26 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



sites known to me are near good springs, and it was no doubt the 

 splendid great spring at Medudic which helped to fix the settlement 

 there. Springs are so abundant in New Brunswick, however, that most 

 situations otherwise good are provided with one or more at no great 

 distance. Third, a good supply of firewood. No doubt the Indian, 

 with his imperfect tools, made much use of drift wood and of fallen 

 and dry timber, and such is much more abundant on uplands than upon 

 intervales, from which it is largely washed away in the spring freshet», 

 and where it is commo'nly wet. When driven to the use of greenwood, 

 he found the best kinds, paper birch and sugar maple, upon the up- 

 lands. Hence probably one reason why the camping grounds, if on 

 intervales, were usually near to uplands. Fourth, a good beach for 

 'landing and beaching canoes, for which beaches of sand or fine gravel 

 M^ere besit, especially if, on rapid rivers, they were in some cove or below 

 some point giving protection from the current. Many of the best 

 'camp-sites known to me are beside such beaches. Fifth, the proximity 

 bf a grove of the canoe or paper birch, from the bark of wliich the 

 Indian made not only his canoe and his wigwam (at least in part or at 

 times), but also his dishes and other household utensils, while its bark 

 formed tho best of materials for starting his fires, especially with wet 

 or otherwise poor fuel, and its green wood forms the very best green, 

 fuel afforded by the New Brunswick woods. No doubt tb.e proximity of 

 groves of this invaluable tree helped to fix some of the larger camp- 

 siites, whilst it is altogether probable that some smaller sites were located 

 in the vicinity of good groves visited only while the bark was being 

 'obtained for canoc-building, etc. x\nother valuable tree to th ' Indian 

 'was the ash, from which he made his baskets and other articles, while 

 'another was the white cedar, from which he made the lining an 1 ribs 

 for his canoes, and shoes to cover their bottoms when travelling at low 

 water. The proximity of these trees would, of course, co-operate with 

 other factors to fix the sites of important camping grounds. Sixth, 

 'a commanding position, especially at the end, or better, the intor^-ection 

 'of long open river reaches. Such a position had advantages partly in 

 that it permitted earlier knowledge of the approach of friend or foe, 

 land partly because, by exposing the camp to the breezes which blovv 

 along such reaches, it lesseneid the plague of insects Avhich were and 

 are the greatest annoyance of the summer dweller in wilderness New 

 Brunswick. 



Among minor attributes of a good camp ground would come, no 

 doubt, in the cases of the semi-pernument village sites where some rude 

 ■cultivation was probably attempted, the presence of good lands. Now 

 the easiest and best lands to cultivate along the rivers of New Brunswick 



