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Of the Great Works which Glooskap made
in the Land. (Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot.) Over all the Land of the
Wabanaki there is no place which was not marked by the hand of the Master. And
it is to be seen on hills and rivers and great roads, as well as mighty rocks,
which were in their day living monsters. For there is a very
wonderful highway from Cwesowra legek44 to Parrsborough, running
parallel with the river now called Hebert, and this road is called by Indians
Ou-wokun, the Causeway, but by white men, or the Iglesmani, the Boar's Back.
For it is said that he meant to visit Partridge Island and Cape Blomidon, but
they who were with him had got tired of the sea, and wished to cross over by
land. And while they were resting and getting ready for their trip across, the
Master, raising his magic power to a great deed to be spoken of forever, went
away a little time, and cast up a great and beautiful level ridge, throwing it
over bogs and streams; and on this they traveled, rejoicing, and, having
reached the island, awaited him. And yet again the Master did
a mighty deed. It came to pass in those days that the Beavers had built a dam
across from Utkoguncheek, or Cape Blomidon, to the opposite shore, and thereby
made a pond that filled all the valley of Annapolis. Now in those times the
Beavers were monstrous beasts, and the Master, though kind of heart, seems to
have had but little love for them ever since the day when Qwah-beetsis, the son
of the Great Beaver, tempted Malsum to slay his brother. Now the bones of these
Beavers may be found to this day, and many there are on Oonamahgik, and their
teeth are six inches across, and there are no such qwah-beet to-day.45
And these are the remains of the Beavers who built the dam at Cape Blomidon and
forded the Annapolis Valley. Now Glooskap would have a hunt and do a deed which
should equal the great whale-fishing of Kit-pooseeog-unow. So he cut the great
dam near the shore, and bade Marten watch; for he said, "I mistrust that
there is a little Beaver hiding hereabouts." And when the dam was cut from
where it joined the shore there was a mighty rush of many waters, so that it
swung round to the westward, yet it did not break away from the other shore.
Therefore the end of it lodged with a great split therein when the flood had
found a free course, and the whole may be seen there still, even to this day,
and may be seen by all of those who pass up the bay; and this point, or Cape
Split, is called by the Micmacs Pleegun, which, being interpreted, means the
opening of a beaver dam. Then, to frighten the
Beaver, Glooskap threw at it a few handfuls of earth, and these, falling
somewhat to the eastward of Partridge Island, became the Five Islands. And the
pond which was left was the Basin of Minas. And yet another tradition tells that, after cutting the dam, Glooskap sat and watched, but no beaver came out;46 for Qwah-beet had gone out of a back door. So he took a rock and threw it afar,46b — one hundred and fifty miles, — to scare the Beaver back again; but the Beaver had gone over the Grand Falls, and the stone remaineth there even to this day. ____________________________________
44. Hardwood Point, Fort Cumberland. 45. Both Mr. Rand and myself have been
solemnly assured by Indians who had seen these antediluvian remains that they
are the petrified relics of Glooskap's victims. 46. This
is the Anglo-Indian manuscript, already referred to. 46b. "He took Rock tructed 150 miles ip
River to sker beaber bock down, but beaber has gone ober granfalls." |