ItTNE 4, 1964.1 
question of a water supply. The streams were all far 
below. Water in these hills we knew there was. Much 
wc di^ and much we pondered. In the village lived a 
m.an whose hair was white with many winters, and it was 
said that in his hands a hazel wand had magic power; 
if he but walked over a vein of living water the wand 
bent downward toward the earth. And many believed, 
but some there were who scoffed. 
At our request the "Wizard of the Wand" came to the 
camp, and with him brought a freshly-cut forked hazel 
stick. As Cromwell told his soldiers to trust in God, but 
keep their powder dry, so the wizard, while trusting to 
the wand to show him where lay the hidden spring, 
searched always in the most likely places. 
There were visitors at camp that day, and we all fol- 
lowed the old man with much the same curiosity and 
amusement as urchins follow an organ grinder. 
About one hundred feet from the cabin a clump of 
spruces grew close to a shelf of rock. Toward this spot 
the searcher led, with arms extended straight in front 
holding the wand. As he passed close to one of the 
spruces, down went the hazel, drawn by some invisible 
force, until at a certain point in front of the rock ledge 
the crotched part that had pointed skyward pointed 
directly toward the earth ; as he passed over the place, the 
wand resumed its upright position. Back came the 
wizard, and as he recrossed, that strange, unseen force 
again pulled down the wand, and when the old man tried 
to stay the downward pull the very bark was split and 
twisted in his hands. 
"Dig there," said the wizard. 
A doubting Thomas went up to the cabin and came 
back armed with the spade. We dug; one, two, three 
feet — nothing; four feet — a stream of clear, cold water 
leaped from a crevice in the rock. It was a very tiny 
stream, but in the dryest month of a dry summer we 
knew it meant a never-failing spring. The doubting 
Thomas said nothing, neither did the wizard, but the 
faintest glimmer of a smile played around his thin lips ; 
and those who came to scoff remained — not to pray— but 
to marvel. And thus was found the Wizard Spring. 
Later we walled up the sides, cemented the bottom, and 
put on a wooden cover, so that no disappointed wood- 
chuck would drown him.self there. 
From the start we have faithfully kept what we call 
our "log book," in which are recorded the dates of our 
visits, with notes on the weather, temperature, names of 
visitors, records of successful hunts, and, in fact, anything 
of special interest. Our guests have herein paid their 
tribute to The Habitat ; there is off-hand verse by the 
Professoi", fables by the Reverend, sketches by the Artist, 
and one lover of these hills (one of the handful of brave 
men composing -the Ziegler Polar expedition, and at this 
m-oment enduring the rigors of the long Arctic night), 
after a particularly good dinner, expressed his content- 
ment in the following outburst : 
"We came up to the Habitat, 
" We had one meal and bitters 
We all around the fire sat 
A-sitting on our sitters." 
Reader, perhaps you cannot appreciate this; perhaps it 
ir- necessary to have been there ; I don't know ; but for us 
it needs only a retrospective glance through the pages of 
this old book to live over again in memory the many days 
so delightfully passed. 
The cabin is now complete, yet there is always some- 
thing to do to add to its beauty or utility. 
And what do we do there? Ah, yes! In the spring 
we fish the streams below and eat many an appetizing 
supper of the small but succulent brook trout. 
In the summer we tramp through the woods, and at 
evening we light our pipes and lounge on the front piazza, 
watching the changing glories of the sunset till the crim- 
sons change to purple, and the purple fades into dark- 
ness, and the stars come out and the twinkling lights ap- 
pear in the valley far below. 
It is at this season of the year that "The Habitat" is 
most visited, and many a jolly party climbs Mount Mer- 
ritt to eat those picnic lunches which only New England 
housewives know how to prepare, and to feast their eyes 
on these glorious hills while "Old Sol" goes down in all 
his splendor. But the summer goes, and the leaves turn 
red and gold, and the air is like a tonic, and your cheeks 
are as red as the apples the farmers are gathering — the 
fall has come. Of this season of the year Forest and 
Stream once published an old French-Canadian couplet 
which I have never forgotten, and which leaves nothing 
more to be said : 
"I would not die in autumn, 
When the ma'sh es full of game, 
When poisson blanc and duck get fat, 
And mus'rat do de same. 
