OE EED INDIANS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 167 



curious to uote that they seemed to be a people separate from all the trib'es iu the neigh- 

 bourhood, and of an older migration — a position, as we shall presently see, similar to that 

 of the Beothiks.' 



That they had the idea of the future state common among primitive people, both in 

 the old and new world, as the counterpart of the present, is shown by their graves, in 

 which survivors had buried with the deceased their implements and whatever else seemed 

 necessary for their long journey to the happy hunting-grounds. 



Looking at their habits and customs as bearing upon the question whether they form 

 a race by themselves, independent of any other, or are racially connected with any of the 

 surrounding nations or tribes, we may adopt the conclusion of Mr. Gratschet. "Their 

 appearance, customs and manners, lodges and canoes seem to testify in favour of a race 

 separate from the Algonkins and Eskimos around them, but are too powerless to prove 

 anything. Thus we have to rely upon language alone to get a glimpse at their origin 

 and earliest condition." 



For this investigation the materials are not in a satisfactory state. Three vocabularies 

 have been preserved. The first said, but I believe incorrectly, to have been taken down by 

 Eev. Mr. Clinch, from John August, in 1714 ; the second by Mr. John Leigh, from Mary 

 March, and the third by Mr. Oormack, from Shauandithit, in 1828. Part only of this last has 

 been preserved, that containing the numerals, the month-names and those corresponding 

 to English words under A and B. Together, however, they contain about three hundred 

 words. But from various causes these vocabularies are in a very unsatisfactory state. 

 Those who took them down were entirely ignorant of the language, and those from whom 

 they received them were imperfectly acquainted with English. In Mary March's case it 

 was sometimes necessary to represent by signs the object for which the Beothik word was 

 wanted. Then the English alphabet is peculiar in its relation to sounds, and, in addition, 

 indistinct handwriting has led to uncertainty or positive error. 



Such as they are, they have been carefully studied by philologists, and compared with 

 the language of various American tribes, particularly by R. Gr. Latham and Mr, Gatschet, 

 an eminent American ethnologist, and also by Dr. Campbell of Montreal. As to the 

 results Mr. Gatschet says : " A comparison with the Labrador and Greenland lunuit 

 language, commonly called Eskimo, has yielded to me no term resting on real affinity. 

 R. G. Latham has adduced some parallels of Beothik with Tinné dialects, especially with 

 Taculli, spoken in the Rocky Mountains. But he does not admit such rare parallels as 

 proofs of affinity, and in historic times at least the Beothiks dwelt too far from the coun- 

 tries held by Tinné Indians to render any connection probable. Not the least affinity is 

 traceable between Beothik and Iroquois vocables, nor does the phonology of the two 

 yield any substantial points of equality. All that is left for us to do is to compare the 

 sundry Algonkin dialects with the remnants of Beothik." 



So far philologists are agreed. But upon the question of their affinity with the 

 Algonkin race, these inquirers have arrived at opposite conclusions. Mr. Latham, iu his 

 "Varieties of Man," says: "All doubts upon the subject have been set at rest by a 

 hitherto unpublished Beothik vocabulary, with which I have been kindly furnished by 



' On visiting a band of Crée Indians in the Northwest, I noticed a number of them having tlieir faces and 

 their lodges marlced with red spots. On enquiry I found that these were heathen, and that as soon as they became 

 Chriatians they abandoned the practice. 



