RIVER LIFE. 167 



enthusiasm of the river-drivers on such occasions, jumping, hur- 

 raing, and yelling with joyous excitement. 



Such places and scenes as are thus sketched may be found and 

 "witnessed on most rivers w^here lumber is driven. Referring to 

 an item of experience on a drive down the Mattawamkeag, says 

 a logger, " Our drive consisted of about thirteen thousand pieces, 

 with a crew of thirty-two men, all vigorous and in the prime of 

 life. Out of such a number, exposed as we were to the perils 

 attendant upon the business, it was a question which we some- 

 times inwardly pondered, Who of our party may conclude the 

 scenes of mortal life on this drive ? 



" We commenced about the 25th of March to drive, while snow, 

 and ice, and cold weather were yet in the ascendant. The logs 

 were cleared from the lake and stream of Baskahegan in fifty 

 days, which brought us into the Mattawamkeag. Twelve miles 

 down this river, below the jimction of Baskahegan, we came to 

 Slugundy Falls. There the water passes through a gorge about 

 llfty feet wide, with a ledge on either side, making a tremendous 

 plunge, and in immediate proximity a very large rock stands a 

 little detached from its ledgy banks. There the whole body of 

 our logs formed an immense jam, and such a mass of confusion 

 as then presented itself beggars description. Logs of every size 

 were interwoven and tangled together like heaps of straw in 

 ' winnow,' while the water rushed through and over them with 

 a power which seemed equal to the upturning of the very ledges 

 which bound it. We paused to survey the work before us, cal- 

 culating the chances of success, of Hfe and death. We knew the 

 dangers attending the operation ; that life had on former occa- 

 sions been sacrificed there, and that the graves of the brave men 

 who had fallen were not far distant ; and we remembered that 

 we too might make with them our final resting-place. The 

 work was, however, commenced ; and after five days incessant 

 application, mutually sharing the dangers incurred, we made a 



