92 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



are several departments of labor, each man is assigned to some 

 one of them. In most cases, indeed, every hand is hired with 

 the distinct understanding that he is to perform a particular part 

 of the labor, and the wages differ accordingly, being regulated, 

 also, by the ability with which they can severally fill those sta- 

 tions. 



First, then, comes the "boss," or the principal in charge. 

 Then the choppers, meaning those who select, fell, and cut the 

 logs, one of whom is master chopper. Next the swampers, who 

 cut and clear the roads through the forest to the fallen trees, one 

 of whom is master swamper. Then comes the barker and loader, 

 the man who hews off the bark from that part of the log which 

 is to drag on the snow, and assists the teamster in loading. Then 

 we have the captain of the goad, or teamster, whom we have al- 

 ready alluded to ; and finally the cook, whose duty is too gen- 

 erally known to require any particular description. Every crew 

 is not supplied with the last important character ; this deficiency, 

 I believe, is much more common on the St. Croix than on the 

 Penobscot, where the mode of camp life and fare is much better 

 attended to. When we have no person specially set apart to 

 this work, the crew generally take turns, to do which there is 

 an obligation imposed by usage and common consent on some 

 rivers, and each man, therefore, must comply, or furnish a sub- 

 stitute by employing some one to act for him. In those instances 

 where no cook is provided, we take turns, a week at a time, or 

 each man consents to perform some particular duty in cookery ; for 

 instance, one makes all the bread, another the tea and coffee, and 

 so on through the routine of camp domesticism. A slight degree 

 of rebellion sometimes manifests itself touching this business, es- 

 pecially before matters receive their regular winter mold. One 

 refuses to cook, another says he " was hired to do something else," 

 while another says, "I'm d — d if I cook any how." I recollect 

 a pleasant occurrence of this kind, at least one rendered so by 



