Lecture On The Aborigines Of Newfoundland | Page 8

Mary March died on board the vessel at the mouth of the river. Captain Buchan had her body carried up the lake, where he left it in a coffin, in a place where it was probable her tribe would find her,--traces of Indians were seen while the party was on its way up,--and in fact, although unaware of it, Captain Buchan and his men were watched by a party of Indians, who that winter were encamped on the river Exploits, and when they observed Captain Buchan and his men pass up the river on the ice, they went down to the sea coast, near the mouth of the river, and remained there a month; after that they returned, and saw the footsteps of Captain Buchan's party made on their way down the river. The Indians, then, by a circuitous route, went to the lake, and to the spot where the body of Mary March was left--they opened the coffin and took out the clothes that were left with her. The coffin was allowed to remain suspended as they found it for a month, it was then placed on the ground, where, it remained two months; in the spring they removed the body to the burial place which they had built for her husband, placing her by his side.
A narrative of the circumstances which attended the capture of Mary March was published in Liverpool in 1829, and written, as is alleged, by a person who formed one of the party when the capture was effected. Although this narrative contains some inaccuracies, yet it bears internal evidence of being the production of a person who really witnessed the scenes he describes, and though differing in several particulars from the account as before detailed, yet it describes many events which the leader of the party may have omitted, and states nothing absolutely irreconcileable with his account--with some omissions, not necessarily connected with the main object of the expedition, this second record of the circumstances associated with it is now inserted, in so far at least as the same were published:--
TRIBE OF RED INDIANS.
To the Editor of the Liverpool Mercury.
SIR.--Observing among the details in the Mercury of September 18, that of "Shawnadithit, supposed to be the last of the Red Indians," or Aborigines of Newfoundland, I am tempted to offer a few remarks on the subject, convinced as I am that she cannot be the last of the tribe by many hundreds. Having resided a considable time in that part of the north of Newfoundland which they most frequented, and being one of the party who captured Mary March in 1819, I have embodied into a narrative the events connected with her capture, which I am confident will gratify many of your readers.
Proceeding northward, the country gradually assumes a more fertile appearance; the trees, which in the south are, except in a few places, stunted in their growth, now begin to assume a greater height and strength till you reach the neighbourhood of Exploits River and Bay; here the timber is of a good size and quality, and in sufficient quantity to serve the purposes of the inhabitants:--both here and at Trinity Bay some very fine vessels have been built. To Exploits Bay it was that the Red Indians came every summer for the purpose of fishing, the place abounding with salmon. No part of the Bay was inhabited; the islands at the mouth, consisting of Twillingate, Exploits Island, and Burnt Islands, had a few inhabitants. There were also several small harbours in a large island, the name of which I now forget, including Herring Neck and Morton. In 1820 the population of Twillingate amounted to 720, and that of all the other places might perhaps amount to as many more;--they were chiefly descendants from West of England settlers; and having many of them been for several generations without religious or moral instruction of any kind, were immersed in the lowest state of ignorance and vice. Latterly, however, churches have been built and schools established, and, I have been credibly informed that the moral and intellectual state of the people is much improved. While I was there the church was opened, and I must say that the people came in crowds to attend a place of worship, many of them coming fifteen and twenty miles purposely to attend.
On the first settlement of the country, the Indians naturally viewed the intruders with a jealous eye, and some of the settlers having repeatedly robbed their nets, &c., they retaliated and stole several boats' sails, implements of iron, &c. The settlers, in return, mercilessly shot all the Indians they could meet with:--in fact so fearful were the latter of fire-arms, that, in an open space, one person with a gun would frighten a hundred; when concealed among