MAINE. 



163 



Lumbering. 



and in the depth of tne coldest season penetrate into the midst of tlic woods ; here they build 

 huts roofed with bark, and, t'nough the ground is covered 5 or 6 feet deep with snow, and the 



thermometer 15 or 20 degrees below the 

 freezing point, begin their work of felling 

 the trees. These are then cut into logs 

 about 18 feet long, and dragged over the 

 snow by oxen to the banks of the river, 

 and rolled upon the ice. Many thousands 

 *" ll^^^^^^^^MM"^'' "^^r ^ir-Wi''' n^^^ these logs are thus collected, and on 

 ^ ^3^*.-i<S4^^^^^^^^^^fe^ ' ^r^^R'^^^K ^^'^ breaking up of the river in the spring 



they are floated down to the saw-mills. 

 The upper streams being narrow and 

 crooked, the logs sometimes get clogged 

 in immense masses between the banks, to 

 the number of 100,000. Such an obstruc- 

 tion is called a jam, and the business of 

 removing it is often highly dangerous. 

 This is done by cutting away the fore- 

 most logs, when the whole mass, with the 

 accumulated volume of water above it, rusnes down the river, tearing away every thing in its 

 progress. When the logs arrive at the mills, each owner selects his properly, the logs being 

 previously marked. The lumberers or river drivers, as these people are called, often earn five 

 or six dollars a day, but no course of life is attended with greater hardships, and nothing can 

 be more destructive to health and morals. The winter snows are little to endure in comparison 

 with the penetrating cold of the snow water in which the lumberer is often immersed from head 

 to foot. To stimulate die frame and enable it to endure the toil and exposure, these men take 

 immoderate quantities of ardent spirits, and habits of intemperance are the consequence. Pre- 

 mature old age, and shortness of days are too frequently the fate of a lumberer ; but notwith- 

 standing all the toils and dangers of such a life, those who once adopt it seem fond of it. The 

 money they so laboriously earn, is spent with a thoughtless extravagance. After selling and 

 delivering their timber, they pass some weeks in idle indulgence. At the approacli of winter, 

 they return to the woods and resume their labor. 



10. Inhabitants.* The seacoast of Maine is the most thickly inhabited ; the northern part 

 is still a wilderness, frequented only at times by hunters and lumbering parties ; new settlements 

 are forming every year, yet so great is the extent of wild land, that a long time will elapse ere 

 the whole surface of the State will be covered with inhabitants. For the same reason, the 

 population is nowhere very dense, compared with the other New England States. The inhabi- 

 tants, with the exceptions already noticed, may be designated as hardy, industrious, frugal, and 

 enterprising ; their occupations are almost exclusively agriculture, commerce, and taking and 

 curing fish. The state of individual wealth is that of a general mediocrity ; large fortunes and 

 extreme indigence being equally uncommon ; the means of a comfortable subsistence are within 

 the reach of all. The population of Maine was, 



in 1800, .... 151,719 in 1S30, .... 399,462 

 1810, .... 228,705 1840, .... 



1820, .... 298,335 



11. Indians. A remnant of the aborigines, known by the name of the Penobscot Indians, 

 still maintain an existence in this State, at a spot called Indian Old Town, on the Penobscot 

 River, 12 miles above Bangor. They are in number about 300, and have rather increased 

 than diminished of late, which may be ascribed to the exertions of their chiefs in promoting 

 early marriages. These Indians, so far as they pay any heed to religion, are Catholics, and 

 have been for some time under the spiritual direction of a priest of that persuasion. This per- 



* After the capture of Nova Scotia by the Eni^lish, in 

 1755, a body of French Catholics, who had resided in that 

 country, and were linown as the French Neutrals, took 

 their departure, with the intention of finding some quiet 

 retreat in the remoter lands of the north. They ascended 

 the St. John, and finally settled on the banks of the Ma- 

 dawaska, one of its tributaries. Here they lived, under 

 the government of their priests, in solitude and ignorance, 



but contented and happy. Though within the boundaries 

 of Maine, as tlien established, tlicy remained securely 

 buried in the forests for many years, their existence not 

 being recognised, and probably not known by the author- 

 ities of the State. The number of these seUler.s amounts 

 to about 3,000; yet it was not till a recent period, that tr.e 

 State exercised any authority over them 



