218 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



})lain'8 visit, in 1GU4, the Mieinuw occupied the iiKnitli of the St. John, but 

 if so they must soon have abandoned it, as its hitcr history is connected 

 altogether with the Maliseels, The boundary Ix'tween Malisects and 

 Passamaquoddies, practically one tribe as they were, was not a sharp 

 one ; but, such as it was, it would naturally begin on the coast at Point 

 licpreau, and follow the watershed. I do not know where upon the 

 ct»ast the boundary between Passamaquoddies and Penobscots began, but 

 the topography would suggest that it was not far west of Machias, 



It is stated in manj' historical works, as, for instance, in that of 

 Cooney, that the Mohawks once occupied the valley of the Restigouche, 

 and even extended to the Nepisiguit, and that, too, within historic times. 

 The Indians themselves have traditions to that effect. There is, however, 

 not the slightest historical support for such a belief. It is probably 

 entirely erroneous, and arose from a magnification of the occasional 

 incursions or even longer visits of the Mohawks to this region. It is 

 not likely that the Indian traditions are very trustworthy evidence upon 

 such questions. The Gaspesiens of LeClercq were, of course. Micmacs. 



2. Indian Villages and Camping Gtrounds. 



The mode of life of the Indians, dependent as they were for subsist- 

 ence upon fish and game, imposed upon them a migratory existence. 

 They must take what game the season afforded, and go where it was to 

 be found.' Hence they moved to the places of abundance of fish and 

 shell-fish in spring and summer, and to the haunts of the big game in 

 its season in autumn and winter. This constant movement allowed of 

 but few permanent villages, though it necessitated numerous camping 

 grounds of greater or less extent and length of occupation. Indeed, as 

 to villages with a fairly permanent population, we have records of but 

 very few, and even they were at times entirely abandoned ; these included 

 Meductic, Ek-j)ah-hal; (Aucpac), and Madmcaska, on the St. John, Richi- 

 huito, Burnt Church and Old Mission Point (Ilestigouche), on the North 

 Shore, and perhaps Pleasant Point, at Passamaquoddy. ^Several of these 

 situations, occupying rich intervales, arc i)articularly favourable for 

 cultivation of the soil, and it is probable that in these places some simple 

 crops, such as Indian corn and pumpkins, were cultivated in a rude 

 manner tending to give fixity to the settlements ; for agriculture neces- 

 sitates stability, as the chase necessitates constant movement. 



When we consider the temporary camjnng places, however, wo find 

 that they existed, and still exist, in great number and in all degrees of 

 importance, from those occupied lor long periods by many families, down 

 to the tiny sites used for a night by the transient hunter. No doubt 

 these sites were much more numerous than we now know of in the set- 

 tled parts of the province, and my list of the more important ones that 



