100 GOLD THREAD. 



ing but ponds and high hills, so that with a great deal of climb- 

 ing and going around to get a very short distance only, I was 

 obliged to return at dark having accomplished very little. 



I made a curious discovery this evening. On returning home 

 from one of these short daily trips I noticed a large pile of heavy 

 brush lying over against the side of the stable door (why I had not 

 seen it before I cannot tell) , and upon inquiry found that it was 

 the remains of the birch and alder tops with which the cattle had 

 been fed the previous spring. It seems that, at this time of the 

 year, when fodder is scarce, the cattle are fed with the slender, 

 tender tops of these trees, and they are eaten with avidity and 

 apparent relish. 



About this time I discovered the plant Copiis trifolia, or golden 

 thread, from the litde, slender golden thread of a root which it 

 possesses. It grows in abundance in these regions and farther 

 west, and is plucked and sent to market in large quantities. It is 

 a mild tonic and treated with hot water is taken with impunity. 



One day, early this week, one of the men brought in a spruce 

 partridge {Tetrao Canadensis), which he had killed in the woods. 

 These birds are usually very tame. They fly from cover and alight 

 in some bush, seemingly stupefied from being flushed, while I have 

 often known the young fellows to knock them over with sticks or 

 the ends of their gun barrels, without even taking the trouble to 

 waste powder and shot upon them. One day towards the close of 

 the week we amused ourselves by digging a species of clam (ques- 

 tionably Mya arenaria), which is found in the mud at low tide just 

 here, in abundance. They were excellent eating, and made a very 

 good soup. Strange to say, though they appear to be abundant 

 here, the people seem to care very little for them, and seldom dig 

 them. 



Friday, November the 2d. Although this morning I climbed the 

 ridge back of the house, and over and about the place that many 

 of the people suppose to have been the location of the old times 

 fortification and fort, but which appears upon examination to pre- 

 sent few facts to confirm such an opinion ; and though I also went 



