NEWFOUNDLAND IN THE 'SEVENTIES 211 



of a day or two, in company with some other Joe 

 whom he had come across promiscuous-Hke in the 

 woods. Over this small community and large 

 territory old Abraham Joe ruled after the manner of 

 a feudal lord, settling all little disputes and parcel- 

 ling out the country into hunting-grounds for each 

 individual member of his family. Indians are very 

 tenacious of their territorial rights : each man 

 has his own hunting, or rather furring, ground 

 accurately marked out with the marches carefully 

 fixed, perhaps up one river from its mouth to its 

 source, then across in a straight line through the 

 woods to some other creek, and down that stream 

 to such and such a lake, and so on ; the boundaries 

 are all arranged among themselves, and it is con- 

 sidered a most iniquitous proceeding for one 

 trapper to trespass on the district belonging to 

 another. Their system of land tenure is similar 

 to that of most primitive peoples in tribal times. 

 They consider that the land belongs in common 

 to the clan, but each member has a certain part 

 of it allotted to him for his temporary use, and he 

 possesses a limited life-ovmership over his own 

 particular share. Poor old Abraham Joe was very 

 unhappy about the state of things in Newfound- 

 land. Too much civilisation was destroying the 



