AND THEIR REMAINS. ^PIERS. 103 



wig-^vams, aucl labored at making canoes, etc., while the men 

 "do plav the gentleman, and have no care bnt in hunting, or 

 of wars" ; vet the women commonly love "their husbands more 

 than the women of these our parts." Lescarbot once saw an 

 Tndian boil meat in a trough formed of a tree-trunk, into 

 which he placed red-hot stones; and I may say that they also 

 cooked thus in birch-bark receptacles. (See Relics of Stone 

 Age, Trans. 2\. S. Insf. Sc, ix, pp. 27-31). The missionary 

 Biard, in his Belation of 161(3, also gives an account of the ]\Iic- 

 macs of his time, and states that they did not till the soil. 

 The fullest account of their dress, manners and customs is to 

 be found in Denys' Description des Costes de VAmerique 

 septentrionale of later date, 1672. (See Ganong's translation, 

 1908). 



It is sometimes asked if Xova Scotian caves contain any 

 evidence of having been occupied by prehistoric Micmacs or 

 their predecessors. In order to investigate this question to 

 some extent, an exploration was recently made of three gypsum 

 caves in Hants county, but so far with negative results, 

 although the large amount of rock debris in these caves would 

 probably have hidden or obscured such evidence if it were there. 

 (See Prest, Trans. N. S. Inst. Sc, xiii, pp. 87-94). 



Xo data is available regarding measurements of Micmac 

 skulls, etc., whereby we might compare them with those of 

 other tribes. There are ancient burial-j)laces at Indian Gar- 

 dens^ Fairy Lake, etc., that would furnish material for such 

 work. (See Prest, ih., pp. 35-39). 



Present Condition. — The Micmacs now live by acting as 

 guides for sportsmen, and by making axe-handles, baskets, tubs, 

 porcupine quill-work, and various odds and ends, and some of 

 them cultivate a little land, having small houses on reservations 

 but mostly going into conical birch-bark wigwams or "camps" 

 as they are called, in the summer. Most of them have to eke out 

 their slender means by asking alms. Birch-bark canoes are 



