BEOTHIK VOCABULAEIES. 31 



A FEW ADDITIONAL NOTES ON PAPER IN ' TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL 



SOCIETY OF CANADA' FOR 1891. 



1. Page 131, line 7 from bottom, lor "north-west " read "north-east." 



2. Page 160. — Since that paper wa.s written ray attention has been called to the fact 

 that the ancient Egyptians were also in the habit of depositing in their tombs small 

 images, supposed to represent the deceased. Thus "Wilkinson (" Ancient Egyptians," 

 vol. ii., p. 399) says. " Besides the richly decorated coffins, many vases, images nf the dead, 

 papyri, jewels and other ornaments were deposited in the tomb." Again, after speaking 

 of the more valuable objects deposited by the rich, he says : " But small figures of the 

 deceased, of wood or vitrified earthemoare, were common to all classes except the poorest of 

 the commuuity." 



3. Page 162. — Among the articles found in graves should have been mentioned small 

 packages of red ochre. This shows the importance they attached to this substance and 

 their desire to provide their lost ones with everything necessary to their comfort or 

 honour. 



4. Page 165. — A friend has pointed out the resemblance of the Beothik name for the 

 devil, Ashmudyim, to the Grreek Asmodeus, the Hebrew Ashmedai, the destroyer. 



5. Same page. — In the ' Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada ' for 1891 appears 

 a paper by Mr. Alexander McKenzie, entitled, " Descriptive Notes on Certain Implements 

 from Graham Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.," in which we find the following : 



"Dance Staff (Haida Tusk). — A ceremonial staff of this kind was formerly used at 

 feasts, dances and distributions of property. The principal man concerned in the cere- 

 mony, by forcibly tapping the floor with such a staff or baton, called the attention of the 

 audience to the business immediately in hand. At feasts, where property or blankets 

 were given or paid away, a significant tap of the staff intimated that the transaction was 

 closed, resembling much the tap of an auctioneer's hammer on a bargain being concluded. 

 The carved devices of crane, whale, crow, owl and bear, with which it has been orna- 

 mented, refer to tribal legends. 



" The proprietorship of such a staff of course showed that the owner was an Eitlahgeel 

 or chief, who had made the necessary feasts and distributions of property to entitle him 

 to that dignity. The staff was always carefully preserved in a safe place in the owner's 

 lodge. Several somewhat similar staffs are figured by Mr. Niblack." (See memoir entitled 

 " The Coast Indians of Southern Ala.ska and Northern British Columbia," published in 

 one of the annual reports of the Smithsonian Institution.) 



There cannot be a doubt that the staffs drawn by Shanandithit, and of which Lieut. 

 Buchan saw one in one of their camps, were implements of the same kind. But the use 

 of them is so widely spread, that the fact of its being found among the Beothiks is not 

 sufficient to prove any close tribal relation between them and the Haidas or other tribes 

 of British Columbia, where it is now found. 



6. Pages 124, 1*70. — I mentioned that the Micmacs called the Beothiks Maquajik or 

 red people (from megwek= red). And I presumed that it was the same that John Giles 

 referred to when he tells of their speaking of a people whom, he says, they called the 

 Maquas. It has been objected that this is the name applied to the Mohawks. This was 

 received by the Dutch from the Mohicans, who so designated them from a word in their 



