INTRODUCTION


Among the six chief divisions of the red Indians of North America the
most widely extended is the Algonquin. This people ranged from Labrador
to the far South, from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, speaking
forty dialects, as the Hon. J. H. Trumbull has shown in his valuable
work on the subject. Belonging to this division are the Micmacs of New
Brunswick and the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes of Maine, who with
the St. Francis Indians of Canada and some smaller clans call
themselves the Wabanaki, a word derived from a root signifying white or
light, intimating that they live nearest to the rising sun or the east.
In fact, the French-speaking St. Francis family, who are known _par
eminence_ as "the Abenaki," translate the term by _point du
jour_.

The Wabanaki have in common the traditions of a grand mythology, the
central figure of which is a demigod or hero, who, while he is always
great, consistent, and benevolent, and never devoid of dignity,
presents traits which are very much more like those of Odin and Thor,
with not a little of Pantagruel, than anything in the characters of the
Chippewa Manobozho, or the Iroquois Hiawatha. The name of this divinity
is Glooskap, meaning, strangely enough, the Liar, because it is said
that when he left earth, like King Arthur, for Fairyland, he promised
to return, and has never done so. It is characteristic of the Norse
gods that while they are grand they are manly, and combine with this a
peculiarly domestic humanity. Glooskap is the Norse god intensified. He
is, however, more of a giant; he grows to a more appalling greatness