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SATURDAY, November 21.

LODGED very comfortably last night with Amand Bugeaux, his family, and Nicholas Gautier1-In the night the wind had been strong

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at N. W.-We removed to the south side of the creek, to two deserted houses; better than those on the north side-the Indians here are about fifty fighting men-they are the Merrimichi tribe of Mickmacs.

SUNDAY, November 22.

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THIS being a calm day, there came a skiff from the island where the vessel was wrecked. She proves to be the Hulton, Capt. Benjamin Hallowell, belonging to Mr. John Hill of Hull, but freighted from London to Quebec, with twelve hundred barrels of flour, eighty puncheons of English brandy, twenty-three bales of goods, and nineteen barrels of hardware. The brandy, and a good deal of the flour was going to Byrn and Brymer of Quebec. There were twelve hands on board-only one savedhe was the mate, a young man from Hull-his name James Pratchell. When he got on shore, he was taken care of by the French from Nipisiquid, who, happily for him, had stopped here.

(19) MONDAY, November 23.

HAD a design of going to see the situation of the wreck, but the wind blows too hard.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER, 24.

INTENDED to go to see the wreck to-day, but was stopt by the Indians they told me their chief would come and talk with me, and call a council-they have found a good deal of the brandy, for they are all of them continually drunk-I am afraid of mischief-They did not call a council to-day.

WEDNESDAY, November, 25.

WAS got into a little schooner to go to the island, to see the situation of the wreck, when I was called back by the chief, and other Indians. There was likewise the chief of St. John's Indians here-The vessel being cast away, had collected the Indians from all quarters-they called a council they told me they would endeavour to save all the effects they could out of the vessel, and make a fair declaration of what they saved

1. That is, they removed to the Indian Village or near it, on the south side of this River. This point, (Church, or Burnt Church, Point,) has been from early times down to the present the site of the most important Indian settlement by far in all this region. One has only to visit the locality to understand the reasons. It is not only in a good position geographically, at the junction of the great routes of Indian travel along the north shore and the

Miramichi, but it is in a region conspicuously rich in game and fish. Further the point itself is of commanding and beautiful situation, with good landing beaches, and moreover is the only elevated land for a considerable distance up and down the coast.

2. There is nothing to show on what island the wreck occurred, but from the apparent ease with which the place could be reached it would appear to have been on Portage Island.

that the French should do the same. The chief likewise told me he would send four men to Fort Cumberland with me and the young man who was saved out of the vessel-I found some good effects from my behaviour to the Indians who brought me along; for they were here, and had told how honourably I had dealt with them-The name of the Indian chief here is Louis Francois,' the name of the chief of St. John's tribe is Louis Lamoureux-they had large silver medals of the French king, hanging to ribbons round their necks. In the afternoon, went with the French to the island where the wreck was-they had rolled about two hundred barrels of flour from off the beach, to a place of safety; and there were about one hundred more good upon the beach-I did not discover any brandy, or bales of goods, but believe the French and Indians had hid a large quantity-They brought off fifteen barrels of flour-got back about nine at night.

THURSDAY, November, 26.

PICKED up yesterday bundles of English newspapers for twelve months past, with which I am highly entertained-find some of my acquaintance mar-(20)ried, others dead-some fortunate, others bankrupts -it is great amusement for me, as my mind has fasted so long from any food of this kind. 3

FRIDAY, November 27.

CONTINUE still drying and examining the newspapers-the Indians have fixed our departure for to-morrow The French are very much afraid of the Indians, now they have strong liquor.

SATURDAY, November 28.

THIS morning proved very stormy-the Indians do not go-In the afternoon I was ordered to a council in one of their wigwhams*-the council consisted of a dozen-they were all drunk, except the chief and another they were a long time, before they would permit me to go-They would detain me till the frost sets in, and go by land, for fear of accidents

* Three or four drunken Indians, with loaded muskets, came, and taking hold of both my arms, a third Indian staggering before me, saying, “La meme chofe comme governeur Halifax;" by which I must understand him to be as great a man as the Governor of Halifax: When we arrived at the wigwham, the drunken governor of Halifax, pointing to the chief, said in English, "All one, King George,"

1 Louis Francis in the List of 1760 mentioned in the earlier foot note under November 9.

2. Apparently the St. John's tribe is that of St. Johns Island, not River St. John. In the lists mentioned in the footnote under November 9, the chief of Isle St. John is given as Baptist La Morue (Sketches of New Brunswick) or Lamorne (Cooney). The former is

evidently the same word as Lamoureux and perhaps the difference in the first name is an error of Smethurst's, or unthinking repetition of the Louis of the preceeding name.

