Legends of the Micmacs. By Silas J. Rand. (Longmans, Green,
and Co.)—The late Mr. Rand was a rare linguist, and possessed a remarkable gift for acquiring a grasp of the structure of a language. His long work among the Micmacs gave him a com- plete mastery of the Micmac language, a language which he declared superior in its subtlety and copiousness to Greek. The late Professor Hereford, who assisted in bringing out the manuscripts of the Micmac pastor, thought that traces of early Norse invaders would be discovered in these beautiful legends. To us this connection with the Northmen seems almost certain. There is a quite remarkable resemblance between the trials of skill and strength, and the tortures inflicted on the vanquished, of the Micmacs and Vikings. The fabled heroes and their prowess in peculiar directions are similar in both cases. Micmac civilisation has not placed that finish and splendour on heroic fable that we associate with the Sagas, and there are strange anachronisms confused with more ancient detail in its legends ; but the beauty and imagination displayed in many tales is undeniable, and in some cases astonishing.
Previous page
