262 NASCOPIES AND OTHER TRIBES. 



induced them to give up their nomadic existence and settle perma- 

 nently on reservations which have been offered by government. 

 They showed aversion to agriculture, and preferred to live in idleness 

 rather than to cultivate the soil, though many of their neighbors 

 of other tribes reared five plantations of maize. They were early 

 beset with Jesuit missionaries who labored in vain to civihze them. 

 Perhaps no one thing tended to demoralize the Indians then, as 

 now, more than the traffic in spirituous liquors, which was every- 

 where encouraged rather than discouraged. 



The " Ounadcapis," " Ounascapis," " Naskapis," " Naspapees," 

 "Nascopi," " Naskupi," or " Nasquapee," as they have been 

 variously called, formed at that period a distinct people inhabiting 

 the territory lying north of Lake St. Johns and extending towards 

 Hudson's Bay. In a communication from Mr. J. H. Trumbull, of 

 Hartford, Ct., regarding this tribe he says : " They speak a dialect 

 of the Cree language, nearly like, but not identical with, that of 

 the Montagnais Indians, of the same stock. The word " Nascopi " 

 is properly the name for an " Indian man" (/. e., vir) in their 

 dialect, and that, in all Algonquin languages, the name for " man " 

 and the verb " to stand erect " are nearly related." In about the 

 year 1674 the Nascopies came in great numbers to Tadousac and 

 intermarried with the Montagnais, though since then the tribes in 

 general have been hardly distinct, yet a few of each race still 

 retain the peculiarities of their tribe, so that there are still direct 

 descendants from the pure stock. In relation to the name Nascopi, 

 I found it in common use all along the coast for a pile or heap 

 of stones thrown up into some form several feet in height and 

 usually placed on top of an island or neighboring height to mark 

 some position, or important spot or event. These heaps occur 

 everywhere, and are known, as I have said, by the name " Nascopi," 

 by the natives, also " American Man " by the sailors. They are 

 common everywhere. The name does not occur in any of our local 

 dictionaries or encyclopedias that I can ascertain. 



The Indians traded with the French as early as 1504, both 

 Basques and Normans frequenting their chief post at Tadousac for 



