ALL AROUND THE BA Y OF PASSAMAQUODDY 19 



most unproductive ground that could have been selected. The 

 same may be said of some other Indian settlements, for many 

 Indians do not require any better soil to rest their houses upon. 



The industries now forming their main sup{)ort are the man- 

 ufacture of toy boats from birch bark, of fishing canoes from the 

 same material, of fans from ash-wood, and, chieHy, of ornamental 

 and fancy baskets from the wood of the yellow ash. The baskets 

 are made b\^ the women, and during the summer season the men 

 sell them in the markets, especially at the watering-places and 

 in the commercial centers of the eastern states. The women 

 display a high degree of taste in selecting their models for these 

 tiny, elegant, and delicate art-products. The ash-wood is split 

 into splints or blades of extreme thinness by machinery, seldom 

 wider than an inch, then d3'ed in all possible, but always briglit, 

 colors. After this the splints are interlaced so as to form baskets 

 of the most varied shapes. During the work of interlacing, 

 blades of sweet-scented grass are inserted in the baskets, and 

 thus " finished " tliey are sent to the stores with a fragrant odor, 

 whicli clings to them for months and increases their salability. 



Tlie present area of the Passamaquoddy dialect is confined 

 within a small district in Washington county, in southeastern 

 Maine, and limited to the three settlements already mentioned. 

 We may, however, add to it tlie area of the Milicite or '"Broken 

 language " dialect, which is heard in five or six Indian villages 

 on the St Johns or Ulastuk river, in New Brunswick, and differs 

 but little from Passamaquoddy. In former centuries these two 

 dialectic areas were much more extensive, the ])roof of this rest- 

 ing in the spread of geographic names worded in Passamaquoddy 

 over the whole of Washington and Hancock counties, a part of 

 Aroostook count}', Maine, and over the western i)art of the New 

 Brunswick territory. Just as large as this historic area was that 

 of the Penobscot dialect, for, as the local names still demonstrate, 

 it embraced the whole Penobscot river basin, with the valleys 

 of its numerous tributaries. 



Inquiry into the signification of historic and actual geographic 

 names of Indian origin has of late become i)opular among the 

 educated classes of Americans. It is just twelve years since 

 Charles CJodfrey Leland encouraged those who might be alile to 

 accomplish the task to solve the riddles contained in the names 

 of that country, most of which have a sound so musical and 

 harmonious.* I^ong acquainted with the great historic value of 



*Tlie Centiiiy Miveazine, New York, 1884, vol. 28, pp. CGS-f>77, in Leiiuid's lutiole : 

 " Legends of the Passjamaq nod dies." 



