64 Life of Auduhon. 



of wood hooped with iron, and lighted by a train, was 

 fired, after which orations were made by various oracles. 

 The good things provided were then largely enjoyed, aftet 

 which dancing was indulged in with an enthusiasm suit- 

 able to such an occasion. Music was provided by vari- 

 ous amateurs, and the fun was only closed by a ride home 

 in the starlight. 



" A maple sugar camp " was always a pleasant refuge 

 to Audubon while wandering in the woods. He de- 

 scribes the wild appearance these camps presented when 

 suddenly reached in the darkness, afar in the woodland 

 solitudes, and only heralded by the snarling of curs and 

 the howlings of the sugar-makers. 



Huge log fires, over which the sugar caldrons were 

 boiled, gave the appearance of a witch incantation to a 

 spectacle in which picturesquely-dressed Indians, rough 

 backwoodsmen, and their strangely-dressed wives and 

 children took part. Raised on a few stones placed 

 around the fires, the sugar kettles were constantly tended 

 by the women, while the men " bled " the sugar maple 

 trees, stuck into the wounds they made, cane pipes, which 

 drained the juice, and collected the maple sap into ves- 

 sels made by splitting up a " yellow poplar " into juice 

 troughs. Ten gallons of sap are required to make one 

 pound of fine-grained sugar, which in some instances is 

 equal to the finest make of candy. Such sugar sold in 

 Kentucky, in the time of Audubon, for as much as a dozen 

 cents in scarce seasons. 



Racoon hunting was a pastime much enjoyed by Au- 

 dubon, and he has left plentiful records of his enjoyment 

 of the sport. He describes the hunter's visit to a home- 

 stead, and the preparations for a racoon hunt. The cost 

 of ammunition was so considerable in the west, while the 

 naturalist roved about, that the axe was reckoned a cheap- 

 er implement than the rifle to secure the prey. From the 



