MECHANICAL INGENUITY OF BACKWOODSMEN. 85 



of smoked meat hung from the roof, surrounded by 

 strips of dried pumpkin, suspended on poles. 



The above-named boy, a girl of ten, a blue-eyed, flaxen- 

 haired, rosy-cheeked girl of four, diligently munching a 

 bunch of wild grapes, and the little one on my friend's 

 lap, formed the family; they all looked shyly at me, 

 tkough they had seen me six months before, so that I 

 was not quite a stranger to them. 



We had agreed to set off for the mountains at once 

 but Slowtrap found some business to detain him at home, 

 so it was put off till the next week, and I amused myself 

 in the mean time as well as I could ; and as I was ac- 

 quainted with the country, I took my rifle, and paid a 

 few visits to old acquaintances, returning to Slowtrap's 

 on the 12th December, partly on account of the cold wet 

 weather, and partly to mend my moccasins, which had 

 suffered severely from the sharp stones of these moun- 

 tains. Slowtrap happened to be mending a pair of shoes 

 at the same time. It is a general practice with the back- 

 woodsmen to make their own shoes, and a regular shoe- 

 maker is a scarce article in this part of the world. As 

 they are thrown on their own resources from their youth, 

 these Americans are very skillful in providing for their 

 necessary wants, and are particularly expert with the 

 axe, which they begin to wield as soon as their arms are 

 strong enough to lift it. They use it for a variety of 

 purposes building houses, laying roofs and floors, form- 

 ing the chimneys and doors, the only other tool used be- 

 ing an auger ; and nothing amuses them more than to see 

 the awkwardness of a new comer, when first he handles 

 an axe. Besides making their own shoes, they under 



