act, informing them that his object was to open a friendly
communication with the Indians, rather than act on the
principle of intimidating them by revenge; that if they avoided
him, he should endeavour to take one or more prisoners and
bring them with him, in order that by the civilization of one
or two, an intercourse might be established that would end in
their permanent civilization. He strictly exhorted them not to
use undue violence: every one was strictly enjoined not to
_fire_ on any account. About three o'clock in the afternoon the
two men who then led the party were about two hundred yards
before the rest;--three deer closely followed by a pack of
wolves, issued from the wood on the left, and bounded across
the lake, passing very near the men, whom they totally
disregarded. The men incautiously fired at them. We were then
about half a mile from the point of land that almost
intersected the lake, and in a few minutes we saw it covered
with Indians, who instantly retired.[B] The alarm was given; we
soon reached the point; about five Hundred yards on the other
side we saw the Indian houses, and the Indians, men, women, and
children, rushing from them, across the lake, hereabout a mile
broad. Hurrying on we quickly came to the houses; when within a
shirt distance from the last house, three men and a woman
carrying a child, issued forth. One of the men took the infant
from her, and their speed soon convinced us of the futility of
pursuit; the woman, however, did not run so fast. Mr. ----
loosened his provision bag from his back and let it fall, threw
away his gun and hatchet, and set off at a speed that soon
overtook the woman. One man and myself did the same, except our
guns. The rest, picking up our things, followed. On overtaking
the woman, she instantly fell on her kness, and tearing open
the cassock, (a dress composed of deerskin lined with fur,)
showing her breasts to prove that she was a woman, and begged
for mercy. In a few moments we were by Mr. ----'s side. Several
of the Indians, with the three who had quitted the house with
the woman, now advanced, while we retreated towards the shore.
At length we stopped and they did the same. After a pause,
three of them laid down their bows, with which they were armed,
and came within two hundred yards. We then presented our guns,
intimating that not more than one would be allowed to approach.
They retired and fetched their arms, when one, the ill-fated
husband of Mary March, our captive, advanced with a branch of
fir tree (spruce) in his hand. When about ten yards off he
stopped and made a long oration. He spoke at least ten minutes;
towards the last his gesture became very animated, and his eye
"shot fire." He concluded very mildly, and advancing, shook
hands with many of the party--then he attempted to take his
wife from us; being opposed in this he drew from beneath his
cassock an axe, the whole of which was finely polished, and
brandished it over our heads. On two or three pieces being
presented, he gave it up to Mr. ----, who then intimated that
the woman must go with us, but that he might go also if he
pleased, and that in the morning both should have their
liberty. At the same time two of the men began to conduct her
towards the houses. On this being done, he became infuriated,
and rushing towards her strove to drag her from them; one of
the men rushed forward and stabbed him in the back with a
bayonte: turning round, at a blow he laid the fellow at his
feet; the next instant he knocked down another, and rushing on
----, like a child laid him on his back, and seizing his dirk
from his belt brandished it over his head; the next instant it
would have been buried in him, had I not with both hands
seized his arm; he shook me off in an instant, while I
measured my length on the ice; Mr. ---- then drew a pistol from
his girdle and fired. The poor wretch first staggered, then
fell on his face; while writhing in agonies, he seemed for a
moment to stop; his muscles stiffened: slowly and gradually he
raised himself from the ice, turned round, and with a wild gaze
surveyed us all in a circle around him. Never shall I forget
the figure he exhibited; his hair hanging on each side of his
sallow face; his bushy beard clotted with blood that flowed
from his mouth and nose; his eyes flashing fire, yet with the
glass of death upon them,--they fixed on the individual that
first stabbed him. Slowly he raised the hand that still grasped
young ----'s dagger, till he raised it considerably above his
head, when uttering a yell that made the woods echo, he rushed
at him. The man fired as he advanced, and the noble Indian
again fell on his face: a few moments' struggle, and he lay a
stiffened corpse on the icy surface of the limpid waters.--The
woman for a moment seemed scarcely to notice the corpse; in a
few minutes, however, she showed a little emotion; but it was
not until obliged to leave the remains of her husband that she
gave way to grief, and vented her sorrow in the most
heart-breaking lamentations. While the scene which I have
described was acting, and which occurred in almost less space
than the description can be read, a number of Indians had
advanced within a shore distance, but seeing the untimely fate
of their chief, halted. Mr. ---- fired over their heads, and
they immediately fled. The banks of the lake, on the other
side, were at this time covered with men, women, and children,
at least several hundreds; but immediately being joined by
their companions all disappeared in the woods. We then had time
to think. For my own part I could scarcely credit my senses as
I beheld the remains of the noble fellow stretched on the ice,
crimsoned with his already frozen blood. One of the men then
went to the shore for some fir tree boughs to cover the body,
which measured as it lay, 6 feet 7½ inches. The fellow who
first stabbed him wanted to strip off his cassock, (a garment
made of deer skin, lined with beaver and other skins, reaching
to the knees,) but met with so stern a rebuke from ----, that
he instantly desisted, and slunk abashed away.
