18 NEWFOUNDLAND 



of the warlike Algonquins, who at that time were the masters 

 of the north-eastern continent of Canada. 



Cabot landed on Newfoundland in 1497, and found the 

 Beothicks a numerous and powerful race. Having practically 

 no enemies, and being naturally ingenious and gentle mannered, 

 he found them extremely friendly and anxious to show the 

 white voyagers any hospitality. The rivers and seas of the 

 country at that time swarmed with fish, and through the 

 forests and barrens the countless herds of caribou roamed 

 in comparative security. Consequently the Indians practised 

 no agriculture, but lived a life of, to an Indian, great luxury, 

 without the necessity of any form of toil. But after a short 

 few years of peace the same old story was repeated here, as 

 everywhere in the world, where the white man comes and 

 wishes to make the country all his own. Quarrels arose 

 between the whites and the reds, followed by the usual 

 deeds of violence, and a bitter enmity that could only end 

 in the ultimate extermination of one race or the other. As 

 usual, too, the white man, with his superior brains and superior 

 weapons of destruction, had the best of it. Yet the Beothicks 

 held out through some three hundred years, during which 

 time they were often treated with the greatest brutality, which 

 was as frequently returned with equal savagery. 



When the white men had at length exterminated two- 

 thirds of the Indians, they became filled with a commendable 

 spirit of conciliation, and from 1760 to 1823 many attempts 

 were made to live on friendly terms with the men of the 

 woods. But it was too late. Experience had taught them 

 to hate the white man with a deadly hatred, and they now, 

 after centuries of war, found it impossible to accept any 

 advances of kindness. Broken and in despair the last of 

 the Beothicks retreated to the shores of Red Indian Lake, 



