HISTORY OF NEWFOUNDLAND MICMACS 227 



foundlanders generally regard the Indian with some fear 

 and distrust. Indians either like you very much or they 

 do not like you at all, and will leave you to starve in the 

 woods. Personally I saw nothing to be alarmed at in Joe's 

 attitude. " Furring " was his sole means of livelihood, and as 

 he had first found the hunting-ground and could get no 

 other if it were spoilt, he naturally was incensed at the 

 incursion of white men whose business, he considered, was 

 amongst the ships. " The coast is the white man's ; the 

 woods are ours," is the Micmacs' motto. 



On 1 6th September we continued our journey eastwards, 

 McGaw and I walking ahead as usual. At noon a broad 

 sheet of water came into view, which from its shape and 

 size I knew to be Dog Lake. After a cup of tea and a 

 short rest, my friend and I set off into the country to try 

 and procure some meat, which we had been without for 

 two days. The ground was terribly swampy and broken, 

 and the walking extremely arduous. After going for about 

 three miles I ascended a larch tree and immediately spied a 

 string of five doe caribou moving round the edge of a small 

 copse. The wind was right, so we advanced rapidly upon 

 them, and as McGaw under his licence was not allowed to 

 kill a doe, I took the shot at 80 yards and dropped the 

 best deer. Each of us then shouldered a haunch and made 

 our way to camp with frequent stoppings for rest. Here 

 the men soon turned up with the canoes, and we all 

 had a glorious feast, the Matthews boys swallowing great 

 chunks of flesh as if they had not eaten for a week. In 

 the evening we got aboard, and paddled swiftly to the 

 northern end of Dog Lake, from whence our long " pack " 

 was to commence. 