After covering the body with boughs, we proceeded towards the
Indian houses--the woman often requiring force to take her
along. On examining them, we found no living creature, save a
bitch and her whelps about two months old. The houses of these
Indians are very different from those of the other tribes in
North America; they are built of straight pieces of fir about
twelve feet high, flattened at the sides, and driven in the
earth close to each other; the corners being much stronger than
the other parts.--The crevices are filled up with moss, and the
inside entirely lined with the same material; the roof is
raised so as to slant from all parts and meet in a point at the
centre, where a hole is left for the smoke to escape; the
remainder of the roof is covered with a treble coat of birch
bark, and between the first and second layer of bark is about
six inches of moss; about the chimney clay is substituted for
it. On entering one of the houses I was astonished at the
neatness which reigned within. The sides of the tenement were
covered with arms,--bows, arrows, clubs, axes of iron, (stolen
from the settlers) stone hatchets, arrow heads, in fact,
implements of war and for the chase, but all arranged in the
neatest order, and apparently every man's property carefully
put together. At one end was a small image, or rather a head,
carved rudely out of a block of wood; round the neck was hung
the case of a watch, and on a board close by, the works of the
watch, which had been carefully taken to pieces, and hung on
small pegs on the board; the whole were surrounded with the
main spring. In the other houses the remainder of the articles
stolen were found. Beams were placed across where the roof
began; over which smaller ones were laid: on these were piled a
considerable quantity of dried venison and salmon, together
with a little codfish. On ---- taking down the watch and works,
and bringing the image over the fire, the woman surveyed him
with anger, and in a few minutes made free with her tongue, her
manner showing us that she was not unused to scolding. When Mr.
---- saw it displeased her, he, rather irreverently, threw the
log on one side: on this she rose in a rage, and would, had not
her hands been fastened, have inflicted summary vengeance for
the insult offered to the hideous idol. Wishing to pacify her,
he rose, and taking his _reverence_ carefully up, placed him
where he had taken him from. This pacified her. I must here do
the poor creature the justice to say, that I never afterwards
saw her out of temper. A watch was set outside; and having
partaken of the Indian's fare, we began to talk over the events
of the day. Both ---- and myself bitterly reproached the man
who first stabbed the unfortunate native; for though he acted
violently, still there was no necessity for the brutal
act--besides, the untaught Indian was only doing that which
every _man_ ought to do,--he came to rescue his wife from the
hands of her captors, and nobly lost his life in his attempt to
save her. ---- here declared that he would rather have
defeated the object of his Journey a hundred times than have
sacrificed the life of one Indian. The fellow merely replied,
"it was only an Indian, and he wished he had shot a hundred
instead of one." The poor woman was now tied securely, we
having, on consideration, deemed it for the best to take her
with us, so that by kind treatment and civilization she might,
in the course of time, be returned to her tribe, and be the
means of effecting a lasting reconciliation between them and
the settlers.
