40 BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



sites for encampment, a portage of twelve miles was made from 

 -St. Stephen to the Upper Schoodic or Grand Falls. * * * 

 About six miles above the Little Cheputnecticook Falls the river 

 expands into a lake surrounded by a tract of low ground called 

 Porter's Meadows. 



" Above this, four miles (out of eight) are occupied Ijy i-apids, 

 the most dangerous of which are the Elbow Rips at the foot of 

 the Lower Lake. Our canoes were pushed up over an evenly 

 inclined plain two miles long, where all our strength and skill 

 were required to overcome the swiftness of the current. After 

 much labor and difficulty the light barks wt-re urged upward 

 ■over the last rapid, and we paddled along the surface of the lake 

 where the water is quiet and its gloomy stillness is strongly con- 

 trasted with the roaring of the river below. * * * 



"We next encamped at the east side of the North Lake, 

 where there is a portage to Eel River Lakes. The difficulty of 

 discovering an old Indian path through the woods is always 

 great to the unpracticed ; and as the portage trail had Ijecome 

 •obscured by the growth of grass during the summer, and none of 

 our Indians had ever passed this route, it was feared that the 

 advantage of the path for carrying the canoes and baggage would 

 be lost, and we should be obliged to steer through the thick 

 forest by compass. From this em1)arrassment I was r-elieNed by 

 the discovery of some Indian hieroglyphics upon a tree, which 

 e.xpressed clearly the necessary information. On the clear wood 

 of a large cedar there was clearly marked in a peculiar black 

 and durable ink an Indian carrying a canoe ; and the direction 

 of the figures was exactly that of the poi-tage ; so that the old 

 winter paths of the lumbermen were readily avoided. Two deer, 

 with an Indian presenting his gun at them, were also exhibited, 

 indicating to the traveller to look out for these animals : the 

 the information was important and found to be strictly correct. 



" The trail is a deep and narrow path, worn out b}' human 

 feet, and at some places the solid rocks were found to be fur- 

 rowed by the moccasins of our native tribes. Aftei- cai-rying our 

 •canoes across this portage, we again embarked for the explora- 

 tion of the rocks of the Eel river and its lakes." 



Another instance in which Dr. Oesner found the benefit of 

 Indian pictorial representation was when hii> party was about to 

 •descent a dangerous rapid and fall on Eel river. Here they saw 

 a large drawing of two Indians with their heels uppermost and 

 their canoe capsized, executed in black ink on a broad piece of 

 ■cedar fixed to a post on the bank of the river. 



