The New Brunswick Magazine Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE ORIGIN OF THE MALISEETS. The tribe of Indians to which the name of Maliseet Is at present restricted reside chiefly on the banks of the St. John River, i... more »n New Brunswick. At one time the local authorities supposed that these people were of Huron-Iroquois stock, but later investigation has shown that they are of the Algonquian family, as are all the tribes who are their immediate neighbors. We now know also that these St. John Indians were members of that nation or group of cognate tribes to whom the name Wapanaki t was applied—tribes that at the time they were discovered by the Europeans were in possession of the country between the St. John and the Connecticut—through Maine, New Hampshire and western Massachsetts, and whose warriors for more than a century kept the border settlements in constant terror. The Wapanaki nation was originally composed of seven tribes, viz : Nipmuks, Sokokis, Assagunticooks, Wawanocks, Kenebeks, Penobscots, and Maliseets. That the Micinacs were not Wapanakis has been clearly established by comparison of the languages and the traditions, though the tribes lived on intimate friendly terms and Micmac braves were sometimes found among Wapanaki war parties. Dr. Williamson, in his History of Maine, quotes a Penobscot Indian's statement that "all the Indians between the St. John and the Saco Rivers are brothers; the eldest lives on the Saco, and each tribe is younger as we pass eastward. Always I could understand these brothers very well when they speak, but when the Mic1nacs talk, I can't tell what they say. " Spelled also Melicite and Amelicite. tSpelled also Vabananchi, Atmaki and Abenaqui. It is probable that the Wapanaki nation was founded by a band of Ojibwas who separated from the main tribe, travelled eastward and settled on the ...« less