After the men had laid themselves down around the fire, and the
watch was set outside, the door, Mr. ---- and myself remained
up; and, in a low voice, talked over the events of the day. We
then decided on remaining to rest three or four days; and, in
the meantime, to endeavour to find the Indians. I would I could
now describe how insensibly we glided from one subject to
another;--religion--politics--country--'home, _sweet, sweet_,
home'--alternately occupied our attention; and thus, in the
midst of a dreary waste, far away from the haunts of civilized
man, we sat contentedly smoking our pipes; and, Englishmen
like, settled the affairs of _nations_ over a glass of rum and
water--ever and anon drinking a health to each _friend_ and
_fair_, who rose uppermost in our thoughts. From this the
subject turned to "specific gravity." Here an argument
commenced. When illustrating a position I had advanced, by the
ascension of the smoke from my pipe, we both turned up our eyes
to witness its progress upwards: on looking towards the
aperture in the roof what was our astonishment at beholding the
faces of _two Indians_, calmly surveying us in the quiet
occupation of _their_ abode. In an instant we shouted--"The
Indians!" and in a moment every one was on the alert, and each
taking his arms rushed to the door--not a creature was to be
seen; in vain we looked around;--no trace, save the marks of
footsteps on the snow, was to be discovered, but these seemed
almost innumerable. We fired about a dozen shots into the
woods, and then retired to our dwelling. ---- and I then
resolved to take alternate watch, and every half hour, at least
to walk round the house. During the night, however, we were not
again disturbed, save by the howling of wolves and barking of
foxes.
E.S.
After the capture of Mary March, the next attempt, in order of time,
to discover the Red Indians was made by JAMES CORMACK, Esq., in 1822,
and for that purpose he crossed the whole interior of the
Island--starting from Random Bar on the Eastward on the 6th September,
and finding his way out at St. George's Bay, on the 2nd November
following. During this excursion he suffered great privation,--which
few men could have endured, and which few men indeed, would have
undertaken with only one companion. Mr. Cormack did not succeed in the
main object he had in view, yet was his trouble anything but
profitless. We now possess through his means a general knowledge of
the interior of our Island--together with a specific account of its
soil--its geological and mineralogical aspect--its varied natural
productions--of trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, &c., all named and
methodically described--the kind of animals met with, and a variety of
other useful information.
In the following year, 1823, and early in the spring of that year,
three females, a mother and two daughters, in Badger Bay, near
Exploits Bay, being in a starving condition, allowed themselves in
despair, to be quietly captured by some English furriers who
accidentally came upon them. Fortunately their miserable appearance,
when within gunshot, led to the unusual circumstance of their not
being fired at. The husband of the elder woman in attempting to avoid
the observation of the white men, tried to cross the creek upon the
ice, fell through and was drowned. About a month before this event,
and a few miles distant from the spot where this accident occurred,
the brother of this man and his daughter, belonging to the same
party, were shot by two English furriers. The man was first shot, and
the woman in despair remained calmly to be fired at, and incredible as
it may appear, this poor woman, far from her tribe--helpless--with her
back to her murderers,--excited in them no feeling of compassion--they
deliberately shot her,--the slugs passed through her body, and she
fell dead by the side of her father. The mind is slow to believe that
so brutal an act as this could have been committed, and is willing to
doubt the correctness of the report, but the proof of its accuracy is
the statement of one of the ruffians who perpetrated the foul act.
The three females were brought to St. John's, where they remained four
or five weeks, and were then sent back to the Exploits with many
presents, in the hope that they may meet and share such presents with
their people. They were conveyed up the river Exploits to some
distance, by a party of Europeans, and left on its banks with some
provisions and clothing, to find their friends as they best might.
