonym is musquash, which is better known in English than ondatra, as it is the trade name employed by the furriers. It is curious that, in spite of the prominent part played by the Five Nations in Canadian history, we should have retained of their language but this one word, while the Algonquins, their rivals, have con- tributed at least a hundred to our vocabulary. JAS. PL ATT, Jun. ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.—On 28 July, 1905, a day after the deplorable disaster to an elec- tric train on the Liverpool and Southport branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Kail- way, a statement was made in one of the leading London journals that " the Lanca- shire and Yorkshire Company was the first of the English main lines to electrify a part of its system." This statement is not strictly accurate, and a_s electric propulsion may in the course of time bring about a complete revolution in railway travelling, it is, I think, desirable, in the interest of historical truth, and for the benefit of future inquirers, that the facts con- nected with its initiation should be made as clear and correct as possible. The North-Eastern Railway Company and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Com- pany were the pioneers in this matter. They ran each other very close, but with regard to the date of commencement the North-Eastern Company was undoubtedly first. Putting on one side the experimental runs which had been going on at intervals for six months previously, the North - Eastern Company commenced carrying the public by electrically propelled trains on the morning of 29 March, 1904. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Com- pany, though they had advertised their inten- tion of starting on 22 March, 1904, were not ready then, owing to a breakdown at their power station, and did not actually begin to carry passengers until 9 April, 1904, or ten days after the North-Eastern Company had publicly inaugurated their electric service of trains between New Bridge Street Station, Newcastle, and Benton. The difference in time is slight, and both companies deserve to be credited with pro- gressive ideas ; but after all it is fitting that the district which gave birth to George Stephenson and his steam locomotive should also be the district to pioneer a further advance in railway traction. JOHN OXBEREY. Gateshead. "ADD": " ADDER."—At Logic, on 20 Feb- ruary, 1655, the presbytery of Dunblane made a minute : " This day the presbyterie appoynts George buchanane to exerceis and Hughe Hannah to adde on 8 luc. 29 verse at Dunblane 13 Marche nixt." Mr. R. M. Fer- gusson, in his ' Logie: a Parish History' (1905, i. 105), says :— "The appointments to exercise and add, at the meeting of 13 March, were, it seems, not kept, as the opening Minute of that meeting bears that 'This day thair wes no exercise in respect the exerciser and adder were both absent. The exer- ciser sent ane Lettre of excuse showing that he was extreame sick qlk was accept!t.'" It seems worth while to note these tech- nical uses of the words for the benefit of the ' N.E.D.' Q. V. IRISH WEATHER RIME.—In The Zoologitt for March, 1867, is a paper on the common gull by Mr. Harry Blake-Knox, wherein the following lines, which I have not met with elsewhere, are quoted. He says :— "I quite believe in the popular opinion that the gull seeks the land more during stormy than during fine weather, and on such occasions flies much further inland.