FLOATING TIMBER. 233 



the trout have found a retreat: the sharp slimy angles of 

 multitudes 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, be- 

 neath and above each rapid or fall. The miUer'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 purpose 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 faniily. 

 I wish, for your sake, reader, that I could describe in an ade- 

 quate 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 Dennisville, which is itself a 

 pretty village, 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 interrupted in its course by many rapids and narrow embanked 

 gorges. One of the latter is situated about half a mile above 

 the mill-dam, and is so rocky and rugged in the bottom and 

 sides as to preclude the possibility of the trees passing along it 

 at low water, while, as I conceived, it would have given no sKght 

 labour to an army of woodsmen or millers to move the thousands 

 of large logs that had accumulated in it. They lay piled in 

 confused heaps to a great height along an extent of several 

 hundred yards, and were in some places so close as to have 

 formed a kind of dam. Above the gorge there is a large 

 natural reservoir, in which the head waters of the creek settle, 

 while only a small portion of these ripple through the gorge 

 below, during the latter weeks of summer and in early autumn, 

 when their streams are at the lowest. At the neck of this 

 basin the lumberers raised a temporary barrier with the refuse 

 of their sawn logs. The boards were planted nearly upright, 

 and supported at their tops by a strong tree extended from side 

 to side of the creek, which might there be about forty feet in 

 breadth. It was prevented from giving way under the pressure 

 of the rising waters by having strong abutments of wood laid 



