218 NEWFOUNDLAND 



doubt that for years after their arrival they entertained a 

 wholesome dread of the painted Beothicks, or Red Indians, 

 and left them severely alone in their hunting-grounds about 

 Red Indian Lake and to the northwards, themselves only 

 occupying places on the coast-line and working into the 

 interior by the Bale d'Est and Long Harbor and other 

 routes. 



The Micmac Indians in Newfoundland, according to 

 Cormack (1822), amounted to 150 souls. These were dis- 

 persed in bands in the following places or districts, viz. St. 

 George's Harbour and Great Codroy River on the west 

 coast ; White Bear Bay and Bay Despair on the south-west ; 

 Clode Sound in Bonavista Bay on the east coast ; Gander 

 Bay on the north-east coast ; and a few at Bonne Bay 

 and Bay of Islands on the north-west coast. At this time 

 a few Mountaineer Indians from Labrador joined them, 

 and even Esquimaux from Labrador sometimes visited the 

 island. 



Of the Micmacs there were twenty-seven to twenty-eight 

 families, averaging five to each family. They all followed 

 the same life, hunting and trapping in the interior. After 

 October they repaired to the sea-coast, and bartered their 

 furs for clothing, ammunition, tea, and rum. 



During this period the Micmacs did not acknowledge 

 a chief, but certain members in each village were treated 

 with especial respect. They considered, and still do, that 

 Cape Breton is their home. Cormack speaks of the extra- 

 ordinary endurance of the Indians, and that in his day 

 individual hunters of great stamina could actually run down 

 a stag, a feat even now performed by the Mountaineer 

 Indians of Labrador. This could be done in a single day. 

 At first the stag easily outstrips its pursuer, but after a 



