mi'kmaq nom micmac 040220 ... mon L'nu'k 040220 ... oldephebe i clicked on this because i thought it was some kind of klingonese referance.. 040303 ... sans nom The name Mi'kmaq derives from the term nikmaq, a word in the language which means "my kin-friends," or, in the sense of its use as a greeting in the 1600s, "my brothers!" French lawyer Marc Lescarbot, visiting what is now Nova Scotia in AD 1606, reported that the First Nations peoples there had taught this greeting to the French and Basque fishermen and explorers who were beginning to come over from Europe each summer season. So the French would greet the First Nations peoples here by saying, "Nikmaq!" or "My brothers!", as they themselves had been greeted. In letters to France, they referred to First Nations people here as "Notres nikmaqs" or "our brothers" [literally "our my-brothers"], adding an unnecessary s on the end of an already plural form. This began the tradition of what came to be regarded as the "tribal" name. Eventually "nikmaq" was anglicized to Mikmak, Mickmack, Mick Mack, Mic Mac, and any other possible combination. from: http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mikmaq/mikmaqsp.htm . 040304 ... sans nom People: The Mi'kmaq are an indigenous people of eastern Canada, variously spelled Míkmaq, Micmac, Mikmak, Mi'gmak, or Mikmaq. Their original term for themselves was Lnu'k (or L'nu'k), the people. "Mi'kmaq" comes from a word in their own language meaning "my friends"; it is used both internally and externally now, though Mi'kmaq people fluent in their native language will often use the more grammatically correct "Mi'kmaw" as an adjective. Famed for their porcupine-quill art, they were sometimes also known as the Porcupine Indians. The Mi'kmaq were kinfolk and traditional allies of the Abenaki, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Maliseet Indians, with whom they formed the historic Wabanaki Confederacy of New England and the Maritimes. The traditional Mi'kmaq territory is concentrated in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but they also had a presence in parts of Quebec, Newfoundland, and Maine. There are about 25,000 Mi'kmaq Indians today, most of whom still live on their traditional lands today. History: In allying with the French, the Mi'kmaq tribe did not successfully pick the winning side in the European fight over Nova Scotia; they did, however, pick pretty good friends. Not only didn't the French harass or massacre the Mi'kmaqs, they kept their own settlements to the coast and didn't infringe on Mi'kmaq hunting grounds much. For their part, the Mikmaq people were staunch allies of the French in good times and bad, and had their ranks not been devastated by smallpox and other European diseases (Mi'kmaq losses are estimated at around 15,000, from an original population of 20,000) the history of Nova Scotia might have been written very differently. As it was, the English, helped by the Mohawk and other Iroquoians, did eventually defeat and deport the French, but the Mi'kmaq tribe remains in the Maritimes to this day. from: http://www.native-languages.org/mikmaq.htm 040304 ... sans nom The Micmacs of eastern Canada and the northeastern corner of the United States (who prefer the phonetic spelling Mi'kmaq) first appeared in their homeland approximately ten thousand years ago. They call the region Mi'kma'ki. Archaeological evidence indicates that these first inhabitants arrived from the west and lived as hunters and gatherers attuned to the shifting, seasonal resources of the area. During the summer months they hunted and fished, sometimes venturing out to sea to hunt whales and porpoises. Their winter camps were inland, built along rivers and lakes so that they could augment their hunting by spearing and trapping eels and other water creatures. The tribal territory included all of what is now Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, the north shore of New Brunswick and inland to the Saint John River watershed, eastern Maine, and part of Newfoundland, including the islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as well as St. Pierre and Miquelon. The Micmacs' neighbors recognized their territory and rarely violated its borders. Micmac people thought of their homeland as containing seven districts: Kespukwitk, Sikepne'katik, Eski'kewaq, Unama'kik, Piktuk aqq Epekwitk, Sikniktewaq, and Kespe'kewaq. A keptan orsaqmaw (district chief) presided in each jurisdiction, doubling as local ruler and delegate to the Grand Council Sante' Mawiomi. The Grand Council was the governing body of the nation and was led by several officers, including a kji'saqmaw(grand chief), a putus (treaty holder and counselor), and a kji'keptan (grand captain, advisor on political affairs). The Sante Mawiomi determined where families might hunt, fish, and set up their wumitki (camp). More importantly, the Grand Council managed relations with other