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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34990-0.txt b/34990-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed17a0c --- /dev/null +++ b/34990-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3842 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Canoeing in the wilderness, by Henry David Thoreau + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Canoeing in the wilderness + +Author: Henry David Thoreau + +Editor: Clifton Johnson + +Illustrator: Will Hammell + +Release Date: January 17, 2011 [eBook #34990] +[Most recently updated: February 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS *** + + + + +CANOEING +IN THE +WILDERNESS + +HENRY D. THOREAU + +By Clifton Johnson + + +BATTLEGROUND ADVENTURES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE FOXES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE BEARS. Illustrated. + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +[Illustration: _The Indian Guide’s Evening Prayer_ (_page 59_)] + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +BY HENRY D. THOREAU + +EDITED BY +CLIFTON JOHNSON + +ILLUSTRATED BY +WILL HAMMELL + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1916 + +COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published April 1916_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE INDIAN GUIDE’S EVENING PRAYER _Frontispiece_ + +THE STAGE ON THE ROAD TO MOOSEHEAD LAKE 8 + +MAKING A CAMP IN THE STREAMSIDE WOODLAND 52 + +FISHING 72 + +THE RED SQUIRREL 78 + +COMING DOWN THE RAPIDS 132 + +SHOOTING THE MOOSE 154 + +CARRYING ROUND THE FALLS 180 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Thoreau was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and at the +time he made this wilderness canoe trip he was forty years old. The +record of the journey is the latter half of his _The Maine Woods_, which +is perhaps the finest idyl of the forest ever written. It is +particularly charming in its blending of meditative and poetic fancies +with the minute description of the voyager’s experiences. + +The chief attraction that inspired Thoreau to make the trip was the +primitiveness of the region. Here was a vast tract of almost virgin +woodland, peopled only with a few loggers and pioneer farmers, Indians, +and wild animals. No one could have been better fitted than Thoreau to +enjoy such a region and to transmit his enjoyment of it to others. For +though he was a person of culture and refinement, with a college +education, and had for an intimate friend so rare a man as Ralph Waldo +Emerson, he was half wild in many of his tastes and impatient of the +restraints and artificiality of the ordinary social life of the towns +and cities. + +He liked especially the companionship of men who were in close contact +with nature, and in this book we find him deeply interested in his +Indian guide and lingering fondly over the man’s characteristics and +casual remarks. The Indian retained many of his aboriginal instincts and +ways, though his tribe was in most respects civilized. His home was in +an Indian village on an island in the Penobscot River at Oldtown, a few +miles above Bangor. + +Thoreau was one of the world’s greatest nature writers, and as the years +pass, his fame steadily increases. He was a careful and accurate +observer, more at home in the fields and woods than in village and town, +and with a gift of piquant originality in recording his impressions. The +play of his imagination is keen and nimble, yet his fancy is so well +balanced by his native common sense that it does not run away with him. +There is never any doubt about his genuineness, or that what he states +is free from bias and romantic exaggeration. + +It is to be noted that he was no hunter. His inquisitiveness into the +ways of the wild creatures carried with it no desire to shoot them, and +to his mind the killing of game for mere sport was akin to butchery. The +kindly and sympathetic spirit constantly manifest in his pages is very +attractive, and the fellowship one gains with him through his written +words is both delightful and wholesome. He stimulates not only a love +for nature, but a love for simple ways of living, and for all that is +sincere and unaffected in human life, wherever found. + +In the present volume various details and digressions that are not of +interest to most readers have been omitted, but except for such +elimination Thoreau’s text has been retained throughout. It is believed +that nothing essential has been sacrificed, and that the narrative in +this form will be found lively, informing, and thoroughly enjoyable. + +CLIFTON JOHNSON. + +HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS. + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + + + + +CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS + + + + +I + +MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY JULY 20-23, 1857 + + +I started on my third excursion to the Maine woods Monday, July 20, +1857, with one companion, arriving at Bangor the next day at noon. The +succeeding morning, a relative of mine who is well acquainted with the +Penobscot Indians took me in his wagon to Oldtown to assist me in +obtaining an Indian for this expedition. We were ferried across to the +Indian Island in a bateau. The ferryman’s boy had the key to it, but the +father, who was a blacksmith, after a little hesitation, cut the chain +with a cold chisel on the rock. He told me that the Indians were nearly +all gone to the seaboard and to Massachusetts, partly on account of the +smallpox, of which they are very much afraid, having broken out in +Oldtown. The old chief Neptune, however, was there still. + +The first man we saw on the island was an Indian named Joseph Polis, +whom my relative addressed familiarly as “Joe.” He was dressing a +deerskin in his yard. The skin was spread over a slanting log, and he +was scraping it with a stick held by both hands. He was stoutly built, +perhaps a little above the middle height, with a broad face, and, as +others said, perfect Indian features and complexion. His house was a +two-story white one with blinds, the best-looking that I noticed there, +and as good as an average one on a New England village street. It was +surrounded by a garden and fruit trees, single cornstalks standing +thinly amid the beans. We asked him if he knew any good Indian who would +like to go into the woods with us, that is, to the Allegash Lakes by way +of Moosehead, and return by the East Branch of the Penobscot. + +To which he answered out of that strange remoteness in which the Indian +ever dwells to the white man, “Me like to go myself; me want to get some +moose”; and kept on scraping the skin. + +The ferryman had told us that all the best Indians were gone except +Polis, who was one of the aristocracy. He, to be sure, would be the best +man we could have, but if he went at all would want a great price. Polis +asked at first two dollars a day but agreed to go for a dollar and a +half, and fifty cents a week for his canoe. He would come to Bangor with +his canoe by the seven o’clock train that evening--we might depend on +him. We thought ourselves lucky to secure the services of this man, who +was known to be particularly steady and trustworthy. + +I spent the afternoon with my companion, who had remained in Bangor, in +preparing for our expedition, purchasing provisions, hard-bread,[1] +pork, coffee, sugar, etc., and some india-rubber clothing. + +At evening the Indian arrived in the cars, and I led the way, while he +followed me, three quarters of a mile to my friend’s house, with the +canoe on his head. I did not know the exact route, but steered by the +lay of the land, as I do in Boston. I tried to enter into conversation +with him, but as he was puffing under the weight of his canoe, not +having the usual apparatus for carrying it, but, above all, as he was an +Indian, I might as well have been thumping on the bottom of his birch +the while. In answer to the various observations that I made he only +grunted vaguely from beneath his canoe once or twice, so that I knew he +was there. + +Early the next morning the stage called for us. My companion and I had +each a large knapsack as full as it would hold, and we had two large +rubber bags which held our provisions and utensils. As for the Indian, +all the baggage he had, beside his axe and gun, was a blanket, which he +brought loose in his hand. However, he had laid in a store of tobacco +and a new pipe for the excursion. The canoe was securely lashed +diagonally across the top of the stage, with bits of carpet tucked under +the edge to prevent its chafing. The driver appeared as much accustomed +to carrying canoes in this way as bandboxes. + +At the Bangor House we took in four men bound on a hunting excursion, +one of the men going as cook. They had a dog, a middling-sized brindled +cur, which ran by the side of the stage, his master showing his head and +whistling from time to time. But after we had gone about three miles the +dog was suddenly missing, and two of the party went back for him, while +the stage, which was full of passengers, waited. At length one man came +back, while the other kept on. This whole party of hunters declared +their intention to stop till the dog was found, but the very obliging +driver was ready to wait a spell longer. He was evidently unwilling to +lose so many passengers, who would have taken a private conveyance, or +perhaps the other line of stages, the next day. Such progress did we +make, with a journey of over sixty miles to be accomplished that day, +and a rainstorm just setting in. We discussed the subject of dogs and +their instincts till it was threadbare, while we waited there, and the +scenery of the suburbs of Bangor is still distinctly impressed on my +memory. + +[Illustration: _The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake_] + +After full half an hour the man returned, leading the dog by a rope. He +had overtaken him just as he was entering the Bangor House. He was then +tied on the top of the stage, but, being wet and cold, several times in +the course of the journey he jumped off, and I saw him dangling by his +neck. This dog was depended on to stop bears. He had already stopped one +somewhere in New Hampshire, and I can testify that he stopped a stage in +Maine. This party of four probably paid nothing for the dog’s ride, +nor for his run, while our party of three paid two dollars--and were +charged four--for the light canoe which lay still on the top. + +The stage was crowded all the way. If you had looked inside you would +have thought that we were prepared to run the gantlet of a band of +robbers, for there were four or five guns on the front seat and one or +two on the back one, each man holding his darling in his arms. It +appeared that this party of hunters was going our way, but much farther. +Their leader was a handsome man about thirty years old, of good height, +but not apparently robust, of gentlemanly address and faultless toilet. +He had a fair white complexion as if he had always lived in the shade, +and an intellectual face, and with his quiet manners might have passed +for a divinity student who had seen something of the world. I was +surprised to find that he was probably the chief white hunter of Maine +and was known all along the road. I afterwards heard him spoken of as +one who could endure a great deal of exposure and fatigue without +showing the effect of it; and he could not only use guns, but make them, +being himself a gunsmith. In the spring he had saved a stage-driver and +two passengers from drowning in the backwater of the Piscataquis on this +road, having swum ashore in the freezing water and made a raft and got +them off--though the horses were drowned--at great risk to himself, +while the only other man who could swim withdrew to the nearest house to +prevent freezing. He knew our man, and remarked that we had a good +Indian there, a good hunter; adding that he was said to be worth six +thousand dollars. The Indian also knew him, and said to me, “The great +hunter.” + +The Indian sat on the front seat with a stolid expression of face as if +barely awake to what was going on. Again I was struck by the peculiar +vagueness of his replies when addressed in the stage or at the taverns. +He really never said anything on such occasions. He was merely stirred +up like a wild beast, and passively muttered some insignificant +response. His answer, in such cases, was vague as a puff of smoke, +suggesting no _responsibility_, and if you considered it you would find +that you had got nothing out of him. This was instead of the +conventional palaver and smartness of the white man, and equally +profitable. Most get no more than this out of the Indian, and pronounce +him stolid accordingly. I was surprised to see what a foolish and +impertinent style a Maine man, a passenger, used in addressing him, as +if he were a child, which only made his eyes glisten a little. A tipsy +Canadian asked him at a tavern, in a drawling tone, if he smoked, to +which he answered with an indefinite “Yes.” + +“Won’t you lend me your pipe a little while?” asked the other. + +He replied, looking straight by the man’s head, with a face singularly +vacant to all neighboring interests, “Me got no pipe”; yet I had seen +him put a new one, with a supply of tobacco, into his pocket that +morning. + +Our little canoe, so neat and strong, drew a favorable criticism from +all the wiseacres among the tavern loungers along the road. By the +roadside, close to the wheels, I noticed a splendid great purple fringed +orchis which I would fain have stopped the stage to pluck, but as this +had never been known to stop a bear, like the cur on the stage, the +driver would probably have thought it a waste of time. + +When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was +still steadily raining, and in that fresh, cool atmosphere the hylas +were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake. It was as if the +season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at +the abode of perpetual spring. + +We had expected to go upon the lake at once, and, after paddling up two +or three miles, to camp on one of its islands, but on account of the +rain we decided to go to one of the taverns for the night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Hard-bread or ship-bread is a kind of hard biscuit commonly baked in +large cakes and much used by sailors and soldiers. + + + + +II + +FRIDAY, JULY 24. + + +About four o’clock the next morning, though it was quite cloudy, +accompanied by the landlord to the water’s edge, in the twilight, we +launched our canoe from a rock on Moosehead Lake. We had a rather small +canoe for three persons, eighteen and one fourth feet long by two feet +six and one half inches wide in the middle, and one foot deep within. I +judged that it would weigh not far from eighty pounds. The Indian had +recently made it himself, and its smallness was partly compensated for +by its newness, as well as stanchness and solidity, it being made of +very thick bark and ribs. Our baggage weighed about one hundred and +sixty-six pounds. The principal part of the baggage was, as usual, +placed in the middle of the broadest part, while we stowed ourselves in +the chinks and crannies that were left before and behind it, where there +was no room to extend our legs, the loose articles being tucked into the +ends. The canoe was thus as closely packed as a market basket. The +Indian sat on a crossbar in the stern, but we flat on the bottom with a +splint or chip behind our backs to protect them from the crossbar, and +one of us commonly paddled with the Indian. + +Paddling along the eastern side of the lake in the still of the morning, +we soon saw a few sheldrakes, which the Indian called _Shecorways_, and +some peetweets on the rocky shore. We also saw and heard loons. It was +inspiriting to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our +fins or flippers, and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. + +Having passed the small rocky isles within two or three miles of the +foot of the lake, we had a short consultation respecting our course, and +inclined to the western shore for the sake of its lee; for otherwise, +if the wind should rise, it would be impossible for us to reach Mount +Kineo, which is about midway up the lake on the east side, but at its +narrowest part, where probably we could recross if we took the western +side. The wind is the chief obstacle to crossing the lakes, especially +in so small a canoe. The Indian remarked several times that he did not +like to cross the lakes “in littlum canoe,” but nevertheless, “just as +we say, it made no odds to him.” + +Moosehead Lake is twelve miles wide at the widest place, and thirty +miles long in a direct line, but longer as it lies. Paddling near the +shore, we frequently heard the _pe-pe_ of the olive-sided flycatcher, +also the wood pewee and the kingfisher. The Indian reminding us that he +could not work without eating, we stopped to breakfast on the main shore +southwest of Deer Island. We took out our bags, and the Indian made a +fire under a very large bleached log, using white pine bark from a +stump, though he said that hemlock was better, and kindling with canoe +birch bark. Our table was a large piece of freshly peeled birch bark, +laid wrong side up, and our breakfast consisted of hard-bread, fried +pork, and strong coffee well sweetened, in which we did not miss the +milk. + +While we were getting breakfast a brood of twelve black dippers,[2] half +grown, came paddling by within three or four rods, not at all alarmed; +and they loitered about as long as we stayed, now huddled close +together, now moving off in a long line, very cunningly. + +Looking northward from this place it appeared as if we were entering a +large bay, and we did not know whether we should be obliged to diverge +from our course and keep outside a point which we saw, or should find a +passage between this and the mainland. It was misty dog-day weather, and +we had already penetrated a smaller bay of the same kind, and knocked +the bottom out of it, though we had been obliged to pass over a bar +between an island and the shore, where there was but just breadth and +depth enough to float the canoe, and the Indian had observed, “Very easy +makum bridge here,” but now it seemed that if we held on we should be +fairly embayed. Presently, however, the mist lifted somewhat and +revealed a break in the shore northward. The Indian immediately +remarked, “I guess you and I go there.” + +This was his common expression instead of saying “we.” He never +addressed us by our names, though curious to know how they were spelled +and what they meant. We called him Polis. He had already guessed very +accurately at our ages, and said that he was forty-eight. + +After breakfast I emptied the melted pork that was left into the lake, +making what the sailors call a “slick,” and watching to see how much it +spread over and smoothed the agitated surface. The Indian looked at it +a moment and said, “That make hard paddlum through; hold ’em canoe. So +say old times.” + +We hastily reloaded, putting the dishes loose in the bows, that they +might be at hand when wanted, and set out again. The western shore, near +which we paddled along, rose gently to a considerable height and was +everywhere densely covered with the forest, in which was a large +proportion of hard wood to enliven and relieve the fir and spruce. + +The Indian said that the lichen which we saw hanging from the trees was +called _chorchorque_. We asked him the names of several birds which we +heard this morning. The thrush, which was quite common, and whose note +he imitated, he said was called _Adelungquamooktum_; but sometimes he +could not tell the name of some small bird which I heard and knew, but +he said, “I tell all the birds about here; can’t tell littlum noise, but +I see ’em, then I can tell.” + +I observed that I should like to go to school to him to learn his +language, living on the Indian island the while; could not that be done? + +“Oh, yer,” he replied, “good many do so.” + +I asked how long he thought it would take. He said one week. I told him +that in this voyage I would tell him all I knew, and he should tell me +all he knew, to which he readily agreed. + +Mount Kineo, which was generally visible, though occasionally concealed +by islands or the mainland in front, had a level bar of cloud concealing +its summit, and all the mountain-tops about the lake were cut off at the +same height. Ducks of various kinds were quite common, and ran over the +water before us as fast as a horse trots. + +The Indian asked the meaning of _reality_, as near as I could make out +the word, which he said one of us had used; also of _interrent_, that +is, intelligent. I observed that he could rarely sound the letter r, +but used l, as also r for l sometimes; as _load_ for road, _pickelel_ +for pickerel, _Soogle_ Island for Sugar Island. He generally added the +syllable _um_ to his words, as _paddlum_, etc. + +On a point on the mainland where we landed to stretch our legs and look +at the vegetation, going inland a few steps, I discovered a fire still +glowing beneath its ashes, where somebody had breakfasted, and a bed of +twigs prepared for the following night. So I knew not only that they had +just left, but that they designed to return, and by the breadth of the +bed that there was more than one in the party. You might have gone +within six feet of these signs without seeing them. There grew the +beaked hazel, rue seven feet high, and red osier, whose bark the Indian +said was good to smoke, “tobacco before white people came to this +country, Indian tobacco.” + +The Indian was always very careful in approaching the shore, lest he +should injure his canoe on the rocks, letting it swing round slowly +sidewise, and was still more particular that we should not step into it +on shore, nor till it floated free, and then should step gently lest we +should open its seams, or make a hole in the bottom. + +After passing Deer Island we saw the little steamer from Greenville, far +east in the middle of the lake. Sometimes we could hardly tell her from +an island which had a few trees on it. Here we were exposed to the wind +from over the whole breadth of the lake, and ran a little risk of being +swamped. While I had my eye fixed on the spot where a large fish had +leaped, we took in a gallon or two of water; but we soon reached the +shore and took the canoe over the bar at Sand-bar Island, a few feet +wide only, and so saved a considerable distance. + +We crossed a broad bay and found the water quite rough. A very little +wind on these broad lakes raises a sea which will swamp a canoe. Looking +off from the shore, the surface may appear to be almost smooth a mile +distant, or if you see a few white crests they appear nearly level with +the rest of the lake, but when you get out so far, you may find quite a +sea running, and ere long, before you think of it, a wave will gently +creep up the side of the canoe and fill your lap, like a monster +deliberately covering you with its slime before it swallows you, or it +will strike the canoe violently and break into it. The same thing may +happen when the wind rises suddenly, though it were perfectly calm and +smooth there a few minutes before; so that nothing can save you, unless +you can swim ashore, for it is impossible to get into a canoe when it is +upset. Since you sit flat on the bottom, though the danger should not be +imminent, a little water is a great inconvenience, not to mention the +wetting of your provisions. We rarely crossed even a bay directly, from +point to point, when there was wind, but made a slight curve +corresponding somewhat to the shore, that we might the sooner reach it +if the wind increased. + +When the wind is aft, and not too strong, the Indian makes a spritsail +of his blanket. He thus easily skims over the whole length of this lake +in a day. + +The Indian paddled on one side, and one of us on the other, to keep the +canoe steady, and when he wanted to change hands he would say, “T’ other +side.” He asserted, in answer to our questions, that he had never upset +a canoe himself, though he may have been upset by others. + +Think of our little eggshell of a canoe tossing across that great lake, +a mere black speck to the eagle soaring above it! + +My companion trailed for trout as we paddled along, but, the Indian +warning him that a big fish might upset us, for there are some very +large ones there, he agreed to pass the line quickly to the stern if he +had a bite. + +While we were crossing this bay, where Mount Kineo rose dark before us +within two or three miles, the Indian repeated the tradition respecting +this mountain’s having anciently been a cow moose--how a mighty Indian +hunter succeeded in killing this queen of the moose tribe with great +difficulty, while her calf was killed somewhere among the islands in +Penobscot Bay, and, to his eyes, this mountain had still the form of the +moose in a reclining posture. He told this at some length and with +apparent good faith, and asked us how we supposed the hunter could have +killed such a mighty moose as that. An Indian tells such a story as if +he thought it deserved to have a good deal said about it, only he has +not got it to say, and so he makes up for the deficiency by a drawling +tone, long-windedness, and a dumb wonder which he hopes will be +contagious. + +We approached the land again through pretty rough water, and then +steered directly across the lake at its narrowest part to the eastern +side, and were soon partly under the lee of the mountain, having +paddled about twenty miles. It was now about noon. + +We designed to stop there that afternoon and night, and spent half an +hour looking along the shore northward for a suitable place to camp. At +length, by going half a dozen rods into the dense spruce and fir wood on +the side of the mountain almost as dark as a cellar, we found a place +sufficiently clear and level to lie down on, after cutting away a few +bushes. The Indian cleared a path to it from the shore with his axe, and +we then carried up all our baggage, pitched our tent, and made our bed, +in order to be ready for foul weather, which then threatened us, and for +the night. He gathered a large armful of fir twigs, breaking them off, +which he said were the best for our bed, partly, I thought, because they +were the largest and could be most rapidly collected. It had been +raining more or less for four or five days, and the wood was even damper +than usual, but he got dry bark from the under side of a dead leaning +hemlock, which he said he could always do. + +This noon his mind was occupied with a law question, and I referred him +to my companion, who was a lawyer. It appeared that he had been buying +land lately--I think it was a hundred acres--but there was probably an +incumbrance to it, somebody else claiming to have bought some grass on +it for this year. He wished to know to whom the grass belonged, and was +told that if the other man could prove that he bought the grass before +he, Polis, bought the land, the former could take it whether the latter +knew it or not. To which he only answered, “Strange!” He went over this +several times, fairly sat down to it, with his back to a tree, as if he +meant to confine us to this topic henceforth; but as he made no headway, +only reached the jumping-off place of his wonder at white men’s +institutions after each explanation, we let the subject die. + +He said that he had fifty acres of grass, potatoes, etc., somewhere +above Oldtown, besides some about his house; that he hired a good deal +of his work, hoeing, etc., and preferred white men to Indians because +“they keep steady and know how.” + +After dinner we returned southward along the shore, in the canoe, on +account of the difficulty of climbing over the rocks and fallen trees, +and began to ascend the mountain along the edge of the precipice. But, a +smart shower coming up just then, the Indian crept under his canoe, +while we, protected by our rubber coats, proceeded to botanize. So we +sent him back to the camp for shelter, agreeing that he should come for +us with his canoe toward night. It had rained a little in the forenoon, +and we trusted that this would be the clearing-up shower, which it +proved; but our feet and legs were thoroughly wet by the bushes. The +clouds breaking away a little, we had a glorious wild view, as we +ascended, of the broad lake with its numerous forest-clad islands +extending beyond our sight both north and south, and the boundless +forest undulating away from its shores on every side, as densely packed +as a rye-field and enveloping nameless mountains in succession. It was a +perfect lake of the woods. + +Looking southward, the heavens were completely overcast, the mountains +capped with clouds, and the lake generally wore a dark and stormy +appearance, but from its surface six or eight miles distant there was +reflected upward through the misty air a bright blue tinge from the +unseen sky of another latitude beyond. They probably had a clear sky +then at the south end of the lake. + +Again we mistook a little rocky islet seen through the “drisk,” with +some taller bare trunks or stumps on it, for the steamer with its +smoke-pipes, but as it had not changed its position after half an hour +we were undeceived. So much do the works of man resemble the works of +nature. A moose might mistake a steamer for a floating isle, and not be +scared till he heard its puffing or its whistle. + +If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable +auspices, I would go to it in foul weather so as to be there when it +cleared up. We are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most +fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which is just +established in a tearful eye. + +Jackson, in his “Report on the Geology of Maine,” says: “Hornstone, +which will answer for flints, occurs in various parts of the State. The +largest mass of this stone known in the world is Mount Kineo, upon +Moosehead Lake, which appears to be entirely composed of it, and rises +seven hundred feet above the lake level. This variety of hornstone I +have seen in every part of New England in the form of Indian +arrow-heads, hatchets, chisels, etc., which were probably obtained from +this mountain by the aboriginal inhabitants of the country.” + +I have myself found hundreds of arrow-heads made of the same material. +It is generally slate-colored, with white specks, becoming a uniform +white where exposed to the light and air. I picked up a small thin piece +which had so sharp an edge that I used it as a knife, and, to see what I +could do, fairly cut off an aspen one inch thick with it, by bending it +and making many cuts; though I cut my fingers badly with the back of it +in the meanwhile. + +From the summit of the precipice which forms the southern and eastern +sides of this mountain peninsula, five or six hundred feet high, we +probably might have jumped down to the water, or to the seemingly +dwarfish trees on the narrow neck of land which connects it with the +main. It is a dangerous place to try the steadiness of your nerves. + +The plants which attracted our attention on this mountain were the +mountain cinquefoil, abundant and in bloom still at the very base by +the waterside, very beautiful harebells overhanging the precipice, +bearberry, the Canada blueberry, wild holly, the great round-leafed +orchis, bunchberry, reddening as we ascended, green at the base of the +mountain, red at the top, and the small fern _Woodsia ilvensis_, growing +in tufts, now in fruit. Having explored the wonders of the mountain, and +the weather being now cleared up, we commenced the descent. We met the +Indian, puffing and panting, about one third of the way up, but thinking +that he must be near the top. On reaching the canoe we found that he had +caught a lake trout weighing about three pounds, while we were on the +mountain. + +When we got to the camp, the canoe was taken out and turned over, and a +log laid across it to prevent its being blown away. The Indian cut some +large logs of damp and rotten wood to smoulder and keep fire through the +night. The trout was fried for supper. + +Our tent was of thin cotton cloth and quite small, forming with the +ground a triangular prism closed at the rear end, six feet long, seven +wide, and four high, so that we could barely sit up in the middle. It +required two forked stakes, a smooth ridgepole, and a dozen or more pins +to pitch it. It kept off dew and wind and an ordinary rain, and answered +our purpose well enough. We reclined within it till bedtime, each with +his baggage at his head, or else sat about the fire, having hung our wet +clothes on a pole before the fire for the night. + +As we sat there, just before night, looking out through the dusky wood, +the Indian heard a noise which he said was made by a snake. He imitated +it at my request, making a low whistling note--_pheet_--_pheet_--two or +three times repeated, somewhat like the peep of the hyla, but not so +loud. He said that he had never seen them while making it, but going to +the spot he finds the snake. This, he said, was a sign of rain. When I +had selected this place for our camp he had remarked that there were +snakes there. “But they won’t do any hurt,” I said. + +“Oh, no,” he answered, “just as you say; it makes no difference to me.” + +He lay on the right side of the tent, because, as he said, he was partly +deaf in one ear, and he wanted to lie with his good ear up. As we lay +there he inquired if I ever heard “Indian sing.” I replied that I had +not often, and asked him if he would not favor us with a song. He +readily assented, and, lying on his back, with his blanket wrapped +around him, he commenced a slow, somewhat nasal, yet musical chant, in +his own language, which probably was taught his tribe long ago by the +Catholic missionaries. He translated it to us, sentence by sentence, +afterward. It proved to be a very simple religious exercise or hymn, the +burden of which was that there was only one God who ruled all the +world. + +His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America, +when Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There +was, indeed, a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and +savage, only the mild and infantile. The sentiments of humility and +reverence chiefly were expressed. + +It was a dense and damp spruce and fir wood in which we lay, and, except +for our fire, perfectly dark; and when I awoke in the night, I either +heard an owl from deeper in the forest behind us, or a loon from a +distance over the lake. Getting up some time after midnight to collect +the scattered brands together, while my companions were sound asleep, I +observed, partly in the fire, which had ceased to blaze, a perfectly +regular elliptical ring of light, about five inches in its shortest +diameter, six or seven in its longer, and from one eighth to one quarter +of an inch wide. It was fully as bright as the fire, but not reddish or +scarlet like a coal, but a white and slumbering light, like the +glowworm’s. I saw at once that it must be phosphorescent wood, which I +had often heard of, but never chanced to see. Putting my finger on it, +with a little hesitation, I found that it was a piece of dead moosewood +which the Indian had cut off in a slanting direction the evening before. + +Using my knife, I discovered that the light proceeded from that portion +of the sapwood immediately under the bark, and thus presented a regular +ring at the end, and when I pared off the bark and cut into the sap, it +was all aglow along the log. I was surprised to find the wood quite hard +and apparently sound, though probably decay had commenced in the sap, +and I cut out some little triangular chips, and, placing them in the +hollow of my hand, carried them into the camp, waked my companion, and +showed them to him. They lit up the inside of my hand, revealing the +lines and wrinkles, and appearing exactly like coals of fire raised to a +white heat. + +I noticed that part of a decayed stump within four or five feet of the +fire, an inch wide and six inches long, soft and shaking wood, shone +with equal brightness. + +I neglected to ascertain whether our fire had anything to do with this, +but the previous day’s rain and long-continued wet weather undoubtedly +had. + +I was exceedingly interested by this phenomenon. It could hardly have +thrilled me more if it had taken the form of letters, or of the human +face. I little thought that there was such a light shining in the +darkness of the wilderness for me. + +The next day the Indian told me their name for the +light--_artoosoqu’_--and on my inquiring concerning the will-o’-the-wisp +he said that his “folks” sometimes saw fires passing along at various +heights, even as high as the trees, and making a noise. I was prepared +after this to hear of the most startling and unimagined phenomena +witnessed by “his folks,” they are abroad at all hours and seasons in +scenes so unfrequented by white men. Nature must have made a thousand +revelations to them which are still secrets to us. + +I did not regret my not having seen this before, since I now saw it +under circumstances so favorable. I was in just the frame of mind to see +something wonderful, and this was a phenomenon adequate to my +circumstances and expectation, and it put me on the alert to see more +like it. I let science slide, and rejoiced in that light as if it had +been a fellow creature. A scientific _explanation_, as it is called, +would have been altogether out of place there. That is for pale +daylight. Science with its retorts would have put me to sleep; it was +the opportunity to be ignorant that I improved. It made a believer of me +more than before. I believed that the woods were not tenantless, but +choke-full of honest spirits as good as myself any day--not an empty +chamber in which chemistry was left to work alone, but an inhabited +house. It suggested, too, that the same experience always gives birth +to the same sort of belief or religion. One revelation has been made to +the Indian, another to the white man. I have much to learn of the +Indian, nothing of the missionary. I am not sure but all that would +tempt me to teach the Indian my religion would be his promise to teach +me _his_. Long enough I had heard of irrelevant things; now at length I +was glad to make acquaintance with the light that dwells in rotten wood. + +I kept those little chips and wet them again the next night, but they +emitted no light. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] The name dipper is applied to several species of water-birds that +are notable for their skill in diving. + + + + +III + +SATURDAY, JULY 25 + + +At breakfast, the Indian, evidently curious to know what would be +expected of him the next day, asked me how I spent the Sunday when at +home. I told him that I commonly sat in my chamber reading, etc., in the +forenoon, and went to walk in the afternoon. At which he shook his head +and said, “Er, that is ver’ bad.” + +“How do you spend it?” I asked. + +He said that he did no work, that he went to church at Oldtown when he +was at home; in short, he did as he had been taught by the whites. + +When we were washing the dishes in the lakes, many fishes came close up +to us to get the particles of grease. + +The weather seemed to be more settled this morning, and we set out early +in order to finish our voyage up the lake before the wind arose. Soon +after starting, the Indian directed our attention to the Northeast +Carry, which we could plainly see, about thirteen miles distant. This +carry is a rude wooden railroad running north and south about two miles, +perfectly straight, from the lake to the Penobscot through a low tract, +with a clearing three or four rods wide. This opening appeared as a +clear bright, or light, point in the horizon, resting on the edge of the +lake. We should not have suspected it to be visible if the Indian had +not drawn our attention to it. It was a remarkable kind of light to +steer for--daylight seen through a vista in the forest--but visible as +far as an ordinary beacon by night. + +We crossed a deep wide bay north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left +and keeping up the eastern side of the lake. We then crossed another +broad bay, which, as we could no longer observe the shore particularly, +afforded ample time for conversation. The Indian said that he had got +his money by hunting, mostly high up the West Branch of the Penobscot, +and toward the head of the St. John. He had hunted there from a boy, and +knew all about that region. His game had been beaver, otter, black cat +(or fisher), sable, moose, etc. Canada lynx were plenty yet in burnt +grounds. For food in the woods he uses partridges, ducks, dried moose +meat, hedgehog, etc. Loons, too, were good, only “bile ’em good.” + +Pointing into the bay he said that it was the way to various lakes which +he knew. Only solemn bear-haunted mountains with their great wooded +slopes were visible. The Indian said that he had been along there +several times. I asked him how he guided himself in the woods. + +“Oh,” said he, “I can tell good many ways.” + +When I pressed him further he answered, “Sometimes I lookum sidehill,” +and he glanced toward a high hill or mountain on the eastern shore; +“great difference between the north and south; see where the sun has +shone most. So trees--the large limbs bend toward south. Sometimes I +lookum locks” (rocks). + +I asked what he saw on the rocks, but he did not describe anything in +particular, answering vaguely, in a mysterious or drawling tone, “bare +locks on lake shore--great difference between north, south, east, west +side--can tell what the sun has shone on.” + +“Suppose,” said I, “that I should take you in a dark night right up here +into the middle of the woods a hundred miles, set you down, and turn you +round quickly twenty times, could you steer straight to Oldtown?” + +“Oh, yer,” said he, “have done pretty much same thing. I will tell you. +Some years ago I met an old white hunter at Millinocket; very good +hunter. He said he could go anywhere in the woods. He wanted to hunt +with me that day, so we start. We chase a moose all the forenoon, round +and round, till middle of afternoon, when we kill him. Then I said to +him, ‘Now you go straight to camp.’ + +“He said, ‘I can’t do that. I don’t know where I am.’ + +“‘Where you think camp?’ I asked. + +“He pointed so. Then I laugh at him. I take the lead and go right off +the other way, cross our tracks many times, straight camp.” + +“How do you do that?” asked I. + +“Oh, I can’t tell _you_,” he replied. “Great difference between me and +white man.” + +It appeared as if the sources of information were so various that he did +not give a distinct conscious attention to any one, and so could not +readily refer to any when questioned about it, but he found his way very +much as an animal does. Perhaps what is commonly called instinct in the +animal in this case is merely a sharpened and educated sense. Often, +when an Indian says, “I don’t know,” in regard to the route he is to +take, he does not mean what a white man would by those words, for his +Indian instinct may tell him still as much as the most confident white +man knows. He does not carry things in his head, nor remember the route +exactly, like a white man, but relies on himself at the moment. Not +having experienced the need of the other sort of knowledge--all labeled +and arranged--he has not acquired it. + +The hunter with whom I talked in the stage knew some of the resources of +the Indian. He said that he steered by the wind, or by the limbs of the +hemlocks, which were largest on the south side; also sometimes, when he +knew that there was a lake near, by firing his gun and listening to hear +the direction and distance of the echo from over it. + +As the forenoon advanced the wind increased. The last bay which we +crossed before reaching the desolate pier at the Northeast Carry, was +two or three miles over, and the wind was southwesterly. After going a +third of the way, the waves had increased so as occasionally to wash +into the canoe, and we saw that it was worse ahead. At first we might +have turned about, but were not willing to. It would have been of no use +to follow the course of the shore, for the waves ran still higher there +on account of the greater sweep the wind had. At any rate it would have +been dangerous now to alter our course, because the waves would have +struck us at an advantage. It will not do to meet them at right angles, +for then they will wash in both sides, but you must take them +quartering. So the Indian stood up in the canoe and exerted all his +skill and strength for a mile or two, while I paddled right along in +order to give him more steerage-way. For more than a mile he did not +allow a single wave to strike the canoe as it would, but turned it +quickly from this side to that, so that it would always be on or near +the crest of a wave when it broke, where all its force was spent, and we +merely settled down with it. At length I jumped out onto the end of the +pier against which the waves were dashing violently, in order to lighten +the canoe and catch it at the landing, which was not much sheltered, but +just as I jumped we took in two or three gallons of water. I remarked to +the Indian, “You managed that well,” to which he replied: “Ver’ few men +do that. Great many waves; when I look out for one, another come quick.” + +While the Indian went to get cedar bark, etc., to carry his canoe with, +we cooked the dinner on the shore in the midst of a sprinkling rain. He +prepared his canoe for carrying in this wise. He took a cedar shingle or +splint eighteen inches long and four or five wide, rounded at one end, +that the corners might not be in the way, and tied it with cedar bark by +two holes made midway, near the edge on each side, to the middle +crossbar of the canoe. When the canoe was lifted upon his head bottom +up, this shingle, with its rounded end uppermost, distributed the weight +over his shoulders and head, while a band of cedar bark, tied to the +crossbar on each side of the shingle, passed round his breast, and +another longer one, outside of the last, round his forehead; also a hand +on each side rail served to steer the canoe and keep it from rocking. He +thus carried it with his shoulders, head, breast, forehead, and both +hands, as if the upper part of his body were all one hand to clasp and +hold it. A cedar tree furnished all the gear in this case, as it had the +woodwork of the canoe. One of the paddles rested on the crossbars in the +bows. I took the canoe upon my head and found that I could carry it with +ease, but I let him carry it, not caring to establish a different +precedent. This shingle remained tied to the crossbar throughout the +voyage, was always ready for the carries, and also served to protect the +back of one passenger. + +We were obliged to go over this carry twice, our load was so great. But +the carries were an agreeable variety, and we improved the opportunity +to gather the rare plants which we had seen, when we returned +empty-handed. + +We reached the Penobscot about four o’clock, and found there some St. +Francis Indians encamped on the bank. They were making a canoe and +drying moose meat. Their camp was covered with spruce bark. They had a +young moose, taken in the river a fortnight before, confined in a sort +of cage of logs piled up cob-fashion, seven or eight feet high. It was +quite tame, about four feet high, and covered with moose flies. There +was a large quantity of cornel, red maple, and also willow and aspen +boughs, stuck through between the logs on all sides, butt ends out, and +on their leaves it was browsing. It looked at first as if it were in a +bower rather than a pen. + +Our Indian said that _he_ used _black_ spruce roots to sew canoes with, +obtaining it from high lands or mountains. The St. Francis Indians +thought that _white_ spruce roots might be best. But the former said, +“No good, break, can’t split ’em.” + +I told him I thought that I could make a canoe, but he expressed great +doubt of it; at any rate he thought that my work would not be “neat” the +first time. + +Having reloaded, we paddled down the Penobscot. We saw a splendid yellow +lily by the shore, which I plucked. It was six feet high and had twelve +flowers, in two whorls, forming a pyramid. We afterward saw many more +thus tall along this stream, and on the East Branch. The Indian said +that the roots were good for soup, that is, to cook with meat, to +thicken it, taking the place of flour. They get them in the fall. I dug +some, and found a mass of bulbs pretty deep in the earth, two inches in +diameter, looking, and even tasting, somewhat like raw green corn on the +ear. + +When we had gone about three miles down the Penobscot, we saw through +the tree-tops a thunder-shower coming up in the west, and we looked out +a camping-place in good season, about five o’clock. + +I will describe the routine of camping. We generally told the Indian +that we would stop at the first suitable place, so that he might be on +the lookout for it. Having observed a clear, hard, and flat beach to +land on, free from mud, and from stones which would injure the canoe, +one would run up the bank to see if there were open and level space +enough for the camp between the trees, or if it could be easily cleared, +preferring at the same time a cool place, on account of insects. +Sometimes we paddled a mile or more before finding one to our minds, for +where the shore was suitable the bank would often be too steep, or else +too low and grassy, and therefore mosquitoey. We then took out the +baggage and drew up the canoe. The Indian cut a path to the spot we had +selected, which was usually within two or three rods of the water, and +we carried up our baggage. + +One, perhaps, takes birch bark, always at hand, and dead dry wood, and +kindles a fire five or six feet in front of where we intend to lie. It +matters not, commonly, on which side this is, because there is little or +no wind in so dense a wood at that season; and then he gets a kettle of +water from the river, and takes out the pork, bread, coffee, etc., from +their several packages. + +Another, meanwhile, having the axe, cuts down the nearest dead rock +maple or other dry hard wood, collecting several large logs to last +through the night, also a green stake, with a notch or fork to it, which +is slanted over the fire, perhaps resting on a rock or forked stake, to +hang the kettle on, and two forked stakes and a pole for the tent. + +[Illustration: _Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland_] + +The third man pitches the tent, cuts a dozen or more pins with his knife +to fasten it down with, and then collects an armful or two of fir twigs, +arbor-vitæ, spruce, or hemlock, whichever is at hand, and makes the +bed, beginning at either end, and laying the twigs wrong side up, in +regular rows, covering the stub ends of the last row; first, however, +filling the hollows, if there are any, with coarser material. + +Commonly, by the time the bed is made, or within fifteen or twenty +minutes, the water boils, the pork is fried, and supper is ready. We eat +this sitting on the ground, or a stump, around a large piece of birch +bark for a table, each holding a dipper in one hand and a piece of +ship-bread or fried pork in the other, frequently making a pass with his +hand, or thrusting his head into the smoke, to avoid the mosquitoes. + +Next, pipes are lit by those who smoke, and veils are donned by those +who have them, and we hastily examine and dry our plants, anoint our +faces and hands, and go to bed. + +Though you have nothing to do but see the country, there’s rarely any +time to spare, hardly enough to examine a plant, before the night or +drowsiness is upon you. + +Such was the ordinary experience, but this evening we had camped earlier +on account of the rain, and had more time. We found that our camp was on +an old indistinct supply-road, running along the river. What is called a +road there shows no ruts or trace of wheels, for they are not used; nor, +indeed, of runners, since they are used only in the winter when the snow +is several feet deep. It is only an indistinct vista through the wood, +which it takes an experienced eye to detect. + +We had no sooner pitched our tent than the thunder-shower burst on us, +and we hastily crept under it, drawing our bags after us, curious to see +how much of a shelter our thin cotton roof was going to be in this +excursion. Though the violence of the rain forced a fine shower through +the cloth before it was fairly wetted and shrunk, with which we were +well bedewed, we managed to keep pretty dry, only a box of matches +having been left out and spoiled, and before we were aware of it the +shower was over, and only the dripping trees imprisoned us. + +Wishing to see what fishes were in the river there, we cast our lines +over the wet bushes on the shore, but they were repeatedly swept down +the swift stream in vain. So, leaving the Indian, we took the canoe, +just before dark, and dropped down the river a few rods to fish at the +mouth of a sluggish brook. We pushed up this a rod or two, but were soon +driven off by the mosquitoes. While there we heard the Indian fire his +gun twice in rapid succession. His object was to clean out and dry it +after the rain, and he then loaded it with ball, being now on ground +where he expected to meet with large game. This sudden loud crashing +noise in the still aisles of the forest affected me like an insult to +nature, or ill manners at any rate, as if you were to fire a gun in a +hall or temple. It was not heard far, however, except along the river, +the sound being rapidly hushed up or absorbed by the damp trees and +mossy ground. + +The Indian made a little smothered fire of damp leaves close to the back +of the camp, that the smoke might drive through and keep out the +mosquitoes, but just before we fell asleep this suddenly blazed up and +came near setting fire to the tent. + + + + +IV + +SUNDAY, JULY 26 + + +The note of the white-throated sparrow was the first heard in the +morning, and with this all the woods rang. Though commonly unseen, their +simple _ah, te-te-te, te-te-te, te-te-te_, so sharp and piercing, was as +distinct to the ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into the +darkest of the forest would be to the eye. We were commonly aroused by +their lively strain very early. What a glorious time they must have in +that wilderness, far from mankind! + +I told the Indian that we would go to church to Chesuncook this morning, +some fifteen miles. It was settled weather at last. A few swallows +flitted over the water, we heard Maryland yellow-throats along the +shore, the notes of the chickadee, and, I believe, redstarts. +Moose-flies of large size pursued us in midstream. + +The Indian thought that we should lie by on Sunday. Said he, “We come +here lookum things, look all round, but come Sunday look up all that, +and then Monday look again.” + +He spoke of an Indian of his acquaintance who had been with some +ministers to Katahdin and had told him how they conducted. This he +described in a low and solemn voice. “They make a long prayer every +morning and night, and at every meal. Come Sunday, they stop ’em, no go +at all that day--keep still--preach all day--first one, then another, +just like church. Oh, ver’ good men. One day going along a river, they +came to the body of a man in the water, drowned good while. They go +right ashore--stop there, go no farther that day--they have meeting +there, preach and pray just like Sunday. Then they go back and carry the +body with them. Oh, they ver’ good men.” + +I judged from this account that their every camp was a camp-meeting, and +that they wanted an opportunity to preach somewhere more than to see +Katahdin. + +However, the Indian added, plying the paddle all the while, that if we +would go along he must go with us, he our man, and he suppose that if he +no takum pay for what he do Sunday then ther’s no harm, but if he takum +pay then wrong. I told him that he was stricter than white men. +Nevertheless, I noticed that he did not forget to reckon in the Sundays +at last. + +He appeared to be a very religious man, and said his prayers in a loud +voice, in Indian, kneeling before the camp, morning and +evening--sometimes scrambling up in haste when he had forgotten this, +and saying them with great rapidity. In the course of the day he +remarked, “Poor man rememberum God more than rich.” + +We soon passed the island where I had camped four years before. The +deadwater, a mile or two below it, the Indian said was “a great place +for moose.” We saw the grass bent where a moose came out the night +before, and the Indian said that he could smell one as far as he could +see him, but he added that if he should see five or six to-day close by +canoe he no shoot ’em. Accordingly, as he was the only one of the party +who had a gun, or had come a-hunting, the moose were safe. + +Just below this a cat owl flew heavily over the stream, and he, asking +if I knew what it was, imitated very well the common _hoo, hoo, hoo, +hoorer, hoo_, of our woods. + +We carried a part of the baggage about Pine Stream Falls, while the +Indian went down in the canoe. A Bangor merchant had told us that two +men in his employ were drowned some time ago while passing these falls +in a bateau, and a third clung to a rock all night and was taken off in +the morning. There were magnificent great purple fringed orchises on +this carry and the neighboring shores. I measured the largest canoe +birch which I saw in this journey near the end of the carry. It was +fourteen and one half feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, +but at five feet divided into three parts. The Indian cut a small woody +knob as big as a filbert from the trunk of a fir, apparently an old +balsam vesicle filled with wood, which he said was good medicine. + +After we had embarked and gone half a mile, my companion remembered that +he had left his knife, and we paddled back to get it, against the strong +and swift current. This taught us the difference between going up and +down the stream, for while we were working our way back a quarter of a +mile, we should have gone down a mile and half at least. So we landed, +and while he and the Indian were gone back for it, I watched the motions +of the foam, a kind of white waterfowl near the shore, forty or fifty +rods below. It alternately appeared and disappeared behind the rock, +being carried round by an eddy. + +Immediately below these falls was the Chesuncook Deadwater, caused by +the flowing back of the lake. As we paddled slowly over this, the Indian +told us a story of his hunting thereabouts, and something more +interesting about himself. It appeared that he had represented his tribe +at Augusta, and once at Washington. He had a great idea of education, +and would occasionally break out into such expressions as this, +“Kademy--good thing--I suppose they usum Fifth Reader there. You been +college?” + +We steered across the northwest end of the lake. It is an agreeable +change to cross a lake after you have been shut up in the woods, not +only on account of the greater expanse of water, but also of sky. It is +one of the surprises which Nature has in store for the traveler in the +forest. To look down, in this case, over eighteen miles of water was +liberating and civilizing even. The lakes also reveal the mountains, and +give ample scope and range to our thought. Already there were half a +dozen log huts about this end of the lake, though so far from a road. In +these woods the earliest settlements are clustering about the lakes, +partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest +clearings. Water is a pioneer which the settler follows, taking +advantage of its improvements. + +About noon we turned northward up a broad kind of estuary, and at its +northeast corner found the Caucomgomoc River, and after going about a +mile from the lake reached the Umbazookskus. Our course was up the +Umbazookskus, but as the Indian knew of a good camping-place, that is, a +cool place where there were few mosquitoes, about half a mile farther up +the Caucomgomoc, we went thither. So quickly we changed the civilizing +sky of Chesuncook for the dark wood of the Caucomgomoc. On reaching the +Indian’s camping-ground on the south side, where the bank was about a +dozen feet high, I read on the trunk of a fir tree blazed by an axe an +inscription in charcoal which had been left by him. It was surmounted by +a drawing of a bear paddling a canoe, which he said was the sign used by +his family always. The drawing, though rude, could not be mistaken for +anything but a bear, and he doubted my ability to copy it. The +inscription ran thus. I interline the English of his Indian as he gave +it to me. + + (The figure of a bear in a boat.) + July 26 + 1853 + + _niasoseb_ + We alone Joseph + _Polis elioi_ + Polis start + _sia olta_ + for Oldtown + _onke ni_ + right away + _quambi_ + + July 15 + 1855 + _niasoseb_ + +He added now below:-- + + 1857 + July 26 + Jo. Polis + +This was one of his homes. I saw where he had sometimes stretched his +moose-hides on the sunny north side of the river where there was a +narrow meadow. + +After we had selected a place for our camp, and kindled our fire, almost +exactly on the site of the Indian’s last camp here, he, looking up, +observed, “That tree danger.” + +It was a dead part, more than a foot in diameter, of a large canoe +birch, which branched at the ground. This branch, rising thirty feet or +more, slanted directly over the spot which we had chosen for our bed. I +told him to try it with his axe, but he could not shake it perceptibly, +and, therefore, seemed inclined to disregard it, and my companion +expressed his willingness to run the risk. But it seemed to me that we +should be fools to lie under it, for though the lower part was firm, +the top, for aught we knew, might be just ready to fall, and we should +at any rate be very uneasy if the wind arose in the night. It is a +common accident for men camping in the woods to be killed by a falling +tree. So the camp was moved to the other side of the fire. + +The Indian said that the Umbazookskus, being a dead stream with broad +meadows, was a good place for moose, and he frequently came a-hunting +here, being out alone three weeks or more from Oldtown. He sometimes, +also, went a-hunting to the Seboois Lakes, taking the stage, with his +gun and ammunition, axe and blankets, hard-bread and pork, perhaps for a +hundred miles of the way, and jumped off at the wildest place on the +road, where he was at once at home, and every rod was a tavern-site for +him. Then, after a short journey through the woods, he would build a +spruce-bark canoe in one day, putting but few ribs into it, that it +might be light, and, after doing his hunting with it on the lakes, +would return with his furs the same way he had come. Thus you have an +Indian availing himself of the advantages of civilization, without +losing any of his woodcraft, but proving himself the more successful +hunter for it. + +This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our +tent was of a kind new to him, but when he had once seen it pitched it +was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked +stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, +though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered +several times. + +Now I thought I would observe how he spent his Sunday. While I and my +companion were looking about at the trees and river he went to sleep. +Indeed, he improved every opportunity to get a nap, whatever the day. + +Rambling about the woods at this camp, I noticed that they consisted +chiefly of firs, spruce, red maple, birch, and, along the river, the +hoary alder. I could trace the outlines of large birches that had fallen +long ago, collapsed and rotted and turned to soil, by faint +yellowish-green lines of featherlike moss, eighteen inches wide and +twenty or thirty feet long, crossed by other similar lines. + +Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the +settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not +distinctly attend, passed for a sound of human industry. The waterfalls +which I heard were not without their dams and mills to my imagination; +and several times I found that I had been regarding the steady rushing +sound of the wind from over the woods beyond the rivers as that of a +train of cars. Our minds anywhere, when left to themselves, are always +thus busily drawing conclusions from false premises. + +I asked the Indian to make us a sugar-bowl of birch bark, which he did, +using the great knife which dangled in a sheath from his belt; but the +bark broke at the corners when he bent it up, and he said it was not +good--that there was a great difference in this respect between the bark +of one canoe birch and that of another. + +My companion, wishing to distinguish between the black and white spruce, +asked Polis to show him a twig of the latter, which he did at once, +together with the black; indeed, he could distinguish them about as far +as he could see them. As the two twigs appeared very much alike, my +companion asked the Indian to point out the difference; whereupon the +latter, taking the twigs, instantly remarked, as he passed his hand over +them successively in a stroking manner, that the white was rough, that +is, the needles stood up nearly perpendicular, but the black smooth, +that is, as if bent down. This was an obvious difference, both to sight +and touch. + +I asked him to get some black spruce root and make some thread. +Whereupon, without looking up at the trees overhead, he began to grub in +the ground, instantly distinguishing the black spruce roots, and cutting +off a slender one, three or four feet long, and as big as a pipestem, he +split the end with his knife, and taking a half between the thumb and +forefinger of each hand, rapidly separated its whole length into two +equal semi-cylindrical halves. Then, giving me another root, he said, +“You try.” + +But in my hands it immediately ran off one side, and I got only a very +short piece. Though it looked easy, I found that there was a great art +in splitting these roots. The split is skillfully humored by bending +short with this hand or that, and so kept in the middle. He then took +off the bark from each half, pressing a short piece of cedar bark +against the convex side with both hands, while he drew the root upward +with his teeth. An Indian’s teeth are strong, and I noticed that he +used his often where we should have used a hand. They amounted to a +third hand. He thus obtained in a moment a very neat, tough, and +flexible string, which he could tie into a knot, or make into a fishline +even. He said that you would be obliged to give half a dollar for spruce +root enough for a canoe, thus prepared. + +He had discovered the day before that his canoe leaked a little, and +said that it was owing to stepping into it violently. I asked him where +he would get pitch to mend it with, for they commonly use hard pitch, +obtained of the whites at Oldtown. He said that he could make something +very similar, and equally good, of material which we had with us; and he +wished me to guess what. But I could not, and he would not tell me, +though he showed me a ball of it when made, as big as a pea and like +black pitch, saying, at last, that there were some things which a man +did not tell even his wife. + +Being curious to see what kind of fishes there were in this dark, deep, +sluggish river, I cast in my line just before night, and caught several +small sucker-like fishes, which the Indian at once rejected, saying that +they were good for nothing. Also, he would not touch a pout, which I +caught, and said that neither Indians nor whites thereabouts ever ate +them. But he said that some small silvery fishes, which I called white +chivin, were the best fish in the Penobscot waters, and if I would toss +them up the bank to him, he would cook them for me. After cleaning them, +not very carefully, leaving the heads on, he laid them on the coals and +so broiled them. + +[Illustration: _Fishing_] + +Returning from a short walk, he brought a vine in his hand, saying that +it made the best tea of anything in the woods. It was the creeping +snowberry, which was quite common there, its berries just grown. So we +determined to have some tea made of this. It had a slight +checkerberry flavor, and we both agreed that it was really better +than the black tea which we had brought. We thought it quite a +discovery, and that it might well be dried and sold in the shops. I for +one, however, am not an old tea-drinker and cannot speak with authority +to others. The Indian said that they also used for tea a certain herb +which grew in low ground, which he did not find there, and Labrador tea; +also hemlock leaves, the last especially in winter when the other plants +were covered with snow; and various other things. We could have had a +new kind of tea every night. + +Just before night we saw a _musquash_, the only one we saw in this +voyage, swimming downward on the opposite side of the stream. The +Indian, wishing to get one to eat, hushed us, saying, “Stop, me call +’em”; and, sitting flat on the bank, he began to make a curious +squeaking, wiry sound with his lips, exerting himself considerably. I +was greatly surprised--thought that I had at last got into the +wilderness, and that he was a wild man indeed, to be talking to a +musquash! I did not know which of the two was the strangest to me. He +seemed suddenly to have quite forsaken humanity, and gone over to the +musquash side. The musquash, however, as near as I could see, did not +turn aside, and the Indian said that he saw our fire; but it was evident +that he was in the habit of calling the musquash to him, as he said. An +acquaintance of mine who was hunting moose in these woods a month after +this, tells me that his Indian in this way repeatedly called the +musquash within reach of his paddle in the moonlight, and struck at +them. + +The Indian said a particularly long prayer this Sunday evening, as if to +atone for working in the morning. + + + + +V + +MONDAY, JULY 27 + + +Having rapidly loaded the canoe, which the Indian always carefully +attended to, that it might be well trimmed, and each having taken a +look, as usual, to see that nothing was left, we set out again, +descending the Caucomgomoc, and turning northeasterly up the +Umbazookskus. This name, the Indian said, meant _Much Meadow River_. We +found it now very wide on account of the rains. The space between the +woods, chiefly bare meadow, was from fifty to two hundred rods in +breadth. + +In the water on the meadows grew sedges, wool-grass, the common blue +flag abundantly, its flower just showing itself above the high water, as +if it were a blue water-lily, and higher in the meadows a great many +clumps of a peculiar narrow-leaved willow. Here also grew the red +osier, its large fruit now whitish. + +It was unusual for the woods to be so distant from the shore, and there +was quite an echo from them, but when I was shouting in order to awake +it, the Indian reminded me that I should scare the moose, which he was +looking out for, and which we all wanted to see. + +Having paddled several miles up the Umbazookskus, it suddenly contracted +to a mere brook, narrow and swift, the larches and other trees +approaching the bank and leaving no open meadow. We landed to get a +black spruce pole for pushing against the stream. The one selected was +quite slender, cut about ten feet long, merely whittled to a point, and +the bark shaved off. + +While we were thus employed, two Indians in a canoe hove in sight round +the bushes, coming down stream. Our Indian knew one of them, an old man, +and fell into conversation with him. He belonged at the foot of +Moosehead. The other was of another tribe. They were returning from +hunting. I asked the younger if they had seen any moose, to which he +said “No”; but I, seeing the moose-hides sticking out from a great +bundle made with their blankets in the middle of the canoe, added, “Only +their hides.” + +As he was a foreigner, he may have wished to deceive me, for it is +against the law for white men and foreigners to kill moose in Maine at +this season. But perhaps he need not have been alarmed, for the +moose-wardens are not very particular. I heard of one who, being asked +by a white man going into the woods what he would say if he killed a +moose, answered, “If you bring me a quarter of it I guess you won’t be +troubled.” His duty being, as he said, only to prevent the +“indiscriminate” slaughter of them for their hides. I suppose that he +would consider it an _indiscriminate_ slaughter when a quarter was not +reserved for himself. + +We continued along through the most extensive larch wood which I had +seen--tall and slender trees with fantastic branches. You do not find +straggling trees of this species here and there throughout the wood, but +rather a little forest of them. The same is the case with the white and +red pines and some other trees, greatly to the convenience of the +lumberer. They are of a social habit, growing in “veins,” “clumps,” +“groups,” or “communities,” as the explorers call them, distinguishing +them far away, from the top of a hill or a tree, the white pines +towering above the surrounding forest, or else they form extensive +forests by themselves. I should have liked to come across a large +community of pines which had never been invaded by the lumbering army. + +[Illustration: _The Red Squirrel_] + +We saw some fresh moose-tracks along the shore. The stream was only from +one and one half to three rods wide, quite winding, with occasional +small islands, meadows, and some very swift and shallow places. When +we came to an island the Indian never hesitated which side to take, as +if the current told him which was the shortest and deepest. It was lucky +for us that the water was so high. We had to walk but once on this +stream, carrying a part of the load, at a swift and shallow reach, while +he got up with the canoe, not being obliged to take out, though he said +it was very strong water. Once or twice we passed the red wreck of a +bateau which had been stove some spring. + +While making this portage I saw many splendid specimens of the great +purple fringed orchis, three feet high. It is remarkable that such +delicate flowers should here adorn these wilderness paths. + +The Umbazookskus is called ten miles long. Having poled up the narrowest +part some three or four miles, the next opening in the sky was over +Umbazookskus Lake, which we suddenly entered about eleven o’clock in the +forenoon. It stretches north-westerly four or five miles. We crossed +the southeast end to the carry into Mud Pond. + +Hodge, who went through this way to the St. Lawrence in the service of +the State, calls the portage here a mile and three quarters long. The +Indian said this was the wettest carry in the State, and as the season +was a very wet one we anticipated an unpleasant walk. As usual he made +one large bundle of the pork-keg, cooking-utensils, and other loose +traps, by tying them up in his blanket. We should be obliged to go over +the carry twice, and our method was to carry one half part way, and then +go back for the rest. + +Our path ran close by the door of a log hut in a clearing at this end of +the carry, which the Indian, who alone entered it, found to be occupied +by a Canadian and his family, and that the man had been blind for a +year. This was the first house above Chesuncook, and was built here, no +doubt, because it was the route of the lumberers in the winter and +spring. + +After a slight ascent from the lake through the springy soil of the +Canadian’s clearing, we entered on a level and very wet and rocky path +through the dense evergreen forest, a loosely paved gutter merely, where +we went leaping from rock to rock and from side to side in the vain +attempt to keep out of the water and mud. It was on this carry that the +white hunter whom I met in the stage, as he told me, had shot two bears +a few months before. They stood directly in the path and did not turn +out for him. He said that at this season bears were found on the +mountains and hillsides in search of berries and were apt to be saucy. + +Here commences what was called, twenty years ago, the best timber land +in the State. This very spot was described as “covered with the greatest +abundance of pine,” but now this appeared to me, comparatively, an +uncommon tree there--and yet you did not see where any more could have +stood, amid the dense growth of cedar, fir, etc. + +The Indian with his canoe soon disappeared before us, but ere long he +came back and told us to take a path which turned off westward, it being +better walking, and, at my suggestion, he agreed to leave a bough in the +regular carry at that place that we might not pass it by mistake. +Thereafter, he said, we were to keep the main path, and he added, “You +see ’em my tracks.” + +But I had not much faith that we could distinguish his tracks, since +others had passed over the carry within a few days. We turned off at the +right place, but were soon confused by numerous logging-paths coming +into the one we were on. However, we kept what we considered the main +path, though it was a winding one, and in this, at long intervals, we +distinguished a faint trace of a footstep. This, though comparatively +unworn, was at first a better, or, at least, a dryer road than the +regular carry which we had left. It led through an arbor-vitæ wilderness +of the grimmest character. The great fallen and rotting trees had been +cut through and rolled aside, and their huge trunks abutted on the path +on each side, while others still lay across it two or three feet high. + +It was impossible for us to discern the Indian’s trail in the elastic +moss, which, like a thick carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as +well as the earth. Nevertheless, I did occasionally detect the track of +a man, and I gave myself some credit for it. I carried my whole load at +once, a heavy knapsack, and a large rubber bag containing our bread and +a blanket, swung on a paddle, in all about sixty pounds; but my +companion preferred to make two journeys by short stages while I waited +for him. We could not be sure that we were not depositing our loads each +time farther off from the true path. + +As I sat waiting for my companion, he would seem to be gone a long time, +and I had ample opportunity to make observations on the forest. I now +first began to be seriously molested by the black fly, a very small but +perfectly formed fly of that color, about one tenth of an inch long, +which I felt, and then saw, in swarms about me, as I sat by a wider and +more than usually doubtful fork in this dark forest path. Remembering +that I had a wash in my knapsack, prepared by a thoughtful hand in +Bangor, I made haste to apply it to my face and hands, and was glad to +find it effectual, as long as it was fresh, or for twenty minutes, not +only against black flies, but all the insects that molested us. They +would not alight on the part thus defended. It was composed of sweet oil +and oil of turpentine, with a little oil of spearmint, and camphor. +However, I finally concluded that the remedy was worse than the disease, +it was so disagreeable and inconvenient to have your face and hands +covered with such a mixture. + +Three large slate-colored birds of the jay genus, the Canada jay, came +flitting silently and by degrees toward me, and hopped down the limbs +inquisitively to within seven or eight feet. Fish hawks from the lake +uttered their sharp whistling notes low over the top of the forest near +me, as if they were anxious about a nest there. + +After I had sat there some time I noticed at this fork in the path a +tree which had been blazed, and the letters “Chamb. L.” written on it +with red chalk. This I knew to mean Chamberlain Lake. So I concluded +that on the whole we were on the right course. + +My companion having returned with his bag, we set forward again. The +walking rapidly grew worse and the path more indistinct, and at length +we found ourselves in a more open and regular swamp made less passable +than ordinary by the unusual wetness of the season. We sank a foot deep +in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees. The trail +was almost obliterated, being no more than a musquash leaves in similar +places when he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a +musquash trail in some places. We concluded that if Mud Pond was as +muddy as the approach to it was wet, it certainly deserved its name. It +would have been amusing to behold the dogged and deliberate pace at +which we entered that swamp, without interchanging a word, as if +determined to go through it, though it should come up to our necks. +Having penetrated a considerable distance into this and found a tussock +on which we could deposit our loads, though there was no place to sit, +my companion went back for the rest of his pack. + +After a long while my companion came back, and the Indian with him. We +had taken the wrong road, and the Indian had lost us. He had gone back +to the Canadian’s camp and asked him which way we had probably gone, +since he could better understand the ways of white men, and he told him +correctly that we had undoubtedly taken the supply road to Chamberlain +Lake. The Indian was greatly surprised that we should have taken what he +called a “tow,” that is, tote, toting, or supply, road instead of a +carry path,--that we had not followed his tracks,--said it was +“strange,” and evidently thought little of our woodcraft. + +Having held a consultation and eaten a mouthful of bread, we concluded +that it would perhaps be nearer for us two now to keep on to Chamberlain +Lake, omitting Mud Pond, than to go back and start anew for the last +place, though the Indian had never been through this way and knew +nothing about it. In the meanwhile he would go back and finish carrying +over his canoe and bundle to Mud Pond, cross that, and go down its +outlet and up Chamberlain Lake, and trust to meet us there before night. +It was now a little after noon. He supposed that the water in which we +stood had flowed back from Mud Pond, which could not be far off +eastward, but was unapproachable through the dense cedar swamp. + +Keeping on, we were ere long agreeably disappointed by reaching firmer +ground, and we crossed a ridge where the path was more distinct, but +there was never any outlook over the forest. At one place I heard a very +clear and piercing note from a small hawk as he dashed through the +tree-tops over my head. We also saw and heard several times the red +squirrel. This, according to the Indian, is the only squirrel found in +those woods, except a very few striped ones. It must have a solitary +time in that dark evergreen forest, where there is so little life, +seventy-five miles from a road as we had come. I wondered how he could +call any particular tree there his home, and yet he would run up the +stem of one out of the myriads, as if it were an old road to him. I +fancied that he must be glad to see us, though he did seem to chide us. +One of those somber fir and spruce woods is not complete unless you +hear from out its cavernous mossy and twiggy recesses his fine +alarum--his spruce voice, like the working of the sap through some crack +in a tree. Such an impertinent fellow would occasionally try to alarm +the wood about me. + +“Oh,” said I, “I am well acquainted with your family. I know your +cousins in Concord very well.” But my overtures were vain, for he would +withdraw by his aerial turnpikes into a more distant cedar-top, and +spring his rattle again. + +We entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking +was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen +timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The +fallen trees were so numerous that for long distances the route was +through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as +high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over +another fence into a second yard, and so on. In many places the canoe +would have run if it had not been for the fallen timber. Again it would +be more open, but equally wet, too wet for trees to grow. It was a mossy +swamp, which it required the long legs of a moose to traverse, and it is +very likely that we scared some of them in our transit, though we saw +none. It was ready to echo the growl of a bear, the howl of a wolf, or +the scream of a panther; but when you get fairly into the middle of one +of these grim forests you are surprised to find that the larger +inhabitants are not at home commonly, but have left only a puny red +squirrel to bark at you. Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does +not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. I +did, however, see one dead porcupine. Perhaps he had succumbed to the +difficulties of the way. These bristly fellows are a very suitable small +fruit of such unkempt wildernesses. + +Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called “swamping” it, and +they who do the work are called “swampers.” I now perceived the fitness +of the term. This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I ever +saw. Nature must have coöperated with art here. However, I suppose they +would tell you that this name took its origin from the fact that the +chief work of roadmakers in those woods is to make the swamps passable. +We came to a stream where the bridge, which had been made of logs tied +together with cedar bark, had been broken up, and we got over as we +could. Such as it was, this ruined bridge was the chief evidence that we +were on a path of any kind. + +We then crossed another low rising ground, and I, who wore shoes, had an +opportunity to wring out my stockings, but my companion, who used boots, +had found that this was not a safe experiment for him, for he might not +be able to get his wet boots on again. He went over the whole ground, or +water, three times, for which reason our progress was very slow. Beside +that, the water softened our feet, and to some extent unfitted them for +walking. + +As I sat waiting for him it would naturally seem an unaccountable time +that he was gone. Therefore, as I could see through the woods that the +sun was getting low, and it was uncertain how far the lake might be, +even if we were on the right course, and in what part of the world we +should find ourselves at nightfall, I proposed that I should push +through with what speed I could, leaving boughs to mark my path, and +find the lake and the Indian, if possible, before night, and send the +latter back to carry my companion’s bag. + +Having gone about a mile I heard a noise like the note of an owl, which +I soon discovered to be made by the Indian, and answering him, we soon +came together. He had reached the lake after crossing Mud Pond and +running some rapids below it, and had come up about a mile and a half +on our path. If he had not come back to meet us, we probably should not +have found him that night, for the path branched once or twice before +reaching this particular part of the lake. So he went back for my +companion and his bag. Having waded through another stream, where the +bridge of logs had been broken up and half floated away, we continued on +through alternate mud and water to the shores of Apmoojenegamook Lake, +which we reached in season for a late supper, instead of dining there, +as we had expected, having gone without our dinner. + +It was at least five miles by the way we had come, and as my companion +had gone over most of it three times he had walked full a dozen miles. +In the winter, when the water is frozen and the snow is four feet deep, +it is no doubt a tolerable path to a footman. If you want an exact +recipe for making such a road, take one part Mud Pond, and dilute it +with equal parts of Umbazookskus and Apmoojenegamook; then send a +family of musquash through to locate it, look after the grades and +culverts, and finish it to their minds, and let a hurricane follow to do +the fencing. + +We had come out on a point extending into Apmoojenegamook, or +Chamberlain Lake, where there was a broad, gravelly, and rocky shore, +encumbered with bleached logs and trees. We were rejoiced to see such +dry things in that part of the world. But at first we did not attend to +dryness so much as to mud and wetness. We all three walked into the lake +up to our middle to wash our clothes. + +This was another noble lake, twelve miles long; if you add Telos Lake, +which, since the dam was built, has been connected with it by dead +water, it will be twenty; and it is apparently from a mile and a half to +two miles wide. We were about midway its length on the south side. We +could see the only clearing in these parts, called the “Chamberlain +Farm,” with two or three log buildings close together, on the opposite +shore, some two and a half miles distant. The smoke of our fire on the +shore brought over two men in a canoe from the farm, that being a common +signal agreed on when one wishes to cross. It took them about half an +hour to come over, and they had their labor for their pains this time. + +After putting on such dry clothes as we had, and hanging the others to +dry on the pole which the Indian arranged over the fire, we ate our +supper, and lay down on the pebbly shore with our feet to the fire +without pitching our tent, making a thin bed of grass to cover the +stones. + +Here first I was molested by the little midge called the no-see-em, +especially over the sand at the water’s edge, for it is a kind of +sand-fly. You would not observe them but for their light-colored wings. +They are said to get under your clothes and produce a feverish heat, +which I suppose was what I felt that night. + +Our insect foes in this excursion were, first, mosquitoes, only +troublesome at night, or when we sat still on shore by day; second, +black flies (_simulium molestum_), which molested us more or less on the +carries by day, and sometimes in narrower parts of the stream; third, +moose-flies, stout brown flies much like a horsefly. They can bite +smartly, according to Polis, but are easily avoided or killed. Fourth, +the no-see-ems. Of all these, the mosquitoes are the only ones that +troubled me seriously, but as I was provided with a wash and a veil, +they have not made any deep impression. + +The Indian would not use our wash to protect his face and hands, for +fear that it would hurt his skin, nor had he any veil. He, therefore, +suffered from insects throughout this journey more than either of us. He +regularly tied up his face in his handkerchief, and buried it in his +blanket, and he now finally lay down on the sand between us and the fire +for the sake of the smoke, which he tried to make enter his blanket +about his face, and for the same purpose he lit his pipe and breathed +the smoke into his blanket. + +In the middle of the night we heard the voice of the loon, loud and +distinct, from far over the lake. It is a very wild sound, quite in +keeping with the place and the circumstances of the traveler, and very +unlike the voice of a bird. I could lie awake for hours listening to it, +it is so thrilling. When camping in such a wilderness as this, you are +prepared to hear sounds from some of its inhabitants which will give +voice to its wildness. Some idea of bears, wolves, or panthers runs in +your head naturally, and when this note is first heard very far off at +midnight, as you lie with your ear to the ground,--the forest being +perfectly still about you, you take it for granted that it is the voice +of a wolf or some other wild beast,--you conclude that it is a pack of +wolves baying the moon, or, perchance, cantering after a moose. It was +the unfailing and characteristic sound of those lakes. + +Some friends of mine, who two years ago went up the Caucomgomoc River, +were serenaded by wolves while moose-hunting by moonlight. It was a +sudden burst, as if a hundred demons had broke loose,--a startling sound +enough, which, if any, would make your hair stand on end,--and all was +still again. It lasted but a moment, and you’d have thought there were +twenty of them, when probably there were only two or three. They heard +it twice only, and they said that it gave expression to the wilderness +which it lacked before. I heard of some men, who, while skinning a moose +lately in those woods, were driven off from the carcass by a pack of +wolves, which ate it up. + +This of the loon--I do not mean its laugh, but its looning--is a +long-drawn call, as it were, sometimes singularly human to my +ear--_hoo-hoo-ooooo_, like the hallooing of a man on a very high key, +having thrown his voice into his head. I have heard a sound exactly like +it when breathing heavily through my own nostrils, half awake at ten at +night, suggesting my affinity to the loon; as if its language were but a +dialect of my own, after all. Formerly, when lying awake at midnight in +those woods, I had listened to hear some words or syllables of their +language, but it chanced that I listened in vain until I heard the cry +of the loon. I have heard it occasionally on the ponds of my native +town, but there its wildness is not enhanced by the surrounding scenery. + +I was awakened at midnight by some heavy, low-flying bird, probably a +loon, flapping by close over my head along the shore. So, turning the +other side of my half-clad body to the fire, I sought slumber again. + + + + +VI + +TUESDAY, JULY 28 + + +When we awoke we found a heavy dew on our blankets. I lay awake very +early and listened to the clear, shrill _ah, te te, te te, te_ of the +white-throated sparrow, repeated at short intervals, without the least +variation, for half an hour, as if it could not enough express its +happiness. + +We did some more washing in the lake this morning, and, with our clothes +hung about on the dead trees and rocks, the shore looked like +washing-day at home. The Indian, taking the hint, borrowed the soap, +and, walking into the lake, washed his only cotton shirt on his person, +then put on his pants and let it dry on him. + +I observed that he wore a cotton shirt, originally white, a greenish +flannel one over it, but no waistcoat, flannel drawers, and strong +linen or duck pants, which also had been white, blue woolen stockings, +cowhide boots, and a Kossuth hat.