1694.] INDIAN TRIBES OF ACADIA. 369 



scoggin, and the Sheepscot, have been held by some writers to be 

 the Abenakis proper, though some of them, such as the Sokokis or 

 Pequawkets of the Saco, spoke a dialect distinct from the rest. 

 Secondly, the tribes of the Penobscot, called Tarratines by early 

 New England writers, who sometimes, however, give this name a 

 more extended application. Thirdly, the Malicites (Marechites) of 

 the St. Croix and the St. John. These, with the Penobscots or 

 Tarratines, are the Etchemins of early French writers. All these 

 tribes speak dialects of Algonquin, so nearly related that they under- 

 stand each other with little difficulty. That eminent Indian philolo- 

 gist, Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull, writes to me: " The Malicite, 

 the Penobscot, and the Kennebec, or Caniba, are dialects of the 

 same language, which may as well be called Abenaki. The first 

 named differs more considerably from the other two than do these 

 from each other. In fact the Caniba and the Penobscot are merely 

 provincial dialects, with no greater difference than is found in 

 two English counties." The case is widely different with the 

 Micmacs, the Souriquois of the French, who occupy portions of 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and who speak a language which, 

 though of Algonquin origin, differs as much from the Abenaki 

 dialects as Italian differs from French, and was once described 

 to me by a Malicite (Passamaquoddy) Indian as an unintelligible 

 jargon. 



21 



