| Note |
PICTOU, N.S., 30th August, 1884.
The Right Honourable
The Superintendent General of Indian Affairs. Ottawa.
SIR, - Changes in the habits of the Micmac tribe of Indians are so slow of accomplishment that one finds scarcely anything to note from one year to another. If, however, a comparison be made with a period ten or fifteen years past, the difference between then and now is obvious enough to make a decided impression on the most careless observer. A change has certainly been effected in the mean time; but like everything else in which the tribe acts a part, it has been produced so gradually and noiselessly that we become aware of its existence only by comparing the state of facts before us with what our memory calls to recollection.
A very few years ago, the Micmac tribe was entirely engaged in basket making and coopering. A desultory essay by way of fishing with hook and line in the deep sea, was the only variation in their monotonous life. Hunting, of course, they followed, as they still to some extent do, at special seasons; but their staple avocation was as described. Wood was plenty and within available distance of the towns, in which they found their principal market. With the disappearance of the forest, the Micmac found his ancient occupation gone, and necessity constrained him to exert his energies in a new direction. He began to appear in other fields of labor, so that to-day, there is no employment in which he does not compete, occasionally at least with his white brethern. He enters the mine, he works on a farm, he is a wharf builder, he makes boats, he is a self-taught, but skilful house and ship carpenter.
Withal, he is the least troublesome to law officials, and the least offensive to his fellow men, of all Her Majesty's subjects. An occasional indulgence in intoxicating liquids - and this is growing rarer every day - is the only cause that ever brings him into acquaintance with a bailiff or policeman. His honesty amid great want and frequent privation is proverbial. I have never known a single case of theft to have occurred in the tribe. In his dealings with traders who give him credit for the merchandise he purchases, he may be dilatory in meeting his engagements to make payments; but he never pleads the statute of limitation. His money may be slow of coming, but it is sure in the end.
St. Anne's Day, July 26th, is his greatest festival - his Christmas, New Year, and Thanksgiving combined. He repairs to his church, usually built on a picturesque island, and always on this occasion draped out with tasteful ornaments and finery, that is not by any means tawdry or otherwise inappropriate. Wild flowers deck the altar, and arches of evergreen lead to the entrance. He is dressed in his best, and his wife and daughters exhibit their well-preserved silks in a profusion that causes envy to many a peasant girl. The festival over, and his religious exercises very earnestly performed, he returns to his usual habitation and to whatever avocation he may have found best adapted to the securing of a livelihood. In years past, he used to wander through the forest, or pass in a canoe from headland to headland, pitching his wigwam where be passed the night, and never remaining long in one place. Of late, he has become settled in his habits, and dwells from year to year in the same locality. He builds a house and makes it comfortable. St. Anne's Day alone calls him forth from his home. He reverences his chief, and consults him in every serious undertaking. The young suitor gets his leave before uniting his fate with the dusky maiden who has won his regard. The chief's word is law when it is uttered; but custom and the unwritten traditions of the race, effectually dissuade that important dignitary from interposing his awful authority in other than matters of weighty import. And all the time the chief, notwithstanding the power he exercises, is to ill appearance an ordinary Indian working at his trade, and eking out a precarious subsistence, undistinguishable from the subjects who acknowledge his dominion.
In the district under my supervision, very little farming, comparatively speaking, is carried on. A few persons cultivate potatoes enough for their own use, and one or two raise wheat. The lands reserved for them are not sufficiently extensive to admit of wider agricultural operations.
On the Pictou Reserve they have a small village and school, which latter, however, is not as well attended as the attainments and industry of the teacher should command, - still it is doing much good.
I have filled up the returns sent from the Department, and mail them herewith.
I have the honour to be,
Yours most respectfully,
RODERICK McDONALD,
Indian Agent, District No. 8" (43-44). |