The word Canada is most probably derived from an Iroquois word, signifying Cabin. It has been stated on the authority of a Castilian tradition, that the word was of Spanish origin. The Spaniards, looking after gold, ascended the St. Lawrence, but failing to find the precious metal, exclaimed “Aca nada,” (Here is nothing.) The natives hearing the land thus called, when Europeans again visited them, upon being asked the name of their country, replied “Canada,” in imitation of the Spaniards. Again, Father Hennepin asserts that the Spaniards, upon leaving the land, gave it the appellation “El Cape di nada,” (Cape nothing,) which in time became changed into Canada. But Charlevoix, in his “Histoire de la Nouvelle France,” says that Canada is derived from the Iroquois word “Kannata,” pronounced Canada, which signifies “love of cabins.” Duponcion, in the “Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia,” founds his belief of the Indian origin of the name Canada, on the fact that, in the translation of the Gospel by St. Matthew into the Mohawk tongue, by Brant, the word Canada is always made to signify a village. Taking the whole matter into consideration, there appears the best of reasons to conclude that Canada, a name now properly bestowed upon the Dominion, is of Indian origin, and signifies the country of a people who are accustomed to live in villages or permanent cabins, instead of in tents and constantly changing from one place to another. The history of French Canada is one of unusual interest—from the time Jacques Cartier, in 1534, with two vessels of less than 60 tons burden each, and 122 men in all, entered for the first time the Gulf of St. Lawrence—up to the present day. It was not until the first decade of the 17th century, nearly a hundred years after Cartier first landed, that successful colonization by the French was accomplished. Nevertheless, Canada has as early a place among the colonies of America as New Netherlands or Virginia, which are the oldest States of the neighboring Union. Virginia was planted in 1608; New Netherlands (now New York,) was not settled until 1614. Prior to that, in 1609, Hudson had ascended the river now bearing his name, as far as the present site of Albany; but at the same time the intrepid Champlain was traversing the wilds of the more northern part of the territory to the south of Lake Ontario.