142 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



were not destitute of fine qualities, and re- 

 ceived the white strangers with dignified hospi- 

 tality. They were quick to see the advantages 

 of muskets and iron axes over bows and arrows 

 and stone tools. In all the province there 

 were about four thousand Indians. They were 

 well acquainted with the shores and the in- 

 terior. They had named the harbors, and head- 

 lands and bays, and mountains and lakes, and 

 could make maps 01 the countiy and far out- 

 side to Quebec and New England. While 

 they did not live in grand houses and make a 

 great show in the world, still they were far 

 from being a very low type of men and women. 

 They had no law books, but there was an un- 

 written code demanding the observance of the 

 common virtues of life. In the nature of 

 things they could not live in large communities, 

 for they did not till the soil to secure food. 

 Certain families had their homes from genera- 

 tion to generation in the same district. Among 

 themselves they led a quiet life, in some meas- 

 ure subject to a head man or chief of the tribe, 

 who was chosen for some fitting qualities. The 

 Mohawk Indians from the State of New York 

 were an adventurous, fearless tribe, looking for 

 scalps, and became a menace and terror to the 

 Indians of Nova Scotia and what are now the 