[3] He carried no change of clothing, +but, putting on a stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, +and seizing a full-sized axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, +which would do for a sail or knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his +belt, which contained a large sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready +to be gone all summer. This looked very independent--a few simple and +effective tools, and no rubber clothing. He was always the first ready +to start in the morning. Instead of carrying a large bundle of his own +extra clothing, etc., he brought back the greatcoats of moose tied up in +his blanket. I found that his outfit was the result of a long +experience, and in the main hardly to be improved on, unless by washing +and an extra shirt. Wanting a button here, he walked off to a place +where some Indians had recently encamped, and searched for one, but I +believe in vain. + +Having softened our stiffened boots and shoes with the pork fat, the +usual disposition of what was left at breakfast, we crossed the lake, +steering in a diagonal direction northeastly about four miles to the +outlet. The Indian name, Apmoojenegamook, means lake that is crossed, +because the usual course lies across and not along it. We did not intend +to go far down the Allegash, but merely to get a view of the lakes which +are its source, and then return this way to the East Branch of the +Penobscot. + +After reaching the middle of the lake, we found the waves pretty high, +and the Indian warned my companion, who was nodding, that he must not +allow himself to fall asleep in the canoe lest he should upset us; +adding, that when Indians want to sleep in a canoe, they lie down +straight on the bottom. But in this crowded one that was impossible. +However, he said that he would nudge him if he saw him nodding. + +A belt of dead trees stood all around the lake, some far out in the +water, with others prostrate behind them, and they made the shore, for +the most part, almost inaccessible. This is the effect of the dam at the +outlet. Thus the natural sandy or rocky shore, with its green fringe, +was concealed and destroyed. We coasted westward along the north side, +searching for the outlet, about quarter of a mile distant from this +savage-looking shore, on which the waves were breaking violently, +knowing that it might easily be concealed amid this rubbish, or by the +overlapping of the shore. It is remarkable how little these important +gates to a lake are blazoned. There is no triumphal arch over the modest +inlet or outlet, but at some undistinguished point it trickles in or out +through the uninterrupted forest, almost as through a sponge. + +We reached the outlet in about an hour, and carried over the dam there, +which is quite a solid structure, and about one quarter of a mile +farther there was a second dam. The result of this particular damming +about Chamberlain Lake is that the headwaters of the St. John are made +to flow by Bangor. They have thus dammed all the larger lakes, raising +their broad surfaces many feet, thus turning the forces of Nature +against herself, that they might float their spoils out of the country. +They rapidly run out of these immense forests all the finer and more +accessible pine timber, and then leave the bears to watch the decaying +dams, not clearing nor cultivating the land, nor making roads, nor +building houses, but leaving it a wilderness, as they found it. In many +parts only these dams remain, like deserted beaver dams. Think how much +land they have flowed without asking Nature’s leave. + +The wilderness experiences a sudden rise of all her streams and lakes. +She feels ten thousand vermin gnawing at the base of her noblest trees. +Many combining drag them off, jarring over the roots of the survivors, +and tumble them into the nearest stream, till, the fairest having +fallen, they scamper off to ransack some new wilderness, and all is +still again. It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of +pines. The chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws +them--to get his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting +family than the mouse. That is as it happens. He speaks of a “berth” of +timber, a good place for him to get into, just as a worm might. + +When the chopper would praise a pine he will commonly tell you that the +one he cut was so big that a yoke of oxen stood on its stump; as if that +were what the pine had grown for, to become the footstool of oxen. In my +mind’s eye I can see these unwieldy tame deer, with a yoke binding them +together, the brazen-tipped horns betraying their servitude, taking +their stand on the stump of each giant pine in succession throughout +this whole forest, and chewing their cud there, until it is nothing but +an ox-pasture, and run out at that. As if it were good for the oxen, and +some medicinal quality ascended into their nostrils. Or is their +elevated position intended merely as a symbol of the fact that the +pastoral comes next in order to the sylvan or hunter life? + +The character of the logger’s admiration is betrayed by his very mode of +expressing it. If he told all that was in his mind, he would say, “It +was so big that I cut it down, and then a yoke of oxen could stand on +its stump.” He admires the log, the carcass or corpse, more than the +tree. Why, my dear sir, the tree might have stood on its own stump, and +a great deal more comfortably and firmly than a yoke of oxen can, if you +had not cut it down. + +The Anglo-American can indeed cut down and grub up all this waving +forest, and make a stump speech on its ruins, but he cannot converse +with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and +mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological +tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on +them. Before he has learned his a b c in the beautiful but mystic lore +of the wilderness he cuts it down, puts up a “deestrict” schoolhouse, +and introduces Webster’s spelling-book. + +Below the last dam, the river being swift and shallow, we two walked +about half a mile to lighten the canoe. I made it a rule to carry my +knapsack when I walked, and also to keep it tied to a crossbar when in +the canoe, that it might be found with the canoe if we should upset. + +I heard the dog-day locust here, a sound which I had associated only +with more open, if not settled countries. + +We were now fairly on the Allegash River. After perhaps two miles of +river we entered Heron Lake, scaring up forty or fifty young sheldrakes, +at the entrance, which ran over the water with great rapidity, as usual +in a long line. + +This lake, judging from the map, is about ten miles long. We had entered +it on the southwest side, and saw a dark mountain northeast over the +lake which the Indian said was called Peaked Mountain, and used by +explorers to look for timber from. The shores were in the same ragged +and unsightly condition, encumbered with dead timber, both fallen and +standing, as in the last lake, owing to the dam on the Allegash below. +Some low points or islands were almost drowned. + +I saw something white a mile off on the water, which turned out to be a +great gull on a rock, which the Indian would have been glad to kill and +eat. But it flew away long before we were near; and also a flock of +summer ducks that were about the rock with it. I asking him about +herons, since this was Heron Lake, he said that he found the blue +heron’s nests in the hard-wood trees. + +Rounding a point, we stood across a bay toward a large island three or +four miles down the lake. We met with shadflies midway, about a mile +from the shore, and they evidently fly over the whole lake. On Moosehead +I had seen a large devil’s-needle half a mile from the shore, coming +from the middle of the lake, where it was three or four miles wide at +least. It had probably crossed. + +We landed on the southeast side of the island, which was rather +elevated, and densely wooded, with a rocky shore, in season for an early +dinner. Somebody had camped there not long before and left the frame on +which they stretched a moose-hide. The Indian proceeded at once to cut a +canoe birch, slanted it up against another tree on the shore, tying it +with a withe, and lay down to sleep in its shade. We made this island +the limit of our excursion in this direction. + +The next dam was about fifteen miles farther north down the Allegash. We +had been told in Bangor of a man who lived alone, a sort of hermit, at +that dam, to take care of it, who spent his time tossing a bullet from +one hand to the other, for want of employment. This sort of tit-for-tat +intercourse between his two hands, bandying to and fro a leaden subject, +seems to have been his symbol for society. + +There was another island visible toward the north end of the lake, with +an elevated clearing on it; but we learned afterward that it was not +inhabited, had only been used as a pasture for cattle which summered in +these woods. This unnaturally smooth-shaven, squarish spot, in the midst +of the otherwise uninterrupted forest, only reminded us how uninhabited +the country was. You would sooner expect to meet a bear than an ox in +such a clearing. At any rate, it must have been a surprise to the bears +when they came across it. Such, seen far or near, you know at once to be +man’s work, for Nature never does it. In order to let in the light to +the earth he clears off the forest on the hillsides and plains, and +sprinkles fine grass seed like an enchanter, and so carpets the earth +with a firm sward. + +Polis had evidently more curiosity respecting the few settlers in those +woods than we. If nothing was said, he took it for granted that we +wanted to go straight to the next log hut. Having observed that we came +by the log huts at Chesuncook, and the blind Canadian’s at the Mud Pond +carry, without stopping to communicate with the inhabitants, he took +occasion now to suggest that the usual way was, when you came near a +house, to go to it, and tell the inhabitants what you had seen or heard, +and then they told you what they had seen; but we laughed and said that +we had had enough of houses for the present, and had come here partly to +avoid them. + +In the meanwhile, the wind, increasing, blew down the Indian’s birch and +created such a sea that we found ourselves prisoners on the island, the +nearest shore being perhaps a mile distant, and we took the canoe out +to prevent its drifting away. We did not know but we should be compelled +to spend the rest of the day and the night there. At any rate, the +Indian went to sleep again, my companion busied himself drying his +plants, and I rambled along the shore westward, which was quite stony, +and obstructed with fallen bleached or drifted trees for four or five +rods in width. + +Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal +use for every plant I could show him. I immediately tried him. He said +that the inner bark of the aspen was good for sore eyes; and so with +various other plants, proving himself as good as his word. According to +his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old +Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present +generation of Indians “had lost a great deal.” + +He said that the caribou was a “very great runner,” that there were none +about this lake now, though there used to be many, and, pointing to the +belt of dead trees caused by the dams, he added: “No likum stump. When +he sees that he scared.” + +Pointing southeasterly over the lake and distant forest, he observed, +“Me go Oldtown in three days.” + +I asked how he would get over the swamps and fallen trees. “Oh,” said +he, “in winter all covered, go anywhere on snowshoes, right across +lakes.” + +What a wilderness walk for a man to take alone! None of your half-mile +swamps, none of your mile-wide woods merely, as on the skirts of our +towns, without hotels, only a dark mountain or a lake for guide-board +and station, over ground much of it impassable in summer! + +Here was traveling of the old heroic kind over the unaltered face of +nature. From the Allegash River, across great Apmoojenegamook, he takes +his way under the bear-haunted slopes of Katahdin to Pamadumcook and +Millinocket’s inland seas, and so to the forks of the Nicketow, ever +pushing the boughs of the fir and spruce aside, with his load of furs, +contending day and night, night and day, with the shaggy demon +vegetation, traveling through the mossy graveyard of trees. Or he could +go by “that rough tooth of the sea” Kineo, great source of arrows and of +spears to the ancients, when weapons of stone were used. Seeing and +hearing moose, caribou, bears, porcupines, lynxes, wolves, and panthers. +Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United +States--never hear of America. + +There is a lumberer’s road called the Eagle Lake Road from the Seboois +to the east side of this lake. It may seem strange that any road through +such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, but at that +season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are +continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost +as a railway. I am told that in the Aroostook country the sleds are +required by law to be of one width, four feet, and sleighs must be +altered to fit the track, so that one runner may go in one rut and the +other follow the horse. Yet it is very bad turning out. + +We had for some time seen a thunder-shower coming up from the west over +the woods of the island, and heard the muttering of the thunder, though +we were in doubt whether it would reach us; but now the darkness rapidly +increasing, and a fresh breeze rustling the forest, we hastily put up +the plants which we had been drying, and with one consent made a rush +for the tent material and set about pitching it. A place was selected +and stakes and pins cut in the shortest possible time, and we were +pinning it down lest it should be blown away, when the storm suddenly +burst over us. + +As we lay huddled together under the tent, which leaked considerably +about the sides, with our baggage at our feet, we listened to some of +the grandest thunder which I ever heard--rapid peals, round and plump, +bang, bang, bang, in succession, like artillery from some fortress in +the sky; and the lightning was proportionally brilliant. The Indian +said, “It must be good powder.” All for the benefit of the moose and us, +echoing far over the concealed lakes. I thought it must be a place which +the thunder loved, where the lightning practiced to keep its hand in, +and it would do no harm to shatter a few pines. + +Looking out, I perceived that the violent shower falling on the lake had +almost instantaneously flattened the waves, and, it clearing off, we +resolved to start immediately, before the wind raised them again. + +Getting outside, I said that I saw clouds still in the southwest, and +heard thunder there. We embarked, nevertheless, and paddled rapidly back +toward the dams. + +At the outlet of Chamberlain Lake we were overtaken by another gusty +rainstorm, which compelled us to take shelter, the Indian under his +canoe on the bank, and we under the edge of the dam. However, we were +more scared than wet. From my covert I could see the Indian peeping out +from beneath his canoe to see what had become of the rain. When we had +taken our respective places thus once or twice, the rain not coming down +in earnest, we commenced rambling about the neighborhood, for the wind +had by this time raised such waves on the lake that we could not stir, +and we feared that we should be obliged to camp there. We got an early +supper on the dam and tried for fish, while waiting for the tumult to +subside. The fishes were not only few, but small and worthless. + +At length, just before sunset, we set out again. It was a wild evening +when we coasted up the north side of this Apmoojenegamook Lake. One +thunder-storm was just over, and the waves which it had raised still +running with violence, and another storm was now seen coming up in the +southwest, far over the lake; but it might be worse in the morning, and +we wished to get as far as possible on our way while we might. + +It blew hard against the shore, which was as dreary and harborless as +you can conceive. For half a dozen rods in width it was a perfect maze +of submerged trees, all dead and bare and bleaching, some standing half +their original height, others prostrate, and criss-across, above or +beneath the surface, and mingled with them were loose trees and limbs +and stumps, beating about. We could not have landed if we would, without +the greatest danger of being swamped; so blow as it might, we must +depend on coasting. It was twilight, too, and that stormy cloud was +advancing rapidly in our rear. It was a pleasant excitement, yet we were +glad to reach, at length, the cleared shore of the Chamberlain Farm. + +We landed on a low and thinly wooded point, and while my companions +were pitching the tent, I ran up to the house to get some sugar, our +six pounds being gone. It was no wonder they were, for Polis had a sweet +tooth. He would first fill his dipper nearly a third full of sugar, and +then add the coffee to it. Here was a clearing extending back from the +lake to a hilltop, with some dark-colored log buildings and a storehouse +in it, and half a dozen men standing in front of the principal hut, +greedy for news. Among them was the man who tended the dam on the +Allegash and tossed the bullet. He, having charge of the dams, and +learning that we were going to Webster Stream the next day, told me that +some of their men, who were haying at Telos Lake, had shut the dam at +the canal there in order to catch trout, and if we wanted more water to +take us through the canal we might raise the gate. + +They were unwilling to spare more than four pounds of brown +sugar,--unlocking the storehouse to get it,--since they only kept a +little for such cases as this, and they charged twenty cents a pound for +it, which certainly it was worth to get it up there. + +When I returned to the shore it was quite dark, but we had a rousing +fire to warm and dry us by, and a snug apartment behind it. The Indian +went up to the house to inquire after a brother who had been absent +hunting a year or two, and while another shower was beginning, I groped +about cutting spruce and arbor-vitæ twigs for a bed. I preferred the +arbor-vitæ on account of its fragrance, and spread it particularly thick +about the shoulders. It is remarkable with what pure satisfaction the +traveler in those woods will reach his camping-ground on the eve of a +tempestuous night like this, as if he had got to his inn, and, rolling +himself in his blanket, stretch himself on his six-feet-by-two bed of +dripping fir twigs, with a thin sheet of cotton for roof, snug as a +meadow mouse in its nest. Invariably our best nights were those when it +rained, for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes. + +You soon come to disregard rain on such excursions, at least in the +summer, it is so easy to dry yourself, supposing a dry change of +clothing is not to be had. You can much sooner dry you by such a fire as +you can make in the woods than in anybody’s kitchen, the fireplace is so +much larger, and wood so much more abundant. A shed-shaped tent will +catch and reflect the heat, and you may be drying while you are +sleeping. + +Some who have leaky roofs in the towns may have been kept awake, but we +were soon lulled asleep by a steady, soaking rain, which lasted all +night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] A soft felt hat of the kind worn by the Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, +on his visit to this country in 1851-52. + + + + +VII + +WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 + + +When we awoke it had done raining, though it was still cloudy. The fire +was put out, and the Indian’s boots, which stood under the eaves of the +tent, were half full of water. He was much more improvident in such +respects than either of us, and he had to thank us for keeping his +powder dry. We decided to cross the lake at once, before breakfast; and +before starting I took the bearing of the shore which we wished to +strike, about three miles distant, lest a sudden misty rain should +conceal it when we were midway. + +Though the bay in which we were was perfectly quiet and smooth, we found +the lake already wide awake outside, but not dangerously or unpleasantly +so. Nevertheless, when you get out on one of those lakes in a canoe like +this, you do not forget that you are completely at the mercy of the +wind, and a fickle power it is. The playful waves may at any time become +too rude for you in their sport, and play right on over you. After much +steady paddling and dancing over the dark waves we found ourselves in +the neighborhood of the southern land. We breakfasted on a rocky point, +the first convenient place that offered. + +It was well enough that we crossed thus early, for the waves now ran +quite high, but beyond this point we had comparatively smooth water. You +can commonly go along one side or the other of a lake, when you cannot +cross it. + +My companion and I, having a discussion on some point of ancient +history, were amused by the attitude which the Indian, who could not +tell what we were talking about, assumed. He constituted himself umpire, +and, judging by our air and gesture, he very seriously remarked from +time to time, “You beat,” or “He beat.” + +Leaving a spacious bay on our left, we entered through a short strait +into a small lake a couple of miles over, and thence into Telos Lake. +This curved round toward the northeast, and may have been three or four +miles long as we paddled. + +The outlet from the lake into the East Branch of the Penobscot is an +artificial one, and it was not very apparent where it was exactly, but +the lake ran curving far up northeasterly into two narrow valleys or +ravines, as if it had for a long time been groping its way toward the +Penobscot waters. By observing where the horizon was lowest, and +following the longest of these, we at length reached the dam, having +come about a dozen miles from the last camp. Somebody had left a line +set for trout, and the jackknife with which the bait had been cut on the +dam beside it, and, on a log close by, a loaf of bread. These proved the +property of a solitary hunter, whom we soon met, and canoe and gun and +traps were not far off. He told us that it was twenty miles to the foot +of Grand Lake, and that the first house below the foot of the lake, on +the East Branch, was Hunt’s, about forty-five miles farther. + +This hunter, who was a quite small, sunburnt man, having already carried +his canoe over, had nothing so interesting and pressing to do as to +observe our transit. He had been out a month or more alone. How much +more respectable is the life of the solitary pioneer or settler in +these, or any woods--having real difficulties, not of his own creation, +drawing his subsistence directly from nature--than that of the helpless +multitudes in the towns who depend on gratifying the extremely +artificial wants of society and are thrown out of employment by hard +times! + +Telos Lake, the head of the St. John on this side, and Webster Pond, the +head of the East Branch of the Penobscot, are only about a mile apart, +and they are connected by a ravine, in which but little digging was +required to make the water of the former, which is the highest, flow +into the latter. This canal is something less than a mile long and about +four rods wide. The rush of the water has produced such changes in the +canal that it has now the appearance of a very rapid mountain stream +flowing through a ravine, and you would not suspect that any digging had +been required to persuade the waters of the St. John to flow into the +Penobscot here. It was so winding that one could see but a little way +down. + +It is wonderful how well watered this country is. As you paddle across a +lake, bays will be pointed out to you, by following up which, and +perhaps the tributary stream which empties in, you may, after a short +portage, or possibly, at some seasons, none at all, get into another +river, which empties far away from the one you are on. Generally, you +may go in any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long +portages. It seems as if the more youthful and impressionable streams +can hardly resist the numerous invitations and temptations to leave +their native beds and run down their neighbors’ channels. + +Wherever there is a channel for water there is a road for the canoe. It +is said that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can +imagine what a canoe may do. + +This canal, so called, was a considerable and extremely rapid and rocky +river. The Indian decided that there was water enough in it without +raising the dam, which would only make it more violent, and that he +would run down it alone, while we carried the greater part of the +baggage. Our provisions being about half consumed, there was the less +left in the canoe. We had thrown away the pork-keg and wrapped its +contents in birch bark. + +Following a moist trail through the forest, we reached the head of +Webster Pond about the same time with the Indian, notwithstanding the +velocity with which he moved, our route being the most direct. The pond +was two or three miles long. + +At the outlet was another dam, at which we stopped and picked +raspberries, while the Indian went down the stream a half-mile through +the forest, to see what he had got to contend with. There was a deserted +log camp here, apparently used the previous winter, with its “hovel” or +barn for cattle. In the hut was a large fir-twig bed, raised two feet +from the floor, occupying a large part of the single apartment, a long +narrow table against the wall, with a stout log bench before it, and +above the table a small window, the only one there was, which admitted a +feeble light. It was a simple and strong fort erected against the cold. + +We got our dinner on the shore, on the upper side of the dam. As we were +sitting by our fire, concealed by the earth bank of the dam, a long +line of sheldrakes, half grown, came waddling over it from the water +below, passing within about a rod of us, so that we could almost have +caught them in our hands. They were very abundant on all the streams and +lakes which we visited, and every two or three hours they would rush +away in a long string over the water before us, twenty to fifty of them +at once, rarely ever flying, but running with great rapidity up or down +the stream, even in the midst of the most violent rapids, and apparently +as fast up as down. + +An Indian at Oldtown had told us that we should be obliged to carry ten +miles between Telos Lake on the St. John and Second Lake on the East +Branch of the Penobscot; but the lumberers whom we met assured us that +there would not be more than a mile of carry. It turned out that the +Indian was nearest right, as far as we were concerned. However, if one +of us could have assisted the Indian in managing the canoe in the +rapids, we might have run the greater part of the way; but as he was +alone in the management of the canoe in such places we were obliged to +walk the greater part. + +My companion and I carried a good part of the baggage on our shoulders, +while the Indian took that which would be least injured by wet in the +canoe. We did not know when we should see him again, for he had not been +this way since the canal was cut. He agreed to stop when he got to +smooth water, come up and find our path if he could, and halloo for us, +and after waiting a reasonable time go on and try again--and we were to +look out in like manner for him. + +He commenced by running through the sluiceway and over the dam, as +usual, standing up in his tossing canoe, and was soon out of sight +behind a point in a wild gorge. This Webster Stream is well known to +lumbermen as a difficult one. It is exceedingly rapid and rocky, and +also shallow, and can hardly be considered navigable, unless that may +mean that what is launched in it is sure to be carried swiftly down it, +though it may be dashed to pieces by the way. It is somewhat like +navigating a thunder-spout. With commonly an irresistible force urging +you on, you have got to choose your own course each moment between the +rocks and shallows, and to get into it, moving forward always with the +utmost possible moderation, and often holding on, if you can, that you +may inspect the rapids before you. + +By the Indian’s direction we took an old path on the south side, which +appeared to keep down the stream. It was a wild wood-path, with a few +tracks of oxen which had been driven over it, probably to some old camp +clearing for pasturage, mingled with the tracks of moose which had +lately used it. We kept on steadily for about an hour without putting +down our packs, occasionally winding around or climbing over a fallen +tree, for the most part far out of sight and hearing of the river; +till, after walking about three miles, we were glad to find that the +path came to the river again at an old camp-ground, where there was a +small opening in the forest, at which we paused. + +Swiftly as the shallow and rocky river ran here, a continuous rapid with +dancing waves, I saw, as I sat on the shore, a long string of +sheldrakes, which something scared, run up the opposite side of the +stream by me, just touching the surface of the waves, and getting an +impulse from them as they flowed from under them; but they soon came +back, driven by the Indian, who had fallen a little behind us on account +of the windings. He shot round a point just above, and came to land by +us with considerable water in his canoe. He had found it, as he said, +“very strong water,” and had been obliged to land once before to empty +out what he had taken in. + +[Illustration: _Coming Down the Rapids_] + +He complained that it strained him to paddle so hard in order to keep +his canoe straight in its course, having no one in the bows to aid +him, and, shallow as it was, said that it would be no joke to upset +there, for the force of the water was such that he had as lief I would +strike him over the head with a paddle as have that water strike him. +Seeing him come out of that gap was as if you should pour water down an +inclined and zigzag trough, then drop a nutshell into it, and, taking a +short cut to the bottom, get there in time to see it come out, +notwithstanding the rush and tumult, right side up, and only partly full +of water. + +After a moment’s breathing-space, while I held his canoe, he was soon +out of sight again around another bend, and we, shouldering our packs, +resumed our course. + +Before going a mile we heard the Indian calling to us. He had come up +through the woods and along the path to find us, having reached +sufficiently smooth water to warrant his taking us in. The shore was +about one fourth of a mile distant through a dense, dark forest, and as +he led us back to it, winding rapidly about to the right and left, I had +the curiosity to look down carefully and found that he was following his +steps backward. I could only occasionally perceive his trail in the +moss, and yet he did not appear to look down nor hesitate an instant, +but led us out exactly to his canoe. This surprised me, for without a +compass, or the sight or noise of the river to guide us, we could not +have kept our course many minutes, and could have retraced our steps but +a short distance, with a great deal of pains and very slowly, using a +laborious circumspection. But it was evident that he could go back +through the forest wherever he had been during the day. + +After this rough walking in the dark woods it was an agreeable change to +glide down the rapid river in the canoe once more. This river, though +still very swift, was almost perfectly smooth here, and showed a very +visible declivity, a regularly inclined plane, for several miles, like +a mirror set a little aslant, on which we coasted down. It was very +exhilarating, and the perfection of traveling, the coasting down this +inclined mirror between two evergreen forests edged with lofty dead +white pines, sometimes slanted half-way over the stream. I saw some +monsters there, nearly destitute of branches, and scarcely diminishing +in diameter for eighty or ninety feet. + +As we were thus swept along, our Indian repeated in a deliberate and +drawling tone the words, “Daniel Webster, great lawyer,” apparently +reminded of him by the name of the stream, and he described his calling +on him once in Boston at what he supposed was his boarding-house. He had +no business with him but merely went to pay his respects, as we should +say. It was on the day after Webster delivered his Bunker Hill oration. +The first time he called he waited till he was tired without seeing him, +and then went away. The next time he saw him go by the door of the room +in which he was waiting several times, in his shirt-sleeves, without +noticing him. He thought that if he had come to see Indians they would +not have treated him so. At length, after very long delay, he came in, +walked toward him, and asked in a loud voice, gruffly, “What do you +want?” and he, thinking at first, by the motion of his hand, that he was +going to strike him, said to himself, “You’d better take care; if you +try that I shall know what to do.” + +He did not like him, and declared that all he said “was not worth talk +about a musquash.” + +Coming to falls and rapids, our easy progress was suddenly terminated. +The Indian went alongshore to inspect the water, while we climbed over +the rocks, picking berries. When the Indian came back, he remarked, “You +got to walk; ver’ strong water.” + +So, taking out his canoe, he launched it again below the falls, and was +soon out of sight. At such times he would step into the canoe, take up +his paddle, and start off, looking far down-stream as if absorbing all +the intelligence of forest and stream into himself. We meanwhile +scrambled along the shore with our packs, without any path. This was the +last of _our_ boating for the day. + +The Indian now got along much faster than we, and waited for us from +time to time. I found here the only cool spring that I drank at anywhere +on this excursion, a little water filling a hollow in the sandy bank. It +was a quite memorable event, and due to the elevation of the country, +for wherever else we had been the water in the rivers and the streams +emptying in was dead and warm, compared with that of a mountainous +region. It was very bad walking along the shore over fallen and drifted +trees and bushes, and rocks, from time to time swinging ourselves round +over the water, or else taking to a gravel bar or going inland. At one +place, the Indian being ahead, I was obliged to take off all my clothes +in order to ford a small but deep stream emptying in, while my +companion, who was inland, found a rude bridge, high up in the woods, +and I saw no more of him for some time. I saw there very fresh moose +tracks, and I passed one white pine log, lodged in the forest near the +edge of the stream, which was quite five feet in diameter at the butt. + +Shortly after this I overtook the Indian at the edge of some burnt land, +which extended three or four miles at least, beginning about three miles +above Second Lake, which we were expecting to reach that night. This +burnt region was still more rocky than before, but, though comparatively +open, we could not yet see the lake. Not having seen my companion for +some time, I climbed with the Indian a high rock on the edge of the +river forming a narrow ridge only a foot or two wide at top, in order to +look for him. After calling many times I at length heard him answer +from a considerable distance inland, he having taken a trail which led +off from the river, and being now in search of the river again. Seeing a +much higher rock of the same character about one third of a mile farther +down-stream, I proceeded toward it through the burnt land, in order to +look for the lake from its summit, and hallooing all the while that my +companion might join me on the way. + +Before we came together I noticed where a moose, which possibly I had +scared by my shouting, had apparently just run along a large rotten +trunk of a pine, which made a bridge thirty or forty feet long over a +hollow, as convenient for him as for me. The tracks were as large as +those of an ox, but an ox could not have crossed there. This burnt land +was an exceedingly wild and desolate region. Judging by the weeds and +sprouts, it appeared to have been burnt about two years before. It was +covered with charred trunks, either prostrate or standing, which +crocked our clothes and hands. Great shells of trees, sometimes unburnt +without, or burnt on one side only, but black within, stood twenty or +forty feet high. The fire had run up inside, as in a chimney, leaving +the sapwood. There were great fields of fireweed, which presented masses +of pink. Intermixed with these were blueberry and raspberry bushes. + +Having crossed a second rocky ridge, when I was beginning to ascend the +third, the Indian, whom I had left on the shore, beckoned to me to come +to him, but I made sign that I would first ascend the rock before me. My +companion accompanied me to the top. + +There was a remarkable series of these great rock-waves revealed by the +burning; breakers, as it were. No wonder that the river that found its +way through them was rapid and obstructed by falls. We could see the +lake over the woods, and that the river made an abrupt turn southward +around the end of the cliff on which we stood, and that there was an +important fall in it a short distance below us. I could see the canoe a +hundred rods behind, but now on the opposite shore, and supposed that +the Indian had concluded to take out and carry round some bad rapids on +that side, but after waiting a while I could still see nothing of him, +and I began to suspect that he had gone inland to look for the lake from +some hilltop on that side. This proved to be the case, for after I had +started to return to the canoe I heard a faint halloo, and descried him +on the top of a distant rocky hill. I began to return along the ridge +toward the angle in the river. My companion inquired where I was going; +to which I answered that I was going far enough back to communicate with +the Indian. + +When we reached the shore the Indian appeared from out the woods on the +opposite side, but on account of the roar of the water it was difficult +to communicate with him. He kept along the shore westward to his canoe, +while we stopped at the angle where the stream turned southward around +the precipice. I said to my companion that we would keep along the shore +and keep the Indian in sight. We started to do so, being close together, +the Indian behind us having launched his canoe again, but I saw the +latter beckoning to me, and I called to my companion, who had just +disappeared behind large rocks at the point of the precipice on his way +down the stream, that I was going to help the Indian. + +I did so--helped get the canoe over a fall, lying with my breast over a +rock, and holding one end while he received it below--and within ten or +fifteen minutes I was back at the point where the river turned +southward, while Polis glided down the river alone, parallel with me. +But to my surprise, when I rounded the precipice, though the shore was +bare of trees, without rocks, for a quarter of a mile at least, my +companion was not to be seen. It was as if he had sunk into the earth. +This was the more unaccountable to me, because I knew that his feet were +very sore, and that he wished to keep with the party. + +I hastened along, hallooing and searching for him, thinking he might be +concealed behind a rock, but the Indian had got along faster in his +canoe, till he was arrested by the falls, about a quarter of a mile +below. He then landed, and said that we could go no farther that night. +The sun was setting, and on account of falls and rapids we should be +obliged to leave this river and carry a good way into another farther +east. The first thing then was to find my companion, for I was now very +much alarmed about him, and I sent the Indian along the shore +down-stream, which began to be covered with unburnt wood again just +below the falls, while I searched backward about the precipice which we +had passed. + +The Indian showed some unwillingness to exert himself, complaining that +he was very tired in consequence of his day’s work, that it had strained +him getting down so many rapids alone; but he went off calling somewhat +like an owl. I remembered that my companion was nearsighted, and I +feared that he had either fallen from the precipice, or fainted and sunk +down amid the rocks beneath it. I shouted and searched above and below +this precipice in the twilight till I could not see, expecting nothing +less than to find his body beneath it. For half an hour I anticipated +and believed only the worst. I thought what I should do the next day if +I did not find him, and how his relatives would feel if I should return +without him. I felt that if he were really lost away from the river +there, it would be a desperate undertaking to find him; and where were +they who could help you? What would it be to raise the country, where +there were only two or three camps, twenty or thirty miles apart, and +no road, and perhaps nobody at home? + +I rushed down from this precipice to the canoe in order to fire the +Indian’s gun, but found that my companion had the caps. When the Indian +returned he said that he had seen his tracks once or twice along the +shore. This encouraged me very much. He objected to firing the gun, +saying that if my companion heard it, which was not likely, on account +of the roar of the stream, it would tempt him to come toward us, and he +might break his neck in the dark. For the same reason we refrained from +lighting a fire on the highest rock. I proposed that we should both keep +down the stream to the lake, or that I should go at any rate, but the +Indian said: “No use, can’t do anything in the dark. Come morning, then +we find ’em. No harm--he make ’em camp. No bad animals here--warm +night--he well off as you and I.” + +The darkness in the woods was by this so thick that it decided the +question. We must camp where we were. I knew that he had his knapsack, +with blankets and matches, and, if well, would fare no worse than we, +except that he would have no supper nor society. + +This side of the river being so encumbered with rocks, we crossed to the +eastern or smoother shore, and proceeded to camp there, within two or +three rods of the falls. We pitched no tent, but lay on the sand, +putting a few handfuls of grass and twigs under us, there being no +evergreen at hand. For fuel we had some of the charred stumps. Our +various bags of provisions had got quite wet in the rapids, and I +arranged them about the fire to dry. The fall close by was the principal +one on this stream, and it shook the earth under us. It was a cool, dewy +night. I lay awake a good deal from anxiety. From time to time I fancied +that I heard his voice calling through the roar of the falls from the +opposite side of the river; but it is doubtful if we could have heard +him across the stream there. Sometimes I doubted whether the Indian had +really seen his tracks, since he manifested an unwillingness to make +much of a search. + +It was the most wild and desolate region we had camped in, where, if +anywhere, one might expect to meet with befitting inhabitants, but I +heard only the squeak of a nighthawk flitting over. The moon in her +first quarter, in the fore part of the night, setting over the bare +rocky hills garnished with tall, charred, and hollow stumps or shells of +trees, served to reveal the desolation. + + + + +VIII + +THURSDAY, JULY 30 + + +I aroused the Indian early to go in search of our companion, expecting +to find him within a mile or two, farther down the stream. The Indian +wanted his breakfast first, but I reminded him that my companion had had +neither breakfast nor supper. We were obliged first to carry our canoe +and baggage over into another stream, the main East Branch, about three +fourths of a mile distant, for Webster Stream was no farther navigable. +We went twice over this carry, and the dewy bushes wet us through like +water up to the middle. I hallooed from time to time, though I had +little expectation that I could be heard over the roar of the rapids. + +In going over this portage the last time, the Indian, who was before me +with the canoe on his head, stumbled and fell heavily once, and lay for +a moment silent as if in pain. I hastily stepped forward to help him, +asking if he was much hurt, but after a moment’s pause, without +replying, he sprang up and went forward. + +We had launched our canoe and gone but little way down the East Branch, +when I heard an answering shout from my companion, and soon after saw +him standing on a point where there was a clearing a quarter of a mile +below, and the smoke of his fire was rising near by. Before I saw him I +naturally shouted again and again, but the Indian curtly remarked, “He +hears you,” as if once was enough. + +It was just below the mouth of Webster Stream. When we arrived he was +smoking his pipe, and said that he had passed a pretty comfortable +night, though it was rather cold, on account of the dew. It appeared +that when we stood together the previous evening, and I was shouting to +the Indian across the river, he, being nearsighted, had not seen the +Indian nor his canoe, and when I went back to the Indian’s assistance, +did not see which way I went, and supposed that we were below and not +above him, and so, making haste to catch up, he ran away from us. Having +reached this clearing, a mile or more below our camp, the night overtook +him, and he made a fire in a little hollow, and lay down by it in his +blanket, still thinking that we were ahead of him. + +He had stuck up the remnant of a lumberer’s shirt, found on the point, +on a pole by the waterside for a signal, and attached a note to it to +inform us that he had gone on to the lake, and that if he did not find +us there he would be back in a couple of hours. If he had not found us +soon he had some thoughts of going back in search of the solitary hunter +whom we had met at Telos Lake, ten miles behind, and, if successful, +hire him to take him to Bangor. But if this hunter had moved as fast as +we, he would have been twenty miles off by this time, and who could +guess in what direction? It would have been like looking for a needle in +a haymow to search for him in these woods. He had been considering how +long he could live on berries alone. + +We all had good appetites for the breakfast which we made haste to cook +here, and then, having partially dried our clothes, we glided swiftly +down the winding stream toward Second Lake. + +As the shores became flatter with frequent sandbars, and the stream more +winding in the lower land near the lake, elms and ash trees made their +appearance; also the wild yellow lily, some of whose bulbs I collected +for a soup. On some ridges the burnt land extended as far as the lake. +This was a very beautiful lake, two or three miles long, with high +mountains on the southwest side. The morning was a bright one, and +perfectly still, the lake as smooth as glass, we making the only ripple +as we paddled into it. The dark mountains about it were seen through a +glaucous mist, and the white stems of canoe birches mingled with the +other woods around it. The thrush sang on the distant shore, and the +laugh of some loons, sporting in a concealed western bay, as if inspired +by the morning, came distinct over the lake to us. The beauty of the +scene may have been enhanced to our eyes by the fact that we had just +come together after a night of some anxiety. + +Having paddled down three quarters of the lake, we came to a standstill +while my companion let down for fish. In the midst of our dreams of +giant lake trout, even then supposed to be nibbling, our fisherman drew +up a diminutive red perch, and we took up our paddles. + +It was not apparent where the outlet of the lake was, and while the +Indian thought it was in one direction, I thought it was in another. He +said, “I bet you fourpence it is there,” but he still held on in my +direction, which proved to be the right one. + +As we were approaching the outlet he suddenly exclaimed, “Moose! moose!” +and told us to be still. He put a cap on his gun, and, standing up in +the stern, rapidly pushed the canoe straight toward the shore and the +moose. It was a cow moose, about thirty rods off, standing in the water +by the side of the outlet, partly behind some fallen timber and bushes, +and at that distance she did not look very large. She was flapping her +large ears, and from time to time poking off the flies with her nose +from some part of her body. She did not appear much alarmed by our +neighborhood, only occasionally turned her head and looked straight at +us, and then gave her attention to the flies again. As we approached +nearer she got out of the water, stood higher, and regarded us more +suspiciously. + +Polis pushed the canoe steadily forward in the shallow water, but the +canoe soon grounded in the mud eight or ten rods distant from the +moose, and the Indian seized his gun. After standing still a moment she +turned so as to expose her side, and he improved this moment to fire, +over our heads. She thereupon moved off eight or ten rods at a moderate +pace across a shallow bay to the opposite shore, and she stood still +again while the Indian hastily loaded and fired twice at her, without +her moving. My companion, who passed him his caps and bullets, said that +Polis was as excited as a boy of fifteen, that his hand trembled, and he +once put his ramrod back upside down. + +The Indian now pushed quickly and quietly back, and a long distance +round, in order to get into the outlet,--for he had fired over the neck +of a peninsula between it and the lake,--till we approached the place +where the moose had stood, when he exclaimed, “She is a goner!” + +[Illustration: _Shooting the Moose_] + +There, to be sure, she lay perfectly dead, just where she had stood +to receive the last shots. Using a tape, I found that the moose measured +six feet from the shoulder to the tip of the hoof, and was eight feet +long. + +Polis, preparing to skin the moose, asked me to help him find a stone on +which to sharpen his large knife. It being flat alluvial ground, covered +with red maples, etc., this was no easy matter. We searched far and wide +a long time till at length I found a flat kind of slate stone, on which +he soon made his knife very sharp. + +While he was skinning the moose I proceeded to ascertain what kind of +fishes were to be found in the sluggish and muddy outlet. The greatest +difficulty was to find a pole. It was almost impossible to find a +slender, straight pole ten or twelve feet long in those woods. You might +search half an hour in vain. They are commonly spruce, arbor-vitæ, fir, +etc., short, stout, and branchy, and do not make good fishpoles, even +after you have patiently cut off all their tough and scraggy branches. +The fishes were red perch and chivin. + +The Indian, having cut off a large piece of sirloin, the upper lip, and +the tongue, wrapped them in the hide, and placed them in the bottom of +the canoe, observing that there was “one man,” meaning the weight of +one. Our load had previously been reduced some thirty pounds, but a +hundred pounds were now added, which made our quarters still more +narrow, and considerably increased the danger on the lakes and rapids as +well as the labor of the carries. The skin was ours according to custom, +since the Indian was in our employ, but we did not think of claiming it. +He being a skillful dresser of moose-hides would make it worth seven or +eight dollars to him, as I was told. He said that he sometimes earned +fifty or sixty dollars in a day at them; he had killed ten moose in one +day, though the skinning and all took two days. This was the way he had +got his property. + +We continued along the outlet through a swampy region, by a long, +winding deadwater, very much choked up by wood, where we were obliged to +land sometimes in order to get the canoe over a log. It was hard to find +any channel, and we did not know but we should be lost in the swamp. It +abounded in ducks, as usual. At length we reached Grand Lake. + +We stopped to dine on an interesting rocky island, securing our canoe to +the cliffy shore. Here was a good opportunity to dry our dewy blankets +on the open sunny rock. Indians had recently camped here, and +accidentally burned over the western end of the island. Polis picked up +a gun-case of blue broadcloth, and said that he knew the Indian it +belonged to and would carry it to him. His tribe is not so large but he +may know all its effects. We proceeded to make a fire and cook our +dinner amid some pines. + +I saw where the Indians had made canoes in a little secluded hollow in +the woods, on the top of the rock, where they were out of the wind, and +large piles of whittlings remained. This must have been a favorite +resort of their ancestors, and, indeed, we found here the point of an +arrow-head, such as they have not used for two centuries and now know +not how to make. The Indian picked up a yellowish curved bone by the +side of our fireplace and asked me to guess what it was. It was one of +the upper incisors of a beaver, on which some party had feasted within a +year or two. I found also most of the teeth and the skull. We here dined +on fried moose meat. + +Our blankets being dry, we set out again, the Indian, as usual, having +left his gazette on a tree. We paddled southward, keeping near the +western shore. The Indian did not know exactly where the outlet was, and +he went feeling his way by a middle course between two probable points, +from which he could diverge either way at last without losing much +distance. In approaching the south shore, as the clouds looked gusty and +the waves ran pretty high, we so steered as to get partly under the lee +of an island, though at a great distance from it. + +I could not distinguish the outlet till we were almost in it, and heard +the water falling over the dam there. Here was a considerable fall, and +a very substantial dam, but no sign of a cabin or camp. + +While we loitered here Polis took occasion to cut with his big knife +some of the hair from his moose-hide, and so lightened and prepared it +for drying. I noticed at several old Indian camps in the woods the pile +of hair which they had cut from their hides. + +Having carried over the dam, he darted down the rapids, leaving us to +walk for a mile or more, where for the most part there was no path, but +very thick and difficult traveling near the stream. He would call to +let us know where he was waiting for us with his canoe, when, on account +of the windings of the stream, we did not know where the shore was, but +he did not call often enough, forgetting that we were not Indians. He +seemed to be very saving of his breath--yet he would be surprised if we +went by, or did not strike the right spot. This was not because he was +unaccommodating, but a proof of superior manners. Indians like to get +along with the least possible communication and ado. He was really +paying us a great compliment all the while, thinking that we preferred a +hint to a kick. + +At length, climbing over the willows and fallen trees, when this was +easier than to go round or under them, we overtook the canoe, and glided +down the stream in smooth but swift water for several miles. I here +observed, as at Webster Stream, that the river was a smooth and +regularly inclined plane down which we coasted. + +We decided to camp early that we might have ample time before dark. So +we stopped at the first favorable shore, where there was a narrow +gravelly beach, some five miles below the outlet of the lake. Two steps +from the water on either side, and you come to the abrupt, bushy, and +rooty, if not turfy, edge of the bank, four or five feet high, where the +interminable forest begins, as if the stream had but just cut its way +through it. + +It is surprising on stepping ashore anywhere into this unbroken +wilderness to see so often, at least within a few rods of the river, the +marks of the axe, made by lumberers who have either camped here or +driven logs past in previous springs. You will see perchance where they +have cut large chips from a tall white pine stump for their fire. + +While we were pitching the camp and getting supper, the Indian cut the +rest of the hair from his moose-hide, and proceeded to extend it +vertically on a temporary frame between two small trees, half a dozen +feet from the opposite side of the fire, lashing and stretching it with +arbor-vitæ bark. Asking for a new kind of tea, he made us some pretty +good of the checkerberry, which covered the ground, dropping a little +bunch of it tied up with cedar bark into the kettle. + +After supper he put on the moose tongue and lips to boil. He showed me +how to write on the under side of birch bark with a black spruce twig, +which is hard and tough and can be brought to a point. + +The Indian wandered off into the woods a short distance just before +night, and, coming back, said, “Me found great treasure.” + +“What’s that?” we asked. + +“Steel traps, under a log, thirty or forty, I didn’t count ’em. I guess +Indian work--worth three dollars apiece.” + +It was a singular coincidence that he should have chanced to walk to and +look under that particular log in that trackless forest. + +I saw chivin and chub in the stream when washing my hands, but my +companion tried in vain to catch them. I heard the sound of bullfrogs +from a swamp on the opposite side. + +You commonly make your camp just at sundown, and are collecting wood, +getting your supper, or pitching your tent while the shades of night are +gathering around and adding to the already dense gloom of the forest. +You have no time to explore or look around you before it is dark. You +may penetrate half a dozen rods farther into that twilight wilderness +after some dry bark to kindle your fire with, and wonder what mysteries +lie hidden still deeper in it, or you may run down to the shore for a +dipper of water, and get a clearer view for a short distance up or down +the stream, and while you stand there, see a fish leap, or duck alight +in the river, or hear a thrush or robin sing in the woods. + +But there is no sauntering off to see the country. Ten or fifteen rods +seems a great way from your companions, and you come back with the air +of a much traveled man, as from a long journey, with adventures to +relate, though you may have heard the crackling of the fire all the +while--and at a hundred rods you might be lost past recovery and have to +camp out. It is all mossy and _moosey_. In some of those dense fir and +spruce woods there is hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are +a _standing_ night, and every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume +plucked from night’s raven wing. Then at night the general stillness is +more impressive than any sound, but occasionally you hear the note of an +owl farther or nearer in the woods, and if near a lake, the semihuman +cry of the loons at their unearthly revels. + +To-night the Indian lay between the fire and his stretched moose-hide, +to avoid mosquitoes. Indeed, he also made a small smoky fire of damp +leaves at his head and feet, and then as usual rolled up his head in +his blanket. We with our veils and our wash were tolerably comfortable, +but it would be difficult to pursue any sedentary occupation in the +woods at this season; you cannot see to read much by the light of a fire +through a veil in the evening, nor handle pencil and paper well with +gloves or anointed fingers. + + + + +IX + +FRIDAY, JULY 31 + + +We had smooth but swift water for a considerable distance, where we +glided rapidly along, scaring up ducks and kingfishers. But, as usual, +our smooth progress ere long come to an end, and we were obliged to +carry canoe and all about half a mile down the right bank around some +rapids or falls. It required sharp eyes sometimes to tell which side was +the carry, before you went over the falls, but Polis never failed to +land us rightly. The raspberries were particularly abundant and large +here, and all hands went to eating them, the Indian remarking on their +size. + +Often on bare rocky carries the trail was so indistinct that I +repeatedly lost it, but when I walked behind him I observed that he +could keep it almost like a hound, and rarely hesitated, or, if he +paused a moment on a bare rock, his eye immediately detected some sign +which would have escaped me. Frequently _we_ found no path at all at +these places, and were to him unaccountably delayed. He would only say +it was “ver’ strange.” + +We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall +we came to must be it, but after christening several in succession with +this name we gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls +than I can remember. + +I cannot tell how many times we had to walk on account of falls or +rapids. We were expecting all the while that the river would take a +final leap and get to smooth water, but there was no improvement this +forenoon. However, the carries were an agreeable variety. So surely as +we stepped out of the canoe and stretched our legs we found ourselves in +a blueberry and raspberry garden, each side of our rocky trail being +lined with one or both. There was not a carry on the main East Branch +where we did not find an abundance of both these berries, for these +were the rockiest places and partially cleared, such as these plants +prefer, and there had been none to gather the finest before us. + +We bathed and dined at the foot of one of these carries. It was the +Indian who commonly reminded us that it was dinner-time, sometimes even +by turning the prow to the shore. He once made an indirect, but lengthy +apology, by saying that we might think it strange, but that one who +worked hard all day was very particular to have his dinner in good +season. At the most considerable fall on this stream, when I was walking +over the carry close behind the Indian, he observed a track on the rock, +which was but slightly covered with soil, and, stooping, muttered, +“Caribou.” + +When we returned, he observed a much larger track near the same place, +where some animal’s foot had sunk into a small hollow in the rock, +partly filled with grass and earth, and he exclaimed with surprise, +“What that?” + +“Well, what is it?” I asked. + +Stooping and laying his hand in it, he answered with a mysterious air, +and in a half-whisper, “Devil [that is, Indian devil, or cougar]--ledges +about here--very bad animal--pull ’em rocks all to pieces.” + +“How long since it was made?” I asked. + +“To-day or yesterday,” said he. + +We spent at least half the time in walking to-day. The Indian, being +alone, commonly ran down far below the foot of the carries before he +waited for us. The carry-paths themselves were more than usually +indistinct, often the route being revealed only by the countless small +holes in the fallen timber made by the tacks in the drivers’ boots. It +was a tangled and perplexing thicket, through which we stumbled and +threaded our way, and when we had finished a mile of it, our +starting-point seemed far away. We were glad that we had not got to +walk to Bangor along the banks of this river, which would be a journey +of more than a hundred miles. Think of the denseness of the forest, the +fallen trees and rocks, the windings of the river, the streams emptying +in, and the frequent swamps to be crossed. It made you shudder. Yet the +Indian from time to time pointed out to us where he had thus crept along +day after day when he was a boy of ten, and in a starving condition. + +He had been hunting far north of this with two grown Indians. The winter +came on unexpectedly early, and the ice compelled them to leave their +canoe at Grand Lake, and walk down the bank. They shouldered their furs +and started for Oldtown. The snow was not deep enough for snowshoes, or +to cover the inequalities of the ground. Polis was soon too weak to +carry any burden, but he managed to catch one otter. This was the most +they all had to eat on this journey, and he remembered how good the +yellow lily roots were, made into a soup with the otter oil. He shared +this food equally with the other two, but being so small he suffered +much more than they. He waded through the Mattawamkeag at its mouth, +when it was freezing cold and came up to his chin, and he, being very +weak and emaciated, expected to be swept away. The first house which +they reached was at Lincoln, and thereabouts they met a white teamster +with supplies, who, seeing their condition, gave them as much as they +could eat. For six months after getting home he was very low and did not +expect to live, and was perhaps always the worse for it. + +For seven or eight miles below that succession of “Grand” falls the +aspect of the banks as well as the character of the stream was changed. +After passing a tributary from the northeast we had swift smooth water. +Low grassy banks and muddy shores began. Many elms as well as maples and +more ash trees overhung the stream and supplanted the spruce. + +Mosquitoes, black flies, etc., pursued us in mid-channel, and we were +glad sometimes to get into violent rapids, for then we escaped them. As +we glided swiftly down the inclined plane of the river, a great cat owl +launched itself away from a stump on the bank, and flew heavily across +the stream, and the Indian, as usual, imitated its note. Soon afterward +a white-headed eagle sailed down the stream before us. We drove him +several miles, while we were looking for a good place to camp,--for we +expected to be overtaken by a shower,--and still we could distinguish +him by his white tail, sailing away from time to time from some tree by +the shore still farther down the stream. Some _she-corways_ being +surprised by us, a part of them dived, and we passed directly over them, +and could trace their course here and there by a bubble on the surface, +but we did not see them come up. + +It was some time before we found a camping-place, for the shore was +either too grassy and muddy, where mosquitoes abounded, or too steep a +hillside. We at length found a place to our minds, where, in a very +dense spruce wood above a gravelly shore, there seemed to be but few +insects. The trees were so thick that we were obliged to clear a space +to build our fire and lie down in, and the young spruce trees that were +left were like the wall of an apartment rising around us. We were +obliged to pull ourselves up a steep bank to get there. But the place +which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, +begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very center of +civilization to you: “Home is home, be it never so homely.” + +The mosquitoes were numerous, and the Indian complained a good deal, +though he lay, as the night before, between three fires and his +stretched hide. As I sat on a stump by the fire with a veil and gloves +on, trying to read, he observed, “I make you candle,” and in a minute he +took a piece of birch bark about two inches wide and rolled it hard, +like an allumette[4] fifteen inches long, lit it, fixed it by the other +end horizontally in a split stick three feet high, and stuck it in the +ground, turning the blazing end to the wind, and telling me to snuff it +from time to time. It answered the purpose of a candle pretty well. + +I noticed, as I had before, that there was a lull among the mosquitoes +about midnight, and that they began again in the morning. Apparently +they need rest as well as we. Few, if any, creatures are equally active +all night. As soon as it was light I saw, through my veil, that the +inside of the tent about our heads was quite blackened with myriads, and +their combined hum was almost as bad to endure as their stings. I had an +uncomfortable night on this account, though I am not sure that one +succeeded in his attempt to sting me. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] A match. In this case an old-fashioned “spill,” or lamplighter, made +by twisting a piece of paper, into a long, tight spiral roll. + + + + +X + +SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY AUGUST 1-3 + + +I caught two or three large red chivin within twenty feet of the camp, +which, added to the moose tongue that had been left in the kettle +boiling over night, and to our other stores, made a sumptuous breakfast. +The Indian made us some hemlock tea instead of coffee. This was +tolerable, though he said it was not strong enough. It was interesting +to see so simple a dish as a kettle of water with a handful of green +hemlock sprigs in it boiling over the huge fire in the open air, the +leaves fast losing their lively green color, and know that it was for +our breakfast. + +We were glad to embark once more and leave some of the mosquitoes +behind. We found that we had camped about a mile above Hunt’s, which is +the last house for those who ascend Katahdin on this side. We had +expected to ascend it from this point, but my companion was obliged to +give up this on account of sore feet. The Indian, however, suggested +that perhaps he might get a pair of moccasins at this place, and that he +could walk very easily in them without hurting his feet, wearing several +pairs of stockings, and he said beside that they were so porous that +when you had taken in water it all drained out in a little while. We +stopped to get some sugar, but found that the family had moved away, and +the house was unoccupied, except temporarily by some men who were +getting the hay. I noticed a seine here stretched on the bank, which +probably had been used to catch salmon. + +Just below this, on the west bank, we saw a moose-hide stretched, and +with it a bearskin. The Indian said they belonged to Joe Aitteon,[5] but +how he told I do not know. He was probably hunting near and had left +them for the day. Finding that we were going directly to Oldtown, he +regretted that he had not taken more of the moose meat to his family, +saying that in a short time, by drying it, he could have made it so +light as to have brought away the greater part, leaving the bones. We +once or twice inquired after the lip, which is a famous tidbit, but he +said, “That go Oldtown for my old woman; don’t get it every day.” + +Maples grew more and more numerous. It rained a little during the +forenoon, and, as we expected a wetting, we stopped early and dined just +above Whetstone Falls, about a dozen miles below Hunt’s. My companion, +having lost his pipe, asked the Indian if he could make him one. + +“Oh, yer,” said he, and in a minute rolled up one of birch bark, telling +him to wet the bowl from time to time. + +We carried round the falls. The distance was about three fourths of a +mile. When we had carried over one load, the Indian returned by the +shore, and I by the path; and though I made no particular haste I was +nevertheless surprised to find him at the other end as soon as I. It was +remarkable how easily he got over the worst ground. He said to me, “I +take canoe and you take the rest, suppose you can keep along with me?” + +I thought he meant that while he ran down the rapids I should keep along +the shore, and be ready to assist him from time to time, as I had done +before; but as the walking would be very bad, I answered, “I suppose you +will go too fast for me, but I will try.” + +But I was to go by the path, he said. This I thought would not help the +matter, I should have so far to go to get to the riverside when he +wanted me. But neither was this what he meant. He was proposing a race +over the carry, and asked me if I thought I could keep along with him by +the same path, adding that I must be pretty smart to do it. As his +load, the canoe, would be much the heaviest and bulkiest, I thought that +I ought to be able to do it, and said that I would try. So I proceeded +to gather up the gun, axe, paddle, kettle, frying-pan, plates, dippers, +carpets, etc., and while I was thus engaged he threw me his cowhide +boots. “What, are these in the bargain?” I asked. + +“Oh, yer,” said he; but before I could make a bundle of my load I saw +him disappearing over a hill with the canoe on his head. + +Hastily scraping the various articles together, I started on the run, +and immediately went by him in the bushes, but I had no sooner left him +out of sight in a rocky hollow than the greasy plates, dippers, etc., +took to themselves wings, and while I was employed in gathering them up, +he went by me; but, hastily pressing the sooty kettle to my side, I +started once more, and, soon passing him again, I saw him no more on the +carry. I do not mention this as anything of a feat, for it was but poor +running on my part, and he was obliged to move with great caution for +fear of breaking his canoe as well as his neck. When he made his +appearance, puffing and panting like myself, in answer to my inquiries +where he had been, he said, “Locks cut ’em feet,” and, laughing, added, +“Oh, me love to play sometimes.” + +He said that he and his companions when they came to carries several +miles long used to try who would get over first; each perhaps with a +canoe on his head. I bore the sign of the kettle on my brown linen sack +for the rest of the voyage. + +[Illustration: _Carrying round the Falls_] + +As we approached the mouth of the East Branch we passed two or three +huts, the first sign of civilization after Hunt’s, though we saw no road +as yet. We heard a cowbell, and even saw an infant held up to a small +square window to see us pass. On entering the West Branch at Nicketow, +Polis remarked that it was all smooth water hence to Oldtown, and he +threw away his pole which was cut on the Umbazookskus. + +We camped about two miles below Nicketow, covering with fresh twigs the +withered bed of a former traveler, and feeling that we were now in a +settled country, especially when in the evening we heard an ox sneeze in +its wild pasture across the river. Wherever you land along the +frequented part of the river you have not far to go to find these sites +of temporary inns, the withered bed of flattened twigs, the charred +sticks, and perhaps the tent-poles. Not long since, similar beds were +spread along the Connecticut, the Hudson, and the Delaware, and longer +still ago, by the Thames and Seine, and they now help to make the soil +where private and public gardens, mansions, and palaces are. We could +not get fir twigs for our bed here, and the spruce was harsh in +comparison, having more twig in proportion to its leaf, but we improved +it somewhat with hemlock. + +After the regular supper we attempted to make a lily soup of the bulbs +which I had brought along, for I wished to learn all I could before I +got out of the woods. Following the Indian’s directions, I washed the +bulbs carefully, minced some moose meat and some pork, salted and boiled +all together, but we had not the patience to try the experiment fairly, +for he said it must be boiled till the roots were completely softened so +as to thicken the soup like flour; but though we left it on all night, +we found it dried to the kettle in the morning and not yet boiled to a +flour. Perhaps the roots were not ripe enough, for they commonly gather +them in the fall. The Indian’s name for these bulbs was _sheepnoc_. + +He prepared to camp as usual between his moose-hide and the fire, but it +beginning to rain suddenly he took refuge under the tent with us, and +gave us a song before falling asleep. It rained hard in the night and +spoiled another box of matches for us, which the Indian had left out, +for he was very careless; but we had so much the better night for the +rain, since it kept the mosquitoes down. + +Sunday, a cloudy and unpromising morning. One of us observed to the +Indian, “You did not stretch your moose-hide last night, did you, Mr. +Polis?” + +Whereat he replied in a tone of surprise, though perhaps not of ill +humor: “What you ask me that question for? Suppose I stretch ’em, you +see ’em. May be your way talking, may be all right, no Indian way.” + +I had observed that he did not wish to answer the same question more +than once, and was often silent when it was put again, as if he were +moody. Not that he was incommunicative, for he frequently commenced a +longwinded narrative of his own accord--repeated at length the tradition +of some old battle, or some passage in the recent history of his tribe +in which he had acted a prominent part, from time to time drawing a +long breath, and resuming the thread of his tale, with the true +story-teller’s leisureliness. Especially after the day’s work was over, +and he had put himself in posture for the night, he would be +unexpectedly sociable, and we would fall asleep before he got through. + +The Indian was quite sick this morning with the colic. I thought that he +was the worse for the moose meat he had eaten. + +We reached the Mattawamkeag at half past eight in the morning, in the +midst of a drizzling rain, and, after buying some sugar, set out again. + +The Indian growing much worse, we stopped in the north part of Lincoln +to get some brandy for him, but, failing in this, an apothecary +recommended Brandreth’s pills, which he refused to take because he was +not acquainted with them. He said, “Me doctor--first study my case, find +out what ail ’em--then I know what to take.” + +We stopped at mid-forenoon on an island and made him a dipper of tea. +Here, too, we dined and did some washing and botanizing, while he lay on +the bank. In the afternoon we went on a little farther. As a +thunder-shower appeared to be coming up we stopped opposite a barn on +the west bank. Here we were obliged to spend the rest of the day and +night, on account of our patient, whose sickness did not abate. He lay +groaning under his canoe on the bank, looking very woebegone. You would +not have thought, if you had seen him lying about thus, that he was +worth six thousand dollars and had been to Washington. It seemed to me +that he made a greater ado about his sickness than a Yankee does, and +was more alarmed about himself. We talked somewhat of leaving him with +his people in Lincoln,--for that is one of their homes,--but he objected +on account of the expense, saying, “Suppose me well in morning, you and +I go Oldtown by noon.” + +As we were taking our tea at twilight, while he lay groaning under his +canoe, he asked me to get him a dipper of water. Taking the dipper in +one hand, he seized his powderhorn with the other, and, pouring into it +a charge or two of powder, stirred it up with his finger, and drank it +off. This was all he took to-day after breakfast beside his tea. + +To save the trouble of pitching our tent, when we had secured our stores +from wandering dogs, we camped in the solitary half-open barn near the +bank, with the permission of the owner, lying on new-mown hay four feet +deep. The fragrance of the hay, in which many ferns, etc., were mingled, +was agreeable, though it was quite alive with grasshoppers which you +could hear crawling through it. This served to graduate our approach to +houses and feather beds. In the night some large bird, probably an owl, +flitted through over our heads, and very early in the morning we were +awakened by the twittering of swallows which had their nests there. + +We started early before breakfast, the Indian being considerably better, +and soon glided by Lincoln, and stopped to breakfast two or three miles +below this town. + +We frequently passed Indian islands with their small houses on them. The +Penobscot Indians seem to be more social even than the whites. Ever and +anon in the deepest wilderness of Maine you come to the log hut of a +Yankee or Canada settler, but a Penobscot never takes up his residence +in such a solitude. They are not even scattered about on their islands +in the Penobscot, but gathered together on two or three, evidently for +the sake of society. I saw one or two houses not now used by them, +because, as our Indian said, they were too solitary. + +From time to time we met Indians in their canoes going up river. Our man +did not commonly approach them, but only exchanged a few words with them +at a distance. We took less notice of the scenery to-day, because we +were in quite a settled country. The river became broad and sluggish, +and we saw a blue heron winging its way slowly down the stream before +us. + +The Sunkhaze, a short dead stream, comes in from the east two miles +above Oldtown. Asking the meaning of this name, the Indian said, +“Suppose you are going down Penobscot, just like we, and you see a canoe +come out of bank and go along before you, but you no see ’em stream. +That is _Sunkhaze_.” + +He had previously complimented me on my paddling, saying that I paddled +“just like anybody,” giving me an Indian name which meant “great +paddler.” When off this stream he said to me, who sat in the bows, “Me +teach you paddle.” + +So, turning toward the shore, he got out, came forward, and placed my +hands as he wished. He placed one of them quite outside the boat, and +the other parallel with the first, grasping the paddle near the end, +not over the flat extremity, and told me to slide it back and forth on +the side of the canoe. This, I found, was a great improvement which I +had not thought of, saving me the labor of lifting the paddle each time, +and I wondered that he had not suggested it before. It is true, before +our baggage was reduced we had been obliged to sit with our legs drawn +up, and our knees above the side of the canoe, which would have +prevented our paddling thus, or perhaps he was afraid of wearing out his +canoe by constant friction on the side. + +I told him that I had been accustomed to sit in the stern, and lift my +paddle at each stroke, getting a pry on the side each time, and I still +paddled partly as if in the stern. He then wanted to see me paddle in +the stern. So, changing paddles, for he had the longer and better one, +and turning end for end, he sitting flat on the bottom and I on the +crossbar, he began to paddle very hard, trying to turn the canoe, +looking over his shoulder and laughing, but, finding it in vain, he +relaxed his efforts, though we still sped along a mile or two very +swiftly. He said that he had no fault to find with my paddling in the +stern, but I complained that he did not paddle according to his own +directions in the bows. + +As we drew near to Oldtown I asked Polis if he was not glad to get home +again; but there was no relenting to his wildness, and he said, “It +makes no difference to me where I am.” Such is the Indian’s pretense +always. + +We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called “Cook.” +He said: “I ’xpect we take in some water there, river so high--never see +it so high at this season. Very rough water there; swamp steamboat once. +Don’t you paddle till I tell you. Then you paddle right along.” + +It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted, +“Paddle!” and we shot through without taking in a drop. Soon after the +Indian houses came in sight. I could not at first tell my companion +which of two or three large white ones was our guide’s. He said it was +the one with blinds. + +We landed opposite his door at about four in the afternoon, having come +some forty miles this day. We stopped for an hour at his house. Mrs. P. +wore a hat and had a silver brooch on her breast, but she was not +introduced to us. The house was roomy and neat. A large new map of +Oldtown and the Indian Island hung on the wall, and a clock opposite to +it. + +This was the last that I saw of Joe Polis. We took the last train, and +reached Bangor that night. + +THE END + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Joe Aitteon was Thoreau’s guide on the second of his three +excursions into the Maine Woods. He was an Indian whose home was on the +same island where Polis lived. + + + + +A SELECTED LIST OF OUT-OF-DOOR +AND NATURE BOOKS + + +_By JOHN BURROUGHS_ + +The Summit of the Years +Time and Change +Leaf and Tendril +Ways of Nature +Far and Near +Wake-Robin +Winter Sunshine +Pepacton, and Other Sketches +Fresh Fields +Signs and Seasons +Birds and Poets, with Other Papers +Locusts and Wild Honey +Riverby + Each of the above, 16mo, gilt top, $1.15 _net_. + +A Year in the Fields + Selections appropriate to each season of the year from the writings of + JOHN BURROUGHS. With a Biographical Sketch, and 24 illustrations + from Photographs by CLIFTON JOHNSON. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50 _net_. + +Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers + Illustrated in color after AUDUBON. Square 12mo, $1.00 _net_. + +In the Catskills + Illustrated by CLIFTON JOHNSON. $1.50 _net_. + + +_By J. SMEATON CHASE_ + +California Coast Trails + 16 full-page illustrations from Photographs. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Canoeing in the wilderness</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Henry David Thoreau</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Clifton Johnson</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Will Hammell</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 17, 2011 [eBook #34990]<br /> +[Most recently updated: February 10, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS ***</div> + +<h1>CANOEING<br /> +IN THE<br /> +WILDERNESS</h1> + +<h3>HENRY D. THOREAU</h3> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 273px;"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/coverth.jpg" width="273" height="400" alt="" title="" /></a> +</div> + +<div class='notebox'> +<h4>By Clifton Johnson</h4> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 10%;">BATTLEGROUND ADVENTURES. Illustrated.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10%;">A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE FOXES. Illustrated.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10%;">A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE BEARS. Illustrated.</span></p> + +<p class='center'>HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +Boston and New York</p> +</div> + +<h2>CANOEING IN THE<br /> +WILDERNESS</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 280px;"><a name="illus01"></a> +<a href="images/img02.jpg"><img src="images/img02th.jpg" width="280" height="400" alt="The Indian Guide’s Evening Prayer (page 59)" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">The Indian Guide’s Evening Prayer (page 59)</span> +</div> + +<h2>CANOEING IN THE<br /> +WILDERNESS</h2> + +<h2><span class="smcap">By</span> HENRY D. THOREAU</h2> + +<h3><span class='littler'>EDITED BY</span><br /> +CLIFTON JOHNSON</h3> + +<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY<br /> +WILL HAMMELL</h4> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 85px;"> +<img src="images/img03.jpg" width="85" height="120" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='center'>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +The Riverside Press Cambridge<br /> +1916</p> + +<p class='frontend'>COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.<br /> +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p> + +<p class='frontend'>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p> + +<p class='frontend'><i>Published April 1916</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class='center'> +<a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS"><b>ILLUSTRATIONS</b></a><br /> +<a href="#INTRODUCTION"><b>INTRODUCTION</b></a><br /> +<a href="#I"><b>I</b></a><br /> +<a href="#II"><b>II</b></a><br /> +<a href="#III"><b>III</b></a><br /> +<a href="#IV"><b>IV</b></a><br /> +<a href="#V"><b>V</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VI"><b>VI</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VII"><b>VII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VIII"><b>VIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#IX"><b>IX</b></a><br /> +<a href="#X"><b>X</b></a><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="LOI"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus01">The Indian Guide’s Evening Prayer</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus02">The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus03">Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus04">Fishing</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus05">The Red Squirrel</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus06">Coming down the Rapids</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus07">Shooting the Moose</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus08">Carrying round the Falls</a></span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<p> +Thoreau was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and at the time he +made this wilderness canoe trip he was forty years old. The record of the +journey is the latter half of his <i>The Maine Woods</i>, which is perhaps the +finest idyl of the forest ever written. It is particularly charming in its +blending of meditative and poetic fancies with the minute description of the +voyager’s experiences. +</p> + +<p> +The chief attraction that inspired Thoreau to make the trip was the +primitiveness of the region. Here was a vast tract of almost virgin woodland, +peopled only with a few loggers and pioneer farmers, Indians, and wild animals. +No one could have been better fitted than Thoreau to enjoy such a region and to +transmit his enjoyment of it to others. For though he was a person of culture +and refinement, with a college education, and had for an +intimate friend so rare a man as Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was half wild in many +of his tastes and impatient of the restraints and artificiality of the ordinary +social life of the towns and cities. +</p> + +<p> +He liked especially the companionship of men who were in close contact with +nature, and in this book we find him deeply interested in his Indian guide and +lingering fondly over the man’s characteristics and casual remarks. The +Indian retained many of his aboriginal instincts and ways, though his tribe was +in most respects civilized. His home was in an Indian village on an island in +the Penobscot River at Oldtown, a few miles above Bangor. +</p> + +<p> +Thoreau was one of the world’s greatest nature writers, and as the years +pass, his fame steadily increases. He was a careful and accurate observer, more +at home in the fields and woods than in village and town, and with a gift of +piquant originality in recording his impressions. The play of his imagination +is keen and nimble, yet his fancy is so well balanced by his native common +sense that it does not run away with him. There is never any doubt about his +genuineness, or that what he states is free from bias and romantic +exaggeration. