John Gyles's brief but compelling first-person account (1736) of his nine years as a captive--the first six among the Malicite Indians (Etchemins) of the Saint John River, the last three bound over to the French--is among the most vivid and informed of the captivity narratives from this period. Divided into eight chapters, the whole piece is some thirty-five pages long, documenting Gyles's experiences beginning with his capture as a boy of nine, continuing with his forced travels in the Saint John River area with the Malicites, and recounting the hardships and abuses he shared and suffered with them. James Hannay, editor of the 1875 version of Gyles's memoirs, speaks of the "simple and truthful quaintness" of the narrative, remarking that it is "the only authentic narrative that is known to exist of any lengthened residence among the savage tribes of Acadie during the seventeenth century, the period of their greatest...