The Beothucks, or Red Indians, the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland: The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland [Hardcover]

James Patrick Howley (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Ams Pr Inc; 1st AMS ed edition (November 1911)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0404155898
• ISBN-13: 978-0404155896
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,120,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Fragmentary documentation of an exterminated people, March 16, 2004

By 

K Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beothucks, or Red Indians, the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland: The Aboriginal Inhabitants of Newfoundland (Hardcover)

The Beothuks inhabited what is now Newfoundland, and numbered about 1,000 when they first made contact with Europeans, who they went to great lengths to avoid. Nevertheless, by the early 19th century, they had been wiped out--the last surviving being Shanwawdithit, who died in 1829.

This book was originally published in 1915; its compiler, James P. Howley (1847-1918) was a long time member of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland. The content and purpose of this book is best described by the first three paragraphs of his original preface:

"For the past forty years I have endeavoured to gather, from every available source, all possible information bearing upon this subject. After a minute study of every detail obtainable, I have come to the conclusion that at this distance of time, with such meagre material as we possess, it would be utterly out of the question to attempt to write an accurate history of the aborigines of this island.

"All that can be aimed at now is to gather together the various disjointed and disconnected references to those people that have appeared from time to time in print, arrange these in some sort of consecutive order, and relate the numerous traditions, anecdotes, etc., current amongst the fisherfolk, that I have gathered, and which have been preserved and handed down from generation to generation."