Their provisions however were soon consumed, and not finding any of
the tribe, they wandered down the right bank of the river, and in a
few days again reached the Exploits habitations. The mother and one
daughter died there shortly afterwards, and within a few days of each
other. The Survivor known as "Nancy" here, but among her tribe as
"Shaw-na-dith-it," was received and taken care of by Mr. Peyton, jun.
and family, with whom she remained several years. She was then brought
to St. John's, and as a Society called the "Boeothick Institution"
had then been established, Shaw-na-dith-it became the object of its
peculiar care and solicitude, and it is to this interesting woman we
are indebted for much of the information we possess regarding her
race. She remained under the care of the Boeothick Institution for
about nine months, during the greater part pf which period she was in
bad health. Much attention was shewn her, and attempts were
perseveringly made to communicate to her a knowledge of the English
language, and this she so far acquired as to be able to communicate
with tolerable ease. In person Shaw-na-dith-it was 5 feet 5 inches
high--her natural abilities were good. She was grateful for any
kindness shown her, and evinced a strong affection for her parents and
friends. As she evinced some taste for drawing, she was kept supplied
with pencils of various colors, and by the use of these made herself
better understood than she otherwise could have done. In her own
person she had received two gun-shot wounds at two different times
from volleys fired at the band she was with by the English people at
the Exploits--one wound was that of a slug through the leg. Poor
Shaw-na-dith-it! she died destitute of any of this world's goods, yet,
desirous of showing her gratitude to one from whom she had received
great kindness, she presented a keepsake to Mr. Cormack, and there is
something very affecting under the circumstances in which she was
placed, as associated with the simple articles of which her present
consisted--they were a rounded piece of granite--a piece of
quartz--both derived from the soil of which her tribe were once the
sole owners and lords, but which were all of that soil she could then
call her own; and added to these, was a lock of her hair. This present
has now a place in the Museum of the Mechanics' Institution, and will,
it may not be doubted, be an object of interest to many.
Shaw-na-dith-it lived in Mr. Cormack's house until he left the colony
in 1829, when she was taken to the house of the then Attorney-General.
She died in June following, and was interred in the burial ground on
the South-side. A Newfoundland paper, of the 12th of June, 1829,
notices her death thus:--"Died, on Saturday night, the 6th inst., at
the Hospital, Shaw-na-dith-it, the female Indian, one of the
aborigines of this Island. She died of consumption,--a disease which
seems to have been remarkably prevalent among her tribe, and which has
unfortunately been fatal to all who have fallen into the hands of the
settlers. Since the departure of Mr. Cormack from the Island, this
poor woman has had an asylum afforded her in the house of James Simms,
Esq., Attorney General, where every attention has been paid to her
wants and comforts, and under the able and professional advice of Dr.
Carson, who has most liberally and kindly attended her for many
months, it was hoped her health might have been re-established.
Latterly, however, her disease became daily more formidable, and her
strength rapidly declined, and a short time since it was deemed
advisable to send her to the hospital, where her sudden decease has
but too soon fulfilled the fears that were entertained for her."
Shaw-na-dith-it as before observed, gave much information as to the
state of her tribe, and the following is the substance of the
statement she made with reference to Captain Buchan's expedition to
the Great Lake in the winter of 1811:--
The tribe, she said, at that time had been much reduced in numbers, in
consequence of the hostile encroachments and meetings of the Europeans
at the sea-coast. But they still had, up to that time, enjoyed,
unmolested, the possession of their favorite interior parts of the
Island, especially the territory around and adjacent to the Great Lake
and Exploits River. There number then it would appear barely amounted
to one hundred and seventy two--and these were encamped in their
winter quarters, in three divisions, on different parts of the margin
of the Great Lake. The principal encampment was at the East end of the
Lake, on the South-side. There were here three mamaseeks or wigwams,
containing forty-two persons. A smaller encampment lay six or eight
miles to the Westward on the North-side of the Lake, containing two
mamaseeks with thirteen people, and another lay near the West end of
the Lake on the South-side, and consisted of two mamaseeks with
seventeen people. It was the principal encampment which Captain Buchan
fell in with. He took it by surprise, and made the whole party
prisoners. This occurred in the morning; after a guarded and
pantomimic interchange for several hours, it was agreed that two
hostages should be given on each side, for Captain Buchan wished to
return down the river for an additional supply of presents, in order
thereby the better to secure the friendship of the Indians.
