108 MICMAC INDIANS OF NOVA SCOTIA 



nameB as we have kept, we have mifortimately greatly 

 harshened the sounds, through our ears failing to appreciate 

 the soft illusive sounds of the native's syllables. The late Dr. 

 Silas T. Eand was the foremost student of the Micmac language, 

 and he published a reading-book and a dictionary, as well as 

 many biblical translations. 



Religion. — We know practically nothing of assurance 

 regarding their pre-historic religious beliefs, except that through 

 legend we find that they paid high respect to and almost 

 worshipped a superhuman being, in the form of an Indian, 

 called Glooscap. He was benevolent, exercised a care over the 

 Indians, was supposed to live in a wigwam, where an old woman 

 kept house for him, and a small boy fairy was his servant. It 

 was believed he could transform mortals and that he possessed 

 other wonderful powers. He and his attributes are frequently 

 mentioned in their legends, and the Indians suppose he is still 

 in existence. (See Eand, Legends of Micmacs, p. xiv ct seq.) 

 Father LeClercq in the seventeenth century invented a s ijrics of 

 hieroglyphs for use among the Micmacs, and these characters 

 were employed in the printing of Micmac religious works by 

 the Eev. C. Kauder. A page of LeClercq's Lord's Prayer in 

 these characters is reproduced in Filling's BihliograpJiy of the 

 Algonquian Language, opp. p. 305. In 1846 the Eev. S. T. 

 Eand, a Baptist clergyman, took up the life of a missionary 

 among the Indians, and as a result a Micmac Missionary 

 Society was established, and Eand translated into the native 

 language the greater part of the Bible. The official returns now 

 give all the Micmacs as belonging to the Eoman Catholic 

 Church, the one with which they first came in contact about 

 1604, and to which they have since been firmly attached. They 

 have an annual religious festival on St. Ann's day, which is 

 perhaps less fully observed than in former years. 



Legends.— Thej have a large amount of legendary lore 

 relating to Glooscap, his followers, and various personified 