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be noted that he was no hunter. His inquisitiveness into the ways of +the wild creatures carried with it no desire to shoot them, and to his mind the +killing of game for mere sport was akin to butchery. The kindly and sympathetic +spirit constantly manifest in his pages is very attractive, and the fellowship +one gains with him through his written words is both delightful and wholesome. +He stimulates not only a love for nature, but a love for simple ways of living, +and for all that is sincere and unaffected in human life, wherever found. +</p> + +<p> +In the present volume various details and digressions that are not of interest +to most readers have been omitted, but except for such elimination +Thoreau’s text has been retained throughout. It is believed that nothing +essential has been sacrificed, and that the narrative in this form will be +found lively, informing, and thoroughly enjoyable. +</p> + +<p class='right'><span class="smcap">Clifton Johnson.</span> +</p> + +<p> + <span class="smcap">Hadley, +Massachusetts.</span> +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2>CANOEING IN THE<br /> +WILDERNESS</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>CANOEING IN THE<br /> +WILDERNESS</h2> + +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY JULY 20-23, 1857</h3> + +<p> +I started on my third excursion to the Maine woods Monday, July 20, 1857, with +one companion, arriving at Bangor the next day at noon. The succeeding morning, +a relative of mine who is well acquainted with the Penobscot Indians took me in +his wagon to Oldtown to assist me in obtaining an Indian for this expedition. +We were ferried across to the Indian Island in a bateau. The ferryman’s +boy had the key to it, but the father, who was a blacksmith, after a little +hesitation, cut the chain with a cold chisel on the rock. He told me that the +Indians were nearly all gone to the seaboard and to Massachusetts, partly on +account of the smallpox, of which they are very much afraid, having +broken out in Oldtown. The old chief Neptune, however, was there still. +</p> + +<p> +The first man we saw on the island was an Indian named Joseph Polis, whom my +relative addressed familiarly as “Joe.” He was dressing a deerskin +in his yard. The skin was spread over a slanting log, and he was scraping it +with a stick held by both hands. He was stoutly built, perhaps a little above +the middle height, with a broad face, and, as others said, perfect Indian +features and complexion. His house was a two-story white one with blinds, the +best-looking that I noticed there, and as good as an average one on a New +England village street. It was surrounded by a garden and fruit trees, single +cornstalks standing thinly amid the beans. We asked him if he knew any good +Indian who would like to go into the woods with us, that is, to the Allegash +Lakes by way of Moosehead, and return by the East Branch of the Penobscot. +</p> + +<p> +To which he answered out of that strange remoteness in which the Indian ever dwells +to the white man, “Me like to go myself; me want to get some +moose”; and kept on scraping the skin. +</p> + +<p> +The ferryman had told us that all the best Indians were gone except Polis, who +was one of the aristocracy. He, to be sure, would be the best man we could +have, but if he went at all would want a great price. Polis asked at first two +dollars a day but agreed to go for a dollar and a half, and fifty cents a week +for his canoe. He would come to Bangor with his canoe by the seven +o’clock train that evening—we might depend on him. We thought +ourselves lucky to secure the services of this man, who was known to be +particularly steady and trustworthy. +</p> + +<p> +I spent the afternoon with my companion, who had remained in Bangor, in +preparing for our expedition, purchasing provisions, hard-bread,<a +name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" +class="fnanchor">[1]</a> pork, coffee, sugar, etc., and some india-rubber clothing. +</p> + +<p> +At evening the Indian arrived in the cars, and I led the way, while he followed +me, three quarters of a mile to my friend’s house, with the canoe on his +head. I did not know the exact route, but steered by the lay of the land, as I +do in Boston. I tried to enter into conversation with him, but as he was +puffing under the weight of his canoe, not having the usual apparatus for +carrying it, but, above all, as he was an Indian, I might as well have been +thumping on the bottom of his birch the while. In answer to the various +observations that I made he only grunted vaguely from beneath his canoe once or +twice, so that I knew he was there. +</p> + +<p> +Early the next morning the stage called for us. My companion and I had each a +large knapsack as full as it would hold, and we had two large rubber bags which +held our provisions and utensils. As for the Indian, all the baggage he had, +beside his axe +and gun, was a blanket, which he brought loose in his hand. However, he had +laid in a store of tobacco and a new pipe for the excursion. The canoe was +securely lashed diagonally across the top of the stage, with bits of carpet +tucked under the edge to prevent its chafing. The driver appeared as much +accustomed to carrying canoes in this way as bandboxes. +</p> + +<p> +At the Bangor House we took in four men bound on a hunting excursion, one of +the men going as cook. They had a dog, a middling-sized brindled cur, which ran +by the side of the stage, his master showing his head and whistling from time +to time. But after we had gone about three miles the dog was suddenly missing, +and two of the party went back for him, while the stage, which was full of +passengers, waited. At length one man came back, while the other kept on. This +whole party of hunters declared their intention to stop till the dog was found, +but the very obliging driver was ready to wait a spell longer. He was evidently +unwilling to lose so many passengers, who would have taken a private +conveyance, or perhaps the other line of stages, the next day. Such progress +did we make, with a journey of over sixty miles to be accomplished that day, +and a rainstorm just setting in. We discussed the subject of dogs and their +instincts till it was threadbare, while we waited there, and the scenery of the +suburbs of Bangor is still distinctly impressed on my memory. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 280px;"> +<a name="illus02"></a> +<a href="images/img04.jpg"><img src="images/img04th.jpg" width="280" +height="400" alt="The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake</span> +</div> + +<p> +After full half an hour the man returned, leading the dog by a rope. He had +overtaken him just as he was entering the Bangor House. He was then tied on the +top of the stage, but, being wet and cold, several times in the course of the +journey he jumped off, and I saw him dangling by his neck. This dog was +depended on to stop bears. He had already stopped one somewhere in New +Hampshire, and I can testify that he stopped a stage in Maine. This party of +four probably paid nothing for the dog’s ride, nor for his run, while our party of +three paid two dollars—and were charged four—for the light canoe +which lay still on the top. +</p> + +<p> +The stage was crowded all the way. If you had looked inside you would have +thought that we were prepared to run the gantlet of a band of robbers, for +there were four or five guns on the front seat and one or two on the back one, +each man holding his darling in his arms. It appeared that this party of +hunters was going our way, but much farther. Their leader was a handsome man +about thirty years old, of good height, but not apparently robust, of +gentlemanly address and faultless toilet. He had a fair white complexion as if +he had always lived in the shade, and an intellectual face, and with his quiet +manners might have passed for a divinity student who had seen something of the +world. I was surprised to find that he was probably the chief white hunter of +Maine and was known all along the road. I afterwards heard him spoken of as one who +could endure a great deal of exposure and fatigue without showing the effect of +it; and he could not only use guns, but make them, being himself a gunsmith. In +the spring he had saved a stage-driver and two passengers from drowning in the +backwater of the Piscataquis on this road, having swum ashore in the freezing +water and made a raft and got them off—though the horses were +drowned—at great risk to himself, while the only other man who could swim +withdrew to the nearest house to prevent freezing. He knew our man, and +remarked that we had a good Indian there, a good hunter; adding that he was +said to be worth six thousand dollars. The Indian also knew him, and said to +me, “The great hunter.” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian sat on the front seat with a stolid expression of face as if barely +awake to what was going on. Again I was struck by the peculiar vagueness +of his +replies when addressed in the stage or at the taverns. He really never said +anything on such occasions. He was merely stirred up like a wild beast, and +passively muttered some insignificant response. His answer, in such cases, was +vague as a puff of smoke, suggesting no <i>responsibility</i>, and if you +considered it you would find that you had got nothing out of him. This was +instead of the conventional palaver and smartness of the white man, and equally +profitable. Most get no more than this out of the Indian, and pronounce him +stolid accordingly. I was surprised to see what a foolish and impertinent style +a Maine man, a passenger, used in addressing him, as if he were a child, which +only made his eyes glisten a little. A tipsy Canadian asked him at a tavern, in +a drawling tone, if he smoked, to which he answered with an indefinite +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Won’t you lend me your pipe a little while?” asked the +other. +</p> + +<p> +He replied, looking straight by the man’s head, with a face singularly vacant to +all neighboring interests, “Me got no pipe”; yet I had seen him put +a new one, with a supply of tobacco, into his pocket that morning. +</p> + +<p> +Our little canoe, so neat and strong, drew a favorable criticism from all the +wiseacres among the tavern loungers along the road. By the roadside, close to +the wheels, I noticed a splendid great purple fringed orchis which I would fain +have stopped the stage to pluck, but as this had never been known to stop a +bear, like the cur on the stage, the driver would probably have thought it a +waste of time. +</p> + +<p> +When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was still +steadily raining, and in that fresh, cool atmosphere the hylas were peeping and +the toads ringing about the lake. It was as if the season had revolved backward +two or three months, or I had arrived at the abode of perpetual spring. +</p> + +<p> +We had expected to go upon the lake at once, and, after paddling up two or three +miles, to camp on one of its islands, but on account of the rain we decided to +go to one of the taverns for the night. +</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p> +<a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span +class="label">[1]</span></a> Hard-bread or ship-bread is a kind of hard biscuit +commonly baked in large cakes and much used by sailors and soldiers. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>FRIDAY, JULY 24.</h3> + +<p> +About four o’clock the next morning, though it was quite cloudy, +accompanied by the landlord to the water’s edge, in the twilight, we +launched our canoe from a rock on Moosehead Lake. We had a rather small canoe +for three persons, eighteen and one fourth feet long by two feet six and one +half inches wide in the middle, and one foot deep within. I judged that it +would weigh not far from eighty pounds. The Indian had recently made it +himself, and its smallness was partly compensated for by its newness, as well +as stanchness and solidity, it being made of very thick bark and ribs. Our +baggage weighed about one hundred and sixty-six pounds. The principal part of +the baggage was, as usual, placed in the middle of the broadest part, while +we stowed +ourselves in the chinks and crannies that were left before and behind it, where +there was no room to extend our legs, the loose articles being tucked into the +ends. The canoe was thus as closely packed as a market basket. The Indian sat +on a crossbar in the stern, but we flat on the bottom with a splint or chip +behind our backs to protect them from the crossbar, and one of us commonly +paddled with the Indian. +</p> + +<p> +Paddling along the eastern side of the lake in the still of the morning, we +soon saw a few sheldrakes, which the Indian called <i>Shecorways</i>, and some +peetweets on the rocky shore. We also saw and heard loons. It was inspiriting +to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our fins or flippers, +and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. +</p> + +<p> +Having passed the small rocky isles within two or three miles of the foot of +the lake, we had a short consultation respecting our course, and inclined to +the western +shore for the sake of its lee; for otherwise, if the wind should rise, it would +be impossible for us to reach Mount Kineo, which is about midway up the lake on +the east side, but at its narrowest part, where probably we could recross if we +took the western side. The wind is the chief obstacle to crossing the lakes, +especially in so small a canoe. The Indian remarked several times that he did +not like to cross the lakes “in littlum canoe,” but nevertheless, +“just as we say, it made no odds to him.” +</p> + +<p> +Moosehead Lake is twelve miles wide at the widest place, and thirty miles long +in a direct line, but longer as it lies. Paddling near the shore, we frequently +heard the <i>pe-pe</i> of the olive-sided flycatcher, also the wood pewee and +the kingfisher. The Indian reminding us that he could not work without eating, +we stopped to breakfast on the main shore southwest of Deer Island. We took out +our bags, and the Indian made a fire under a very large bleached log, using +white pine bark from a stump, though he said that hemlock was better, +and kindling with canoe birch bark. Our table was a large piece of freshly +peeled birch bark, laid wrong side up, and our breakfast consisted of +hard-bread, fried pork, and strong coffee well sweetened, in which we did not +miss the milk. +</p> + +<p> +While we were getting breakfast a brood of twelve black dippers,<a +name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" +class="fnanchor">[2]</a> half grown, came paddling by within three or four +rods, not at all alarmed; and they loitered about as long as we stayed, now +huddled close together, now moving off in a long line, very cunningly. +</p> + +<p> +Looking northward from this place it appeared as if we were entering a large +bay, and we did not know whether we should be obliged to diverge from our +course and keep outside a point which we saw, or should find a passage between +this and the mainland. It was misty dog-day weather, and we had already +penetrated +a smaller bay of the same kind, and knocked the bottom out of it, though we had +been obliged to pass over a bar between an island and the shore, where there +was but just breadth and depth enough to float the canoe, and the Indian had +observed, “Very easy makum bridge here,” but now it seemed that if +we held on we should be fairly embayed. Presently, however, the mist lifted +somewhat and revealed a break in the shore northward. The Indian immediately +remarked, “I guess you and I go there.” +</p> + +<p> +This was his common expression instead of saying “we.” He never +addressed us by our names, though curious to know how they were spelled and +what they meant. We called him Polis. He had already guessed very accurately at +our ages, and said that he was forty-eight. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast I emptied the melted pork that was left into the lake, making +what the sailors call a “slick,” and watching to see how much it +spread over and smoothed the agitated surface. The Indian looked +at it a moment and said, “That make hard paddlum through; hold ’em +canoe. So say old times.” +</p> + +<p> +We hastily reloaded, putting the dishes loose in the bows, that they might be +at hand when wanted, and set out again. The western shore, near which we +paddled along, rose gently to a considerable height and was everywhere densely +covered with the forest, in which was a large proportion of hard wood to +enliven and relieve the fir and spruce. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian said that the lichen which we saw hanging from the trees was called +<i>chorchorque</i>. We asked him the names of several birds which we heard this +morning. The thrush, which was quite common, and whose note he imitated, he +said was called <i>Adelungquamooktum</i>; but sometimes he could not tell the +name of some small bird which I heard and knew, but he said, “I tell all +the birds about here; can’t tell littlum noise, but I see ’em, then +I can tell.” +</p> + +<p> +I observed that I should like to go to school to him to learn his language, +living on the Indian island the while; could not that be done? +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yer,” he replied, “good many do so.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked how long he thought it would take. He said one week. I told him that in +this voyage I would tell him all I knew, and he should tell me all he knew, to +which he readily agreed. +</p> + +<p> +Mount Kineo, which was generally visible, though occasionally concealed by +islands or the mainland in front, had a level bar of cloud concealing its +summit, and all the mountain-tops about the lake were cut off at the same +height. Ducks of various kinds were quite common, and ran over the water before +us as fast as a horse trots. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian asked the meaning of <i>reality</i>, as near as I could make out the +word, which he said one of us had used; also of <i>interrent</i>, that is, +intelligent. I observed that he could rarely sound the letter r, but used l, as also r +for l sometimes; as <i>load</i> for road, <i>pickelel</i> for pickerel, +<i>Soogle</i> Island for Sugar Island. He generally added the syllable +<i>um</i> to his words, as <i>paddlum</i>, etc. +</p> + +<p> +On a point on the mainland where we landed to stretch our legs and look at the +vegetation, going inland a few steps, I discovered a fire still glowing beneath +its ashes, where somebody had breakfasted, and a bed of twigs prepared for the +following night. So I knew not only that they had just left, but that they +designed to return, and by the breadth of the bed that there was more than one +in the party. You might have gone within six feet of these signs without seeing +them. There grew the beaked hazel, rue seven feet high, and red osier, whose +bark the Indian said was good to smoke, “tobacco before white people came +to this country, Indian tobacco.” +</p> + +<p> +The Indian was always very careful in approaching the shore, lest he should +injure his +canoe on the rocks, letting it swing round slowly sidewise, and was still more +particular that we should not step into it on shore, nor till it floated free, +and then should step gently lest we should open its seams, or make a hole in +the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +After passing Deer Island we saw the little steamer from Greenville, far east +in the middle of the lake. Sometimes we could hardly tell her from an island +which had a few trees on it. Here we were exposed to the wind from over the +whole breadth of the lake, and ran a little risk of being swamped. While I had +my eye fixed on the spot where a large fish had leaped, we took in a gallon or +two of water; but we soon reached the shore and took the canoe over the bar at +Sand-bar Island, a few feet wide only, and so saved a considerable distance. +</p> + +<p> +We crossed a broad bay and found the water quite rough. A very little wind on +these broad lakes raises a sea which will swamp a canoe. Looking off from +the shore, +the surface may appear to be almost smooth a mile distant, or if you see a few +white crests they appear nearly level with the rest of the lake, but when you +get out so far, you may find quite a sea running, and ere long, before you +think of it, a wave will gently creep up the side of the canoe and fill your +lap, like a monster deliberately covering you with its slime before it swallows +you, or it will strike the canoe violently and break into it. The same thing +may happen when the wind rises suddenly, though it were perfectly calm and +smooth there a few minutes before; so that nothing can save you, unless you can +swim ashore, for it is impossible to get into a canoe when it is upset. Since +you sit flat on the bottom, though the danger should not be imminent, a little +water is a great inconvenience, not to mention the wetting of your provisions. +We rarely crossed even a bay directly, from point to point, when there was +wind, but made a slight curve corresponding somewhat to the shore, that we +might the sooner reach it if the wind increased. +</p> + +<p> +When the wind is aft, and not too strong, the Indian makes a spritsail of his +blanket. He thus easily skims over the whole length of this lake in a day. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian paddled on one side, and one of us on the other, to keep the canoe +steady, and when he wanted to change hands he would say, “T’ other +side.” He asserted, in answer to our questions, that he had never upset a +canoe himself, though he may have been upset by others. +</p> + +<p> +Think of our little eggshell of a canoe tossing across that great lake, a mere +black speck to the eagle soaring above it! +</p> + +<p> +My companion trailed for trout as we paddled along, but, the Indian warning him +that a big fish might upset us, for there are some very large ones there, he +agreed to pass the line quickly to the stern if he had a bite. +</p> + +<p> +While we were crossing this bay, where Mount Kineo rose dark before us +within two +or three miles, the Indian repeated the tradition respecting this +mountain’s having anciently been a cow moose—how a mighty Indian +hunter succeeded in killing this queen of the moose tribe with great +difficulty, while her calf was killed somewhere among the islands in Penobscot +Bay, and, to his eyes, this mountain had still the form of the moose in a +reclining posture. He told this at some length and with apparent good faith, +and asked us how we supposed the hunter could have killed such a mighty moose +as that. An Indian tells such a story as if he thought it deserved to have a +good deal said about it, only he has not got it to say, and so he makes up for +the deficiency by a drawling tone, long-windedness, and a dumb wonder which he +hopes will be contagious. +</p> + +<p> +We approached the land again through pretty rough water, and then steered +directly across the lake at its narrowest part to the eastern side, and were +soon partly under the lee of the mountain, having paddled about twenty miles. It was +now about noon. +</p> + +<p> +We designed to stop there that afternoon and night, and spent half an hour +looking along the shore northward for a suitable place to camp. At length, by +going half a dozen rods into the dense spruce and fir wood on the side of the +mountain almost as dark as a cellar, we found a place sufficiently clear and +level to lie down on, after cutting away a few bushes. The Indian cleared a +path to it from the shore with his axe, and we then carried up all our baggage, +pitched our tent, and made our bed, in order to be ready for foul weather, +which then threatened us, and for the night. He gathered a large armful of fir +twigs, breaking them off, which he said were the best for our bed, partly, I +thought, because they were the largest and could be most rapidly collected. It +had been raining more or less for four or five days, and the wood was even +damper than usual, but he got dry bark from the under side of a dead leaning hemlock, +which he said he could always do. +</p> + +<p> +This noon his mind was occupied with a law question, and I referred him to my +companion, who was a lawyer. It appeared that he had been buying land +lately—I think it was a hundred acres—but there was probably an +incumbrance to it, somebody else claiming to have bought some grass on it for +this year. He wished to know to whom the grass belonged, and was told that if +the other man could prove that he bought the grass before he, Polis, bought the +land, the former could take it whether the latter knew it or not. To which he +only answered, “Strange!” He went over this several times, fairly +sat down to it, with his back to a tree, as if he meant to confine us to this +topic henceforth; but as he made no headway, only reached the jumping-off place +of his wonder at white men’s institutions after each explanation, we let +the subject die. +</p> + +<p> +He said that he had fifty acres of grass, potatoes, etc., somewhere above +Oldtown, besides some about his house; that he hired a good deal of his work, +hoeing, etc., and preferred white men to Indians because “they keep +steady and know how.” +</p> + +<p> +After dinner we returned southward along the shore, in the canoe, on account of +the difficulty of climbing over the rocks and fallen trees, and began to ascend +the mountain along the edge of the precipice. But, a smart shower coming up +just then, the Indian crept under his canoe, while we, protected by our rubber +coats, proceeded to botanize. So we sent him back to the camp for shelter, +agreeing that he should come for us with his canoe toward night. It had rained +a little in the forenoon, and we trusted that this would be the clearing-up +shower, which it proved; but our feet and legs were thoroughly wet by the +bushes. The clouds breaking away a little, we had a glorious wild view, as we +ascended, of the broad lake with its numerous forest-clad islands extending +beyond our +sight both north and south, and the boundless forest undulating away from its +shores on every side, as densely packed as a rye-field and enveloping nameless +mountains in succession. It was a perfect lake of the woods. +</p> + +<p> +Looking southward, the heavens were completely overcast, the mountains capped +with clouds, and the lake generally wore a dark and stormy appearance, but from +its surface six or eight miles distant there was reflected upward through the +misty air a bright blue tinge from the unseen sky of another latitude beyond. +They probably had a clear sky then at the south end of the lake. +</p> + +<p> +Again we mistook a little rocky islet seen through the “drisk,” +with some taller bare trunks or stumps on it, for the steamer with its +smoke-pipes, but as it had not changed its position after half an hour we were +undeceived. So much do the works of man resemble the works of nature. A moose +might mistake a steamer for a floating isle, and not be scared till he +heard its puffing or its whistle. +</p> + +<p> +If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable +auspices, I would go to it in foul weather so as to be there when it cleared +up. We are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most fresh and +inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which is just established in a +tearful eye. +</p> + +<p> +Jackson, in his “Report on the Geology of Maine,” says: +“Hornstone, which will answer for flints, occurs in various parts of the +State. The largest mass of this stone known in the world is Mount Kineo, upon +Moosehead Lake, which appears to be entirely composed of it, and rises seven +hundred feet above the lake level. This variety of hornstone I have seen in +every part of New England in the form of Indian arrow-heads, hatchets, chisels, +etc., which were probably obtained from this mountain by the aboriginal +inhabitants of the country.” +</p> + +<p> +I have myself found hundreds of arrow-heads made of the same material. It is +generally slate-colored, with white specks, becoming a uniform white where +exposed to the light and air. I picked up a small thin piece which had so sharp +an edge that I used it as a knife, and, to see what I could do, fairly cut off +an aspen one inch thick with it, by bending it and making many cuts; though I +cut my fingers badly with the back of it in the meanwhile. +</p> + +<p> +From the summit of the precipice which forms the southern and eastern sides of +this mountain peninsula, five or six hundred feet high, we probably might have +jumped down to the water, or to the seemingly dwarfish trees on the narrow neck +of land which connects it with the main. It is a dangerous place to try the +steadiness of your nerves. +</p> + +<p> +The plants which attracted our attention on this mountain were the mountain +cinquefoil, abundant and in bloom still at the very base by the waterside, very +beautiful harebells overhanging the precipice, bearberry, the Canada blueberry, +wild holly, the great round-leafed orchis, bunchberry, reddening as we +ascended, green at the base of the mountain, red at the top, and the small fern +<i>Woodsia ilvensis</i>, growing in tufts, now in fruit. Having explored the +wonders of the mountain, and the weather being now cleared up, we commenced the +descent. We met the Indian, puffing and panting, about one third of the way up, +but thinking that he must be near the top. On reaching the canoe we found that +he had caught a lake trout weighing about three pounds, while we were on the +mountain. +</p> + +<p> +When we got to the camp, the canoe was taken out and turned over, and a log +laid across it to prevent its being blown away. The Indian cut some large logs +of damp and rotten wood to smoulder and keep fire through the night. The trout +was fried for supper. +</p> + +<p> +Our tent was of thin cotton cloth and quite small, forming with the ground a +triangular prism closed at the rear end, six feet long, seven wide, and four +high, so that we could barely sit up in the middle. It required two forked +stakes, a smooth ridgepole, and a dozen or more pins to pitch it. It kept off +dew and wind and an ordinary rain, and answered our purpose well enough. We +reclined within it till bedtime, each with his baggage at his head, or else sat +about the fire, having hung our wet clothes on a pole before the fire for the +night. +</p> + +<p> +As we sat there, just before night, looking out through the dusky wood, the +Indian heard a noise which he said was made by a snake. He imitated it at my +request, making a low whistling +note—<i>pheet</i>—<i>pheet</i>—two or three times repeated, +somewhat like the peep of the hyla, but not so loud. He said that he had never +seen them while making it, but going to the spot he finds the snake. This, he said, was a +sign of rain. When I had selected this place for our camp he had remarked that +there were snakes there. “But they won’t do any hurt,” I +said. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no,” he answered, “just as you say; it makes no +difference to me.” +</p> + +<p> +He lay on the right side of the tent, because, as he said, he was partly deaf +in one ear, and he wanted to lie with his good ear up. As we lay there he +inquired if I ever heard “Indian sing.” I replied that I had not +often, and asked him if he would not favor us with a song. He readily assented, +and, lying on his back, with his blanket wrapped around him, he commenced a +slow, somewhat nasal, yet musical chant, in his own language, which probably +was taught his tribe long ago by the Catholic missionaries. He translated it to +us, sentence by sentence, afterward. It proved to be a very simple religious +exercise or hymn, the burden of which was that there was only one God who ruled +all the world. +</p> + +<p> +His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America, when +Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There was, indeed, +a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and savage, only the mild +and infantile. The sentiments of humility and reverence chiefly were expressed. +</p> + +<p> +It was a dense and damp spruce and fir wood in which we lay, and, except for +our fire, perfectly dark; and when I awoke in the night, I either heard an owl +from deeper in the forest behind us, or a loon from a distance over the lake. +Getting up some time after midnight to collect the scattered brands together, +while my companions were sound asleep, I observed, partly in the fire, which +had ceased to blaze, a perfectly regular elliptical ring of light, about five +inches in its shortest diameter, six or seven in its longer, and from one +eighth to one quarter of an inch wide. It was fully as bright as the fire, but +not reddish or scarlet like a coal, but a white and slumbering light, like the +glowworm’s. I saw at once that it must be phosphorescent wood, which I +had often heard of, but never chanced to see. Putting my finger on it, with a +little hesitation, I found that it was a piece of dead moosewood which the +Indian had cut off in a slanting direction the evening before. +</p> + +<p> +Using my knife, I discovered that the light proceeded from that portion of the +sapwood immediately under the bark, and thus presented a regular ring at the +end, and when I pared off the bark and cut into the sap, it was all aglow along +the log. I was surprised to find the wood quite hard and apparently sound, +though probably decay had commenced in the sap, and I cut out some little +triangular chips, and, placing them in the hollow of my hand, carried them into +the camp, waked my companion, and showed them to him. They lit up the inside of +my hand, revealing the lines and wrinkles, and appearing exactly like coals of +fire raised to a white heat. +</p> + +<p> +I noticed that part of a decayed stump within four or five feet of the fire, an +inch wide and six inches long, soft and shaking wood, shone with equal +brightness. +</p> + +<p> +I neglected to ascertain whether our fire had anything to do with this, but the +previous day’s rain and long-continued wet weather undoubtedly had. +</p> + +<p> +I was exceedingly interested by this phenomenon. It could hardly have thrilled +me more if it had taken the form of letters, or of the human face. I little +thought that there was such a light shining in the darkness of the wilderness +for me. +</p> + +<p> +The next day the Indian told me their name for the +light—<i>artoosoqu’</i>—and on my inquiring concerning the +will-o’-the-wisp he said that his “folks” sometimes saw fires +passing along at various heights, even as high as the trees, and making a +noise. I was prepared after this to hear of the most startling and unimagined +phenomena witnessed by “his folks,” they are abroad at all hours +and seasons in scenes so unfrequented by white men. Nature must have +made a thousand revelations to them which are still secrets to us. +</p> + +<p> +I did not regret my not having seen this before, since I now saw it under +circumstances so favorable. I was in just the frame of mind to see something +wonderful, and this was a phenomenon adequate to my circumstances and +expectation, and it put me on the alert to see more like it. I let science +slide, and rejoiced in that light as if it had been a fellow creature. A +scientific <i>explanation</i>, as it is called, would have been altogether out +of place there. That is for pale daylight. Science with its retorts would have +put me to sleep; it was the opportunity to be ignorant that I improved. It made +a believer of me more than before. I believed that the woods were not +tenantless, but choke-full of honest spirits as good as myself any +day—not an empty chamber in which chemistry was left to work alone, but +an inhabited house. It suggested, too, that the same experience always gives +birth to the same sort of belief or religion. One revelation has been made to +the Indian, another to the white man. I have much to learn of the Indian, +nothing of the missionary. I am not sure but all that would tempt me to teach +the Indian my religion would be his promise to teach me <i>his</i>. Long enough +I had heard of irrelevant things; now at length I was glad to make acquaintance +with the light that dwells in rotten wood. +</p> + +<p> +I kept those little chips and wet them again the next night, but they emitted +no light. +</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p> +<a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span +class="label">[2]</span></a> The name dipper is applied to several species of +water-birds that are notable for their skill in diving. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>SATURDAY, JULY 25</h3> + +<p> +At breakfast, the Indian, evidently curious to know what would be expected of +him the next day, asked me how I spent the Sunday when at home. I told him that +I commonly sat in my chamber reading, etc., in the forenoon, and went to walk +in the afternoon. At which he shook his head and said, “Er, that is +ver’ bad.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you spend it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +He said that he did no work, that he went to church at Oldtown when he was at +home; in short, he did as he had been taught by the whites. +</p> + +<p> +When we were washing the dishes in the lakes, many fishes came close up to us +to get the particles of grease. +</p> + +<p> +The weather seemed to be more settled this morning, and we set out early in +order to +finish our voyage up the lake before the wind arose. Soon after starting, the +Indian directed our attention to the Northeast Carry, which we could plainly +see, about thirteen miles distant. This carry is a rude wooden railroad running +north and south about two miles, perfectly straight, from the lake to the +Penobscot through a low tract, with a clearing three or four rods wide. This +opening appeared as a clear bright, or light, point in the horizon, resting on +the edge of the lake. We should not have suspected it to be visible if the +Indian had not drawn our attention to it. It was a remarkable kind of light to +steer for—daylight seen through a vista in the forest—but visible +as far as an ordinary beacon by night. +</p> + +<p> +We crossed a deep wide bay north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left and +keeping up the eastern side of the lake. We then crossed another broad bay, +which, as we could no longer observe the shore particularly, afforded ample +time for conversation. The Indian said that he had got his +money by hunting, mostly high up the West Branch of the Penobscot, and toward +the head of the St. John. He had hunted there from a boy, and knew all about +that region. His game had been beaver, otter, black cat (or fisher), sable, +moose, etc. Canada lynx were plenty yet in burnt grounds. For food in the woods +he uses partridges, ducks, dried moose meat, hedgehog, etc. Loons, too, were +good, only “bile ’em good.” +</p> + +<p> +Pointing into the bay he said that it was the way to various lakes which he +knew. Only solemn bear-haunted mountains with their great wooded slopes were +visible. The Indian said that he had been along there several times. I asked +him how he guided himself in the woods. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” said he, “I can tell good many ways.” +</p> + +<p> +When I pressed him further he answered, “Sometimes I lookum +sidehill,” and he glanced toward a high hill or mountain on the eastern shore; +“great difference between the north and south; see where the sun has +shone most. So trees—the large limbs bend toward south. Sometimes I +lookum locks” (rocks). +</p> + +<p> +I asked what he saw on the rocks, but he did not describe anything in +particular, answering vaguely, in a mysterious or drawling tone, “bare +locks on lake shore—great difference between north, south, east, west +side—can tell what the sun has shone on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose,” said I, “that I should take you in a dark night +right up here into the middle of the woods a hundred miles, set you down, and +turn you round quickly twenty times, could you steer straight to +Oldtown?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yer,” said he, “have done pretty much same thing. I will +tell you. Some years ago I met an old white hunter at Millinocket; very good +hunter. He said he could go anywhere in the woods. He wanted to hunt with me +that day, so we start. We chase a moose all the forenoon, round +and round, till middle of afternoon, when we kill him. Then I said to him, +‘Now you go straight to camp.’ +</p> + +<p> +“He said, ‘I can’t do that. I don’t know where I +am.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Where you think camp?’ I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“He pointed so. Then I laugh at him. I take the lead and go right off the +other way, cross our tracks many times, straight camp.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do that?” asked I. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I can’t tell <i>you</i>,” he replied. “Great +difference between me and white man.” +</p> + +<p> +It appeared as if the sources of information were so various that he did not +give a distinct conscious attention to any one, and so could not readily refer +to any when questioned about it, but he found his way very much as an animal +does. Perhaps what is commonly called instinct in the animal in this case is +merely a sharpened and educated sense. Often, when an Indian says, “I don’t +know,” in regard to the route he is to take, he does not mean what a +white man would by those words, for his Indian instinct may tell him still as +much as the most confident white man knows. He does not carry things in his +head, nor remember the route exactly, like a white man, but relies on himself +at the moment. Not having experienced the need of the other sort of +knowledge—all labeled and arranged—he has not acquired it. +</p> + +<p> +The hunter with whom I talked in the stage knew some of the resources of the +Indian. He said that he steered by the wind, or by the limbs of the hemlocks, +which were largest on the south side; also sometimes, when he knew that there +was a lake near, by firing his gun and listening to hear the direction and +distance of the echo from over it. +</p> + +<p> +As the forenoon advanced the wind increased. The last bay which we crossed +before reaching the desolate pier at the Northeast Carry, was two or three miles over, and +the wind was southwesterly. After going a third of the way, the waves had +increased so as occasionally to wash into the canoe, and we saw that it was +worse ahead. At first we might have turned about, but were not willing to. It +would have been of no use to follow the course of the shore, for the waves ran +still higher there on account of the greater sweep the wind had. At any rate it +would have been dangerous now to alter our course, because the waves would have +struck us at an advantage. It will not do to meet them at right angles, for +then they will wash in both sides, but you must take them quartering. So the +Indian stood up in the canoe and exerted all his skill and strength for a mile +or two, while I paddled right along in order to give him more steerage-way. For +more than a mile he did not allow a single wave to strike the canoe as it +would, but turned it quickly from this side to that, so that it would always be +on or near +the crest of a wave when it broke, where all its force was spent, and we merely +settled down with it. At length I jumped out onto the end of the pier against +which the waves were dashing violently, in order to lighten the canoe and catch +it at the landing, which was not much sheltered, but just as I jumped we took +in two or three gallons of water. I remarked to the Indian, “You managed +that well,” to which he replied: “Ver’ few men do that. Great +many waves; when I look out for one, another come quick.” +</p> + +<p> +While the Indian went to get cedar bark, etc., to carry his canoe with, we +cooked the dinner on the shore in the midst of a sprinkling rain. He prepared +his canoe for carrying in this wise. He took a cedar shingle or splint eighteen +inches long and four or five wide, rounded at one end, that the corners might +not be in the way, and tied it with cedar bark by two holes made midway, near +the edge on each side, to the middle crossbar of the canoe. When the canoe was lifted +upon his head bottom up, this shingle, with its rounded end uppermost, +distributed the weight over his shoulders and head, while a band of cedar bark, +tied to the crossbar on each side of the shingle, passed round his breast, and +another longer one, outside of the last, round his forehead; also a hand on +each side rail served to steer the canoe and keep it from rocking. He thus +carried it with his shoulders, head, breast, forehead, and both hands, as if +the upper part of his body were all one hand to clasp and hold it. A cedar tree +furnished all the gear in this case, as it had the woodwork of the canoe. One +of the paddles rested on the crossbars in the bows. I took the canoe upon my +head and found that I could carry it with ease, but I let him carry it, not +caring to establish a different precedent. This shingle remained tied to the +crossbar throughout the voyage, was always ready for the carries, and also +served to protect the back of one passenger. +</p> + +<p> +We were obliged to go over this carry twice, our load was so great. But the +carries were an agreeable variety, and we improved the opportunity to gather +the rare plants which we had seen, when we returned empty-handed. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the Penobscot about four o’clock, and found there some St. +Francis Indians encamped on the bank. They were making a canoe and drying moose +meat. Their camp was covered with spruce bark. They had a young moose, taken in +the river a fortnight before, confined in a sort of cage of logs piled up +cob-fashion, seven or eight feet high. It was quite tame, about four feet high, +and covered with moose flies. There was a large quantity of cornel, red maple, +and also willow and aspen boughs, stuck through between the logs on all sides, +butt ends out, and on their leaves it was browsing. It looked at first as if it +were in a bower rather than a pen. +</p> + +<p> +Our Indian said that <i>he</i> used <i>black</i> spruce roots to sew canoes with, obtaining +it from high lands or mountains. The St. Francis Indians thought that +<i>white</i> spruce roots might be best. But the former said, “No good, +break, can’t split ’em.” +</p> + +<p> +I told him I thought that I could make a canoe, but he expressed great doubt of +it; at any rate he thought that my work would not be “neat” the +first time. +</p> + +<p> +Having reloaded, we paddled down the Penobscot. We saw a splendid yellow lily +by the shore, which I plucked. It was six feet high and had twelve flowers, in +two whorls, forming a pyramid. We afterward saw many more thus tall along this +stream, and on the East Branch. The Indian said that the roots were good for +soup, that is, to cook with meat, to thicken it, taking the place of flour. +They get them in the fall. I dug some, and found a mass of bulbs pretty deep in +the earth, two inches in diameter, looking, and even tasting, somewhat like raw +green corn on the ear. +</p> + +<p> +When we had gone about three miles down the Penobscot, we saw through the tree-tops a +thunder-shower coming up in the west, and we looked out a camping-place in good +season, about five o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +I will describe the routine of camping. We generally told the Indian that we +would stop at the first suitable place, so that he might be on the lookout for +it. Having observed a clear, hard, and flat beach to land on, free from mud, +and from stones which would injure the canoe, one would run up the bank to see +if there were open and level space enough for the camp between the trees, or if +it could be easily cleared, preferring at the same time a cool place, on +account of insects. Sometimes we paddled a mile or more before finding one to +our minds, for where the shore was suitable the bank would often be too steep, +or else too low and grassy, and therefore mosquitoey. We then took out the +baggage and drew up the canoe. The Indian cut a path to the spot we had +selected, which was usually within two or three rods of the water, and we carried +up our baggage. +</p> + +<p> +One, perhaps, takes birch bark, always at hand, and dead dry wood, and kindles +a fire five or six feet in front of where we intend to lie. It matters not, +commonly, on which side this is, because there is little or no wind in so dense +a wood at that season; and then he gets a kettle of water from the river, and +takes out the pork, bread, coffee, etc., from their several packages. +</p> + +<p> +Another, meanwhile, having the axe, cuts down the nearest dead rock maple or +other dry hard wood, collecting several large logs to last through the night, +also a green stake, with a notch or fork to it, which is slanted over the fire, +perhaps resting on a rock or forked stake, to hang the kettle on, and two +forked stakes and a pole for the tent. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 280px;"> +<a name="illus03"></a> +<a href="images/img05.jpg"><img src="images/img05th.jpg" width="280" +height="400" alt="Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland</span> +</div> + +<p> +The third man pitches the tent, cuts a dozen or more pins with his knife to +fasten it down with, and then collects an armful or two of fir twigs, +arbor-vitæ, spruce, or hemlock, whichever is at hand, and makes the bed, +beginning at either end, and laying the twigs wrong side up, in regular rows, +covering the stub ends of the last row; first, however, filling the hollows, if +there are any, with coarser material. +</p> + +<p> +Commonly, by the time the bed is made, or within fifteen or twenty minutes, the +water boils, the pork is fried, and supper is ready. We eat this sitting on the +ground, or a stump, around a large piece of birch bark for a table, each +holding a dipper in one hand and a piece of ship-bread or fried pork in the +other, frequently making a pass with his hand, or thrusting his head into the +smoke, to avoid the mosquitoes. +</p> + +<p> +Next, pipes are lit by those who smoke, and veils are donned by those who have +them, and we hastily examine and dry our plants, anoint our faces and hands, +and go to bed. +</p> + +<p> +Though you have nothing to do but see the country, there’s rarely any +time to spare, hardly enough to examine a plant, before the night or drowsiness is +upon you. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the ordinary experience, but this evening we had camped earlier on +account of the rain, and had more time. We found that our camp was on an old +indistinct supply-road, running along the river. What is called a road there +shows no ruts or trace of wheels, for they are not used; nor, indeed, of +runners, since they are used only in the winter when the snow is several feet +deep. It is only an indistinct vista through the wood, which it takes an +experienced eye to detect. +</p> + +<p> +We had no sooner pitched our tent than the thunder-shower burst on us, and we +hastily crept under it, drawing our bags after us, curious to see how much of a +shelter our thin cotton roof was going to be in this excursion. Though the +violence of the rain forced a fine shower through the cloth before it was +fairly wetted and shrunk, with which we were well bedewed, we managed to keep +pretty dry, only a box of matches having been left out and spoiled, +and before we were aware of it the shower was over, and only the dripping trees +imprisoned us. +</p> + +<p> +Wishing to see what fishes were in the river there, we cast our lines over the +wet bushes on the shore, but they were repeatedly swept down the swift stream +in vain. So, leaving the Indian, we took the canoe, just before dark, and +dropped down the river a few rods to fish at the mouth of a sluggish brook. We +pushed up this a rod or two, but were soon driven off by the mosquitoes. While +there we heard the Indian fire his gun twice in rapid succession. His object +was to clean out and dry it after the rain, and he then loaded it with ball, +being now on ground where he expected to meet with large game. This sudden loud +crashing noise in the still aisles of the forest affected me like an insult to +nature, or ill manners at any rate, as if you were to fire a gun in a hall or +temple. It was not heard far, however, except along the river, the sound being rapidly +hushed up or absorbed by the damp trees and mossy ground. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian made a little smothered fire of damp leaves close to the back of the +camp, that the smoke might drive through and keep out the mosquitoes, but just +before we fell asleep this suddenly blazed up and came near setting fire to the +tent. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>SUNDAY, JULY 26</h3> + +<p> +The note of the white-throated sparrow was the first heard in the morning, and +with this all the woods rang. Though commonly unseen, their simple <i>ah, +te-te-te, te-te-te, te-te-te</i>, so sharp and piercing, was as distinct to the +ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into the darkest of the forest would +be to the eye. We were commonly aroused by their lively strain very early. What +a glorious time they must have in that wilderness, far from mankind! +</p> + +<p> +I told the Indian that we would go to church to Chesuncook this morning, some +fifteen miles. It was settled weather at last. A few swallows flitted over the +water, we heard Maryland yellow-throats along the shore, the notes of the +chickadee, and, I believe, redstarts. Moose-flies of large size +pursued us in midstream. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian thought that we should lie by on Sunday. Said he, “We come +here lookum things, look all round, but come Sunday look up all that, and then +Monday look again.” +</p> + +<p> +He spoke of an Indian of his acquaintance who had been with some ministers to +Katahdin and had told him how they conducted. This he described in a low and +solemn voice. “They make a long prayer every morning and night, and at +every meal. Come Sunday, they stop ’em, no go at all that day—keep +still—preach all day—first one, then another, just like church. Oh, +ver’ good men. One day going along a river, they came to the body of a +man in the water, drowned good while. They go right ashore—stop there, go +no farther that day—they have meeting there, preach and pray just like +Sunday. Then they go back and carry the body with them. Oh, they ver’ +good men.” +</p> + +<p> +I judged from this account that their every camp was a camp-meeting, and that +they wanted an opportunity to preach somewhere more than to see Katahdin. +</p> + +<p> +However, the Indian added, plying the paddle all the while, that if we would go +along he must go with us, he our man, and he suppose that if he no takum pay +for what he do Sunday then ther’s no harm, but if he takum pay then +wrong. I told him that he was stricter than white men. Nevertheless, I noticed +that he did not forget to reckon in the Sundays at last. +</p> + +<p> +He appeared to be a very religious man, and said his prayers in a loud voice, +in Indian, kneeling before the camp, morning and evening—sometimes +scrambling up in haste when he had forgotten this, and saying them with great +rapidity. In the course of the day he remarked, “Poor man rememberum God +more than rich.” +</p> + +<p> +We soon passed the island where I had camped four years before. The deadwater, +a mile or two below it, the Indian said was “a great place for moose.” We saw +the grass bent where a moose came out the night before, and the Indian said +that he could smell one as far as he could see him, but he added that if he +should see five or six to-day close by canoe he no shoot ’em. +Accordingly, as he was the only one of the party who had a gun, or had come +a-hunting, the moose were safe. +</p> + +<p> +Just below this a cat owl flew heavily over the stream, and he, asking if I +knew what it was, imitated very well the common <i>hoo, hoo, hoo, hoorer, +hoo</i>, of our woods. +</p> + +<p> +We carried a part of the baggage about Pine Stream Falls, while the Indian went +down in the canoe. A Bangor merchant had told us that two men in his employ +were drowned some time ago while passing these falls in a bateau, and a third +clung to a rock all night and was taken off in the morning. There were +magnificent great purple fringed orchises on this carry and the neighboring +shores. I measured the largest canoe birch which I saw in this journey near the +end of the carry. It was fourteen and one half feet in circumference at two +feet from the ground, but at five feet divided into three parts. The Indian cut +a small woody knob as big as a filbert from the trunk of a fir, apparently an +old balsam vesicle filled with wood, which he said was good medicine. +</p> + +<p> +After we had embarked and gone half a mile, my companion remembered that he had +left his knife, and we paddled back to get it, against the strong and swift +current. This taught us the difference between going up and down the stream, +for while we were working our way back a quarter of a mile, we should have gone +down a mile and half at least. So we landed, and while he and the Indian were +gone back for it, I watched the motions of the foam, a kind of white waterfowl +near the shore, forty or fifty rods below. It alternately appeared and +disappeared behind the rock, being carried round by an eddy. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately below these falls was the Chesuncook Deadwater, caused by the +flowing back of the lake. As we paddled slowly over this, the Indian told us a +story of his hunting thereabouts, and something more interesting about himself. +It appeared that he had represented his tribe at Augusta, and once at +Washington. He had a great idea of education, and would occasionally break out +into such expressions as this, “Kademy—good thing—I suppose +they usum Fifth Reader there. You been college?” +</p> + +<p> +We steered across the northwest end of the lake. It is an agreeable change to +cross a lake after you have been shut up in the woods, not only on account of +the greater expanse of water, but also of sky. It is one of the surprises which +Nature has in store for the traveler in the forest. To look down, in this case, +over eighteen miles of water was liberating and civilizing even. The lakes also +reveal the mountains, and give ample scope and range to our thought. Already there +were half a dozen log huts about this end of the lake, though so far from a +road. In these woods the earliest settlements are clustering about the lakes, +partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest clearings. +Water is a pioneer which the settler follows, taking advantage of its +improvements. +</p> + +<p> +About noon we turned northward up a broad kind of estuary, and at its northeast +corner found the Caucomgomoc River, and after going about a mile from the lake +reached the Umbazookskus. Our course was up the Umbazookskus, but as the Indian +knew of a good camping-place, that is, a cool place where there were few +mosquitoes, about half a mile farther up the Caucomgomoc, we went thither. So +quickly we changed the civilizing sky of Chesuncook for the dark wood of the +Caucomgomoc. On reaching the Indian’s camping-ground on the south side, +where the bank was about a dozen feet high, I read on the trunk of a fir tree +blazed by +an axe an inscription in charcoal which had been left by him. It was surmounted +by a drawing of a bear paddling a canoe, which he said was the sign used by his +family always. The drawing, though rude, could not be mistaken for anything but +a bear, and he doubted my ability to copy it. The inscription ran thus. I +interline the English of his Indian as he gave it to me. +</p> + +<p class='center'> (The figure of a bear in a boat.)<br /> +July 26<br /> +1853 +</p> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="wealone"> +<tr><td colspan='2'><i>niasoseb</i></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='2'>We alone Joseph</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Polis</i></td><td align='left'><i>elioi</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Polis</td><td align='left'>start</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>sia</i></td><td align='left'><i>olta</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>for</td><td align='left'>Oldtown</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>onke</i></td><td align='left'><i>ni</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>right away</td><td align='left'></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>quambi</i></td><td align='left'></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> + +<p class='center'>July 15<br /> +1855<br /> +<i>niasoseb</i> +</p> + +<p> +He added now below:— +</p> + +<p class='center'>1857<br /> +July 26<br /> +Jo. Polis +</p> + +<p> +This was one of his homes. I saw where he had sometimes stretched his +moose-hides on the sunny north side of the river where there was a narrow +meadow. +</p> + +<p> +After we had selected a place for our camp, and kindled our fire, almost +exactly on the site of the Indian’s last camp here, he, looking up, +observed, “That tree danger.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a dead part, more than a foot in diameter, of a large canoe birch, which +branched at the ground. This branch, rising thirty feet or more, slanted +directly over the spot which we had chosen for our bed. I told him to try it +with his axe, but he could not shake it perceptibly, and, therefore, seemed +inclined to disregard it, and my companion expressed his willingness to run the +risk. But it seemed to me that we should be fools to lie under it, for though the lower +part was firm, the top, for aught we knew, might be just ready to fall, and we +should at any rate be very uneasy if the wind arose in the night. It is a +common accident for men camping in the woods to be killed by a falling tree. So +the camp was moved to the other side of the fire. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian said that the Umbazookskus, being a dead stream with broad meadows, +was a good place for moose, and he frequently came a-hunting here, being out +alone three weeks or more from Oldtown. He sometimes, also, went a-hunting to +the Seboois Lakes, taking the stage, with his gun and ammunition, axe and +blankets, hard-bread and pork, perhaps for a hundred miles of the way, and +jumped off at the wildest place on the road, where he was at once at home, and +every rod was a tavern-site for him. Then, after a short journey through the +woods, he would build a spruce-bark canoe in one day, putting but few ribs into +it, that it might be light, and, after doing his hunting with it on the +lakes, would return with his furs the same way he had come. Thus you have an +Indian availing himself of the advantages of civilization, without losing any +of his woodcraft, but proving himself the more successful hunter for it. +</p> + +<p> +This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our tent was +of a kind new to him, but when he had once seen it pitched it was surprising +how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked stakes to pitch it +with, cutting and placing them right the first time, though I am sure that the +majority of white men would have blundered several times. +</p> + +<p> +Now I thought I would observe how he spent his Sunday. While I and my companion +were looking about at the trees and river he went to sleep. Indeed, he improved +every opportunity to get a nap, whatever the day. +</p> + +<p> +Rambling about the woods at this camp, I noticed that they consisted chiefly of +firs, spruce, red maple, birch, and, along the river, the hoary alder. I could +trace the outlines of large birches that had fallen long ago, collapsed and +rotted and turned to soil, by faint yellowish-green lines of featherlike moss, +eighteen inches wide and twenty or thirty feet long, crossed by other similar +lines. +</p> + +<p> +Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the +settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not distinctly +attend, passed for a sound of human industry. The waterfalls which I heard were +not without their dams and mills to my imagination; and several times I found +that I had been regarding the steady rushing sound of the wind from over the +woods beyond the rivers as that of a train of cars. Our minds anywhere, when +left to themselves, are always thus busily drawing conclusions from false +premises. +</p> + +<p> +I asked the Indian to make us a sugar-bowl of birch bark, which he did, using the great +knife which dangled in a sheath from his belt; but the bark broke at the +corners when he bent it up, and he said it was not good—that there was a +great difference in this respect between the bark of one canoe birch and that +of another. +</p> + +<p> +My companion, wishing to distinguish between the black and white spruce, asked +Polis to show him a twig of the latter, which he did at once, together with the +black; indeed, he could distinguish them about as far as he could see them. As +the two twigs appeared very much alike, my companion asked the Indian to point +out the difference; whereupon the latter, taking the twigs, instantly remarked, +as he passed his hand over them successively in a stroking manner, that the +white was rough, that is, the needles stood up nearly perpendicular, but the +black smooth, that is, as if bent down. This was an obvious difference, both to +sight and touch. +</p> + +<p> +I asked him to get some black spruce root and make some thread. Whereupon, without +looking up at the trees overhead, he began to grub in the ground, instantly +distinguishing the black spruce roots, and cutting off a slender one, three or +four feet long, and as big as a pipestem, he split the end with his knife, and +taking a half between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, rapidly separated +its whole length into two equal semi-cylindrical halves. Then, giving me +another root, he said, “You try.” +</p> + +<p> +But in my hands it immediately ran off one side, and I got only a very short +piece. Though it looked easy, I found that there was a great art in splitting +these roots. The split is skillfully humored by bending short with this hand or +that, and so kept in the middle. He then took off the bark from each half, +pressing a short piece of cedar bark against the convex side with both hands, +while he drew the root upward with his teeth. An Indian’s teeth are +strong, and +I noticed that he used his often where we should have used a hand. They +amounted to a third hand. He thus obtained in a moment a very neat, tough, and +flexible string, which he could tie into a knot, or make into a fishline even. +He said that you would be obliged to give half a dollar for spruce root enough +for a canoe, thus prepared. +</p> + +<p> +He had discovered the day before that his canoe leaked a little, and said that +it was owing to stepping into it violently. I asked him where he would get +pitch to mend it with, for they commonly use hard pitch, obtained of the whites +at Oldtown. He said that he could make something very similar, and equally +good, of material which we had with us; and he wished me to guess what. But I +could not, and he would not tell me, though he showed me a ball of it when +made, as big as a pea and like black pitch, saying, at last, that there were +some things which a man did not tell even his wife. +</p> + +<p> +Being curious to see what kind of fishes there were in this dark, deep, +sluggish river, I cast in my line just before night, and caught several small +sucker-like fishes, which the Indian at once rejected, saying that they were +good for nothing. Also, he would not touch a pout, which I caught, and said +that neither Indians nor whites thereabouts ever ate them. But he said that +some small silvery fishes, which I called white chivin, were the best fish in +the Penobscot waters, and if I would toss them up the bank to him, he would +cook them for me. After cleaning them, not very carefully, leaving the heads +on, he laid them on the coals and so broiled them. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 283px;"> +<a name="illus04"></a> +<a href="images/img06.jpg"><img src="images/img06th.jpg" width="283" +height="400" alt="Fishing" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">Fishing</span> +</div> + +<p> +Returning from a short walk, he brought a vine in his hand, saying that it made +the best tea of anything in the woods. It was the creeping snowberry, which was +quite common there, its berries just grown. So we determined to have some tea +made of this. It had a slight checkerberry flavor, and we both agreed that it was really +better than the black tea which we had brought. We thought it quite a +discovery, and that it might well be dried and sold in the shops. I for one, +however, am not an old tea-drinker and cannot speak with authority to others. +The Indian said that they also used for tea a certain herb which grew in low +ground, which he did not find there, and Labrador tea; also hemlock leaves, the +last especially in winter when the other plants were covered with snow; and +various other things. We could have had a new kind of tea every night. +</p> + +<p> +Just before night we saw a <i>musquash</i>, the only one we saw in this voyage, +swimming downward on the opposite side of the stream. The Indian, wishing to +get one to eat, hushed us, saying, “Stop, me call ’em”; and, +sitting flat on the bank, he began to make a curious squeaking, wiry sound with +his lips, exerting himself considerably. I was greatly surprised—thought that I had at last got into +the wilderness, and that he was a wild man indeed, to be talking to a musquash! +I did not know which of the two was the strangest to me. He seemed suddenly to +have quite forsaken humanity, and gone over to the musquash side. The musquash, +however, as near as I could see, did not turn aside, and the Indian said that +he saw our fire; but it was evident that he was in the habit of calling the +musquash to him, as he said. An acquaintance of mine who was hunting moose in +these woods a month after this, tells me that his Indian in this way repeatedly +called the musquash within reach of his paddle in the moonlight, and struck at +them. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian said a particularly long prayer this Sunday evening, as if to atone +for working in the morning. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>MONDAY, JULY 27</h3> + +<p> +Having rapidly loaded the canoe, which the Indian always carefully attended to, +that it might be well trimmed, and each having taken a look, as usual, to see +that nothing was left, we set out again, descending the Caucomgomoc, and +turning northeasterly up the Umbazookskus. This name, the Indian said, meant +<i>Much Meadow River</i>. We found it now very wide on account of the rains. +The space between the woods, chiefly bare meadow, was from fifty to two hundred +rods in breadth. +</p> + +<p> +In the water on the meadows grew sedges, wool-grass, the common blue flag +abundantly, its flower just showing itself above the high water, as if it were +a blue water-lily, and higher in the meadows a great many clumps of a peculiar +narrow-leaved willow. Here also grew the red osier, its +large fruit now whitish. +</p> + +<p> +It was unusual for the woods to be so distant from the shore, and there was +quite an echo from them, but when I was shouting in order to awake it, the +Indian reminded me that I should scare the moose, which he was looking out for, +and which we all wanted to see. +</p> + +<p> +Having paddled several miles up the Umbazookskus, it suddenly contracted to a +mere brook, narrow and swift, the larches and other trees approaching the bank +and leaving no open meadow. We landed to get a black spruce pole for pushing +against the stream. The one selected was quite slender, cut about ten feet +long, merely whittled to a point, and the bark shaved off. +</p> + +<p> +While we were thus employed, two Indians in a canoe hove in sight round the +bushes, coming down stream. Our Indian knew one of them, an old man, and fell +into conversation with him. He belonged at the foot of Moosehead. The other was of another +tribe. They were returning from hunting. I asked the younger if they had seen +any moose, to which he said “No”; but I, seeing the moose-hides +sticking out from a great bundle made with their blankets in the middle of the +canoe, added, “Only their hides.” +</p> + +<p> +As he was a foreigner, he may have wished to deceive me, for it is against the +law for white men and foreigners to kill moose in Maine at this season. But +perhaps he need not have been alarmed, for the moose-wardens are not very +particular. I heard of one who, being asked by a white man going into the woods +what he would say if he killed a moose, answered, “If you bring me a +quarter of it I guess you won’t be troubled.” His duty being, as he +said, only to prevent the “indiscriminate” slaughter of them for +their hides. I suppose that he would consider it an <i>indiscriminate</i> +slaughter when a quarter was not reserved for himself. +</p> + +<p> +We continued along through the most extensive larch wood which I had +seen—tall and slender trees with fantastic branches. You do not find +straggling trees of this species here and there throughout the wood, but rather +a little forest of them. The same is the case with the white and red pines and +some other trees, greatly to the convenience of the lumberer. They are of a +social habit, growing in “veins,” “clumps,” +“groups,” or “communities,” as the explorers call them, +distinguishing them far away, from the top of a hill or a tree, the white pines +towering above the surrounding forest, or else they form extensive forests by +themselves. I should have liked to come across a large community of pines which +had never been invaded by the lumbering army. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 282px;"> +<a name="illus05"></a> +<a href="images/img07.jpg"><img src="images/img07th.jpg" width="282" +height="400" alt="The Red Squirrel" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">The Red Squirrel</span> +</div> + +<p> +We saw some fresh moose-tracks along the shore. The stream was only from one +and one half to three rods wide, quite winding, with occasional small islands, +meadows, and some very swift and shallow places. When we came to an island the +Indian never hesitated which side to take, as if the current told him which was +the shortest and deepest. It was lucky for us that the water was so high. We +had to walk but once on this stream, carrying a part of the load, at a swift +and shallow reach, while he got up with the canoe, not being obliged to take +out, though he said it was very strong water. Once or twice we passed the red +wreck of a bateau which had been stove some spring. +</p> + +<p> +While making this portage I saw many splendid specimens of the great purple +fringed orchis, three feet high. It is remarkable that such delicate flowers +should here adorn these wilderness paths. +</p> + +<p> +The Umbazookskus is called ten miles long. Having poled up the narrowest part +some three or four miles, the next opening in the sky was over Umbazookskus +Lake, which we suddenly entered about eleven o’clock in the forenoon. It +stretches north-westerly four or five miles. We crossed the southeast end to the carry into +Mud Pond. +</p> + +<p> +Hodge, who went through this way to the St. Lawrence in the service of the +State, calls the portage here a mile and three quarters long. The Indian said +this was the wettest carry in the State, and as the season was a very wet one +we anticipated an unpleasant walk. As usual he made one large bundle of the +pork-keg, cooking-utensils, and other loose traps, by tying them up in his +blanket. We should be obliged to go over the carry twice, and our method was to +carry one half part way, and then go back for the rest. +</p> + +<p> +Our path ran close by the door of a log hut in a clearing at this end of the +carry, which the Indian, who alone entered it, found to be occupied by a +Canadian and his family, and that the man had been blind for a year. This was +the first house above Chesuncook, and was built here, no doubt, because it was +the route of the lumberers in the winter and spring. +</p> + +<p> +After a slight ascent from the lake through the springy soil of the +Canadian’s clearing, we entered on a level and very wet and rocky path +through the dense evergreen forest, a loosely paved gutter merely, where we +went leaping from rock to rock and from side to side in the vain attempt to +keep out of the water and mud. It was on this carry that the white hunter whom +I met in the stage, as he told me, had shot two bears a few months before. They +stood directly in the path and did not turn out for him. He said that at this +season bears were found on the mountains and hillsides in search of berries and +were apt to be saucy. +</p> + +<p> +Here commences what was called, twenty years ago, the best timber land in the +State. This very spot was described as “covered with the greatest +abundance of pine,” but now this appeared to me, comparatively, an +uncommon tree there—and yet you did not see where any more could have +stood, amid the dense growth of cedar, fir, etc. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian with his canoe soon disappeared before us, but ere long he came back +and told us to take a path which turned off westward, it being better walking, +and, at my suggestion, he agreed to leave a bough in the regular carry at that +place that we might not pass it by mistake. Thereafter, he said, we were to +keep the main path, and he added, “You see ’em my tracks.” +</p> + +<p> +But I had not much faith that we could distinguish his tracks, since others had +passed over the carry within a few days. We turned off at the right place, but +were soon confused by numerous logging-paths coming into the one we were on. +However, we kept what we considered the main path, though it was a winding one, +and in this, at long intervals, we distinguished a faint trace of a footstep. +This, though comparatively unworn, was at first a better, or, at least, a dryer +road than the regular carry which we had left. It led through an +arbor-vitæ wilderness of the grimmest character. The great fallen and rotting +trees had been cut through and rolled aside, and their huge trunks abutted on +the path on each side, while others still lay across it two or three feet high. +</p> + +<p> +It was impossible for us to discern the Indian’s trail in the elastic +moss, which, like a thick carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as well +as the earth. Nevertheless, I did occasionally detect the track of a man, and I +gave myself some credit for it. I carried my whole load at once, a heavy +knapsack, and a large rubber bag containing our bread and a blanket, swung on a +paddle, in all about sixty pounds; but my companion preferred to make two +journeys by short stages while I waited for him. We could not be sure that we +were not depositing our loads each time farther off from the true path. +</p> + +<p> +As I sat waiting for my companion, he would seem to be gone a long time, and I +had ample opportunity to make observations on the forest. I now first began +to be +seriously molested by the black fly, a very small but perfectly formed fly of +that color, about one tenth of an inch long, which I felt, and then saw, in +swarms about me, as I sat by a wider and more than usually doubtful fork in +this dark forest path. Remembering that I had a wash in my knapsack, prepared +by a thoughtful hand in Bangor, I made haste to apply it to my face and hands, +and was glad to find it effectual, as long as it was fresh, or for twenty +minutes, not only against black flies, but all the insects that molested us. +They would not alight on the part thus defended. It was composed of sweet oil +and oil of turpentine, with a little oil of spearmint, and camphor. However, I +finally concluded that the remedy was worse than the disease, it was so +disagreeable and inconvenient to have your face and hands covered with such a +mixture. +</p> + +<p> +Three large slate-colored birds of the jay genus, the Canada jay, came +flitting +silently and by degrees toward me, and hopped down the limbs inquisitively to +within seven or eight feet. Fish hawks from the lake uttered their sharp +whistling notes low over the top of the forest near me, as if they were anxious +about a nest there. +</p> + +<p> +After I had sat there some time I noticed at this fork in the path a tree which +had been blazed, and the letters “Chamb. L.” written on it with red +chalk. This I knew to mean Chamberlain Lake. So I concluded that on the whole +we were on the right course. +</p> + +<p> +My companion having returned with his bag, we set forward again. The walking +rapidly grew worse and the path more indistinct, and at length we found +ourselves in a more open and regular swamp made less passable than ordinary by +the unusual wetness of the season. We sank a foot deep in water and mud at +every step, and sometimes up to our knees. The trail was almost obliterated, +being no more than a musquash leaves in similar places when he parts the +floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a musquash trail in some places. We +concluded that if Mud Pond was as muddy as the approach to it was wet, it +certainly deserved its name. It would have been amusing to behold the dogged +and deliberate pace at which we entered that swamp, without interchanging a +word, as if determined to go through it, though it should come up to our necks. +Having penetrated a considerable distance into this and found a tussock on +which we could deposit our loads, though there was no place to sit, my +companion went back for the rest of his pack. +</p> + +<p> +After a long while my companion came back, and the Indian with him. We had +taken the wrong road, and the Indian had lost us. He had gone back to the +Canadian’s camp and asked him which way we had probably gone, since he +could better understand the ways of white men, and he told him correctly that +we had undoubtedly taken the supply road to Chamberlain Lake. The +Indian was greatly surprised that we should have taken what he called a +“tow,” that is, tote, toting, or supply, road instead of a carry +path,—that we had not followed his tracks,—said it was +“strange,” and evidently thought little of our woodcraft. +</p> + +<p> +Having held a consultation and eaten a mouthful of bread, we concluded that it +would perhaps be nearer for us two now to keep on to Chamberlain Lake, omitting +Mud Pond, than to go back and start anew for the last place, though the Indian +had never been through this way and knew nothing about it. In the meanwhile he +would go back and finish carrying over his canoe and bundle to Mud Pond, cross +that, and go down its outlet and up Chamberlain Lake, and trust to meet us +there before night. It was now a little after noon. He supposed that the water +in which we stood had flowed back from Mud Pond, which could not be far +off +eastward, but was unapproachable through the dense cedar swamp. +</p> + +<p> +Keeping on, we were ere long agreeably disappointed by reaching firmer ground, +and we crossed a ridge where the path was more distinct, but there was never +any outlook over the forest. At one place I heard a very clear and piercing +note from a small hawk as he dashed through the tree-tops over my head. We also +saw and heard several times the red squirrel. This, according to the Indian, is +the only squirrel found in those woods, except a very few striped ones. It must +have a solitary time in that dark evergreen forest, where there is so little +life, seventy-five miles from a road as we had come. I wondered how he could +call any particular tree there his home, and yet he would run up the stem of +one out of the myriads, as if it were an old road to him. I fancied that he +must be glad to see us, though he did seem to chide us. One of those somber fir +and spruce woods is not complete unless you hear from out its cavernous mossy and +twiggy recesses his fine alarum—his spruce voice, like the working of the +sap through some crack in a tree. Such an impertinent fellow would occasionally +try to alarm the wood about me. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” said I, “I am well acquainted with your family. I know +your cousins in Concord very well.” But my overtures were vain, for he +would withdraw by his aerial turnpikes into a more distant cedar-top, and +spring his rattle again. +</p> + +<p> +We entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking was +worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen timber, which +often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The fallen trees were so +numerous that for long distances the route was through a succession of small +yards, where we climbed over fences as high as our heads, down into water often +up to our knees, and then over another fence into a second yard, and so on. In +many places +the canoe would have run if it had not been for the fallen timber. Again it +would be more open, but equally wet, too wet for trees to grow. It was a mossy +swamp, which it required the long legs of a moose to traverse, and it is very +likely that we scared some of them in our transit, though we saw none. It was +ready to echo the growl of a bear, the howl of a wolf, or the scream of a +panther; but when you get fairly into the middle of one of these grim forests +you are surprised to find that the larger inhabitants are not at home commonly, +but have left only a puny red squirrel to bark at you. Generally speaking, a +howling wilderness does not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that +does the howling. I did, however, see one dead porcupine. Perhaps he had +succumbed to the difficulties of the way. These bristly fellows are a very +suitable small fruit of such unkempt wildernesses. +</p> + +<p> +Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called “swamping” it, +and they who do the work are called “swampers.” I now perceived the +fitness of the term. This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I +ever saw. Nature must have coöperated with art here. However, I suppose they +would tell you that this name took its origin from the fact that the chief work +of roadmakers in those woods is to make the swamps passable. We came to a +stream where the bridge, which had been made of logs tied together with cedar +bark, had been broken up, and we got over as we could. Such as it was, this +ruined bridge was the chief evidence that we were on a path of any kind. +</p> + +<p> +We then crossed another low rising ground, and I, who wore shoes, had an +opportunity to wring out my stockings, but my companion, who used boots, had +found that this was not a safe experiment for him, for he might not be able to +get his wet boots on again. He went over the whole ground, or water, three +times, for which reason our progress was very slow. Beside that, the water softened our +feet, and to some extent unfitted them for walking. +</p> + +<p> +As I sat waiting for him it would naturally seem an unaccountable time that he +was gone. Therefore, as I could see through the woods that the sun was getting +low, and it was uncertain how far the lake might be, even if we were on the +right course, and in what part of the world we should find ourselves at +nightfall, I proposed that I should push through with what speed I could, +leaving boughs to mark my path, and find the lake and the Indian, if possible, +before night, and send the latter back to carry my companion’s bag. +</p> + +<p> +Having gone about a mile I heard a noise like the note of an owl, which I soon +discovered to be made by the Indian, and answering him, we soon came together. +He had reached the lake after crossing Mud Pond and running some rapids below +it, and had come up about a mile and a half on our path. If he had not come back to +meet us, we probably should not have found him that night, for the path +branched once or twice before reaching this particular part of the lake. So he +went back for my companion and his bag. Having waded through another stream, +where the bridge of logs had been broken up and half floated away, we continued +on through alternate mud and water to the shores of Apmoojenegamook Lake, which +we reached in season for a late supper, instead of dining there, as we had +expected, having gone without our dinner. +</p> + +<p> +It was at least five miles by the way we had come, and as my companion had gone +over most of it three times he had walked full a dozen miles. In the winter, +when the water is frozen and the snow is four feet deep, it is no doubt a +tolerable path to a footman. If you want an exact recipe for making such a +road, take one part Mud Pond, and dilute it with equal parts of Umbazookskus +and Apmoojenegamook; then send a family of musquash through to locate +it, look after the grades and culverts, and finish it to their minds, and let a +hurricane follow to do the fencing. +</p> + +<p> +We had come out on a point extending into Apmoojenegamook, or Chamberlain Lake, +where there was a broad, gravelly, and rocky shore, encumbered with bleached +logs and trees. We were rejoiced to see such dry things in that part of the +world. But at first we did not attend to dryness so much as to mud and wetness. +We all three walked into the lake up to our middle to wash our clothes. +</p> + +<p> +This was another noble lake, twelve miles long; if you add Telos Lake, which, +since the dam was built, has been connected with it by dead water, it will be +twenty; and it is apparently from a mile and a half to two miles wide. We were +about midway its length on the south side. We could see the only clearing in +these parts, called the “Chamberlain Farm,” with two or three log +buildings close together, on the opposite shore, some two and a half +miles distant. The smoke of our fire on the shore brought over two men in a +canoe from the farm, that being a common signal agreed on when one wishes to +cross. It took them about half an hour to come over, and they had their labor +for their pains this time. +</p> + +<p> +After putting on such dry clothes as we had, and hanging the others to dry on +the pole which the Indian arranged over the fire, we ate our supper, and lay +down on the pebbly shore with our feet to the fire without pitching our tent, +making a thin bed of grass to cover the stones. +</p> + +<p> +Here first I was molested by the little midge called the no-see-em, especially +over the sand at the water’s edge, for it is a kind of sand-fly. You +would not observe them but for their light-colored wings. They are said to get +under your clothes and produce a feverish heat, which I suppose was what I felt +that night. +</p> + +<p> +Our insect foes in this excursion were, first, mosquitoes, only troublesome at night, or +when we sat still on shore by day; second, black flies (<i>simulium +molestum</i>), which molested us more or less on the carries by day, and +sometimes in narrower parts of the stream; third, moose-flies, stout brown +flies much like a horsefly. They can bite smartly, according to Polis, but are +easily avoided or killed. Fourth, the no-see-ems. Of all these, the mosquitoes +are the only ones that troubled me seriously, but as I was provided with a wash +and a veil, they have not made any deep impression. