148 



EEV. GEO. PATTEESON ON THE BEOTHIKS 



of the tribe that have lived among the vv^hites were A^ery different from the idea we have 

 of savages. 



If the interpretation given of her use of the number sixteen be correct, which we see 

 no reason to doubt, then it shows that they had to some extent the communal system of 

 family life. We may add here that, according to all the information that has come down 

 to us, the Beothiks were monogamists and their wives chaste. All the women of the 

 tribe who lived among the whites have been marked by their modesty of demeanour. 

 This has been a distinguishing feature of the Algonkin tribes, and it may indicate some 

 ethnological afhnity between them. 



Demasduit was taken to St. John's, where she was treated with great kindness, and 

 by her modest and gentle demeanour, as well as her intelligence, she drew much interest 

 towards herself. A miniature of her was drawn by Lady Hamilton, said to be strikingly 

 like her, of which a copy appears in Tocque's " "Wandering Thoughts," p. 273, which we 



Fig. 3. Portrait of Mary March. 



reproduce (Fig. 3). She acquired considerable facility in the use of English, and sanguine 

 hopes were entertained that through her means communication might be opened with her 

 tribe. Her heart, too, was with them in her wigwam on the banks of the Red Indian Lake, 

 where she had left brothers, sisters and children. When therefore the governor appointed 

 Capt. Buchan to the charge of an expedition to take her back and to establish friendly 

 relations with them, it seemed as if a brighter day for this people was dawning, and that 

 they were at last to be introduced to the blessings of Christianity and civilization. It 

 was not to be. She left St. John's with a bad cough, which developed into consumption, 

 and at the mouth of the River Exploits she died on the 8th January, 1820. 



This was too likely to increase the obstacles in the way of establishing peaceful inter- 

 course with a race naturally become so suspicious. All that could be done in the way of 

 conciliation was done. Capt. B. had the body wrapped in linen and placed in a coffin. 

 This he left on the margin of a lake in the interior, where it was likely to be found by 

 her people. 



It was afterwards ascertained that all that remained of the tribe were that winter 



