MICMAC MYTHOLOGY 47

what he might expect of his opponent in the event of defeat in fair battle.

The last fight between the Kennebecs and the Micmacs occurred at the mouth of Pictou harbour, and was an instance in which one hero, or as they say, tenap, succeeded in destroying. single-handed, a whole war—party of the enemy. The incident is worthy of mention in this connection, for the hero of this closing scene of inter-tribal warfare was a booowin or pow-wow, who might well be compared, if we consider what he accomplished, with Samson, the strong man of Israel, or perhaps, even more properly with Heracles and the other demigods of ancient Grecian story. Our hero’s name is [fact/angry, or Old Thunder, but he also had a second name given by the French, for the French had arrived on Acadia's shores before this final defeat of the invading Kennebecks; the dignified name was Toma/a, an attempt to pronounce Tamzere, the French tranS‘ lation of his sonorous name. You will notice that “ r” was replaced by “l” in all words borrowed from the French and English, for neither the “ r ” nor “3' ” sound was formerly heard in the language of the Micmacs.

Let us picture two war-parties of the Kennebecs intrenched within blockhouses from which they make repeated sallies upon the wary natives of *[l/Qm/mugm The forts are constructed by first digging a cellar, and then felling and arranging great trees, so that not only a barricade is formed, but a heavily roofed fort. The Micmacs are intrenched in a somewhat similar manner on their camping-ground at Merrigomish. It was quite evident to the Mic- macs that their ancestral foes were not on a mere scalping expedition but had designed a war of extermination. Kaktoogo the Thunderer must make good use of all his magic, or he and his people will certainly be destroyed. First and last of the American Red-men, he took command of a navy; for in order to avoid ambuscades, he took possession of a French trading ship, and came around by sea from Merrigomish to Pictou. Soon he bore down upon the hostile fort with all sails set, and in true Indian fashion, as if his gallant craft were a bark canoe, ran hard aground as near as possible to his

*Illegamaage or Megumagze, Micmac name for Maritime Provinces.