In Conclusion, I Congratulate The Institution On The Acquisition Of
Several Ingenious Articles, The Manufacture Of The Boeothicks, Some
Of
Which we had the good fortune to discover on our recent
excursion; - models of their canoes, bows and arrows, spears
Of
different kinds, &c. and also a complete dress worn by that people.
Their mode of kindling fire is not only original, but as far as we at
present know, is peculiar to the tribe. These articles, together with
a short vocabulary of their language consisting of 200 to 300 words,
which I have been enabled to collect, prove the Boeothicks to be a
distinct tribe from any hitherto discovered in North America. One
remarkable characteristic of their language, and in which it resembles
those of Europe more than any other Indian languages do, with which we
have had an opportunity of comparing it, - is its abounding in
diphthongs. In my detailed report, I would propose to have plates of
these articles, and also of the like articles used by other tribes of
Indians, that a comparative idea may be formed of them; and, when the
Indian female Shawnawdithit arrives in St John's, I would recommend
that a correct likeness of her be taken, and be preserved in the
records of the institution. One of the specimens of mineralogy which
we found in our excursion, was a block of what is called Labrador
Felspar, nearly four one-half feet in length, by about three feet in
breadth and thickness. This is the largest piece of that beautiful
rock yet discovered any where.
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