HISTORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND MICMACS 217 



got his fingers round a tin of it one day. All the odd pickings 

 of the camp went mouthwards as soon as they were spied, 

 and where food was concerned he was a veritable wolf. His 

 brother Michael was little inferior in the knife-and-fork line, 

 but he was of a more silent and retiring disposition. On the 

 whole, I forgave their expensive tastes, as they worked well 

 for us for eight days, carrying fairly heavy loads, and the 

 labours of our men would have been much harder had it not 

 been for their timely help. Each of the brothers possessed 

 a starved-looking Labrador retriever, clever, amiable beasts, 

 scarcely less hungry than their masters. Whilst this party 

 were in camp everything eatable had to be deposited in 

 the trees. 



The following short account of the Micmacs since their 

 landing to the present day may be of interest to Newfound- 

 landers, who at the present have little knowledge of their 

 present numbers, movements, and habits. 



The Micmac Indians, who are a branch of the Great 

 Algonquin race of Eastern Canada, first arrived in New- 

 foundland about the middle of the eighteenth century. They 

 were said to have been brought over to help to exterminate the 

 unfortunate Beothicks. But though I have no respect for the 

 early colonial administration of the island, I do not believe 

 that this was the real reason of their coming, but that more 

 readily explained causes contributed to their arrival. They 

 had probably heard, perhaps from the Mountaineer Indians 

 of the Labrador, who are themselves a branch of the ' Algon- 

 quins, of the excellent trapping and hunting to be found in 

 the island, and had come for that purpose.^ There is little 



^ It will be noted by the reader that Cormack, on his first journey in 1822, met 

 a Mountaineer Indian, James John by name. The direct descendants of this 

 Indian live in Bay Despair at the present day. 



