Chapter 2

"Mr. Buchan went in the autumn, to the entrance of the River Exploits, and there anchored his vessel, which soon became fixed in the ice. He then began his march into the interior, accompanied by 24 of his crew and three guides, and having penetrated about 130 miles, discovered some wigwams of the Indians. He surrounded them, and their inhabitants, in number about seventy-five persons, became in his power. He succeeded in overcoming their extreme terror, and soon established a good understanding with them. Four men, among whom was their chief, accepted his invitation to accompany him back to the place, where, as he explained to them by signs, he had left some presents, which he designed for them. The confidence by this time existing was mutual, and so great, that two of Mr. Buchan's people, marines, requested to remain with the Indians; they were allowed to do so, and Mr. Buchan set out on his return to his depot with the remainder of his party and the four Indians. They continued together for about six miles, to the fire-place of the night before, when the chief declined going any further, and with one of his men took leave, directing the other two to go on with Mr. Buchan. They did so, until they came near the place to which they were to be conducted, when one of them became apparently panic-struck and fled, beckoning to his companion to follow him. But the tempers of the two men were different, the latter remained unshaken in his determination, and with a cheerful countenance, and air of perfect confidence in the good faith of his new allies, he motioned to them with his hands to proceed, disregarding his companion and seeming to treat with scorn Mr. Buchan's invitation to depart freely if he chose to do so. Soon afterwards the party reached their rendezvouz--slept there one night, loaded themselves with the presents and returned again towards their Wigwams. The behaviour of the Indian remained the same--he continued to show a generous confidence, and the whole tenor of his conduct was such as Mr. Buchan could not witness without a feeling of esteem for him. On arriving at the wigwams they were found deserted, which threw the Indian into great alarm. Many circumstances determined Mr. Buchan to let him be at perfect liberty, and this treatment revived his spirits. The party spent the night at the Wigwams, and continued their route in the morning. They had proceeded about a mile, when, being a little in advance of the rest, the Indian was seen to start suddenly backwards; he screamed loudly and then fled swiftly, which rendered pursuit in vain. The cause of flight was understood when Mr. Buchan the next moment, beheld upon the ice, headless and pierced by the arrows of the Indians, the naked bodies of his two marines. An alarm had, it is evident, been given by the savage who deserted the party at the rendezvouz, and it is supposed that to justify his conduct in so deserting, he had abused his countrymen with a tale which had excited them to what they perhaps considered a just retaliation. Thus ended an enterprise which was conducted with an ability, zeal, perseverance and manly endurance of extreme hardship, which merited a better success.--When the spring became sufficiently advanced Mr. Buchan returned with his vessel to St. John's, and at once sought and obtained permission from the Governor to return in the summer, in the hope that as the natives came in that season down the rivers to fish and hunt, he might the more easily fall in with them. In this expectation, however, he was disappointed, as he only succeeded in merely discovering some recent traces of them. Captain Buchan, still sanguine of success, requested permission to winter in St. John's, that he may be in readiness to take the earliest of the ensuing spring to go in quest of them again. This was acceded to; but of the movements of Captain Buchan, in consequence of this arrangement, there is no record, it is only known that no additional discoveries were made--but from the facts ascertained by Captain Buchan in his first excursion, the authorities felt satisfied the number of the Indians had been greatly underrated. Captain Buchan was of opinion they could not be less (in the whole) than three hundred persons. Now this is an important fact, as it goes far to disprove the generally received opinion that the tribe is extinct, inasmuch as that opinion was formed from the representations of the decreased numbers of her tribe, made by the Indian woman taken in 1823, but the accuracy of the whole statement there is much reason to doubt. In the course of this narrative we shall be brought to the details of her statement, when a closer comparison of the conflicting accounts can be made.

