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Michael Francklin continued to the last to cultivate the friendship of Pierre Thoma the old Maliseet chieftain whose descendants, it may be observed, are numerous at the present day. The name Pierre Thoma was very common among both the Micmacs and the Maliseets, so common indeed as to make it difficult to distinguish between individuals.
It was approved by the Maliseets at Machias and then forwarded to Aukpaque and after approval by the Indians there sent to Studholme at Fort Howe. The document read as follows: "To the British Commanding Officer at the mouth of the River St. John's: "The Chiefs, Sachems and young men belonging to the River St.
They get drunk not only on wine, but on brandy, so that it is no wonder they are obliged to endure some gripes of the stomach during the following autumn." The Maliseets frequently came to the mouth of the St. John to trade with the French; sometimes they even resorted to Port Royal, for these daring savages did not fear to cross the Bay of Fundy in their frail barks.
They had choice of two routes of travel, one by way of the Kennebecasis and Anagance to the Petitcodiac, the other by way of the Washademoak lake and the Canaan to the same river. As the war proceeded the Maliseets actively supported their old allies the French. Some of them took part in the midwinter night attack, under Coulon de Villiers, on Colonel Noble's post at Grand Pre.
It became their policy to employ the Indians and Acadians as buttresses against the inflowing tide of the Anglo-Saxons. The Acadians would fain have lived in peace but, alas the trend of events left little room for neutrality. The Maliseets of the St.
Vaudreuil admits that he encouraged this idea, and that his proposal to build a church for the Maliseets at Medoctec had as one of its principal objects the cementing of their alliance with the French and providing them with another inducement to cling to the locality where their church stood, and not by any means to abandon their old fort and village.
Lovewell's war was terminated by a notable treaty made at Boston in 1725 with four eminent sagamores representing the tribes of Kennebec, Penobscot, St. John and Cape Sable; Francois Xavier appearing on behalf of the Maliseets of the St. John.
"Tomer" was always one year younger, showing that the old Indian kept his notch-stick well. He is believed to have been the last surviving grandson of the old chieftain, Pierre Thoma. While speaking of the Maliseets and their chiefs, mention may be made of the fact that the Indians, as a mark of especial confidence and favor, occasionally admitted one of the whites to the order of chieftainship.
Wood says that although there were then at Aukpaque Indians of three different tribes, Micmacs, Maliseets and Caribous, they all understood the Micmac language, and he expresses regret that he had not been sent among them two years before, being satisfied that he could have gained their confidence and good will. Probably Canibas or Kennebec Indians.
The rest we carried up the river upon our next winter's hunting." The Indians were a very improvident race, and in this respect the Maliseets were little better than the Micmacs, of whom Pierre Biard writes: "They care little about the future and are not urged on to work except by present necessity.
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