Den es de Frenchman's harves' time, 
When game he sell so high, 
'Tis den he makes de I'argent blanc; 
I would not wanter die." 
" 'Tis den" we follow the wily ruffed grouse through 
the young growth, or beat up the alder swamps for the 
twisting woodcock, or stand of a frosty morning on the 
top of the close-cropped pasture ridge while the mellow 
tcnguing of the hounds come up from the valley below 
as they rouse Reynard from his morning nap on some 
sunny knoll. 
And whether the gods of the hunter smile upon us or 
whether the grouse be wild and the woodcock few, and 
Reynard leads away for the next county, what matters 
it — "these are golden days, these are the best days of our 
lives." 
But of all seasons it is the winter which sees us most 
at our snug little cabin. Snowshoeing is a pleasure known 
to too few. Suitably dressed, on good shoeing, there is 
no finer winter sport. And for the man who has no par- 
ticular regard for his cuticle, tobogganing on the crust 
is both exciting and invigorating. 
Few appreciate the beauty of nature in her winter 
dress — the dark spruces with snow-laden bows, the 
gnarled old hemlocks, the birches in their tattered dress 
of silver and gold, the soft gray beeches reaching out 
with many knotted limbs; and all so still, with not a 
sound save the occasional creaking of the rheumatic joint 
of some old grandsire of the forest. And then the snow^ — 
the broad, white pages of nature's ledger, on which every 
guest tells how he came and why and where he went, 
and what his business was. 
In summer one may make his camp where night finds 
him, but in winter such a camp as ours is appreciated at 
iis full value, and inside these snug walls we laugh at 
old Boreas as he howls outside or hurls the drifthig snow 
with seething hiss against the window pane. 
Ah ! and then the evenings in camp. Who can describe 
the contentment as, after the hearty supper, for which the 
niomitain air gives such keen appetites, we sit gazing 
into the open fire, while from our pipes the smoke houris 
rise and clasp the rough old rafters in their warm em- 
brace. But such pleasures cannot last forever — bedtime 
comes like other evils; we crawl into our blankets, the 
fire and mercury both go down, and then — sleep. 
W. W. Brown. 
Springfield, Vt. 
Trails of the Pathfinders. — IX. 
Lewis and Cfark (Continued). 
As they proceeded they passed a number of ruined 
villages of the Mandans, the low mounds of earth 
showing where the sod houses had fallen in; but on 
Oct. 24 they came to a large Mandan village, where 
they were received with friendship, and where the 
chief of the Arikaras smoked with tifie grand chief of 
the Mandans. 
On the 26th, at a large Mandan camp, they met a 
Mr. McCracken, a trader in the employ of the North- 
west Fur Company, who was much on the Missouri 
River in those early days. The younger Henry fre- 
quently mentions him in his journal, but as a slightly 
later day. The Mandans were not only most friendly, 
but most interested in the strange people who had ar- 
rived in boats; and men, women and childreti crowded 
to the river bank to see them. "The object which 
seemed to surprise them most was a corn mill fixed to 
the boat, which we had occasion to use, and which de- 
lighted them by the ease with which it reduced grain 
to powder," for the Mandans, like other Indians, pul- 
verized their corn by pounding it in a mortar. 
On the following day their boat reached the princi- 
pal Mandan village, and here was found a French- 
man named Jessaume, who was living among the 
Mandans with an Indian wife. Not far from the 
Mandan village was one of the Annahways, a tribe, 
according to Dr. Matthews, closely related to the 
Hidatsa, or Minnetari, a part of whose warriors were 
then absent on an expedition against the Shoshoni. In 
speeches of the usual form. Captains Lewis and Clark 
expressed the good will of the Great Father at Wash- 
ington, and his desire that all the tribes should be at 
peace; and presents and medals were distributed 
among the chiefs. In the course of the next few days 
these presents were returned by gifts of corn and 
dried meat; and the Arikara chief set out for his home 
with one Mandan chief and several Minnetari and 
Mandan warriors. Captain Clark, after much investi- 
gation, found a good situation for a winter post, and 
the work of felling timber and erecting buildings 
began. Besides the - Mandan interpreter, Jessaume, 
they met here a Canadian Frenchman, who had been 
with the Cheyenne Indians "on the Black Mountains," 
and the previous summer had come by way of the 
Little Missouri to the Great River. The Little Mis- 
souri was always a great range for the Cheyennes. 
