RELICS OF THE EARLY FRENCH PERIOD IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 
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ARTICLE V. 
SOME RELICS OF THE EARLY FRENCH PERIOD IN 
NEW BRUNSWICK. 
By Samuel W. Kain a^d Charles F. B. Rowe. 
(Read December 4, 1900.) 
From time to time various articles relating to the early occupation 
of this province by the French have been deposited in the museum of 
this Society. Chief among these accessions are the articles donated by 
Dr. A C. Smith, of Tracadie, N. B., one of our most energetic corres- 
sponding members. 
Jacques Cartier visited Miramichi Bay and Bay Chaleur in 1534, 
and from that time until the voyage of Champlain in 1604, there are 
many reasons for believing that numerous fishing and trading vessels 
visited our shores. These adventurous sailors carried on an active 
trade with the natives. The traders wanted furs, and for these they 
bartered iron tomahawks, knives, kettles, beads, etc. A brief account 
of such articles used in the trade as we have in our museum, with 
some others, may be of interest to our members and of some practical 
use to future investigators. 
Kettles. 
Before the arrival of Europeans the aborigines made rude earthen 
vessels. No perfect specimens of these have yet been found in New 
Brunswick, but from such fragments as have been recovered, it would 
appear that these articles were quite small. They were also heavy,* 
and, as Dr. G. F. Matthew has pointed out, were very fragile on 
account of being imperfectly burned. The metal kettle of the Euro- 
peans was therefore very much desired and highly prized. 
* Bulletin of this Society, No. X , p. 14, 1892. 
