BEOTHUK, an American tribe of hunters and collectors, resi dent chiefly upon the coast of Newfoundland where salmon and shell-fish could be obtained to eke out the supply of deer. Their skill as canoemen was commented upon by several early writers, but they were equally at home in the woods. The scanty material culture was characterized by the use of wood for household uten sils; stone implements were well made; snow-shoes were of a peculiar type, and red ochre was extensively employed for paint ing the body, a habit which probably gave rise to the term "Red" Indian. Political organization was relatively slight, though con centrated action, implying recognized authority, was shown in communal deer drives. The Beothuk were gradually forced into the interior of the island by European fishermen and settlers; reduced in numbers, their doom was sealed when, in the eighteenth century, Micmac hunters, equipped with firearms, began to swarm over from the mainland. A few survivors may have escaped to Labrador, but the last known Beothuk died in 1829.
See J. P. Hawley, The Beothucks or Red Indians (1915).