260 INDIANS OF NOVA SCOTIA — GILPIN. 



of native copper, which also occurs in veins in the same trap 

 rocks. These metallic deposits have not been found to be of 

 economic importance. The trnp of this Formation is celebrated On 

 account of its cabinet minerals. Every museum of importance 

 in the United States has specimens of the trap minerals of Nova 

 Scotia. 



Art. IV. — Indians of Nova Scotia. By J. Bernard Gilpin, 

 B. A., M. D., Ml R. C. S. 



(Read 12th March, 1877.) 

 I hate thought it desirable to put upon record in the Transactions 

 of the Natural History Society, all the facts I could obtain, either 

 personally or from old and living authors, concerning our native 

 Indians. The time is rapidly passing, — indeed, has now passed, 

 for such a purpose. I may not produce any thing new ; but i: I 

 only put old things, scattered in many books, manuscripts, or in 

 traditions, into one record, I shall have done as much as I expected 

 to do. The books I have had access to, by the kindness of my 

 friend, Dr. Akins, have been early copies of Cartier, Champlain, 

 ;and LesCarbot, and Charlevois, — all eye-witnesses, except the last. 

 I have also had access to all the manuscript documents belonging 

 to the Record Commission of Nova Scotia, from seventeen hundred 

 and twenty-four, nearly to our present time, including the Indian 

 book of the late Hon. Joseph Howe. These, with occasional 

 pamphlets issued from time to time, my own personal recollections, 

 ■traditions, and Murdock's History of Nova Scotia, are the 

 sources from which I have drawn. This latter gentleman has 

 •drawn largely from "Relations of the Jesuits, Quebec." 



Our first exact account of the Indians of Nova Scotia is found 

 in Les Carbot, 1609. Earlier mention is made of them, however, 

 :in Jacques Cartier, whose first voyages were in 1534. We find 

 ?that as early as the sixteenth century the shores of Nova Scotia 

 vere frequented by fishermen of various nations, and in greater 



