FOREST LIFE. 59 



Btant their boat was hurled into the tops of the trees over their 

 heads, while they were able to retain their position by holding on 

 to the small undergrowth, and escaped unhurt. The hurricane, 

 in its passage across the meadow, seemed to lose its force, so that 

 by the time it reached the opposite side of the meadow its power 

 was broken, and its career of destruction ended. In its passage 

 it laid a strip of forest level some seventy rods wide and thirty 

 miles long. No tree within this limit withstood its fury. The 

 toughest and stateliest mingled in wildest confusion with blanched 

 trunks, yielding sapling, and slender undergrowth. 



At the proper time, which varies in different localities, but 

 generally during the early part of fall, a more extensive outfit is 

 made for another up-river expedition, for the purpose of erecting 

 ■winter camps, clearing the main roads, and attending to such 

 other preliminaries as may be deemed necessary. 



Several years ago the whole distance from our homes to the 

 interior was traveled by water, on which occasions heavy-la- 

 den boats were taken up these rivers and streams, and across 

 the lakes, an operation which was both hazardous and laborious, 

 particularly where the swift current of rapids was to be over- 

 come, and when it became necessary to carry the boat and cargo 

 around impassable falls — a frequent occurrence, the river in some 

 places being nothing but one continuous succession of rapids for 

 miles. In some places, to save the labor of " carr3dng by," at- 

 tempts are made to shove the boats up fearful rapids, where a 

 single mistake or false maneuver would swamp them. A lively 

 little incident of this kind is quoted below, from Doctor Jackson's 

 account of an excursion up the Penobscot on the business of a geo- 

 logical survey of the state. 



" "While we were engaged in exploring the rocks (at Grind- 

 stone Falls), our men tried to shove the boat up the falls, but the 

 violence of the current prevented their effecting their object, the 

 boat being instantly filled and sunk in the attempt, while all our 