aboriginal nations. The Micmacs were members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, a loose coalition that included the Maliseets, the Pasamaquoddy, the Penobscots, and the Eastern and Western Abenakis of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. At its peak, this confederacy influenced tribal life from the Gaspé Peninsula to northern New England. The Micmacs' first contact with Europeans did not surprise them or alter their worldview. A legend in which one of their spiritual beings traveled across the Atlantic to "discover" Europe taught that blue-eyed people would arrive from the east to disrupt their lives. Micmac people also knew the story of a woman who had a vision of an island floating toward their lands; the island was decked out with tall trees on which were living beings. Thus the Micmacs were not startled by the appearance of early explorers in sailing ships. Instead, they greeted the newcomers, set up a brisk trade with them, and looked forward to incorporating the strangers' new technologies into their own culture. from: http://mrc.uccb.ns.ca/mikmaq.html 040304 ... sans nom The Micmac Indians of northeast North America are thought to have been the first native American society to encounter Europeans--the Norse VIKINGS who arrived about AD 1000. After John Cabot's visit in 1497, European fishermen and explorers regularly visited Micmac territory, which stretched from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. The Micmac speak an Algonquian language most closely related to CREE, but their closest political and social relations are with the ABNAKI. As expert canoeists and sea navigators, they base their economy on the resources of the sea and its inlets, supplemented by hunting and collecting of plant foods. The Micmac became the first Indians to serve as middlemen in the European fur trade with interior tribes of North America. Missionized by the French in the early 1600s, they remained steadfastly loyal to France for a full generation after the British conquest of 1760. Contemporary Micmac communities are located in much the same territory they occupied five centuries ago. In the late 1980s their population was more than 15,000. from: http://www.indians.org/welker/micmac.htm 040304 ... sans nom There is evidence to believe that the Micmac had contact with Europeans (Vikings) in the 11th century, centuries before Columbus arrived in the Americas, making them the first Native Americans to have contact with Europeans. There is also evidence to believe that their population was far more than the 40,000 people that have been estimated for their population in the year 1600. Their numbers, however, were greatly reduced due to diseases such as smallpox that was brought into their villages by the Europeans, and some estimates suggest that their numbers were only 4,000 by 1620. The Micmac, who originally occupied most of southeastern Canada and northern Maine, were primarily fishermen and hunters, who were granted free border crossing rights between the U.S. and Canada by the Jay Treaty of 1794. In neighboring colonial communities they were well known for their splint-ash basket making. Today's Canadian and U.S. combined Micmac population is over 25,000, with about 28 groups recognized in Canada and just 1 group recognized in the U.S. - the Aroostook Band of Northern Maine with more than 700 members. Today's Micmac occupy more than 60 villages or reserves in Canada, and there are probably more than 2,000 Micmac living in the Boston and New York City areas. State recognition in Maine was received in 1973 and federal recognition came in 1991 with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act. With this act, the Micmacs received funds to purchase more than 5,000 acres of their previously owned land. Many members of the Micmac Nation still speak the Micmac language today. from: http://www.newigwam.com/hmicmac.html 040304 ... sans nom The Micmac religion believed in one supreme being but included a number of lesser gods, some of whom had human form. Best known of the Micmac legends are their stories of Glooscap, a cultural hero. Almost immediately after French Jesuits arrived in Acadia, the Micmac began to convert to the Roman Catholic faith. During the early years, the French brought relatively few of their women to North America, so intermarriage between French and Micmac became very common. These two factors bound the Micmac so closely to the French, that they found it very difficult to accept British rule after France cession of the Maritimes to Great Britain in 1713. Currently, most Micmac have French surnames, and they have remained among the most firmly converted of all Native American groups. At the same time, they have also retained much of their language and culture, and their practice of the Catholic religion has incorporated many of their traditional native beliefs... ...By 1643 the growing French population