320 THE MONTAGNAIS INDIANS AND THEIR FOLK-LORE 



the route she has taken by sticks placed in the ground, 

 to which she has attached a small portion of her 

 skirt. 



On a newly opened-up route from one large lake or 

 river to another they frequently mark on a blazed 

 tree, for the benefit of others, the number of portages 

 to be encountered on the way, making a notch for 

 each portage. In the woods they never destroy any- 

 thing that can be useful to others. Tent poles and 

 pegs and beds of sapin boughs are always left where 

 used. 



All their conversation is soft and low. A Monta- 

 gnais or Nascapee Indian never speaks loudly, for 

 everything around him is animate, especially in sum- 

 mer, and in winter quietness is necessary to a success- 

 ful hunt. In summer he will talk but little about his 

 hunt and the inhabitants of the forest, for then the 

 trees about him are in the full vigor of life, with their 

 ears wide open, and they may warn the bear and the 

 caribou of what they may overhear. 



Christianity and the northerly advance of civiliza- 

 tion have done much for these poor people, but they 

 still cling fondly to many of their old superstitions. 

 So far as morality and respect for law and order are 

 concerned, the Montagnais and Nascapees of Labra- 

 dor will now, as a rule, compare favorably with those 

 boasting a loftier Christianity and a higher plane of 

 civilization. How different it was before the advent 

 of regular missionaries among them had borne fruit 

 is told in an amusing manner by James Mackenzie. 

 As to their habits in the early part of the century, he 

 tells us that a Nascapee will take as many wives as he 



