FORCE OF THE WATERS. 99 



cold, the fallen trees have all been sawn into measured logs, and the long 

 repose of the oxen has fitted them for hauUng them to the nearest frozen 

 streams. The ice gradually becomes covered with the accumulating mass 

 of timber, and, their task completed, the lumberers wait impatiently for the 

 breaking up of the 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 of sables, martins, and musk-rats they have procured during 

 the intervals of their labour, or under 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 accom- 

 plish in safety. 



From being lumberers they now become millers, and with pleasure 

 each applies the grating file to his saws. Many logs have already reached 

 the dams on the swoUen waters of the rushing streams, and the task com- 

 mences, which is carried on through the summer, of cutting them up into 

 boards. 



The great heats of the dog-days have parched the ground ; 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 mul- 

 titudes of rocks project, as if to afford 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 pur- 

 pose 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 endeavours to give you an idea of it. 



It was the month of September. At the upper extremity of Dennis- 

 ville, which is itself a pretty viUage, are the saw-mills and ponds of the 

 hospitable Judge Lincoln and other persons. The creek that conveys 

 the logs to these ponds, and which bears the name of the village, is inter- 

 rupted in its course by many rapids and narrow embanked gorges. One 



r. 9. 



