The Following is the story in brief.
Many centuries ago a chief of the mighty
Algonquin tribe was told by the Great Spirit of a wonderful land down
by the Rising Sun by a glorious river of fire a real Utopia where he
could find happiness and be free from all wars, hunger and sickness.
The chief was delighted, and accompanied
by his wife started down from the Grand Lakes in search of this River
of Fire. After many days he reached the St. Lawrence, and paddling out
from its broad surface traveled down the Northumberland Straits.
At last, weary and tired, he entered
a beautiful river at the close of a summer’s day.
The sunset sky of blazing red was beautifully
mirrored on the water for miles, and the appeared like one of molted
gold. The Chief, enraptured with what he saw, turned to his wife and
whispered with awe: "At last, we’ve found it, the River of Fire."
Here he settled naming the place Richibucto,
and his descendants became the Micmac tribe. There is perhaps more truth
than fiction to the legend. Cooney and other early historians have told
us that Richibucto at one time was the largest site of Indians settlements.
The journey of that Algonquin Chief is beautifully expressed by Neleh
Rendrag in the following poem. Her poem reads that the Chief traveled
alone. Tradition has it that his wife accompanied him.
...... POEM
.......
" An Indian Chief of long
ago
paddling wearily, paddling slow,
Happened to come at the sun of
the day
to the mouth of an unknown waterway.
He had wandered far from
his tee-pee home;
week after week he had traveled
alone.
Seeking the marvelous River of
Fire;
the fable land of his heart’s desire.
He had wandered over the
mountain steep,
roaring Niagara had lulled him
to sleep.
He had wandered the forest through
and through.
The waters all knew his birch canoe.
The sun in the sky of
deep blazing red,
a mantle of flame on water spread
and now like a mass of glittering
gold
the glorious river before him rolled.
The Chief was enraptured
with what he saw.
"River of Fire," he murmured with
awe.
‘Tis Richibucto, River of Fire,
that fabled land of the heart’s
desire.
Scenes change, but that
glorious River of Fire
is still the land of my heart’s
desire".