The weather, which for some time had been cold, 
now grew much colder, and ice formed on the edges 
of the rivers. Water fowl were passing south, and 
it was evident that soon the river would close up. A 
large camp of Assinaboines, with some Crees, had 
come to the Mandan village and encamped there. A 
couple of Frenchmen made their appearance from 
further down the river. It seems extraordinary how 
many Canadian Frenchmen there were at this time in 
this distant country. 
Near Fort Mandan, just established, there were 
five Indian villages, the residence of three distinct 
nations, the Mandans, the Annahways, and the Min- 
netari. The journal gives the history of these nations 
as follows: "Within the recollection of living wit- 
nesses the Mandans were settled forty years ago in 
nine villages (the ruins of which we passed about 
eighty miles below), situated seven on the west and 
two on the east side of the Missouri. The two find- 
ing themselves wasting away before the smallpox and 
the Sioux, united into one village and moved up the 
river opposite to the Ricaras. The same causes re- 
duced the remaining seven to five villages, till at 
length they emigrated in a body to the Ricara nation, 
where they formed themselves into two villages and 
joined those of their countrymen who had gone be- 
fore them. In their new residence they were still in- 
secure, and at length the three villages ascended the 
Missouri to their present position. The two who had 
emigrated together settled in the two villages on the 
northwest side of the Missouri, while the single vil- 
lage took a position on the southeast side. In this 
situation they were found by those who visited them 
in 1796, since which the two villages have united into 
one. They are now in two villages, one on the south- 
east of the Missouri, the other on the opposite side, 
and at the distance of three miles across. The first, 
in an open plain, contains about forty or fifty lodges, 
built in the same way as those of the Ricaras; the 
second, the same number, and both may raise about 
three hundred and fifty men. 
"On the same side of the river, and at the distance 
of four miles from the lower Mandan village, is an- 
other, called Mahaha. It is situated on a high plain 
at the mouth of the Knife River, and is the residence 
of the Ahnahaways. This nation, whose name in- 
dicates that they were 'people whose village is on a 
hill,' formerly resided on the Missouri, about thirty 
miles below where they now live. The Assiniboines 
and Sioux forced them to a spot five miles higher, 
where the greatest part of them were put to death, 
and the rest emigrated to their present situation, in 
order to obtain an asylum near the Minnetarees. They 
are called by the French, Soulier Noir, or Black Shoe 
Indians; by the Mandans, Wattasoons; and their 
whole force is about fifty men." 
Toward the end of November seven traders be- 
longing to the Northwest Company reached the 
Mandans, coming from the Assinaboine River. Be- 
fore long some of them began to circulate unfavorable 
reports among the Indians; and Captains Lewis and 
Clark found it necessary to take immediate steps to 
stop this. They told Mr. Laroche, the chief of the 
seven traders, that they should not permit him to 
give medals and flags to the Indians, who were under 
the protection of the American nation, and would re- 
ceive consideration from them alone. 
On the last day of November, word was brought 
that the Sioux had attacked the Mandans, and killed 
one and wounding two others; and that a number of 
Indians were missing. Captain Clark therefore, in 
order to fix the loyalty of the Indians, summoned his 
whole force, and arming them, set out for the Man- 
dan village. He told the chiefs who came out to meet 
him that he had come to assist them in their war, and 
would lead them against the Sioux, their enemies, and 
avenge the blood of their countrymen. This action 
made a great impression on the Mandans, and a 
Cheyenne captive, who had been brought up in the 
tribe, and attained a position of considerable import- 
ance, made a speech thanking the white men for their 
assistance, and expressing the confidence of the In- 
dians in them. There was a long talk, after which 
Captain Clark left the village. The next day six 
Sharha (Cheyenne) Indians came to the village, bring- 
ing the pipe of peace, and saying that their nation was 
three days' march behind them. With the Cheyennes 
were three Pawnees. The Cheyennes were at peace 
with the Sioux, and the Mandans feared them, and 
wished to put them to death, but knowing that this 
would be against the wishes of their white friends, 
they did nothing. Lewis and Clark note the com- 
mon practice, of calling the Arikaras, Pawnees, a 
practice which still exists. 
