VISIT TO ST. FRANCIS. 71 



whence the sound proceeds, intent on repelling the intruder. 

 Listening to the repeated calls, again and again the bull an- 

 swers, till at length he is drawn within the range of the 

 rifle of the secreted hunter. My maiden effort at moose- 

 shooting was made in such a manner. As if it were but 

 yesterday, the whole adventure is written plainly on my 

 memory. I had only been in America a few months. The 

 attractions of Saratoga I could not avoid, and when there 

 became acquainted with a family of St. Francis Indians, 

 earning a precarious subsistence by basket-making. Before 

 this I had never met any of the aborigines of the American 

 continent, and hour after hour I passed idling around their 

 encampment, listening to stories of the chase, and more es- 

 pecially of moose-hunting. The dark-skinned race got my 

 spare pocket-money, and I, in return, all their knowledge of 

 wood-craft that could be theoretically imparted. The spirit 

 of adventure had become excited within me, and ere I left 

 Saratoga I had faithfully promised to visit St. Francis in 

 autumn, to join one of my new acquaintances in a moose- 

 hunt. 



The beautiful tints of an American fall were in their 

 greatest brilliancy when I reached the termination of a long 

 and tedious journey to accept the proffered hospitalities. 

 My reception was not so enthusiastic as I expected ; in fact, 

 my ardor was a little damped by the marked coolness of 

 my host. Yet, after coming such a distance, I was deter- 

 mined to carry out my project, and a well-stocked purse en- 

 abled me to do so. Starting at early morning, on a beauti- 

 ful, clear day, we descended a tributary stream of the Pe- 

 nobscot River, for eight or ten hours. The easy motion of 

 the birch-bark, the grand scenery, and the brilliant-colored 

 foliage recalled many a vision I had formed of what fairy- 

 land must resemble. About four o'clock we disembarked, 

 our birch-bark was shouldered, and a portage of a mile or 