in Acadia was giving Puritans in New England nightmares about a French fleet sailing into Boston harbor and burning the town. They solved their fears by attacking the French first. In 1654 Robert Sedgwick's fleet from Boston captured Port Royal and the other French settlements on the Bay of Fundy. The British held Acadia for thirteen years this time until it was returned to France by the Treaty of Breda (1667). While the British and French traded places in Acadia and Maine, Micmac loyalty to the French never wavered, but they only rarely were involved in the fighting. This changed in 1675 when the Abenaki were drawn into the King Philip's War with the New England colonists. By the end of 1676, Philip and most of his followers were dead, and his uprising crushed. Unfortunately, the war did not end here for the Abenaki. Thousands of refugees, filled with hatred for the British, fled north and joined the Abenaki, and the King Philip's War continued, with brief interruptions, for more than 80 years. To fight the British and their Mohawk allies, the Abenaki organized into a confederacy. Its membership soon expanded to include the Maritimes tribes: Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Micmac. The French both encouraged this alliance and supplied it with arms to block British expansion northward from New England and to protect Quebec and Acadia from British invasion in case of war. With the outbreak of the King William's War (1688-97) between Britain and France, the Abenaki Confederation did exactly that. Throughout the war, the British never made a serious attempt to take Acadia. An expedition under William Philips sacked Port Royal in 1690 and took the French governor prisoner, but the French recaptured it in 1692. Offensively, Abenaki and Micmac raids terrorized New England throughout the war and by 1695 had forced the abandonment of almost all of its frontier settlements. Britain and France ended their war in 1697, but it took two more years to stop the fighting between New England and the Abenaki. Even then, it was only a brief truce. Raids resumed with the Queen Anne's War (1701-13), but this time they were not enough to keep the British out of the Maritimes. The French population in Acadia had grown to 3,000, but New England colonists in New England outnumbered them almost fifteen to one. After two attempts to take the French fort on the Penobscot River failed in 1701, New England went on the defensive. In February, 1704 an Abenaki raid from Canada destroyed Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the British changed strategy. With the coming of warmer weather, they finally captured the French forts on the Penobscot River and Passamaquoddy Bay, but were repulsed at Port Royal in July. Port Royal defended itself against two more assaults during 1707 but, after a long siege by General Francis Nicholson, surrendered in October, 1710. The British kept it for the rest of the war by using Mohawk warriors to track Micmac and Abenaki raiders. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht gave Nova Scotia (Acadia) and Newfoundland to Great Britain. Having seen Acadia change hands many times, no one except the British government believed this would be permanent. French settlers from Newfoundland moved to Cape Breton Island and during 1720 built the massive fortress at Louisbourgh which dominated the entire area, and the Acadian French refused to sign an oath of loyalty to Great Britain. Although the Micmac, Maliseet, and Abenaki had signed a peace treaty with New England at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1713, they still refused to recognize British authority in Acadia. Acadia had become Nova Scotia, but it was British in name only. Trouble was immediate. The first concern of the British was to secure their fishing rights, so they were content to allow the French maintain their trade with the Micmac to keep everyone happy. This was a mistake. The French not only continued trade (upon which the Micmac had become dependent) but also provided large annual gifts to the Micmac keep their friendship and allegiance. There was no way the British could compete with this, since their government in London provided only limited funds for gifts for British allies - something the Micmac definitely were not. To maintain peace, the first British governors of Nova Scotia were often forced in desperation to pay for gifts to Micmac out their own pockets. Even then, the Micmac perception of the British was that they were stingy. Meanwhile, the French population in Acadia avoided every attempt to get them to take a loyalty oath and was patiently waiting for their return to France. This was considered inevitable just as long as British colonists did not settle in the area. However, that was exactly what was happening. Trouble began in 1717 as settlement from New England began to expand northward into Abenaki lands along the coast