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian would not use our wash to protect his face and hands, for fear that +it would hurt his skin, nor had he any veil. He, therefore, suffered from +insects throughout this journey more than either of us. He regularly tied up +his face in his handkerchief, and buried it in his blanket, and he now finally +lay down on the sand between us and the fire for the sake of the smoke, which +he tried to make enter his blanket about his face, and for the same purpose he lit +his pipe and breathed the smoke into his blanket. +</p> + +<p> +In the middle of the night we heard the voice of the loon, loud and distinct, +from far over the lake. It is a very wild sound, quite in keeping with the +place and the circumstances of the traveler, and very unlike the voice of a +bird. I could lie awake for hours listening to it, it is so thrilling. When +camping in such a wilderness as this, you are prepared to hear sounds from some +of its inhabitants which will give voice to its wildness. Some idea of bears, +wolves, or panthers runs in your head naturally, and when this note is first +heard very far off at midnight, as you lie with your ear to the +ground,—the forest being perfectly still about you, you take it for +granted that it is the voice of a wolf or some other wild beast,—you +conclude that it is a pack of wolves baying the moon, or, perchance, cantering +after a moose. It was the unfailing and characteristic sound of those +lakes. +</p> + +<p> +Some friends of mine, who two years ago went up the Caucomgomoc River, were +serenaded by wolves while moose-hunting by moonlight. It was a sudden burst, as +if a hundred demons had broke loose,—a startling sound enough, which, if +any, would make your hair stand on end,—and all was still again. It +lasted but a moment, and you’d have thought there were twenty of them, +when probably there were only two or three. They heard it twice only, and they +said that it gave expression to the wilderness which it lacked before. I heard +of some men, who, while skinning a moose lately in those woods, were driven off +from the carcass by a pack of wolves, which ate it up. +</p> + +<p> +This of the loon—I do not mean its laugh, but its looning—is a +long-drawn call, as it were, sometimes singularly human to my +ear—<i>hoo-hoo-ooooo</i>, like the hallooing of a man on a very high key, +having thrown his voice into his head. I have heard a sound exactly like it +when +breathing heavily through my own nostrils, half awake at ten at night, +suggesting my affinity to the loon; as if its language were but a dialect of my +own, after all. Formerly, when lying awake at midnight in those woods, I had +listened to hear some words or syllables of their language, but it chanced that +I listened in vain until I heard the cry of the loon. I have heard it +occasionally on the ponds of my native town, but there its wildness is not +enhanced by the surrounding scenery. +</p> + +<p> +I was awakened at midnight by some heavy, low-flying bird, probably a loon, +flapping by close over my head along the shore. So, turning the other side of +my half-clad body to the fire, I sought slumber again. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>TUESDAY, JULY 28</h3> + +<p> +When we awoke we found a heavy dew on our blankets. I lay awake very early and +listened to the clear, shrill <i>ah, te te, te te, te</i> of the white-throated +sparrow, repeated at short intervals, without the least variation, for half an +hour, as if it could not enough express its happiness. +</p> + +<p> +We did some more washing in the lake this morning, and, with our clothes hung +about on the dead trees and rocks, the shore looked like washing-day at home. +The Indian, taking the hint, borrowed the soap, and, walking into the lake, +washed his only cotton shirt on his person, then put on his pants and let it +dry on him. +</p> + +<p> +I observed that he wore a cotton shirt, originally white, a greenish flannel +one over +it, but no waistcoat, flannel drawers, and strong linen or duck pants, which +also had been white, blue woolen stockings, cowhide boots, and a Kossuth hat.<a +name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" +class="fnanchor">[3]</a> He carried no change of clothing, but, putting on a +stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, and seizing a full-sized +axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, which would do for a sail or +knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his belt, which contained a large +sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready to be gone all summer. This looked +very independent—a few simple and effective tools, and no rubber +clothing. He was always the first ready to start in the morning. Instead of +carrying a large bundle of his own extra clothing, etc., he brought back the +greatcoats of moose tied up in his blanket. I found that his outfit was the +result of a long experience, and in the main hardly to be improved on, unless +by washing and an extra shirt. Wanting a button here, he walked +off to a place where some Indians had recently encamped, and searched for one, +but I believe in vain. +</p> + +<p> +Having softened our stiffened boots and shoes with the pork fat, the usual +disposition of what was left at breakfast, we crossed the lake, steering in a +diagonal direction northeastly about four miles to the outlet. The Indian name, +Apmoojenegamook, means lake that is crossed, because the usual course lies +across and not along it. We did not intend to go far down the Allegash, but +merely to get a view of the lakes which are its source, and then return this +way to the East Branch of the Penobscot. +</p> + +<p> +After reaching the middle of the lake, we found the waves pretty high, and the +Indian warned my companion, who was nodding, that he must not allow himself to +fall asleep in the canoe lest he should upset us; adding, that when Indians +want to sleep in a canoe, they lie down straight on the bottom. But in this +crowded one that was impossible. However, he said that he would nudge him if he +saw him nodding. +</p> + +<p> +A belt of dead trees stood all around the lake, some far out in the water, with +others prostrate behind them, and they made the shore, for the most part, +almost inaccessible. This is the effect of the dam at the outlet. Thus the +natural sandy or rocky shore, with its green fringe, was concealed and +destroyed. We coasted westward along the north side, searching for the outlet, +about quarter of a mile distant from this savage-looking shore, on which the +waves were breaking violently, knowing that it might easily be concealed amid +this rubbish, or by the overlapping of the shore. It is remarkable how little +these important gates to a lake are blazoned. There is no triumphal arch over +the modest inlet or outlet, but at some undistinguished point it trickles in or +out through the uninterrupted forest, almost as through a sponge. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the outlet in about an hour, and carried over the dam there, which +is quite a solid structure, and about one quarter of a mile farther there was a +second dam. The result of this particular damming about Chamberlain Lake is +that the headwaters of the St. John are made to flow by Bangor. They have thus +dammed all the larger lakes, raising their broad surfaces many feet, thus +turning the forces of Nature against herself, that they might float their +spoils out of the country. They rapidly run out of these immense forests all +the finer and more accessible pine timber, and then leave the bears to watch +the decaying dams, not clearing nor cultivating the land, nor making roads, nor +building houses, but leaving it a wilderness, as they found it. In many parts +only these dams remain, like deserted beaver dams. Think how much land they +have flowed without asking Nature’s leave. +</p> + +<p> +The wilderness experiences a sudden rise of all her streams and lakes. She +feels ten thousand vermin gnawing at the base of her +noblest trees. Many combining drag them off, jarring over the roots of the +survivors, and tumble them into the nearest stream, till, the fairest having +fallen, they scamper off to ransack some new wilderness, and all is still +again. It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of pines. The +chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws them—to get +his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting family than the mouse. +That is as it happens. He speaks of a “berth” of timber, a good +place for him to get into, just as a worm might. +</p> + +<p> +When the chopper would praise a pine he will commonly tell you that the one he +cut was so big that a yoke of oxen stood on its stump; as if that were what the +pine had grown for, to become the footstool of oxen. In my mind’s eye I +can see these unwieldy tame deer, with a yoke binding them together, the +brazen-tipped horns betraying their servitude, taking their stand on the +stump of each giant pine in succession throughout this whole forest, and +chewing their cud there, until it is nothing but an ox-pasture, and run out at +that. As if it were good for the oxen, and some medicinal quality ascended into +their nostrils. Or is their elevated position intended merely as a symbol of +the fact that the pastoral comes next in order to the sylvan or hunter life? +</p> + +<p> +The character of the logger’s admiration is betrayed by his very mode of +expressing it. If he told all that was in his mind, he would say, “It was +so big that I cut it down, and then a yoke of oxen could stand on its +stump.” He admires the log, the carcass or corpse, more than the tree. +Why, my dear sir, the tree might have stood on its own stump, and a great deal +more comfortably and firmly than a yoke of oxen can, if you had not cut it +down. +</p> + +<p> +The Anglo-American can indeed cut down and grub up all this waving forest, and +make a stump speech on its ruins, but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tree +he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retire as he advances. +He ignorantly erases mythological tablets in order to print his handbills and +town-meeting warrants on them. Before he has learned his a b c in the beautiful +but mystic lore of the wilderness he cuts it down, puts up a +“deestrict” schoolhouse, and introduces Webster’s +spelling-book. +</p> + +<p> +Below the last dam, the river being swift and shallow, we two walked about half +a mile to lighten the canoe. I made it a rule to carry my knapsack when I +walked, and also to keep it tied to a crossbar when in the canoe, that it might +be found with the canoe if we should upset. +</p> + +<p> +I heard the dog-day locust here, a sound which I had associated only with more +open, if not settled countries. +</p> + +<p> +We were now fairly on the Allegash River. After perhaps two miles of river we +entered Heron Lake, scaring up forty or fifty young sheldrakes, at the +entrance, which ran over the water with great rapidity, as +usual in a long line. +</p> + +<p> +This lake, judging from the map, is about ten miles long. We had entered it on +the southwest side, and saw a dark mountain northeast over the lake which the +Indian said was called Peaked Mountain, and used by explorers to look for +timber from. The shores were in the same ragged and unsightly condition, +encumbered with dead timber, both fallen and standing, as in the last lake, +owing to the dam on the Allegash below. Some low points or islands were almost +drowned. +</p> + +<p> +I saw something white a mile off on the water, which turned out to be a great +gull on a rock, which the Indian would have been glad to kill and eat. But it +flew away long before we were near; and also a flock of summer ducks that were +about the rock with it. I asking him about herons, since this was Heron Lake, +he said that he found the blue heron’s nests in the hard-wood trees. +</p> + +<p> +Rounding a point, we stood across a bay toward a large island three or four +miles down the lake. We met with shadflies midway, about a mile from the shore, +and they evidently fly over the whole lake. On Moosehead I had seen a large +devil’s-needle half a mile from the shore, coming from the middle of the +lake, where it was three or four miles wide at least. It had probably crossed. +</p> + +<p> +We landed on the southeast side of the island, which was rather elevated, and +densely wooded, with a rocky shore, in season for an early dinner. Somebody had +camped there not long before and left the frame on which they stretched a +moose-hide. The Indian proceeded at once to cut a canoe birch, slanted it up +against another tree on the shore, tying it with a withe, and lay down to sleep +in its shade. We made this island the limit of our excursion in this direction. +</p> + +<p> +The next dam was about fifteen miles farther north down the Allegash. We +had been +told in Bangor of a man who lived alone, a sort of hermit, at that dam, to take +care of it, who spent his time tossing a bullet from one hand to the other, for +want of employment. This sort of tit-for-tat intercourse between his two hands, +bandying to and fro a leaden subject, seems to have been his symbol for +society. +</p> + +<p> +There was another island visible toward the north end of the lake, with an +elevated clearing on it; but we learned afterward that it was not inhabited, +had only been used as a pasture for cattle which summered in these woods. This +unnaturally smooth-shaven, squarish spot, in the midst of the otherwise +uninterrupted forest, only reminded us how uninhabited the country was. You +would sooner expect to meet a bear than an ox in such a clearing. At any rate, +it must have been a surprise to the bears when they came across it. Such, seen +far or near, you know at once to be man’s work, for Nature never does it. +In order to let in the light to the earth he clears off the forest on the hillsides and +plains, and sprinkles fine grass seed like an enchanter, and so carpets the +earth with a firm sward. +</p> + +<p> +Polis had evidently more curiosity respecting the few settlers in those woods +than we. If nothing was said, he took it for granted that we wanted to go +straight to the next log hut. Having observed that we came by the log huts at +Chesuncook, and the blind Canadian’s at the Mud Pond carry, without +stopping to communicate with the inhabitants, he took occasion now to suggest +that the usual way was, when you came near a house, to go to it, and tell the +inhabitants what you had seen or heard, and then they told you what they had +seen; but we laughed and said that we had had enough of houses for the present, +and had come here partly to avoid them. +</p> + +<p> +In the meanwhile, the wind, increasing, blew down the Indian’s birch and +created such a sea that we found ourselves prisoners on the island, the nearest +shore +being perhaps a mile distant, and we took the canoe out to prevent its drifting +away. We did not know but we should be compelled to spend the rest of the day +and the night there. At any rate, the Indian went to sleep again, my companion +busied himself drying his plants, and I rambled along the shore westward, which +was quite stony, and obstructed with fallen bleached or drifted trees for four +or five rods in width. +</p> + +<p> +Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal use for +every plant I could show him. I immediately tried him. He said that the inner +bark of the aspen was good for sore eyes; and so with various other plants, +proving himself as good as his word. According to his account, he had acquired +such knowledge in his youth from a wise old Indian with whom he associated, and +he lamented that the present generation of Indians “had lost a great +deal.” +</p> + +<p> +He said that the caribou was a “very great runner,” that there were +none about this lake now, though there used to be many, +and, pointing to the belt of dead trees caused by the dams, he added: “No +likum stump. When he sees that he scared.” +</p> + +<p> +Pointing southeasterly over the lake and distant forest, he observed, “Me +go Oldtown in three days.” +</p> + +<p> +I asked how he would get over the swamps and fallen trees. “Oh,” +said he, “in winter all covered, go anywhere on snowshoes, right across +lakes.” +</p> + +<p> +What a wilderness walk for a man to take alone! None of your half-mile swamps, +none of your mile-wide woods merely, as on the skirts of our towns, without +hotels, only a dark mountain or a lake for guide-board and station, over ground +much of it impassable in summer! +</p> + +<p> +Here was traveling of the old heroic kind over the unaltered face of nature. +From the Allegash River, across great Apmoojenegamook, he takes his way under +the bear-haunted slopes of Katahdin to Pamadumcook and Millinocket’s inland seas, +and so to the forks of the Nicketow, ever pushing the boughs of the fir and +spruce aside, with his load of furs, contending day and night, night and day, +with the shaggy demon vegetation, traveling through the mossy graveyard of +trees. Or he could go by “that rough tooth of the sea” Kineo, great +source of arrows and of spears to the ancients, when weapons of stone were +used. Seeing and hearing moose, caribou, bears, porcupines, lynxes, wolves, and +panthers. Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United +States—never hear of America. +</p> + +<p> +There is a lumberer’s road called the Eagle Lake Road from the Seboois to +the east side of this lake. It may seem strange that any road through such a +wilderness should be passable, even in winter, but at that season, wherever +lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are continually passing on +the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost as a railway. I am told that +in the Aroostook country the sleds are required by law to be of one width, four +feet, and sleighs must be altered to fit the track, so that one runner may go +in one rut and the other follow the horse. Yet it is very bad turning out. +</p> + +<p> +We had for some time seen a thunder-shower coming up from the west over the +woods of the island, and heard the muttering of the thunder, though we were in +doubt whether it would reach us; but now the darkness rapidly increasing, and a +fresh breeze rustling the forest, we hastily put up the plants which we had +been drying, and with one consent made a rush for the tent material and set +about pitching it. A place was selected and stakes and pins cut in the shortest +possible time, and we were pinning it down lest it should be blown away, when +the storm suddenly burst over us. +</p> + +<p> +As we lay huddled together under the tent, which leaked considerably about the +sides, with our baggage at our feet, we listened to some of the grandest +thunder +which I ever heard—rapid peals, round and plump, bang, bang, bang, in +succession, like artillery from some fortress in the sky; and the lightning was +proportionally brilliant. The Indian said, “It must be good +powder.” All for the benefit of the moose and us, echoing far over the +concealed lakes. I thought it must be a place which the thunder loved, where +the lightning practiced to keep its hand in, and it would do no harm to shatter +a few pines. +</p> + +<p> +Looking out, I perceived that the violent shower falling on the lake had almost +instantaneously flattened the waves, and, it clearing off, we resolved to start +immediately, before the wind raised them again. +</p> + +<p> +Getting outside, I said that I saw clouds still in the southwest, and heard +thunder there. We embarked, nevertheless, and paddled rapidly back toward the +dams. +</p> + +<p> +At the outlet of Chamberlain Lake we were overtaken by another gusty rainstorm, +which compelled us to take shelter, the Indian under his canoe on the bank, and we +under the edge of the dam. However, we were more scared than wet. From my +covert I could see the Indian peeping out from beneath his canoe to see what +had become of the rain. When we had taken our respective places thus once or +twice, the rain not coming down in earnest, we commenced rambling about the +neighborhood, for the wind had by this time raised such waves on the lake that +we could not stir, and we feared that we should be obliged to camp there. We +got an early supper on the dam and tried for fish, while waiting for the tumult +to subside. The fishes were not only few, but small and worthless. +</p> + +<p> +At length, just before sunset, we set out again. It was a wild evening when we +coasted up the north side of this Apmoojenegamook Lake. One thunder-storm was +just over, and the waves which it had raised still running with violence, and +another storm was now seen coming up in the southwest, far over the lake; but it might +be worse in the morning, and we wished to get as far as possible on our way +while we might. +</p> + +<p> +It blew hard against the shore, which was as dreary and harborless as you can +conceive. For half a dozen rods in width it was a perfect maze of submerged +trees, all dead and bare and bleaching, some standing half their original +height, others prostrate, and criss-across, above or beneath the surface, and +mingled with them were loose trees and limbs and stumps, beating about. We +could not have landed if we would, without the greatest danger of being +swamped; so blow as it might, we must depend on coasting. It was twilight, too, +and that stormy cloud was advancing rapidly in our rear. It was a pleasant +excitement, yet we were glad to reach, at length, the cleared shore of the +Chamberlain Farm. +</p> + +<p> +We landed on a low and thinly wooded point, and while my companions were pitching the +tent, I ran up to the house to get some sugar, our six pounds being gone. It +was no wonder they were, for Polis had a sweet tooth. He would first fill his +dipper nearly a third full of sugar, and then add the coffee to it. Here was a +clearing extending back from the lake to a hilltop, with some dark-colored log +buildings and a storehouse in it, and half a dozen men standing in front of the +principal hut, greedy for news. Among them was the man who tended the dam on +the Allegash and tossed the bullet. He, having charge of the dams, and learning +that we were going to Webster Stream the next day, told me that some of their +men, who were haying at Telos Lake, had shut the dam at the canal there in +order to catch trout, and if we wanted more water to take us through the canal +we might raise the gate. +</p> + +<p> +They were unwilling to spare more than four pounds of brown +sugar,—unlocking the storehouse to get it,—since they only kept a little +for such cases as this, and they charged twenty cents a pound for it, which +certainly it was worth to get it up there. +</p> + +<p> +When I returned to the shore it was quite dark, but we had a rousing fire to +warm and dry us by, and a snug apartment behind it. The Indian went up to the +house to inquire after a brother who had been absent hunting a year or two, and +while another shower was beginning, I groped about cutting spruce and +arbor-vitæ twigs for a bed. I preferred the arbor-vitæ on account +of its fragrance, and spread it particularly thick about the shoulders. It is +remarkable with what pure satisfaction the traveler in those woods will reach +his camping-ground on the eve of a tempestuous night like this, as if he had +got to his inn, and, rolling himself in his blanket, stretch himself on his +six-feet-by-two bed of dripping fir twigs, with a thin sheet of cotton for +roof, snug as a meadow mouse in its nest. Invariably our best nights were +those when it rained, for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes. +</p> + +<p> +You soon come to disregard rain on such excursions, at least in the summer, it +is so easy to dry yourself, supposing a dry change of clothing is not to be +had. You can much sooner dry you by such a fire as you can make in the woods +than in anybody’s kitchen, the fireplace is so much larger, and wood so +much more abundant. A shed-shaped tent will catch and reflect the heat, and you +may be drying while you are sleeping. +</p> + +<p> +Some who have leaky roofs in the towns may have been kept awake, but we were +soon lulled asleep by a steady, soaking rain, which lasted all night. +</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p> +<a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span +class="label">[3]</span></a> A soft felt hat of the kind worn by the Hungarian +patriot, Kossuth, on his visit to this country in 1851-52. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>WEDNESDAY, JULY 29</h3> + +<p> +When we awoke it had done raining, though it was still cloudy. The fire was put +out, and the Indian’s boots, which stood under the eaves of the tent, +were half full of water. He was much more improvident in such respects than +either of us, and he had to thank us for keeping his powder dry. We decided to +cross the lake at once, before breakfast; and before starting I took the +bearing of the shore which we wished to strike, about three miles distant, lest +a sudden misty rain should conceal it when we were midway. +</p> + +<p> +Though the bay in which we were was perfectly quiet and smooth, we found the +lake already wide awake outside, but not dangerously or unpleasantly so. +Nevertheless, when you get out on one of those lakes in a canoe like this, you +do not forget that you are completely at the mercy of the +wind, and a fickle power it is. The playful waves may at any time become too +rude for you in their sport, and play right on over you. After much steady +paddling and dancing over the dark waves we found ourselves in the neighborhood +of the southern land. We breakfasted on a rocky point, the first convenient +place that offered. +</p> + +<p> +It was well enough that we crossed thus early, for the waves now ran quite +high, but beyond this point we had comparatively smooth water. You can commonly +go along one side or the other of a lake, when you cannot cross it. +</p> + +<p> +My companion and I, having a discussion on some point of ancient history, were +amused by the attitude which the Indian, who could not tell what we were +talking about, assumed. He constituted himself umpire, and, judging by our air +and gesture, he very seriously remarked from time to time, “You +beat,” or “He beat.” +</p> + +<p> +Leaving a spacious bay on our left, we entered through a short strait into a +small lake a couple of miles over, and thence into Telos Lake. This curved +round toward the northeast, and may have been three or four miles long as we +paddled. +</p> + +<p> +The outlet from the lake into the East Branch of the Penobscot is an artificial +one, and it was not very apparent where it was exactly, but the lake ran +curving far up northeasterly into two narrow valleys or ravines, as if it had +for a long time been groping its way toward the Penobscot waters. By observing +where the horizon was lowest, and following the longest of these, we at length +reached the dam, having come about a dozen miles from the last camp. Somebody +had left a line set for trout, and the jackknife with which the bait had been +cut on the dam beside it, and, on a log close by, a loaf of bread. These proved +the property of a solitary hunter, whom we soon met, and canoe and gun and +traps were not far off. He told us that it was twenty miles to the foot +of Grand Lake, and that the first house below the foot of the lake, on the East +Branch, was Hunt’s, about forty-five miles farther. +</p> + +<p> +This hunter, who was a quite small, sunburnt man, having already carried his +canoe over, had nothing so interesting and pressing to do as to observe our +transit. He had been out a month or more alone. How much more respectable is +the life of the solitary pioneer or settler in these, or any woods—having +real difficulties, not of his own creation, drawing his subsistence directly +from nature—than that of the helpless multitudes in the towns who depend +on gratifying the extremely artificial wants of society and are thrown out of +employment by hard times! +</p> + +<p> +Telos Lake, the head of the St. John on this side, and Webster Pond, the head +of the East Branch of the Penobscot, are only about a mile apart, and they are +connected by a ravine, in which but little digging was required to make the +water of the former, which is the highest, flow into the latter. This canal is +something less than a mile long and about four rods wide. The rush of the water +has produced such changes in the canal that it has now the appearance of a very +rapid mountain stream flowing through a ravine, and you would not suspect that +any digging had been required to persuade the waters of the St. John to flow +into the Penobscot here. It was so winding that one could see but a little way +down. +</p> + +<p> +It is wonderful how well watered this country is. As you paddle across a lake, +bays will be pointed out to you, by following up which, and perhaps the +tributary stream which empties in, you may, after a short portage, or possibly, +at some seasons, none at all, get into another river, which empties far away +from the one you are on. Generally, you may go in any direction in a canoe, by +making frequent but not very long portages. It seems as if the more youthful +and impressionable streams can hardly resist the numerous invitations and +temptations to leave their native beds and run down their neighbors’ +channels. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever there is a channel for water there is a road for the canoe. It is said +that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can imagine what a +canoe may do. +</p> + +<p> +This canal, so called, was a considerable and extremely rapid and rocky river. +The Indian decided that there was water enough in it without raising the dam, +which would only make it more violent, and that he would run down it alone, +while we carried the greater part of the baggage. Our provisions being about +half consumed, there was the less left in the canoe. We had thrown away the +pork-keg and wrapped its contents in birch bark. +</p> + +<p> +Following a moist trail through the forest, we reached the head of Webster Pond about +the same time with the Indian, notwithstanding the velocity with which he +moved, our route being the most direct. The pond was two or three miles long. +</p> + +<p> +At the outlet was another dam, at which we stopped and picked raspberries, +while the Indian went down the stream a half-mile through the forest, to see +what he had got to contend with. There was a deserted log camp here, apparently +used the previous winter, with its “hovel” or barn for cattle. In +the hut was a large fir-twig bed, raised two feet from the floor, occupying a +large part of the single apartment, a long narrow table against the wall, with +a stout log bench before it, and above the table a small window, the only one +there was, which admitted a feeble light. It was a simple and strong fort +erected against the cold. +</p> + +<p> +We got our dinner on the shore, on the upper side of the dam. As we were +sitting by our fire, concealed by the earth bank of the dam, a long line of +sheldrakes, half grown, came waddling over it from the water below, passing +within about a rod of us, so that we could almost have caught them in our +hands. They were very abundant on all the streams and lakes which we visited, +and every two or three hours they would rush away in a long string over the +water before us, twenty to fifty of them at once, rarely ever flying, but +running with great rapidity up or down the stream, even in the midst of the +most violent rapids, and apparently as fast up as down. +</p> + +<p> +An Indian at Oldtown had told us that we should be obliged to carry ten miles +between Telos Lake on the St. John and Second Lake on the East Branch of the +Penobscot; but the lumberers whom we met assured us that there would not be +more than a mile of carry. It turned out that the Indian was nearest right, as +far as we were concerned. However, if one of us could have assisted the Indian +in managing the canoe in the rapids, we might have run +the greater part of the way; but as he was alone in the management of the canoe +in such places we were obliged to walk the greater part. +</p> + +<p> +My companion and I carried a good part of the baggage on our shoulders, while +the Indian took that which would be least injured by wet in the canoe. We did +not know when we should see him again, for he had not been this way since the +canal was cut. He agreed to stop when he got to smooth water, come up and find +our path if he could, and halloo for us, and after waiting a reasonable time go +on and try again—and we were to look out in like manner for him. +</p> + +<p> +He commenced by running through the sluiceway and over the dam, as usual, +standing up in his tossing canoe, and was soon out of sight behind a point in a +wild gorge. This Webster Stream is well known to lumbermen as a difficult one. +It is exceedingly rapid and rocky, and also shallow, and can hardly be considered +navigable, unless that may mean that what is launched in it is sure to be +carried swiftly down it, though it may be dashed to pieces by the way. It is +somewhat like navigating a thunder-spout. With commonly an irresistible force +urging you on, you have got to choose your own course each moment between the +rocks and shallows, and to get into it, moving forward always with the utmost +possible moderation, and often holding on, if you can, that you may inspect the +rapids before you. +</p> + +<p> +By the Indian’s direction we took an old path on the south side, which +appeared to keep down the stream. It was a wild wood-path, with a few tracks of +oxen which had been driven over it, probably to some old camp clearing for +pasturage, mingled with the tracks of moose which had lately used it. We kept +on steadily for about an hour without putting down our packs, occasionally +winding around or climbing over a fallen tree, for the most part far out +of sight and hearing of the river; till, after walking about three miles, we +were glad to find that the path came to the river again at an old camp-ground, +where there was a small opening in the forest, at which we paused. +</p> + +<p> +Swiftly as the shallow and rocky river ran here, a continuous rapid with +dancing waves, I saw, as I sat on the shore, a long string of sheldrakes, which +something scared, run up the opposite side of the stream by me, just touching +the surface of the waves, and getting an impulse from them as they flowed from +under them; but they soon came back, driven by the Indian, who had fallen a +little behind us on account of the windings. He shot round a point just above, +and came to land by us with considerable water in his canoe. He had found it, +as he said, “very strong water,” and had been obliged to land once +before to empty out what he had taken in. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 282px;"> +<a name="illus06"></a> +<a href="images/img08.jpg"><img src="images/img08th.jpg" width="282" +height="400" alt="Coming Down the Rapids" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">Coming Down the Rapids</span> +</div> + +<p> +He complained that it strained him to paddle so hard in order to keep his +canoe +straight in its course, having no one in the bows to aid him, and, shallow as +it was, said that it would be no joke to upset there, for the force of the +water was such that he had as lief I would strike him over the head with a +paddle as have that water strike him. Seeing him come out of that gap was as if +you should pour water down an inclined and zigzag trough, then drop a nutshell +into it, and, taking a short cut to the bottom, get there in time to see it +come out, notwithstanding the rush and tumult, right side up, and only partly +full of water. +</p> + +<p> +After a moment’s breathing-space, while I held his canoe, he was soon out +of sight again around another bend, and we, shouldering our packs, resumed our +course. +</p> + +<p> +Before going a mile we heard the Indian calling to us. He had come up through +the woods and along the path to find us, having reached sufficiently smooth +water to warrant his taking us in. The shore was about one fourth of a mile +distant through a dense, dark forest, and as he led us back to +it, winding rapidly about to the right and left, I had the curiosity to look +down carefully and found that he was following his steps backward. I could only +occasionally perceive his trail in the moss, and yet he did not appear to look +down nor hesitate an instant, but led us out exactly to his canoe. This +surprised me, for without a compass, or the sight or noise of the river to +guide us, we could not have kept our course many minutes, and could have +retraced our steps but a short distance, with a great deal of pains and very +slowly, using a laborious circumspection. But it was evident that he could go +back through the forest wherever he had been during the day. +</p> + +<p> +After this rough walking in the dark woods it was an agreeable change to glide +down the rapid river in the canoe once more. This river, though still very +swift, was almost perfectly smooth here, and showed a very visible declivity, a +regularly inclined plane, for several miles, like a mirror +set a little aslant, on which we coasted down. It was very exhilarating, and +the perfection of traveling, the coasting down this inclined mirror between two +evergreen forests edged with lofty dead white pines, sometimes slanted half-way +over the stream. I saw some monsters there, nearly destitute of branches, and +scarcely diminishing in diameter for eighty or ninety feet. +</p> + +<p> +As we were thus swept along, our Indian repeated in a deliberate and drawling +tone the words, “Daniel Webster, great lawyer,” apparently reminded +of him by the name of the stream, and he described his calling on him once in +Boston at what he supposed was his boarding-house. He had no business with him +but merely went to pay his respects, as we should say. It was on the day after +Webster delivered his Bunker Hill oration. The first time he called he waited +till he was tired without seeing him, and then went away. The next time he +saw him go by the door of the room in which he was waiting several times, in +his shirt-sleeves, without noticing him. He thought that if he had come to see +Indians they would not have treated him so. At length, after very long delay, +he came in, walked toward him, and asked in a loud voice, gruffly, “What +do you want?” and he, thinking at first, by the motion of his hand, that +he was going to strike him, said to himself, “You’d better take +care; if you try that I shall know what to do.” +</p> + +<p> +He did not like him, and declared that all he said “was not worth talk +about a musquash.” +</p> + +<p> +Coming to falls and rapids, our easy progress was suddenly terminated. The +Indian went alongshore to inspect the water, while we climbed over the rocks, +picking berries. When the Indian came back, he remarked, “You got to +walk; ver’ strong water.” +</p> + +<p> +So, taking out his canoe, he launched it again below the falls, and was soon out of +sight. At such times he would step into the canoe, take up his paddle, and +start off, looking far down-stream as if absorbing all the intelligence of +forest and stream into himself. We meanwhile scrambled along the shore with our +packs, without any path. This was the last of <i>our</i> boating for the day. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian now got along much faster than we, and waited for us from time to +time. I found here the only cool spring that I drank at anywhere on this +excursion, a little water filling a hollow in the sandy bank. It was a quite +memorable event, and due to the elevation of the country, for wherever else we +had been the water in the rivers and the streams emptying in was dead and warm, +compared with that of a mountainous region. It was very bad walking along the +shore over fallen and drifted trees and bushes, and rocks, from time to time +swinging ourselves round over the water, or else taking to a gravel bar or going +inland. At one place, the Indian being ahead, I was obliged to take off all my +clothes in order to ford a small but deep stream emptying in, while my +companion, who was inland, found a rude bridge, high up in the woods, and I saw +no more of him for some time. I saw there very fresh moose tracks, and I passed +one white pine log, lodged in the forest near the edge of the stream, which was +quite five feet in diameter at the butt. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after this I overtook the Indian at the edge of some burnt land, which +extended three or four miles at least, beginning about three miles above Second +Lake, which we were expecting to reach that night. This burnt region was still +more rocky than before, but, though comparatively open, we could not yet see +the lake. Not having seen my companion for some time, I climbed with the Indian +a high rock on the edge of the river forming a narrow ridge only a foot or two +wide at top, in order to look for him. After calling many times I at length heard him +answer from a considerable distance inland, he having taken a trail which led +off from the river, and being now in search of the river again. Seeing a much +higher rock of the same character about one third of a mile farther +down-stream, I proceeded toward it through the burnt land, in order to look for +the lake from its summit, and hallooing all the while that my companion might +join me on the way. +</p> + +<p> +Before we came together I noticed where a moose, which possibly I had scared by +my shouting, had apparently just run along a large rotten trunk of a pine, +which made a bridge thirty or forty feet long over a hollow, as convenient for +him as for me. The tracks were as large as those of an ox, but an ox could not +have crossed there. This burnt land was an exceedingly wild and desolate +region. Judging by the weeds and sprouts, it appeared to have been burnt about +two years before. It was covered with charred trunks, either prostrate or +standing, which crocked our clothes and hands. Great shells of trees, sometimes +unburnt without, or burnt on one side only, but black within, stood twenty or +forty feet high. The fire had run up inside, as in a chimney, leaving the +sapwood. There were great fields of fireweed, which presented masses of pink. +Intermixed with these were blueberry and raspberry bushes. +</p> + +<p> +Having crossed a second rocky ridge, when I was beginning to ascend the third, +the Indian, whom I had left on the shore, beckoned to me to come to him, but I +made sign that I would first ascend the rock before me. My companion +accompanied me to the top. +</p> + +<p> +There was a remarkable series of these great rock-waves revealed by the +burning; breakers, as it were. No wonder that the river that found its way +through them was rapid and obstructed by falls. We could see the lake over the +woods, and that the river made an abrupt turn southward around the end of +the cliff on which we stood, and that there was an important fall in it a short +distance below us. I could see the canoe a hundred rods behind, but now on the +opposite shore, and supposed that the Indian had concluded to take out and +carry round some bad rapids on that side, but after waiting a while I could +still see nothing of him, and I began to suspect that he had gone inland to +look for the lake from some hilltop on that side. This proved to be the case, +for after I had started to return to the canoe I heard a faint halloo, and +descried him on the top of a distant rocky hill. I began to return along the +ridge toward the angle in the river. My companion inquired where I was going; +to which I answered that I was going far enough back to communicate with the +Indian. +</p> + +<p> +When we reached the shore the Indian appeared from out the woods on the +opposite side, but on account of the roar of the water it was difficult to +communicate with him. He kept along the shore westward to his +canoe, while we stopped at the angle where the stream turned southward around +the precipice. I said to my companion that we would keep along the shore and +keep the Indian in sight. We started to do so, being close together, the Indian +behind us having launched his canoe again, but I saw the latter beckoning to +me, and I called to my companion, who had just disappeared behind large rocks +at the point of the precipice on his way down the stream, that I was going to +help the Indian. +</p> + +<p> +I did so—helped get the canoe over a fall, lying with my breast over a +rock, and holding one end while he received it below—and within ten or +fifteen minutes I was back at the point where the river turned southward, while +Polis glided down the river alone, parallel with me. But to my surprise, when I +rounded the precipice, though the shore was bare of trees, without rocks, for a +quarter of a mile at least, my companion was not to be seen. It was +as if he had sunk into the earth. This was the more unaccountable to me, +because I knew that his feet were very sore, and that he wished to keep with +the party. +</p> + +<p> +I hastened along, hallooing and searching for him, thinking he might be +concealed behind a rock, but the Indian had got along faster in his canoe, till +he was arrested by the falls, about a quarter of a mile below. He then landed, +and said that we could go no farther that night. The sun was setting, and on +account of falls and rapids we should be obliged to leave this river and carry +a good way into another farther east. The first thing then was to find my +companion, for I was now very much alarmed about him, and I sent the Indian +along the shore down-stream, which began to be covered with unburnt wood again +just below the falls, while I searched backward about the precipice which we +had passed. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian showed some unwillingness to exert himself, complaining that he was +very tired in consequence of his day’s work, that it had strained him +getting down so many rapids alone; but he went off calling somewhat like an +owl. I remembered that my companion was nearsighted, and I feared that he had +either fallen from the precipice, or fainted and sunk down amid the rocks +beneath it. I shouted and searched above and below this precipice in the +twilight till I could not see, expecting nothing less than to find his body +beneath it. For half an hour I anticipated and believed only the worst. I +thought what I should do the next day if I did not find him, and how his +relatives would feel if I should return without him. I felt that if he were +really lost away from the river there, it would be a desperate undertaking to +find him; and where were they who could help you? What would it be to raise the +country, where there were only two or three camps, twenty or thirty miles apart, +and no road, and perhaps nobody at home? +</p> + +<p> +I rushed down from this precipice to the canoe in order to fire the +Indian’s gun, but found that my companion had the caps. When the Indian +returned he said that he had seen his tracks once or twice along the shore. +This encouraged me very much. He objected to firing the gun, saying that if my +companion heard it, which was not likely, on account of the roar of the stream, +it would tempt him to come toward us, and he might break his neck in the dark. +For the same reason we refrained from lighting a fire on the highest rock. I +proposed that we should both keep down the stream to the lake, or that I should +go at any rate, but the Indian said: “No use, can’t do anything in +the dark. Come morning, then we find ’em. No harm—he make ’em +camp. No bad animals here—warm night—he well off as you and +I.” +</p> + +<p> +The darkness in the woods was by this so thick that it decided the question. We must +camp where we were. I knew that he had his knapsack, with blankets and matches, +and, if well, would fare no worse than we, except that he would have no supper +nor society. +</p> + +<p> +This side of the river being so encumbered with rocks, we crossed to the +eastern or smoother shore, and proceeded to camp there, within two or three +rods of the falls. We pitched no tent, but lay on the sand, putting a few +handfuls of grass and twigs under us, there being no evergreen at hand. For +fuel we had some of the charred stumps. Our various bags of provisions had got +quite wet in the rapids, and I arranged them about the fire to dry. The fall +close by was the principal one on this stream, and it shook the earth under us. +It was a cool, dewy night. I lay awake a good deal from anxiety. From time to +time I fancied that I heard his voice calling through the roar of the falls +from the opposite side of the river; but it is doubtful if we could have +heard him across the stream there. Sometimes I doubted whether the Indian had +really seen his tracks, since he manifested an unwillingness to make much of a +search. +</p> + +<p> +It was the most wild and desolate region we had camped in, where, if anywhere, +one might expect to meet with befitting inhabitants, but I heard only the +squeak of a nighthawk flitting over. The moon in her first quarter, in the fore +part of the night, setting over the bare rocky hills garnished with tall, +charred, and hollow stumps or shells of trees, served to reveal the desolation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THURSDAY, JULY 30</h3> + +<p> +I aroused the Indian early to go in search of our companion, expecting to find +him within a mile or two, farther down the stream. The Indian wanted his +breakfast first, but I reminded him that my companion had had neither breakfast +nor supper. We were obliged first to carry our canoe and baggage over into +another stream, the main East Branch, about three fourths of a mile distant, +for Webster Stream was no farther navigable. We went twice over this carry, and +the dewy bushes wet us through like water up to the middle. I hallooed from +time to time, though I had little expectation that I could be heard over the +roar of the rapids. +</p> + +<p> +In going over this portage the last time, the Indian, who was before me with +the +canoe on his head, stumbled and fell heavily once, and lay for a moment silent +as if in pain. I hastily stepped forward to help him, asking if he was much +hurt, but after a moment’s pause, without replying, he sprang up and went +forward. +</p> + +<p> +We had launched our canoe and gone but little way down the East Branch, when I +heard an answering shout from my companion, and soon after saw him standing on +a point where there was a clearing a quarter of a mile below, and the smoke of +his fire was rising near by. Before I saw him I naturally shouted again and +again, but the Indian curtly remarked, “He hears you,” as if once +was enough. +</p> + +<p> +It was just below the mouth of Webster Stream. When we arrived he was smoking +his pipe, and said that he had passed a pretty comfortable night, though it was +rather cold, on account of the dew. It appeared that when we stood together the +previous evening, and I was shouting to the Indian across the river, he, being +nearsighted, had not seen the Indian nor his canoe, and when I went back to the +Indian’s assistance, did not see which way I went, and supposed that we +were below and not above him, and so, making haste to catch up, he ran away +from us. Having reached this clearing, a mile or more below our camp, the night +overtook him, and he made a fire in a little hollow, and lay down by it in his +blanket, still thinking that we were ahead of him. +</p> + +<p> +He had stuck up the remnant of a lumberer’s shirt, found on the point, on +a pole by the waterside for a signal, and attached a note to it to inform us +that he had gone on to the lake, and that if he did not find us there he would +be back in a couple of hours. If he had not found us soon he had some thoughts +of going back in search of the solitary hunter whom we had met at Telos Lake, +ten miles behind, and, if successful, hire him to take him to Bangor. But if +this hunter had moved as fast as we, he would have been +twenty miles off by this time, and who could guess in what direction? It would +have been like looking for a needle in a haymow to search for him in these +woods. He had been considering how long he could live on berries alone. +</p> + +<p> +We all had good appetites for the breakfast which we made haste to cook here, +and then, having partially dried our clothes, we glided swiftly down the +winding stream toward Second Lake. +</p> + +<p> +As the shores became flatter with frequent sandbars, and the stream more +winding in the lower land near the lake, elms and ash trees made their +appearance; also the wild yellow lily, some of whose bulbs I collected for a +soup. On some ridges the burnt land extended as far as the lake. This was a +very beautiful lake, two or three miles long, with high mountains on the +southwest side. The morning was a bright one, and perfectly still, the lake as +smooth as glass, we making the only ripple as we paddled into it. The dark +mountains about it were seen through a glaucous mist, and the white stems of +canoe birches mingled with the other woods around it. The thrush sang on the +distant shore, and the laugh of some loons, sporting in a concealed western +bay, as if inspired by the morning, came distinct over the lake to us. The +beauty of the scene may have been enhanced to our eyes by the fact that we had +just come together after a night of some anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +Having paddled down three quarters of the lake, we came to a standstill while +my companion let down for fish. In the midst of our dreams of giant lake trout, +even then supposed to be nibbling, our fisherman drew up a diminutive red +perch, and we took up our paddles. +</p> + +<p> +It was not apparent where the outlet of the lake was, and while the Indian +thought it was in one direction, I thought it was in another. He said, “I +bet you fourpence it is there,” but he still held on in my +direction, which proved to be the right one. +</p> + +<p> +As we were approaching the outlet he suddenly exclaimed, “Moose! +moose!” and told us to be still. He put a cap on his gun, and, standing +up in the stern, rapidly pushed the canoe straight toward the shore and the +moose. It was a cow moose, about thirty rods off, standing in the water by the +side of the outlet, partly behind some fallen timber and bushes, and at that +distance she did not look very large. She was flapping her large ears, and from +time to time poking off the flies with her nose from some part of her body. She +did not appear much alarmed by our neighborhood, only occasionally turned her +head and looked straight at us, and then gave her attention to the flies again. +As we approached nearer she got out of the water, stood higher, and regarded us +more suspiciously. +</p> + +<p> +Polis pushed the canoe steadily forward in the shallow water, but the canoe +soon +grounded in the mud eight or ten rods distant from the moose, and the Indian +seized his gun. After standing still a moment she turned so as to expose her +side, and he improved this moment to fire, over our heads. She thereupon moved +off eight or ten rods at a moderate pace across a shallow bay to the opposite +shore, and she stood still again while the Indian hastily loaded and fired +twice at her, without her moving. My companion, who passed him his caps and +bullets, said that Polis was as excited as a boy of fifteen, that his hand +trembled, and he once put his ramrod back upside down. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian now pushed quickly and quietly back, and a long distance round, in +order to get into the outlet,—for he had fired over the neck of a +peninsula between it and the lake,—till we approached the place where the +moose had stood, when he exclaimed, “She is a goner!” +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 278px;"> +<a name="illus07"></a> +<a href="images/img09.jpg"><img src="images/img09th.jpg" width="278" +height="400" alt="Shooting the Moose" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">Shooting the Moose</span> +</div> + +<p> +There, to be sure, she lay perfectly dead, just where she had stood to receive the +last shots. Using a tape, I found that the moose measured six feet from the +shoulder to the tip of the hoof, and was eight feet long. +</p> + +<p> +Polis, preparing to skin the moose, asked me to help him find a stone on which +to sharpen his large knife. It being flat alluvial ground, covered with red +maples, etc., this was no easy matter. We searched far and wide a long time +till at length I found a flat kind of slate stone, on which he soon made his +knife very sharp. +</p> + +<p> +While he was skinning the moose I proceeded to ascertain what kind of fishes +were to be found in the sluggish and muddy outlet. The greatest difficulty was +to find a pole. It was almost impossible to find a slender, straight pole ten +or twelve feet long in those woods. You might search half an hour in vain. They +are commonly spruce, arbor-vitæ, fir, etc., short, stout, and branchy, +and do not make good fishpoles, even after you have +patiently cut off all their tough and scraggy branches. The fishes were red +perch and chivin. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian, having cut off a large piece of sirloin, the upper lip, and the +tongue, wrapped them in the hide, and placed them in the bottom of the canoe, +observing that there was “one man,” meaning the weight of one. Our +load had previously been reduced some thirty pounds, but a hundred pounds were +now added, which made our quarters still more narrow, and considerably +increased the danger on the lakes and rapids as well as the labor of the +carries. The skin was ours according to custom, since the Indian was in our +employ, but we did not think of claiming it. He being a skillful dresser of +moose-hides would make it worth seven or eight dollars to him, as I was told. +He said that he sometimes earned fifty or sixty dollars in a day at them; he +had killed ten moose in one day, though the skinning and all took two days. +This was the way he had got his property. +</p> + +<p> +We continued along the outlet through a swampy region, by a long, winding +deadwater, very much choked up by wood, where we were obliged to land sometimes +in order to get the canoe over a log. It was hard to find any channel, and we +did not know but we should be lost in the swamp. It abounded in ducks, as +usual. At length we reached Grand Lake. +</p> + +<p> +We stopped to dine on an interesting rocky island, securing our canoe to the +cliffy shore. Here was a good opportunity to dry our dewy blankets on the open +sunny rock. Indians had recently camped here, and accidentally burned over the +western end of the island. Polis picked up a gun-case of blue broadcloth, and +said that he knew the Indian it belonged to and would carry it to him. His +tribe is not so large but he may know all its effects. We proceeded to make a +fire and cook our dinner amid some pines. +</p> + +<p> +I saw where the Indians had made canoes in a little secluded hollow in the +woods, on the top of the rock, where they were out of the wind, and large piles +of whittlings remained. This must have been a favorite resort of their +ancestors, and, indeed, we found here the point of an arrow-head, such as they +have not used for two centuries and now know not how to make. The Indian picked +up a yellowish curved bone by the side of our fireplace and asked me to guess +what it was. It was one of the upper incisors of a beaver, on which some party +had feasted within a year or two. I found also most of the teeth and the skull. +We here dined on fried moose meat. +</p> + +<p> +Our blankets being dry, we set out again, the Indian, as usual, having left his +gazette on a tree. We paddled southward, keeping near the western shore. The +Indian did not know exactly where the outlet was, and he went feeling his way +by a middle course between two probable points, from which he could diverge either +way at last without losing much distance. In approaching the south shore, as +the clouds looked gusty and the waves ran pretty high, we so steered as to get +partly under the lee of an island, though at a great distance from it. +</p> + +<p> +I could not distinguish the outlet till we were almost in it, and heard the +water falling over the dam there. Here was a considerable fall, and a very +substantial dam, but no sign of a cabin or camp. +</p> + +<p> +While we loitered here Polis took occasion to cut with his big knife some of +the hair from his moose-hide, and so lightened and prepared it for drying. I +noticed at several old Indian camps in the woods the pile of hair which they +had cut from their hides. +</p> + +<p> +Having carried over the dam, he darted down the rapids, leaving us to walk for +a mile or more, where for the most part there was no path, but very thick and +difficult traveling near the stream. He would call to let us know where he was +waiting for us with his canoe, when, on account of the windings of the stream, +we did not know where the shore was, but he did not call often enough, +forgetting that we were not Indians. He seemed to be very saving of his +breath—yet he would be surprised if we went by, or did not strike the +right spot. This was not because he was unaccommodating, but a proof of +superior manners. Indians like to get along with the least possible +communication and ado. He was really paying us a great compliment all the +while, thinking that we preferred a hint to a kick. +</p> + +<p> +At length, climbing over the willows and fallen trees, when this was easier +than to go round or under them, we overtook the canoe, and glided down the +stream in smooth but swift water for several miles. I here observed, as at +Webster Stream, that the river was a smooth and regularly inclined plane down +which we coasted. +</p> + +<p> +We decided to camp early that we might have ample time before dark. So we stopped at +the first favorable shore, where there was a narrow gravelly beach, some five +miles below the outlet of the lake. Two steps from the water on either side, +and you come to the abrupt, bushy, and rooty, if not turfy, edge of the bank, +four or five feet high, where the interminable forest begins, as if the stream +had but just cut its way through it. +</p> + +<p> +It is surprising on stepping ashore anywhere into this unbroken wilderness to +see so often, at least within a few rods of the river, the marks of the axe, +made by lumberers who have either camped here or driven logs past in previous +springs. You will see perchance where they have cut large chips from a tall +white pine stump for their fire. +</p> + +<p> +While we were pitching the camp and getting supper, the Indian cut the rest of +the hair from his moose-hide, and proceeded to extend it vertically on a +temporary frame between two small trees, half a dozen feet from the opposite +side of the fire, lashing and stretching it with arbor-vitæ bark. Asking +for a new kind of tea, he made us some pretty good of the checkerberry, which +covered the ground, dropping a little bunch of it tied up with cedar bark into +the kettle. +</p> + +<p> +After supper he put on the moose tongue and lips to boil. He showed me how to +write on the under side of birch bark with a black spruce twig, which is hard +and tough and can be brought to a point. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian wandered off into the woods a short distance just before night, and, +coming back, said, “Me found great treasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s that?” we asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Steel traps, under a log, thirty or forty, I didn’t count +’em. I guess Indian work—worth three dollars apiece.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a singular coincidence that he should have chanced to walk to and look +under that particular log in that trackless forest. +</p> + +<p> +I saw chivin and chub in the stream when washing my hands, but my companion +tried in vain to catch them. I heard the sound of bullfrogs from a swamp on the +opposite side. +</p> + +<p> +You commonly make your camp just at sundown, and are collecting wood, getting +your supper, or pitching your tent while the shades of night are gathering +around and adding to the already dense gloom of the forest. You have no time to +explore or look around you before it is dark. You may penetrate half a dozen +rods farther into that twilight wilderness after some dry bark to kindle your +fire with, and wonder what mysteries lie hidden still deeper in it, or you may +run down to the shore for a dipper of water, and get a clearer view for a short +distance up or down the stream, and while you stand there, see a fish leap, or +duck alight in the river, or hear a thrush or robin sing in the woods. +</p> + +<p> +But there is no sauntering off to see the country. Ten or fifteen rods +seems a great way from your companions, and you come back with the air of a +much traveled man, as from a long journey, with adventures to relate, though +you may have heard the crackling of the fire all the while—and at a +hundred rods you might be lost past recovery and have to camp out. It is all +mossy and <i>moosey</i>. In some of those dense fir and spruce woods there is +hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are a <i>standing</i> night, and +every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume plucked from night’s raven +wing. Then at night the general stillness is more impressive than any sound, +but occasionally you hear the note of an owl farther or nearer in the woods, +and if near a lake, the semihuman cry of the loons at their unearthly revels. +</p> + +<p> +To-night the Indian lay between the fire and his stretched moose-hide, to avoid +mosquitoes. Indeed, he also made a small smoky fire of damp leaves at his head +and feet, and then as usual rolled up his head in his blanket. We with our +veils and our wash were tolerably comfortable, but it would be difficult to +pursue any sedentary occupation in the woods at this season; you cannot see to +read much by the light of a fire through a veil in the evening, nor handle +pencil and paper well with gloves or anointed fingers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>FRIDAY, JULY 31</h3> + +<p> +We had smooth but swift water for a considerable distance, where we glided +rapidly along, scaring up ducks and kingfishers. But, as usual, our smooth +progress ere long come to an end, and we were obliged to carry canoe and all +about half a mile down the right bank around some rapids or falls. It required +sharp eyes sometimes to tell which side was the carry, before you went over the +falls, but Polis never failed to land us rightly. The raspberries were +particularly abundant and large here, and all hands went to eating them, the +Indian remarking on their size. +</p> + +<p> +Often on bare rocky carries the trail was so indistinct that I repeatedly lost +it, but when I walked behind him I observed that he could keep it almost like a +hound, and rarely hesitated, or, if he paused a moment on a bare rock, his eye +immediately detected some sign which would have escaped me. Frequently +<i>we</i> found no path at all at these places, and were to him unaccountably +delayed. He would only say it was “ver’ strange.” +</p> + +<p> +We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall we came +to must be it, but after christening several in succession with this name we +gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls than I can remember. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot tell how many times we had to walk on account of falls or rapids. We +were expecting all the while that the river would take a final leap and get to +smooth water, but there was no improvement this forenoon. However, the carries +were an agreeable variety. So surely as we stepped out of the canoe and +stretched our legs we found ourselves in a blueberry and raspberry garden, each +side of our rocky trail being lined with one or both. There was not a carry on +the main East Branch where we did not find an abundance of both these +berries, for these were the rockiest places and partially cleared, such as +these plants prefer, and there had been none to gather the finest before us. +</p> + +<p> +We bathed and dined at the foot of one of these carries. It was the Indian who +commonly reminded us that it was dinner-time, sometimes even by turning the +prow to the shore. He once made an indirect, but lengthy apology, by saying +that we might think it strange, but that one who worked hard all day was very +particular to have his dinner in good season. At the most considerable fall on +this stream, when I was walking over the carry close behind the Indian, he +observed a track on the rock, which was but slightly covered with soil, and, +stooping, muttered, “Caribou.” +</p> + +<p> +When we returned, he observed a much larger track near the same place, where +some animal’s foot had sunk into a small hollow in the rock, partly +filled with grass and earth, and he exclaimed with surprise, +“What that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what is it?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Stooping and laying his hand in it, he answered with a mysterious air, and in a +half-whisper, “Devil [that is, Indian devil, or cougar]—ledges +about here—very bad animal—pull ’em rocks all to +pieces.” +</p> + +<p> +“How long since it was made?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“To-day or yesterday,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +We spent at least half the time in walking to-day. The Indian, being alone, +commonly ran down far below the foot of the carries before he waited for us. +The carry-paths themselves were more than usually indistinct, often the route +being revealed only by the countless small holes in the fallen timber made by +the tacks in the drivers’ boots. It was a tangled and perplexing thicket, +through which we stumbled and threaded our way, and when we had finished a mile +of it, our starting-point seemed far away. We were glad that we had not got +to walk to Bangor along the banks of this river, which would be a journey of +more than a hundred miles. Think of the denseness of the forest, the fallen +trees and rocks, the windings of the river, the streams emptying in, and the +frequent swamps to be crossed. It made you shudder. Yet the Indian from time to +time pointed out to us where he had thus crept along day after day when he was +a boy of ten, and in a starving condition. +</p> + +<p> +He had been hunting far north of this with two grown Indians. The winter came +on unexpectedly early, and the ice compelled them to leave their canoe at Grand +Lake, and walk down the bank. They shouldered their furs and started for +Oldtown. The snow was not deep enough for snowshoes, or to cover the +inequalities of the ground. Polis was soon too weak to carry any burden, but he +managed to catch one otter. This was the most they all had to eat on this +journey, and he remembered how good the yellow lily roots were, made into a +soup with the otter oil. He shared this food equally with the other two, but +being so small he suffered much more than they. He waded through the +Mattawamkeag at its mouth, when it was freezing cold and came up to his chin, +and he, being very weak and emaciated, expected to be swept away. The first +house which they reached was at Lincoln, and thereabouts they met a white +teamster with supplies, who, seeing their condition, gave them as much as they +could eat. For six months after getting home he was very low and did not expect +to live, and was perhaps always the worse for it. +</p> + +<p> +For seven or eight miles below that succession of “Grand” falls the +aspect of the banks as well as the character of the stream was changed. After +passing a tributary from the northeast we had swift smooth water. Low grassy +banks and muddy shores began. Many elms as well as maples and more ash trees +overhung the stream and supplanted the spruce. +</p> + +<p> +Mosquitoes, black flies, etc., pursued us in mid-channel, and we were glad +sometimes to get into violent rapids, for then we escaped them. As we glided +swiftly down the inclined plane of the river, a great cat owl launched itself +away from a stump on the bank, and flew heavily across the stream, and the +Indian, as usual, imitated its note. Soon afterward a white-headed eagle sailed +down the stream before us. We drove him several miles, while we were looking +for a good place to camp,—for we expected to be overtaken by a +shower,—and still we could distinguish him by his white tail, sailing +away from time to time from some tree by the shore still farther down the +stream. Some <i>she-corways</i> being surprised by us, a part of them dived, +and we passed directly over them, and could trace their course here and there +by a bubble on the surface, but we did not see them come up. +</p> + +<p> +It was some time before we found a camping-place, for the shore was either too grassy +and muddy, where mosquitoes abounded, or too steep a hillside. We at length +found a place to our minds, where, in a very dense spruce wood above a gravelly +shore, there seemed to be but few insects. The trees were so thick that we were +obliged to clear a space to build our fire and lie down in, and the young +spruce trees that were left were like the wall of an apartment rising around +us. We were obliged to pull ourselves up a steep bank to get there. But the +place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, +begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very center of +civilization to you: “Home is home, be it never so homely.” +</p> + +<p> +The mosquitoes were numerous, and the Indian complained a good deal, though he +lay, as the night before, between three fires and his stretched hide. As I sat +on a stump by the fire with a veil and gloves on, trying to read, he observed, +“I make you candle,” and in a minute he took a piece of +birch bark about two inches wide and rolled it hard, like an allumette<a +name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" +class="fnanchor">[4]</a> fifteen inches long, lit it, fixed it by the other end +horizontally in a split stick three feet high, and stuck it in the ground, +turning the blazing end to the wind, and telling me to snuff it from time to +time. It answered the purpose of a candle pretty well. +</p> + +<p> +I noticed, as I had before, that there was a lull among the mosquitoes about +midnight, and that they began again in the morning. Apparently they need rest +as well as we. Few, if any, creatures are equally active all night. As soon as +it was light I saw, through my veil, that the inside of the tent about our +heads was quite blackened with myriads, and their combined hum was almost as +bad to endure as their stings. I had an uncomfortable night on this account, +though I am not sure that one succeeded in his attempt to sting me. +</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p> +<a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span +class="label">[4]</span></a> A match. In this case an old-fashioned +“spill,” or lamplighter, made by twisting a piece of paper, into a +long, tight spiral roll. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY AUGUST 1-3</h3> + +<p> +I caught two or three large red chivin within twenty feet of the camp, which, +added to the moose tongue that had been left in the kettle boiling over night, +and to our other stores, made a sumptuous breakfast. The Indian made us some +hemlock tea instead of coffee. This was tolerable, though he said it was not +strong enough. It was interesting to see so simple a dish as a kettle of water +with a handful of green hemlock sprigs in it boiling over the huge fire in the +open air, the leaves fast losing their lively green color, and know that it was +for our breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +We were glad to embark once more and leave some of the mosquitoes behind. We +found that we had camped about a mile above Hunt’s, which is the last +house +for those who ascend Katahdin on this side. We had expected to ascend it from +this point, but my companion was obliged to give up this on account of sore +feet. The Indian, however, suggested that perhaps he might get a pair of +moccasins at this place, and that he could walk very easily in them without +hurting his feet, wearing several pairs of stockings, and he said beside that +they were so porous that when you had taken in water it all drained out in a +little while. We stopped to get some sugar, but found that the family had moved +away, and the house was unoccupied, except temporarily by some men who were +getting the hay. I noticed a seine here stretched on the bank, which probably +had been used to catch salmon. +</p> + +<p> +Just below this, on the west bank, we saw a moose-hide stretched, and with it a +bearskin. The Indian said they belonged to Joe Aitteon,<a +name="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> but +how he told I do not know. He was probably hunting near and had left them for +the day. Finding that we were going directly to Oldtown, he regretted that he +had not taken more of the moose meat to his family, saying that in a short +time, by drying it, he could have made it so light as to have brought away the +greater part, leaving the bones. We once or twice inquired after the lip, which +is a famous tidbit, but he said, “That go Oldtown for my old woman; +don’t get it every day.” +</p> + +<p> +Maples grew more and more numerous. It rained a little during the forenoon, +and, as we expected a wetting, we stopped early and dined just above Whetstone +Falls, about a dozen miles below Hunt’s. My companion, having lost his +pipe, asked the Indian if he could make him one. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yer,” said he, and in a minute rolled up one of birch bark, +telling him to wet the bowl from time to time. +</p> + +<p> +We carried round the falls. The distance was about three fourths of a +mile. +When we had carried over one load, the Indian returned by the shore, and I by +the path; and though I made no particular haste I was nevertheless surprised to +find him at the other end as soon as I. It was remarkable how easily he got +over the worst ground. He said to me, “I take canoe and you take the +rest, suppose you can keep along with me?” +</p> + +<p> +I thought he meant that while he ran down the rapids I should keep along the +shore, and be ready to assist him from time to time, as I had done before; but +as the walking would be very bad, I answered, “I suppose you will go too +fast for me, but I will try.” +</p> + +<p> +But I was to go by the path, he said. This I thought would not help the matter, +I should have so far to go to get to the riverside when he wanted me. But +neither was this what he meant. He was proposing a race over the carry, and +asked me if I thought I could keep along with him by the same path, adding that +I must +be pretty smart to do it. As his load, the canoe, would be much the heaviest +and bulkiest, I thought that I ought to be able to do it, and said that I would +try. So I proceeded to gather up the gun, axe, paddle, kettle, frying-pan, +plates, dippers, carpets, etc., and while I was thus engaged he threw me his +cowhide boots. “What, are these in the bargain?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yer,” said he; but before I could make a bundle of my load I +saw him disappearing over a hill with the canoe on his head. +</p> + +<p> +Hastily scraping the various articles together, I started on the run, and +immediately went by him in the bushes, but I had no sooner left him out of +sight in a rocky hollow than the greasy plates, dippers, etc., took to +themselves wings, and while I was employed in gathering them up, he went by me; +but, hastily pressing the sooty kettle to my side, I started once more, and, +soon passing him again, I saw him no more on the carry. I do not mention this as +anything of a feat, for it was but poor running on my part, and he was obliged +to move with great caution for fear of breaking his canoe as well as his neck. +When he made his appearance, puffing and panting like myself, in answer to my +inquiries where he had been, he said, “Locks cut ’em feet,” +and, laughing, added, “Oh, me love to play sometimes.” +</p> + +<p> +He said that he and his companions when they came to carries several miles long +used to try who would get over first; each perhaps with a canoe on his head. I +bore the sign of the kettle on my brown linen sack for the rest of the voyage. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 277px;"> +<a name="illus08"></a> +<a href="images/img10.jpg"><img src="images/img10th.jpg" width="277" +height="400" alt="Carrying round the Falls" title="" /></a> +<span class="caption">Carrying round the Falls</span> +</div> + +<p> +As we approached the mouth of the East Branch we passed two or three huts, the +first sign of civilization after Hunt’s, though we saw no road as yet. We +heard a cowbell, and even saw an infant held up to a small square window to see +us pass. On entering the West Branch at Nicketow, Polis remarked that it was +all smooth water hence to Oldtown, and he threw away his pole which was cut on +the Umbazookskus. +</p> + +<p> +We camped about two miles below Nicketow, covering with fresh twigs the +withered bed of a former traveler, and feeling that we were now in a settled +country, especially when in the evening we heard an ox sneeze in its wild +pasture across the river. Wherever you land along the frequented part of the +river you have not far to go to find these sites of temporary inns, the +withered bed of flattened twigs, the charred sticks, and perhaps the +tent-poles. Not long since, similar beds were spread along the Connecticut, the +Hudson, and the Delaware, and longer still ago, by the Thames and Seine, and +they now help to make the soil where private and public gardens, mansions, and +palaces are. We could not get fir twigs for our bed here, and the spruce was +harsh in comparison, having more twig in proportion to its leaf, but we +improved it somewhat with hemlock. +</p> + +<p> +After the regular supper we attempted to make a lily soup of the bulbs which I +had brought along, for I wished to learn all I could before I got out of the +woods. Following the Indian’s directions, I washed the bulbs carefully, +minced some moose meat and some pork, salted and boiled all together, but we +had not the patience to try the experiment fairly, for he said it must be +boiled till the roots were completely softened so as to thicken the soup like +flour; but though we left it on all night, we found it dried to the kettle in +the morning and not yet boiled to a flour. Perhaps the roots were not ripe +enough, for they commonly gather them in the fall. The Indian’s name for +these bulbs was <i>sheepnoc</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He prepared to camp as usual between his moose-hide and the fire, but it +beginning to rain suddenly he took refuge under the tent with us, and gave us a +song before falling asleep. It rained hard in the night and spoiled another box +of matches for us, which the Indian had left out, for he was +very careless; but we had so much the better night for the rain, since it kept +the mosquitoes down. +</p> + +<p> +Sunday, a cloudy and unpromising morning. One of us observed to the Indian, +“You did not stretch your moose-hide last night, did you, Mr. +Polis?” +</p> + +<p> +Whereat he replied in a tone of surprise, though perhaps not of ill humor: +“What you ask me that question for? Suppose I stretch ’em, you see +’em. May be your way talking, may be all right, no Indian way.” +</p> + +<p> +I had observed that he did not wish to answer the same question more than once, +and was often silent when it was put again, as if he were moody. Not that he +was incommunicative, for he frequently commenced a longwinded narrative of his +own accord—repeated at length the tradition of some old battle, or some +passage in the recent history of his tribe in which he had acted a prominent +part, from time to time drawing a long breath, and resuming the +thread of his tale, with the true story-teller’s leisureliness. +Especially after the day’s work was over, and he had put himself in +posture for the night, he would be unexpectedly sociable, and we would fall +asleep before he got through. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian was quite sick this morning with the colic. I thought that he was +the worse for the moose meat he had eaten. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the Mattawamkeag at half past eight in the morning, in the midst of +a drizzling rain, and, after buying some sugar, set out again. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian growing much worse, we stopped in the north part of Lincoln to get +some brandy for him, but, failing in this, an apothecary recommended +Brandreth’s pills, which he refused to take because he was not acquainted +with them. He said, “Me doctor—first study my case, find out what +ail ’em—then I know what to take.” +</p> + +<p> +We stopped at mid-forenoon on an island and made him a dipper of tea. Here, too, +we dined and did some washing and botanizing, while he lay on the bank. In the +afternoon we went on a little farther. As a thunder-shower appeared to be +coming up we stopped opposite a barn on the west bank. Here we were obliged to +spend the rest of the day and night, on account of our patient, whose sickness +did not abate. He lay groaning under his canoe on the bank, looking very +woebegone. You would not have thought, if you had seen him lying about thus, +that he was worth six thousand dollars and had been to Washington. It seemed to +me that he made a greater ado about his sickness than a Yankee does, and was +more alarmed about himself. We talked somewhat of leaving him with his people +in Lincoln,—for that is one of their homes,—but he objected on +account of the expense, saying, “Suppose me well in morning, you and I go +Oldtown by noon.” +</p> + +<p> +As we were taking our tea at twilight, while he lay groaning under his canoe, +he asked me to get him a dipper of water. Taking the dipper in one hand, he +seized his powderhorn with the other, and, pouring into it a charge or two of +powder, stirred it up with his finger, and drank it off. This was all he took +to-day after breakfast beside his tea. +</p> + +<p> +To save the trouble of pitching our tent, when we had secured our stores from +wandering dogs, we camped in the solitary half-open barn near the bank, with +the permission of the owner, lying on new-mown hay four feet deep. The +fragrance of the hay, in which many ferns, etc., were mingled, was agreeable, +though it was quite alive with grasshoppers which you could hear crawling +through it. This served to graduate our approach to houses and feather beds. In +the night some large bird, probably an owl, flitted through over our heads, and +very early in the morning we were awakened by the twittering of swallows which had +their nests there. +</p> + +<p> +We started early before breakfast, the Indian being considerably better, and +soon glided by Lincoln, and stopped to breakfast two or three miles below this +town. +</p> + +<p> +We frequently passed Indian islands with their small houses on them. The +Penobscot Indians seem to be more social even than the whites. Ever and anon in +the deepest wilderness of Maine you come to the log hut of a Yankee or Canada +settler, but a Penobscot never takes up his residence in such a solitude. They +are not even scattered about on their islands in the Penobscot, but gathered +together on two or three, evidently for the sake of society. I saw one or two +houses not now used by them, because, as our Indian said, they were too +solitary. +</p> + +<p> +From time to time we met Indians in their canoes going up river. Our man did +not commonly approach them, but only exchanged a few words with them at a distance. We +took less notice of the scenery to-day, because we were in quite a settled +country. The river became broad and sluggish, and we saw a blue heron winging +its way slowly down the stream before us. +</p> + +<p> +The Sunkhaze, a short dead stream, comes in from the east two miles above +Oldtown. Asking the meaning of this name, the Indian said, “Suppose you +are going down Penobscot, just like we, and you see a canoe come out of bank +and go along before you, but you no see ’em stream. That is +<i>Sunkhaze</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +He had previously complimented me on my paddling, saying that I paddled +“just like anybody,” giving me an Indian name which meant +“great paddler.” When off this stream he said to me, who sat in the +bows, “Me teach you paddle.” +</p> + +<p> +So, turning toward the shore, he got out, came forward, and placed my hands as +he wished. He placed one of them quite outside the boat, and the other parallel +with the +first, grasping the paddle near the end, not over the flat extremity, and told +me to slide it back and forth on the side of the canoe. This, I found, was a +great improvement which I had not thought of, saving me the labor of lifting +the paddle each time, and I wondered that he had not suggested it before. It is +true, before our baggage was reduced we had been obliged to sit with our legs +drawn up, and our knees above the side of the canoe, which would have prevented +our paddling thus, or perhaps he was afraid of wearing out his canoe by +constant friction on the side. +</p> + +<p> +I told him that I had been accustomed to sit in the stern, and lift my paddle +at each stroke, getting a pry on the side each time, and I still paddled partly +as if in the stern. He then wanted to see me paddle in the stern. So, changing +paddles, for he had the longer and better one, and turning end for end, he +sitting flat on the bottom and I on the crossbar, he began to paddle very hard, +trying to turn the canoe, looking over his shoulder and laughing, but, finding +it in vain, he relaxed his efforts, though we still sped along a mile or two +very swiftly. He said that he had no fault to find with my paddling in the +stern, but I complained that he did not paddle according to his own directions +in the bows. +</p> + +<p> +As we drew near to Oldtown I asked Polis if he was not glad to get home again; +but there was no relenting to his wildness, and he said, “It makes no +difference to me where I am.” Such is the Indian’s pretense always. +</p> + +<p> +We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called +“Cook.” He said: “I ’xpect we take in some water there, +river so high—never see it so high at this season. Very rough water +there; swamp steamboat once. Don’t you paddle till I tell you. Then you +paddle right along.” +</p> + +<p> +It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted, +“Paddle!” and we shot through without taking in a drop. +Soon after the Indian houses came in sight. I could not at first tell my +companion which of two or three large white ones was our guide’s. He said +it was the one with blinds. +</p> + +<p> +We landed opposite his door at about four in the afternoon, having come some +forty miles this day. We stopped for an hour at his house. Mrs. P. wore a hat +and had a silver brooch on her breast, but she was not introduced to us. The +house was roomy and neat. A large new map of Oldtown and the Indian Island hung +on the wall, and a clock opposite to it. +</p> + +<p> +This was the last that I saw of Joe Polis. We took the last train, and reached +Bangor that night. +</p> + + +<p class='center'>THE END +</p> + +<p class='frontend'>The Riverside Press<br /> +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS<br /> +U. S. A +</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p> +<a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span +class="label">[5]</span></a> Joe Aitteon was Thoreau’s guide on the +second of his three excursions into the Maine Woods. He was an Indian whose +home was on the same island where Polis lived. