Lake Umbagog
1907.
August 8
  The following account of Metalluc was given me
to-day by Mr. West. He was a St. Francis Indian, banished
from his tribe because of some technical offence of a political
nature committed when a young man. After leaving Canada he
lived for many years about the lower lakes of the Rangely
chain having a permanent camp at the narrows on
Richardson Lake and one used less regularly, yet not
infrequently, on the island in Lake Umbagog that bears his
name. He was a thoroughly "good" Indian, honest, upright,
truthful, and very kind and friendly in his dealings with 
the early white settlers, all of whom liked and trusted
him. When they were hard pressed for food he often brought
them trout and moose meat for, like most of his race, he
was an expert fisherman and hunter. He frequently
accompanied them as guide and assistant during their
excursions into the forest and whenever he visited the
settlement at Upton he was cordially welcomed at their
houses. He stood in much fear of their dogs, however,
and Mr. West remembers that when he came to his
father's house on East B Hill he was accustomed to call
from the road requesting that their dog be tied before
he would enter their door. His only vice was drunkenness,
to which he was hopelessly addicted. But he was
invariably mild-tempered and inoffensive when under the
influence of liquor. He had lost one of his eyes when
a youth in a mad adventure with a young Moose which
he and several other Indians had run down on snow
shoes. Metalluc persuaded his companions to fasten him
securely on the back of the animal. After it was released
it took him through a windfall where his left eye
was torn out by a dead branch. Shortly before his
Jonathan P. West's account of Metalluc