of Maine as well as the Connecticut Valley of southern Vermont and New Hampshire. The French fought back through their Jesuit missionaries (most notably Father Sebastian Rasles), who encouraged the Abenaki and Micmac to resist the encroachment with violence if necessary. Conferences between New England and Abenaki representatives during 1717 and 1719 failed to reach any agreement. Since the Micmac, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy were part of the Abenaki confederation, tension was also building in the Canadian Maritimes with the very real possibility of a major uprising. Trying to keep the Micmac at peace in 1721, the British governor of Nova Scotia called a meeting with Micmac at Annapolis Royal (formerly Port Royal) at which promises were made for increased trade and larger annual presents. The Micmac, however, were not satisfied by just promises and remained restless keeping the British garrisons in Nova Scotia on constant alert. After several violent confrontations on the New England frontier in 1722, Massachusetts declared war on the Abenaki. Dummer's War (English-Indian War, Räle War, or Father Rasles' War) was New England's last major Indian war and lasted until 1725. A separate, but related, conflict (Grey Lock's War, Lovewell's War) with the Sokoki in western New England continued for another two years. In 1724 a colonial army attacked and burned Norridgewock on Maine's upper Kennebec River. Not only was the Jesuit priest Sebastian Rasles killed in this battle, but the British mutilated his corpse. From the onset of the fighting, the French in Quebec were tempted to intervene on behalf of the Abenaki, but they chose to remain neutral because the British were threatening to deport the French population. For the same reason, the Acadian French had discouraged the Micmac from joining the Abenaki in the conflict. However, this changed with the brutal circumstances of Rasles' death. The Acadians were furious, and the killing of one of their priests by New England militia brought them to the point of open rebellion in Acadia. No longer restrained, 50 Micmac warriors retaliated and attacked the British garrison at Annapolis Royal killing two soldiers and wounding 12 others. The British, with some justification, felt the Acadians were responsible. The Abenaki suffered another defeat at the hands of New England the following spring after which resistance ended. In December, 1725 they agreed to a peace with Massachusetts finally ratified at Falmouth the following August. The Micmac and Maliseet also signed a treaty at Boston agreeing to peace and acknowledging British authority over their homeland. This officially ended Dummer's War, but French and Micmac resistance to the British in Acadia was just no longer passive. As long as the British garrisons confined themselves to their forts, there was little trouble, but travel into Micmac controlled areas of the interior was dangerous. The Acadians still refused to take any oath of allegiance to Great Britain, and in 1732 a large group left Nova Scotia for New Brunswick and settled at Ste. Anne's Point on the St. Johns River to escape the British pressure to do so. Meanwhile, French priests and traders were active among the Micmac. Annual presents, trade goods, and firearms arrived every year from Ille Royal, and British protests demanding the French stop this were ignored. New British forts and restrictions placed on the movement of French priests only added to the worsening situation. In 1744 Britain and France went to war again - this time in a dispute over who should sit on the throne of Austria. The War of Austrian Sucession spread from Europe to North America where it was known as the King George's War (1744-48). All the smoldering resentment of the last 29 years of British occupation erupted throughout the Canadian Maritimes, and the Micmac and Maliseet attacked the British outposts. Massachusetts declared war in 1744 against the Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, and St. John Indians (actually the Maliseet and Micmac). The Penobscot, Kennebec, and Passamaquoddy from Maine also joined the fighting, and the British were overwhelmed. The French immediately tried and failed to retake Port Royal in 1744. They tried again the following year, but this, as well as an attack on Cape Breton Island, was also repulsed. Even so, by the end of 1745 the British were besieged inside their forts. Their only military unit still able to operate effectively was the solitary Ranger Company of John Gorham, a group of few white frontiersmen and 50 Mohawk warriors recruited by Sir William Johnson in New York. The French Acadians were officially neutral but so open in their sympathy for the Micmac that Governor Shirley of Massachusetts in 1746 demanded their removal from Nova Scotia. This easily could have happened if a 4,000 man combined British and colonial army had not captured Louisbourgh