284 Life of Audubon. 



ing up of winter. At this period they pass the time in 

 hunting the moose, the deer and the bear, for the benefit 

 of their wives and children ; and as these men are most 

 excellent woodsmen, great havoc is made among the 

 game ; many skins, sables, martins and muskrats, they 

 have procured during the intervals of their labor, or un- 

 der night. The snows are now giving way as the rains 

 descend in torrents, and the lumberers collect their uten- 

 sils, harness their cattle, and prepare for their return. 

 This they accomplish in safety. From being lumberers, 

 they become millers, and with pleasure each applies the gra- 

 ting file to his saws. Many logs have already reached the 

 dams on the swollen waters of the rushing streams, and the 

 task commences, which is carried on through the sum- 

 mer, of cutting them up into boards. The great heat of 

 the dog-days has parched the ground j every creek has 

 become a shallow, except here and there where, in a deep 

 hole, the salmon and the trout have found a retreat : the 

 sharp slimy angles of multitudes of rocks project, as if to 

 afibrd resting-places to the wood-ducks and herons that 

 breed on the borders of these streams. Thousands of 

 ' saw-logs ' remain in every pool, beneath and above 

 each rapid or fall. The miller's dam has been emptied 

 of its timber, and he must now resort to some expedient 

 to procure a fresh supply. It was my good fortune to 

 witness the method employed for the purpose of collecting 

 the logs that had not reached their destination, and I 

 had the more pleasure that it was seen in company with 

 my little family. I wish, for your sake, reader, that I 

 could describe in an adequate manner the scene which 

 I viewed ; but although not so well qualified as I could 

 wish, rely upon it that the desire which I feel to gratify 

 you will induce me to use all my endeavors to give you 

 an idea of it. It was the month of September. 



" At the upper extremity of Dennisville, which is it- 



