Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Legends of the Micmac Indians and extracts from the Micmac prayer book /

Authors

• Rand, Silas Tertius, 1810-1889

Other related names

• Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899, former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n78096900)

Call number

Ms. Coll. 700 Item 225
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9925813503503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/745472178

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

English and Micmac

Origin

Date

1848-1850, 1884

Place

Charlottetown, P.E.I. ;
Hantsport, N.S.

Summary

Six legends in Micmac, along with extracts from the Micmac prayer book, written down by Silas Tertius Rand, based on dictation from various Micmac interlocutors, with interlinear translations by Rand, in English. His translation is occasionally rendered in shorthand (p. 194-195); in a few instances no translation is given (p. 320; 321, 365-380). The last three pages of the manuscript (p. 381-383) are of a different nature, comprising glossaries of phrases, in Micmac and English (partly in shorthand). Evidently the first part of the manuscript (p. 1-192), containing the legends, was written mostly in the course of 1848 (Char. Town, P.E.I., 1848, p. 1; C. Town, Sept. 1848, p. 71; Oct. 1848, p. 100), while the second part (p. 194-380), containing extracts from the prayer book, was written mostly in September 1849 (p. 194, 222); one note that may have been added subsequent to the actual transcription is dated July 15, 1850 (p. 221). An introduction by Rand is dated Hantsport, 25 April 1884 (tipped in, p. ii); at that time he completed the translation of the sixth story (24 April 1884; p. 192), which he had earlier left unfinished. Rand states in the introduction that he had aimed to spell the Micmac words phonetically, as he heard them pronounced; he remarks that the spellings he used in transcribing changed a little over the years. Regarding the source of the stories, he makes the following statement: These curious Indian tales were written down from the dictation mainly of an Indian woman named Susan Doctor (she is still living, I am told), and she learned them from her father (note tipped in, p. ii). Evidently Susan Doctor is the same person elsewhere identified as Susan Barss: in the note related to the 1884 translation Rand identifies the source for the sixth story as Susan Barss, whose father, he says, carried the title Dr. Paul; and the same story is attributed at the top of the first page to Susan Doctor (p. 160). Two other notes about attribution are found within the manuscript: 1) the first story is said to have been written down from the mouth of an Indian woman (p. 1); and 2) the fourth is said to have been related by Jacob Mitchell (p. 100). Concerning the extracts from the prayer book, Rand reports at the beginning of the first section that the material was read to him by a daughter of Dennis Michael, chief of the Indians in Cape Breton (p. 194). Three of the subsequent headings refer to the prayer book explicitly (222, 319, 379). However, in the case of at least two sections entitled as sermons (p. 253, 294), Rand's notes indicate that the material was related to him not by the daughter of Mitchell but by others (from the mouth of Christmas Tuma , p. 253; read by Francis Sulom, p. 294). A note on the first page of the section on the mass, apparently in reference to the title of that section, reads: Named by Philip Sire, July 15, 1850.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (p. i).
   
• 24. pp. 381-382: Micmac words resembling Greek.
   
• 25. pp. 383: [Untitled phrases].
   
• 1. pp. ii (tipped in): Introduction.
   
• 2. pp. 1-32: A legendary tale: the history of Ŭsitābŭlăju of Micmac antiquity / from the mouth of an Indian woman [Susan Doctor/Barss?].
   
• 3. pp. 33-71: A second story: adventures of Kitpusëăgŭnou / [Susan Doctor/Barss?].
   
• 4. pp. 72-100: The third story [Now there is a great settlement, an old woman walks about in the woods, she finds a small babe ...] / [Susan Doctor/Barss?].
   
• 5. pp. 100-138: The adventures of Abăbĕjit, a Micmac chief, in an engagement with the Mohawks / related by Jacob Mitchell.
   
• 6. pp. 138-158: Story of Uchĭgëāskio and Tëam / [Susan Doctor/Barss?].
   
• 7. pp. 160-192: The sixth story: the adventures of Karytuguās, or The Thunderer / Susan Doctor [=Susan Barss].
   
• 8. pp. 194-221: From the Indian hieroglyphical prayer book / read by a daughter of Dennis Michael, chief of the Indians in Cape Breton.
   
• 9. pp. 222-252 [cont. on p. 348]: The catechism extracted from the Micmac prayer book.
   
• 10. pp. 253-294: A sermon / from the mouth of Christmas Tuma [?].
   
• 11. pp. 294-318: A sermon written at Annapolis Gut / read by Francis Sulom.
   
• 12. pp. 319-320: An Indian hymn, on the page opposite the big ship.
   
• 13. pp. 320: Another Indian hymn.
   
• 14. pp. 321-341: The mass.
   
• 15. pp. 342-348: Psalm XCV.
   
• 16. pp. 348 [cont. from p. 252]: The catechism.
   
• 17. pp. 349-352: For St. Ann's day.
   
• 23. pp. 379-380: A Christmas hymn from the prayer book.
   
• 19. pp. 358-363: The funeral service.
   
• 20. pp. 364-365: Morning prayer.
   
• 21. pp. 365-367: Matthew 5:38-45 [?].
   
• 22. pp. 368-378: An Indian hymn.
   
• 18. pp. 352-357: The ten commandments.
   

Extent

193 leaves : 202 x 165 (202 x 157) mm bound to 209 x 173 mm

Foliation

Paper, i + 193 + ii leaves; [i-ii], 1-141, 141-383. Contemporary foliation in ink, generally upper center, p. 1-192; modern pagination in pencil, lower outer corners, p. 193-383. Four partial leaves tipped (p. 175, 179, 184, 190). The contemporary pagination is occasionally to be found in the upper outer or inner corners, or the lower center of the page; p.159, 193, 323, 324 are blank.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary quarter calf (narrow leather spine and small corners); front hinge cracked, back cover detached; spine tattered and partially wanting.

Layout

Written in 20-22 long lines on lined paper, with text often extending to the upper and lower edges of the page.

Script

Written in the hand of Silas Tertius Rand.

Provenance

• From the collection of Daniel Garrison Brinton (ex libris stamp on inside front cover and title page).
   

Subjects topical

• Micmac language--Texts
• Micmac language
• Micmac Indians--Legends
• Legends--Nova Scotia
• Indians of North America--Nova Scotia--Languages
• Language and languages
• Indians of North America
• Legends
• Micmac Indians
• Micmac language--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc
• Nova Scotia
• Nova Scotia--Languages

Genres

• Translations (documents)
• Glossaries
• Prayers
• Manuscripts, Canadian
• Legends
• Glossaries, vocabularies, etc
• Texts
• Controlled vocabularies
• Legends
• Controlled vocabularies

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Coll. 700 Item 225: Legends of the Micmac Indians and extracts from the Micmac prayer book / are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

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• Text

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  URL

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