in June, 1745. The capture of Louisbourgh was the major British victory during the war. It not only removed the immediate threat of invasion to Nova Scotia but permitted the British naval blockade of Canada which eventually brought the French to their knees. However, it did not stop Micmac and Abenaki attacks which continued throughout Nova Scotia and northern Maine until a year after the end of the war. Between 1747 and 1749, there was a lot of bushwhacking and ambush in the Maritimes which kept Gorham's Rangers very busy. Even though crippled by the loss of Louisbourgh, the French were still dangerous, and an attack in February, 1747 wiped out the British garrison at Grand Pre (Grand Pre Massacre). During 1748, however, the French ended their support for the Micmac on Cape Breton which ended most of the fighting in that vicinity. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle settled the problem France and Britain had with each other about the Austrian throne, but neither side was willing to concede control of the Canadian Maritimes. To the total outrage and disgust of the New England colonies, the treaty returned the fortress at Louisbourgh to the French. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 had failed to define the border between Nova Scotia and Quebec. Taking advantage of this and their alliance with the Abenaki and Maliseet, the French began in 1749 to re-occupy the St. John Valley in New Brunswick. At the same time, the British decided the solution to control of the Maritimes was to populate it with British colonists. In June, 1749 Colonel Edward Cornwallis arrived as the new governor of Nova Scotia accompanied by 2,500 new settlers. After founding the city of Halifax, he made peace overtures to the Abenaki and Maliseet using the ranger captain John Gorham as his emissary. The result was a peace treaty signed at Halifax with the Maliseet and Abenaki, but the strength of this agreement was indicated by the fact the Maliseet celebrated the signing with a war dance on the decks of Cornwallis' ship. The Micmac did not sign any peace agreement with the British that year. They had suffered a severe smallpox epidemic during 1747, and the French had accused the British of deliberate infection. Whether true or not, the Micmac believed the French and were so angry about this, they refused to make peace. In this decision, they had the full support of a French priest, Father Le Loutre (the new Rasles). Settlements at Chebucto and Canso were attacked during the summer of 1749. Especially galling to the British was the capture of an army detachment at Canso which later had to be ransomed from the French commandant at Louisbourgh. The British refused to declare war reasoning that, since the Micmac were supposed to have submitted to British authority in Nova Scotia at the Treaty of Boston (1726), they could be treated as rebels, not enemies. In other words, no rules of civilized warfare. Offering £10 for every Micmac scalp or prisoner, Cornwallis dispatched the Cobb expedition with 100 men to hunt down and kill Micmac. In addition to the usual £10 for scalps or prisoner, Cornwallis offered an additional incentive of £100 for the capture of Le Loutre. Cobb's expedition destroyed just about everything they found, but Micmac resistance only stiffened. By 1750 the price of scalps was raised from £10 to £50 which provided incentive for the formation of two additional ranger companies under Captains William Clapham and Francis Bartelo. During 1751 the fighting continued across the Chigneto Isthmus of Nova Scotia, but by summer Cornwallis ordered all ranger companies (except Gorham's) to disband. Too many strange scalps had been turned in for payment, including several which bore unmistakable signs of European origin. The French were still providing arms to the Chignecto Micmac - who were still dangerous and under the hostile influence of Father Le Loutre - but sending hired killers after them was never going to solve the situation. Cornwallis' decision ultimately proved correct, and in November, 1752 at Halifax, the Micmac signed a peace treaty with the British. Unfortunately, the peace lasted less than two years and ended with the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1755-63). The last French/British confrontation for control of North America, the war began in 1755 with a disaster for the British when Braddock's army was destroyed near Fort Duquesne in western Pennsylvania. Micmac raids against isolated settlements in Nova Scotia began that first year with British fishing boats as particular target. At the same time, the Penobscot raided frontier settlements in Maine. As French victories mounted, the British decided they would no longer treat the French in Acadia as neutrals. Governor Cornwallis had threatened deportation many times if they did not take the oath, and in response, approximately one-third of the Acadians moved to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and French territory during 1752. But in the end, Cornwallis never followed through with his threats. However, he was replaced as governor in 1754 by Charles Lawrence. Lawrence was serious, and the expulsion carried out in 1755 under his administration was quick, efficient and cruel. 