i knew several folk collectors in nova scotia who were convinced that the lakes of p was a later development from little mohee. helen creighton collected a full set of lyrics in nova scotia back in the thirties--exactly like the christie moore version.which tells me it was old in new england and nova scotia in 1900 at least; she got it from a very old guy.

the cajuns were adadiens. they settled in nova scotia and southern new brunswick from 1605 untill the british came and ethniclly cleansed them in 1755. remember evangiline and gabriel. in logfellows poem.they were treated very cruelly. lost all their possessions, their farms, families were separated and they were dispersed over the thirteen colonies. many went to louisianna as there was a french presence there. the french there were landed and rich and did not welcome their co linguists so they settled in the unwanted land of the bayou ans up on the western prarie or loiusianna. they are still there.

i live now in new brunswick where most modern acadiens live.many returned and about half(including my faily) hjid in the woods and "went native" for several decades to avaoid the british deportations. this event is still the shapping event in acadien culture.its called the grande derangement. its like the famine to the gaels. a tragedy which eveyyone knows of but little is said untill recently.

now new brunswick is almost half acadien,prince edward island maybe twenty per cent and nova scotia ten per cent. many don'[tspeak french in nova scotia and pei but french culture is alive and well in nouveau brunswick where many speak a local dialect called shiac(a contraction of shediac--the unofficial capitalof acadie and best lobster in the world)

i often fantasize about going down to the bayou--if any one survived katrina--with my mandolin harpand bouzouki and ask "ou est la musique acadienne?" and see if i have any tunes in common--even though i'm mostly scotts gael--only one acadien grandfather.

anyway   i think little mohee was the origion of the tune. as i recall it also has a line about sleeping out in the woods but for the bears.