* * * * *
I Have Now Stated Generally The Result Of My Excursion, Avoiding, For
The Present, Entering Into Any Detail.
The materials collected on
this, as well as on my excursion across the interior a few years ago,
and
On other occasions, put me in possession of a general knowledge of
the natural condition and productions of Newfoundland; and, as a
member of an institution formed to protect the aboriginal inhabitants
of the country in which we live, and to prosecute inquiry into the
moral character of man in his primitive state, I can, at this early
stage of our institution, assert, trusting to nothing vague, that we
already possess more information concerning these people than has been
obtained during the two centuries and a-half in which Newfoundland has
been in the possession of Europeans. But it is to be lamented that
now, when we have taken up the cause of a barbarously treated people,
so few should remain to reap the benefit of our plans for their
civilization. The institution and its supporters will agree with me,
that, after the unfortunate circumstances attending past encounters
between the Europeans and the Red Indians, it is best now to employ
Indians belonging to the other tribes to be the medium of beginning
the intercourse we have in view; and indeed I have already chosen
three of the most intelligent men from among the others met with in
Newfoundland to follow up my search.
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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 8 of 10
Words from 3608 to 4110
of 5074
