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Champlain's description is written from personal knowledge, because he had seen the Pentagouet River. The country which it passes through is agreeable, but there was no town or village, and no appearance of either, with the exception of a few deserted cabins of the Souriquois or Micmacs.
The Iroquois or confederate tribes had by constant warfare become the greatest warriors of New France, nor is this fact surprising when we consider that they had waged successful warfare, extending over a long period, against the vast coalition of Hurons, Algonquins, Montagnais and Micmacs scattered from Lake Huron to Acadia.
He's got all his Micmacs with him, I guess. There they go now the other side of the stream. In a bit you'll see them at work strengthening the line of the dike. They're going to give it to the beefeaters pretty hot when they try to come ashore. There's your chance now for a brush. His Reverence will take you, fast enough."
But whether the coast Indians were Micmacs or Armouchiquois, whether they were starving or well fed, Champlain tells us little in their praise. Of the Armouchiquois he says: I cannot tell what government they have, but I think that in this respect they resemble their neighbours, who have none at all.
At the time of the Revolutionary war the Micmacs were so hostile and troublesome that he removed with his family to Maugerville, where he became the purchaser of two lots of land near the head of Oromocto Island. His associations with James Simonds, Wm. Hazen and James White were not of the pleasantest kind. As regards Messrs.
The Jesuits had, in fact, made their appearance in Canada as early as 1625, or fourteen years after two priests of their order, Ennemond Massé and Pierre Biard, had gone to Acadia to labour among the Micmacs or Souriquois. During the greater part of the seventeenth century, intrepid Jesuit priests are associated with some of the most heroic incidents of Canadian history.
Yet, while the Iroquois women had so much importance in the household and in the regulation of inheritance, she was almost as much a drudge as the squaw of the savage Micmacs of Acadia and the Gulf. The tribe was simply a community of Indians of a particular family or stock, speaking one of the dialects of its language.
Although the ceremonial element has now disappeared from this song, it may be presumed that it originally had a religious importance similar to that of the Snake Dances of the Southwest, since the extent of the worship of the snake among North American Indians is known. The same dance is also celebrated by the Micmacs, having been performed by them during the past year.
There he had pleasant interviews with the natives, who danced and gave other demonstrations of joy when they received some presents in exchange for the food they brought to the strangers. These people were probably either Micmacs or Etchemins, one of the branches of the Algonquin nation who inhabited a large portion of the Northern continent.
What may be the present feelings of the Red Indians, supposing any of the tribe to be yet living, towards the Micmacs we know not; but we do know that the latter cherish feelings of unmitigated hatred against the very name of "Red Indian." When Cabot discovered Newfoundland in 1497 he saw Savages, whom he describes as "painted with red ochre, and covered with skins."
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