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206 NEW BRUNSWICK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The aborigines found by the first white men visiting these shores were, of course, Indians of the Algonquin, Micmac, and Malicete tribes, and were in a constant state of warfare and feud which prevented all approach to anything like civilization. They lived by hunting and fishing, but as in winter such means of livelihood often became precarious, many of them resorted to the deep indentations on the sea-coast of what is now Charlotte County, Oak Bay, Bocabec, and other places, where in winter a comfortable subsistence was available. Thickly wooded hills came down to the salt water shutting off the cold north and west winds, numerous springs and streams of fresh water always flow into the bays, and above all, an exhaustless supply of clams could be obtained from the flats at low water.

Large piles of the shells of these bivalves are found to-day where the ancient inhabitants had their winter encampments, and fragments of pottery, stone, axe-heads and bones of the deer, cracked open to extract the marrow, are occasionally dug up from these deposits. A remnant of these tribes still occupies its ancient home, but its number is constantly diminishing, and its extinction is only a question of time.

Meanwhile it is pleasant to state that as a whole these children of the forest have been kindly treated by the whites, and have lived in peace with all men. They never took the warpath against their invaders, nor committed any great crimes against their persons or their property. They are not industrious, but by hunting, fishing, basket and canoe making, and an occasional job in river driving, they manage to get a living, by them deemed comfortable.

In Havre de Grace, France, on April 7, 1604, Sieur de Monts, Baron de Poutrincourt, Count de Orville, Champlain, priests, Huguenot ministers, and about a hundred others; sailors,