EARLY HISTORY OF SETTLERS. 5. 
skins being about the only thing that could be sold for money. 
A very great inconvenience felt among them, was the want of 
a mill to grind their grain and corn, the nearest being Myer’s 
‘Mill, situate at the foot of Lake Ontario, 60 miles distant. Those 
who went to mill, usually took two weeks to go and return, using 
a canoe for the purpose, and hauling it up on the shore at night , 
when a storm occurred, they were weather-bound until it passed 
over. On their arrival at the mill, they waited till the grist was 
ground, when they returned home in the same manner. As going 
to mill was no light undertaking, and attended with so many ob- 
stacles and perils, a great many expedients were resorted to, in 
order to obviate this necessity. Some of the settlers had brought 
large coffee-mills with them, and these were used to grind or crack 
their grain. Other contrivances were improvised ; one method 
very much in vogue, was to make a rude mortar, by hollowing 
out a stump ; sometimes this was done by boring, or chiseling, 
but it was frequently burnt out, and the cavity scraped with a 
knife, or other instrument, until all the charred spots were remov- 
ed ; then they had a wooden pounder attached to a swing-pole. 
They put the corn into the cavity, and pounded it with this rude 
pestle. This bruised corn was known by the name of Samp, and 
when pounded fine, was made into Johnny Cake, the coarse being 
boiled into mush. Another nutritious and wholesome article 
of food, was found in the wild rice, which grew in most of the 
marshes, and in great abundance at Rice Lake. This was fitst 
parched, and afterwards pounded, and either made into cakes, or 
boiled, and acted as a healthful absorbent, when taken with ani- 
mal food. 
The Indians were very troublesome, and caused considerable 
anxiety, being armed and equipped, and very different from the 
remnants of the broken tribes occasionally seen at the present 
time. Capt. John Trull relates an incident which occurred at this 
time in his father’s house, when he was a boy. His father was 
absent, having gone to Myer’s mill, when a squaw, with four pap- 
ooses, came to the house, and asked his mother for nah-paw-nee 
(Flour.) That article being extremely scarce, his mother refused 
giving her any ; the squaw then searched through the house, and 
found the flour in a kneading trough. She brought it forth, and 