The several proclamations issued, in favor of the Red Indian, seem to have been entirely disregarded--the work of extermination proceeded, and the Government again thought it necessary to express its abhorrence of the murders that were continually being perpetrated, and to threaten punishment to the guilty. Accordingly a proclamation, in the name of the Prince Regent, was issued by Sir R. Keats in 1813, to the same effect, and offering the same reward as the previous ones. For the next four years, or from 1814 to 1818, no additional efforts were made for the benefit of the Indians; but complaints were made by various persons during that period,--residents to the northward,--of thefts, which it was alleged were committed by the Indians. In consequence of these repeated losses, the person who had sustained the greatest injury, amounting to about £150, made application to the Government for permission to follow the property and regain it, if possible. This permission being given, a party of ten men left the Exploits on the 1st of March, 1819, with a most anxious desire, as they state, of being able to take some of the Indians, and thus, through them, to open a friendly communication with the rest. The leader of the party giving strict orders not on any account to commence hostilities without positive directions. On the 2nd March a few wigwams were seen and examined, they appeared to be frequented by the Indians during spring and autumn for the purpose of killing deer. On the 3rd a fire placed on the side of a brook was seen, where some Indians had recently slept. On the 4th the party reached a store-house belonging to the Indians, and on entering it they found five traps belonging to and recognized as the property of persons in Twillingate, as also part of a boat's jib--footsteps also were seen about the store-house, and these tracks were followed with speed and caution. On the 5th the party reached a very large pond, and foot-marks of two or more Indians were distinctly discovered, and soon after an Indian was seen walking in the direction of the spot where the party were concealed, while three other Indians were perceived further off and going in a contrary direction. The curiosity of the whole party being strongly excited, the leader of them showed himself openly on the point. When the Indian discovered him she was for a moment motionless, then screamed violently and ran off--at this time the persons in pursuit were in ignorance as to whether the Indian was male or female. One of the party immediately started in pursuit, but did not gain on her until he had taken off his jacket and rackets, when he came up with her fast; as she kept looking back at her pursuer over her shoulder; he dropped his gun on the snow and held up his hands to shew her he was unarmed, and on pointing to his gun, which was some distance behind, she stopped--he did the same, then he advanced and gave her his hand, she gave her's to him, and to all the party as they came up. Seven or eight Indians were then seen repeatedly running off and on the pond, and shortly three of them came towards the party--the woman spoke to them, and two of the Indians joined the English, while the third remained some one hundred yards off. Something being observed under the cassock of one of the Indians, he was searched and a hatchet taken from him. The two Indians then took hold of the man who had seized the Indian woman, and endeavoured to force her away from him, but not succeeding in this, he tried to get possession of three different guns, and at last succeeded in geting hold of one, which he tried to wrest from the man who held it; not being able to accomplish this, the Indian seized the Englishman by the throat, and the danger being imminent, three shots were fired, all so simultaneously that it appeared as if only one gun had been discharged. The Indian dropped, and his companions immediately fled. In extenuation of this, to say the least of it, most deplorable event, it is said, "could we have intimidated him, or persuaded him to leave us, or even have seen the others go off, we should have been most happy to have been spared using violence--but when it is remembered that our small party were in the heart of the Indian country, a hundred miles from any European settlement, and that there were in our sight at times, as many Indians as our party amounted to, and we could not ascertain how many were in the woods that we did not see, it could not be avoided with safety to ourselves. Had destruction been our object, we might have carried it much farther."

The death of this Indian was subsequently brought before the Grand Jury, and that body having enquired into the circumstances connected with it, in its report to the Court makes the following statement:--"It appears that the deceased came to his death in consequence of an attack on the party in search of them, and his subsequent obstinacy, and not desisting when repeatedly menaced by some of the party for that purpose, and the peculiar situation of the searching party and their men, was such as to warrant their acting on the defensive."

Now, taking the foregoing report as given by the leader of the expedition, and in which there can be no question but that the conduct of the English party is as favourably represented as it possibly could be, yet does the statement detailed afford no excuse for the Indian, and is the word "obstinacy" as applied by the Grand Jury, applicable to him?

It may not be forgotten that the Indian was surprised in the "heart of his own country"--treading his own soil--within sight of his home--that home was invaded by armed men of the same race with those who had inflicted on his tribe irreparable injuries--his wife was seized by them--his attempts to release her, which ought to have been respected, were violently resisted,--and then, maddened by the bonds and captivity of his wife, he continues, with a courage and devotion to her which merited a far different fate, singly his conflict with ten armed men--he is shot, and his death is coldly ascribed to his "obstinacy." Had the Indian tamely permitted his wife to have been carried away from him--had he without feeling or emotion witnessed the separation of the mother from her infant child, then indeed little sympathy would have been felt for him--and yet it is precisely because he did show that he possessed feelings common to us all, and without the possession of which man becomes more degraded than the brute, that he was shot. Thus perished the ill-fated husband of poor Mary March, and she herself, from the moment when her hand was touched by the white man, became the child of sorrow, a character which never left her, until she became shrouded in an early tomb. Among her tribe she was known as "De mas do weet,"--her husband's name was "No nos baw sut."