3. This feeling must be known to everyone, who, accustomed to much reading, finds himself for sometime deprived of it, as in long trips into the woods, etc.

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-they said they were masters there; and if they had a mind to keep me three or four months, I must stay. I urged my necessity-pleaded hard for them to permit two of the Frenchmen to go with me, instead of Indians, as I could converse better with them: after long debating, they allowed me to set off in the morning with two Frenchmen.

SUNDAY, November 29.

A GREAT deal of snow had fallen in the night, and we did not set out the day proved a mild thawing day-the Indians all met together to worship-they are rigid ceremonious Papists-great bigots-know little of the grounds of their religion; but it is pompous, and that is enough.1 To show their zeal, where the Frenchmen crossed themselves once, the Indians would do it twice; but their religious zeal is at this time pretty much heated with brandy-their priests must have taken a great deal of pains with them-they sing very well. (21) The Canadians will have it in their power to play off the Indians at any time against our back settlements, by encouraging this religious bigotry; indeed it gains ground in Canada.

MONDAY, November 30.

ABOUT ten o'clock we set out in a bark canoe, which I had bought of the savages-there were Nicholas Gautier, Joseph Rishar," and myselfThe young man who was mate of the vessel, is not in a condition to travel -his legs and feet are very much swoln-he proposes to stay till the Indians will let some other Frenchmen go-I left him thirty-two pounds of beaver, and a beaver coat, to dispose of for a supply for him-We got about three leagues'-the wind was pretty high, and very cold at north

west.

TUESDAY, December 1.

SET out early this morning-the sea was pretty rough, but we were in hopes of its becoming more moderate-the wind was west-north-west

1. This settlement at Church Point had been the seat of an Indian mission from early times. Thus it was apparently visited as a mission by Father LeClercq in 1677, as narrated Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, Paris, in his 1691, (in translation in Hay's Canadian History Readings, 271). without doubt that Richard Denys de It was here Fronsac, in the name of his father, Nicolas Denys, Governor and Proprietor of all these coasts, gave church three arpents of land for a misto the sion in 1685. It was visited soon after by Bishop St. Valier of Quebec, as the

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-Came to a bay 1, where we dined-I was very wet, with the sea washing into the canoe; for we now keep upon the main ocean-Crossed the bay, where I landed, and walked along the beach; for the canoe was too deep loaded-Had not gone above two miles, when I came to a rivulet-the canoe could not come ashore, the surf was so great-I was obliged to wade over-it took me up to the breast-Carried my beaver coat upon my head, and my memorandum-book in my mouth-thought of Julius Caesar -When I got over, ran along the beach to keep myself warm-Did not proceed above a mile till we found a convenient place for the canoe to land-here the Frenchmen came ashore-We were obliged to stay all night in a very low wet swamp - the wind north-snows very much.

WEDNESDAY, December 2.

Lay very uncomfortably last night-left our canoe, and went to look for a better lodging place-Walked six miles before we could find a wood,5 it is such low, marshy land-snows hard-wind north-found out at last a convenient place.

(22) THURSDAY, December 3.

LAY better last night than the night before, though I find the want of a blanket—a beaver coat is very well while it continues dry, but once wet, it is intolerable-This morning Rishar and Gautier went to the canoe to fetch supplies, and see how the surf was-returned in three hours with some bisket and pork, but it continues to snow worse than yesterday, with the wind strong at south-west-Abundance of broken claws of lobsters, with other shell-fish, were thrown upon the beach in the late stormy weather-the snow incommodes us in our tent very much-the wind has changed-it was with much persuasion I could get the French

1. Apparently, from the context, especially the mention of the "main ocean," this was Escuminac River (see the map), at the mouth of which the large-scale maps show a considerable inlet from the sea.

2. All along this coast, and indeed all the way to Bay Chaleur, are very fine beaches of firm sand, making the best kind of route for one on foot.

3. If the preceding identification is correct this would be the Eel River of our maps.

4. This landing place a mile south of Eel River would be at the mouth of the little nameless rivulet shown on the maps.

5. As an expression under Dec. 4 ("the Frenchman went for the canoe") implies, they walked along the beach to find the wood, which was, therefore, very likely the grove of firs at Point Sapin which gave that point its name. It is true the distance given by Smethurst is considerably too great, but the circumstances under which they travelled to the grove were such as to make them exaggerate distances, and moreover it could not have been so great as Smethurst states, because the two Frenchmen went to the canoe and back the next day in three hours. The location of the wood at Point Sapin is strongly confirmed by the distance to Kouchibouguac (fifteen miles), later given (under Dec. 4.)

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