160 EEV. GEO. PATTERSON ON THE BEOTHIKS 



removing this cover the skeleton is seen reclining generally on the left side, but trussed 

 like a fovi'l, the legs being drawn up and bent at the knees to fit the size of the cover. 

 Sometimes the skull rests on the bones of the left hand." With the skeleton were found 

 various ornaments of gold or silver, small drinking vessels, and " hideovs bone figures, pro- 

 bably dolls.'''' ("Researches in Chaldea," pp. 201, 210, Am. edition. See also Rawlinson's 

 "Five Great Monarchies," 2 edit, l-S*? ; Layard's "Nineveh and its Remains," Am. ed. II, 

 36.) In the tomb above ground, in the posture of the body, in the deposit with it of 

 ornaments, of drinking vessels, and especially of the doll-like images, it is remarkable to 

 find such a correspondence between people so separated in time and territory as the 

 Assyrians and the Beothiks. But is it only a coincidence? Docs it not speak of unity of 

 origin, or at least of close relation at some distant date. 



The examination of their old camping-grounds has afforded some information of 

 interest. Mr. Lloyd,' during two visits to Newfoundland, spent much time in examining 

 such places and gathering such remains as he could find. He found tokens of their 

 presence specially abundant in the region of the bay and river of Exploits. One feature 

 noticeable was a pit or depression marking the site of each camp. Thus at one point at 

 Bonavista Bay he saw two rows of circular pits, numbering thirteen in one and three in 

 the other. They averaged twelve feet in diameter, and were placed at distances ranging 

 from three to twenty-four feet. In depth some were two feet and others only six or seven 

 inches, but all flat at the bottom. Again, at the Red Indian Lake he fou.nd a group of 

 twenty-one, and other groups at short distances from it. They were generally ten feet 

 six inches to fifteen feet in diameter. But one that he measured was thirty-three feet. 

 And a Micmac informed him that when his father had hunted over the ground, some 

 years before, there was a house built over it. This, there can be little doubt, was the site 

 of one of their storehouses referred to. It was eight-sided, having a post driven into the 

 ground at each corner to carry a bow frame to support the sides. Another feature of 

 these places was a bank of earth on the one side rising four feet above the bottom of the 

 trench inside. This had once been an embankment round the outside of the cabin formed 

 of earth, sods and moss, probably for greater warmth in winter. Mr. Bradshaw observed 

 the same, and says that the depressions he would compare in form to a soup-plate. At 

 oue part of the lake he thought that there would be forty of them. 



Mr. Lloyd and others have observed that in some instances the site of these seem 

 sometimes to have been selected with a view to giving them an unobstructed view of the 

 lake, he thinks, the better to observe the approach of the deer. But in other cases, and 

 perhaps here too, their selection was more influenced by the idea of seeking safety from 

 their enemies. He adds that Reuben Souleau, a Micmac, gave him an account of a cir- 

 cular wall of stones about six feet in diameter and four feet high, situated on the side of 

 Birchy Lake in a position which commanded an uninterrupted view both up and down 

 the stream, supposed to have been built as a lookout place. 



Mr. Neilson mentioned to me another fact of some interest. To pass the principal 

 rapids in the river required a portage of a mile and a quarter or perhaps a mile and a 



' The results of his inquiries are i;iven in two papers published in the 'Journal of the Anthropological Insti- 

 tute,' vol. iv, 1874, and vol. v, 1875. Besides his explorations of the sites of their encampments, he had access (o 

 Cartwright's work, and had intercourse with members of the Peyton family and others wlio had been in a position 

 to obtain information regarding the Red Indians. 



