Habits and Characteristics of the Natives. 2 1 



dressed in the cast-off raiments of gentility, but they are a long 

 way too short for him. His coarse features are deeply pitted 

 by smallpox, and like his hands swollen and chapped by cold 

 and debauchery, whilst the straight unkempt black hair strews 

 his shoulders. Such were the two first specimens of the 

 aboriginal inhabitants of New Brunswick that came under my 

 notice : I had hoped exceptions to a general rule, but further 

 acquaintance with the race showed this not to be the case. 



The form and features of the native of New Brunswick, 

 as far as I could determine from the present race, seem to 

 resemble the Esquimaux rather than the Red Indian of the 

 south and west. The stature was to all appearances short, but 

 now the admixture of white blood has changed the original. 

 Still the coarse features, thick nose and lips, large mouth and 

 prominent cheek bones, rather small eyes, and a fulness of the 

 soft parts of the circumorbital region, black and straight hair, 

 are maintained even when it is clear there has been a continued 

 intermixture. Of course the female shows the half-bred 

 conditions more clearly than the opposite sex ; and although 

 the skin is often pale, the dark eye and hair, with an absence 

 of any disposition to curling, are prominent characters and 

 generally present. As to the cranial development, in the 

 absence of materials it would be impossible to speak with 

 certainty ; none of the skulls I have examined could be 

 authenticated as genuine, and were exhumed from graveyards 

 known to have been used by the tribes since their contact with 

 the whites ; moreover, the present race is particularly sensitive 

 about any interference with their ancient burial-grounds, so 

 that, excepting in out of the way places, it would be extremely 

 difficult to obtain specimens of the true Micmac or Melicite 

 skeleton. Looking at their race characteristics, the Indians of 

 New Brunswick furnish a good illustration of a people rapidly 

 progressing towards extinction, without having preserved any 

 written or monumental record ; indeed, were it not for imple- 

 ments of the chase picked up occasionally, we should have few 



