[ganong]* origins of SETTLEINIENTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK 27 



'are the intervales, and it was probably in part for this reason tli-^t 

 Meductic, Aucpac and UesHgouclie were on or very near good 

 intervales. Another minor merit would be the presence of tall trees, 

 affording shade from the summer sun and shelter from the winter 

 winds. For this purpose nothing is better than the white pine, which 

 'grows upon diy river terraces, especially along the j\Iirainiiclii, where 

 the Indians to this day delight to camp beneath its shelter. x\n'other 

 'advantage, particularly for winter, woaild be an easterly slope, per- 

 taitting the caimps to receive tlie first wanning and drying rays of the 

 rising sun, while for winter camps, also, a high hill or bank to give 

 shelter from north and north-west winds would be most desirable. 



Such were the attributes of a good Indian camp ground. Of 

 'course tbe general situation of any given site was fixed by other factors, 

 especially proximity of game, etc.; but the approximate position being 

 thus fixed, the precise location would be determined by the nearest spot 

 which combined in the largest measure those various advantages. Of 

 'course they would not all be present in one place, but the location af 

 any particular site would be determined by the spot which could offer 

 the best combination of them. 



The ideal Indian camp-site was one which stood at the int.rs^ction 

 of two important rivers, at the head of the tide, near the focus of a 

 large river system, and it looked eastward along a great reacli of hill- 

 bordered river; near it were waterfalls and eel pools and beds of shell- 

 ïish; it stood upon a low gravel terrace shaded by a few tall white pints, 

 feloping away gently to a sandy beach, while behind it rose a birch- 

 'covered hillside sending fortli gushing springs. Here, on soft autumn 

 'days the Indian lived the siniple healthful vegetative life of pure con- 

 tent, such as the man of civilization knoweth not, save when he, too, 

 leaving the life of the towns, goes back to primitive ways and leads the 

 life that Nature approves. 



d. Positions free from insect pests. A great impediment to summer 

 life in the New Brunsiwick wilderness is the annoyance from insect 

 attacks, which often become so serious as to render life there almost 

 unbearable. This appears to have had an effect upon the Indian 

 settlements, not only in causing their location upon the breeziest river 

 reaches, but also, more fundamentally, in helping to send the Indians to 

 dwell in summer in camping grounds by the sea shore, when they occu- 

 pied those situations now marked by the great shell heaps at Bocabec 

 and other places at Passamaquoddy and elsiewhere. It is, however, not 

 certain that these seaside camps were abandoned entirely in winter, 

 though it seems likely they were more largely occupied in summer than 

 in winter. 