Captain Buchan had no sooner departed with his men and hostages, than
the Indians suspected he had gone down the river for an additional
force, with, which to return--make them all prisoners, and carry them
off to the coast. Their suspicions induced them to break up their
encampment immediately and retire farther into the interior, where the
rest of the tribe were, and where they would be less liable to be
again surprised.
To ensure concealment of their proceedings, they first destroyed the
two Europeans left as hostages, by shooting them with arrows--then
packed up what clothing and utensils they could conveniently
carry--crossed the lake on the ice the same afternoon, carrying the
heads of the two Europeans with them--one of which they stuck on a
pole, and left it on the north side of the lake; they then followed
along the margin of the lake westward, and about midnight reached the
encampment of their friends--the alarm was given, and next morning
they all joined in the retreat westward. They proceeded a few miles in
order to reach a secure and retired place to halt at, in the hope soon
of hearing something of the two Indians whom Captain Buchan had taken
with him. On the second day the Indians appeared among them, and
stated to them that upon returning with the white men and discovering
the first encampment destroyed, they fled instantly and escaped,--one
of these was Shaw-na-dith-it's uncle. All now resumed the retreat, and
crossed on the ice to the south-side of the lake, where the only
remaining and undisturbed encampment lay. Upon reaching the shore, a
party was despatched to the encampment which lay further to the
westward to sound the alarm. This encampment was then likewise broken
up, and the occupants came east to join the tribe. To avoid discovery,
the whole retired together to an unfrequented part of the forest,
situate some distance from the shore of the lake, carrying with them
all the winter stock of provisions they possessed.
In this sequestered spot they built six winter wigwams, and remained
unmolested for the remainder of the winter,--about six weeks. They had
conveyed with them the head of one of the hostages; this was placed on
a pole, around which the Indians danced and sang.
When spring advanced and their provisions were exhausted, some of them
went back to the encampment at which they had been surprised, and
there supplied themselves out of the winter stock of venison that had
been left there.
After the disaster the tribe became scattered, and continued dispersed
in bands frequenting the more remote and sequestered parts of the
northern interior. In the second winter afterwards twenty-two had died
about the river Exploits, at the Great Lake, and in the vicinity of
Green Bay; in the following years also numbers died of hardship and
want. In 1819 their numbers were reduced to thirty-one, and in 1823 it
consisted of only a remnant of twelve or thirteen. Such is the
substance of Shaw-na-dith-it's statement, and which it is said she
never related without tears.
In 1827 Mr. Cormack renewed his attempt to discover and open a
friendly intercourse with the Boeothicks, and for this purpose with a
small party, consisting of Europeans and a couple of Micmacs, entered
the country at the mouth of the River Exploits, and took a
north-westerly direction which led them to Hall's Bay. On the fourth
day after their departure, at the east end of Badger Bay, at a portage
known by the name of the Indian Path, they found traces made by the
Indians, evidently in the spring or summer of the preceding year.
