Cape Breton's Magazine

which is Gluskap's dog left behind at this time. Turtle CMi'ktcik) was Gluskap's un? cle. Here with his pot and dog he turned turtle into a rock and left them all there. Near where he killed the beaver are still to be seen the bones turned to rock. When he broke the channel to Minas Basin to drain the water out, in order to uncover the beaver, he left it so that today the water all drains out at each tide. So Gluskap caused the Bay of Fundy tides. Then he crossed over eastward and came out at Pictou, where there were many Indians livii', While there, he taught the Micmacs how to make all their implements for hunting and fishing • bows, arrows, canoes and the like. After a while he prepared to leave, and told the Indians, "I am going to leave you, I am going to a place where I can never be reached by a white man." Then he prophe? sied the coming of the Europeans and the baptism of the Micmacs, Then he called his grandmother from Pictou, and a young man for his nephew, and departed going to the other side of the North Pole with them. Again he said, "From now on, it there should ever be war between you and other people, I shall be back to help you." He is there now, busy making bows, arrows and weapons for the day when the white man may bother the Micmacs, The Micmacs are Gluskap's children. As he prophesied it came true, for in 1610 the first Micmacs were baptized and became Christians. Gluskap had departed just a little before them, because he knew he had to make room for Christ; but he is the Micmac*s god and will come to help them if they ever need him. When Peary disco? vered the North Pole, he saw Gluskap sitting on top of the Pole, and spoke to him. Our thanks to the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, for supplying photographs of the mas? tadon thi'h-bone and tooth. Of this find J. W, Dawson wrote in Acadian Geology. 1868 • "This gigantic creature probably inhabited our country at the close of the Glacial or Drift period, and may have been contemporary with some of the present animals.' though probably extinct before the introduction of the human race. The existence of this huge quadruped does not imply a tropical or even a very warm climate| since m a skeleton found in Warren County. New Jersey, fragments of twigs, lying in such a position as to show they had formed part of the food of the creature, were found to have belonged to a species of cypress, probably the common white cedar: so that the animal probably browsed as the moose does at present, and could live m any wooded region. The species appears to be Mastodon giganteus," Ihe Nova Scotia Museum re"' ports that this thigh bone found at Middle River has been radio-carbon dated at 31. 900 years before the present. The Micmac tales were first published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1915, Bonnell Furniture Limited SYDNEY AND GLACE BAY, N. S. 50 Years Serving Cape Bretoners with Fine Furniture and Appliances Located on the Scenic Harbour in Sydney Isle Royale Motor Hotel & Motel HOTEL 564-4511 MOTEL 564-4567 "Setting a Royal Standard for food and comfort" Cape Breton's UdLga.zine/32