[ganong] historic SITES IN NEW BRUNSWICK 221 



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Sirring. The need for a spring by the salt water is obvious enough, but 

 even on the clearest rivers, where the purity and coolness of the water 

 far exceeds that of the water supply of many modern cities, the Indians 

 still seek a spring, and most of the camping places along our rivers to-day 

 are near good springs. How much this meant to them may be gathered 

 from the narrative of G-yles, in which the great spring at Meductic is 

 more than once mentioned. 



Defence against enemies seems hardly to have been a factor in the 

 choice of situations ; that was probably attained by the palisades of their 

 villages. Probably, however, a good look'-out place in the vicinity, com- 

 manding a view of the water-ways, was an advantage, and Denys tells 

 us that at the Indian fort at Eichibucto a tall pole had been erected for 

 this purpose. 



When many of the favourable conditions for a camp site came 

 together — a good game country, good eel grounds, the end of a portage, 

 an intervale fiat capable of easy cultivation, a good spring — the result was 

 a large village ; this was the case with Meductic, and here not only was 

 a vilLage, bat a fort as well. That our Indians built forts there is no 

 doubt. Thus, Champlain in 1604 found on Navy Island a " cabin in 

 which the Indians are fortified," and Lescarbot described the village of 

 St. John as " on a knoll surrounded by tall trees attached one to another." 

 Yillebon, in his Journal of J 697, speaks of the old fort at the mouth of 

 the iSTerepis as an Indian fort, as he does also of that at Meductic. St. 

 Yalier, in 1688, calls Meductic a fort, as does also Cadillac in 1692. 

 Again, there is an old fort on an island in Shediac Harbour which may be 

 Indian, and a very clear account is given by Denys, in 1672, of the 

 Indian fort at Eichibucto, which he says had bastions. Probably this 

 latter feature was learned from the French, and no doubt their forts were 

 originally merely fences of pickets built as a protection against their 

 dreaded hereditary foes, the Mohawks, whose forays, according to their 

 traditions, extended into New Brunswick, though there is no record of 

 such an incursion within historic times. It is said by tradition that the 

 settlement at Mission Point was inclosed by a stockade. 



It might be supposed that the present Indian reserves would mark 

 the sites of ancient camping places, but such is not often the case. On 

 the St. John, the only reserve near an ancient camp site of any 

 importance is that of Madawaska. The sites of Meductic and Aucpac 

 are no longer theirs, but the newer Woodstock and Indian Village reserves 

 have succeeded them. In Passamaquoddy there is no reserve on the 

 Canadian side, but there is a Maine reserve at Pleasant Point and another 

 near Princeton. The old camping ground near Dorchester is no longer 

 occupied, but that at Folly Point replaces it. On the north shore. Burnt 

 Church reserve covers an ancient camping site, and perhaps that at Eel- 

 ground, and probably that at Eed Bank. Many changes have been made 



