CASTOROLOGIA. 1 43 



war-path was invariably the court of appeal among the Indians. 

 Let us consider briefly the " Coughsagrage," or the Beaver Hunt- 

 ing Country, on the accompanying map, and trace its history. We 

 have already seen how the early settlements of Europeans kept, 

 of necessity, close to the great waterways, and from many accounts 

 of the early writers it can be fully ascertained how powerful, and 

 sometimes how cruel the Indians were ; how, at times, their malice 

 led them not only to individual assaults, but even prompted them to 

 butcher whole communities, as in the case of the Machine Massacre,- 

 in 1689. It will thus be seen that certain deference towards the 

 laws of the Indian was exacted from these early settlers, and among 

 these laws, that relating to the rights of beaver hunting would be 

 carefulty regarded ; so that, while the white man held his tempting 

 stock of merchandise the Indian controlled the hunting of the beaver. 

 The district now under consideration was a very rugged, wild and 

 mountainous territory (a portion of the Adirondacks), well watered 

 and well wooded; and at that period (1749) in a primeval state, 

 offering a paradise for beavers ; a small territory, yet one in which 

 almost any stream or lake could support a colony. Into this dis- 

 trict the Indians made their excursions, and great festivals must 

 have followed their occasional hunts, for there was the trader, wait- 

 ing with his varied store to make exchange for every pelt, and by 

 some small gift, trying to urge another visit to the reserve. 



When the fur trader went first among the Indians, the beavers 

 were very plentiful and the wants of the Indians comparatively few; 

 but gradually the trader overcame the provident nature of the In- 

 dian, till when "fire-water " had become a regular article of barter, 

 he was so changed that no thought seemed to possess his mind but 

 the desire for more liquor, and he became debauched and debased, 

 and completely under the power of the white man, for losing his 

 self-control, he hunted expressly to try and satisfy a ceaseless thirst, 

 and drew from a limited fund to meet an insatiable want. 



It has been shown that in winter the methods employed in hunt- 

 ing, placed the beaver entirely at the mercy of the Indian, but when 

 extreme measures were instituted, the creeks and streams were 



