New Brunswick -- Description and travel; New Brunswick -- History
Should the Province ever be invaded, its defence will not wholly
consist in defending fortified posts or in engagements with large
bodies in open field, but by taking advantage of the natural fastnesses
of the country, such as woods, deep hollows, hills, rivers, brooks, &c.
with which the Province abounds.
This points out the necessity of having the Militia trained to
sharpshooting and such exercises as will be beneficial in the hour of
danger; and not merely taught a few parade movements, or how to receive
a reviewing officer.
The Indians in New-Brunswick are fast declining, and although several
attempts have been made to induce them to form permanent settlements
and become planters, they still continue their migratory mode of life.
The attempts that have been made to civilize them by educating their
children have been equally unsuccessful. The Romish religion appears to
be the most congenial to them, as well as to the French. This arises in
a great measure from its outward pomp and external forms imposing on
the uncultivated mind. They yield an implicit obedience to the Romish
Missionaries, who instruct them in religion, regulate their marriages,
and censure or approve their conduct, and so successful have been their
endeavours, that but few depredations are committed by the Indians on
property, although they are frequently reduced to the most extreme
want.--The Baron LA HOUTAN, who has enumerated forty-nine Nations of
Indians in Canada, and Acadia, names the following Tribes as the
original inhabitants of Nova-Scotia:--The Abenakie, Micmac, Canabus,
Mahingans, Openangans, Soccokis, and Etechemins, from whom our present
Indians are descended. As the customs, manners, and dress, of the
Indians have been often described, I shall not therefore swell this
article by repeating old stories. Besides the conical cap, the blanket,
leggins, and moccasins, worn by all the tribes; the women among the
New-Brunswick Indians frequently wear a round hat, a shawl, and short
clothes, resembling the short gown and petticoat worn by the French and
Dutch women. The Indian language is bold and figurative, abounding in
hyperbolical expressions, and is said to be susceptible of much
elegance. To give the reader some notion of the manner in which these
people conduct their conferences with each other, and with Europeans, I
shall subjoin an extract of a conference, or talk, held at Quebec, with
the Governor General of Canada, during the last American War.
QUEBEC, 17TH MARCH, 1814.
Thursday having been appointed for holding the Council, the Chiefs and
Warriors assembled, and after shaking hands with His Excellency, as
before, NEWASH accompanied by his Interpreter, again presented himself
in the middle of the room, and pronounced the following Speech, or
talk.
SPEECH OF NEWASH.
"Father--Listen.--You will hear from me truth. It is the same as
what the Chiefs and Warriors now here have to say.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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