7,000 Acadians who had refused the oath were imprisoned, stripped of their possessions, and deported. Many ended up in British prisons for the duration of the war. The others were dispersed throughout the English colonies in the south where, for obvious reasons, they were very unwelcome guests. More than one-third were lost at sea or died disease. Many years would pass before many of the deportees would relocate to Spanish Louisiana where they would become known as the Cajuns. Most of their land was taken over by British settlers who soon arrived from New England. However, not all of the Acadians left quietly, and the British were never able to capture all of them. Many escaped into the forests and fought a guerilla war beside the Micmac. One such Acadian was Joseph Broussard who continued to fight the British in New Brunswick until finally captured in 1758. For the Micmac, the deportation was almost as traumatic as it was for the French. Roman Catholic and intermarried with the French for several generations, many Acadians were close relatives, and it is difficult to imagine anything the British could have done which would have enraged the Micmac more. They attacked the British army forts and the new settlements of the New England colonists the forts were intended to protect. By 1756 the British in Nova Scotia were once again paying bounties for Micmac scalps, this time £30 for warrior scalps and £25 for women and children prisoners. The French in Quebec welcomed the warfare in Nova Scotia, and Governor Duquesne of Canada sent secret instructions to Father Le Loutre urging him to keep the Micmac at war and prevent them from making a separate peace with the British. The British fought back with a series of small forts and ranger companies, but Maliseet and Micmac warriors kept them mostly confined to the immediate vicinity of their forts... from: http://www.dickshovel.com/mic.html 040304 ... sans nom "...BRITISH SCALP PROCLAMATIONS 1749 AND 1750 When Governor Edward Cornwallis and his entourage founded Halifax in 1749, it was during a lull in the war with the Mi'kmaq. In fact, the Mi'kmaq greeted them with hospitality. One settler wrote home: "When we first came here, the Indians, in a friendly manner, brought us lobsters and other fish in plenty, being satisfied for them by a bit of bread and some meat." ... If there was to be a war he did not want the war to end with a peace agreement. "It would be better to "root" the Micmac out of the peninsula decisively and forever." The war began soon after the governor made this statement. If instead, the English had offered to make a reasonable land deal with the Mi'kmaq at this time everything could have been settled peacefully. But, they made no move to engage them in negotiations on any issue, let alone permission to settle on their land. ...Therefore, the Mi'kmaq renewed their declaration of war against them on September 23, 1749. "That, in their opinion to declare war formally against the Micmac Indians would be a manner to own them a free and independent people, whereas they ought to be treated as so many Banditti Ruffians, or Rebels, to His Majesty's Government. "That, in order to secure the Province from further attempts of the Indians, some effectual methods should be taken to pursue them to their haunts, and show them that because of such actions, they shall not be secure within the Province. "That, a Company of Volunteers not exceeding fifty men, be immediately raised in the Settlement to scour the wood all around the Town. "That, a Company of one hundred men be raised in New England to join with Gorham's during the winter, and go over the whole Province... "...That, a reward of ten Guineas be granted for every Indian Micmac taken, or killed." "Whereas, notwithstanding the gracious offers of friendship and protection made in His Majesty's Names by us to the Indians inhabiting this Province, The Micmacs have of late in a most treacherous manner taken 20 of His Majesty's Subjects prisoners at Canso, and carried off a sloop belonging to Boston, and a boat from this Settlement and at Chinecto basely and under pretence of friendship and commerce. Attempted to seize two English Sloops and murder their crews and actually killed severals, and on Saturday the 30th of September, a body of these savages fell upon some men cutting wood and without arms near the saw mill and barbarously killed four and carried one away. "For, those cause we by and with the advice and consent of His Majesty's Council, do hereby authorize and command all Officers Civil and Military, and all His Majesty's Subjects