In an official report Mary March is described as a young woman of about twenty-three years of age--of a gentle and interesting disposition, acquiring and retaining without any difficulty any words she was taught. She had one child, who, as was subsequently ascertained, died a couple of days after its mother's capture. Mary March was first taken to Twillingate, where, she was placed under the care of the Revd. Mr. Leigh, Episcopal Missionary, who, upon the opening of the season, came with her to St. John's. She never recovered from the effects of her grief at the death of her husband--her health rapidly declined, and the Government, with the view of restoring her to her tribe, sent a small sloop-of-war with her to the northward, with orders to her Commander to proceed to the summer 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 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 the bushes, however, they often made a most desperate resistance. I have heard an old man, named Rogers, living on Twillingate Great Island, boast that he had shot, at different periods, above sixty of them. So late as 1817, this wretch, accompanied by three others, one day discovered nine unfortunate Indians lying asleep on a small island far up the bay. Loading the large guns[A] very heavily, they rowed up to them, and each taking aim, fired. One only rose, and rushing into the water, endeavoured to swim to another island, close by, covered with wood; but the merciless wretch followed in the boat, and butchered the poor creature in the water with an axe, then took the body to the shore and piled it on those of the other eight, whom his companions had in the meantime put out of their misery. He minutely described, to me the spot, and I afterwards visited the place, and found their bones in a heap, bleached and whitened with the winter's blast.

I have now, I think, said enough to account for the _shyness_ of the Indians towards the settlers, but could relate many other equally revolting scenes, some of which I shall hereafter touch upon. In 1815 or 1816, Lieutenant, now Captain Buchan, set out on an expedition to endeavour to meet with the Indians, for the purpose of opening a friendly communication with them. He succeeded in meeting with them, and the intercourse seemed firmly established, so much so, that two of them consented to go and pass the night with Captain Buchan's party, he leaving two of his men who volunteered to stop. On returning to the Indians' encampment in the morning, accompanied by the two who had remained all night, on approaching the spot, the two Indians manifested considerable disquietude, and after exchanging a few glances with each other, broke from their conductors and rushed into the woods. On arriving at the encampment. Captain Buchan's poor fellows lay on the ground a frightful spectacle, their heads being severed from their bodies, and almost cut to pieces.

In the summer of 1818, a person who had established a salmon fishery at the mouth of Exploits River, had a number of articles stolen by the Indians; they consisted of a gold watch, left accidentally in the boat, the boat's sails, some hatchets, cordage, and iron implements. He therefore resolved on sending an expedition into the country, in order to recover his property.

The day before the party set off, I arrived accidentally at the house, taking a survey of numerous bodies of woodcutters belonging to the establishment with which I was connected. The only time anyone can penetrate into the interior in the winter season, the lakes and rivers being frozen over; even the Bay of Exploits, though salt water, was then (the end of January) frozen for sixty miles. Having proposed to accompany the party, they immediately consented. Our equipments consisted of a musket, bayonet, and hatchet; to each of the servants a pistol; Mr. ---- and myself had, in addition, another pistol and a dagger, and a double-barrelled gun, instead of a musket: each carried a pair of snowshoes, a supply of eight pounds of biscuit and a piece of pork, ammunition, and one quart of rum; besides, we had a light sled and four dogs, who took it in turns in dragging the sled, which contained a blanket for each man, rum and other necessaries. We depended on our guns for a supply of provisions, and at all times could meet with plenty of partridges and hares, though there were few days we did not kill a deer. The description of one day's journey will suffice for all, there being but little variation. The snow was at this time about eight feet deep.

On the morning of our departure we set off in good spirits up the river, and after following its course for about twelve miles, arrived at the Rapids, a deer at full speed passed us; I fired, and it fell; the next instant a wolf, in full pursuit, made his appearance; on seeing the party, he halted for an instant, and then rushed forward as if to attack us. Mr. ---- however, anticipated him; for taking a steady aim, at the same time sitting coolly on an old tree, he passed a bullet through the fellow's head, who was soon stretched a corpse on the snow; a few minutes after another appeared, when several firing together he also fell, roaring and howling for a long time, when one of the men went and knocked him on the head with a hatchet.