high--her natural abilities were good. She was grateful for any
kindness shown her, and evinced a strong affection for her parents and
friends. As she evinced some taste for drawing, she was kept supplied
with pencils of various colors, and by the use of these made herself
better understood than she otherwise could have done. In her own
person she had received two gun-shot wounds at two different times
from volleys fired at the band she was with by the English people at
the Exploits--one wound was that of a slug through the leg. Poor
Shaw-na-dith-it! she died destitute of any of this world's goods, yet,
desirous of showing her gratitude to one from whom she had received
great kindness, she presented a keepsake to Mr. Cormack, and there is
something very affecting under the circumstances in which she was
placed, as associated with the simple articles of which her present
consisted--they were a rounded piece of granite--a piece of
quartz--both derived from the soil of which her tribe were once the
sole owners and lords, but which were all of that soil she could then
call her own; and added to these, was a lock of her hair. This present
has now a place in the Museum of the Mechanics' Institution, and will,
it may not be doubted, be an object of interest to many.
Shaw-na-dith-it lived in Mr. Cormack's house until he left the colony
in 1829, when she was taken to the house of the then Attorney-General.
She died in June following, and was interred in the burial ground on
the South-side. A Newfoundland paper, of the 12th of June, 1829,
notices her death thus:--"Died, on Saturday night, the 6th inst., at
the Hospital, Shaw-na-dith-it, the female Indian, one of the
aborigines of this Island. She died of consumption,--a disease which
seems to have been remarkably prevalent among her tribe, and which has
unfortunately been fatal to all who have fallen into the hands of the
settlers. Since the departure of Mr. Cormack from the Island, this
poor woman has had an asylum afforded her in the house of James Simms,