These People Appear To Have Always Shewn Great Respect For Their Dead;
And The Most Remarkable Remains Of Them Commonly Observed By
Europeans, At The Sea-Coast, Are Their Burying-Places.
These are at
particular chosen spots; and it is well known that they have been in
the habit of bringing their dead from a distance to them.
With their
women, they bury only their clothes.
On the north side of the lake, opposite the River Exploits, are the
extremities of two deer fences, about half a mile apart, where they
lead to the water. It is understood that they diverge many miles in
north-westerly directions. The Red Indians make these fences to lead
and scare the deer to the lake, during the periodical migration of
these animals; the Indians being stationed looking out, when the deer
get into the water to swim across, the lake being narrow at this end,
they attack and kill the animals with spears out of their canoes. In
this way they secure their winter provisions before the severity of
that season sets in.
There were other old remains of different kinds peculiar to these
people met with about the lake.
One night we encamped on the foundation of an old Red Indian wigwam,
on the extremity of a point of land which juts out into the lake, and
exposed to the view of the whole country around. A large fire at night
is the life and soul of such a party as ours, and when it blazed up at
times, I could not help observing, that two of my Indians evinced
uneasiness and want of confidence in things around, as if they thought
themselves usurpers on the Red Indian territory.
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