vation, "It may perhaps
be doubted if the French account about grapes is accurate, as they
mention them to have been growing on the banks of the Saint John
where, if wild grapes exist, they must be rare." But Biard is right
and Murdoch is wrong. Wild grapes naturally grow in great abundance on
the islands and intervals of the River St. John and, in spite of the
interference of the farmers, are still to be found as far north at
least in Woodstock. Biard visited the St. John River in October, 1611,
and stayed a day or two at a small trading post on an island near Oak
Point. One of the islands in that vicinity the early English settlers
afterwards called "Isle of Vines," from the circumstance that wild
grapes grew there in great profusion.

We quote next Father Biard's description of the Indian method of
encampment: "Arrived at a certain place, the first thing they do is to
build a fire and arrange their camp, which they will have finished in
an hour or two; often in half an hour. The women go into the woods and
bring back some poles which are stuck into the ground in a circle
around the fire and at the top are interlaced in the form of a
pyramid, so that they come together directly over the fire, for there
is the chimney. Upon the poles they throw some skins, matting or bark.
At the foot of the poles under the skins they put their baggage. All
the space around the fire is strewn with soft boughs of the fire tree,
so they will not feel the dampness of the ground; over these boughs
are thrown some mats or seal skins as soft as velvet; upon these they
stretch themselves around the fire with their heads resting upon their
baggage; and, what no one would believe, they are very warm in there
around that little fire, even in the greatest rigors of the winter.
They do not camp except near some good water, and in an attractive
location."

The aboriginies of Acadia when the country became known to Europeans,
no doubt lived as their ancestors had lived from time immemorial. A
glimpse of the life of the Indian in prehistoric times is afforded us
in the archaeological remains of the period. These are to be found at
such places as Bocabec, in Charlotte county, at Grand Lake in Queens
county, and at various points along the St. John river. Dr. L. W.
Bailey, Dr. Geo. F. Matthew, Dr. W. F. Ganong, James Vroom, and others
have given considerable attention to these relics and they were
studied also to some extent by their predecessors in