258 THE LABRADOR ESKIMOS AND THEIR FORMER RANGE. 



In connection with the subject of the relations between 

 the Indians of Newfoundland and the Labrador Eskimos, 

 may be cited the following statement of that industrious 

 historian, the late Jesuit, Father Vetromile. In an ar- 

 ticle entitled " Acadia and its Aborigines,"* he says : 

 " The Etchimins, Micmacs, and Abenakis are very often 

 considered as one nation, not only on account of the 

 similarity of their language, customs, suavity of manners, 

 and attachment to the French, but also for their league 

 in defending themselves against the English. Although 

 the Micmacs are generally somewhat smaller in size than 

 the other Indians of Acadia and New France, yet they 

 are equally brave. They have made a long war against 

 the Esquimaux (eaters of raw fiesh), whom they have 

 followed and attacked in their caverns and rocks of Lab- 

 rador.f Newfoundland must have several times been 



* Collections of the Maine Hist. Soc, vii., pp. 339-349. 1876. Communi- 

 cated Jan. 16, 1862. 



f Father Vetromile evidently takes this statement from Charlevoix, who in 

 his Histoire g6n6rale de la Nouvelle France, i., p. 124, remarks after speaking of 

 the Micmacs of Acadia: "lis ont fait lontems une cruelle guerre aux Esquimaux, 

 et pour les aller attaquer jusques dans leurs Cavernes, et sur leurs Rochers, 

 ils ne craignoient point de faire trente a quarante lieu6s en Mer, dans leurs Ca- 

 nots d'ecorce." That Newfoundland was the field of hard wars between the 

 Micmacs and Eskimos, seems to be a pure assumption on the part of Vetromile. 

 Charlevoix, however, on p. 421, vol. i., of his Histoire, remarks: " On n'a ja- 

 mais vfi sur ses Cotes, que des Eskimaux, qui y passent de la grande Terre de 

 Labrador, pour chaffer, et pour faire la Traitte avec les Europfeens ; mais ces 

 Sauvages ont souvent parte d'autres Peuples, avec qui ils sont en commerce." 



In vol. iii. p. 178, again discoursing of the Eskimos of Newfoundland, Charle- 

 voix remarks : "Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'on n'y a jamais vii que des Eski- 

 mau;;, qui n'en sont pas originaires. Leur veritable Patrie est la Terre de La- 

 borador, ou Labrador; c'est la du moins, qu'ils passent la plus grande partie de 

 I'annfee; car ce seroit, ce semble, profaner le doux nom de Patrie, que de le 

 donner a des Barbares errons, qui ne s'affectionnent a aucun Pays, & qui pou- 

 vant 4 peine peupler deux ou trois Villages, embrassent un Terrein immense. 

 En effet, outre les C6tes de Terre-Neuve, que les Eskimaux parcourent pen- 



