■ 26 LIFE OF AUDUBON. 



assist her, leaped on shore, and hugged h la eordelle. Some 

 miles further we passed a curious cataract, formed by the waters 

 of the Pakioke. 



" There Sambo led his steeds up the sides of a high bank, 

 when, lo ! the whole party came tumbling down like so many 

 hogsheads of tobacco rolled from a store-house to the banks of 

 the Ohio. He at the steering oar, ' Hoped the black rascal had 

 broken his neck,' and congratulated himself .in the same breath 

 for the safety of his horses, which presently got on their feet. 

 Sambo, however, alert as an Indian chief, leaped on the naked 

 back of one, and, showing his teeth, laughed at his master's 

 curses. Shortly after this, we found our boat very snugly 

 secured on the top of a rock, midway in the stream, just op- 

 posite the mouth of Eel Eiver. Next day at noon — none injured, 

 but all chop-fallen — we were landed at Woodstock Village, yet 

 in its infancy. After dining there, we procured a cart and an 

 excellent driver, and proceeded along an execrable road towards 

 Houlton, in Maine, glad enougli, after all our mishaps, at finding 

 ourselves in our own country. But before I. bid farewell to the 

 beautiful river of St. John, I must tell you that its navigation 

 seldom exceeds eight months each year, the passage during the 

 rest being performed on the ice, of which we were told that last 

 season there was an unusual quantity ; so much indeed as to 

 accumulate, by being jammed at particular spots, to the height 

 of nearly fifty feet above the ordinary level of the river, and 

 that when it broke loose in the spring the crash was awful. All 

 the low grounds along the river were suddenly flooded, and even 

 the elevated plain on which Frederickton stands was covered 

 to the depth of four feet. Fortunately, however, as on the 

 greater streams of the Western and Southern districts, such an 

 occurrence seldom takes place. 



" Major Clarke, commander of the United States garrison, 

 received us with remarkable kindness. The next day was spent 

 in along, though fruitless, ornithological excursion ; for although 

 ■we were accompanied by officers and men from the garrison, 

 not a bird did any of our party procure that was of any use to 

 us. We remained a few days, however ; after which, hiring a 

 cart, two horses, and a driver, we proceeded in the direction of 

 Bangor. Houlton is a neat village, consisting of some fifty 



