The men traveling with Ansalewit had messages and news to deliver to the chief across the water. The messages were from the Grand Chief of all the Mi'kmaq. He lived in Cape Breton.

The first day of the trip was pretty easy going. It was only 14 miles to their first stop at St. Paul's Island. They paddled into the Atlantic Ocean. They kept watch for land. They found their spot easily enough. They got out of their canoes and made camp for the night.

Several of the men had made this trip before. They took a short break. Then they headed out into the open water. They paddled towards what we call Cape Ray, near Port aux Basques. This time they had a long way to go, about 70 miles. The greatest danger would come when they reached the cape. The coastline was full of rocks and wild, crashing waves. The men were more excited than frightened. Their canoes were made for open water. The ocean was calm at night. The sky was full of stars to guide them. Each man knew exactly what the easiest landing site looked like. They carried maps in their heads of all the trees and rocks and cliffs along the way.

When they reached the island, the men would climb up to the high barrens. They would build a huge fire to guide their friends and families safely to shore. Then together they would travel inland. There they would join the people who called the foggy lands Tak'am'kuk—our home, or our land.

This is a fictional account of a trip taken by a group of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaqs to visit their friends and family in Newfoundland. The trip takes place in the early 1400s before European explorers came to North America. But it's not just a made up story. It is based on the detailed descriptions Mi'kmaq people have been giving to explorers, anthropologists and priests for the last three hundred years.

Two Kinds of History Keeping

The Mi'kmaq people did not keep written records of their trips between Cape Breton and Newfoundland. They did not write reports of the number of people living in Newfoundland. They did not write family histories. They did not draw maps of their hunting grounds. They did not put their religious beliefs into a book like the Bible.

The Mi'kmaq people did not know about or use writing. They kept the information they needed in their heads. They passed it on to their sons and daughters by telling and showing them. They remembered their histories by telling stories about the past. Mi'kmaq people did not learn to read and write. They learned to remember. This is called oral history.