A little later something is said about the chief of 
the Mandans, and following this comes the story of 
the tribe's origin, as given by the Mandans them- 
selves: "Their belief in a future state is connected 
with this tradition of their origin: The whole nation 
resided in one large village under ground, near a sub- 
terraneous lake. A grapevine extended its roots 
dov/n to their habitation, and gave them a view of 
the light. Some of the most adventurous climbed up 
the vine, and were delighted with the sight of the 
earth, whiclr they found covered with buffalo, and 
rich with every Idnd of fruits. Returning with the 
grapes they had gathered, their countrymen were so 
pleased with the taste of them that the whole nation 
resolved to leave their dull residence for the charms 
of the upper region. Men, women and children as- 
cended by means of the vine; but when about half the 
nation had reached the surface of the earth a corpu- 
lent womari, who was clambering up the vine, broke 
it with her weight and closed upon herself and the 
rest of the nation the light of the sun. Those who 
were left on the earth made a village below, where we 
saw the nine villages; and when the Mandans die they 
expect to return to the original seats of their fore- 
fathers,- , the good reaching the ancient village by 
means of the lake, which the burden of the sins of the 
wicked will not enable them to cross." 
Although the weather was cold, buffalo were near, 
and there was much hunting by means of the sur- 
round, and the bow and arrows. Captain Clark hunted 
with the Indians, and killed ten buffalo, of which five 
only were brought into the fort, the remainder being 
taken by the Indians; since, as buffalo were killed 
by guns, they bore no mark of identification, such as 
an arrow would have furnished. The next day Cap- 
tain Lewis took fifteen men and went out to hunt 
buffalo. They killed eight and one deer; but, being 
obliged to travel on foot through deep snow, it took 
them a long time to approach the buffalo, and some 
of the men were frost-bitten. 
It was now mid-December, and very cold; and the 
white men suffered a good deal and hunted but little. 
About this time a Mr. Haney arrived from the British 
post on the Assinaboine, bearing a letter from Mr, 
Chabouillez, a well known trader of the North, with 
offers of service. In the Mandan village the Indians 
were playing at sticks, apparently in the method 
practiced at the present day among the Blackfeet. 
Thin circular stories are rolled along the ground, and 
followed by running men, who slide their sticks along 
the ground, trying to have the disk fall on them. On 
Dec. 22 the explorers seem to have first seen the horns 
of the animal called by the French the Rocky Moun- 
tain sheep. It is described as "about the size of a 
small elk or large deer, the horns winding like those 
of a ram, which they resemble also in texture, though 
larger and thicker." 
The year 1804 opened with a New Year's day fes- 
tivities, and "in the morning we permitted sixteen men 
with their music, to go up to the first village, where 
they delighted the whole tribe with their dances, par- 
ticularly with the movements of one of the French- 
men, who danced on his head." Frequent mention 
is made of the pleasure with which the Indians wit- 
nessed the dancing of the Americans, and this amuse- 
ment was much indulged in by the men, many of 
whom, as' already said, were Frenchmen. 
Although the cold was intense, and the white men 
suffered severely from it, the Indians seemed to re- 
gard it very little. They were coming and going con- 
stantly, very slightly clad, and sometimes were 
obliged to sleep out in the snow, with no protection 
save a buft'alo robe; and yet they were seldom frozen. 
D uring these months of inaction, Lewis and Clark 
were frequently occupied in settling individual quar- 
rels among the various Indians near them, making 
peace between husbands and wives and persuading the 
Indians to abandon war journeys planned for the 
following spring. 
Traders from the North w^ere frequent visitors to 
these villages. All through the winter the blacksmith 
kept at work with his forge, manufacturing various 