Their party had been possessed of two canoes, and they had built a
canoe-rest, on which the daubs of red ochre and the roots of trees
used to tie or fasten it together appeared fresh. A canoe-rest is
simply a few beams' supported horizontally about five feet from the
ground by perpendicular posts. Among other things which lay strewed
about here was a spear shaft, eight feet long, recently made and
stained with ochre--parts of old canoes--fragments, of their skin
dresses, &c. Some of the cuts in the trees, made with an axe, were
evidently of not more than a year's date. Besides these signs, the
party were elated by other encouraging marks. After some further
search, but without meeting with any greater success, the party
determined to proceed to the Red Indian Lake. On reaching this
magnificent sheet of water, they found around its shores abundant
evidence that this had been for a long time the central and
undisturbed rendezvous of the tribe. At several places by the margin
of the lake were found small clusters of summer and winter wigwams,
but all in ruins--one large wooden building, presumed to have been
used for the purpose of drying and smoking venison, was found in a
perfect state. The repositories for the dead were found perfect, and
in one of these the party discovered the remains of the ill-fated Mary
March, whom the Indians had placed by the side of her unfortunate
husband. On the north-side of this lake, opposite the River Exploits,
were seen the extremities of two deer fences, about half a mile apart,
where they lead to the water--and in gliding down the river, the
attention of the traveller is arrested by a continuation of these
fences which extend from the lake downwards on the banks of the river
at least thirty miles. After spending several days in wandering round
the margin of the lake, and having fully satisfied themselves that no
encampment of the Indians was to be found there, they returned.
Subsequently to this excursion, a party of men under the direction of
an Institution termed the "Boeothick Institution," which was
established with the view of benefiting the Indians, were sent on the
same errand, but they too returned after a fruitless search, and with
this attempt ends all efforts that have been made to open a
communication with the Red Indians.
And now what opinion may be reasonably formed after a careful
consideration of all the foregoing facts? Shall it be concluded as
many, nay, as most people have done, that the Red Indians are wholly
extinct? The mind is slow to entertain so painful a conclusion, and
more especially as there is some reason to hope that the tribe, to
some extent at least, yet survives.
If indeed Shaw-na-dith-it's statement is to be taken as of
unquestionable authority, and is not to be subjected to any scrutiny,
then indeed but slight hopes can be entertained of the existence of
any of her race; but if the information she supplied be compared with
that conveyed to us through various other sources, then a very
different conclusion may be most legitimately reached.
And first let Shaw-na-dith-it's recital of the circumstances connected
with Captain Buchan's visit to the Great Lake in the winter of 1810
and 1811 be contrasted with that gentleman's own statement of the same
facts.
Shaw-na-dith-it when entering into the particulars of the condition of
her tribe at the period just referred to, said it consisted of no more
than seventy two persons, and whom she thus further described: In the
principal encampment, that which Captain Buchan surprised, there were
in one mamaseek or wigwam four men, five women and six children--in a
second mamaseek there were four men, two women and six children--in a
third mamaseek there were three men, five woman, and seven
children--in the whole forty-two persons. In the second encampment
there were thirteen persons, and in the third seventeen persons,
making in the whole seventy-two; the two smaller encampments being
several miles distant from the larger one. Now, compare this account
with what Captain Buchan saw, bearing in mind that it was only the
larger encampment he surprised,--of the two smaller ones, it does not
appear that he was at all aware, Shaw-na-dith-it states the encampment
contained forty-two persons, of whom nineteen were children. Captain
Buchan asserts in his official Report, that it contained seventy-five
persons, and it is by no means clear that in this number he included
any of the women or children, as in another part of his report, he
estimates the number of the Red Indians as consisting at least of
three hundred persons--an opinion formed solely from the appearances
which the one encampment presented. Then we have the testimony of a
writer, an anonymous one it is true, yet it is evidently the testimony
of a person who was present at the scenes he describes, and he tells
us that in 1819 he estimated the number of Indians he saw, at from
three to four hundred, including women and children. Then again, we
find Mr. Cormack, in 1827, declaring "that hundreds of Indians must
have been in existence not many years ago," otherwise it would be
impossible to account for the great extent of deer fences which he
found so late as the period above-named, yet in being. And lastly, we
have the opinions of the Micmacs, who are so satisfied of the
continued existence of the Red Indian tribe, that they can with
difficulty be made to comprehend that it is possible to entertain a
doubt of a fact, which to them appears so palpable. Their opinion is
that the whole tribe of Boeothicks passed over to the Labrador some
twenty or twenty-five years since, and the place of their final
embarkation, as they allege, is yet plainly discernable.