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<div class='notebox2'><h2>A SELECTED LIST OF OUT-OF-DOOR<br /> +AND NATURE BOOKS</h2> + + +<h3><i>By JOHN BURROUGHS</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +The Summit of the Years<br /> +Time and Change<br /> +Leaf and Tendril<br /> +Ways of Nature<br /> +Far and Near<br /> +Wake-Robin<br /> +Winter Sunshine<br /> +Pepacton, and Other Sketches<br /> +Fresh Fields<br /> +Signs and Seasons<br /> +Birds and Poets, with Other Papers<br /> +Locusts and Wild Honey<br /> +Riverby +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +Each of the above, 16mo, gilt top, $1.15 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +A Year in the Fields +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +Selections appropriate to each season of the year from the writings of <span +class="smcap">John</span> <span class="smcap">Burroughs</span>. 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Large crown 8vo, $2.50 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<h3><i>By THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +Outdoor Studies, and Poems +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +12mo, gilt top, $2.00 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +The Procession of the Flowers, and Kindred Papers +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +With Frontispiece, and an Index of Plants and Animals mentioned. 16mo, gilt +top, $1.25 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<h3><i>By RALPH HOFFMANN</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +With 4 full-page plates by <span class="smcap">Louis Agassiz Fuertes</span>, +and about 100 cuts in the text. 12mo, $1.50 <i>net</i>. <i>Field Edition</i>, +bound in flexible leather, pocket size. $2.00 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<h3><i>By SARAH ORNE JEWETT</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +Country By-ways +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +18mo, gilt top, $1.00 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<h3><i>By JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +My Garden Acquaintance +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +32mo, 40 cents <i>net</i>; postpaid. +</p> + +<h3><i>By OLIVE THORNE MILLER</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +The Bird Our Brother +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +12mo, $1.25 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +With the Birds in Maine +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +16mo, $1.10 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +The First Book of Birds +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +With colored Illustrations. 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Crown 8vo, $1.25 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +Nature Series:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Book I. The Fall of the Year</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Book II. Winter</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Book III. The Spring of the Year</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Book IV. Summer</span> +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Robert B. Horsfall</span>. Each, 12mo, 60 +cents, <i>net</i>; postpaid. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +The Face of the Fields +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +12mo, $1.25 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<p class='pads'> +The Lay of the Land +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +With illustrated Chapter Headings. 12mo, $1.25 <i>net</i>. +</p> + +<h3><i>By CELIA THAXTER</i></h3> + +<p class='pads'> +An Island Garden +</p> + +<p class='ads'> +With Portrait. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bcea5c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #34990 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34990) diff --git a/old/2011-01-17_34990-8.zip b/old/2011-01-17_34990-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36b5515 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2011-01-17_34990-8.zip diff --git a/old/2011-01-17_34990-h.zip b/old/2011-01-17_34990-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23ef1c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2011-01-17_34990-h.zip diff --git a/old/2011-01-17_34990.zip b/old/2011-01-17_34990.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..62b131f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2011-01-17_34990.zip diff --git a/old/34990-8.txt b/old/34990-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4cdc7a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/34990-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3888 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Canoeing in the wilderness, by Henry David Thoreau + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Canoeing in the wilderness + +Author: Henry David Thoreau + +Editor: Clifton Johnson + +Illustrator: Will Hammell + +Release Date: January 17, 2011 [EBook #34990] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. + For a complete list, please see the bottom of this document. + + + + +CANOEING +IN THE +WILDERNESS + +HENRY D. THOREAU + +By Clifton Johnson + + +BATTLEGROUND ADVENTURES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE FOXES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE BEARS. Illustrated. + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +[Illustration: _The Indian Guide's Evening Prayer_ (_page 59_)] + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +BY HENRY D. THOREAU + +EDITED BY +CLIFTON JOHNSON + +ILLUSTRATED BY +WILL HAMMELL + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1916 + +COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published April 1916_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE INDIAN GUIDE'S EVENING PRAYER _Frontispiece_ + +THE STAGE ON THE ROAD TO MOOSEHEAD LAKE 8 + +MAKING A CAMP IN THE STREAMSIDE WOODLAND 52 + +FISHING 72 + +THE RED SQUIRREL 78 + +COMING DOWN THE RAPIDS 132 + +SHOOTING THE MOOSE 154 + +CARRYING ROUND THE FALLS 180 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Thoreau was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and at the +time he made this wilderness canoe trip he was forty years old. The +record of the journey is the latter half of his _The Maine Woods_, which +is perhaps the finest idyl of the forest ever written. It is +particularly charming in its blending of meditative and poetic fancies +with the minute description of the voyager's experiences. + +The chief attraction that inspired Thoreau to make the trip was the +primitiveness of the region. Here was a vast tract of almost virgin +woodland, peopled only with a few loggers and pioneer farmers, Indians, +and wild animals. No one could have been better fitted than Thoreau to +enjoy such a region and to transmit his enjoyment of it to others. For +though he was a person of culture and refinement, with a college +education, and had for an intimate friend so rare a man as Ralph Waldo +Emerson, he was half wild in many of his tastes and impatient of the +restraints and artificiality of the ordinary social life of the towns +and cities. + +He liked especially the companionship of men who were in close contact +with nature, and in this book we find him deeply interested in his +Indian guide and lingering fondly over the man's characteristics and +casual remarks. The Indian retained many of his aboriginal instincts and +ways, though his tribe was in most respects civilized. His home was in +an Indian village on an island in the Penobscot River at Oldtown, a few +miles above Bangor. + +Thoreau was one of the world's greatest nature writers, and as the years +pass, his fame steadily increases. He was a careful and accurate +observer, more at home in the fields and woods than in village and town, +and with a gift of piquant originality in recording his impressions. The +play of his imagination is keen and nimble, yet his fancy is so well +balanced by his native common sense that it does not run away with him. +There is never any doubt about his genuineness, or that what he states +is free from bias and romantic exaggeration. + +It is to be noted that he was no hunter. His inquisitiveness into the +ways of the wild creatures carried with it no desire to shoot them, and +to his mind the killing of game for mere sport was akin to butchery. The +kindly and sympathetic spirit constantly manifest in his pages is very +attractive, and the fellowship one gains with him through his written +words is both delightful and wholesome. He stimulates not only a love +for nature, but a love for simple ways of living, and for all that is +sincere and unaffected in human life, wherever found. + +In the present volume various details and digressions that are not of +interest to most readers have been omitted, but except for such +elimination Thoreau's text has been retained throughout. It is believed +that nothing essential has been sacrificed, and that the narrative in +this form will be found lively, informing, and thoroughly enjoyable. + +CLIFTON JOHNSON. + +HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS. + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + + + + +CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS + + + + +I + +MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY JULY 20-23, 1857 + + +I started on my third excursion to the Maine woods Monday, July 20, +1857, with one companion, arriving at Bangor the next day at noon. The +succeeding morning, a relative of mine who is well acquainted with the +Penobscot Indians took me in his wagon to Oldtown to assist me in +obtaining an Indian for this expedition. We were ferried across to the +Indian Island in a bateau. The ferryman's boy had the key to it, but the +father, who was a blacksmith, after a little hesitation, cut the chain +with a cold chisel on the rock. He told me that the Indians were nearly +all gone to the seaboard and to Massachusetts, partly on account of the +smallpox, of which they are very much afraid, having broken out in +Oldtown. The old chief Neptune, however, was there still. + +The first man we saw on the island was an Indian named Joseph Polis, +whom my relative addressed familiarly as "Joe." He was dressing a +deerskin in his yard. The skin was spread over a slanting log, and he +was scraping it with a stick held by both hands. He was stoutly built, +perhaps a little above the middle height, with a broad face, and, as +others said, perfect Indian features and complexion. His house was a +two-story white one with blinds, the best-looking that I noticed there, +and as good as an average one on a New England village street. It was +surrounded by a garden and fruit trees, single cornstalks standing +thinly amid the beans. We asked him if he knew any good Indian who would +like to go into the woods with us, that is, to the Allegash Lakes by way +of Moosehead, and return by the East Branch of the Penobscot. + +To which he answered out of that strange remoteness in which the Indian +ever dwells to the white man, "Me like to go myself; me want to get some +moose"; and kept on scraping the skin. + +The ferryman had told us that all the best Indians were gone except +Polis, who was one of the aristocracy. He, to be sure, would be the best +man we could have, but if he went at all would want a great price. Polis +asked at first two dollars a day but agreed to go for a dollar and a +half, and fifty cents a week for his canoe. He would come to Bangor with +his canoe by the seven o'clock train that evening--we might depend on +him. We thought ourselves lucky to secure the services of this man, who +was known to be particularly steady and trustworthy. + +I spent the afternoon with my companion, who had remained in Bangor, in +preparing for our expedition, purchasing provisions, hard-bread,[1] +pork, coffee, sugar, etc., and some india-rubber clothing. + +At evening the Indian arrived in the cars, and I led the way, while he +followed me, three quarters of a mile to my friend's house, with the +canoe on his head. I did not know the exact route, but steered by the +lay of the land, as I do in Boston. I tried to enter into conversation +with him, but as he was puffing under the weight of his canoe, not +having the usual apparatus for carrying it, but, above all, as he was an +Indian, I might as well have been thumping on the bottom of his birch +the while. In answer to the various observations that I made he only +grunted vaguely from beneath his canoe once or twice, so that I knew he +was there. + +Early the next morning the stage called for us. My companion and I had +each a large knapsack as full as it would hold, and we had two large +rubber bags which held our provisions and utensils. As for the Indian, +all the baggage he had, beside his axe and gun, was a blanket, which he +brought loose in his hand. However, he had laid in a store of tobacco +and a new pipe for the excursion. The canoe was securely lashed +diagonally across the top of the stage, with bits of carpet tucked under +the edge to prevent its chafing. The driver appeared as much accustomed +to carrying canoes in this way as bandboxes. + +At the Bangor House we took in four men bound on a hunting excursion, +one of the men going as cook. They had a dog, a middling-sized brindled +cur, which ran by the side of the stage, his master showing his head and +whistling from time to time. But after we had gone about three miles the +dog was suddenly missing, and two of the party went back for him, while +the stage, which was full of passengers, waited. At length one man came +back, while the other kept on. This whole party of hunters declared +their intention to stop till the dog was found, but the very obliging +driver was ready to wait a spell longer. He was evidently unwilling to +lose so many passengers, who would have taken a private conveyance, or +perhaps the other line of stages, the next day. Such progress did we +make, with a journey of over sixty miles to be accomplished that day, +and a rainstorm just setting in. We discussed the subject of dogs and +their instincts till it was threadbare, while we waited there, and the +scenery of the suburbs of Bangor is still distinctly impressed on my +memory. + +[Illustration: _The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake_] + +After full half an hour the man returned, leading the dog by a rope. He +had overtaken him just as he was entering the Bangor House. He was then +tied on the top of the stage, but, being wet and cold, several times in +the course of the journey he jumped off, and I saw him dangling by his +neck. This dog was depended on to stop bears. He had already stopped one +somewhere in New Hampshire, and I can testify that he stopped a stage in +Maine. This party of four probably paid nothing for the dog's ride, +nor for his run, while our party of three paid two dollars--and were +charged four--for the light canoe which lay still on the top. + +The stage was crowded all the way. If you had looked inside you would +have thought that we were prepared to run the gantlet of a band of +robbers, for there were four or five guns on the front seat and one or +two on the back one, each man holding his darling in his arms. It +appeared that this party of hunters was going our way, but much farther. +Their leader was a handsome man about thirty years old, of good height, +but not apparently robust, of gentlemanly address and faultless toilet. +He had a fair white complexion as if he had always lived in the shade, +and an intellectual face, and with his quiet manners might have passed +for a divinity student who had seen something of the world. I was +surprised to find that he was probably the chief white hunter of Maine +and was known all along the road. I afterwards heard him spoken of as +one who could endure a great deal of exposure and fatigue without +showing the effect of it; and he could not only use guns, but make them, +being himself a gunsmith. In the spring he had saved a stage-driver and +two passengers from drowning in the backwater of the Piscataquis on this +road, having swum ashore in the freezing water and made a raft and got +them off--though the horses were drowned--at great risk to himself, +while the only other man who could swim withdrew to the nearest house to +prevent freezing. He knew our man, and remarked that we had a good +Indian there, a good hunter; adding that he was said to be worth six +thousand dollars. The Indian also knew him, and said to me, "The great +hunter." + +The Indian sat on the front seat with a stolid expression of face as if +barely awake to what was going on. Again I was struck by the peculiar +vagueness of his replies when addressed in the stage or at the taverns. +He really never said anything on such occasions. He was merely stirred +up like a wild beast, and passively muttered some insignificant +response. His answer, in such cases, was vague as a puff of smoke, +suggesting no _responsibility_, and if you considered it you would find +that you had got nothing out of him. This was instead of the +conventional palaver and smartness of the white man, and equally +profitable. Most get no more than this out of the Indian, and pronounce +him stolid accordingly. I was surprised to see what a foolish and +impertinent style a Maine man, a passenger, used in addressing him, as +if he were a child, which only made his eyes glisten a little. A tipsy +Canadian asked him at a tavern, in a drawling tone, if he smoked, to +which he answered with an indefinite "Yes." + +"Won't you lend me your pipe a little while?" asked the other. + +He replied, looking straight by the man's head, with a face singularly +vacant to all neighboring interests, "Me got no pipe"; yet I had seen +him put a new one, with a supply of tobacco, into his pocket that +morning. + +Our little canoe, so neat and strong, drew a favorable criticism from +all the wiseacres among the tavern loungers along the road. By the +roadside, close to the wheels, I noticed a splendid great purple fringed +orchis which I would fain have stopped the stage to pluck, but as this +had never been known to stop a bear, like the cur on the stage, the +driver would probably have thought it a waste of time. + +When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was +still steadily raining, and in that fresh, cool atmosphere the hylas +were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake. It was as if the +season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at +the abode of perpetual spring. + +We had expected to go upon the lake at once, and, after paddling up two +or three miles, to camp on one of its islands, but on account of the +rain we decided to go to one of the taverns for the night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Hard-bread or ship-bread is a kind of hard biscuit commonly baked in +large cakes and much used by sailors and soldiers. + + + + +II + +FRIDAY, JULY 24. + + +About four o'clock the next morning, though it was quite cloudy, +accompanied by the landlord to the water's edge, in the twilight, we +launched our canoe from a rock on Moosehead Lake. We had a rather small +canoe for three persons, eighteen and one fourth feet long by two feet +six and one half inches wide in the middle, and one foot deep within. I +judged that it would weigh not far from eighty pounds. The Indian had +recently made it himself, and its smallness was partly compensated for +by its newness, as well as stanchness and solidity, it being made of +very thick bark and ribs. Our baggage weighed about one hundred and +sixty-six pounds. The principal part of the baggage was, as usual, +placed in the middle of the broadest part, while we stowed ourselves in +the chinks and crannies that were left before and behind it, where there +was no room to extend our legs, the loose articles being tucked into the +ends. The canoe was thus as closely packed as a market basket. The +Indian sat on a crossbar in the stern, but we flat on the bottom with a +splint or chip behind our backs to protect them from the crossbar, and +one of us commonly paddled with the Indian. + +Paddling along the eastern side of the lake in the still of the morning, +we soon saw a few sheldrakes, which the Indian called _Shecorways_, and +some peetweets on the rocky shore. We also saw and heard loons. It was +inspiriting to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our +fins or flippers, and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. + +Having passed the small rocky isles within two or three miles of the +foot of the lake, we had a short consultation respecting our course, and +inclined to the western shore for the sake of its lee; for otherwise, +if the wind should rise, it would be impossible for us to reach Mount +Kineo, which is about midway up the lake on the east side, but at its +narrowest part, where probably we could recross if we took the western +side. The wind is the chief obstacle to crossing the lakes, especially +in so small a canoe. The Indian remarked several times that he did not +like to cross the lakes "in littlum canoe," but nevertheless, "just as +we say, it made no odds to him." + +Moosehead Lake is twelve miles wide at the widest place, and thirty +miles long in a direct line, but longer as it lies. Paddling near the +shore, we frequently heard the _pe-pe_ of the olive-sided flycatcher, +also the wood pewee and the kingfisher. The Indian reminding us that he +could not work without eating, we stopped to breakfast on the main shore +southwest of Deer Island. We took out our bags, and the Indian made a +fire under a very large bleached log, using white pine bark from a +stump, though he said that hemlock was better, and kindling with canoe +birch bark. Our table was a large piece of freshly peeled birch bark, +laid wrong side up, and our breakfast consisted of hard-bread, fried +pork, and strong coffee well sweetened, in which we did not miss the +milk. + +While we were getting breakfast a brood of twelve black dippers,[2] half +grown, came paddling by within three or four rods, not at all alarmed; +and they loitered about as long as we stayed, now huddled close +together, now moving off in a long line, very cunningly. + +Looking northward from this place it appeared as if we were entering a +large bay, and we did not know whether we should be obliged to diverge +from our course and keep outside a point which we saw, or should find a +passage between this and the mainland. It was misty dog-day weather, and +we had already penetrated a smaller bay of the same kind, and knocked +the bottom out of it, though we had been obliged to pass over a bar +between an island and the shore, where there was but just breadth and +depth enough to float the canoe, and the Indian had observed, "Very easy +makum bridge here," but now it seemed that if we held on we should be +fairly embayed. Presently, however, the mist lifted somewhat and +revealed a break in the shore northward. The Indian immediately +remarked, "I guess you and I go there." + +This was his common expression instead of saying "we." He never +addressed us by our names, though curious to know how they were spelled +and what they meant. We called him Polis. He had already guessed very +accurately at our ages, and said that he was forty-eight. + +After breakfast I emptied the melted pork that was left into the lake, +making what the sailors call a "slick," and watching to see how much it +spread over and smoothed the agitated surface. The Indian looked at it +a moment and said, "That make hard paddlum through; hold 'em canoe. So +say old times." + +We hastily reloaded, putting the dishes loose in the bows, that they +might be at hand when wanted, and set out again. The western shore, near +which we paddled along, rose gently to a considerable height and was +everywhere densely covered with the forest, in which was a large +proportion of hard wood to enliven and relieve the fir and spruce. + +The Indian said that the lichen which we saw hanging from the trees was +called _chorchorque_. We asked him the names of several birds which we +heard this morning. The thrush, which was quite common, and whose note +he imitated, he said was called _Adelungquamooktum_; but sometimes he +could not tell the name of some small bird which I heard and knew, but +he said, "I tell all the birds about here; can't tell littlum noise, but +I see 'em, then I can tell." + +I observed that I should like to go to school to him to learn his +language, living on the Indian island the while; could not that be done? + +"Oh, yer," he replied, "good many do so." + +I asked how long he thought it would take. He said one week. I told him +that in this voyage I would tell him all I knew, and he should tell me +all he knew, to which he readily agreed. + +Mount Kineo, which was generally visible, though occasionally concealed +by islands or the mainland in front, had a level bar of cloud concealing +its summit, and all the mountain-tops about the lake were cut off at the +same height. Ducks of various kinds were quite common, and ran over the +water before us as fast as a horse trots. + +The Indian asked the meaning of _reality_, as near as I could make out +the word, which he said one of us had used; also of _interrent_, that +is, intelligent. I observed that he could rarely sound the letter r, +but used l, as also r for l sometimes; as _load_ for road, _pickelel_ +for pickerel, _Soogle_ Island for Sugar Island. He generally added the +syllable _um_ to his words, as _paddlum_, etc. + +On a point on the mainland where we landed to stretch our legs and look +at the vegetation, going inland a few steps, I discovered a fire still +glowing beneath its ashes, where somebody had breakfasted, and a bed of +twigs prepared for the following night. So I knew not only that they had +just left, but that they designed to return, and by the breadth of the +bed that there was more than one in the party. You might have gone +within six feet of these signs without seeing them. There grew the +beaked hazel, rue seven feet high, and red osier, whose bark the Indian +said was good to smoke, "tobacco before white people came to this +country, Indian tobacco." + +The Indian was always very careful in approaching the shore, lest he +should injure his canoe on the rocks, letting it swing round slowly +sidewise, and was still more particular that we should not step into it +on shore, nor till it floated free, and then should step gently lest we +should open its seams, or make a hole in the bottom. + +After passing Deer Island we saw the little steamer from Greenville, far +east in the middle of the lake. Sometimes we could hardly tell her from +an island which had a few trees on it. Here we were exposed to the wind +from over the whole breadth of the lake, and ran a little risk of being +swamped. While I had my eye fixed on the spot where a large fish had +leaped, we took in a gallon or two of water; but we soon reached the +shore and took the canoe over the bar at Sand-bar Island, a few feet +wide only, and so saved a considerable distance. + +We crossed a broad bay and found the water quite rough. A very little +wind on these broad lakes raises a sea which will swamp a canoe. Looking +off from the shore, the surface may appear to be almost smooth a mile +distant, or if you see a few white crests they appear nearly level with +the rest of the lake, but when you get out so far, you may find quite a +sea running, and ere long, before you think of it, a wave will gently +creep up the side of the canoe and fill your lap, like a monster +deliberately covering you with its slime before it swallows you, or it +will strike the canoe violently and break into it. The same thing may +happen when the wind rises suddenly, though it were perfectly calm and +smooth there a few minutes before; so that nothing can save you, unless +you can swim ashore, for it is impossible to get into a canoe when it is +upset. Since you sit flat on the bottom, though the danger should not be +imminent, a little water is a great inconvenience, not to mention the +wetting of your provisions. We rarely crossed even a bay directly, from +point to point, when there was wind, but made a slight curve +corresponding somewhat to the shore, that we might the sooner reach it +if the wind increased. + +When the wind is aft, and not too strong, the Indian makes a spritsail +of his blanket. He thus easily skims over the whole length of this lake +in a day. + +The Indian paddled on one side, and one of us on the other, to keep the +canoe steady, and when he wanted to change hands he would say, "T' other +side." He asserted, in answer to our questions, that he had never upset +a canoe himself, though he may have been upset by others. + +Think of our little eggshell of a canoe tossing across that great lake, +a mere black speck to the eagle soaring above it! + +My companion trailed for trout as we paddled along, but, the Indian +warning him that a big fish might upset us, for there are some very +large ones there, he agreed to pass the line quickly to the stern if he +had a bite. + +While we were crossing this bay, where Mount Kineo rose dark before us +within two or three miles, the Indian repeated the tradition respecting +this mountain's having anciently been a cow moose--how a mighty Indian +hunter succeeded in killing this queen of the moose tribe with great +difficulty, while her calf was killed somewhere among the islands in +Penobscot Bay, and, to his eyes, this mountain had still the form of the +moose in a reclining posture. He told this at some length and with +apparent good faith, and asked us how we supposed the hunter could have +killed such a mighty moose as that. An Indian tells such a story as if +he thought it deserved to have a good deal said about it, only he has +not got it to say, and so he makes up for the deficiency by a drawling +tone, long-windedness, and a dumb wonder which he hopes will be +contagious. + +We approached the land again through pretty rough water, and then +steered directly across the lake at its narrowest part to the eastern +side, and were soon partly under the lee of the mountain, having +paddled about twenty miles. It was now about noon. + +We designed to stop there that afternoon and night, and spent half an +hour looking along the shore northward for a suitable place to camp. At +length, by going half a dozen rods into the dense spruce and fir wood on +the side of the mountain almost as dark as a cellar, we found a place +sufficiently clear and level to lie down on, after cutting away a few +bushes. The Indian cleared a path to it from the shore with his axe, and +we then carried up all our baggage, pitched our tent, and made our bed, +in order to be ready for foul weather, which then threatened us, and for +the night. He gathered a large armful of fir twigs, breaking them off, +which he said were the best for our bed, partly, I thought, because they +were the largest and could be most rapidly collected. It had been +raining more or less for four or five days, and the wood was even damper +than usual, but he got dry bark from the under side of a dead leaning +hemlock, which he said he could always do. + +This noon his mind was occupied with a law question, and I referred him +to my companion, who was a lawyer. It appeared that he had been buying +land lately--I think it was a hundred acres--but there was probably an +incumbrance to it, somebody else claiming to have bought some grass on +it for this year. He wished to know to whom the grass belonged, and was +told that if the other man could prove that he bought the grass before +he, Polis, bought the land, the former could take it whether the latter +knew it or not. To which he only answered, "Strange!" He went over this +several times, fairly sat down to it, with his back to a tree, as if he +meant to confine us to this topic henceforth; but as he made no headway, +only reached the jumping-off place of his wonder at white men's +institutions after each explanation, we let the subject die. + +He said that he had fifty acres of grass, potatoes, etc., somewhere +above Oldtown, besides some about his house; that he hired a good deal +of his work, hoeing, etc., and preferred white men to Indians because +"they keep steady and know how." + +After dinner we returned southward along the shore, in the canoe, on +account of the difficulty of climbing over the rocks and fallen trees, +and began to ascend the mountain along the edge of the precipice. But, a +smart shower coming up just then, the Indian crept under his canoe, +while we, protected by our rubber coats, proceeded to botanize. So we +sent him back to the camp for shelter, agreeing that he should come for +us with his canoe toward night. It had rained a little in the forenoon, +and we trusted that this would be the clearing-up shower, which it +proved; but our feet and legs were thoroughly wet by the bushes. The +clouds breaking away a little, we had a glorious wild view, as we +ascended, of the broad lake with its numerous forest-clad islands +extending beyond our sight both north and south, and the boundless +forest undulating away from its shores on every side, as densely packed +as a rye-field and enveloping nameless mountains in succession. It was a +perfect lake of the woods. + +Looking southward, the heavens were completely overcast, the mountains +capped with clouds, and the lake generally wore a dark and stormy +appearance, but from its surface six or eight miles distant there was +reflected upward through the misty air a bright blue tinge from the +unseen sky of another latitude beyond. They probably had a clear sky +then at the south end of the lake. + +Again we mistook a little rocky islet seen through the "drisk," with +some taller bare trunks or stumps on it, for the steamer with its +smoke-pipes, but as it had not changed its position after half an hour +we were undeceived. So much do the works of man resemble the works of +nature. A moose might mistake a steamer for a floating isle, and not be +scared till he heard its puffing or its whistle. + +If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable +auspices, I would go to it in foul weather so as to be there when it +cleared up. We are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most +fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which is just +established in a tearful eye. + +Jackson, in his "Report on the Geology of Maine," says: "Hornstone, +which will answer for flints, occurs in various parts of the State. The +largest mass of this stone known in the world is Mount Kineo, upon +Moosehead Lake, which appears to be entirely composed of it, and rises +seven hundred feet above the lake level. This variety of hornstone I +have seen in every part of New England in the form of Indian +arrow-heads, hatchets, chisels, etc., which were probably obtained from +this mountain by the aboriginal inhabitants of the country." + +I have myself found hundreds of arrow-heads made of the same material. +It is generally slate-colored, with white specks, becoming a uniform +white where exposed to the light and air. I picked up a small thin piece +which had so sharp an edge that I used it as a knife, and, to see what I +could do, fairly cut off an aspen one inch thick with it, by bending it +and making many cuts; though I cut my fingers badly with the back of it +in the meanwhile. + +From the summit of the precipice which forms the southern and eastern +sides of this mountain peninsula, five or six hundred feet high, we +probably might have jumped down to the water, or to the seemingly +dwarfish trees on the narrow neck of land which connects it with the +main. It is a dangerous place to try the steadiness of your nerves. + +The plants which attracted our attention on this mountain were the +mountain cinquefoil, abundant and in bloom still at the very base by +the waterside, very beautiful harebells overhanging the precipice, +bearberry, the Canada blueberry, wild holly, the great round-leafed +orchis, bunchberry, reddening as we ascended, green at the base of the +mountain, red at the top, and the small fern _Woodsia ilvensis_, growing +in tufts, now in fruit. Having explored the wonders of the mountain, and +the weather being now cleared up, we commenced the descent. We met the +Indian, puffing and panting, about one third of the way up, but thinking +that he must be near the top. On reaching the canoe we found that he had +caught a lake trout weighing about three pounds, while we were on the +mountain. + +When we got to the camp, the canoe was taken out and turned over, and a +log laid across it to prevent its being blown away. The Indian cut some +large logs of damp and rotten wood to smoulder and keep fire through the +night. The trout was fried for supper. + +Our tent was of thin cotton cloth and quite small, forming with the +ground a triangular prism closed at the rear end, six feet long, seven +wide, and four high, so that we could barely sit up in the middle. It +required two forked stakes, a smooth ridgepole, and a dozen or more pins +to pitch it. It kept off dew and wind and an ordinary rain, and answered +our purpose well enough. We reclined within it till bedtime, each with +his baggage at his head, or else sat about the fire, having hung our wet +clothes on a pole before the fire for the night. + +As we sat there, just before night, looking out through the dusky wood, +the Indian heard a noise which he said was made by a snake. He imitated +it at my request, making a low whistling note--_pheet_--_pheet_--two or +three times repeated, somewhat like the peep of the hyla, but not so +loud. He said that he had never seen them while making it, but going to +the spot he finds the snake. This, he said, was a sign of rain. When I +had selected this place for our camp he had remarked that there were +snakes there. "But they won't do any hurt," I said. + +"Oh, no," he answered, "just as you say; it makes no difference to me." + +He lay on the right side of the tent, because, as he said, he was partly +deaf in one ear, and he wanted to lie with his good ear up. As we lay +there he inquired if I ever heard "Indian sing." I replied that I had +not often, and asked him if he would not favor us with a song. He +readily assented, and, lying on his back, with his blanket wrapped +around him, he commenced a slow, somewhat nasal, yet musical chant, in +his own language, which probably was taught his tribe long ago by the +Catholic missionaries. He translated it to us, sentence by sentence, +afterward. It proved to be a very simple religious exercise or hymn, the +burden of which was that there was only one God who ruled all the +world. + +His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America, +when Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There +was, indeed, a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and +savage, only the mild and infantile. The sentiments of humility and +reverence chiefly were expressed. + +It was a dense and damp spruce and fir wood in which we lay, and, except +for our fire, perfectly dark; and when I awoke in the night, I either +heard an owl from deeper in the forest behind us, or a loon from a +distance over the lake. Getting up some time after midnight to collect +the scattered brands together, while my companions were sound asleep, I +observed, partly in the fire, which had ceased to blaze, a perfectly +regular elliptical ring of light, about five inches in its shortest +diameter, six or seven in its longer, and from one eighth to one quarter +of an inch wide. It was fully as bright as the fire, but not reddish or +scarlet like a coal, but a white and slumbering light, like the +glowworm's. I saw at once that it must be phosphorescent wood, which I +had often heard of, but never chanced to see. Putting my finger on it, +with a little hesitation, I found that it was a piece of dead moosewood +which the Indian had cut off in a slanting direction the evening before. + +Using my knife, I discovered that the light proceeded from that portion +of the sapwood immediately under the bark, and thus presented a regular +ring at the end, and when I pared off the bark and cut into the sap, it +was all aglow along the log. I was surprised to find the wood quite hard +and apparently sound, though probably decay had commenced in the sap, +and I cut out some little triangular chips, and, placing them in the +hollow of my hand, carried them into the camp, waked my companion, and +showed them to him. They lit up the inside of my hand, revealing the +lines and wrinkles, and appearing exactly like coals of fire raised to a +white heat. + +I noticed that part of a decayed stump within four or five feet of the +fire, an inch wide and six inches long, soft and shaking wood, shone +with equal brightness. + +I neglected to ascertain whether our fire had anything to do with this, +but the previous day's rain and long-continued wet weather undoubtedly +had. + +I was exceedingly interested by this phenomenon. It could hardly have +thrilled me more if it had taken the form of letters, or of the human +face. I little thought that there was such a light shining in the +darkness of the wilderness for me. + +The next day the Indian told me their name for the +light--_artoosoqu'_--and on my inquiring concerning the will-o'-the-wisp +he said that his "folks" sometimes saw fires passing along at various +heights, even as high as the trees, and making a noise. I was prepared +after this to hear of the most startling and unimagined phenomena +witnessed by "his folks," they are abroad at all hours and seasons in +scenes so unfrequented by white men. Nature must have made a thousand +revelations to them which are still secrets to us. + +I did not regret my not having seen this before, since I now saw it +under circumstances so favorable. I was in just the frame of mind to see +something wonderful, and this was a phenomenon adequate to my +circumstances and expectation, and it put me on the alert to see more +like it. I let science slide, and rejoiced in that light as if it had +been a fellow creature. A scientific _explanation_, as it is called, +would have been altogether out of place there. That is for pale +daylight. Science with its retorts would have put me to sleep; it was +the opportunity to be ignorant that I improved. It made a believer of me +more than before. I believed that the woods were not tenantless, but +choke-full of honest spirits as good as myself any day--not an empty +chamber in which chemistry was left to work alone, but an inhabited +house. It suggested, too, that the same experience always gives birth +to the same sort of belief or religion. One revelation has been made to +the Indian, another to the white man. I have much to learn of the +Indian, nothing of the missionary. I am not sure but all that would +tempt me to teach the Indian my religion would be his promise to teach +me _his_. Long enough I had heard of irrelevant things; now at length I +was glad to make acquaintance with the light that dwells in rotten wood. + +I kept those little chips and wet them again the next night, but they +emitted no light. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] The name dipper is applied to several species of water-birds that +are notable for their skill in diving. + + + + +III + +SATURDAY, JULY 25 + + +At breakfast, the Indian, evidently curious to know what would be +expected of him the next day, asked me how I spent the Sunday when at +home. I told him that I commonly sat in my chamber reading, etc., in the +forenoon, and went to walk in the afternoon. At which he shook his head +and said, "Er, that is ver' bad." + +"How do you spend it?" I asked. + +He said that he did no work, that he went to church at Oldtown when he +was at home; in short, he did as he had been taught by the whites. + +When we were washing the dishes in the lakes, many fishes came close up +to us to get the particles of grease. + +The weather seemed to be more settled this morning, and we set out early +in order to finish our voyage up the lake before the wind arose. Soon +after starting, the Indian directed our attention to the Northeast +Carry, which we could plainly see, about thirteen miles distant. This +carry is a rude wooden railroad running north and south about two miles, +perfectly straight, from the lake to the Penobscot through a low tract, +with a clearing three or four rods wide. This opening appeared as a +clear bright, or light, point in the horizon, resting on the edge of the +lake. We should not have suspected it to be visible if the Indian had +not drawn our attention to it. It was a remarkable kind of light to +steer for--daylight seen through a vista in the forest--but visible as +far as an ordinary beacon by night. + +We crossed a deep wide bay north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left +and keeping up the eastern side of the lake. We then crossed another +broad bay, which, as we could no longer observe the shore particularly, +afforded ample time for conversation. The Indian said that he had got +his money by hunting, mostly high up the West Branch of the Penobscot, +and toward the head of the St. John. He had hunted there from a boy, and +knew all about that region. His game had been beaver, otter, black cat +(or fisher), sable, moose, etc. Canada lynx were plenty yet in burnt +grounds. For food in the woods he uses partridges, ducks, dried moose +meat, hedgehog, etc. Loons, too, were good, only "bile 'em good." + +Pointing into the bay he said that it was the way to various lakes which +he knew. Only solemn bear-haunted mountains with their great wooded +slopes were visible. The Indian said that he had been along there +several times. I asked him how he guided himself in the woods. + +"Oh," said he, "I can tell good many ways." + +When I pressed him further he answered, "Sometimes I lookum sidehill," +and he glanced toward a high hill or mountain on the eastern shore; +"great difference between the north and south; see where the sun has +shone most. So trees--the large limbs bend toward south. Sometimes I +lookum locks" (rocks). + +I asked what he saw on the rocks, but he did not describe anything in +particular, answering vaguely, in a mysterious or drawling tone, "bare +locks on lake shore--great difference between north, south, east, west +side--can tell what the sun has shone on." + +"Suppose," said I, "that I should take you in a dark night right up here +into the middle of the woods a hundred miles, set you down, and turn you +round quickly twenty times, could you steer straight to Oldtown?" + +"Oh, yer," said he, "have done pretty much same thing. I will tell you. +Some years ago I met an old white hunter at Millinocket; very good +hunter. He said he could go anywhere in the woods. He wanted to hunt +with me that day, so we start. We chase a moose all the forenoon, round +and round, till middle of afternoon, when we kill him. Then I said to +him, 'Now you go straight to camp.' + +"He said, 'I can't do that. I don't know where I am.' + +"'Where you think camp?' I asked. + +"He pointed so. Then I laugh at him. I take the lead and go right off +the other way, cross our tracks many times, straight camp." + +"How do you do that?" asked I. + +"Oh, I can't tell _you_," he replied. "Great difference between me and +white man." + +It appeared as if the sources of information were so various that he did +not give a distinct conscious attention to any one, and so could not +readily refer to any when questioned about it, but he found his way very +much as an animal does. Perhaps what is commonly called instinct in the +animal in this case is merely a sharpened and educated sense. Often, +when an Indian says, "I don't know," in regard to the route he is to +take, he does not mean what a white man would by those words, for his +Indian instinct may tell him still as much as the most confident white +man knows. He does not carry things in his head, nor remember the route +exactly, like a white man, but relies on himself at the moment. Not +having experienced the need of the other sort of knowledge--all labeled +and arranged--he has not acquired it. + +The hunter with whom I talked in the stage knew some of the resources of +the Indian. He said that he steered by the wind, or by the limbs of the +hemlocks, which were largest on the south side; also sometimes, when he +knew that there was a lake near, by firing his gun and listening to hear +the direction and distance of the echo from over it. + +As the forenoon advanced the wind increased. The last bay which we +crossed before reaching the desolate pier at the Northeast Carry, was +two or three miles over, and the wind was southwesterly. After going a +third of the way, the waves had increased so as occasionally to wash +into the canoe, and we saw that it was worse ahead. At first we might +have turned about, but were not willing to. It would have been of no use +to follow the course of the shore, for the waves ran still higher there +on account of the greater sweep the wind had. At any rate it would have +been dangerous now to alter our course, because the waves would have +struck us at an advantage. It will not do to meet them at right angles, +for then they will wash in both sides, but you must take them +quartering. So the Indian stood up in the canoe and exerted all his +skill and strength for a mile or two, while I paddled right along in +order to give him more steerage-way. For more than a mile he did not +allow a single wave to strike the canoe as it would, but turned it +quickly from this side to that, so that it would always be on or near +the crest of a wave when it broke, where all its force was spent, and we +merely settled down with it. At length I jumped out onto the end of the +pier against which the waves were dashing violently, in order to lighten +the canoe and catch it at the landing, which was not much sheltered, but +just as I jumped we took in two or three gallons of water. I remarked to +the Indian, "You managed that well," to which he replied: "Ver' few men +do that. Great many waves; when I look out for one, another come quick." + +While the Indian went to get cedar bark, etc., to carry his canoe with, +we cooked the dinner on the shore in the midst of a sprinkling rain. He +prepared his canoe for carrying in this wise. He took a cedar shingle or +splint eighteen inches long and four or five wide, rounded at one end, +that the corners might not be in the way, and tied it with cedar bark by +two holes made midway, near the edge on each side, to the middle +crossbar of the canoe. When the canoe was lifted upon his head bottom +up, this shingle, with its rounded end uppermost, distributed the weight +over his shoulders and head, while a band of cedar bark, tied to the +crossbar on each side of the shingle, passed round his breast, and +another longer one, outside of the last, round his forehead; also a hand +on each side rail served to steer the canoe and keep it from rocking. He +thus carried it with his shoulders, head, breast, forehead, and both +hands, as if the upper part of his body were all one hand to clasp and +hold it. A cedar tree furnished all the gear in this case, as it had the +woodwork of the canoe. One of the paddles rested on the crossbars in the +bows. I took the canoe upon my head and found that I could carry it with +ease, but I let him carry it, not caring to establish a different +precedent. This shingle remained tied to the crossbar throughout the +voyage, was always ready for the carries, and also served to protect the +back of one passenger. + +We were obliged to go over this carry twice, our load was so great. But +the carries were an agreeable variety, and we improved the opportunity +to gather the rare plants which we had seen, when we returned +empty-handed. + +We reached the Penobscot about four o'clock, and found there some St. +Francis Indians encamped on the bank. They were making a canoe and +drying moose meat. Their camp was covered with spruce bark. They had a +young moose, taken in the river a fortnight before, confined in a sort +of cage of logs piled up cob-fashion, seven or eight feet high. It was +quite tame, about four feet high, and covered with moose flies. There +was a large quantity of cornel, red maple, and also willow and aspen +boughs, stuck through between the logs on all sides, butt ends out, and +on their leaves it was browsing. It looked at first as if it were in a +bower rather than a pen. + +Our Indian said that _he_ used _black_ spruce roots to sew canoes with, +obtaining it from high lands or mountains. The St. Francis Indians +thought that _white_ spruce roots might be best. But the former said, +"No good, break, can't split 'em." + +I told him I thought that I could make a canoe, but he expressed great +doubt of it; at any rate he thought that my work would not be "neat" the +first time. + +Having reloaded, we paddled down the Penobscot. We saw a splendid yellow +lily by the shore, which I plucked. It was six feet high and had twelve +flowers, in two whorls, forming a pyramid. We afterward saw many more +thus tall along this stream, and on the East Branch. The Indian said +that the roots were good for soup, that is, to cook with meat, to +thicken it, taking the place of flour. They get them in the fall. I dug +some, and found a mass of bulbs pretty deep in the earth, two inches in +diameter, looking, and even tasting, somewhat like raw green corn on the +ear. + +When we had gone about three miles down the Penobscot, we saw through +the tree-tops a thunder-shower coming up in the west, and we looked out +a camping-place in good season, about five o'clock. + +I will describe the routine of camping. We generally told the Indian +that we would stop at the first suitable place, so that he might be on +the lookout for it. Having observed a clear, hard, and flat beach to +land on, free from mud, and from stones which would injure the canoe, +one would run up the bank to see if there were open and level space +enough for the camp between the trees, or if it could be easily cleared, +preferring at the same time a cool place, on account of insects. +Sometimes we paddled a mile or more before finding one to our minds, for +where the shore was suitable the bank would often be too steep, or else +too low and grassy, and therefore mosquitoey. We then took out the +baggage and drew up the canoe. The Indian cut a path to the spot we had +selected, which was usually within two or three rods of the water, and +we carried up our baggage. + +One, perhaps, takes birch bark, always at hand, and dead dry wood, and +kindles a fire five or six feet in front of where we intend to lie. It +matters not, commonly, on which side this is, because there is little or +no wind in so dense a wood at that season; and then he gets a kettle of +water from the river, and takes out the pork, bread, coffee, etc., from +their several packages. + +Another, meanwhile, having the axe, cuts down the nearest dead rock +maple or other dry hard wood, collecting several large logs to last +through the night, also a green stake, with a notch or fork to it, which +is slanted over the fire, perhaps resting on a rock or forked stake, to +hang the kettle on, and two forked stakes and a pole for the tent. + +[Illustration: _Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland_] + +The third man pitches the tent, cuts a dozen or more pins with his knife +to fasten it down with, and then collects an armful or two of fir twigs, +arbor-vit, spruce, or hemlock, whichever is at hand, and makes the +bed, beginning at either end, and laying the twigs wrong side up, in +regular rows, covering the stub ends of the last row; first, however, +filling the hollows, if there are any, with coarser material. + +Commonly, by the time the bed is made, or within fifteen or twenty +minutes, the water boils, the pork is fried, and supper is ready. We eat +this sitting on the ground, or a stump, around a large piece of birch +bark for a table, each holding a dipper in one hand and a piece of +ship-bread or fried pork in the other, frequently making a pass with his +hand, or thrusting his head into the smoke, to avoid the mosquitoes. + +Next, pipes are lit by those who smoke, and veils are donned by those +who have them, and we hastily examine and dry our plants, anoint our +faces and hands, and go to bed. + +Though you have nothing to do but see the country, there's rarely any +time to spare, hardly enough to examine a plant, before the night or +drowsiness is upon you. + +Such was the ordinary experience, but this evening we had camped earlier +on account of the rain, and had more time. We found that our camp was on +an old indistinct supply-road, running along the river. What is called a +road there shows no ruts or trace of wheels, for they are not used; nor, +indeed, of runners, since they are used only in the winter when the snow +is several feet deep. It is only an indistinct vista through the wood, +which it takes an experienced eye to detect. + +We had no sooner pitched our tent than the thunder-shower burst on us, +and we hastily crept under it, drawing our bags after us, curious to see +how much of a shelter our thin cotton roof was going to be in this +excursion. Though the violence of the rain forced a fine shower through +the cloth before it was fairly wetted and shrunk, with which we were +well bedewed, we managed to keep pretty dry, only a box of matches +having been left out and spoiled, and before we were aware of it the +shower was over, and only the dripping trees imprisoned us. + +Wishing to see what fishes were in the river there, we cast our lines +over the wet bushes on the shore, but they were repeatedly swept down +the swift stream in vain. So, leaving the Indian, we took the canoe, +just before dark, and dropped down the river a few rods to fish at the +mouth of a sluggish brook. We pushed up this a rod or two, but were soon +driven off by the mosquitoes. While there we heard the Indian fire his +gun twice in rapid succession. His object was to clean out and dry it +after the rain, and he then loaded it with ball, being now on ground +where he expected to meet with large game. This sudden loud crashing +noise in the still aisles of the forest affected me like an insult to +nature, or ill manners at any rate, as if you were to fire a gun in a +hall or temple. It was not heard far, however, except along the river, +the sound being rapidly hushed up or absorbed by the damp trees and +mossy ground. + +The Indian made a little smothered fire of damp leaves close to the back +of the camp, that the smoke might drive through and keep out the +mosquitoes, but just before we fell asleep this suddenly blazed up and +came near setting fire to the tent. + + + + +IV + +SUNDAY, JULY 26 + + +The note of the white-throated sparrow was the first heard in the +morning, and with this all the woods rang. Though commonly unseen, their +simple _ah, te-te-te, te-te-te, te-te-te_, so sharp and piercing, was as +distinct to the ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into the +darkest of the forest would be to the eye. We were commonly aroused by +their lively strain very early. What a glorious time they must have in +that wilderness, far from mankind! + +I told the Indian that we would go to church to Chesuncook this morning, +some fifteen miles. It was settled weather at last. A few swallows +flitted over the water, we heard Maryland yellow-throats along the +shore, the notes of the chickadee, and, I believe, redstarts. +Moose-flies of large size pursued us in midstream. + +The Indian thought that we should lie by on Sunday. Said he, "We come +here lookum things, look all round, but come Sunday look up all that, +and then Monday look again." + +He spoke of an Indian of his acquaintance who had been with some +ministers to Katahdin and had told him how they conducted. This he +described in a low and solemn voice. "They make a long prayer every +morning and night, and at every meal. Come Sunday, they stop 'em, no go +at all that day--keep still--preach all day--first one, then another, +just like church. Oh, ver' good men. One day going along a river, they +came to the body of a man in the water, drowned good while. They go +right ashore--stop there, go no farther that day--they have meeting +there, preach and pray just like Sunday. Then they go back and carry the +body with them. Oh, they ver' good men." + +I judged from this account that their every camp was a camp-meeting, and +that they wanted an opportunity to preach somewhere more than to see +Katahdin. + +However, the Indian added, plying the paddle all the while, that if we +would go along he must go with us, he our man, and he suppose that if he +no takum pay for what he do Sunday then ther's no harm, but if he takum +pay then wrong. I told him that he was stricter than white men. +Nevertheless, I noticed that he did not forget to reckon in the Sundays +at last. + +He appeared to be a very religious man, and said his prayers in a loud +voice, in Indian, kneeling before the camp, morning and +evening--sometimes scrambling up in haste when he had forgotten this, +and saying them with great rapidity. In the course of the day he +remarked, "Poor man rememberum God more than rich." + +We soon passed the island where I had camped four years before. The +deadwater, a mile or two below it, the Indian said was "a great place +for moose." We saw the grass bent where a moose came out the night +before, and the Indian said that he could smell one as far as he could +see him, but he added that if he should see five or six to-day close by +canoe he no shoot 'em. Accordingly, as he was the only one of the party +who had a gun, or had come a-hunting, the moose were safe. + +Just below this a cat owl flew heavily over the stream, and he, asking +if I knew what it was, imitated very well the common _hoo, hoo, hoo, +hoorer, hoo_, of our woods. + +We carried a part of the baggage about Pine Stream Falls, while the +Indian went down in the canoe. A Bangor merchant had told us that two +men in his employ were drowned some time ago while passing these falls +in a bateau, and a third clung to a rock all night and was taken off in +the morning. There were magnificent great purple fringed orchises on +this carry and the neighboring shores. I measured the largest canoe +birch which I saw in this journey near the end of the carry. It was +fourteen and one half feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, +but at five feet divided into three parts. The Indian cut a small woody +knob as big as a filbert from the trunk of a fir, apparently an old +balsam vesicle filled with wood, which he said was good medicine. + +After we had embarked and gone half a mile, my companion remembered that +he had left his knife, and we paddled back to get it, against the strong +and swift current. This taught us the difference between going up and +down the stream, for while we were working our way back a quarter of a +mile, we should have gone down a mile and half at least. So we landed, +and while he and the Indian were gone back for it, I watched the motions +of the foam, a kind of white waterfowl near the shore, forty or fifty +rods below. It alternately appeared and disappeared behind the rock, +being carried round by an eddy. + +Immediately below these falls was the Chesuncook Deadwater, caused by +the flowing back of the lake. As we paddled slowly over this, the Indian +told us a story of his hunting thereabouts, and something more +interesting about himself. It appeared that he had represented his tribe +at Augusta, and once at Washington. He had a great idea of education, +and would occasionally break out into such expressions as this, +"Kademy--good thing--I suppose they usum Fifth Reader there. You been +college?" + +We steered across the northwest end of the lake. It is an agreeable +change to cross a lake after you have been shut up in the woods, not +only on account of the greater expanse of water, but also of sky. It is +one of the surprises which Nature has in store for the traveler in the +forest. To look down, in this case, over eighteen miles of water was +liberating and civilizing even. The lakes also reveal the mountains, and +give ample scope and range to our thought. Already there were half a +dozen log huts about this end of the lake, though so far from a road. In +these woods the earliest settlements are clustering about the lakes, +partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest +clearings. Water is a pioneer which the settler follows, taking +advantage of its improvements. + +About noon we turned northward up a broad kind of estuary, and at its +northeast corner found the Caucomgomoc River, and after going about a +mile from the lake reached the Umbazookskus. Our course was up the +Umbazookskus, but as the Indian knew of a good camping-place, that is, a +cool place where there were few mosquitoes, about half a mile farther up +the Caucomgomoc, we went thither. So quickly we changed the civilizing +sky of Chesuncook for the dark wood of the Caucomgomoc. On reaching the +Indian's camping-ground on the south side, where the bank was about a +dozen feet high, I read on the trunk of a fir tree blazed by an axe an +inscription in charcoal which had been left by him. It was surmounted by +a drawing of a bear paddling a canoe, which he said was the sign used by +his family always. The drawing, though rude, could not be mistaken for +anything but a bear, and he doubted my ability to copy it. The +inscription ran thus. I interline the English of his Indian as he gave +it to me. + + (The figure of a bear in a boat.) + July 26 + 1853 + + _niasoseb_ + We alone Joseph + _Polis elioi_ + Polis start + _sia olta_ + for Oldtown + _onke ni_ + right away + _quambi_ + + July 15 + 1855 + _niasoseb_ + +He added now below:-- + + 1857 + July 26 + Jo. Polis + +This was one of his homes. I saw where he had sometimes stretched his +moose-hides on the sunny north side of the river where there was a +narrow meadow. + +After we had selected a place for our camp, and kindled our fire, almost +exactly on the site of the Indian's last camp here, he, looking up, +observed, "That tree danger." + +It was a dead part, more than a foot in diameter, of a large canoe +birch, which branched at the ground. This branch, rising thirty feet or +more, slanted directly over the spot which we had chosen for our bed. I +told him to try it with his axe, but he could not shake it perceptibly, +and, therefore, seemed inclined to disregard it, and my companion +expressed his willingness to run the risk. But it seemed to me that we +should be fools to lie under it, for though the lower part was firm, +the top, for aught we knew, might be just ready to fall, and we should +at any rate be very uneasy if the wind arose in the night. It is a +common accident for men camping in the woods to be killed by a falling +tree. So the camp was moved to the other side of the fire. + +The Indian said that the Umbazookskus, being a dead stream with broad +meadows, was a good place for moose, and he frequently came a-hunting +here, being out alone three weeks or more from Oldtown. He sometimes, +also, went a-hunting to the Seboois Lakes, taking the stage, with his +gun and ammunition, axe and blankets, hard-bread and pork, perhaps for a +hundred miles of the way, and jumped off at the wildest place on the +road, where he was at once at home, and every rod was a tavern-site for +him. Then, after a short journey through the woods, he would build a +spruce-bark canoe in one day, putting but few ribs into it, that it +might be light, and, after doing his hunting with it on the lakes, +would return with his furs the same way he had come. Thus you have an +Indian availing himself of the advantages of civilization, without +losing any of his woodcraft, but proving himself the more successful +hunter for it. + +This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our +tent was of a kind new to him, but when he had once seen it pitched it +was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked +stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, +though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered +several times. + +Now I thought I would observe how he spent his Sunday. While I and my +companion were looking about at the trees and river he went to sleep. +Indeed, he improved every opportunity to get a nap, whatever the day. + +Rambling about the woods at this camp, I noticed that they consisted +chiefly of firs, spruce, red maple, birch, and, along the river, the +hoary alder. I could trace the outlines of large birches that had fallen +long ago, collapsed and rotted and turned to soil, by faint +yellowish-green lines of featherlike moss, eighteen inches wide and +twenty or thirty feet long, crossed by other similar lines. + +Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the +settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not +distinctly attend, passed for a sound of human industry. The waterfalls +which I heard were not without their dams and mills to my imagination; +and several times I found that I had been regarding the steady rushing +sound of the wind from over the woods beyond the rivers as that of a +train of cars. Our minds anywhere, when left to themselves, are always +thus busily drawing conclusions from false premises. + +I asked the Indian to make us a sugar-bowl of birch bark, which he did, +using the great knife which dangled in a sheath from his belt; but the +bark broke at the corners when he bent it up, and he said it was not +good--that there was a great difference in this respect between the bark +of one canoe birch and that of another. + +My companion, wishing to distinguish between the black and white spruce, +asked Polis to show him a twig of the latter, which he did at once, +together with the black; indeed, he could distinguish them about as far +as he could see them. As the two twigs appeared very much alike, my +companion asked the Indian to point out the difference; whereupon the +latter, taking the twigs, instantly remarked, as he passed his hand over +them successively in a stroking manner, that the white was rough, that +is, the needles stood up nearly perpendicular, but the black smooth, +that is, as if bent down. This was an obvious difference, both to sight +and touch. + +I asked him to get some black spruce root and make some thread. +Whereupon, without looking up at the trees overhead, he began to grub in +the ground, instantly distinguishing the black spruce roots, and cutting +off a slender one, three or four feet long, and as big as a pipestem, he +split the end with his knife, and taking a half between the thumb and +forefinger of each hand, rapidly separated its whole length into two +equal semi-cylindrical halves. Then, giving me another root, he said, +"You try." + +But in my hands it immediately ran off one side, and I got only a very +short piece. Though it looked easy, I found that there was a great art +in splitting these roots. The split is skillfully humored by bending +short with this hand or that, and so kept in the middle. He then took +off the bark from each half, pressing a short piece of cedar bark +against the convex side with both hands, while he drew the root upward +with his teeth. An Indian's teeth are strong, and I noticed that he +used his often where we should have used a hand. They amounted to a +third hand. He thus obtained in a moment a very neat, tough, and +flexible string, which he could tie into a knot, or make into a fishline +even. He said that you would be obliged to give half a dollar for spruce +root enough for a canoe, thus prepared. + +He had discovered the day before that his canoe leaked a little, and +said that it was owing to stepping into it violently. I asked him where +he would get pitch to mend it with, for they commonly use hard pitch, +obtained of the whites at Oldtown. He said that he could make something +very similar, and equally good, of material which we had with us; and he +wished me to guess what. But I could not, and he would not tell me, +though he showed me a ball of it when made, as big as a pea and like +black pitch, saying, at last, that there were some things which a man +did not tell even his wife. + +Being curious to see what kind of fishes there were in this dark, deep, +sluggish river, I cast in my line just before night, and caught several +small sucker-like fishes, which the Indian at once rejected, saying that +they were good for nothing. Also, he would not touch a pout, which I +caught, and said that neither Indians nor whites thereabouts ever ate +them. But he said that some small silvery fishes, which I called white +chivin, were the best fish in the Penobscot waters, and if I would toss +them up the bank to him, he would cook them for me. After cleaning them, +not very carefully, leaving the heads on, he laid them on the coals and +so broiled them. + +[Illustration: _Fishing_] + +Returning from a short walk, he brought a vine in his hand, saying that +it made the best tea of anything in the woods. It was the creeping +snowberry, which was quite common there, its berries just grown. So we +determined to have some tea made of this. It had a slight +checkerberry flavor, and we both agreed that it was really better +than the black tea which we had brought. We thought it quite a +discovery, and that it might well be dried and sold in the shops. I for +one, however, am not an old tea-drinker and cannot speak with authority +to others. The Indian said that they also used for tea a certain herb +which grew in low ground, which he did not find there, and Labrador tea; +also hemlock leaves, the last especially in winter when the other plants +were covered with snow; and various other things. We could have had a +new kind of tea every night. + +Just before night we saw a _musquash_, the only one we saw in this +voyage, swimming downward on the opposite side of the stream. The +Indian, wishing to get one to eat, hushed us, saying, "Stop, me call +'em"; and, sitting flat on the bank, he began to make a curious +squeaking, wiry sound with his lips, exerting himself considerably. I +was greatly surprised--thought that I had at last got into the +wilderness, and that he was a wild man indeed, to be talking to a +musquash! I did not know which of the two was the strangest to me. He +seemed suddenly to have quite forsaken humanity, and gone over to the +musquash side. The musquash, however, as near as I could see, did not +turn aside, and the Indian said that he saw our fire; but it was evident +that he was in the habit of calling the musquash to him, as he said. An +acquaintance of mine who was hunting moose in these woods a month after +this, tells me that his Indian in this way repeatedly called the +musquash within reach of his paddle in the moonlight, and struck at +them. + +The Indian said a particularly long prayer this Sunday evening, as if to +atone for working in the morning. + + + + +V + +MONDAY, JULY 27 + + +Having rapidly loaded the canoe, which the Indian always carefully +attended to, that it might be well trimmed, and each having taken a +look, as usual, to see that nothing was left, we set out again, +descending the Caucomgomoc, and turning northeasterly up the +Umbazookskus. This name, the Indian said, meant _Much Meadow River_. We +found it now very wide on account of the rains. The space between the +woods, chiefly bare meadow, was from fifty to two hundred rods in +breadth. + +In the water on the meadows grew sedges, wool-grass, the common blue +flag abundantly, its flower just showing itself above the high water, as +if it were a blue water-lily, and higher in the meadows a great many +clumps of a peculiar narrow-leaved willow. Here also grew the red +osier, its large fruit now whitish. + +It was unusual for the woods to be so distant from the shore, and there +was quite an echo from them, but when I was shouting in order to awake +it, the Indian reminded me that I should scare the moose, which he was +looking out for, and which we all wanted to see. + +Having paddled several miles up the Umbazookskus, it suddenly contracted +to a mere brook, narrow and swift, the larches and other trees +approaching the bank and leaving no open meadow. We landed to get a +black spruce pole for pushing against the stream. The one selected was +quite slender, cut about ten feet long, merely whittled to a point, and +the bark shaved off. + +While we were thus employed, two Indians in a canoe hove in sight round +the bushes, coming down stream. Our Indian knew one of them, an old man, +and fell into conversation with him. He belonged at the foot of +Moosehead. The other was of another tribe. They were returning from +hunting. I asked the younger if they had seen any moose, to which he +said "No"; but I, seeing the moose-hides sticking out from a great +bundle made with their blankets in the middle of the canoe, added, "Only +their hides." + +As he was a foreigner, he may have wished to deceive me, for it is +against the law for white men and foreigners to kill moose in Maine at +this season. But perhaps he need not have been alarmed, for the +moose-wardens are not very particular. I heard of one who, being asked +by a white man going into the woods what he would say if he killed a +moose, answered, "If you bring me a quarter of it I guess you won't be +troubled." His duty being, as he said, only to prevent the +"indiscriminate" slaughter of them for their hides. I suppose that he +would consider it an _indiscriminate_ slaughter when a quarter was not +reserved for himself. + +We continued along through the most extensive larch wood which I had +seen--tall and slender trees with fantastic branches. You do not find +straggling trees of this species here and there throughout the wood, but +rather a little forest of them. The same is the case with the white and +red pines and some other trees, greatly to the convenience of the +lumberer. They are of a social habit, growing in "veins," "clumps," +"groups," or "communities," as the explorers call them, distinguishing +them far away, from the top of a hill or a tree, the white pines +towering above the surrounding forest, or else they form extensive +forests by themselves. I should have liked to come across a large +community of pines which had never been invaded by the lumbering army. + +[Illustration: _The Red Squirrel_] + +We saw some fresh moose-tracks along the shore. The stream was only from +one and one half to three rods wide, quite winding, with occasional +small islands, meadows, and some very swift and shallow places. When +we came to an island the Indian never hesitated which side to take, as +if the current told him which was the shortest and deepest. It was lucky +for us that the water was so high. We had to walk but once on this +stream, carrying a part of the load, at a swift and shallow reach, while +he got up with the canoe, not being obliged to take out, though he said +it was very strong water. Once or twice we passed the red wreck of a +bateau which had been stove some spring. + +While making this portage I saw many splendid specimens of the great +purple fringed orchis, three feet high. It is remarkable that such +delicate flowers should here adorn these wilderness paths. + +The Umbazookskus is called ten miles long. Having poled up the narrowest +part some three or four miles, the next opening in the sky was over +Umbazookskus Lake, which we suddenly entered about eleven o'clock in the +forenoon. It stretches north-westerly four or five miles. We crossed +the southeast end to the carry into Mud Pond. + +Hodge, who went through this way to the St. Lawrence in the service of +the State, calls the portage here a mile and three quarters long. The +Indian said this was the wettest carry in the State, and as the season +was a very wet one we anticipated an unpleasant walk. As usual he made +one large bundle of the pork-keg, cooking-utensils, and other loose +traps, by tying them up in his blanket. We should be obliged to go over +the carry twice, and our method was to carry one half part way, and then +go back for the rest. + +Our path ran close by the door of a log hut in a clearing at this end of +the carry, which the Indian, who alone entered it, found to be occupied +by a Canadian and his family, and that the man had been blind for a +year. This was the first house above Chesuncook, and was built here, no +doubt, because it was the route of the lumberers in the winter and +spring. + +After a slight ascent from the lake through the springy soil of the +Canadian's clearing, we entered on a level and very wet and rocky path +through the dense evergreen forest, a loosely paved gutter merely, where +we went leaping from rock to rock and from side to side in the vain +attempt to keep out of the water and mud. It was on this carry that the +white hunter whom I met in the stage, as he told me, had shot two bears +a few months before. They stood directly in the path and did not turn +out for him. He said that at this season bears were found on the +mountains and hillsides in search of berries and were apt to be saucy. + +Here commences what was called, twenty years ago, the best timber land +in the State. This very spot was described as "covered with the greatest +abundance of pine," but now this appeared to me, comparatively, an +uncommon tree there--and yet you did not see where any more could have +stood, amid the dense growth of cedar, fir, etc. + +The Indian with his canoe soon disappeared before us, but ere long he +came back and told us to take a path which turned off westward, it being +better walking, and, at my suggestion, he agreed to leave a bough in the +regular carry at that place that we might not pass it by mistake. +Thereafter, he said, we were to keep the main path, and he added, "You +see 'em my tracks." + +But I had not much faith that we could distinguish his tracks, since +others had passed over the carry within a few days. We turned off at the +right place, but were soon confused by numerous logging-paths coming +into the one we were on. However, we kept what we considered the main +path, though it was a winding one, and in this, at long intervals, we +distinguished a faint trace of a footstep. This, though comparatively +unworn, was at first a better, or, at least, a dryer road than the +regular carry which we had left. It led through an arbor-vit wilderness +of the grimmest character. The great fallen and rotting trees had been +cut through and rolled aside, and their huge trunks abutted on the path +on each side, while others still lay across it two or three feet high. + +It was impossible for us to discern the Indian's trail in the elastic +moss, which, like a thick carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as +well as the earth. Nevertheless, I did occasionally detect the track of +a man, and I gave myself some credit for it. I carried my whole load at +once, a heavy knapsack, and a large rubber bag containing our bread and +a blanket, swung on a paddle, in all about sixty pounds; but my +companion preferred to make two journeys by short stages while I waited +for him. We could not be sure that we were not depositing our loads each +time farther off from the true path. + +As I sat waiting for my companion, he would seem to be gone a long time, +and I had ample opportunity to make observations on the forest. I now +first began to be seriously molested by the black fly, a very small but +perfectly formed fly of that color, about one tenth of an inch long, +which I felt, and then saw, in swarms about me, as I sat by a wider and +more than usually doubtful fork in this dark forest path. Remembering +that I had a wash in my knapsack, prepared by a thoughtful hand in +Bangor, I made haste to apply it to my face and hands, and was glad to +find it effectual, as long as it was fresh, or for twenty minutes, not +only against black flies, but all the insects that molested us. They +would not alight on the part thus defended. It was composed of sweet oil +and oil of turpentine, with a little oil of spearmint, and camphor. +However, I finally concluded that the remedy was worse than the disease, +it was so disagreeable and inconvenient to have your face and hands +covered with such a mixture. + +Three large slate-colored birds of the jay genus, the Canada jay, came +flitting silently and by degrees toward me, and hopped down the limbs +inquisitively to within seven or eight feet. Fish hawks from the lake +uttered their sharp whistling notes low over the top of the forest near +me, as if they were anxious about a nest there. + +After I had sat there some time I noticed at this fork in the path a +tree which had been blazed, and the letters "Chamb. L." written on it +with red chalk. This I knew to mean Chamberlain Lake. So I concluded +that on the whole we were on the right course. + +My companion having returned with his bag, we set forward again. The +walking rapidly grew worse and the path more indistinct, and at length +we found ourselves in a more open and regular swamp made less passable +than ordinary by the unusual wetness of the season. We sank a foot deep +in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees. The trail +was almost obliterated, being no more than a musquash leaves in similar +places when he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a +musquash trail in some places. We concluded that if Mud Pond was as +muddy as the approach to it was wet, it certainly deserved its name. It +would have been amusing to behold the dogged and deliberate pace at +which we entered that swamp, without interchanging a word, as if +determined to go through it, though it should come up to our necks. +Having penetrated a considerable distance into this and found a tussock +on which we could deposit our loads, though there was no place to sit, +my companion went back for the rest of his pack. + +After a long while my companion came back, and the Indian with him. We +had taken the wrong road, and the Indian had lost us. He had gone back +to the Canadian's camp and asked him which way we had probably gone, +since he could better understand the ways of white men, and he told him +correctly that we had undoubtedly taken the supply road to Chamberlain +Lake. The Indian was greatly surprised that we should have taken what he +called a "tow," that is, tote, toting, or supply, road instead of a +carry path,--that we had not followed his tracks,--said it was +"strange," and evidently thought little of our woodcraft. + +Having held a consultation and eaten a mouthful of bread, we concluded +that it would perhaps be nearer for us two now to keep on to Chamberlain +Lake, omitting Mud Pond, than to go back and start anew for the last +place, though the Indian had never been through this way and knew +nothing about it. In the meanwhile he would go back and finish carrying +over his canoe and bundle to Mud Pond, cross that, and go down its +outlet and up Chamberlain Lake, and trust to meet us there before night. +It was now a little after noon. He supposed that the water in which we +stood had flowed back from Mud Pond, which could not be far off +eastward, but was unapproachable through the dense cedar swamp. + +Keeping on, we were ere long agreeably disappointed by reaching firmer +ground, and we crossed a ridge where the path was more distinct, but +there was never any outlook over the forest. At one place I heard a very +clear and piercing note from a small hawk as he dashed through the +tree-tops over my head. We also saw and heard several times the red +squirrel. This, according to the Indian, is the only squirrel found in +those woods, except a very few striped ones. It must have a solitary +time in that dark evergreen forest, where there is so little life, +seventy-five miles from a road as we had come. I wondered how he could +call any particular tree there his home, and yet he would run up the +stem of one out of the myriads, as if it were an old road to him. I +fancied that he must be glad to see us, though he did seem to chide us. +One of those somber fir and spruce woods is not complete unless you +hear from out its cavernous mossy and twiggy recesses his fine +alarum--his spruce voice, like the working of the sap through some crack +in a tree. Such an impertinent fellow would occasionally try to alarm +the wood about me. + +"Oh," said I, "I am well acquainted with your family. I know your +cousins in Concord very well." But my overtures were vain, for he would +withdraw by his aerial turnpikes into a more distant cedar-top, and +spring his rattle again. + +We entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking +was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen +timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The +fallen trees were so numerous that for long distances the route was +through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as +high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over +another fence into a second yard, and so on. In many places the canoe +would have run if it had not been for the fallen timber. Again it would +be more open, but equally wet, too wet for trees to grow. It was a mossy +swamp, which it required the long legs of a moose to traverse, and it is +very likely that we scared some of them in our transit, though we saw +none. It was ready to echo the growl of a bear, the howl of a wolf, or +the scream of a panther; but when you get fairly into the middle of one +of these grim forests you are surprised to find that the larger +inhabitants are not at home commonly, but have left only a puny red +squirrel to bark at you. Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does +not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. I +did, however, see one dead porcupine. Perhaps he had succumbed to the +difficulties of the way. These bristly fellows are a very suitable small +fruit of such unkempt wildernesses. + +Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called "swamping" it, and +they who do the work are called "swampers." I now perceived the fitness +of the term. This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I ever +saw. Nature must have coperated with art here. However, I suppose they +would tell you that this name took its origin from the fact that the +chief work of roadmakers in those woods is to make the swamps passable. +We came to a stream where the bridge, which had been made of logs tied +together with cedar bark, had been broken up, and we got over as we +could. Such as it was, this ruined bridge was the chief evidence that we +were on a path of any kind. + +We then crossed another low rising ground, and I, who wore shoes, had an +opportunity to wring out my stockings, but my companion, who used boots, +had found that this was not a safe experiment for him, for he might not +be able to get his wet boots on again. He went over the whole ground, or +water, three times, for which reason our progress was very slow. Beside +that, the water softened our feet, and to some extent unfitted them for +walking. + +As I sat waiting for him it would naturally seem an unaccountable time +that he was gone. Therefore, as I could see through the woods that the +sun was getting low, and it was uncertain how far the lake might be, +even if we were on the right course, and in what part of the world we +should find ourselves at nightfall, I proposed that I should push +through with what speed I could, leaving boughs to mark my path, and +find the lake and the Indian, if possible, before night, and send the +latter back to carry my companion's bag. + +Having gone about a mile I heard a noise like the note of an owl, which +I soon discovered to be made by the Indian, and answering him, we soon +came together. He had reached the lake after crossing Mud Pond and +running some rapids below it, and had come up about a mile and a half +on our path. If he had not come back to meet us, we probably should not +have found him that night, for the path branched once or twice before +reaching this particular part of the lake. So he went back for my +companion and his bag. Having waded through another stream, where the +bridge of logs had been broken up and half floated away, we continued on +through alternate mud and water to the shores of Apmoojenegamook Lake, +which we reached in season for a late supper, instead of dining there, +as we had expected, having gone without our dinner. + +It was at least five miles by the way we had come, and as my companion +had gone over most of it three times he had walked full a dozen miles. +In the winter, when the water is frozen and the snow is four feet deep, +it is no doubt a tolerable path to a footman. If you want an exact +recipe for making such a road, take one part Mud Pond, and dilute it +with equal parts of Umbazookskus and Apmoojenegamook; then send a +family of musquash through to locate it, look after the grades and +culverts, and finish it to their minds, and let a hurricane follow to do +the fencing. + +We had come out on a point extending into Apmoojenegamook, or +Chamberlain Lake, where there was a broad, gravelly, and rocky shore, +encumbered with bleached logs and trees. We were rejoiced to see such +dry things in that part of the world. But at first we did not attend to +dryness so much as to mud and wetness. We all three walked into the lake +up to our middle to wash our clothes. + +This was another noble lake, twelve miles long; if you add Telos Lake, +which, since the dam was built, has been connected with it by dead +water, it will be twenty; and it is apparently from a mile and a half to +two miles wide. We were about midway its length on the south side. We +could see the only clearing in these parts, called the "Chamberlain +Farm," with two or three log buildings close together, on the opposite +shore, some two and a half miles distant. The smoke of our fire on the +shore brought over two men in a canoe from the farm, that being a common +signal agreed on when one wishes to cross. It took them about half an +hour to come over, and they had their labor for their pains this time. + +After putting on such dry clothes as we had, and hanging the others to +dry on the pole which the Indian arranged over the fire, we ate our +supper, and lay down on the pebbly shore with our feet to the fire +without pitching our tent, making a thin bed of grass to cover the +stones. + +Here first I was molested by the little midge called the no-see-em, +especially over the sand at the water's edge, for it is a kind of +sand-fly. You would not observe them but for their light-colored wings. +They are said to get under your clothes and produce a feverish heat, +which I suppose was what I felt that night. + +Our insect foes in this excursion were, first, mosquitoes, only +troublesome at night, or when we sat still on shore by day; second, +black flies (_simulium molestum_), which molested us more or less on the +carries by day, and sometimes in narrower parts of the stream; third, +moose-flies, stout brown flies much like a horsefly. They can bite +smartly, according to Polis, but are easily avoided or killed. Fourth, +the no-see-ems. Of all these, the mosquitoes are the only ones that +troubled me seriously, but as I was provided with a wash and a veil, +they have not made any deep impression. + +The Indian would not use our wash to protect his face and hands, for +fear that it would hurt his skin, nor had he any veil. He, therefore, +suffered from insects throughout this journey more than either of us. He +regularly tied up his face in his handkerchief, and buried it in his +blanket, and he now finally lay down on the sand between us and the fire +for the sake of the smoke, which he tried to make enter his blanket +about his face, and for the same purpose he lit his pipe and breathed +the smoke into his blanket. + +In the middle of the night we heard the voice of the loon, loud and +distinct, from far over the lake. It is a very wild sound, quite in +keeping with the place and the circumstances of the traveler, and very +unlike the voice of a bird. I could lie awake for hours listening to it, +it is so thrilling. When camping in such a wilderness as this, you are +prepared to hear sounds from some of its inhabitants which will give +voice to its wildness. Some idea of bears, wolves, or panthers runs in +your head naturally, and when this note is first heard very far off at +midnight, as you lie with your ear to the ground,--the forest being +perfectly still about you, you take it for granted that it is the voice +of a wolf or some other wild beast,--you conclude that it is a pack of +wolves baying the moon, or, perchance, cantering after a moose. It was +the unfailing and characteristic sound of those lakes. + +Some friends of mine, who two years ago went up the Caucomgomoc River, +were serenaded by wolves while moose-hunting by moonlight. It was a +sudden burst, as if a hundred demons had broke loose,--a startling sound +enough, which, if any, would make your hair stand on end,--and all was +still again. It lasted but a moment, and you'd have thought there were +twenty of them, when probably there were only two or three. They heard +it twice only, and they said that it gave expression to the wilderness +which it lacked before. I heard of some men, who, while skinning a moose +lately in those woods, were driven off from the carcass by a pack of +wolves, which ate it up. + +This of the loon--I do not mean its laugh, but its looning--is a +long-drawn call, as it were, sometimes singularly human to my +ear--_hoo-hoo-ooooo_, like the hallooing of a man on a very high key, +having thrown his voice into his head. I have heard a sound exactly like +it when breathing heavily through my own nostrils, half awake at ten at +night, suggesting my affinity to the loon; as if its language were but a +dialect of my own, after all. Formerly, when lying awake at midnight in +those woods, I had listened to hear some words or syllables of their +language, but it chanced that I listened in vain until I heard the cry +of the loon. I have heard it occasionally on the ponds of my native +town, but there its wildness is not enhanced by the surrounding scenery. + +I was awakened at midnight by some heavy, low-flying bird, probably a +loon, flapping by close over my head along the shore. So, turning the +other side of my half-clad body to the fire, I sought slumber again. + + + + +VI + +TUESDAY, JULY 28 + + +When we awoke we found a heavy dew on our blankets. I lay awake very +early and listened to the clear, shrill _ah, te te, te te, te_ of the +white-throated sparrow, repeated at short intervals, without the least +variation, for half an hour, as if it could not enough express its +happiness. + +We did some more washing in the lake this morning, and, with our clothes +hung about on the dead trees and rocks, the shore looked like +washing-day at home. The Indian, taking the hint, borrowed the soap, +and, walking into the lake, washed his only cotton shirt on his person, +then put on his pants and let it dry on him. + +I observed that he wore a cotton shirt, originally white, a greenish +flannel one over it, but no waistcoat, flannel drawers, and strong +linen or duck pants, which also had been white, blue woolen stockings, +cowhide boots, and a Kossuth hat.[3] He carried no change of clothing, +but, putting on a stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, +and seizing a full-sized axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, +which would do for a sail or knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his +belt, which contained a large sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready +to be gone all summer. This looked very independent--a few simple and +effective tools, and no rubber clothing. He was always the first ready +to start in the morning. Instead of carrying a large bundle of his own +extra clothing, etc., he brought back the greatcoats of moose tied up in +his blanket. I found that his outfit was the result of a long +experience, and in the main hardly to be improved on, unless by washing +and an extra shirt. Wanting a button here, he walked off to a place +where some Indians had recently encamped, and searched for one, but I +believe in vain. + +Having softened our stiffened boots and shoes with the pork fat, the +usual disposition of what was left at breakfast, we crossed the lake, +steering in a diagonal direction northeastly about four miles to the +outlet. The Indian name, Apmoojenegamook, means lake that is crossed, +because the usual course lies across and not along it. We did not intend +to go far down the Allegash, but merely to get a view of the lakes which +are its source, and then return this way to the East Branch of the +Penobscot. + +After reaching the middle of the lake, we found the waves pretty high, +and the Indian warned my companion, who was nodding, that he must not +allow himself to fall asleep in the canoe lest he should upset us; +adding, that when Indians want to sleep in a canoe, they lie down +straight on the bottom. But in this crowded one that was impossible. +However, he said that he would nudge him if he saw him nodding. + +A belt of dead trees stood all around the lake, some far out in the +water, with others prostrate behind them, and they made the shore, for +the most part, almost inaccessible. This is the effect of the dam at the +outlet. Thus the natural sandy or rocky shore, with its green fringe, +was concealed and destroyed. We coasted westward along the north side, +searching for the outlet, about quarter of a mile distant from this +savage-looking shore, on which the waves were breaking violently, +knowing that it might easily be concealed amid this rubbish, or by the +overlapping of the shore. It is remarkable how little these important +gates to a lake are blazoned. There is no triumphal arch over the modest +inlet or outlet, but at some undistinguished point it trickles in or out +through the uninterrupted forest, almost as through a sponge. + +We reached the outlet in about an hour, and carried over the dam there, +which is quite a solid structure, and about one quarter of a mile +farther there was a second dam. The result of this particular damming +about Chamberlain Lake is that the headwaters of the St. John are made +to flow by Bangor. They have thus dammed all the larger lakes, raising +their broad surfaces many feet, thus turning the forces of Nature +against herself, that they might float their spoils out of the country. +They rapidly run out of these immense forests all the finer and more +accessible pine timber, and then leave the bears to watch the decaying +dams, not clearing nor cultivating the land, nor making roads, nor +building houses, but leaving it a wilderness, as they found it. In many +parts only these dams remain, like deserted beaver dams. Think how much +land they have flowed without asking Nature's leave. + +The wilderness experiences a sudden rise of all her streams and lakes. +She feels ten thousand vermin gnawing at the base of her noblest trees. +Many combining drag them off, jarring over the roots of the survivors, +and tumble them into the nearest stream, till, the fairest having +fallen, they scamper off to ransack some new wilderness, and all is +still again. It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of +pines. The chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws +them--to get his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting +family than the mouse. That is as it happens. He speaks of a "berth" of +timber, a good place for him to get into, just as a worm might. + +When the chopper would praise a pine he will commonly tell you that the +one he cut was so big that a yoke of oxen stood on its stump; as if that +were what the pine had grown for, to become the footstool of oxen. In my +mind's eye I can see these unwieldy tame deer, with a yoke binding them +together, the brazen-tipped horns betraying their servitude, taking +their stand on the stump of each giant pine in succession throughout +this whole forest, and chewing their cud there, until it is nothing but +an ox-pasture, and run out at that. As if it were good for the oxen, and +some medicinal quality ascended into their nostrils. Or is their +elevated position intended merely as a symbol of the fact that the +pastoral comes next in order to the sylvan or hunter life? + +The character of the logger's admiration is betrayed by his very mode of +expressing it. If he told all that was in his mind, he would say, "It +was so big that I cut it down, and then a yoke of oxen could stand on +its stump." He admires the log, the carcass or corpse, more than the +tree. Why, my dear sir, the tree might have stood on its own stump, and +a great deal more comfortably and firmly than a yoke of oxen can, if you +had not cut it down. + +The Anglo-American can indeed cut down and grub up all this waving +forest, and make a stump speech on its ruins, but he cannot converse +with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and +mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological +tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on +them. Before he has learned his a b c in the beautiful but mystic lore +of the wilderness he cuts it down, puts up a "deestrict" schoolhouse, +and introduces Webster's spelling-book. + +Below the last dam, the river being swift and shallow, we two walked +about half a mile to lighten the canoe. I made it a rule to carry my +knapsack when I walked, and also to keep it tied to a crossbar when in +the canoe, that it might be found with the canoe if we should upset. + +I heard the dog-day locust here, a sound which I had associated only +with more open, if not settled countries. + +We were now fairly on the Allegash River. After perhaps two miles of +river we entered Heron Lake, scaring up forty or fifty young sheldrakes, +at the entrance, which ran over the water with great rapidity, as usual +in a long line. + +This lake, judging from the map, is about ten miles long. We had entered +it on the southwest side, and saw a dark mountain northeast over the +lake which the Indian said was called Peaked Mountain, and used by +explorers to look for timber from. The shores were in the same ragged +and unsightly condition, encumbered with dead timber, both fallen and +standing, as in the last lake, owing to the dam on the Allegash below. +Some low points or islands were almost drowned. + +I saw something white a mile off on the water, which turned out to be a +great gull on a rock, which the Indian would have been glad to kill and +eat. But it flew away long before we were near; and also a flock of +summer ducks that were about the rock with it. I asking him about +herons, since this was Heron Lake, he said that he found the blue +heron's nests in the hard-wood trees. + +Rounding a point, we stood across a bay toward a large island three or +four miles down the lake. We met with shadflies midway, about a mile +from the shore, and they evidently fly over the whole lake. On Moosehead +I had seen a large devil's-needle half a mile from the shore, coming +from the middle of the lake, where it was three or four miles wide at +least. It had probably crossed. + +We landed on the southeast side of the island, which was rather +elevated, and densely wooded, with a rocky shore, in season for an early +dinner. Somebody had camped there not long before and left the frame on +which they stretched a moose-hide. The Indian proceeded at once to cut a +canoe birch, slanted it up against another tree on the shore, tying it +with a withe, and lay down to sleep in its shade. We made this island +the limit of our excursion in this direction. + +The next dam was about fifteen miles farther north down the Allegash. We +had been told in Bangor of a man who lived alone, a sort of hermit, at +that dam, to take care of it, who spent his time tossing a bullet from +one hand to the other, for want of employment. This sort of tit-for-tat +intercourse between his two hands, bandying to and fro a leaden subject, +seems to have been his symbol for society. + +There was another island visible toward the north end of the lake, with +an elevated clearing on it; but we learned afterward that it was not +inhabited, had only been used as a pasture for cattle which summered in +these woods. This unnaturally smooth-shaven, squarish spot, in the midst +of the otherwise uninterrupted forest, only reminded us how uninhabited +the country was. You would sooner expect to meet a bear than an ox in +such a clearing. At any rate, it must have been a surprise to the bears +when they came across it. Such, seen far or near, you know at once to be +man's work, for Nature never does it. In order to let in the light to +the earth he clears off the forest on the hillsides and plains, and +sprinkles fine grass seed like an enchanter, and so carpets the earth +with a firm sward. + +Polis had evidently more curiosity respecting the few settlers in those +woods than we. If nothing was said, he took it for granted that we +wanted to go straight to the next log hut. Having observed that we came +by the log huts at Chesuncook, and the blind Canadian's at the Mud Pond +carry, without stopping to communicate with the inhabitants, he took +occasion now to suggest that the usual way was, when you came near a +house, to go to it, and tell the inhabitants what you had seen or heard, +and then they told you what they had seen; but we laughed and said that +we had had enough of houses for the present, and had come here partly to +avoid them. + +In the meanwhile, the wind, increasing, blew down the Indian's birch and +created such a sea that we found ourselves prisoners on the island, the +nearest shore being perhaps a mile distant, and we took the canoe out +to prevent its drifting away. We did not know but we should be compelled +to spend the rest of the day and the night there. At any rate, the +Indian went to sleep again, my companion busied himself drying his +plants, and I rambled along the shore westward, which was quite stony, +and obstructed with fallen bleached or drifted trees for four or five +rods in width. + +Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal +use for every plant I could show him. I immediately tried him. He said +that the inner bark of the aspen was good for sore eyes; and so with +various other plants, proving himself as good as his word. According to +his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old +Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present +generation of Indians "had lost a great deal." + +He said that the caribou was a "very great runner," that there were none +about this lake now, though there used to be many, and, pointing to the +belt of dead trees caused by the dams, he added: "No likum stump. When +he sees that he scared." + +Pointing southeasterly over the lake and distant forest, he observed, +"Me go Oldtown in three days." + +I asked how he would get over the swamps and fallen trees. "Oh," said +he, "in winter all covered, go anywhere on snowshoes, right across +lakes." + +What a wilderness walk for a man to take alone! None of your half-mile +swamps, none of your mile-wide woods merely, as on the skirts of our +towns, without hotels, only a dark mountain or a lake for guide-board +and station, over ground much of it impassable in summer! + +Here was traveling of the old heroic kind over the unaltered face of +nature. From the Allegash River, across great Apmoojenegamook, he takes +his way under the bear-haunted slopes of Katahdin to Pamadumcook and +Millinocket's inland seas, and so to the forks of the Nicketow, ever +pushing the boughs of the fir and spruce aside, with his load of furs, +contending day and night, night and day, with the shaggy demon +vegetation, traveling through the mossy graveyard of trees. Or he could +go by "that rough tooth of the sea" Kineo, great source of arrows and of +spears to the ancients, when weapons of stone were used. Seeing and +hearing moose, caribou, bears, porcupines, lynxes, wolves, and panthers. +Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United +States--never hear of America. + +There is a lumberer's road called the Eagle Lake Road from the Seboois +to the east side of this lake. It may seem strange that any road through +such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, but at that +season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are +continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost +as a railway. I am told that in the Aroostook country the sleds are +required by law to be of one width, four feet, and sleighs must be +altered to fit the track, so that one runner may go in one rut and the +other follow the horse. Yet it is very bad turning out. + +We had for some time seen a thunder-shower coming up from the west over +the woods of the island, and heard the muttering of the thunder, though +we were in doubt whether it would reach us; but now the darkness rapidly +increasing, and a fresh breeze rustling the forest, we hastily put up +the plants which we had been drying, and with one consent made a rush +for the tent material and set about pitching it. A place was selected +and stakes and pins cut in the shortest possible time, and we were +pinning it down lest it should be blown away, when the storm suddenly +burst over us. + +As we lay huddled together under the tent, which leaked considerably +about the sides, with our baggage at our feet, we listened to some of +the grandest thunder which I ever heard--rapid peals, round and plump, +bang, bang, bang, in succession, like artillery from some fortress in +the sky; and the lightning was proportionally brilliant. The Indian +said, "It must be good powder." All for the benefit of the moose and us, +echoing far over the concealed lakes. I thought it must be a place which +the thunder loved, where the lightning practiced to keep its hand in, +and it would do no harm to shatter a few pines. + +Looking out, I perceived that the violent shower falling on the lake had +almost instantaneously flattened the waves, and, it clearing off, we +resolved to start immediately, before the wind raised them again. + +Getting outside, I said that I saw clouds still in the southwest, and +heard thunder there. We embarked, nevertheless, and paddled rapidly back +toward the dams. + +At the outlet of Chamberlain Lake we were overtaken by another gusty +rainstorm, which compelled us to take shelter, the Indian under his +canoe on the bank, and we under the edge of the dam. However, we were +more scared than wet. From my covert I could see the Indian peeping out +from beneath his canoe to see what had become of the rain. When we had +taken our respective places thus once or twice, the rain not coming down +in earnest, we commenced rambling about the neighborhood, for the wind +had by this time raised such waves on the lake that we could not stir, +and we feared that we should be obliged to camp there. We got an early +supper on the dam and tried for fish, while waiting for the tumult to +subside. The fishes were not only few, but small and worthless. + +At length, just before sunset, we set out again. It was a wild evening +when we coasted up the north side of this Apmoojenegamook Lake. One +thunder-storm was just over, and the waves which it had raised still +running with violence, and another storm was now seen coming up in the +southwest, far over the lake; but it might be worse in the morning, and +we wished to get as far as possible on our way while we might. + +It blew hard against the shore, which was as dreary and harborless as +you can conceive. For half a dozen rods in width it was a perfect maze +of submerged trees, all dead and bare and bleaching, some standing half +their original height, others prostrate, and criss-across, above or +beneath the surface, and mingled with them were loose trees and limbs +and stumps, beating about. We could not have landed if we would, without +the greatest danger of being swamped; so blow as it might, we must +depend on coasting. It was twilight, too, and that stormy cloud was +advancing rapidly in our rear. It was a pleasant excitement, yet we were +glad to reach, at length, the cleared shore of the Chamberlain Farm. + +We landed on a low and thinly wooded point, and while my companions +were pitching the tent, I ran up to the house to get some sugar, our +six pounds being gone. It was no wonder they were, for Polis had a sweet +tooth. He would first fill his dipper nearly a third full of sugar, and +then add the coffee to it. Here was a clearing extending back from the +lake to a hilltop, with some dark-colored log buildings and a storehouse +in it, and half a dozen men standing in front of the principal hut, +greedy for news. Among them was the man who tended the dam on the +Allegash and tossed the bullet. He, having charge of the dams, and +learning that we were going to Webster Stream the next day, told me that +some of their men, who were haying at Telos Lake, had shut the dam at +the canal there in order to catch trout, and if we wanted more water to +take us through the canal we might raise the gate. + +They were unwilling to spare more than four pounds of brown +sugar,--unlocking the storehouse to get it,--since they only kept a +little for such cases as this, and they charged twenty cents a pound for +it, which certainly it was worth to get it up there. + +When I returned to the shore it was quite dark, but we had a rousing +fire to warm and dry us by, and a snug apartment behind it. The Indian +went up to the house to inquire after a brother who had been absent +hunting a year or two, and while another shower was beginning, I groped +about cutting spruce and arbor-vit twigs for a bed. I preferred the +arbor-vit on account of its fragrance, and spread it particularly thick +about the shoulders. It is remarkable with what pure satisfaction the +traveler in those woods will reach his camping-ground on the eve of a +tempestuous night like this, as if he had got to his inn, and, rolling +himself in his blanket, stretch himself on his six-feet-by-two bed of +dripping fir twigs, with a thin sheet of cotton for roof, snug as a +meadow mouse in its nest. Invariably our best nights were those when it +rained, for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes. + +You soon come to disregard rain on such excursions, at least in the +summer, it is so easy to dry yourself, supposing a dry change of +clothing is not to be had. You can much sooner dry you by such a fire as +you can make in the woods than in anybody's kitchen, the fireplace is so +much larger, and wood so much more abundant. A shed-shaped tent will +catch and reflect the heat, and you may be drying while you are +sleeping. + +Some who have leaky roofs in the towns may have been kept awake, but we +were soon lulled asleep by a steady, soaking rain, which lasted all +night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] A soft felt hat of the kind worn by the Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, +on his visit to this country in 1851-52. + + + + +VII + +WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 + + +When we awoke it had done raining, though it was still cloudy. The fire +was put out, and the Indian's boots, which stood under the eaves of the +tent, were half full of water. He was much more improvident in such +respects than either of us, and he had to thank us for keeping his +powder dry. We decided to cross the lake at once, before breakfast; and +before starting I took the bearing of the shore which we wished to +strike, about three miles distant, lest a sudden misty rain should +conceal it when we were midway. + +Though the bay in which we were was perfectly quiet and smooth, we found +the lake already wide awake outside, but not dangerously or unpleasantly +so. Nevertheless, when you get out on one of those lakes in a canoe like +this, you do not forget that you are completely at the mercy of the +wind, and a fickle power it is. The playful waves may at any time become +too rude for you in their sport, and play right on over you. After much +steady paddling and dancing over the dark waves we found ourselves in +the neighborhood of the southern land. We breakfasted on a rocky point, +the first convenient place that offered. + +It was well enough that we crossed thus early, for the waves now ran +quite high, but beyond this point we had comparatively smooth water. You +can commonly go along one side or the other of a lake, when you cannot +cross it. + +My companion and I, having a discussion on some point of ancient +history, were amused by the attitude which the Indian, who could not +tell what we were talking about, assumed. He constituted himself umpire, +and, judging by our air and gesture, he very seriously remarked from +time to time, "You beat," or "He beat." + +Leaving a spacious bay on our left, we entered through a short strait +into a small lake a couple of miles over, and thence into Telos Lake. +This curved round toward the northeast, and may have been three or four +miles long as we paddled. + +The outlet from the lake into the East Branch of the Penobscot is an +artificial one, and it was not very apparent where it was exactly, but +the lake ran curving far up northeasterly into two narrow valleys or +ravines, as if it had for a long time been groping its way toward the +Penobscot waters. By observing where the horizon was lowest, and +following the longest of these, we at length reached the dam, having +come about a dozen miles from the last camp. Somebody had left a line +set for trout, and the jackknife with which the bait had been cut on the +dam beside it, and, on a log close by, a loaf of bread. These proved the +property of a solitary hunter, whom we soon met, and canoe and gun and +traps were not far off. He told us that it was twenty miles to the foot +of Grand Lake, and that the first house below the foot of the lake, on +the East Branch, was Hunt's, about forty-five miles farther. + +This hunter, who was a quite small, sunburnt man, having already carried +his canoe over, had nothing so interesting and pressing to do as to +observe our transit. He had been out a month or more alone. How much +more respectable is the life of the solitary pioneer or settler in +these, or any woods--having real difficulties, not of his own creation, +drawing his subsistence directly from nature--than that of the helpless +multitudes in the towns who depend on gratifying the extremely +artificial wants of society and are thrown out of employment by hard +times! + +Telos Lake, the head of the St. John on this side, and Webster Pond, the +head of the East Branch of the Penobscot, are only about a mile apart, +and they are connected by a ravine, in which but little digging was +required to make the water of the former, which is the highest, flow +into the latter. This canal is something less than a mile long and about +four rods wide. The rush of the water has produced such changes in the +canal that it has now the appearance of a very rapid mountain stream +flowing through a ravine, and you would not suspect that any digging had +been required to persuade the waters of the St. John to flow into the +Penobscot here. It was so winding that one could see but a little way +down. + +It is wonderful how well watered this country is. As you paddle across a +lake, bays will be pointed out to you, by following up which, and +perhaps the tributary stream which empties in, you may, after a short +portage, or possibly, at some seasons, none at all, get into another +river, which empties far away from the one you are on. Generally, you +may go in any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long +portages. It seems as if the more youthful and impressionable streams +can hardly resist the numerous invitations and temptations to leave +their native beds and run down their neighbors' channels. + +Wherever there is a channel for water there is a road for the canoe. It +is said that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can +imagine what a canoe may do. + +This canal, so called, was a considerable and extremely rapid and rocky +river. The Indian decided that there was water enough in it without +raising the dam, which would only make it more violent, and that he +would run down it alone, while we carried the greater part of the +baggage. Our provisions being about half consumed, there was the less +left in the canoe. We had thrown away the pork-keg and wrapped its +contents in birch bark. + +Following a moist trail through the forest, we reached the head of +Webster Pond about the same time with the Indian, notwithstanding the +velocity with which he moved, our route being the most direct. The pond +was two or three miles long. + +At the outlet was another dam, at which we stopped and picked +raspberries, while the Indian went down the stream a half-mile through +the forest, to see what he had got to contend with. There was a deserted +log camp here, apparently used the previous winter, with its "hovel" or +barn for cattle. In the hut was a large fir-twig bed, raised two feet +from the floor, occupying a large part of the single apartment, a long +narrow table against the wall, with a stout log bench before it, and +above the table a small window, the only one there was, which admitted a +feeble light. It was a simple and strong fort erected against the cold. + +We got our dinner on the shore, on the upper side of the dam. As we were +sitting by our fire, concealed by the earth bank of the dam, a long +line of sheldrakes, half grown, came waddling over it from the water +below, passing within about a rod of us, so that we could almost have +caught them in our hands. They were very abundant on all the streams and +lakes which we visited, and every two or three hours they would rush +away in a long string over the water before us, twenty to fifty of them +at once, rarely ever flying, but running with great rapidity up or down +the stream, even in the midst of the most violent rapids, and apparently +as fast up as down. + +An Indian at Oldtown had told us that we should be obliged to carry ten +miles between Telos Lake on the St. John and Second Lake on the East +Branch of the Penobscot; but the lumberers whom we met assured us that +there would not be more than a mile of carry. It turned out that the +Indian was nearest right, as far as we were concerned. However, if one +of us could have assisted the Indian in managing the canoe in the +rapids, we might have run the greater part of the way; but as he was +alone in the management of the canoe in such places we were obliged to +walk the greater part. + +My companion and I carried a good part of the baggage on our shoulders, +while the Indian took that which would be least injured by wet in the +canoe. We did not know when we should see him again, for he had not been +this way since the canal was cut. He agreed to stop when he got to +smooth water, come up and find our path if he could, and halloo for us, +and after waiting a reasonable time go on and try again--and we were to +look out in like manner for him. + +He commenced by running through the sluiceway and over the dam, as +usual, standing up in his tossing canoe, and was soon out of sight +behind a point in a wild gorge. This Webster Stream is well known to +lumbermen as a difficult one. It is exceedingly rapid and rocky, and +also shallow, and can hardly be considered navigable, unless that may +mean that what is launched in it is sure to be carried swiftly down it, +though it may be dashed to pieces by the way. It is somewhat like +navigating a thunder-spout. With commonly an irresistible force urging +you on, you have got to choose your own course each moment between the +rocks and shallows, and to get into it, moving forward always with the +utmost possible moderation, and often holding on, if you can, that you +may inspect the rapids before you. + +By the Indian's direction we took an old path on the south side, which +appeared to keep down the stream. It was a wild wood-path, with a few +tracks of oxen which had been driven over it, probably to some old camp +clearing for pasturage, mingled with the tracks of moose which had +lately used it. We kept on steadily for about an hour without putting +down our packs, occasionally winding around or climbing over a fallen +tree, for the most part far out of sight and hearing of the river; +till, after walking about three miles, we were glad to find that the +path came to the river again at an old camp-ground, where there was a +small opening in the forest, at which we paused. + +Swiftly as the shallow and rocky river ran here, a continuous rapid with +dancing waves, I saw, as I sat on the shore, a long string of +sheldrakes, which something scared, run up the opposite side of the +stream by me, just touching the surface of the waves, and getting an +impulse from them as they flowed from under them; but they soon came +back, driven by the Indian, who had fallen a little behind us on account +of the windings. He shot round a point just above, and came to land by +us with considerable water in his canoe. He had found it, as he said, +"very strong water," and had been obliged to land once before to empty +out what he had taken in. + +[Illustration: _Coming Down the Rapids_] + +He complained that it strained him to paddle so hard in order to keep +his canoe straight in its course, having no one in the bows to aid +him, and, shallow as it was, said that it would be no joke to upset +there, for the force of the water was such that he had as lief I would +strike him over the head with a paddle as have that water strike him. +Seeing him come out of that gap was as if you should pour water down an +inclined and zigzag trough, then drop a nutshell into it, and, taking a +short cut to the bottom, get there in time to see it come out, +notwithstanding the rush and tumult, right side up, and only partly full +of water. + +After a moment's breathing-space, while I held his canoe, he was soon +out of sight again around another bend, and we, shouldering our packs, +resumed our course. + +Before going a mile we heard the Indian calling to us. He had come up +through the woods and along the path to find us, having reached +sufficiently smooth water to warrant his taking us in. The shore was +about one fourth of a mile distant through a dense, dark forest, and as +he led us back to it, winding rapidly about to the right and left, I had +the curiosity to look down carefully and found that he was following his +steps backward. I could only occasionally perceive his trail in the +moss, and yet he did not appear to look down nor hesitate an instant, +but led us out exactly to his canoe. This surprised me, for without a +compass, or the sight or noise of the river to guide us, we could not +have kept our course many minutes, and could have retraced our steps but +a short distance, with a great deal of pains and very slowly, using a +laborious circumspection. But it was evident that he could go back +through the forest wherever he had been during the day. + +After this rough walking in the dark woods it was an agreeable change to +glide down the rapid river in the canoe once more. This river, though +still very swift, was almost perfectly smooth here, and showed a very +visible declivity, a regularly inclined plane, for several miles, like +a mirror set a little aslant, on which we coasted down. It was very +exhilarating, and the perfection of traveling, the coasting down this +inclined mirror between two evergreen forests edged with lofty dead +white pines, sometimes slanted half-way over the stream. I saw some +monsters there, nearly destitute of branches, and scarcely diminishing +in diameter for eighty or ninety feet. + +As we were thus swept along, our Indian repeated in a deliberate and +drawling tone the words, "Daniel Webster, great lawyer," apparently +reminded of him by the name of the stream, and he described his calling +on him once in Boston at what he supposed was his boarding-house. He had +no business with him but merely went to pay his respects, as we should +say. It was on the day after Webster delivered his Bunker Hill oration. +The first time he called he waited till he was tired without seeing him, +and then went away. The next time he saw him go by the door of the room +in which he was waiting several times, in his shirt-sleeves, without +noticing him. He thought that if he had come to see Indians they would +not have treated him so. At length, after very long delay, he came in, +walked toward him, and asked in a loud voice, gruffly, "What do you +want?" and he, thinking at first, by the motion of his hand, that he was +going to strike him, said to himself, "You'd better take care; if you +try that I shall know what to do." + +He did not like him, and declared that all he said "was not worth talk +about a musquash." + +Coming to falls and rapids, our easy progress was suddenly terminated. +The Indian went alongshore to inspect the water, while we climbed over +the rocks, picking berries. When the Indian came back, he remarked, "You +got to walk; ver' strong water." + +So, taking out his canoe, he launched it again below the falls, and was +soon out of sight. At such times he would step into the canoe, take up +his paddle, and start off, looking far down-stream as if absorbing all +the intelligence of forest and stream into himself. We meanwhile +scrambled along the shore with our packs, without any path. This was the +last of _our_ boating for the day. + +The Indian now got along much faster than we, and waited for us from +time to time. I found here the only cool spring that I drank at anywhere +on this excursion, a little water filling a hollow in the sandy bank. It +was a quite memorable event, and due to the elevation of the country, +for wherever else we had been the water in the rivers and the streams +emptying in was dead and warm, compared with that of a mountainous +region. It was very bad walking along the shore over fallen and drifted +trees and bushes, and rocks, from time to time swinging ourselves round +over the water, or else taking to a gravel bar or going inland. At one +place, the Indian being ahead, I was obliged to take off all my clothes +in order to ford a small but deep stream emptying in, while my +companion, who was inland, found a rude bridge, high up in the woods, +and I saw no more of him for some time. I saw there very fresh moose +tracks, and I passed one white pine log, lodged in the forest near the +edge of the stream, which was quite five feet in diameter at the butt. + +Shortly after this I overtook the Indian at the edge of some burnt land, +which extended three or four miles at least, beginning about three miles +above Second Lake, which we were expecting to reach that night. This +burnt region was still more rocky than before, but, though comparatively +open, we could not yet see the lake. Not having seen my companion for +some time, I climbed with the Indian a high rock on the edge of the +river forming a narrow ridge only a foot or two wide at top, in order to +look for him. After calling many times I at length heard him answer +from a considerable distance inland, he having taken a trail which led +off from the river, and being now in search of the river again. Seeing a +much higher rock of the same character about one third of a mile farther +down-stream, I proceeded toward it through the burnt land, in order to +look for the lake from its summit, and hallooing all the while that my +companion might join me on the way. + +Before we came together I noticed where a moose, which possibly I had +scared by my shouting, had apparently just run along a large rotten +trunk of a pine, which made a bridge thirty or forty feet long over a +hollow, as convenient for him as for me. The tracks were as large as +those of an ox, but an ox could not have crossed there. This burnt land +was an exceedingly wild and desolate region. Judging by the weeds and +sprouts, it appeared to have been burnt about two years before. It was +covered with charred trunks, either prostrate or standing, which +crocked our clothes and hands. Great shells of trees, sometimes unburnt +without, or burnt on one side only, but black within, stood twenty or +forty feet high. The fire had run up inside, as in a chimney, leaving +the sapwood. There were great fields of fireweed, which presented masses +of pink. Intermixed with these were blueberry and raspberry bushes. + +Having crossed a second rocky ridge, when I was beginning to ascend the +third, the Indian, whom I had left on the shore, beckoned to me to come +to him, but I made sign that I would first ascend the rock before me. My +companion accompanied me to the top. + +There was a remarkable series of these great rock-waves revealed by the +burning; breakers, as it were. No wonder that the river that found its +way through them was rapid and obstructed by falls. We could see the +lake over the woods, and that the river made an abrupt turn southward +around the end of the cliff on which we stood, and that there was an +important fall in it a short distance below us. I could see the canoe a +hundred rods behind, but now on the opposite shore, and supposed that +the Indian had concluded to take out and carry round some bad rapids on +that side, but after waiting a while I could still see nothing of him, +and I began to suspect that he had gone inland to look for the lake from +some hilltop on that side. This proved to be the case, for after I had +started to return to the canoe I heard a faint halloo, and descried him +on the top of a distant rocky hill. I began to return along the ridge +toward the angle in the river. My companion inquired where I was going; +to which I answered that I was going far enough back to communicate with +the Indian. + +When we reached the shore the Indian appeared from out the woods on the +opposite side, but on account of the roar of the water it was difficult +to communicate with him. He kept along the shore westward to his canoe, +while we stopped at the angle where the stream turned southward around +the precipice. I said to my companion that we would keep along the shore +and keep the Indian in sight. We started to do so, being close together, +the Indian behind us having launched his canoe again, but I saw the +latter beckoning to me, and I called to my companion, who had just +disappeared behind large rocks at the point of the precipice on his way +down the stream, that I was going to help the Indian. + +I did so--helped get the canoe over a fall, lying with my breast over a +rock, and holding one end while he received it below--and within ten or +fifteen minutes I was back at the point where the river turned +southward, while Polis glided down the river alone, parallel with me. +But to my surprise, when I rounded the precipice, though the shore was +bare of trees, without rocks, for a quarter of a mile at least, my +companion was not to be seen. It was as if he had sunk into the earth. +This was the more unaccountable to me, because I knew that his feet were +very sore, and that he wished to keep with the party. + +I hastened along, hallooing and searching for him, thinking he might be +concealed behind a rock, but the Indian had got along faster in his +canoe, till he was arrested by the falls, about a quarter of a mile +below. He then landed, and said that we could go no farther that night. +The sun was setting, and on account of falls and rapids we should be +obliged to leave this river and carry a good way into another farther +east. The first thing then was to find my companion, for I was now very +much alarmed about him, and I sent the Indian along the shore +down-stream, which began to be covered with unburnt wood again just +below the falls, while I searched backward about the precipice which we +had passed. + +The Indian showed some unwillingness to exert himself, complaining that +he was very tired in consequence of his day's work, that it had strained +him getting down so many rapids alone; but he went off calling somewhat +like an owl. I remembered that my companion was nearsighted, and I +feared that he had either fallen from the precipice, or fainted and sunk +down amid the rocks beneath it. I shouted and searched above and below +this precipice in the twilight till I could not see, expecting nothing +less than to find his body beneath it. For half an hour I anticipated +and believed only the worst. I thought what I should do the next day if +I did not find him, and how his relatives would feel if I should return +without him. I felt that if he were really lost away from the river +there, it would be a desperate undertaking to find him; and where were +they who could help you? What would it be to raise the country, where +there were only two or three camps, twenty or thirty miles apart, and +no road, and perhaps nobody at home? + +I rushed down from this precipice to the canoe in order to fire the +Indian's gun, but found that my companion had the caps. When the Indian +returned he said that he had seen his tracks once or twice along the +shore. This encouraged me very much. He objected to firing the gun, +saying that if my companion heard it, which was not likely, on account +of the roar of the stream, it would tempt him to come toward us, and he +might break his neck in the dark. For the same reason we refrained from +lighting a fire on the highest rock. I proposed that we should both keep +down the stream to the lake, or that I should go at any rate, but the +Indian said: "No use, can't do anything in the dark. Come morning, then +we find 'em. No harm--he make 'em camp. No bad animals here--warm +night--he well off as you and I." + +The darkness in the woods was by this so thick that it decided the +question. We must camp where we were. I knew that he had his knapsack, +with blankets and matches, and, if well, would fare no worse than we, +except that he would have no supper nor society. + +This side of the river being so encumbered with rocks, we crossed to the +eastern or smoother shore, and proceeded to camp there, within two or +three rods of the falls. We pitched no tent, but lay on the sand, +putting a few handfuls of grass and twigs under us, there being no +evergreen at hand. For fuel we had some of the charred stumps. Our +various bags of provisions had got quite wet in the rapids, and I +arranged them about the fire to dry. The fall close by was the principal +one on this stream, and it shook the earth under us. It was a cool, dewy +night. I lay awake a good deal from anxiety. From time to time I fancied +that I heard his voice calling through the roar of the falls from the +opposite side of the river; but it is doubtful if we could have heard +him across the stream there. Sometimes I doubted whether the Indian had +really seen his tracks, since he manifested an unwillingness to make +much of a search. + +It was the most wild and desolate region we had camped in, where, if +anywhere, one might expect to meet with befitting inhabitants, but I +heard only the squeak of a nighthawk flitting over. The moon in her +first quarter, in the fore part of the night, setting over the bare +rocky hills garnished with tall, charred, and hollow stumps or shells of +trees, served to reveal the desolation. + + + + +VIII + +THURSDAY, JULY 30 + + +I aroused the Indian early to go in search of our companion, expecting +to find him within a mile or two, farther down the stream. The Indian +wanted his breakfast first, but I reminded him that my companion had had +neither breakfast nor supper. We were obliged first to carry our canoe +and baggage over into another stream, the main East Branch, about three +fourths of a mile distant, for Webster Stream was no farther navigable. +We went twice over this carry, and the dewy bushes wet us through like +water up to the middle. I hallooed from time to time, though I had +little expectation that I could be heard over the roar of the rapids. + +In going over this portage the last time, the Indian, who was before me +with the canoe on his head, stumbled and fell heavily once, and lay for +a moment silent as if in pain. I hastily stepped forward to help him, +asking if he was much hurt, but after a moment's pause, without +replying, he sprang up and went forward. + +We had launched our canoe and gone but little way down the East Branch, +when I heard an answering shout from my companion, and soon after saw +him standing on a point where there was a clearing a quarter of a mile +below, and the smoke of his fire was rising near by. Before I saw him I +naturally shouted again and again, but the Indian curtly remarked, "He +hears you," as if once was enough. + +It was just below the mouth of Webster Stream. When we arrived he was +smoking his pipe, and said that he had passed a pretty comfortable +night, though it was rather cold, on account of the dew. It appeared +that when we stood together the previous evening, and I was shouting to +the Indian across the river, he, being nearsighted, had not seen the +Indian nor his canoe, and when I went back to the Indian's assistance, +did not see which way I went, and supposed that we were below and not +above him, and so, making haste to catch up, he ran away from us. Having +reached this clearing, a mile or more below our camp, the night overtook +him, and he made a fire in a little hollow, and lay down by it in his +blanket, still thinking that we were ahead of him. + +He had stuck up the remnant of a lumberer's shirt, found on the point, +on a pole by the waterside for a signal, and attached a note to it to +inform us that he had gone on to the lake, and that if he did not find +us there he would be back in a couple of hours. If he had not found us +soon he had some thoughts of going back in search of the solitary hunter +whom we had met at Telos Lake, ten miles behind, and, if successful, +hire him to take him to Bangor. But if this hunter had moved as fast as +we, he would have been twenty miles off by this time, and who could +guess in what direction? It would have been like looking for a needle in +a haymow to search for him in these woods. He had been considering how +long he could live on berries alone. + +We all had good appetites for the breakfast which we made haste to cook +here, and then, having partially dried our clothes, we glided swiftly +down the winding stream toward Second Lake. + +As the shores became flatter with frequent sandbars, and the stream more +winding in the lower land near the lake, elms and ash trees made their +appearance; also the wild yellow lily, some of whose bulbs I collected +for a soup. On some ridges the burnt land extended as far as the lake. +This was a very beautiful lake, two or three miles long, with high +mountains on the southwest side. The morning was a bright one, and +perfectly still, the lake as smooth as glass, we making the only ripple +as we paddled into it. The dark mountains about it were seen through a +glaucous mist, and the white stems of canoe birches mingled with the +other woods around it. The thrush sang on the distant shore, and the +laugh of some loons, sporting in a concealed western bay, as if inspired +by the morning, came distinct over the lake to us. The beauty of the +scene may have been enhanced to our eyes by the fact that we had just +come together after a night of some anxiety. + +Having paddled down three quarters of the lake, we came to a standstill +while my companion let down for fish. In the midst of our dreams of +giant lake trout, even then supposed to be nibbling, our fisherman drew +up a diminutive red perch, and we took up our paddles. + +It was not apparent where the outlet of the lake was, and while the +Indian thought it was in one direction, I thought it was in another. He +said, "I bet you fourpence it is there," but he still held on in my +direction, which proved to be the right one. + +As we were approaching the outlet he suddenly exclaimed, "Moose! moose!" +and told us to be still. He put a cap on his gun, and, standing up in +the stern, rapidly pushed the canoe straight toward the shore and the +moose. It was a cow moose, about thirty rods off, standing in the water +by the side of the outlet, partly behind some fallen timber and bushes, +and at that distance she did not look very large. She was flapping her +large ears, and from time to time poking off the flies with her nose +from some part of her body. She did not appear much alarmed by our +neighborhood, only occasionally turned her head and looked straight at +us, and then gave her attention to the flies again. As we approached +nearer she got out of the water, stood higher, and regarded us more +suspiciously. + +Polis pushed the canoe steadily forward in the shallow water, but the +canoe soon grounded in the mud eight or ten rods distant from the +moose, and the Indian seized his gun. After standing still a moment she +turned so as to expose her side, and he improved this moment to fire, +over our heads. She thereupon moved off eight or ten rods at a moderate +pace across a shallow bay to the opposite shore, and she stood still +again while the Indian hastily loaded and fired twice at her, without +her moving. My companion, who passed him his caps and bullets, said that +Polis was as excited as a boy of fifteen, that his hand trembled, and he +once put his ramrod back upside down. + +The Indian now pushed quickly and quietly back, and a long distance +round, in order to get into the outlet,--for he had fired over the neck +of a peninsula between it and the lake,--till we approached the place +where the moose had stood, when he exclaimed, "She is a goner!" + +[Illustration: _Shooting the Moose_] + +There, to be sure, she lay perfectly dead, just where she had stood +to receive the last shots. Using a tape, I found that the moose measured +six feet from the shoulder to the tip of the hoof, and was eight feet +long. + +Polis, preparing to skin the moose, asked me to help him find a stone on +which to sharpen his large knife. It being flat alluvial ground, covered +with red maples, etc., this was no easy matter. We searched far and wide +a long time till at length I found a flat kind of slate stone, on which +he soon made his knife very sharp. + +While he was skinning the moose I proceeded to ascertain what kind of +fishes were to be found in the sluggish and muddy outlet. The greatest +difficulty was to find a pole. It was almost impossible to find a +slender, straight pole ten or twelve feet long in those woods. You might +search half an hour in vain. They are commonly spruce, arbor-vit, fir, +etc., short, stout, and branchy, and do not make good fishpoles, even +after you have patiently cut off all their tough and scraggy branches. +The fishes were red perch and chivin. + +The Indian, having cut off a large piece of sirloin, the upper lip, and +the tongue, wrapped them in the hide, and placed them in the bottom of +the canoe, observing that there was "one man," meaning the weight of +one. Our load had previously been reduced some thirty pounds, but a +hundred pounds were now added, which made our quarters still more +narrow, and considerably increased the danger on the lakes and rapids as +well as the labor of the carries. The skin was ours according to custom, +since the Indian was in our employ, but we did not think of claiming it. +He being a skillful dresser of moose-hides would make it worth seven or +eight dollars to him, as I was told. He said that he sometimes earned +fifty or sixty dollars in a day at them; he had killed ten moose in one +day, though the skinning and all took two days. This was the way he had +got his property. + +We continued along the outlet through a swampy region, by a long, +winding deadwater, very much choked up by wood, where we were obliged to +land sometimes in order to get the canoe over a log. It was hard to find +any channel, and we did not know but we should be lost in the swamp. It +abounded in ducks, as usual. At length we reached Grand Lake. + +We stopped to dine on an interesting rocky island, securing our canoe to +the cliffy shore. Here was a good opportunity to dry our dewy blankets +on the open sunny rock. Indians had recently camped here, and +accidentally burned over the western end of the island. Polis picked up +a gun-case of blue broadcloth, and said that he knew the Indian it +belonged to and would carry it to him. His tribe is not so large but he +may know all its effects. We proceeded to make a fire and cook our +dinner amid some pines. + +I saw where the Indians had made canoes in a little secluded hollow in +the woods, on the top of the rock, where they were out of the wind, and +large piles of whittlings remained. This must have been a favorite +resort of their ancestors, and, indeed, we found here the point of an +arrow-head, such as they have not used for two centuries and now know +not how to make. The Indian picked up a yellowish curved bone by the +side of our fireplace and asked me to guess what it was. It was one of +the upper incisors of a beaver, on which some party had feasted within a +year or two. I found also most of the teeth and the skull. We here dined +on fried moose meat. + +Our blankets being dry, we set out again, the Indian, as usual, having +left his gazette on a tree. We paddled southward, keeping near the +western shore. The Indian did not know exactly where the outlet was, and +he went feeling his way by a middle course between two probable points, +from which he could diverge either way at last without losing much +distance. In approaching the south shore, as the clouds looked gusty and +the waves ran pretty high, we so steered as to get partly under the lee +of an island, though at a great distance from it. + +I could not distinguish the outlet till we were almost in it, and heard +the water falling over the dam there. Here was a considerable fall, and +a very substantial dam, but no sign of a cabin or camp. + +While we loitered here Polis took occasion to cut with his big knife +some of the hair from his moose-hide, and so lightened and prepared it +for drying. I noticed at several old Indian camps in the woods the pile +of hair which they had cut from their hides. + +Having carried over the dam, he darted down the rapids, leaving us to +walk for a mile or more, where for the most part there was no path, but +very thick and difficult traveling near the stream. He would call to +let us know where he was waiting for us with his canoe, when, on account +of the windings of the stream, we did not know where the shore was, but +he did not call often enough, forgetting that we were not Indians. He +seemed to be very saving of his breath--yet he would be surprised if we +went by, or did not strike the right spot. This was not because he was +unaccommodating, but a proof of superior manners. Indians like to get +along with the least possible communication and ado. He was really +paying us a great compliment all the while, thinking that we preferred a +hint to a kick. + +At length, climbing over the willows and fallen trees, when this was +easier than to go round or under them, we overtook the canoe, and glided +down the stream in smooth but swift water for several miles. I here +observed, as at Webster Stream, that the river was a smooth and +regularly inclined plane down which we coasted. + +We decided to camp early that we might have ample time before dark. So +we stopped at the first favorable shore, where there was a narrow +gravelly beach, some five miles below the outlet of the lake. Two steps +from the water on either side, and you come to the abrupt, bushy, and +rooty, if not turfy, edge of the bank, four or five feet high, where the +interminable forest begins, as if the stream had but just cut its way +through it. + +It is surprising on stepping ashore anywhere into this unbroken +wilderness to see so often, at least within a few rods of the river, the +marks of the axe, made by lumberers who have either camped here or +driven logs past in previous springs. You will see perchance where they +have cut large chips from a tall white pine stump for their fire. + +While we were pitching the camp and getting supper, the Indian cut the +rest of the hair from his moose-hide, and proceeded to extend it +vertically on a temporary frame between two small trees, half a dozen +feet from the opposite side of the fire, lashing and stretching it with +arbor-vit bark. Asking for a new kind of tea, he made us some pretty +good of the checkerberry, which covered the ground, dropping a little +bunch of it tied up with cedar bark into the kettle. + +After supper he put on the moose tongue and lips to boil. He showed me +how to write on the under side of birch bark with a black spruce twig, +which is hard and tough and can be brought to a point. + +The Indian wandered off into the woods a short distance just before +night, and, coming back, said, "Me found great treasure." + +"What's that?" we asked. + +"Steel traps, under a log, thirty or forty, I didn't count 'em. I guess +Indian work--worth three dollars apiece." + +It was a singular coincidence that he should have chanced to walk to and +look under that particular log in that trackless forest. + +I saw chivin and chub in the stream when washing my hands, but my +companion tried in vain to catch them. I heard the sound of bullfrogs +from a swamp on the opposite side. + +You commonly make your camp just at sundown, and are collecting wood, +getting your supper, or pitching your tent while the shades of night are +gathering around and adding to the already dense gloom of the forest. +You have no time to explore or look around you before it is dark. You +may penetrate half a dozen rods farther into that twilight wilderness +after some dry bark to kindle your fire with, and wonder what mysteries +lie hidden still deeper in it, or you may run down to the shore for a +dipper of water, and get a clearer view for a short distance up or down +the stream, and while you stand there, see a fish leap, or duck alight +in the river, or hear a thrush or robin sing in the woods. + +But there is no sauntering off to see the country. Ten or fifteen rods +seems a great way from your companions, and you come back with the air +of a much traveled man, as from a long journey, with adventures to +relate, though you may have heard the crackling of the fire all the +while--and at a hundred rods you might be lost past recovery and have to +camp out. It is all mossy and _moosey_. In some of those dense fir and +spruce woods there is hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are +a _standing_ night, and every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume +plucked from night's raven wing. Then at night the general stillness is +more impressive than any sound, but occasionally you hear the note of an +owl farther or nearer in the woods, and if near a lake, the semihuman +cry of the loons at their unearthly revels. + +To-night the Indian lay between the fire and his stretched moose-hide, +to avoid mosquitoes. Indeed, he also made a small smoky fire of damp +leaves at his head and feet, and then as usual rolled up his head in +his blanket. We with our veils and our wash were tolerably comfortable, +but it would be difficult to pursue any sedentary occupation in the +woods at this season; you cannot see to read much by the light of a fire +through a veil in the evening, nor handle pencil and paper well with +gloves or anointed fingers. + + + + +IX + +FRIDAY, JULY 31 + + +We had smooth but swift water for a considerable distance, where we +glided rapidly along, scaring up ducks and kingfishers. But, as usual, +our smooth progress ere long come to an end, and we were obliged to +carry canoe and all about half a mile down the right bank around some +rapids or falls. It required sharp eyes sometimes to tell which side was +the carry, before you went over the falls, but Polis never failed to +land us rightly. The raspberries were particularly abundant and large +here, and all hands went to eating them, the Indian remarking on their +size. + +Often on bare rocky carries the trail was so indistinct that I +repeatedly lost it, but when I walked behind him I observed that he +could keep it almost like a hound, and rarely hesitated, or, if he +paused a moment on a bare rock, his eye immediately detected some sign +which would have escaped me. Frequently _we_ found no path at all at +these places, and were to him unaccountably delayed. He would only say +it was "ver' strange." + +We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall +we came to must be it, but after christening several in succession with +this name we gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls +than I can remember. + +I cannot tell how many times we had to walk on account of falls or +rapids. We were expecting all the while that the river would take a +final leap and get to smooth water, but there was no improvement this +forenoon. However, the carries were an agreeable variety. So surely as +we stepped out of the canoe and stretched our legs we found ourselves in +a blueberry and raspberry garden, each side of our rocky trail being +lined with one or both. There was not a carry on the main East Branch +where we did not find an abundance of both these berries, for these +were the rockiest places and partially cleared, such as these plants +prefer, and there had been none to gather the finest before us. + +We bathed and dined at the foot of one of these carries. It was the +Indian who commonly reminded us that it was dinner-time, sometimes even +by turning the prow to the shore. He once made an indirect, but lengthy +apology, by saying that we might think it strange, but that one who +worked hard all day was very particular to have his dinner in good +season. At the most considerable fall on this stream, when I was walking +over the carry close behind the Indian, he observed a track on the rock, +which was but slightly covered with soil, and, stooping, muttered, +"Caribou." + +When we returned, he observed a much larger track near the same place, +where some animal's foot had sunk into a small hollow in the rock, +partly filled with grass and earth, and he exclaimed with surprise, +"What that?" + +"Well, what is it?" I asked. + +Stooping and laying his hand in it, he answered with a mysterious air, +and in a half-whisper, "Devil [that is, Indian devil, or cougar]--ledges +about here--very bad animal--pull 'em rocks all to pieces." + +"How long since it was made?" I asked. + +"To-day or yesterday," said he. + +We spent at least half the time in walking to-day. The Indian, being +alone, commonly ran down far below the foot of the carries before he +waited for us. The carry-paths themselves were more than usually +indistinct, often the route being revealed only by the countless small +holes in the fallen timber made by the tacks in the drivers' boots. It +was a tangled and perplexing thicket, through which we stumbled and +threaded our way, and when we had finished a mile of it, our +starting-point seemed far away. We were glad that we had not got to +walk to Bangor along the banks of this river, which would be a journey +of more than a hundred miles. Think of the denseness of the forest, the +fallen trees and rocks, the windings of the river, the streams emptying +in, and the frequent swamps to be crossed. It made you shudder. Yet the +Indian from time to time pointed out to us where he had thus crept along +day after day when he was a boy of ten, and in a starving condition. + +He had been hunting far north of this with two grown Indians. The winter +came on unexpectedly early, and the ice compelled them to leave their +canoe at Grand Lake, and walk down the bank. They shouldered their furs +and started for Oldtown. The snow was not deep enough for snowshoes, or +to cover the inequalities of the ground. Polis was soon too weak to +carry any burden, but he managed to catch one otter. This was the most +they all had to eat on this journey, and he remembered how good the +yellow lily roots were, made into a soup with the otter oil. He shared +this food equally with the other two, but being so small he suffered +much more than they. He waded through the Mattawamkeag at its mouth, +when it was freezing cold and came up to his chin, and he, being very +weak and emaciated, expected to be swept away. The first house which +they reached was at Lincoln, and thereabouts they met a white teamster +with supplies, who, seeing their condition, gave them as much as they +could eat. For six months after getting home he was very low and did not +expect to live, and was perhaps always the worse for it. + +For seven or eight miles below that succession of "Grand" falls the +aspect of the banks as well as the character of the stream was changed. +After passing a tributary from the northeast we had swift smooth water. +Low grassy banks and muddy shores began. Many elms as well as maples and +more ash trees overhung the stream and supplanted the spruce. + +Mosquitoes, black flies, etc., pursued us in mid-channel, and we were +glad sometimes to get into violent rapids, for then we escaped them. As +we glided swiftly down the inclined plane of the river, a great cat owl +launched itself away from a stump on the bank, and flew heavily across +the stream, and the Indian, as usual, imitated its note. Soon afterward +a white-headed eagle sailed down the stream before us. We drove him +several miles, while we were looking for a good place to camp,--for we +expected to be overtaken by a shower,--and still we could distinguish +him by his white tail, sailing away from time to time from some tree by +the shore still farther down the stream. Some _she-corways_ being +surprised by us, a part of them dived, and we passed directly over them, +and could trace their course here and there by a bubble on the surface, +but we did not see them come up. + +It was some time before we found a camping-place, for the shore was +either too grassy and muddy, where mosquitoes abounded, or too steep a +hillside. We at length found a place to our minds, where, in a very +dense spruce wood above a gravelly shore, there seemed to be but few +insects. The trees were so thick that we were obliged to clear a space +to build our fire and lie down in, and the young spruce trees that were +left were like the wall of an apartment rising around us. We were +obliged to pull ourselves up a steep bank to get there. But the place +which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, +begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very center of +civilization to you: "Home is home, be it never so homely." + +The mosquitoes were numerous, and the Indian complained a good deal, +though he lay, as the night before, between three fires and his +stretched hide. As I sat on a stump by the fire with a veil and gloves +on, trying to read, he observed, "I make you candle," and in a minute he +took a piece of birch bark about two inches wide and rolled it hard, +like an allumette[4] fifteen inches long, lit it, fixed it by the other +end horizontally in a split stick three feet high, and stuck it in the +ground, turning the blazing end to the wind, and telling me to snuff it +from time to time. It answered the purpose of a candle pretty well. + +I noticed, as I had before, that there was a lull among the mosquitoes +about midnight, and that they began again in the morning. Apparently +they need rest as well as we. Few, if any, creatures are equally active +all night. As soon as it was light I saw, through my veil, that the +inside of the tent about our heads was quite blackened with myriads, and +their combined hum was almost as bad to endure as their stings. I had an +uncomfortable night on this account, though I am not sure that one +succeeded in his attempt to sting me. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] A match. In this case an old-fashioned "spill," or lamplighter, made +by twisting a piece of paper, into a long, tight spiral roll. + + + + +X + +SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY AUGUST 1-3 + + +I caught two or three large red chivin within twenty feet of the camp, +which, added to the moose tongue that had been left in the kettle +boiling over night, and to our other stores, made a sumptuous breakfast. +The Indian made us some hemlock tea instead of coffee. This was +tolerable, though he said it was not strong enough. It was interesting +to see so simple a dish as a kettle of water with a handful of green +hemlock sprigs in it boiling over the huge fire in the open air, the +leaves fast losing their lively green color, and know that it was for +our breakfast. + +We were glad to embark once more and leave some of the mosquitoes +behind. We found that we had camped about a mile above Hunt's, which is +the last house for those who ascend Katahdin on this side. We had +expected to ascend it from this point, but my companion was obliged to +give up this on account of sore feet. The Indian, however, suggested +that perhaps he might get a pair of moccasins at this place, and that he +could walk very easily in them without hurting his feet, wearing several +pairs of stockings, and he said beside that they were so porous that +when you had taken in water it all drained out in a little while. We +stopped to get some sugar, but found that the family had moved away, and +the house was unoccupied, except temporarily by some men who were +getting the hay. I noticed a seine here stretched on the bank, which +probably had been used to catch salmon. + +Just below this, on the west bank, we saw a moose-hide stretched, and +with it a bearskin. The Indian said they belonged to Joe Aitteon,[5] but +how he told I do not know. He was probably hunting near and had left +them for the day. Finding that we were going directly to Oldtown, he +regretted that he had not taken more of the moose meat to his family, +saying that in a short time, by drying it, he could have made it so +light as to have brought away the greater part, leaving the bones. We +once or twice inquired after the lip, which is a famous tidbit, but he +said, "That go Oldtown for my old woman; don't get it every day." + +Maples grew more and more numerous. It rained a little during the +forenoon, and, as we expected a wetting, we stopped early and dined just +above Whetstone Falls, about a dozen miles below Hunt's. My companion, +having lost his pipe, asked the Indian if he could make him one. + +"Oh, yer," said he, and in a minute rolled up one of birch bark, telling +him to wet the bowl from time to time. + +We carried round the falls. The distance was about three fourths of a +mile. When we had carried over one load, the Indian returned by the +shore, and I by the path; and though I made no particular haste I was +nevertheless surprised to find him at the other end as soon as I. It was +remarkable how easily he got over the worst ground. He said to me, "I +take canoe and you take the rest, suppose you can keep along with me?" + +I thought he meant that while he ran down the rapids I should keep along +the shore, and be ready to assist him from time to time, as I had done +before; but as the walking would be very bad, I answered, "I suppose you +will go too fast for me, but I will try." + +But I was to go by the path, he said. This I thought would not help the +matter, I should have so far to go to get to the riverside when he +wanted me. But neither was this what he meant. He was proposing a race +over the carry, and asked me if I thought I could keep along with him by +the same path, adding that I must be pretty smart to do it. As his +load, the canoe, would be much the heaviest and bulkiest, I thought that +I ought to be able to do it, and said that I would try. So I proceeded +to gather up the gun, axe, paddle, kettle, frying-pan, plates, dippers, +carpets, etc., and while I was thus engaged he threw me his cowhide +boots. "What, are these in the bargain?" I asked. + +"Oh, yer," said he; but before I could make a bundle of my load I saw +him disappearing over a hill with the canoe on his head. + +Hastily scraping the various articles together, I started on the run, +and immediately went by him in the bushes, but I had no sooner left him +out of sight in a rocky hollow than the greasy plates, dippers, etc., +took to themselves wings, and while I was employed in gathering them up, +he went by me; but, hastily pressing the sooty kettle to my side, I +started once more, and, soon passing him again, I saw him no more on the +carry. I do not mention this as anything of a feat, for it was but poor +running on my part, and he was obliged to move with great caution for +fear of breaking his canoe as well as his neck. When he made his +appearance, puffing and panting like myself, in answer to my inquiries +where he had been, he said, "Locks cut 'em feet," and, laughing, added, +"Oh, me love to play sometimes." + +He said that he and his companions when they came to carries several +miles long used to try who would get over first; each perhaps with a +canoe on his head. I bore the sign of the kettle on my brown linen sack +for the rest of the voyage. + +[Illustration: _Carrying round the Falls_] + +As we approached the mouth of the East Branch we passed two or three +huts, the first sign of civilization after Hunt's, though we saw no road +as yet. We heard a cowbell, and even saw an infant held up to a small +square window to see us pass. On entering the West Branch at Nicketow, +Polis remarked that it was all smooth water hence to Oldtown, and he +threw away his pole which was cut on the Umbazookskus. + +We camped about two miles below Nicketow, covering with fresh twigs the +withered bed of a former traveler, and feeling that we were now in a +settled country, especially when in the evening we heard an ox sneeze in +its wild pasture across the river. Wherever you land along the +frequented part of the river you have not far to go to find these sites +of temporary inns, the withered bed of flattened twigs, the charred +sticks, and perhaps the tent-poles. Not long since, similar beds were +spread along the Connecticut, the Hudson, and the Delaware, and longer +still ago, by the Thames and Seine, and they now help to make the soil +where private and public gardens, mansions, and palaces are. We could +not get fir twigs for our bed here, and the spruce was harsh in +comparison, having more twig in proportion to its leaf, but we improved +it somewhat with hemlock. + +After the regular supper we attempted to make a lily soup of the bulbs +which I had brought along, for I wished to learn all I could before I +got out of the woods. Following the Indian's directions, I washed the +bulbs carefully, minced some moose meat and some pork, salted and boiled +all together, but we had not the patience to try the experiment fairly, +for he said it must be boiled till the roots were completely softened so +as to thicken the soup like flour; but though we left it on all night, +we found it dried to the kettle in the morning and not yet boiled to a +flour. Perhaps the roots were not ripe enough, for they commonly gather +them in the fall. The Indian's name for these bulbs was _sheepnoc_. + +He prepared to camp as usual between his moose-hide and the fire, but it +beginning to rain suddenly he took refuge under the tent with us, and +gave us a song before falling asleep. It rained hard in the night and +spoiled another box of matches for us, which the Indian had left out, +for he was very careless; but we had so much the better night for the +rain, since it kept the mosquitoes down. + +Sunday, a cloudy and unpromising morning. One of us observed to the +Indian, "You did not stretch your moose-hide last night, did you, Mr. +Polis?" + +Whereat he replied in a tone of surprise, though perhaps not of ill +humor: "What you ask me that question for? Suppose I stretch 'em, you +see 'em. May be your way talking, may be all right, no Indian way." + +I had observed that he did not wish to answer the same question more +than once, and was often silent when it was put again, as if he were +moody. Not that he was incommunicative, for he frequently commenced a +longwinded narrative of his own accord--repeated at length the tradition +of some old battle, or some passage in the recent history of his tribe +in which he had acted a prominent part, from time to time drawing a +long breath, and resuming the thread of his tale, with the true +story-teller's leisureliness. Especially after the day's work was over, +and he had put himself in posture for the night, he would be +unexpectedly sociable, and we would fall asleep before he got through. + +The Indian was quite sick this morning with the colic. I thought that he +was the worse for the moose meat he had eaten. + +We reached the Mattawamkeag at half past eight in the morning, in the +midst of a drizzling rain, and, after buying some sugar, set out again. + +The Indian growing much worse, we stopped in the north part of Lincoln +to get some brandy for him, but, failing in this, an apothecary +recommended Brandreth's pills, which he refused to take because he was +not acquainted with them. He said, "Me doctor--first study my case, find +out what ail 'em--then I know what to take." + +We stopped at mid-forenoon on an island and made him a dipper of tea. +Here, too, we dined and did some washing and botanizing, while he lay on +the bank. In the afternoon we went on a little farther. As a +thunder-shower appeared to be coming up we stopped opposite a barn on +the west bank. Here we were obliged to spend the rest of the day and +night, on account of our patient, whose sickness did not abate. He lay +groaning under his canoe on the bank, looking very woebegone. You would +not have thought, if you had seen him lying about thus, that he was +worth six thousand dollars and had been to Washington. It seemed to me +that he made a greater ado about his sickness than a Yankee does, and +was more alarmed about himself. We talked somewhat of leaving him with +his people in Lincoln,--for that is one of their homes,--but he objected +on account of the expense, saying, "Suppose me well in morning, you and +I go Oldtown by noon." + +As we were taking our tea at twilight, while he lay groaning under his +canoe, he asked me to get him a dipper of water. Taking the dipper in +one hand, he seized his powderhorn with the other, and, pouring into it +a charge or two of powder, stirred it up with his finger, and drank it +off. This was all he took to-day after breakfast beside his tea. + +To save the trouble of pitching our tent, when we had secured our stores +from wandering dogs, we camped in the solitary half-open barn near the +bank, with the permission of the owner, lying on new-mown hay four feet +deep. The fragrance of the hay, in which many ferns, etc., were mingled, +was agreeable, though it was quite alive with grasshoppers which you +could hear crawling through it. This served to graduate our approach to +houses and feather beds. In the night some large bird, probably an owl, +flitted through over our heads, and very early in the morning we were +awakened by the twittering of swallows which had their nests there. + +We started early before breakfast, the Indian being considerably better, +and soon glided by Lincoln, and stopped to breakfast two or three miles +below this town. + +We frequently passed Indian islands with their small houses on them. The +Penobscot Indians seem to be more social even than the whites. Ever and +anon in the deepest wilderness of Maine you come to the log hut of a +Yankee or Canada settler, but a Penobscot never takes up his residence +in such a solitude. They are not even scattered about on their islands +in the Penobscot, but gathered together on two or three, evidently for +the sake of society. I saw one or two houses not now used by them, +because, as our Indian said, they were too solitary. + +From time to time we met Indians in their canoes going up river. Our man +did not commonly approach them, but only exchanged a few words with them +at a distance. We took less notice of the scenery to-day, because we +were in quite a settled country. The river became broad and sluggish, +and we saw a blue heron winging its way slowly down the stream before +us. + +The Sunkhaze, a short dead stream, comes in from the east two miles +above Oldtown. Asking the meaning of this name, the Indian said, +"Suppose you are going down Penobscot, just like we, and you see a canoe +come out of bank and go along before you, but you no see 'em stream. +That is _Sunkhaze_." + +He had previously complimented me on my paddling, saying that I paddled +"just like anybody," giving me an Indian name which meant "great +paddler." When off this stream he said to me, who sat in the bows, "Me +teach you paddle." + +So, turning toward the shore, he got out, came forward, and placed my +hands as he wished. He placed one of them quite outside the boat, and +the other parallel with the first, grasping the paddle near the end, +not over the flat extremity, and told me to slide it back and forth on +the side of the canoe. This, I found, was a great improvement which I +had not thought of, saving me the labor of lifting the paddle each time, +and I wondered that he had not suggested it before. It is true, before +our baggage was reduced we had been obliged to sit with our legs drawn +up, and our knees above the side of the canoe, which would have +prevented our paddling thus, or perhaps he was afraid of wearing out his +canoe by constant friction on the side. + +I told him that I had been accustomed to sit in the stern, and lift my +paddle at each stroke, getting a pry on the side each time, and I still +paddled partly as if in the stern. He then wanted to see me paddle in +the stern. So, changing paddles, for he had the longer and better one, +and turning end for end, he sitting flat on the bottom and I on the +crossbar, he began to paddle very hard, trying to turn the canoe, +looking over his shoulder and laughing, but, finding it in vain, he +relaxed his efforts, though we still sped along a mile or two very +swiftly. He said that he had no fault to find with my paddling in the +stern, but I complained that he did not paddle according to his own +directions in the bows. + +As we drew near to Oldtown I asked Polis if he was not glad to get home +again; but there was no relenting to his wildness, and he said, "It +makes no difference to me where I am." Such is the Indian's pretense +always. + +We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called "Cook." +He said: "I 'xpect we take in some water there, river so high--never see +it so high at this season. Very rough water there; swamp steamboat once. +Don't you paddle till I tell you. Then you paddle right along." + +It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted, +"Paddle!" and we shot through without taking in a drop. Soon after the +Indian houses came in sight. I could not at first tell my companion +which of two or three large white ones was our guide's. He said it was +the one with blinds. + +We landed opposite his door at about four in the afternoon, having come +some forty miles this day. We stopped for an hour at his house. Mrs. P. +wore a hat and had a silver brooch on her breast, but she was not +introduced to us. The house was roomy and neat. A large new map of +Oldtown and the Indian Island hung on the wall, and a clock opposite to +it. + +This was the last that I saw of Joe Polis. We took the last train, and +reached Bangor that night. + +THE END + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Joe Aitteon was Thoreau's guide on the second of his three +excursions into the Maine Woods. He was an Indian whose home was on the +same island where Polis lived. + + + + +A SELECTED LIST OF OUT-OF-DOOR +AND NATURE BOOKS + + +_By JOHN BURROUGHS_ + +The Summit of the Years +Time and Change +Leaf and Tendril +Ways of Nature +Far and Near +Wake-Robin +Winter Sunshine +Pepacton, and Other Sketches +Fresh Fields +Signs and Seasons +Birds and Poets, with Other Papers +Locusts and Wild Honey +Riverby + Each of the above, 16mo, gilt top, $1.15 _net_. + +A Year in the Fields + Selections appropriate to each season of the year from the writings of + JOHN BURROUGHS. With a Biographical Sketch, and 24 illustrations + from Photographs by CLIFTON JOHNSON. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50 _net_. + +Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers + Illustrated in color after AUDUBON. Square 12mo, $1.00 _net_. + +In the Catskills + Illustrated by CLIFTON JOHNSON. $1.50 _net_. + + +_By J. SMEATON CHASE_ + +California Coast Trails + 16 full-page illustrations from Photographs. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/34990-8.zip b/old/34990-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36b5515 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/34990-8.zip diff --git a/old/34990.txt b/old/34990.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07d7f07 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/34990.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3888 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Canoeing in the wilderness, by Henry David Thoreau + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Canoeing in the wilderness + +Author: Henry David Thoreau + +Editor: Clifton Johnson + +Illustrator: Will Hammell + +Release Date: January 17, 2011 [EBook #34990] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. + For a complete list, please see the bottom of this document. + + + + +CANOEING +IN THE +WILDERNESS + +HENRY D. THOREAU + +By Clifton Johnson + + +BATTLEGROUND ADVENTURES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE FOXES. Illustrated. +A BOOK OF FAIRY-TALE BEARS. Illustrated. + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +[Illustration: _The Indian Guide's Evening Prayer_ (_page 59_)] + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + +BY HENRY D. THOREAU + +EDITED BY +CLIFTON JOHNSON + +ILLUSTRATED BY +WILL HAMMELL + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +The Riverside Press Cambridge +1916 + +COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published April 1916_ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE INDIAN GUIDE'S EVENING PRAYER _Frontispiece_ + +THE STAGE ON THE ROAD TO MOOSEHEAD LAKE 8 + +MAKING A CAMP IN THE STREAMSIDE WOODLAND 52 + +FISHING 72 + +THE RED SQUIRREL 78 + +COMING DOWN THE RAPIDS 132 + +SHOOTING THE MOOSE 154 + +CARRYING ROUND THE FALLS 180 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Thoreau was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July 12, 1817, and at the +time he made this wilderness canoe trip he was forty years old. The +record of the journey is the latter half of his _The Maine Woods_, which +is perhaps the finest idyl of the forest ever written. It is +particularly charming in its blending of meditative and poetic fancies +with the minute description of the voyager's experiences. + +The chief attraction that inspired Thoreau to make the trip was the +primitiveness of the region. Here was a vast tract of almost virgin +woodland, peopled only with a few loggers and pioneer farmers, Indians, +and wild animals. No one could have been better fitted than Thoreau to +enjoy such a region and to transmit his enjoyment of it to others. For +though he was a person of culture and refinement, with a college +education, and had for an intimate friend so rare a man as Ralph Waldo +Emerson, he was half wild in many of his tastes and impatient of the +restraints and artificiality of the ordinary social life of the towns +and cities. + +He liked especially the companionship of men who were in close contact +with nature, and in this book we find him deeply interested in his +Indian guide and lingering fondly over the man's characteristics and +casual remarks. The Indian retained many of his aboriginal instincts and +ways, though his tribe was in most respects civilized. His home was in +an Indian village on an island in the Penobscot River at Oldtown, a few +miles above Bangor. + +Thoreau was one of the world's greatest nature writers, and as the years +pass, his fame steadily increases. He was a careful and accurate +observer, more at home in the fields and woods than in village and town, +and with a gift of piquant originality in recording his impressions. The +play of his imagination is keen and nimble, yet his fancy is so well +balanced by his native common sense that it does not run away with him. +There is never any doubt about his genuineness, or that what he states +is free from bias and romantic exaggeration. + +It is to be noted that he was no hunter. His inquisitiveness into the +ways of the wild creatures carried with it no desire to shoot them, and +to his mind the killing of game for mere sport was akin to butchery. The +kindly and sympathetic spirit constantly manifest in his pages is very +attractive, and the fellowship one gains with him through his written +words is both delightful and wholesome. He stimulates not only a love +for nature, but a love for simple ways of living, and for all that is +sincere and unaffected in human life, wherever found. + +In the present volume various details and digressions that are not of +interest to most readers have been omitted, but except for such +elimination Thoreau's text has been retained throughout. It is believed +that nothing essential has been sacrificed, and that the narrative in +this form will be found lively, informing, and thoroughly enjoyable. + +CLIFTON JOHNSON. + +HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS. + + + + +CANOEING IN THE +WILDERNESS + + + + +CANOEING IN THE WILDERNESS + + + + +I + +MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY JULY 20-23, 1857 + + +I started on my third excursion to the Maine woods Monday, July 20, +1857, with one companion, arriving at Bangor the next day at noon. The +succeeding morning, a relative of mine who is well acquainted with the +Penobscot Indians took me in his wagon to Oldtown to assist me in +obtaining an Indian for this expedition. We were ferried across to the +Indian Island in a bateau. The ferryman's boy had the key to it, but the +father, who was a blacksmith, after a little hesitation, cut the chain +with a cold chisel on the rock. He told me that the Indians were nearly +all gone to the seaboard and to Massachusetts, partly on account of the +smallpox, of which they are very much afraid, having broken out in +Oldtown. The old chief Neptune, however, was there still. + +The first man we saw on the island was an Indian named Joseph Polis, +whom my relative addressed familiarly as "Joe." He was dressing a +deerskin in his yard. The skin was spread over a slanting log, and he +was scraping it with a stick held by both hands. He was stoutly built, +perhaps a little above the middle height, with a broad face, and, as +others said, perfect Indian features and complexion. His house was a +two-story white one with blinds, the best-looking that I noticed there, +and as good as an average one on a New England village street. It was +surrounded by a garden and fruit trees, single cornstalks standing +thinly amid the beans. We asked him if he knew any good Indian who would +like to go into the woods with us, that is, to the Allegash Lakes by way +of Moosehead, and return by the East Branch of the Penobscot. + +To which he answered out of that strange remoteness in which the Indian +ever dwells to the white man, "Me like to go myself; me want to get some +moose"; and kept on scraping the skin. + +The ferryman had told us that all the best Indians were gone except +Polis, who was one of the aristocracy. He, to be sure, would be the best +man we could have, but if he went at all would want a great price. Polis +asked at first two dollars a day but agreed to go for a dollar and a +half, and fifty cents a week for his canoe. He would come to Bangor with +his canoe by the seven o'clock train that evening--we might depend on +him. We thought ourselves lucky to secure the services of this man, who +was known to be particularly steady and trustworthy. + +I spent the afternoon with my companion, who had remained in Bangor, in +preparing for our expedition, purchasing provisions, hard-bread,[1] +pork, coffee, sugar, etc., and some india-rubber clothing. + +At evening the Indian arrived in the cars, and I led the way, while he +followed me, three quarters of a mile to my friend's house, with the +canoe on his head. I did not know the exact route, but steered by the +lay of the land, as I do in Boston. I tried to enter into conversation +with him, but as he was puffing under the weight of his canoe, not +having the usual apparatus for carrying it, but, above all, as he was an +Indian, I might as well have been thumping on the bottom of his birch +the while. In answer to the various observations that I made he only +grunted vaguely from beneath his canoe once or twice, so that I knew he +was there. + +Early the next morning the stage called for us. My companion and I had +each a large knapsack as full as it would hold, and we had two large +rubber bags which held our provisions and utensils. As for the Indian, +all the baggage he had, beside his axe and gun, was a blanket, which he +brought loose in his hand. However, he had laid in a store of tobacco +and a new pipe for the excursion. The canoe was securely lashed +diagonally across the top of the stage, with bits of carpet tucked under +the edge to prevent its chafing. The driver appeared as much accustomed +to carrying canoes in this way as bandboxes. + +At the Bangor House we took in four men bound on a hunting excursion, +one of the men going as cook. They had a dog, a middling-sized brindled +cur, which ran by the side of the stage, his master showing his head and +whistling from time to time. But after we had gone about three miles the +dog was suddenly missing, and two of the party went back for him, while +the stage, which was full of passengers, waited. At length one man came +back, while the other kept on. This whole party of hunters declared +their intention to stop till the dog was found, but the very obliging +driver was ready to wait a spell longer. He was evidently unwilling to +lose so many passengers, who would have taken a private conveyance, or +perhaps the other line of stages, the next day. Such progress did we +make, with a journey of over sixty miles to be accomplished that day, +and a rainstorm just setting in. We discussed the subject of dogs and +their instincts till it was threadbare, while we waited there, and the +scenery of the suburbs of Bangor is still distinctly impressed on my +memory. + +[Illustration: _The Stage on the Road to Moosehead Lake_] + +After full half an hour the man returned, leading the dog by a rope. He +had overtaken him just as he was entering the Bangor House. He was then +tied on the top of the stage, but, being wet and cold, several times in +the course of the journey he jumped off, and I saw him dangling by his +neck. This dog was depended on to stop bears. He had already stopped one +somewhere in New Hampshire, and I can testify that he stopped a stage in +Maine. This party of four probably paid nothing for the dog's ride, +nor for his run, while our party of three paid two dollars--and were +charged four--for the light canoe which lay still on the top. + +The stage was crowded all the way. If you had looked inside you would +have thought that we were prepared to run the gantlet of a band of +robbers, for there were four or five guns on the front seat and one or +two on the back one, each man holding his darling in his arms. It +appeared that this party of hunters was going our way, but much farther. +Their leader was a handsome man about thirty years old, of good height, +but not apparently robust, of gentlemanly address and faultless toilet. +He had a fair white complexion as if he had always lived in the shade, +and an intellectual face, and with his quiet manners might have passed +for a divinity student who had seen something of the world. I was +surprised to find that he was probably the chief white hunter of Maine +and was known all along the road. I afterwards heard him spoken of as +one who could endure a great deal of exposure and fatigue without +showing the effect of it; and he could not only use guns, but make them, +being himself a gunsmith. In the spring he had saved a stage-driver and +two passengers from drowning in the backwater of the Piscataquis on this +road, having swum ashore in the freezing water and made a raft and got +them off--though the horses were drowned--at great risk to himself, +while the only other man who could swim withdrew to the nearest house to +prevent freezing. He knew our man, and remarked that we had a good +Indian there, a good hunter; adding that he was said to be worth six +thousand dollars. The Indian also knew him, and said to me, "The great +hunter." + +The Indian sat on the front seat with a stolid expression of face as if +barely awake to what was going on. Again I was struck by the peculiar +vagueness of his replies when addressed in the stage or at the taverns. +He really never said anything on such occasions. He was merely stirred +up like a wild beast, and passively muttered some insignificant +response. His answer, in such cases, was vague as a puff of smoke, +suggesting no _responsibility_, and if you considered it you would find +that you had got nothing out of him. This was instead of the +conventional palaver and smartness of the white man, and equally +profitable. Most get no more than this out of the Indian, and pronounce +him stolid accordingly. I was surprised to see what a foolish and +impertinent style a Maine man, a passenger, used in addressing him, as +if he were a child, which only made his eyes glisten a little. A tipsy +Canadian asked him at a tavern, in a drawling tone, if he smoked, to +which he answered with an indefinite "Yes." + +"Won't you lend me your pipe a little while?" asked the other. + +He replied, looking straight by the man's head, with a face singularly +vacant to all neighboring interests, "Me got no pipe"; yet I had seen +him put a new one, with a supply of tobacco, into his pocket that +morning. + +Our little canoe, so neat and strong, drew a favorable criticism from +all the wiseacres among the tavern loungers along the road. By the +roadside, close to the wheels, I noticed a splendid great purple fringed +orchis which I would fain have stopped the stage to pluck, but as this +had never been known to stop a bear, like the cur on the stage, the +driver would probably have thought it a waste of time. + +When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was +still steadily raining, and in that fresh, cool atmosphere the hylas +were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake. It was as if the +season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at +the abode of perpetual spring. + +We had expected to go upon the lake at once, and, after paddling up two +or three miles, to camp on one of its islands, but on account of the +rain we decided to go to one of the taverns for the night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Hard-bread or ship-bread is a kind of hard biscuit commonly baked in +large cakes and much used by sailors and soldiers. + + + + +II + +FRIDAY, JULY 24. + + +About four o'clock the next morning, though it was quite cloudy, +accompanied by the landlord to the water's edge, in the twilight, we +launched our canoe from a rock on Moosehead Lake. We had a rather small +canoe for three persons, eighteen and one fourth feet long by two feet +six and one half inches wide in the middle, and one foot deep within. I +judged that it would weigh not far from eighty pounds. The Indian had +recently made it himself, and its smallness was partly compensated for +by its newness, as well as stanchness and solidity, it being made of +very thick bark and ribs. Our baggage weighed about one hundred and +sixty-six pounds. The principal part of the baggage was, as usual, +placed in the middle of the broadest part, while we stowed ourselves in +the chinks and crannies that were left before and behind it, where there +was no room to extend our legs, the loose articles being tucked into the +ends. The canoe was thus as closely packed as a market basket. The +Indian sat on a crossbar in the stern, but we flat on the bottom with a +splint or chip behind our backs to protect them from the crossbar, and +one of us commonly paddled with the Indian. + +Paddling along the eastern side of the lake in the still of the morning, +we soon saw a few sheldrakes, which the Indian called _Shecorways_, and +some peetweets on the rocky shore. We also saw and heard loons. It was +inspiriting to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our +fins or flippers, and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. + +Having passed the small rocky isles within two or three miles of the +foot of the lake, we had a short consultation respecting our course, and +inclined to the western shore for the sake of its lee; for otherwise, +if the wind should rise, it would be impossible for us to reach Mount +Kineo, which is about midway up the lake on the east side, but at its +narrowest part, where probably we could recross if we took the western +side. The wind is the chief obstacle to crossing the lakes, especially +in so small a canoe. The Indian remarked several times that he did not +like to cross the lakes "in littlum canoe," but nevertheless, "just as +we say, it made no odds to him." + +Moosehead Lake is twelve miles wide at the widest place, and thirty +miles long in a direct line, but longer as it lies. Paddling near the +shore, we frequently heard the _pe-pe_ of the olive-sided flycatcher, +also the wood pewee and the kingfisher. The Indian reminding us that he +could not work without eating, we stopped to breakfast on the main shore +southwest of Deer Island. We took out our bags, and the Indian made a +fire under a very large bleached log, using white pine bark from a +stump, though he said that hemlock was better, and kindling with canoe +birch bark. Our table was a large piece of freshly peeled birch bark, +laid wrong side up, and our breakfast consisted of hard-bread, fried +pork, and strong coffee well sweetened, in which we did not miss the +milk. + +While we were getting breakfast a brood of twelve black dippers,[2] half +grown, came paddling by within three or four rods, not at all alarmed; +and they loitered about as long as we stayed, now huddled close +together, now moving off in a long line, very cunningly. + +Looking northward from this place it appeared as if we were entering a +large bay, and we did not know whether we should be obliged to diverge +from our course and keep outside a point which we saw, or should find a +passage between this and the mainland. It was misty dog-day weather, and +we had already penetrated a smaller bay of the same kind, and knocked +the bottom out of it, though we had been obliged to pass over a bar +between an island and the shore, where there was but just breadth and +depth enough to float the canoe, and the Indian had observed, "Very easy +makum bridge here," but now it seemed that if we held on we should be +fairly embayed. Presently, however, the mist lifted somewhat and +revealed a break in the shore northward. The Indian immediately +remarked, "I guess you and I go there." + +This was his common expression instead of saying "we." He never +addressed us by our names, though curious to know how they were spelled +and what they meant. We called him Polis. He had already guessed very +accurately at our ages, and said that he was forty-eight. + +After breakfast I emptied the melted pork that was left into the lake, +making what the sailors call a "slick," and watching to see how much it +spread over and smoothed the agitated surface. The Indian looked at it +a moment and said, "That make hard paddlum through; hold 'em canoe. So +say old times." + +We hastily reloaded, putting the dishes loose in the bows, that they +might be at hand when wanted, and set out again. The western shore, near +which we paddled along, rose gently to a considerable height and was +everywhere densely covered with the forest, in which was a large +proportion of hard wood to enliven and relieve the fir and spruce. + +The Indian said that the lichen which we saw hanging from the trees was +called _chorchorque_. We asked him the names of several birds which we +heard this morning. The thrush, which was quite common, and whose note +he imitated, he said was called _Adelungquamooktum_; but sometimes he +could not tell the name of some small bird which I heard and knew, but +he said, "I tell all the birds about here; can't tell littlum noise, but +I see 'em, then I can tell." + +I observed that I should like to go to school to him to learn his +language, living on the Indian island the while; could not that be done? + +"Oh, yer," he replied, "good many do so." + +I asked how long he thought it would take. He said one week. I told him +that in this voyage I would tell him all I knew, and he should tell me +all he knew, to which he readily agreed. + +Mount Kineo, which was generally visible, though occasionally concealed +by islands or the mainland in front, had a level bar of cloud concealing +its summit, and all the mountain-tops about the lake were cut off at the +same height. Ducks of various kinds were quite common, and ran over the +water before us as fast as a horse trots. + +The Indian asked the meaning of _reality_, as near as I could make out +the word, which he said one of us had used; also of _interrent_, that +is, intelligent. I observed that he could rarely sound the letter r, +but used l, as also r for l sometimes; as _load_ for road, _pickelel_ +for pickerel, _Soogle_ Island for Sugar Island. He generally added the +syllable _um_ to his words, as _paddlum_, etc. + +On a point on the mainland where we landed to stretch our legs and look +at the vegetation, going inland a few steps, I discovered a fire still +glowing beneath its ashes, where somebody had breakfasted, and a bed of +twigs prepared for the following night. So I knew not only that they had +just left, but that they designed to return, and by the breadth of the +bed that there was more than one in the party. You might have gone +within six feet of these signs without seeing them. There grew the +beaked hazel, rue seven feet high, and red osier, whose bark the Indian +said was good to smoke, "tobacco before white people came to this +country, Indian tobacco." + +The Indian was always very careful in approaching the shore, lest he +should injure his canoe on the rocks, letting it swing round slowly +sidewise, and was still more particular that we should not step into it +on shore, nor till it floated free, and then should step gently lest we +should open its seams, or make a hole in the bottom. + +After passing Deer Island we saw the little steamer from Greenville, far +east in the middle of the lake. Sometimes we could hardly tell her from +an island which had a few trees on it. Here we were exposed to the wind +from over the whole breadth of the lake, and ran a little risk of being +swamped. While I had my eye fixed on the spot where a large fish had +leaped, we took in a gallon or two of water; but we soon reached the +shore and took the canoe over the bar at Sand-bar Island, a few feet +wide only, and so saved a considerable distance. + +We crossed a broad bay and found the water quite rough. A very little +wind on these broad lakes raises a sea which will swamp a canoe. Looking +off from the shore, the surface may appear to be almost smooth a mile +distant, or if you see a few white crests they appear nearly level with +the rest of the lake, but when you get out so far, you may find quite a +sea running, and ere long, before you think of it, a wave will gently +creep up the side of the canoe and fill your lap, like a monster +deliberately covering you with its slime before it swallows you, or it +will strike the canoe violently and break into it. The same thing may +happen when the wind rises suddenly, though it were perfectly calm and +smooth there a few minutes before; so that nothing can save you, unless +you can swim ashore, for it is impossible to get into a canoe when it is +upset. Since you sit flat on the bottom, though the danger should not be +imminent, a little water is a great inconvenience, not to mention the +wetting of your provisions. We rarely crossed even a bay directly, from +point to point, when there was wind, but made a slight curve +corresponding somewhat to the shore, that we might the sooner reach it +if the wind increased. + +When the wind is aft, and not too strong, the Indian makes a spritsail +of his blanket. He thus easily skims over the whole length of this lake +in a day. + +The Indian paddled on one side, and one of us on the other, to keep the +canoe steady, and when he wanted to change hands he would say, "T' other +side." He asserted, in answer to our questions, that he had never upset +a canoe himself, though he may have been upset by others. + +Think of our little eggshell of a canoe tossing across that great lake, +a mere black speck to the eagle soaring above it! + +My companion trailed for trout as we paddled along, but, the Indian +warning him that a big fish might upset us, for there are some very +large ones there, he agreed to pass the line quickly to the stern if he +had a bite. + +While we were crossing this bay, where Mount Kineo rose dark before us +within two or three miles, the Indian repeated the tradition respecting +this mountain's having anciently been a cow moose--how a mighty Indian +hunter succeeded in killing this queen of the moose tribe with great +difficulty, while her calf was killed somewhere among the islands in +Penobscot Bay, and, to his eyes, this mountain had still the form of the +moose in a reclining posture. He told this at some length and with +apparent good faith, and asked us how we supposed the hunter could have +killed such a mighty moose as that. An Indian tells such a story as if +he thought it deserved to have a good deal said about it, only he has +not got it to say, and so he makes up for the deficiency by a drawling +tone, long-windedness, and a dumb wonder which he hopes will be +contagious. + +We approached the land again through pretty rough water, and then +steered directly across the lake at its narrowest part to the eastern +side, and were soon partly under the lee of the mountain, having +paddled about twenty miles. It was now about noon. + +We designed to stop there that afternoon and night, and spent half an +hour looking along the shore northward for a suitable place to camp. At +length, by going half a dozen rods into the dense spruce and fir wood on +the side of the mountain almost as dark as a cellar, we found a place +sufficiently clear and level to lie down on, after cutting away a few +bushes. The Indian cleared a path to it from the shore with his axe, and +we then carried up all our baggage, pitched our tent, and made our bed, +in order to be ready for foul weather, which then threatened us, and for +the night. He gathered a large armful of fir twigs, breaking them off, +which he said were the best for our bed, partly, I thought, because they +were the largest and could be most rapidly collected. It had been +raining more or less for four or five days, and the wood was even damper +than usual, but he got dry bark from the under side of a dead leaning +hemlock, which he said he could always do. + +This noon his mind was occupied with a law question, and I referred him +to my companion, who was a lawyer. It appeared that he had been buying +land lately--I think it was a hundred acres--but there was probably an +incumbrance to it, somebody else claiming to have bought some grass on +it for this year. He wished to know to whom the grass belonged, and was +told that if the other man could prove that he bought the grass before +he, Polis, bought the land, the former could take it whether the latter +knew it or not. To which he only answered, "Strange!" He went over this +several times, fairly sat down to it, with his back to a tree, as if he +meant to confine us to this topic henceforth; but as he made no headway, +only reached the jumping-off place of his wonder at white men's +institutions after each explanation, we let the subject die. + +He said that he had fifty acres of grass, potatoes, etc., somewhere +above Oldtown, besides some about his house; that he hired a good deal +of his work, hoeing, etc., and preferred white men to Indians because +"they keep steady and know how." + +After dinner we returned southward along the shore, in the canoe, on +account of the difficulty of climbing over the rocks and fallen trees, +and began to ascend the mountain along the edge of the precipice. But, a +smart shower coming up just then, the Indian crept under his canoe, +while we, protected by our rubber coats, proceeded to botanize. So we +sent him back to the camp for shelter, agreeing that he should come for +us with his canoe toward night. It had rained a little in the forenoon, +and we trusted that this would be the clearing-up shower, which it +proved; but our feet and legs were thoroughly wet by the bushes. The +clouds breaking away a little, we had a glorious wild view, as we +ascended, of the broad lake with its numerous forest-clad islands +extending beyond our sight both north and south, and the boundless +forest undulating away from its shores on every side, as densely packed +as a rye-field and enveloping nameless mountains in succession. It was a +perfect lake of the woods. + +Looking southward, the heavens were completely overcast, the mountains +capped with clouds, and the lake generally wore a dark and stormy +appearance, but from its surface six or eight miles distant there was +reflected upward through the misty air a bright blue tinge from the +unseen sky of another latitude beyond. They probably had a clear sky +then at the south end of the lake. + +Again we mistook a little rocky islet seen through the "drisk," with +some taller bare trunks or stumps on it, for the steamer with its +smoke-pipes, but as it had not changed its position after half an hour +we were undeceived. So much do the works of man resemble the works of +nature. A moose might mistake a steamer for a floating isle, and not be +scared till he heard its puffing or its whistle. + +If I wished to see a mountain or other scenery under the most favorable +auspices, I would go to it in foul weather so as to be there when it +cleared up. We are then in the most suitable mood, and nature is most +fresh and inspiring. There is no serenity so fair as that which is just +established in a tearful eye. + +Jackson, in his "Report on the Geology of Maine," says: "Hornstone, +which will answer for flints, occurs in various parts of the State. The +largest mass of this stone known in the world is Mount Kineo, upon +Moosehead Lake, which appears to be entirely composed of it, and rises +seven hundred feet above the lake level. This variety of hornstone I +have seen in every part of New England in the form of Indian +arrow-heads, hatchets, chisels, etc., which were probably obtained from +this mountain by the aboriginal inhabitants of the country." + +I have myself found hundreds of arrow-heads made of the same material. +It is generally slate-colored, with white specks, becoming a uniform +white where exposed to the light and air. I picked up a small thin piece +which had so sharp an edge that I used it as a knife, and, to see what I +could do, fairly cut off an aspen one inch thick with it, by bending it +and making many cuts; though I cut my fingers badly with the back of it +in the meanwhile. + +From the summit of the precipice which forms the southern and eastern +sides of this mountain peninsula, five or six hundred feet high, we +probably might have jumped down to the water, or to the seemingly +dwarfish trees on the narrow neck of land which connects it with the +main. It is a dangerous place to try the steadiness of your nerves. + +The plants which attracted our attention on this mountain were the +mountain cinquefoil, abundant and in bloom still at the very base by +the waterside, very beautiful harebells overhanging the precipice, +bearberry, the Canada blueberry, wild holly, the great round-leafed +orchis, bunchberry, reddening as we ascended, green at the base of the +mountain, red at the top, and the small fern _Woodsia ilvensis_, growing +in tufts, now in fruit. Having explored the wonders of the mountain, and +the weather being now cleared up, we commenced the descent. We met the +Indian, puffing and panting, about one third of the way up, but thinking +that he must be near the top. On reaching the canoe we found that he had +caught a lake trout weighing about three pounds, while we were on the +mountain. + +When we got to the camp, the canoe was taken out and turned over, and a +log laid across it to prevent its being blown away. The Indian cut some +large logs of damp and rotten wood to smoulder and keep fire through the +night. The trout was fried for supper. + +Our tent was of thin cotton cloth and quite small, forming with the +ground a triangular prism closed at the rear end, six feet long, seven +wide, and four high, so that we could barely sit up in the middle. It +required two forked stakes, a smooth ridgepole, and a dozen or more pins +to pitch it. It kept off dew and wind and an ordinary rain, and answered +our purpose well enough. We reclined within it till bedtime, each with +his baggage at his head, or else sat about the fire, having hung our wet +clothes on a pole before the fire for the night. + +As we sat there, just before night, looking out through the dusky wood, +the Indian heard a noise which he said was made by a snake. He imitated +it at my request, making a low whistling note--_pheet_--_pheet_--two or +three times repeated, somewhat like the peep of the hyla, but not so +loud. He said that he had never seen them while making it, but going to +the spot he finds the snake. This, he said, was a sign of rain. When I +had selected this place for our camp he had remarked that there were +snakes there. "But they won't do any hurt," I said. + +"Oh, no," he answered, "just as you say; it makes no difference to me." + +He lay on the right side of the tent, because, as he said, he was partly +deaf in one ear, and he wanted to lie with his good ear up. As we lay +there he inquired if I ever heard "Indian sing." I replied that I had +not often, and asked him if he would not favor us with a song. He +readily assented, and, lying on his back, with his blanket wrapped +around him, he commenced a slow, somewhat nasal, yet musical chant, in +his own language, which probably was taught his tribe long ago by the +Catholic missionaries. He translated it to us, sentence by sentence, +afterward. It proved to be a very simple religious exercise or hymn, the +burden of which was that there was only one God who ruled all the +world. + +His singing carried me back to the period of the discovery of America, +when Europeans first encountered the simple faith of the Indian. There +was, indeed, a beautiful simplicity about it; nothing of the dark and +savage, only the mild and infantile. The sentiments of humility and +reverence chiefly were expressed. + +It was a dense and damp spruce and fir wood in which we lay, and, except +for our fire, perfectly dark; and when I awoke in the night, I either +heard an owl from deeper in the forest behind us, or a loon from a +distance over the lake. Getting up some time after midnight to collect +the scattered brands together, while my companions were sound asleep, I +observed, partly in the fire, which had ceased to blaze, a perfectly +regular elliptical ring of light, about five inches in its shortest +diameter, six or seven in its longer, and from one eighth to one quarter +of an inch wide. It was fully as bright as the fire, but not reddish or +scarlet like a coal, but a white and slumbering light, like the +glowworm's. I saw at once that it must be phosphorescent wood, which I +had often heard of, but never chanced to see. Putting my finger on it, +with a little hesitation, I found that it was a piece of dead moosewood +which the Indian had cut off in a slanting direction the evening before. + +Using my knife, I discovered that the light proceeded from that portion +of the sapwood immediately under the bark, and thus presented a regular +ring at the end, and when I pared off the bark and cut into the sap, it +was all aglow along the log. I was surprised to find the wood quite hard +and apparently sound, though probably decay had commenced in the sap, +and I cut out some little triangular chips, and, placing them in the +hollow of my hand, carried them into the camp, waked my companion, and +showed them to him. They lit up the inside of my hand, revealing the +lines and wrinkles, and appearing exactly like coals of fire raised to a +white heat. + +I noticed that part of a decayed stump within four or five feet of the +fire, an inch wide and six inches long, soft and shaking wood, shone +with equal brightness. + +I neglected to ascertain whether our fire had anything to do with this, +but the previous day's rain and long-continued wet weather undoubtedly +had. + +I was exceedingly interested by this phenomenon. It could hardly have +thrilled me more if it had taken the form of letters, or of the human +face. I little thought that there was such a light shining in the +darkness of the wilderness for me. + +The next day the Indian told me their name for the +light--_artoosoqu'_--and on my inquiring concerning the will-o'-the-wisp +he said that his "folks" sometimes saw fires passing along at various +heights, even as high as the trees, and making a noise. I was prepared +after this to hear of the most startling and unimagined phenomena +witnessed by "his folks," they are abroad at all hours and seasons in +scenes so unfrequented by white men. Nature must have made a thousand +revelations to them which are still secrets to us. + +I did not regret my not having seen this before, since I now saw it +under circumstances so favorable. I was in just the frame of mind to see +something wonderful, and this was a phenomenon adequate to my +circumstances and expectation, and it put me on the alert to see more +like it. I let science slide, and rejoiced in that light as if it had +been a fellow creature. A scientific _explanation_, as it is called, +would have been altogether out of place there. That is for pale +daylight. Science with its retorts would have put me to sleep; it was +the opportunity to be ignorant that I improved. It made a believer of me +more than before. I believed that the woods were not tenantless, but +choke-full of honest spirits as good as myself any day--not an empty +chamber in which chemistry was left to work alone, but an inhabited +house. It suggested, too, that the same experience always gives birth +to the same sort of belief or religion. One revelation has been made to +the Indian, another to the white man. I have much to learn of the +Indian, nothing of the missionary. I am not sure but all that would +tempt me to teach the Indian my religion would be his promise to teach +me _his_. Long enough I had heard of irrelevant things; now at length I +was glad to make acquaintance with the light that dwells in rotten wood. + +I kept those little chips and wet them again the next night, but they +emitted no light. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] The name dipper is applied to several species of water-birds that +are notable for their skill in diving. + + + + +III + +SATURDAY, JULY 25 + + +At breakfast, the Indian, evidently curious to know what would be +expected of him the next day, asked me how I spent the Sunday when at +home. I told him that I commonly sat in my chamber reading, etc., in the +forenoon, and went to walk in the afternoon. At which he shook his head +and said, "Er, that is ver' bad." + +"How do you spend it?" I asked. + +He said that he did no work, that he went to church at Oldtown when he +was at home; in short, he did as he had been taught by the whites. + +When we were washing the dishes in the lakes, many fishes came close up +to us to get the particles of grease. + +The weather seemed to be more settled this morning, and we set out early +in order to finish our voyage up the lake before the wind arose. Soon +after starting, the Indian directed our attention to the Northeast +Carry, which we could plainly see, about thirteen miles distant. This +carry is a rude wooden railroad running north and south about two miles, +perfectly straight, from the lake to the Penobscot through a low tract, +with a clearing three or four rods wide. This opening appeared as a +clear bright, or light, point in the horizon, resting on the edge of the +lake. We should not have suspected it to be visible if the Indian had +not drawn our attention to it. It was a remarkable kind of light to +steer for--daylight seen through a vista in the forest--but visible as +far as an ordinary beacon by night. + +We crossed a deep wide bay north of Kineo, leaving an island on our left +and keeping up the eastern side of the lake. We then crossed another +broad bay, which, as we could no longer observe the shore particularly, +afforded ample time for conversation. The Indian said that he had got +his money by hunting, mostly high up the West Branch of the Penobscot, +and toward the head of the St. John. He had hunted there from a boy, and +knew all about that region. His game had been beaver, otter, black cat +(or fisher), sable, moose, etc. Canada lynx were plenty yet in burnt +grounds. For food in the woods he uses partridges, ducks, dried moose +meat, hedgehog, etc. Loons, too, were good, only "bile 'em good." + +Pointing into the bay he said that it was the way to various lakes which +he knew. Only solemn bear-haunted mountains with their great wooded +slopes were visible. The Indian said that he had been along there +several times. I asked him how he guided himself in the woods. + +"Oh," said he, "I can tell good many ways." + +When I pressed him further he answered, "Sometimes I lookum sidehill," +and he glanced toward a high hill or mountain on the eastern shore; +"great difference between the north and south; see where the sun has +shone most. So trees--the large limbs bend toward south. Sometimes I +lookum locks" (rocks). + +I asked what he saw on the rocks, but he did not describe anything in +particular, answering vaguely, in a mysterious or drawling tone, "bare +locks on lake shore--great difference between north, south, east, west +side--can tell what the sun has shone on." + +"Suppose," said I, "that I should take you in a dark night right up here +into the middle of the woods a hundred miles, set you down, and turn you +round quickly twenty times, could you steer straight to Oldtown?" + +"Oh, yer," said he, "have done pretty much same thing. I will tell you. +Some years ago I met an old white hunter at Millinocket; very good +hunter. He said he could go anywhere in the woods. He wanted to hunt +with me that day, so we start. We chase a moose all the forenoon, round +and round, till middle of afternoon, when we kill him. Then I said to +him, 'Now you go straight to camp.' + +"He said, 'I can't do that. I don't know where I am.' + +"'Where you think camp?' I asked. + +"He pointed so. Then I laugh at him. I take the lead and go right off +the other way, cross our tracks many times, straight camp." + +"How do you do that?" asked I. + +"Oh, I can't tell _you_," he replied. "Great difference between me and +white man." + +It appeared as if the sources of information were so various that he did +not give a distinct conscious attention to any one, and so could not +readily refer to any when questioned about it, but he found his way very +much as an animal does. Perhaps what is commonly called instinct in the +animal in this case is merely a sharpened and educated sense. Often, +when an Indian says, "I don't know," in regard to the route he is to +take, he does not mean what a white man would by those words, for his +Indian instinct may tell him still as much as the most confident white +man knows. He does not carry things in his head, nor remember the route +exactly, like a white man, but relies on himself at the moment. Not +having experienced the need of the other sort of knowledge--all labeled +and arranged--he has not acquired it. + +The hunter with whom I talked in the stage knew some of the resources of +the Indian. He said that he steered by the wind, or by the limbs of the +hemlocks, which were largest on the south side; also sometimes, when he +knew that there was a lake near, by firing his gun and listening to hear +the direction and distance of the echo from over it. + +As the forenoon advanced the wind increased. The last bay which we +crossed before reaching the desolate pier at the Northeast Carry, was +two or three miles over, and the wind was southwesterly. After going a +third of the way, the waves had increased so as occasionally to wash +into the canoe, and we saw that it was worse ahead. At first we might +have turned about, but were not willing to. It would have been of no use +to follow the course of the shore, for the waves ran still higher there +on account of the greater sweep the wind had. At any rate it would have +been dangerous now to alter our course, because the waves would have +struck us at an advantage. It will not do to meet them at right angles, +for then they will wash in both sides, but you must take them +quartering. So the Indian stood up in the canoe and exerted all his +skill and strength for a mile or two, while I paddled right along in +order to give him more steerage-way. For more than a mile he did not +allow a single wave to strike the canoe as it would, but turned it +quickly from this side to that, so that it would always be on or near +the crest of a wave when it broke, where all its force was spent, and we +merely settled down with it. At length I jumped out onto the end of the +pier against which the waves were dashing violently, in order to lighten +the canoe and catch it at the landing, which was not much sheltered, but +just as I jumped we took in two or three gallons of water. I remarked to +the Indian, "You managed that well," to which he replied: "Ver' few men +do that. Great many waves; when I look out for one, another come quick." + +While the Indian went to get cedar bark, etc., to carry his canoe with, +we cooked the dinner on the shore in the midst of a sprinkling rain. He +prepared his canoe for carrying in this wise. He took a cedar shingle or +splint eighteen inches long and four or five wide, rounded at one end, +that the corners might not be in the way, and tied it with cedar bark by +two holes made midway, near the edge on each side, to the middle +crossbar of the canoe. When the canoe was lifted upon his head bottom +up, this shingle, with its rounded end uppermost, distributed the weight +over his shoulders and head, while a band of cedar bark, tied to the +crossbar on each side of the shingle, passed round his breast, and +another longer one, outside of the last, round his forehead; also a hand +on each side rail served to steer the canoe and keep it from rocking. He +thus carried it with his shoulders, head, breast, forehead, and both +hands, as if the upper part of his body were all one hand to clasp and +hold it. A cedar tree furnished all the gear in this case, as it had the +woodwork of the canoe. One of the paddles rested on the crossbars in the +bows. I took the canoe upon my head and found that I could carry it with +ease, but I let him carry it, not caring to establish a different +precedent. This shingle remained tied to the crossbar throughout the +voyage, was always ready for the carries, and also served to protect the +back of one passenger. + +We were obliged to go over this carry twice, our load was so great. But +the carries were an agreeable variety, and we improved the opportunity +to gather the rare plants which we had seen, when we returned +empty-handed. + +We reached the Penobscot about four o'clock, and found there some St. +Francis Indians encamped on the bank. They were making a canoe and +drying moose meat. Their camp was covered with spruce bark. They had a +young moose, taken in the river a fortnight before, confined in a sort +of cage of logs piled up cob-fashion, seven or eight feet high. It was +quite tame, about four feet high, and covered with moose flies. There +was a large quantity of cornel, red maple, and also willow and aspen +boughs, stuck through between the logs on all sides, butt ends out, and +on their leaves it was browsing. It looked at first as if it were in a +bower rather than a pen. + +Our Indian said that _he_ used _black_ spruce roots to sew canoes with, +obtaining it from high lands or mountains. The St. Francis Indians +thought that _white_ spruce roots might be best. But the former said, +"No good, break, can't split 'em." + +I told him I thought that I could make a canoe, but he expressed great +doubt of it; at any rate he thought that my work would not be "neat" the +first time. + +Having reloaded, we paddled down the Penobscot. We saw a splendid yellow +lily by the shore, which I plucked. It was six feet high and had twelve +flowers, in two whorls, forming a pyramid. We afterward saw many more +thus tall along this stream, and on the East Branch. The Indian said +that the roots were good for soup, that is, to cook with meat, to +thicken it, taking the place of flour. They get them in the fall. I dug +some, and found a mass of bulbs pretty deep in the earth, two inches in +diameter, looking, and even tasting, somewhat like raw green corn on the +ear. + +When we had gone about three miles down the Penobscot, we saw through +the tree-tops a thunder-shower coming up in the west, and we looked out +a camping-place in good season, about five o'clock. + +I will describe the routine of camping. We generally told the Indian +that we would stop at the first suitable place, so that he might be on +the lookout for it. Having observed a clear, hard, and flat beach to +land on, free from mud, and from stones which would injure the canoe, +one would run up the bank to see if there were open and level space +enough for the camp between the trees, or if it could be easily cleared, +preferring at the same time a cool place, on account of insects. +Sometimes we paddled a mile or more before finding one to our minds, for +where the shore was suitable the bank would often be too steep, or else +too low and grassy, and therefore mosquitoey. We then took out the +baggage and drew up the canoe. The Indian cut a path to the spot we had +selected, which was usually within two or three rods of the water, and +we carried up our baggage. + +One, perhaps, takes birch bark, always at hand, and dead dry wood, and +kindles a fire five or six feet in front of where we intend to lie. It +matters not, commonly, on which side this is, because there is little or +no wind in so dense a wood at that season; and then he gets a kettle of +water from the river, and takes out the pork, bread, coffee, etc., from +their several packages. + +Another, meanwhile, having the axe, cuts down the nearest dead rock +maple or other dry hard wood, collecting several large logs to last +through the night, also a green stake, with a notch or fork to it, which +is slanted over the fire, perhaps resting on a rock or forked stake, to +hang the kettle on, and two forked stakes and a pole for the tent. + +[Illustration: _Making a Camp in the Streamside Woodland_] + +The third man pitches the tent, cuts a dozen or more pins with his knife +to fasten it down with, and then collects an armful or two of fir twigs, +arbor-vitae, spruce, or hemlock, whichever is at hand, and makes the +bed, beginning at either end, and laying the twigs wrong side up, in +regular rows, covering the stub ends of the last row; first, however, +filling the hollows, if there are any, with coarser material. + +Commonly, by the time the bed is made, or within fifteen or twenty +minutes, the water boils, the pork is fried, and supper is ready. We eat +this sitting on the ground, or a stump, around a large piece of birch +bark for a table, each holding a dipper in one hand and a piece of +ship-bread or fried pork in the other, frequently making a pass with his +hand, or thrusting his head into the smoke, to avoid the mosquitoes. + +Next, pipes are lit by those who smoke, and veils are donned by those +who have them, and we hastily examine and dry our plants, anoint our +faces and hands, and go to bed. + +Though you have nothing to do but see the country, there's rarely any +time to spare, hardly enough to examine a plant, before the night or +drowsiness is upon you. + +Such was the ordinary experience, but this evening we had camped earlier +on account of the rain, and had more time. We found that our camp was on +an old indistinct supply-road, running along the river. What is called a +road there shows no ruts or trace of wheels, for they are not used; nor, +indeed, of runners, since they are used only in the winter when the snow +is several feet deep. It is only an indistinct vista through the wood, +which it takes an experienced eye to detect. + +We had no sooner pitched our tent than the thunder-shower burst on us, +and we hastily crept under it, drawing our bags after us, curious to see +how much of a shelter our thin cotton roof was going to be in this +excursion. Though the violence of the rain forced a fine shower through +the cloth before it was fairly wetted and shrunk, with which we were +well bedewed, we managed to keep pretty dry, only a box of matches +having been left out and spoiled, and before we were aware of it the +shower was over, and only the dripping trees imprisoned us. + +Wishing to see what fishes were in the river there, we cast our lines +over the wet bushes on the shore, but they were repeatedly swept down +the swift stream in vain. So, leaving the Indian, we took the canoe, +just before dark, and dropped down the river a few rods to fish at the +mouth of a sluggish brook. We pushed up this a rod or two, but were soon +driven off by the mosquitoes. While there we heard the Indian fire his +gun twice in rapid succession. His object was to clean out and dry it +after the rain, and he then loaded it with ball, being now on ground +where he expected to meet with large game. This sudden loud crashing +noise in the still aisles of the forest affected me like an insult to +nature, or ill manners at any rate, as if you were to fire a gun in a +hall or temple. It was not heard far, however, except along the river, +the sound being rapidly hushed up or absorbed by the damp trees and +mossy ground. + +The Indian made a little smothered fire of damp leaves close to the back +of the camp, that the smoke might drive through and keep out the +mosquitoes, but just before we fell asleep this suddenly blazed up and +came near setting fire to the tent. + + + + +IV + +SUNDAY, JULY 26 + + +The note of the white-throated sparrow was the first heard in the +morning, and with this all the woods rang. Though commonly unseen, their +simple _ah, te-te-te, te-te-te, te-te-te_, so sharp and piercing, was as +distinct to the ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into the +darkest of the forest would be to the eye. We were commonly aroused by +their lively strain very early. What a glorious time they must have in +that wilderness, far from mankind! + +I told the Indian that we would go to church to Chesuncook this morning, +some fifteen miles. It was settled weather at last. A few swallows +flitted over the water, we heard Maryland yellow-throats along the +shore, the notes of the chickadee, and, I believe, redstarts. +Moose-flies of large size pursued us in midstream. + +The Indian thought that we should lie by on Sunday. Said he, "We come +here lookum things, look all round, but come Sunday look up all that, +and then Monday look again." + +He spoke of an Indian of his acquaintance who had been with some +ministers to Katahdin and had told him how they conducted. This he +described in a low and solemn voice. "They make a long prayer every +morning and night, and at every meal. Come Sunday, they stop 'em, no go +at all that day--keep still--preach all day--first one, then another, +just like church. Oh, ver' good men. One day going along a river, they +came to the body of a man in the water, drowned good while. They go +right ashore--stop there, go no farther that day--they have meeting +there, preach and pray just like Sunday. Then they go back and carry the +body with them. Oh, they ver' good men." + +I judged from this account that their every camp was a camp-meeting, and +that they wanted an opportunity to preach somewhere more than to see +Katahdin. + +However, the Indian added, plying the paddle all the while, that if we +would go along he must go with us, he our man, and he suppose that if he +no takum pay for what he do Sunday then ther's no harm, but if he takum +pay then wrong. I told him that he was stricter than white men. +Nevertheless, I noticed that he did not forget to reckon in the Sundays +at last. + +He appeared to be a very religious man, and said his prayers in a loud +voice, in Indian, kneeling before the camp, morning and +evening--sometimes scrambling up in haste when he had forgotten this, +and saying them with great rapidity. In the course of the day he +remarked, "Poor man rememberum God more than rich." + +We soon passed the island where I had camped four years before. The +deadwater, a mile or two below it, the Indian said was "a great place +for moose." We saw the grass bent where a moose came out the night +before, and the Indian said that he could smell one as far as he could +see him, but he added that if he should see five or six to-day close by +canoe he no shoot 'em. Accordingly, as he was the only one of the party +who had a gun, or had come a-hunting, the moose were safe. + +Just below this a cat owl flew heavily over the stream, and he, asking +if I knew what it was, imitated very well the common _hoo, hoo, hoo, +hoorer, hoo_, of our woods. + +We carried a part of the baggage about Pine Stream Falls, while the +Indian went down in the canoe. A Bangor merchant had told us that two +men in his employ were drowned some time ago while passing these falls +in a bateau, and a third clung to a rock all night and was taken off in +the morning. There were magnificent great purple fringed orchises on +this carry and the neighboring shores. I measured the largest canoe +birch which I saw in this journey near the end of the carry. It was +fourteen and one half feet in circumference at two feet from the ground, +but at five feet divided into three parts. The Indian cut a small woody +knob as big as a filbert from the trunk of a fir, apparently an old +balsam vesicle filled with wood, which he said was good medicine. + +After we had embarked and gone half a mile, my companion remembered that +he had left his knife, and we paddled back to get it, against the strong +and swift current. This taught us the difference between going up and +down the stream, for while we were working our way back a quarter of a +mile, we should have gone down a mile and half at least. So we landed, +and while he and the Indian were gone back for it, I watched the motions +of the foam, a kind of white waterfowl near the shore, forty or fifty +rods below. It alternately appeared and disappeared behind the rock, +being carried round by an eddy. + +Immediately below these falls was the Chesuncook Deadwater, caused by +the flowing back of the lake. As we paddled slowly over this, the Indian +told us a story of his hunting thereabouts, and something more +interesting about himself. It appeared that he had represented his tribe +at Augusta, and once at Washington. He had a great idea of education, +and would occasionally break out into such expressions as this, +"Kademy--good thing--I suppose they usum Fifth Reader there. You been +college?" + +We steered across the northwest end of the lake. It is an agreeable +change to cross a lake after you have been shut up in the woods, not +only on account of the greater expanse of water, but also of sky. It is +one of the surprises which Nature has in store for the traveler in the +forest. To look down, in this case, over eighteen miles of water was +liberating and civilizing even. The lakes also reveal the mountains, and +give ample scope and range to our thought. Already there were half a +dozen log huts about this end of the lake, though so far from a road. In +these woods the earliest settlements are clustering about the lakes, +partly, I think, for the sake of the neighborhood as the oldest +clearings. Water is a pioneer which the settler follows, taking +advantage of its improvements. + +About noon we turned northward up a broad kind of estuary, and at its +northeast corner found the Caucomgomoc River, and after going about a +mile from the lake reached the Umbazookskus. Our course was up the +Umbazookskus, but as the Indian knew of a good camping-place, that is, a +cool place where there were few mosquitoes, about half a mile farther up +the Caucomgomoc, we went thither. So quickly we changed the civilizing +sky of Chesuncook for the dark wood of the Caucomgomoc. On reaching the +Indian's camping-ground on the south side, where the bank was about a +dozen feet high, I read on the trunk of a fir tree blazed by an axe an +inscription in charcoal which had been left by him. It was surmounted by +a drawing of a bear paddling a canoe, which he said was the sign used by +his family always. The drawing, though rude, could not be mistaken for +anything but a bear, and he doubted my ability to copy it. The +inscription ran thus. I interline the English of his Indian as he gave +it to me. + + (The figure of a bear in a boat.) + July 26 + 1853 + + _niasoseb_ + We alone Joseph + _Polis elioi_ + Polis start + _sia olta_ + for Oldtown + _onke ni_ + right away + _quambi_ + + July 15 + 1855 + _niasoseb_ + +He added now below:-- + + 1857 + July 26 + Jo. Polis + +This was one of his homes. I saw where he had sometimes stretched his +moose-hides on the sunny north side of the river where there was a +narrow meadow. + +After we had selected a place for our camp, and kindled our fire, almost +exactly on the site of the Indian's last camp here, he, looking up, +observed, "That tree danger." + +It was a dead part, more than a foot in diameter, of a large canoe +birch, which branched at the ground. This branch, rising thirty feet or +more, slanted directly over the spot which we had chosen for our bed. I +told him to try it with his axe, but he could not shake it perceptibly, +and, therefore, seemed inclined to disregard it, and my companion +expressed his willingness to run the risk. But it seemed to me that we +should be fools to lie under it, for though the lower part was firm, +the top, for aught we knew, might be just ready to fall, and we should +at any rate be very uneasy if the wind arose in the night. It is a +common accident for men camping in the woods to be killed by a falling +tree. So the camp was moved to the other side of the fire. + +The Indian said that the Umbazookskus, being a dead stream with broad +meadows, was a good place for moose, and he frequently came a-hunting +here, being out alone three weeks or more from Oldtown. He sometimes, +also, went a-hunting to the Seboois Lakes, taking the stage, with his +gun and ammunition, axe and blankets, hard-bread and pork, perhaps for a +hundred miles of the way, and jumped off at the wildest place on the +road, where he was at once at home, and every rod was a tavern-site for +him. Then, after a short journey through the woods, he would build a +spruce-bark canoe in one day, putting but few ribs into it, that it +might be light, and, after doing his hunting with it on the lakes, +would return with his furs the same way he had come. Thus you have an +Indian availing himself of the advantages of civilization, without +losing any of his woodcraft, but proving himself the more successful +hunter for it. + +This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our +tent was of a kind new to him, but when he had once seen it pitched it +was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked +stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, +though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered +several times. + +Now I thought I would observe how he spent his Sunday. While I and my +companion were looking about at the trees and river he went to sleep. +Indeed, he improved every opportunity to get a nap, whatever the day. + +Rambling about the woods at this camp, I noticed that they consisted +chiefly of firs, spruce, red maple, birch, and, along the river, the +hoary alder. I could trace the outlines of large birches that had fallen +long ago, collapsed and rotted and turned to soil, by faint +yellowish-green lines of featherlike moss, eighteen inches wide and +twenty or thirty feet long, crossed by other similar lines. + +Wild as it was, it was hard for me to get rid of the associations of the +settlements. Any steady and monotonous sound, to which I did not +distinctly attend, passed for a sound of human industry. The waterfalls +which I heard were not without their dams and mills to my imagination; +and several times I found that I had been regarding the steady rushing +sound of the wind from over the woods beyond the rivers as that of a +train of cars. Our minds anywhere, when left to themselves, are always +thus busily drawing conclusions from false premises. + +I asked the Indian to make us a sugar-bowl of birch bark, which he did, +using the great knife which dangled in a sheath from his belt; but the +bark broke at the corners when he bent it up, and he said it was not +good--that there was a great difference in this respect between the bark +of one canoe birch and that of another. + +My companion, wishing to distinguish between the black and white spruce, +asked Polis to show him a twig of the latter, which he did at once, +together with the black; indeed, he could distinguish them about as far +as he could see them. As the two twigs appeared very much alike, my +companion asked the Indian to point out the difference; whereupon the +latter, taking the twigs, instantly remarked, as he passed his hand over +them successively in a stroking manner, that the white was rough, that +is, the needles stood up nearly perpendicular, but the black smooth, +that is, as if bent down. This was an obvious difference, both to sight +and touch. + +I asked him to get some black spruce root and make some thread. +Whereupon, without looking up at the trees overhead, he began to grub in +the ground, instantly distinguishing the black spruce roots, and cutting +off a slender one, three or four feet long, and as big as a pipestem, he +split the end with his knife, and taking a half between the thumb and +forefinger of each hand, rapidly separated its whole length into two +equal semi-cylindrical halves. Then, giving me another root, he said, +"You try." + +But in my hands it immediately ran off one side, and I got only a very +short piece. Though it looked easy, I found that there was a great art +in splitting these roots. The split is skillfully humored by bending +short with this hand or that, and so kept in the middle. He then took +off the bark from each half, pressing a short piece of cedar bark +against the convex side with both hands, while he drew the root upward +with his teeth. An Indian's teeth are strong, and I noticed that he +used his often where we should have used a hand. They amounted to a +third hand. He thus obtained in a moment a very neat, tough, and +flexible string, which he could tie into a knot, or make into a fishline +even. He said that you would be obliged to give half a dollar for spruce +root enough for a canoe, thus prepared. + +He had discovered the day before that his canoe leaked a little, and +said that it was owing to stepping into it violently. I asked him where +he would get pitch to mend it with, for they commonly use hard pitch, +obtained of the whites at Oldtown. He said that he could make something +very similar, and equally good, of material which we had with us; and he +wished me to guess what. But I could not, and he would not tell me, +though he showed me a ball of it when made, as big as a pea and like +black pitch, saying, at last, that there were some things which a man +did not tell even his wife. + +Being curious to see what kind of fishes there were in this dark, deep, +sluggish river, I cast in my line just before night, and caught several +small sucker-like fishes, which the Indian at once rejected, saying that +they were good for nothing. Also, he would not touch a pout, which I +caught, and said that neither Indians nor whites thereabouts ever ate +them. But he said that some small silvery fishes, which I called white +chivin, were the best fish in the Penobscot waters, and if I would toss +them up the bank to him, he would cook them for me. After cleaning them, +not very carefully, leaving the heads on, he laid them on the coals and +so broiled them. + +[Illustration: _Fishing_] + +Returning from a short walk, he brought a vine in his hand, saying that +it made the best tea of anything in the woods. It was the creeping +snowberry, which was quite common there, its berries just grown. So we +determined to have some tea made of this. It had a slight +checkerberry flavor, and we both agreed that it was really better +than the black tea which we had brought. We thought it quite a +discovery, and that it might well be dried and sold in the shops. I for +one, however, am not an old tea-drinker and cannot speak with authority +to others. The Indian said that they also used for tea a certain herb +which grew in low ground, which he did not find there, and Labrador tea; +also hemlock leaves, the last especially in winter when the other plants +were covered with snow; and various other things. We could have had a +new kind of tea every night. + +Just before night we saw a _musquash_, the only one we saw in this +voyage, swimming downward on the opposite side of the stream. The +Indian, wishing to get one to eat, hushed us, saying, "Stop, me call +'em"; and, sitting flat on the bank, he began to make a curious +squeaking, wiry sound with his lips, exerting himself considerably. I +was greatly surprised--thought that I had at last got into the +wilderness, and that he was a wild man indeed, to be talking to a +musquash! I did not know which of the two was the strangest to me. He +seemed suddenly to have quite forsaken humanity, and gone over to the +musquash side. The musquash, however, as near as I could see, did not +turn aside, and the Indian said that he saw our fire; but it was evident +that he was in the habit of calling the musquash to him, as he said. An +acquaintance of mine who was hunting moose in these woods a month after +this, tells me that his Indian in this way repeatedly called the +musquash within reach of his paddle in the moonlight, and struck at +them. + +The Indian said a particularly long prayer this Sunday evening, as if to +atone for working in the morning. + + + + +V + +MONDAY, JULY 27 + + +Having rapidly loaded the canoe, which the Indian always carefully +attended to, that it might be well trimmed, and each having taken a +look, as usual, to see that nothing was left, we set out again, +descending the Caucomgomoc, and turning northeasterly up the +Umbazookskus. This name, the Indian said, meant _Much Meadow River_. We +found it now very wide on account of the rains. The space between the +woods, chiefly bare meadow, was from fifty to two hundred rods in +breadth. + +In the water on the meadows grew sedges, wool-grass, the common blue +flag abundantly, its flower just showing itself above the high water, as +if it were a blue water-lily, and higher in the meadows a great many +clumps of a peculiar narrow-leaved willow. Here also grew the red +osier, its large fruit now whitish. + +It was unusual for the woods to be so distant from the shore, and there +was quite an echo from them, but when I was shouting in order to awake +it, the Indian reminded me that I should scare the moose, which he was +looking out for, and which we all wanted to see. + +Having paddled several miles up the Umbazookskus, it suddenly contracted +to a mere brook, narrow and swift, the larches and other trees +approaching the bank and leaving no open meadow. We landed to get a +black spruce pole for pushing against the stream. The one selected was +quite slender, cut about ten feet long, merely whittled to a point, and +the bark shaved off. + +While we were thus employed, two Indians in a canoe hove in sight round +the bushes, coming down stream. Our Indian knew one of them, an old man, +and fell into conversation with him. He belonged at the foot of +Moosehead. The other was of another tribe. They were returning from +hunting. I asked the younger if they had seen any moose, to which he +said "No"; but I, seeing the moose-hides sticking out from a great +bundle made with their blankets in the middle of the canoe, added, "Only +their hides." + +As he was a foreigner, he may have wished to deceive me, for it is +against the law for white men and foreigners to kill moose in Maine at +this season. But perhaps he need not have been alarmed, for the +moose-wardens are not very particular. I heard of one who, being asked +by a white man going into the woods what he would say if he killed a +moose, answered, "If you bring me a quarter of it I guess you won't be +troubled." His duty being, as he said, only to prevent the +"indiscriminate" slaughter of them for their hides. I suppose that he +would consider it an _indiscriminate_ slaughter when a quarter was not +reserved for himself. + +We continued along through the most extensive larch wood which I had +seen--tall and slender trees with fantastic branches. You do not find +straggling trees of this species here and there throughout the wood, but +rather a little forest of them. The same is the case with the white and +red pines and some other trees, greatly to the convenience of the +lumberer. They are of a social habit, growing in "veins," "clumps," +"groups," or "communities," as the explorers call them, distinguishing +them far away, from the top of a hill or a tree, the white pines +towering above the surrounding forest, or else they form extensive +forests by themselves. I should have liked to come across a large +community of pines which had never been invaded by the lumbering army. + +[Illustration: _The Red Squirrel_] + +We saw some fresh moose-tracks along the shore. The stream was only from +one and one half to three rods wide, quite winding, with occasional +small islands, meadows, and some very swift and shallow places. When +we came to an island the Indian never hesitated which side to take, as +if the current told him which was the shortest and deepest. It was lucky +for us that the water was so high. We had to walk but once on this +stream, carrying a part of the load, at a swift and shallow reach, while +he got up with the canoe, not being obliged to take out, though he said +it was very strong water. Once or twice we passed the red wreck of a +bateau which had been stove some spring. + +While making this portage I saw many splendid specimens of the great +purple fringed orchis, three feet high. It is remarkable that such +delicate flowers should here adorn these wilderness paths. + +The Umbazookskus is called ten miles long. Having poled up the narrowest +part some three or four miles, the next opening in the sky was over +Umbazookskus Lake, which we suddenly entered about eleven o'clock in the +forenoon. It stretches north-westerly four or five miles. We crossed +the southeast end to the carry into Mud Pond. + +Hodge, who went through this way to the St. Lawrence in the service of +the State, calls the portage here a mile and three quarters long. The +Indian said this was the wettest carry in the State, and as the season +was a very wet one we anticipated an unpleasant walk. As usual he made +one large bundle of the pork-keg, cooking-utensils, and other loose +traps, by tying them up in his blanket. We should be obliged to go over +the carry twice, and our method was to carry one half part way, and then +go back for the rest. + +Our path ran close by the door of a log hut in a clearing at this end of +the carry, which the Indian, who alone entered it, found to be occupied +by a Canadian and his family, and that the man had been blind for a +year. This was the first house above Chesuncook, and was built here, no +doubt, because it was the route of the lumberers in the winter and +spring. + +After a slight ascent from the lake through the springy soil of the +Canadian's clearing, we entered on a level and very wet and rocky path +through the dense evergreen forest, a loosely paved gutter merely, where +we went leaping from rock to rock and from side to side in the vain +attempt to keep out of the water and mud. It was on this carry that the +white hunter whom I met in the stage, as he told me, had shot two bears +a few months before. They stood directly in the path and did not turn +out for him. He said that at this season bears were found on the +mountains and hillsides in search of berries and were apt to be saucy. + +Here commences what was called, twenty years ago, the best timber land +in the State. This very spot was described as "covered with the greatest +abundance of pine," but now this appeared to me, comparatively, an +uncommon tree there--and yet you did not see where any more could have +stood, amid the dense growth of cedar, fir, etc. + +The Indian with his canoe soon disappeared before us, but ere long he +came back and told us to take a path which turned off westward, it being +better walking, and, at my suggestion, he agreed to leave a bough in the +regular carry at that place that we might not pass it by mistake. +Thereafter, he said, we were to keep the main path, and he added, "You +see 'em my tracks." + +But I had not much faith that we could distinguish his tracks, since +others had passed over the carry within a few days. We turned off at the +right place, but were soon confused by numerous logging-paths coming +into the one we were on. However, we kept what we considered the main +path, though it was a winding one, and in this, at long intervals, we +distinguished a faint trace of a footstep. This, though comparatively +unworn, was at first a better, or, at least, a dryer road than the +regular carry which we had left. It led through an arbor-vitae wilderness +of the grimmest character. The great fallen and rotting trees had been +cut through and rolled aside, and their huge trunks abutted on the path +on each side, while others still lay across it two or three feet high. + +It was impossible for us to discern the Indian's trail in the elastic +moss, which, like a thick carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as +well as the earth. Nevertheless, I did occasionally detect the track of +a man, and I gave myself some credit for it. I carried my whole load at +once, a heavy knapsack, and a large rubber bag containing our bread and +a blanket, swung on a paddle, in all about sixty pounds; but my +companion preferred to make two journeys by short stages while I waited +for him. We could not be sure that we were not depositing our loads each +time farther off from the true path. + +As I sat waiting for my companion, he would seem to be gone a long time, +and I had ample opportunity to make observations on the forest. I now +first began to be seriously molested by the black fly, a very small but +perfectly formed fly of that color, about one tenth of an inch long, +which I felt, and then saw, in swarms about me, as I sat by a wider and +more than usually doubtful fork in this dark forest path. Remembering +that I had a wash in my knapsack, prepared by a thoughtful hand in +Bangor, I made haste to apply it to my face and hands, and was glad to +find it effectual, as long as it was fresh, or for twenty minutes, not +only against black flies, but all the insects that molested us. They +would not alight on the part thus defended. It was composed of sweet oil +and oil of turpentine, with a little oil of spearmint, and camphor. +However, I finally concluded that the remedy was worse than the disease, +it was so disagreeable and inconvenient to have your face and hands +covered with such a mixture. + +Three large slate-colored birds of the jay genus, the Canada jay, came +flitting silently and by degrees toward me, and hopped down the limbs +inquisitively to within seven or eight feet. Fish hawks from the lake +uttered their sharp whistling notes low over the top of the forest near +me, as if they were anxious about a nest there. + +After I had sat there some time I noticed at this fork in the path a +tree which had been blazed, and the letters "Chamb. L." written on it +with red chalk. This I knew to mean Chamberlain Lake. So I concluded +that on the whole we were on the right course. + +My companion having returned with his bag, we set forward again. The +walking rapidly grew worse and the path more indistinct, and at length +we found ourselves in a more open and regular swamp made less passable +than ordinary by the unusual wetness of the season. We sank a foot deep +in water and mud at every step, and sometimes up to our knees. The trail +was almost obliterated, being no more than a musquash leaves in similar +places when he parts the floating sedge. In fact, it probably was a +musquash trail in some places. We concluded that if Mud Pond was as +muddy as the approach to it was wet, it certainly deserved its name. It +would have been amusing to behold the dogged and deliberate pace at +which we entered that swamp, without interchanging a word, as if +determined to go through it, though it should come up to our necks. +Having penetrated a considerable distance into this and found a tussock +on which we could deposit our loads, though there was no place to sit, +my companion went back for the rest of his pack. + +After a long while my companion came back, and the Indian with him. We +had taken the wrong road, and the Indian had lost us. He had gone back +to the Canadian's camp and asked him which way we had probably gone, +since he could better understand the ways of white men, and he told him +correctly that we had undoubtedly taken the supply road to Chamberlain +Lake. The Indian was greatly surprised that we should have taken what he +called a "tow," that is, tote, toting, or supply, road instead of a +carry path,--that we had not followed his tracks,--said it was +"strange," and evidently thought little of our woodcraft. + +Having held a consultation and eaten a mouthful of bread, we concluded +that it would perhaps be nearer for us two now to keep on to Chamberlain +Lake, omitting Mud Pond, than to go back and start anew for the last +place, though the Indian had never been through this way and knew +nothing about it. In the meanwhile he would go back and finish carrying +over his canoe and bundle to Mud Pond, cross that, and go down its +outlet and up Chamberlain Lake, and trust to meet us there before night. +It was now a little after noon. He supposed that the water in which we +stood had flowed back from Mud Pond, which could not be far off +eastward, but was unapproachable through the dense cedar swamp. + +Keeping on, we were ere long agreeably disappointed by reaching firmer +ground, and we crossed a ridge where the path was more distinct, but +there was never any outlook over the forest. At one place I heard a very +clear and piercing note from a small hawk as he dashed through the +tree-tops over my head. We also saw and heard several times the red +squirrel. This, according to the Indian, is the only squirrel found in +those woods, except a very few striped ones. It must have a solitary +time in that dark evergreen forest, where there is so little life, +seventy-five miles from a road as we had come. I wondered how he could +call any particular tree there his home, and yet he would run up the +stem of one out of the myriads, as if it were an old road to him. I +fancied that he must be glad to see us, though he did seem to chide us. +One of those somber fir and spruce woods is not complete unless you +hear from out its cavernous mossy and twiggy recesses his fine +alarum--his spruce voice, like the working of the sap through some crack +in a tree. Such an impertinent fellow would occasionally try to alarm +the wood about me. + +"Oh," said I, "I am well acquainted with your family. I know your +cousins in Concord very well." But my overtures were vain, for he would +withdraw by his aerial turnpikes into a more distant cedar-top, and +spring his rattle again. + +We entered another swamp, at a necessarily slow pace, where the walking +was worse than ever, not only on account of the water, but the fallen +timber, which often obliterated the indistinct trail entirely. The +fallen trees were so numerous that for long distances the route was +through a succession of small yards, where we climbed over fences as +high as our heads, down into water often up to our knees, and then over +another fence into a second yard, and so on. In many places the canoe +would have run if it had not been for the fallen timber. Again it would +be more open, but equally wet, too wet for trees to grow. It was a mossy +swamp, which it required the long legs of a moose to traverse, and it is +very likely that we scared some of them in our transit, though we saw +none. It was ready to echo the growl of a bear, the howl of a wolf, or +the scream of a panther; but when you get fairly into the middle of one +of these grim forests you are surprised to find that the larger +inhabitants are not at home commonly, but have left only a puny red +squirrel to bark at you. Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does +not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. I +did, however, see one dead porcupine. Perhaps he had succumbed to the +difficulties of the way. These bristly fellows are a very suitable small +fruit of such unkempt wildernesses. + +Making a logging-road in the Maine woods is called "swamping" it, and +they who do the work are called "swampers." I now perceived the fitness +of the term. This was the most perfectly swamped of all the roads I ever +saw. Nature must have cooperated with art here. However, I suppose they +would tell you that this name took its origin from the fact that the +chief work of roadmakers in those woods is to make the swamps passable. +We came to a stream where the bridge, which had been made of logs tied +together with cedar bark, had been broken up, and we got over as we +could. Such as it was, this ruined bridge was the chief evidence that we +were on a path of any kind. + +We then crossed another low rising ground, and I, who wore shoes, had an +opportunity to wring out my stockings, but my companion, who used boots, +had found that this was not a safe experiment for him, for he might not +be able to get his wet boots on again. He went over the whole ground, or +water, three times, for which reason our progress was very slow. Beside +that, the water softened our feet, and to some extent unfitted them for +walking. + +As I sat waiting for him it would naturally seem an unaccountable time +that he was gone. Therefore, as I could see through the woods that the +sun was getting low, and it was uncertain how far the lake might be, +even if we were on the right course, and in what part of the world we +should find ourselves at nightfall, I proposed that I should push +through with what speed I could, leaving boughs to mark my path, and +find the lake and the Indian, if possible, before night, and send the +latter back to carry my companion's bag. + +Having gone about a mile I heard a noise like the note of an owl, which +I soon discovered to be made by the Indian, and answering him, we soon +came together. He had reached the lake after crossing Mud Pond and +running some rapids below it, and had come up about a mile and a half +on our path. If he had not come back to meet us, we probably should not +have found him that night, for the path branched once or twice before +reaching this particular part of the lake. So he went back for my +companion and his bag. Having waded through another stream, where the +bridge of logs had been broken up and half floated away, we continued on +through alternate mud and water to the shores of Apmoojenegamook Lake, +which we reached in season for a late supper, instead of dining there, +as we had expected, having gone without our dinner. + +It was at least five miles by the way we had come, and as my companion +had gone over most of it three times he had walked full a dozen miles. +In the winter, when the water is frozen and the snow is four feet deep, +it is no doubt a tolerable path to a footman. If you want an exact +recipe for making such a road, take one part Mud Pond, and dilute it +with equal parts of Umbazookskus and Apmoojenegamook; then send a +family of musquash through to locate it, look after the grades and +culverts, and finish it to their minds, and let a hurricane follow to do +the fencing. + +We had come out on a point extending into Apmoojenegamook, or +Chamberlain Lake, where there was a broad, gravelly, and rocky shore, +encumbered with bleached logs and trees. We were rejoiced to see such +dry things in that part of the world. But at first we did not attend to +dryness so much as to mud and wetness. We all three walked into the lake +up to our middle to wash our clothes. + +This was another noble lake, twelve miles long; if you add Telos Lake, +which, since the dam was built, has been connected with it by dead +water, it will be twenty; and it is apparently from a mile and a half to +two miles wide. We were about midway its length on the south side. We +could see the only clearing in these parts, called the "Chamberlain +Farm," with two or three log buildings close together, on the opposite +shore, some two and a half miles distant. The smoke of our fire on the +shore brought over two men in a canoe from the farm, that being a common +signal agreed on when one wishes to cross. It took them about half an +hour to come over, and they had their labor for their pains this time. + +After putting on such dry clothes as we had, and hanging the others to +dry on the pole which the Indian arranged over the fire, we ate our +supper, and lay down on the pebbly shore with our feet to the fire +without pitching our tent, making a thin bed of grass to cover the +stones. + +Here first I was molested by the little midge called the no-see-em, +especially over the sand at the water's edge, for it is a kind of +sand-fly. You would not observe them but for their light-colored wings. +They are said to get under your clothes and produce a feverish heat, +which I suppose was what I felt that night. + +Our insect foes in this excursion were, first, mosquitoes, only +troublesome at night, or when we sat still on shore by day; second, +black flies (_simulium molestum_), which molested us more or less on the +carries by day, and sometimes in narrower parts of the stream; third, +moose-flies, stout brown flies much like a horsefly. They can bite +smartly, according to Polis, but are easily avoided or killed. Fourth, +the no-see-ems. Of all these, the mosquitoes are the only ones that +troubled me seriously, but as I was provided with a wash and a veil, +they have not made any deep impression. + +The Indian would not use our wash to protect his face and hands, for +fear that it would hurt his skin, nor had he any veil. He, therefore, +suffered from insects throughout this journey more than either of us. He +regularly tied up his face in his handkerchief, and buried it in his +blanket, and he now finally lay down on the sand between us and the fire +for the sake of the smoke, which he tried to make enter his blanket +about his face, and for the same purpose he lit his pipe and breathed +the smoke into his blanket. + +In the middle of the night we heard the voice of the loon, loud and +distinct, from far over the lake. It is a very wild sound, quite in +keeping with the place and the circumstances of the traveler, and very +unlike the voice of a bird. I could lie awake for hours listening to it, +it is so thrilling. When camping in such a wilderness as this, you are +prepared to hear sounds from some of its inhabitants which will give +voice to its wildness. Some idea of bears, wolves, or panthers runs in +your head naturally, and when this note is first heard very far off at +midnight, as you lie with your ear to the ground,--the forest being +perfectly still about you, you take it for granted that it is the voice +of a wolf or some other wild beast,--you conclude that it is a pack of +wolves baying the moon, or, perchance, cantering after a moose. It was +the unfailing and characteristic sound of those lakes. + +Some friends of mine, who two years ago went up the Caucomgomoc River, +were serenaded by wolves while moose-hunting by moonlight. It was a +sudden burst, as if a hundred demons had broke loose,--a startling sound +enough, which, if any, would make your hair stand on end,--and all was +still again. It lasted but a moment, and you'd have thought there were +twenty of them, when probably there were only two or three. They heard +it twice only, and they said that it gave expression to the wilderness +which it lacked before. I heard of some men, who, while skinning a moose +lately in those woods, were driven off from the carcass by a pack of +wolves, which ate it up. + +This of the loon--I do not mean its laugh, but its looning--is a +long-drawn call, as it were, sometimes singularly human to my +ear--_hoo-hoo-ooooo_, like the hallooing of a man on a very high key, +having thrown his voice into his head. I have heard a sound exactly like +it when breathing heavily through my own nostrils, half awake at ten at +night, suggesting my affinity to the loon; as if its language were but a +dialect of my own, after all. Formerly, when lying awake at midnight in +those woods, I had listened to hear some words or syllables of their +language, but it chanced that I listened in vain until I heard the cry +of the loon. I have heard it occasionally on the ponds of my native +town, but there its wildness is not enhanced by the surrounding scenery. + +I was awakened at midnight by some heavy, low-flying bird, probably a +loon, flapping by close over my head along the shore. So, turning the +other side of my half-clad body to the fire, I sought slumber again. + + + + +VI + +TUESDAY, JULY 28 + + +When we awoke we found a heavy dew on our blankets. I lay awake very +early and listened to the clear, shrill _ah, te te, te te, te_ of the +white-throated sparrow, repeated at short intervals, without the least +variation, for half an hour, as if it could not enough express its +happiness. + +We did some more washing in the lake this morning, and, with our clothes +hung about on the dead trees and rocks, the shore looked like +washing-day at home. The Indian, taking the hint, borrowed the soap, +and, walking into the lake, washed his only cotton shirt on his person, +then put on his pants and let it dry on him. + +I observed that he wore a cotton shirt, originally white, a greenish +flannel one over it, but no waistcoat, flannel drawers, and strong +linen or duck pants, which also had been white, blue woolen stockings, +cowhide boots, and a Kossuth hat.[3] He carried no change of clothing, +but, putting on a stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, +and seizing a full-sized axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, +which would do for a sail or knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his +belt, which contained a large sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready +to be gone all summer. This looked very independent--a few simple and +effective tools, and no rubber clothing. He was always the first ready +to start in the morning. Instead of carrying a large bundle of his own +extra clothing, etc., he brought back the greatcoats of moose tied up in +his blanket. I found that his outfit was the result of a long +experience, and in the main hardly to be improved on, unless by washing +and an extra shirt. Wanting a button here, he walked off to a place +where some Indians had recently encamped, and searched for one, but I +believe in vain. + +Having softened our stiffened boots and shoes with the pork fat, the +usual disposition of what was left at breakfast, we crossed the lake, +steering in a diagonal direction northeastly about four miles to the +outlet. The Indian name, Apmoojenegamook, means lake that is crossed, +because the usual course lies across and not along it. We did not intend +to go far down the Allegash, but merely to get a view of the lakes which +are its source, and then return this way to the East Branch of the +Penobscot. + +After reaching the middle of the lake, we found the waves pretty high, +and the Indian warned my companion, who was nodding, that he must not +allow himself to fall asleep in the canoe lest he should upset us; +adding, that when Indians want to sleep in a canoe, they lie down +straight on the bottom. But in this crowded one that was impossible. +However, he said that he would nudge him if he saw him nodding. + +A belt of dead trees stood all around the lake, some far out in the +water, with others prostrate behind them, and they made the shore, for +the most part, almost inaccessible. This is the effect of the dam at the +outlet. Thus the natural sandy or rocky shore, with its green fringe, +was concealed and destroyed. We coasted westward along the north side, +searching for the outlet, about quarter of a mile distant from this +savage-looking shore, on which the waves were breaking violently, +knowing that it might easily be concealed amid this rubbish, or by the +overlapping of the shore. It is remarkable how little these important +gates to a lake are blazoned. There is no triumphal arch over the modest +inlet or outlet, but at some undistinguished point it trickles in or out +through the uninterrupted forest, almost as through a sponge. + +We reached the outlet in about an hour, and carried over the dam there, +which is quite a solid structure, and about one quarter of a mile +farther there was a second dam. The result of this particular damming +about Chamberlain Lake is that the headwaters of the St. John are made +to flow by Bangor. They have thus dammed all the larger lakes, raising +their broad surfaces many feet, thus turning the forces of Nature +against herself, that they might float their spoils out of the country. +They rapidly run out of these immense forests all the finer and more +accessible pine timber, and then leave the bears to watch the decaying +dams, not clearing nor cultivating the land, nor making roads, nor +building houses, but leaving it a wilderness, as they found it. In many +parts only these dams remain, like deserted beaver dams. Think how much +land they have flowed without asking Nature's leave. + +The wilderness experiences a sudden rise of all her streams and lakes. +She feels ten thousand vermin gnawing at the base of her noblest trees. +Many combining drag them off, jarring over the roots of the survivors, +and tumble them into the nearest stream, till, the fairest having +fallen, they scamper off to ransack some new wilderness, and all is +still again. It is as when a migrating army of mice girdles a forest of +pines. The chopper fells trees from the same motive that the mouse gnaws +them--to get his living. You tell me that he has a more interesting +family than the mouse. That is as it happens. He speaks of a "berth" of +timber, a good place for him to get into, just as a worm might. + +When the chopper would praise a pine he will commonly tell you that the +one he cut was so big that a yoke of oxen stood on its stump; as if that +were what the pine had grown for, to become the footstool of oxen. In my +mind's eye I can see these unwieldy tame deer, with a yoke binding them +together, the brazen-tipped horns betraying their servitude, taking +their stand on the stump of each giant pine in succession throughout +this whole forest, and chewing their cud there, until it is nothing but +an ox-pasture, and run out at that. As if it were good for the oxen, and +some medicinal quality ascended into their nostrils. Or is their +elevated position intended merely as a symbol of the fact that the +pastoral comes next in order to the sylvan or hunter life? + +The character of the logger's admiration is betrayed by his very mode of +expressing it. If he told all that was in his mind, he would say, "It +was so big that I cut it down, and then a yoke of oxen could stand on +its stump." He admires the log, the carcass or corpse, more than the +tree. Why, my dear sir, the tree might have stood on its own stump, and +a great deal more comfortably and firmly than a yoke of oxen can, if you +had not cut it down. + +The Anglo-American can indeed cut down and grub up all this waving +forest, and make a stump speech on its ruins, but he cannot converse +with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and +mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological +tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on +them. Before he has learned his a b c in the beautiful but mystic lore +of the wilderness he cuts it down, puts up a "deestrict" schoolhouse, +and introduces Webster's spelling-book. + +Below the last dam, the river being swift and shallow, we two walked +about half a mile to lighten the canoe. I made it a rule to carry my +knapsack when I walked, and also to keep it tied to a crossbar when in +the canoe, that it might be found with the canoe if we should upset. + +I heard the dog-day locust here, a sound which I had associated only +with more open, if not settled countries. + +We were now fairly on the Allegash River. After perhaps two miles of +river we entered Heron Lake, scaring up forty or fifty young sheldrakes, +at the entrance, which ran over the water with great rapidity, as usual +in a long line. + +This lake, judging from the map, is about ten miles long. We had entered +it on the southwest side, and saw a dark mountain northeast over the +lake which the Indian said was called Peaked Mountain, and used by +explorers to look for timber from. The shores were in the same ragged +and unsightly condition, encumbered with dead timber, both fallen and +standing, as in the last lake, owing to the dam on the Allegash below. +Some low points or islands were almost drowned. + +I saw something white a mile off on the water, which turned out to be a +great gull on a rock, which the Indian would have been glad to kill and +eat. But it flew away long before we were near; and also a flock of +summer ducks that were about the rock with it. I asking him about +herons, since this was Heron Lake, he said that he found the blue +heron's nests in the hard-wood trees. + +Rounding a point, we stood across a bay toward a large island three or +four miles down the lake. We met with shadflies midway, about a mile +from the shore, and they evidently fly over the whole lake. On Moosehead +I had seen a large devil's-needle half a mile from the shore, coming +from the middle of the lake, where it was three or four miles wide at +least. It had probably crossed. + +We landed on the southeast side of the island, which was rather +elevated, and densely wooded, with a rocky shore, in season for an early +dinner. Somebody had camped there not long before and left the frame on +which they stretched a moose-hide. The Indian proceeded at once to cut a +canoe birch, slanted it up against another tree on the shore, tying it +with a withe, and lay down to sleep in its shade. We made this island +the limit of our excursion in this direction. + +The next dam was about fifteen miles farther north down the Allegash. We +had been told in Bangor of a man who lived alone, a sort of hermit, at +that dam, to take care of it, who spent his time tossing a bullet from +one hand to the other, for want of employment. This sort of tit-for-tat +intercourse between his two hands, bandying to and fro a leaden subject, +seems to have been his symbol for society. + +There was another island visible toward the north end of the lake, with +an elevated clearing on it; but we learned afterward that it was not +inhabited, had only been used as a pasture for cattle which summered in +these woods. This unnaturally smooth-shaven, squarish spot, in the midst +of the otherwise uninterrupted forest, only reminded us how uninhabited +the country was. You would sooner expect to meet a bear than an ox in +such a clearing. At any rate, it must have been a surprise to the bears +when they came across it. Such, seen far or near, you know at once to be +man's work, for Nature never does it. In order to let in the light to +the earth he clears off the forest on the hillsides and plains, and +sprinkles fine grass seed like an enchanter, and so carpets the earth +with a firm sward. + +Polis had evidently more curiosity respecting the few settlers in those +woods than we. If nothing was said, he took it for granted that we +wanted to go straight to the next log hut. Having observed that we came +by the log huts at Chesuncook, and the blind Canadian's at the Mud Pond +carry, without stopping to communicate with the inhabitants, he took +occasion now to suggest that the usual way was, when you came near a +house, to go to it, and tell the inhabitants what you had seen or heard, +and then they told you what they had seen; but we laughed and said that +we had had enough of houses for the present, and had come here partly to +avoid them. + +In the meanwhile, the wind, increasing, blew down the Indian's birch and +created such a sea that we found ourselves prisoners on the island, the +nearest shore being perhaps a mile distant, and we took the canoe out +to prevent its drifting away. We did not know but we should be compelled +to spend the rest of the day and the night there. At any rate, the +Indian went to sleep again, my companion busied himself drying his +plants, and I rambled along the shore westward, which was quite stony, +and obstructed with fallen bleached or drifted trees for four or five +rods in width. + +Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal +use for every plant I could show him. I immediately tried him. He said +that the inner bark of the aspen was good for sore eyes; and so with +various other plants, proving himself as good as his word. According to +his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old +Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present +generation of Indians "had lost a great deal." + +He said that the caribou was a "very great runner," that there were none +about this lake now, though there used to be many, and, pointing to the +belt of dead trees caused by the dams, he added: "No likum stump. When +he sees that he scared." + +Pointing southeasterly over the lake and distant forest, he observed, +"Me go Oldtown in three days." + +I asked how he would get over the swamps and fallen trees. "Oh," said +he, "in winter all covered, go anywhere on snowshoes, right across +lakes." + +What a wilderness walk for a man to take alone! None of your half-mile +swamps, none of your mile-wide woods merely, as on the skirts of our +towns, without hotels, only a dark mountain or a lake for guide-board +and station, over ground much of it impassable in summer! + +Here was traveling of the old heroic kind over the unaltered face of +nature. From the Allegash River, across great Apmoojenegamook, he takes +his way under the bear-haunted slopes of Katahdin to Pamadumcook and +Millinocket's inland seas, and so to the forks of the Nicketow, ever +pushing the boughs of the fir and spruce aside, with his load of furs, +contending day and night, night and day, with the shaggy demon +vegetation, traveling through the mossy graveyard of trees. Or he could +go by "that rough tooth of the sea" Kineo, great source of arrows and of +spears to the ancients, when weapons of stone were used. Seeing and +hearing moose, caribou, bears, porcupines, lynxes, wolves, and panthers. +Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United +States--never hear of America. + +There is a lumberer's road called the Eagle Lake Road from the Seboois +to the east side of this lake. It may seem strange that any road through +such a wilderness should be passable, even in winter, but at that +season, wherever lumbering operations are actively carried on, teams are +continually passing on the single track, and it becomes as smooth almost +as a railway. I am told that in the Aroostook country the sleds are +required by law to be of one width, four feet, and sleighs must be +altered to fit the track, so that one runner may go in one rut and the +other follow the horse. Yet it is very bad turning out. + +We had for some time seen a thunder-shower coming up from the west over +the woods of the island, and heard the muttering of the thunder, though +we were in doubt whether it would reach us; but now the darkness rapidly +increasing, and a fresh breeze rustling the forest, we hastily put up +the plants which we had been drying, and with one consent made a rush +for the tent material and set about pitching it. A place was selected +and stakes and pins cut in the shortest possible time, and we were +pinning it down lest it should be blown away, when the storm suddenly +burst over us. + +As we lay huddled together under the tent, which leaked considerably +about the sides, with our baggage at our feet, we listened to some of +the grandest thunder which I ever heard--rapid peals, round and plump, +bang, bang, bang, in succession, like artillery from some fortress in +the sky; and the lightning was proportionally brilliant. The Indian +said, "It must be good powder." All for the benefit of the moose and us, +echoing far over the concealed lakes. I thought it must be a place which +the thunder loved, where the lightning practiced to keep its hand in, +and it would do no harm to shatter a few pines. + +Looking out, I perceived that the violent shower falling on the lake had +almost instantaneously flattened the waves, and, it clearing off, we +resolved to start immediately, before the wind raised them again. + +Getting outside, I said that I saw clouds still in the southwest, and +heard thunder there. We embarked, nevertheless, and paddled rapidly back +toward the dams. + +At the outlet of Chamberlain Lake we were overtaken by another gusty +rainstorm, which compelled us to take shelter, the Indian under his +canoe on the bank, and we under the edge of the dam. However, we were +more scared than wet. From my covert I could see the Indian peeping out +from beneath his canoe to see what had become of the rain. When we had +taken our respective places thus once or twice, the rain not coming down +in earnest, we commenced rambling about the neighborhood, for the wind +had by this time raised such waves on the lake that we could not stir, +and we feared that we should be obliged to camp there. We got an early +supper on the dam and tried for fish, while waiting for the tumult to +subside. The fishes were not only few, but small and worthless. + +At length, just before sunset, we set out again. It was a wild evening +when we coasted up the north side of this Apmoojenegamook Lake. One +thunder-storm was just over, and the waves which it had raised still +running with violence, and another storm was now seen coming up in the +southwest, far over the lake; but it might be worse in the morning, and +we wished to get as far as possible on our way while we might. + +It blew hard against the shore, which was as dreary and harborless as +you can conceive. For half a dozen rods in width it was a perfect maze +of submerged trees, all dead and bare and bleaching, some standing half +their original height, others prostrate, and criss-across, above or +beneath the surface, and mingled with them were loose trees and limbs +and stumps, beating about. We could not have landed if we would, without +the greatest danger of being swamped; so blow as it might, we must +depend on coasting. It was twilight, too, and that stormy cloud was +advancing rapidly in our rear. It was a pleasant excitement, yet we were +glad to reach, at length, the cleared shore of the Chamberlain Farm. + +We landed on a low and thinly wooded point, and while my companions +were pitching the tent, I ran up to the house to get some sugar, our +six pounds being gone. It was no wonder they were, for Polis had a sweet +tooth. He would first fill his dipper nearly a third full of sugar, and +then add the coffee to it. Here was a clearing extending back from the +lake to a hilltop, with some dark-colored log buildings and a storehouse +in it, and half a dozen men standing in front of the principal hut, +greedy for news. Among them was the man who tended the dam on the +Allegash and tossed the bullet. He, having charge of the dams, and +learning that we were going to Webster Stream the next day, told me that +some of their men, who were haying at Telos Lake, had shut the dam at +the canal there in order to catch trout, and if we wanted more water to +take us through the canal we might raise the gate. + +They were unwilling to spare more than four pounds of brown +sugar,--unlocking the storehouse to get it,--since they only kept a +little for such cases as this, and they charged twenty cents a pound for +it, which certainly it was worth to get it up there. + +When I returned to the shore it was quite dark, but we had a rousing +fire to warm and dry us by, and a snug apartment behind it. The Indian +went up to the house to inquire after a brother who had been absent +hunting a year or two, and while another shower was beginning, I groped +about cutting spruce and arbor-vitae twigs for a bed. I preferred the +arbor-vitae on account of its fragrance, and spread it particularly thick +about the shoulders. It is remarkable with what pure satisfaction the +traveler in those woods will reach his camping-ground on the eve of a +tempestuous night like this, as if he had got to his inn, and, rolling +himself in his blanket, stretch himself on his six-feet-by-two bed of +dripping fir twigs, with a thin sheet of cotton for roof, snug as a +meadow mouse in its nest. Invariably our best nights were those when it +rained, for then we were not troubled with mosquitoes. + +You soon come to disregard rain on such excursions, at least in the +summer, it is so easy to dry yourself, supposing a dry change of +clothing is not to be had. You can much sooner dry you by such a fire as +you can make in the woods than in anybody's kitchen, the fireplace is so +much larger, and wood so much more abundant. A shed-shaped tent will +catch and reflect the heat, and you may be drying while you are +sleeping. + +Some who have leaky roofs in the towns may have been kept awake, but we +were soon lulled asleep by a steady, soaking rain, which lasted all +night. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] A soft felt hat of the kind worn by the Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, +on his visit to this country in 1851-52. + + + + +VII + +WEDNESDAY, JULY 29 + + +When we awoke it had done raining, though it was still cloudy. The fire +was put out, and the Indian's boots, which stood under the eaves of the +tent, were half full of water. He was much more improvident in such +respects than either of us, and he had to thank us for keeping his +powder dry. We decided to cross the lake at once, before breakfast; and +before starting I took the bearing of the shore which we wished to +strike, about three miles distant, lest a sudden misty rain should +conceal it when we were midway. + +Though the bay in which we were was perfectly quiet and smooth, we found +the lake already wide awake outside, but not dangerously or unpleasantly +so. Nevertheless, when you get out on one of those lakes in a canoe like +this, you do not forget that you are completely at the mercy of the +wind, and a fickle power it is. The playful waves may at any time become +too rude for you in their sport, and play right on over you. After much +steady paddling and dancing over the dark waves we found ourselves in +the neighborhood of the southern land. We breakfasted on a rocky point, +the first convenient place that offered. + +It was well enough that we crossed thus early, for the waves now ran +quite high, but beyond this point we had comparatively smooth water. You +can commonly go along one side or the other of a lake, when you cannot +cross it. + +My companion and I, having a discussion on some point of ancient +history, were amused by the attitude which the Indian, who could not +tell what we were talking about, assumed. He constituted himself umpire, +and, judging by our air and gesture, he very seriously remarked from +time to time, "You beat," or "He beat." + +Leaving a spacious bay on our left, we entered through a short strait +into a small lake a couple of miles over, and thence into Telos Lake. +This curved round toward the northeast, and may have been three or four +miles long as we paddled. + +The outlet from the lake into the East Branch of the Penobscot is an +artificial one, and it was not very apparent where it was exactly, but +the lake ran curving far up northeasterly into two narrow valleys or +ravines, as if it had for a long time been groping its way toward the +Penobscot waters. By observing where the horizon was lowest, and +following the longest of these, we at length reached the dam, having +come about a dozen miles from the last camp. Somebody had left a line +set for trout, and the jackknife with which the bait had been cut on the +dam beside it, and, on a log close by, a loaf of bread. These proved the +property of a solitary hunter, whom we soon met, and canoe and gun and +traps were not far off. He told us that it was twenty miles to the foot +of Grand Lake, and that the first house below the foot of the lake, on +the East Branch, was Hunt's, about forty-five miles farther. + +This hunter, who was a quite small, sunburnt man, having already carried +his canoe over, had nothing so interesting and pressing to do as to +observe our transit. He had been out a month or more alone. How much +more respectable is the life of the solitary pioneer or settler in +these, or any woods--having real difficulties, not of his own creation, +drawing his subsistence directly from nature--than that of the helpless +multitudes in the towns who depend on gratifying the extremely +artificial wants of society and are thrown out of employment by hard +times! + +Telos Lake, the head of the St. John on this side, and Webster Pond, the +head of the East Branch of the Penobscot, are only about a mile apart, +and they are connected by a ravine, in which but little digging was +required to make the water of the former, which is the highest, flow +into the latter. This canal is something less than a mile long and about +four rods wide. The rush of the water has produced such changes in the +canal that it has now the appearance of a very rapid mountain stream +flowing through a ravine, and you would not suspect that any digging had +been required to persuade the waters of the St. John to flow into the +Penobscot here. It was so winding that one could see but a little way +down. + +It is wonderful how well watered this country is. As you paddle across a +lake, bays will be pointed out to you, by following up which, and +perhaps the tributary stream which empties in, you may, after a short +portage, or possibly, at some seasons, none at all, get into another +river, which empties far away from the one you are on. Generally, you +may go in any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long +portages. It seems as if the more youthful and impressionable streams +can hardly resist the numerous invitations and temptations to leave +their native beds and run down their neighbors' channels. + +Wherever there is a channel for water there is a road for the canoe. It +is said that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can +imagine what a canoe may do. + +This canal, so called, was a considerable and extremely rapid and rocky +river. The Indian decided that there was water enough in it without +raising the dam, which would only make it more violent, and that he +would run down it alone, while we carried the greater part of the +baggage. Our provisions being about half consumed, there was the less +left in the canoe. We had thrown away the pork-keg and wrapped its +contents in birch bark. + +Following a moist trail through the forest, we reached the head of +Webster Pond about the same time with the Indian, notwithstanding the +velocity with which he moved, our route being the most direct. The pond +was two or three miles long. + +At the outlet was another dam, at which we stopped and picked +raspberries, while the Indian went down the stream a half-mile through +the forest, to see what he had got to contend with. There was a deserted +log camp here, apparently used the previous winter, with its "hovel" or +barn for cattle. In the hut was a large fir-twig bed, raised two feet +from the floor, occupying a large part of the single apartment, a long +narrow table against the wall, with a stout log bench before it, and +above the table a small window, the only one there was, which admitted a +feeble light. It was a simple and strong fort erected against the cold. + +We got our dinner on the shore, on the upper side of the dam. As we were +sitting by our fire, concealed by the earth bank of the dam, a long +line of sheldrakes, half grown, came waddling over it from the water +below, passing within about a rod of us, so that we could almost have +caught them in our hands. They were very abundant on all the streams and +lakes which we visited, and every two or three hours they would rush +away in a long string over the water before us, twenty to fifty of them +at once, rarely ever flying, but running with great rapidity up or down +the stream, even in the midst of the most violent rapids, and apparently +as fast up as down. + +An Indian at Oldtown had told us that we should be obliged to carry ten +miles between Telos Lake on the St. John and Second Lake on the East +Branch of the Penobscot; but the lumberers whom we met assured us that +there would not be more than a mile of carry. It turned out that the +Indian was nearest right, as far as we were concerned. However, if one +of us could have assisted the Indian in managing the canoe in the +rapids, we might have run the greater part of the way; but as he was +alone in the management of the canoe in such places we were obliged to +walk the greater part. + +My companion and I carried a good part of the baggage on our shoulders, +while the Indian took that which would be least injured by wet in the +canoe. We did not know when we should see him again, for he had not been +this way since the canal was cut. He agreed to stop when he got to +smooth water, come up and find our path if he could, and halloo for us, +and after waiting a reasonable time go on and try again--and we were to +look out in like manner for him. + +He commenced by running through the sluiceway and over the dam, as +usual, standing up in his tossing canoe, and was soon out of sight +behind a point in a wild gorge. This Webster Stream is well known to +lumbermen as a difficult one. It is exceedingly rapid and rocky, and +also shallow, and can hardly be considered navigable, unless that may +mean that what is launched in it is sure to be carried swiftly down it, +though it may be dashed to pieces by the way. It is somewhat like +navigating a thunder-spout. With commonly an irresistible force urging +you on, you have got to choose your own course each moment between the +rocks and shallows, and to get into it, moving forward always with the +utmost possible moderation, and often holding on, if you can, that you +may inspect the rapids before you. + +By the Indian's direction we took an old path on the south side, which +appeared to keep down the stream. It was a wild wood-path, with a few +tracks of oxen which had been driven over it, probably to some old camp +clearing for pasturage, mingled with the tracks of moose which had +lately used it. We kept on steadily for about an hour without putting +down our packs, occasionally winding around or climbing over a fallen +tree, for the most part far out of sight and hearing of the river; +till, after walking about three miles, we were glad to find that the +path came to the river again at an old camp-ground, where there was a +small opening in the forest, at which we paused. + +Swiftly as the shallow and rocky river ran here, a continuous rapid with +dancing waves, I saw, as I sat on the shore, a long string of +sheldrakes, which something scared, run up the opposite side of the +stream by me, just touching the surface of the waves, and getting an +impulse from them as they flowed from under them; but they soon came +back, driven by the Indian, who had fallen a little behind us on account +of the windings. He shot round a point just above, and came to land by +us with considerable water in his canoe. He had found it, as he said, +"very strong water," and had been obliged to land once before to empty +out what he had taken in. + +[Illustration: _Coming Down the Rapids_] + +He complained that it strained him to paddle so hard in order to keep +his canoe straight in its course, having no one in the bows to aid +him, and, shallow as it was, said that it would be no joke to upset +there, for the force of the water was such that he had as lief I would +strike him over the head with a paddle as have that water strike him. +Seeing him come out of that gap was as if you should pour water down an +inclined and zigzag trough, then drop a nutshell into it, and, taking a +short cut to the bottom, get there in time to see it come out, +notwithstanding the rush and tumult, right side up, and only partly full +of water. + +After a moment's breathing-space, while I held his canoe, he was soon +out of sight again around another bend, and we, shouldering our packs, +resumed our course. + +Before going a mile we heard the Indian calling to us. He had come up +through the woods and along the path to find us, having reached +sufficiently smooth water to warrant his taking us in. The shore was +about one fourth of a mile distant through a dense, dark forest, and as +he led us back to it, winding rapidly about to the right and left, I had +the curiosity to look down carefully and found that he was following his +steps backward. I could only occasionally perceive his trail in the +moss, and yet he did not appear to look down nor hesitate an instant, +but led us out exactly to his canoe. This surprised me, for without a +compass, or the sight or noise of the river to guide us, we could not +have kept our course many minutes, and could have retraced our steps but +a short distance, with a great deal of pains and very slowly, using a +laborious circumspection. But it was evident that he could go back +through the forest wherever he had been during the day. + +After this rough walking in the dark woods it was an agreeable change to +glide down the rapid river in the canoe once more. This river, though +still very swift, was almost perfectly smooth here, and showed a very +visible declivity, a regularly inclined plane, for several miles, like +a mirror set a little aslant, on which we coasted down. It was very +exhilarating, and the perfection of traveling, the coasting down this +inclined mirror between two evergreen forests edged with lofty dead +white pines, sometimes slanted half-way over the stream. I saw some +monsters there, nearly destitute of branches, and scarcely diminishing +in diameter for eighty or ninety feet. + +As we were thus swept along, our Indian repeated in a deliberate and +drawling tone the words, "Daniel Webster, great lawyer," apparently +reminded of him by the name of the stream, and he described his calling +on him once in Boston at what he supposed was his boarding-house. He had +no business with him but merely went to pay his respects, as we should +say. It was on the day after Webster delivered his Bunker Hill oration. +The first time he called he waited till he was tired without seeing him, +and then went away. The next time he saw him go by the door of the room +in which he was waiting several times, in his shirt-sleeves, without +noticing him. He thought that if he had come to see Indians they would +not have treated him so. At length, after very long delay, he came in, +walked toward him, and asked in a loud voice, gruffly, "What do you +want?" and he, thinking at first, by the motion of his hand, that he was +going to strike him, said to himself, "You'd better take care; if you +try that I shall know what to do." + +He did not like him, and declared that all he said "was not worth talk +about a musquash." + +Coming to falls and rapids, our easy progress was suddenly terminated. +The Indian went alongshore to inspect the water, while we climbed over +the rocks, picking berries. When the Indian came back, he remarked, "You +got to walk; ver' strong water." + +So, taking out his canoe, he launched it again below the falls, and was +soon out of sight. At such times he would step into the canoe, take up +his paddle, and start off, looking far down-stream as if absorbing all +the intelligence of forest and stream into himself. We meanwhile +scrambled along the shore with our packs, without any path. This was the +last of _our_ boating for the day. + +The Indian now got along much faster than we, and waited for us from +time to time. I found here the only cool spring that I drank at anywhere +on this excursion, a little water filling a hollow in the sandy bank. It +was a quite memorable event, and due to the elevation of the country, +for wherever else we had been the water in the rivers and the streams +emptying in was dead and warm, compared with that of a mountainous +region. It was very bad walking along the shore over fallen and drifted +trees and bushes, and rocks, from time to time swinging ourselves round +over the water, or else taking to a gravel bar or going inland. At one +place, the Indian being ahead, I was obliged to take off all my clothes +in order to ford a small but deep stream emptying in, while my +companion, who was inland, found a rude bridge, high up in the woods, +and I saw no more of him for some time. I saw there very fresh moose +tracks, and I passed one white pine log, lodged in the forest near the +edge of the stream, which was quite five feet in diameter at the butt. + +Shortly after this I overtook the Indian at the edge of some burnt land, +which extended three or four miles at least, beginning about three miles +above Second Lake, which we were expecting to reach that night. This +burnt region was still more rocky than before, but, though comparatively +open, we could not yet see the lake. Not having seen my companion for +some time, I climbed with the Indian a high rock on the edge of the +river forming a narrow ridge only a foot or two wide at top, in order to +look for him. After calling many times I at length heard him answer +from a considerable distance inland, he having taken a trail which led +off from the river, and being now in search of the river again. Seeing a +much higher rock of the same character about one third of a mile farther +down-stream, I proceeded toward it through the burnt land, in order to +look for the lake from its summit, and hallooing all the while that my +companion might join me on the way. + +Before we came together I noticed where a moose, which possibly I had +scared by my shouting, had apparently just run along a large rotten +trunk of a pine, which made a bridge thirty or forty feet long over a +hollow, as convenient for him as for me. The tracks were as large as +those of an ox, but an ox could not have crossed there. This burnt land +was an exceedingly wild and desolate region. Judging by the weeds and +sprouts, it appeared to have been burnt about two years before. It was +covered with charred trunks, either prostrate or standing, which +crocked our clothes and hands. Great shells of trees, sometimes unburnt +without, or burnt on one side only, but black within, stood twenty or +forty feet high. The fire had run up inside, as in a chimney, leaving +the sapwood. There were great fields of fireweed, which presented masses +of pink. Intermixed with these were blueberry and raspberry bushes. + +Having crossed a second rocky ridge, when I was beginning to ascend the +third, the Indian, whom I had left on the shore, beckoned to me to come +to him, but I made sign that I would first ascend the rock before me. My +companion accompanied me to the top. + +There was a remarkable series of these great rock-waves revealed by the +burning; breakers, as it were. No wonder that the river that found its +way through them was rapid and obstructed by falls. We could see the +lake over the woods, and that the river made an abrupt turn southward +around the end of the cliff on which we stood, and that there was an +important fall in it a short distance below us. I could see the canoe a +hundred rods behind, but now on the opposite shore, and supposed that +the Indian had concluded to take out and carry round some bad rapids on +that side, but after waiting a while I could still see nothing of him, +and I began to suspect that he had gone inland to look for the lake from +some hilltop on that side. This proved to be the case, for after I had +started to return to the canoe I heard a faint halloo, and descried him +on the top of a distant rocky hill. I began to return along the ridge +toward the angle in the river. My companion inquired where I was going; +to which I answered that I was going far enough back to communicate with +the Indian. + +When we reached the shore the Indian appeared from out the woods on the +opposite side, but on account of the roar of the water it was difficult +to communicate with him. He kept along the shore westward to his canoe, +while we stopped at the angle where the stream turned southward around +the precipice. I said to my companion that we would keep along the shore +and keep the Indian in sight. We started to do so, being close together, +the Indian behind us having launched his canoe again, but I saw the +latter beckoning to me, and I called to my companion, who had just +disappeared behind large rocks at the point of the precipice on his way +down the stream, that I was going to help the Indian. + +I did so--helped get the canoe over a fall, lying with my breast over a +rock, and holding one end while he received it below--and within ten or +fifteen minutes I was back at the point where the river turned +southward, while Polis glided down the river alone, parallel with me. +But to my surprise, when I rounded the precipice, though the shore was +bare of trees, without rocks, for a quarter of a mile at least, my +companion was not to be seen. It was as if he had sunk into the earth. +This was the more unaccountable to me, because I knew that his feet were +very sore, and that he wished to keep with the party. + +I hastened along, hallooing and searching for him, thinking he might be +concealed behind a rock, but the Indian had got along faster in his +canoe, till he was arrested by the falls, about a quarter of a mile +below. He then landed, and said that we could go no farther that night. +The sun was setting, and on account of falls and rapids we should be +obliged to leave this river and carry a good way into another farther +east. The first thing then was to find my companion, for I was now very +much alarmed about him, and I sent the Indian along the shore +down-stream, which began to be covered with unburnt wood again just +below the falls, while I searched backward about the precipice which we +had passed. + +The Indian showed some unwillingness to exert himself, complaining that +he was very tired in consequence of his day's work, that it had strained +him getting down so many rapids alone; but he went off calling somewhat +like an owl. I remembered that my companion was nearsighted, and I +feared that he had either fallen from the precipice, or fainted and sunk +down amid the rocks beneath it. I shouted and searched above and below +this precipice in the twilight till I could not see, expecting nothing +less than to find his body beneath it. For half an hour I anticipated +and believed only the worst. I thought what I should do the next day if +I did not find him, and how his relatives would feel if I should return +without him. I felt that if he were really lost away from the river +there, it would be a desperate undertaking to find him; and where were +they who could help you? What would it be to raise the country, where +there were only two or three camps, twenty or thirty miles apart, and +no road, and perhaps nobody at home? + +I rushed down from this precipice to the canoe in order to fire the +Indian's gun, but found that my companion had the caps. When the Indian +returned he said that he had seen his tracks once or twice along the +shore. This encouraged me very much. He objected to firing the gun, +saying that if my companion heard it, which was not likely, on account +of the roar of the stream, it would tempt him to come toward us, and he +might break his neck in the dark. For the same reason we refrained from +lighting a fire on the highest rock. I proposed that we should both keep +down the stream to the lake, or that I should go at any rate, but the +Indian said: "No use, can't do anything in the dark. Come morning, then +we find 'em. No harm--he make 'em camp. No bad animals here--warm +night--he well off as you and I." + +The darkness in the woods was by this so thick that it decided the +question. We must camp where we were. I knew that he had his knapsack, +with blankets and matches, and, if well, would fare no worse than we, +except that he would have no supper nor society. + +This side of the river being so encumbered with rocks, we crossed to the +eastern or smoother shore, and proceeded to camp there, within two or +three rods of the falls. We pitched no tent, but lay on the sand, +putting a few handfuls of grass and twigs under us, there being no +evergreen at hand. For fuel we had some of the charred stumps. Our +various bags of provisions had got quite wet in the rapids, and I +arranged them about the fire to dry. The fall close by was the principal +one on this stream, and it shook the earth under us. It was a cool, dewy +night. I lay awake a good deal from anxiety. From time to time I fancied +that I heard his voice calling through the roar of the falls from the +opposite side of the river; but it is doubtful if we could have heard +him across the stream there. Sometimes I doubted whether the Indian had +really seen his tracks, since he manifested an unwillingness to make +much of a search. + +It was the most wild and desolate region we had camped in, where, if +anywhere, one might expect to meet with befitting inhabitants, but I +heard only the squeak of a nighthawk flitting over. The moon in her +first quarter, in the fore part of the night, setting over the bare +rocky hills garnished with tall, charred, and hollow stumps or shells of +trees, served to reveal the desolation. + + + + +VIII + +THURSDAY, JULY 30 + + +I aroused the Indian early to go in search of our companion, expecting +to find him within a mile or two, farther down the stream. The Indian +wanted his breakfast first, but I reminded him that my companion had had +neither breakfast nor supper. We were obliged first to carry our canoe +and baggage over into another stream, the main East Branch, about three +fourths of a mile distant, for Webster Stream was no farther navigable. +We went twice over this carry, and the dewy bushes wet us through like +water up to the middle. I hallooed from time to time, though I had +little expectation that I could be heard over the roar of the rapids. + +In going over this portage the last time, the Indian, who was before me +with the canoe on his head, stumbled and fell heavily once, and lay for +a moment silent as if in pain. I hastily stepped forward to help him, +asking if he was much hurt, but after a moment's pause, without +replying, he sprang up and went forward. + +We had launched our canoe and gone but little way down the East Branch, +when I heard an answering shout from my companion, and soon after saw +him standing on a point where there was a clearing a quarter of a mile +below, and the smoke of his fire was rising near by. Before I saw him I +naturally shouted again and again, but the Indian curtly remarked, "He +hears you," as if once was enough. + +It was just below the mouth of Webster Stream. When we arrived he was +smoking his pipe, and said that he had passed a pretty comfortable +night, though it was rather cold, on account of the dew. It appeared +that when we stood together the previous evening, and I was shouting to +the Indian across the river, he, being nearsighted, had not seen the +Indian nor his canoe, and when I went back to the Indian's assistance, +did not see which way I went, and supposed that we were below and not +above him, and so, making haste to catch up, he ran away from us. Having +reached this clearing, a mile or more below our camp, the night overtook +him, and he made a fire in a little hollow, and lay down by it in his +blanket, still thinking that we were ahead of him. + +He had stuck up the remnant of a lumberer's shirt, found on the point, +on a pole by the waterside for a signal, and attached a note to it to +inform us that he had gone on to the lake, and that if he did not find +us there he would be back in a couple of hours. If he had not found us +soon he had some thoughts of going back in search of the solitary hunter +whom we had met at Telos Lake, ten miles behind, and, if successful, +hire him to take him to Bangor. But if this hunter had moved as fast as +we, he would have been twenty miles off by this time, and who could +guess in what direction? It would have been like looking for a needle in +a haymow to search for him in these woods. He had been considering how +long he could live on berries alone. + +We all had good appetites for the breakfast which we made haste to cook +here, and then, having partially dried our clothes, we glided swiftly +down the winding stream toward Second Lake. + +As the shores became flatter with frequent sandbars, and the stream more +winding in the lower land near the lake, elms and ash trees made their +appearance; also the wild yellow lily, some of whose bulbs I collected +for a soup. On some ridges the burnt land extended as far as the lake. +This was a very beautiful lake, two or three miles long, with high +mountains on the southwest side. The morning was a bright one, and +perfectly still, the lake as smooth as glass, we making the only ripple +as we paddled into it. The dark mountains about it were seen through a +glaucous mist, and the white stems of canoe birches mingled with the +other woods around it. The thrush sang on the distant shore, and the +laugh of some loons, sporting in a concealed western bay, as if inspired +by the morning, came distinct over the lake to us. The beauty of the +scene may have been enhanced to our eyes by the fact that we had just +come together after a night of some anxiety. + +Having paddled down three quarters of the lake, we came to a standstill +while my companion let down for fish. In the midst of our dreams of +giant lake trout, even then supposed to be nibbling, our fisherman drew +up a diminutive red perch, and we took up our paddles. + +It was not apparent where the outlet of the lake was, and while the +Indian thought it was in one direction, I thought it was in another. He +said, "I bet you fourpence it is there," but he still held on in my +direction, which proved to be the right one. + +As we were approaching the outlet he suddenly exclaimed, "Moose! moose!" +and told us to be still. He put a cap on his gun, and, standing up in +the stern, rapidly pushed the canoe straight toward the shore and the +moose. It was a cow moose, about thirty rods off, standing in the water +by the side of the outlet, partly behind some fallen timber and bushes, +and at that distance she did not look very large. She was flapping her +large ears, and from time to time poking off the flies with her nose +from some part of her body. She did not appear much alarmed by our +neighborhood, only occasionally turned her head and looked straight at +us, and then gave her attention to the flies again. As we approached +nearer she got out of the water, stood higher, and regarded us more +suspiciously. + +Polis pushed the canoe steadily forward in the shallow water, but the +canoe soon grounded in the mud eight or ten rods distant from the +moose, and the Indian seized his gun. After standing still a moment she +turned so as to expose her side, and he improved this moment to fire, +over our heads. She thereupon moved off eight or ten rods at a moderate +pace across a shallow bay to the opposite shore, and she stood still +again while the Indian hastily loaded and fired twice at her, without +her moving. My companion, who passed him his caps and bullets, said that +Polis was as excited as a boy of fifteen, that his hand trembled, and he +once put his ramrod back upside down. + +The Indian now pushed quickly and quietly back, and a long distance +round, in order to get into the outlet,--for he had fired over the neck +of a peninsula between it and the lake,--till we approached the place +where the moose had stood, when he exclaimed, "She is a goner!" + +[Illustration: _Shooting the Moose_] + +There, to be sure, she lay perfectly dead, just where she had stood +to receive the last shots. Using a tape, I found that the moose measured +six feet from the shoulder to the tip of the hoof, and was eight feet +long. + +Polis, preparing to skin the moose, asked me to help him find a stone on +which to sharpen his large knife. It being flat alluvial ground, covered +with red maples, etc., this was no easy matter. We searched far and wide +a long time till at length I found a flat kind of slate stone, on which +he soon made his knife very sharp. + +While he was skinning the moose I proceeded to ascertain what kind of +fishes were to be found in the sluggish and muddy outlet. The greatest +difficulty was to find a pole. It was almost impossible to find a +slender, straight pole ten or twelve feet long in those woods. You might +search half an hour in vain. They are commonly spruce, arbor-vitae, fir, +etc., short, stout, and branchy, and do not make good fishpoles, even +after you have patiently cut off all their tough and scraggy branches. +The fishes were red perch and chivin. + +The Indian, having cut off a large piece of sirloin, the upper lip, and +the tongue, wrapped them in the hide, and placed them in the bottom of +the canoe, observing that there was "one man," meaning the weight of +one. Our load had previously been reduced some thirty pounds, but a +hundred pounds were now added, which made our quarters still more +narrow, and considerably increased the danger on the lakes and rapids as +well as the labor of the carries. The skin was ours according to custom, +since the Indian was in our employ, but we did not think of claiming it. +He being a skillful dresser of moose-hides would make it worth seven or +eight dollars to him, as I was told. He said that he sometimes earned +fifty or sixty dollars in a day at them; he had killed ten moose in one +day, though the skinning and all took two days. This was the way he had +got his property. + +We continued along the outlet through a swampy region, by a long, +winding deadwater, very much choked up by wood, where we were obliged to +land sometimes in order to get the canoe over a log. It was hard to find +any channel, and we did not know but we should be lost in the swamp. It +abounded in ducks, as usual. At length we reached Grand Lake. + +We stopped to dine on an interesting rocky island, securing our canoe to +the cliffy shore. Here was a good opportunity to dry our dewy blankets +on the open sunny rock. Indians had recently camped here, and +accidentally burned over the western end of the island. Polis picked up +a gun-case of blue broadcloth, and said that he knew the Indian it +belonged to and would carry it to him. His tribe is not so large but he +may know all its effects. We proceeded to make a fire and cook our +dinner amid some pines. + +I saw where the Indians had made canoes in a little secluded hollow in +the woods, on the top of the rock, where they were out of the wind, and +large piles of whittlings remained. This must have been a favorite +resort of their ancestors, and, indeed, we found here the point of an +arrow-head, such as they have not used for two centuries and now know +not how to make. The Indian picked up a yellowish curved bone by the +side of our fireplace and asked me to guess what it was. It was one of +the upper incisors of a beaver, on which some party had feasted within a +year or two. I found also most of the teeth and the skull. We here dined +on fried moose meat. + +Our blankets being dry, we set out again, the Indian, as usual, having +left his gazette on a tree. We paddled southward, keeping near the +western shore. The Indian did not know exactly where the outlet was, and +he went feeling his way by a middle course between two probable points, +from which he could diverge either way at last without losing much +distance. In approaching the south shore, as the clouds looked gusty and +the waves ran pretty high, we so steered as to get partly under the lee +of an island, though at a great distance from it. + +I could not distinguish the outlet till we were almost in it, and heard +the water falling over the dam there. Here was a considerable fall, and +a very substantial dam, but no sign of a cabin or camp. + +While we loitered here Polis took occasion to cut with his big knife +some of the hair from his moose-hide, and so lightened and prepared it +for drying. I noticed at several old Indian camps in the woods the pile +of hair which they had cut from their hides. + +Having carried over the dam, he darted down the rapids, leaving us to +walk for a mile or more, where for the most part there was no path, but +very thick and difficult traveling near the stream. He would call to +let us know where he was waiting for us with his canoe, when, on account +of the windings of the stream, we did not know where the shore was, but +he did not call often enough, forgetting that we were not Indians. He +seemed to be very saving of his breath--yet he would be surprised if we +went by, or did not strike the right spot. This was not because he was +unaccommodating, but a proof of superior manners. Indians like to get +along with the least possible communication and ado. He was really +paying us a great compliment all the while, thinking that we preferred a +hint to a kick. + +At length, climbing over the willows and fallen trees, when this was +easier than to go round or under them, we overtook the canoe, and glided +down the stream in smooth but swift water for several miles. I here +observed, as at Webster Stream, that the river was a smooth and +regularly inclined plane down which we coasted. + +We decided to camp early that we might have ample time before dark. So +we stopped at the first favorable shore, where there was a narrow +gravelly beach, some five miles below the outlet of the lake. Two steps +from the water on either side, and you come to the abrupt, bushy, and +rooty, if not turfy, edge of the bank, four or five feet high, where the +interminable forest begins, as if the stream had but just cut its way +through it. + +It is surprising on stepping ashore anywhere into this unbroken +wilderness to see so often, at least within a few rods of the river, the +marks of the axe, made by lumberers who have either camped here or +driven logs past in previous springs. You will see perchance where they +have cut large chips from a tall white pine stump for their fire. + +While we were pitching the camp and getting supper, the Indian cut the +rest of the hair from his moose-hide, and proceeded to extend it +vertically on a temporary frame between two small trees, half a dozen +feet from the opposite side of the fire, lashing and stretching it with +arbor-vitae bark. Asking for a new kind of tea, he made us some pretty +good of the checkerberry, which covered the ground, dropping a little +bunch of it tied up with cedar bark into the kettle. + +After supper he put on the moose tongue and lips to boil. He showed me +how to write on the under side of birch bark with a black spruce twig, +which is hard and tough and can be brought to a point. + +The Indian wandered off into the woods a short distance just before +night, and, coming back, said, "Me found great treasure." + +"What's that?" we asked. + +"Steel traps, under a log, thirty or forty, I didn't count 'em. I guess +Indian work--worth three dollars apiece." + +It was a singular coincidence that he should have chanced to walk to and +look under that particular log in that trackless forest. + +I saw chivin and chub in the stream when washing my hands, but my +companion tried in vain to catch them. I heard the sound of bullfrogs +from a swamp on the opposite side. + +You commonly make your camp just at sundown, and are collecting wood, +getting your supper, or pitching your tent while the shades of night are +gathering around and adding to the already dense gloom of the forest. +You have no time to explore or look around you before it is dark. You +may penetrate half a dozen rods farther into that twilight wilderness +after some dry bark to kindle your fire with, and wonder what mysteries +lie hidden still deeper in it, or you may run down to the shore for a +dipper of water, and get a clearer view for a short distance up or down +the stream, and while you stand there, see a fish leap, or duck alight +in the river, or hear a thrush or robin sing in the woods. + +But there is no sauntering off to see the country. Ten or fifteen rods +seems a great way from your companions, and you come back with the air +of a much traveled man, as from a long journey, with adventures to +relate, though you may have heard the crackling of the fire all the +while--and at a hundred rods you might be lost past recovery and have to +camp out. It is all mossy and _moosey_. In some of those dense fir and +spruce woods there is hardly room for the smoke to go up. The trees are +a _standing_ night, and every fir and spruce which you fell is a plume +plucked from night's raven wing. Then at night the general stillness is +more impressive than any sound, but occasionally you hear the note of an +owl farther or nearer in the woods, and if near a lake, the semihuman +cry of the loons at their unearthly revels. + +To-night the Indian lay between the fire and his stretched moose-hide, +to avoid mosquitoes. Indeed, he also made a small smoky fire of damp +leaves at his head and feet, and then as usual rolled up his head in +his blanket. We with our veils and our wash were tolerably comfortable, +but it would be difficult to pursue any sedentary occupation in the +woods at this season; you cannot see to read much by the light of a fire +through a veil in the evening, nor handle pencil and paper well with +gloves or anointed fingers. + + + + +IX + +FRIDAY, JULY 31 + + +We had smooth but swift water for a considerable distance, where we +glided rapidly along, scaring up ducks and kingfishers. But, as usual, +our smooth progress ere long come to an end, and we were obliged to +carry canoe and all about half a mile down the right bank around some +rapids or falls. It required sharp eyes sometimes to tell which side was +the carry, before you went over the falls, but Polis never failed to +land us rightly. The raspberries were particularly abundant and large +here, and all hands went to eating them, the Indian remarking on their +size. + +Often on bare rocky carries the trail was so indistinct that I +repeatedly lost it, but when I walked behind him I observed that he +could keep it almost like a hound, and rarely hesitated, or, if he +paused a moment on a bare rock, his eye immediately detected some sign +which would have escaped me. Frequently _we_ found no path at all at +these places, and were to him unaccountably delayed. He would only say +it was "ver' strange." + +We had heard of a Grand Fall on this stream, and thought that each fall +we came to must be it, but after christening several in succession with +this name we gave up the search. There were more Grand or Petty Falls +than I can remember. + +I cannot tell how many times we had to walk on account of falls or +rapids. We were expecting all the while that the river would take a +final leap and get to smooth water, but there was no improvement this +forenoon. However, the carries were an agreeable variety. So surely as +we stepped out of the canoe and stretched our legs we found ourselves in +a blueberry and raspberry garden, each side of our rocky trail being +lined with one or both. There was not a carry on the main East Branch +where we did not find an abundance of both these berries, for these +were the rockiest places and partially cleared, such as these plants +prefer, and there had been none to gather the finest before us. + +We bathed and dined at the foot of one of these carries. It was the +Indian who commonly reminded us that it was dinner-time, sometimes even +by turning the prow to the shore. He once made an indirect, but lengthy +apology, by saying that we might think it strange, but that one who +worked hard all day was very particular to have his dinner in good +season. At the most considerable fall on this stream, when I was walking +over the carry close behind the Indian, he observed a track on the rock, +which was but slightly covered with soil, and, stooping, muttered, +"Caribou." + +When we returned, he observed a much larger track near the same place, +where some animal's foot had sunk into a small hollow in the rock, +partly filled with grass and earth, and he exclaimed with surprise, +"What that?" + +"Well, what is it?" I asked. + +Stooping and laying his hand in it, he answered with a mysterious air, +and in a half-whisper, "Devil [that is, Indian devil, or cougar]--ledges +about here--very bad animal--pull 'em rocks all to pieces." + +"How long since it was made?" I asked. + +"To-day or yesterday," said he. + +We spent at least half the time in walking to-day. The Indian, being +alone, commonly ran down far below the foot of the carries before he +waited for us. The carry-paths themselves were more than usually +indistinct, often the route being revealed only by the countless small +holes in the fallen timber made by the tacks in the drivers' boots. It +was a tangled and perplexing thicket, through which we stumbled and +threaded our way, and when we had finished a mile of it, our +starting-point seemed far away. We were glad that we had not got to +walk to Bangor along the banks of this river, which would be a journey +of more than a hundred miles. Think of the denseness of the forest, the +fallen trees and rocks, the windings of the river, the streams emptying +in, and the frequent swamps to be crossed. It made you shudder. Yet the +Indian from time to time pointed out to us where he had thus crept along +day after day when he was a boy of ten, and in a starving condition. + +He had been hunting far north of this with two grown Indians. The winter +came on unexpectedly early, and the ice compelled them to leave their +canoe at Grand Lake, and walk down the bank. They shouldered their furs +and started for Oldtown. The snow was not deep enough for snowshoes, or +to cover the inequalities of the ground. Polis was soon too weak to +carry any burden, but he managed to catch one otter. This was the most +they all had to eat on this journey, and he remembered how good the +yellow lily roots were, made into a soup with the otter oil. He shared +this food equally with the other two, but being so small he suffered +much more than they. He waded through the Mattawamkeag at its mouth, +when it was freezing cold and came up to his chin, and he, being very +weak and emaciated, expected to be swept away. The first house which +they reached was at Lincoln, and thereabouts they met a white teamster +with supplies, who, seeing their condition, gave them as much as they +could eat. For six months after getting home he was very low and did not +expect to live, and was perhaps always the worse for it. + +For seven or eight miles below that succession of "Grand" falls the +aspect of the banks as well as the character of the stream was changed. +After passing a tributary from the northeast we had swift smooth water. +Low grassy banks and muddy shores began. Many elms as well as maples and +more ash trees overhung the stream and supplanted the spruce. + +Mosquitoes, black flies, etc., pursued us in mid-channel, and we were +glad sometimes to get into violent rapids, for then we escaped them. As +we glided swiftly down the inclined plane of the river, a great cat owl +launched itself away from a stump on the bank, and flew heavily across +the stream, and the Indian, as usual, imitated its note. Soon afterward +a white-headed eagle sailed down the stream before us. We drove him +several miles, while we were looking for a good place to camp,--for we +expected to be overtaken by a shower,--and still we could distinguish +him by his white tail, sailing away from time to time from some tree by +the shore still farther down the stream. Some _she-corways_ being +surprised by us, a part of them dived, and we passed directly over them, +and could trace their course here and there by a bubble on the surface, +but we did not see them come up. + +It was some time before we found a camping-place, for the shore was +either too grassy and muddy, where mosquitoes abounded, or too steep a +hillside. We at length found a place to our minds, where, in a very +dense spruce wood above a gravelly shore, there seemed to be but few +insects. The trees were so thick that we were obliged to clear a space +to build our fire and lie down in, and the young spruce trees that were +left were like the wall of an apartment rising around us. We were +obliged to pull ourselves up a steep bank to get there. But the place +which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, +begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very center of +civilization to you: "Home is home, be it never so homely." + +The mosquitoes were numerous, and the Indian complained a good deal, +though he lay, as the night before, between three fires and his +stretched hide. As I sat on a stump by the fire with a veil and gloves +on, trying to read, he observed, "I make you candle," and in a minute he +took a piece of birch bark about two inches wide and rolled it hard, +like an allumette[4] fifteen inches long, lit it, fixed it by the other +end horizontally in a split stick three feet high, and stuck it in the +ground, turning the blazing end to the wind, and telling me to snuff it +from time to time. It answered the purpose of a candle pretty well. + +I noticed, as I had before, that there was a lull among the mosquitoes +about midnight, and that they began again in the morning. Apparently +they need rest as well as we. Few, if any, creatures are equally active +all night. As soon as it was light I saw, through my veil, that the +inside of the tent about our heads was quite blackened with myriads, and +their combined hum was almost as bad to endure as their stings. I had an +uncomfortable night on this account, though I am not sure that one +succeeded in his attempt to sting me. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] A match. In this case an old-fashioned "spill," or lamplighter, made +by twisting a piece of paper, into a long, tight spiral roll. + + + + +X + +SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY AUGUST 1-3 + + +I caught two or three large red chivin within twenty feet of the camp, +which, added to the moose tongue that had been left in the kettle +boiling over night, and to our other stores, made a sumptuous breakfast. +The Indian made us some hemlock tea instead of coffee. This was +tolerable, though he said it was not strong enough. It was interesting +to see so simple a dish as a kettle of water with a handful of green +hemlock sprigs in it boiling over the huge fire in the open air, the +leaves fast losing their lively green color, and know that it was for +our breakfast. + +We were glad to embark once more and leave some of the mosquitoes +behind. We found that we had camped about a mile above Hunt's, which is +the last house for those who ascend Katahdin on this side. We had +expected to ascend it from this point, but my companion was obliged to +give up this on account of sore feet. The Indian, however, suggested +that perhaps he might get a pair of moccasins at this place, and that he +could walk very easily in them without hurting his feet, wearing several +pairs of stockings, and he said beside that they were so porous that +when you had taken in water it all drained out in a little while. We +stopped to get some sugar, but found that the family had moved away, and +the house was unoccupied, except temporarily by some men who were +getting the hay. I noticed a seine here stretched on the bank, which +probably had been used to catch salmon. + +Just below this, on the west bank, we saw a moose-hide stretched, and +with it a bearskin. The Indian said they belonged to Joe Aitteon,[5] but +how he told I do not know. He was probably hunting near and had left +them for the day. Finding that we were going directly to Oldtown, he +regretted that he had not taken more of the moose meat to his family, +saying that in a short time, by drying it, he could have made it so +light as to have brought away the greater part, leaving the bones. We +once or twice inquired after the lip, which is a famous tidbit, but he +said, "That go Oldtown for my old woman; don't get it every day." + +Maples grew more and more numerous. It rained a little during the +forenoon, and, as we expected a wetting, we stopped early and dined just +above Whetstone Falls, about a dozen miles below Hunt's. My companion, +having lost his pipe, asked the Indian if he could make him one. + +"Oh, yer," said he, and in a minute rolled up one of birch bark, telling +him to wet the bowl from time to time. + +We carried round the falls. The distance was about three fourths of a +mile. When we had carried over one load, the Indian returned by the +shore, and I by the path; and though I made no particular haste I was +nevertheless surprised to find him at the other end as soon as I. It was +remarkable how easily he got over the worst ground. He said to me, "I +take canoe and you take the rest, suppose you can keep along with me?" + +I thought he meant that while he ran down the rapids I should keep along +the shore, and be ready to assist him from time to time, as I had done +before; but as the walking would be very bad, I answered, "I suppose you +will go too fast for me, but I will try." + +But I was to go by the path, he said. This I thought would not help the +matter, I should have so far to go to get to the riverside when he +wanted me. But neither was this what he meant. He was proposing a race +over the carry, and asked me if I thought I could keep along with him by +the same path, adding that I must be pretty smart to do it. As his +load, the canoe, would be much the heaviest and bulkiest, I thought that +I ought to be able to do it, and said that I would try. So I proceeded +to gather up the gun, axe, paddle, kettle, frying-pan, plates, dippers, +carpets, etc., and while I was thus engaged he threw me his cowhide +boots. "What, are these in the bargain?" I asked. + +"Oh, yer," said he; but before I could make a bundle of my load I saw +him disappearing over a hill with the canoe on his head. + +Hastily scraping the various articles together, I started on the run, +and immediately went by him in the bushes, but I had no sooner left him +out of sight in a rocky hollow than the greasy plates, dippers, etc., +took to themselves wings, and while I was employed in gathering them up, +he went by me; but, hastily pressing the sooty kettle to my side, I +started once more, and, soon passing him again, I saw him no more on the +carry. I do not mention this as anything of a feat, for it was but poor +running on my part, and he was obliged to move with great caution for +fear of breaking his canoe as well as his neck. When he made his +appearance, puffing and panting like myself, in answer to my inquiries +where he had been, he said, "Locks cut 'em feet," and, laughing, added, +"Oh, me love to play sometimes." + +He said that he and his companions when they came to carries several +miles long used to try who would get over first; each perhaps with a +canoe on his head. I bore the sign of the kettle on my brown linen sack +for the rest of the voyage. + +[Illustration: _Carrying round the Falls_] + +As we approached the mouth of the East Branch we passed two or three +huts, the first sign of civilization after Hunt's, though we saw no road +as yet. We heard a cowbell, and even saw an infant held up to a small +square window to see us pass. On entering the West Branch at Nicketow, +Polis remarked that it was all smooth water hence to Oldtown, and he +threw away his pole which was cut on the Umbazookskus. + +We camped about two miles below Nicketow, covering with fresh twigs the +withered bed of a former traveler, and feeling that we were now in a +settled country, especially when in the evening we heard an ox sneeze in +its wild pasture across the river. Wherever you land along the +frequented part of the river you have not far to go to find these sites +of temporary inns, the withered bed of flattened twigs, the charred +sticks, and perhaps the tent-poles. Not long since, similar beds were +spread along the Connecticut, the Hudson, and the Delaware, and longer +still ago, by the Thames and Seine, and they now help to make the soil +where private and public gardens, mansions, and palaces are. We could +not get fir twigs for our bed here, and the spruce was harsh in +comparison, having more twig in proportion to its leaf, but we improved +it somewhat with hemlock. + +After the regular supper we attempted to make a lily soup of the bulbs +which I had brought along, for I wished to learn all I could before I +got out of the woods. Following the Indian's directions, I washed the +bulbs carefully, minced some moose meat and some pork, salted and boiled +all together, but we had not the patience to try the experiment fairly, +for he said it must be boiled till the roots were completely softened so +as to thicken the soup like flour; but though we left it on all night, +we found it dried to the kettle in the morning and not yet boiled to a +flour. Perhaps the roots were not ripe enough, for they commonly gather +them in the fall. The Indian's name for these bulbs was _sheepnoc_. + +He prepared to camp as usual between his moose-hide and the fire, but it +beginning to rain suddenly he took refuge under the tent with us, and +gave us a song before falling asleep. It rained hard in the night and +spoiled another box of matches for us, which the Indian had left out, +for he was very careless; but we had so much the better night for the +rain, since it kept the mosquitoes down. + +Sunday, a cloudy and unpromising morning. One of us observed to the +Indian, "You did not stretch your moose-hide last night, did you, Mr. +Polis?" + +Whereat he replied in a tone of surprise, though perhaps not of ill +humor: "What you ask me that question for? Suppose I stretch 'em, you +see 'em. May be your way talking, may be all right, no Indian way." + +I had observed that he did not wish to answer the same question more +than once, and was often silent when it was put again, as if he were +moody. Not that he was incommunicative, for he frequently commenced a +longwinded narrative of his own accord--repeated at length the tradition +of some old battle, or some passage in the recent history of his tribe +in which he had acted a prominent part, from time to time drawing a +long breath, and resuming the thread of his tale, with the true +story-teller's leisureliness. Especially after the day's work was over, +and he had put himself in posture for the night, he would be +unexpectedly sociable, and we would fall asleep before he got through. + +The Indian was quite sick this morning with the colic. I thought that he +was the worse for the moose meat he had eaten. + +We reached the Mattawamkeag at half past eight in the morning, in the +midst of a drizzling rain, and, after buying some sugar, set out again. + +The Indian growing much worse, we stopped in the north part of Lincoln +to get some brandy for him, but, failing in this, an apothecary +recommended Brandreth's pills, which he refused to take because he was +not acquainted with them. He said, "Me doctor--first study my case, find +out what ail 'em--then I know what to take." + +We stopped at mid-forenoon on an island and made him a dipper of tea. +Here, too, we dined and did some washing and botanizing, while he lay on +the bank. In the afternoon we went on a little farther. As a +thunder-shower appeared to be coming up we stopped opposite a barn on +the west bank. Here we were obliged to spend the rest of the day and +night, on account of our patient, whose sickness did not abate. He lay +groaning under his canoe on the bank, looking very woebegone. You would +not have thought, if you had seen him lying about thus, that he was +worth six thousand dollars and had been to Washington. It seemed to me +that he made a greater ado about his sickness than a Yankee does, and +was more alarmed about himself. We talked somewhat of leaving him with +his people in Lincoln,--for that is one of their homes,--but he objected +on account of the expense, saying, "Suppose me well in morning, you and +I go Oldtown by noon." + +As we were taking our tea at twilight, while he lay groaning under his +canoe, he asked me to get him a dipper of water. Taking the dipper in +one hand, he seized his powderhorn with the other, and, pouring into it +a charge or two of powder, stirred it up with his finger, and drank it +off. This was all he took to-day after breakfast beside his tea. + +To save the trouble of pitching our tent, when we had secured our stores +from wandering dogs, we camped in the solitary half-open barn near the +bank, with the permission of the owner, lying on new-mown hay four feet +deep. The fragrance of the hay, in which many ferns, etc., were mingled, +was agreeable, though it was quite alive with grasshoppers which you +could hear crawling through it. This served to graduate our approach to +houses and feather beds. In the night some large bird, probably an owl, +flitted through over our heads, and very early in the morning we were +awakened by the twittering of swallows which had their nests there. + +We started early before breakfast, the Indian being considerably better, +and soon glided by Lincoln, and stopped to breakfast two or three miles +below this town. + +We frequently passed Indian islands with their small houses on them. The +Penobscot Indians seem to be more social even than the whites. Ever and +anon in the deepest wilderness of Maine you come to the log hut of a +Yankee or Canada settler, but a Penobscot never takes up his residence +in such a solitude. They are not even scattered about on their islands +in the Penobscot, but gathered together on two or three, evidently for +the sake of society. I saw one or two houses not now used by them, +because, as our Indian said, they were too solitary. + +From time to time we met Indians in their canoes going up river. Our man +did not commonly approach them, but only exchanged a few words with them +at a distance. We took less notice of the scenery to-day, because we +were in quite a settled country. The river became broad and sluggish, +and we saw a blue heron winging its way slowly down the stream before +us. + +The Sunkhaze, a short dead stream, comes in from the east two miles +above Oldtown. Asking the meaning of this name, the Indian said, +"Suppose you are going down Penobscot, just like we, and you see a canoe +come out of bank and go along before you, but you no see 'em stream. +That is _Sunkhaze_." + +He had previously complimented me on my paddling, saying that I paddled +"just like anybody," giving me an Indian name which meant "great +paddler." When off this stream he said to me, who sat in the bows, "Me +teach you paddle." + +So, turning toward the shore, he got out, came forward, and placed my +hands as he wished. He placed one of them quite outside the boat, and +the other parallel with the first, grasping the paddle near the end, +not over the flat extremity, and told me to slide it back and forth on +the side of the canoe. This, I found, was a great improvement which I +had not thought of, saving me the labor of lifting the paddle each time, +and I wondered that he had not suggested it before. It is true, before +our baggage was reduced we had been obliged to sit with our legs drawn +up, and our knees above the side of the canoe, which would have +prevented our paddling thus, or perhaps he was afraid of wearing out his +canoe by constant friction on the side. + +I told him that I had been accustomed to sit in the stern, and lift my +paddle at each stroke, getting a pry on the side each time, and I still +paddled partly as if in the stern. He then wanted to see me paddle in +the stern. So, changing paddles, for he had the longer and better one, +and turning end for end, he sitting flat on the bottom and I on the +crossbar, he began to paddle very hard, trying to turn the canoe, +looking over his shoulder and laughing, but, finding it in vain, he +relaxed his efforts, though we still sped along a mile or two very +swiftly. He said that he had no fault to find with my paddling in the +stern, but I complained that he did not paddle according to his own +directions in the bows. + +As we drew near to Oldtown I asked Polis if he was not glad to get home +again; but there was no relenting to his wildness, and he said, "It +makes no difference to me where I am." Such is the Indian's pretense +always. + +We approached the Indian Island through the narrow strait called "Cook." +He said: "I 'xpect we take in some water there, river so high--never see +it so high at this season. Very rough water there; swamp steamboat once. +Don't you paddle till I tell you. Then you paddle right along." + +It was a very short rapid. When we were in the midst of it he shouted, +"Paddle!" and we shot through without taking in a drop. Soon after the +Indian houses came in sight. I could not at first tell my companion +which of two or three large white ones was our guide's. He said it was +the one with blinds. + +We landed opposite his door at about four in the afternoon, having come +some forty miles this day. We stopped for an hour at his house. Mrs. P. +wore a hat and had a silver brooch on her breast, but she was not +introduced to us. The house was roomy and neat. A large new map of +Oldtown and the Indian Island hung on the wall, and a clock opposite to +it. + +This was the last that I saw of Joe Polis. We took the last train, and +reached Bangor that night. + +THE END + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Joe Aitteon was Thoreau's guide on the second of his three +excursions into the Maine Woods. He was an Indian whose home was on the +same island where Polis lived. + + + + +A SELECTED LIST OF OUT-OF-DOOR +AND NATURE BOOKS + + +_By JOHN BURROUGHS_ + +The Summit of the Years +Time and Change +Leaf and Tendril +Ways of Nature +Far and Near +Wake-Robin +Winter Sunshine +Pepacton, and Other Sketches +Fresh Fields +Signs and Seasons +Birds and Poets, with Other Papers +Locusts and Wild Honey +Riverby + Each of the above, 16mo, gilt top, $1.15 _net_. + +A Year in the Fields + Selections appropriate to each season of the year from the writings of + JOHN BURROUGHS. With a Biographical Sketch, and 24 illustrations + from Photographs by CLIFTON JOHNSON. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50 _net_. + +Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers + Illustrated in color after AUDUBON. Square 12mo, $1.00 _net_. + +In the Catskills + Illustrated by CLIFTON JOHNSON. $1.50 _net_. + + +_By J. SMEATON CHASE_ + +California Coast Trails + 16 full-page illustrations from Photographs. Large crown 8vo, + $2.00 _net_. + +Yosemite Trails + Illustrated. Large crown 8vo, $2.00 _net_. + + +_By ELLERY H. CLARK_ + +Reminiscences of an Athlete + Illustrated. 12mo, $1.25 _net_. + + +_By FANNIE HARDY ECKSTORM_ + +The Woodpeckers + With 5 colored Illustrations by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, and many + Text Illustrations. Square 12mo, $1.00 _net_. + + +_By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY_ + +Handbook of Birds of the Western United States + Profusely illustrated by LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES. 12mo, $3.50 _net_. + +Birds of Village and Field + A Bird Book for Beginners. With a General Field Color Key to 154 + Birds, and over 300 Illustrations. 12mo, $2.00 _net_. + +A-Birding on a Bronco + With numerous Illustrations. 16mo, $1.25 _net_. + +My Summer in a Mormon Village + Illustrated. 16mo, $1.00 _net_. + +Birds through an Opera-Glass + Illustrated. 16mo, 75 cents _net_. + + +_By MARY E. BAMFORD_ + +Up and Down the Brooks + Illustrated. 16mo, 75 cents _net_. + + +_By C. WILLIAM BEEBE_ + +Two Bird-Lovers in Mexico + With more than one hundred illustrations. Large crown 8vo, $3.00 + _net_. + + +_By FRANK BOLLES_ + +Chocorua's Tenants + Illustrated. 16mo, gilt top, $1.00 _net_. + +From Blomidon to Smoky, and Other Papers +Land of the Lingering Snow. Chronicles of a Stroller in New England + from January to June +At the North of Bearcamp Water. Chronicles of a Stroller in New + England from July to December + Each of the above, 16mo, $1.25 _net_. + + +_By EDWARD BRECK_ + +Wilderness Pets at Camp Buckshaw + Illustrated. Square crown 8vo, $1.50 _net_. + + +_By EDWIN T. BREWSTER_ + +Swimming + With frontispiece and diagrams. 16mo, $1.00 _net_. + + +_By SIMON B. ELLIOTT_ + +The Important Timber Trees of the United States + With 47 Illustrations from Photographs. 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