us little in their praise. Of the Armouchiquois he says:

I cannot tell what government they have, but I think
that in this respect they resemble their neighbours,
who have none at all. They know not how to worship or
pray; yet, like the other savages, they have some
superstitions, which I shall describe in their place.
As for weapons, they have only pikes, clubs, bows and
arrows. It would seem from their appearance that they
have a good disposition, better than those of the
north, but they are all in fact of no great worth.
Even a slight intercourse with them gives you at once
a knowledge of them. They are great thieves, and if
they cannot lay hold of any thing with their hands,
they try to do so with their feet, as we have oftentimes
learned by experience. I am of opinion that if they
had any thing to exchange with us they would not give
themselves to thieving. They bartered away to us their
bows, arrows, and quivers for pins and buttons; and
if they had had any thing else better they would have
done the same with it. It is necessary to be on one's
guard against this people and live in a state of
distrust of them, yet without letting them perceive it.

This passage at least shows that Champlain sought to be
just to the savages of the Atlantic. Though he found them
thieves, he is willing to conjecture that they would not
steal if they had anything to trade.

The thieving habits of the Cape Cod Indians led to a