164 EEV. GEO. PATTERSON ON THE BEOTHIKS 



They have not been scientifically examined. But on a superficial view they are seen to 

 have some of the peculiarities of the American Indian skull, but to be favourable speci- 

 mens, having the frontal region better developed than is usual in such. 



As to their habits and customs as bearing upon this subject, we are imperfectly 

 informed. No white man ever lived with them so as to become familiar with their daily 

 life, and if the Beothiks who dwelt among the whites gave information on the subject, 

 little has been recorded. In tracing historically the intercourse between the two, we 

 have given such details of their customs as were observed by various parties. But a few 

 points remain to be noticed. In the first place, they never seem to have had any cul- 

 tivation of the soil. The Algonkins brought with them maize, pumpkins, beans, a 

 species of hemp, and tobacco, and extended the cultivation of these plants up to the St. 

 Lawrence, which is as far as they will grow at the present time. But in Newfoundland 

 maize will not usiially ripen, the pumpkin does not flourish, and neither soil nor climate 

 will suit the tobacco. In this way, if they brought these plants with them, they may 

 have been led to abandon their cultivation. But it is quite possible that they may have 

 come by Labrador, where they were not cultivated at all. I am more surprised to find 

 that they had no pottery, as this is found among the rudest tribes in every part of the 

 world, and suitable material is plentiful in some parts of Newfoundland. But not only 

 have no remains of such been found, I think that from the number of dishes found in the 

 boy's grave at Pilley's Island and the abundance of other articles of value to them, we 

 may conclude that if they had earthen vessels they would have been found there. 



Cartwright, and most writers who have followed, have described them as without the 

 dog. This is to me quite surprising. The animal is found among most, if not all, the 

 tribes of North America. To hunters it was almost indispensable, and probably, at least 

 in part, for this reason it was connected with their religious services. It was among 

 tribes of different races the animal offered in sacrilice on the most solemn occasions ; its 

 flesh formed an important part of the feast for the dead, and its bones were laid in the 

 grave of the departed, that its spirit might aid him in hunting on his long journey. How 

 does it come, then, that the Beothiks were without it? The Micmacs and the Eskimos, 

 on either side, had it. So had the Labrador Indians, with whom they were in friendly 

 relations. Even if they had not brought it with them on their first migration, it seems 

 strange that they should not have acquired it from their neighbours. 



I am inclined to believe that there may be something in the statement of old Whit- 

 bourne of their having wolves tamed. The dog of the Eskimo is so like a wolf, that 

 Sir J. Richardson mistook a pack of the one for a troop of the other. If the Beothiks had 

 this or even animals like the later Newfoundland dog, he might naturally speak of them 

 as wolves tamed, which he says " hath been well approved " (proved). Martin, in his 

 history of the dog, says that the Norwegians have a dog A'ery like the Newfoundland 

 breed, which they use for hunting bears and wolves, and it is supposed that it was intro- 

 duced into the island either by the Norsemen in the llth century, or by Cabot. (Ency. 

 Brit., VII, 324, 32Y.) In either case it must have been among the aborigines, for there 

 were no other residents. So that if it was either indigenous or introduced thus early, it 

 miist have been there among them first. On the other hand, it is strange that if once 

 possessed by them it should have passed entirely from them and come into the hands of 

 their enemies. 



