Lecture On The Aborigines Of Newfoundland | Page 8

haunts of the Indians; from this attempt,
however, he returned unsuccessful. Captain Buchan, in the
_Grashopper_, was subsequently sent to accomplish the same object.
He left St. John's in September, 1819, for the Exploits, but poor 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