COMA SRT ah oly; eXery,

The French and the Micmacs

THE only inhabitants of the coasts and Gulf of St. Lawrence prior to French colonization were the Mic- macs who roamed over the entire country from Gaspé to Cape Breton, including New Brunswick east of the River St. John, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. They were a vigorous warlike race and, though they had no permanent habitations, had de- veloped certain well-established customs, all of which have been fully set down in the works of Lescarbot, Biard, Denys, Le Clercq, Champlain, and others.

During the French régime statistics of population are sadly incomplete but there is reason to believe that the Micmacs did not comprise more than 400 families, at most 2000 souls, of whom 1000 or 1100 were in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, 500 or 600 in New Brunswick, and 300 on Prince Edward Is- land. At no time could there have been more than 600 capable of bearing arms, although boys over twelve were included in this category. Such being the case the influence of these children of the forest upon the fortunes of both the French and the English was out of all proportion to their numbers and due no doubt to their familiarity with the country and to their methods of warfare.

From the first friendship that was formed between Membertou and Poutrincourt at Port Royal to the last struggle at Louisbourg in 1758, the French tried