AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



21 



but the cracking of brush, and heavy jumps, until the yell 

 of Mitchell Louis proclaimed victory. On coming up, we 

 found he had seized the dying animal, and had received 

 some tolerably severe wounds in the scuffle, before he could 

 use his knife. It turned out one of the largest bucks ever 

 killed in this part of the country, and withal, exceedingly 

 fat. We estimated his weight at near three hundred 

 pounds, and as we were now overstocked with provision, 

 the Indians availing themselves of my intention to remain 

 encamped on Sunday, asked leave to travel all night to 

 take the meat to their friends, on the river below, promis- 

 ing to be back on Sunday night, which, of course, was 

 granted, and they started, leaving us one of the canoes. 



H. and myself were now left many miles from any human 

 being, surrounded by a gloomy hemlock swamp. He began 

 collecting fuel and building a camp, while I played the part 

 of cook. A plentiful supper, a social pipe of esquepomgole^ 

 and a quantity of hemlock branches for a bed, closed the 

 proceedings of the day. 



But Sunday did not end so comfortably; we were visited 

 in the morning by six canoe loads of Indians; they had 

 been up the river hunting, but were not very successful; 

 with them they had the skins of sable and moose; of the 

 latter they had killed four, but how, was to me a mystery; 

 as their guns were among the worst I had ever seen. On 

 asking them what was the greatest distance at which they 

 could kill a moose, they pointed to a spot about thirty yards 

 distant. On receiving a present from us of fresh venison, 

 pork, and biscuit, they departed. After which we were 

 visited by two white trappers, in a '^ birch f they were in 

 search, principally, of musquash. (Muskrat, Fiber zibethi- 

 cus.) In the afternoon it began to rain, with a strong S. E. 

 wind; fixed our tent in the best manner we could; the defi- 

 ciency of a tent was again supplied by a blanket spread on 

 two poles, and as we did not expect it to keep us dry, we 

 were not disappointed, though it saved us in a great meas- 

 ure; our baggage and provisions were stowed under the 

 canoe, turned bottom up, among the bushes. 



October \2th. Our Indian friends returned about dark, 

 having travelled all last night and to day, with the excep- 

 tion of about two hours, spent at breakfast with their wives 

 and sisters. I took a short ramble in the woods back of us, 

 in the afternoon, through the intervals of rain, but could 

 not penetrate far, for mats of dead and falling timber cover- 

 ed with moss, in such a manner, that it was like groping 

 among huge masses of sponge,- with a very uncertain foun- 

 dation. Red squirrels (Sciurus Hudsonius) were the 



* Esquepomgole is Ihe Penobscot aud Passamaquoddy name for the mixture 

 of tobacco and inner bark of red willow, [Cornus alba,) it is smoked by almost 

 all the different bands of North American Indians, but, of course, in different 

 languages is known under other names. 



only living creatures to be seen; they were numerous, and 

 form the principal food of the sable, which abound on the 

 higher grounds; they pursue the squirrel from tree to tree, 

 with as much activity as Mr. Audibon describes the rattle- 

 snakes; (which, by the bye, is about as great a humbug as 

 ever John Bull was gulled with.) 



Heavy rain all night, but having brought with me an oil 

 cloth coverlid, six feet square, we were kept tolerably dry 

 under it, the only inconvenience was, that we had collected 

 scarcely hemlock branches sufficient to keep us out of the 

 puddles beneath; and as it was impossible to keep our fire, 

 or to light it in the morning, we laid in bed until ten o'clock, 

 when the rain ceasing, we cooked our breakfasts, loaded the 

 canoes, and took leave of the great buck camp; poled up 

 some very difficult rapids, where the fall was more than 

 five feet in twenty yards. 



We went eight miles, and about three o'clock arrived at 

 a saw-mill and settlement of whites; had our dinners cooked 

 at one of the houses, whilst the Indians mended the canoes, 

 which had received some damage; an operation that is per- 

 formed by covering the cracks with a composition of resin 

 and tallow, while a coal held over and blown, melts it, at 

 the particular places required. 



The old lady who cooked our dinners, had several fine 

 daughters, who said they were all heartily sick of the 

 woods, having resided here five years without any chances 

 for husbands, which may fairly be considered a hard case. 

 Made a portage across the mill-dam, and left the last settle- 

 ment on the Passedunky, where we left all our superfluous 

 baggage. Alter proceeding some distance, came to an 

 Indian camp of three fires (at each a family) ; as it was near 

 evening, and they being relatives of our guides, we con- 

 cluded to stop for the night; the camp was on a low flat 

 point, covered with huge hemlocks, the dark shade of 

 which heightened the romantic effect of a beautiful moon- 

 light night, whilst the fires and dark moving figures enli- 

 vened the whole. One of the men was quite communica- 

 tive, and they dubbed him laivyer; he was very anxious 

 to hear all the news from me — said he had heard of an 

 account in one of the Canada papers, of an adjustment of 

 the boundary line of Maine, and wanted to know if we 

 had heard of it, observing that all boundaries were bad 

 that did not follow the courses of the streams: the three 

 men are Passamaquoddys, and are married to Penobscot 

 squaws, who are now on their way to see their relatives at 

 Old Town. 



Tuesday, ISfh. Passed several rapids, rips, and shoots, 

 schutes, as they are called by the whites. Hills rise here 

 directly from the river, leaving no bottoms, but are of 

 slight elevation, and covered with heavy timber; larch, 

 hemlock, &c. predominating. Proceeding a few miles 



