Glooscap the great chief, and other stories - ElectricCanadian.com

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INTRODUCTION
language had grown up to meet the needs of
civilisation and the writing of books, and to
fail to
see how rich and varied was the life in
the primitive forest, and how ancient and deep
were its thoughts. This was before the day of
Darwin.
The Indian who moves through these stories
we must think of as dressed in skins, painted
of body, decorated with brightly coloured shells
and feathers. His weapons were the bow and
arrows with heads of stone. His days were
spent in hunting and fishing and in warfare.
His home was the wigwam, and one has but to
hear his stories to know how great a part this
place of shelter played in his daily life and in
all his thoughts. The Micmac s land was cold
in the winter; his lodge was firmly framed of
strong trunks of trees, and made tight with
rows of bark, and lined with boughs of spruce
against the winter winds. Smaller branches
he used for carpets, cushions and beds, and
springing boughs closed the doorway. Man
has many terms for that which is nearest his
heart. The Micmac called the minutest part
of his lodge by its name. Each post, bar and
fastening, every tier of bark and every ap
pendage had its specific designation ;
and every
part of the wigwam had its precise use, fixed
by inviolable custom and law.
The wigwam was the centre of all the social