or others to annoy, distress, take or destroy the Savage commonly called Micmac, wherever they are found, and all as such as aiding and assisting them, give further by and with the consent and advice of His Majesty's Council, do promise a reward of ten Guineas for every Indian Micmac taken or killed, to be paid upon producing such Savage taken or his scalp (as in the custom of America) if killed to the Officer Commanding." ..."When I first arrived, I made known to these Micmac, His gracious Majesty's intentions of cultivating Amity and Friendship with them, exhorting them to assemble their Tribes, that I would treat with them, and deliver the presents the King my Master had sent them, they seemed well inclined, some keeping amongst us trafficking and well pleased; no sooner was the evacuation of Louisbourg made and De Lutre the French Missionary sent among them, they vanished and have not been with us since. "...Treaties with Indians are nothing, nothing but force will prevail." On June 21, 1750, in what must have resulted from dissatisfaction with the number of Mi'kmaq scalps being brought in, Cornwallis's Council raised the monetary incentive by proclamation to fifty pounds sterling per head. It's interesting that Gorham himself was part of the Council which approved the 1749 scalp bounty, and he was also a member of the Council in 1750 when the bounty was raised. One might be excused for concluding that he was in a conflict of interest..." extracts taken from: http://www.danielnpaul.com/BritishScalpProclamation-1749.html 040304 ... nomme my mother used to always call me her "little klingon" (always clinging-on) but she rarely calls me that now i don't speak klingon 040304 ... oldephebe man i was gonna say if this an exhibition of eidtetic recall or something..than ( ... ) iyam w/o words still though really impressive bit of passive aggressive pimp slapping..and informative..will finish the second half tomorrow.. i wonder what would happen if i strode into the ghettos of north philly and proclaim loudly Mic Mac! sould i be set upon by a few crack addled ruffians..street urchins..? yeah probably...:) 040304 ... sincerely exhibition? pimp slapping? :-| oe, i was planning on quoting/posting much/most of this here well before your klingonese coment surfaced, but i thought i'd address it anyway as i did find it a slight bit amusing actually i was surprised to find this word in recent 2004 is the 400th anniversary of the french founding of Acadia. i am doing genealogical research and just happened to have discovered my mi'kmaq-acadian-metis roots which have long (for too long) been buried (under centuries of dirt) my ancestors were some of those who were deported from acadia in 1755 (Le Grand Dérangement) now i think i know why i felt such a stab in my heart when i first read the famous fictional poem 'Evangeline' by Longfellow, and why I've always loved the word 'micmac' --- "...From the very beginning of European contact in North America, Métis people have existed. The joining of European and Native cultures created distinct and unique cultures, separate from both parent cultures. Regardless of what name was applied to this new breed of individual, they were, and their descendants are, Métis..." from: http://www.geocities.com/nsmetis/culture.html --- pardon me if i seem to take the matter a little more seriously than you perhaps do (or at least seem to do, or not do) i am not feeling %100 well, and my perception is a bit more wacky than normal, so it is fairly easy for me to misinterpret things right now i'm not trying to step on any toes.. i don't particularly enjoy the term 'pimp slapping' and feel it a bit out of place in this blathepage but heck, feel free to say whatever you want here, afterall this is blather, not my personal notebook, and if i seem to take any small offence that is my own problem to deal with, not yours and btw, thankyou for reading. i'm not trying to sound sarcastic with that thankyou, so if i do, please forgive me. anyone who actually reads this definitely deserves a lollipop in my opinion , mon 040304 ... mon PS, i realize your comments were probably intended to be lighthearted and non-offensive, and in a way i'm sorry that i couldn't just hold my tongue, but as i was trying to indicate, the history of the mi'kmac nation and the acadian people is one which i cannot help but take deeply to heart 040304 ... oldephebe 's all good nom, you're educating me... educating all of us... 040304 ... mon sometimes my mouth gets away without me it goes on and on and on i have been learning a lot, if others find this educating, that's double the pleasure for me. no doubt i have a lot of info still to learn, unlearn, relearn :-) 040305 ... nomme is wacked i think i meant: gets away from me like a horse without a buggy but perhaps without me works too ! 040305 ... uow sorries for making this blather mess 040827 what's it to you? who go blather from